online community focused on sharing and reminiscing about video, audio, and images that stir our memories of the past – old television, theme songs, commercials, print advertisements, the sights and sounds you remember
What was your favorite item or special at Howard Johnson’s? Who didn’t love their clams? My all time favorite was the strawberry ice cream, the only brand that I chose over chocolate ice cream!
Howard Johnson chairman, George Carter was quoted as saying back in 1987 to the Orlando Sentinel “We have the concept, but it desperately needs to be modernized, internally and externally. Howard Johnson was allowed to become tired and stale. We must get rid of that plastic image… Anything can be salvageable if a great deal of time and money and effort is put in it. And Howard Johnson needs all those same things.” So they just let the restaurant chain die. Sadly, only the hotel chain remains.
This site is recommended by the Veterans Affair and is in their newsletter.
In this episode of theSITREP, Paul sits down with Rick Bettencourt*, a VA-partner in educating Veterans about VA Home Loans, and discusses everything from how to apply, refinancing, credit scores, PCS’ing and much, much more. To find a specific topic that interests you, refer to the chapters below.
Hard to remember a time when there was no air conditioning in hospitals. Then again, I remember my mom was able to smoke in the hallways outside the treatment rooms! I guess this was before journalist became politically correct.
Undercover Angel written and performed by Alan O’Day shot to number one in 1977 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold. Warner Brothers Records formed a special label in the same year called Pacific Records for composers who also performed. O’Day was the first artist signed under the label. Undercover Angel was released with no fanfare and within months was number one despite not having an album to support it.
Alan O’Day also wrote Rock and Roll Heaven for the Righteous Brothers and Angie Baby for Helen Redding among other songs for various artists. In 1973 he released his first album Caress Me Pretty Music which was not successful and halted his recording career. He went on to collaborate with other artists and self publish.
O’Day later went on to write over 100 songs for the TV series Muppet Babies wrote and performed songs for the National Geographic series Really Wild Animals.
We lost Alan O’Day on May 17, 2013 at the age of 72 after a six month battle with brain cancer.
Alan O’Day was the first artist signed to Pacific Records
Some of you may be wondering how you got re-directed to here from YouRememberThat.com. The site was launched back in 2007 when there were no internet video standards. MP4’s were rare which is now the standard for mobile devices. We had over 30,000 videos that would need to be converted and reposted. The task was tremendous. The software that ran the site was ancient and needed to an upgrade that would require a lot of work.
YouRememberthat.com was not my first choice of names for the website but everyone was internet name harvesting, that is buying up all sorts of names in hopes that someone would pay big bucks for it. Then, I discovered that TheRetroSite.com was available and I purchased it. It was actually easier to start up a new site with new software and mp4 videos.
So welcome to the new site and I hope you enjoy it!!
Who remembers Crazy Foam from their childhood? It did make bath time more fun! They were mostly popular during the 60’s. A couple of sources say it was popular through the 80’s but by then I didn’t need any bath aids!
Crazy Foam was just recently purchased and reintroduced with Justice League and Looney Toons. We really didn’t need them to be licensed to like them!
Question: If an athlete gets athletes foot, what do astronauts get?
Answer: Missile Toe!
This was one of the many jokes feature on the Dixie Riddle Cups introduced in 1970. From a family of seven there wasn’t a lot of extra money for “luxuries” like disposable cups but it was one our family enjoyed. Growing up in the 70’s a come back line if you told a joke like this was “What? Did you read that on a Dixie Riddle Cup?
The Riddle Cups became popular, the cups were brightly colored and had a series of jokes that sadly repeated in the box of cups, usually containing one hundred cups. Dixie then introduced a full line of Riddle Plates and Riddle Bowls. Paper dishes were too much of a luxury for our family so I don’t recall these nor the Knock Knock Riddle Cups. By 1978 the novelty wore off and Dixie discontinued printing them.
In 1997 Dixie revitalized the cups with a contest for kids to submit their own jokes. If selected they would be printed on the cups with the child’s name, hometown and they would win a $1,000 savings bond. Dixie capitalized on this even more by having America’s favorite “Riddler,” actor Frank Gorshin who played the Riddler in the 1960’s TV show Batman.
When the Bee Gees went from a slow style of music to disco, I had to say that was unexpected disco. Since then, there have been a lot more unexpected disco experiences, more than you can believe!
I wasn’t surprised when Queen got into it. My dad’s favorite performers always got into it, like Al Martino And then Frank Sinatra. But who expected Ethel Merman??
Karen Carpenter released a solo album when her brother was in drug rehab. In order to get his blessings, she was not to do disco! I guess she didn’t listen. I shouldn’t have been surprised when Helen Redding released a disco song in 1976, but I was!
What about the soft rock sound of Seals and Crofts going disco in 1978? You’re The Love made it to number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was their last top 40 hit.
How about Kiss getting in the mix in 1978? Other rock band surprises were The Rolling Stones with Miss You, Emotional Rescue and then Hot Stuff. Many fans were disappointed by the band’s departure from rock and roll. The Kinks released I Wish I Could Fly Like Superman in response to their label Arista for a club-friendly sound. But totally unexpected was the Grateful Dead with Shakedown Street. Again, their label was Arista. Their Deadhead fans called this song Dead Disco.
We shouldn’t be surprised at Paul McCartney by showing his music diversity with Goodnight Tonight. You’d think the Beach Boy’s surfer sound would be safe until they released the LA or Light Album in 1979. In 1980 J.Geils Band hit number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 with Come Back. One critic called it a Eurodisco experiment. This was one experiment I personally liked!
An unexpected joint venture was with Barbara Streisand with Disco Queen Donna Summer.
You know things went a little too carried away when Donna Summer joined forces with Rosie O’Donnell on her talk show!
Did I surprise you with the number of unexpected disco artists through the years? Did I forget anyone? Let me know in the comments below!
Kim Carnes’ version of More Love peaked at number ten on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1980. The song was written by Smokey Robinson to his wife Claudette Rogers Robinson who sadly had eight miscarriages . Claudette was part of the Smokey Robinson and the Miracles group and toured with them since 1957. She felt her touring with the band contributed to the miscarriages. Smokey wrote the song to tell her she did not let him down. She never toured with the band again but she did eventually have two healthy children, Barry named after Motown’s founder Barry Gordon and a girl named Tamla named after the Motown record label. Smokey’s version of More Love peaked at 23 on Billboard in 1967.
