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
Before most people used the term STDs, television PSAs warned viewers about VD, short for venereal disease. And one of the most unforgettable ones was the 1970s spot remembered as “VD is for Everybody.”
The message was serious: venereal disease could affect anyone, and people should not be embarrassed to get information or see a doctor. But what made the PSA so memorable was how oddly cheerful it was, with upbeat music and everyday people smiling along to a topic that was not exactly dinner-table conversation.
A lot of kids probably remembered the song before they had any idea what VD even meant. Looking back, it is one of those very 1970s public service announcements that was awkward, catchy, and impossible to forget.
Last week we talked about Ice Bird, one of those early make-your-own frozen treat toys that came before the famous Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine. But another one kids remember from the 1960s was Hasbro’s Frosty Sno-Man Sno-Cone Machine.
Released in 1967, the Sno-Man let kids shave ice and pour on flavored syrup to make their own little summer treat. It was simple, messy, and probably took more work than the commercial made it look, but that was part of the fun.
Before Snoopy’s doghouse became the one everyone remembers, there was a smiling snowman helping kids crank out sno-cones at the kitchen table.
I’m posting the trailer for Cocoon, and it is strange to say this about such a well-known 1980s movie, but today the trailer may be easier to find than the movie itself.
Released in 1985 and directed by Ron Howard, Cocoon was one of those movies that felt different. It was science fiction, but not the laser-blasting kind. It was warm, funny, and surprisingly emotional — a story about growing older, feeling young again, and wondering what you would do if life suddenly offered you more time.
The cast was loaded with familiar faces: Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Jack Gilford, Gwen Verdon, Maureen Stapleton, Brian Dennehy, and Steve Guttenberg. The story followed a group of seniors who discover that swimming in a certain pool gives them new energy, thanks to alien cocoons hidden beneath the water.
For a movie about aging, it had a magical feeling. It made older characters the center of the story, not the background, and that helped make it stand out.
What makes it even stranger now is how hard Cocoon has become to watch. It was released on DVD, but it is not currently streaming in the U.S. and is not sitting there waiting on the usual rental or purchase services like so many other ’80s movies. For most people, that old physical DVD is still the only practical way to see it legally.
Why? No one seems to have given a clear official answer. The likely reasons are the usual modern mess: old rights agreements, possible music clearance issues, studio ownership changes, and maybe simple corporate neglect. It was a 20th Century Fox movie, and after the Fox library ended up under Disney, this Oscar-winning hit somehow became one of those films that just fell through the cracks.
That makes Cocoon a perfect reminder of why physical media still matters. If you have the DVD, you can watch it. If you do not, you may be stuck waiting and wondering why a hit movie with this cast has almost disappeared from everyday viewing.
As The World Turns. This post will never go viral, but if someone remembers their mom or grandma watching this, it is well worth the effort for the post!
As the World Turns was a long-running CBS daytime soap opera that aired from 1956 to 2010, centered mainly around the lives, loves, scandals, and struggles of families in the fictional town of Oakdale, Illinois. At its heart was the Hughes family, with stories built around romance, marriage, betrayal, illness, family conflict, and the everyday drama that made soap operas part of the afternoon routine for generations. It was slower and more character-driven than some later soaps, which helped make it feel like viewers were checking in on people they knew every day.
Long before Tony the Tiger became the big, sporty “They’re Gr-r-reat!” mascot we all remember, he looked a little different — and in this old Kellogg’s Sugar Frosted Flakes ad, he even shared the screen with George Reeves from The Adventures of Superman.
That is what makes the commercial so strange and fun today. You have Clark Kent/Superman helping sell cereal, and beside him is an early Tony who does not quite look like the Tony we grew up with. He is skinnier, odder, and still finding his final look.
Back then, shows and sponsors were tied together much more directly. Kellogg’s sponsored The Adventures of Superman, so seeing George Reeves pitch cereal was just part of the deal. To kids watching, Superman was not just saving the day — he was also telling you what to eat for breakfast.
Do you remember when TV stars would show up right in the commercials?
I was not even born when The Adventures of Superman first aired, but it still became one of my favorite TV shows.
The series starred George Reeves as Clark Kent and Superman, and for a generation of kids, he was the Man of Steel. The show originally ran in the 1950s, but because it was syndicated, it did not belong to one single night across the country. Local stations could run it whenever they wanted.
That is how I remember it — turning up before or after cartoons, rarely getting in the way of them, even on Sundays. Superman just seemed to be there, flying into the living room when you least expected it.
Looking back, the show was simple, but that was part of the charm. Clark Kent worked at the Daily Planet, Lois and Jimmy got into trouble, Perry White barked orders, and sooner or later Superman showed up to save the day. There were no giant special effects or complicated superhero universes. Just good guys, bad guys, and George Reeves making you believe a man could stand for truth and justice.
I also remember being devastated when my dad told me George Reeves had died by suicide. As a kid, that made no sense to me. How could the Man of Steel die?
That is the strange thing about childhood TV heroes. We know they are actors, but part of us still believes in them. And for many of us, George Reeves will always be Superman.
Do you remember watching The Adventures of Superman in reruns?
The newspaper shown here is the actual paper I brought home for my family and saved because it marked the Bicentennial of the United States.
Back then, bringing the newspaper home was part of the routine, and the comics were always one of the first places I looked. I remember reading Dondi on those walks home from the store. I enjoyed it, maybe not as much as some of the others, but it still stayed with me. It certainly caught me more than Dick Tracy, which I never really got into.
At the time, I was about the same age as Dondi, so I think that made him stand out. He looked like a kid I could understand — wide-eyed, innocent, and always seeming like he needed someone to look out for him. What I did not understand then was the deeper background of the strip.
Dondi was a long-running newspaper comic about a war orphan taken in by American soldiers. It was created by Gus Edson and Irwin Hasen and ran from 1955 to 1986. The story changed with the times, but the heart of it stayed the same: a young boy trying to find safety, kindness, and a place to belong.
I’ll be sharing more from this saved Bicentennial newspaper, including how the newspapers and the comics celebrated America’s 200th birthday. Looking back now, it is not just a newspaper anymore. It is a little piece of the country, the comics page, and my own childhood all folded together.
Do you remember saving a special newspaper or reading the comics before anyone else got to them?
The commercial was simple, but that was the power of it. Welles sat there with that unmistakable voice, making wine sound important, serious, and almost theatrical. He did not have to do much. He just had to speak, and suddenly a bottle of wine felt like it belonged on a stage.
The line worked because it sounded classy and a little over-the-top at the same time. It made patience sound elegant. It made the product feel refined. And, like so many great old commercials, it gave people something they could repeat for years.
Of course, the ad became even more famous later because of the outtakes, where Welles had trouble getting through the lines. That only added to the legend. The serious commercial became funny in a whole new way.
Looking back, it is a perfect piece of old TV advertising: dramatic, memorable, quotable, and just a little ridiculous.
The Road Runner was already a Saturday morning favorite before Plymouth got involved. Kids knew the bird, the desert, the endless chase, and that famous “Beep Beep!”
Then Plymouth did something that still feels almost unbelievable: they named a real muscle car after the cartoon.
The Plymouth Road Runner arrived for 1968, and it was not just a car with a cute name. Plymouth actually licensed the Warner Bros. character, put the bird on the car, and even gave it a horn that went “Beep Beep.” How many cars can say their personality came from a cartoon?
That was the genius of it. The Road Runner cartoon meant speed, fun, and always staying one step ahead. That fit perfectly with a stripped-down, affordable muscle car built for younger drivers who wanted performance without a lot of fancy extras.
So when Plymouth used the Road Runner in commercials, it was more than a gimmick. It connected Saturday morning cartoons to the muscle car era in a way that made instant sense. The bird was fast on TV, and now Plymouth was saying their car was fast on the street.
Looking back, it may be one of the best matches between pop culture and automobiles ever made. A cartoon character, a muscle car, and a horn that could make everybody smile.
This clip from 1966 comes from The Road Runner Show, when Warner Bros. gave Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner their own Saturday morning showcase. The formula could not have been simpler: a hungry coyote, a bird who was always one step ahead, a desert full of cliffs, tunnels, rockets, spring-loaded traps, and of course, plenty of bad ideas from Acme.
What made it work was that we knew exactly what was coming, and somehow it was still funny every time. Wile E. Coyote would carefully build the perfect plan, the Road Runner would zip by with a “beep beep,” and gravity would usually handle the rest. For kids watching in 1966, this was Saturday morning cartoon comfort food — fast, colorful, silly, and impossible not to watch.
And speaking of Road Runners, we’ll be staying in the fast lane for the next post — but this time, we’re trading the cartoon desert for one of the most memorable muscle cars to ever borrow a cartoon name.
