1960s nostalgia Archives - Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken — “ATTABOY, LUTHER!”

There are movies that are funny and there are movies that are spooky. Somehow The Ghost and Mr. Chicken managed to be both.

This 1966 movie was one of Don Knotts’ first big steps after leaving The Andy Griffith Show, and there was a lot riding on it. He had left Mayberry to pursue a movie career with Universal, and this one reportedly cost about $500,000 and grossed around $4 million in its first five months.

Not a bad start.

A lot of Mayberry followed him over. Andy Griffith helped with the story without taking credit, writers Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum came from The Andy Griffith Show, and Don personally wanted Alan Rafkin to direct.

Andy even suggested one of the movie’s most remembered running jokes:

“Attaboy, Luther!”

But I think one of the reasons this movie still works so well is the music.

Vic Mizzy wrote the score in only four days. He was also the man who wrote the themes for The Addams Family and Green Acres, and you can certainly hear his style here.

He used organ, xylophone, fuzz guitar and even bass harmonica, but nothing beats that creepy haunted organ inside the Simmons mansion. You could be laughing at Don Knotts one minute and genuinely getting creeped out the next.

And that bloody organ produced another great story. Universal spent weeks trying to clear the Bon Ami joke, so Don Knotts finally called the company president himself. He explained the joke and got permission almost immediately.

The movie was filmed in only 17 days, but nearly 60 years later people are still saying:

“Attaboy, Luther!”

Do you still watch The Ghost and Mr. Chicken around Halloween?

#TheGhostAndMrChicken #DonKnotts #AttaboyLuther #VicMizzy #TheAndyGriffithShow #ClassicMovies #1960sMovies #HalloweenMovies #VintageMovies #ClassicComedy #HalloweenNostalgia #TheRetroSite

Gomer Pyle Sings — The Voice Nobody Expected

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. was mandatory viewing in our house. My dad was a Marine sergeant, so there was no missing it.

Like everyone else, I knew Gomer for the “Shazam!”, the “Goooolly!”, and the way he could drive Sergeant Carter absolutely crazy. That was the Gomer we expected every week.

What I didn’t expect was that voice.

The first time I remember hearing Jim Nabors really sing, everybody in our house stopped and paid attention. That huge baritone just didn’t seem possible coming from the same guy we knew as Gomer Pyle.

What I learned later is that television audiences had actually heard Nabors sing before Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. even premiered. He showed off that voice on The Andy Griffith Show in 1964, and by 1965 Columbia Records had released his first album, Shazam!

By 1967, the show was fully embracing Jim Nabors the singer, including his powerful performance of “The Impossible Dream.”

That contrast is what made him so memorable to me. One minute he was making us laugh, and the next he could stop the room with that voice.

I still remember everyone in our house listening — including my Marine-sergeant dad.

Do you remember the first time you heard Gomer Pyle sing?

“WHAT IS THIS, SOME SORT OF PEYTON PLACE?”

This was a little before my time, but I certainly remember my parents and other adults saying, “What is this, some sort of Peyton Place?”

For years I understood what they meant even if I didn’t really know why they were saying it.

Take a look at this 1964-65 opening to Peyton Place. A church steeple. Bells ringing. A peaceful little New England town. Then that wonderfully serious voice announces, “This is the continuing story of Peyton Place.”

Everything looks so respectable.

And that was the joke.

Behind those neat houses and small-town manners were affairs, family secrets, violence, alcoholism, mental breakdowns and murder. Peyton Place became so culturally famous that the name itself turned into shorthand for a seemingly respectable place where everybody had something going on behind closed doors. New Hampshire Magazine notes that “Peyton Place” had already become a synonym for scandal after Grace Metalious’ hugely successful 1956 novel.

The television version arrived on ABC on September 15, 1964, starring Dorothy Malone, Mia Farrow, Ryan O’Neal, Barbara Parkins and Ed Nelson. It was revolutionary television — a continuing prime-time story airing not once but twice each week. It became so popular that ABC eventually bumped it up to three nights a week.

And here’s something I never knew about this opening. The announcer is Dick Tufeld. One year later, television audiences would know that same voice as the Robot on Lost in Space — yes, the man behind “Danger, Will Robinson!”

Even the music has history. The theme was composed by Franz Waxman, who had also scored the 1957 Peyton Place movie.

The series lasted until June 2, 1969, producing an incredible 514 episodes.

But I think its greatest legacy may be that the show’s name escaped television entirely.

For a whole generation, you didn’t need to explain the gossip, secrets or drama.

You just called the place “Peyton Place.”

Do you remember your parents saying that — and did you know what they meant even if you’d never watched the show?

FUNYUNS — THE SNACK THAT ALMOST WASN’T CALLED FUNYUNS

This commercial takes me right back to when a bag of Funyuns seemed like one of the strangest snacks in the chip aisle. They looked like little onion rings, tasted like onions and even had a name that sounded like somebody made it up on the spot. As it turns out, somebody pretty much did!

Funyuns were introduced by Frito-Lay in 1969, created by employee George Wade Bigner. But here’s something I never knew: Funyuns weren’t supposed to be called Funyuns. The original name was OnYums, but that name was already taken. Advertising copywriter Jim Albright came up with “Funyuns” instead, and more than half a century later we’re still calling them that.

And listen closely to the music in these early commercials. The tune came from “I Love Onions,” a wonderfully odd 1966 novelty song recorded by Susan Christie. The song actually made the Billboard Hot 100 before its melody was adapted to help sell Funyuns.

Another great connection: in 1971, a young Roger Enrico went to work marketing Funyuns. He eventually became CEO of PepsiCo and was one of the men behind Pepsi’s blockbuster Michael Jackson era. Not a bad career beginning for a guy working on onion-flavored rings!

And yes, Funyuns are still around today.

Mr. Bubble Gets You So Clean, Your Mother Won’t Know You

Hey, it’s Saturday, and for a lot of us, that used to mean bath night!

Mr. Bubble made bath time feel less like a chore and more like something to look forward to. The famous line, “Mr. Bubble gets you so clean, your mother won’t know you,” worked because it sounded like it was made just for kids. It turned a regular bath into a funny little promise: you would come out so clean, you might look like a different kid.

It was also classic 1960s advertising. The line was simple, catchy, easy to repeat, and just exaggerated enough to stick in your head. Kids heard “bubbles and fun,” while mothers heard “clean child, no bathtub ring, and inexpensive.”

And for anyone who remembers Saturday night baths, there was nothing quite like a tub full of Mr. Bubble.

Mystery Date

If you grew up in the 60s or caught reruns later on, that first Mystery Date commercial was one of those you didn’t forget. It came out right around 1965, and the whole hook was simple but genius—pick your outfit, open the door… and find out if you got the “dreamy date” or the dreaded “dud.”