Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures – Do You Remember
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
One of my family’s favorite shows starring Dom DeLuise only lasted one season, but we never forgot it.
Lotsa Luck starred Dom as Stanley Belmont, a good-hearted working guy stuck supporting his mother, sister, and unemployed brother-in-law. It was loud, silly, and very much built around Dom DeLuise’s lovable, frustrated comedy style.
It may not have lasted long, but if your family watched it, chances are you still remember it.
Did you watch Lotsa Luck?
Nanny and the Professor premiered on ABC on Wednesday, January 21, 1970, and ran until December 27, 1971. It starred Juliet Mills as the mysterious Phoebe Figalilly, better known as Nanny, and Richard Long as widowed Professor Harold Everett.
The show had a gentle Mary Poppins feel, with Nanny always seeming to know a little more than everyone else. Was she magical, psychic, or just very clever? That was part of the fun.
For many kids, it fit perfectly into ABC’s family lineup, especially when it aired on Friday nights near The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family. It was sweet, quiet, and very much of its time.
Did you watch Nanny and the Professor? Did you think Nanny was magical?
On April 3, 1956, Elvis Presley made one of his early national TV appearances on The Milton Berle Show, but this one had a setting you don’t forget — the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hancock.
The ship was docked at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, giving the live NBC broadcast a built-in military audience. There was Milton Berle, sailors packed around the deck, and a 21-year-old Elvis just as “Heartbreak Hotel” was making him a household name.
Elvis performed with his regular band — Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and D.J. Fontana — and sang songs including “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Blue Suede Shoes.” This was still early Elvis: before the full “Elvis the Pelvis” backlash, before the famous June 1956 “Hound Dog” appearance, and about two years before he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1958.
Looking back, it’s such a perfect 1950s moment: Milton Berle, live television, a Navy aircraft carrier, and Elvis Presley bringing rock and roll to the flight deck.
Here’s Lucy kept Lucille Ball on Monday night TV with the same kind of physical comedy, celebrity guest stars, and family-style chaos that made her a television legend. This time, Lucy Carter was a widow working for her brother-in-law Harry, played by Gale Gordon, while her real-life children Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. played her kids.
The show had that familiar Lucy formula: a simple situation gets out of control, Lucy gets into trouble, Harry gets frustrated, and somehow the whole thing turns into comedy. It also became known for big guest stars, including classic Hollywood and TV names, which made each episode feel like a little variety-show surprise.
For fans, Here’s Lucy was not just another sitcom. It was Lucille Ball proving she could still carry a hit show after I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show, while bringing her own family into the act.
Before Robert Stack showed up in Airplane! as Rex Kramer, he was dead serious as Eliot Ness in The Untouchables.
The show aired on ABC from 1959 to 1963 and gave TV viewers a gritty trip back to Prohibition-era Chicago. Stack played Ness as the calm, tough, incorruptible federal agent leading his team against gangsters, bootleggers, and mob bosses.
It had tommy guns, raids, speakeasies, gangland hits, and that hard-boiled narration from Walter Winchell that made every episode feel like a crime file being opened.
And here’s a fun connection: Leslie Nielsen, who later co-starred with Stack in Airplane!, also guest-starred on The Untouchables in the episode “Three Thousand Suspects.” So before they helped make deadpan comedy history, they were both part of this very serious crime-drama world.
Looking back, The Untouchables helped shape the TV crime drama: sharp suits, mob danger, straight-faced lawmen, and the kind of dramatic seriousness that made Airplane! even funnier years later.
“Pfft! You Were Gone” was originally written and recorded by Buck Owens in 1954, but it is most famously remembered as a recurring comedy sketch on Hee Haw, usually sung by Archie Campbell and Gordie Tapp, along with various celebrity guest stars.
The bit worked because it was simple, corny, and perfectly suited for Hee Haw’s country humor. One performer would sing a sad little setup, then the other would pop in with the famous “pfft!” punchline, turning heartbreak into a quick laugh.
Hee Haw first debuted on CBS on Sunday night, June 15, 1969, as a summer replacement series. Later, when it moved into syndication, many viewers came to remember it as a Saturday evening tradition, though the night depended on the local station.
For a lot of families, Hee Haw was easy comfort TV: country music, goofy sketches, familiar guests, and jokes that were silly enough for everyone in the room to understand. And “Pfft! You Were Gone” was one of the bits that stuck.
Ware oh ware are you tonight?
The Jetsons first aired on ABC on Sunday nights at 7:30 p.m., beginning September 23, 1962. The original run was only 24 episodes, but it left a much bigger footprint than its short first season would suggest.
For kids, The Jetsons made the future look amazing. Flying cars, moving sidewalks, video calls, robot maids, push-button meals, and a workday so short George still complained about it. It was basically The Flintstones flipped into outer space, with the Stone Age family replaced by a space-age family.
The show followed George Jetson, his wife Jane, daughter Judy, son Elroy, dog Astro, and of course Rosie the Robot, who somehow became one of the most memorable characters even though she was not in every episode.
What is funny now is how many “future” ideas from The Jetsons don’t seem so crazy anymore. Video calls, flat screens, smart watches, robotic helpers, and push-button convenience all feel a lot closer to real life than they did in 1962.
The original series also has a neat TV trivia note: it was ABC’s first regularly scheduled program broadcast in color, even though many viewers still watched it in black and white.
Looking back, The Jetsons was not just a cartoon. It was the future as the early 1960s imagined it: shiny, funny, automated, and full of gadgets that were supposed to make life easier.
And somehow, George still had a hard day at work.
Love, American Style was one of those shows that could only have come from that late ’60s and early ’70s TV era. It aired on ABC from 1969 to 1974 and was built as a romantic-comedy anthology, with different short stories each week about dating, marriage, misunderstandings, and all the funny little disasters that came with love.
The format was the secret. Since every episode had new stories, the show could bring in all kinds of guest stars: older stars people already knew, TV regulars between shows, comedians, singers, and young actors just starting out. It was a perfect landing place for performers whose biggest days may have cooled off, because they didn’t have to carry a whole series. They could pop in for one funny segment, remind viewers they were still around, and get a little prime-time shine again.
It also helped launch or boost newer names. Future stars like Diane Keaton, Sally Struthers, Albert Brooks, and Harrison Ford appeared on the show, and one segment later became the starting point for Happy Days.
That was the charm of Love, American Style. You never knew who would show up. One week it might be a familiar face from older TV or movies, the next week someone who would become famous later. It was light, colorful, a little cheeky for its time, and full of that ABC Friday night energy.
For a lot of actors, it wasn’t just another guest spot. It was a way to stay visible, stay working, and remind America, “Hey, you remember me.”
Soap operas got their name because the early daytime radio dramas were often sponsored by soap and household-product companies. The “opera” part came from the big emotions, dramatic turns, heartbreak, secrets, and cliffhangers. Basically, it was everyday life turned way up.
That old organ music became part of the soap-opera sound, especially in radio and early television. A live organist could underline a romantic moment, a shocking reveal, or that famous “tune in tomorrow” cliffhanger. One dramatic organ sting could make a raised eyebrow feel like a family emergency.
The Secret Storm was one of the long-running CBS daytime soaps. It aired from February 1, 1954, to February 8, 1974, and followed the Ames family through all the marriages, heartbreaks, secrets, and tragedies you’d expect from a classic soap. It was created by Roy Winsor, who also created Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life.
For a lot of us, that organ music is half the memory. You could be in the next room and still know somebody on TV had just gotten terrible news.
An hour after posting the intro, I thought it would be fitting to share this old ABC commercial for Combat!.
TV promos back then were simple, but they knew how to sell a show. A few dramatic scenes, serious narration, and suddenly you knew Tuesday night meant war drama, danger, and another mission with Sgt. Saunders and Lt. Hanley.
Combat! aired on ABC from 1962 to 1967 and followed a frontline American infantry squad during World War II. The show starred Vic Morrow and Rick Jason, with stories that often went beyond the usual good guys versus bad guys setup. It showed soldiers tired, scared, angry, loyal, and still trying to hold on to their humanity in the middle of war.
This promo is also a time capsule of how television used to treat war dramas. It was entertainment, yes, but it carried a seriousness that made it feel different. The Greatest Generation was still very much present in American life when this aired, and many viewers did not need the show to explain what sacrifice meant.
Posting this on Memorial Day feels right. Not because a TV show can fully capture what they went through, but because it reminds us how much World War II shaped the families, fathers, uncles, neighbors, and veterans many of us grew up around.
