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
In the 1970s, O.J. Simpson became one of the most recognizable pitchmen on television thanks to his Hertz commercials. The ads showed him sprinting through airports in a suit, briefcase in hand, while people cheered, “Go, O.J., Go!” It was a perfect use of his football image: fast, famous, smiling, and always on the move.
At the time, the campaign was a huge hit and helped turn Simpson from a football star into a mainstream TV celebrity. It is strange to watch now because the cheerful airport-running image became one of the most famous commercials of its era, long before all the later headlines changed how people looked at him.
The show aired from 1962 to 1966 and starred Ernest Borgnine as Lt. Commander Quinton McHale, the skipper of PT-73. McHale and his crew were stationed in the South Pacific, where they were supposed to be fighting the war, but most episodes were really about schemes, shortcuts, gambling, trading, and staying one step ahead of their commanding officer.
The breakout comedy came from Tim Conway as the nervous and clumsy Ensign Parker, and Joe Flynn as Captain Binghamton, who was always trying to catch McHale and his men breaking the rules. The crew also included familiar faces like Carl Ballantine, Bob Hastings, and for a time, Gavin MacLeod, years before The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Love Boat.
What made McHale’s Navy work was that it had the setting of a war show, but the feel of a workplace comedy. McHale’s men were not polished heroes. They were lovable troublemakers who somehow got the job done when it mattered.
For a lot of viewers, it is remembered as one of those black-and-white sitcoms with fast jokes, big characters, and Tim Conway stealing scenes long before he became a legend on The Carol Burnett Show.
Phil Rizzuto pitched plenty of products in his day, but this Yankees/Dodge Boys spot is one of those commercials that could only come from its time.
Here’s “The Scooter,” a Yankees legend, selling a pair of gym shorts with the Yankees logo on one side and The Dodge Boys logo on the other. It is part baseball, part car-dealer promotion, and part early-’80s fashion statement.
But the real time capsule may be the ticket information. The ad tells fans they could get Yankees tickets at Yankee Stadium Gate 4, the Grand Central Station Ticketron booth, Ticketron computer outlets, Chargit phone reservations, AAA North Jersey Auto Club offices, or by mail to Yankee Stadium.
How many of those can you still use today? Basically one, and even that one has changed. You can still buy Yankees tickets at the current Yankee Stadium box office if tickets are available, but the old Gate 4 setup, Ticketron booths, Chargit phone ordering, AAA ticket outlets, and mailing a check feel like another world now.
Today it is mostly apps, websites, barcodes, and mobile tickets. Back then, you might have gone to Grand Central, called a number, walked into an AAA office, or mailed away for seats. Holy cow, what a different way to go to a ballgame.
Only on The Lawrence Welk Show could “One Toke Over the Line” somehow become a “modern spiritual.”
In 1971, Gail Farrell and Dick Dale performed the Brewer & Shipley song on the show, giving it the clean-cut Welk treatment. The funny part came afterward, when Lawrence Welk referred to it as a modern spiritual, apparently not realizing the “toke” in the title was not exactly Sunday-morning church material.
It does not seem like someone deliberately pulled one over on Welk. It was probably more of a perfect generational misunderstanding: a hit song with the word “Jesus” in the chorus made it onto one of TV’s cleanest shows, and everyone smiled through it like it belonged there.
That is what makes the clip so unforgettable. It is a perfect little time capsule of early 1970s television, where a song with counterculture roots could be polished up, dressed up, and served with champagne bubbles.
There was a time when the back of a cereal box could be almost as exciting as what was inside.
This Everything’s Archie Post Cereal commercial is a perfect example. In the late 1960s, kids could find Archie-themed prizes on specially marked Post cereal boxes, including cardboard records you could actually cut out and play. They were not exactly hi-fi, but to a kid, getting music from the back of a cereal box felt like magic.
The timing was perfect. The Archies were everywhere, with the cartoon band becoming a Saturday morning favorite and “Sugar, Sugar” turning into one of the biggest songs of 1969. So Post put Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Reggie, Sugar Bear, cereal, cartoons, and music all into one kid-friendly promotion.
Who else remembers cereal boxes that gave you something to do after breakfast?
Rocky and Bullwinkle was one of those cartoons that worked on two levels. Kids saw a flying squirrel, a goofy moose, spies, fairy tales, and silly adventures. Adults heard the puns, political jokes, Cold War humor, and smart little digs that went right over a lot of kids’ heads.
The show began in 1959 as Rocky and His Friends on ABC, then moved to NBC in 1961 as The Bullwinkle Show. Rocky was Rocket J. Squirrel, the brave flying squirrel, and Bullwinkle J. Moose was his well-meaning but not always brilliant best friend from Frostbite Falls, Minnesota. The show originally ran until 1964, with reruns continuing for years, including ABC Sunday mornings into the early 1970s.
What made it different was the variety-show style. You did not just get Rocky and Bullwinkle fighting Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. You also got Fractured Fairy Tales, Peabody’s Improbable History with Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Aesop and Son, Dudley Do-Right, Bullwinkle’s Corner, and all those cliffhanger endings with ridiculous titles.
The animation was not fancy, even for its time, but the writing was the real star. Jay Ward and Bill Scott leaned into wordplay, satire, narrator jokes, and absurd situations. That is why Rocky and Bullwinkle still feels different from a lot of old cartoons. It was funny for kids, but it was also sneaky smart for the adults in the room. UCLA’s Hammer Museum called the series a “rare gem” and credited its wit to the Jay Ward team, including Bill Scott, June Foray, and the show’s writers and animators.
T.H.E. Cat was a 1966–67 NBC action series starring Robert Loggia as Thomas Hewitt Edward Cat, a former circus aerialist and cat burglar who now worked as a bodyguard.
The show fit right into the mid-’60s wave of stylish spy and crime shows like The Man from U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, Batman, and The Green Hornet, but it had a darker, jazzier feel. Cat used stealth, acrobatics, and street smarts instead of gadgets, operating out of a nightclub called Casa del Gato.
NBC aired it Friday nights after The Man from U.N.C.L.E., hoping to keep that cool adventure audience watching. It only lasted 26 episodes, but for those who remember it, T.H.E. Cat remains one of those sharp, moody little shows that felt different from the usual TV heroes of the time.
This old Dairy Queen ad has that familiar feel of a commercial trying to grab kids fast. Instead of just showing ice cream, they used animation to make it feel fun, quick, and a little more exciting.
That was probably the point of the cartoon. A regular person talking about Dairy Queen might have felt too ordinary, but a cartoon could bounce around, move fast, and make it seem like something fun was happening.
And of course, there had to be that twangy guitar. It seemed like every ad trying to appeal to the youngsters needed some version of the “new rock and roll sound.” It was not always real rock and roll, but advertisers knew a little guitar twang made things feel younger and cooler.
Simple ad, simple idea: a cartoon, a catchy sound, and the promise of ice cream. That was enough to get Dairy Queen stuck in your head.
I remember as a kid getting excited about a new action hero, The Green Hornet. He had the mask, a cool partner, and a very cool car like every other action hero. But for me, the show was boring.
Here’s why.
It looked like it was going to be another fun superhero-type show, especially with the Green Hornet’s mask, Kato, and the Black Beauty. But once the episode started, it felt more like a straight crime drama than an action show. There was a lot of talking, a lot of newspaper office scenes, and not nearly enough of the cool stuff kids were waiting for.
The producers seemed to be trying hard not to make another Batman. While Batman was colorful, campy, and aimed right at kids and families, The Green Hornet tried to play things straighter and appeal more to adults. That may have made it more serious, but for a kid waiting for action, it also made the show feel slower.
Kato, played by Bruce Lee, was probably the most exciting part of the show, but even he was held back most of the time. When he finally got to fight, the show came alive. The problem was, those moments did not happen often enough.
The Black Beauty was another highlight. It had the look, the gadgets, and the mystery. But again, the show often seemed more interested in the crime story than in the hero, the car, or the action.
Maybe that is why The Green Hornet only lasted one season. It had all the ingredients: the mask, the partner, the car, and the theme. But compared to the colorful fun of Batman, The Green Hornet played it much straighter. As a kid, I wanted excitement. What I got felt more like homework with a cool car parked outside.
“See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet” was one of those ads that did more than sell a car. It sold the idea of getting out on the road.
The song became closely tied to Dinah Shore, who sang it on her Chevrolet-sponsored television shows in the 1950s. By the time she smiled into the camera and sang about seeing America from a Chevy, the line was already becoming part of American TV memory.
It worked because it was simple. A friendly singer, a catchy tune, a shiny Chevrolet, and the idea that the whole country was waiting for you. You did not need a complicated sales pitch. The song did the work.
The ad also fit the time. After World War II, more families had cars, highways were expanding, and road trips became part of American life. Chevrolet was not just saying “buy our car.” It was saying, “This is how you see America.”
For many viewers, the jingle stuck for decades. Even if you did not own a Chevrolet, you probably knew the tune. That is the sign of a great commercial: people remembered the song long after they forgot the model year.
