Classic TV
Warning: This is one of those postings that really shows my age.
When I was a child visiting my grandfather an ex Navy WW2 Veteran in California I always remembered one familiar cry. "O9!" he would say as I entered the room and picked up the clicker. We called the remote a clicker in those days and when I visited my grandparents it seemed like an amazing luxury. Television back home was still get up and change the dial when you wanted to watch another channel. Of course it didn't hurt that there were only three to four channels to watch in Anchorage, Alaska. In my room I had the black and white TV cast off when my parents upgraded to color. It was so decrepit the actual dial was broken off an not only did you have to turn it by hand, you had to wedge a pencil in the side to get it to stay on the selected channel.
When I visited my grandparents their 27" TV seemed positively enormous and the accompanying remote simply magical. Los Angeles had something unheard of back home in the wild north. It had independent stations. There must have been at least ten choices. Still my grandfather would shout out "O9!" and despite whatever I was watching punctuated by the ever present and nauseatingly rhythmic dancing ball of the now defunct Pete Ellis Dodge, I had to change the channel. Even as the commercial faded into O9 the horrendously addicting jingle sung by school children "Pete Ellis Dodge... Long Beach Freeway Firestone Exit South Gate...." continued to bounce off the walls of my mind.
For my grandfather it was say good bye to Gomer Pyle and Hogan's Heroes and hello Big Valley, Bonanza and Gunsmoke. It would be an all Western afternoon as James Arness took control and Festis scratched his temples like a thinking dog with a flee.
This morning I woke at 4:30 for some strange reason. I woke up with Edith Bunker in my mind singing Those Were The Days.
Boy the way Glenn Miller Played
Songs that made the Hit Parade
Guys like us we had it made
Those were the days.
Didn't need no Welfare states
Everybody pulled his weight
gee our old LaSalle ran great
Those were the days
And you knew who you were then
Girls were girls and men were men
Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again
People seemed to be content
$50 payed the rent
Freaks were in a circus tent
Those were the days
Take a little Sunday spin
Tonight I'll watch the Dodgers win
Have yourself a dandy day that cost you under a fin
Hair was short and skirts were long
Kate Smith really sung the song
I don't know just what went wrong
THOSE WERE THE DAYS!
Having Edith Bunker wake you in the morning singing is a little like waking up the next morning having drunk way too much the night before as a dog licks your face. It is shrill, wet and most unpleasant. The only thing I could do was yawn, sigh and mutter a very Archie "Oh... Gezzzzz."
I worked my way to the kitchen made coffee and switched on Hulu. Before I knew it I was watching the Rockford Files. What a show. James Garner... Joe Santos and a cast that was a never ending list of those that were unknown but shortly would be. Lindsay Wagner, Tom Selleck, Roger E. Mosley, Larry Manetti, Louis Gossett Jr., Rita Moreno, Rob Reiner, Isaac Hayes, Paul Michael Glaser, Joan Van Ark, Sharon Gless, Linda Evans, Ned Beatty, Larry Hagman, Larry Linville, Lauren Bacall, James Woods, Abe Vigoda the list goes on and on. With the beep of Jim Rockford's answering machine suddenly the awkward hour was forgotten and the theme song overcame me. Before I knew it I was transported back to Los Angeles in the 1970s. It was the LA I knew as a child, the LA of Pete Ellis Dodge.
There is something about classic television that wraps us like a security blanket attached to a child. I wonder what the generation before TV did. I suppose it was music. Before that, I haven't got a clue. Maybe they were simply better adjusted than we are today.
Classic TV in a way is a time capsule of our lives. While my grandfather most certainly never lived in the Wild West of Big Valley, there was something about the words, the stories, the simplicity that comforted him. For a few hours each day when the reruns started he was comforted by them. It was similar to how I felt watching Jimmy. Of course if you ask me it was one of the greatest shows ever made but I doubt my son would agree. I don't watch much television anymore but for some reason when the Rockford files or Black Sheep Squadron makes its way to my eyes I have a hard time looking away.
Truth be told, the Los Angeles of the 70s was quite ugly indeed. Ugly cars, ugly clothing, ugly buildings and a blanket of smog. Still, it was my Los Angeles. It was a piece of my childhood. It was a happy memory in a lifetime of memories that never let go. Ah Rockfish, what I wouldn't give to spend a night in your trailer or to eat a taco with you. Damn you never made any money but you sure had a good time. How is Angel doing anyway? If you read those last sentences and you know what they mean, It is likely you also have met my best friend Huggie Bear. After all, he always knew the word on the street.
When I was a child visiting my grandfather an ex Navy WW2 Veteran in California I always remembered one familiar cry. "O9!" he would say as I entered the room and picked up the clicker. We called the remote a clicker in those days and when I visited my grandparents it seemed like an amazing luxury. Television back home was still get up and change the dial when you wanted to watch another channel. Of course it didn't hurt that there were only three to four channels to watch in Anchorage, Alaska. In my room I had the black and white TV cast off when my parents upgraded to color. It was so decrepit the actual dial was broken off an not only did you have to turn it by hand, you had to wedge a pencil in the side to get it to stay on the selected channel.
When I visited my grandparents their 27" TV seemed positively enormous and the accompanying remote simply magical. Los Angeles had something unheard of back home in the wild north. It had independent stations. There must have been at least ten choices. Still my grandfather would shout out "O9!" and despite whatever I was watching punctuated by the ever present and nauseatingly rhythmic dancing ball of the now defunct Pete Ellis Dodge, I had to change the channel. Even as the commercial faded into O9 the horrendously addicting jingle sung by school children "Pete Ellis Dodge... Long Beach Freeway Firestone Exit South Gate...." continued to bounce off the walls of my mind.
For my grandfather it was say good bye to Gomer Pyle and Hogan's Heroes and hello Big Valley, Bonanza and Gunsmoke. It would be an all Western afternoon as James Arness took control and Festis scratched his temples like a thinking dog with a flee.
This morning I woke at 4:30 for some strange reason. I woke up with Edith Bunker in my mind singing Those Were The Days.
 |
| Archie and Edith Bunker |
Songs that made the Hit Parade
Guys like us we had it made
Those were the days.
Didn't need no Welfare states
Everybody pulled his weight
gee our old LaSalle ran great
Those were the days
And you knew who you were then
Girls were girls and men were men
Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again
People seemed to be content
$50 payed the rent
Freaks were in a circus tent
Those were the days
Take a little Sunday spin
Tonight I'll watch the Dodgers win
Have yourself a dandy day that cost you under a fin
Hair was short and skirts were long
Kate Smith really sung the song
I don't know just what went wrong
THOSE WERE THE DAYS!
 |
| James Rockford aka "James Garner" |
I worked my way to the kitchen made coffee and switched on Hulu. Before I knew it I was watching the Rockford Files. What a show. James Garner... Joe Santos and a cast that was a never ending list of those that were unknown but shortly would be. Lindsay Wagner, Tom Selleck, Roger E. Mosley, Larry Manetti, Louis Gossett Jr., Rita Moreno, Rob Reiner, Isaac Hayes, Paul Michael Glaser, Joan Van Ark, Sharon Gless, Linda Evans, Ned Beatty, Larry Hagman, Larry Linville, Lauren Bacall, James Woods, Abe Vigoda the list goes on and on. With the beep of Jim Rockford's answering machine suddenly the awkward hour was forgotten and the theme song overcame me. Before I knew it I was transported back to Los Angeles in the 1970s. It was the LA I knew as a child, the LA of Pete Ellis Dodge.
There is something about classic television that wraps us like a security blanket attached to a child. I wonder what the generation before TV did. I suppose it was music. Before that, I haven't got a clue. Maybe they were simply better adjusted than we are today.
Classic TV in a way is a time capsule of our lives. While my grandfather most certainly never lived in the Wild West of Big Valley, there was something about the words, the stories, the simplicity that comforted him. For a few hours each day when the reruns started he was comforted by them. It was similar to how I felt watching Jimmy. Of course if you ask me it was one of the greatest shows ever made but I doubt my son would agree. I don't watch much television anymore but for some reason when the Rockford files or Black Sheep Squadron makes its way to my eyes I have a hard time looking away.
Truth be told, the Los Angeles of the 70s was quite ugly indeed. Ugly cars, ugly clothing, ugly buildings and a blanket of smog. Still, it was my Los Angeles. It was a piece of my childhood. It was a happy memory in a lifetime of memories that never let go. Ah Rockfish, what I wouldn't give to spend a night in your trailer or to eat a taco with you. Damn you never made any money but you sure had a good time. How is Angel doing anyway? If you read those last sentences and you know what they mean, It is likely you also have met my best friend Huggie Bear. After all, he always knew the word on the street.
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