~Buffalo Gal's Attic~
Remember When
Stay up and reminisce with me as we check out my attic on the next few pages.
The Beatles
Cars from the 50s.
Written by: Edward Kean.
It's Howdy Doody time,
Lets give a rousing cheer,
The show typically had a short film, a song or two and visits by the various residents of Doodyville.
Did you know that .........
Buffalo Bob Smith was one of the first to recognize the potential of television to market products to kids. Welch's Grape Jelly, Wonder Bread, Colgate.
Howdy Doody was the first show to ever hit the 2,000 episode mark?
Howdy Doody was the first regular network series in color?
Howdy Doody had the first theme song to become popular outside of the show?
Passings:
For 14 years we watched Ozzie, in his alpaca cardigan and Harriet, with her ever ready pot of coffee and a plate of brownies. Boomers grew up with Ricky and David. When asked if this was a realistic view of family life, the answer is a resounding no. Their idea of a life crisis was having two chairs mistakenly delivered to the house.
Speaking of the house at 522 Sycamore Road, Hilldale, the set was an exact replica of their real life home in Hollywood.
If you remember all those scenes in the kitchen, that's because up until 1956, Hotpoint, the sponsor, was displaying their products! After that, you probably recall more outdoors scenes. Did you notice the cameras around everyone's necks? Yup, Kodak became the sole sponsor.
Ozzie was producer, director and head writer. In short, he had control.
Ricky has been bugging his father to let him sing a tune on the show. So on April 10,1957 in "Rick the Drummer" he covered Fat's Domino's "I'm Walkin." The song shot to the top of the charts.
Eventually, the boys grew up and married and their real life wives joined the show. David married June and Ricky married Kris Harmon, daughter of Tom and brother to Mark.
Passings:
Happy Trails to you, until we meet again
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Some trails are happy ones,
Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again Passings:
While watching the Errol Flynn 1938 version of Robin Hood, did Olivia de Havilland's horse, Golden Cloud, look familiar?
Well, he should. That's Trigger before he came to Roy Rogers! One of Trigger's roles on his way to superstardom.
On July 9 of 1956 the show got a new host, a clean-cut 26 year old named Dick Clark. When ABC picked the show up, it was renamed American Bandstand, airing it's first national show on August 5, 1957. The show was moved to Los Angeles in 1964. From 1963 to 1987 Bandstand was on only once a week, on Saturday. Briefly it was part of the USA Network with new host David Hirsh but went off the air in 1989.
Dick Clark's first day as host was 7/9/1956. It goes from a daily to a weekly Saturday show in Philadelphia: 9/7/1963.
"We're goin' hoppin' (Hop!)
1st Guests: Billy Williams, Chordettes
Last song on the ABC network was Laura Branigan's "Shattered Glass."
B.B. King is the only performer NOT to lip-synch on American Bandstand.
Walt Disney was adamant that the Mouseketeers be regular kids, not actors. Producers searched schools looking for kids with that special spark.
The Mousketeers went to school 5 days a week on the Disney lot. Not only did they work 6 days but Sundays were often spent performing for the public. Being a Mousketeer wasn't easy.
The Mousketeers became close friends and remain so to this day.
Sadly, the show only ran for 3 years and 360 episodes. ABC wanted to run more ads and Walt Disney refused. His conntract forbid him from shopping the show to another network.
șoș Sharon Baird
The Big Mousketeer Co-Hosts: Do you remember the Days of the Week?
Monday - Fun With Music Day
Mickey Mouse Club! Mickey Mouse Club!
Hey, there! Hi, there! Ho, there!
Mickey Mouse! Donald Duck!
Come along and sing a song
And, the ending...
(Softly)
Now's the time to say goodbye
Passing:
Look! Up in the sky!
Yes, it's Superman - strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman - who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel with his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights the never ending battle for Truth, Justice and the American Way.
From the comic created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1938; Noel Neill and George Reeves Television propelled mild-mannered Clark Kent and his alter ego Superman into millions of American homes. After that we all knew that Kryptonite was a really bad thing and that Superman must have had a problem with doors as he usually crashed through a wall to enter a room.
We learned to love the explosive "Chief" Perry White (John Hamilton) of the Daily Planet and chuckled at his interaction with cub reporter Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larsen).
We waited for Lois Lane to figure it out. For a smart woman, she seemed oblivious to the odd coincidence that Clark vanished whenever Superman appeared.
Phyllis Coates left the show. She had always wanted to be a comedienne and did try in a couple of other series, all of which were short-lived. She was ably replaced by Noel Neill.
Superman the character continued on with the late, Christopher Reeve in the feature films role. This piece of casting would present a particularly heart wrenching contrast after Mr. Reeve's tragic accident.
Dean Cain took over TV duties in "Lois and Clark" (1993-1997) with Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane.
But for Baby Boomers, Superman will always be George Reeves.
Passings:
John Hamilton died in 1958 of a heart attack, as did Robert Shayne in 1992.
Christopher Reeve - 2004 Unfortunately, Christopher Reeve passed away after years of progress, from his parlyzing horse accident.
Divorce was not a common thing. Why? Societal pressure for one thing. You were supposed to get married and stay married, regardless of how miserable you were. Divorce carried a stigma.
Back then, people spend more of their lives married than they do today due to lower divorce rates and earlier ages at marriage. People just didn't live alone. Only 9.3% of homes had only a single occupant in 1950, up slightly to 16.3% in 1960. Today that number is over 25%.
Women's prospects as single people were pretty grim. Even today, divorced women suffer about a 45% decline in economic status and it was worse then. Today a woman can get a decent paying job but back in the Fifties, a woman's best chance at employment was in traditionally accepted "women's jobs" such as secretary, teacher, nurse, librarian and so forth. So there was an ecomonic incentive to stay married.
Men felt the societal pressure. A proper fella had a wife and kids. His boss expected it. His neighbors and family expected it.
In 1950 there were 385,000 divorces which only rose slightly to 395,000 by 1959. Contrast that with 1,135,000 in 1998, and you begin to see the trend. To put those numbers in perspective, only 2.6 people out of 1,000 were divorced in 1950, whereas it climbed to 4.2 out of 1,000 in 1998.
Mom was probably younger than today. Did you know that the number of teen births has declined since the high in 1957?
According to the NCHS/CDC report "Births to Teenagers in the United States, 1940-2000" the birth rate for U.S. teenagers in 2000 was 48.7 births per 1,000 women aged 15â19 years, the lowest level ever reported for the Nation. In 1957 the rate 96.3 per 1,000, about double its current level.
People married younger in the 50s. 1950 median age for a first marriage was 22.8 years old for men and 20.3 for women. In 2000 the median age at first marriage: Males: 26.8 Females: 25.1.
Along with the Fifties Baby Boom, came a housing boom. Homeownership went from 55% in 1950 to 61.9% in 1960. From there it stablizes and ran around 66.3% in 1998.
But here's a surprise. The 1950 house may well have been heated by coal! It was the most common heating fuel in 1950. Only .7% of homes were heated by electric and 26.6% by utility gas. That would all change over the course of the decade though. By 1960 coal was down to 12.2% and utility gas up to 53.1%. Today 51% of homes are heated by utiltity gas.
Want to talk bathrooms? Complete plumbing (hot and cold piped water, a bath-tub or shower, and a flush toilet) was only avialable in 64.5% of homes in 1950. That would change too and by 1960 only 16.6% of homes were without complete plumbing. Today it's around 1%.
Having said all of that, most people grew up in houses with flush toilets and never saw a piece of coal in their lives. You never saw Ritchie Cunningham go to an outhouse, did you? ......... Speaking of the Cunninghams, and let's add Ozzie and Harriett Nelson, the Andersons of "Father Knows Best" and all those other TV families, they weren't real. It was TV. Nobody is perfect, especially not parents, and problems cannot be solved in 30 minutes. Those TV families do serve as example in some ways though.
Families did sit down to eat together. Yes, the whole family. Mom cooked because that was her job. In 1950 there were 40,174,705 employed males and 15,559,454 employed females. Employed being the operant word as Mom worked her tail off in the home for which she wasn't materially compensated. Want to argue that point? Did she get social security credit for it? No. Does she today? No. But I digress.
After dinner the family would watch TV if they had one, which by the end of the decade was likely. The whole family watched the same show. Why? Because there was only one TV. In the whole house. Could the kids run to their bedrooms and talk on the phone? I don't think so. Why? Because they may have been only one phone. In the whole house.
But a kid might have had a small record player of your own. Probably had a transistor radio. And that little transistor radio is where we learned about Rock and Roll.
What you may well ask, did kids do for fun? We visited with one another. In those days you could walk home at night without ending up on a milk carton. If you were a little older, after school you went to a soda shop or diner. It was probably like Arnold's in Happy Days (my hangout was "Fisher's Hi Boy). But no malls, no cellphones, no stereos, no videogames and gasp, no computers.
We listened and danced to our favorite tunes on these.
Fads and Slang
In 1957, an Australian visiting California told them, quite casually, that in his home country, children twirled bamboo hoops around their waists in gym class. Most of us would have thought, "how nice" but for Knerr and Melin an idea spawned.
They understood how popular such an item could be and proceeded to manufacture one made of plastic, Marlex specifically, a lightweight but durable plastic then recently invented by Phillips Petroleum.
The name "hula hoop" came from the Hawaiian dance its users seemed to imitate.
Talk about sales! Wham-O sold 25 million hula hoops in two months. Almost 100 million international orders followed. They were manufacturing 20,000 hoops a day at the peak of popularity.
Not all nations thought this was such a spiffy idea. Japan banned the hoops thinking they might promote improprieties. The Soviet Union said the hula hoop was an example of the "emptiness of American culture. 'Well, okay, maybe they had a point there')
Slang has always been the province of the young. Words come in and out of favor in direct proportion to the speed with which they travel through the age ranks. Once college kids know that high school kids are using a term, it becomes passe. And seniors don't want to sound like freshman and so forth. Once a word finds its way to mainstream media or worse, is spoken by parents, no young person with any self-respect would use it.
Fifties slang wasn't particularly colorful as these things go. The Sixties, with its drug and protest culture to draw from, would be slang heaven. In the Fifties, hot-rodders and Beatniks provided inspiration.
About the Beatnik Culture: This was by no means a mainstream movement. I didn't actually know any Beatniks nor I suspect did most of my peers across America. But they sure seemed "cool" to us. A sharp contrast from the way real teens lived in a preppy, conservative, conformist world.
Many of these words, in fact most words can have "ville" added to them. There was coolsville, deadsville, Doodyville, squaresville, weirdsville and so forth.
For those of you seeing this without reading glasses, here's a piece of news for you. "Cool" was our word. We said it a bit differently. Today it is said in a more clipped way. We tended to drag out the pronunciation. But we had it first; we were the originals.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based
paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we
rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in
the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually
died from this.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back
when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were okay.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down
the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes
a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no
99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones,
no personal computers, no internet or internet chat rooms .......... WE HAD FRIENDS
and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits
from these accidents.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we
were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms
live in us forever.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang
the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little league had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't
had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They
actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers
and inventors ever!
The past 50 + years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had
freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH
IT ALL!
Happy Trails,
Everyone has many treasures in their attic, but don't even know it.
Go Bulldogs
CHS '64
Paul Mc Cartney Ringo Starr George Harrison John Lennon
"The Fab Four"
Do you remember these TV shows?
12/27/1947 - 9/30/1960 - NBC
Black and White 'til 9/12/1955, then Color.
30 minutes (2,543 total episodes)
5 days a week 8/15/1948 - 6/1/1956
Saturdays 1956 - 1960
The original title for the show:
Puppet Playhouse.
Bob Smith as Buffalo Bob Smith
Bob Keeshan as the original Clarabell
Bobby Nicholson as Clarabell/Cornelius Cobb
Lew Anderson as Clarabell.
Theme Song:
It's Howdy Doody time,
Bob Smith and Howdy Doo
Say Howdy Doo to you.
'Cause Howdy Doody's here.
It's time to start the show,
So kids, let's go!
The audience of kids was called the Peanut Gallery and there was a huge waiting list for tickets to the show. Everybody wanted to sit in the Peanut Gallery!
Buffalo Bob Smith died in 1998 of cancer.
Bob Keeshan passed January 24, 2004 after a long illness.
10/3/1952 - 9/3/1966 - ABC
60 minutes
Black and White (1952-1965)
Color (1965-1966)
Ozzie and Harriet Cast:
Ozzie Nelson: Ozzie Nelson
Harriet Hilliard Nelson: Harriet Nelson
David Nelson: David Nelson
June Blair Nelson: June (Mrs. David Nelson)
Ricky Nelson: Ricky Nelson (1961 - 1966)
Kristin Harmon Nelson: Kris (Mrs. Rick Nelson) (1964-1966)
Parley Baer: Darby (1955-1961)
Frank Cady: Doc Williams (1954-1965)
Mary Jane Croft: Clara Randolph (1956-1966)
Don DeFore: 'Thorny' Thornberry (1952-61)
Constance Harper: Connie Edwards (1960-1966)
Jimmy Hawkins: Jimmy (1961-1965)
James Stacy: Fred (1958-1964)
Lyle Talbot: Joe Randolph (1952-66)
Jack Wagner: Jack (1961-1966)
Skip Young: Wally (1957-1966)
Theme Song:
written by: Ozzie Nelson
Ozzie and Harriet Tidbits
Ozzie Nelson died in 1975 of cancer.
Rick Nelson died 1985 in a plane crash.
Harriet died in 1999 of congestive heart. failure.
12/30/1951 - 6/23/1957 - NBC
B/W - 30 minutes - 104 episodes
Dates aired: Dec. 1951 - June 1952
Sunday 6:30-7:00pm
Aug. 1952-June 1957
Sunday 6:30-7:00pm.
Produced by: Roy Rogers Productions.
The Cast:
Roy Rogers as Roy Rogers
Dale Evans as Dale Evans
Pat Brady as Pat Brady
Harry Lauter as Mayor Ralph Cotton
Roy's horse - Trigger, 'the smartest horse in the movies'
Dale's horse - Buttermilk, he was a wild mustang at one time
Bullet was known as 'Bullet, the wonder dog'. Don't forget 'ole' Nellybelle, she was Pat Brady's Jeep.
Roy Rogers Theme Song:
written by: Dale Evans
Happy Trails to you, keep smilin' until then...
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy Trails to you, until we meet again..."
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Pat Brady died in 1972 in an accident.
Roy Rogers passed in 1998 of congestive heart failure.
Dale Evans Rogers graduated into Heaven in 2001.
10/7/1952 - 7/1956 local program Bob Horn's Bandstand
7/1956 - 10/1957
10/7/1957 - 9/5/1987 ABC 60 minutes
4/8/1989 - 10/7/1989 Syndicated
Black & White/Color (9/9/1967)
Broadcast from Los Angeles: Begins 2/8/1964
Produced by Anthony "Tony" Mammarella and Dick Clark.
American Bandstand Cast:
Dick Clark - Host
Bob Horn - Host (Bob' Horn's Bandstand)
American Bandstand Theme Song:
Music by Charles Albertine
Words by Barry Manilow and Bruse Sussman
We're goin' hopin' today
Where things are poppin'(Pop!)
The Philadelphia way We're goin' drop in (Drop!)
On all the music they play On the Bandstand.!"
Although the Mickey Mouse Club TV series premiered on October 3, 1955, the Mouseketeers made their first television appearance on July 17, 1955 - on the ABC broadcast special celebrating the opening of Disneyland.
"My Favorite Mouseketeer"
Mouseketeer Roll Call ...
The original, featured Mousketeers.
șoș Bobby Burgess
șoș Lonnie Burr
șoș Tommy Cole
șoș Annette Funicello
șoș Darlene Gillespie
șoș Cubby O'Brien
șoș Karen Pendelton
șoș Doreen Tracey
Roy Williams and Jimmy Dodd
Tuesday - Guest Star Day
Wednesday - Anything Can Happen Day
Thursday - Circus Day
Friday - Talent Round-Up Day
Who's the leader of the club
That's made for you and me?
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!
You're as welcome as can be!
M--I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
Mickey Mouse! Donald Duck!
Forever let us hold our banners high!
High! High! High!
And join the jamboree
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
To all our company
Through the years we'll all be friends
Wherever we may be
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse
Forever let us hold our banner high
M-I-C - See ya real soon!
K-E-Y - Why? Because we like you!
M-O-U-S-E!!
Jimmy Dodd died in 1964 at the too young age of 54.
Roy Williams died in 1976.
4/1/1952 - 11/1957
Syndicated 30 minutes
Black and White/Color (1954)
104 episodes
Faster than a speeding bullet.
More powerful than a locomotive.
Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superman!
Superman, Don't Call Me Chief!
Superman Cast:
George Reeves: Superman
Phyllis Coates: Lois Lane (1951-1953)
Noel Neill: Lois Lane (1953-1957)
Jack Larsen: Jimmy Olsen
John Hamilton: Perry White
Robert Shayne: Inspector William Henderson
The storyline of the Man of Steel is known to all. Beginning as a comic written by teens in 1938, through radio in 1940 (Bud Collyer played Superman), as feature length cartoons from 1941 to 1943, to 15 movie serials in 1948 and 1950 (Kirk Alyn as Superman), then to the big screen in 1951 as Superman and the Mole Men with George Reeves in the lead, the Man of Steel grew in popularity.
Regrettably, in 1959, George Reeves was found in his home, dead from a handgun shot. His death was ruled an apparent suicide caused by his depression over being unable to find suitable work because he had been typecast as Superman. However, the circumstances were conflicting, and many believe, to this day, that he was murdered. The strange case of his death has been a topic for TV's Unsolved Mysteries.
Hope ya enjoyed returnin' to "the good ole days" for awhile with me, and rememberin' the treasures stored in my attic. Thanks for stoppin' by!!
~Buffalo Gal~
