The Lincoln Park Round-Up:

I went to the Lincoln Park amusement park in North Dartmouth Massachusettes quite a few times in the mid to late '70s. One time I went, I rode The Round-Up. 8 times in a row. I got SO sick...

Misc. Remembrance:

In the late '70s we had a neighbor named Dick Q. In the summertime he used to get drunk on beer on Sunday mornings then mow his lawn while playing loud Irish music. I don't know why that was his "thing", but whatever..

Irene Goodnight, Irene goodnight. Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene, we'll see you in our dreams:

Sometimes she sleeps in pajamas
Sometimes she sleeps in a gown;
But when they're both in the laundry,
Irene is the talk of the town.
Irene never goes off to Dreamland
'Til she's combed every hair on her head;
She puts it in neat little curlers,
Then she hangs it on the post of the bed.
A burglar broke in Irene's bedroom,
The dear girl was sleeping in peace.
Then Irene she fought like a tiger,
'til the burglar called the police..
Irene goodnight,
Irene goodnight.
Goodnight Irene,
Goodnight Irene,
Well see you in our dreams.

I remember an episode of Little House On The Prairie...

... when Nellie Olsen fell in love with the son of a pig farmer. Mrs. Olsen was less than thrilled. So Nellie invites the boy over to the house for dinner and he shows up wearing no shoes. Then they decide to elope and get married by a justice of the peace, and as they're in the town's only hotel in their room about to consumate the marriage, Mrs. Olsen barges into the room with a shotgun and starts shooting and the kid runs out of the room in his longjohns. I'm not sure if the marriage got annulled or how it dissolved, but needless to say it didn't last..

Misc.:

This was Mary's step-up kitchen. I always liked the stained-glass roll-up window/partition and the brick wall. Of course, if someone shut me in there I'd panic from claustrophobia, but still it wasn't a bad setup.

Misc. Remembrance:

When I was around 4 years old, one of the rooms in our house was my playroom where all my toys were kept and that's where I'd hang out. I found a plastic spoon, and since I didn't have anything else to do I decided to see what would happen if I stuck it into one of the electrical outlets. I ended up on my ass. If you're tempted to try it I'd advise against it..

The good scissors:

In our house we always had an "everything drawer". That's where my folks kept the note pads, pens, pencils, tape, playing cards, etc. Also there were 2 pairs of scissors: the regular scissors, and "the good scissors". I was not allowed to use "the good scissors". Only mom could use "the good scissors", dad wasn't even allowed to use "the good scissors". If I had to use scissors, mom would always remind me not to use "the good scissors". Then as I was in the process of cutting, she'd call out: "You're not using the good scissors, are you???!!!?!". Then she'd find an excuse to come into the room just to make sure I wasn't using "the good scissors". I think she's past that stage now..

A 1969 Christmas:

So did anyone else get Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots that year? And were any of you an only child like me?? Receiving a game that was meant for two??? Does anyone else see the irony in this????

Their favorite foods:

Walter Findlay liked Gatorade because "it made him feel like a jock". Jan Brady liked peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. Marcia Brady liked spaghetti. JJ Evans liked his mom's sweet potato pie. Gilligan liked Mary Ann's coconut cream pie. Fred Flintstone liked brontosaurus burgers. Archie Bunker liked having a Twinkie in his lunch bucket and a beer when he came home from work. Alice Hyatt liked anything with chocolate. Laverne Defazio liked milk and Pepsi. Shirley Feeney liked Fudgesicles (pronounced fudge sicles, not fudgicles. She was very particular about that...)

1974:

I'm not sure what you were doing on December 19th 1974, but I'm pretty sure I was probably reading the Sears Wishbook. Over and over. And over. And over. And over....

Misc. remembrance:

When I was a kid, my birthday was always celebrated a week before the actual day, because our family would host Christmas Eve for the whole extended family and a birthday party just would've been too much. My friends were rather jealous that I got to open my birthday gifts a week before. Above is, I believe, either 1970 or 1971.

Back in the day, my Great Grandmother (Bachi) loved The Bobby Vinton Show. She was a huge fan because he spoke and sang fluent Polish. My Great Grandmother came to the United States from Poland back in '39, and lived in Taunton Massachusetts 'til her passing. I'm sure she missed her homeland terribly, and Bobby sort of "eased the pain", so to speak. She and my Grandmother lived in a 2-apartment house on Meadow Street down by the Reed & Barton factory. My Great Grandmother lived in the second story apartment, and my Grandmother lived on the first floor apartment. My grandmother also spoke fluent Polish, and every now and then they'd argue together in Polish because nobody could understand them, and it used to drive me crazy not knowing what they were saying. How rude..

Back in the day:

Seems like everyone liked hanging out at Mr. Hooper's.

Random:

When I was a kid we did things as a family, but we never went on a picnic. I also didn't grow up near a nuclear plant, either..

Random fact:

When I was a kid I never was never in the habit of playing with my food.

Aunt Jenny turned 100 this year:

My grandmother's sister Jenny turned 100 years old this year (I don't know her exact birthday). My grandmother passed away in '86, and everyone else from that generation passed on, but Jenny's still going strong. She apparantly took after her mother, because my great grandmother lived to be 92 (she probably would've lived longer if she hadn't broken her hip). Jenny lives in Raynham Massachusetts with her daughter, and was just awarded with an "Oldest Person In Raynham" award, but between you and me that doesn't seem to be an award I'd wanna brag about. Or show people...

I was just thinking about...

... Fannie Flagg. She was a regular on various game shows back in the day. She was also on Candid Camera. Once they set her up as a lady working in an information booth in a mall, and she didn't know anything. It was hillarious watching people get exasperated with her, she was funny as hell. I think she's an author now. She's one classy lady.

Sha Na Na:

So does anyone remember the Sha Na Na tv show from sometime around 1977? I watched it, although I only remember Bowzer. The guy next to the long-haired guy wearing glasses looks like Billy Crystal, but I don't think it's him. I don't remember any of their songs except for the last line of the song they always used to sing at the end of the show (goodnight sweetheart goodnight). I could only watch it my folks weren't in the room because they couldn't stand the show... well what did they know. This was quality programming. For a 9-year old ....

Question:

So did any of you make it to the Sid and Marty Krofft amusement park during its, like, 2 month run? In a mall?? I saw something about it on a tv show documentary about the '70s. It looked very disturbing. I'm not surprised it didn't last.

Post-'70s remembrance:

One of my top five '80s movies is The Breakfast Club. I know their characters were supposed to represent one of every kind of teenager, but I didn't fit in to one particular character. My favorite character was Judd Nelson's. I wanted to be a Judd Nelson, but I didn't have quite the chip on my shoulder. I wasn't a jock like Emilio, and I wasn't popular like Molly. I was kind of a cross between a Judd and an Anthony Michael Hall. I could sort of relate to Ally Sheedy's character, because back then I was kind of a misfit and for the most part I just didn't fit in with any crowd. I could watch that movie over and over.

Sunday Comic:

I do this too.

When it's least expected, you're elected, you're the star today; smile! You're on Candid Camera:

It's fun to laugh at yourself, you're a comic tried and true. It's fu-un to look at yourself like o-ther people dooo. Have a sense of humor, there's a rumor: laughter's on it's waa-a-ay; smile! You're on Can-did Cam-eraaa.

Happy Thanksgiving:

I'm thankful for my God, my country, my freedom that allows me to blog about whatever I want to, and the fact that this week marks the 19th anniversary that I quit smoking cigarettes. A very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

I wouldn't hang around either..

You enter a very dark room

And sitting there in the gloom

Is Dracula! Now how do you say goodbye?

Immediately ... immediately ... immediate ... L-Y

Bye Bye!

So do any of you remember..

... Kaptain Kool & The Kongs? You don't? Well neither do I..

Random:

In the '70s my aunt Pat used to cut hair. She had 6 kids so it would've broke the bank to pay for 6 haircuts every month. She'd often say "The difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut is 2 weeks", but I think for the above it's going to take a little longer than that..

So how many of you had...

... a Hasbro gumball machine back in the day?? I had a couple. They were never sold with enough gumballs to fill up the head, and my folks wouldn't get me replacement gumballs once they were gone (it only took a day to finish them all. Like how long does it take to go through 15 little gumballs). And instead of constantly using new coins to get a new gumball, I'd just remove the bottom of the base and get the same coin and use it over and over again. These things were much better on the commercials..

Happy mother's day, honey:

In 1973, dad came home at the end of the workday with mom's Mother's Day gift: a blue umbrella. She was less than thrilled.

Random observance:

I guess every boy back in the day had those color-striped knee-high socks. And a 10-speed. And a skateboard. And basically the same haircut. I had everything but the 10-speed. Oh well, you can't have everything....

Maybe it's just me...

... but I'm not sure I'd have wanted to be left alone with Mr. McFeely..

It's Veteran's Day:

To all veterans everywhere: I thank you for your service. You're the best.

Zim Zam:

We got a set sometime around '79. I'd forgotten the name of it until I did an ebay search, which is where I get quite a few pics for this site. I played it at a relative's house so I asked for it, but once we got it I didn't care for it too much. My folks liked it, though.

Random find:

I found the above pic when I did an image search for '70s ads. Between you and me, he looks a little old to be running away from home..

Big Wheel:

I don't know many boys who didn't have one of these back in the day. It must've been a boy toy, because I didn't know any girls who had one. I had a friend named David, and mom brought me over to his house one day sometime around '73 so she could have coffee with David's mom. I was in the kitchen with mom and David's mom, asking mom about something, and David called out: "Hey mom! Look at this!". We went into a different room and saw David at the top of the stairs on his Big Wheel. Just as his mom started to open her mouth to say "Don't do it", David took off down the stairs on his Big Wheel. And crashed right into the front door. He never did it after that. I'm surprised he didn't crack a rib or two...

So did any of you have ...

... Hee Haw overalls?? One girl in my class did. I always thought they were just for girls, but I saw a catalog page on the image search results page that apparantly the blogger "Plaid Stallions" posted on his or her blog, with a boy wearing them too. The above is dated 1971.

The Frosty Sno-Man Sno-Cone Machine:

Had it. I think eventually it fell off the table and broke, so my folks got me the Snoopy one after. Had a little trouble crushing the ice so I just opened the flavor packets and drank the syrup. While mom yelled at me..

Between you and me:

I always liked Barney's car better than Fred's. Barney's was more of a compact sport's car while Fred's was more of a family sedan/suv, although I don't think I'd really like to own either one.

Annual ritual:

I always looked forward to the seasonal Peanuts Specials. I don't know who I felt the most sorry for: Charlie Brown for getting rocks in his bag, or Sally wasting her whole night in the pumpkin patch with Linus. One of the things I liked about the stories were the fact that the parents were never around. Unlike mine.....

Random:

All afternoon I've been in a bad mood. It's just been "one of those days"...

I was going to wait 'til Halloween to post this, but I really didn't have anything else to post today...

Dynamite Magazine had several deluxe editions. I've only since learned about them by doing image searches for pics to post here on my site. I had two: The Dynamite Club Handbook and The Year-Round Catalog Of Hot Stuff. There were about a half-dozen more that I hadn't heard about (like the above). Maybe they were only sold in book stores because I don't ever remember seeing them on the Scholastic order forms in school. I guess back in the day these only cost $1.50, but I'm sure if you found a complete unused edition on ebay you'd end up paying at least 20 bucks. Then again you don't often find them on today's secondary market, either they were used extensively and didn't survive, or nobody knew about them (like me) and therefore not many were sold. Who knows.

M*A*S*H:

Mash was always a favorite of mine. But back in the day, my folks hated it so I couldn't watch it (the days when every house had only one television set). When I was around 13, I finally got a TV in my room, so I watched it then. I'd love to watch the re-runs, but I don't have a television (haven't had one for years), and whenever I'm at a place that has one I can't watch it either because no matter who I'm with, they can't stand the show. Maybe someday I'll see it again. BTW, red never was very complimentary on Klinger. Lavender really would've accentuated his complexion much better.