Showing posts with label Childhood memories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Childhood memories. Show all posts

Sunday, April 16, 2017

WHY THE VELVETEEN RABBIT SCARED ME AS A CHILD?


I realize I have poked fun of some of the nonsense on the Internet where people talk about fears of clowns, department store Santa Clauses and department store Easter Bunnies. Now, I am going to confess to having been frightened by something that is frequently referred to a "beloved children's favorite." It is the children's book, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams and first published in 1922.

I never read the book or had it read to me, but I saw an animated TV version. I tried to look for the one I watched on YouTube and couldn't find it. I had a hard time looking up information on this story or looking for the video because I get shaky and nauseated just think about the story (Go ahead, you jerks, and call me "snowflake").

So what scared me about this story that it STILL bothers me in my 40s?  Near the end of story, the little boy contracts a serious illness and a doctor tells the parents that they have to burn his toys because they are contaminated.

This probably wouldn't frighten any other kid, but since I was two years old, I have had multiple illnesses. I nearly spent several months of my early childhood in a oxygen tent at the hospital in Lebanon, Missouri, because of severe asthma. I was never able to really play outside like other kids, because what triggered my asthma was pollen and other allergens, which include trees and grass. I was confined to the indoors, so toys, books and records were my only source of fun. Imagine the terror if that was taken away and burned.

Maybe this didn't frighten other kids, because they didn't have illness in there lives or they had different circumstances in their lives. As for me, it created an anxiety that still won't go away.

At least I didn't say I'm afraid of clowns.

   

Sunday, December 4, 2016

WHAT DID MATTEL'S SOMERSAULTY THE CLOWN DOLL SAY?



This is a Mattel Somersaulty the Clown pull string doll. I had one just like this when I was a child. I had a hard time understanding what he said. He was supposed to say, "Do you want to see me do a somersault?" However, it always sounded more like "Do you want to see me suck soapy water?" True story.

NOTE: I had used this anecdote as part of a post on the original blog. I decided to delete that post, but this anecdote made me laugh so hard, I decided to use it in a post here since it had to do with a retro toy of the 70s. Hope you enjoy it.
 

Sunday, October 30, 2016

MY THEORY ON WHY RETRO HALLOWEEN PHOTOS ARE CUTE AND VINTAGE HALLOWEEN PHOTOS ARE CREEPY


You have probably seen several article (usually of the evil, scum-sucking click bait nature) on how found photos of vintage Halloween costumes seem to be "scary" and "creepy." On the other hand, retro Halloween photos seem to warm the heart and gather positive response. Why?

Here are some theories I have on this subject.


1.   VINTAGE HALLOWEEN PHOTOS ARE IN BLACK & WHITE OR SEPIA TONE, WHILE RETRO HALLOWEEN PHOTOS ARE IN COLOR.



Scientist have claimed that a large number of the population dreams (and had nightmares) in black & white. Most of the classic horror films are in black & white. There you go.





2. WE KNOW WHAT THE CHILDREN IN THE RETRO HALLOWEEN PHOTOS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE. 

Some would holler about commercialism and lack of creativity, but that is why many of us look at those photos lovingly. We remember going trick or treating dressed as Snoopy, Mickey Mouse, Batman, Strawberry Shortcake, Chewbacca, a Smurf, Frankenstein, or another popular pop culture character.




We usually look at the kids in vintage Halloween photos and say "What on Earth is that kid supposed to be?" Many of these kids look like faceless creatures, hooded vigilantes or giant animals in clothing.




3. RETRO HALLOWEEN PHOTOS ARE USUALLY TAKEN IN HOMES OR SCHOOLS. VINTAGE HALLOWEEN PHOTOS SEEM TO BE TAKEN OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. 





Once again, familiarity helps. The retro Halloween photos look like they were taken at our school Halloween party or at our house.




 The vintage Halloween photos always seem to be taken in a barren field or in front of old deserted house.

4. ANOTHER IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER...



These articles you see are usually written by a Generation X or Baby Boomer writer with an affection for that era of Halloween. We dressed in store bought costumes, then went home with a plastic Jack O'Lantern filled with Snickers, Kit Kats, Sweet Tarts and Mary Jane peanut butter kisses to watch It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown or Mad Monster Party. Many of them, now have children and grandchildren that they will take trick or treating or to a trunk or treat event. The kids in the vintage photos were probably given turnips and stale biscuits, which caused them to burn down barns and topple outhouses.



Those kids in those vintage Halloween photos (like the group above) are all dead now, but THEY WILL BE COMING BACK THIS HALLOWEEN TO DRAG YOU TO HELL! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Pleasant dreams.     

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

CHRISTMAS IN THE OZARKS IS NEVER FUN

Dear Santa: Can I have her under my tree?

I know, I know. You are going to say, "Here we go again! Another blog post from Desdinova about how living in the Ozarks is horrible." Folks, I only want what is best for the kids, because I didn't have much fun as a kid.

Some of you may remember a post from last year about some people who complained on a local TV stations Facebook and website about how the girls in one of the high school's marching bands were dressed. They were wearing "Santa's Little Helper" outfits, like the lovely lady above is wearing. The more I think about it, the more I got to thinking about how we don't do Christmas right in the Ozarks. It isn't fun. I'll give reasons it is not fun later in the post (For one thing not enough sex & nudity, but that is for Christmas as a holiday in general).

First, I'll give an example from my childhood of this very problem. When I was a child, in the late 70s & early 80s, my sister lived in western Oklahoma. She and her husband owned two shoes stores. We would visit them on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The day after Thanksgiving, we would go to the stores in those towns for their big "Kick Off To Christmas" sales. This was before that day had been dubbed "Black Friday" by the world at large.

Remember in the movie Christmas Story how the department store and town was decorated? That was what these stores were like. An overabundance of lights, holly, ribbons and shiny silver stuff. There was also a Santa Claus in EVERY store, not just one store. Some stores had both Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. We even went to one store that had a rather buxom woman dressed as Santa with a beard. My theory is the guy who was supposed to be Santa called in sick that day and the stores owner said "Quick, Paula, put on the Santa outfit! Let's hope the kids don't notice your boobs."

I wasn't just a simple, but flashy visit to Santa Claus. THEY GAVE AWAY STUFF! Christmas coloring books, chocolate Santa Claus, marshmallow snowmen, Christmas comic books, candy canes (which I don't like), Rudolph clickers, giant jingle bells, Christmas cookies and gingerbread men were given away at the various stores.

After that, I had to come home to Lebanon, where there were some decorations on the street lights and in some store windows. There may have been a Santa at Kmart and Wal-Mart, but nowhere else.  Frankly, there wasn't much to excite a kid about Christmas in Lebanon.

Found this on Tumblr. A Christmas ad for a store in Lebanon, MO.

I should add that it wasn't always that way. When I was a small child, one of the banks had an animated display with elves making toys and a snowman that would melt and then pop back up. Another store had a teddy bear in a sled that went back and forth in the store window. Then in the mid-70s, they stop putting these animated scenes in the windows. Supposedly, they broke down and were too expensive to fix... or so they said. Probably, some cranky, redneck parent didn't like that their kids want to go look at these displays every time that came to town, went to city council and asked that there be an ordinance against Christmas being fun in Lebanon.

At the place my father worked, they had a lighted Nativity scene in the window of the lobby, that you could see from the street. They quit putting the nativity scene up because of complaints. Now, before the soldiers in the "war on Christmas" start loading their guns, let me explain that the reason some old people (a group of veterans, I believe) in town said they were frightened by the three wise men because they "looked Arab."  At least, they replaced the Nativity scene with cool Willie Wirehand statue in a Santa Claus hat.

There was also a huge wooden Nativity scene along I-44 in Lebanon. The last few times that I remember it being erected, the wind blew part of it over and it wasn't taken down until about June. Supposedly, it was "too much trouble to maintain." When I hear people say things like this, I realize that this is where cartoonist got the stereotype of Ozarkers being shoeless guys with Duck Dynasty beards, laying on a hillside, sleeping next to a big jug of moonshine. 

I will say that Lebanon STILL has one of the biggest and best Christmas parades in the area, second or maybe tied with Branson's nighttime, lighted Christmas parade. So I'm not totally saying Lebanon or other communities don't do anything fun at Christmas, but they just don't seem to make it fun for kids.    

Every time I bring this up, someone says "We don't do that stuff any more." Yet when you bring up something that needs to be changed in the Ozarks, people will get defensive and say "We've always done things that way and we will continue to do it that way." So what is the difference. Simple, what I'm talking about appeals to children's joy and happiness. I've pointed out this out before, but in Ozarks children are fourth class citizens behind senior citizens, middle-aged adults and pets/livestock.

A good example of this mentality is the women, who were complaining about band girls wearing "Santa's little helper outfits," complained when another TV station's Facebook site listed a schedule for the children's Christmas specials, that we all grew up loving (Rudolph, Frosty, Charlie Brown & the Grinch), were going to be on.

One year there was a group of protesters at the Battlefield Mall, wearing t-shirts with a red slash across a picture of Santa Claus. Personally, I think there is no lower form of life on this planet than a person who hates Santa Claus.

These people are taking the fun out of Christmas by turning it into some right-wing-talk-radio-political-crusade. This people would deny your child the enjoyment of Rudolph or Charlie Brown, just so they can please Bill O'Reilly or Glen Beck. I'm sure they would rather their children watch Bill O'Reilly or Glen Beck than Rudolph or Charlie Brown, because Ozarkers believe you shouldn't let childhood innocence get in the way of their right-wing agenda.

As for the decorations, fix them or buy new ones. How hard is that problem to solve? Put out some effort to make Christmas time special for future customers. Many of the business that were in Lebanon, when I was a child, no longer exist. Perhaps if they had put out some of the effort, like the stores in Oklahoma did, they would still be around. Who knows.

Here is an idea. Let's have fun and joy this Christmas, whether it is with we visit a department store Santa, make a Styrofoam snowman, bake gingerbread men, read The Night Before Christmas, buy toys for needy children, buy lots of toys for your own children, cruise the suburbs looking at the lights on houses, put up light on your own house, watch Christmas cartoons and movies (I have to watch Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and the MST3K episode with the 1950s Mexican film Santa Claus every year), listen to Christmas record (download my Christmas music podcast), or watch girls in "Santa's Little Helper" outfits dance. The point is have fun and be nice to your fellow human beings.

Of course, my opinions are why I'm considered the Super-Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

         

Thursday, October 22, 2015

1977 HALLOWEEN SAFETY FILM SHOWS WHY I BELIEVE SOME PEOPLE MY AGE ARE SCREWED UP

I almost posted this first, but decided to post the 50s Halloween film first, so that watching this will be a jarring example of how attitudes changes toward kids and Halloween in over the course of two decades. The 50s film portrays Halloween as fun and games, while the 70s film portrays it as a dark and sinister world of multiple, suburban death traps.

Another thing to notice is that in the 50s film, the dog causes the problem, but is forgiven in the end. From the very beginning of the 1977 Halloween Safety film, the kids are relentlessly portrayed as the cause of countless problems, for drivers of large, gas guzzling cars, with their little Halloween antics and costumes. Of course, there are people who poison in the treats, so just have your parents throw all your candy away. The basic gist of this film is DON'T HAVE FUN.

This was an attitude that permeated my childhood in Missouri: FUN IS BAD. I mentioned it before, but the elementary school I attended in Lebanon, Missouri, only allowed the kindergartners to dress up or have any fun on Halloween, because "Halloween is a man made holiday" and "mature children don't trick or treat."

This was drilled into us as children, along with "You don't want to be like the previous generation." (Baby Boomers) My thought was "Why? They are having all the fun. I'm stuck here doing this worthless arithmetic junk." That usually got me slapped by the teacher (I'm against discipline and violence to children, but that is a topic for another time). 

What I'm seeing now is some people my age getting in trouble for various crimes and I think, "Wait a minute, these were the 'positive peer pressure - Just Say No' group. They signed contracts that said they would abstain from rock music, drugs and sex. What happened?"

My theory is these people tried to conform to the rigid ideas the adults of the community had about what a "good, responsible, mature kid" was supposed to be, that they eventually just snapped and broke the rules. Cranky adults robbed them of a fun and happy childhood by trying to force them into some idea of a perfect adult at a young age. On the other hand, I thought adults were full of BS, broke all the little rules and I've stayed out of trouble. As I always say, I hate adults, I'm ashamed I grew up to be one.

Another thing this rigid attitude by adults caused others of my generation to have a deep resentment towards today's kids. Every day I see this on Facebook with memes claiming that "In my day, we cured ADHD by beating kids with belts." Not only is advocating child abuse not funny, but the truth was they tried to cure ADHD by not allowing kids to drink any red Kool-Aid. The NO-FUN adult factor strikes again. Facebook has become a constant barrage of "kids are stupid" garbage that should have died out several years ago, but is rearing its ugly head with my "do-gooder" classmates.

Speaking of the previous generation, I have been forced to work with several of the talk radio ilk, who are proud that they were not part of the counter culture or into that rebellious stuff that other Baby Boomers did. These are people are not only bitter, cranky, little people, but they will stab you in the back and leave you for dead. I believe the proper word for that behavior is conniving.

So watch this film and realize that most of this is part of the "cranky adult" attitude that I've been fighting and thumbing my nose at since I was a kid. Following the rules laid out in this film, will make you have a boring Halloween and screw up a generation. Of course, this opinion is why I'm considered the SUPER-VILLAIN OF THE OZARKS! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!


Wednesday, October 7, 2015

The Halloween That Almost Wasn't/The Night That Dracula Saved The World

Click to enlarge ad

I'm glad I found this video. I've been looking for it to post here during the Countdown to Halloween. I remember watching this as a child and liking it, because of the monsters. I also thought it seemed more mature and intelligent than the other kid's Halloween specials.

It has references to the monster kid phenomenon, disco, TV commercials, and even a reference to the movie, Young Frankenstein. Judd Hirsch is great as Dracula. He not only sounds like Lugosi, but looks like him. John Schuck was so good as Frankenstein's monster that later, in the 80s, he played Herman on a short lived revival of The Munsters. Mariette Hartley, who was spokes person for Polaroid cameras at the time, tries to sound like Margarete Hamilton. However, many people on YouTube said that when they were kids they thought it was Cher playing the witch. Enjoy this seldom seen TV special of the 70s.

BTW, I found the TV Guide ad on Pinterest and, lo and behold, it is from the Southwest Missouri edition.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

I'M ASHAMED I WATCHED THE DUKES OF HAZZARD


We've all done it. We watched a TV show we enjoyed as a child or teenager after we became an adult and thought, "Why did I like this as a kid? This is horrible." For me that TV show is The Dukes of Hazzard.


You have to understand that this was the era when most people only received four networks. You also didn't have a VCR or DVD player or PC to stream movies. The Dukes of Hazzard was also THE TV SHOW to watch among the sixth graders in Lebanon, Missouri. If you weren't watching The Dukes of Hazzard, you would be considered a worthless, piece of human garbage. Many of my former classmates are constantly posting and re-posting a meme on Facebook, which asserts that people who watched The Dukes of Hazzard and Hee Haw as kids are superior to others. I don't think there is any scientific facts to back this belief up.

Watching the show now on DVD or in reruns, it becomes obvious that after the first season, they basically did the same script over and over. As a matter of fact, most of the cast nearly quit between season four and five over this. This was part of the reason Tom Wopat and John Schneider walked off the show. According to a TV Guide article (Dec. 25 -31 1982), everyone else on the show wanted out.

Now, with that aside, the reason I can't stand watching the The Dukes of Hazzard now: The use of the phrase "good ole boys."  Bo and Luke, in the theme song by Waylon Jennings, are referred to as "good ole boys." At the time this show aired, when I was in sixth grade, I took it the "good ole boys" actually meant "a force of good in the universe" (my comic book geekiness showing).

After becoming an adult and getting out in the "real world," I noticed the term "good ole boy" used not for people doing good, but for people like Boss Hogg and Roscoe P. Coltrane. To be honest, Boss Hogg and Roscoe are Presidential Medal of Honor Winners compared to many of the "good ole boys" I've met and had to deal with in my adult life.

The phrase "good ole boy" tends to be a euphemism or secret code word for "my loud-mouthed, sleazy, unethical, racist, sexist, homophobic, smelly, alcoholic, redneck friend, that abuses his wife and kids, but I like better him than you." Every business or work place in this part of the country has, at least, one of these type of individuals under their roof.

This "good ole boy" doesn't have a college degree and just barely has a high school diploma, but somehow has ascended to a cushy management position and receives a huge paycheck. Of course, the reason is this guy kisses the butt of the boss by doing the dirty work he wants done. Usually, he is the cousin, brother-in-law, or high school drinking buddy of the boss. This guy usually bullies everyone, talks dirty to female employees, repeats dumb stuff he heard on talk radio (or sings along with a country radio station), brings Jim Beam in his thermos, reads back issues of Guns & Ammo and spits his tobacco juice in every adjacent waste basket, while everyone else does the hard work.

However, if the boss wants the tires of the employees trying to unionize slashed or a competitor's business burned to the ground or needs someone to stalk the nerdy boy sending flowers to his hot, smoking daughter, the "good ole boy" is ready to earn that paycheck he receives that is bigger than the other employees. He also is quick to run and tattle to the boss on the employees breaking a stupid company policy or talking about how they think he is a crooked tyrant. Of course, if you question this guy's unethical and downright bad behavior, you will get the response, "But he is a good ole boy." That absolves this guy of any wrong doing in the eyes of his small community.

The bad part about these "good ole boys" is that in many small communities they get elected to city council, county commission or the school board, where they usually vote against anything that would be good for the community. They always say they want to keep the community "just like Mayberry," but what they real want is for it to be just like Hazzard County. Sad part some of them go on to the state legislature and then...well, this explains most of the makeup of our current U.S. Congress. Yes folks, Boss Hogg and Roscoe P. Coltrane are running Washington, D.C. As Waylon Jennings would say, in his narration of the show, "Folks, this don't look good."

Maybe this version of the "good ole boy" is only a phenomenon of southwest Missouri, but I some how feel that it isn't the case. Every small community has a group of  "good ole boys" that do horrible things, but people just slaps them on the back and laugh about it.

After reading this, some will say, "So, Desdinova, are you saying that we shouldn't watch reruns of The Dukes of Hazzard. No, I'm just saying I don't enjoy it because of my experience with the "good ole boy" mentality.


However, there is one thing that I like about this show that I wish would become a common practice. I wish more women would wear pantyhose with their shorts like Daisy did. NOW THAT IS A GOOD THING! Of course, these opinions are why I'm considered the SUPER VILLAIN OF THE OZARKS!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

THE END

Friday, April 3, 2015

Female Comic Strip Character Movie No. 5: BLONDIE


Hard to believe that after a year hiatus on this subject, I'm giving you two in a row. I thought this would be the hardest for two reasons: availability and viewing pleasure. Thanks to Youtube, I watched this for free, as well as a few others in the series.

I remember seeing these at various times on WTCG/WTBS from Atlanta, and later on they were run on KSPR in Springfield, MO on Sunday afternoon. I was afraid that seeing this again after all those years would I would say to myself, "This sucks! I thought this was so wonderful in my childhood. I must have been a moron!" Truth is, I enjoyed seeing this again.

The 1938 film, Blondie, was the beginning of a long running series of films based on the popular comic strip, that is still in newspapers today. Most of the movies I've reviewed have been based on continuity strips rather than gag-a-day comic strips. The fact is Blondie started out as a continuity strip and also part of a short lived fad called "pretty girl" strips. She was a ditzy blonde flapper, who liked to party. I realize I'm going to upset some people with this next statement, but the "pretty girl" comic strips were the 20's version of some of the reality shows on cable TV.  Before we had Paris Hilton, Tila Tequila, Lauren Conrad, the Kardashians, and the girls of Jersey Shore, the funny papers had Tillie the Toiler, Winnie Winkle, Boots and Her Buddies, Dixie Dugan, Ella Cinders and Dumb Dora. Several of these characters were drawn to look like actress Louise Brooks, just as Valentina would later.

Blondie, as well as another strip, Fritzi Ritzi, were part of this trend but survived long after because they were revamped. Fritzi Ritzi was joined by a little niece named Nancy, who became the focus of the strip. Under the name Nancy, the comic strip is still popular to this day.

From the first day of the strip Blondie was in love with a somewhat clumsy and goofy son of a railroad magnet named Dagwood Bumstead. When they finally married, Dagwood's father disowned him. From that moment until today, Blondie became the smart and well-grounded one in the relationship. It also dropped the continuing storyline for the gag-a-day format that it has today.


Blondie is played by the lovely Penny Singleton. Close your eyes during one of these movies and listen to her voice. If it sounds familiar, it is because she was later the voice of Jane Jetson on The Jetsons. She is very convincing as a beautiful young woman, who would do anything for her doofus husband.

Speaking of doofus husband, Hollywood could not have found a better actor to play Dagwood than Arthur Lake. His head is shaped like Dagwood's head is shaped in the funnies. Lake paved for actors such as Buster Crabbe, Tom Tyler, Ralph Byrd, Sam J. Jones, and, more recently, Ryan Reynolds and Ben Afleck to play more than one comic strip/book character in the movies. Lake had played Harold Teen in a silent movie of that popular comic strip.

However, the movie is stolen by Larry Simms, a four year old playing Baby Dumpling (now known in the comic strip as Alexander). He is hilarious in this first film and rather good in the others that I sampled. I'm sure some would be upset with a scene where he bashes a neighbor kid in the head with a large brick (Off camera, but still the suggestion would upset people).

This movies sets up a formula that worked in the rest of the series. Dagwood gets in trouble with Mr. Dithers (Johnathan Hale), who eventually fires him, then Dagwood gets involved in some other mess trying to win his job back, meets a beautiful woman, Blondie becomes jealous, but she eventually saves the Dagwood's butt.

The movies were made from 1938 to 1950. They were re-released to the theaters for several year and then syndicated to TV with an opening theme song, featuring two unknown singers, were added over the original credits. Also the opening featured a clip of Dagwood crashing into Postman Beasley and his yell "BBBLLLOOOONN-DDDEEEEE!," which may have been from the radio show, since Lake and Singleton played Blondie and Dagwood radio too.

Besides Dagwood running late and smashing into Postman Beasley, there is an appearance of one of Dagwood's famous sandwiches. One thing changed from the comic strip was Blondie's maiden name. In the movie, her mother and sister have the last name of Miller. In the comics, Blondie's family name was Boopadoop. Sometimes movies change things about comics for the best.

My only problem with this movie is an appearance by my least favorite actor of all-time, Willie Best. Ugh!

The Blondie film series is the forerunner of many of the early TV sitcoms. The humor and situations are identical. I realize someone reading this will go into one of those rants about "If only we had movies like this today the world would be a better place." Well, brace yourself for this, but in the early 90s, the artist behind Blondie, Dean Young (son of the strip's creator Chic Young), decided to update the strips look and content in the 90s. For many years, everything in the strip was drawn the same as it was when these movies were made, which may have been why they were still popular for years after their original run. From the 90s on the characters used cell phones and computers. Blondie wears slacks and started a catering business with her friend, Tootsie. Baby Dumpling now works at a fast food joint called Burger Barn. He and his sister listen to hip-hop. Yes, folks change has to come, so GET OVER IT!!!

As I mention, this film and most of the other films in the series are available on YouTube. The only trailer I could find is either from a re-release of the 50s or a TV promo for Blondie On a Budget. It is obviously a re-release because the voice over is by comedian Eddie Lawrence, who didn't become famous until the mid-50s and Rita Hayworth was not a major "promotable" star when this film came out. 





Sunday, March 8, 2015

IS MR. SPOCK THE GREATEST TV CHARACTER EVER?


What was it about Mr. Spock that captured the hearts and imagination of millions around the world? I'm not sure you would call him cool. He wasn't the streetwise kind of cool like the Fonz or Vinnie Barbarino, nor was he that slick, charming kind of cool like Napoleon Solo, but he was cool in a way that was different. He was smart and philosophical than everyone else on the Enterprise, so you might say that made him a nerd or a nerd's ideal. Let's face it, there were a lot of other things that made Mr. Spock popular. Even though he exist in an idealized future, his life, like ours, isn't perfect.

Yes, he was smart, had superhuman strength (which he rarely used), mind reading abilities, a self-defense technique that renders people unconscious, and didn't have emotions to weigh him down, but he wasn't good looking with those bangs, greenish complexion,  the windshield-wiper eyebrows and, of course, the pointed ears. He was the hero for those who weren't good looking. Mr. Spock was the epitome of the person who stood out in a crowd.

You might say, Mr. Spock didn't fit in with his other crew mates. He was in the shadow of the dashing, heroic and good looking Captain Kirk, who you might say was sort of the jock to Mr. Spock's nerd. If Spock was a nerd, you can continue using junior high and middle school archetypes by pointing out that McCoy was the redneck who was always picking on people. He constantly harassed Spock about his green blood.

Add to this another thing about the Mr. Spock character he was multiracial. We found out during the course of the show that Mr. Spock was the child of a Vulcan father and an Earthling mother. Since he wasn't full blooded of either kind, he also didn't fit in with other children on the planet Vulcan, as was shown in the animated series.

This week in 1967, NBC aired one of the first episodes to give us an insight into Mr. Spock, "This Side of Paradise." Granted, they were tidbits thrown out through dialog in a story in which Spock is reunited with a beautiful female colleague named Leila (played by Jill Ireland, who looks like my old flame, Eunice Moneymaker), who had a major crush on him. Spock, of course, paid no attention to her because love is "a human emotion."

The landing party is supposed to evacuate the people on this communal planet, due to a radiation contamination, however, they don't want to go because they are "happy" and "healthy." It turns they are under the influence of strange plants that spray spores causing a euphoria. When Mr. Spock is sprayed with by one of the plants (which looks like a plant called caster beans that my Grandpa Jones planted around his garden to keep moles out), he not only notices how beautiful Leila is, but also notices clouds and rainbows. "Before today, I could tell you how they form in the sky, but until now I never noticed how beautiful they look." He is very close to singing "Both Sides Now."  Mr. Spock also begins defying Captain Kirk's orders and climbing trees.

Besides seeing that Mr. Spock is awkward at love, we find out in this episode about his parents, and he has super strength. Captain Kirk finds that the spores are counteracted by anger. He brings Mr. Spock back to normal by angering him to the point of violence with some rather vicious insults about his looks (Mystery Science Theater 3000 opened one show with a parody of this episode). This and "Amok Time" are the quintessential Spock episodes.

Almost as soon as Star Trek debuted, Mr. Spock became a fascination with people. 93 KHJ Boss radio in Los Angeles ran a Star Trek contest, where the winner got to meet Leonard Nimoy on the set of Star Trek (See the above KHJ Boss 30 Countdown flyer). Cheer Laundry Detergent altered a future man character (played by Robert Rodan, who played Adam on Dark Shadows) to look like Mr. Spock.

 


I noticed on many comments on retro blogs, social and news media websites after the death of Leonard Nimoy that many people said they had a Mr. Spock toy, t-shirt, pajamas, or Halloween costume. Matter of fact, when I was six years old, I was Mr. Spock for Halloween. I made the costume, although none of the stores in Lebanon or Springfield sold the pointed ears, so I had to make due with some "giant" plastic ears. I also had a pair of tube socks with Mr. Spock's picture on them.


I even had this Star Trek coloring book with Mr. Spock wearing a red shirt on the cover. Don't worry, he survived the coloring book.

I think kids gravitated toward Mr. Spock over the other characters because he was the different one. They could be a Captain Kirk or a Dr. McCoy, but Mr. Spock was something they couldn't be...a highly intelligent being from another planet, who was one of the good guys.

Mr. Spock is probably the most complex characters ever created for TV. While he prides himself on being emotionless, he is far from being one-dimensional and boring. Bravo ranked him 21st on their list of 100 Greatest TV characters ever and TV Guide ranked him sixth on their list of 50 greatest TV characters. Personally, Mr. Spock is the greatest TV character ever. Live long and prosper.   


 






Thursday, October 30, 2014

#THROWBACK THURSDAY - HALLOWEEN COSTUMES & MASK

HAPPY CLOWN
FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER
THE HULK
MISS KITTY
GRANNY CLAMPETT
SAMANTHA
HERMAN MUNSTER
A BEATLE
UNDERDOG
BATMAN
THE SHADOW
BART SIMPSON
BARNABAS COLLINS


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