life, the universe, and everything

Let's dance at the Batcave!

Let’s dance at the Batcave!

some things never change

When I was a little girl, the only soda I would drink (other people called it “pop,” but I couldn’t,) was 7-Up. I hated all the fruity things, root beer gave me a headache, and I thought Coke and Pepsi were cloying, though I probably wouldn’t have used that word. Dr Pepper is delicious to me as an adult, but I didn’t like it back then, either. Sprite was no good; it was a sticky 7-Up wannabe. 

So it delights me to collect the 7-Up ads from my babyhood. There are a few others in the blog, back a-ways.

Well, this one is from before I was born…

 

In the mid-late 60s, 7-Up ads were always sort of alive, to me. They matched the product very well, I think. But I’d drink only the original version now, as I find the HFCS to be metallic on the tongue and phlegmy in the throat.

This stuff here was as crisp and sharp as the photo indicates, and clean on the throat.

It might not surprise you that I could never drink the soda out of a can or bottle (they were all glass then, children!) and insisted on a glass. There was a soda around briefly in the late 80s called Rondo that I could drink from the can, but it didn’t last long. When I was a teenager, I discovered Pellegrino, and then that was the only sparkling drink I enjoyed until I rediscovered Dr Pepper about 25 years ago. (Yes, I am that old.)

Anyway. Always a bit fussy, but only about certain things. :-)

the nostalgic season

I like to think about how TV shows were initially produced just to sell advertising. Okay, that’s glossing over the story a bit, but in general, it’s so. Well, it began with radio, of course. Advertisers wanted to sell Lux soap flakes or whatever, so they’d put on a 15 minute show for you, and in the middle of it, the star of the show would glorify suds. 

I mean, in case you never really got it, that’s why Fred Flintstone told your parents which cigarettes to buy. Winston was paying for a very big chunk of the show.

This is from the Dec. 4, 1964 edition of LIFE magazine. Isn’t it fun to think of Donna Reed giving out sewing machines and transistor radios and phonographs for Christmas? They’d all be wrapped in the same exact shiny, shiny paper, with big beautiful bows attached at the gift wrap department, of course. 
Do you remember the gift wrap department? But I assure you, there was such a thing. You’d bring the things you bought from various departments at Macy’s or other stores up to this room near customer service and the bathrooms, and they’d wrap em all there for you. You could come back later for them if you wanted to. All year round. I mean, sure, you can still have your purchases wrapped at many stores. But it isn’t at all the same thing. 

There are still Singer stores, here and about. But they’re not the same thing at all these days, either. Nothing is. Maybe that’s why every time someone produces a “new” Christmas song it’s such a lame or tortured failure. 

When this song was written in 1950, sure, it was idealistic. However. It was rooted in a very different reality than the one we now share. 

And now, boys and girls, you know why old people act a little bitter sometimes.  But we should all understand that statement, “There is nothing new under the sun,” was written 3,000 years ago. :-)

Happy Birthday, Dave Brubeck

Pic from 1950, click for a recording from 1962:

Got your tree (off the lot or out of the attic) yet? Let Duke Ellington inspire you to do it up right!

Got your tree (off the lot or out of the attic) yet?

Let Duke Ellington inspire you to do it up right! 

I'm back in time for Christmas!

Last year in this space I focused on a few last-minute holiday tips. This year I’m expanding, featuring Christmas decor, party-planning, shopping and music, from now til Christmas Day. 

Here’s a song to get things swinging! Cha-Cha All the Way!

value-added

theswingingsixties:

Aretha Franklin — Yeah!!! - 1965 album cover art.

Interesting mix of light jazz, lounge, folk songs on here. This cover is definitely a value-added quantity.

Hoping to do some ad scanning this weekend. One can always hope. :-)

a borrowed schtick

Always funny, but actually most known as being said by Dean Martin, who probably got it from Joe E. Lewis…or from Joey Bishop, who wrote a lot of the Sands Hotel schtick. They all “borrowed” heavily from each other.

Hello!

mavrock1:

James Garner

Hello.

1966: Emerging Technology & the Art of Corporate Apology

I love when I can find relevance in the recent past to something I’m interested in currently.

Before electronic banking and debiting:

Before digitally streaming audio/video:

Before Reed Hastings’ Monday morning email:

Note that Renault is still fairly passive-aggressive in their language and tone. It’s all, “You funny Americans.” But it’s still a real apology, with corporate accountability, and notation of steps taken and goals to be met.