Yes. Again. But hey: some sites just go dark and say "later gator." Or would, if it was 1974. I may take a break from time to time but we'll never stint on the Stuff.
Let's begin!
As we know well, the first installment of a Hiatus will look at an old TV Guide. It is the way of things.
I think I’ve mentioned this before: he always unnerved me as a kid. Something thuggish about him.
Of course, I had no idea where he came from, and how this stiff, charisma-free guy with immobile torso and the swinging arms was a national figure.
This has nothing to do with the show.
It’s just fluffery for the show, Pantomime Quiz.
Guests: Hans Conried, a voice I grew up with, thanks to his work with Total Television animation.And FRANK DEVOL, a man who would eventually just go by his last name. And some maniac named Vinnie Cost or something.
As for the gondolier:
Howard Jerome Morris (September 4, 1919 – May 21, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, and director. He was best known for his role in The Andy Griffith Show as Ernest T. Bass, and as "Uncle Goopy" in a celebrated comedy sketch on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows (1954).
He also did some voices for television shows such as The Flintstones (1962–1965), The Jetsons (1962–1987), The Atom Ant Show (1965–1966), and Garfield and Friends (1988–1994).
Remarkable resume - and I don’t think one out of 50 casual students of TV history could name him. Maybe that’s just my failing.
This will hit local Social Security-eligible folk right in the sternum, I think:
Axel, played by Clellan Card, was one of the most beloved children's television hosts ever seen in the Twin Cities. His show ran from August of 1954 until his death from pancreatic cancer in April, 1966. Axel was "the bespectacled children's show host with the comical moustache and corny Scandinavian accent," who lived in a tree house with his dog Towser and cat Tallulah.
The ad mentions not just Axel, but the amusement park. It was around from 1925 to 1973. The streetcar line went out there, bringing hot city dwellers to the lake, where they could swelter a bit less and hope for a cool lake breeze.
Star Studded! Not the best illustration int the world, but if you’re of a certain age or perhaps just culturally literate, you can tell who they are without checking the print. Although to tell you the truth, I’m not sure who’s between Phil and Lucy. Probably the Borgemeister.
Wow: W. C. Handy was on the show. I don’t think he played with Armstrong, since this aired in July of 1958, and Handy had died in March.
Well, look who:
Those of us who were tweens or early tweens when Laugh-In started tend to think these guys sprang out of the soil like Rocky and Bullwinkle.
I think the taint that attached to them after Laugh-In - a culturally influential but generally dreadful thing - wasn’t fair. On one hand, they got catapulted to national A-list consciousness right away. On the other hand, they were yesterday’s news when it was over.
Comedy duos: a mainstay, once. Like, you know, Noonan and Marshall.
“At the height of the show's popularity, Rowan and Martin starred in the 1969 film The Maltese Bippy, which was a notorious failure.”
Sigh.
Uh SPOILER?
There are many more Gatsby adaptations than you might realize.
Hey vulnerable 14-year old
Yer a porker
She doesn’t seem very happy, does she. Something absent in the eyes.
Art’s show had an up-to-date twist:
The Univac! The Brussels World Fair!
The back cover ad:
I like it.
Yes, it's going to be one of those Hiatuses. Sorry, but I love this stuff.
No YouTube links, so you won't have to sit through an ad to watch an ad.
Today: Continental. Do me a favor and don't binge on these until we're hiatally concluded, just to permit me to make a point later on.
I know it's a lot to ask.
I never thought I’d see - okay, hear the day when Mr. Atoz and Casey Kasey teamed up.
Two interesting things about Mr. Ian Wolfe:
He finally gained his greatest fame at the age of 85, effortlessly stealing scenes as Mama Carlson's doddering yet feisty butler "Hirsch" in several episodes of the MTM sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati (1978).
Also, he was one of 11 actors in the original Star Trek who was born in the 19th century.
Boo hoo: interesting approach here that does just about nothing to sell the product. If you ask me. So . . . this is the airline that has stewardesses and pie and pilots? What do the others have? A guarantee no employee bursts into song? That’s the one for me.
This has it all. First, let’s admire this ur-70s office: the hair, the art, the IBM Selectric. (Click not, it's a freeze-frame.)
Second, the boss wants to get drunk and watch a movie. Third, the movies are specially-condensed. Fourth, the tagline: a bit vulgar and stupid, really.
But tell me more about this Sky Pub, please.
The slogan is given the full choral treatment here. Passengers find themselves running an employee gantlet that does not lead to the stairs that would let them board. But somehow they get on.
Here’s one for all you kids who thought the TV show “Severance” made up that aesthetic:
I can hear the thick clack of those keys.
Wait a minute - is this who I think it is?
We conclude with this week's Hiatal Contest:
A 1924 newspaper contest that went on forever.
I couldn't find the answer key, so we're going to be on our own.
