Retroflections

I had a hankering for a burger the other day. The choice in Tucson is difficult; the burgers are dry, greasy, too fancy, or too expensive. What is so wrong with wanting a good old fashioned burger? And where can I find one? Of course, I love Lindy’s on 4th Ave; it’s the best bet for five bucks. Not too greasy, not too expensive, just right, but it took me a while to finally find this little, hidden treasure, and it got me thinking….

 As a kid growing up, our choices were easy as to where to find a good burger, and believe me, back then it wasn’t from dad’s grill. It was at one of the fast-food joints. In Tucson, right beyond my street, on Kolb road stood a beautiful lady in a plaid skirt named Sandy, and as a kid, I thought her burgers were the best. You got a thin, grey hamburger patty sitting on small white bun, with a little mustard and ketchup, and something that resembled a pickle. 

Alongside of the burger came french fries and they were long, thin, and hot. I always asked my mom to order them well done because I liked the crunch to them. I would smother those fries in ketchup. Maybe six or seven packs to eat a small fry. I topped that meal off with a rich chocolate shake, and the bill came to about 60 cents. Where else could you go for a meal like that?

 For fancier hamburger dining, I followed the lad in plaid. Bob’s Big Boy. Now there was a great burger. The double-decker burger with their special sauce oozing out the sides was a burger to behold.

It stood tall like a soldier standing at attention awaiting my command to chomp on it. As a child my mouth could barely wrap around that big thick double-layer burger, with not two, but three slices of yummy white bread. The hamburger meat wasn’t grey like Sandy’s; it looked like a real burger and the taste was out of this world.

 Another place for great burgers in Tucson was Shari’s Drive-in which was open for 53years at 1st Avenue and Glenn Street. Here again, we had that double-decker burger and when you bit into it, all sorts of yummy edible fluids leaked from the sides of your mouth, and you would have to take your tongue and lick it all off your face. They had homemade fries that were quite tasty. However, I have to admit, their shakes are what I shall remember them for most.

 They just don’t make burgers like they used to. Sadly, it is rare I go out for a burger anymore. I do not eat fast food, and there are only a couple of places that serve an affordable burger worth sullying the front of your shirt for. So what was your favorite burger joint growing up?

Recently I had foot surgery and was ensconced on my recliner, with my foot up, and hopped up on pain pills, trying to reduce my surgery-inflicted pain. There I lay with TV Land playing on the tube, wandering in and out of a drug-induced dream state. I kept catching these images of June Cleaver from Leave It to Beaver, and this got me thinking….

June Cleaver was the epitome of women on Prozac in the 50s. Though the introduction of the chemical lobotomy Prozac and its counterparts had not been invented quite yet, June Cleaver was truly on some sort of drug…or was she?

Poor woman, she was repressed, oppressed, and depressed which makes it hard to digest! She acted as if she was totally fulfilled in her role of the doting wife and mother. She spent her days cleaning the house, preparing meals, caring for her two boys, and never once broke a sweat. This woman seemed perfectly content in her kitchen, wearing an apron over her perfectly ironed dress.

This leads me to believe that June Cleaver was some sort of TV producers’ fantasy, and what a fantasy she was because every woman aspired to be like June Cleaver. These poor women did not know any better; they were prisoners of their own homes…or were they?

Yes it’s true. They had to do everything for their husbands I suppose because they were so helpless. After all, a man back then could not wash a dish, do his laundry, mop a floor, cook a meal, or even tend to his own children. He could toss a ball and play catch, but, truthfully, all men were good for in the 50s were to go to work and then come home and say, “Where’s my dinner.”

So when I start to think that poor June Cleaver was repressed and unable to do anything, I am reminded that she was the one who wore the pants in the house. I mean have you ever seen a man in the 50s cook three-square meals a day, make batches of oatmeal cookies, do the laundry, attend a PTA meeting, get the kids to school, clean the house, go to market, and not even get a wrinkle in his dress-white shirt? I highly doubt it!

So perhaps the 50s woman was not oppressed, and we should be impressed because the 50s man was so distressed if his woman could not do it for him. So hats off to all the June Cleaver’s, and Donna Reed’s, hats off to you for doing what no man in the 50s could do.

An offensive fad or just dumb?

I was reviewing the comments on my last article. I try not to be too attached to them as the Buddhist say attachments are not healthy. Still, I do try to respond when I get a chance to the comments. This last week I loved a comment sent to me stating that that they did not have to blare loud offensive music to have car independence. Now we are talking the Stones and The Who and Heart, not that I noticed that any of their music could be offensive let alone even when blared, crack a windshield, but I can appreciate the comment and it got me thinking…

 Back in the 1950’s when rock and roll music was probably very offensive to many people. Bill Haley & The Comets I am sure without a doubt offended many people. How dare he rock around the clock, why that is absurd don’t you know. And what is with Elvis? What was he really dong with his pelvis and the music… my goodness I think Hound dog was evil. What was it doing to our innocent generation of young kids?

Besides I am sure people who listened to that music would soon be sporting a duck tail wearing a leather coat and who knows even skipping Sunday school!  

 Danny & The Juniors sang At The Hop and it probably lured young innocent teens into malt shops creating conflict and havoc at home.  Little Richard sang Good Golly Miss Molly and it was loud and offensive besides, look at Little Richard; he was a black man that wore women’s make-up. Parents would make their children do 50 Hail Mary’s for even thinking about listening to that.

 Jerry Lee Lewis with his hits Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin On and Great Balls Of Fire was what some would call trash rock.  What does great balls of fire mean anyhow? And listen, when those old 50’s cars with their AM radios cruised down the streets with the music playing, it was just outrageous, why those darn teens! Next thing you know those girls will start wearing poodle skirts or something and start dancing.

 Then comes’ the 70’s. How dare we play the Beatles, The Stones, and The Who. How dare we grow our hair long, tune in and tune out, and play our 8 tracks or cassette players so loud, why if we rolled down our windows the car next to us might be able to hear The Who say ”Why don’t you all just f-f-f-f-f-f-ade away”. I am sure that was very offensive indeed because fade away must have meant something insulting to somebody somewhere.

 Speaking of offensive, platform shoes and please excuse the word, disco and disco fads was just horribly offensive. For so many of us raised in the 60’s, disco was a joke to music and musicianship, however nothing was more offensive than the clothing of the disco fad. Those clothes and that dancing, why, what was happening to our kids?

 Well I suppose nothing is as offensive then what is happening today. If someone thinks listening to The Who is offensive you have to wonder what they think about gangster rap, loud music you can her two blocks away and guys who wear their pants down to their hips so low, that they can’t even get in their car unless they pull their pants up.

Well I suspect in 20 years this gangster rap generation will be saying, “that’s offensive” to the next wave of fads and music. Personally I can’t imagine anything worse than it is now, and am almost afraid to imagine what could be more offensive then my windshield being cracked over thumping music telling me to go kill someone, nor a fad worse than showing off my underwear and walking so funny that people like me have to take their blackberry and film it so we can laugh at it on youtube… but I am sure the next craze will be offensive so someone, somewhere,  somehow.

My nephew is almost 17, and he is experiencing his first real love. I am trying not to tease him too much, even though he doesn’t have a license, so in order to take his girlfriend out on dates he has to rely on a bus, a bicycle, or parents for transportation. In my opinion, that all just seems to make the romance fizzle a tad. I suspect that poor child will be 40 before he will finally go for his driver’s license. Still, I enjoy talking with him; it’s interesting listening to a 17-year-old pubescent boy. And it got me thinking….

In 1976, I was a senior at Santa Rita High School. 17 year olds, in my day, needed not only a driver’s license but a car. At 17, I had saved some money to buy some sort of used car. A friend of mine had a green 1969 Chevy Camaro with an awesome stereo system. He was going to sell it to me for $350.00. SOLD! I said; however, my parents considered it a sports car, and they believed that bad things could happen—like sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Oh yeah, they also thought that only sporty cars got into accidents. Not to mention that many parents thought that Satan’s spawn lived in the glove compartment of all sporty cars. (I wonder if Satan’s spawn lived in mini-vans?)

 I finally settled for a four-door Mercury Comet. It was a nice little “family car” that was blue and white and looked very, hmmmm, well, looked like a family car. But for me, it was my freedom! I put an awesome stereo in it and blared The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, The Who, Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith, and Heart, and I did not have to listen to the radio stations that played the Bee Gees and ABBA.

 Dating became very fun as a 17 year old with a car. I had heard the rumors that cars were a great place to make out, but never had made out in my own car before. It was always someone else’s car. There is something a little different when you owned your own car and made out in it. You kissed like an adult and not a 17 year old, whatever that meant and who knows, I was just 17.

 It was fun being a 17-year-old car owner when you got mad. I would be angry at my folks, get in my car, crank The Who up, and drive off into the night. Old Spanish Trail and River road were fun to drive when you were angry or thinking. Just drive the curves and crank the tunes and it was every 17-year-olds’ escape mechanism. Well until you got home and got the lecture that cars are dangerous and at 17 you still needed permission to make a dramatic angry exit out the door.

 But my parents didn’t worry to much because I owned a family car and not a sporty car, so they knew I would not get in an accident, or do awful things in that car like make out. Sadly, a few months later, my four-door family car and I got in a wreck. I flipped my car three-in-a-half times in front of my high school a few days before graduation. I was okay except for a few busted ribs and some cuts and bruises. More important I managed to save the car stereo and opted to get another car, this time one a little sportier. Who cares if Satan’s spawn lived in the glove compartment, those family cars were too dangerous for a 17 year old anyhow.

 So what do you remember about your first car?

I was talking to a friend this morning and somehow we got on the subject of playing board games. The conversation went something like, no matter where were are in time, the one thing that seems to stick around is board games and this got me thinking…

 As a kid, I used to play lots of board games. I had several favorite board games. As a very young child I loved ladders and Chutes. As I got older, Clue and Life were my favorites. Ahhh but Monopoly was fun as well. Though with Monopoly, it could go on for days and my sister and I would always put the board under the bed with the pieces still in tact so we could play the next day.

 Hands Down was another game my sister and I played. It was sort of a card game and you slapped these hands down, thus the name, “Hands Down” I remembered we slapped it so hard that the game broke pretty quickly. The same thing happened with the game Mousetrap. Some of these games were made of cheap plastic and fell apart, still they were the games us kids felt we could not live without.

 My sister wanted the Mystery Date game and received that one year for Christmas. Even as a young child, I laughed at the door on the board game and watched my sister and her friends play it. I thought it was the dumbest game of all, but I remember my sister thought it was all that and more.

 For me as a kid I would always ask for several board games each year for Christmas and birthdays and I recall some of the silliest games such as  a game called Swack which was a huge mouse trap and you had to take little plastic chunks of cheese before you hand got SWACKED!  Cootie was a must have game even if you didn’t like, you had to own it if you wanted to be considered a real “gamer” .

I was a young hippie and a rock and roller so of course for me,what would be a game if we did not have a game with the Beatles?  I had The Beatles Flip Your Wig which sold in 1964 for about 3 bucks and now goes for almost 1,000. Sure wished I held onto mine.

 Battleship, Scrabble, Operation, Checkers, Password, Parcheesi, Yahtzee, Twister, Concentration, were all games that lined our closets as kids. I sadly did not hang on to any of those games. I will say that even today, when going to friend’s homes, there is nothing like playing a good old fashioned game and spending the evening laughing and giggling . Does this mean I am old, or just like having fun?

What was your favorite games growing up?

I found out that the cast from The High Chaparral was having a reunion this week, and I thought this would be great for a Retroflections’ story. I made the calls and arrangements to meet the cast and producer and headed out to Old Tucson to check it all out. As I walked underneath The High Chaparral sign at Old Tucson Studios, where the show was filmed, and onto the old set, it got me thinking….

 My father helped build the set over 40 years ago. I remember as a little girl leaning on the post by the front of the ranch watching the set go up. Sometimes, after the set was built, we would go and watch the filming. Of course, I was excited to revisit the set that my father helped build so long ago.

 The cast was there including Henry Darrow who played Manolito Montoya, Don Collier who played Sam Butler, Ted Markland who played Reno, and, of course, Rudy Ramos who played Wind. I spoke with each one of them, asking how they felt being back on the set, and you could tell by the looks on their faces, that they were back home. “Marvelous,” said Rudy Ramos, “It’s good to be back here and see so many fans.” Rudy was very grateful for his time with the series, which aired 98 episodes from 1967 to 1971.

I continued talking with the actors and spoke with the producer gathering details about the show. And then it hit me, the fans were everywhere, oozing their sense of excitement. I walked up to one gal and asked where she was from, “South Dakota,” she said, “We drove. I would not miss this for anything.” I thought that sure is a long drive to see these guys.

 I asked another gal, where she was from, “This is my first time to the United States. I am from Australia. They started airing this a while back, and I just love it,” she said. I was amazed that someone would travel so far to be with their TV icons.

 I continued to ask people where they were from and why they were here. They came from London, New Zealand, Ireland, and Guatemala to name a few. It was impossible to keep up with all the people, who had one thing in common, The High Chaparral. “The High Chaparral brought together cultures,” said Patryca Duran y Chaves, “Finally, the Mexican-American culture had Hispanic heroes.”

 I asked Penny McQueen the organizer for the event what’s up with these diehard fans. Penny reminded me that she is one of these diehard fans. She said her mother told her, “It’s a TV show. None of these people are real, and you are never going to meet them anyway.” She is proud to have taken over organizing this event.

 Penny said that The High Chaparral was a groundbreaking show using a live-action set. “It was realistic, and it made you feel like you were there.” McQueen stated that it was a show that integrated cultures together and did so much more, in fact; it was one of the most successful westerns on TV.

 The fans amazed me. I went there to cover an old TV western and talk to the actors, but I spent more time with the fans, and their pure excitement about this show. These fans all stated they had one thing in common that bonded them all; they loved the show. I asked one fan how it felt to be here with her heroes and, with tears in her eyes, she said, “You are walking on sacred ground.” I smiled at her, tilted my visor, and headed off into the sunset.

I have a bird that loves to watch TV. In her room sits an old TV that she finds quite entertaining. She will let you know, in no uncertain terms, when there is something on she does not like. The other day I was feeding her some crackers (she loves goldfish crackers), and I looked at what was catching her eye on the TV. It was The Power Rangers. I caught myself mildly entertained by the cheesy filming and “plot” line. Millions of little kids love these guys, and I felt sorry for them because these Power Rangers were not at all like the real TV heroes we grew up with. Well as you know, this got me thinking….

 As a child, I was raised on television. (Perhaps that is why I do not watch much of it as an adult.) I would sit in the front room of our ranch house listening to the words, “There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here.” Yes, back in my day we had animals and rodents for our superheroes. We had Super Chicken, Mighty Mouse, Thundercats, Rocky the Squirrel and Bullwinkle the moose, Adam Ant, The Bionic Bunny, even Howard the Duck. Though all animated, these heroes came to life, and they did more than kick butt, they entertained. These days we do not have same kind of superheroes that I grew up with. There is no Mighty Mouse to save the day or Super Chicken to battle crime with his assistant Fred the lion.

Growing up I watched the superheroes or read the comic books. These manly superheroes were the manliest of all men. I knew the world would be safe with these great superheroes. They, unlike the Power Rangers, kicked villains butts without all the acrobatics. Don’t be fooled either. Just because they wore spandex tights and were light on their feet did not mean they were frilly heroes. Heavens no. They were filled with so much manly testosterone that their oozing muscles took perfect form in their spandex suits almost spilling out. There was Batman, not to be confused with Birdman, Superman, Aquaman, Ironman, Hawkman, Action Man, Radioactive Man, and Plasticman.

 Of course these super testosterone male heroes did not always need to have the word man attached to their name. Some of the heroes had a little more creativity and used names like The Thing, Captain Action, Thundar, The Hulk, Flash Gordon, Captain America, you get the gist.

 Not to leave the ladies out, us women had super heroes too. In fact, we had super-dooper heroes because we had both girl and woman heroes like Batwoman as well as Batgirl, Cat Woman and Cat Girl, Wonder Woman as well as, you guessed it, Wonder Girl and to top it off we had Super Woman and Super Girl.

 We do not have any superheroes of the past any longer. Oh sure, TV Land and old comic books but the truth is, we just don’t create these superheroes anymore, and if you ask me, we live in a world where these old retro-heroes could stand and make a return anytime!

I went on youtube today to fetch something, and I ran into an old clip of The Dating Game. It was interesting to watch a few moments of this show that first aired in 1965. I glimpsed at clips of a young John Ritter, Steve Martin, Farrah Fawcett, and even Michael Jackson as a young child asking three young girls questions. Although I felt old for a moment as I watched these clips, it got me thinking…

America sure has had a love affair with game shows. These games started to hypnotize people during the golden age of radio and eventually carried over to television. The first radio game show was The Pop Question, which was a news quiz show. In the 40s, when TV first hit the airwaves, games like Spin to Win, Break the Bank, Hit the Jackpot, and Winner Takes All made us all realize that game shows were going to take over daytime TV.

The 50s gave birth to TV game shows such as Twenty Questions, What’s My Line?, Beat the Clock, You Bet Your Life, I’ve Got a Secret, Name that Tune, The Big Payoff, Strike It Rich, People Are Funny, To Tell the Truth, G.E. College Bowl, Play Your Hunch, and, yep, good old Bob Barker in The Price Is Right.

The 60s ushered in so many game shows that it would be impossible to watch them all. TV game shows like Beat the Odds, The Dating Game, Dream House, The Hollywood Squares, It Takes Two, Jeopardy!, Let’s Make A Deal, The Newlywed Game, Password, Reach for the Stars, Sale of the Century, Supermarket Sweep, What’s this Song?, and You Don’t Say all captured our attention as we played along. It was as if we were part of a never-ending contest.

They say the 70s were the year game shows. We were still tuned into shows like Password, The Dating Game, Jeopardy, and Let’s Make A Deal when new game shows like The $10,000 Pyramid, The $25,000 Pyramid, Anything You Can Do, Card Sharks, Celebrity Charades, Celebrity Sweepstakes, Dealer’s Choice, Double Dare, Family Feud, The Fun Factory, Gambit, The Gong Show, High Rollers, The Joker’s Wild, Musical Chairs, Shoot for the Stars, Three for the Money, Wheel of Fortune, Whodunnit, and You Don’t Say! Hit the airwaves.

I remember growing up with these game shows. I recall hearing “Will the real John Brown please stand up” in What’s My Line, or “You did not tell the truth, so you must pay the consequences.” In Truth or Consequences. And come on, how about “Come on down,” how can we not think of The Price is Right when we hear that phrase?

TV game shows are not like they used to be. I doubt if we will ever capture the magic that the old shows offered us. It was real entertainment. People played to have fun and be on T, and, yes win money, but really today’s TV game shows are simply about winning money, it seems like the fun has been stripped away, and one would have to ask, whatever happened to TV games shows?

Located on one of my computer hard drives are thousands and thousands of old radio shows from days past. Amos & Andy, Adventure Theater, Milton Berle, Gasoline Alley, Blondie & Dagwood, The Shadow, Lux Radio Theater, Superman, and so many more.

I think it is an oxymoron that I store these old radio shows on my computer, so I can transfer them to my ipod, so I can listen to these dated adventures. How techno of me to listen to old radio shows on my ipod, and this got me thinking….

 Old time radio (OTR), or, as some called it the golden age of radio, dominated the air waves from the 1920s until the 1950s. This was a time when people tuned in to their favorite radio shows much like we tune into our favorite TV shows.

 OTR is like an audio time machine. It can really transfer you back into what I call the “ultimate imagination.” When I watch a TV show, I can tell you what color the actresses’ hair is, what color blouse she is wearing, what type of jeans he has on, how many hairs are out of place, and if their teeth are capped or not.

 With OTR, you were only given sounds. The way people looked and dressed was up to your own imagination. Now of course, there was a great deal of stereotypical characterization in the old-time radio of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s it reflected a society that often held rather narrow stereotypical views.  

 Those times were also very sexist in the roles that were given to men and women. Women were always cleaning, tending house, and needing rescuing, and men were always working, having fun, and being super heroes. However, if you can get past this and allow yourself to sit and listen, you will find some of the best entertainment in those old radio shows.

 Another characteristic of old time radio that gave us insight into this era is the advertisements. It’s funny, I try to avoid the advertisements and put mute on if I happen to be watching TV. I really want nothing to do with it. But, with old time radio shows the advertisements are often as entertaining as the shows themselves. OTR ads included doctors recommending Camel cigarettes, Brylcreem and slicked hair, war-bonds, Beechnut gum, soap flakes, USO ads, Jello pudding powder, and the list goes on.

 I rather enjoy listening to my OTR shows and commercials on my high-tech equipment. A walk around the park with my ipod in my ears can take me on an adventure with Superman, Dick Tracy, and The Saint. I enjoy doing yard work and laughing with Jimmy Durante, Burns and Allen, and Abbot and Costello.  I like to use my imagination and let the sounds enter into a space of my mind that turns it into any living color I want.

For me, old time radio is far more exciting than anything that is on TV these days!

You can download tons of old time radio shows here. http://www.oldtimeradiofans.com/

I live up the street from the De Anza drive-in theater. For years I kept telling myself, I am going to relive my childhood memories, pack up a cooler, gather my friends and spouse, and head to the movies! Week-after-week, year-after-year, I kept telling myself that: I am going to go to the drive in. I watched the lines at the De Anza time-and-time again and last night, was the last time I got to watch the cars line up for a nice evening at the movies, because last night was the end of drive-ins for Tucson. And it got me thinking….

 Growing up, there seemed to be lots of drive in theaters. The one my parents took us to was the 22nd Street drive in, which closed in 1979. When that drive in closed it felt like a door to my childhood closed. As a child, my mother would pack up sandwiches, toss in some chips, soda, and drive us to a corner market to pick out a few pieces of candy to take to the drive in. She never popped the popcorn that was the treat we got to go for during intermission. There was nothing like movie popcorn, especially at the drive in.

 In fact, all the treats tasted better at the drive in. It must have been that “drive in” taste that even made mom’s dry peanut butter and jelly sandwiches taste pretty good. Though on some Saturday nights, mom and dad would stop at Hardee’s or Sandy’s and let us get burgers for the movies but no fries because we had to have plenty room for popcorn with extra butter.

 Tucson had several drive-in movie theaters, now if memory serves me there was The Fiesta, The Cactus, The Midway, The Prince, The Biltmore-Miracle Mile, The 22nd Street, The Rodeo, The Apache, and, last but not least, The De Anza. These theaters generally showed a double feature and often a late night viewing. For five bucks, an entire family could go and watch some of the greatest movies of all time!

I grew up with Disney on the big outdoor screen. The Gnome-Mobile, The Jungle Book, The Love Bug, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Watching Science fiction and mild horror flicks were equally as exciting. As long as there was popcorn and a speaker hanging from the car door, life was good.

 Sadly enough, our last drive in closed this weekend, and those days of watching movies under the stars will become distant memories. No more sticky floors at the drive-in snack bar, no more taking a few outdoor chairs and sitting outside, no more making out and steaming up the windows, these are all memories that we get to keep tucked in fond place in our hearts.