I remember Howdy Doody, and Captain Kangaroo,
Clarabell, Mr. Green Jeans, and Bunny Rabbit too
always loved Popeye, Olive Oil and SweatPea,
Cow cartoons with funny mice, and Mr. Bugs Bunny,
Black and white cartoons when no one ever talked,
Ruff and Ready, Heckle and Jeckle and their funny walk
Three Stooges, Andy Devine, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
Trigger, Sky King & Penny, the Songbird, good heavens,
Yogi Bear and Booboo bear, and Mr. Ranger Sir,
Johnny Quest, Tweetie Bird and action Speed Racer,
Felix the Cat, Pepe Le Pu, Peabody and Sherman
Saturday cartoons, a Munster whose name was Herman
Abbott and Costello with Stinky on the stoop,
Mike the cop, Mr. Fields and Mr. Bacciagalupe
Untouchables with Elliot Ness machine guns shooting hell
Lassie helped Timmie out when he fell down the well
Road Runner Meep Meep, and Huckleberry Hound
Wylie Coyote and that ACME anvil sound
Tasmanian Devil, and Fog Horn Leghorn tricks
Ma and Pa Kettle a family from the sticks
Love That Bob, Our Miss Brooks, George Burns & Gracie too
Dick Van Dyke and Laura Petrie, Car 54 Where Are You
Sergeant Carter, Gomer Pyle, Duke and the platoon
Million Dollar Movie all day Saturday from noon.
Always watched Superman with the Chief and Lois Lane
The Green Hornet and Kato, Bruce Lee before his fame
Mickey Mouse Club, Spin and Marty, Dolenz Circus Boy
Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, remember Real McCoys?
Lone Ranger and Tonto, and Casper who said Boo
Mighty Mouse, Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Looey too
Laurel and Hardy movie shorts, and watching Jack Lalane
McHale's Navy, Ensign Parker drove Binghamton insane
Rocky and Bullwinkle, they lived in Frostbite Falls
The Dead End Kids in trouble, the funniest Huntz Hall
Boris and Natasha they were always plotting away
Petticoat Junction with Uncle Joe, Gomer who said HEY.
Ed Sullivan had everybody who could sing or dance
Saturday Night Live, The coneheads were from France
Arnold the pig on Green Acres always stole the show
Eb and Mr Ziffel, and Haney's truck so slow
Taxi was outrageous with Louie and Reverend Jim
The Munsters, Addams Family, and My Favorite Martian
Zorro, Flintstones, Jetsons with Spacely Sprockets
A sidekick Buddy Ebson in a show called Davey Crocket
Mr. Ed, Dukes Of Hazzard, The Flip Wilson show
American Bandstand played the music we all know
Leave it to Beaver with Wally and the Beev
Ozzie and Harriet's Ricky Nelson singing on TV
The Man From UNCLE, Illya Kuryakin and don't forget I Spy
Get Smart's cone of silence, shoe phones and Agent 99
Mayberry's mild sheriff, Opie and Aunt Bee
Goober at the station, and Otis had the key
Magnum PI, Hawaii Five O we waited for Book em Dano
Before Jack Paar, Steve Allen, and Liberace on piano
Frankenstein, Godzilla, the Wolfman and King Kong
Rodan, Mothra, Dracula and Mighty Joe Young
My Three Sons with the saxophone music
Chip and Ernie made Uncle Charlie lose it
Hogan's Hero's with Klink was something
Newkirk, LaBeau and Schultz, I see nothing
Rockford Files, Mannix, Columbo, Peter Gunn
F-Troop, Outer Limits and scary Twilight Zone
The creature from the Blue Lagoon and Invisible man
Sherlock Holmes with Rathbone and Detective Charlie Chan
And now it's on to other things, I remember jiffy pop,
creamcicles, Good Humor ice cream man,
TV dinners, cracker jacks, cotton candy and red hots,
one color M&M's, papersheets of candy colored dots
jaw breakers and jujubees and Tang and Ovaltine
candy cigarettes, Kool aid and egg creams
Blackjack and Clove and Bazooka chewing gum
fireballs and sugar straws and Penny candy fun
NeHi flavored soda and favorite Nestles Quick
gumballs, wax candy and liquorish twisty sticks
comic book sea-monkeys really sea horse pets
speaking in Pig Latin, and the New York Mets
Silly putty, simple kites, and Erector sets
hula hoops and slinky and the Etch-a-sketch
Duncan yo-yo's, Chatty Kathy, marbles and jacks
hopscotch sidewalk fun, don't step on any cracks
The Game Of Life, Parcheesi, simple blocks of wood
assembling your own bicycle, directions were no good
Easy-Bake ovens, and your army men were green
Superball, Mr. Potato Head and robot Mr. Machine
Monopoly, Chutes and ladders, and also Tinkertoys
The Fort Apache Play Set and Lincoln Logs for boys
Candy Land, stickball, skateboards if you're able
glass bottles for your soda pop, jukebox on your table
skates with metal wheels and jumping jacks in Gym,
windshield cleaned and tires checked at your gas station
wooden soda crates, x-ray glasses for your eyes
Washtub wringers, peashooters, and records 45's
Hi-Fi's, sting ray bicycles with banana seats
Cork pop guns and Drive ins, Keds for your feet
Fuller Brush Man, Green Stamps, metal ice cube trays
cigar boxes with pennies saved for a rainy day
Reel-To-Reel tape recorders, and shouts of tag you're it
5 cent packs of baseball cards, how far can you spit
Studebakers, Edsels, and cars with rumble seats
15 cent McDonald's and shouts of Where's The Beef?
eeny-meeny-miney-moe, Baseball cards in spokes
Stay up late for Johnny Carson just to hear his jokes
Oly-oly-oxen-free, three channels on TV
mini-bike at age 12, my Red Wagon at age 3
Station wagons, Groucho Marx on You Bet Your Life
coonskin hats, decoder rings, shiny Boy Scout Knife
Concentration with Hugh Downs, also Queen for A Day
Flipping cards and jumping rope, these were things to play
Everyone's Mom was at home when you got home from school
Fights were settled by foot races, there lived a golden rule
Mr. Clean, Do Overs, free glasses in Detergent
Caps and Sparklers on the 4th, catching lightning bugs was urgent.
Now I think I have to stop, I could go on all day
Remembering the olden times while hair is turning gray
hope this brought back memories, it was really nifty
but I think you would have to be born around 1950.
Joyce Rapier
I simply MUST thank you for the trip down memory lane. I loved being a co-pilot on your most exquisite journey through American culture. Amazingly enough, I can remember every single reference! Not sure what that says about me personally, but I choose to think it's good! LOL
Now, as for Matlack and one of the most LENGTHY responses I've EVER seen him write LOL, I will agree that this is good enough to share and really, with your permission, that is what I intend to do!
I want to add two that jumped to mind for me....Mr. Rogers and Kukla, Fran & Ollie!!
You've definitely gone to Green Acres with this piece, and while on Walton's Mountain, may your creative muse turn you into the Six Million Dollar Man of writing! If not, grab a pop tart, a Yoohoo and just kick back listening to Peter, Paul & Mary! Otherwise, I shall have to let Godzilla and King Kong loose!! LOL
Awesome write!
~Rose~
This may well be the best piece you have ever done, and for that matter the best piece I have EVER read on the Den...my apologies to all the poets I love, but this piece is so good, I am going to send it and your name all over the country and points east and west & north and south...You got my vote for best memory too, I remembered mostly all of them, but damn, only after you told me about them...by the way, did you ask for my "rights" to saying "Mr. Ed," I get big bucks for that name...Suffice it to say, I enjoyed this very much and sorry for being so long winded, I get talky when I get high, speaking of thaT I remember those little candy dots on a strip of paper, but I don't quite think they were the same kind you were talking about...LOL! I could talk all night regards your two bird killing stones here but I think there is a word or letter allotment...So find Peace thru great memories that you have herein invoked...ED & Rufuz