The 1960's

[augusta]

It's been such fun talking about the '60s, maybe it can use its own thread.

Here's a wonderful link to a video clip of the Rat Pack with Johnny Carson singing with them. It's supposed to be the only time he sang in public. He had a good voice!

Surprisingly the song they're doing is the first real song I learned on the piano at the age of about 9, and I hadn't heard it since.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPHO-g25l8


Crap, it isn't working. I'll try to fix it - again. Well, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. But if you just go to http://www.youtube.com and in the search box type in "Rat Pack Johnny Carson" it'll come up. Sorry.

[DJ]

Augusta,
I'm not an authority on Johnny Carson, but I do remember him decked out as Willie Nelson, singing "To All the Girls I've Loved Before"-- I believe in duet with Julio Iglesias. It wasn't impromptu-- it was well rehearsed. That may be on YouTube.
Also, he sang along with Bette Midler on one of his very last shows, to "Here's That Rainy Day."
Anyway, I've been thinking about the Sixties, too, and hope your thread takes off! Also hope you're feeling better!!!

[doug65oh]

Check this out, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfpdOVD1xQ8 Johnny Carson & Pearl Bailey, from about the fall of 1964. (The "Skitch" mentioned is Skitch Henderson.)

[augusta]

Oh, thank goodness for You Tube. That clip was great, Doug. Thanks so much for posting it.

Well, he certainly did sing there. I received the Rat Pack link as a 'forward' and it said it was the only time he sang. Thanks for correcting me.

I remember when he did Willie Nelson. It was so funny! I don't know if I'd put that under "serious singing" tho. But he did sing.

Skitch Henderson! I hadn't thought of him in decades. It made me think of "Mitch Miller" - was that his name? He conducted and did those "Up with People" albums?

Thanks for the well wishes. The web keeps my mind off it and keeps me sitting up so I don't choke to death.

[augusta]

"F Troop" was a top favorite of mine as a kid. I had such a crush on "Wilton Parmenter".

I've read over and over that Melody Patterson ("Wrangler Jane", who I hated because she was my "rival"...) was 14 years old then. That really seems impossible.

[doug65oh]

augusta. Mitch Miller (I think) reached the height of his popularity some time in the '50s, but I remember seeing...it was "Sing Along With Mitch" probably, on into the late '60s. (Just follow the bouncing ball and you can sing along too.)

Stan Freberg years ago did a great parody of one of Mitch Miller's biggest hits, which you can find at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VSa7W8zBOU .) Every time I hear this, the first person pops to mind is usually Lyndon Johnson!

The genuine article can be heard at http://popup.lala.com/popup/504684663542309432

[Yooper]

"Sing Along With Mitch" ran from 1961-1966. Mitch Miller will be 99 years of age this year! He was the head of A&R for Mercury Records in the forties and Columbia Records in the fifties.

[augusta]

Oh, yeah! "Sing Along with Mitch". I remember that. The bouncing ball! I loved it. Thanks for nudging my memory, Doug. Thanks for the informative post, Yooper.

Then who did those "Up with People" records?

I got a forward today on a top favorite of mine, Red Skelton. I did read a book about him that said he warmed up some audiences with "blue" jokes, was a womanizer, and drank. I didn't enjoy reading that about him. I think I'd rather have not known - if it is true. His show in the '60s had the whole family gathered to watch. I had tickets to go see him when he was coming to Detroit. I loved him. What a legend, and I wanted my kids to see him, too. He broke his knee and they said he'd be back after it mended but he died. Anyway, if I did this right, here's the forward:


For those of you old enough to remember Red Skelton, I think you will enjoy this e-mail. For those of you not old enough you will see what you missed. Either way, his humor was always clean and he was a great entertainer. A rerun of great one liner's from the man who was known for his clean humor. I hope you get a chuckle or two reading them once more.


RED SKELTON'S RECIPE FOR THE PERFECT MARRIAGE


1. Two times a week we go to a nice restaurant, have a Little beverage, good food and companionship She goes on Tuesdays; I go on Fridays.

2. We also sleep in separate beds..
Hers is in California , and mine is in Texas .

3. I take my wife everywhere....
but she keeps finding her way back.

4... I asked my wife where she wanted to go for our anniversary..
"Somewhere I haven't been in a long time!" she said.
So I suggested the kitchen.

5. We always hold hands. If I let go, she shops.

6. She has an electric blender, electric toaster and electric bread maker. She said "There are too many gadgets, and no place to sit down!" So I bought her an electric chair.

7. My wife told me the car wasn't running well because there was water in the carburetor. I asked where the car was. She told me, "In the lake."

8.. She got a mud pack, and looked great for two days.
Then the mud fell off.

9. She ran after the garbage truck, yelling, "Am I too late For the garbage?" The driver said, "No, jump in!"

10. Remember: Marriage is the number one cause of divorce.

11. I married Miss Right. I just didn't know her first name was Always.

12. I haven't spoken to my wife in 18 months.
I don't like to interrupt her.

13. The last fight was my fault though. My wife asked, "What's on the TV?" and I said, "Dust!"

Can't you just hear him say all of these? I love it. Those were the good old days when humor didn't have to start with a four letter word. It was just clean and simple fun.
And he always ended his programs with the words, "God Bless."

(End of forwarded message)

[Angel]

So cute!

[xyjw]

I bought some Red Skelton dvd's last year and didn't want to get my hopes up. I was pleasantly surprised at how much the shows were just as I remembered them. Life in the 1960's was good!

[DJ]

I used to watch "The Red Skelton Show"-- loved his many characters. His humor was so broad that even kids could enjoy it.

My all time-favorite "bit" of his is "The Guzzler's Gin Program"-- you can see it in all its glory (in color) as a sketch titled "When Television Comes" in the 1945 movie "Ziegfeld Follies."

"It's smoooooooth. Smooooooooooooooooooooothhhhhhhhhh!"

[kssunflower]

I miss 'ol Red - great show!

[doug65oh]

As ol' Deadeye might have put it, Belly up to the bar boys and girls and
let's share a glass of Guzzler's. Ayup, that's right, Guzzler's Gin - a nice smoooooth drink!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al2xOOTMmLo

[Kat]

Well, I'm in the minority~ I couldn't see what was to like about Red Skelton. I thought he was creepy. Maybe it was the *Clown* thing.

Stef and I went to a Bette Davis lecture in Daytona Beach way long ago and she smoked and drank a cocktail on stage and showed her movie clips and talked about herself and it was riveting and fascinating and wonderful!!

[SteveS.]

I would of loved to have seen that Kat. I have ALWAYS been a BIG Bette Davis fan.

[doug65oh]

I never was a great fan of Bette Davis, mainly because I saw Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? on television when I was 8 or 9 years old and ended up having nightmares for nearly a week afterward. (I did though enjoy seeing her interviewed by folks like Johnny Carson & Dick Cavett.)

I miss television as it was in those days, but there's no denying that occasionally the strangest things were done in the name of....oh I suppose purity is a good word. One of the best examples of this I think is the story of the infamous "water closet" joke told by Jack Paar in early 1960. (His studio audience heard it, but the network - NBC - cut away, subtituted a 5 minute news roundup sort of thing.)

I'd heard about this joke for years but never got to hear the joke itself until 4 or 5 years ago. Only the audio apparently survives, but presented at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETzA3fpQp4Y is Jack Paar's story of a schoolmaster and an English lady, as censored by the NBC television network.

Bear in mind that in those early days the Paar show ran anywhere between 90 and 105 minutes and was aired between the hours of 11 pm. & 1:00 am. in the morning - the same timeslot Carson would inherit and keep for many years.

[augusta]

The one-woman Q & A with Bette Davis show was a huge hit. You are so lucky to have seen it. I don't know why I didn't. Too young, or not that much into her as I am now, or maybe she didn't come to Detroit. I dunno. Maybe they filmed it and I'll get lucky and see it that way.

I think Red Skelton dressed up as a clown as "Klem Kediddlehopper" (sp?) (I loved that character), but I remember him as most of the time being himself or other characters. He did paint clowns, and there's a series of plates you used to be able to buy based on his paintings. My favorite is an old skit I found on a DVD, where he played "George", a husband with glasses who didn't like his wife much. He was using a sewing machine, and he thought he cut his tongue off, and he had to say to somebody, "I cut my tongue off!" without using his tongue and cracked up. He cracked up all the time and ad-libbed, which I enjoyed, but his critics accused him of doing it on purpose. I think he did "Guzzlers Gin" as a regular bit in his live shows. A friend of mine went to see him perform and sent me the program, and for audience's requests, they had a list of bits he performed frequently and you could pick from the list.

Gregory Peck did "An Evening With Gregory Peck" I think it was called in his older age. He came here, and I debated whether to go or not and didn't. I saw some of it filmed on a film about his life on TCM. It was wonderful. And the girl who played "Scout" in "To Kill a Mockingbird" was in the audience and stood up and everyone applauded. I think she said they retained their friendship all those years. It seems like she said she still called him "Atticus"

Jack Paar I think was just before my time. I remember my parents having record albums of his, and they were all scratched up when I was little and unplayable. What years did his show run?

Doug, if your first Bette Davis film was "Baby Jane", I can understand your shying away from her films. I wonder if today, as an adult, and as a man, one could really get into Bette Davis starting from scratch. Some of my love of her films come from nostalgic times spent with my mother. It'd be interesting, Doug, if you watched a few of her old, great films and see how you react to her.

[DJ]

It's a shame Paar walked out over the W.C. bit, leaving Hugh Downs going, "Huh?" I've seen the clip.

Doug65oh, do rent "All About Eve" at some point-- "Baby Jane" and "Sweet Charlotte" are not the places, especially for a youngster, to dive into the Davis oeuvre.

Kat, I have a thing about clowns, too. I just turned the channel when Skelton did his. Also, "Captain Kangaroo" used to feature The Town Clown. El flippo on that, too. Hope you caught the ad (durned if I can remember what for) that ran recently, wherein the family wouldn't enter the house because the clown figure was facing them down, right inside the door.

[doug65oh]

I agree DJ, but I also think the "suits" at NBC were totally unjustified in cutting away to a news break rather than airing that little joke. Did that jutify Paar leaving Hugh Downs essentially twisting in the wind that night? No, of course not. But Paar did return that time, after about 6 weeks out I think it was. I don't know as I've ever heard the reason for his final departure from The Tonight Show in March of '62, but the "WC" flap I can completely appreciate from Paar's point of view.

Oh, I've actually seen both All About Eve & Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte, enjoyed them, but stilll perfer the likes of Kate Hepburn over Ms. Davis any day of the week.

The advert you were puzzling over by the way is for the USPS flat-rate shipping program.

[kssunflower]

On the subject of variety shows from that era, Carol Burnett's would be my favorite. The parody on Gone With The Wind was just hilarious.

[doug65oh]

Then who did those "Up with People" records?

augusta - the recordings you're thinking of may have been done by a musical group from the '60s called Up With People. They're apparently still around yet today.

[doug65oh]

Jack Paar I think was just before my time. I remember my parents having record albums of his, and they were all scratched up when I was little and unplayable. What years did his show run?

Actually augusta, the "WC walk-off" was within your time I think. You were what in February, 1960, just shy of 6 months old on about the 11th of the month? As DJ said, when NBC refused to air the "WC joke" Paar walked off, leaving Hugh Downs holding the proverbial bag. When Paar returned after a 6 week absence he walked out on stage. looked at the audience and said "Now as I was saying before I was interrupted..." and the rest as they say is history. If you'll take a look at http://www.history.com/this-day-in-hist ... le&id=2955 it answers at least some of your question.

I loved Johnny Carson myself, but also became a great fan of Jack Paar years later. They were both superb I thought - but I'll always have a soft spot for a feller brave enough to get himself sued by Jimmy Hoffa, which happened in about 1957-'58 or so. The lawsuit originated based on remarks made on the air during an interview with the Chief Counsel of the so-called McClellan Committee, which was investigating the Teamsters union. (Within 5 years Jack Paar would speak of that young lawyer again - as "Mr. Attorney General.")

[augusta]

kssunflower, Oh, yes - the Carol Burnett Show. I only remember watching it from about 1971 on. I remember the satire of "Gone With the Wind", and she wore those drapes, with the rods in them. The Mama's Family skits were hilarious. I can't pick a favorite from those.

I'd forgotten all about "The Town Clown". Didn't Capt. Kangaroo also have "Dancing Bear" on there?

[DJ]

Paar continued to do interview shows throughout the '60s. I have recordings of his interviews with Judy Garland, and they're priceless-- he really knew how to draw out a guest, and Garland's celebrity anecdotes and impressions (particularly of Marlene Dietrich) are rich.

"Does anybody wanna heah my wehcohd?"

[SteveS.]

Yes Augusta. Capt. Kangaroo had a dancing bear and Mr. Moose with his pingpong balls that would drop on your head and mr. Greenjeans. He also had Grandfather Clock. Can you tell I was a BIG Capt. Kangaroo fan?

[Kat]

I too loved The Captain & Mr Greenjeans!

Stef met Johnny Carson at his show around 1982ish~ I was her trusty sidekick, but not introduced.

We went out to California and were in line all day for his show. The staff came out and auditioned the potential audience for "Stump The Band." Stef was picked to perform, and I didn't know her song tho she invited me to participate. They seated us very near the front and Johnny did call on her, they had their little schtick together warming up, and then he invited her to Stump the Band. She did, and won Dinner-For-Four at an Italian restaurant! We agreed to invite the 2 ladies who had been in front of us in line all day- they were nice folks!
A family member recorded it because we had time to warn him we'd be on camera! That was in BETA days! (Not the 1960's tho, sorry to go off-track!)

That man was the most charismatic and genuinely charming man I have ever "met"~

[doug65oh]

Sakes...a big fan of Captain Kangaroo and you forgot Bunnyrabbit? Shameful!

[doug65oh]

Oh that's kewl Kat! What was the name of the song?

[Kat]

Who says I forgot BunnyRabbit?
(Tho I did! )

I didn't know the song myself tho other family members did, and I'd heard them sing it plenty of times as a duet. Something about a "Waa-hoo"? Like a western song.

[doug65oh]

No...I didn't notice that you'd forgotten Bunny, Kat. That was meant for SteveS, who mentioned almost every character except Bunny! I never cared for Mr. Moose myself. He struck me as mean, whereas Bunny was just starved to death for carrots...and had glasses to prove it! (I ended up needing glasses myself at about age 6, so that might have had something to do with it too.)

[DJ]

Kat, I'm so glad that Stefani was NOT the most memorable stump-the-band contestant whom I recall-- this young lady did "Sarah, Sarah, Sittin' in her Chevrolet" (All day long she sits and shifts ...). They cut her off pretty quickly!

I was way into Bunny Rabbit. In fact, I wouldn't have my eyes examined without my own stuffed Bunny getting his done, too, and the poor nurse wound up fashioning a pair of glasses out of cardboard for him, which my Bunny wore most dutifully.

As for the Captain, let's don't forget "Tom Terrific" and the little train that came out with the packs of Kellogg's cereals.

For me, however, the Captain was merely a prelude to the reruns of "The Lucy Show" that CBS used to air around 9 a.m., CST, during the late '60s.

[Kat]

I'm Tom Terrific, The Greatest Hero Ever...

What's the rest of the song? This was the 50's tho...

and Gerald McBoingBoing

[DJ]

I was watching during the late '60s, and I don't recall Tom's song, just the highly memorable rendering of his name, not unlike Tony the Tiger's rendition of "It's Great!"

With all the Leno/Conan O'Brien brouhaha, got to thinking about the Paar refs on this thread! Funny, I've not heard the Paar controversy mentioned in relation to this. Know the current situation is diff, but it's all about an unhappy host and "The Tonight Show"!

Which is one reason to look back, to ponder and to relish-- sooner than later, pretty much the same thing is gonna happen again.

Conan simply hasn't developed and matured as an interviewer. He'll trounce all over a guest with his too-loud hamminess. I never understood why NBC wanted to switch out Leno in the first place. Undoubtedly, they were going for a youthful demographic. In which case, they should have tried Jimmy Fallon first. There're so few good interviewers left, and I can't see any of them handling Bette Davis or Orson Welles the way Carson and Paar could.

[stargazer]

I'm Tom Terrific, The Greatest Hero Ever...

What's the rest of the song? This was the 50's tho...

and Gerald McBoingBoing

Everybody loves me so
'cos I'm so clever
I can be what I'd like to/want to ? be
and if you'd like to see
follow
follow
me

[SteveS.]

I did forget Bunnyrabbit, Doug65oh. I hang my head in shame.

[Constantine]

I'm Tom Terrific, The Greatest Hero Ever...

Everybody loves me so
'cos I'm so clever
I can be what I'd like to/want to ? be
and if you'd like to see
follow
follow
me

If you see a plane up high
(sound of a plane)
A diesel train go roaring by
(sound of a train)
a bumblebee
or a tree
IT'S ME!

[Kat]

Thanks for the words stargazer.

Is that the back of you in that avatar?

[Kat]

Thanks Constantine! I do not remember ever knowing the rest of that song! Well-what-do-ya-know!

As for more 60's stuff- the Beach Boys!!! We lived in California when they first came out- wow!

[Yooper]

Surfing and cars were the themes for the music of the early sixties. That seemed to change the focus of popular music from Tin Pan Alley to California. Then the Beatles led the British Invasion while Bob Dylan popularized acoustic music with the focus on the lyrics.

[stargazer]

Thanks for the words stargazer.

Is that the back of you in that avatar?

Yes it is, Kat. I love dressing up in Vintage clothing. I will try to add another picture. I am always wondering how women managed to survive hard conditions in bustles, and high top shoes during icy weather. Shopping, walking, thinking. This picture was taken in Oatman, Az at the Oatman Stables, and it was about 85 degrees. I wasn't uncomfortable at all.

[stargazer]

Sometimes, I wonder how I dealt with hairspray, eyeliner, white lipstick, and boys with greased pompadours, pegged pants. I know how I dealt with malteds !

[DJ]

Don't forget Detroit and Motown-- but, yes, the music scene shifted to So. Cal. during the '60s, even if it involved East Coasters trying to hit it big in the clubs on the Sunset Strip.

A lot of pop music was milled through the TV industry, too, which shifted much production from New York largely to L.A. "American Bandstand" and "Mike Douglas" originally originated from Philadelphia. Of course, Ed Sullivan held out in NYC.

We've been discussing "The Tonight Show," and it was finally moved to "beautiful downtown Burbank" (the NBC studio) when? Around 1970?
(As an aside, "All My Children" has recently moved production to So. Cal.)

Anyway, TV programs and artists originating from the West Coast had a huge audience for their music: Ricky Nelson, the Monkees, and later "The Partridge Family." Plus, guest stars on dozens and dozens of series and variety shows.

And remember Frankie and Annette in popularizing the California "beach scene."

[augusta]

I remember these pants that came up to about mid-calf and were called "pedal pushers".

And pants that had stirrups on them so they'd tuck inside your shoes. I'm thinking they were called "ski pants" but I'm not sure.

I remember "ski jackets" were real popular. They were short, quilted jackets. And, for a time, white gogo boots, either tall or short. And for a time "pilgrim shoes" - black shoes with a big buckle on them. My parents never bought me any of those and I so wanted a pair. They said they were "silly" and wouldn't stay on my feet. I'm surprised I got the gogo boots, but I got the short ones and I wanted the tall ones. It was the store's fault - they didn't have the tall ones in my size. And those days my parents wouldn't even think of taking me to a second store to look.

[Gaheris]

I love most music from the 1960s and 1970s (I also like the 1950s and the 1980s.)

I've been a Beatles fan since I was 11, when I heard Hey Jude on the radio. 60s icons, no doubt.

I am also a big Bee Gees fan, who actually released their very first single in 1963 (and became famous in 1967 after moving to London and signing with Robert Stigwood.) I love 1970s disco music and I love the music they produced during that period, but the Bee Gees are so much more than just a disco band. In my opinion, they produced some great music during the 1960s and they continued to be prolific throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Their last album was released in 2001; sadly Maurice died at the beginning of 2003. I was already a fan by then and I was really upset about it. He was a very friendly, down-to-earth gentleman.

[Yooper]

By the time the sixties arrived, some of the paranoia from the fifties had abated. The fallout shelters, Conelrad radio stations, and disaster drills in schools seemed to have become a thing of the past. I remember thinking when the Berlin wall was built what a perfect monument to Communism it was.

[stargazer]

Remember Justine Carelli from American Bandstand ? The blonde charmer. She lives here in my Mohave Desert town and sells real estate. She's a nice lady. Bandstand. I watched, and we all had "fave raves."

[Yooper]

Yeah, I gave it about a 78, it was easy to dance to...

[augusta]

I only remember the Bee Gees from "Saturday Night Fever" and on. I'll have to look up their work in the '60s. Andy Gibb went solo at some point and later died. It was awful to know Maurice Gibb died. He was a favorite of mine.

The first Beatles record I remember was their album "Beatles '65". I was in the 1st grade, and my older sisters played it a lot and I just loved it. I managed to talk them into letting me take it in to school. The teacher let us bring our favorite record in, and she'd play it and not let the kids touch it. I remember my sisters saying "NO" a lot about it. I must have appealed to my mother ...

I bought my son (18) the 'blue box' and the 'red box' CD sets of the Beatles a few years ago, and they are still unopened. I wonder what they're worth now ...

[Kat]

Michael Jackson may own the Beatles now- or his estate.

Am I the only one who thinks there are more Beatle tunes as background on commercials lately? It's a sad trend.

As for the Beach Boys and surf music, my colleague at work was raised in the inner city of L.A and not too much younger than I- he said they were into jazz and blues and that surf music didn't seem that innovative to him in his culture- that it had already been around a bit, and was familiar, before it became mainstream. He never got into it- even tho he grew up in California!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hey, Stargazer- thank you for your picture! The Avatar shows a slim, trim waistline- that outfit really suits you!
I thought you might be more of a "Naturalist" if you know what I mean!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Yes Augusta! Pedal Pushers --and they are back! As capris!

Ski jackets and ski pants were big- you are right! I thought they were just in the states that had skiing tho. The stirrups were for ski boots, keeping the pant leg taut and inside the boot. Have you skiied?

[Kat]

I once looked up online- when I first got a computer- this question. It seems to fit here. Sorry I don't have the web address.

The real lyrics to "Louie Louie" was the question to someone named Cecil, and his partial reply:

"...we have the assurance of the man who wrote the song, one Richard Berry, that the Kingsmen did not spice it up in the studio.

The song was about seven years old when the Kingsmen recorded their version in 1963, and the fantastic legend that grew up in its wake- a legend that even an FCC investigation couldn't kill- seems to have sprung soley from their lack of elucution.

Berry, who spoke on the subject a while back to a Los Angeles interviewer named Bill Reed, explains the song as the lament of a seafaring man, spoken to a sympathetic bartender named Louie. Here, without further ado, are the 'official' published lyrics:

Louie Louie, me gotta go. Louie Louie, me gotta go. A fine little girl, she wait for me. Me catch the ship across the sea. I sailed the ship all alone. I never think I'll make it home. Louie Louie, me gotta go. Three nights and days we sailed the sea. Me think of girl constantly. On the ship, I dream she there. I smell the rose in her hair. Louie Louie, me gotta go. Me see Jamaican moon above. It won't be long me see me love. Me take her in my arms and then I tell her I never leave again.

--I think it repeats "Louie Louie, me gotta go" again, but the very last bit on page 2 that I had printed out eons ago, is not here. I can't Google anything on this laptop- it's so antiquated!