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SUDDENLY SENIOR'S TAKE ON NOSTALGIA
Righting wrongs, avenging deaths, utterly frustrating what must be the most hideous, most memorable villains ever, Dick Tracy had far better luck with crooks than with love. Remember Tess?
A look back at 1957, our black and white world, our  expectations, our ideals and dreams. And why Lily Tomlin was correct when she said, "I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific."
When Drugstores were Drugstores If you grew up when neighborhood drugstores sold little but medicine and sodas, when prescriptions cost 67 cents, and when Lime Rickeys, Green River, Lydia Pinkhams and Hadacol were “the mostest,” this column’s for you. Heavy Groping at the StarLite Drive-in Were drive-in movies of the 40s and 50s the sexually unrestrained "passion pits" of yore? Or is all that our inner-teenager's imagination? A Geezer’s B-17 Flight into History A story of heroics exactly 60 years ago. Meet pilot, John McLaughlin, then fly the restored WWII B-17 bomber Fuddy Duddy. Climb aboard. It’s going to be a bumpy ride. My Love Affair with the Hepburn Women Here's why I believe Katharine and Audrey were the two standout artists of the 20th Century. It certainly wasn't just their good looks and charm. Frank's wife, Carolyn, finds (to her horror!) her mother's words pouring from her month as she threatens a grandson with a bath. The words have no effect. Years ago, they had no effect on Carolyn. Or, before that, on her mother. Is this in our DNA? Did our Neanderthal forebears use the same empty phases? The Greatest Generation? Perhaps no more than today's My friend Dom DiCarlo thought he'd find fame and fortune when he joined the Navy in 1939. Instead, he witnessed Pearl Harbor and confronted his own true heroism. Forever Ain't What It Used To Be Remember? You were going to live forever. Today, the you that you think you are and the you that others see are unrecognizable one to the other. Trust me on this. Read Frank's belated valentine to the Class of 1953. Jack Kennedy's assassination. Pearl Harbor. Sept. 11. Moments in our lives that live forever. Here are a few of mine. Fender Skirts, A Blast from the past I haven't thought about fender skirts in years. When I was a kid, I considered it such a funny term. Made me think of a car in a dress. Thinking about fender skirts started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice. Do you remember when...? All the girls had ugly gum uniforms? It took five minutes for the TV to warm up? Nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school? Nobody owned a purebred dog? A Tip of the Hat To a Proud American Tradition Wearing that first hat made me feel like an adult for the first time in my life. It told the world that I was now a man of substance, someone not to be trifled with. Were the 'Good Old Days' Really So Good? Were things safer, simpler, even sexier back then (based on the theory that less is more)? A humorous look at then and now. Where Did All Our Front Porches Go? Every evening you'd find my extended family all out there recalling their days, catching up on the news, greeting and often sharing the evening's desert of rhubarb pie with passing neighbors. It was Jezebel — beautiful, sensuous and forbidden, a wanton mistress that threatened the very stability and sanctity of marriage.
My father was a bigoted fool. I had no prejudices whatsoever. A look at why we hate who we hate. And how blind we are when it comes to our own intolerance. When the Lone Ranger Rode Off in Radioland, What Did You See? From radio I learned that hard work, discipline and stick-to-itiveness were essential to marital bliss. It wasn't much on looks. It had more miles on it than God. The clutch slipped, the rear shocks didn't work, and inside it smelled like someone died. But that '39 Studebaker was my first car, first love. Many of us lost a dear friend on April 29, 2004, as the final Oldsmobile rolled off the assembly line. The oldest automotive brand name in US history died at age 106. What are your Olds memories? I share some of mine. I was not smitten, just embarrassed. Naomi's glass eye glittered, eager for my attention. And as the girl already had well-developed breasts, I had nowhere to look except at our feet or the ceiling... Remember when a promise was a promise? Today we're bombarded with obfuscations. Lies, we used to call them. We’ve lost something critically important in America, our connection with each other. Time we got it back! These statements were quite common during the 1950s. How many of today's sayings will ring as true 50 years from now? How many can you remember today? What a difference 40+ years can make! The following is from a 1950's Home Economics textbook intended for high school girls, teaching them how to prepare for married life. LIKE ARCHIE BUNKER SAID, "THOSE WERE THE DAYS!" BUT THEN, EDITH WASN'T WORKING, WAS SHE? FOR THE BEST SENIOR TRIVIA, CLICK HERE |
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