From 1975: Kim, In The Fourth Grade

Beautiful.

I wonder if Kim's mother made that dress for her.

2014: The Reckoning

Brought to you by the most racist candy ever made...

Kitty-cat related advertising for now-defunct soft drinks...

The original cast of The Facts Of Life...

The Smylie Family...

My beloved Hee Haw lunchbox....

A scrumptious Swanson TV dinner...

And my favorite random 1975 photo of all time.

I'm back, bitches.

If It's Friday, That Means "Frampton"

What a living doll.

I haven't been around much lately.  I've been really busy with actual writing work, and while I always mean to update this blog, it always seems to fall by the proverbial wayside.

Do you ever read Peter Frampton's Facebook page?  If you don't, you should, as in, yesterday.  He is a very funny, very droll individual.  He writes about his music as well as other little tidbits from his life, such as going to the mall so he can browse at the Apple store. 

Here's my favorite of his, a 1975 recording of "Doobie Wah."

From 1975: The Stoned Rollers

Some pictures are like a gift from God.  

This picture is like if God gave me His million-dollar check from Publishers Clearing House, saying, "Here, I am The Lord Almighty.  I don't need it."

From 1975: A Huge Chunk O' Commercial Goodness

November 10, 1975

Recorded during a Monday Night Football broadcast.

(The Chiefs beat the Cowboys, 34-31.)

Be sure to catch the very brief but gorgeous shot of a United Airlines DC-10.  And there are ads for Schlitz (the official beer of A Touch of Tuesday Weld...did you know that?  No?  Well, it is.) and the Boeing 747 (oh, yes, in the 70s and even into the 80s, the 747 was flown domestically in the United States, especially on TWA.  "Got on board a westbound 747").

There's also a promo for a brand-new ABC program called Good Morning, America, with host David Hartman.

Grocery Store Favorites: Bad Time, By Grand Funk Railroad

Dear Safeway Supermarket:

If you insist on playing songs like this over your sound system, you are going to have to deal with me singing along really loudly, as well as possibly doing some sort of strange dance step in time with the music, regardless of where I am in the store. This is one of the few joys of being a 42-year-old woman. And as the Young People Of Today say, haters gonna hate.

Love, Laura.

1975

From 1975: Hairpainting!

People

December 29, 1975

2012!

Do a little dance
Make a little love
Get down tonight
Get down tonight

You said it, K.C. Happy 2012, everybody!



My resolution for this blog: 37% more Funky Soul Brothers this year!

What Makes 1975 Spectacular: Little Bryan Costin and His Dad's Subaru

I am thoroughly charmed by this photograph. I think it's his little jean jacket that gets me. Very 1975. Or maybe it's his red tennis shoes.

Or maybe it's that Bryan's Dad loved him so much, he just had to take a photo of his little boy in that very setting at that very moment...there's a spontaneity to this picture.

Bryan Costin

As The 1975 Spectacular Continues, We Take A Look At "Love In The Afternoon"

Housewives, put down your mops, fix yourselves a cocktail or six (yes, I know you learned how to make authentic Singapore Slings the other day while watching Dinah Shore), and prepare to spend the rest of the day in the throes of blissful romance, as only the soap operas of 1975 could provide.

The 1975 Spectacular Continues: Hail, Poetry! Divine Emollient!

That is, if that emollient is globs of delicious special sauce.

Spectacular For Our 1975 Spectacular: A Hard-Workin' Dog

One of my favorite Sesame Street clips from when I was a child, this debuted in a 1975 episode.

There's an urban legend that the vocalist and guitarist here is Neil Young. That isn't true. It's a country singer and jazz musician named Fred Wardenburg. Sadly, Wardenburg died in 2006.

(although I am quite sure that Neil would have done this piece, had he been asked.)

The 1975 Spectacular Continues: Someone I Touched

(AKA, "The Pax Romano Story")

In this memorable 1975 made-for-TV movie, Cloris Leachman is unclean! Phyllis has the syphilis! Even worse, she's knocked up.

Poor Cloris thinks she got "the bug" from her philandering husband, who banged a girl who looks young enough to be his granddaughter, but no! It turns out that she's the family's resident Typhoid Mary, and that she gave VD to her darling hubby, who in turn gave it to the chick from The Boy In The Plastic Bubble.

Oh, 1975. You were such a wacky year, what with your communicable social diseases and county workers with porn 'staches telling nubile young maidens on beaches that they have a whopping case of crotch rot!

"I think you got yourself a case of VD...you're extremely contagious."

Time machine. Take me back now.

Kick Off: The 1975 Spectacular!

Brought to you by The Slacks Worn By The Brothers Gibb.

I think I like Maurice's the best. Sparkly!

If I Ever Stop Using This Photo For My Profile Pictures, Stick Me In A Hefty Trash Bag And Put Me Out On The Curb, Because I Am Surely Dead

I shamelessly stole this from the Sexy People blog, because I simply had to have it. I really have no other excuse. How could I not love a photo of a guy named Rick from 1975? This picture is everything this blog is all about!

I feel a week-long tribute to 1975 coming on.

From 1975: Ewwwwwwwww.

I just don't know what to say about this spot.



I will say that I wore Love's Baby Soft and Love's Fresh Lemon for years.

From 1975: New York Mining Disaster, 1941

At 9:15am, on Friday, October 21st, 1966, the small Welsh community of Aberfan changed forever when a waste tip slid down a mountainside into the mining village. Miners were trapped underneath the sludge; the mud and waste literally engulfed the local elementary school.

144 people died in the Aberfan disaster: 116 of them were school children.

The events inspired the Bee Gees to write their first American hit, which they based upon the tragedy.

"Have you seen my wife, Mr. Jones?
Do you know what it's like on the outside?
Don't go talking too loud, you'll cause a landslide
Mr. Jones."

More about the song.

From 1975: Shambala

A memory:
Christmas Day 1994. Ken and I had just gotten engaged over matzo ball soup at J.J. Applebaum's Deli two days earlier. We were in a drugstore at The Bridgewater Commons, buying candy to bring to an afternoon showing of Dumb and Dumber.

This song came over the sound system in the drugstore, and Ken and I began to dance. We didn't care what it looked like to anyone. We were so happy and it was Christmas Day and the whole world was in front of us...a world that we were facing together.

From 1975: A Corey Feldman Christmas

Before he broke into the movies, Corey Feldman was an incredibly prolific child actor in television commercials from a very young age.

Here, Feldman is roughly three years old.

The young people of today simply do not understand that, to a Seventies Kid, a booklet of McDonald's gift certificates was one of the best presents you could ever get under the tree. Oh, the joy: playing with your new Maskatron (by Kenner!) on Christmas Day 1976, secure in the knowledge that some piping-hot McDonald's fries and one of their delicious cheeseburgers was in your near future, courtesy of Santa and those wonderful McD's gift certificates.

Those were the days.

From 1975: For Vintage-Minded Zitfaces

'Teen
March 1975

True story: I used to use Sea Breeze back in the day, 1983 or so. I actually burned my cheeks using it, the formula was so strong and harsh. I was happy to sport that burn. Man, my face was clean! It hurt like utter hell, but I was happy.