Creepy Viacom Bumpers Through The Ages

My ongoing battle with insomnia is your gain, folks ;-)

These creep me out.  Truthfully, what really creeps me out is actually remembering the "pinball" version of the logo at the end of Rhoda episodes...when they first aired in the mid Seventies.  I'm old.

From 1987: Heaven Is A Kiss And A Smile

One of the most haunting records ever made.

On February 27, 1988, Father Figure topped the Billboard charts, staying there for two weeks. It was a track from George Michael's monster LP Faith, which was released in October 1987.

The model in the video is Tania Coleridge.

There isn't a bad track on Faith,
but this one has been my favorite for 25 years.

From 1965: What In The Holy Hell?

I'm en route to getting ready for Date Night, but I was so appalled by this clip, I had an urge to blog about it immediately!

Karen J., you evil and tortuous soul, how can you claim to be "one of my biggest fans" and then release this piece of fresh Hades upon me, knowing full well that I would have to do a post about it here? Devil woman, you!

Words...fail me. I didn't think even The Sixties were capable of children's toys that could only be played successfully by feigning an epileptic fit. But here it is: Swing Wing.



(Thank you, Karen. XOXOXOXO)

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 1968: The Most Haunting Song Ever Recorded

Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge...

On The Smothers Brothers Summer Show in July 1968, Bobbie Gentry performs her hit "Ode To Billy Joe" live.



It captured the mood that had engulfed the nation at that point: Bobby Kennedy had been murdered a mere month before, Martin Luther King, Jr., had been gunned down in April, racial unrest continued to tear the very fabric of the United States apart, and disenchantment among young and old alike about the Vietnam War continued to spread. And roughly a month after this broadcast, Chicago would erupt in violence at the Democratic National Convention.

"Ode To Billy Joe" was a smash hit in 1967, this odd little song with just Bobbie Gentry's sweet voice and her guitar accompaniment. There is speculation even today as to what the narrator and Billy Joe were "throwin...off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

Some say it was a veiled antiwar anthem; that the girl and Billy Joe were throwing his draft notice into the murky waters, and that Billy Joe committed suicide rather than be deployed to Vietnam.

A more common interpretation is that it is a tale of love gone wrong; that the narrator had had an illegal abortion, ostensibly Billy Joe's child, and that after throwing the aborted fetus off the bridge into the murky waters that would keep their secret, Billy Joe committed suicide in remorse.

Whatever the scenario, whatever the song's meaning, the ending is just perfect:

And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge

Wow.

Abandoned Places, Forgotten Spaces: Six Flags New Orleans

On August 27, 2005, Six Flags New Orleans closed in preparation for
Hurricane Katrina.

It never reopened.

This is what remains of it today.



The history of Six Flags New Orleans, focusing primarily on its demise



(this is a SPECTACULAR double-clicker)


(Note the watermarks on the sign from the flooding)

A New Series Here At ATOTW: Abandoned Places, Forgotten Spaces

I've recently become fascinated with what one might call "the dark side" of vintage things: those places that have outworn their welcome, regardless of the reason...usually just the passage of time, the changing of tastes, and the folly of humans.

Malls. Amusement parks. Residential buildings. Hospitals. Orphanages and "state homes." Places that, for whatever the reason, are simply left to stand as a testament to their former lives as part of their respective communities...now rotting away with the passage of the seasons, dignity stripped away with each spray of graffiti.

So I decided to start memorializing these abandoned places, forgotten spaces, here on this blog. I think I might do a solid week of remembrance at first, but this will be a regular feature on A Touch Of Tuesday Weld.

I hope you are as fascinated as I am.

-Laura :)



These buildings were meant to be "The Legendary Years" section in the absolutely appalling "Pop Century" resort at Walt Disney World, commemorating 1900-1940 and some of Disney's greatest animated triumphs.

Alas, it never came to pass, courtesy of September 11, 2001. This segment of the project, along with many of the buildings already finished with doors and windows, was completely abandoned (and such a shame, I would have liked to have stayed in the "Uncle Walt's I Hate Jews" suite).

So consequently, a "pop century" in Disneyspeak only lasts fifty years.

Oh, Eric Roberts. What On Earth Happened?

So last night I was flipping channels and I stumbled across some doggerel on VH-1 called Celebrity Rehab or some other such twaddle. You know, H-list "celebrities" check into a rehabilitation facility, have their every foible filmed, and then that awful Dr. Drew "helps" them.

Yuck.

Imagine my surprise, my ghastly surprise, to learn that one of the "celebrities" is none other than Eric Roberts, brother to Julia and the far better actor of the two. What is a talent of his caliber doing on a show like Celebrity Rehab? How dreadful.

Roberts seared his way into my memory in Bob Fosse's Star 80, with his electric portrayal of small-time pimp Paul Snider, the man who murdered 1980 Playboy Playmate of the Year Dorothy Stratten before turning the gun on himself. In this scene from Star 80, Snider demonstrates his meticulous, albeit creepy, preparations to meet those assembled at the Playboy Mansion.

In This 1977 PSA, Tony Orlando And Dawn Tie A Yellow Ribbon Around Your Career Aspirations

It's nice to know that Tony and the gals think that "I can be more than I am," but it's actually not hard to be more than "perennially unemployed loser and roller derby enthusiast who owns her own monogrammed straitjacket."

I'm just saying.

From 1959: When Huge Jugs And Perception-Bending Drugs Collide In The Mind Of The Man In The Grey Flannel Suit

What a piece of work this gem is!

Not only will Good Old Harvey no longer "lie there and mope," he will live to see another day to be his usual lecherous and unpleasant self...thanks to the magic of the wizards at Smith, Kline, and French!

Indeed, a "bright side" for your patients...and the hardworking nurses who just love to be ogled by them!

Dexamyl featured a mixture of dextroamphetamine and amobarbital in an extended release capsule (the "Spansule"). This highly addictive drug was very popular on the street, where it was sold under the name of "Christmas Trees," so named for their bright green capsules and pearly white granules visible within.

Dexamyl was taken off the market on June 30, 1973.

From 1968: Wondering Why This Isn't Like The Dream

This haunting song, a lament by John Phillips about the emptiness of fame and the Hollywood scene, as well as his increasing unhappiness that he was starting to blot out with heroin, is considered to be oddly prescient of the Manson murders, which would take place roughly one year after this song was released.

Indeed, the group was inextricably linked with the crimes. John and Michelle Phillips, along with Cass Elliott, were part of the same social circles to which the Tate victims, save for Steven Parent, belonged.

And shortly before the slayings, Michelle had a brief affair with Roman Polanski in London.

The first three mansions shown in the clip: the Italianate horror that currently stands, abandoned (again), on the site of the Tate murders (the former 10050 Cielo Drive); Jay Sebring's house, which was the former domicile of Jean Harlow and her husband, Paul Bern (who committed suicide there); and finally Sharon Tate's "love house," 10050 Cielo Drive.

"If you play the game, you pay the price...purchasing our piece of paradise..."

Honestly, this song really creeps me out.

August 8, 1969

Less than twelve hours after this photograph was taken, they were murdered.

The Second Installment In Our "So You've Banged Someone Unclean" Series (With Bonus Educational Film!)

1930s

Now I want you all to pay attention. Don't let Jerry Anderson's shame be YOURS!

From 1970: Leave My Kitten Alone

With A Lovely Name Like "Mornidine," You Just Know That It's Safe

No date available; my money is on the late 40s or early 50s.

Incredibly, this is not an ad rejoicing that The Crazy Bitch Wife can finally get back to her wifely duties like fixin' a Hungry Hubby his morning sausage and eggs.

No, it seems as though Mornidine was a drug prescribed for morning sickness. That's right. Morning sickness. Mornidine...get it now? You know, because a trivial matter like being deathly ill during the gestation of your child is no reason for Hubby to have to go without his pigs in a blanket.

Mornidine was taken off the market on July 17, 1969. It was deemed to be dangerous, or something. I suspect Flipper Babies, or possibly babies being born as Acid Freaks, but am unable to find much about its removal from the market on The Internets.

Furthermore, the evidence as to how American Breakfasts suffered as a result is anecdotal, at best.

Bringing You A Little Sunshine In Matching Contemporary Casuals From The 1973 Montgomery Ward "Monsanto Chic" Collection For This Monday

Mom, Dad, and for the young ladies, their heartthrob son with an afro the likes of which have not been seen since Dwayne...or possibly Shirley...on What's Happening.

This 1979 Ad For Talcum Powder Is Eerily Reminiscent Of The Illustrations Of The Hippies In The Original Version Of "The Joy Of Sex"

People

April 30, 1979