>> don’t forget to check out Stolf’s Blog …and you’ll always have good luck!… <<
A Better Life Thru Asking Cool Daddy
Dear Cool Daddy: My pharmacist said that heroin was once available over the counter…that can’t be right, can it? He’s always pulling my leg about one thing or another. …from Huggy Bear, in Salt Lake City
Dear H.B.: But in this case, no legs are being pulled. Diacetylmorphine, a.k.a. Heroin…and we’ll capitalize the word since it was a trademark…was developed by the Bayer Pharmaceutical Company of Germany in the late 1800s as a cough suppressant and cure for morphine addiction. Altho also derived from the opium poppy, it was believed to be non-addictive…such was the level of study and testing in those far off days.
It was marketed in the US right alongside Aspirin, and available from 1896 thru about 1910, when it was finally realized to be indeed addictive…metabolizing into morphine in the liver…in fact, it could thus be described as a “fast-acting” form of morphine. This was, needless to say, a terrible blunder on Bayer’s part, and a major embarrassment …altho the firm survived, obviously. And by 1914, the Harrison Act came along, which immediately took morphine, opium, codeine, cocaine, and their many and varied derivatives and compounds, off the drug store shelves for good…no longer available from Sears Roebuck by mail-order either. Marijuana was added to the list in 1937.
But speaking of A Better Life Thru Chemistry, here are several ads from the 1950s you might find amusing…
WICKED BALLSY
And speaking of drugs, what were they smoking at the advertising agency…coming up with “living” blue ribbons? I mean, how could they even walk, let alone go bowling?
diethyltriptoshameless plugozine…take several daily, or as needed…
Podcasts at http://stolfpod.podbean.com and http://thewholething.podbean.com
Deep Fried Hoods Cups Daily Blog: http://deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com/
Other Daily Blog at http://stolf.wordpress.com (the legendary Stolf’s Blog)
More bloggage at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com and http://www.examiner.com/retro-pop-culture-in-watertown/mark-john-astolfi
Resume at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com/p/resume.html
Audio samples at http://stolfspots.podbean.com
>>>>>> don’t forget to check out Stolf’s Blog <<<<<<
Ask Cool Daddy’s Fruit Stand
Dear Cool Daddy: A woman I work with says her first computer back in the 1980s was something called an Apricot. I think she’s mixing Apples and….well, you know. So is she fruity or what? …from Dagwood, in Duluth
Dear Dag: It’s discouraging, isn’t it…when the “lady at the office” is always right and you’re always wrong. But in the early days of what was called “personal computing,” Apple was a major player from the get-go, and so a natural target to be taken down…what better way to attack than with other fruits?…or at least that was the reasoning at the time. Thus the Apricot, with this in-your-face anti-Apple advertising…
Didn’t pan out that way of course, but how could it? Earlier, the Pineapple was not just a competitor, but an out-and-out clone…within months, they were forced to ditch at least the “apple” part of their name. But look at the difference a year made…48 to 64 K..no longer a kit, but assembled…and for 6 less…
Another Apple clone was the…wait for it…Orange+…and the Poppy took aim at IBM, spoofing their iconic rose…
So what else botanical begins with A?…Acorn, of course. Even printers got fruity, with the Gorilla brand Banana model. And furniture from Pearr [sic]…BTW, that Commodore is a Series 4000, successor to the original PET from 1977…it came with its own monitor and 8, 16, or 32 K of memory. The game-changing Vic-20 was still 2 years away.
Don’t forget your surge protector…and a whole “basket” of choices..Lemon, Lime, Orange, and Peach. So yeah, I guess that’s where the Blackberry came from, nez pah?
seedless plugfruits…
Podcasts at http://stolfpod.podbean.com
or try http://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail?pid=67859
and http://thewholething.podbean.com
or http://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail?pid=75175
Deep Fried Hoods Cups Daily Blog: http://deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com/
Other Daily Blog at http://stolf.wordpress.com (the legendary Stolf’s Blog)
More bloggage at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com and http://www.examiner.com/retro-pop-culture-in-watertown/mark-john-astolfi
Updated Resume at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com/p/resume.html
Audio samples at http://stolfspots.podbean.com
>> don’t forget to check out Stolf’s Blog …I’m countin’ on y’all… <<\
Ask Cool DABBA
Dear Cool Daddy: As a monster ABBA fan, imagine my glee to see this on the net: ABBA to Release First New Song in 18 Years…I didn’t even know they were back together! What’s the skinny, Minnie? … from Yohan in Hootersburg
Dear Yohan: Hate to have to burst your bubble, my man, but they didn’t get back together, so technically there is no “new” song, despite the screaming yellow hype. Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, and Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad have resolutely declined to perform together, on stage or in the studio, since they last did so in 1982…even for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. (Yeah, I know, but it’s misnamed…think of it as the Baby Boomer Hall of Music and you’ll be OK, altho we’re not sure when…)
What you read about is the release of a remastered CD of their 8th and final album from 
1981, The Visitors. It will include the requisite bonus tracks, and one will be “From a Twinkling Star to a Passing Angel.” Nobody knows exactly what this will amount to, altho the resemblance of the title to “Like an Angle Passing Through my Room,” a lackluster ballad on said LP, suggests it’s some sort of demo…or perhaps a medley of early stages of the song…was it originally about a “twinkling star”? We’ll just have to wait until April 23rd to find out.
But here’s how it all played out 30 years ago. After the release of The Visitors in November of 1981, the four assembled in the studio in May and June of 1982 to work on their next LP. They completed 3 tracks… “You Owe Me One”…“I Am the City”…and…”Just Like That”…but producers Benny & Björn weren’t happy with them, and they took a month’s break. In August, they recorded “The Day Before You Came”…“Cassandra”…and…“Under Attack”…but in their minds, the groove was gone, and they settled for a Christmas release of a double-LP The Singles: The First Ten Years. The group called it quits soon after, last performing on British TV in December of 1982.
Of these 6 final songs, 4 were put out as singles that fall…”The Day…” backed with “Cassandra”…and “Under Attack” paired with “You Owe Me One.” Neither charted in the US, and that was pretty much the writing on the wall. ABBA’s last top 10 US hit had been “The Winner Takes It All” in 1980 at #8…their last Top 40 record was “When All Is Said and Done” in 1981 at #27. “The Visitors” then tanked at #63, their last US chart entry. But all 4 of these new songs were included in the double Singles album.
“I Am the City” would not see the light of day until 1993, on another compilation album, More ABBA Gold. That’s the “18 years”…well, 19 but who can count anymore?…that the news stories are referring to. The irony in my mind is that even at this late stage, and despite B&B’s misgivings, “I Am the City” and “Under Attack” are 2 of ABBA’s finest recordings ever… and “You Owe Me One” is also quite spiffy…and this isn’t just me saying it, but the consensus of the world-wide ABBAficionado community. Click on the titles and hear for yourself. But what happened to that 6th song, “Just Like That”?
It’s also a top fan favorite, available in several versions on bootlegs for decades…the story goes a cassette was stolen from somebody’s car…or something. Why have B&B refused to release it? Because in 1985, they produced an LP for a Swedish brother and sister team known as Gemini…and “Just Like That” was one of the songs they included. Most agree ABBA’s versions are infinitely better, but the boys insist the Gemini version is the definitive one, and it would be “confusing” to release ABBA’s. Huh? After all these years? And despite all the love? Well, that’s their story and they’re sticking to it.
And actually, a chorus of “Just Like That” has been officially released…in the 1994 box set Thank you For the Music…it’s part of a 22-minute medley titled “Undeleted”…in the fashion of the Beatles’ Anthology, this was composed of a whole bunch of demos, early versions, unreleased songs, out-takes, and other loose ends…but nothing in its entirety, only brief snippets.
Thus, when the news of this “new” song first hit, it was assumed the Holy Grail of ABBAdom was about to surface…but no such luck. On the bright side, the other 5 “last songs” are included on this new The Visitors CD…all in once place, for the convenience of latecomers. Anyway, you can check out 2 ABBA versions of “Just Like That”…the “na na na ” version…and the “sax” version…and if it sounds vaguely familiar, the melody of verse, altho not the chorus, was re-used in the musical Chess…which of course was a major post-ABBA project of Benny and Björn’s.
And what the heck, here’s this edition of DFHC‘s own “bonus track”…one of my favorite ABBA songs is “Does Your Mother Know?”…and here’s where the the break comes from…the unreleased “Dream World.”
Wicked Ballsy…
For the record, “Agnetha” is not pronounced AG-netha, like Agnes……but instead anh-YET-ah. And I’m sure you have no trouble remember which is which, but I always did…so several years ago I formalized this mnemonic device: Everybody knows blondes come from Sweden. So the one who isn’t blonde can’t be Swedish…she must be Finnish!…and that’s F for Frida…done and done…
üppkaftig urtag…
Podcasts at http://stolfpod.podbean.com and http://thewholething.podbean.com
Deep Fried Hoods Cups Daily Blog: http://deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com/
Other Daily Blog at http://stolf.wordpress.com (the legendary Stolf’s Blog)
More bloggage at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com and http://www.examiner.com/retro-pop-culture-in-watertown/mark-john-astolfi
Resume at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com/p/resume.html
Audio samples at http://stolfspots.podbean.com
>>>>>> don’t forget to check out Stolf’s Blog <<<<<<
Ask Cool Daddy
Speaks Franco-Italian
Dear Cool Daddy: Franco-American canned spaghetti was a staple on Baby Boomer lunch-tables…but am I the only one who noticed that while spaghetti is Italian, “Franco” means “French”? …from Gustav in Peru
Dear Gustav: Yeah, in fact at our house “franco-american” was a generic term for that mushy, orange-colored pasta…if Chef Boy-ar-dee was on sale and Mom fixed it for us, we’d look at our plates and say: “Oh boy, franco-american!” And I really did like it…it had a pleasant little tang to it, as I recall. We would also from time to time have real spaghetti, in a real sauce with meatballs, so we didn’t really think of franco-american as spaghet’, any more than we would noodles or macaroni.
But to answer your question, I think I was vaguely aware that Franco in English meant French, but then it also sounded Italian, so it wasn’t till much later that I noticed the international dichotomy. BTW, “French” in Italian is “Francese”…pronounced fran-chase-ay. “Franco” in Italian means frank, honest, sincere…and also refers to the Franks, who inhabited much of France, Germany, and Northern Italy…in English, the adjective is “Frankish.” But the ultimate explanation is pretty much what you’d expect…Alphonse Biardot came to America from France in 1880 and settled in Jersey City. By 1886, he was running a successful restaurant, and selling products in cans.
His most prominent line was soups, many with a decidedly French twist…green turtle, terrapin, chicken consommé, purée of game, mulligatawny, mock turtle, ox-tail, tomato, chicken gumbo, French bouillon, julienne, pea, printanier, mutton broth, vegetable, beef, pearl tapioca, clam broth, clam chowder, and others. The Franco-American Food Company also made canned sauces, patés, custards, and puddings…in fact, an early advertisement reads: English Plum Pudding made by a Frenchman! Why Not?
They were sold to Campbell’s Soup in 1915, and one can only think that accelerated the ethnic diversification. The earliest I can find Franco-American spaghetti is around 1930…and it was marketed as being in the style of Milan…“à la Milanaise”…which is of course French…in English that would traditionally be “Milanese”…today you also see “Milano”…in Italian “alla Milanese.” There seems to be no agreement as to what style that is today… sauce having cream as a key ingredient…or fennel and sardines…or ham and mushrooms…or who knows??? Back then, it was parenthetically explained as “tomato sauce with cheese”…and it became the Franco-American brand’s flagship product.
Above left is from 1950, right 1955. But as is typical of what I call “merchandising drift,” the basic recipe became “Americanized” to be point where in 1960 (below), they offered an “Italian style” version of an ostensibly Italian product…hey, that’s the Second Plateau!
Wicked Ballsy
With Star Wars and all, I suppose this was inevitable, from the early 1980s…check the TV commercial here. Calling the meatballs “meteors” seems a stretch…you mean, like rocks?
plugs à la shamelessaise…
Podcasts at http://stolfpod.podbean.com and http://thewholething.podbean.com
Deep Fried Hoods Cups Daily Blog: http://deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com/
Other Daily Blog at http://stolf.wordpress.com (the legendary Stolf’s Blog)
More bloggage at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com and http://www.examiner.com/retro-pop-culture-in-watertown/mark-john-astolfi
Resume at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com/p/resume.html
Audio samples at http://stolfspots.podbean.com
A
>>>>>> don’t forget to check out Stolf’s Blog <<<<<<
Ask Cool Daddy gets M&M’d
Dear Cool Daddy: I might be crazy, but didn’t red M&Ms disappear for a while, then return…do you know the story behind this confectionary conundrum? …from Mindy in Montauk
Dear Mindy: Comes to that, we all might be crazy…but you’re right, Red did go bye-bye for a bit…here an AP blurb explaining it from 1976…
Notice 3 strikes you’re out for the morons at Mars Candy: (1) Red Dye #2 wasn’t confirmed as a carcinogen….(2) red M&Ms weren’t made with Red Dye #2…and (3) “you can’t please everyone?” Of course you can: just make bags with and without Reds…give the people a choice!
Reminds me of Crayola in 1995, replacing lemon, linme, peach, strawberry, cherry, chocolate, and other “food” smells in their Magic Scent crayon assortment with cedar chest, shampoo, new car, baby, powder, fresh air, even smoke (!!)…on the grounds that kids might eat the food-smelling crayons, which in any event are non-toxic to start with. But when asked how many cases of that happening were they actually aware of, they admitted…none. Morons. Anyhow, as you can see by Xmas 1977, Reds were out of the picture…
But notice the old tradition of using food to decorate the tree…I don’t see that too much anymore…well, maybe candy canes, but hardly anybody strings popcorn or cranberries as a general rule. And how about making hot chocolate with M&Ms in the blender…snazzy! So forward in time to 1985, and the morons have their “Coca Cola Classic” moment…maybe we can bring Reds back under the guise of special Christmas candies…And so they did, taking added pains to make it clear that these weren’t actually M&Ms, but merely “from the Makers of M&Ms.”
“Holidays” were a hit, and the trade dress evolved faster than the latest retrovirus…from Holidays on the bottom, to Holidays on the top, transitioning from solid color to white fronts, then adding M&Ms prominently above Holidays…
…to finally a very attractive diamond-shaped design…then in 1994, they’re not Holidays anymore, but full-fledged M&Ms.
And as per the plan, the Reds were quietly snuck back into the regular mixture in 1987, not to mention the new Blues a decade later. The other major branch of the Holidays family was the Easter pastels, undergoing a similar evolution…
Others were tried too, like Valentines, Hallowe’en (or “Harvest”) …even the 4th of July. But in time, marketing shifted from differently branded varieties to “line extensions” of the tried and true core product…and so it is today. Even M&M “Minis” and “Premiums” are still M&Ms…
Wicked Ballsy
But speaking of “differently branded varieties,” anybody remember “Royals”…as I recall, they were quite tasty, introduced in 1980…eventually morphing into “regular” mint M&Ms…
shameless P&L&U&Gs...
Podcasts at http://stolfpod.podbean.com and http://thewholething.podbean.com
Deep Fried Hoods Cups Daily Blog: http://deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com/
Other Daily Blog at http://stolf.wordpress.com (the legendary Stolf’s Blog)
More bloggage at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com and http://www.examiner.com/retro-pop-culture-in-watertown/mark-john-astolfi
Updated Resume at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com/p/resume.html
Audio samples at http://stolfspots.podbean.com
>>>>>> don’t forget to check out Stolf’s Blog <<<<<<
Ask Cool Daddy…and he will answer…
Dear Cool Daddy: There’s something fundamentally mixed up mandating orange tips for toy guns, isn’t there? I mean, paint the tip of a REAL gun orange, then rob a bank with it…right? …from Torchy, in Sioux City
Dear Torchy: I completely agree, and trust me, it’s been done…from gang members to terrorists to bank robbers, it definitely has occurred to them. On the other hand, it does them no good, because there isn’t a police department in the country that doesn’t instruct its officers to regard anything that remotely resembles a gun, as a gun…a real gun…no matter what color the tip. Oddly enough, from the research I did on the net, it could very well be that the idea behind the law is to help children know what’s a real gun and what’s a toy…with the hope that they not mess with the real ones. “Young children can’t tell real guns from toys, and thus shoot their playmates by accident” is the way this theory goes. You think?
The federal law gives several other alternatives…a toy gun can be transparent…or colored in a bright “non-gun” color…and thus not need the orange tip. And besides the federal law, there are state and municipal laws that are even more stringent, so check your “local listings,” as they say. But despite the near universal claim that you can’t own a toy gun without an orange tip, there is debate in some circles. Bear in mind that laws are meant to be confusing, so that its easier for you to break them without meaning to, and to line lawyers’ pockets…but having read the federal law, my preliminary conclusion is that simply owning a non-orange-tip toy gun is NOT illegal. Manufacturing them and selling them definitely is illegal, and transporting them for commerce is as well, but the gray area is when you transport them for private, noncommercial purposes…say as a Christmas gift for your old-fashioned grandchildren who live across state lines.
Anyhow, this all dovetails into my thoughts about toy guns in general…how they were such a wonderful part of our Baby Boomer childhood…for both boys AND girls!…and how that seems to be lost today…most now are neon-colored monstrosities that shoot nerf balls or discs or something. But then I noticed this BB gun advertised in a Walmart circular (above, top)…and comparing it to a real Colt M4 (above, bottom)…well, it really does make one’s heart beat a little faster. And not for nothing, but notice the way they position the orange tip along the maroon border of the ad, so as to obscure its obsequiousness…nice try, sez me…
Dear Cool Daddy: My great grandmother claims Mazda used to make Christmas lights…is she losing her marbles? And if not, how did they go from bulbs to cars? …from Dale, in Dothan AL
Dear Dale: You are overlooking a 3rd possibility: that they were 2 separate companies. As you can see above, there really were at one time Mazda light-bulbs…as well as Christmas lights, below. It was a trademark of the Shelby Electric Company of Shelby, Ohio from 1909 until 1945…by that time they were owned by GE, and Mazda lamps were sold world-wide. In fact, the tungsten-filament bulbs became an industry standard, and the name “Mazda” was licensed by many other companies, including GE’s main competitor, Westinghouse. Thus it was something of a generic name, like Xerox, Kleenex, or Jello. The brand was phased out due to confusion with the up and coming Japanese auto maker, founded in 1920 as a maker of machine tools.
Interestingly enough, both the bulbs and the cars got their name from the same source: Ahura Mazda, the chief god of one of civilization’s earliest religions, Zoroastrianism. Apparently in ancient Persian, Ahura meant light and Mazda meant wisdom, hence the connection to light-bulbs. The automaker also claims it ties in with the name of that company’s founder Juiro Matsuda. BTW, Zoroaster was the founder and prophet of the religion, but not its god…and the name is based on the Greek form of the original Persian, Zarathustra.
Wicked Ballsy
Uncle Wiki says Everybody’s Magazine went out of business in 1929. It’s blurry, but the above sure looks like it says 1934…either way…they were still using candles on Xmas trees? Ay caramba….
thus sprach shameless plugs, with an orange tip…
Podcasts at http://stolfpod.podbean.com and http://thewholething.podbean.com
Deep Fried Hoods Cups Daily Blog: http://deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com/
Other Daily Blog at http://stolf.wordpress.com (the legendary Stolf’s Blog)
More bloggage at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com and http://www.examiner.com/retro-pop-culture-in-watertown/mark-john-astolfi
Updated Resume at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com/p/resume.html
Audio samples at http://stolfspots.podbean.com
>>> don’t forget to check out Stolf’s Blog <<<
Ask Cool Daddy, Up on 2 Wheels…
Dear Cool Daddy: Saw these strange-looking bikes in a Walmart flier and they sort of rang a bell…waaaaaaaaay off in the distance…are you any help? …from Sage, in Cheyenne WY
Dear Sage: Always…and from what I glean off the internet, these bikes are a spin-off from a line of kids’ bicycle helmets…hence the “skull” in Raskullz. Thus these bikes have a big “head” on the front, which is actually a storage compartment, but also serves to encourage the kids to be sure they also have a Raskullz helmet. Personally, the whole deal looks really ugly to me, but its a valuable lesson for the tots in consumerism…even tho something looks stupid, if enough kids go for it, you can’t be cool without it! Time will tell if these catch on, but apparently there’s already a “base” of kids who have the helmets. BTW, these beasts have names…left to right, Shark Attax, Sparkle Heart, and T. Rad Rex…plus there are a lot more.
Now what you might be remembering is the legendary Gene Autry bike made from the late 1940s well into the 1950s. It was a product of the Monark company of Sweden…their most popular line in the US were the Silver King bikes, dating from the 1930s…they also made full-size mopeds and motorcycles. As you can see, some of the details and accessories varied from bike to bike, but one of the key innovations was having a gun-and-holster attached. Those horse-head handle-grips (lower right) don’t look all that comfortable, but there you go.
And of course, there’s that horse-head stuck on the front…which I vaguely recall thinking was sort of dumb, like a rocking-horse bike or something. They were expensive too, but Baby Boomers were learning the meaning of the word “status”…and when they got older, they learned another interesting word: “kitsch.”
But one thing some of us Groovy Geezers forget is that girls as well as boys were big “cowboy” fans, and sure enough, Monark made a girls Gene Autry bike, tricked out in the same brown-and-cream color scheme…not pink like you’d see today. You can see the colored “jewels” applied liberally, especially on the tops of the fenders. And again, you might not recall that such baubles were for both boys and girls…but their presence here is inspired by the studs and jewels that decorated leather motorcycle togs and cowboy gear of the period…below, a belt and two wrist-guards…
WICKED BALLSY…NOT!
Speaking of bikes today, this design makes me nervous..the seat-post that just…STOPS in midair. I’m sure these bikes are tested and are solid and safe, but it looks soooooo wrong, nez pah?
shameless plugs, freewheeling…
Podcasts at http://stolfpod.podbean.com and http://thewholething.podbean.com
Deep Fried Hoods Cups Daily Blog: http://deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com/
Other Daily Blog at http://stolf.wordpress.com (the legendary Stolf’s Blog)
More bloggage at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com and http://www.examiner.com/retro-pop-culture-in-watertown/mark-john-astolfi
Resume at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com/p/resume.html
Audio samples at http://stolfspots.podbean.com
Dear Friends: Starting this week, Deep Fried Hoodsie Cups will be twice-weekly instead of daily…”Ask Cool Daddy” on Wednesdays…and “Genealogy 4 Baby Boomers” on Saturdays.
I started this blog in September of 2010…and now, over 400 posts later, daily hits have increased some 30-fold, and I am flattered and grateful. Still, now that I’m working again after an 18-month “vacation”…and have tried to keep up the daily routine for a month now…I find it’s just too much. I’ve haven’t run out of things to talk about…feel like I’ve just scratching the surface, really. But there are sadly only so many hours in the day.
If you still need a daily “fix”…my gosh…when I look back over 400 past blogs, I am truly astonished at the variety of trivial and extra-trivial topics touched upon…try 2/16/2011 as a typical example. And my original blog, Stolf’s Blog/Daily Dozen, will continue unchanged…#477 tomorrow…wow!…that’s shifting a lot of sand!
But then again, not once has anyone clicked the donate button and tossed a coin in my hat. So despite the hits, I guess interest just isn’t that great. Truth is, we’re all just grains in the vast internet desert. See you Wednesday!!!
shameless plugs…go there…be happy…
Podcasts at http://stolfpod.podbean.com and http://thewholething.podbean.com
Deep Fried Hoods Cups Blog: http://deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com/
Daily Blog at http://stolf.wordpress.com (the legendary Stolf’s Blog)
More bloggage at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com and http://www.examiner.com/retro-pop-culture-in-watertown/mark-john-astolfi
Updated Resume at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com/p/resume.html
Audio samples at http://stolfspots.podbean.com
TV GUIDE 3/29 – 4/4/1975
Always wondered how they could enforce that “buy 9 more selections (at regular Club prices) in the next 3 years”? My theory was that with their astronomical mark-ups, they could afford to give everybody in the world 13 for .97 and still make a profit.
The infamous “Blazing Saddles” TV pilot…unceremoniously “burned” by CBS one fine spring evening when nobody was looking.
With “Medical Center” nearing the end of its 7-year run, I guess nobody cared if James Daly came out of the closet…I mean, look at the pictures…he’s gay, right?…has to be…there’s no other explanation… 
Wicked Ballsy
Then and now….then, big hair and big lapels…now, big teeth and big botox…
shameless plug-it-yourselfers…
Podcasts at http://stolfpod.podbean.com and http://thewholething.podbean.com
Deep Fried Hoods Cups Daily Blog: http://deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com/
Other Daily Blog at http://stolf.wordpress.com (the legendary Stolf’s Blog)
More bloggage at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com and http://www.examiner.com/retro-pop-culture-in-watertown/mark-john-astolfi
Updated Resume at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com/p/resume.html
Audio samples at http://stolfspots.podbean.com
Ask Cool Daddy is OUT THERE
Dear Cool Daddy: I seem to remember a comic strip from the 1960s that featured weird sight-gags, often with a sci-fi theme…called “Far Out” or something like that…ever heard of it? …from Baron Von Nietsneknarf, in Transylapolis.
Dear Baron: You betcha I do…and thanks to that wonderful pop-culture encyclopedia that is the Internet, nothing is too minor or random not to be added to the chronicle of the coolest decade in history. The strip ran from 1965 to 1970, and it was called “Way Out,” so you were in the ballpark. Its creator, Ken Muse, was one of those lovable nudniks who never wanted to do anything but be a cartoonist. After serving in WWII, he was a staple on local Detroit TV, as a sketch artist on kiddie shows.
Meanwhile in New Orleans, DJ Sid Noel was knockin’ ‘em dead hosting the monster 
movie “House of Shock” as Dr. Morgus…inspiring a hit record (heard here in a recent recreation) and a slap-dash motion picture of sorts. He took his shtick to Detroit in the early 1960s, where the idea was hatched to include a Morgus comic strip in each week’s local edition of TV Guide. The strip was credited to Noel, but actually drawn by Ken Muse, his first effort, and it lead to national syndication with his weird, sometimes downright unfathomable, “Way Out.” He died in June of 2010, after a long career in cartooning, photography, videography, and teaching, at age 75.
Wicked Ballsy
Speaking of monster comic strips, the current “Eek!” by Scott Nickel carries on in a slightly more rational, but none-the-less jugular vein…
from the secret notesbooks of baron shameless von plugenstein…
Podcasts at http://stolfpod.podbean.com and http://thewholething.podbean.com
Deep Fried Hoods Cups Daily Blog: http://deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com/
Other Daily Blog at http://stolf.wordpress.com (the legendary Stolf’s Blog)
More bloggage at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com and http://www.examiner.com/retro-pop-culture-in-watertown/mark-john-astolfi
Updated Resume at http://travelingcyst.blogspot.com/p/resume.html
Audio samples at http://stolfspots.podbean.com
