What has disappeared since you were a kid

[St. Clown]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

There was no internet (which is how you job search now). Heck, the internet was not invented when I moved out.

You've been living on your own since 1965? You keep saying you're old, but I always thought there was at least some exaggeration happening there.

 

[leswp1]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

You've been living on your own since 1965? You keep saying you're old, but I always thought there was at least some exaggeration happening there.

OK, it may have been invented but if you weren't a computer geek you had no knowledge of it for yrs after 1965. (I was 5 at the time )

 

[Hopkinja]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

In the old days, every big city had a TV station that showed the old Universal horror flicks, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, etc. Usually on Friday or Saturday night. And usually with some weird dude introducing the flicks. In Chicago it was Shock Theatre, with "Marvin," who, come to think of it, is probably serving life in Statesville for diddling little boys. Plus, you could always count on somebody showing the Stooges and Laurel and Hardy, too. Now it's reruns of "Saved by the Bell," not exactly an improvement.

New York had "Chiller Theater", complete with an animation of a hand with 6 fingers coming out of a swamp. Philadelphia had Zacherle before he moved to New York and then had Dr. Shock.

Ahh memories.

 

[SteveP]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

New York had "Chiller Theater", complete with an animation of a hand with 6 fingers coming out of a swamp. Philadelphia had Zacherle before he moved to New York and then had Dr. Shock.

Ahh memories.

Second City TV's "Monster Chiller Horror Theater" with Count Floyd

"Verrry Scarrry AAAAHHHOOOOOOOOOOO"

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

Used to be on Saturday nights at midnight they'd play a horror movie on TV and they called the slot Horror Incorporated.

 

[The Rube]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

12 LPs/8-tracks/cassettes/CDs for 99 cents! You only have to buy 3 more at regular price in the next 6 months!

 

[zamboni crash-test dummy]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

12 LPs/8-tracks/cassettes/CDs for 99 cents! You only have to buy 3 more at regular price in the next 6 months!

Holy crap. I totally forgot about that. BMG was the one I was in. IIRC, they had like postage stamps of all the albums you could get and you would lick and stick onto your order form.

 

[The Rube]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

Holy crap. I totally forgot about that. BMG was the one I was in. IIRC, they had like postage stamps of all the albums you could get and you would lick and stick onto your order form.

Yep. I did both BMG and Columbia House. Also "signed up" my mom, dad, brother, and grandpa (who of course just happened to live at the same address, winkwink). Bought the minimum, quit the clubs. Waited a year, then did it again.

 

[leswp1]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

Holy crap. I totally forgot about that. BMG was the one I was in. IIRC, they had like postage stamps of all the albums you could get and you would lick and stick onto your order form.

I said the same thing. They had make-up clubs like that too.

 

[aparch]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

In the old days, every big city had a TV station that showed the old Universal horror flicks, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, etc. Usually on Friday or Saturday night. And usually with some weird dude introducing the flicks. In Chicago it was Shock Theatre, with "Marvin," who, come to think of it, is probably serving life in Statesville for diddling little boys. Plus, you could always count on somebody showing the Stooges and Laurel and Hardy, too. Now it's reruns of "Saved by the Bell," not exactly an improvement.

Svengoolie's "son" still hosts some bad (in a cheesy good way) monster flicks on WCIU in Chicago. http://www.wciu.com/svengoolie.php

 

[bostonewe]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

Ummm...dude, I work for the federal government

I knew Michigan was out of the question years ago. Cheyenne was luck of the draw, Alaska was more my choice seeing what my options were. My #1 choice was the Twin Cities because that's where all the people I knew from Tech/USCHO/etc. went, but that wasn't available.

I think a lot of the "entitlement" mentality actually comes from the parents. They're the ones who spent 18 years telling us "ZOMG YOU'RE SO SMART, YOU HAFTA GO TO COLLEGE AND YOU'LL MAKE ELEVENTY BILLION DOLLARS AND IF YOU DON'T, YOU'RE A FAILURE TO THE FAMILY NAME AND YOU'RE GONNA LIVE IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!" I admit that was the mentality I was fed going into Tech. The voices were all the same: Tech was going to be hard, but if you make it out you'll be pretty much set for life.

Wait until Gen Y starts figuring out the costs/benefits of college and stops going. Then it's going to be a ****show.

Same thing. Now, I'm pretty sure that it's out of the question for me to ever own a house. All for a degree I really don't use from a school that isn't quite what it claims it is (in my opinion). My younger sister went state school and doesn't have any loans. Younger bro is at Georgetown and the bills are already piling up and he wants to go to grad school. Tried to convince my parents that he could do just as well at Penn State (in their Honors College) and save up $$ to go to grad school. According to them it's not worth it because Georgetown has a better reputation... it's a losing argument. If I could do it all again...

 

[Kepler]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

Bozo creator Larry Harmon sold packages involving the cartoons, the name Bozo and the look of the clown to TV stations across the country.

There's a wonderfully vituperative internet controversy about whether Harmon really should be credited with "creating" Bozo or whether he was a savvy shyster who claim-jumped it. I like to think of him as a Crusty the Clown -- a little bit of both.

 

[Handyman]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

Yep. I did both BMG and Columbia House. Also "signed up" my mom, dad, brother, and grandpa (who of course just happened to live at the same address, winkwink). Bought the minimum, quit the clubs. Waited a year, then did it again.

Everyone did that...the real scam though was if you told them you were cancelling, they would usually offer you 4 more CDs or movies for free just to stay active. (you could do this even before you had bought all the regular priced ones) I may still owe Columbia House for a DVD or two

I remember when watching the Bozo show Cookie was buying a bunch of crap and when Bozo asked how he afforded it, Cookie said "All you have to do is say CREDIT and it is yours for free!" People must have changed the channel after that and missed the truth behind the skit because that seems to be how everyone spends these days

I miss New York Seltzer being at my local stores...the Root Beer flavor was AWESOME!

Anyone remember Mountain Dew Sport?

Here is one that got me in trouble when I was really young: 1-900-909-4300 call Santa's Phone, call Santa's phone and we will sing Christmas Songs! Yeeeeeah those were expensive songs...and plus I am Jewish my dad was not pleased

Remember when in the back of like Sports Illuistrated for Kids or comic books they would have the ads for stuff you could sell to earn prizes like bikes and stuff? I did that (or something similar) and told people I was selling to it was for Cub Scouts or school or something...I was caught, it was not pretty

 

[RaceBoarder]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

I would like to have a moment of silence for Mountain Dew MDX... I miss that stuff

 

[Biddco]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

My virginity

Also, pagers. I remember seeing my first one in 1st grade. Looking back on it now, what a stupid invention!

 

[thebrain]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

Yep. I did both BMG and Columbia House. Also "signed up" my mom, dad, brother, and grandpa (who of course just happened to live at the same address, winkwink). Bought the minimum, quit the clubs. Waited a year, then did it again.

I signed up under 18 and called them up and told them that and I never had to pay for the CDs...Those companies were scams, but you had to work them and that was really easy to do!

 

[Old Pio]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

Svengoolie's "son" still hosts some bad (in a cheesy good way) monster flicks on WCIU in Chicago. http://www.wciu.com/svengoolie.php

That's good to hear, but while I was living in Chicagoland (pre-cable) WCIU and WFLD were a bad joke, almost nobody could watch and they rarely had anything worth watching anyway (in the interest of full disclosure, my first paid appearance on any station was on WFLD, they did a live broadcast of a big indoor track meet at my h.s. I don't think my parents were able to watch because of the incredibly bad signal). There are evidently still guys showing those old horror flicks. A great American tradition. I think there may be a syndicated "shock type theatre" out there. Not as clever as MST3K (almost nothing is). I believe I've surfed through it on our local PBS station occasionally. Like from Cleveland, maybe.

 

[Old Pio]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

There's a wonderfully vituperative internet controversy about whether Harmon really should be credited with "creating" Bozo or whether he was a savvy shyster who claim-jumped it. I like to think of him as a Crusty the Clown -- a little bit of both.

I had not heard that. I was not in the target demo for Bozo's Circus, but the Bozo cartoons were absolutely the worst part of the show--crudely rendered and unfunny. I wanted to see the Grand Prize Game (which Harmon later included in the package for local stations), the sketches and live circus acts. Dan Castellenata, who does the voice of Krusty, among others, is a graduate of my h.s. and says he got the voice from WGN's Bozo (Bob Bell).

edit: I did a little google on the Bozo controversy. Interesting. At first blush it struck me as a similar situation as between the McDonald's brothers and Ray Kroc (another graduate of my h.s.) both Harmon and Kroc saw a far greater potential than the "originators" did. 'Course Kroc paid the McDonald's brothers millions of dollars for the right to create his empire. Doubt that Harmon paid the "original" Bozo anything (assuming he was original, of course).

 

[Old Pio]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

There was a time when the only place you could get A & W root beer was at an A & W drive in. Huge treat. In addition to individual drinks, they also sold it in quarts in waxed paper megaphone looking containers and in half and full gallon jugs.

 

[SteveP]

Re: What has disappeared since you were a kid

There was a time when the only place you could get A & W root beer was at an A & W drive in. Huge treat. In addition to individual drinks, they also sold it in quarts in waxed paper megaphone looking containers and in half and full gallon jugs.

And their burgers were actually pretty tasty.