When I was in high school, I was the editor of the school newspaper. Well,
production editor, anyway. And in addition to my editorial duties, I wrote several articles and regular columns. One of those columns was called
"Do You Remember. . ." which delved into the far reaches of high schoolers' minds. . .oh five or six years. That's a long time when you're a kid!
Now that I've realized (with horror) that next year is my twenty-fifth high school reunion, the memory-scape is much more fuzzy. But I have a mind for trivia and pop culture, though that is unfortunately not a lucrative trait. What it
is good for is fodder for the blog. Reach into your brains (if you are old enough), and see if you remember these little pop culture nuggets.
#1 -
Freakies Cereal - This was one 70s item I didn't know was in my brain, until I recently watched an episode of CBS's
Swingtown, where the children on the show were having breakfast. Talk about attention to detail! We
looovvvved this cereal when I was a kid, but I have absolutely
no recollection of what it tasted like!
#2 -
It's Alive! - This was a really lame horror movie from the 70s, about a killer baby. But to a 10-year-old kid, with access to his parents' bootleg cable descrambler, the movie trailer was enough to excite us! And the movie itself was watched over and over again. Then came,
It Lives Again!
#3 -
Calgon Detergent - I have no idea how actual Chinese Americans responded to this commercial, but it was one of the most pervasive ones of the entire decade. This thing ran for YEARS.
#4 -
Captain Caveman & The Teen Angels - Saturday morning television is a strange landscape, and has been for at least the 40 or so years that I can remember. But this odd mixture of superhero, prehistory and 70s "jiggle" shows was pretty bizarre. Part
Charlie's Angels, 2000 Years BC, and
Scooby Doo, this show was somehow a hit.
I've done a lot of Blast from the Past installments, on many subjects. And though I'm pretty sure I've included soap commercials, and maybe even one or two of the selections below, I've never hit the all-time NEW! IMPROVED!!! category itself: laundry detergent. For whatever reason, in the 70s especially, Wall Street was intent on selling us improved soap for our clothes. Some of these are still with us today, and they just keep improving them!
