Pod Stallions 43: Top Tens We Miss about the 1970s

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Our website turns 10 this month so we begin by discussing it's origins and why it came to be. With the topic already being nostalgia, we thought it would be fun to talk about the top ten thing we miss about the 1970s.

This is not a "things were better in our day" type discussion (We like Ebay and YouTube just fine thank you very much) but more about the certain rituals, tastes, establishments and items that sadly, no longer have a place in our modern world.

Topics range from Saturday morning TV to local toy stores, full comic book racks everywhere you looked, ice cream men on bicycles, long gone fast foods, Jason's crush on Rhoda Morgensten (and her mom!), Network Stars Battling, Heroes World adverts, colorful home decor and of course, wish books.

Be careful with episode 43 because the filling is hot!


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[Earth 2 Chris]

You've saved another Friday! This sounds like a really fun one!

Chris

[palitoy]

It was super fun to record, hopefully that comes through.

[acrovader]

Saturday morning cartoons and DEFINITELY local toy stores. Even places that weren't technically toy stores were selling toys. And there were a lot more music store outlets around along with video game arcades! Plus shopping malls had a video game arcade, at least one toy store, and a couple record stores, a hobby shop, the Woolworth store had a little diner, Orange Julius, etc. Small, independent movie theaters...

[MIB41]

Boy oh boy. What a great episode guys. This definitely hit a note with me in more ways than one. But first let me fill in a blank for Jason on a question he had. Burger Chef was a big chain in Louisville in the 60's and 70's as well (headquartered in Indianapolis). It was sold to Hardees and whatever menu it had evolved with their brand. Great memories for me. We also had a Burger Queen which later became Druthers. Who can forget Queenie Bee? Oddly the one iconic eatery of the 70's (for me) still survives here in Louisville - Ollie's Trolley. How it did, I do not know but it still stands and delivers the same food to this day.

I LOVED our local toy store in the 60's and 70's. The name? Thornbury's Toys. It was THE toy store to go to in Louisville back then and always carried the latest and greatest for every kid. Here is a great blog on the store and it's history. Brian I think you will enjoy it.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwis9MXXgJHMAhVqu4MKHTPYAZ0QFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthornburystoys.blogspot.com%2F&usg=AFQjCNFZgZMu0oRfdUSFfCtqXXXhqMf9KA&bvm=bv.119408272,bs.1,d.amc

When it comes to comics, I think our corner drugstore was my biggest memory from that period. It was called "Nite Owl" and always carried two big swing racks of comics. What killed me was they didn't always get every single issue I collected, so I sometimes missed out on key storylines along the way. But they always had an abundance of neat comics and the wonderful TV show cards and PVC figures that decorated drugstore checkout counters back then.

When it came to comic ads, my fondest was this one...



The idea that I could soon have a Goblin figure, let alone a Hulk, was just mind numbing back then. That was the part about the 70's that was so unique. Communication was not a tenth of what it is today, so it was nothing to come across something that you had no idea was either already available or coming soon. It was a real grab bag of surprises back then... Although I have to say they weren't always the best kind. Case-in-point my second favorite ad from the 70's...



My amazement over seeing a KidFlash figure was beyond mind blowing. We had never gotten a Flash figure so this seem to be even more cool because I always loved KF's outfit. Yet no matter where I looked in Louisville, he never showed up. So after a short spell of wearing my mom out driving around, I decided I would have to take the dreaded mail order route, which my parents hated because it took so long. But before that happened, the next issue of the Superhero catalogue came out producing my WORST memory...



No Kid Flash... In the span of one issue (which was roughly four months) Kid Flash had appeared and disappeared almost as fast as his powers suggested. I never actually laid eyes on a real specimen for 15 years. It wasn't until 2001 that I owned my first one. So if the 70's were symbolic of anything it was how much hast one had to make to acquire things, because back then when they were gone, THEY WERE GONE.

In terms of television programming I think what I miss most from the 70's were the weekly mystery movies. That was something very unique to that era that never came around quite the same way again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHk5cGwuS6A

I also miss the variety shows that were vaudevillian in nature back then. Those died out by the end of the 70's as well. I think that kind of programming was very iconic to that period and it really made for some special memories around the household back then. Television was more of a event back then. You had to be in front of that tube for those specials when they happened. There were no DVR's or really any affordable VCR's back then. So if you missed it, that was it.

But I think what finally stands out as the most enduring aspect about the 70's was that separation kids got to do their own thing. I think the 70's was that last era were kids looked like kids, dressed like kids, and pretty well played like kids. I think with the dawn of the 80's everything became so image driven with MTV that the preppy, grown up look became the in-thing even with younger kids. Younger kids wanted to be like their older siblings, whereas in the 70's I think kids had their thing and teenagers had their hobbies. No one was really that interested in being all inclusive. I think there was more separation. At least that was the impressions I had as a kid.

[palitoy]

Wow that is a terrific link Tom, thanks for that. Inspiring to see such love for a bygone retailer like that.

[palitoy]

And hey, I'm mentioned! Turns out I had a pic from a Thornburys in my own archive!

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Tom, we had a Burger Queen that became a Druther's also. I remember the Queenie Bee ( I think she even showed up "in person" at least once I recall). Druther's was the first time I ever had a "Kid's Meal", as the closest McDonald's was in Paris. I think Druther's were called "Andy's Dandy Meals" or something like that? The thing that sticks out for me about Druther's was they had batter-dipped fish on the menu, like Long John Silver's. LJS was our "fast food" of choice on the rare occasions we'd go out of town. It was like going out for filet mignon.

Great episode Brian. Every time a tale from my childhood comes up, from either me or my dad, my son laments living so far out in the country. Not being able to ride his bike over to his friend's house, etc. It totally get the whole "gone all day" thing. After I was about 9 or so, I'd leave in the morning, come back for lunch, be gone all afternoon, come back for supper, and be out, sometimes until 11. Now, once it got dark, I wasn't allowed to ride my bike, but in the summer that meant 9 PM!

On my end, part of the difference is smart parenting. I know some of the stuff I got into, and some of the dangers I narrowly avoided hanging out with a group of kids all day long, unsupervised. It seems like things are worse now, and in our community, unfortunately drugs are far more prevalent, but there were plenty of dangers out there in our day too. I actually did have someone try to get me to get into their car, claiming to be friends of my parents at one point. Very scary stuff.

But enough depressing stuff, this show as a lot of fun. I can't believe Robert Conrad said that to Kaplan in ANY era. I need to find that clip on YouTube. Yikes!!! That show as a lot of fun. And yes...the ladies.

I discovered the...other sections of the Sears catalog in my teenage years. Before that, they were literally manna from Heaven. I was like Steve Martin in The Jerk when a new Sears catalog came in.

Again, GREAT show!

Edited to add: We had Thornbury's in one of the malls in nearby Lexington. I can count on my hand the number of times we went to "the big city" before I was 11 or so, but I do recall always wanting to go to that mall (I think it as Turfland?) that had that Toy store. Oh, and we had Children's Palace there too. Mind-blowing!!!

Chris

[MIB41]

And hey, I'm mentioned! Turns out I had a pic from a Thornburys in my own archive!

Wow! How neat is that?! You think I would have caught that but old age is getting me. Don't ever get old Brian. It's the worst move I ever made. Before I forget, there was another iconic show unique to our town back in the early to mid 70's. It was called Fright Night and was hosted by Charles Kissinger aka "Fearmonger". He would have a flashlight under his chin and the camera would pan in to make it look like his face drifted towards you in the darkness. My good friend Dave Conover set this site up in tribute to the show and was granted access to Channel 41's archives to dig for any lost footage. Alas all he found was one singular photo used for the newspapers back then. But he did compile the TV listing for EVERY single episode aired from 1971 to 1975. Now THAT is devotion to a cause. Here's the link...

http://www.williamgirdler.com/kissinger.html

Here's the music used for the introduction to Fright Night. Pretty effective even by today's standard. Imagine what it did to a 6 year old back in 1971!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRFkVfl3QaQ

[Werewolf]

I remember Children's Palace. Loved that store.

A little trivia about Robert Ridgely who was the voice of Filmation's Flash Gordon and Tarzan. He was also the voice of the Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak from Strawberry Shortcake. Wrap your mind around that.

[PNGwynne]

^I thought Pieman was Alan Oppenheimer?

Re: The 70s, Ah, Burger Chef! Great kid's meal trays that you could make paper-craft from, and a toppings bar that I loved. Jason has the BC experience down pat, I loved those monster masks.

[Werewolf]

^I thought Pieman was Alan Oppenheimer?

Nope, Thundarr, Tarzan, Flash Gordon and the Pieman are all voiced by Robert Ridgely.

[Werewolf]

Speaking of arcades...

I won this little red lion, from a claw machine, at my local mall arcade when I was a kid. I named him Big Red. I've had him for ages.