Tag: vintage 1960s TV

Memory Lane: ‘Whiplash’

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In 1960 something new appeared on America TV: Whiplash, a western, if that’s the right word, set in Australia.

It should’ve been a hit. The star, Peter Graves, had been a success with Fury, a great kids’ show about a boy and his black stallion. Graves would go on to have a huge hit with Mission: Impossible, but at the time, Whiplash didn’t seem to do much for his career. Maybe because the British and Australian co-producers spent a fortune to film the series in Australia, but Graves insisted on filming much of it in a studio once they got there.

Much of the show was written by Gene Roddenberry, who went on to become famous for Star Trek.

You’d think the exotic locale, stories of adventure in the Outback during the Great Australian Gold Rush of the 1850s, and episodes featuring many of Australia’s most successful actors of the era, would have propelled the show to the TV hall of fame. But it only ran for two seasons, 1960-61. Critics are kinder to it now than they were then.

It even had a cool theme song. What’s not to like?

Well, I liked it! I was eleven years old, I’d been a Fury fan for years, and this show made me want to go to Australia and see the kangaroos close up.

I have yet to meet anyone else who remembers it, though.

Memory Lane: ‘Supercar’

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Back in 1962, all the 8-year-olds in my neighborhood ran around singing the theme song from Supercar, a kids’ TV show starring wooden puppets. Anybody out there remember it? C’mon! Mike Mercury behind the wheel of Supercar! You don’t remember that?

Watch carefully, then see if you can answer the question, “What’s wrong with this picture?” I mean, talk about cutting corners on a special effect–!

My brother had a model of a car that, like Supercar, was supposed to ride on downward-thrusting jets of air rather than wheels. You made it do that by blowing through a rubber tube. Alas, no one in my family had enough wind to lift the car. There it sat, immoveable. *sigh*

Memory Lane: ‘Branded’

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Remember this? Vintage 1960s TV, it aired on Sunday night: Branded starred TV workhorse and former National League baseball player Chuck Connors as a soldier falsely charged with cowardice in the face of the enemy, and the evil reputation that followed him wherever he went. A classic TV Western.

We kids had a favorite variation on the theme song:

Stranded! Stuck on the toilet bowl!/ What do you do when you’re stranded, and you don’t have a roll? Nevertheless, a really cool show.

Memory Lane: ‘Phantom Agents’

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Remember Phantom Agents? A Japanese-made piece of vintage 1960s awfulness, actually kind of fun to watch because it was just so unexpectedly bad.

The thing that got me every time was the agents’ phenomenal ability to jump backwards and land safely on the branch of a tree 20 feet off the ground. How did they do that? But they also knew how to jump backwards out of the water and land on the deck of a ship 20 feet out of the water. Now ain’t that somethin’!

I wonder how many numbskulls watched this show and went into martial arts studios to ask how to jump backwards into trees.

Memory Lane: Candid Camera

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We need a sanity break, we need a laugh–and here’s one, courtesy of Allen Funt and Candid Camera, from somewhere in the 1960s. Watch how these bowlers react when the pins start behaving oddly. Who didn’t love this show!

Memory Lane: Sing Along With Mitch

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This is the theme song for Mitch Miller’s hit TV show, Sing Along With Mitch, vintage 1961.

I think everybody I knew had a Mitch Miller record album or two. Back then, he was just about the only guy who had a beard but wasn’t a beatnik. Good grief, remember them? Some of us heard a rumor that a certain person in the neighborhood had actually become a beatnik, and grown a beard, and a bunch of us kids stood outside his house one night for I don’t know how long, hoping to get a glimpse of such a curiosity.

Anyhow, Mitch provided millions of people with songs they could sing in front of their kiddies without embarrassment, and entertainment galore.

If he tried his act today, he’d either make a fortune like he never dreamed of, or be arrested for hate speech and uninclusiveness.

Memory Lane: The Addams Family

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This show came out in 1964, when I was in eighth grade, and it was a huge hit. I remember when our U.S. History teacher, rhapsodizing over John Adams and his descendants, sighed, “Ah, yes, the distinguished Adams family!” And the whole class laughed uproariously, prompting Mr. U____ to remark, “Your minds are in the gutter!”

But it wasn’t such a bad gutter. In addition to having a terribly funny format, hilarious scripts, a terrific cast, and great guest stars like Richard Deacon and Don Rickles, The Addams Family had something good going for it. All the weirdness aside, the members of this family really loved each other! I think they were the happiest and most harmonious family on TV. And that’s worth watching. Oh, very much so!

Uncle Fester, played by Jackie Coogan–watch him steal this scene from co-stars John Astin and Carolyn Jones: still crazy, and still funny, after all these years.

It reminds me of my own family, back when I was five or six years old. Only without the eccentricities.