Redartz: Greetings; welcome once again to that ever friendly ferry to the past- the Retro Metro. Today we go all the way back to the beginnings of the Bronze age, to the year 1970 (and yes, I know we're off by a day, but such distinctions matter little in time travel, eh?). Most of us were pretty young then, or even only potential humans. Nonetheless, there was much to be enjoyed back then. Being kids, those of us around then were perhaps less caught up in the social turmoils of the time. I was certainly aware of the Big Issues of the day, but my personal world was more centered on entertainment (and dinosaurs, but that's another story).
So, as we begin our excursion, we note the mammoth hit song on top on the US Billboard Pop Chart: Diana Ross, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
Number one for three weeks now, it is Diana's first chart topper since leaving the Supremes. And it proves the Motown hit machine just keeps on rolling.
Rounding out the top five:
2, Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Lookin' Out My Back Door"
3. Dawn, "Candida"
4. Neil Diamond, "Cracklin' Rosie"
5. Bobby Sherman, "Julie, Do Ya Love Me"
Neil Diamond, "Cracklin' Rosie"
All these songs are common accompaniment to the daily school bus rides. In particular, I like CCR's hit , with the line "...dinosaur patrolling, listening to Buck Owens...". What a mental picture. And that Neil Diamond song is very catchy.
Others of note: Jackson Five, "I'll Be There", I know that song primarily due to watching their cartoon show. The Carpenters, "We've Only Just Begun", a big hit for this breakout brother and sister act. The Spinners, "It's a Shame", some great soul sounds. Eric Burdon and War, "Spill the Wine", some very odd sounds. Ernie (Jim Henson), "Rubber Duckie"- my parents bought my brother, sister and me the Sesame Street LP. This song is on it, and here it is; actually on the radio too!
Tops in the UK: Freda Payne, "Band of Gold"
But hey, this is Saturday, and you just know where all of us kids will be found this morning; parked in front of the television with a bowl of Cap'n Crunch. Here's some Saturday morning highlights:
ABC: Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp; Here Come the Double Deckers, Hot Wheels, The Hardy Boys, American Bandstand
I've watched all these shows. Lancelot Link- how can you not like chimps as spies? And the Hardy Boys show features familiar characters from the book series ; my library of those Hardy Boys mysteries is growing. Then there's Hot Wheels: the toy cars are the best; they're all over my room. So naturally watching the show would follow. I made it a point to pick up two of the featured cars from the cartoon- the Demon and the Jackrabbit Special...
Hot Wheels Opening
CBS: Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies, Josie and the Pussycats, Archie's Funhouse, The Harlem Globetrotters, Scooby Doo, Where Are You?
There's no better way to start a Saturday morning than with Bugs Bunny and friends! Classic Warner Bros. toons; and an hour of them. Then there's the Groovie Goolies; fun, music, monsters and merriment. It becomes tough to pick a channel; you want to watch everything. Josie and the Pussycats are great, too; I actually prefer them to Scooby Doo. Plus two more winners in Archie and the Harlem Globetrotters; CBS has a potent lineup.
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| The Harlem Globetrotters |
Groovie Goolies intro
NBC: Heckle and Jeckle, The Bugaloos, The Pink Panther, H.R. Pufnstuf, Hot Dog
Ah, then you have NBC. As I don't care for the live-action shows (give me animation every time), the only thing I ever watch here is, occasionally, the Pink Panther.
Speaking of watching, here's what awaits on the evening tv schedule:
ABC: Let's Make a Deal, The Newlywed Game, The Lawrence Welk Show, The Most Deadly Game
My parents, grandmother, aunts and uncles all gather around the set for Lawrence Welk each week. It seems to define Saturday nights. But to be honest, it doesn't really excite me much.
CBS: Mission: Impossible, My Three Sons, Arnie, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mannix
Now Mission: Impossible, that's cool viewing. On those occasions when I'm allowed to watch it, I make sure to catch it from the start- don't want to miss the great opening sequence. And what a cast; Peter Graves, Martin Landau, Barbara Bain and Greg Morris make quite a team.
Much attention is being given to the new show featuring Mary Tyler Moore; no longer teamed with Dick van Dyke. I'd bet this show will be around awhile. Oh, and my Dad still loves to watch Mannix...
NBC: The Andy Williams Show, Adam-12, NBC Saturday Night at the Movies
Another family favorite is the Andy Williams variety show. That's one program I enjoy along with Mom and Dad, especially the Cookie Bear. Then , Adam-12 carries on the tradition of grounded cop shows, in the tradition of (and by the creator of) Dragnet.
BBC1: Here's Lucy, Show of the North, High Adventure Prince Valiant, The Harry Secombe Show, Ben Travers Farces: Turkey Time, Match of the Day
BBC2: Disco 2, Rugby Special, We Were Caesars, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In
And now, we take our weekly trip to the spinner racks for some comic goodness. My spinner rack of choice is at a nearby drug store, and they actually have two racks full! Here's some of what we find today...
From the viewpoint of later years, there is loads to pick from. O'neil and Adams's Green Lantern/Green Arrow jumps off the rack. That Hulk has a great cover, and Kang! The Avengers face off against the women, and what a lineup!Then there's Marvel's new title, Conan the Barbarian- sporting great artwork and a whole new direction in comic adventure. And a late issue of Sugar and Spike, to boot! Of course ten-year old redartz was, at this point, buying Archies, and probably the Hardy Boys and Hot Wheels comics too. Amazing what a variety awaits on the comics stand in 1970.
Alas, the 1970's are history now, and so is this trip aboard the Retro Metro. Thanks for riding along!
13 comments:
In October 1970 I was only four years old and my favourite TV shows were Dr. Who, Star Trek and Scooby Doo.
Of those comics the standout one is Conan The Barbarian #2, "The Lair Of The Beast-Men" - in March 1975 the story was reprinted in Marvel UK's Savage Sword Of Conan weekly #2 which was my first ever Conan comic and my introduction to a character of whom I've been a lifelong fan. And early next year Conan is returning to Marvel, yay!
I remember the Hardy Boys TV series from the late '70s but I didn't know there was an earlier version. By the mid-'70s I was a big fan of the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and The Three Investigators. Once a week my class visited the library (which was right next to our school) and I searched eagerly for any of those books. I also bought some as paperbacks. But apparently Nancy Drew was meant for girls, a fact I only discovered a few years ago!! But nobody said anything at the time so I guess nobody else knew that Nancy Drew was meant for girls either!
Yes, I was a very wee tyke in 1970, but I've since acquired that Conan #2 and I have that Lois Lane currently hanging on my wall.
As I missed out when these first came out I had to get that Green Lantern in the trade, and that Hulk in the Marvel Super-heroes reprint. It may have been my first introduction to Trimpe's art. As I recall it had an appearance by Phantom Eagle, and this fantastically dramatic panel of Kang gripping his head after the Hulk ruins his plans that I still love to this day.
Oh this is a GOOD ONE, Red!
Man--- buried at work today-- but I'm-a gonna jump in later-on, no question!
(Colin-- holla-back on the Three Investigators; Selenarch-- same w/ that Lois Lane issue and the thoroughly entertaining Hulk #135!)
HB
Ahh, October 1970. I remember all Octobers fondly as it is my birth month.
I'm sure I was watching "Lost In Space", "Star Trek" and "Batman" reruns.
Since you mentioned Dinosaurs, Redartz, I distinctly remember drawing, coloring and cutting out many different types of Dino's. Then playing with them as makeshift toys.
This is a few years before I started collecting comics but have read the GL/GA thru the DC Showcase Presents TPB. Also I know I've read the UNCLE SCROOGE story "Cave of Ali Baba" from that month.
Colin, don't worry. I also read the occasional Nancy Drew book when I was a kid - and I did know they were meant for girls.
I have to say there was nothing on the BBC that day that I would have wanted to watch and there's not much on the UK singles chart that grabs me either. When it came to singles, music did seem to be in somewhat of a doldrums in the very early 1970s, although the album chart was looking a lot healthier. Anyway, the two songs on the British singles chart that I do approve of are:
37. "Ruby Tuesday" - Melanie.
41. "Lola" - The Kinks.
When it comes to the comics above, I'd have to go for that Avengers issue. Who wouldn't want to read the Valkyrie's senses-shattering debut?
Also, I do believe that, in this month of 1970, ITV was showing Timeslip, a children's TV drama series about a boy and a girl who discover a time portal in a gap in the fence of an abandoned military base. Via that, they unearth a conspiracy which involves cloning and climate change and discover that they themselves, as grown-ups, will help facilitate a dystopian future that only they can prevent. I loved that show at the time and I still love it now.
I was only two at the time, so I experienced none of this stuff directly, that I remember, but since War's 'Spill the Wine,' with vocals by Burdon, was mentioned, I just have to note that I've always loved that song, esp. that line about him being "an overfed, long-haired leaping gnome." I'd love to be one of those (as it is, I think I may only qualify for overfed...)
Also, I remember a few years ago at the BAB, Karen had
a post about Lancelot Link, which was when I first heard of it. Then, as now, it seems to me that the production of that show involved a lot of animal cruelty.
Well, I wasn't born yet, so no memories of this time. That Marvel Tales reprints a great Spidey story though, the unmasking of the Green Goblin.
Like Steve, I'm a Valkyrie fan, but that Avengers issue didn't seem to have much to do with the later Defenders character, except in name. I seem to remember it was Roy Thomas's take on feminism ... mostly a bunch of women acting angry and yelling about men.
1970 was still pretty much the '60's, I'm pretty sure. I know that earlier in the spring ('way, way back in 3rd grade) my "girlfriend" for about a minute gave me a string of love beads as a present. Which I fiddled with in class all day, until they broke while the teacher was reading aloud to us during lunch, and scattered LOUDLY all over the classroom. . .
. . . but I digress. . .
Back to October of '70, where meself was a much more mature and collected 9-year-old 4th grader:
The Primetime TV schedule (I dug a little deeper, in fact) is a really cool reflection of how the times they were a-changin'. There were plenty of creaky old dinosaurs that we strongly associate with the 60's (BEVERLY HILLBILLIES; LAWRENCE WELK--most boring show on Planet Multiverse; HERE'S LUCY; BEWITCHED; ADAM-12; BONANZA; HOGAN'S HEROES). And more than a few that had been chugging along in various forms since the 50's (MY THREE SONS; WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY; GUNSMOKE; RED SKELTON SHOW; LASSIE; KRAFT MUSIC HALL; THE ED-flippin'-SULLIVAN SHEW). But there were also guh-REAT of-the-moment shows that we ourselves loved to pieces-- FLIP WILSON; LAUGH-IN; LOVE AMERICAN STYLE; THE ODD COUPLE; MOD SQUAD. But how about those harbingers of better television to come? I forgot that ALL IN THE FAMILY started up in this season-- my folks called me down to come watch it one evening (!!)(Completely out of character for them, I might add--). And MTM, as was mentioned above. And the immortal early 70's icons, BRADY BUNCH and PARTRIDGE FAMILY. And SONNY & CHER were striking it big with their show. (And there's Cher out on tour again now, almost 50 years later-!!)
The comics offerings still seem almost Silver Age, don't they? With the Avengers issue, IIRC, this Valkyrie was. . . a "disguised" Enchantress? Does that ring a bell? The Val persona is gonna pop up in just a few short months in Hulk #142-- taking control of some poor young woman's mind. It's almost impossible to believe this Lois Lane issue made it to the stands--- not so much for the racial themes (which were pretty darned in-yer-face, good on 'em for that), but because the title is an obvious reference to a very adult-themed art-film of the time. I haven't read it since, like, 7th grade-- but am I remembering Lois near the end asking Superman if he could marry her if she were black? And that he actually falters in responding? Oooooh Clark, the mid-west done you wrong. . .
Saturday morning was TOUGH, 'cause there were a lot of shows that we wanted to see that were on AT THE SAME DAGGONE TIME!!! As much as I really wanted to love Lancelot Link (and it's middle feature- "Bananaz"-- it was honest-to-pete horrible. Stupid, repetitive, laughably awful editing-- same shots used for different "episodes". . . ugh. Liked the HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS quite a bit-- Scatman Crothers as Meadowlark was a blessing for that cartoon. And. . . although it didn't last long (or got relegated to the lunch slot), we rather liked Here Come the Doubledeckers-- which was a British import of some kind. Always wondered how it ended up here.
And--- that's enough of me, folks. GREAT memories, Red!
HB
HB, re: "1970 was still pretty much the '60's, I'm pretty sure." Of course it was. The era we call the "1960s" lasted well into the '70s - I'd say 1974, with the formal conclusion of the Watergate hearings and Nixon's resignation, marked its close. By the same token, the '60s in the way we all think of it really didn't start until about 1966 or even 1967.
Also, re: "(...) because the title is an obvious reference to a very adult-themed art-film of the time." The two I Am Curious films apparently had quite an impact on certain comic writers, and Roy Thomas in particular: in Spider-man #101, there's a scene in which Gwen is on the phone with Peter, talking about possible movies they could go see, and she mentions "I Am Curious (Yellow)"; and in that very issue of the Hulk you mentioned (#142), there's a panel in which a film producer says that he's offered Hulk the lead in "I Am Furious (Green)."
Holey Cow!
This was MY sweet spot at 9 years old!
I had / watched/ perused / listened to all of this!
My first 45 I bought was Cracklin Rosey!
The first comic book someone bought me was the Hulk vs. Kang! I picked it out at the News Agency in Crown Point, IN and my grandpa got it for me!
FUnny - I JUST bought the JLA issue at Chicago Comiccon this August! It was only $2 in the $2 bins and in cherry condition! It sucked. Art was horrible, story lame, LOL, IMHO. Sometimes it's a wonder how DC stayed in business against Marvel!
Colin J- That Hardy Boys cartoon combined live action with animation, unlike the later 70's show that was all live. The cartoon Hardys were also part of a rock band, which was sort of the big thing in cartoons at the time.
Killraven- Best wishes to you for your October birthday! And thanks for sharing about your dino creations. Dinosaurs just seem to appeal to kids of all ages and all eras (and adults, too).
HB- your story about the love beads made me smile! I had a neon green plastic "peace sign" that a friend gave me, and wore it around my neck on a chain. You and Edo are quite right, the 60's did carry over into the early 70's; in many ways: pop culture, politics, fashion. But there were early touches of 70's sensibility evident even then. You mentioned being a 4th grader, I was too- that actually is the first year I can recall much about; the earlier years seem to have faded; maybe that particular age represents an awakening of greater awareness.
And yes, Saturday mornings were tough, deciding among so many offerings. "Globetrotters" were great; my brother and I were such fans that my Dad once took us to a presentation where we actually met one of the team and got to see a demonstration of his abilities. Glad you mentioned Scatman Crothers, his voice characterizations were perfect.
Charlie- nice choice for a first record buy!
I wasn't born yet!
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