On Loving Color: The NBC Peacock

Continued From: "100 Things About Me #183: A Boy of Color"



"NBC Peacock" (1957) via YouTube
Color television broadcasts eventually transmitted on an irregular basis in America during the 1950s, increasing until full-color production morphed onto all channels, circa 1966-67. NBC positioned itself as the "in living color" network, branded with incessant appearances of an iconic peacock, fanning vibrant tailfeathers at our faces before each program.

While color television may not seem like a huge deal generations later, NBC continues to trot out the trusty rainbow fowl on occasion. It's nice to see the bird getting work, considering parent company RCA has plucked a few dollars from color TV manufacturing since 1954, with, I hope, infinite gratitude to its dandy corporate spokesbottom.

Here's a batch of The NBC Peacock appearance videos, starting with a late '50s incarnation (above), followed by a 1968 surprise from "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" and a 2010 salute by the motion picture stars of "Despicable Me."



"The Sneezing NBC Peacock" via YouTube


"'Despicable Me' Peacock" via YouTube
More to come...

100 Things About Me #183

A Boy of Color 

I made a conscious decision as a teenager that I would not grow up to be The Old Man. You know, the coot who spews on about how life was much better when he was a lad. Cats' pajamas, poodle skirts, salt water taffy, muskets, Buddy Ebsen, and all that junk.

So, I'm not doing it here. I'm being delightfully informational in a happ'nin' gnarly bebop sort of Fizzies Party.

Kids today don't have any idea of what hell is.

Hell is watching "color presentation" logos, like the NBC Peacock below, in front of every television show on a black-and-white set for years and years until Mom sees a need to upgrade to the new technology.

"Michael, color TV? Reds and blues and yellows? You don't need reds and blues and yellows. Have you done your homework? Take out the garbage. Have you done your homework? Eat this orange. It's orange...."

NBC Peacock Logo (1960s) via YouTube
I was monochrome 'til age 16, when we got color and I had begun to gray.

I am scarred.

I'm mooning the peacock and these kids today....


100 Things: #1 | Previous | Next

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Thanks to Yowp

Big Weekend

Big weekend, attending the "Sing-A-Long 'Sound of Music.'"

For special engagements, the 1965 Rodgers and Hammerstein film musical has been refurbished with the lyrics onscreen throughout. The audience is encouraged to sing aloud during the movie.

I was so into it, belting out each and every word. Well, until I was bodily ejected from the theatre.

You know,

THE CHILDREN
Charmian Carr
Nicholas Hammond
Heather Menzies
Duane Chase
Angela Cartwright
Debbie Turner
Kym Karath

and
Eleanor Parker
as "The Baroness"

is quite a mouthful.

Incomings

Continued From: "Incomings"

Here's another quiz sent to me by Bob Middleton (a k a Bob Walker), my radio buddy, who has uncovered a stack of one-liners I wrote for deejays 30 years ago. Bob likes to test my memory, as I recall or delude, and floss chipmunks.

Bob

It's time to play that enthralling radio game "Who Said That?" Brought to you by the makers of Butt Putty.

OK, here are our items.

• At tax time, avoid going to an accountant named Bugsy.
  
• I gotta hurry home. Today, I replace the snake eyes on my fuzzy foam dash dice.
  
• Doing this show is more fun than tweezing Ernest Borgnine.

OK, it's up to you, our studio audience. Who said that? Mike or [another writer]?

Mike

Thank you. It's great to be on your show. Can we get some soap in the stall? Maybe some cling-free timothy?

Image via Wikipedia

As for my answers, nothing says "Mikey" like "fuzzy foam dash dice" and "tweezing Ernest Borgnine."

The Bugsy joke is not mine; it needs something more like stuttering spats.

Bob

You're right! For your coveted prize, you get a nice buttload of [name withheld, but funny!] Smoke Tartar. And you get a copy of our home game, "Ladies, Grab Your Seats."

You mean "Timothy" by The Buoys?

The Buoys: "Timothy" via YouTube

Mike

timo·thy (tim′ə t̸hē) [via YourDictionary.com]
noun
☆ a perennial European grass (Phleum pratense) with dense, cylindrical spikes of bristly spikelets, widely grown for hay

I'm leaning to publishing these endearingly lovely quiz emails, Bob, with your kind blessings and beer farts. I will delete any incriminating material, specifically the name of [name withheld, but funny!], who, I'm told, is particularly attracted to my bottom. (A lot of that going on around [location withheld].)

Bob

Print away. I would be more than delighted. Did I ever tell you [name withheld, but funny!] never wanted to [field trip withheld].

I can come up with reams of more material. I was cleaning up my spare room and came across your funny stuff. You've got quite a warped mind, my brother.

Mike

No, Bob, you never told me of that particular female peccadillo, but, thankfully, I shall be suitably troubled by it until my dying day and maybe another eternity.

Gulp. You made me swallow my gum. "Cleaning up my spare room."

Come to our house. We have plenty more [to tidy].

More to come...

Incomings

This round of correspondence was initiated by my radio partner, Bob Middleton (a k a Bob Walker), formerly of "Boss Bad Radio."

I kid the Bob.

Bob says of WBAD, "1570 on AM dial, just above the police frequencies."

He's been a Kansas radio favorite for three decades, currently at My 93-1, Hutchinson. Bob once sent me an autographed tumbleweed. It's still blowing east.

I've known Bob from his days at WRAS, WIIN-97, and Z-93, Atlanta. His cat, Pooper, once jumped on my head and I kinda liked it.

As the cleverly branded Mike and Bob, we hosted the morning show at WFOM, Marietta (an Atlanta suburb), 1978-80. One of our popular quotes: "7:14, 39 degrees."

Bob still uses that. I get no checks.

In the following years, I wrote comedy material and published "The Security Blanket," a joke sheet for radio announcers in the United States and Canada. The monthly issues were along the lines of "The Electric Weenie," another comedy source for deejays.

Out of the blue, last week, Bob started asking the hard questions. He had found his wayward box of -- *cough* -- adlibs.

Bob

It's time to play that great radio fun game "Who Said That?" We will tell you [four] goofy lines. Did Mikey say [it] or "The Electric Weenie"?

• I need more taxes like Flipper needs Nair.

• It's so nice out, I saw Mr. Peanut getting fitted with a Polaroid monocle.
  
• Mr. Whipple's ancestors were opposed to squatters' rights.
  
• Weird dentist. He has pin-ups of Marie Osmond's cavities.

OK, which one is not a Mikey quote?

Mike

Golly. The first two are mine and have my rhythms.

I'd say one of the last two is not mine, probably Marie Osmond. However, I am not sure, although I do recall the Mr. Whipple. I'd be so proud to squat. And thanks for squeezing it out of me.

I hope I win some Turtle Wax.

Bob

You're right, MIke! Just for answering our question, you win two used airline tickets to Tallapoosa and some Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco treat. Now, back to "Catch It and Keep It!"

Mike

So, I wrote the Squatters' Rights bit! Yay, me. ... I'm especially humbled.

More to come...

I Got Nuthin'

Consolation Video: Joe Dante's "MANT!" Part 1 (1993) via YouTube

Joe Dante's "MANT!" Part 2 via YouTube

Big Weekend

Big weekend, taking our car to see "Cars 2." 

There's nothing quite like go-and-dinner-and-a-show-and-a-go.

Afterward, we went for coffee and a quart of 5W-30 and someone got its dipstick wet.

Daughter of Blob

Continued From: "Movies in the Movies: 'The Blob' (1958)" and "Son of Movies in the Movies: 'The Blob' (1958)"

The annual Blobfest is underway and I can't make it to the festivities. A gargantuan prehistoric stinkbug is terrorizing my 1993 Saturn without foreplay or a proper introduction.

Special guest star Rutger Hauer is in my kitchen terrorizing our Honey Nut Cheerios® and the box of Popsicles®. Fortunately, he's just here for the day. My poor Craisins®.

The Blobfest, for you latecomers, is nicely summarized by the lazy writer's favorite source, Wikipedia:

Since 2000, the town of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania — one of the filming locations — has held an annual "Blobfest". Activities include a re-enactment of the scene in which moviegoers run screaming from the town's Colonial Theatre, which has recently been restored. Chef's Diner in Downingtown is also restored, and is open for business or photographs of the basement on weekday mornings only.

Now, that's kinda tingly, "photographs of the basement." I hope it's still damp down there with Moist Mop Blob Goo® (which I in no way mention to infringe on any pending Lady Gaga signature fragrances).

Reading more about "The Blob," Wikipedia caught my piercing, introspective, kindly, 20/14 eyes with a rundown of all of the film's follow-ups.

A comedy sequel was made in 1972, entitled "Beware! The Blob," directed by Larry Hagman. In 1988, a remake of the same name was made. In August 2009, it was revealed that musician turned director Rob Zombie was working another remake, but is no longer working on this project.

All well and, um, probably crummy, but I haven't seen them. I have viewed what must be the definitive sequel to "The Blob," a sequence from Woody Allen's 1972 hit, "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, but Were Afraid to Ask."

Here is a portion of the footage I call "The Boob" with Woody (no, no, that's not Steve McQueen!), Heather MacRae, and Dort Clark.

(Adult themes, language, milk products)



The Boob From "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, but Were Afraid to Ask" (1972) via eBaum's World