Perhaps the biggest surprise of the 1985 TV season is the success of ABC’s “Growing Pains,” a family sitcom starring former talk-show host Alan Thicke as psychiatrist Jason Seaver.
Culture & lifestyle
Vintage entertainment, crafts & pop culture from the past – it’s the retro life!
Bob Crane, a breezy, articulate ex-drummer and recent disc jockey-turned-actor, stars in Hogan’s Heroes, a CBS comedy series which has Col. Hogan (Crane) as the leader of Allied prisoners in a German POW camp in World War II.
What is Pickleball? Is it… (a) an hors d’ouevre on the sour side; (b) a Christmas tree ornament; (c) a delicatessen decoration; (d) none of the above. If you chose (d) give yourself a prize.
Playing off the popularity of the traveling exhibit of the Treasures of Tutankhamen, actor and comedian Steve Martin debuted his parody song ‘King Tut’ on an episode of Saturday Night Live in the spring of 1978.
Trimmed with good-to-eat Oscar Mayer tidbits stuck on with cocktail picks, this Christmas tree with meat ornaments is sure to be the center of attraction at any holiday buffet.
An expert said American dating and courtship is characterized by romance… After a brief, ecstatic acquaintanceship, they believe that they can go on living happily ever after.
It is useless to deny that motion picture stars have been getting the best of it (as to immunity from draft). Some have been given special deferments and choice assignments and have been allowed extra months to finish pictures before having to report for active duty.
Owney, the world’s most popular dog has traveled almost around the globe. He made the journey around the world all alone and with only a tag about his neck — and found friends everywhere. Here’s the story!
What do newly-engaged couples really need to know? Quite a bit! Here are ideas from 1921 for telling your close friends, suggestions for formally announcing your engagement, tips for selecting a ring and more advice.
Airplane! uses disaster movie conventions as platforms to interject humor at every turn. Like a streamlined club act, it’s all over before the welcome gets worn. Stars Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Julie Hagerty, Robert Hayes. Also: See the Airplane movie trailer!
Bewitched ‘is for viewers who want to have the fun of losing themselves in fantasy. Our witches, Samantha and Endora, are believable. The audience can identify with them. They are treated as much as possible as humans with special gifts.’
How DOES a girl win a husband? By tradition, she waits until the right man comes along, then he woos her, pursues her, and leads her to the altar.
Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow grew up in somewhat of a fairytale world on television’s ‘Leave It to Beaver.’ 20 years later, in 1977, both actors talked about what it was like to be childhood stars who had to grow up and cope with the adult world.
Look back at The Rockford Files, the classic James Garner detective series that reshaped TV crime drama — plus what to know about the newly announced reboot.
Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, with their progeny David and Rick, are synonymous with the American family image both on and off television. The Nelson boys are perhaps the only people who have literally grown up before the eyes of millions of weekly viewers.
Did you ever think that every first or last name must originally have meant something? It originally meant something, and was intended to be applicable to the person who first bore it.
Do you remember these classic TV catchphrases of the ’60s — and are there any that you still find yourself saying sometimes?
Baseball pitcher Walter Johnson, affectionately known as The Big Train, had a fastball that topped out over 90mph, almost entirely unheard of speed in his era. Find out more about him here.
The Dorothy Dot “Around the World” paper doll series ran in newspapers (such as the Los Angeles Herald and Salt Lake Tribune) in 1909. As much as some
Elvis Aaron Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935. Here are some photos from the legendary singer’s childhood! The life of young
These ads showing child star Shirley Temple as a fashionable Hollywood screen siren, were a humorous way to introduce the 6-year-old girl’s film, ‘Baby Take a Bow.’
Discover how Jerry Lee Lewis’s ‘Great Balls of Fire’ set the 1950s music scene ablaze and cemented his legacy in rock and roll history.
What was it like to go looking for a new car more than 100 years ago? Here’s a look at some of the car showrooms that would have greeted automobile buyers!
“We sometimes despair over specifics in our educational, political, and military systems or of actions, or opinions of individuals representing them.” – Fleet Admiral Chester W Nimitz, USN
“If ever the United States should reach a point where the clash of ideas comes to an end, where debate disappears, where everybody agrees with everybody else on everything, then we are finished as a nation.” – President John F Kennedy on the media
“Our magazines are a leading force for moral and cultural growth in our country, and one of our surest guarantees of an informed public.” – President Dwight D Eisenhower
Roy Orbison without sunglasses? Do such photos exist?! Indeed they do, even though once his musical career got established, the multi-talented Orbison was rarely seen without his trademark dark shades. See his actual eyes here!
‘The Sound of Music,’ thanks to superior handling and affectionate care, has made the tricky transition from stage to screen with all its virtues intact. If anything, there is an extra glow of magic to this operetta in its movie offspring.
Opulent enough even for fashionable Linda Gray – Dallas’ superspender Sue Ellen Ewing – she models these high-style silk dresses were stylish in the eighties.
Boy meets girl, boy marries girl. That just about summarizes the modern courtship, American style. Whatever happened to the old-fashioned courtship — complete with hearts and flowers?
For super-economy pickups all the way up to super-duty diesels, economy never came in such a choice as with the 1961 Ford Trucks.
The 1942 Indianapolis 500 was canceled in December 1941, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor — and by late 1942, all motor racing in
What were the top movies of 1970? Here’s a list of the top ten films released in 1970, ranked by their box office gross earnings in North America. Below this list, you will also find the Academy Award nominees and the year’s Oscar winners.
What about pants on women in the office? An editor from Denver explained, “I think women should dress distinctively as women. They’ve gone too far in stealing men’s attire.”
Vintage Los Angeles in the 1950s Take a retro peek back at the Los Angeles area of yesteryear! In addition to the huge cars (plus
Here are several cute paper doll sets – as well as clothing and furniture for the doll – that were published in newspapers back in 1911.
The superb acting and detail directing took us to the refugee city of Casablanca, and there we stayed, right by the warm sides of Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Paul Henreid and Claude Rains. And we’re still there.
Deaths caused by automobiles are few in comparison with other causes. For example, three times as many persons are killed by horses as by automobiles.
On The Andy Griffith Show in 1964, Nabors let loose with his deep natural voice, and stunned America. Here’s Gomer Pyle astonishing the citizens of Mayberry with his voice.
Woman’s Day magazine launched in 1937 as an inexpensive in-house magazine for customers of A&P grocery stores. By the time A&P sold the brand in
What can you eat with your fingers? What needs a fork? Get the answers to these and other questions with etiquette tips from the ’20s!
In the 1980s, Ford offered a choice of big and small 4×4 pickups with independent front suspension – a tough, full-size pickup with great mileage.
Good form: Tips for proper manners (1911) Telephone etiquette Correct though it is to employ a telephone for social purposes, there have been established certain
Though it is the youngest of professional golf’s four ‘major’ championships, The Masters always seems to be the one most steeped in tradition and cachet. Here’s how it all began.
‘Vampire’ in this case refers less to the literal blood-suckers and more to the women – aka vamps or femmes fatale – who suck the life force from men.
Will baseball live? An article from 1893 Firmly believing in the future of baseball, I have no hesitancy in complying with the request made by
Sha Na Na: Carefree greasers By Mary Campbell – The Evening Sun (Hanover, Pennsylvania) Jan 8, 1970 Sha Na Na is starting the 1970s performing
Shortly before her clothing line debuted – and back when her son, Anderson Cooper, was 8 years old – the multi-talented heiress Gloria Vanderbilt came out with her own print magazine: Gloria Vanderbilt Designs for Your Home.
Author Hereward Carrington, who earned his PhD six years after this article was published in 1912, was a fairly well-known British investigator of psychic phenomena. The piece below
Take a look back at these classic Studebaker delivery trucks from the 1930s were cab-forward, saving space on the old roads.
Handwriting has gone out of style because it gave way to something infinitely better. It was the old story. Hand work could not compete with machine work — the pen could not compete with the typewriter.
The “be-in” was the grandest of all happenings, attracting at least 13,000 of the hip set and perhaps 2,000 spectators. It happened Saturday at the polo field in Golden Gate Park.
Who wins in Chevy vs Ford pickup trucks? In 0 to 60 acceleration. In 40 to 55 MPH passing. In trailer-towing acceleration. In wet-surface handling. The results are clear as black and white
There were very specific rules to follow when dating – or courting, as they called it – back before the Civil War. Here’s a look.
Love letters A gentleman is struck with the appearance of a lady and is desirous of her acquaintance, but there are no means within his
The best figures in Hollywood? Judge for yourself — we quit! Several issues ago, Photoplay-Movie Mirror made the innocent mistake of asking noted experts to
In 1976, they said Goodbye red, white and blue ball. So long three-point field goal. The American Basketball Association is no more as 4 teams were accepted in the NBA merger.
Today, when space-saving is so often a must that a piece of furniture is given houseroom almost grudgingly if it serves only one purpose, hassocks needn’t be merely be footrests. Here’s how to make your own!
Here are vintage Victorian directions for a Marie Antoinette dress sewing pattern for a little girl, trimmed with bias ruffles, and headed with a bais band of satin.
Dodge – Chrysler – Plymouth – De Soto – Imperial: As you can see here, there’s no mistaking the new 1959 Cars of The Forward Look, coming or going.
New Galaxie 500/XL Start this one and you really start something. Available with a 405-hp. Thunderbird V-8, coupled to a 4-speed stick shift, the
in the ’60s, UFOs and flying saucers were being reported at a near-record rate -with the 1966 models more varied and colorful than ever.
Remember the game of ‘dots’ or ‘boxes,’ where you joined the dots to complete squares, and the person who made the most squares was the winner? Print out these two versions to play at home.
I married a Hollywood movie star. Everyone called it an ideal match. Yet, I ended up learning the true and — perhaps shocking — reason why celebrities get divorced.
These vintage Ford Econoline vans from the ’60s had eight doors and a flat floor that put every part of a load within arm’s length.
Original Editor’s note from 1968: This article by the noted author James Baldwin… is an attempt to explain to whites the militant Negro’s reaction to ‘black power,’ as well as the Negro revolution now in progress. It is bitter, but not devoid of hope.
Disney’s ‘Third Man on the Mountain’ represents the first successful effort to capture the mystical quality of James Ramsey Ullman’s stories about man’s struggle to master the heights.
Letter-writing isn’t as much of an art as it once was. Books had to be written about it years ago, and ‘The Ready Letter-writer’ was as infallible and as essential as a cookbook is to many people nowadays.
This story appeared at the beginning of 1918, but by the time the year had closed out, Hobart “Hobie” Baker was dead — killed by
If men “hate the sight of you” read this (1930s) Good news for thousands of girls who have no sex appeal (1940s) Don’t be skinny!
Experience Olds Starfire or Starfire GT. No road will ever be the same. Experience Starfire. Get behind the wheel of Starfire. You’re surrounded by full-foam
In 1908, they said it was wrong for women to smoke in public places – it was offensive, and detrimental to the character and dignity of the ladies.
Here is a heartfelt — though dramatized and beautified (and sometimes somewhat inaccurate) — story of Judy Garland’s early life, originally published in 1942. Judy
What you will see at world’s biggest show New York’s billion dollar dream fair When the first visitors enter a onetime Long Island swamp on
See what buyers could get in the 1956 Plymouth Belvedere V8 4-door sedans!
From 1960: Chevrolet and Plymouth showed its staying ability while Joe Lee Johnson proved a little good luck goes a long way as the long-awaited World 600 was run at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood a television show aimed at preschoolers, debuted in the US on February 19, 1968, and original episodes aired until August 31, 2001.
Even in the heat of summer, Stephen King never sleeps without a cover. “I know there is nothing under the bed,” he says. “But I also know that if I keep my legs covered, a cool hand won’t reach up and grab my ankle.”
Johnny Carson is a slender, good-looking looking man with an uptilted nose and a casual comedy manner. When his Thursday night CBS show first premiered, here’s what happened.
The Big Fair in Virginia more than 100 years ago offered Great Wild West show and other attractions give free exhibitions every day and night – plus a huge display of fireworks every night.
Dreamland and its beautiful tower attract the eye of the pleasure seeker long before Coney Island is reached. There is capital amusement under and about the big tower, and all the novelties are enjoying a large share of favor…
What were the keenest, neatest and most popular names for newborns in the mid-fifties? Check out this table of the top 100 names for baby boys who were born in the year 1955!
Try this easy Valentine’s Day craft for a fun, heartfelt project that’s quick, simple, and perfect for adding a personal touch to the holiday.
Around the turn of the century, cigarette smoking was on the increase among the women — and it only became more prevalent after that. Here’s a look back!
Jazz has remarkable history as a fad (from 1919) Starting twenty years ago in New Orleans, it has swept from coast to coast and is
Presenting America’s finest sports car… the 1953 Nash-Healey Pictured here is the exquisitely beautiful car that started the whole new sports trend in the American
With hearts and checkbooks the stars responded to the call of humanity — but an insidious plot lay hidden behind the campaign! By Morton Thompson
Long before people started wondering why the vampires of Twilight sparkled, there were other questions being asked about these creatures…
This embroidered Owl Whoo’s Pretty Square is covered with squares, in fact – but wisely covered with terry too, and oh, such a soft pillow.
The secret past of drug addicts (1974) By Robert Kirsch — The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) November 8, 1974 “Every generation assumes that
Debbie Reynolds: Photo scrapbook (1978) The unsinkable star shares her very personal memories of her broken marriages, her two children and her career Some might
This highly-misunderstood process of applying make involves a lot more than just putting “a dab o’ powder” on your nose. Here, a top stage star from 1913 gives you her makeup secrets.
See how James Garner rose to fame as Bret Maverick, plus a look at his early life, military service, Hollywood career, and the charm that made him a television favorite.
The Chrysler Highlander… the talk of the smart set everywhere “I’ll be in Scotland afore ye!” June 3, 1940 For 1941… A new more
Dick Clark’s career — from American Bandstand to New Year’s Rockin’ Eve — helped shape American music and television. See his vintage This Is Your Life segment and his lasting impact.
This look into the origins of many common last names offers a peek into the past, and might even be some help in tracking down
Daylight Savings Time reshaped American work and leisure in 1918. See how it was sold to the public and why it mattered.
“For some reason, I like Post cereals twice as much as everybody else does.” Doctor Dolittle and his friends agree! “Start your day a little
