Dick Tracy Wrist Radio (1947)

The Dick Tracy Wrist Radio was a crystal radio, powered by nothing by AM radio waves, an aerial and grounding wire connected to a grounded piece of metal (like a radiator pipe.) And a kid's imagination.

You could even talk to a friend with the radio by connecting the aerial wires to your friend's Dick Tracy wrist radio. And it worked primarily because you were in actual speaking distance from your friend.

It wasn't very loud. In fact, it was hardly audible and you had to have your ear right against it to hear it. And even then, it only picked up the strongest local AM radio broadcast signals (in spite of this ad copy hype, crystal radios have no superheterodyne tuning, which made AM radio signals squeal, distort and drift.)

$3.98 sounds like a average price for a disposable piece of junk (unless you were a hardcore Dick Tracy fan. And how dare I call it 'junk'.) But bear in mind $3.98 in 1947 had the same purchasing power as $48.21 in 2021. To put into perspective, most parents had better things to do with that kind of money. Besides, they knew you could put together an even better working crystal radio for much, much less than that and even from parts already around the house (many built radios for themselves and their families in the Depression, as many kids did since money for new radios was so scarce, it was cheaper for mom and dad to just learn the science and do it themselves.)

A battery powered transistorized version later came on the market in 1958 (hopefully better working.)

"Please Don't Ask Me To Go Away/With Every Beat of My Heart" Shawn (1971)

It's like this; You remember an old record and you finally drop everything and go on a mission.

The record in question came to our family in a box of 45s my uncle gave my mom. He worked for an amusement company which serviced jukeboxes. Every now and then, he'd bring us a box of random 45s. There were a few well worn hits ("Ode To Billie Joe" Bobbie Gentry, "I Love You" by People) and a few lesser Jeannie C. Riley and Otis Redding songs. But one 45 in particular stuck out.

It was a single released on Kapp Records in September of 1971 at the peak of the Donny Osmond craze shortly after he struck teenybopper gold with his cover version of Steve Lawrence's "Go Away Little Girl".

The artist was someone (or some group) named Shawn. Who this monosyllabic Shawn was is completely unknown as far as verifiability goes. I simply hit dead ends everywhere I go trying to track down any deeper session information.

The A-Side was an answer song to "Go Away Little Girl", titled "Please Don't Ask Me To Go Away"

The B-Side was also a cover version. "With Every Beat of My Heart", which was probably better known as a 1970 song from Josie & The Pussycats.

Both of the Shawn songs had some popularity, the novelty A-side of course. But Shawn's B-side cover of "With Every Beat of My Heart" appeared on the 1995 Varese Sarabande compilation CD Bubblegum Classics Volume Two.

The A-Side, "Please Don't Ask Me To Go Away", remains available only on the original Kapp 45.

From the number of these Shawn singles with holes drilled in the label area, which is nearly every copy I have ever seen, it didn't do very well in sales as most "answer songs" tend not to. Drilling holes in the 45 RPM label area or cutting a corner of an album was a practice amongst record labels with returned stock of records that didn't sell initially to prevent retailers from reselling them at full price. These records were what occupied the "cut-out" or "budget bins" for $2.98 or lower in record shops.

But a look at the credits on the single reveals two important clues; Producer Danny Janssen and arranger Jimmie Haskell. Janssen had produced the original Josie & The Pussycats album and was the producer of several early '70s TV based pop acts including The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch LPs. Jimmie Haskell was a pop arranger, best known for his TV work as well as with '60s pop band The Grass Roots. He also arranged horns and strings on Blondie's Autoamerican album.


It was pretty much a one-off novelty single to cash in a pop fad as "Go Away Little Girl" was one of the biggest hits of 1971.

Shawn never had a follow-up single or released a full album. And was never heard from again.

Chipmunk Punk (Excelsior/Pickwick, 1980)

In the late 1970s, it seemed like The Chipmunks franchise was all but dead.

Ross Bagdasarian Sr., the Chipmunks creator had passed away in 1972 and aside from various licensed holiday repackagings for budget labels such as Mistletoe/Springboard, there was no new Chipmunks music in that cold, lonely decade.

Liberty Records had folded into United Artists in 1968 and UA wasn't as fond of these rodents as Liberty.

The '70s were a real low point for the Chipmunks. And to add insult to sad loss, a religious producer/musician named Floyd Robinson created something called Charlie The Hamster. A smug, born-again knockoff that served no other purpose other than to remind us of how much we really missed the actual Chipmunks.

 Charlie The Hamster Sings The Ten Commandments (Singcord, 1977) is a headache inducing Christian market knockoff of the Chipmunks franchise. Somehow, Robinson and his hamster forgot about Commandment #8.....   

But by 1980, the Chipmunks really needed a makeover and it was up to Ross Bagdasarian Jr. to carry the Chipmunks torch into the '80s. So he created Chipmunk Punk. And yes, even Yours Truly owned a copy.

Chipmunk Punk wasn't actual punk rock music per se. If you came here looking for some hysterical Chipmunk versions of The Sex Pistols, Anti-Nowhere League, The Ramones or The Dead Boys, you better move on.

But you did get Chipmunk covers of rock songs from The Knack (three songs were Knack covers!), Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Blondie, The Cars, Billy Joel, Linda Ronstadt and Queen. Sanitized of course (The Knack's "Good Girls Don't" was cleaned up - this is a kids record after all.)

The album was a surprising success and went Gold (the first Chipmunks album to do so.) The album was inspired by a DJ from Los Angeles rock station KMET-FM who played Blondie's "Call Me" at twice normal speed and jokingly called it "the new Chipmunks record".

Chipmunk Punk reintroduced the Chipmunks to a new generation and led to several follow up albums and a new Saturday morning cartoon series in the '80s and they're still active today.

Charlie Hebdo

The January 14, 2015 issue of Charlie Hebdo. Headline: "All is Forgiven".

It has been nearly a week since the massacre at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly newspaper. And words still fail me.

This was a direct attack not just on a little French weekly. It was an attack on all of us who cherish freedom of speech. The artists, writers, journalists, reporters and bloggers of the world, be they on paper or online. And their readers. No matter where we are in the world.

And a painful reminder that even in America, there are hateful forces right here that are willing to silence those who they do not agree with through deadly force.

The surviving staff of Charlie Hebdo in spite of enduring the most horrific tragedy imaginable, have chosen to carry on. Because you cannot give in to evil no matter what the threat may be.

The path of freedom has always been a long, painful and bloody one. But stopping is not an option.

Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)

'Twas The Night Before Christmas (1974 Christmas Special)

Classic TV Special! With Joel Grey as....Everybody.

Every character in this animated special looks like Joel Grey.....

Tyson Looney Tunes Meals (Early 1990s)

In the early 1990's, Tyson Foods came out with a line of kids meals featuring the popular Warner Brothers Looney Tunes characters.

They were kids meals, but even I loved them in my early 20s. One of these and my afternoon Looney Tunes cartoon fix and I was happy. I still wish I could buy these again....
 

Who'd ever thought Road Runner was a cannibal?

Somehow, hamburger pizza for Wile E. Coyote never seemed as appropriate as a stick of Acme dynamite in a hot dog bun. Or the chicken sandwich, given his taste for poultry.

Aluminum Christmas Trees

Aluminum Christmas trees were a fad that lasted from 1955 to 1965. First appearing in department store windows, they quickly became a "must have" item for suburban housewives.

You couldn't use ordinary string lights with these trees. The sides of the "needles" of these trees were often like razor blades and could cut into the wire insulation, causing a dangerous electrical short. And since string lights come in green or white wires, it would be the equivalent of wearing a strapless gown with a bra that isn't.

You used a colour wheel, a spinning light was used which shined light in red, green, blue and gold onto the reflective tree. They only looked good in a very low light area.

 
The downfall of the aluminum Christmas tree came after A Charlie Brown Christmas Special, where Lucy tells Charlie Brown to buy an aluminum Christmas tree ("Maybe painted pink!") It became a symbol of the commercialization of Christmas and fell out of favour with the public.

However, they've been making a nostalgic comeback in recent years....

Bad Saturday Morning Cartoons Of The '70s

The Brady Kids Meet Wonder Woman

I can just imagine this. Several ABC-TV programming honchos are sitting at a large table in a conference room, snorting a mountain of cocaine while trying to come up with new Saturday morning cartoon ideas.

Suddenly one of them jumps up and says "I'VE GOT IT! Why not make a cartoon with the kids from The Brady Bunch....and Wonder Woman!"

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

The Osmonds

The Osmonds were at their commercial peak in 1972. So Rankin-Bass, following the EXACT same formula of their successful Jackson 5ive cartoon, decided to recycle that into this show. And I do mean RECYCLE......

Carlton The Doorman

If you watched the classic '70s sitcom Rhoda, you will no doubt remember Carlton The Doorman (the heard-but-never-seen doorman to Rhoda's apartment building.)

The voice of Carlton the Doorman was the late Lorenzo Music.

You might better recognize his voice as the original voice of Garfield.

I found this record a long time ago. I've played this before to other people in the apartment building I managed and they all said this song reminds them of ME!

"Who Is It?" Carlton The Doorman (1975)

Krazy Kat

Halloween Hits: "The Headless Horseman" Bing Crosby (1949)

Schoolhouse Rock!

Schoolhouse Rock! was a series of educational shorts that ran Saturday mornings on ABC-TV from 1973 to 1985 and for a generation became a regular part of our Saturday mornings.

I remember when my mom first heard "Unpack Your Adjectives"

She looked at the TV and said "That's Blossom Dearie"

"What?" I asked

"The person singing this is Blossom Dearie" she said

"Why are you calling me dearie?

My mom rolled her eyes.

"I mean the person singing this song on TV! She's Blossom Dearie!"

"Why are you calling her 'dearie'? You don't even know her."

My mom facepalmed.

"One more time.....Her NAME is Blossom Dearie!....That is her NAME! She was a jazz singer from back in my day. I saw her at a nightclub in San Fransisco when I was in nurses training"

"That's weird"

"And so are you."

Bronys

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The Fisher Price Movie Viewer

How many of you remember THIS when you were a kid?

This was Fisher-Price's nifty little comeback to GAF's ViewMaster. Each cartridge held a short cartoon (it was silent.) Plus it was hand-wound. No batteries!