The Toast Of The Town

I bet you remember the Ed Sullivan Show. It ran from 1948-1971. Every Sunday night,
it was a ritual. Who would be on next? The whole world was in your living room. There
were opera singers, ballet dancers, circus acts, popular artists, comedians, and much much more.
Other than the guests, there was that little Italian mouse, Topo Gigio. How can anyone forget him? The Ed Sullivan Show was the first exposure for foreign performers to the American public.
What a ritual that show was for American families gathered around he television screen.
We had loads of snacks and just waited for the show to air.
I remember watching Elvis for the first time. I sat there with a mouth full of unchewed and unswallowed popcorn fixated to the TV screen. I don't think I even said one word. I was either in shock or in love.
At first, Ed Sullivan vowed never to have Elvis on his show. He didn't want to have him in front of a family audience. He changed his mind, though, realizing his ratings would go down. But even then, he only wanted Elvis to be shown from the waist up. That didn't happen, as his gyrating body was shown as big as life. I couldn't speak.
In 1964, I got to see the Beatles for the first time. The audience were hysterical screaming teenagers. That show was thought to have 73 million viewers.
Ed really had it together. There were very few opportunities for African-American performers on national television at that time. He was the champion of black talent and launched many careers by presenting them to national TV. There was no bigotry on that show and we got to see great singers. Some of them were the Supremes, Pearl Baily, Harry Belafonte, James Brown and a whole lot more.
There isn't any show today that compares. Thank you  Ed! And now, right here on our stage, it's a really big shoe!

The Times, They Are A Changin'

We're going to take a nice walk down memory lane, and I am sure it will be alot of fun. Put on your hiking boots and lets get started!

Remember when we had to wear those ugly gym uniforms?


It took five minutes for the TV to warm up.

Your mom was always at home when you got off the bus.

Remember when a quarter was a decent allowance and you would reach in a muddy gutter for a penny?

Remember those nylons your mom wore that came in two pieces?

I remember all the teachers always got dressed up.
You got your gas pumped, windshield cleaned, and oil checked without even asking. Air was free and you got trading stamps too!

A 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, make out, lay rubber, and people went steady. No one ever asked where the keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition and the doors were never locked.

Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one yet tried to poison a perfect stranger.
Being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the impending doom you were going to face when you got home.

Remember the milkman delivered milk in glass jars with cardboard stoppers?

I remember the dial phones and telephone numbers were a word prefix (Raymond 4-501)
We had party lines and your mom made you put dimes in your loafers just in case you needed to use the phone booth.

Catching fireflys in a jar was the highlight of a summers evening.

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties."

Wow! what a trip! I could go on and on:
The drug of choice was flavored chewable aspirin.
War was a card game.
The ulitmate weapons were slingshots and water balloons.
The worst embarrassment was getting picked last for a team.
Doctors made house calls.
Mimeograph paper (wow, it smelled good, too)
Decisions were made by saying, "eeny-meeny-miney-mo."
That's it! My dogs are tired from this long walk down memory lane.
Did I miss any thing?