When I first started watching Wild Kingdom, Marlin Perkins was in his late 50s/early 60s and was out there chest-deep in the swamp with his hair in his eyes, rassling alligators along with Jim Fowler. No armchair naturalist was Marlin, I can assure you; he was always a gentleman on camera, but in the field he'd roll up his sleeves and get right in the middle of it with the rest of them. He was 80 when he finally left the show for health reasons.<snip>
Some of you riffed on watching Sunday Night Disney but no one mentioned the other Sunday ritual show- (drumroll):
Mutual Of Omaha's Wild Kingdom
"I'm Marlin Perkins. I'll be sitting in this helicopter 60 ft off of the ground while my assistant, Jim, wades through the alligator-infested Everglades looking for water moccasins."
God I loved that show!
<snip>
Yeessssssss! Wild Kingdom FTW. My dad would always make cracks about how Marlin Perkins was safely in the studio while Jim was out wrestling lions and running from other beasts![]()
"and them you come to the Slaussen cutoff. Stop, get out, cut off your slaussen, and continue until you get to the...."
There were several Miss Nancy's(and other first names), one of my neighbors mom's was one of them.
How many moms does your neighbor have?![]()
I live in the Bay Area, you never know....![]()
We weren't allowed to watch TV...oh...wait a sec...there was no such thing as TV; not til I was 8 years old...
and who'd want to watch that teensy weensy 8 inch screen anyway...we used to go all around the block without touching the ground...we ran around on everybody's roofs...you should hear what grown-ups used to say to us! Shame on them.
We played baseball in the park, and, every Tuesday evening there was a band concert in the park. Everyone could sit on their front porches and listen to the music.
Us girls would go to the neighbor's garden and pick all the blossoms off her Hollyhocks, and make Princess dolls out of one full bloom and one bud, then line them up on her porch railing and play ballroom dance with them...that is, until she came out one day and saw all the pretty dolls...she started choking...no idea why.
Another neighbor had this huge loom out in her backyard. We watched her weave nine by twelve foot rugs on it; it was fascinating to watch her weave big roses out of rug yarn...I think that's one reason I love crewel embroidery today...you can draw with thread...
The Milkman had a horse and wagon, and we liked to feed his horse all the carrots he could eat...and on hot summer days, he would chop bits of ice off the block of ice in the back of his wagon for us...
Being a child was lots of fun in the city when I was small. We WERE told "Don't take candy from strangers," One day, this big fat man tried to give away candy and we all ran for parents. They came storming out of the houses like angry bees...the man turned out to be the Mayor; he was out fishing for votes, and WAS just trying to be nice to kids so their parents would vote for him......that didn't quite work out like he planned. I think he was glad to get out of the neighborhood without a beating, and he made sure to say,"Your parents are right...don't ever take candy from strangers." Then mopped his forehead and walked away...
poor man.
Running in slow motion, pretending to hurl heavy objects while saying:
Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh.....
Running in slow motion, pretending to hurl heavy objects while saying:
Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh.....
YES!!!
The School House Rock stuff above reminded me of another one: does anyone else remember "In the News", with Christopher Glenn? Little two or three minute news vignettes between cartoons on Saturday mornings. I learned SO much through those little bits. I think it's where I got my addiction to the news. I remember learning all about Watergate, the Arab-Israeli War, the Viet Nam War ..., all kinds of "adult stuff" from Christopher Glenn.
I got it. My friends and I used to do that all the time.Running in slow motion, pretending to hurl heavy objects while saying:
Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh.....
YES!!!
I'm glad someone got that reference....
![]()
Running in slow motion, pretending to hurl heavy objects while saying:
Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh.....
YES!!!
I'm glad someone got that reference....
![]()
The School House Rock stuff above reminded me of another one: does anyone else remember "In the News", with Christopher Glenn? Little two or three minute news vignettes between cartoons on Saturday mornings. I learned SO much through those little bits. I think it's where I got my addiction to the news. I remember learning all about Watergate, the Arab-Israeli War, the Viet Nam War ..., all kinds of "adult stuff" from Christopher Glenn.
I used to love that. And I remember the music and graphics at the beginning of each segment.
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