40 and Over Club Meeting

[Miss Chicken]

Been a while since the Old Farts have had one of their meetings so maybe we will have a new member or two.

Topic today is

YOUR POLITICALLY INCORRECT CHILDHOOD.

I loved F Troop which is regarded as unPC today. We also had a copy of Little Black Sambo on the bookshelves though I can't remember if I read it or not, luckily the story has now been altered to be political correct.

So, oldies what unPC shows did you watch, what unPC books did you read, what unPC games did you play etc?

 

[TheSeeker]

Looney Toons that didn't have any of the violence edited out.

 

[137th Gebirg]

4 little words: "Song of the South".

 

[Tora Ziyal]

When I was five-ish, I played cowboys and Indians with the boy next door. He was a couple years older and the only other kid on the block.

 

[Mary Ann]

Looney Toons that didn't have any of the violence edited out.

What, is some of the violence edited out nowadays? Good grief.

In the 70s I used to read a lot of Bobbsey Twins books, where the family had Sam and Dinah, the stereotypical laughing, happy black couple who were cook/housemaid and handyman, living in the attic on the Bobbsey family home. Their speech was always written linguistically, such as "honey chile [child]". I'm assuming this has been altered quite drastically in modern versions of the book. I believe a lot of the books were written in the 30s, and I don't think the dialogue had been changed much, if any, when I was reading them 40 years later. I'm sure there were other very un-PC stereotypes in the books, but I can't remember any other ones off-hand.

In my brothers' Tintin books, which I loved as a kid, people of African decent were always depicted as having huge lips and being none too bright. It's a good thing Captain Haddock's swearing was already edited out; it saved modern book printers from having to do so.

 

[T'Bonz]

**Thinks**

We read the Little Black Sambo book in school.

Christian holidays were celebrated in schools (Easter-related and especially Christmas-related activities were common). I miss that....maybe I should put this in TNZ's Say Something Unpopular thread.

We ate "N----- babies" candy.

Girls weren't allowed to do a lot of fun stuff. I *hated* this.

First American Immigrants (I refuse to use Native American as anyone born here is that, and they were immigrants from Asia, not native to this continent) were called Indians and were often the bad guys.

In the South when I was a kid, there was still segregation in some areas (Florida schools didn't desegregate until 1972).

Most blacks on TV when I was a kid were in subservient roles, like as a maid or such. Shows like Julia (she was a nurse) were a breath of fresh air.

Cartoons showed lots of stereotypes - women, blacks, Mexicans, etc.

 

[sojourner]

We used to have Sunday breakfast at Sambo's restaurant.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I also read the Bobbsey Twins when I was young but I had totally forgotten that Sam and Dinah were in them. I am tempted to buy a new version of the Bobbsey Twins to see what changes have been made. There are a couple of free Bobbsey Twins e-books on Amazon but there seem to be older versions that are now in the public domain.

I was thinking about Little Black Sambo in bed last night and I realised it was probably read to me and it scared me because of the tigers melting into butter. I most likely refused to read it after that.

When I was five-ish, I played cowboys and Indians with the boy next door. He was a couple years older and the only other kid on the block.

When I was young I had a 'Indian maiden" costume which consisted of a long black, braided wig (mde of wool) and a 'buckskin' dress. As a result I got to be the Indian when playing Cowboys and Indians and this meant I usually ended up being shot dead.

I think there were some TV series that gave a sympathetic portrayal of Indians most notably "Broken Arrow" but I haven't viewed it since my childhood.

 

[scotpens]

Most blacks on TV when I was a kid were in subservient roles, like as a maid or such. Shows like Julia (she was a nurse) were a breath of fresh air.

How about I Spy? It debuted in 1965 (three years before Julia) and co-starred Bill Cosby as the partner, friend and social equal of Robert Culp's character. And he was a spy! That was cool.

Cartoons showed lots of stereotypes - women, blacks, Mexicans, etc.

You mean like this little dude?

Hey, Speedy Gonzales was funny!

Aside from popular media, does anyone remember chocolate and bubble gum "cigarettes"? In my day, they were just part of innocent kids playing at being grownups. Try peddling candy cigs to kids today and there'll be demands for your head on a stick.

 

[marksound]

Seven-Up candy bar: seven different chocolate covered flavors in one bar. When I was a kid, everybody I knew called the Brazil nut in the middle a "n----- toe."

One of my favorite movies of all time, and was hell to find on DVD: Zorro, The Gay Blade. Starring George Hamilton, it was much funnier than Love At First Bite but as I remember didn't do well at the box office. It's all but disappeared from the market.

Can you even find Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in a library these days? I loved those books growing up.

There's probably more but I'm getting old and it will take me a while to remember the best stuff.

 

[scotpens]

One of my favorite movies of all time, and was hell to find on DVD: Zorro, The Gay Blade. Starring George Hamilton, it was much funnier than Love At First Bite but as I remember didn't do well at the box office. It's all but disappeared from the market.

Is Zorro, the Gay Blade considered "politically incorrect" now? Why would that be? It's a very funny movie.

(Little-known fact: Story-wise, Zorro, the Gay Blade is a reworking of the David F. Friedman sexploitation flick The Erotic Adventures of Zorro -- only without the naked stuff.)

Can you even find Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in a library these days? I loved those books growing up.

Both of those books are in public domain and the complete text of them can be easily found online. Huckleberry Finn as assigned reading in schools remains controversial, mainly because of "that word."

 

[marksound]

One of my favorite movies of all time, and was hell to find on DVD: Zorro, The Gay Blade. Starring George Hamilton, it was much funnier than Love At First Bite but as I remember didn't do well at the box office. It's all but disappeared from the market.

Is Zorro, the Gay Blade considered "politically incorrect" now? Why would that be? It's a very funny movie.

I don't know. I think it's hilarious, but I'm sure the easily offended might take exception. All I know for sure is that it was very hard to find when I was looking for a copy. But it's in my regular rotation, and I can pretty much quote all the dialog as it plays.

The funniest lines in the movie?
"Where is your invitation, Senor Beaver?"
"To be your friend I would have to be more than clumsy, I would have to be stupid!"
"Here I am!"
"NECK! NECK! NECK!"

(Little-known fact: Story-wise, Zorro, the Gay Blade is a reworking of the David F. Friedman sexploitation flick The Erotic Adventures of Zorro -- only without the naked stuff.

I did not know that.

Can you even find Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in a library these days? I loved those books growing up.

Both of those books are in public domain and the complete text of them can be easily found online. Huckleberry Finn as assigned reading in schools remains controversial, mainly because of "that word."

It's sad that people have become so sensitive to a single word that great literature is controversial. In the books it isn't even in a derogatory tone, but in the context of the time it was written.

 

[137th Gebirg]

^^^ You should have watched Don Lemon's "The N Word" special on CNN a couple weeks back. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

 

[DrCorby]

I remember toons who, when explosions went off in their faces, suddenly looked stereotypically Negro, sometimes even with ribbons in their hair. This was especially true in early Tom & Jerry cartoons.

Aside from popular media, does anyone remember chocolate and bubble gum "cigarettes"? In my day, they were just part of innocent kids playing at being grownups. Try peddling candy cigs to kids today and there'll be demands for your head on a stick.

We'd get peppermint-flavored white "cigarette" candy, and my parents weren't even smokers. But my sister and I certainly knew the "proper" way to hold them... That would never fly today!

Then there was the set of lawn darts we owned...

 

[scotpens]

It's sad that people have become so sensitive to a single word that great literature is controversial. In the books it isn't even in a derogatory tone, but in the context of the time it was written.

It should be pointed out that, while Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer was first published in 1876 and Huckleberry Finn in 1884, both novels take place in the antebellum period, circa 1840. Twain wasn't writing contemporary fiction; he was writing about an era that was already history.

 

[auntiehill]

Meh. I had a pretty PC childhood. I do remember, however, going on a long car trip, crossing several states, and we stopped in a restaurant called, "Sambo's." They handed out little storybooks to the kids about Little Black Sambo. I remember my Mom not liking the book's "artwork" too terribly much and I didn't understand why at the time.

She explained it to me later, in the car.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

I had a rather PC childhood, growing up in the country. There was no racism at all simple because we had no other people around except for us Bavarians. I was 23 when I saw my first dark skinned person, a student from Ghana.
I kinda caught up later, though, by having a part African-American part Native-American BF

Bavarians are rather sexist though and I have often been a victim of that. Taught me to fight hard and prove to the males that God only practized when She created man

 

[Nerys Myk]

I grew in mostly multi-ethnic areas with friends of all colors and backgrounds. I was an Air Force brat and the military had been desegregated for a decade or more before I was born ,so on base and in the surrounding area there were all kinds of people. I don't recall my parents ever using any sort of racist language when I was a kid. Of course when we were in Japan we were a distinct minority. We did go to Sambo's Resturant, though IIRC the character became an Indian in the story books by that time. (probably not an improvement) I do recall reading a version of the story somewhere with a black Sambo and thinking why would there be a tiger in Africa? Even as a kid I was a nitpicker.

 

[scotpens]

. . . We did go to Sambo's Resturant, though IIRC the character became an Indian in the story books by that time. (probably not an improvement) I do recall reading a version of the story somewhere with a black Sambo and thinking why would there be a tiger in Africa?

I also had a picture-book version of "Little Black Sambo" that depicted the hero as an Indian (or South Asian, at any rate) child, complete with turban. At least that explained the tigers! It wasn't until years later that I heard "Sambo" used as a slur against blacks.

 

[J.T.B.]

There was a Sambo's restaurant where I lived, too. By the time I really remember it in the '70s I think its promotional material was based around a tiger character.

This is not really non-PC but my wife and I were talking about it the other day and it seems so bizarre now I'll mention it anyway: My parents didn't smoke, but one of my grandpas did. When I was a little kid in the early '70s, my mom had some green glass ashtrays in a drawer, and when grandpa would come she'd get them out and he'd sit right there in our living room and puff the room so full of smoke that my eyes burned. And we didn't think anything of it! It almost doesn't seem believable, now.