It's been four week since I've been able to go to the gym. Work has been more intense than normal, and the few hours I have each night on rough days are better spent with the family. But I do so love going to the gym. I love the way I feel afterwards, I love feeling like I'm physically more capable than I was ten years ago. And I love listening to Jack Benny on the treadmill.
Today's experience was another view of history through entertainment. Jack and crew had an annual tradition of putting on a play on New Year's Eve. Jack would play the outgoing year, they would get a child actor to play the incoming year, Don Wilson would play the World. Phil Harris would play Uncle Sam. Mary Livingston would play Columbia. And they would talk about the outgoing year and what they'd like to see in the incoming year. As you can imagine, it was current and topical when the enormously popular radio show would first air these episodes. Today, it's a lesson in learning history from the viewpoint of those actually living in it. Like a time machine.
The episode was from December 31st, 1950. And I found this exchange particularly interesting:
Columbia: "Say, World, you don't look too happy."
World: "Well,,, I haven't been feeling so well lately. You remember how sick I was from 1914 to 1918?"
Uncle Sam: "Uh huh."
World: "And then I had a relapse from 1939 to 1945."
1950: "Yup. I heard about it but I thought you were all over that."
World: "A few months ago I suddenly developed a big pain around my 38th parallel."
(Laughter)
Columbia: "Well, why don't you go see a doctor?"
World: "I did and he knew what was wrong with me as soon as he took my blood count. Too many red cells."
(Laughter, applause)
From there, Jack and crew in their guises as the state of affairs at the end of 1950 take a peak into the U.N. and see the Russian dignitary addressing the assembly and seeming very foolish in his criticism of the American way of life.
The 38th Parallel line is, of course, a reference to the Korean War, which had started in June of 1950.
I've never really understood the red scare. I know the facts, but my mind always likens it to the Salem Witch hunts, McCarthyism, and Dr Wertham's war on comics. I'm annoyed at the thought that we have to denounce and vilify any other way of life that's different than the way of life we choose to live as Americans. We're the "reds" also denouncing and villifying the American way of life? I've read that they were. I know I'm oversimplifying things, and living here in 2013 will never give me the perspective of those living in 1950. But when I read about the red scare it just seems we were so pumped by defeating the obvious villain that Hitler presented that we were just looking for the next heroic act we could find to perform.
We were trying to make the Russians villains. The Russians were trying to make us villains. Where's James Bond to help clarify things?
Star Trek tries to teach us "IDIC". Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. And as a child of the seventies, Star Trek played a huge role in my moral development. Is it my perception that's skewed?
Here in 2013, America's enemies are performing acts of terror on us because they don't like our way of life and think we should live more like them. The very idea disgusts me.
And now things have gotten entirely too serious and my head hurts. I'm off to read a comic book from 1976.
Thanks,
DCD
Showing posts with label Radio dramas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Radio dramas. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
Radios
I don't know anything about radios. I've heard about and actually met some collector's who's 'object of passion' is the radio and they go about collecting antique radios. That's not me. I didn't even have a car radio in my first car, as my sister is keen to point out. But I do love old radio shows from the 1940's and take pride in my membership on RUSC.com. And I definitely know about sentiment and attaching value to physical objects.
This is my 1940's floor radio. I got it for free. Lorie had been looking for something like this for me for my new comic sanctuary. So she jumped at the chance when it popped up on a freecycler's Yahoo group. In my jaded opinion, it's the only good thing that's come from freecycler's.
The radio is a Firestone Air Chief, model # S-7404-1, and was most likely produced in 1940. You can check out more about the radio at this wonderful website. (http://airchiefradios.com/year.cfm?year=1940) And I'm positive, without a doubt, that somebody at some point sat on the floor in front of this thing listening to old radio shows.
It does power on, but doesn't bring in any radio stations. That's just fine with me, as I have ZERO desire to hear modern radio out of this thing.
This is my Grandmother's radio. She passed away in May of 2011. I spoke at her funeral and it wasn't the easiest of things for me to do. I didn't really realize how close I felt to her until she was gone. Recently, I helped move my Grandfather into an assisted living facility and part of the job was to figure out what to do with an apartment full of stuff. Including my Grandmother's room, which had gone largely untouched since her passing. There were piles for Goodwill and piles of things that couldn't possibly go to Goodwill. I asked my Cool Aunt Melodee if she wouldn't mind if I took the radio.
It's a Sony Bass Reflex system, model # ICF-9580W, and was most likely produced sometime in the early seventies. The minimum research I've done leads me to believe that at the time it was sold, it was a top-of-the-line radio. I believe it, because it's a very solid and heavy piece. You can see more details about it here. (http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sony_icf_9580w.html)
Last night as I was setting the radio up in the new comic sanctuary, I plugged it in, flipped it on, and tuned in a radio station. My son Ashton was shocked. "I can't believe this thing still works!" he exclaimed. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that this thing would work. My Grandmother would not have kept it if it didn't work.
That's the thing about my Grandmother. She and I seemed like polar opposites. She would look at this and think "it's just an old radio, why keep it". She would even see me as silly and wasteful for indulging in the sentiment. But... the fact that I can look at it and glean so much of her from it makes it useful for me. The fact that it was top of the line and she chose it. The fact that it still works and I knew that before even turning it on. And the fact that she would think it was silly that I wanted it. It's like she's there with me teasing me about it at that moment. The Phantom Grandmother on my shoulder.
Last in the line of radios for me to drone on about is this:
It's mine. It's the clock/alarm radio I got for Christmas in 1981 when we lived in Montgomery, Alabama. This is the radio that woke me up every morning from 1981 all the way to 2004 when it started to act up and not be so reliable. This thing collects dust like nothing I've ever owned. All those little tiny circles in the top may have looked cool at production time, but there's dust in there that I haven't been able to get out since early 1982; when I distinctly remember listening to Pac-Man Fever and Freeze Frame on this radio.
It's one of those rare belongings I had from my childhood. This being unique in that it's practical use is the reason it's still with me. Unlike my Superman bean bag chair, which saw the end of it's practical use in 1977.
Each of these radios will be displayed in my new comic sanctuary when the whole thing is set up. So come over! Check it out. Sip coffee from our kuerig machine, sit on my couch in the reading nook flanked by old time radio while listening to 1940's music from my iPod and reading old comics on the iPad. Comic book hipster.
Thanks,
DCD
This is my 1940's floor radio. I got it for free. Lorie had been looking for something like this for me for my new comic sanctuary. So she jumped at the chance when it popped up on a freecycler's Yahoo group. In my jaded opinion, it's the only good thing that's come from freecycler's.
The radio is a Firestone Air Chief, model # S-7404-1, and was most likely produced in 1940. You can check out more about the radio at this wonderful website. (http://airchiefradios.com/year.cfm?year=1940) And I'm positive, without a doubt, that somebody at some point sat on the floor in front of this thing listening to old radio shows.
It does power on, but doesn't bring in any radio stations. That's just fine with me, as I have ZERO desire to hear modern radio out of this thing.
This is my Grandmother's radio. She passed away in May of 2011. I spoke at her funeral and it wasn't the easiest of things for me to do. I didn't really realize how close I felt to her until she was gone. Recently, I helped move my Grandfather into an assisted living facility and part of the job was to figure out what to do with an apartment full of stuff. Including my Grandmother's room, which had gone largely untouched since her passing. There were piles for Goodwill and piles of things that couldn't possibly go to Goodwill. I asked my Cool Aunt Melodee if she wouldn't mind if I took the radio.
It's a Sony Bass Reflex system, model # ICF-9580W, and was most likely produced sometime in the early seventies. The minimum research I've done leads me to believe that at the time it was sold, it was a top-of-the-line radio. I believe it, because it's a very solid and heavy piece. You can see more details about it here. (http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sony_icf_9580w.html)
Last night as I was setting the radio up in the new comic sanctuary, I plugged it in, flipped it on, and tuned in a radio station. My son Ashton was shocked. "I can't believe this thing still works!" he exclaimed. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that this thing would work. My Grandmother would not have kept it if it didn't work.
That's the thing about my Grandmother. She and I seemed like polar opposites. She would look at this and think "it's just an old radio, why keep it". She would even see me as silly and wasteful for indulging in the sentiment. But... the fact that I can look at it and glean so much of her from it makes it useful for me. The fact that it was top of the line and she chose it. The fact that it still works and I knew that before even turning it on. And the fact that she would think it was silly that I wanted it. It's like she's there with me teasing me about it at that moment. The Phantom Grandmother on my shoulder.
Last in the line of radios for me to drone on about is this:
It's mine. It's the clock/alarm radio I got for Christmas in 1981 when we lived in Montgomery, Alabama. This is the radio that woke me up every morning from 1981 all the way to 2004 when it started to act up and not be so reliable. This thing collects dust like nothing I've ever owned. All those little tiny circles in the top may have looked cool at production time, but there's dust in there that I haven't been able to get out since early 1982; when I distinctly remember listening to Pac-Man Fever and Freeze Frame on this radio.
It's one of those rare belongings I had from my childhood. This being unique in that it's practical use is the reason it's still with me. Unlike my Superman bean bag chair, which saw the end of it's practical use in 1977.
Each of these radios will be displayed in my new comic sanctuary when the whole thing is set up. So come over! Check it out. Sip coffee from our kuerig machine, sit on my couch in the reading nook flanked by old time radio while listening to 1940's music from my iPod and reading old comics on the iPad. Comic book hipster.
Thanks,
DCD
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Jack Benny and the Two Thanksgivings
Thanksgiving. So starts the time of the year when I REALLY start to get nostalgic for times that I never lived in. I'll explain that by starting with Jack Benny and the two Thanksgivings.
I was on the treadmill at the gym listening to Jack Benny radio shows, as per usual. The cast was telling jokes about the two Thanksgivings this year. Huh? What? Jack was debating how to best use this situation in order to save some money and still come out looking generous. Huh? Two Thanksgivings?
I learned from the cast that the President, Franklin Roosevelt at the time, had changed the date of Thanksgiving. Furthermore, despite this Presidential decree many families were still celebrating the old date for the Holiday.
So I hit Wikipedia to learn some more. It's kind of an ironic story. Apparently, in 1939 Thanksgiving was landing on November 30th. The Thanksgiving tradition until then had been to celebrate the holiday on the last Thursday of the month. The retail community was complaining because this would put the holiday too late into the year to properly kick off the Christmas shopping season. And with the depression on, retailers needed to get every little bit of help they could get.
And... get this... it was considered wrong to decorate and start selling Christmas product before Thanksgiving.
...
HA!
Lemme repeat that from a different angle. Retailers in 1939 were so concerned about sales that they actually lobbied to have the holiday moved, rather than show bad taste and start decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving.
HA!
This is a beautiful way of learning about history and the differences in our culture through entertainment.
My buddy Larry Lineberry always complains loudly whenever we see Christmas decorations up too early. Complains to the point of wanting to boycott the store. I always brushed him off about this, thinking that the viewpoint was naive. Retailers in this day and age would do absolutely anything to increase sales, and there's very little we can do to stop that juggernaut.
But back then, it was considered bad taste to decorate before Thanksgiving. I love it. Larry would love it.
Jack Benny was famous for his holiday broadcasts. He gives Easter and the Easter parade a slight mention. But he always seems to have a Halloween party, everyone comes over for Thanksgiving, his Christmas shopping episodes are classics and well remembered, and I love his New Year's episodes where he closes out the old year and greats the new one.
My own Thanksgivings don't really seem to stick out in my memory. When I was a kid, we made it a point to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade every year. Mom would buy comics for me and coloring books for my sisters to keep us occupied and out of her way while she prepared the Thanksgiving feast. So there are some fond feelings and traditions that I do follow.
My own children won't sit still for Macy's parade. They get bored out of their mind and end up wandering off. So most Thanksgiving mornings, I end up sitting and watching the parade alone while everyone else is off doing their own thing.
But I usually have some Christmas themed comics sitting in my lap while the parade is on.
...more on that later.
Thanks,
DCD
I was on the treadmill at the gym listening to Jack Benny radio shows, as per usual. The cast was telling jokes about the two Thanksgivings this year. Huh? What? Jack was debating how to best use this situation in order to save some money and still come out looking generous. Huh? Two Thanksgivings?
I learned from the cast that the President, Franklin Roosevelt at the time, had changed the date of Thanksgiving. Furthermore, despite this Presidential decree many families were still celebrating the old date for the Holiday.
So I hit Wikipedia to learn some more. It's kind of an ironic story. Apparently, in 1939 Thanksgiving was landing on November 30th. The Thanksgiving tradition until then had been to celebrate the holiday on the last Thursday of the month. The retail community was complaining because this would put the holiday too late into the year to properly kick off the Christmas shopping season. And with the depression on, retailers needed to get every little bit of help they could get.
And... get this... it was considered wrong to decorate and start selling Christmas product before Thanksgiving.
...
HA!
Lemme repeat that from a different angle. Retailers in 1939 were so concerned about sales that they actually lobbied to have the holiday moved, rather than show bad taste and start decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving.
HA!
This is a beautiful way of learning about history and the differences in our culture through entertainment.
My buddy Larry Lineberry always complains loudly whenever we see Christmas decorations up too early. Complains to the point of wanting to boycott the store. I always brushed him off about this, thinking that the viewpoint was naive. Retailers in this day and age would do absolutely anything to increase sales, and there's very little we can do to stop that juggernaut.
But back then, it was considered bad taste to decorate before Thanksgiving. I love it. Larry would love it.
Jack Benny was famous for his holiday broadcasts. He gives Easter and the Easter parade a slight mention. But he always seems to have a Halloween party, everyone comes over for Thanksgiving, his Christmas shopping episodes are classics and well remembered, and I love his New Year's episodes where he closes out the old year and greats the new one.
My own Thanksgivings don't really seem to stick out in my memory. When I was a kid, we made it a point to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade every year. Mom would buy comics for me and coloring books for my sisters to keep us occupied and out of her way while she prepared the Thanksgiving feast. So there are some fond feelings and traditions that I do follow.
My own children won't sit still for Macy's parade. They get bored out of their mind and end up wandering off. So most Thanksgiving mornings, I end up sitting and watching the parade alone while everyone else is off doing their own thing.
But I usually have some Christmas themed comics sitting in my lap while the parade is on.
...more on that later.
Thanks,
DCD
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed
The first time I heard the phrase “so round, so firm, so fully packed” was in this page of Tales of the New Teen Titans #3:
As you can see, the character that uses the phrase was NOT referring to cigarettes. Technically, he was referring to hot dogs. But this being 1982 and me being 13 years old, all that I remember about the phrase is that he used it to comment on his curvaceous team mate.
So, ever since then I’ve been thinking that the phrase refers to well-built women. Or… impossibly built women.
But now it’s 2012, and I’m … not 13 years old anymore. And I’ve been listening to Jack Benny’s radio show on the treadmill at the gym, as you all know. It’s 1948 in Jack Benny time and he’s been hocking Lucky Strike cigarettes for a couple of seasons now, having switched over from Jello. The phrase “So round, so firm, so fully packed, so free and easy on the draw” is pelted at me pretty regularly over the program. As is the phrase “LSMFT… LSMFT… Lucky Strikes Mean Fine Tobacco”. It’s really a case of repetition in advertising. They repeated the phrase so much that it became part of our cultural lexicon. Chances are you’ve heard of the phrase, even if you were ignorant of the origin, like I was in 1982.
As an experiment, I asked my Mother if she knew what ‘LSMFT’ meant when we were at the beach together last June. She rattled off “Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco” immediately.
Now… cigarettes aren’t being advertised on the radio or TV anymore. I don’t think it’s even legal. So it’s not as if my mother was exposed to the phrase recently. It was probably repeated so much on the television and the radio back in the day that it just became part of the cultural lexicon.
And chances are, in twenty more years it’ll be unheard of.
It’s kind of disconcerting to hear Jack Benny and the gang hock cigarettes like they do. And they have such fun while doing it. Don’t they know that’s considered taboo now? Don’t they know they’re promoting sickness and death wrapped up in a disgusting habit? Yet they go about it the same way as they pushed Jello on us a couple of years previous. The Jack Benny cast of my treadmill runs are COMPLETELY unaware that it’s 2012 now and we have different sensibilities.
Odd. So I think about that a lot.
Natch.
Thanks,
DCD
As you can see, the character that uses the phrase was NOT referring to cigarettes. Technically, he was referring to hot dogs. But this being 1982 and me being 13 years old, all that I remember about the phrase is that he used it to comment on his curvaceous team mate.
So, ever since then I’ve been thinking that the phrase refers to well-built women. Or… impossibly built women.
But now it’s 2012, and I’m … not 13 years old anymore. And I’ve been listening to Jack Benny’s radio show on the treadmill at the gym, as you all know. It’s 1948 in Jack Benny time and he’s been hocking Lucky Strike cigarettes for a couple of seasons now, having switched over from Jello. The phrase “So round, so firm, so fully packed, so free and easy on the draw” is pelted at me pretty regularly over the program. As is the phrase “LSMFT… LSMFT… Lucky Strikes Mean Fine Tobacco”. It’s really a case of repetition in advertising. They repeated the phrase so much that it became part of our cultural lexicon. Chances are you’ve heard of the phrase, even if you were ignorant of the origin, like I was in 1982.
As an experiment, I asked my Mother if she knew what ‘LSMFT’ meant when we were at the beach together last June. She rattled off “Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco” immediately.
Now… cigarettes aren’t being advertised on the radio or TV anymore. I don’t think it’s even legal. So it’s not as if my mother was exposed to the phrase recently. It was probably repeated so much on the television and the radio back in the day that it just became part of the cultural lexicon.
And chances are, in twenty more years it’ll be unheard of.
It’s kind of disconcerting to hear Jack Benny and the gang hock cigarettes like they do. And they have such fun while doing it. Don’t they know that’s considered taboo now? Don’t they know they’re promoting sickness and death wrapped up in a disgusting habit? Yet they go about it the same way as they pushed Jello on us a couple of years previous. The Jack Benny cast of my treadmill runs are COMPLETELY unaware that it’s 2012 now and we have different sensibilities.
Odd. So I think about that a lot.
Natch.
Thanks,
DCD
Monday, August 27, 2012
Shared Family Experience
Do you ever listen to the radio anymore? Is the radio a thriving source of music, news, and traffic reports? Or is it yet another dying American entertainment medium?
The radio in my gym was tuned into the John Tesh radio show. Yes, yes... I know. My gym is primarily for old people. We've started to go to the wellness center attached to Martinsburg City Hospital where my wife works. The gym is very nice, a little small, with very modern machines that use computer monitoring to help you reach your goals. I like it, but it's primarily for old people. Tesh was talking about how long car trips have changed in our culture. They used to be family fun time, a time when all family members could talk to each other and fill the time during a long car ride. With the radio only being used as background noise if a consistent radio signal could be found at all. Tesh goes on to say that today's travelers are all plugged into their different devices, with the kids in the backseat listing to their iPods and playing handheld video games rather than participating in a shared family experience.
In my opinion and experience, Tesh is remembering it wrong. WAY wrong. In the 1970's, before iPods and hand-held video games, long car trips were silent. With us kids in the back seat absorbed in comics, travel games, word searches, coloring books, or anything that could be picked up at the store that would keep us quiet and entertained.
BUT....
but...
As a father, the whole idea of losing my kids to a set of headphones has been bothering me. I don't believe for a second that I would fill a long distance trip with conversation with the kids. But there is something of a shared experience when we're all listening to the same thing on the radio.
Which we don't. In October my son will be thirteen. My daughter is eleven, but thinks she's eighteen. My youngest is six and still thankfully acting like a six year old. But Ashton, the thirteen year old, has been acting like a (shudder) teenager for six months now. We have different music. And he will always choose his music over anything I would want to listen to.
A week or so ago, Ashton and Katie and I drove to New York City to drop Katie off with my sister for the week. Five hours in the car alone together. I had an advantage, though. Ashton had spent the week with my buddy Mario and his family, and had forgotten his headphones! They were in my bag, but I hadn't given them to him yet. So I thought I would try for the whole shared experience thing.
One of my (many) passions is old radio drama shows from the 1930's and 1940's. The kind that died off with the advent of television. I've really been enjoying comedy man Jack Benny and his show. That's what I listen to while on the treadmill at the gym. I get strange looks sometimes when I break out laughing while running. So I started off with a Jack Benny, plugging in my iPod and cranking the volume so Ashton and Katie had no choice but to listen.
Katie would smile at me occasionally. It's hard to know if she really likes something or just wants you to be happy. Ashton was in the back seat, rolling his eyes at the 'old' jokes and not caring if I was happy or not.
Okay, Jack Benny's not working. Let's move on. How about a different comedy show. The George Burns and Gracie Allen show.
More old jokes. More eye rolls.
The Shadow! How about the Shadow! With me, all hobbies have a root in super heroes and the Shadow is what first drew me to listening to old radio shows. But the Shadow would prove no more entertaining to Ashton than having his teeth pulled. Katie smiled at me politely.
This was not going well. And I have a lot of old radio shows on my iPod, but not enough variety to support this experiment. Failure loomed. One chance left.
A slow, creaking door started off the program. A long, obtrusive sound too soul-grating to ignore. A macabre-voiced host came on making gruesome jokes with a lilting, playful slant. The Lipton iced tea spokeswoman cut him off and tried to lighten the mood with her sales pitch, but he succeeded in controlling the atmosphere. "THIS.... IS INNER SANCTUM."
Ashton and Katie were quiet. They were quiet throughout the first murder. They listened intently to the grizzly details and mounting tension. They thought they had figured out what happened, and got uncomfortable as the police were involved. And then more murders. A twist! More blood! And a final twist that no one in the car saw coming.
New York rose up on our horizon and the GPS said we had about forty-five minutes to our destination. Inner Sanctum ended with another pitch for Lipton iced tea. I turned off the radio and put my iPod away.
A couple of moments went by. Ashton was the first to speak.
"That... was... AWESOME! I never thought it would be the guy! I totally didn't see that coming. That was really, really good!"
I turned to my right and looked at Katie. She wasn't fake-smiling at me anymore. She had the look of being scared and entertained and creeped out all at the same time.
SUCCESS! I was able to nail the whole 'shared family experience'. We ended up discussing the show, why it was scary, and who we had thought the culprit was before the twists had hit.
On the trip back, it was just Ashton and I alone. And he had his headphones in. I made him pull them out and then tried to talk to him about how his week had gone with Uncle Mario. More teeth pulling. At one point, he said "talking to you is PAINFUL!"
I plugged Inner Sanctum back in, feeling my victory to be short-lived.
I do have a passion for these old radio shows. The dynamics of listening to them are very different than watching television. And they certainly make car trips go by. I feel like I've grown to know Jack Benny and his gang just like my mother has come to consider herself part of the whole Regis and Kathy Lee experience. If you're interested in checking these out, may I recommend this website. RUSC ("Are You Sitting Comfortably") has an outstanding collection of radio shows that you can download and load up on the iPod, lickety-split.
Thanks,
DCD
The radio in my gym was tuned into the John Tesh radio show. Yes, yes... I know. My gym is primarily for old people. We've started to go to the wellness center attached to Martinsburg City Hospital where my wife works. The gym is very nice, a little small, with very modern machines that use computer monitoring to help you reach your goals. I like it, but it's primarily for old people. Tesh was talking about how long car trips have changed in our culture. They used to be family fun time, a time when all family members could talk to each other and fill the time during a long car ride. With the radio only being used as background noise if a consistent radio signal could be found at all. Tesh goes on to say that today's travelers are all plugged into their different devices, with the kids in the backseat listing to their iPods and playing handheld video games rather than participating in a shared family experience.
In my opinion and experience, Tesh is remembering it wrong. WAY wrong. In the 1970's, before iPods and hand-held video games, long car trips were silent. With us kids in the back seat absorbed in comics, travel games, word searches, coloring books, or anything that could be picked up at the store that would keep us quiet and entertained.
BUT....
but...
As a father, the whole idea of losing my kids to a set of headphones has been bothering me. I don't believe for a second that I would fill a long distance trip with conversation with the kids. But there is something of a shared experience when we're all listening to the same thing on the radio.
Which we don't. In October my son will be thirteen. My daughter is eleven, but thinks she's eighteen. My youngest is six and still thankfully acting like a six year old. But Ashton, the thirteen year old, has been acting like a (shudder) teenager for six months now. We have different music. And he will always choose his music over anything I would want to listen to.
A week or so ago, Ashton and Katie and I drove to New York City to drop Katie off with my sister for the week. Five hours in the car alone together. I had an advantage, though. Ashton had spent the week with my buddy Mario and his family, and had forgotten his headphones! They were in my bag, but I hadn't given them to him yet. So I thought I would try for the whole shared experience thing.
One of my (many) passions is old radio drama shows from the 1930's and 1940's. The kind that died off with the advent of television. I've really been enjoying comedy man Jack Benny and his show. That's what I listen to while on the treadmill at the gym. I get strange looks sometimes when I break out laughing while running. So I started off with a Jack Benny, plugging in my iPod and cranking the volume so Ashton and Katie had no choice but to listen.
Katie would smile at me occasionally. It's hard to know if she really likes something or just wants you to be happy. Ashton was in the back seat, rolling his eyes at the 'old' jokes and not caring if I was happy or not.
Okay, Jack Benny's not working. Let's move on. How about a different comedy show. The George Burns and Gracie Allen show.
More old jokes. More eye rolls.
The Shadow! How about the Shadow! With me, all hobbies have a root in super heroes and the Shadow is what first drew me to listening to old radio shows. But the Shadow would prove no more entertaining to Ashton than having his teeth pulled. Katie smiled at me politely.
This was not going well. And I have a lot of old radio shows on my iPod, but not enough variety to support this experiment. Failure loomed. One chance left.
A slow, creaking door started off the program. A long, obtrusive sound too soul-grating to ignore. A macabre-voiced host came on making gruesome jokes with a lilting, playful slant. The Lipton iced tea spokeswoman cut him off and tried to lighten the mood with her sales pitch, but he succeeded in controlling the atmosphere. "THIS.... IS INNER SANCTUM."
Ashton and Katie were quiet. They were quiet throughout the first murder. They listened intently to the grizzly details and mounting tension. They thought they had figured out what happened, and got uncomfortable as the police were involved. And then more murders. A twist! More blood! And a final twist that no one in the car saw coming.
New York rose up on our horizon and the GPS said we had about forty-five minutes to our destination. Inner Sanctum ended with another pitch for Lipton iced tea. I turned off the radio and put my iPod away.
A couple of moments went by. Ashton was the first to speak.
"That... was... AWESOME! I never thought it would be the guy! I totally didn't see that coming. That was really, really good!"
I turned to my right and looked at Katie. She wasn't fake-smiling at me anymore. She had the look of being scared and entertained and creeped out all at the same time.
SUCCESS! I was able to nail the whole 'shared family experience'. We ended up discussing the show, why it was scary, and who we had thought the culprit was before the twists had hit.
On the trip back, it was just Ashton and I alone. And he had his headphones in. I made him pull them out and then tried to talk to him about how his week had gone with Uncle Mario. More teeth pulling. At one point, he said "talking to you is PAINFUL!"
I plugged Inner Sanctum back in, feeling my victory to be short-lived.
I do have a passion for these old radio shows. The dynamics of listening to them are very different than watching television. And they certainly make car trips go by. I feel like I've grown to know Jack Benny and his gang just like my mother has come to consider herself part of the whole Regis and Kathy Lee experience. If you're interested in checking these out, may I recommend this website. RUSC ("Are You Sitting Comfortably") has an outstanding collection of radio shows that you can download and load up on the iPod, lickety-split.
Thanks,
DCD
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)