Early Attempts

In the 1970s, director/producer/star Gary Marshal dreamed up a show that highlighted the fun of the 1950s, but was worried that maybe something so trivial would go unwatched and was inappropriate in light of the Vietnam War.  But a young director unknowingly came to his aid, George Lucas.  Lucas painted a picture of high school seniors on their last night before flying off to college in 1962 California.  With hot rods cruising the street on their way to the drive-in and girls in saddle shoes, it was rose tinted, but a huge success, and American Graffiti opened the door for Marshal and his show, Happy Days.  While  the rose tinted Happy Days started in the 1950s, it followed through to the 1960s, lasting eleven seasons (although many argue it overstayed its welcome, and spawned the phrase “jump the shark”), following high schooler Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard, who also stared in American Graffiti) and his friends through their coming-of-age moments and later their college years.  In terms of period correctness, the errors are numerous and annoying, sometimes you just had to ignore the girl with the Farrah do in the background.  It also offers up the classic stereotype of the 50s, where every girl wore a poodle skirt and saddle shoes, among others.  It may have been about the 50s and 60s, but it was garish in its 70s feel.  Just four years after Happy Days left the air, another show in the same vein, although a bit less rose-tinted cropped up, The Wonder Years.

The Wonder Years

While Happy Days focused on high schoolers and their bumblings through sex and other antics, The Wonder Years focused on the younger Kevin Arnold, who, with his friend Paul were just being introduced to the complex world of sex and girls, as aptly shown in the show’s second episode where they attend a sex-ed class in PE.  With its voice over of an adult Kevin, the show was certainly a reflective take on the 1960s, and because the producers chose not to give Kevin’s hometown a name, it offered up the idea that Kevin and his family could have been your neighbors back in 1968, and you may have shared the same experiences.  The Wonder Years chose to tackle the issues of the 1960s head on, as seen in the pilot when Winnie and her family get word that her brother has been killed in Vietnam.  Additionally, Kevin’s sister is seen as a rebellious hippie, and Keven’s mother copes and adjusts to the changes of the feminist movement.  More period correct than Happy Days, The Wonder Years tried to not glorify the 60s either in terms of style, and made the time period a bit more ordinary, and less stereotypical of the period. After six seasons, The Wonder Years went off the air in 1993, but found a new home in syndication on Nick at Night, but it has yet to reair since 2007, nor has it been released on DVD.

State of Grace

The Wonder Years was a tough act to follow, but ABC Family tired in 2001 with its shortly lived State of Grace.  Similar to The Wonder Years in its use of a voice over and ages of the characters, State of Grace followed the young Jewish Hannah as she moved to a new town to discover the only school to attend is a Catholic all girls school.  She soon befriends the eccentric Grace with her even more eccentric mother.  While rose tinted for the most part, it too tackles the Vietnam War and racism.  State of Grace even tackled feminism in some light, but not head on.  The show took another page from The Wonder Years, and kept  from outlandish 60s styles, except when it fit the plot, where Twiggy eyelashes, vinyl boots and beanbag chairs worked to serve a purpose.    State of Grace only lasted two years, but right on its heels was a new show about the 60s, American Dreams.

American Dreams

Airing on NBC, American Dreams revolved around the Catholic Pryor family.  With the pilot ending on the assassination of JFK, American Dreams shouted to the world it too would not be entirely rose tinted either, although for the most part it was.  As its main character Meg and her best friend Roxanne join the regulars of  American Bandstand, they and their friends and family also face tough issues of racism, polio, the pill, and eventually the Vietnam War.   It also stared Tom Verica who appeared several times on State of Grace and Brittany Snow went on to star in the film version of the musical Hairspray.  The show’s first season was a hit, and earned several Emmy nominations, but as the show progressed, it began to morph into a soap opera, resulting in illegitimate children and ultimately with Meg riding off into the rain damp dark streets with a draft dodger on the back of his motorcycle.  American Dreams kept its look fairly down to earth too, but loaded up its actresses with hairspray, additionally, it’s attention to detail with respect to Bandstand and music was especially nice. I adore the first season and own it on DVD.  I would be more than inclined to own the other two seasons, but they have not been released.

Mad Men

It is in this wake that America has seen yet another show about the 1960s, Mad Men.  And what can I say?  It has America going mad!  Unlike each and every 1960s show before it, which focused on coming-of-age stories, often in the suburbs, Mad Men is about the classy, yet sinister life of Madison Avenue’s advertising devils.  Mad Men is anything but rose tinted.  It has tackled the pill, affairs, racism, antisemitism, smoking, the JFK/Nixon debate and everything in between all while looking fabulous!  It has also really chose to focus on how women were affected during this period and how the actions of others truly affect their lives.  The third season of the Emmy-winning show left its viewers with quite a bombshell, and I’m on edge wondering how its going to get pulled off, and if the fourth season may be the last.  I guess will just have to wait and see!

I spent the majority of the day working on it while watching Jeannie, since I have all of the episodes on DVD.  I used a paint pen to do the work and painted directly on the glass, like the original was.  Additionally, the bottle in the show used a crystal stopper, not the real stopper, so I’m going to keep and eye out for one at Goodwill.  I must say, it was more difficult than I imagined, but nevertheless, I’m pleased with my work, and it will look fabulous sitting in the apartment.

Jeannie has always been among my top ten TV shows, if not my favorite for sometime growing up.  I had all of the dolls playsets that came out in the 90s, which included a Jeannie computer game on a floppy disk!  I also remember that Major Nelson was my biggest crush when I was in about the fourth grade (I say Nelson instead of Larry Hagman, because I can’t stand him as JR on Dallas), and loved watching it on Nick at Nite, followed by TV Land, back when they actually showed old shows, not their silly reality shows like High School Reunion or Extreme Home Makeover.

This isn’t the first time Barbie has gone television route before, within the last ten years, Mattel has produce many TV inspired dolls including Star Trek and I Love Lucy.  But what makes these Mad Men Barbies really interesting is the choice to use the old 50s/60s Barbie look.

The original Barbies had a distinctive pout and rather heavily lidded eyes, and notice here how the Barbie versions of Joan and Betty have that trait.  I’m find this a really nice touch, instead of going for a more “realistic” way of making the dolls look like the AMC stars.

Sadly, the line won’t be available until July of this year, and carries a “suggested” price tag of $74.95.  Also, remember the third season will be available on DVD on the 23rd of this month!

As the country grieved over the death of President John F. Kennedy, now President Lyndon B. Johnson was faced with some big decisions.  A Texan with a moderator reputation, Johnson chose to take a stand and passed Kennedy’s Civil Rights Act of 1964, and that was the beginning of Johnson’s Civil Rights crusade with the presidential pen.   Johnson worked hand in hand with Martin Luther King Jr. and pushed forward stellar, yet controversial bills throughout his career in office.  But as the war in Vietnam escalated, Johnson’s status among both the black and white communities began to falter.  Most know Johnson for his failures in Vietnam, and this documentary takes the time to focus on some of the great domestic things Johnson did for the country.

If you are interested and have Comcast, go to your OnDemand menu, select “Top Picks” followed by “Black History”, “Specials” and finally “Civil Rights Movement”.  I highly recommend it.

On the same note, Rev. Jessie Jackson will be speaking on my campus this upcoming Tuesday, and guess who’s going? Ah, yes, that’d be me.

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

In the original, after a walk through a cave to “All You Need is Love” and one trippy trial,  Number 1 turned out to be Number 6 (in some strange manner that no one quite understands to this day) and the Village was just a few miles outside of London, as shown by Number 6’s escape along with the Butler, Number 56 and the former Number 2.  Despite the numerous episodes where the main focus was to discover the reason for 6’s resignation, we never find out why he resigned.

As for the remake, very little focus is put onto 6’s resignation, and the Village, I believe, is located in the unconscious of the brain and was developed to help rid people of horrific events that happened in their lives.  But for the Village to survive it needed a “Dreamer”, someone to stabilize it and live through.  When the Dreamer begins to fail, holes begin to appear, slowly eating away at the village.  After the death of Number 2’s wife/the Dreamer, the village must have another in order to survive, this becomes Number 313 and Number 2 “gives” the Village to Number 6, after repeated chant that “Number 6 is the One”, eluding to 6 being 1, as in the original.  But after 2’s suicide, 6, it seems, becomes 2, with his lover, 313, now in the same incapacitated state as 2’s wife.

There is a very interesting gender dichotomy that exists in this remake.  There are few women represented.  First there is 53, who dreams of the Statue of Liberty, yet is killed later.  Then there is Lucy/415, who as Lucy in the “real world” is confusing, and it is impossible to tell what side she’s on, even after sleeping with 6.  In the Village, she emerges as 415, a blind woman, madly in love with 6, yet it turns out she’s playing 6 to break his heart on 2’s orders.  Unable to live with this, she kills herself.  There is also 147’s wife, who plays the role of the subordinate housewife, and obsessive mother, without any desires of her own.  Then were is Number 2’s wife, M2.  She is the unknown yet vital hub of the Village, but has no control over her own body.  Her performance as the Village’s lifeline is regulated by 2 at his will.  And last, but not least, is 313, who at first seems like a strong female, and a doctor no less, however, she is a scared woman, unsure of what she wants, except that she wants 6 to love her, though is also scared of that matter once faced with it and in the “real world” she is a mentally ill woman.  Ultimately, she ends up like M2, a drone of a woman, literally (as seen in the above image) held up by 6 with nothing to call her own and a horrifyingly vacant expression.

Needless to say, I’m disappointed.  The redeeming qualities? “Keep a pig for stability”, a homosexual relationship, and the nod to the original penny farthing seen hanging in the club.  But overall, seriously, for a good trip, watch the original 17 episode series, and skip over AMC’s “reimagining”, it will only disappoint.

Be seeing you.

After a special agent (played by Patrick McGoohan) resigns, he returns to his flat to pack and leave for what seems to be a place of sandy beaches and palm trees, but just as he is about to leave, his flat fills with gas, and he is knocked out.  He awakens in a place that looks just like his apartment back in London, but it’s not, instead he has been taken to The Village.  Everyone in the Village is given a number, and his is Number 6, in charge is Number 2, who says they only wish to know why 6 resigned, but 6 refuses to tell why.  The entire show (17 episodes in all) is a twisted series of 6 trying to escape (sometimes resulting in being chased by giant weather balloons known as Rovers) and the heads of the Village trying to discover why 6 resigned.  The ending of the show was disappointing to most, however, it did not dissipate their love for the show.  With its Mediterranean architecture and mod interiors, not to mention the ship sculpture/play structure and the human chess board, The Village is an interesting mix and makes The Prisoner compelling to watch for its visuals just as much as its bizarre storyline.

Some felt that The Prisoner was a continuation of McGoohan’s previous show Danger Man, however that has never been confirmed.  The Prisoner was very much the brainchild of McGoohan, who wrote, directed, and produced so many episodes, that he had several different pseudonyms for such roles.

For the past 40-plus years, The Prisoner has remained off the radar to the mainstream, though it has popped up here and there, such as an Iron Maiden song, and an episode of The Simpsons.  But finally, The Prisoner has come into the spotlight, because tonight, AMC presents their “re-imagining” of The Prisoner.  This version stars Hollywood Brit fave Ian McKellen as Number 2 and James Caviezel as Number 6.  The two stars square off in the middle of the desert in this new three part mini-series, and I just can’t wait to see how it’s going to end!  Since the original ended so strangely, and resulted in endless philosophies about man worshiping war, or that we are all our worst enemy, it will be interesting to see if this version takes the ending in an entirely new direction or not.

If you want to check out the original, which I highly recommend, it’s available in several mediums, first off, AMC has it up on their website, it’s also available via Comcast’s On Demand, and, of course, DVD, where you’ll pay a pretty penny.

I’ll be updating tomorrow, hopefully, with my initial reaction to this new take.

First you pick if you’re a “suit” or a “skirt” and then choose your body style, facial structure, hair color and style, followed by clothing and accessories, and finally, your background.  My result…

Quite a fun little activity.  Many use the image for their Twitter or Facebook accounts.

In its third season, Mad Men still has the public begging for more.  It’s even an Ebay descriptor now! Type in “Mad Men” into Ebay, and you’ll get clothing results – boasting “1960s vintage dress Mad Men style”.  The third season has been rather upsetting lately…Don Draper is a cad with no remorse, plus my two favorite characters, Joan and Sal, are gone! We’ll see where the show goes as the third season comes to a close.  The third season for shows is always a hard step.  The last show to take place in the 1960s, American Dreams, quit after its third season. That show got more soap opera-y as it went on, and ultimately ended on a rather poor note (Meg riding off  into the night with a draft dodger on his motorcycle).  State of Grace, another show to take place in the 1960s, was canceled in the middle of its third season, for what reason, I don’t know – I thought it was doing really well!  So, we’ll see where Mad Men Goes.

This year was a fairly good year loot wise, and was fun, as always.  I found quite a few goodies which I purchased as well as wished I could purchase, such as an amazing lamp that was $175.00, as well as some amusing items, such as the Relax-Aciser as seen in the episode 1.11 of Mad Men:

That’s right, for a mere $35.00 you can own this “weight loss solution” which, in “Indian Summer” proved to be providing a rather different type of solution.

The woman selling the item provided a write up saying she didn’t know what would need to be relaxed in the regions which the diaper shaped belt covered, and did not understand its purpose, so obviously this woman did not see that episode.

The Finds

Studio Girl Stockings

This stocking box caught my eye immediately, because of its fantastic image! A photograph of a young woman trying to get a stocking away from her (stuffed) dog is a very iconic pin-up image.  The box is in fair condition, but the stockings were never worn! Paid: $4.00

Pin Wheel Pill Box Hat

This adorable little number reminded me a lot of the 1960s show The Prisoner, because of its pinwheel design.  There is no tag to really indicate the brand, just one which reads “ADJ. M.S.C.” – a close up is available on my Flickr account. Paid: $8.00

Sloat Wool Skirt

I used to hate pink, but now I find myself buying more and more of it.  I know it appears more orange in the picture, but trust me, it’s pink.  This skirt I am sure was never worn outside of the store, because it still bears what I believe to be the original store tags. Made entirely out of wool, the skirt is terribly itchy, and must be worn with a slip – like many other vintage skirts. The tag reads “100% Wool tailored by Sloat Sloat & Co. New York”. I found a few other skirts by Sloat on-line, ranging in price from $14.00-$24.00. Paid: $4.00

I originally did not watch the series because all of the ads made the show come off sexist with arrogant male leads and gave zero time to women and the changes they went through during this time, however, quite the opposite goes on.  The show is really about the choices and privileges of men, and how they effect women, and what some women do about it, thus the show provides strong female characters, while also showing how some of the bondage of the 1960s still bleeds through in today’s women.

Available in the DVD is a behind the scenes documentary, which gives viewers an in-depth look at the beginnings of Mad Men and the steps it has taken to aim for period accuracy.  Many who work on the project have looked to primary sources such as magazines and even their relatives to find out what it was like in 1960.  The prop master said that a script, taking place in spring, call for an Etch-A-Sketch, however, when the research was done, it was revealed that the Etch-A-Sketch was not released until the summer of 1960.  The costumer said that all of the actresses wear stockings and garters, despite protest by the actresses.  Period correctness is given in almost every detail.  However, there is a garish error in the opening titles, where the font Lucida Handwriting is show, which did not hit font selection bars until 1992.  I have also noticed one modular telephone, which, as I have noted before, were not available until 1970.

The costuming is to die for, and leaves me drooling after every episode, while also begging for more.  Which is why yesterday I went to Barnes and Noble to purchase the second season (thankfully it was 40%, then and additionally 10% was taken off since I have a membership card, so instead of paying $49.99, I paid only $26.99).  The show is of course available on Netflix, but season one only costs, $18.49 on Amazon, which is where I got it.

Last night we started season two! Race was finally touched on directly.  I hope to blaze through this season and try to catch up with what’s going on in current episodes!  Hope you’re all having a lovely Labor Day weekend!