Reliving the Halcyon Days of Our Youth
We found out that the alcyon was a mythical bird of ancient Greece who alighted upon the ocean late in the year to hatch her eggs upon a floating nest. Since the Greeks called the ocean Hal, it somehow was mixed as a sound alike word and became Halcyon. Halcyon days are the time of the year when the bird's mysterious powers allow the sea itself to become calm and serene, so the generative process of egg-laying and hatching can continue undisturbed on the barely undulating surface of the sea. So the calm days of recollection of our youth become Halcyon Days.
And we found something that made us jump back to days gone by, and even before the days gone by. We found a pair of DVDs with some "kid's shows". The shows are mostly from the 1950s and a couple from the late 40s as well. They are all black and white, and serve as an introduction from some, and in our case a deja vu experience of sitting in front of a flat-panel display and thinking back to the days when television had only two colors: black and white. And of course, shades of gray. It is something of a mystery to watch a rendered image from one's youth. It is in a science-fiction way a reliving of an experience. It is the same set of stimuli, a series of images and sounds presented in a somewhat primitive way, the only difference being that these are emanating from a more modern set of displays and speakers.
The thoughts, emotions and memories of watching the shows in our more impressionable days do come back, albeit in a kind of semi-detached method. We still enjoy the shows, but there is a part of us that is looking down from within that acknowledges that this is inexpensive children's entertainment, and the scenery is often stock footage, or shot on 1950s sets in Southern California.
Some of these shows were in syndication, so it is hard to pinpoint when we saw these programs. There was a time, right up through the 1970s when black and white television was still popular, and formed a mainstay of the wee hours of the morning and off-times on weekends. Presumably the licensing fees were cheap or non-existent, because we remember hours of enjoyment watching monster movies, reruns of the 3 stooges, even some of the shows here: Sky King we distinctly remember from the 60s, even though the series was from the 50s. And for those of you who remember, the oft-repeated set of shows featuring the rascal known as "Froggy the Gremlin" who was a recurring character on Andy Devine's Saturday morning show "Andy's Gang".
Froggy's mystical tour de force was to confuse Andy's (usually pompous) guest by using his power of suggestion to make them say something ridiculous by making a sotto voce suggestion, that would carry with it the power of an hypnotic command. He would murmur some ridiculous command and the poor guest would become befuddled and spray himself with whipped cream. Or Froggy would use his powers of invisibility to administer itching powder to another guest. The camera would catch Froggy in the act, but the guest would begin to itch wildly much to the delight of the audience. We have an episode in this collection featured below, along with the theme song and the usual cast of characters. The pictures link to the item for sale on the My-Lynx Associates.com website, but you can also click on most of the links to the right and search for Classic Kid's Shows to find the item there.
And we found something that made us jump back to days gone by, and even before the days gone by. We found a pair of DVDs with some "kid's shows". The shows are mostly from the 1950s and a couple from the late 40s as well. They are all black and white, and serve as an introduction from some, and in our case a deja vu experience of sitting in front of a flat-panel display and thinking back to the days when television had only two colors: black and white. And of course, shades of gray. It is something of a mystery to watch a rendered image from one's youth. It is in a science-fiction way a reliving of an experience. It is the same set of stimuli, a series of images and sounds presented in a somewhat primitive way, the only difference being that these are emanating from a more modern set of displays and speakers.
The thoughts, emotions and memories of watching the shows in our more impressionable days do come back, albeit in a kind of semi-detached method. We still enjoy the shows, but there is a part of us that is looking down from within that acknowledges that this is inexpensive children's entertainment, and the scenery is often stock footage, or shot on 1950s sets in Southern California.
Some of these shows were in syndication, so it is hard to pinpoint when we saw these programs. There was a time, right up through the 1970s when black and white television was still popular, and formed a mainstay of the wee hours of the morning and off-times on weekends. Presumably the licensing fees were cheap or non-existent, because we remember hours of enjoyment watching monster movies, reruns of the 3 stooges, even some of the shows here: Sky King we distinctly remember from the 60s, even though the series was from the 50s. And for those of you who remember, the oft-repeated set of shows featuring the rascal known as "Froggy the Gremlin" who was a recurring character on Andy Devine's Saturday morning show "Andy's Gang".
Froggy's mystical tour de force was to confuse Andy's (usually pompous) guest by using his power of suggestion to make them say something ridiculous by making a sotto voce suggestion, that would carry with it the power of an hypnotic command. He would murmur some ridiculous command and the poor guest would become befuddled and spray himself with whipped cream. Or Froggy would use his powers of invisibility to administer itching powder to another guest. The camera would catch Froggy in the act, but the guest would begin to itch wildly much to the delight of the audience. We have an episode in this collection featured below, along with the theme song and the usual cast of characters. The pictures link to the item for sale on the My-Lynx Associates.com website, but you can also click on most of the links to the right and search for Classic Kid's Shows to find the item there.
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