Why Watch TV When You Can Stare At The Technician?
Category: Nostalgia
Stumbling Upon Random Tame Buck Willing To Pose With Little Johnny
Audience Of One
There’s no denying the eye-catching power of these mod Kentiles, in “gaeity” and “fleecy cerulean” with a white feature strip. See how well they compliment the gold-plated television and backgammon room dividers? What I don’t get is why Peg is alone with her wine and sensible flats and salty carbs, while Pam is relegated to the dog pillow and Frank is nearly shoved behind the divider. Are his skills that lacking? Does he have halitosis? Is he playing that new release, “Be Bop A Lula,” into the ground? Whatever it is, my bet is that wine bottle will be drained by the second chorus.
17th Marquis De Portago
God only knows what Alfonso de Portago was doing while his wife (at left) looked on, and racecar driver Eugenio Castellotti looked down. Perhaps it should have been prayer.
Also known as Alfonso Antonio Vicente Eduardo Angel Blas Francisco de Borja Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, the 17th Marquis of Portago took up racecar driving as a hobby in his mid-20s. Considered by other drivers as “a flashy upstart and a self-centered phenomenon,” he was nonetheless signed by Ferrari for its racing division in the winter of ’56.
Portago, who had crashed a plane on a cow for a $500 bet, commented, “I won’t die in an accident. I’ll die of old age or be executed in some gross miscarriage of justice.”
Um, nope. That’s not what happened.
All I had to do was flip to this pic in the LIFE article and predict this guy with a habit of “brushing close to death” wouldn’t last long.
Do you see what I mean? Cocky.
Driver Castelloti (shown in the first image) was killed in a race the following March, only months after the picture was taken. But the Marquis? Well, he and co-driver Edmund Nelson blew a tire on Portago’s Ferrari 335 S, causing it to spin into the crowd lining the highway during the 1957 Mille Miglia. Nine spectators were killed, among them five children. Nelson and Portago’s bodies were badly disfigured beneath the flipped Ferrari. Both were killed instantly.
Sounds like the James Dean quote that was wrongly attributed to him. “Live fast, die young and have a good-looking corpse!” was actually said by actor John Derek in the 1949 film Knock On Any Door. Perhaps living fast is not a good motto.
Dad’s Lofty Pipe Dream
Another perfect ad for I Don’t Get It. Where is Dad looking? Why is his family made into a pyramid? Isn’t Mom unstable? Who needs that much fuchsia fabric?
Those Extra Holiday Pounds
Mom and the kids are throwing shade at Daddy again. And who could blame them? Dad must be up to 150 lbs at this point. I’d give my right pinky finger to hit that number.
Fact is, before there was a “Mony, Mony” song by Tommy James and the Shondells (if you’re a Boomer) or Billy Idol (if you’re Gen X), MONY meant Mutual of New York.
Myself, I’d never heard of such a thing. The only mutual I know is Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, starring Marlin Perkins.
Man-Sized Charlie Brown Christmas Tree
http://www.reynoldstonnewyork.org/
Christmas 1961
All of these ads are from my 12/16/61 Saturday Evening Post.
Three Simple Steps: From Frigid Wife To Frigidaire
Staying Hydrated In Coke Village
Get In My Belly
On holiday for Christmas 1956 at Torquay (a seaside resort town on the English Channel), the Taylor family looks forward to sharing a roast chicken.
Christmas Is Closer Than You Think
This GE clock radio is pretty dope, and it would look nice on my night stand. The ad says the radio turns your coffee maker and television on. Did they really have that technology in 1951? In any case, I already have a clock radio, and it’s entirely useless. It doesn’t matter if I fall asleep at 11pm or 3am (both of those scenarios happen weekly, btw) because I’m up with the sun or before the rooster crows. My body won’t let me sleep in. Even on the Sundays that I have to be up by 7am to go sing at church, I’m always up before then. But I set it just in case. In fact, I haven’t actually heard the alarm go off in years because I’ve risen and shut it off before it ever meets its hour. And when I arrive to church at 8am, and others are yet tardy half an hour later, they always say their “phones didn’t go off.” Well, perhaps they need to buy a clock radio. One with a plug. Then it will never need charging.
I Don't Get It 