This is Longwood High School in New York, circa … 1988? 1989?
No, I have no idea why my pants are pulled halfway up my chest.
Thanks to alumna Carrie Harbach Schor for passing along this news clipping.
Update: I never got high in high school, but my pants sure as *&^@ did.
An old pal of mine was cleaning out her closets and happened across this t-shirt from Ridge Elementary School in New York. I am actually still friends with a bunch of the people listed here. New Yorkers stick together. 🙂
Was the Roadrunner our unofficial school mascot or something? I honestly do not remember. Thirty-eight years is a long time.
I indeed took a typing class at Longwood High School in New York, circa … 1989 or so. We used actual typewriters, as though they weren’t doomed to be obsolete soon after.
Typing was supposed to be a class that the shrewd kids took. It had a reputation for being boring — but you’d supposedly thank yourself later, because you’d be leagues ahead of your peers either at college or in the workplace.
Oh, God, it was boring. You never typed out anything interesting like a story about monsters or an Edgar Allan Poe poem. It was always some inane, saccharine letter about children enjoying a summer camp. That was one of the most excruciatingly tedious things my mind had ever encountered — made even more so by the fact that I had to navigate it at a snail’s pace. (Even by the end of this class, I remained a terrible typist. But you guys know that already know that … youve sene my various typpos right her at this blog, right?)
I can’t believe I still remember that damn summer camp letter. It’s funny how the mind works. I guess that letter will haunt me until the end of my days. Stupid kids and their stupid fictional laughter.
(Via the Do You Remember When Facebook page.)
“M*A*S*H” turned 50 years old this past Saturday, folks. It debuted on September 17, 1972, and ran for 11 seasons. (The “M*A*S*H” feature film preceded it by two years — the movie was itself an adaptation of Richard Hooker’s 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors.)
So the show is as old as I am. And that’s pretty old.
This show was an institution when I was growing up. It was just one of those shows that seemed like it had always been there — like the original “Star Trek” (1966-1969). It was beloved of my dad and older siblings, even if I was too young to fully appreciate it at the time. Dear lord, did it make people laugh.
I never actually went to Action Park — the infamously dangerous 80’s-era amusement park in Vernon Township, New Jersey. But the name alone conjures childhood memories because it was a perennial source of rumors and urban legends for kids at the time. (And we all lived a few hours away in Eastern Long Island.) I remember the commercials too.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard the name mentioned since that time. (The park closed in 1996, in part because of the same recession that was giving my generation so much anxiety in our first post-college job searches.)
So I was surprised when a friend in Britain, of all places, sent me the first video below. Not only does Action Park’s infamy live on, it extends across the Atlantic.
Anyway, it turns out that the park was one dangerous place. There was even a 2020 documentary about it on HBO Max.
Wild.
Believe it or not, I can remember Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy” from its heyday — maybe not 1975, when it was released by Capitol Records, but definitely from the ensuing few years when it so often played on the radio. (It got lots of airtime, as it was a hit with both mainstream and country audiences.) This song will always remind me of my very early childhood.
It’s a catchy tune, really. But it is a bit of an earworm. Hum it at your won risk.
This is just a deep cut from Depeche Mode’s 1990 “Violator” album. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention “Blue Dress” as one of their favorite DM songs, but I still think it’s a great, moody techno ballad.
Rest in peace, Andrew “Fletch” Fletcher — who died a week ago today at age 60.
From time to time I’ll find an artifact from the old days of broadcast television on Youtube, and I’ll share it in a Throwback Thursday blog post — people really seem to enjoy the clips. (And the credit for that belongs to the Youtube users who originally uploaded them, not me.) One of this blog’s readers asked me about the intro for WOR-TV’s (Channel 9) “Fright Night” movie series.
Here it is below, courtesy of FrightNight7387 on Youtube. (Unless I’m mistaken, this would have been seen only by viewers in the New York metropolitan area between 1973 and 1987.)
I’m … actually not sure I remember this program. The music feels more familiar than the (pretty neat) visuals, and I think I’d recall a montage like that. I’m running it here for those who do remember “Fright Night” and might enjoy the clip.
Anyway, if you want to know more about Channel 9’s show, Jim Arena developed a terrific rundown on it over at DVD Drive-In.
It should not be confused with that other “Fright Night” of 80’s lore, the 1985 film starring Jonathan Stark, Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowell. That movie also depicted an in-universe movie series named “Fright Night,” which … apparently bears no relationship to the very real eponymous series that ran in New York. (Kinda weird.) The 1985 movie was a lot of fun back in the day, though if it feels mostly forgotten today — even after it spawned a a damned cool 2011 remake.
Here’s a weird, wonderful, possibly offensive clip from the classic days of Mystery Science Theater 3000. This is from the show’s fifth season; it originally aired in 1993. The movie that Mike and the bots are riffing is 1959’s “Santa Claus.” [I am linking below to MsHandsanitizer’s channel on Youtube.]
I remember seeing “Real Genius” in the theater in 1985. Man, did I love it.
I don’t think anyone thinks of this movie when Val Kilmer’s name comes up — he’s more likely remembered as Jim Morrison, Batman or Doc Holiday. But he was actually really funny here. (And does anyone really want to remember him as Batman?)
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 