# In the dustbin of our cultural history **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 10, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703 "2020-12-10T00:57:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 46
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/905 "2021-04-27T15:43:08Z")
Anyone else here from the Kansas City region, or NE Kansas. Remember Whizzo the Clown? I was on his show once. When Frank Wiziarde died my mom sent me the article out of the paper and I admit I cried a little. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/906 "2021-04-27T17:37:27Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Google doesn’t care about the alphabet. Oh yeah? Just try getting them to show you some results without using one! 😉 Seriously … I suspect you’re right about the impending end of AAAAAAA Plumbing trying to be first. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/907 "2021-04-27T18:43:55Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > And popeye lasted into the 90s until some controversy caused Hatten either to be fired or quit and he too was a mainstay on KTLA’s “family theater” which ran all day Sunday Another item for the dustbin: The loss of “local” newscasts. In those days, long before cable, there were just the three network TV stations (ABC, NBC, CBS) and one or two local stations. The typical half-hour nightly news consisted of a few minutes of network news followed by the local newscast. The anchors not only read the major news stories, but also commonly gave their own opinion editorials too. Network and local anchors alike did this. KTLA was the local station in Los Angeles. Channel 5, IIRC. Their local news was decidedly right-wing conservative leaning. (All you who mentioned KTLA – Do you remember anchors name? Was it Putnam?) His editorials were decidedly right-wingish. In those early days of the Viet Nam war and the student protests at universities all over the country, he came down hard right. Bomb those Viet Cong into the Stone Age, and those commie hippy filthy drug-addled students along with them! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/908 "2021-04-27T18:56:34Z")
I think you mean > **[George Putnam (newsman)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Putnam_(newsman))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > George Putnam (July 14, 1914 – September 12, 2008) was an American television news reporter and talk show host based in Los Angeles. He was known for his catchy phrase "and that’s the up-to-the-minute news, up to the minute, that’s all the news" at the end of his broadcast. He concluded the 5:00 PM news with a teaser, inviting viewers back to get the full story at the station's late evening news program, smiling his signature close, "back at 10, s... The wiki claims he was a Democrat but also says that when he left KTLA he went on to found and host a conservative talk radio show. I recall the name, but not much about him or his politics. We watched KTLA for junk like Bowling for Dollars with Chick Hearn. News came from NBC or ABC. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/909 "2021-04-27T19:06:03Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The wiki claims he was a Democrat but also says that when he left KTLA he went on to found and host a conservative talk radio show. The parties changed places pretty much entirely during the 20th century; for a significant chunk of time during the century there were simultaneously very conservative people (and also liberal ones) in both parties. Given that Putnam was born in 1914 my guess is that he was one of the conservative Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/910 "2021-04-27T19:22:47Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I think you mean . . . The same! I was in high school at the time. I definitely remember his hawkish editorial rants about the Viet Nam war and them dirty commie hippie student protesters! ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/911 "2021-04-28T04:11:24Z")
when I watched ktla news it was hal fishman and an black guy named larry something … I remember the original la stations … 2 4 5 7 9 11 and 13 … and 8 was/is pbs but some TVs couldn’t pick it up … ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/912 "2021-04-28T04:18:13Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > We watched KTLA for junk like Bowling for Dollars with Chick Hearn. Now, that reminded me of another long-gone TV thing: the afternoon movie on local TV stations. One of the local stations in Green Bay (the NBC affiliate, at that time) ran a movie every weekday afternoon, after NBC’s daytime block (soaps and game shows) finished up, so it was like 2pm-4pm. They were mostly older movies (from the 40s and 50s, so 20-30 years old at that time), and I remember watching “Arsenic and Old Lace” on that show, one summer afternoon. The movie was hosted by one of the station’s announcers (who was the dad of a friend of mine – Green Bay’s not that big of a city), and it featured a “Dialing for Dollars” segment, where he’d call some lucky local housewife, and if she answered a question about the day’s movie, she won some money. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/913 "2021-04-28T12:10:26Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Now, that reminded me of another long-gone TV thing: the afternoon movie on local TV stations. One of the local stations in Green Bay (the NBC affiliate, at that time) ran a movie every weekday afternoon, after NBC’s daytime block (soaps and game shows) finished up, so it was like 2pm-4pm. They were mostly older movies (from the 40s and 50s, so 20-30 years old at that time), and I remember watching “Arsenic and Old Lace” on that show, one summer afternoon. Oh, yeah. Afternoon movies. We’d get them on the NYC channels (probably 5 or 11, the independent channels, I think). One week it might be all the Planet of the Apes movies, another week, “Ma and Pa Kettle” movies, some weeks just random flicks. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/914 "2021-04-28T12:13:24Z")
I was wrong - it was channel 7 (ABC) > **[The 4:30 Movie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_4:30_Movie)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The 4:30 Movie is a television program that aired weekday afternoons on WABC-TV (Channel 7) in New York from 1968 to 1981. The program was mainly known for individual theme weeks devoted to theatrical feature films or made-for-TV movies starring a certain actor or actress, or to a particular genre, or to films that spawned sequels. The more popular episodes were "Monster Week," "Planet of the Apes Week" and "Vincent Price Week." Some films, suc... ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/915 "2021-04-28T16:57:52Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > I watched Chicago’s _Bozo Show_ regularly Bozo, Ray Rayner, and Garfield Goose… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/916 "2021-04-28T17:05:52Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > when I watched ktla news it was hal fishman and an black guy named larry something … > > I remember the original la stations … 2 4 5 7 9 11 and 13 … and 8 was/is pbs but some TVs couldn’t pick it up … Yep, that was the channels from the 1960s to 80s when I left. Hal Fishman replaced George Putnam. The black anchor was one of the first black newsreaders anywhere: > **[Larry McCormick (TV)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_McCormick_(TV))** > > Lawrence William McCormick (February 3, 1933 – August 27, 2004) was an American television actor, reporter and news anchor, most notably working for Los Angeles television station KTLA-TV. > McCormick was born in Kansas City, Missouri to Pastor L.W. McCormick and Laura McCormick (pianist and vocalist). He began his broadcasting career in the late 1950s as a disc jockey, upon graduating from University of Kansas City. He first came to Los Angeles in 1958, working at then-R&B radio station KGFJ, fro... Tom Synder, later a national talkshow host, got his big break as a newsreader for KNBC channel 4 in LA. Wiki tells me he died 14 years ago. Why wasn’t I told? ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/917 "2021-04-28T17:50:00Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > I remember the original la stations … 2 4 5 7 9 11 and 13 … and 8 was/is pbs Nitpick: PBS is 28. (KCET - which just went through a weird decade where they were not affiliated with PBS. They rejoined PBS about a year ago). In Los Angeles, the afternoon movies were on channels 7 and 9. Channel 9 (independent) had Adventure Theater, which ended before school got out. They alternated between several months of monster movies (yay!) and several months of westerns (snore). In my first major encounter with Murphy’s Law, the monster movie months would end in June, and the rest of summer vacation would be westerns. Then in October, in time for Halloween, and after I was back in school, the monster movies would resume. I would have been in heaven if VCRs/DVRs existed back then. Channel 7 (ABC affiliate) had the 3:30 movie, that ran from 3:30 to 5:00 and had themed weeks. Elvis, Godzilla, Planet of the Apes, Hitchcock. One time they set aside two weeks and reran _Roots_. Of course, the movies were butchered beyond belief to fit in to a 90 minute time slot with commercials. I remember PotA going from Taylor making the paper airplane before the commercial break to talking to Zira after the break. Completely skipped the “take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty apes” chase scene. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/918 "2021-04-28T18:06:24Z")
Kinda sorta TV clown show: In the early 80s local Orange County independent station KDOC-56 had “Hot Seat with Wally George”. Sort of a proto-Jerry Springer, but political in nature. Wally was a staunch conservative Reagan supporter, and the guests were always some sort of “liberal degenerate” - strippers, punk bands, porn stars, erotic cake decorators, drug legalization advocates, FM rock radio programmers. (The show wasn’t exactly _Crossfire_ - more of a freak show). The funniest part was whenever a guest was attractive, the audience would take her side, cheer for her and boo Wally. The wait list for studio audience tickets was years long. We signed up when I was a freshman in college. Our names came up my senior year, but by then his shtick had gotten stale and repetitive. Also, several previous guests had admitted that the more outrageous incidents, like table flipping and chair throwing, were scripted. We didn’t bother to go. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/919 "2021-04-28T18:23:53Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > > [@MrAtoz](#): > > > > I watched Chicago’s _Bozo Show_ regularly > > Bozo, Ray Rayner, and Garfield Goose… I keep my horse at a boarding barn that has a free range white goose that I have named Chelveston. I know the real Chelveston was a duck but hey, a white waterfowl is a white waterfowl. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/920 "2021-04-28T18:53:05Z")
Fun fact: Wally George was the father of actress Rebecca DeMornay. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/921 "2021-04-28T19:14:28Z")
Back in the day, In San Jose, there were two used bookstores near each other. One was Recycle Books, and the other had a name like AAA Aardvark used book- which had a larger ad too. That place was horrible, smelt moldy, had bad pricing, but since they were first in the listings, people would go to him first. He would look at your used books for sale, say they were worthless, and then give you a lowball offer. Around the corner was Recycle Books a 'clean well lighted place for books" which would give honest prices. They still exist but not at that location. But the power of coming first in the listings was clear back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/922 "2021-04-28T19:17:59Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The wiki claims he was a Democrat but also says that when he left KTLA he went on to found and host a conservative talk radio show. Are there Liberal talk radio shows? I mean, there is NPR but that is not similar. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/923 "2021-04-28T19:20:23Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Now, that reminded me of another long-gone TV thing: the afternoon movie on local TV stations. Yes! but in the LA area that was often themed, like we had a Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes-athon for some time. Tarzan also, iirc? I enjoyed those, although now I know those were not very good Holmes films. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703/924 "2021-04-28T19:28:11Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I attended “Bozo’s Circus,” the long-running Chicago version of the show Jealous!!! (Actually, I knew I’d bomb out on the Grand Prize Game and would never live it down, so probably just as well. Plus I was sort of scared of Ollie and Bozo.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703.md?page=45) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-dustbin-of-our-cultural-history/927703.md?page=47)