OK Scribe … “Voila Monsieur Thibault.” “Voila Madame Thibault”. Monsieur Thibault et un (engineer). Yadda, yadda, yadidta. Yes Dorothy, it’s all part of the “Saint Cloos” (?) French language learning system. This is what was used during convict induction at Devil’s Island (as in “Papillion”), to teach the incoming prisoners French. (No wonder French class was so dreadful!) By the way SCRIBE, You probably know that the Gestetners were the first wide spread facsimile transmission machines still in place up into the 1970’s. How about those wonderful “Ditto” machines (fumes and all). Wasn’t multi-color printing on them a bit of fun? Extra points for the McDonalds prices, those had almost gotten away, back when the restaurant had real “Golden Arches”, and freshly peeled French fries!
Good shot Samclem… Did not know that Blanc did the engine on the Benny show (Rochester !!!..). No one has yet to guess the two other Blanc voiceovers that I am referring to. Excellent work though and always welcome. I know that you will back me up when I say that department stores had their own “plug and jack” switchboards (the ancestor of the five line phone) staffed by multiple operators in a back room somewhere. Let’s not forget metal charge plates, the predecessor of the plastic credit card (in the days of Diner’s Club, American Express, BankAmericard [B/W animated ads with the musical conductor], and that upstart newcomer MasterCharge). We won’t talk about gold finally breaking loose from the $32.00 per ounce price lock (when the sale of gold bullion was forbidden within the United States). Oh, and by the way, why, even today, is there always the Indian wearing the war bonnet in all of the video test patterns? This question will be answered after sufficient competion (early video engineers please apply). And for afters… Hans Conreid narrating, “Fractured Flickers.”
Nice try DKW… but if you don’t remember having to THREAD a video tape recorder, you can go lay down by your dish. Knowing how to thread an 8 or 16mm film projector is good for points though. Real photography buffs who still shoot slides with metal cameras (me). Your first Brownie Hawkeye with the tall spools of film wound on black metal bobbins. Reading the frame number (printed on the reverse of the paper lined film), through a red transparent lens on the back of the camera. Amateur cameras with bellows.
And you, Poopah Chalupa… Good shot on the “Funny Face” drink mixes, had almost forgotten about them (but not Kool Aid [I seem to remember it having natural flavorings] or Fizzies). But if you haven’t threaded a reel to reel audio tape recorder, you’re still a newbie. Nice touch with how they used to “split” the eight track songs, I had almost forgotten about that.
And furthermore: Newscasts ending with, “This is John Cameron Swazey.”… (“Takes a licking and keeps on ticking…”). Blackhawks (Chop Chop and Sven [super-stereotypes]) comic books, seeing my cousin’s Danish printings of Donald Duck (“Anders And”) comics that had way more outrageous plots, along the lines of Tin Tin (remember the hardbounds?). Who said, “Billions of blue blistering barnacles !!!”? Of course, the Classic Comic Books a preteen’s equivalent of Cliffs Notes or Reader’s Digest’s “Condensed” Books.
White concrete two lane road beds instead of the unending asphalt blacktop of today. (Back when roads always went through the center (“Main Drag”) of any town they passed.) Giving “arm signals” before the days when turn signals were self cancelling (how long did it take to make motorcycles with self cancelling turn indicators?). Steam powered “steamshovels”, pile drivers with a dropped weight, automobile ferries over the biggest rivers. Giant Orange booths, The Nut Tree, The Milk Farm, on the way from SF to Sacramento. Oil wells along the highway as you entered LA. Burma Shave signs…
Back when all the tacos you got this side of the border were prefrozen and deep fried, shell, meat and all, before you got a chance at it. (SALSA?, what in the hell is that?) When Taco Bell sites had the propane flame pit in front that let the kids hang out at night (back when you were allowed out after dark). Piggley Wiggley stores, churches with real bells, cars made almost entirely out of metal, including the dashboard (which had gauges for everything). When bridges looked like Roman viaducts (See the coast of Oregon state.)
And for you engineers, instruments with “Decade Counters”, row and column matrices of lights to indicate decimal counting activity. Oscilloscopes with “magic eye” signal strength displays. Back before the Nixie Tube readouts, that consisted of eleven (remember the decimal point) individual stacked cathodes in a single digit neon display tube. Of course… punched cards, collators and keypunch machines. Punched paper tape and the special teletypes that read it. Computer “patch” boards that configured the hardware. The old monochrome Hazeltine displays of the first “Timeshared” mainframe systems. Light pen interactive screens, that were round like a radar display.
OK, so lets have more responses on the Mel Blanc, non-Warner Brothers, voices. This is a veritible gold mine of… “Obscure Broadcast Voice Characterizations”, for one thousand, Alex. (Who wrote the Jeapordy theme song?) EOF.
