# The "Am I Old?" Test
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 17, 2022, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373 "2022-06-17T14:54:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 10
### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/181 "2022-10-24T18:48:24Z")
I knew who 16 of them were, but the VAST majority was due to either being in old movies like “Spartacus”, or people who trailed into my era by way of older television shows, either live like the “Carol Burnett Show” or syndication like Gomer Pyle, USMC.
They were definitely stars of my parents’ generation, not mine. I’m 50, FWIW.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2022, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/182 "2022-10-24T19:08:38Z")
I got six: Phillis Diller (thank you , Scooby Doo!), Ben Vereen (I know him from the musical Pippin), Jim Nabors, Twiggy (Vacation, right? And that she was a quintessential sexpot of the 79s.), Candace Bergen (Murphy’s Law!), Ethel Merman. Harvey Korman sound familiar.
ETA: oh, wait, Florence Henderson of Brady Bunch, so seven.
I’m 47.
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/183 "2022-10-24T19:53:08Z")
They’re all performers who were big when I was a lot younger than I am.
I don’t necessarily remember what each is famous for, but I’d heard all the names before - except Bruce Forsythe. No clue who that is.
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### Author:  [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2022, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/184 "2022-10-30T09:34:42Z")
I hit the big 60 this year but I didn’t watch tv as a kid and never saw an episode of the Muppets. If recognizing their work means knowing one thing they are famous for , I do okay. If I actually had to watch it, my numbers slip down to near zero.
4 names, Joel Gray, Ruth Buzzi, Jim Neighbors, Harvey Korman. I know what they did for a living, and a single show specifically but I never watched them.
1 name, Florence Henderson, I actually saw them do their thing.
14 names I think I know what they did but never saw them. Juliet Prowse, Connie Stevens, Rita Moreno, Paul Williams, Lena Horne, Peter Ustinov, Sandy Duncan, Candace Bergen, Ben Vereen, Phyllis Diller, Vincent Price, Valerie Harper, Twiggy, Ethel Merman.
5 I’ve never heard of at all. Charles Aznavour, Avery Schreiber, Bruce Forsythe, Kaye Ballard, Mummenschanz.
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### Author:  [@bobsmom101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobsmom101)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/185 "2022-10-30T20:23:32Z")
16
Age is 74
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### Author:  [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2022, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/186 "2022-10-30T23:45:44Z")
I had a bit of a crush on Kaye Ballard.
I think that right there should have been the end of the test for me. I am old. I really didn’t need to look at the rest of the names at all, huh?
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### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2022, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/187 "2022-10-31T22:03:59Z")
Although I have heard several of these names I am embarrassed by how few whose work I am actually familiar with. Guess, like Dylan, I’m younger than that now?
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2022, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/188 "2022-12-10T00:43:15Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Twiggy (Vacation, right? And that she was a quintessential sexpot of the 79s.)
Twiggy (real name Lesley Hornby) was a fashion model for the “London” look in the '60s. She was was so skinny and had such a haunted look in her eyes I always though she more resembled a concentration camp survivor.
[ ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/33/85/d3/3385d3c0a9b0c20a8d3ec8f23d3d7f9a.jpg)
She actually had (and still has) lovely features, as became apparent once she was allowed to fill out a bit. She made something of a comeback as a recording artist in the '70s.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zMOolCIwqo)
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### Author:  [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2022, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/189 "2022-12-10T00:56:43Z")
Was she underweight? I was. What about Kate Moss when she started? What was their BMI?
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2022, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/190 "2022-12-10T01:08:11Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> Twiggy (real name Lesley Hornby) was a fashion model for the “London” look in the '60s. She was was so skinny and had such a haunted look in her eyes I always though she more resembled a concentration camp survivor.
Ah, not _Vacation_. She had a cameo in _The Blues Brothers_. Wrong SNL cast member(s) movie. It’s weird how memory works – I had the right scene in mind, with her at a gas station in a sports car (Jaguar E-type), but had crossed her somehow with Ferrari girl from _Vacation_ (Christie Brinkley.)
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2022, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/191 "2022-12-10T01:18:13Z")
I think she was naturally thin, but was also kept on a diet of watercress sandwiches to maintain that “waif” look.
She’s still quite attractive at 73.
[ ](https://vz.cnwimg.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/twig.jpg)
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/192 "2022-12-10T01:25:31Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#):
>
> Was she underweight? I was. What about Kate Moss when she started? What was their BMI? -
The main thing with Twiggy was that until she came along, models weren’t really all that thin; they were like the typical smartly dressed movie actress (Google “Jean Shrimpton”). Twiggy with her very boyish figure was a a real change, almost shocking.
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2022, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/193 "2022-12-10T01:38:01Z")
No: I do recognise all but two or three names, but I can only name any roles nine of them have played.
I’m 68.
> [@Horatius](#):
>
> The original Muppet Show, it’s the only reason I know who or what
> “Mummenschanz” is.
Ditto.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2022, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-am-i-old-test/966373/194 "2022-12-10T03:29:43Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#):
>
> Was she underweight?
She claims she was not, that was just her natural shape and she always ate healthily. Just “good” genes. She has decried models starving themselves to appear waif thin for fashion’s sake.
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