Who can turn a tap into a tape? Or my '70s early childhood.

Cafe Society
1

It’s elementary for silent ‘e’.

The morning radio show started the day with Rita Moreno yelling “HEY YOU GUYS!!!” and that started a chain of rememberances between me and my husband. Who else is of the age to remember Baby Thataway?
Soon as I leave you alone
Baby Thataway
Off you go on your own
Baby Thataway
What’s a mother to do?
Baby That Away?
Do with a dickens like you?
Baby Thataway.

My husband only barely remembered Baby Thataway but he did know all these words:
Top Cat
The indisputable leader of the gang
He’s the boss
He’s the VIP
He’s a championship
He’s the most tip top
Top Cat!

And why don’t people remember Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse? They were the best!

2

The most rudimentary of searches shows that Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse were actually made in the '60s. That could be why no one my age remembers them.

But I saw them in the '70s! I especially remembery Froggy, the Edward G. Robinson of cartoon villians.

3

Huh. I would have guessed “Letterman.” (Also The Electric Company, yeah?)

I still sometimes think about shelves turning into elves.

4

“He pulls the G off his varsity sweater, and turns the Broom back into a Groom!”

I loved Letterman.

5

Letterman was actually narrated by…(are you ready for this?) Joan Rivers!

And “Silent E” was, of course, written and performed by the great (but not yet late) Tom Lehrer. As was the “LY” song (quietly, quietly, quiet-l-y!)

6

And the voice of Letter-man himself was done by Gene Wilder!!

7

I have not yet forgiven my mother for giving away my Electric Company album.

8

I love the Silent E song!

“Who can turn a cub into a cube, who can turn a tub into a tube…”

9

I thought it was odd that after being on TV for 20+ years, David Letterman never used the Electric Company Letterman in some kind of skit or joke on his show.
It would have been funny if Joan Rivers was a guest and she started going into her Letterman spiel, even though it would have whooshed a lot of people.

10

You enter a very dark room
And sitting there in the gloom
Is Dracula! Now how do you say goodbye?
Immediately! Immediately! Immediate-L-Y!!

“Spaghetti with a spoon!”

Electric Company rawks.

11

I remember watching George and Jane Jetson dropping off daughter Judy at Orbit High school every morning… and “Jane! Stop this crazy thing!” at the end of every show… Magilla Gorilla, Wally Gator, Buzz Conroy & Franky were favorites, as were Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper, and Snork - the Banana Splits! And the Scooby-Doo clones “The Funky Phantom.”

Ah, those were the days.

12

I have no cite for this, but my gut feel is that 70s kids endured more reruns than kids of any other generation:

50s kids: 50s shows
60s kids: 50s/60s shows
70s kids: 50s/60s/70s shows (mostly 60s)
80s kids: 80s shows
90s kids: 90s shows

Am I imagining this?

13

I recall them from the early 1960s.

Important tidbit: Courageous Cat was invented by Bob Kane, the guy resoponsible for Batman, which is why CC’s devices resemble Batman’s so much.

Other Important Tidbit – the guy who wrote “Silent E” for Sesame Street was the immortal Tom Lehrer, whose CDs you can find the song on (Along with “-LY”, which he also wrote for Sesame Street)

14

Nitpick: Both were written for The Electric Company. And I mentioned him already. :smiley:

15

Hmm – the album notes claim Sesame Street.
Sorry – I looked for a Lehrer cite, but yours was at the end of your post, so I missed it.

16

Aha. It was done for Electric company, but appeared on Sesame Street albums:

I have to admit, the only place I’ve heard it was on albums (and now on YouTube)

17

I was a teenager in the '70s, but this was my favorite Saturday morning show of all time! Remember “Danger Island”?
One question: Is the similarity between the “La la la…” chorus of the theme song and the chorus of Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier” a coincidence?

Re “Electric Company”: Wasn’t “Easy Reader” played by Morgan Freeman ?

And, Biggirl , your memory is correct. Courageous Cat was rerun extensively during the '70s, at least where I grew up. One of the best cartoon themes evah!

18

Yes. Also appearing on the show were Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, a VERY young Irene Cara (as one of the Short Circus) and Skip Hinnant (the voice of Fritz the Cat).

19

Does anybody remember:

The Kids From C.A.P.E.R.
The Adventure Team
Mike Power, The Atomic Man
Bulletman
Big Jim and Dr. Steel

20

Dear god, for a moment I read this to mean that Fritz had appeared on The Electric Company.