Saturday Night Live, still going after 40 years

"Live From New York, It's Saturday Night" . . . we first heard those iconic words on October 11, 1975 spoken by Chevy Chase . . . 40 years ago today.

Technically, we can thank Johnny Carson for the birth of so many stars who have come out of the television show. At the time, The Best of Carson was aired on Saturday nights. In 1974, Johnny Carson asked that the weekend shows be pulled and saved. Why did he care? He wanted them aired on weeknights so he could take more time off.  From there, Saturday Night Live was born.

Some of our generation's beloved stars came from SNL.  They range from Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Eddie Murphy, John Candy, Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Rock, David Spade . . . need I go on?

In my opinion, the most memorable characters and sketches were Father Guido Sarducci, Mr. Bill, Two Wild and Crazy Guys, Emily LaTella, Roseanne Roseanna Danna, The Coneheads, Billy Crystal with his "you look maaaavelous" spoof of Fernando Lamas, The Church Lady, Cheeseburger Cheeseburger Pepsi (No Coke), Andy Kaufman's lip-synch of the Mighty Mouse Theme . . . Here I Come To Save The Day!, The French Chef, Pat and Wayne's World.

Some trivia:

George Carlin was the first host, Candice Bergen was the first female host three episodes later.  As of September 2011, Alec Baldwin hosted the most shows, taking the record from Steve Martin.  As of May 2012, Dave Grohl was the most frequent musical guest.  The debut show featured two musical guests, Billy Preston and Janice Ian.

Back in the day, we had Saturday Night Live Parties.  At the time, I was hanging around with a crowd of employees from The Tampa Tribune.  Every week, the number of guests at the party grew and grew.  Those parties were considered "an event" since the newspaper employed hundreds of young professionals who were very cool people.  For the longest time, the party was the thing to do on Saturday night.  Great memories!  I had forgotten about those parties!

I hope this article brought back some great memories for you too :)

Our Generations

I don't know about you,

but back in the prime

 of my generation,

everything was groovy!

The clothing was so mod and

looked like it came out of a

Carnaby Street boutique.

If you didn't look anorexic,

you were too fat!

Loved the Twiggy fake

eye lashes and lots of

eye makeup.  

You were really cool if your

hair was super long and straight.

The walls of your bedroom were

covered with posters of your favorite

rock stars and movie stars.

How about the black light?

Far out!

Loved the shiny mag wheels

on my Camaro!

Compared to current times,

it was a innocent time and a

great time to be a kid growing

up into adulthood.

At least we were able to be

children before we rebelled!

Elvis comes to Florida to film "Follow That Dream"

It was the summer of 1961 when Elvis and his crew rolled into Central Florida to film his ninth movie, "Follow That Dream."   The film was shot in Ocala, at the old Ocala Bank and Trust building, along with other Central Florida locations including Crystal River, Yankeetown, Inverness . . . and Elvis made his way to the theme park Silver Springs.

My dad was a truck driver who delivered gas to various locations all over Florida.  Silver Springs was one of his routine stops.  He made his delivery and headed over to find the manager to sign the delivery papers. The manager was talking to a handsome young man.  The manager waved my dad over to join them and asked my dad if he knew who the young man was.  My dad replied "he looks very familiar, but I don't know who he is."  So the manager introduced him to my dad ". . . this is Elvis Presley."  Elvis put his hand out to shake my dad's hand and my dad told him "my wife has to be one of your biggest fans and will never let me wash this hand again!"  Elvis invited my dad to visit the movie set with my mom at the bank in Ocala the next morning so she could possibly meet him before filming began or between takes.

Dad couldn't wait to tell my mom the news.  At first she didn't believe him, but as reality hit her, she squealed with excitement at the opportunity to meet Elvis in person.  They headed for Ocala in the middle of the night to make sure to get there before filming started, arriving before the sun came up and found that filming had already started.  They waited all day long into the early evening in hopes to just get a glimpse of him. Unfortunately, the place was jam packed with others with the same thought and they didn't even get to catch that glimpse of him when he came out once to wave to the crowd waiting for him.  Although she was disappointed, she was so happy to have touched his beautiful pink Cadillac.  

After filming had completed and Elvis was long gone to his next adventure, my dad found out that they left the set of the house on the beach intact.  Of course my mom wanted to check it out and possibly walk in the footprints left in the sand by Elvis.  Surprisingly, word had not gotten out and we just about had the whole place to ourselves.  

We spent what seemed like all day long exploring the house, sitting on the porch that Elvis sat on.  What an awesome day it was!  We couldn't wait for the movie to be released so we could see that beach house and it's surroundings that we had explored on the big screen.  My thoughts go back to that time when I see the movie on television and the fond memories of that day come flooding back and puts a smile on my face.

Although I was a young girl at the time, I remember the summer when Elvis came to film a movie in Florida as if it was yesterday!

Actually, Elvis left a mark on that area of Florida even in present times.  Click here to go to an article from Ocala.com that goes back to that time and memories of those who were touched by Elvis.

More links . . .

Follow That Dream . . . Elvis Comes To Florida

Follow That Dream . . . Elvis Presley Photos

Inside Follow That Dream : Fans Remember: On The Set With Elvis