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.
The Captain and I were sitting around this morning talking about slower and simpler times when we were younger. It was a different world that in retrospect, was so different it feels foreign or like a dream, as if it never happened. But it did and it was a wonderful time to grow up. Thinking of those days takes me back, feeling like a little girl again. My fondest memories come from family getting together on Thursday nights for spaghetti and meatballs. My aunt, uncle and cousins would come over without fail. We didn't even think about doing anything else. It is what was. So was the menu . . . it never changed. Thursdays were special. The family was never closer. My nana (who lived with us) would start cooking in the morning and fill the house with the aroma of garlic bread and sheet pans of sicilian pizza cooking. The greatest treat was helping her in the kitchen. She and I started a tradition where we would make an extra sheet pan of garlic bread so we could "test" it throughout the day as we prepared for the Thursday night festivities. I wish I could go back at least one more time to cook with my nana for Thursday night dinner. It has been decades since she died at a young age, but I still miss her like crazy and feel she was with me yesterday. We always had fish on Friday . . . it was a tradition we never deviated from. To the best of my recollection, it was always grouper, although prepared in different ways. Living on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico left the fish markets with an abundance of affordable grouper . . . can't say that for today! Trips to the fish market and the italian deli/meat market was always a treat. It was an atmosphere that I always loved . . . and I always went home with treats from the deli. My favorite was olive salad! All the old timers would linger and visit with their friends . . . it made me feel so grown up to be among them. Why was I in such a hurry to grow up? Sunday was a repeat of Thursday . . . it just started after noon time and we had all day to spend with our cousins. Awesome times! Sometimes I wonder if I would have had so many friends that I rode bikes around the neighborhood with if we had today's technology. I always loved having streamers on the handle bars . . . I thought they were so cool. The sensation of the wind blowing in my face and the streamers riding the wind was such a simple pleasure as crazy as that sounds. Little things made me happy. I loved the little bell that made the coolest sound . . . it was my way of saying hello to friends as I passed by their house. There was a simple joy that had more than one benefit. I loved roaming the woods across the ditch in the neighborhood that led to a drive in theater that was wide open and you could walk right in. First of all, the grounds of the drive in were like a treasure hunt. We would take pouches so we could fill them with the coins found on the ground. It is amazing how people would drop their coins coming back from the concession stand and not bother trying to find them in the dark. You would think that they would learn to put their money away before leaving the concession stand! My piggy bank was always full :) The woods we had to walk through to get to the drive in had wild blackberry bushes always loaded with the sweetest and juiciest blackberries I have ever tasted. After loading up with those delicious blackberries, we would take them to my next door neighbor Dot, who was a southern belle and the best country cook ever. I still make many of the muffins, pound cakes, biscuits and cookies she taught me how to make. Anyway, she made us all a blackberry cobbler to take home to our families. She and her husband were a childless couple who adopted the neighborhood kids as their own and spend a lot of time with us. We kids loved her and her little bird Perry, who was named after her hero Perry Como. She and my nana were great friends and I loved when we went to visit with her, just the three of us. They made me feel like I was all grown up like I was one of them. OMG I miss those special ladies!! My nana taught me how to play all kinds of card games and we spent lots of time playing cards. My brother joined us when he was old enough to learn how to play. Those were special times doing the simplest thing like playing cards! Times were so different and simple . . . no one was in a hurry. As a child I spent so much time with adults who were not in a hurry to do anything or go anywhere. They were happy just being home enjoying each other's company. The kids went from house to house visiting our friends, listening to music and playing board games . . . someone's mom was always home, before the days of most women working away from home, dedicating their time to their children and their friends. It was such a special time and we didn't even know it. Just writing this post brought tears to my eyes . . . they are bittersweet tears of beautiful memories. Do you have great memories of these simpler times?
It was one of my favorite sitcoms from back in the 70's and 80's. Although it was on the air for only four seasons, didn't it seem like it was on forever, like an old friend? Mork and Mindy was one of those memorable and unique sitcoms that ran along the edge of bizarre. The world was introduced to the mad comedic genius of Robin Williams, who drove the writers crazy with his improvisational whims that he just threw in as it was being filmed. They ultimately had to leave gaps in the scripts, giving Robin the artistic freedom to put in his unique touch. Fans of the show responded favorably, making it one of the most successful sitcoms in it's first season. The sitcom started as a spoof of the 60's sitcom, My Favorite Martian, in the form of a dream Richie Cunningham of Happy Days had. Robin Williams' character Mork was so popular with the viewers that the powers that be had to spin it off into a sitcom all to itself. Mork arrives on earth in an egg-shaped space-craft with the intent of the Orkans to study human behavior. However, the real intent was to get Mork off the planet of Ork, where humor was not allowed. Imagine that . . . Mork must have drove them mad! The sitcom centered around Mork trying to understand American culture while Mindy (Pam Dawber) attempts to assist him with adjusting to life on Earth. A feature of each episode came at the end of the show in the form of a summary, when Mork reports back to Orson, his superior from Ork, on what he has learned about Earth. This feature gave Robin the chance to throw in his outrageously comical commentary on social norms of the times. While the first season was wildly popular, the ratings began to slip in the second season when attempts were made to change what didn't need fixing. Between the changes and constant changes to the time slot, the series never regained the popularity of the first season. The biggest mistake of the second season was the attempt to link Mork and Mindy romantically. By the fourth season, despite the decline of the sitcom, the network wanted to give it another chance, hoping to capture the magic once again since Robin Williams remained hilarious as Mork. The changes that came with the fourth season were personally an insult to my intelligence. The addition of Jonathan Winters, along with Robin Williams, could have been a genius move if not for the unbelievably lame storyline. Mork and Mindy got married. Mork laid an egg that grew larger and larger, hatching a full grown adult, Jonathan Winters, as their son. The explanation was that Orkans aged in reverse from humans. Although I always loved Jonathan Winters, I was not amused with him talking like a baby. As a huge fan of the show, I wanted it to succeed and continue on since I loved the characters, but it died a dismal death of awful ratings that ended at #60. Seems like I was not the only one whose intelligence was insulted. Too bad they couldn't have come up with a better storyline. Mork and Mindy was cancelled after four seasons and 95 episodes. I still hear the greeting Mork often used, na-nu na-nu . . . the saying is a piece of pop culture history in itself. Robin Williams went on to super stardom . . .
Annette was one of the role models of my generation, representing the innocent times of the 1950's and ushered us into the changing times of the 1960's as the queen of the beach party movies, accompanied by Frankie Avalon who was the king.
I'm so very sad for the children of the following generations who have barely had wholesome role models to look up to. The one thing I am grateful for growing up in the times I did was the fact that we could actually be children . . . most of us were innocent to awful realities of life that are now prominently depicted on television.
She began her professional career at the age of twelve, rising to prominence as one of the most popular "Mouseketeers" on the original Mickey Mouse Club.
On April 8, 2013, Annette Funicello died at the age of 70, from complications due to multiple sclerosis.
Since her death, I have wanted to write this post, but at the time I did not have the words to convey my sadness at her passing. What really made me sad is that at the end of 2013, when you hear of those famous people who passed on during that year, Annette was barely mentioned. Perhaps my generation is being forgotten as new generations arise and so will our role models, as it appears Annette has.
Commenting on her death, Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, said,
"Annette was and always will be a cherished member of the Disney family, synonymous with the word Mouseketeer, and a true Disney Legend. She will forever hold a place in our hearts as one of Walt Disney's brightest stars, delighting an entire generation of baby boomers with her jubilant personality and endless talent. Annette was well known for being as beautiful inside as she was on the outside, and she faced her physical challenges with dignity, bravery and grace. All of us at Disney join with family, friends, and fans around the world in celebrating her extraordinary life."
"Annette took dancing and music lessons as a child in order to overcome shyness. In 1955, the 12-year-old was discovered by Walt Disney when she performed as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake at a dance recital at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank, California. Disney cast her as one of the original "Mouseketeers". She was the last to be selected, and one of the few cast-members to be personally selected by Walt Disney himself. She proved to be very popular and by the end of the first season of The Mickey Mouse Club, she was receiving 6,000 letters a month, according to her Disney Legends biography." Source: Wikipedia
Take a walk down memory lane with these awesome videos and celebrate Annette's life along with me.
"That Girl" is an American sitcom, one of the first to focus on a single woman who was not a domestic or living with her parents, ran on ABC from 1966 to 1971 (a total of 136 episodes) starring Marlo Thomas as the title character Ann Marie, an aspiring actress who moves from her hometown to try to make it big in New York City. Ann Marie has to take a number of offbeat "temp" jobs to support herself in between her various auditions and bit parts. Ted Bessell played her boyfriend Donald Hollinger, a writer for Newsview Magazine. The sitcom was just the beginning of the "single woman" shows, followed by The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda and so many others that have come along since then. I don't remember a lot of details about the show and after checking out the cast and characters, realize that many actors and actresses got their early start on the show. It was in the day when my main focus on everything television related was fashion, music or soap operas. My mom was a seamstress and she made the clothes that I would sketch out based on the fashions I studied on television and fashion magazines. Marlo Thomas was one of those fashion icons for me. "That Girl" was developed by writers Bill Persky and Sam Denoff, who had served as head writers on The Dick Van Dyke Show (with which Thomas's father, Danny Thomas, was closely associated) earlier in the 1960s. Marlo Thomas grew tired of the series and wanted to move on after five years, although "That Girl" did moderately well in the ratings.
Cast and characters
Ann Marie (Marlo Thomas), a beautiful and would-be actress who moves to New York City in order to seek stardom.
Donald Hollinger (Ted Bessell), writer for NewsView magazine, becomes Ann Marie's boyfriend after meeting her during the filming of a TV commercial.
Lew Marie (Harold Gould; pilot only; Lew Parker), Ann's father and the owner of the La Parisienne restaurant in Brewster, New York.
Helen Marie (Penny Santon pilot only; Rosemary De Camp), Ann Marie's mother
Dr. Leon Bessemer (Dabney Coleman), a neighbor of Ann Marie's and gynecologist who is frequently on call to help women give birth
Judy Bessemer (Bonnie Scott), Leon's wife and Ann Marie's neighbor.
Jerry Bauman (Bernie Kopell), a fellow employee at NewsView magazine.
Ruth Bauman (Carol Ann Daniels), Jerry's wife since the episode "Rain, Snow and Rice."
Margie "Pete" Peterson (Ruth Buzzi), a friend of Ann Marie's.
Harvey Peck (Ronnie Schell), one of Ann Marie's agents at the Gilliam and Norris Theatrical Agency
George Lester (George Carlin), another one of Ann's agents
The things we do for music.
In the 1970’s the radio was controlled by my parents and needless to say
“modern music” was not on the menu. That
is where the nerd in me kicked in. Armed
with an electronics set I built my own radio.
I was inspired to do this because of one radio show I had
heard over at a friends house, The King Biscuit Flower Hour. The King Biscuit
Flower Hour was a syndicated radio show and the nearest station that carried it
was 70 miles away. Now for the nerds out
there, FM radio of the 70’s were not the super wattage mega-stations you have
today, and 70 miles was at the outer end of reception. On a cold night you could get what is best
described as marginal quality.
To kick it up a notch I needed to grab as many “waves” as
possible. I ran a stripped speaker wire
out of my window down one side of the property for about 100’, then down the
other side for another 100’. In summer,
it was questionable, but on a cloudy cold night the atmosphere was just right.
The sound quality is nothing like you expect today, but for
the 70’s it was clarity defined, and days of work were paid off in huge
dividends. KBFH took a great deal of time to record live music as it happened then re-engineered to bring you on the stage.
One of the first songs I heard on my rig was “Forbidden
Fruit” by The Band.
The holidays have once again crept up on us. For me, it is a time of looking back at times of my life that have come and gone . . . never to return again. Happy and sad at the same time! Sad because they are just memories and happy because the wonderful memories were lived and experienced. It seems like the older I get, the more nostalgic I become about the holidays . . . I imagine it is a natural occurrence for everyone as our "normal" becomes nostalgia as time moves on. Thanksgiving hasn't even arrived yet and we are bombarded with Christmas commercials. Actually, if I remember correctly, the push from retailers started before Halloween this year. In some stores, as the Halloween displays went up, so did the shelves get stocked with Christmas stuff. There is one rush to Christmas that I have enjoyed this year . . . the Hallmark Channel on cable television has a Christmas movie marathon going on that started last week. After being consumed with the harsh reality of politics, bad economics and bad news in general, I am thoroughly enjoying the festive movies. Seems like for a time I can get lost in festive pleasantry. I'm looking forward to the rest of the channels kicking in their holiday seasons. One of the movie themes was Christmas ornaments and brought back so many memories of past Christmas seasons and the new ornaments that were a tradition until JR died. I'll have to do a post about Christmas ornaments past and present . . . they are a special part of Christmas. Doesn't it also seem like as time goes by, the older we get, time itself seems to move faster? It feels like last year's holiday season just ended and it is upon us again. I've been so involved in my new life with a new husband (well, it has been over 2 years since we got married), Kiki the dog, Mimi Luna the cat and what's going on now that I have neglected this blog in a bad way! The approaching holidays have changed that. I hope to be inspired to write more nostalgic posts and encourage The Captain to do the same. Between us, there is a wealth of nostalgia waiting to ponder upon.
In recent years, as I watched the ball drop on New Years Eve with Dick Clark, I wondered if it would be the last. The pop culture icon, who will always be remembered as "America's oldest teenager," seemed to never age until recent years. It was evident after his stroke in 2004 and made me so sad to watch the changing times through Dick Clark's deteriorating health and his struggle to simply speak. Since then, I had so much more respect for Dick Clark as a person for putting himself out there instead of going into hiding, although it was very difficult to watch. He so loved his place in our lives! As a lover of pop culture in general, it is my opinion that Dick Clark was the pop culture king of our times . . . an entertainment innovator extraordinnaire and super media mogul! In the beginning, he landed a gig as a DJ at WFIL in Philadelphia in 1952 with a show he called "Dick Clark's Caravan of Music." Little did he know that he was about to change pop music as we knew it back in the day . . . or did he? Dick Clark broke into the big time, hosting Bandstand, an afternoon dance show for teenagers. American Bandstand was born in 1957 as ABC took over the show with the whole country watching. The show gave many new music artists their first exposure to national audiences . . . anyone who was or was going to be anyone in the music industry showed up on the show, launching the careers of too many megastars to mention. He was a starmaker who brought the music AND the performers to the masses and we loved him for it! American Bandstand ran from 1957 to 1987. How many of us learned all the latest dance trends watching the show? I know I did!! Dick Clark Productions formed in 1963 and cranked out one hit show after another with the "$25,000 "Pyramid" to "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes" to the "American Music Awards." In 1972, Dick Clark became synonymous with one of the biggest nights of the year and we have celebrated New Years Eve with him since. Ryan Seacrest, who has taken the lead in recent years, will be ushering the new year for the first time without his mentor. "Ryan Seacrest tells TMZ ... the countdown to 2013 will be a special one, because he'll be honoring his late friend and mentor ... the great Dick Clark." Read more here. This year, ABC is set to air “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve: The 40th Anniversary Party,” a two-hour celebration of the show, which will lead into “Dick Clark’s Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest” . . . but it will never be the same again.
Would you believe I saw The Miracle on 34th Street
for the first time the other night?
The holiday classics hold special nostalgic feelings for me . . .
they capture a place in time that was so magical.
The movie took me back to the days when we would go with my Nana to visit her sisters and brothers on Thanksgiving morning. I remember the smells of Thanksgiving dinners being prepared and tables of pastries laid out on tables in the dining rooms. The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade was always playing in the background. I felt so special joining the adults in a cup of cafe con leche to go with the pastries. Great memories I will never forget!
It also made me think of how the world would react if Santa came to us as a real person as he did in the movie. Would we be skeptical or believing? Since I was devastated to find out he didn't really exist, it always made me think of how awesome it would be if he were real and imagine what he would be like as a person. The movie pleasantly helped to fill in some of those gaps.
It made me sad to see Natalie Wood as a sweet little girl, knowing her life was cut short by a horrible accident. She was so beautiful, even as a child!
Although I love the old movies, the animated holiday cartoons of my time really bring back the warm and fuzzy Christmas magic. Rudolf and the Grinch That Stole Christmas were my favorites, although I still love them all. The Grinch always reminded me of my dad . . .
My mom and I were having a good laugh about the dogs in our past and the crazy little pranks they pulled to drive us crazy. She was telling me about one of the many dogs of her youth that loved pulling the laundry off the clothesline and scattering them all over the yard. Hilarious now, but I'm sure not so funny back in the day for my grandmother, who had to gather them up and start all over again.
My thoughts were taken back to the days of my youth, where one of my jobs was hanging the laundry out on the clothesline. While many homes enjoyed the convenience of having a clothes dryer, we didn't. My dad did not embrace new technology and he held on to the conventional ways of doing things. Poor mama didn't have a microwave oven until after daddy died.
Anyway, the job of hanging out the laundry to dry and bring them back in was mine . . . one that I was not fond of. It was a particularly frustrating job here in Florida during the summertime, when we get the afternoon storms like clockwork. Procrastination meant more work when the storm hit before the clothes came in.
It is amazing how something that was so much a part of every housewife's life has just disappeared from life as we knew it. The clothesline just died in our society . . . or I am assuming that it has.
Now that I think of it, I have a new found gratefulness and appreciation for my trusty clothes dryer.
The poles that housed the clothesline at my house now hold up plant trellises. As a working young adult, I had no time or desire to hang the clothes out to dry. Taking the clothesline apart was one of the first things I wanted to do when we bought this house.
I'm also grateful that I was born after the death of the washboard . . . what a workout that must have been!
One of my favorite romantic movies! It is one of those movies that I have seen many times and will watch many more times.
It was Whitney Houston's acting debut as a stalked music superstar tormented by death threats who hires an ex-Secret Service Agent to protect her, played by Kevin Costner. The romantic-thriller was the second highest-grossing film of 1992 and was nominated for four Grammy Awards, winning three, including Album of the Year for its soundtrack album. CNN reported that Whitney Houston's film album for "The Bodyguard" was "one of the top 10 best-selling albums of all time" according to Billboard.
The movie was written by Lawrence Kasdan back in the 1970's, originally intending the leading roles for Steve McQueen and Diana Ross.
Warner Bros. announced in 2011 that a remake of the film is in the works in order to update the movie to reflect the Internet world. The rumor is Brittany Spears is up for the lead role.
Social differences in the early 1940's separate a poor, passionate young man and a rich young woman who fall in love. Their story is narrated from the present day by an elderly man telling the tale to a fellow nursing home resident.
The Notebook is a 2004 romance film starring James Garner, Gena Rowlands, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, directed by Nick Cassavetes, based on the novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks.
In celebration of Valentine's Day, I'll be featuring some of my favorite romantic movies from the past . . .
What are some of your favorite romantic movies?
Music From Another Room is one of those romantic comedies that I love best . . . a story of love, romance, fate and destiny.
This entertaining movie released in 1998 follows the adventures of Danny (Jude Law), a young man who grew up believing he was destined to marry Anna, the baby girl he helped deliver as a five year old boy when his neighbor went into emergency labor.
Twenty-five years later, Danny returns to his hometown and finds the irresistible Anna Swan (Gretchen Mol) and falls madly in love with her, but she barely notices him since she is already engaged to Eric (Jon Tenney).
In pursuit of Anna, Danny finds himself involved with each member of the Swan family including blind, sheltered Nina (Jennifer Tilly), cynical sister Karen (Martha Plimpton), big brother Bill (Jeremy Piven) and dramatic mother Grace (Brenda Blethyn).
The movie follows his fight to prove that fate should never be messed with and passion should never be practical.
Click here for a video trailer of the movie . . . it is an awesome movie . . . check it out sometime if you love romantic comedy movies.
