Pac Man Fever

… and the Donkey Kong King of the Arcade

October 10, 2023

It was in October of 1980 when the United States was truly invaded by the Japanese. We are not talking about the military here. No, the first wave of this invasion featured four ghosts named Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde and a round yellow fellow with a huge pie shaped mouth dubbed Pac-Man. The game, which had been released in Japan a little over four months earlier, was an instant hit. Young people flocked to arcades and taverns where Pac-Man eagerly gobbled up their quarters.

*Staples of the Video Arcade were Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. Ms. Pac-Man – a spin off of PacMan – and the perennial favorite Space Invaders rounded out this game room.*

Soon, Pac-Man merchandise flooded America as did other Japanese companies looking to capitalize on Pac-Man fever.

From the Infallible Wikipedia:

“When Pac-Man was released, the most popular arcade video games were space shooters—in particular, Space Invaders and Asteroids. The most visible minority were sports games that were mostly derivatives of Pong. Pac-Man succeeded by creating a new genre. Pac-Man is often credited with being a landmark in video game history and is among the most famous arcade games of all time. It is also one of the highest-grossing video games of all time, having generated more than $2.5 billion in quarters by the 1990s.

The character has appeared in more than 30 officially licensed game spin-offs, as well as in numerous unauthorized clones and bootlegs.According to the Davie-Brown Index, Pac-Man has the highest brand awareness of any video game character among American consumers, recognized by 94 percent of them. Pac-Man is one of the longest running video game franchises from the golden age of video arcade games. It is part of the collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.”

There were a number of other Japanese companies which, seeing the success of Pac-Man released arcade games, but there were two companies which dominated the market in 1982: Sega (Pac Man) and Nintendo. While Sega established its US headquarters in Irvine, California, Nintendo first landed in Tukwila, Washington

And that’s where my hubby enters the scene. In 1981 he was hired by a CPA firm in Burien who had a client that needed an auditor. So he was sent out to do the job and thus began a seven year relationship with a different Japanese invader: Donkey Kong.

*Iconic characters Donkey Kong and the damsel Pauline.*

While many think of Nintendo as a behemoth company, when Donkey Kong was first sold into the US market they had a grand total of six employees: two Seattle based salesmen; the company president (Mr. A – the son in law of Nintendo’s Japanese founder); two Japanese developer/engineers; and one American to assemble and make the arcade games compatible for the US market.

It was in June 1982, as Donkey Kong’s popularity skyrocketed to the top of the arcade market (and made the two US salesmen millionaires), that the hubby was hired as the company’s US controller. Those were crazy days with incredible long hours but also a real sense of family within the fledgling company.

In 1982 we hosted an April Fool’s day party the theme of which was bad jokes and to play video games. The hubby was even able to have a couple of full size arcade games (borrowed from Nintendo) for the attendees to enjoy. We continued this tradition for several years.

*Friends at the 1987 April Fools Day party enjoying a game of Donkey Kong on our Cocktail Table game console. Note the blanket on the back of the couch and the framed DK poster.*

By the time he left the company in the late 1980’s we had acquired a variety of Donkey Kong themed items: mugs, cups, socks, both electronic and board games, shirts, a bulletin board, an aped shaped ‘bank’ and, the most prized possession of all: an electronic cocktail tabletop Donkey Kong game.

Over the years all of the Donkey Kong stuff has moved with us several times. Perhaps the items are worth some money. But that was never the point. More that these things are reminders of that crazy chapter in our lives, some good, some not so good. So I keep them in a cupboard because… well, just because it’s part of our history.

*Our Donkey Kong merchandise collection (minus the blanket)*

When the daughter and her (then boyfriend) hubby moved back to the PNW in 2020, we gifted them the cocktail table Donkey Kong Game. Of course it came with the stipulation that we could visit it if we were so inclined. But that rarely happens. Our son-in-law does sometimes fire the game up when they have friends over. Unlike the days of Pac-Man and Donkey Kong fever, however, quarters are no longer needed. All you have to do is plug the thing in, press a button, and soon Donkey Kong has abducted the maiden with Mario chasing them up the steel girder, jumping over the never ending barrels.

When the machine comes to life, one is struck by the simplicity of the 40 year old computer graphics, long ago eclipsed by more sophisticated games and machines. Even so, every once in a while it’s fun to escape back to the 1980’s when arcade games were king and the Japanese took the country by storm.

To read more about these two arcade phenomenon’s click here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_Kong_(video_game) (there are errors in this not-so Infallible Wikipedia article. Specifically, Nintendo’s first headquarters were in Tukwila, not Redmond, Washington)

David Gates & Bread

Oct3

‘The Guitar Man’

October 3, 2023

About six weeks ago I decided I needed to write about this musical group which, in the early 1970’s, was easily one of my top 3 favorites. They first caught my attention with their number one hit, “Make It With You,” in the summer of 1970 and it was one of the first albums I ever purchased. The group: Bread.

*Either the first or second album I ever bought… Bread’s ‘Baby I’m A Want You.’ I wore it out.*

It was on October 1, 1971, when they released what was to become their second biggest hit “Baby, I’m a Want You.” It would reach number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Bread was the creation of David Gates, Jimmy Griffin, and Robb Royer who met in the music scene of Los Angeles in the late 1960’s. The Infallible Wikipedia does, of course, have something to say about the group got its name. As Gates explained in an interview:

“A bread truck came along right at the time we were trying to think of a name. We had been saying, ‘How about bush, telephone pole? Ah, bread truck, bread.’ It began with a B, like the Beatles and the Bee Gees. Bread also had a kind of universal appeal. It could be taken a number of ways. Of course, for the entire first year people called us the Breads.”

“Make it With You” catapulted Bread to the top of the Billboard charts on August 22, 1970. Also from the Infallible Wikipedia:

“For their next single, Bread released a re-recorded version of ‘It Don’t Matter To Me’, a Gates song from their first album. This single was a hit as well, reaching No. 10. Bread began touring and recording their third album, titled Manna (March 1971), which peaked at #21 and included ‘Let Your Love Go’ (which preceded the album’s release and made No. 28) and the Top 5 hit single, ‘If’. As with the first album, songwriting credits were split evenly between Gates and Griffin-Royer.

Royer, after conflicts with other members of the band, left the group in the summer of 1971 after three albums, although he would continue to write with Griffin. (snip)

In January 1972 Bread released Baby I’m-a Want You, their most successful album, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. The title song was established as a hit in late 1971 before the album was released, also hitting No. 3. Follow-up singles ‘Everything I Own’ and ‘Diary’ also went Top 20.

The next album, Guitar Man, was released ten months later and went to No. 18. The album produced three Top 20 singles, ‘The Guitar Man’ (#11), ‘Sweet Surrender’ (#15), and ‘Aubrey’ (#15), with the first two going to No. 1 on Billboard’s adult contemporary chart.”

Bread is best known for David Gate’s rich vocals singing heartfelt ballads, appealing to the 12 to 17 year old female Baby Boomers of the day; their songs perfect for slow dances at Homecoming and Tolo dances.

A couple of diary entries from 1971 and 1972 confirm the impact this group’s music had on me. On December 31, 1971 I wrote: “This is a list of songs I like…” and I go on to list six songs. ‘Baby I’m a Want You’ made the cut. In my 1972 diary I specifically note the handful of songs I liked best at the end of each month. The two most consistent groups on that list were The Carpenters and Bread.

In June 1973 the group disbanded.

New songs and groups stepped into the void and I didn’t really think about Bread very much. At least until I started researching for this article. Research often leads me down rabbit holes and such was the case with this article. The article about the group soon lead to articles about the group members and I found myself enthralled with learning about the individual who I think was most responsible for Bread’s success: David Gates. I loved his voice the first time I heard it and marveled at his song writing. After the breakup of Bread, Gates went on to have a successful solo career but eventually retired. Unlike so many successful musical artists, Gates remained married to his wife, Rita Jo, who he married in 1959, and together they raised four children.

And then he and Rita moved to the state of Washington and the community of… checks article… Mount Vernon!

What? One of my musical favorites lives less than six miles from me? Now, of course, I find myself scanning the more ‘mature’ gentlemen I see out shopping. Could one of them be David Gates? The Guitar Man?

A half an hour of David Gates talking with fans from Mount Vernon, Washington

Back in 2016 a fan in town organized an event with Gates and his wife. Oh how I wish I had known about that. Even though I didn’t yet live in Mount Vernon, I would have driven there to attend!

Although I still love all their music, It’s ‘The Guitar Man’ which best encapsulates David Gates and Bread for this teenager in 1972. Some of the lyrics:

Yesterday, after I finished writing this article I headed into the dentist’s office to have a crown placed. I had just sat down in the waiting room when I heard it. Soft music coming over the speakers. A moment later I burst out laughing. David Gates singing “The Goodbye Girl” was the selection.

After my appointment I shared the serendipity of hearing “The Goodbye Girl” with Sheryl (she runs the office!) and and then told her about today’s Blog topic. She had two immediate reactions. Her first was to exclaim how much she, too, had loved David Gates and Bread as a teenager and, the second, was complete surprise to learn that Gates is a member of the larger community.

So now there are at least two of us who would love to meet our famous neighbor and hear what he has to say.

Once a fan girl, always a fan girl!

A few links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_(band)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gates

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Easy_Listening_number_ones_of_1971

Biosphere I vs. Biosphere II

Sep26

Is Utopia possible?

September 26, 2023

A Tuesday Newsday Classic Updated

It was the stuff of science fiction when, on September 26, 1991, four women and four men entered the project known as Biosphere II.

*Biosphere II located in the Arizona desert north of Tucson*

Located in the Arizona desert forty-one miles northeast of Tucson, the facility was developed in hopes of learning how colonization on other planets might work. The idea was that these eight scientists would live within the biosphere complex for two years, would grow their own food, and manage all aspects of their world without help or interference from outside sources.

Inside Biosphere II were five distinct ecosystems. From the Infallible Wikipedia:

“Its five biome areas were a 1,900 square meter rainforest, an 850 square meter ocean with a coral reef, a 450 square meter mangrove wetlands, a 1,300 square meter savannah grassland, a 1,400 square meter fog desert, a 2,500 square meter agricultural system, a human habitat, and a below-ground infrastructure. Heating and cooling water circulated through independent piping systems and passive solar input through the glass space frame panels covering most of the facility, and electrical power was supplied into Biosphere 2 from an onsite natural gas energy center.”

For those of us not trained in meters, I did the approximate calculations. Rainforest= 6,000 square feet. Ocean=2,800 square feet. Mangrove=1476 square feet. Savannah = 4300 square feet. Fog Dessert=4600 square feet. Agricultural =8200 square feet. That adds up to 27,376 square feet or over five square miles.

As one can imagine, the project was beset with problems including not enough oxygen, dietary issues and – when one of the biospherians became ill and was removed from the project for a time – if outside intervention was justified. When the first experiment ended two years later, on September 26, 1993, plans were already underway for another set of scientists to participate in a second project:

“Biosphere 2 was only used twice for its original intended purposes as a closed-system experiment: once from 1991 to 1993, and the second time from March to September 1994. Both attempts, though heavily publicized, ran into problems including low amounts of food and oxygen, die-offs of many animals and plants included in the experiment, squabbling among the resident scientists, and management issues.”

Personally, I find it difficult to envision what it would be like to exist for two years in only five square miles and with the same 7 people as your daily companions. Kind of like the reality TV show Survivor but longer and you can’t get rid of annoying people. From a writer’s perspective, however, I think this is a fascinating premise for a science fiction book (with romantic elements perhaps?). Has someone researched and written such a book? I wondered. Indeed they have. The Terranauts, by TC Boyle, was published in October 2016 (hardback) with the paperback version was released on October 3 2017. The critics on Goodreads have not been kind: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28925208-the-terranauts.

Update 2023:

I considered writing about a completely new topic this week but somehow my musings seem to dovetail with Biosphere II. For those who have been following my blog for awhile you likely know that I am not a fan of autumn. I suspect I suffer from at least a little Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD) and I struggle this time of year with the reduced hours of daylight and the drops in temperature.

Living where I do, just north of the 48^th parallel, I am acutely aware of the changing of the seasons. As I am writing this the wind is blowing and it has been threatening rain with another front moving in this afternoon. In other words, a prototypical fall day. While most of the leaves have not yet turned color or started to make their exit from the tree branches, I know the day is coming. I miss summer already.

But I wonder if I were to live in a controlled environment like Biosphere 2, would I like that? What if the seasons never changed? What if every day the weather was exactly like the day before and tomorrow would be the same as today?

*Ten degrees wasn’t even the coldest temperatures we experienced in Fairbanks. On our last day it was MINUS 28 degrees. I had the gloves off only for the photo.*

When visiting a high school friend in Fairbanks, Alaska, in March 2017, I considered what it would be like to live there. The world was white with snow and ice and had been since October. In fact, the earliest snowfall ever in Fairbanks was August 29, 1922, and the typical date of the first measurable snow is tomorrow, September 27^th. And did I mention that they get about 65 inches of the white stuff each year? While I was there I discovered that I could not go outside without wrapping a scarf around my face as it was physically painful to have my skin exposed to the cold. It was the coldest I had ever been in my life. I came away from that trip in awe of her ability to live and thrive in Fairbanks. I am not, I concluded, sturdy enough for that climate.

So, over the next several weeks I will come to terms with reality: summer in the Pacific Northwest is over and it is time once again for turtlenecks, sweaters, and jackets. And in spite of my whining about the shorter days with less sunlight and the inclement weather, I do think it’s better than living in a controlled environment day after day.

And that’s the great thing about Biosphere I – also known as ‘Earth’. It’s always changing and visually interesting and a grand place to live. Biosphere II or III or V or X will never be able to equal the original.

The tree progression photos were taken from my office window on the following dates: September 9, 16, 30, October 19, 29, and November 19, 2020

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2

Mary Tyler Moore

Sep19

“You’re Going To Make It After All”

September 19, 2023

A Tuesday Newsday Classic Updated

As an impressionable 13 year old on September 19, 1970, the premiere of one particular show – more than any other – no doubt helped to mold who I was and my view of the world.

*The original cast of the Mary Tyler Moore show in 1970: front, left to right – Gavin MacLeod, Mary Tyler Moore, Ted Knight; back, left to right – Valerie Harper, Ed Asner, Cloris Leachman*.

For the next seven years I kept rooting for Mary Richards to find the love of her life but, alas, she never did. As a romantic I thought this was a tragedy beyond the pale. So every week I would tune in to see what was happening on WJM TV and to see if poor Mary’s love life would ever get launched.

In the course of the series run, it never really did. Certainly Mary had several encounters; and the show pushed many boundaries in the exploration of relationships which were not defined by marriage.

For the life of me, my 13 year old psyche could not understand how a 30 year old attractive woman would not WANT a husband and a family. From a perspective 40 plus years later I understand that not everyone needs or desires the same things.

The Mary Tyler Moore show was groundbreaking. A single woman, pursuing a career rather than choosing the then traditional route of marriage and children, was a foreign concept. From the infallible Wikipedia:

“Mary Richards (Moore) is a single woman who, at age 30, moves to Minneapolis after leaving her fiancé of two years. She applies for a secretarial job at fictional television station WJM, but that is already taken. She is instead offered the position of associate producer of the station’s Six o’clock News. She befriends her tough but lovable boss Lou Grant (Ed Asner), news writer Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod), and buffoonish anchorman Ted Baxter (Ted Knight). Mary later becomes producer of the show.

Mary rents a third-floor studio apartment in a 19th-century house from acquaintance and downstairs landlady, Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman), and she and upstairs neighbor Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) become best friends. Characters introduced later in the series are acerbic, man-hungry TV hostess Sue Ann Nivens (Betty White), and sweet-natured Georgette Franklin (Georgia Engel), as Ted Baxter’s girlfriend (and later, wife). At the beginning of season 6, after both Rhoda and Phyllis have moved away (providing a premise for two spinoffs), Mary relocates to a one-bedroom high-rise apartment.

*Mary Richards on her first day of work at WJM*

In the third season, issues such as equal pay for women, pre-marital sex, and homosexuality are woven into the show’s comedic plots. In the fourth season, such subjects as marital infidelity and divorce are explored with Phyllis and Lou, respectively. In the fifth season, Mary refuses to reveal a news source and is jailed for contempt of court. While in jail, she befriends a prostitute who seeks Mary’s help in a subsequent episode.

In the final seasons, the show explores humor in death in the episode ‘Chuckles Bites the Dust’ and juvenile delinquency; Ted deals with intimate marital problems, infertility, and adoption, and suffers a heart attack; and Mary overcomes an addiction to sleeping pills. Mary dates several men on and off over the years, two seriously, but remains single throughout the series.”

The thing I remember best is that my mother loved the show. At the time of the premiere she was 45 years old and, I know from my own observations, struggling to define who she was going to be since her youngest child was 13 (the others were 15, 17 and 22) and daily chores were no longer all consuming or fulfilling. So she went back to college to study music and find activities which interested her. Somehow she managed to do what she wanted despite push back from my oh-so-traditional father. My mother often felt as if she had been born into the wrong era as she always wondered what it would be like to pursue a career.

But every Saturday evening – when I was at home – my Mom and I ALWAYS watched the Mary Tyler Moore show together! No doubt it WAS her favorite show and I imagine that if they were to air reruns she’d still love it today despite her advanced dementia and failing health.

*The iconic moment when she tosses her hat in the air during the opening segment*

For those who don’t know she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer so I know her time is short. In many ways I ‘lost’ my mother years ago with the dementia, then a stroke, and her continuing decline.

I’ve had more than one person say how ‘lucky’ I am to still have both my parents. My response is that I miss the woman who I remember as my mother. The true essence of that woman has, sadly, been gone a long time.

Update September 18, 2023: A little over two months after this post my mother passed away. I often wonder if she would have enjoyed being a single woman like Mary Richards pursuing a career. From my own experiences I discovered that there’s nothing special about the corporate world and you must develop a steel spine to successfully navigate it.

Ultimately Mom was able to pursue and experience many of the things which brought her fulfillment and joy. She wrote freelance articles, several of which were published in the Yakima Herald Republic; she wrote poems, some fiction, and scripts for musical productions for her women’s singing group. She and my Dad spent four to six weeks every January/February in Hawaii for 25 straight years.

It’s the nature of life, I think, to regret those opportunities we did not pursue. I think every person has their ‘the grass is greener on the other side of the fence’ moments. But in the end, she was surrounded by her family who loved her and cared for her. Maybe, just maybe, that’s what it’s really all about.

To read more about this groundbreaking show, click here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mary_Tyler_Moore_Show

And for a short segment that’s wickedly fun:

The Monkees

Sep12

Wildly popular Boy Band of the 1960’s

September 12, 2023

A Tuesday Newsday Classic

The argument could be made that this group – a made for TV boy band – was like the Rodney Dangerfield of rock and roll: “I don’t get no respect.”

*The Monkees always performed a couple of songs every week on their TV show*

And now, 51 years after their TV program debuted, one could also argue that perhaps there was a bit more to them then the critics said at the time.

I’m talking, of course, about the Monkees. The TV show premiered on September 12, 1966 and, in combination with the release of their first single “Last Train To Clarksville” was an immediate hit with girls of a certain age. That age would have been from about 8 to 14 years old.

But back to the critics and how the group came to be. The idea was to put together an American based band of four guys in an attempt to capitalize on, and compete with, the success of the Beatles. The four (pictured here clockwise starting top left – Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith – were all musicians and actors. All took themselves seriously in their pursuit of a career. At the time Jones was a somewhat successful actor having played the role of the Artful Dodger in the musical “Oliver” and with his British accent and good looks was already cast for the TV show. An ad was run in the Hollywood Reporter for the rest of the band.

According to the infallible Wikipedia:

“Madness!! Auditions. Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series. Running Parts for 4 insane boys, age 17-21. Want spirited Ben Frank’s types. Have courage to work. Must come down for interview.

Out of 437 applicants, the other three chosen for the cast of the TV show were Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz. Nesmith had been working as a musician since early 1963 and had been recording and releasing music under various names, including Michael Blessing and ‘Mike & John & Bill’ and had studied drama in college. Of the final four, Nesmith was the only one who actually saw the ad in Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. Tork, the last to be chosen, had been working the Greenwich Village scene as a musician, and had shared the stage with Pete Seeger; he learned of The Monkees from Stephen Stills, whom Rafelson and Schneider had rejected as a songwriter. Dolenz was an actor (his father was veteran character actor George Dolenz) who had starred in the TV series Circus Boy as a child, using the stage name Mickey Braddock, and he had also played guitar and sung in a band called the Missing Links before the Monkees, which had recorded and released a very minor single, ‘Don’t Do It’. By that time he was using his real name; he found out about The Monkees through his agent.”

No doubt the four must have felt as though they hit the jackpot. Their success was almost immediate as their music resonated with the pre-teen group especially, catapulting them to the top of the music charts. As it turned out it was their music – and not the zany TV show – which proved to be the foundation for their success.

The entire Wikipedia article is worth a read if for no other reason than to gain a better understanding of the almost unbelievable story of the Monkees and their quest to be taken seriously: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkees

Monkeemania gripped me when, as a pre-pubescent 9 year old in the fall of 1966, all my friends were enthralled by the group. My mother, however, was appalled and banned my sister and me from watching it. But that didn’t stop us. Somehow we managed to show up at our neighbor Diane’s house at 7:30 p.m. on the appropriate week night to watch the contraband program.

Our little neighborhood group was so gripped by Monkees fever that we even pretended to BE the group. Diane – our ring leader – was Davy Jones; my sister, Susan, wore a stocking cap and assumed the role of Michael Nesmith; our year younger neighbor, Andi, was Micky Dolenz; and, because of my straight blonde hair, I was assigned the role of Peter Tork. I was not thrilled with that assignment as, like most of the girls, wanted to be Davy, THE one we thought was the best. But then again I did get to be a member of the band!

Although the TV show only ran for two seasons, the Monkees music still resonates today. I think you could argue that it was Nesmith who seized the opportunity to make the band more than a silly sitcom. He pushed and fought for legitimacy his entire career. And although there are still naysayers it’s hard to argue with the band’s success:

First music artist to win two Emmy Awards.
Had seven albums on the Billboard top 200 chart at the same time (six were re-issues during 1986-1987).
One of the first artists achieving number-one hits in the United States and United Kingdom simultaneously.
The only recording act to have four No. 1 albums in a 12-month span.
Held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard album chart for 31 consecutive weeks, 37 weeks total.
Held the record for the longest stay at No. 1 for a debut record album until 1982 when Men at Work‘s debut record album Business As Usual broke that record.
Received their star on the Hollywood Walk of fame in July 1989. All 4 members were present for the ceremony.
In 2008, the Monkees were inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
In 2014 the Monkees were inducted into America’s Pop Music Hall of Fame.
The Music Business Association (Music Biz)honored the Monkees with an Outstanding Achievement Award celebrating their 50th anniversary on May 16, 2016.

*Getting their star on the Holloywood Walk of Fame 1989*

As my friend Roger pointed out, the Monkees had great songwriters assigned to the show: Neil Diamond, Tommy Boyce, and Bobby Hart. Like the Monkees, they were under contract and did their part to make sure the music was at the center.

Whatever the combination of talent, it worked, catapulting the Monkees into stardom.

The First Tuesday in September

Sep5

September 5, 2023

On Saddle Shoes and Pee Chee Folders

A Tuesday Newsday Classic from 2019

The first Tuesday of September was always a day which struck fear in my heart. In fact, no other day of the year caused more anxiety and distress than this one.

The reason, of course, was due to the fact that when I was growing up school always started on this day.

Unlike in today’s world, where we are inundated with back to school ads for supplies and equipment beginning in late July, in the 1960’s and 70’s, we didn’t much think about going back to school. That is until one day in late August my mother would ominously announce that school started the next week.

So off we would go to get things. Our back to school supply list included Pee Chee folders, notebook paper, #2 pencils, and BIC pens. That was it.

For clothing, I was lucky to get one new outfit for the first day of school. And the most evil of all footwear ever invented: saddle shoes.

I’ll get back to those in a bit. First off, however, I imagine you are wondering about the Pee Chee. What is a Pee Chee? And why do so many people my age wax so nostalgic over a folded in half piece of cardstock? I knew it deserved Tuesday Newsday status. Since I couldn’t find the official day they were introduced, the first Tuesday in September seemed the perfect date to learn about them. From the Infallible Wikipedia:

“The yellow Pee-Chee All Season Portfolio was a common American stationery item in the second half of the 20th century, commonly used by students for storing school papers. It was first produced in 1943 by the Western Tablet and Stationery Company of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Pee-Chees were later produced by the Mead Corporation. (snip) These inexpensive folders are made of card stock with two internal pockets for the storage of loose leaf paper. The pockets are printed with a variety of reference information including factors for converting between Imperial and metric measurement units, and a multiplication table. The folders had fallen out of general use by the 2000s, but are available from Mead as of 2014.”

Note the words “multiplication table.” This was probably the most valuable thing a Pee Chee provided as we were expected to memorize this table. By the time you got up to the twelves, it got a bit difficult. The handy dandy Pee Chee came to your rescue. Of course our teachers knew this and we had to put our Pee Chee’s away during test time.

When I walked home from elementary school I only carried a Pee Chee and rarely any books unless it was one checked out from the library. By the time I was in Junior High and High School, books were part of the equation. Along with the Pee Chee of course.

That brand new, unmarked, non-dog-eared Pee Chee was the best part of being forced to go back to school. And paper, pencils and BIC pens, of course. Oooh, and Flair pens starting in Junior High!

The worst part? From first grade through sixth I was subjected to torture by being forced to wear saddle shoes. Whoever invented this shoe should have been required to wear a new pair every week for their entire lives just so they would know what pain they subjected multiple generations of girls to endure.

My mother would take me and my sister to Nordstrom’s Shoe store… in the 1960’s in Yakima that’s all it was… a shoe store. We would bypass all the beautiful shiny black patent leather shoes and the cute Mary Janes and go directly to the rack of clunky saddle shoes. There they sat, big, bulky, and ugly. They had brown soles thicker than a slice of French toast. Across their beige bodies was a second strip of stiff brown leather, with laces through the holes, just waiting to cinch your foot into bondage. Heaven forbid that you got shoes which fit… no, they had to be a bit big so you’d grow in to them and not grow out of them before the following June.

We would wear them around the house for several days before school started in a futile effort to ‘break’ them in. It never worked. The first few weeks of school our feet bore witness to the horrors of saddle shoes; oozing red blisters were covered with adhesive tape and we’d limp through the day. Eventually the leather softened and the blisters abated… usually by October. Kids today just don’t realize how lucky they are to have been spared the scourge of saddle shoes.

Even now the first week of September is my least favorite time of the year; despite the fact I do not have to go back to school nor do my children.

Note the saddle shoes on Marla – the girl in the plaid shirt; and also on Rinda in the plaid dress. The author is to the left of Marla and I wasn’t smiling because my feet probably still hurt even though it was spring. Kelly, on my right, was always happy because she always wore cute patent leather Mary Janes.

I am, however, very, very tempted to go hang out in the office supply store and indulge myself in the smell of paper and ink and the plethora of notebooks, papers, pens, and paperclips. Anyone who has seen my office knows that I have stacks of spiral notebooks, hundreds of colored paperclips (many with decorative tops), and a collection of G-2 pens of every hue. In fact, just writing about it inspires me to head to my nearest Office Depot Max to see what’s on sale. Unlike saddle shoes, office supplies never go out of fashion!

As always a couple of links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee_Chee_folder

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddle_shoe

Yes, it is true. In 1960 Nordstrom’s only sold shoes. The store in Yakima was one of only 8 stores at the time.

https://shop.nordstrom.com/content/company-history

2022 Update: In honor of school starting, I ordered presents for my printers! Yes, shiny new ink cartridges. And, yes, printers as in I have two in my office. One can never have too much ink.

2023 Update: Today feels fully like Fall. But at least I don’t have to wear saddle shoes OR start school. It’s going to be a great year!

Michael Jackson

Aug29

‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’

August 29, 2023

A Tuesday Newsday Classic Updated

The 1980’s were, in my opinion, one of the best and more diverse decades musically due to the gigantic influence of one artist in particular. That artist was, of course, Michael Jackson.

Were he still alive he would be celebrating his 65th birthday as he was born August 29, 1958.

His talent was apparent from a very young age as he was part of the Jackson 5 beginning in 1964 at the ripe old age of six. The group performed for local gigs in their hometown of Gary, Indiana, and also on talent shows. It was in August 1967 that they won a talent contest at Harlem’s Apollo theatre and caught the attention of Gladys Knight. Although her contacts in Motown did not sign the group at that time they persevered as their father Joe Jackson – the ultimate stage parent – continued to find and book gigs for them to play. In 1969 they were the opening act for the Supremes and, with the mentoring of Diana Ross, were rocketed to fame.

Although the group had tremendous success, no doubt Michael eclipsed his 9 siblings when, at age 13, his solo career started in 1971. His first single “Got To Be There” reached the number four spot on the Billboard Hot 100. It was his next single “Ben” which sent him to the top of the charts.

It was the release of the album “Thriller” in 1982 which made Michael Jackson a true household name. From the Infallible Wikipedia:

“More success came with Jackson’s sixth album, Thriller, released in late 1982. The album earned Jackson seven more Grammys and eight American Music Awards, including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it. It was the best-selling album worldwide in 1983, and became the best-selling album of all time in the United States and the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 65 million copies. It topped the Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles, including ‘Billie Jean’, ‘Beat It’, and ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’’. In December 2015, Thriller was certified for 30 million shipments by the RIAA, making it the only album to achieve that feat in the United States. Thriller won Jackson and Quincy Jones the Grammy award for Producer of the Year (Non-Classical) for 1983. It also won Album of the Year, with Jackson as the album’s artist and Jones as its co-producer, and a Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, award for Jackson.”

As a performer he brought energy to all he did. It’s fun to go watch the videos he made but I particularly like this clip where he does the moonwalk in a performance for the first time. Enjoy!

On May 8, 1983, the fourth single from the Thriller album was released: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”. When I first heard this song it was in the middle of what became a two year stint with a fledgling start-up software company named Microsoft (I was employee #248 if I remember correctly).

*Pages 36 & 37 (below right) of the December 26 1983-January 2, 1984 People magazine featuring the 25 most intriguing people of 1983.*

Those were heady days for the company. Bill Gate’s star was clearly on the rise and at the end of 1983 he was featured as one of People Magazine’s 25 most intriguing people. But it was at the 4:44 mark in this song which proved to me that Microsoft was on everybody’s, including Michael Jackson’s, mind in 1983. To this day when I hear this song I swear he’s repeating the word ‘Microsoft’ over and over.

Although I’ve never written specifically about Bill Gates, I often tell people he is the most eccentric person I’ve ever met. And I will forever associate this particular Michael Jackson song with a Foresst Gump-like interaction, likely June 1983, when a trio of us from the Microsoft telemarketing crew, had the ultimate adventure with Bill Gates.

Rewind to a couple weeks earlier. Two of my fellow telemarketers, Susie R. and Sue C., really enjoyed playing racquetball at the Bellevue Athletic Club (a perk for employees) and one day they got into discussion with the vice-president of retail sales, Jim S., about the game.

This turned into an argument over whether or not Jim could beat the two of them at racquetball. Soon a bet was proffered: he would take on both of them at once and if he lost, he would take the pair out to dinner; if they lost, they would take him.

The day of the big game occurred and the next day I learned that Jim had beaten the two women.

Soon the planning began for the dinner but the one thing Susie and Sue did NOT want to do was go to dinner just with Jim. So they asked all of the telemarketing group to come along (there were six of us at that time) as well as one of the company receptionists. Beg was a more accurate word in my opinion.

So I agreed and said I would bring the hubby too. Although none of the other telemarketers took them up on the offer the receptionist – a very cute and personable 19 year old named Lisa – did. And, oh by the way, would it be okay if Lisa also asked a friend to come with her?

That ‘friend’ – it turned out – was the 27 year old owner of Microsoft: Bill Gates.

The day arrived and we headed south from Bellevue to the Cliff House restaurant at Brown’s Point near Tacoma. Since the hubby and I planned to go home directly after dinner and we lived in West Seattle, we ended up driving our little brown Honda Civic wagon while the other five piled into Susie R.’s Volkswagen Beetle van.

The dinner went off without a hitch. Bill G. ordered and drank most of two bottles of wine by himself. We were all feeling pretty happy.

After dinner was over it was decided that we needed to drive back to Bellevue and go dancing at the Red Lion. So the five climbed back into the VW van while the hubby and I followed in our car.

We are on I-5 and somewhere around Fife, Susie pulls up next to us and hands a bottle out the window to our car and then zooms ahead. I will say right up front that what happened next was stupid and foolish. But five of the seven individuals were under the age of 30 and immortal and the other two (in their late 30’s early 40’s) had elevated senses of adventure.

Susie speeds ahead in the van and from our vantage point a few car lengths back, we see the van ‘wobble’ a bit and then slow down. We look over, now Jim S. is driving. Yes, they changed drivers going 55 mph* on I-5.

As we continue north this scenario continues several more times: the van wobbles and then slows with a new driver smiling and waving at us.

It was just after we had gotten onto I-405 when the last switch happens. The van wobbles, slows down, and now Bill G. is the driver. The van shoots away as though possessed. The hubby struggles to keep pace.

When we finally get to the Red Lion about five minutes AFTER the other five, we have a group table and the drinks are already flowing. I have to imagine that Lisa must have had a fake ID because she was there enjoying herself too.

When Bill – who obviously had a thing for Lisa – escorts her out to dance he literally walks up to this knee high gold colored railing which is all around the edge of the dance floor. There are a couple entries, but Bill doesn’t walk around to one of those. Instead he bends his knees and tucks the lower part of his leg up and seems to float over the railing. I’d never seen anything like it and the memory is as clear now as when it occurred 40 years ago.

Fast forward to the 4:46 mark when “Microsoft’ seems to be repeated over and over

Back to Michael Jackson. We all know how the rest of the story went. As often happens, the achievement of fame does not lead to happiness. Jackson was a near daily subject of tabloids and a constant target for paparazzi; his bizarre behaviors and personal life dissected without abatement.

His death, it was ultimately determined, was from cardiac arrest. Like everything else in his life, though, that too swirled in controversy. What we do know is that he was taking a virtual pharmacy of drugs for various issues at the time of his demise on June 25, 2009.

The whole article is worth a read. Jackson’s was an amazing life, surreal in many ways.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Gump

*From 1974 to 1995 the speed limits on highways was capped at 55 mph.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Maximum_Speed_Law

The Wizard of Oz

Aug15

Striking terror into the souls of young children since 1939

August 15, 2017

A Tuesday Newsday Classic Updated

“I’d turn back if I were you!” – the message printed on the sign of the Haunted Forest in the classic film “The Wizard of Oz” – was, in my opinion, a wise suggestion. More on that in a bit.

It was August 15, 1939 when “The Wizard of Oz” premiered and, despite costing more to produce than it took in during its theatre run, has become a beloved American classic. In fact, it was named by the American Film Institute as the number one fantasy film ever made.

Nominated for six Academy Awards it lost out to “Gone With The Wind” for best picture. It did win two other awards, however, including best song for the instantly recognizable “Over The Rainbow” and for the best Musical score.

*One of the iconic scenes from the film “Over The Rainbow.”*

The film was heralded from the very beginning. From the Infallible Wikipedia:

“The film received much acclaim upon its release. Frank Nugent considered the film a ‘delightful piece of wonder-working which had the youngsters’ eyes shining and brought a quietly amused gleam to the wiser ones of the oldsters. Not since Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has anything quite so fantastic succeeded half so well.’ Nugent had issues with some of the film’s special effects, writing, ‘with the best of will and ingenuity, they cannot make a Munchkin or a Flying Monkey that will not still suggest, however vaguely, a Singer’s Midget in a Jack Dawn masquerade. Nor can they, without a few betraying jolts and split-screen overlappings, bring down from the sky the great soap bubble in which Glinda rides and roll it smoothly into place.’ According to Nugent, ‘Judy Garland’s Dorothy is a pert and fresh-faced miss with the wonder-lit eyes of a believer in fairy tales, but the Baum fantasy is at its best when the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion are on the move.’”

One of my earliest memories is when the film was broadcast just once a year on TV. My family lived in Clarkston, Washington the year I was four and it may have been the first year we had a TV in the house.

While my memories from that young age are limited, I do know that my dad made popcorn and that watching the movie was a highly anticipated and exciting family event. Some of the rest of the activities of that day are fuzzy but it was talked about in subsequent years. Having a TV in your home in 1961was a big deal. In fact, in 1954 about 55 percent of households had a TV. In 1962 that number jumped to 90 percent. So my thinking that it was the early 1960’s when our family got our first television is likely accurate.

But not every family had a television including one set of our neighbors. The day of “The Wizard of Oz” showing, the two oldest daughters of that family showed up at our door with hopes of getting to watch the film. My dad, however, had to turn them away as their parents did not approve of TV and they were not allowed to watch TV. Ever. I know my dad always felt bad about that since he would have welcomed all the neighborhood kids in to watch.

But back to four year old me. I was enthralled by the story of a farm girl who gets carried away by a tornado eventually landing in a magical world. Everything went pretty well right up to the point that Dorothy and her entourage enter the Haunted Forest and they encounter the sign which advises, “I’d turn back if I were you.” When, a minute and a half later, the Wicked Witch of the West is standing silhouette in her castle window and screaming “Fly! Fly! Fly!” to her army of flying monkeys I took that advice.

I was so afraid I left the room and didn’t return for the rest of the movie! Of course I did eventually see the entire film many, many times and loved our family’s annual tradition to watch it. I even shared it with my own children despite my fear that they, too, would be traumatized.

Even now, watching the clip of that scene evokes memories of my childhood terror. As a general rule I will not watch Horror* movies… in fact when the movie “Alien” was shown on TV in the early 1980’s, the scene where the Alien is stalking its victims sent me scurrying to the kitchen to make popcorn for those watching. But I never returned. Some things never change.

I’m off to see the wizard!

The whole story of how the movie was made is a good read. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_(1939_film)

*Some folks claim ‘Alien’ is a Sci-Fi film… but when one does a search of the Best Horror films, it’s on the list.

The Refrigerator

Aug8

One of my favorite appliances

August 8, 2023

A Tuesday Newsday Classic Updated

This invention, which was patented on August 8, 1899, ranks right up there with my two most favorite inventions: electricity and flushing toilets.

Refrigeration revolutionized how our food is processed and stored. Without this invention – which includes the freezer – people would still be spending up to 8 hours a day in the preparation and storage of food. But refrigeration has freed up hours and hours of woman and man hours that can now be devoted to other pursuits.

The Infallible Wikipedia, of course, has much information on its history including this information which highlights some of the challenges of early home models:

“The first refrigerator to see widespread use was the General Electric ‘Monitor-Top’ refrigerator introduced in 1927, so-called, by the public, because of its resemblance to the gun turret on the ironclad warship USS Monitor of the 1860s. The compressor assembly, which emitted a great deal of heat, was placed above the cabinet, and enclosed by a decorative ring. Over a million units were produced. As the refrigerating medium, these refrigerators used either sulfur dioxide, which is corrosive to the eyes and may cause loss of vision, painful skin burns and lesions, or methyl formate, which is highly flammable, harmful to the eyes, and toxic if inhaled or ingested.”

Obviously that refrigerator was not ideal.

Personally, I love the refrigerator because it makes it harder for those two miscreants, Sam and Ella, to hang out at my house and wreak havoc. But also because I can put things in the fridge and they’ll stay there for months and months before my hubby cleans out the really old stuff to make room for wonderful fresh food! It’s magical really. Kind of like the magic table in this clip:

No matter how many times I view this it makes me laugh. That poor guy probably never knew what happened.

Growing up, my family had the very latest in a refrigerator. Yes, the always popular avocado green model. I’m not really sure why people loved that color, or harvest gold, but it was a thing in the 1970’s. We also had the avocado green range. I can’t recall on the dishwasher. I do know my Mom’s first dishwasher was a portable white one which was rolled over to the sink and attached via hoses to the faucet. Seems like when that one failed the one which replaced it was avocado green.

Capturing a moment in time… August 1980 in the kitchen of the home where the author grew up. You can see the side by side avocado green fridge on the far side of my Mom (in the yellow) and by best friend from 9th grade talking to her. Behind my sister in law you see the matching avocado green stove and tea kettle.

*Kenmore brand portable dishwasher ad from the 1980’s*

When the hubby and I bought our fixer upper house in 1981, there was not a dishwasher. So we did what any young couple with a house but zero money for anything else did: we went to the Sears Roebuck scratch and dent store. It was located in the basement of the building which is now Starbucks headquarters on First Avenue South in Seattle.

And just like my mom’s kitchen a portable dishwasher was needed. We had to buy a skinny minny sort of model so it could fit in the small space available. Just like Mom’s, it was avocado green with a butcher block top. Double duty! Not only did it wash dishes but it served as a cutting board. It looked something like the one pictured here, but much, much smaller.

Man, we were livin’ the dream! Had fridge AND a dishwasher too.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator.

Jake The Alligator Man

Aug1

A Long Beach, Washington Icon since 1967

August 1, 2023

A Tuesday Newsday Classic updated

Happy Birthday to that northwest icon, symbol of blatant commercialism, and resident of Long Beach, Washington… Jake the Alligator Man!

*An Alligator Man postcard – one of many such items*

How fun it was, on August 1, 2014, to be at Long Beach and join in the parade for Jake’s 75^th birthday, be given free cupcakes, and really celebrate this once in a lifetime event.

Or not. As it turns out the town of Long Beach celebrates Jake’s 75^th birthday EVERY year and has been doing so for the past 11 years. So maybe it’s really Jake’s 86^th birthday? Call me cynical but I’m starting to think that this is all a ploy for tourists to spend more money on Jake gear and at local motels and restaurants.

I’ve also learned that his birthday is not always on August First but seems to coincide with whichever date the first Saturday in August might fall.

Jake’s murky beginnings are just that, murky. What we do know is that Jake was discovered in 1967 at an antique shop in San Francisco. He was adopted by the owners of Marsh’s Free Museum for a mere $750 dollars and has lived in Long Beach ever since.

I feel pretty certain that I probably saw Jake that first year as my family spent two weeks every summer on the Peninsula. Shopping at Marsh’s during a Long Beach visit was a must do. Although Jake was once relegated to a dusty corner of Marsh’s Free Museum – along with the two-headed calf and the shrunken head – his celebrity is such that he now has a whole display area with a variety of t-shirts, bumper stickers, posters, key chains and glassware dedicated to the Gatorman. And Creepy Dolls like him also.

The Infallible Wikipedia has done a poor job of telling the whole history of Jake. What’s up with that Infallible One?

*Jake communing with an assortment of creepy dolls*

So I will skip them this week and instead share the article which catapulted Jake into legend status back in 2008 when that paper of international renown and impeccable credentials – the World Weekly News – published an article titled “Manigator Found.”

*Sandy the Creepy doll dons her Jake t-shirt and visits her ‘friend’*

“MIAMI, Florida — The discovery of a bizarre half-human, half-alligator in the Florida Everglades has flabbergasted scientists who say the creature is alive, at least moderately intelligent and possibly even a distant ancestor of modern man!

That’s the word from paleontologist Dr. Paul Ledbrader, who studied the creature in his laboratory for almost three hours before state wildlife officials seized the 5-foot, 11-inch, 180-pound beast and airlifted it to a research facility just west of Miami.

Nobody at the state wildlife commission is talking. But Dr. Ledbrader says the U.S. Forest Service sent no fewer than five experts to the facility to study the reptile in the hope of determining exactly where it came from — and what it might be.

‘I know what it isn’t — and that’s an ordinary alligator,’ said Dr. Ledbrader.”

To read more of their amazing discovery and the highly credible, and certainly not made up Dr. Ledbrader, click here:

http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/1717/manigator-found/

Be sure to make plans to attend Jake’s 12th annual 75th birthday party in 2018: http://jakethealligatorman.com/

*2020 Update!

Sadly, Jake’s birthday celebration – once again scheduled for Saturday, August 1st – was cancelled. But that did not stop Mr. Gator from donning a birthday hat, a couple feather boas, and celebrating with friends and fans that just might happen to stop by his house. Of course, HE was NOT socially distancing but this friend was. Perhaps next year. Be sure to mark your calendars for August 7, 2021. It’ll be a party.

*2021 Update – Jake’s birthday celebration has been cancelled for this year. Man, poor Jake is not feeling the love these days.

*2023 Update – Well, Jake’s celebration SHOULD be on Saturday, August 5. This internet sleuth searched and searched and there was nothing posted regarding Jake’s birthday. So I traveled to Long Beach and to the source, Marsh’s Free Museum, on July 31st and asked the guy behind the counter. This is what I learned! Covid pretty much ended the party as the person who had organized the event each summer left. Alas, no one has taken up the banner and Jake is now living a much quieter life.

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/jake-the-alligator-man-long-beach-washington