Entertainment For Lively Minds
Not so much nostalgia, more like archaeology - 50s-60s TV series we loved as kids
Catching up with the last two episodes of Merlin over the weekend set me thinking about the TV I used to watch when we had only two channels that didn't broadcast all day long, and when burly chaps with swords and burly chaps in chaps ruled the 5.00-6.00 children's hour slot.
Off the top of my head... The Buccaneers, Sir Francis Drake, Ivanhoe (with pre-Simon Templar Roger Moore), Adventures of Sir Lancelot, William Tell, Richard the Lionheart and the daddy of them all,
And from across the water, though not all children's series per se...
The Cisco Kid, Bronco, Rawhide (with a very young Clint Eastwood), Wagon Train, Have Gun Will Travel, Wyatt Earp, with his trademark Colt Buntline Special (steady, Rev Spooner!), and my favourite, Cheyenne, with Clint Walker. Popular name for '50's cowboys, Clint:
Big fan of I Spy, with Bill Cosby and Robert Culp, and The Man from Uncle, too, though leant more towards Ilya Kuryakin than the too-smooth Napoleon Solo. Always felt peeved that the toy M from U gun I had for Christmas was a Mauser, rather than the TV prop automatic shown in the series. And the adventure shows Highway Patrol, Cannonball and The Whirlybirds were effective ways of keeping the little geebee quiet for half an hour or so.
Any more for any more?
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Just that bit to young for those
But loved this in 1969 and beyond. For some inexplicable reason there's no opening credits on YouTube only closing ones.
Would you be able to call a fat kid Doughnut these days?
David Lodge and Bob Todd
Now those are guest stars.
Is there anything more comforting than seeing the name David Lodge in the opening credits of a film or TV show ?
3 for now
All of a sudden its 1960 !
Rin Tin Tin
Not forgetting this Alsatian-based programme. Much better than Lassie, in my view. Plus we had an Alsatian at the time and this gave me what passed for street cred with my boyhood friends at the time.
Daktari
was an absolute staple, Tuesday evenings at 6 - for a while I modelled my behaviour on Judy the chimp - and Hogan's Heroes, a WWII prison camp comedy which still makes me laugh now.
Daktari
With Clarence The Cross Eyed Lion!
We were big on cowboys
Rawhide
Laramie
Four Feather Falls (Pixar, I spit in your face)
Not forgetting ....
Four Feather Falls, Torchy and...
Twizzle
All must-watches. I grew up with Gerry Anderson, finally outgrowing his shows with Captain Scarlet, and particular faves being Supercar and Fireball XL5:
I still want one of those hover-scooters!
Me too. In the playground I was Mike Mercury.
Or sometimes Steve Zodiac. Or Troy Tempest on a wet day. Anything can happen in the next half hour. There isn't a single programme on telly these days that can keep that promise every darn week for a whole season.
I couldn't date them
But the two I remember from BBC2 in the late 70s and early 80s were shown at the 9AM slot:
Champion the Wonder Horse
King of the Rocket Men.
Like a streak of lightning flashin' 'cross the sky,
Like the swiftest arrow whizzin' from a bow,
Like a mighty cannonball he seems to fly,
You'll hear about him everywhere you go,
Champeeeeeunnnnnnn, the wunn-derr horse!
Funny how the young brain soaks up so much stuff you forget you haven't forgotten fifty years later until someone reminds you that you've remembered.
As we discussed...
....YEARS ago, VV!
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/your-first-musical-memories
The Monkees' future drummer,
and Jim Rockford's future Dad were part of my childhood too:
The first programme I remember watching
Wally Cox as Hiram Holiday swordfighting with an umbrella in a suit of armour
Randall & Hopkirk
Starring Pink Floyd session bassplayer extraordinaire,Guy Pratt's late father, Mike.
Now this is a Thread
Forget Champion. Fury was the horse for me!
I know someone called Stacey Jones. Can never see, hear or say the name without mentally adding "steaming and a-rolling."
Used to play Champion...
... the wonder horse with my mates (when we were little) - everyone always wanted to be Rebel - the dog.
Now this is a Thread 2
Not only the best show but the best theme- Prince Planet
Japanese cartoon show from the sixties. Not shown since, not only due to it being black and white but also no doubt the extreme violence. When the young Prince despatched villians they stayed despatched, "That's the last we'll see of him!"
Also Japanese "The Samurai" To this day I wonder why I can't jump backwards into trees like these blokes do.
For some reason I think this was Canadian, "The Littlest Hobo"
The Samurai?
You must surely have been a fan of The Phantom Agents as well?
Can't say I've ever seen that
however watching it brought back memories, not only of Shintaro and "The Samarai" but making star knives in my first sheetmetal class.
I always thought this was in black and white…
…no, wait a minute, we had a black and white TV set back then.
The ultra creepy Singing Ringing Tree.
Hope that's not the Bo Selecta bear at the end.
The Fast Show did a number on this some years back
starring Warwick Davies!
Robinson Crusoe - 1964
This is the first programme that I remember being totally absorbed by;
Loved seeing Twizzle again - the Singing Ring Tree was the stuff of nightmares as a kid; Tales from Europe - the Tinder Box etc
'You've got to fight for want you want...'
Amen to that:
me again
So many favourites listed above,
especially the cowboys.
This was a real favourite: Boots and Saddles
as was Sugarfoot
and Tales of Wells Fargo
plus the Australian cowboy series Whiplash
The Terrific Adventures of The Terrible Ten (posted above) was a huge favourite. My friends and I all wanted to have somewhere like Ten Town to hang out in. It all came to an end when Ten Town got flooded, presumably after a dam had been built.
It wasn't all cowboys
Under the sea and in the skies:
Seahunt, which starred Lloyd Bridges, daddy of Jeff and Beau:
Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea
and Whirlybirds
Whirlybirds, yes!
Theme tune is permanently burned in my brain. Another flying one I loved was Garry Halliday - Bigglesish goings-on with wartime surplus transports. Nothing on YouTube unfortunately.
Another vote for Garry Halliday,
Sadly, I think we might have to wait a while before he shows up on youTube....
Series 1
28.02.59 The Exploding Balloon (missing)
07.03.59 Danger At The Mill (missing)
14.03.59 The Disappearing Diamonds (missing)
21.03.59 Into The Fire (missing)
28.03.59 The Wrong Side Of The Law (missing)
04.04.59 The Big Showdown (missing)
Series 2
26.09.59 The Jig-Saw Puzzle (missing)
03.10.59 A Cargo Of Phosphorus (missing)
10.10.59 The Invention (missing)
17.10.59 The Chamber Of Death (missing)
24.10.59 The Secret of The Safe (missing)
31.10.59 A Flame In The Sky (missing)
Series 3
16.01.60 Money Unlimited (missing)
23.01.60 The Vanishing Scientists (missing)
06.02.60 On The Run (missing)
13.02.60 The Hunt Is Up (missing)
20.02.60 The Last Hours (missing)
Series 4
05.11.60 The Man Who Forgot (missing)
12.11.60 The Counterfeit Sergeant (missing)
19.11.60 The Two Halves Of The Coin (missing)
26.11.60 Come Into My Parlour (missing)
03.12.60 A Message From A Stranger (missing)
10.12.60 The Last Of The List (missing)
17.12.60 Strong Poison (missing)
Series 5
04.02.61 A Bad Business (missing)
11.02.61 The Secret Of The Lake (missing)
18.02.61 Halliday Must Die! (missing)
25.02.61 The Disappearing Rabbits (missing)
04.03.61 The Secret Of Batch 3 (missing)
11.03.61 A Fall From Power (missing)
Series 6: Garry Halliday And The Secret Of Omar Kahayyam
06.01.62 Live And Die (missing)
13.01.62 Dawn Of Reckoning (missing)
20.01.62 The Goal (missing)
27.01.62 A Key (missing)
03.02.62 The Temple (missing)
10.02.62 Pitfall (missing)
17.02.62 Give And Take (missing)
Series 7: Garry Halliday And The Gun-Runners
24.02.62 Down To Earth (missing)
03.03.62 On The Hook (missing)
10.03.62 A Drop In The Ocean (missing)
17.03.62 Unhappy Landing (missing)
24.03.62 A Box At The Opera (missing)
31.03.62 Finale (missing)
Series 8
18.08.62 The Hi-Jackers (missing)
25.08.62 Kidnap (missing)
01.09.62 The Runaround (missing)
15.09.62 Two For The Price Of One (missing)
22.09.62 The Extra Passenger (missing)
29.09.62 The Night Ferry (missing)
(From lostshows dot com)
did you know that?
Which famous Hollywood director worked on The Whirly Birds before he made it big in the movies?
Robert Altman (M.A.S.H, McCabe and Mrs Miller, The Player etc)
Lost in Space
Loved Lost in Space as a kid. The robot was fab.
The best
Obviously the youngsters won't get this, but amongst us old gits if you can watch this without your pulse quickening, call a doctor because you just died. Surely the most exciting 1.15 of telly of its era?
first one i remember
Good call
And this
god how i loved this
and every episode is on youtube. that's my weekend sorted.
...and
Hogan's Heroes for a bit of light relief
Robin Hood
That's the Beatles' music publisher Dick James singing the theme - and some of the worst sound effects in history when that arrow hits the tree - it sounds like a rusty bedspring.
William Tell
This theme tune passed for classical music on our council estate. And health and safety would have something to say about that opening scene today!
Billy Bunter
An early screen appearance by Elton John here as the fat owl of the remove. This programme was a total mystery to me growing up. I mean, it's just posh kids talking shit while bullying a fat boy, isn't it?
Great stuff..
particularly Stingray, completely forgotten that. Now then, these haven't been mentioned yet.
77 Sunset Strip:
Alf Garnett:
The Addams Family
Must watches in my early teens...
Do Not Adjust Your Set (pre-Pythons, with added Bonzo Dogs)
The Man from Uncle
started ok
Went away, then came back as a masterpiece.
Another three from the dustier corner of the TV memory box
The Rat Patrol
Route 66
and
The mighty Get Smart.
Other faves were F Troop and Car 54, Where Are You?
Can anyone remember a TV science fiction series which would have been on around 1962, involving weird wavelengths from space (I think) that caused everyone who heard them to die with a horrible rictus grin leering into the camera lens. Fairly gave me the heebie-jeebies back then, and still resonates now.
A for Andromeda ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_for_Andromeda
Thanks, Sour Crout. Could well be...
...the year seems right and the plot outline looks like it could facilitate a scene containing the rictus grin image that's tattooed on my memory. I can also vaguely remember being hustled from the room, because the images were too shocking for six year-old geebee.
Top thread
High Chapperal!
count me in
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2085914/Lost-master-copies-child...
An hour's vigorous square bashing for you all
For neglecting the one, the only
(Sgt Bilko a.k.a. The Phil Silvers Show)
Altogether now
Dinner, dinner, dinner, dinner.....Batman!
great thread - here's a few more
when I emerged from toddlerhood in the early 70s they were still running these. loved them. Jack Lord was as cool as f**k.
always confused the Baron
with this
Lest we forget... Hanna-Barbera!
Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Pixie & Dixie, The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Atom Ant, Secret Squirrel, Shazzam, Wacky Races, The Impossibles and, the most tip-top... Top Cat!
I wanted a sword stick for years after watching this...
And that voice. Kathy Kirby stirred loins I hardly knew I had.
Has no one mentioned
'The Lone Ranger'? 'Hi ho, Silver!"