BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Sep 03 - 06:10 PM

Jeri-

I grew up on a dairy farm, a small herd of Jersey cows, no pasturization, no homogenization, just the real stuff in glass bottles. Father would run the milk around town to about 60 customers. When he'd run for town selectboard, no one would dare to vote against him because he had the goods on everything going on in their homes.

We did have a tractor but no bailer for hay, just an old Dimond Reo truck which we'd fill with hay stacks, and then unload in the barn. Haying as I remember it was 3 weeks of Hell, very little time to lean on pitchforks and sing songs about milkmaids.

Who remembers those red ration coins from WW II, and the blackout curtains!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, happier and wiser

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Amos
Date: 20 Sep 03 - 04:42 PM

Well, knock me down and call me shorty, Don!! You got the goods on me, fair and square!! lol!!


A

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Don Firth
Date: 20 Sep 03 - 03:56 PM

Answers to the quiz for real geezers, posted 19 Sep 03 - 06:10 PM19 Sep 03 - 06:10 PM:—

1. Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy went to Hudson High School when he was not out having fabulous adventures with the younger Betty and Billy Fairfield and their Uncle Jim, who if I remember correctly, was an explorer. Billy Fairfield was the one who kept saying things like, "Well, criminentlies, Uncle Jim. . . ." (oft quoted by comedian George Gobel—do you remember George Gobel?). The theme song of the program was "Wave the Flag for Hudson High, Boys," and the program was sponsored by Wheaties, the "Breakfast of Champions." It ran from 1933 to 1951.

2. The names of the "Three Comrades" in I Love a Mystery were Jack, Doc, and Reggie—Jack Packard (generic American adventurer), Doc Long (Texan, with a mouthful of grits and gravy), and Reggie Yorke (Englishman with quite prominent accent). They were world traveling adventurers seeking out mysteries, both natural and supernatural, and rescuing women in distress (many of whom were played by well-know radio actress Mercedes McCambridge). Also, a young Tony Randall was in the cast (may have played Reggie, but I'm not sure). The show ran from 1939 to 1952. Sometimes it got sufficiently scary that parents didn't want their kids listening to it. It was one of my favorites.

(One of my favorite series' of episodes of I Love a Mystery was entitled "Stairway to the Sun" in which the Three Comrades, lost in the Andes Mountains, discover a stairway up through the clouds to a plateau on top of a mountain. On this plateau is a sort of Arthur Conan Doyle style "Lost World," full of bizarre dinosaur-like animals, gigantic man-eating plants, and an ancient Inca civilization. They rescue somebody (probably Mercedes McCambridge) from being sacrificed to some god or other and barely escape with their lives. Back when I was a kid, nine-year-olds really got off on this stuff!)

3. A group of Texas Rangers went out to capture the notorious Cavandish Gang. The gang ambushed the rangers and presumably massacred them all. A lone Indian, Tonto, happened on the scene of the slaughter and found that one of the rangers, though badly wounded, was still alive. He took care of him and nursed him back to health. Determined to finish the job he had been sent out to do, John Reid, the lone surviving ranger adopted the enigmatic sobriquet The Lone Ranger, and added to the enigma by hiding his true identity behind a mask. With Tonto's help, he succeeded in bringing the Cavandish Gang to justice, then went on to bring justice to the Old West—600 episodes-worth from 1933 until it morphed from radio to television in the Fifties.

[Theory: This was at a time when many solo heroes and superheroes were taking on a younger "apprentice." Batman, who had been solo in his earlier adventures, was joined by Robin, Captain America was joined by Bucky, Buck Rogers was often joined by the pubescent Buddy and Alura Deering, Col. Wilma Deering's nephew and niece, and so on. Usually it was someone's nephew. I think the idea was that since these programs and comic books were aimed at kids, it would be a good idea to include a young character that the kids could identify with. Nonsense, say I! I always identified with the Lone Ranger, or Batman, or Buck Rogers, not the young sidekick.]

In later episodes (and I can't remember exactly how it happened), the Lone Ranger and Tonto were joined by the Lone Ranger's teen-aged nephew, Dan Reid, and the threesome continued the crusade for justice.

Years later, a young man named Britt Reid was the editor of a crime and corruption-fighting newspaper. Determining that, all too often, there were criminals that the authorities simply couldn't get the goods on, Britt Reid, remembering the stories his father, Dan Reid, had told him about the adventures he'd had with his mysterious masked uncle out West, Britt decided to go the same route—the masked crime-fighter—and The Green Hornet came into existence. Parallels: the hidden identity; the Lone Ranger never killed anyone, if someone drew on him, he beat him to the draw and shot the gun out of his hand (damn good shooting!), and the Green Hornet used a gas gun that put his quarry to sleep until the police arrived; The Lone Ranger's sidekick was the Indian Tonto and the Green Hornet's sidekick was his Japanese valet Kato (early in WWII, Kato suddenly became Filipino); the Lone Ranger had The Great White Stallion, "Silver" and the Green Hornet had his souped up car, "The Black Beauty." The biggest parallel of all was that both characters were created by Fran Stricker. And, of course, that most of the same actors were heard on both shows.

So the relationship? The Lone Ranger was the Green Hornet's great-uncle.

I find this sort of thing lots of fun. But it's undoubtedly more than you ever wanted to know.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: kendall
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 07:39 PM

Curmudgeon, you are good! However, I was asking the character's name. He had 5 of them. Hint first one was Chito.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Amos
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 07:19 PM

I recall having real words in my phone numbers -- POrter 2-3882!

A

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: michaelr
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 07:16 PM

I think of myself as a geezer-in-training. :-)

When I was a kid, our phone number was 806!

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Amos
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 07:07 PM

Gee, Don -- I think you and Kendall must have been pals in a past life -- this one! :>)


A

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: toadfrog
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 06:42 PM

One answer is wrong. Mimeograph machines did not use purple ink. Ditto machines did.

Question: What was the radio show, where the sponser's advertisement was:

I stood on the bridge at midnight.
They took the bridge away!
But I didn't care,
For I was still there,
Eating a Milky Way?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Don Firth
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 06:10 PM

That was a pretty good test for the kids. Now, how about one for us real geezers?

Here are a couple for you:
1. What high school did Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy go to?
2. What were the names of the "three comrades" in the the radio drama "I Love a Mystery?" (No, not Larry, Curly, and Moe!)
and here's a dandy!
3. How are the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet related? (They are, you know.)

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Mark Clark
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 02:30 PM

I remember Smilin’ Ed very well. Saturday morning radio was Smilin’ Ed with Froggy, Big John and Sparky (No School Today) and Comander ‘Buzz’ Corey and the Spaaaaaaace Patrolllll.

My lowest wage for an actual job was $0.75/hr at Compton's Car Wash in Phoenix, AZ, early in 1961. My buddy and I were on the road and trying to get enough money together to get on to Denver.

In the 1950's a favorite pastime was to fill one of our jalopies with kids, take up a collection for gas money, get a total of $0.85 or so and drive around all night drag racing the other kids in their jalopies, a la Henry Gregor Felson. The places Felson wrote about were my old stomping grounds.

I missed #5—hadn't heard of leg painting, must have been a metropolitan thing, #16—why smell ink when you can swallow bits of the core from benzadrine inhalers, and #19—I listened to the Ink Spots but don't rememember a song called Cabdriver.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 12:13 PM

Duncan Renaldo as Cisco and Leo Carillo as Pancho

William Boyd
More than one sidekick over the years. But George "Gabby" Hayes come to mind.

Curley something or other
Sheriff Mike Shaw
Tony
Hot Ralston

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Amos
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 01:02 AM

Purdy good, Kendall, considering it was your second childhood!! LOL!!

A

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: kendall
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 10:51 PM

16, believe it or not.

Ok, who played The Cisco Kid in the movies?
what was his sidekicks name? his stage name.

Hopalong Cassidy?
his sidekick?

Who played Tom Mix on radio?
what was the sheriffs name?
Toms horse?
His sponser?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Amos
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 10:36 PM

Bill --

I am not going to quibble but just for the record I believe it went:

"Hi!! I'm Buster Brown -- I live in a shoe!
And here's my dog, Tige -- he lives there too!"

None of which made much sense to me, but hey, it was the Fifties.

Regards,


A

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 09:56 PM

Charlie, it squeezes out the top. Up, not out and 'kablooie'. I know you're way older and much more geezerish than I, but did you grow up with milk boxes and milk men? I can remember the stuff freezing!

Freezing milk de-homogenizes it. It wasn't homogenized in the first place, so it didn't matter much. We'd just bring it in and let it thaw somewhere drip-proof. Neighbors used to use the milk box to drop stuff off.

Do you remember (in the US) when your telephone number's first 2 digits were letters? When telling someone your phone number, you usually didn't say the letters, but a word containing the letters. Our letters were FR and the word was Franklin.

Remember when there was no such thing as a zip code?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 08:58 PM

*grin*...or even DURING breakfast! (what pedantsgeezers do is, they expound loudly on those things they DO remember well, and look the other way when it's fuzzy! as is often the case.)

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 08:47 PM

Charley -- Not with loose fitting cardboard tops.

Bill D -- Thanks for resurrecting my feeble memory. Yours is amazing. Whisky before Breakfast?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 08:42 PM

Frozen milk would break the milk bottle! What a bunch of idiots. Still, I only got 17, not being up on things like TV shows and popular music.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, summer of '42

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 08:36 PM

*pedant alert!!!!*

the jingle went: "I've got shoes, you've got shoes, everybody's gotta have shoes, but there's only one kinda shoes for me, good ol' Buster BROWN shoes"

and the intro went: "Wrooofff!, Wrooofff!" "..that's my DOG, TIGE, he lives in a shoe. I'm Buster Brown- look for ME in there, too!!!!...."

*end pedant alert*

Ah, selective memory! (don't ask me what I had for breakfast this morning!)

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 08:36 PM

No.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 08:33 PM

Was the TV Sherlock Holmes the one with Basil Rathbone?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 08:31 PM

Does anyone else remember Mister I-Magination with Paul Tripp; Lucky Pup, starring the Great Phoodini and his assistant Pinhead the Peerless?

In The TV Adventures of Robin Hood, who played Robin, Maid Marion, the Sheriff of Nottingham, Little John?

In the TV Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, who played Holmes, Watson, Lestrade?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 08:28 PM

Geezette then. What the heck was that poem!? I'm going to have to go scrounging in the basement for my kiddie books if someone doesn't know what I'm talking about. Poem. Milk freezing and tops popping off. Oy.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 08:25 PM

For old New Englanders only:

What did Big Brother Bob Emery do with his glass of milk?

What did he inadvertantly say when he though that the sound was turned off?

What was the phone number of Adams and Swett Carpet Cleaners?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 08:19 PM

That's impressive Noreen - I only got five. But I'd have thought you'd have to be a bloke to be a geezer, so you don't qualify.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Amos
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 05:37 PM

"And this is my DOG, TIGE!!!!...."


"Wrooofff!"

LOL. Ah, memory....

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 05:33 PM

On the radio, the jingle went:

"I've got shoes, you've got shoes, everybody's got shoes,
"But there's only one kind of shoes for me, good old Buster Brown Shoes."

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 05:19 PM

I have to admit that i first encountered the Buster Brown Club on the radio before the TV was common. I seem to recall that Smilin' Ed started on tv, but died early in the run, but not before Andy Devine had become famous as "Jingles."

Don't forget "Midnight" the cat who meowed "Nice."

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: RangerSteve
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 05:07 PM

I don't remember Smilin' Ed; my memories of Froggy were from Ed's successor, Andy Devine on "Andy's Gang".

I've got a gang, you've got a gang, everybody's gotta have a gang.
But the only gang that's good enough for me is GOOD OLD ANDY'S GANG!

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 04:41 PM

I worked 2 weeks at 35¢ an hour...but that was for a cheapskate..75¢ was more standard on my next job in a grocery store.

Paid 17.9¢ per gallon of gas once, during a gas war..(does that count?)

and I remember as a kid paying 6¢ for ice cream bars/popsicles...we were outraged when it went up to 7¢!(yes, it WAS past the days of ½ cent pieces!)

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: curmudgeon
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 04:37 PM

It was Smilin" Ed McConnell who said the words "Plunk your magic twanger, Froggie!"

"I'm Buster Brown; I live in a shoe.
"This is my dog, Tige, he lives in there too."

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: RangerSteve
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 04:29 PM

Claymore, I believe it's "pluck", not "Bang", as in "pluck your magic twanger, Froggy". It's not your fault, the frog made you say the wrong word. As the Italian stereotype on that show would say
"Stupid-a Frog, always make-a me say da wrong-a ting"!

I got all 20 questions right, which is better than Amos did because it was the Mills Brothers, not the Ink Spots who sang Cab Driver.
(I do not have a self-satisfied smirk on my face as I write this).

There's an Amish-run grocery store at the flea market in Columbus NJ, (Burlington County, on Route 206) that sells those wax bottles of colored sugar water. I almost bought some, but passed them up, opting for a bag of rootbeer barrels instead.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 04:08 PM

I can't remember my wage or the price of gas, but I do remember when comics cost 10 cents, gum cost a penny, and a model airplane cost 50 cents.

I got 13 on the test, but might have scored higher with a few lucky guesses. I left some of them blank, cos I had no idea what the answer was.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 04:03 PM

95 cents an hour at my first "official" job - but remember gas at 12 cents a gallon.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 03:58 PM

If you REALLY want to see who is a geezer, lets see who comes up with the lowest answers to the following:

1. What is the lowest wage you ever worked for. A real wage with a real paycheck, not just a tip for mowing the lawn. 87.5 cents per hour for me!

2. What is the lowest you can remember paying for a gallon of gasoline? Afraid this may only apply to US and Canadian Catters, but those of you who do not spend dollars please reply too! Its 19 cents per gallon here!

Mark

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 03:53 PM

HA! I only got 16 right.

Robert Frost (I think) wrote a poem about frozen milk bottle. For some reason I thought it was a bit halloweenie-scary when I was a kid. Must go try to find it to see why it seems creepy in my memory.

Amos, I LOVED Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent - Beanie got second billing as sidekick. Yep, I had a board game with a little Cecil puppet that talked when you pulled a string. My mom did something with it.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: jimmyt
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 03:06 PM

Perfect score, and it is kinda depressing! By the way, is it just me, or does the duck and cover drill seem particularly ineffective? Perhaps if it had been duck, cover, and kiss your ass goodbye?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: GUEST,Claymore
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 02:17 PM

Amos, what was Froggies famous saying? Hint: "Bang the magic -------...." Who was Buster Brown's dog and where did he live?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Amos
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 12:50 PM

I would like to know how come Cecil the Sea Serpent, Rootie-Kazootie, Polka Dottie, and Froggie didn't make the cut for this examination!!


A

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 12:37 PM

I remember when my daddy used to give me fifteen cents at the bowling alley and I could buy a drink AND a bag of chips.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: maire-aine
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 12:06 PM

I used to watch Howdy all the time. And I remember that my mother wouldn't let me play with the other kids running under the sprinklers in the summer, for fear of polio. And I still have furniture (a rocking chair and a table) that were bought with Gold Bell Gift Stamps.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Amos
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 11:44 AM

Claymore:

You are right as well. There were both versions, live and puppet, of the Princess. The one I fell in love with was live, though. The puppet somnehow never diod anything for me. Funny, feel the same way about the Resident.

A

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: GUEST,misophist
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 11:33 AM

All this is Nothing. How many of you remember Howdy Doody on the radio?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: GUEST,Claymore
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 11:25 AM

Yo! Yo! Unless my memory has completely gone, I recall Princess Summerfallwinterspring (Question 15) was a live person, along with Buffalo Bob and Clarabell. I'm calling for a recount...

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 11:04 AM

I didn't keep track, but I got several right, even though I was born in 1967.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Metchosin
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 11:03 AM

Wow, my husband and I were just talking about the Gestetner machine yesterday, how special you felt if the teacher took you out of class and allowed you to crank the handle and how we missed that smell......and we speculated if we really did get high on it. Syncronicity strikes again for a couple of old geezers here, although we got stumped on the princess.

We also missed the peppermint taste of white paste, the slightly salty taste of ink from fountain pens and red pens holders you stuck the nibs in and the smell of new text books. Can't remember why they didn't let us use ballpoints, I'm sure they were around.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 10:13 AM

I never even heard of sniffing mimeograph ink or leg painting, but those were the only possible answers there, so I got a 20...

(and isn't Caroline's pony a bit out of date for the other questions?)

Mebbe I'll devise a cleverer test...*grin*...(lessee, who hollered "yes, you're a Lemac now?" on a quiz program...and what made Red Ryder so different in a gunfight..)

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: Amos
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 09:27 AM

I got 18, having missed on the Studebaker and the uses of Butch Wax. Interesting how we define our periods by these things, innit!?

A

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 09:10 AM

19 here too, Jeff.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Think You're a Geezer??' Exam! (US)
From: jeffp
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 08:01 AM

Sheeez! 19! Somebody help me back to bed.

jeffp