There were a few children's programs on TV actually aimed at adults. Rocky and Bullwinkle was one of the most charming; still fresh today.
I only lament that these haven't been remastered for better quality and preserved.
If they have--I'd love to know where they can be found.
Anybody?
You see, I think children learn a certain kind of sensibility/sense of humor gradually, depending on what they're exposed to and learn to enjoy.
A couple of nights ago (not to change the conversation to radically) my grown son and I watched Blazing Saddles at a local Movie Tavern. I'd never seen the film.
The year it came out (1974) I was busy moving from Texas to California and I had plenty occupying my consciousness.
Anyway...
Seeing it for the very first time--I was gobsmacked at how deliberately provocative this film *seems* because of Political Correctness. The "N" word is everywhere.
Yes, Richard Pryor helped write the script--so, what do you expect? Right?
But...
In the mouth of white people, even in comedic historical context, it was quite jarring.
If we wonder at the lingering mindset of racism, I don't think we can excuse the proliferation of "racism for comedy" influences on people my age, over a long tradition of saying bad things to get a laugh.
___
Rocky and Bullwinkle (to get back on topic) was a delightful oasis in the field of children's entertainment because of the lack of mean-spirited silliness.
I don't like talking philosophy and morality very much when it comes to humor or movies, actually. Yet--in this instance--apparently I had some reservations.
Your mileage may vary.
TerryWalstrom
JoinedPosts by TerryWalstrom
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6
A POEM (inspired by Bullwinkle Moose)
by TerryWalstrom inflowers___________flowers don't have legs, and cannot run about.
flowers simply never make a fist.. flowers do not whisper, and they seldom ever shout, flowers will not put you on their list.__.
dahlias don’t pay income tax or drive a maserati.
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TerryWalstrom
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6
A POEM (inspired by Bullwinkle Moose)
by TerryWalstrom inflowers___________flowers don't have legs, and cannot run about.
flowers simply never make a fist.. flowers do not whisper, and they seldom ever shout, flowers will not put you on their list.__.
dahlias don’t pay income tax or drive a maserati.
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TerryWalstrom
FLOWERS
___________
Flowers don't have legs, and cannot run about.
Flowers simply never make a fist.Flowers do not whisper, and they seldom ever shout,
Flowers will not put you on their list.
__Dahlias don’t pay income tax or drive a Maserati.
Goldenrod won’t cruise along the highway.Jonquils don’t solve Rubik’s cube or holiday in Maui.
Moon Orchids seldom sail the evening skyway.
__Violets aren’t violent, though pine trees can be knotty.
Kissing without Tulips is absurd.In ancient Rome, the Four O’clock was oft confused with IV.
Bird of Paradise is not a bird!
__Men aspire to greatness while flowers strive for color.
A Daffodil in sunshine boasts success.Men will brag of power by the hour, but they're duller than a Peony
with penchant to impress.
__Hummingbirds and honey bees may never wear out welcome,
nor August afternoons of summer rain.A riot among Hollyhocks or wild Gardenia bedlam,
by contrast with a soccer match, is sane.
*This is why
I LOVE FLOWERS!
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A poem by Terry Walstrom inspired by Bullwinkle Moose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv1L-8f2erg
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieOGZtGUjRQ -
4
CAWS for CONCERN (Edgar the Crow gives fair warning)
by TerryWalstrom incaws for concern!
malone.
(a vagrant escapee from a butterfly net and he's on starbucks' patio jabbering non-stop at me!).
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TerryWalstrom
CAWS for CONCERN!
He says he's B.G. Malone.
(A vagrant escapee from a butterfly net and he's on Starbucks' patio jabbering non-stop at me!)Bee Gee is carrying a cheap guitar held together with lots of duct tape.
His baseball cap, dark glasses, and grizzled 'old prospector' beard is stubbly salt and pepper colored.
He has an annoying twang in his vocal delivery, like the love child of Buck Owens and Gabby Hayes. (Look em' up, youngsters.)He shouts at his own body parts, snapping commands to his knees:
"Bend, damn ya--BEND!"
He's been jabbering non-stop for ten minutes looking in my direction--as though--I am interested. Hint: I am not; except as an object of writing just now.He's ended a few 'sentences' with the inexplicable: 'That possum's on the stump, fer sure.'
I'm now the wiser for having Bee Gee explain to me about his hopefully estranged girlfriend, "Her heart is a thumpin' gizzard."His best friend ran off with her and he's an 'egg suckin' dog.'
Apparently, he had 'done gone playin' music at a local tavern' when he left the two of them alone. What happened next was this.
"The two of them got busier than a cat coverin' crap on a marble floor."
I hope I don't know what that means!So far, he hasn't asked me any questions. I may not even really be visible. I wish the reverse were true!
Oh, Sweet Jeezus! He' pulled out a three-foot-long flag pole with a rebel flag! He's swatting bees with it.
This explains and clears up a mystery for me.
About five minutes before Bee Gee showed up in my sacred space, EDGAR the wonder CROW (This crow has been coming around for over a year. I named him, observe him, and write about his antics.) had been screaming in crow language, five sharp "Caw Caw Caw Caw Caws."He was giving either I or his fellow fledges a 'Head's Up!"
EDGAR is on a nearby pole right now watching my misery and discomfort.
Why do I suspect he's enjoying it?
______
I live in the South, in Fort Worth, and I've heard my share of colloquial and folk expressions. I have never heard what's coming out of Bee Gee's bewhiskered old mouth before!
I'm writing them down as fast as he comes out with them!
I posted them on Facebook earlier today, like a stenographer, as fast as I could:
More Bee Gee Malone observations:
"He’s so cheap he wouldn’t give a nickel to see Jesus ridin’ a bicycle."
"I couldn’t buy a hummingbird on a string for a nickel."
AND...the very disturbing:
"Those pants were so tight I could see her religion."
This guy should be grabbed by scientists and studied in a laboratory.
He doesn't stop talking!
More wild and weird folk banter:
He doesn't know whether to "check his ass or scratch his watch."
He said he's "as confused as a fart in a fan factory."
This next one is beyond anything I've ever heard:
"Happier than ol' Blue layin' on the porch chewin' on a big ol' catfish head."
Bee Gee's former best friend: "He's so dumb, he could throw himself on the ground and miss."
He's still at it!
"I feel like I been 'et by a wolf and sh** off a cliff."
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YAAAY! Bee Gee just got up and went inside next door, shouting to his arms, telling them to pull--dammit-pull. I feel sorry for whoever is inside that business. (It'a Battery company.)
He is back out. I think he was finally run off.
Bee Gee squinted at the bright sun and offered one last bit of wisdom before he hobbled off down way.
"It’s hotter than two rabbits screwin’ in a wool sock!"
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20
BUSTED by a GYPSY
by TerryWalstrom inbusted by a gypsy__________________how do i know they are gypsy?i had some run-ins in l.a. many years back.
had they worn a banner it wouldn't have been more obvious.the patriarch wore a special hat with a silver spangled band.i've seen the old gypsy with his cane and his scowl.
he walks like a king or a panther at prowl.
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TerryWalstrom
I've been thinking much more about the concept of obeying RULES and LAWS.
All those years as a JW crossing my T's and dotting my I's, and even stupidly going to prison--taking shit from stupid Elders...
It isn't an excuse but a damned good reason for getting a warp in my grain about RULES.
There's nothing wrong with rules or laws--the problem is with ME!
Why do any of us get angry if a cop stops us for speeding? I dunno. What flies out of our mind is, "Don't you have any more SERIOUS crime to concern yourself with?"
That's probably childish.I used to take my shoes off at work at the bookstore after hours when we had closed. The floor was concrete and I stood all day. I got busted for it. I was warned. Guess what? I did it again! I came real close to being fired.
I thought that rule was incredibly stupid--but I kept my mouth shut (for once.) -
11
Psychedelic Jezebel
by TerryWalstrom inpsychedelic jezebel _________.
she’s psychedelic jezebel.
it says so on her vw bus, tie-dye blouse, and her handmade jewelry.. there she is now in her garden; child of the 60’s; a cinder from a long ago passed comet.she shoots me the “peace sign”.
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TerryWalstrom
Just for the record, my nethermost regions have no sacred script!
If I were, at my age, to seek any tattoo at all it would probably be this one: -
20
BUSTED by a GYPSY
by TerryWalstrom inbusted by a gypsy__________________how do i know they are gypsy?i had some run-ins in l.a. many years back.
had they worn a banner it wouldn't have been more obvious.the patriarch wore a special hat with a silver spangled band.i've seen the old gypsy with his cane and his scowl.
he walks like a king or a panther at prowl.
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TerryWalstrom
I sometimes think I'm too dumb to draw a breath and yet I'm surrounded by peers.
Right now I'm sitting at a non-handicap table watching healthy people all around me sitting--you know where!
If I had a cane and a black hat with a silver band, I know what I'd do! -
11
Psychedelic Jezebel
by TerryWalstrom inpsychedelic jezebel _________.
she’s psychedelic jezebel.
it says so on her vw bus, tie-dye blouse, and her handmade jewelry.. there she is now in her garden; child of the 60’s; a cinder from a long ago passed comet.she shoots me the “peace sign”.
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TerryWalstrom
Heck, thanks.
We all see people every now and then who never left a certain era or year or style long ago defunct. They got stuck in time like Billy Pilgrim.
I still see Farrah Fawcett hairdo's in Fort Worth, for example.
My next-door neighbor halfway scares, mystifies, and amuses me.
I'm sure if you asked her, she'd say the same about me :) -
20
BUSTED by a GYPSY
by TerryWalstrom inbusted by a gypsy__________________how do i know they are gypsy?i had some run-ins in l.a. many years back.
had they worn a banner it wouldn't have been more obvious.the patriarch wore a special hat with a silver spangled band.i've seen the old gypsy with his cane and his scowl.
he walks like a king or a panther at prowl.
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TerryWalstrom
I once, many years ago, parked in front of a vacant building near Six Flags Over Texas. The business which had gone bankrupt had moved. The no-parking signs Terry assumed were no longer applicable. I figured, "How is a non-existent business going to be hurt by my parking in front of it?"
Well, you can guess what happened next.
My car was towed.
It took several hours to locate the towing location, find cash to pay the $200 fine, get a taxi to drive me there. Wait forever for them to find my car on their vast lot in the dark and drive home with my wife and kids fuming over my stupidity.
So you see, I still think somewhere in my pea-sized brain that I was right.
Practically speaking, I was disabused of that notion.
I don't know which was worse, having to pay cash for my own car to be towed from in front of a vacant building--or--thinking I was in the right.
If I were a different sort of person, a NORMAL one, these kinds of things would never happen to me. Worse still, I don't seem to learn my lesson. Ever. -
11
Psychedelic Jezebel
by TerryWalstrom inpsychedelic jezebel _________.
she’s psychedelic jezebel.
it says so on her vw bus, tie-dye blouse, and her handmade jewelry.. there she is now in her garden; child of the 60’s; a cinder from a long ago passed comet.she shoots me the “peace sign”.
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TerryWalstrom
PSYCHEDELIC JEZEBEL
_________She’s Psychedelic Jezebel.
It says so on her VW bus, tie-dye blouse, and her handmade jewelry.There she is now in her garden; child of the 60’s; a cinder from a long ago passed comet.
She shoots me the “peace sign”. I respond with a “hang ten.”Her multi-colored hair fairly explodes outward from her scalp. The roots are white, baby--but the rest is zealous. The ‘style’ is early electrocution.
I suss out chemical happiness and the not-so-faint herbal scent of an early morning road trip down Bong-ville road...Her smile might blind me sideways. The blue-gray eyes are tuned to a distant galaxy; perhaps Betelgeuse. She’s pruning something in her vast garden. Intensely.
Speaking of intensity...
I’m pacing in front of the house.
I stalk the driveway. Nervous energy. I’m scoping out the sky, the weather, the clouds, and the next decision I make will be bicycle friendly. Or not.That unmistakable voice of hers rings out:
“I saw him in concert once.”
Her soil-rich finger is pointing directly at my T-shirt. I look down clueless.
Oh.
I didn’t buy this shirt for myself. It was a gift.
“Margaritaville”, I can make out but it’s upside down and the rest is a date and location.She begins a chorus in the middle of the song and points to her tats as she sways.
“With nothing to show but this brand new tattoo.
But it's a real beauty,
A Mexican cutie, how it got here
I haven't a clue.”I’m getting good at faking a smile. I nod pseudo-approvingly and shrug. I can see
She is noticing for the first time that her neighbor has no visible tattoos.“Where are your Tats?”
The face she’s giving me is a scold and a challenge. She's judging me with disapproval.
Meanwhile, the bad part of my brain is busy preparing a reply and I’m not anxious to hear what it’s going to be.My mouth flies open and I hear myself say,
“I’ve got the 10 commandments in a spiral around my asshole.”I immediately cringe! What a sick mind you have, Terry!
I look over at her. She is beaming.“Cool beans!” Her head is nodding.
I think I have won her respect.______
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20
BUSTED by a GYPSY
by TerryWalstrom inbusted by a gypsy__________________how do i know they are gypsy?i had some run-ins in l.a. many years back.
had they worn a banner it wouldn't have been more obvious.the patriarch wore a special hat with a silver spangled band.i've seen the old gypsy with his cane and his scowl.
he walks like a king or a panther at prowl.
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TerryWalstrom
The point (or moral) of my story is that I judged a man and he judged me back. I was the only person in the story provably wrong. I may be the only jerk!
In writing it down, I grappled with self-justification. I don't want to be wrong or at fault even if I clearly AM!
A kid says, "Everybody else is doing it."
That's also what the Nazis said at the Nuremberg trials.Only one good thing has come out of the incident. I was shamed into seeing I'm a jerk for EVER sitting in a handicap spot.
I deserve public calling out and humiliation.
Getting the story posted guarantees I can't hide the fact I am an ass.
There is something to be said for the old fashioned public humiliation method of curing scofflaws such as myself by pillory!
