Remember what it's like to be a kid....

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo".

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!".

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.

Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in Monopoly.

It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.

Being old referred to anyone over 20.

The net on a tennis court was the perfect height to play volleyball and rules didn't matter.

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.

It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb.

It was unbelievable that dodge ball wasn't an Olympic event.

Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot.

Nobody was prettier than Mom.

Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.

It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park.

Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.

Abilities were discovered because of a double-dog-dare.

Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute ads for action figures.

No shopping trip was complete unless a new toy was brought home.

"Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense.

Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.

The worst embarrassment was being picked lastfor a team.

War was a card game.

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.

Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.

Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin.

Ice cream was considered a basic food group.

Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!!!

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Answers

LOL..Pat :)

Getting your toung stuck to an ice cube.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

toung'e'...grrr!

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Keep trying, Peg. There's only so many possible spellings for tongue. I'll give you a hint: read back one sentence.

Smartass. I know. It surfaces every once in awhile. You're the lucky recipient today. Congrats.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Oh, SHAT!!!

...as she slinks away.

Wanna take up my cause?...."Spelling lessons for Peg"..[g}

I'll even give ya a ribbin'..

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

I was remembering the snow forts we'd make when we were kids. We'd hide "inside the fort" and wait for some unsuspecting adult to walk by and BOMB!!! the snowballs would fly.

In thinking back, they had to have known we were in there. They further had to have known what our dastardly plans were. They were apparently alot better people than we ever gave them credit for.

Sorry.....I do this alot this time of year; especially this year.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute ads for action figures.

H.R. Puffnstuff was an advertisement for hallucinagens. No bout a dout it.

Then there was Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp. The all-time best kids show. After I stopped partying in my mid-twenties (OK, slowed down) I actually went to the History of Television and Radio Archives in NYC to confirm the fact that it was a real show. I was afraid I had "experienced" it in drug-induced euphoria. Please tell me someone here remembers that show.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Rich, you mean the show where APE (Agency to Prevent Evil) which was led by Darwin, fought against CHUMP? Never heard of it.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Whew! The fact was I could find hide nor hair of the show in the museum archives. Wonder what ever happened to the chimp that played Mata Hairy? She had a certain air about her.

Then there were the Banana Splits...

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Rock is dead.....LONG LIVE PAPER AND SCISSORS!! :-P

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Rich,

I don't remember that show...but I remember Puff the Magic Dragon..here is a modern pic..pretty scarey from how I knew 'the magic guy'..lol

Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee. Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff, oh

Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee. Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.

Together they would travel on boat with billowed sail Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff's gigantic tail Noble kings and princes would bow whene'er they came Pirate ships would lower their flags when Puff roared out his name, oh

CHORUS

A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys Painted wings and giants's rings make way for other toys. One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more And Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.

His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane. Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave So, Puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave, oh

CHORUS

..keeping my fingers crossed all this stuff works.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Jeez, Rich, I used to love Lancelot Link. Another favorite of mine was The Banana Splits. There was an ad for acid.

You can catch them every now and again (in the middle of the night!) on the Cartoon Network.

David, you're a scream :-)

Peg, I had that 45 (yikes! vinyl!) and my stupid little brother sat on it because he was mad at me. Still love the song, though (that pic is gonna give me nightmares -- gonna call you when I wake up screaming in the middle of the night [g]).

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Here's a coincedence for you:

I just finished (45 minutes ago) reading Gregory Benford's sci-fi work Timescape. As I turned the last page I noticed a full page advertisement for a book filled with works by the illustrator - Rowena. Check the bottom lefthand corner of Peg's Puff pic - Rowena.

Cool beans, as they say.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Between The Banana Splits, Top Cat, and He-Man, I think I've just realized why my perception of reality might have been royally FUBARed.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Oooh, forgot Top Cat....yep, that one's still on too. And Quick Draw McGraw (hee hee -- loved the El Kabong bit!). Does anyone remember Gigantor?

Sigh........

(Maybe I should have titled this thread, Old Cartoon Favorites. Hey yeah...that's it.)

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Fun trip Patricia. Try the quiz at *FRL friends*. Bet you miss at least 5, youngster! Alas, kids will always be the same but for better or worse we're not the same as our parents.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Ah...but who here remembers Clutch Cargo and his sidekick Penny? Now THAT's a classic!

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

Was Clutch Cargo the one that also had Spinner and Paddlefoot on it?

And who had a Winky Dink magic screen that finally got all messed up so you just used your Magic Crayon right on the picture tube and ticked off your mother royally? Tom Terrific? Heckle and Jeckle? Beany and Cecil? Debbie Does Dallas? (Oops. Wrong flashback...)

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

Carlos, I only missed one -- #22 (and it was only the beginning which, as kritter pointed out, isn't given in the answers!).

Yikes ;-)

Does anyone remember how your Mom always told you not to spin the channel-changer dial on the TV, but you always did it anyway, and you invariably wound up with the Pliers on Top of the TV to Change the Channel?

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2000

"Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle"

That's what happend to my Nolan Ryan rookie cards!!

Wish I knew then what I know now......

Deano

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2000

Oh, Deano.....I had a Nolan Ryan rookie card, too. And a Tom Seaver.....

I had all the NY Mets' yearbooks from 1962 on.....

[really heavy sigh.............]

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2000

Patricia

Actually, I managed to hold on to most of the cards from my youth (not the Nolan Ryan's though - durn things go for about $1500 now!). But I can remember several GOOD ONES in the spokes! I still collect cards today. Once a month my son and I will head up to the flea market and find some deals. Saving the quarters in my pocket every day yields about $30 - $40 a month to go play with.

During the summer I came across an old feller that had a couple of OLD Life Magazines for sale - the one with Mickey Mantle (June, '56 I think) on the cover AND the one with Mantle and Roger Maris on the cover in '61 when they were chasing Ruth's record. I got them both for $35!! I almost felt like I stole them from the man, but he was 'happy' to get rid of them.

Deano

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2000

Pat

Interestingly enough, both those guys - Ryan and Seaver played here in Jacksonville on their way up.

Of course back then we were a farm team for the Mets.....definitelt the good ol' days.....

Deano

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2000

Deano, they then moved to Tidewater, if I'm not mistaken; and now it's Port St. Lucie.

I remember when I was young (very young!) my Dad bought a little 13" Zenith B&W to put in the bedroom so he could watch the baseball games. And I'd sit there and watch every single one of them with him.

He was a Brooklyn Dodgers' fan, but of course they broke his heart. He never could like the Yankees, so he just kind of waited.....and waited.....

And then in 1962 The New York Metropolitans were born.

The rest, as they say, is history.

(BTW, they shoulda won the Series; I can't stand the "damn" Yankees.)

-- Anonymous, December 01, 2000

Winter is a time for baseball fans to catch up on their reading. For those with an interest in historical figures, I suggest picking up books on John McGraw, Christy Matthewson, Ty Cobb & Moe Berg. All led fascinating lives. Here's one especially for you, Patricia:

Stengel: His Life and Times by Robert Creamer.

Anyone recognize the name Moe Berg? This one's a toughie. I bet Lars knows the name. Maybe Eve too.

-- Anonymous, December 02, 2000

You mean Moe Berg, Catcher & Spy, memorialized by Holocaust Museum?

-- Anonymous, December 02, 2000

Good catch, Bee. That's the one.

-- Anonymous, December 02, 2000

Bingo:

OH my!!! I do remember lancelot link!!! sheesh, my hubby thought I was crazy.

The banana splits, hr puffenstuff and......WITCHEY POO.

hey, um, how am I doing? Now I KNOW how old you are dude. :-)

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

Oh Nuts!

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

Banana Splits?

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

Magilla Gorilla

Prince Planet

Astro Boy

Johnny Cipher

Kimba the White Lion

Hoppity Hooper

Touche Turtle

Wacky Racers

Dudley Do-Right

Morroco Mole

Atom Ant

Super Fly

and of course, Speed Racer

And now, a song for the children...

One bannana two bannana three bannana four

Four bannanas make a bunch and so do many more

Over hill and highway the bannana buggys go

Coming on to bring you the Bannana Splits Show

Tra la la, la la la la, tra la la, la la la la....

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

Oh, Patricia, BTW. I am, at this very moment wearing my Scooby Doo footies, you know, those heavy sock-like foot warmers. But don't you DARE tell a soul. Shhhhhh.

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

As long as you don't tell anyone that I still WATCH that cartoon, when I catch it on Cartoon Network ;-)

The Banana Splits theme song has been on my mind since I read your post earlier today. It's kind of like It's A Small World -- once you get it in your head, it's there for awhile.

Rats.....wish I hadn't thought of THAT one :-)

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

What about Mighty Mouse???

He was my fav!

-- Anonymous, December 04, 2000