Things I Should Throw Out: Having Fun In the 1970s
Published April 10th, 2007 in Trash Tags: Arizona, History, Print.
Nowadays, we have the internet to keep us aligned with the wonderful world of entertainment. (Many of you, in fact, may at this very moment be reading this for entertainment.) But couch potatoes of previous generations were not so lucky. They had to rely on such rudimentary tools as print. I was no exception of course, but I did attempt a privative sort of interactivity. Armed with nothing so advanced as scissors, some glue and a few free pages in an ordinary spiral bound notebook, I managed to create my own “channel” of sorts, made up of my favorite newspaper clippings.
I suppose there’s nothing special about these clippings — just the kind of stuff that would have caught the eye of a cynical seventies teenager. But looking back, I wish I’d saved more of the Nancy comic strips and the Reg Manning editorial cartoons, and less of the giant pot plants, the fields of doomed poultry and people playing earth ball. Where were my priorities??
All is not lost, however. I’m very glad I kept the article about “Wonderful” Russell Shaw from 1974. Though he started out as a local radio celebrity, Russ soon branched out. He was a regular contributor to the Arizona humor mag the Razz Revue, and used the magazine as a platform to launch a full-fledged satirical campaign for governor, as the article here alludes to. His ascent culminated in his collaboration with Todd Carroll on the Love Workshop radio program.
Celebrities in the news:
Bring on the clones
Limousines for jailbirds
No checks please
Beatles monument irks Liverpool
Russ likes offbeat commercials
Lifestyle:
10,000 dinners for tomorrow
A whole new ball game
The grass is high
Man douses self
Television damaged by urine
Comics Section:
Somebody left the water on upstairs
A gorilla escaped from the zoo today
I wonder if there were tribute bands in the 70’s…I was too young to pay attention. When I first looked at the Clones I immediately thought of Erin Moran (Happy Days),Frank Zappa/Borat, and Gilda Radner impersonators. Of course to do Zappa the Croce guy would have to grow an Imperial. And there was a potential Sha Na Na guy there as well. Perhaps 2 were there…
I do have fond memories of reading Nancy and Slugo! Thanks for the memories from a weird era.
These clippings would be even better with dates attached to them.
Unfortunately, I didn’t save the dates.
I’ll never forget when the girl from Petaluma told Harold’s
mom about her brother sticking his head in the tv and doing
his own show….just before Harold staged a suicide in the
backyard. Of course, Harold became a musician at the end.
No selfrespecting 70’s girl would ever follow Maude’s advice
and bail on the rebels of tomorrow.keep it up.
Ahhh… the fine cartooning genius of Ernie Bushmiller! Bostrom, thanks so much for reminding me of the days when I would tear thru the LA times to read the latest Nancy comic strip… Definitely one of the most curious strips in the funny papers, I once again find myself asking “… What is the point here?” You did the right thing by saving this… my only question is…. is this one comic strip or two?
The “Nancy” selection is comprised of two different dailies.
I’ve seen that Earthball before! I have a whole book of games published by the New Games Foundation, and that photo is in the book. The games sound cool but I’ve never played any of them.