Memento mentioned that she loved Louise Fletcher due to her Oscar acceptance speech, which took me down an Academy Awards rabbit hole of 70's award speeches.. Those who presented the awards were dressed to the nines and the men wore tuxedos. The stage/theater had an elegant gravitas to it and the actors were giants of the industry when movies and movie going, was a huge thing. When Best Movie Awards were announced, it was as much fun hearing the titles of great movies that lost to the winner.
Since I was a 60's and 70's baby. I remember the context of the time. I remembered going to the movie theater was a special event for me. I remember how disappointed I was that I couldn't see The Exorcist, because I was too young. I remember how important certain tv shows were and when one TV meant we were watching what the parents wanted, and I was SOL. I remember how delicious A/C wall units were in SoCal when we finally got one. I remember riding my bike so far away that it would have scared my Mom and Dad, had they known. I climbed trees, played with dangerous toys, enjoyed honest to God, long necked glass bottles of real cane sugar Dr Pepper. I remember women fighting over fake leather purses at the blue light special in KMart, and begging my Mom for a ham and cheese sandwich before leaving the store (loved them). I remember Christine Lund and Jerry Dunphy on the local news. Bowling for Dollars with Chick Hearn and my parents wearing silly costumes in getting on Lets Make a Deal with Monty Hall. I remember the relaxed joy of hearing Vin Scully call a Dodger game on the radio from Chavez Ravine on a hot Saturday afternoon. I remember Cal Worthington and his dog spot. Johnny Carson reigned as no one would again, as the King of Late Night on the Tonight Show.
In the 80's and afterward, I looked down on the 70's. I told myself that I hated Disco, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders, and the Dallas Cowboys. I also hated the Yankees cause they beat my Dodgers twice in the late 70's. The popular colors were drab and cheesy. The fad clothing was ridiculous. But watching those old Academy Award Shows from the era, reminded me of what is missing now. The greatest generation was reaching retirement and they would never know (for the most part) the radical changes that were coming technologically. Most things were made in America and foreign stuff was considered cheap junk. Enduring the Great Depression, WW2. Korea made them pretty tough. They certainly were not perfect, but they were solid and their generation ruled the Earth in the 70's. That would begin to fade in the 80's as they retired. I miss my Grandparents and Great Grandparents and their way of life. I don't know why, but it makes me melancholy to see the crowds, formally dressed up to see a game show or a talk show. It was a different time.
This is great. We were brought up in a similar time and I have many good memories of those times too. On your subjects here's what I recall.
Acadamy awards: Our family gathered to watch those back then and I mostly remember wanting my favorite movies to win stuff. More Jaws!! Rocky!! Star Wars!!
Movie theaters: for us it was the old single theaters and also 2 different Drive-In's that we went to depending on the movies. Parking in the Drive-In lot on the waves of asphalt and setting up the clanky metal speaker to our open window. Kids camping out in front of the car on a blanket. Mom actually took us to Exorcist at the drive-in and very much played it down as we were watching to ease any discomforts. I don't remember being really scared (I was a young monster movie buff) and my sisters were too young to understand the film. A few years later me and a few younger friends caught the bus over and snuck into our neighborhood theater, first 4-plex built in Hawaii, to watch Carrie when we were all under 17. The young adult who was working the booth didn't care to check our ages, and I guess neither did anyone else in the theater! We had a blast. During the end when that scary hand popped up 2 teen girls sitting a few rows in front of us jumped out of their seats and ran squealing down the aisle and out of the theater.
In the late 70s when we finally got our A/C it was a godsend. I don't remember how hot it actually felt like (80s and humid, we had our hot days) but thanks to Mom it must've been hot enough to get one. It was installed in the kitchen window and it would blow down through the hall and hit the living room, keeping those areas and the family room off to the side nice and cool. We were told to keep our bedroom doors closed though because the air would not reach around corners. Also we were constantly told to "shut the front door, we aren't cooling the neighborhood!"
As little kids when mom took us to the store we of course begged for stuff like our favorite cereal or other junk food. If the shopping trip got too long and boring we would do stuff like play "hide from mom" somewhere in the department while she was looking through the clothes rack. My little sister got lost once and mom heard them announce her name over the speaker system. "We have a little lost girl..." Mom felt so guilty about that after recovering her. "I felt like a bad mother," she said with a smile when recalling the incident.
Game shows my sisters and I would watch were mostly Price is Right, Hollywood Squares, and Match Game. Favorite sitcoms we saw were Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Happy Days, Welcome Back Kotter, and 8 is Enough. Throw in the Movie of the Week and the seasonal Battle of the Network Stars and we had our home entertainment lined up. Also reruns of Star Trek for me, every time it was on even if I had seen the episode 10 times.
In high school me and my friends also told ourselves we hated disco. It was at its peak then but we preferred Van Halen and similar hard rock music to listen to and scoffed at the Disco that was played at school dances. We didn't even like that New Wave stuff that was coming out. Sounded way too geeky. Got into more of that when MTV came out and I glued myself to it. Fast forward to present - love much of that era music these days for the sentimental placement of where we were at the time, and hey Disco really wasn't that bad. I actually enjoy that more now and even a few of the Osmond stuff during times of reflection.
I first got into sports during the mid-late 70s. it was Rams-Lakers-Dodgers in that order. I wanted the Vikings and Cowboys to lose especially after eliminating the Rams in the playoffs. Go any team but them! I never liked the Raiders or Steelers then and would cheer for the underdog Broncos or Oilers or any other team they played. The Rams were dominant over those damn 40whiners too. The west was always ours. I took it harder than most when the whiners rose in the 80s. Hatred began. Lakers showtime was fan-tastic. Helped me though a few Ram lean years and I thoroughly enjoyed the run. On the Dodger side I also hated the Yankees and Reggie Jackson and Steinbrenner. Felt great to beat them in 1981. But when Lasorda left, so did my commitment to the blue. I had decided to spend my time elsewhere, though I did enjoy their recent title. I listened to a lot of games on radio before cable became the norm. 1977 in particular, I listened to all the 1977 Rams preseason games, some Laker playoff games that weren't on TV, and some Dodger games. Loved Hearn and Scully along with the roar of the home crowd during a big play.
On relatives, our cousins and Grandparents lived out in in the Midwest and we would fly over and visit them about every other year. We loved seeing each other when we could and always had a good time together. Grandparents had a nice big house with several rooms, and even a very cool laundry shoot they had built in where you could send your clothes from the top floor bathroom down to the laundry basket. They had a nice little garden with occasional chipmunk visitors in the backyard and even an alley. Disneyland stops along the way there for more fun. These days I can't deal with long lines and crowds there anymore so Disneyland has been a nice dream of the past.
The saying has been repeated to exhaustion but it's true that life was more simple back then. We felt much safer as kids. Different times. Fun recall.
