BoomerZoo Almanac for September 16-22, 2007: Jocularity, jocularity
It was during this week in 1972 that both “The Bob Newhart Show'' and M*A*S*H premiered on CBS. I’ll bet execs at that network long for the good old days!
Having grown up with Bob Newhart, I did take to his show fairly quickly. I remember listening to his albums as a youngster, and even trying to put together a telephone routine to entertain my friends! It was a bust, but I still dream of doing standup comedy, and I believe I can trace that desire back to that early failed effort.
M*A*S*H, on the other hand, I didn’t especially care for right off. In those days, of course, popular movies might still be showing at smaller local theaters for years after their release, and even if they had run their course there weren’t so many new releases that we couldn’t remember what we saw last year, much less last week! As
the TV show was first broadcast only two years after the movie was released, I found it too easy to make comparisons between Donald Sutherland and Alan Alda, between Elliot Gould and Wayne Rogers, between Robert Duvall and Larry Linville, and between Sally Kellerman and Loretta Swit. And there was Robert Altman, who has directed more than one of my all-time favorite films. However, as the show progressed and grew, I became totally addicted to it. By 1979, I was watching up to five reruns a day, trying to catch up on episodes I hadn’t seen. I still occasionally run across an episode that I’m pretty sure is new to me, but it’s likely that I’ve only seen it once, rather than the 10 times I’ve seen almost all other episodes. My view of M*A*S*H changed subtly after having acquired a Korean daughter-in-law. Though I still think it’s an excellent television series, I now find the paternalism of many of the episodes more noticeable, which has turned me into a more critical fan—but still a fan! Among lines that found their way into our family lexicon due to years of M*A*S*H indoctrination is Father Mulcahy’s “Jocularity, jocularity.”
Speaking of jocularity and other silliness, this week also marks the anniversary of the barring of Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev from visiting Disneyland in 1959. That’s right – he was refused admission. The story is that U.S. government officials feared for his safety, but I suspect Walt was afraid to let a Commie see Tomorrowland.
More foolishness ensued in 1973, when Bobbie Riggs took on Billie Jean King in a tennis match in Houston, Texas, billed as a "Battle of the Sexes." I know Billie Jean King won the match and the $100,000, but I think she lost a bit of dignity in responding to Riggs’ buffoonery in the first place.
And speaking of buffoonery, this week also presents all of us—Boomer or not—an opportunity to enjoy International Talk Like a Pirate Day. This is an especially endearing event for me, as it originated on September
19, 1995, exactly one year to the day after my father died. Somehow, this seems such a fitting memorial to him. I can just imagine him finding particular joy in drinking up some grog and shouting, “Ahoy, me hearties!” Ah, Dad, I'm still a-missin' ye!
