On This Day In American Popular Culture History: September 23: In 1962 The Classic American Cartoon “The Jetsons” Premiered On TV

The opening jingle of the Jetsons cartoon series sums up what the series was about; the opening scnese show the family flying through the air in a spaceship style car and the corresponding jingle goes: “Meet George Jetson.” “His boy Elroy.” “Daughter Judy.” “Jane, his wife;” and indeed the cartoon chronicled the lives of the Jetson family living in what was then a science fiction future where buildings were built in a day and video phone calls were made on a regular basis. And of course this was years and years before Skype and the Internet came into existence!

The series, which debut in Prime Time (in the evening), followed the Jetsons during their daily lives. And the concerns of the collective members of the Jetson family weren’t really that much different from the daily concerns of average Americans of the era – or of today; the parents George and Jane were just basically trying to get through the Monday to Friday work week and take care of their kids and their household and the kids just wanted to get through the school week. The difference was, of course, that the Jetsons were living in the future so the family had a neat series of futuristic things to assist them in living their daily lives like “Rosie, the robot” who was the Jetson’s maid, flying cars and video phone call displays.

Here’s a link to a YouTube clip of the opening scenes of the Jetsons which gives you an idea of what the series was like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyinD6ZDqeg

And a link to a TV webpage which offers additional information on all seasons of the show which ran on TV from 1962 to 1987:

http://www.tv.com/shows/the-jetsons/

And if you’d like to check out the series the library owns the first season on DVD so you can check it out at the library.

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

The Jetsons. TV. Online. Accessed September 23, 2013, http://www.tv.com/shows/the-jetsons/

 

On This Date In American (And English) History – Dallas Premiered, First White House Easter Egg Roll Event Was Held & Sir Alec Guinness Was Born

Dallas Premiered: On April 2, 1978 the phenomenally popular television drama Dallas premiered on CBS. The program originally ran for thirteen years and chronicled the lives of the ultra-rich Ewing Family and their feuding rivals the Barnes Family. The Ewing Family held sway over an oil empire and consisted of parents Jock & Ellie Ewing, ruthless son J.R and his wife Sue Ellen., ethical son Bobby and his wife Pamela, niece Lucy, occasionally Lucy’s semi-lost father Gary (the last of Jock & Ellie’s sons) and later on Jock’s illegitimate son Ray Krebs.  And the Barnes Family consisted of father Digger, son Cliff and daughter Pamela who interestingly enough for the plot is the same Pamela who was married to Bobby Ewing. Essentially the program was a night time soap opera. And one of the most popular story lines cumulated in the 1980 cliff hanging episode “Who Shot J.R.” during which the wicked Ewing son J. R. was indeed shot– and all the viewers had to wait the entire summer to find out who did it! The production company was so eager to keep the-who-shot-J.R.-secret until the next season premiered that they actually filmed all the main members of the cast shooting J. R.! The series was re-introduced in 2012 with a number of the original characters including J. R., Bobby, Sue Ellen and Ray and with a new generation of Ewings.  And since the actor behind J. R. Ewing – Larry Hagman died last autumn after shooting just a few episodes of the new season of the re-vamped Dallas – J. R. was shot again and this time did not survive although which character shot him this time remains a mystery so far.

So to make a long story short if you’ve never seen an episode of Dallas and you’re in the mood to watch a soap opera you should check it out! The first three seasons of the original series are available on DVD at the library.

And here’s a link to a neat Dallas family tree that shows not only which persons in the Dallas universe each character is related too but which people are enemies and/or used to date each other. The tree applies to the original series and the new TNT series:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/07/dallas-family-tree_n_1572798.html

First White House Easter Egg Roll Event Was Held: The First White House Easter Egg roll occurred on April 2, 1877 while Rutherford B. Hayes was president. The event has been held annually ever since with a brief break during the World War II years. Easter Egg rolls at the White House include the traditional rolling eggs game as well as other games. The most recent Easter Egg Roll was held at the White House last weekend and in addition to games featured food and cooking tips for healthy eating.

Here’s a link to the official White House page on the Easter Egg roll which also includes a brief history of the event:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/04/01/be-healthy-be-active-be-you-2013-white-house-easter-egg-roll

Sir Alec Guinness Was Born: You’ll notice I have the word “English” highlighted in the title of this blog posting and that is for two reasons. Firstly of course in the U.S. we speak American English but British English is the origin of the language and obviously the language originated in the United Kingdom! With that in mind every so often I’ll be noting items and/or events in this blog that are notable in what we might call English Speaking History or just English or British history but that also relate to American history and/or popular culture as well. And the second reason I have highlighted the word English in the title of this blog posting is because the late actor Alec Guinness was indeed born in the United Kingdom. Guinness was born in London on April 2, 1914 and was a well-known stage and film actor; Bridge on the River Kwai,  Kind Hearts & Coronets, Lawrence of Arabia and Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy are among the critically acclaimed films he appeared in and are all worth checking out. However, his most famous role and the one that has had a huge impact on American popular culture was that of the Jedi Master and Luke Sykwalker mentor Obi Wan Kenobi in first three Star Wars films produced: Star Wars (AKA Star Wars A New Hope; 1977), Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983).

Here’s a link to a MSN Entertainment page that features a biography of Alec Guinness:

http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-biography/alec-guinness/

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

Alec Guinness: Biography. MSN. Online. Accessed April 2, 2013.

Curtis, Colleen. (2013, April 1). Be Healthy, Be Active, Be You: The 2013 White House Easter Egg Roll The White House Blog. Online.

Furlong, Maggie. (2012, June 7). ‘Dallas’ Family Tree: A Key To Primetime’s Most Dramatic Family, Then And Now (INFOGRAPHIC). Huffington Post. Online.