VACATION VIEWING

Aside from the many new shows which I was able to catch during my week up at The Lake, (most of which - with many others! - I was "divvering" back in NYC just in case!), I also flashed back to my childhood with the boxed sets I brought along with me.

It's been my custom the last few years to bring along a boxed set of some TV series when I stay at the cottage "GeeGee". For this week I had the two boxed sets for 'Shirley Temple's Storybook' and the Disney Treasures collection of the very first five episodes of 'The Mickey Mouse Club'. That tin-boxed set, arranged by Leonard Maltin, had only arrived on my doorstep the day before I left for vacation. And although it wasn't planned this way, I knew I had to bring it along because the first broadcast was on October 3rd, 1955 - a few months after I was born. So I thought it would be cool to watch each of the episodes on the 52nd anniversary of their first telecast. (52 years.... ::sigh::)

I didn't make it through all of the 'Shirley Temple Storybook' collection; I did have some actual Life, after all. The episodes I've yet to watch are:

"Babes In Toyland"
"The Princess And The Goblins"
"Madeline"
"Pippi Longstocking"
and
"Kim"

It appears that Ms. Temple-Black chose episodes that featured her in a starring role, not just as the host of the anthology series. (It's my hope more episodes will be forthcoming on disk, even if they don't star Shirley Temple. A lot of great actors, either already established or on the rise, appeared on the show!)

Those episodes I did manage to watch were:

"The Land of Oz" (Twice! So much more fun when viewing it with a 2½ year old nephew!)
"The Reluctant Dragon"
"The Little Mermaid"
"The Terrible Clockman"
"The House of The Seven Gables"

All of these were adaptations from classic works, and many of them are probably more familiar from other media - especially "Oz" and "The Little Mermaid". But thanks to their being broadcast, all of them now have legitimacy in Toobworld. I'm especially keen on "The Land Of Oz", as "The Wizard Of Oz" is my all-time favorite movie and this adaptation made for a worthy sequel. My nephew totally accepted the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and Glinda as being the same characters from the movie (although Ben Blue, Gil Lamb, and Frances Bergen played the roles respectively).


As time goes on, I'll have more on each individual production and its place in Toobworld. (With "The Land of Oz", for example, I can make the argument that it links to 'Bewitched'. I'll probably write that one up as the debut of 'Tin Man' on Sci-Fi approaches.)

As for 'The Mickey Mouse Club', I've already posted a few days ago about the appearance by Sooty and his friend Harry Corbett in the second episode. If anything else comes to mind, I may cobble together a post for it.

Someday I'll have to track down a copy of a psych thesis paper an older second cousin wrote up about me when I was two years old, watching the program. It might make for some amusing - more likely, embarrassing! - filler here someday!

BCnU!
Toby OB