We Share the Same Generation

“I have the power!” (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe)

“Go, Gadget, go!” (Inspector Gadget)

Yes, I remember those, but they were from my sisters’ generation. In our family of six children, spanning 12 years, my brother and I, the oldest siblings, were from another time, with different weekday evening, once-a-week shows. Different Saturday morning cartoons with favorite cereals.

“Meet George Jetson, his boy Elroy, daughter Judy…”

Bugs Bunny. Crusader Rabbit. Clutch Cargo. Beany and Cecil, (where I thought Cecil was a brontosaurus sea creature, but was a giant serpent in “a Bob Clampett car-too-ooon!”

We watched Howdy Doody, Milky’s Movie Party with the puppet show Gee Wizzer, which fascinated us and seems to be unknown to the rest of the world, Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, The Real McCoys. We knew what a Peanut Gallery was, and my brother witnessed a live audience for Bozo where a rude child told him to “Cram it, clownie!”

Superman. Fess Parker’s Davy Crockett, with the coveted coonskin cap. Roy Rogers. The Lone Ranger. Rocky and Bullwinkle, with Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman, Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties, and Boris Badenov.

Huckleberry Hound and Yogi, “smarter than the average bear,” Tom and Jerry, Deputy Dawg. Quickdraw McGraw. Mickey Mouse Club.

“Flintstones, meet the Flintstones, they’re the modern stone-age family…” which was also enjoyed on Friday nights by adults who remembered the Honeymooners, and a zillion Americans who watched on the night Pebbles was born.

We ate enough cereal to keep the companies in business for decades. Does anyone remember (Quaker Oats) Wheat Puffs and Rice Puffs, which were so airy, it took a box to fill you up? What about the short-lived (General Mills) Jets? Or my favorite, (Post) Oat Flakes?

I’m sure we must have tried (General Mills) Twinkles cereal because of Twinkles the Elephant commercials. “Nose, nose, anything goes, turn my nose into a fire hose,” which I use every time I have a cold.

We had air-raid drills at school where we either ran to the hallways for “duck and tuck,” or worse, hid under our desks.

We loved Topper and his sometimes-invisible ghosts, George and Marian Kirby.

I still have my Zippy doll, a chimpanzee toy based on Zip the Monkey.

We spent Thanksgivings at home and invited Mom’s family, Christmas Eves with my father’s side. I can still see Aunt Patsy’s luscious house decked out with linen, china, treats, and candles.

We made up games in Grandma Schaffer’s backyard. “Winter, winter, summer” as the electric meter revolved, or bending Grandpa’s pipe cleaners into stick men or horses. I picked Grandma’s morning glories and turned them upside down for beautiful ladies, even when they wilted in minutes.

Popeye and Pals brought us hours of retold classics and a love for spinach, where the good guys always won, with Captain Jolly (Toby David) and Poopdeck Paul (Paul Schultz). And to think that our cherished Vernor’s endorsed those shows.

I had “Lunch with Soupy Sales,” and later, my brother and I inhaled his “words of wisdom” (puns…Show me a man helping an orchestra and I’ll show you a band aid), with our favorite sidekick Pookie, or White Fang and Black Tooth. We could all do the Soupy Shuffle.

Who else remembers (Bristol-Myers) Ipana Toothpaste with Bucky the Beaver? We saw a skywriting ad for it when we lived in Pontiac.

We read Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon, and Hardy Boys (my brothers), while my brother snuck out my copies of Nancy Drew to loan them to our friend Rebecca without my knowing all those years.

Mom used the same Easter baskets each year so we knew which one was ours. We attended Easter Vigil service and Mass on Sunday mornings, visited our aunts and uncles and cousins, hated powdered milk and Spam, loved camping and going to the Detroit Zoo,
swimming in area lakes, running through the sprinkler, watermelon, Kool-Aid, Popsicles, summer vacation, apple cider, Halloween, and traditional Christmas mornings.

The older I get, the crisper some of those memories become.

Reading the backs of cereal boxes while we ate breakfast. Hoping Disney had cartoons on Sunday nights, especially Goofy, or Chip and Dale, and not animal documentaries.

I decided to share a few moments of happy memories from Saturday mornings and after-dinner regular programs, family gatherings, and bowls of cereal, in a time that will never come again. Gone like the Lone Ranger, “Hi-ho, Silver! Away!”

Or maybe not.

Not as long as we remember and share.