I was invited by Dave White of Banzai Retro Club to talk about nostalgic media from the 1970s and 1980s, https://www.banzairetroclub.com/. We went down the rabbit hole of nostalgic children’s shows like Sid & Marty Krofft’s Bugaloos and H.R. Pufnstuff, and Jack Wild’s portrayal of the Artful Dodger in Oliver, and marched on towards 1980’s trends like Valley Girl-isms, punk rock, and the real life challenges of hair crimping.
In looking back on the 1970s entertainment of our childhoods, we came to an agreement on one thing: Maybe we want to leave our memories of those dazzlers alone. Through the eyes of a five year old, Sid & Marty’s sequined puppetry and live action mash-ups were pure magic. They inspired me to pull a kitchen chair in front of the TV and stretch over it while watching the Bugaloos, pretending to fly who knows where in a magical Colorforms-colored world of yellow and orange faux woodland set pieces. It was a beautiful thing. But watching clips on YouTube as an adult, the cynicism of my own maturity tends to strip away the fairy dust, leaving low-budget special effects and gaudy lamé costumes in its place. Yet at the time, it worked. We bought it.
And we pine for anything nearly so enchanted to ever enter our lives again.
It makes me wonder how many times as an adult I’ve unwittingly trampled all over somebody else’s beloved movies, toys, or anime cartoons, judging them with too-grown eyes and trashing somebody else’s magic. Shame on me.
In any case, back to Jack Wild’s infamous career as a pop-singer….
Take a listen to the podcast! I’m scheduled to record more episodes with Banzai Retro Club’s Dave and Scott soon.