One of the hidden pleasures that result from a crappy economic situation is the close-out store.
I’ve made a habit of making regular visits to my local Big Lots, a store specializing in close-outs from major manufacturers. No one had to tell me that the market for dvds was collapsing – I could see it through the ever-increasing stacks of movies showing up on the shelves for $2 or $3.
One of the more curious finds recently – especially since I wouldn’t buy it for myself if it was full-price – was The Best of Password, a compilation of episodes from this long-running gameshow. The programs, mastered from 2″ videotapes, cover almost the full decade of the 1960s, presenting mostly shows from the nighttime version of the program in black and white and a handful in garish color from the daytime version of the series.
If you’ve never seen it, Password has a simple concept – two contestants go against each other with a celebrity partner, trying to guess common words with one word clues.
It’s definately a relic of a different time. The show, even though it was a big hit on CBS, looks like something that might be done for cable access or YouTube today with it’s simple set, three camera setup and leisurely pace. It seems downright lethargic and comatose compared to the highly caffeinated, glitzy, computer graphics-heavy game shows of today.
And the celebrities – some first rate talent showed up on Password each week. Peter Lawford, Joan Crawford, Jerry Lewis, Carol Burnette, Lawrence Harvey and countless others appeared, plugging their latest books, films and tv shows. It’s not like television today, where “b” or list celebrities wind up on game shows or even contestants on game or reality shows become “d” list celebrities themselves.
Think about it – seeing Olivia de Havilland or Lawrence Harvey on Password in the 1960s would be a bit like watching Meryl Streep or Philip Seymour Hoffman pop up on Who Wants to Be a Millionare? today.
In the 1960s, we looked at Bob Crane, who jokes with Allen Ludden in one episode because he had to wear one of Ludden’s jackets for the show, and saw him as the handsome and good-natured lead actor on the popular sitcom Hogan’s Heroes. Woody Allen, bumbling and awkward as ever, guests with a young Nancy Sinatra on one episode at a time when Allen was just starting to make a name for himself – his movie What’s New Pussycat? had just opened. Bob Denver was at his peak in Gilligan’s Island in one of the shows on the set – he looks odd out of his standard Gilligan outfit and even cracks jokes about his 50s sitcom role as beatnik Maynard G. Krebs.
Looking at the shows now, we see the celebrities with a different eye. Crane’s appearance on-screen brings back memories of the film Auto Focus, dealing with his sexual escapades and mysterious murder. Woody Allen’s transformation from television comedian to film auteur to somewhat creepy has-been makes his appearance on Password look like something from another planet. Perhaps only Bob Denver gives off the vibe that, even then, he was a big pot head.
It isn’t particularly the nostalgia and reflection on a “more innocent” times that makes these shows fascinating as much as it highlights both the good and bad aspects of American society in the 1960s.
Yes, it’s somewhat bland and inoffensive – Ludden goes through the motions of the game play, bouncing between the contestants and keeping score like the steady beat of metronome. But that blandness and predictability give a sense of security and stability. At a time when America’s role in the world was changing and, here at home, issues with race, the generation gap, and the environment were rearing their ugly heads, television was an island of civility and sameness, giving the reassurance of an old friend.
It’s no wonder that Mad Men has sparked a nostalgia for the fashions of the sixties. When you think about it, the decade was the last hurrah of America’s conspicuous consumption for the masses. We had a large middle class that could afford nice homes, big cars, a decent vacation, a new tv set and dressy clothes to wear out to work or for a night on the town. The “down market” aesthetic that has people showing up at the office in flip-flops and blue jeans and much worse at Walmart is as much about the shrinking of the middle class in recent decades as it is a statement about a society where you can “be yourself”.
Of course, the most disconcerting thing about these episodes of Password is how white they are – there are no Black celebrities outside of Sammy Davis, Jr, though one episode features a young Black lady as a contestant. On the later color shows in the set, we regularly see shots of the audience and, indeed, the crowd is racially mixed. But this is a reminder of the long path of racial minorities to be seen on television – we’ve always been a multicultural society, it just wasn’t “good business” to admit it on tv.
One of my hobbies is Old Time Radio – comedy and drama programs from the 30s, 40s and 50s. The race issue is even more apparent with these shows with almost all white performers and the occasional overt and more subtle racial stereotypes that make us wince (or worse) today. I have the feeling that pre-1970s television will suffer the same fate as Old Time Radio – things have changed so much culturally since these shows were produced, particularly in the ways we view race and gender, that the programs will likely just be forgotten by newer generations just as Old Time Radio retains only a small following today.
As someone who enjoys history, I find these shows fascinating, but I don’t particularly have any sense of nostalgia for them. The Tea Party members around today who want to turn back the clock to the 50s, 60s or even before are really a primary audience for this vintage material – nostalgia is big business on broadcast digital television sub-channels and cable, repeating old movies and tv shows as if it were 1969.
As much as I wish our own times had the kind of prosperity, civility in debate, and politeness of a by-gone age, I realize that things have changed and there’s no going back to what we were before.
Seeing Password reminds me it’s fun and interesting to visit the past. But I wouldn’t particularly care to live there.
coolcatdaddy 