1985 – saleintothe90s

443. Daily Press, December 1, 1985

I was so disappointed by this month’s newspaper. It’s 500 and something pages of mostly very dark microfilm scans of salespapers.

(source, L.A. Beast)

Teddy Ruxpin was the big toy that year. Also, Herman’s screwed up.

Does anybody know the episode of The Purple Stuff Podcast where Matt & Jay discuss a Teddy Ruxpin commercial where the boy has a very Staten Island accent?

“He tawks…”

Here are more details from the L.A. Times about the Foxes struggle living in the Elmwood neighborhood:

A black couple, Marietta Bloxom, a 25-year-old department store supervisor, and Charles Williams, a 23-year-old worker at a fast-food hamburger chain, learned this the hard way when they moved to Elmwood from an apartment in a black neighborhood Oct. 31.

So, too, did Gerald and Carol Fox, a black man and a white woman who moved in 2 ½ weeks later and three blocks away. Bloxom said she was unprepared for the hostility that greeted them: windows shattered by BBs, bottles tossed at the house, a demonstration by 400 whites outside the house Nov. 20.At the Fox house, where 200 whites milled about and chanted the following night, vandals had by then already axed kitchen cabinets, destroyed a lamp, a clock radio and the water and oil heaters, and left behind a broken bottle stuffed with a rag soaked in gasoline. The night of the demonstration, reporters watched deli workers pass out free coffee to protesters. Bloxom and Williams’ home was later gutted by fire from an arsonist, even they were packing to leave Elmwood. The Foxes, however, say they are staying. 1

Someone get Malloy and Reed on the case! I love that silly show so much, Adam-12. I watch it every day after work on metv.

OH, YOU DON’T SAY.

I included that Canon ad because I love that building. I think this was around the area where I went to that ripoff for profit school after high school.

Guess what, chicken butts. From here on out, its just gonna be salespapers.

My parents have those marble top tables, and who knew they came from People’s Drug?!

Mmm, I don’t like the name of those lights.

I had a tiny chuckle when I saw that Sherwin Williams the paint store at one time had a drugstore. Then, I got bored to death reading about the history of the store.

Remember when Rob from Theadbanger on YouTube had a robot? I think he’s the $50 one, modified:

(Montgomery Ward)

I had NO clue that Furskins were THIS expensive. ~~I feel like I had a little one from Shoneys? I want to say?~~ It was Wendys!

I love the ripoff that is the Cabbage Patch Twins. You’re getting two of the same doll for $70. This had to be around the time that the Cabbage Patch craze was dying down, too.

I was wondering why these were NINETY DOLLARS. Then I saw the little girl! Don’t you want that giant Garfield?! I know I do!

The PEN-GUIN bathroom.

DUCK bathroom.

I said this a few years ago, but back then we flew too close to the sun with the microwave back then.

I love that a fancy store like Thalhimers sold bag clips. I’m fascinated by the potato baker. Also, I didn’t know salad spinners existed back then!

Aaaaghg I want to see this in color so bad! (Murphy’s Mart)

omg I want her, she’s so adorable!

More crap that didn’t work for the microwave.

We all know that this is just the “do not eat” packets that come with shoes.

Things that wouldn’t fly in 2021.

This looks ingenious, but I feel like with today’s packaging, you couldn’t use it.

Years ago, I posted a similar ad on my Flickr, and I though the idea was gross, reusing your teabags. I got attacked so bad! I can’t be the only one who doesn’t reuse their tea bags, because they get weak, you know?

(Herman’s)

I’ll be back … next month with another newspaper.

1. “Racial Protest Splits Urban Neighborhood : Philadelphia Black Couple Forced to Move; Interracial Pair Plans to Stay Despite Threats.” Los Angeles Times, December 29, 1985. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-12-29-mn-25919-story.html. https://archive.md/giPIO

392. Phyllis George hosting the CBS Morning News

So you know the morning show on CBS is mostly drama free, save for when Charlie Rose was fired for being a perv a while back. It’s been pretty consistent with (aunt) Gayle King hosting. This is the first time in 30+ years that the show has been consistent.

Way back in the early 1980s, the morning show as hosted by Diane Sawyer and Bill Kurtis. (clip from 1981/1982-ish – I’m living for that intro) Bill Kurtis is the guy who did the voiceovers for those crime shows that A&E used to show at nauseam in the mornings back in the late 2000s. What was the show, American Justice? If you’re into crime programming, you know him from that. If you live in Chicago, you know him as the long time newscaster for the CBS station there. In 1984, Diane grew tired of the morning beat and moved to 60 Minutes. Bill stayed, thinking that Meredith Viera or Jane Wallace was going to be the next host.

Nop. Former Miss America, former first lady of Kentucky, and former NFL Today co host, Phyllis George. She was chosen by CBS Executives with a leader who was in the advertising business, and not in the journalism business. 1 Drama instantly began. Richard Salant, former President of CBS News said upon her hiring, “I am heartbroken. […] put the show in the Entertainment Division, or the Record or the Toy Division, but get it out of news.” 2 He had a point, the lady had no journalism experience.

(this is a clip from October of 1984--when CBS was trying out several women to to see who would replace Diane Sawyer, as you can see, Phyllis was one of the women who auditioned. This was in the old ‘newsy” format.)

The new show began in January of 1985, during the soft chit-chat at the beginning of the show, Phyllis asked Bill if he wanted to hear about her troubles moving to New York. He said no. Dang. 3

Things didn’t improve. One time Phyllis wanted John Candy on the show:

Welp, it all came crashing down come May. In Illinois, Gary Dotson had been released from prison, after being there for eight years for a rape he did not commit. The accuser, Cathleen Mae Webb had become a born again Christian and had recanted her accusation from 1977. The press had a field day with this and the big three networks were all trying to chase the two down in New York City for an interview during their morning shows. 4 On May 15, 1985 the two sat down to all three shows i one morning, Today first, second rated Good Morning America second and scrappy ass CBS Morning News was third. Seriously, Cathleen and Gary’s interview was around the final 10.15 minutes of the show. So, they’re siting down with Phyllis, the interview starts:

…a track meet?

I don’t have a transcript, the interview is not online anywhere, but I’ve read in articles that she also said this:

“I read this morning that you’ve had 41 television offers to put this into a movie. Is that right? Do you feel like a celebrity?” [She had a big grin on her face through all of this.] When Dotson said he’d had “offers” of jobs, now that he is out of prison, George jovially asked, “Starring in your own movie?”, apparently thinking he meant that kind of offer. Said Dotson, “No.” 5

….HOWBOUTTAHUG?!

The switchboards lit up with complaints. I know it was a stupid choice of words, but I can’t believe that people called in, but 20 people in the Washington D.C. area did. 5 I don’t see anywhere where she apologized on the show the next day.

By June 7th, Bill Kurtis had left the show, to return to Chicago. Bob Schieffer was recruited in to help the show. At first, he didn’t want to do it. He thought, “Oh shit, not the morning news again.” He only took the job because his pay doubled, and he was just going to be the temporary guy. Bob mentioned in his book This Just in: what I couldn’t tell you on TV that Phyllis seemed to make less mistakes through the Summer. Bob also mentions that since he didn’t want the job, he would waltz into work calm around 6am. 6 My boy Bob didn’t give a…

However, on her days off, Maria Shriver filled in. That was probably the next to last nail in the coffin for her days at CBS. Maria was so much better. Here’s a clip of Bob and Maria when Bob spills coffee on her foot. See, I told you he didn’t care.

The ultimate nail, however was the realization that celebrities wouldn’t come on the show because they didn’t want Phyllis interviewing them. 3 On the Friday before labor day, calls were made, deals were made and Phyllis was off the air. Of course, the press release said that she decided to leave the show because she was tired and wanted to return to Kentucky. 7 Upon learning of her departure, someone who worked on the show ceremoniously threw away a set of tapes of “famous couples” interviews that Phyllis had done that had not aired yet, and said, “they’ll never run.” 3

—

376. Cherry Coke’s Debut (1985)

(I feel like you’ve seen this .gif. within 10 minutes of logging into Tumblr for the very first time )

Coming up in a few weeks, Coke will release Vanilla Orange Coke. I doubt it will ever get as popular as Cherry Coke in 1985 however. I mean, remember how much we freaked out about Vanilla Coke in 2002 and now you can only find it at like, Target, one row, that’s it. Sickeningly sweet stuff.

Cherry Coke first made a test debut at the 1982 Worlds Fair in Knoxville. Yes, that one from Simpsons.

Testing on Cherry Coke began three years ago, Mr. Dyson said, adding that it met with wide approval at the 1982 Knoxville World’s Fair. He said Coca-Cola had been experimenting with vanilla, lemon and lime cola- based drinks, but that a cherry-flavored cola received the best acceptance in tests. 1

Just like with New Coke vs Coca-Cola Classic earlier that Summer, newspapers had taste tests:

Then there was the commercials.

I downloaded this commercial way back in 2006 and put it on my iPod.

This one reminds me of that short-lived SNL opening from about 1984, 1985. The last year that Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Mary Gross were on the show.

Cameo did a commercial too!

1. Hicks, Jonathan, “NOW, CHERRY COKE IN A CAN,” New York Times, February 20, 1985. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/20/business/now-cherry-coke-in-a-can.html

2. Murdoch, Mary Ann, “is it old, is it new? Who cares – can it!” Ocala Star-Banner, July 30, 1985. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Zu40AAAAIBAJ&sjid=ow4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3194%2C8320041

267. Great Beginnings: Growing Pains (September 24, 1985)

This is a queued post, written back on May 24th. I’m currently moving and we all know that the internet doesn’t magically follow you when you move.

I missed the Growing Pains train growing up in the late 80s and early 90s. I only have vague memories of my mom watching it – I just remember the opening credits with the cast in front of the giant victorian house, the (at the time I thought) cringey theme song, and mom letting me know that Kirk Cameron was DJ from Full House’s brother.

It wasn’t until 2002 that I gained a little interest in the show. Remember those E! True Hollywood Stories about celebrities who are usually dead by the end of the show? I guess by the early zeroes, they ran out of those and began branching out into TV shows that had troubled runs near the end of the series, like Three’s Company, Diffren’t Strokes, I think the show with Snyder …One Day at at Time? had an episode too. In 2001, an episode about Growing Pains premiered, and in 2002 I sat and watched it one night while staying up late waiting to drive to the airport to pick my mom up. I was like, “Growing Pains? What scandal came of that show?” I knew about Tracey Gold’s eating disorder, but I didn’t know about Kirk Cameron going coocoo with the religion stuff, and the baby in the final seasons becoming a kindergartner over the summer.

I learned that Tracey Gold wasn’t even considered at first for Carol Seaver. Elizabeth Ward played the first Tracey Gold in the pilot, but test audiences did not like her. So far, I’ve only found one clip from the pilot, and it’s filmed in potatovision:

(and the pilot ending credits)

The only common place I found the entire pilot (that did air!) was on DailyMotion, and it was really buggy on my ancient circa 2007 MacBook.

This is the first thing we see. I swear. Jason Seaver is doing a VO that he’s a psychiatrist who recently moved his office inside his house, because his wife, Maggie is going back to work at a newspaper for the first time in 15 years. We see those glasses. DEM GLASSES.

(reference)

Maggie Seaver has two different hairstyles in this explanatory scene. I suspect they used scenes from the unaired pilot, shh. That top haircut ages her so much.

That amazing theme song starts. I always liked the first season opening credits the most, it’s the only one that matters. OOOH OOOOOOOHH

I remember this painting, The Arnolfini Portrait, from art history class the first time I attempted college. Several people in the class was like, “…if that’s a wedding portrait, then why is she PREGNANT?”

I love the old paintings and photographs of like, families through time. Of course, it ends with a photo of our Seavers:

I love the insane amount of plants in the Seavers’ kitchen. And the glass dome that is reminiscent of an old Wendy’s.

ew. No making out at breakfast. Kirk Cameron even says, “what’s wrong, yall aren’t getting enough?” DOUBLE EW.

Also, it’s 2016, and we still have that fridge at my house.

“Can’t we sell Carol, and buy a new tape deck for the Volvo?”

“Mike, you give new meaning to the word ‘vacuous’”.

“Oh, yeah? What was the old meaning?”

“I rest my case.”

“Ben, what’s so funny?”

“That Phyllis George screwed up again!”

Okay, nobody is going to get that reference. I have to explain it the best I can. Phyllis George was a former Miss America who later became the host of CBS’ doomed Morning Show. From what I’ve read, she was pretty awful at her job. She asked if a woman and the man she accused of raping her but turns out she lied if they would hug on screen during an interview. I’ve been wanting to write about her, thanks, Ben.

I adore Ben’s tiny TV.

Mike wants to go to an under-20 club called “The House of Sweat”. uh.

“Mom, why did you have to go back to work?” asks Ben as he plays with Maggie’s womantie.

“Ben, I know this has been a big change for all of us.
And I worry about not being here for you, because, well, you’re the youngest.
And I worry about not being here for Carol because she’s a girl and she needs her mother.
And I worry about not being here for Mike to keep him from accidentally blowing something up.”

…because Carol’s a girl and she needs her mother? During the school day though? It’s not like Maggie works late at night. Is this a period thing?

It’s always the same dream, Doc.
I’m on a subway and this woman sits across from me.
This beautiful woman.
And I look at her.
She looks at me.
I lick my lips.
She licks her lips.
This goes on.
Then, finally, she leans across, and she whispers to me: "You have huge knees."

Oh my god, there are so many icky scenes and we’re only 6:42 into this.

Pikachu makes a cameo while Mike begs to go to Club Sweat or whatever its called. Dad lets him go .. as long as Mike shows more responsibility. Typical dad fail move. When Maggie found out, Maggie was like, “YOU LET HIM WHAT?”

Jason told Maggie he slipped some satin sheets on the bed and put some champagne in an ice bucket in the bedroom. ewwww. Thank god the phone rang.

“…our Mike is 15, so he wouldn’t be driving a car….”

Why did they bring Ben to get Mike out of jail? He was asleep, Carol could have babysat him. They had to scare Ben straight, I guess.

Mike gets grounded for 2 months. We’re only 14 minutes in, what else is he going to get in trouble for? Jason loses it and says, “DAMMIT MIKE, YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO BE MORE RESPONSIBLE.”

“OK, I’ll admit it, I’m upset with Mike.”

Maggie is taking this way too much in stride. The police charged them $300 because Mike swiped a police car. Do you know how much that is in 2016 money.

Jason killed Mike. Nah. Mike explains the obvious that he was trying to drive because his friend was too drunk. This is the first of two times drunk driving was mentioned in the series. The other scene is probably the most famous in the series where Carol is dating Matthew Perry and he dies in a drunk driving accident.

“Mike, you probably don’t remember this, but when you were 3 weeks old I took you to the Mets home opener. Cradled you in my arms. Up comes Donn Clendenon. Hits a shot off the left-field scoreboard to win it in the 12th. I hugged you real tight jumping up and down, and you you threw up in your complimentary Mets batting helmet.”
“I’m sorry, Dad.”
“It was my fault. I never should’ve let you suck that beer off my finger.”
“No, Dad, I meant about tonight.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I did some pretty lame-o things in my day.”

“You?”

“Yeah.”

“Like what?”

“Like I remember when I was 16 me and some buddies, we drove around town one night mooning everybody. We even mooned the mayor’s wife.”

“You, Dad?”

“Yeah, we got arrested for indecent exposure. Had to let us off though. Mayor’s wife refused to make an identification.”
“You, Dad?”

“Will you stop saying that?”

“Does Mom know about this?”

“Are you kidding? How do you think we met?”

*the next morning*

*~♬Mooon River…..♬~*

87. The shortest lived of the shortest lived talk shows #2: Thicke of the Night (September, 1983 – July, 1984)

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224. “Funeral directors squabble over division of corpses” (August 7, 1985)

Maybe because I’m reading this as someone who isn’t a funeral director but this seems so heartless. 133 people died in a plane crash and these funeral diectors were arguing over who gets the bodies.

Delta 191 crashed in one of the earliest “microburst” plane crashes – a weather incident that causes a hard downward flow of air. The plane hit a car and killed the driver as it crashed. Only 27 people survived. 2 3

1. "Funeral Directors Squabble over Division of Corspes.“ Boca Raton News, August 7, 1985. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Rv5TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=So0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6938%2C1984863.

2. Swanson, Doug. "Crash of Delta Flight 191 at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Led to Safer Air Travel for Millions.” Dallas Morning News, January 11, 2014. Accessed November 8, 2015. http://www.dallasnews.com/business/airline-industry/20140111-crash-of-delta-flight-191-at-dallasfort-worth-international-airport-led-to-safer-air-travel-for-millions.ece.

3. "Crash of Delta 191: 30 Years since Hell ‘ripped Open’“ USA Today, August 2, 2015. Accessed November 8, 2015. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/02/crash-delta-191-30-years-since-hell-ripped-open-dallas/31024123/.

198. Aerlex Corporation fireworks plant explosion (June 25, 1985)

(source)

This accident doesn’t seem to be mentioned often in histories of industrial disasters in America. The explosion at an Oklahoma fireworks factory killed 21 workers during the Fourth of July rush.

A witness said the plant, which covered about 10 acres, was leveled.

“There’s body bags everywhere. It’s just a pile of rubble. No metal, no framework. There’s nothing left,” said Cindy Jennings, a reporter for a Tulsa radio station.

Mayor Jeff Fountain was one of the injured who survived the explosion, said Jennie Harrison, who works at a convenience store in Hallett.

“He was burned all over,” she said. “They found him wandering down a road near the plant. We put some water on him and called the hospital and they told us to put ice on him, so we did.” 1

Witnesses at the plant saw workers scooting metal drums of flash powder across a pickup truck bed when sparks were made and hit some spilled powder. 2

Lloyd Osbon Jr., 40, of Terlton, who Thursday attended the funeral for his wife, Marilyn, and son, Charles, said in a phone interview that he told state and Pawnee County authorities the explosions were sparked by workers dragging a 20-gallon galvanized steel trash can along the bed of a pickup truck, where some of the black powder was spilled.

The can was loaded with “stars,” containing flash powder. Stars are what sparkle in fireworks displays, he said.

The friction must have ignited the black powder, which ignited the flash powder stars, which shot into a nearby building, where workers were assembling fireworks.

“I was so angry at the time,” Osbon said. “Every day they preach to us, `You do not scrape metal against metal.`

“They were in a hurry to get the job done. It was 15 minutes before break. They were so dumb to do it.” 3

1. “Explosions at Fireworks Plant Kill 21.” Los Angeles Times, June 25, 1985. Accessed May 21, 2015. http://articles.latimes.com/1985-06-25/news/mn-10454_1_fireworks-plant.

2.
Sterling, Dana. “Town’s Residents Still Scarred From Fireworks Blast.” Tulsa World, June 25, 1995. Accessed May 21, 2015. http://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/town-s-residents-still-scarred-from-fireworks-blast/article_0109cfb2-92d5-543e-9637-313409e0d06c.html.

3.
Houston, Jack. “Fireworks Survivor Pins Blame.” Chicago Tribune, June 28, 1985. Accessed May 21, 2015. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-06-28/news/8502110585_1_fireworks-plant-fireworks-store-explosions.

He was still taking care of pigeons even when he hit the big time in the late 1980s.

Mike’s began to be interested in pigeons as a teenager when he used money from a robbery to buy pigeons, and one of his earliest fights was against a man who stole one of his pigeons and decapitated it.

64. The “Mike Tyson with pigeons” picture (1985)

This photo has its origins from a 1985 Sports Illustrated shoot. Mike Tyson has apparently loved pigeons his entire life! He had his own pigeon coop at his adoptive mother’s home in the 1980s.

He was still taking care of pigeons even when he hit the big time in the late 1980s.

Tag: 1985

443. Daily Press, December 1, 1985

392. Phyllis George hosting the CBS Morning News

376. Cherry Coke’s Debut (1985)

267. Great Beginnings: Growing Pains (September 24, 1985)

87. The shortest lived of the shortest lived talk shows #2: Thicke of the Night (September, 1983 – July, 1984)

224. “Funeral directors squabble over division of corpses” (August 7, 1985)

198. Aerlex Corporation fireworks plant explosion (June 25, 1985)

192. “Ah! Smell, taste, decide best cola” (Boca Raton News: August 7, 1985)

128. “Improve image…be seen with ME!” t-shirt, 1985

64. The “Mike Tyson with pigeons” picture (1985)

64. The “Mike Tyson with pigeons” picture (1985)