Donny Osmond with purple top hat and bow tie. Magnificent.
Happy Monday, Bionic pals. Here’s a funky and fantastic “only in the 70s” tune by The Osmonds. Watch now as the brothers flaunt their flashiest sequined outfits (with capes!), stomp on the wah-wah pedal and belt out “Music Through the Ages” on the Donny & Marie show from somewhere around 1976.
Seriously, this is funk-tastic. Watch it!
I know you enjoyed that. You're welcome!
The Love Boat's Pacific Princess sails off into the sunset
First we lose Continental Airlines and now The Love Boat! Time Magazine are reporting that the original Pacific Princess, better known as TV’s The Love Boat, has been sold off for scrap and is headed to the ship junkyard.
The ship was originally built in the 1960s and was used as the exterior “set” for The Love Boat weekly series from 1977-1986. The 550-foot cruise liner returned to commercial duty after the cancellation of the show but was put into dock for repairs in Italy in 2009 and never returned to service. Honk a forlorn foghorn and shed a salty tear for the Princess, for she has sailed the river Styx.
The Love Boat began life as a trio of made-for-TV movies on ABC in 1976 before it became a weekly fixture. I can remember my sister and myself begging to stay up late so we could watch The Love Boat specials. At 9-years-old I found this seafaring comedy about relationship troubles great fun. Strange but true. It was also vaguely exciting to see which well-known celebrities would guest star on each episode. Gofer and Issac were my favorite characters on the permanent crew.
Time Quote:
“Though it’s the final cruise for the celebrated ship, it’s had a long run even since its days of stardom. The ship was built in the 1960s and first set off from port in 1971 under the name ‘Sea Venture.’ In 1975, the ship was sold to Princess Cruises, who dubbed it ‘Pacific Princess.’ But all monikers aside, it sailed into our hearts in 1977 as the ‘Love Boat’ when ABC decided to use it as the backdrop for the weekly television show.”
Ted Lange and his cool finger! The best part of each Love Boat intro.
Return to the Bionic Disco homepage for more mind-expanding 1970s pop culture!
Shake 'n Bake, 1978. You'd forgotten about ol' Pete the Butcher hadn't you?
Seeing as how it’s Saturday and this evening you may be in need of some ancient commercials (it could happen!) – here’s a set of spots that ran in August of 1978 during NBC Saturday Night at the Movies.
The spots shown include American Express Travelers Cheques, Extra Strength Efferdent, Cycle 4 Dog Food, Shake ‘n Bake Coating Mix and promos for Little House on the Prairie and Columbo (with “deadly dobermans”!)
*Note: The original commercials are no longer available on YouTube. Below is a substitute batch from September, 1978.
Thanks to YouTube poster: seanmc31076
Lassie's Rescue Rangers, 1973. Lassie says "Bark!" as well as "bark" and "Bark..."
Happy Funshine Friday! Cartoon King here, bringing you another animated “classic” from the 1970s.
15 episodes of Filmation’s Lassie’s Rescue Rangers were produced and originally ran from September through December of 1973. Take in the opening below.
Interesting facts: Ted Knight, of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, provided the lead voice of Ben Turner for the series.
Stevie Wonder is 'Living for the City' in Jan.,1974
Since there are simply too many fantastic 70s songs to confine things to a single day (‘Music for Monday’,) let me lay this tune on you for a Thursday morning. Check out Stevie Wonder performing “Living for the City” in January of 1974 on German TV’s Musikladen.
“Living for the City“, from the Innervisions L.P., was released as a single in November of 1973 and rose to #8 on the US Billboard pop charts. Rolling Stone places the song at #104 on their ‘500 Greatest Songs of All Time’ list. You pretty much can’t go wrong with anything Wonder created during his golden period in the 70s. Enjoy.
'Continental Airlines. We really move our tails for you!'
On Friday, March 2nd, 2012 the last Continental Airlines flight occurred. The airline has been phased out and taken over by United Airlines. Continental began its service in 1934 and, of course, flew throughout the 1970s.
In order to keep the company flying high in our memories (sorry for the awful pun) let’s grab a look at these nifty photos from the 1970s (courtesy of HuffPost) and take a gander at a 70s-era commercial.
Continental flight attendants,1977
Continental Polynesian Pub, 1972
Continental male flight attendant, circa 1970s
See the entire Continental gallery at The Huffington Post.