In 1979, I brazenly declared to my college friends that as part of my trip to California that summer, I was going to be on a game show. Youth often produces illegitimate optimism. However, as it turns out, that prediction actually came to be as I was the last contestant called that summer day on The Price is Right at the CBS studios in Hollywood. I had one chance to guess a prize to get on stage. You would have thought it was rigged because the items up for bid were two Brumby Rocking Chairs from Marietta, GA. What? Wait, I am from Atlanta......easy peasy? But I was a collegiate and really, what did I know about the price of anything other than a pack of cigarettes, text books, beer and occasional pair of painters pants from Sears? One lucky guess later and I was up on stage with a very tall and very dark haired Bob Barker. It was all a blur from there. It was fortunate that I had a friend that had one of these new video recorders and captured a copy of that show when it actually aired months later. Luckier still? It was a VHS recorder and not a Betamax.
Being on a game show can certainly be great cocktail party conversation....and I have developed a quite engaging description that I can throw out there if needed. However, an unexpected benefit of having this 30 year old Price is Right tape is that it has proven to be a veritable time capsule of a slower and simpler time. Typically when people find out I have this recording, they want to see it, I have it cued to the spot where I am on the show from the last time I showed it. But I ended up watching the whole tape just recently (cable must have been out) and I was amazed at what I saw.
I saw the incredible edible egg and other commercials that I hadn't seen/thought about in years. I was struck at the self-indulgent pacing and style of these "pitches" against our current backdrop of blazingingly fast images inspiring us to buy cars, computers, cell phones and cereal. This was pre-MTV and it really demonstrated how things have changed to such a frenetic speed. The 1979 commercial spots took time to tell a story, had less editing/scene changes and more eye contact with the camera. Multi tasking was not in our venacular. Is there a psychologist out there that would like to do a study on a potential link between attention deficit disorder and the onslaught of images that we are exposed to in any given day?
As I watched this hour long program, I could feel my countenance relax. I observed that the colors were even more muted (I'm sure there is some great technical explanation, but let's just suspend that notion for now). The actors even spoke slower. Sentimentality aside, I truly believe this is a picture of how intense things have gotten over the last 30 years. We can do more so we expect more. This spinning globe is the same, we are just running around it faster and really, for what? In 1985 I had a job as an outside salesperson where I covered a very large geographic territory. Only 3 ways I could communicate with a client.....one...face to face appointment, two...phone call or....three...letter. 3 ways!!!! Is that sinking in? Now in 2010, let's add these to the list....fax, email, text, website, teleconferencing, skype, etc. No wonder energy drinks and coffee sales are at an all time high. We need this extra boost just to make it through a "normal" day.
I must be careful not to be too reflective or melancholy about the past otherwise I will miss living in the present. I embrace technology. I love the fact that I can have my entire music collection on an ipod and not have this huge stereo system made up of a turntable, tuner, tape player, humongous speakers and crates and crates of record albums. I love to be able to google anything and never have to go to bed at night with one of those lingering questions, like.....who were the actor and actress that played in Harold and Maude? And what other movies were they in? Can they be linked to Kevin Bacon? And are they still alive? ad nauseum......... I love the ability to have pictures taken and delivered to out of town friends with my iphone in a matter of minutes. That is crazy, right? My 1979 brain would have put that in the category of Science Fiction. I love to have a selection.......of whatever........shaving cream, m&m's, ice cream, shampoo, cereal, milk. But I also loved the simplicity of past limited choices as well. Four channels on tv (3 major VHF channels and one very fuzzy UHF channel). Keds or Converse. Levi's or Wranglers, Chevy or Ford. Coke or Pepsi. McDonald's or Burger King.
Self awareness is good. I have seen society progress and I feel that I have some advantage of having lived through those changes as they unfolded. With this recent economic downturn, and a movement toward simplicity, I am doubtful we can really go back. And if we could, would we want to? So, let us move forward while embracing the past......and make it our mission to never, ever forget that self imposed symbol of a kinder, gentler time......the incredible edible egg. I take mine over easy.
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