Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Christmas on TV back in the 60s

 
You know that during every holiday season will be commercials which you grow to hate. I will admit often using the remote when one comes on. But that is not where I am going.

This morning I saw a Fed-Ex commercial-- harried man rushes into the office and asks if they will deliver, grabs a box and throws in a handful of pens.

I got to thinking of how that concept fell short.

It would have been different back in the 1960s, years of my youth.

Exact same situation, frenzied holiday shopper rushes into same Fed-Ex office and if he did the same thing, a genial older white man behind the counter would chuckle, and pour out the ink pens, and grab a handful of the candy canes, and they would share a wincing smile. Fade to logo...and out.

From where would such an idea like that just pop in my head? Years of the Dick Van Dyke Show where Rob worked at a fictitious TV Program as one of the writers. Each week, they came up with zany comedy routines for the front-man. There was no shock value, no ridicule necessary to be the funniest thing we had seen.

In the case of Fed-Ex commercial, it mocks the frenzied man where the 60s style leaves you with a warm feeling. It would be a favorite instead of annoyance to be avoided.

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