Movies 'Til Dawn BLOG

TWA–THE ‘WOUND A LITTLE TIGHT’ AIRLINE

Ten or so years prior to the delightfully comedic Peter Sellers TWA ads of the mid 1970s that I posted yesterday TWA had a different vision of how to present itself to the public. Above is a one-minute ‘informercial’ ad from 1961 featuring Miss Mary Ann Lynch in a ‘day

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PETER SELLERS FOR TWA

The great Peter Sellers picked up a little bread and butter cash doing a series of ads for TWA in the mid-seventies and the first of the above posted ads, where he plays an Italian ‘Via Veneto or Bust’ swinger, was one of my favorite ads of my childhood. This

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STEREOS-R-US

If you set out to make a parody of a 1970s TV commercial for a Stereo store you might wind up with something like the above–if you were very very talented, of course. (By the way, whatever happened to Sansui? It’s mentioned in yesterday’s clip as well). Thoughts of stereo

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THE HOME STEREO–WHAT A CONCEPT

Stereos were once an incredibly important bookshelf-filling music-delivery system. Much time was lavished on discussions of which were the best components, whether it was better to have an all-in-one receiver or a power amp, pre-amp and tuner, which massive speakers to buy (and how many). A true stereo-head preferred to

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MY BIG FAT FIFTY POUND COMPUTER; A LOVE STORY

Enjoy a two-minute ad for the then brand-new 1977 IBM 5100, a fifty-pound computer that appears to have been invented to help people figure out what to do with their cows (you have to watch it). By the way: is she holding an I-Pad in that opening scene? Or, more

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K-TEL PRESENTS…CRAP!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/qjxb1bpceok%20width=560/iframebr%20/ Did you know that K-Tel didn’t just put out junky record compilations but also created a series of crappy utilitarian household items? Dig the Omlette maker ad above–the thing can be separated to be two half-pans though to do so would be at your own risk since they clearly

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K-TEL PRESENTS: BLOOPER HELL

https://www.youtube.com/embed/vtQwEog6cuE%20width=560/iframebr%20/%20br%20/https://www.youtube.com/embed/VVLMQ8Ay0ic%20width=560/iframebr%20/%20br%20/https://www.youtube.com/embed/POHjl_Xhxe4%20width=560/iframebr%20/%20br%20/ The above three blooper albums from K-TEL records were another early purchase of mine via the phone, using my parents credit card with no permission. For some reason I didn’t fear the arrival of the records and whatever questions might arise as a result of their presence (to say

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NYC IN THE 70’s: WHEN ‘CRAZIES’ WERE ‘KOOKS’

 Subscribe in a reader What on earth was the above video made for? It’s a short film in the style of a tourist-lure travelogue promoting New York. Only its point is how lousy New York is. The Youtube poster is at least ten years off in his estimation of when

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THE RETREAT OF ‘PLATO’S RETREAT’

Yesterday’s posting of a TV commercial advertising the 70s swingers club ‘Plato’s Retreat’ has provoked a good deal of controversy in the…oh, I can’t lie. It provoked no controversy whatsoever. And so I will double down with more on the infamous sex club. Above is a 1985 local New York

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MANHATTAN CABLE TV–BROUGHT TO YOU BY…

1970s New York was messy, smelly, worn-out and stale. Plenty has been written (and much of it romanticized) about 70s New York, so what else is there to say? Well, watch the above commercial for ‘Plato’s Retreat’, a sex club that was located in the Ansonia Hotel on Broadway and

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