Saturday morning cartoons, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Bugg's Bunny, Tweety Bird, Popeye, and of course, my favorite, Huckle Berry Hound. Ahhh, those were real cartoons. Not that stuff the kids watch today.
I was watching something on Cartoon Network recently, a little boy with blue hair, sad funny shaped eyes and nose that was a number seven and a smart mouth. I was not impressed. In fact, had I been watching that when I was seven years old, I'd have turned it off and gone outside to play. Give me a good old blue hound dog that sings "Oh My Darlin" anyday and I'm a happy camper.
The sidekick, an essental element in any cartoon, was a very strange looking animal or creature of some sort. I learned later that the "critter" was suppposed to be an imaginary friend. This "land" was where all the imaginary friends came from. Yes, well, anyway, it couldn't talk. Just sort of was there, you know? BORING! So, I turned off the TV and went outside to play!
People ask why kids today are "jaded". Have you ever sat down and watched the drivel that is on television? Disney Channel, Cartoon Network and all the rest have bomarded our children with mindless, endless stuff! And we parents are letting it happen. Notice I said "WE". I'm guilty too. The Disney programing today is NOTHING like what it was in my day. Good Grief Charlie Brown! Did I just say, "In My Day"????
Saturday morning cartoons. Oh Boy! We would tumble out of bed and grab our cereal bowls filled with what ever sugary sweet cereal that was the current favorite, a spoon and glass of orange juice and head for the living room. Snap on the tv set, settle down with our pillows and blankets, eat our cereal and feast our eyes on those wonderful cartoons that only came on on Saturday morning. We'd channel surf for our favorite ones, arguing about which were the best. Then at around 11:30 am, they were over. All gone for another week.
On those Saturday's that it would rain, well, there was always the Saturday movies. Tarzan, John Wayne, The Little Rascals and ofcourse, the Saturday Night Frights! Oh how we loved those goofy, cheesy, horror movies. Dracula, The Wolfman, The Mummy, the list goes on and on.
We used to look forward to Sunday night when Wonderful World of Disney would come on. I just loved watching Tinker Bell dance around the screen and finally with a flourish of her wand, sprinkle the screen with fairy dust and the show would begin. It would always be something good. The typical story line, but presented new and fresh every week. Even when there would be a rerun, it was good to see again. My personal favorites would be the movies, Old Yeller, stuff like that. I was a reader as a child and these appealed to me most. The cartoons were wonderful too. Funny, and always ended well. Not like the gloom and doom of the ones today.
I wonder.....will our children allow this "progress" to continue? Will they tire of the mindless canned laughter and long for simpler times? One can only pray so.........
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