Sixties Celebrities: a change of pace

This font is the only part of this blog in living color.

Switch your mind to black-and-white, as in

sixties television.  My blog readers include those who grew up on the melodramatic fare of those days, as well as those who saw the same shows years later on Nickolodeon or TVLand.

I compiled the photo collage below from 30 pictures I cut out of the TV listings of The Atlanta Journal when I was a kid.  I found a small box with these and more than 100 others that I clipped from "the Green Sheet," as it was known (I scanned these in B&W).  I thought it would be fun (for me, at least) to throw out in cyberspace some random thoughts and trivia regarding some of these one-time stars (others, I don't know enough about to even comment).

I'd be delighted to read some of your thoughts and impressions-- don't hesitate to leave a comment.

• Hayley Mills, daughter of actor John Mills, was in The Parent Trap.
• Broderick Crawford was the stoic chief on Highway Patrol.  Ah, those were the days when patrol cars were black and white on TV and in real life!
• Red Skelton.  I could do a whole blog on him.  The one comedian who didn't annoy you when he laughed at his own jokes.  A heart of gold.  Ended his shows with a humble ". . . and may God bless."
• I only know of James (Jimmy) Cagney as the classic gangster stereotype.
• Carroll O'Connor was about to make a name for himself as Archie Bunker on "All in the Family."  Glad I've still got a tape of their highlights.
• I knew of Burl Ives as a folksinger, not an actor.  One of the first LP records my family purchased after we got a stereo (around 1965, at Zayre) taught me songs like "For Me and My Gal" and "Red Sails in the Sunset."
• Arthur Godfrey was more famous for hosting some sort of amateur talent show, and later as an advertising spokesman (was it Geritol?)
• Mickey Rooney always got on my nerves, so I didn't give him much attention.
• Bob Hope was a transcendent comic for the ages, reaching out to audiences across seven decades.  His U.S.O Christmas shows for our servicemen were all classics.
• Elizabeth Taylor.  Judy and I just saw her in her youngest role, a 1940-something version of "Jane Eyre."  Later came "National Velvet," lots of husbands, and lots of diamonds.
• Jonathan Winters was very popular but for some reason he was too corny for me.  That's hard to believe, eh, readers?
• Merle Haggard?  Singer, yes.  Actor, no.  But the "Green Sheet" highlighted performers from those endless "variety shows" as they were known then.
• Brigitte Bardot.  Did she make the bikini famous, or was it the other way around?
• Tammy Wynette is associated with "Stand By Your Man." 
• Ernest Borgnine was on "McHale's Navy," where he was straight man to Tim Conway (Ensign Parker?).  I never thought Borgnine was much of an actor, but years later he begged for the role of his idol Vince Lombardi, and wowed the critics.
• Sophia Loren was supposedly a voluptuous Italian, but we never got to watch her movies at my house.
• Merv Griffin was on at 4:00 in the afternoon and for two decades folks watched him and his endless parade of top-notch guests as religiously as they did for Oprah years later.
• E.G. Marshall made an impression on me in the dramatic series "The Defenders," which was a courtroom show, but different from "Perry Mason."  Young folks, you may not realize it, but he has advertised all kinds of stuff on latter day TV, so he may look familiar.

Well, I told you it would be random, and I kept my promise.  If any of these stir your curiosity, check Google or Wikipedia.  And like I said, leave your own comments.  How's this for a change of pace?