What Becomes a Legend Least?

I don't have a picture of this -- just a memory. It is circa Christmas 1975, and I am a sophisticate! A second-grade Lauren Hutton! I am! I just know it! I, Joal Ryan, have been allowed to stay up to watch The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I am soaking in the scene, the clubby chit-chat, the second-hand TV smoke from Johnny's cigarette. I am so insanely mature I could card myself. Except I don't yet know what the term means. And besides I'm too busy. What with watching The Tonight Show. While playing with my brand-new Batman Colorforms set. And lounging in my brand-new inflatable frog.

Yes, it's best I don't have a picture of this.

-- Joal R.

Snapshot No 8: At Least We Had Underoos

"What a bleak, stark, year," Andy Frueh said of Christmas 1979.

Due to the tough economy (that sounds familiar...), Andy doesn't remember he and his siblings getting much. "But at least we had Underoos," he said.

The Hulk set paled next to the brightly attired DC Comics heroes on that Christmas morning in Lima, Ohio, but Andy truly was the man of the hour thanks to Bill Bixby.

Thank you, Andy, for sharing this awesome story and image. Email us your pics, too.

-- Brian H.

TV Guide, Christmas 1977

Apparently, even Santa was troubled by the pending cable revolution...

Not sure if the script is legible, but it says, "Christmas is more than an Orange..."

Now, why it says "Christmas is more than an Orange," I have no idea. Then again, I'm not a theologian. Or a citrus farmer.

It's not clear from this classic TV Guide "Close Up," but this particular All in the Family -- about a deadly hate crime against a female impersonator, and involving a main character's renunciation of faith -- aired on Christmas night.

Yes, Virginia, broadcast-network TV used to have (how should we say?) Sno Balls.

Not to mention the will -- and the audience -- to air all-new episodes on a major holiday.

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Just a reminder, if you have snapshots or other artifacts from Christmas in the 1970s that you'd like to share, send 'em our way at: xmasinthe70s [at] yahoo [dot] com.

--Joal R.

Michael Jackson Holidays on "Sesame Street"

And, in retrospect, it's too bad for his own good that he didn't move there permanently. No way Oscar would have stood for talk of Diprivan near his can. A tough-love sort if ever there was one.

--Joal R.