Ask Cool Daddy 3
I was told recently that the Davy Crockett coonskin cap I had as a kid wasn't real raccoon. Say it isn't so!
Sorry, but unless yours was handed down from your great great grandfather, it probably is so. The fashion was adopted by the early settlers from the Indians, and any furry animal unfortunate enough to be the size of a man's head would do, including skunks. Many famous historical figures sported one, including both Lewis & Clark, and when he ran for President in 1948, Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver. But Davy Crockett wore one only on occasions when the public expected it, and Daniel Boone disliked them and never did.
When I was a kid, we were too poor to get them, so my brother and I took turns wearing the cat. Which wasn't so crazy, considering the early style was to leave the head on the front of the cap, like those fox stoles our mothers wore. In any event, during the 1950s, coonskin caps were made of rabbit fur, sometimes but not always with a real raccoon tail…the rest of the coon being used for other fashion purposes, such as coats and collars. There was even a white version for girls, named after Davy's wife Polly. Most Daniel Boone hats of the 1960s were entirely synthetic.
Back in the day, I remember a cereal called Sugar Chex, but nobody believes me. Cool Daddy to the rescue?
Indeed. For years, Ralston Purina, then General Mills who bought the line in 1997, experimented with presweetened versions of Chex cereal. It appears they've finally gotten it right, with the slightly sweet Honey Nut, Chocolate, and Cinnamon varieties (Strawberry Chex is no longer made.) But just as pet-food makers refuse to tell you that your dog or cat's favorite flavor is "fat," the human brain is hard-wired to prefer "sugar" as its flavor pick. And when RP's first attempt to expand the iconic Wheat-Rice-Corn Chex trio came in 1966, it was presweetened.
It was called Mr. Waffles…how's that for a typically goofy Sixties product name? But it was shaped like Chex, and came in 2 flavors, regular (i.e. "sugar") and banana. What you're probably remembering was the relaunch of the regular version as Sugar Frosted Chex several years later. The final push came in the early Seventies, as Sugar Chex, then Super Sugar Chex, featuring Casper the Friendly Ghost on the front. They gave up the ghost sometime after 1974. A slightly sweet Honey Graham Chex existed briefly in the late Eighties.
Frosted Rice Chex Juniors came and went quickly in the early Nineties, followed by Frosted Mini Chex a decade later. They retooled it by making the squares normal size as Frosted Chex around 2009, and that seems to be still available anecdotally, altho it's not listed on the official Chex website. And good breakfasting to you…
Is it true that Beatles manager Brian Epstein had an American group in his fold? I can't remember which, though.
But as I suspect you suspected, Cool Daddy can. It was the Cyrkle, the weird spelling suggested by none other than John Lennon. They were from Easton, PA, home of Crayola crayons. Epstein signed them on the suggestion of his American business partner, and they were an opening act on the Beatles 1966 American tour. Their 2 hits were "Red Rubber Ball," written by Paul Simon, and "Turn Down Day." And there's a video floating around the web of Simon & Garfunkel performing "Ball" live in 1967.
He actually co-wrote it with Bruce Woodley of the Seekers. The Cyrkle heard it while touring with S&G, and Paul said: "You like it? It's yours." They also recorded "Cloudy," but in a classic case of "what were they thinking," passed on another song he offered them, "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)." Another irony is John Simon, who was the Cyrkle's producer, but no relation to Paul, altho Paul has a younger brother Eddie, also in the music biz. John went on to work with the Band, Blood Sweat & Tears, and Big Brother & the Holding Company.
I always like hearing about what might have been: the first choice to play a famous TV or movie role that went to someone else…got any for me?
Yup, I got a doozie: Tom Poston was the first choice of Buck Henry and Mel Brooks to play Max on "Get Smart." But often not getting your first choice turns out to be the charm…can you imagine Agent 86 without "that voice"? Actually, the voice goes back to Don Adams' early days as a standup comic, and was supposed to be his impression of William Powell. Not for nothing, but Don Adams' real last name was Yarmy, and he had a younger brother named Dick Yarmy, also a comedian and actor.
But really, the whole character of Maxwell Smart was lifted directly from that of Byron Glick, the inept hotel detective Adams played on an earlier series, "The Bill Dana Show," which lasted a season and a half, 1963-65, with Jose Jimenez as an elevator operator. Since there weren't enough episodes made, this show was never marketed for syndication, but it would be a treat for Baby Boomers to see today. The hotel manager was played by Jonathan Harris, Dr. Smith on "Lost in Space"…Gary Crosby was the bellhop…and Maggie Peterson, Charlene Darling on "The Andy Griffith Show," was a waitress.
Talk about "Look who it is!" moments…on just the first handful of episodes, you'd see Sue Randall, Miss Landers on "Leave It To Beaver"…Percy Helton, that squeaky-voiced, hunchbacked actor…and 3 familiar faces from Mayberry: Jack "Howard Sprague" Dobson, Sue Ann Langdon, and Rachel Ames, longtime stalwart on "General Hospital" as Nurse Audrey…wow! Needless to say, "The Bill Dana Show" was a Danny Thomas production, as was "The Andy Griffith Show."
Do you remember a toy set called Hamilton's Invaders? I wanted it for Christmas, but never got it. But who the heck was Hamilton?
This was one of the more interesting play-sets of the Sixties, made by Remco from 1964-65. The basic premise was simple enough: giant bugs and spiders attacking, and blue plastic "army men," called Blue Defenders, fighting back with tanks, jeeps, and the "Hornet Helicopter." There was even a pistol and a helmet with goggles so you could personally join in the battle. The whole deal was reasonably popular with kids…legend has it that it was discontinued because Moms didn't like the idea of large, almost foot-long creepy crawlers scuttling across the floor with the pull of a string, altho they were later reused in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" play-sets.
But the part of the concept that seemed a little off was naming the lead bug "Horrible Hamilton." Given other monster names of the day, like Godzilla, Gorgo, Konga, Caltiki, and Mothra, "Hamilton" didn't seem to fit. Was this the kind of name your creepy old great uncle might have had, like Murgatroyd or Algernon? Wouldn't Boris or Igor have been at least a little better? And why was the logo of the Blue Defenders a Horrible Hamilton bug head, with the words "Hamilton's Invaders," as if they were on the bugs' side? Perhaps you really were supposed to be rooting for the bugs over the soldiers, given the popularity of giant creature movies at the time. Reminds me of the time I took my wife to see the movie "War and Peace." She rooted for War.
Till next month, check out Stolf's phenomenal blogs and podcasts, all linked at deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com…and as always, rock on!
