March 29, 2021
A blog reader asked for a look back at some TV commercials in days gone by. So here are a few:
In case you don’t remember them, MCI, Inc. (previously Worldcom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. Before they went bankrupt and were acquired by Verizon Communications, they had a great commercial advertising their “Friends and Family Calling Circle.”
Next up, a classic AlkaSeltzer spot from 1972.
And a 1969 AlkaSeltzer ad featuring many things going wrong with the production.
Last for today, John Moschitta is a fast talking guy, credited in The Guinness Book of World Records as the World’s Fastest Talker, with the ability to articulate 586 words per minute. His record has been broken twice, but neither of those men got Federal Express commercials. This FedEx commercial is what made him famous.
👉 There has been a lot of talk, I mean a LOT of talk over the last few days about rapper Lil Nas X and a model of modified Nike Air Max ‘97 shoes which are being marketed as “Satan Shoes.” The biggest pop seems to be coming from internet site gossip site TMZ – left wing biased, and noted for sensational headlines and poor sources.
TMZ says, “The rapper/pop star is putting out a limited release of Nike sneakers,” leading the reader to think Nike is behind this. Again TMZ says, “Word is, MSCHF/Nike are only dishing out 666 of these puppies to the public,” subtly linking Nike to the production. In reality an idea company called MSCHF (is that an abbreviation for mischief?) has bought 666 pair of the Air Max ‘97 and is modifying them with lots of red ink, pentagrams, and a reference to Luke 10:18 where Jesus says, “I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven.” To complete the $1018 Satanic shoes, there is a drop of human blood somewhere along the soles.
Entertainment Weekly said, “Nike was not involved in the collaboration.” The New York Times reported, “one of MSCHF’s founders, Daniel Greenberg, said Nike was not involved in the process ‘in any capacity.’” And the Times quoted Nike: “We do not have a relationship with Little Nas X or MSCHF. Nike did not design or release these shoes, and we do not endorse them.” From NBC News: “Nike was quick to distance itself from the shoes, pointing out that they’re custom adaptations of existing products.”
👉 Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression, known for their bank robberies, although they preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations. They are believed to have murdered at least nine police officers and four civilians.
In her second year in high school, Bonnie Parker met Roy Thornton. The couple dropped out of school and married six days before her 16th birthday. Their marriage was short lived. They never divorced, but she was still wearing his wedding ring when she died. Thornton was in prison when he heard of her death. He commented, “I’m glad they went out like they did. It’s much better than being caught.” Thornton was killed while trying to escape from the Huntsville State Prison on October 3, 1937.
Clyde Barrow was first arrested in late 1926, at age 17, after running when police confronted him over a rental car that he had failed to return on time. His second arrest was for possession of stolen turkeys. He met 19 year-old Parker through a mutual friend in January 1930, and they spent much time together during the following weeks. Their romance was interrupted when Barrow was arrested and convicted of auto theft. He was sent to Eastham Prison Farm in April 1930 at the age of 21. He escaped from the prison farm shortly after his incarceration using a weapon Parker smuggled to him.
Barrow and Parker were killed on May 23, 1934, on a rural road in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Six officers, four from Texas, two from Louisiana, set the ambush on May 22. When Barrow stopped his car to help Henry Methvin, a gang member who had agreed to a deal with law enforcement officials in order to save his life, the posse opened fire. The officers fired about 130 rounds, emptying their weapons into Barrow’s car.
The bullet-ridden Ford Deluxe was later exhibited at carnivals and fairs – there was a charge of one dollar to sit in it. In 1988, the Primm Valley Resort and Casino in Las Vegas purchased it for $250,000. Barrow’s enthusiasm for cars was evident in a letter he wrote earlier in the spring of 1934, addressed to Henry Ford: “While I still have got breath in my lungs I will tell you what a dandy car you make. I have drove Fords exclusively when I could get away with one. For sustained speed and freedom from trouble the Ford has got every other car skinned and even if my business hasn’t been strictly legal it don’t hurt anything to tell you what a fine car you got in the V-8.”
👉 Here are some humorous sayings before we close:
A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
The unsuspecting customer said, “I was worried that my mechanic might try to rip me off. I was relieved when he told me all I needed was turn signal fluid.”
A bulldog can whip a skunk, but sometimes it’s not worth it.
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in his shoes. That way if he gets angry, he’ll be a mile away and barefoot.
👉 As my age was turning from single digits to double digits the world was – even more so than today – troubled by international tensions and runaway military weapons productions. In elementary school we were taught “duck and cover,” an absolutely worthless thing to do in the event of a first strike nuclear attack launched at us by the Soviet Union. Crawl under your school desk and cover your head. Some schools provided metal dog tags for students, so their bodies could be identified after an attack.
When I was 15 we were glued to the television for 13 days as the U.S. and Soviet Union engaged in the Cuban Missile Crisis, a political and military standoff over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores.
And as the 1960s dragged into the 70s, the nightly news produced the horror of Vietnam War right in our living rooms.
In many ways national governments have backed away from the heat and the rhetoric while quasi-national groups like ISIS and the Taliban are ramping up the tension and the attacks. But whether you remember the teacher ringing a bell and you ducked under your desk, or if you can still close your eyes and see the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center collapse, we need to be reminded, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling” (Psalm 46:1-3 NKJV).
Not our military might, not our stealth bombers, not our intercontinental ballistic missiles, not the stockpile of nuclear weapons sufficient to wipe all life off of planet earth, our boast is in the Lord God Almighty. Centuries ago kings boasted of their impregnable castles, built on inaccessible positions, and secured with gates as strong as could be fashioned. But our God is far and above the ultimate refuge from the distresses of our age.
No matter what the threat – international calamity, lunatic terrorists, a virus that quickly swept away our confidence, or employment troubles, financial troubles, and domestic crises, God is our refuge. That personal possessive pronoun means God is my refuge and strength, and yours.
Hymn writer Ira Stanphill wrote “I Know Who Holds My Hand” in 1950. I don’t know if he had those days in mind with which I opened this piece, but it expresses the confidence the Chief Musician of Israel declared in Psalm 46. “Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.”
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