Saturday 9

SATURDAY 9: ROLLIN' STONE (1958)

 

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 

1) The title comes from the proverb, "a rolling stone gathers no moss." What do you suppose that proverb is trying to teach us? Don't settle and stagnate. Keep moving, growing, improving.

 

2) The lyrics warn us not to be lazy stay-at-homes but to go out and learn about the world around us. Tell us about a place you haven't visited yet but would like to. Alaska. But to be honest, I have been thinking more about places I haven't seen in a while and wish to return to: Hot Springs, Colonial Williamsburg, Boston ...

 

3) Karen and Cubby were Mouseketeers on the original Mickey Mouse Club, a TV show which ran from 1955 to 1959. Then, from 1962 to 1967, local TV stations reran it in syndication. In 1989, there was a Mickey Mouse Club reboot, which launched the careers of Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilara. So The Mickey Mouse Club has entertained generations of kids. What shows did you enjoy as a child? I'd race home after school to watch Where the Action Is and Dark Shadows back-to-back on channel 7. "Action" was a variety show set on the beach, starring Paul Revere and the Raiders. DS was a gothic soap opera starring Barnabas Collins. Both shows were Topic A on the playground during recess.

 

4) Karen was Karen Pendleton, among the youngest of the original Mousketeers. Producers discovered her at a local dancing school. Have you ever taken dance lessons? Yes. My mom sent me and my older sister to ballet lessons when I was in third grade. I dropped out after a year. I don't recall if my sister continued or not.

5) When The Mickey Mouse Club ended, Karen left show business. She went to public school, graduated, got married, and had a daughter. When she was in her 30s, she was involved in a car accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Still, she went back to college, earning first her Bachelor's and then Master's degrees in psychology. Have you considered continuing your education? What subject would you pursue? I don't know that I want to return to college, but I'd like to learn Spanish.

 

6) Cubby is Cubby O'Brien, a drum prodigy who began playing professionally when he was just 8 years old. After the Mickey Mouse Club he went on to The Lawerence Welk Show. As he entered his teens, he prioritized school over TV. He later returned to television as musician on The Carol Burnett Show. He also performed in concert behind The Carpenters. Do you have a favorite Carpenters song? "Rainy Days and Mondays."

 

7) In 1958, when kids were watching the original Mickey Mouse Club during the day, adults were watching Westerns. The most popular TV shows of that year included Gunsmoke, Wagon Train and The Rifleman. Have you ever fantasized about life as a cowboy/cowgirl? Oh, yes! I think the mid-19th century was a very romantic time! Very hard on women and rather bereft of hygiene and comfort. But I'd like to visit it in a Hallmark movie kinda way.

 

8) Also in 1958, Dwight Eisenhower became the first President to appear on color TV. Not many Americans saw him in color, though. It wasn't until 1972 that color TVs outsold black-and-white sets. Did you ever own a black-and-white TV?  My family got our first color TV in 65 or 66. I had a little b&w set in my bedroom. When I first moved out, I had a 5" Sony "tummy TV." My apartment was in a very old building and I couldn't run both the room AC and my color TV without blowing the fuse. So in summer throughout the 80s I'd watch that tiny b&w set.

 

9) Random question -- Did you pass your driver's license test on the first try? Yes. That's frightening, because I was a terrible driver and they had no business passing me and letting me loose on the unsuspecting midwest.