JANUARY 2023

NEW YEAR'S DAY MEMORIES

- Roses, Heroes & Heroines -

By George A. Haloulakos

Happy New Year from all of us here at the Galaxy Nostalgia Network!  This year marks the 60th Anniversary of the 1963 Tournament of Roses Parade & Rose Bowl.  Under the theme "Memorable Moments" the reigning Queen for the Rose Parade was Nancy Davis Maggio, whose tenure was to include a date with the quarterback of the visiting team from the Midwest.  The annual gridiron classic was a landmark game that featured the Wisconsin Badgers versus the University of Southern California Trojans.  Part of our retrospective examines this unique moment in time through the prism of Badger Quarterback Ron Vander Kelen, whose late game heroics helped his team score 23 points with just 14-minutes remaining before time ran out.  Southern California held on for a 42-37 victory, but Vander Kelen earned Co-MVP game honors as he set records for pass attempts (48), pass completions (33) and yards passing (401).  The January 1963 Rose Bowl marked the first bowl game in college football history that featured the Number 1 ranked team (Southern Cal) versus the Number 2 ranked team (Wisconsin).  As just one example on how far we have come since this bygone era, a Number 1 versus Number 2 bowl game matchup has become largely commonplace, if not expected. 

But there is much more to unpack here, especially now with the advent of NIL (Name-Image-Likeness) licensing for collegiate athletes, national college playoffs, astronomical professional football salaries, beauty pageants that provide a segue into professional entertainment and so forth.  This was a time in which the annual meeting of the Midwest and Pacific Coast was truly an important pop culture event for Baby Boomers and prominent student athletes who were preparing for lifetime careers beyond the playing field was more a norm than an exception.  As the year 1963 was to later close on a tragic note with the assassination of President John Kennedy, the innocence of that New Year's Day becomes even more poignant.

By the standards of today, the events of New Year's Day 1963 seem almost quaint.  The game itself ran longer than expected -- over 3 hours -- and ended in almost complete darkness.  Today most football games run 3-1/2 to 4 hours and stadiums are equipped with much better lighting.  Vander Kelen's late game heroics resulted in not only sharing MVP honors but led to what at the time was considered a financial windfall.  Moreover, the humorous reaction by Trojan head coach John McKay helped secure his lasting reputation as a legendary wisecrack artist.  McKay stated in the post-game interview that Wisconsin head coach Milt Bruhn had Vander Kelen for 4-years and all the legendary Badger QB got was a college education while McKay had Vander Kelen for 4-quarters and got him $60,000 (the result of pro-football offers that came forth after his co-MVP performance on New Year's Day)!  Interestingly enough, Vander Kelen was able to parlay his Rose Bowl performance into a 5-year NFL career with the Minnesota Vikings, mostly in a reserve role.  This was followed by success in the advertising and marketing industries and later in college admissions (University of Minnesota), thereby making Vander Kelen a role model for leading a well-rounded, inspired life.

With the game ending in darkness, the day ended with Vander Kelen fulfilling a date with the Rose Queen, Nancy Davis Maggio.  It was of course, for the reasons already noted, a late date!  Ms Davis Maggio recalled her date with Vander Kelen as one of her fondest memories as Rose Queen.  She had competed against a field of over 2,000 contestants to win her title, and this led to guest appearances on "The Lawrence Welk Show" and "The Andy Williams Show."  Such public appearances on family variety TV shows for such award recipients was a commonplace practice throughout the 1950s and 1960s.  In the two previous Rose Parades, 1961 and 1962, Ms Davis Maggio had marched as a flag twirler for the Pasadena City College Band as they were the official Rose Parade Band at that time.  Thus her post-game date with the visiting QB added further glamour to this annual meeting of the Midwest and Pacific Coast.  Ms Davis Maggio later became a published author, with her most notable work being "Babysitting Mama," a journal she kept about caregiving her mother for nine years.

This retrospective is offered as a Baby Boomer remembrance of how things were, and how far we have travelled in the ensuing decades.  It is not mere nostalgia but a historic examination through the prism of what seemingly are the lives of ordinary people doing extraordinary things that illustrate the magnitude of the journey we make in a lifetime.  We wish all of you a Happy New Year and hope you will share your New Year's Day memories by posting to the GNN FACEBOOK page (and please "like" us when doing so) or send them to us via the GNN g-mail address.

 DECEMBER 2022

CHRISTMAS ON "GILLIGAN'S ISLAND"

- Classic TV Holiday Memories -

By George A. Haloulakos

This month's GNN Blog pays tribute to perhaps the most unique episode from the classic TV series "Gilligan's Island" (1964-1967).  Believe it or not, there really was a Christmas show for the famous situation comedy program, but you would never know it by casually browsing the titles in the episode log.  It was the twelfth episode in the first season and was aired December 19, 1964.  The name of the Christmas episode --"Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk" -- refers to incidents that occurred in the series pilot, and this is one of the major characteristics that makes this such a special holiday themed program.

With "Jingle Bells" playing as the episode opens, the castaways are shown celebrating Christmas by decorating a palm tree!  Gilligan wishes they could be rescued, and it seems this holiday wish will come true when a radio report indicates that a US Navy destroyer has spotted castaways that it believes may be the castaways from the SS Minnow!  In their joy of anticipated rescue, our favorite castaways reminisce about the troubles they encountered during their first few days on the island.  It is here that the audience is treated to a re-cut program that combines footage from the official pilot "Two on a Raft" and nearly every single Gilligan-and-Skipper (Bob Denver and Alan Hale) scene from the unaired pilot "Marooned."  The significance of this fusion of the two pilot episodes is that it features several panoramic, long range shots of the beach that shows full length views of the SS Minnow and the castaways sitting on the sand as well as on the boat itself!  A portion of this scene was shown up close in the closing credits for the first season, with the Minnow partially visible in the background and the castaways sitting together nearby.  But this Christmas episode provides deeper context with this extensive footage that provides full length shots of the boat as well as Gilligan casting his fishing line along the beach in front of the crashing surf, all of which was not shown in either the second or third season.

Another fun bit of trivia is that in the opening scenes when Gilligan and Skipper wake up after the Minnow was beached, original cast members from "Marooned" can be seen in the background.  But these cast members (playing the roles of the Professor, Bunny and the original Ginger), while shown briefly in this sequence, were not seen afterward because they were replaced by Russell Johnson, Dawn Wells (playing the Mary Ann character instead of Bunny) and Tina Louise!  As the castaways think about those first few days following their shipwreck, we are treated to watching Gilligan cast the radio and transmitter out to sea and learning how the radio was later recovered, but the transmitter ultimately destroyed.  This sequence of events (which involve birds and fish) is the basis for the name of this episode, which gives no hint of a Christmas theme!

After waiting a while, the crew and passengers of the SS Minnow learn from a news update that the US Navy had rescued other castaways that had been stranded for eleven years on a different island!  On Christmas Eve, the disappointed and tired castaways are shown gathered around a campfire as they realize they will not be home for Christmas.  All of the group is present except the Skipper, who is out gathering more wood for the fire.  In these final moments of the episode the castaways are visited by the REAL Santa Claus (who looks like the Skipper and appropriately is played by Alan Hale).  Santa Claus reminds the group to be grateful for what they have: they are not lost at sea, but on an island with food and water, plus he reminds them about the deep friendships they have formed since being marooned.  As the castaways' spirits are visibly lifted, Santa disappears and the real Skipper returns from gathering firewood in the opposite direction.  There is only a brief moment to ponder the true identity of their midnight visitor as everyone is filled with good cheer and heartily wishing each other Merry Christmas as the sound of Santa's sleigh bells along with a repeated chorus of "Merry Christmas" (ostensibly Santa and his elves) is heard flying over the island!  This is truly a magical ending for it evokes feelings of mercy, grace, renewal and gratitude.

With that in mind, we wish everyone in our wonderful GNN audience a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  If you have any special memories of holiday themed episodes from your favorite TV shows, please post them on the GNN FACEBOOK page (and please "like" us when doing so) or send them to us via the GNN g-mail address.