"Waldo" was one of the classic bad guys back in the day. The whole nazi schtick added fuel to the fire.
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"Waldo" was one of the classic bad guys back in the day. The whole nazi schtick added fuel to the fire.
I recall as a little boy being horrified when the Graham Brothers shoved Bruno into a birthday cake made by a nice old Italian lady. Wrestling used some suspect ethnic and racial themes in those days.
My first memories were of locally-produced shows aired on a local independent station.
Those included a Mister Rogers-like kids show called “Peppermint Place” and starting Mr. Peppermint”. The campy Slam-Bang theatre hosted by “Icky Twerp” and featuring Three Stooges re-runs.
Then there was Captain Kangaroo and Bullwinkle.
Remember the stern PSA that aired right before the late news?
“It’s 10:00 PM. Do you know where your children are?”
That was our cue to get to bed.
These might have been Chicago-area only programs, but does anybody else remember Garfield Goose, with "fat friendly Frazier Thomas", Romberg Rabbit, the Little Theater screen, Clutch Cargo with his pals Spinner and Paddlefoot, etc.?
How about Soupy Sales?
Tom Terrific and his dog, Mighty Manfred and Ruff & Ready (cartoon shows).
Geesh, I haven't thought of these things for decades.
Quantum Leap had one of the best series finales and overall concepts in the history of television.
A couple buddies and I would make the trek to downtown Lincoln, NE to see All-Star Wrestling at Pershing Auditorium. We went primarily to make fun of the folks who thought it was real, but yet, at some point during the festivities the Iron Sheik would have Stan 'The Man' Pulaski wobbling around the ring while the Sheik was mounting the ring post or turnbuckle to do a flying fist drop onto poor Stan, at some point one of us would holler 'Look out Stan' and then kind of shamefaced, look around to see if the others had noticed. (Whew, long sentence.)
Of course, anyone who lived in SE Mich or NW Ohio back in the late 50's to mid 70's would remember this guy, The original Sheik, AKA "The Sheik of Araby", one of the original, "extreme wrestlers". Such a kind man...
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And who could forget the blood, and lots of it...
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And yes, it's real blood. Look at the Sheik's forehead.
And his nemesis, Lord Athol Layton:
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The joke was is that The Sheik was his boss and was the promoter of the TV show and bouts he hosted, and spent a lot of time whining about stopping the "Crazed madman, this "Sheik".
My friend went into a Middle Eastern restaurant in Detroit years ago and there sat "The Sheik" with his wife and speaking his unaccented English. Unlike most other wrestlers, he never broke character while on the job. There's a phone interview with him(Ed Farhat) talking about the Sheik as if it's another person. I really liked it when he ate papers and at least one time, a tie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6HtcJtKAJc