Whoo woo!

First!

I saw Kitty on those shows when they were NEW. Old. I am Old.

Nancy. You are not old. You are a fine wine :)

I have a vague recollection of Kitty too, and I am old, but I credit the vagueness to age and maybe too many adult beverages over the years.

Thanks Laurie. Actually, Kitty's hair scared me too much for me to want to be her. But it sound like she, Nipsy, Bill Cullen and Peggy Cass all had a really good time just sitting around being themselves and drinking and smoking. Good gig if you can get it.

I too saw the originals and I was also quite taken with Ms. Carlise (of course I wanted to change my name to Kitty). Then she married Moss Hart and became Kitty Carlise Hart. Like Hilary Rodham Clinton. So very modern! Still love her.

And I really loathe and despise those people who snottily inform you that they don't watch TV. The only ones worse are the people who claim to watch only PBS. Uh-huh.

Who gives someone open attitude about not watching TV? I'm willing to bet there are a LOT of things he hasn't - ahem - done in over a year.

Oh, shucks, my mom just got the "space bags" and can ONLY shrink her large linens and sweaters and pillows down for storage. If she had only watched one more infomercial, she could have gotten the handy gadget that not only sucks air out for clothing for storage, but can also suck air out black eyed peas for freezing...

But as a true infomercial addict, I'm sure it won't hurt her to have both! What if she were using the vacuum-packing thingamabop for freezing corn at the very instant that she need to shrink a pillow for proper closet storage... that would be unthinkable!

LOL @ tj so hard I am about to pee my pants!

I think it's cool if people don't watch TV or do watch TV or live in a cabin in the woods and write manifestos, I mean I myself am not exactly in a position to judge folks, but ya'll. he was rather on the snotty side of things. I felt like he was saying, "Oh! You're a dumb cracker!" which may be true but puhleez. Have some manners. heh heh.

Imagine what that vacuum sealer could accomplish in the hands of a well organized wool hoarder...I mean knitter.

...shrinkwrapped an umbrella! I just laughed mango-banana smoothie out my nose. I don't think Kitty would approve.

She's more than a game show panelist. She is a long time actress, opera singer, Broadway performer, and is now touring in her one woman show "Kitty Carlisle Hart: An American Icon." And she's 95!!!!!
What would Kitty do? Well, whatever it is, she wouldn't stop doing it.

My dad would get the newest toys on the market for us kids. That meant we were the first kids to get a hoola hoop, moon boots, a superball, and Etch a sketch. It meant even more 'cause we weren't city kids. We were on the farm milking cows. Gotta love Dad.

OMG I loved your response to that snotty first date. What a jerk! Can you imagine what it's like to actually live with someone like that?

Here's to better dates. Let's toast with red wine and Cheetos.

Helen

This blog is so much fun. (I love watching the Gilmores too and watched it with my daughter.) But I was wondering if anyone else who reads this blog does this, read the blog and comments, refresh and then read more comments. This blog is a riot!

Laurie, you should just contact a publisher to publish your blog including the comments.

Carmen in NC

Glad I could make you laugh, Laurie. It's fine that he doesn't watch TV - but that doesn't make him better than anyone! Just like my watching every reality show there is does not make me any worse than anyone. Right? Right. I want you to go out on a fun date. Soon.

Obviously a lot of us do that, Carmen! Hehe!

Gawd I love your Dad! Also - I own a Seal-A-Meal. I LOVE it.

Carmen, I'm right there with you--comment, refresh, read new comments, comment on the new comments, rinse and repeat.

And Laurie, hon, you are SO not a dumb cracker. Nope, you're a smart cookie! And that was a dumb joke I just made.

Helen

LOL! I have an affinity for infomercials as well. Must be a southern thing.
As for the guy who doesn't watch TV, good thing you got rid of him...what could he possibly have to talk about??? Sounds like the beginning of a very boring relationship to me.

Your first-date man was why I did not date much when in college in Santa Cruz. YIKES! Flash backs! The one guy I dated a long time there, well, we watched Pee-Wee's Playhouse together. We were quite compatible. ;-)

I really don't watch much TV. Because we only get one channel and don't want to spring for cable! But we get CBS and now nightly we watch Wheel of Fortune - so much so that we try to make sure dinner is done by then so we can relax with a beer and watch. And then there's the lovely gift of netflix....

Hail TV and Kitty Carlisle!

Oh no, don't get me started on dating in Santa Cruz! Yes, I am a proud Banana Slug, but Santa Cruz! Full of pathetic, whiny, spoiled, unmotivated slacker men! And smart gals who have to move away to find a mate!

Helen

For this: "You know they have them thar TV sets real cheap at The WalMart!"

You are my hero.

thanks for the second post mention for kitty carlisle so i know that she's a live and well!

you go kitty.

i grew up watching kitty and soupy sales and nipsy russell (my first celebrity sighting ever) and paul lynd. match game was my favorite show ever and i didn't even get half of the naughty bits. i love watching the game show network.

Purl, you are too funny!

I also remember Kitty from the game shows in the 60's. "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Green Acres" were also hysterical and surreal. Gawd, I miss that stuff!

That snotty guy wasn't worth your time. Good riddance. No Oma's cake for him!!

But I really like your idea of a game show dress up party with ham and cheese pinwheels and pimento cheese sammies. If I have one, I promise to invite you! :-)

LMAO

You know, your post today made me realize that I had mixed up Kitty Carlysle and Kitty Bartholomew. I think that in any situation we could just ask ourselves - What would Kitty do? - and one of the Kittys would cover it.

Oh Laurie, I'm glad there was just one date with that anti-TV man. Take it from me - for the past four years I've been living with a man who insists that we only have the $22 cable. Oh what's this you say, cable for only $22, sounds thrifty and delightful. No, it's not - it's the spanish channel, the jesus channel and qvc. No Lifetime, no TLC, no cooking channel, nothing! But I'll tell you what, I'm heading out into my own place in three weeks and getting all those good channels - hell I might even pay for a movie channel!

Love Kitty, but Arlene Francis, with her little diamond heart necklace was really my fave game show contestant. I'm old too and saw those shows when they first ran.

So, someone must quiz TVLand Network. Why don't they run the really OLD sitcoms? Because they're black and white!!! I want to see "The Life of Reilly," "Our Miss Brooks," "The Stu Irwin Show," "Topper" and many of the great OLD sitcoms!!!! Love the game shows, but sitcoms are where we do our best Cheetos and Fresca snarfin'.

Oh man, I hate when people act like there's nothing good on tv. There's so much on now that's worth watching: Veronica Mars, Deadwood, Big Love, 24. I'm addicted. I also appreciate really bad tv. I know I could get more done and read more books if I didn't tune in, but I love it. A guy who doesn't appreciate the tube isn't worth your time, Laurie!

Sadly, I remember Kitty Carlisle from when "To Tell the Truth" was not in reruns. And where does that old movie accent come from anyway? Katherine Hepburn was from Connecticut, and I know no one who speaks like that.

I remember watching Kitty every afternoon when I got home from school. But I was just waiting for Dark Shadows to come on. A soap opera with vampires, God bless the 60's.

ok but what i really wanna know is what's so special about august 7

I still have no idea who kitty carlisle is, but dammit, I am a FIRM believer in What Would Lorelai Gilmore Do?

Laurie!

There must be a "Kitty Carlisle" vibe in the universe right now. She was just at the El Portal in North Hollywood this past weekend doing her one woman show and she is AMAZING!

She is 95 now and stood up on stage for an hour and a half singing and telling stories. She made me ashamed of my sloth-like self as I would never have been able to do that even if I could carry a tune.

:)

I love you for loving tv, because I DO TOO! I don't have cable (sad) but I get Netflix, and I love to sit my ass down on the futon and watch hours and hours of tv series on DVD. That way, it's like a concentrated dose of show, without the dilution of commercials PLUS you have the added instant gratification of multiple episodes at a sitting. Good stuff.

I felt good yesterday when I "got" that reference... :o) (I was watching game show network and hating my job at the time too!)

I'm sorry, what do you mean... "what is so special about August 7"? Did we say something was special about it? Did I miss something? Was there specialness and I was unaware?

Help.

The august 7 thing was an "advertising" button on your page....

repeat - "is" an advertising button...

I am another one of the old folks that watched Match Game and To Tell the Truth when they were new. I wondered if Kitty was always dressed up like that all the time. Did she shower with those pearls on?? Was her hair a hairdo or a helmet??

BTW, I actually waited on Nipsey Russell in the mid-eighties and he was as charming in person as he seemed on TV. His smile could light up an entire room! He signed a million autographs while he was eating dinner and never once complained or turned anyone away. I heart Nipsey!

I don't trust people who say they don't have a TV; what do you point all your furniture at if you don't have one? (with apologies to Joey from FRIENDS for bogarting a quote from the show!)

Oh. hah ha. I am so dorky. whoops.

Needless to say...I don't guess "He'll" be asking you out again...but in case he does, respond with something like..."Oh I can't tonight my favorite show is on TV!"

I'm sitting here in tears over the factual interlude! Being a displaced southerner, I so connected with that comment. I think I will need tissues when I read your blog!

BTW, Laurie, a vacation enhancing package is waiting for you at your PO.

It's fine if people don't want to watch TV, but people who think that saying "I never watch TV" makes them intellectual are SO VERY WRONG. Yes, there is a lot of crap on TV, but there are also fantastic and worthwhile programs. You know what, "I don't watch TV people"? There are also crappy books out there, so why don't you try telling your next date "Oh, I NEVER read" and see how far it gets you?

Trixie! I'm off work early on Friday and have already phones Stella to tell her I am finally coming to pick up my mail :)

I was raised by two ignorant teenage parents who let me watch as much TV as I wanted (and pretty much WHATEVER I wanted--hell, we only had three channels, the worst I saw was Flamingo Road), sitting as closely as I wanted. When I went to my chi-chi liberal arts college, I encountered people who had never had a TV before. Who WERE these freaks o'nature, I wondered? They got no inside pop-culture jokes, they exercised for entertainment--it just weren't right, I tell you. After learning how much TV I watched as a child, one of them even said to me, "You know, I've GOT to tell my parents about you. They always said TV would rot my brain, but look! Here you are!"

I still heart Chuck Woolery and any game show he hosts. Sigh. I miss the years when game shows were the worst mindless TV one could watch during the day.

doesn't everyone plan their evenings around:
1) what are we eating?
and
2) what's on tv?

i mean - what's more important?

YIPPY! If you have questions, just e-mail me...phone, whatever, we will get it all going.

I looked up Kitty's entry in Wikipedia. Interesting reading! Alas, I also remember watching these shows when they were originally broadcast. I don't watch them now, there's too much new stuff to get through, like Flavor of Luv 2! I heard that the house is in Encino flats, which would explain Flava's appearance at your valley 7-11.

I would write more but the commercial just ended on my TV...I'm watching (for the 4th time) the third episode of "Work Out". LOVE all the cable reality shows! Bravo, MTV and VH1 are the best!

Laurie,

I just sent you a mail from Snakes on a Plane to your email address. It's not spam; it's from Samuel L. Jackson himself. He's an old friend of mine!

OOOh, the Flava house is in Encino??? Yes, that would explain why he was at my 7-11. hee. "My" 7-11. LOL

Shoot, if you were from New York State you would have had some useful insider information. You could have SO stuck it to the snobby TV guy by hitting him with, "Oh, I was referring to Kitty Carlisle Hart, the vice chair of the New York State Council for the Arts. I guess you don't really care about culture...." while looking down your nose at his Philistine self. Damn.

I think your blog is as good as What's My Line anyday. You will write a book and then write more books and we will all knew you when. Thank God you are obsessive-compulsive about your writing because it gives everyone some place to go when they want something that goes well with anything. That's you, Miss Priss.

Do you give out prizes for posting a comment first or something? Whatever is being infomercialed just then? This is the first blog I've read that people are excited to be first to comment.

What are we eating?
What is on TV?

AND

In which room shall we watch it?

Last night, Dark Angel marathon, in the bedroom, drinking wine and eating snacks for dinner. Seriously--cheese, crackers, fruit, kettle corn. Kettle corn?? On the bed. Life is good.

I haven't watched TV since...this morning...and I'm starting to get the shakes.

The Unemployed Boy I went out with a few times back around the beginning of July didn't have TV at his home. I think that's why he really liked me. Not only did I have a TV but I had cable too. TV is a very good thing.

I thought she owned the brothel on "Gun Smoke"....

Oh!! Dagny, I meant to tell you yesterday you already *are* empress of the universe :)

Hey Drew, only a few more days til you're here! With Soba Kitty Carlisle. heh.

Vicki ... your comment made me laugh because you know, I had planned just to post pics and not write a real thing today. I didn't think I had anything to say! But I left my camera at home and then I was like, Oh, look here is an email asking about Kitty Carlisle, and then it somehow turned into a whole eleventeen hundred word essay. Manifesto here we come.

My mom used to call the TV the "Square God" because us kids were addicted. She would make us give up TV for lent. Now she watches more TV than we do. She loves Mother Anjelica (square God) and ESPN (Rockies baseball). What a combo.

My boys and I are commercial junkies. The cornier the better.

Tell the truth, would you have kissed Richard Dawson on Family Feud? Survey says.......

Does your daddy know that he can accomplish the same Seal-A-Meal-Effect with some large freezer bags?

OMG! When I was little I used to watch TV at my grandma's (at the time we were po' and living with my biological mom and had no TV) (hello, trailer park) and I would watch Family Feud religiously and I would yell out "EEEEWWWWW" every time Richard Dawson kissed and slobbered on the pretty girls.

Of course I was about 7 years old, so it seemed horribly slimy to me.

I think maybe the reason I love TV so much is because I went without one for so long as a kid. I heart my teevee.

Andree: But do those need FOUR EASY PAYMENTS????

I recently mentioned Ed Ames (OK it was a whole post, but I digress), Daniel Boone, and Lauren Bacall on my blog and was amazed that people didn't know who these people were (and are!). Thank you for all you cuturally literate (can TV be the new Shakespere?) comments.
BTW I read an interview with Kitty Carlisle and she DOES always dress that way. The interviewer said she felt like a drowned rat next to KC who was dressed in matching raincoat, hat, umbrella, and gloves at 9am!

Carmen - totally! you are definitely not alone on that.

Helen & Trixie - you're right on! I'm 4th generation Santa Cruz. had to find myself a good oregon boy - and although I was raised without preservatives, cable, or processed foods - I find all the hoopla about being 'too good or smart' for t.v. simply hilarious. Moderation is what I preach; obsessively knitting and binging on the cable, fast food and Cheetos that I was never allowed is what I practice.

Laurie dear - in adoration of you as always - thanks for bringing together such awesome people to comment with everyday.
Life is good (uh oh - hippie moment - must get a soda and have a cigarette stat.)

Quote from Malcom In The Middle:

"Watching TV doesn't make you stupid! Watching TV makes you normal!"

And he's a genius, so he should know!
So there, snotty TV negators!

completely forgot to say that my sister and I developed the 'falling for t.v. advertising' bug badly....we may shop at thrift stores, and wait for movies on video but when it comes to the latest mascara technology - gotta have it now.

My grandmother (paternal) used to scoff at TV and say that she only watched PBS. When she would come to visit I would exclaim how much I loved TV, and then I would find the most obnoxious thing on television to watch while she sat in the same room reading non-fiction or doing a crossword puzzle. I do alot of things out of spite when it comes to that Grandmother (so wrong, I know, but it's fun to watch her squirm).

I'm not familiar with Kitty Carlisle, but she sounds a bit like Holly Golightly but without the call girl thing and the hidden identity and all...

Also, I just want to say that it warms my little heart to see so many TV lovers. God bless you, every one!

http://www.fried.com/pics/tv.gif

Good god girl I love you....I loved Kitty Carlisle too...I bet they were all tanked on that show...and the GONG show too... oh my god...wonder what manner of pain relievers went around that studio? I too am a gadget ho -- my gramma was one too -- she had all the Ronco and K-tel stuff! (did you see the new Pampered chef catalog? Yikes, they are coming out with some cool stuff.) Richard Dawson really did seem like some kind of pervert. I wonder how many women left the show and took showers to get the "ick" off. I can't imagine that guy being so proud of not watching tv... means he's cheap.. I kind of feel the same about people that only listen to NPR (sorry for you NPR listeners...just don't brag about it!) -- me? I am PROUD to be a SURVIVOR, AMAZING RACE, PROJECT RUNWAY watcher -- (and yes I have watched the BACHELOR too)....
does your dad know he can heat the stuff by boiling the bags??? hoo hoo! BIG FUN NOW!!!

I watched Kitty Carlise as a kid. I loved her glamour gal attitude. I had fantasies of arriving at the dinner table with huge cocktail rings and a feather boa.

T.V. I too have the pain in the ass friend who doesn't even own a t.v. (beneath him, it is) He tries to act all rightous about it, but I know if he could just once tune into Hell's Kitchen, he wouldn't be able to turn away!! revenge would be mine!

the Vacuum thingy...well, just bought one this weekend. Here in Idaho that is your ticket to Mormonville. But seriously, the squash, the tomatos, the produce...it's all coming on fast in the garden, I had to do something (and it was a good excuse to buy one....:)

I would love to come over and have some wine on your patio :) I wouldn't mind sharing in some of your wonderful weather - we still have a month of winter to go here and it's been the coldest one on record!

Good on you for dating again. A few weeks ago I bumped into a guy I hadn't seen for ages and we really hit it off. So what did I do? I ran away! Because clearly that is the sensible course of action. Sigh.

OMG, you were probably joking but the Kitty Carlisle party is such a good idea! Imagine it, a party based around that fake-50s glamour that we've all obsessed over at one point in our lives.

Everyone would go out and buy outfits at vintage stores (glitzy dressed for the ladies, snazzy tuxes for the guys, pomade and cigarette holders all around), you could have a whole wetbar with martinis and high-balls, serve tiny finger foods and play Ultralounge compilations all night. That would totally rule!

I don't know who Kitty Carlisle is but I do love the Gilmore Girls. Glad I'm not the only person over 16 watching it.

The story about your dad just cracks me up (28 pounds of black eyed peas! Crazy!)

I have to 'fess up to owning a vacuum sealer thingie! I also love TV (huge LOST fan) and absolutely adore the way you handled the dorky guy on the first date! I wish I could have seen his face when you said that!!

oh my gosh! i just googled kitty and she is still alive and literally kicking up her gams at the age of 95!!! I too thought she was the epitome of glamour as a little girl and she had such a darrrrllling erudite accent.

I loved the comment by Nancy about how the only thing worse than folks passing judgement about no TV is the judgement passed by those who watch only PBS or the other "good-for-you" educational programming. So true....tee, hee, hee.

Okay, the other people in my office now must officially think I've lost it. Because I laughed out loud (did he really shrink-wrap an EGG?) half way through your entry, then tried to hide it and made this weird snorting sound, which I then tried to cover with a cough. And then I got to the end of your entry, and did the whole thing again. Ooops.

Pssst. Do not say anything to my dad about the shrink-wrap doohickey. He is forever going out and buying new kitchen gadgets. For a few months we were getting fresh pasta and bread weekly.

And I'm glad to hear that I've convinced at least one person of my title. My mom refuses to buy into the plan.

I do not watch TV because when I moved to LA, I could either afford a cell phone or cable, and I needed the cell phone for work. Sigh. I HAVE one, but I only watch DVDs on it... But I would never look down my nose at someone who does watch it. I mean, a guy who tries to make himself out to be superior to you over TV-watching is someone who is so insecure he'll try to put you down constantly. Find a grown-up male who's secure enough not to put other people down.

They DO exist. Harder than hen's teeth to find.

Holly Golightly was not a call girl!!!

Laurie --

We need to get married! I love Kitty Carlisle. I just saw her in concert in North Hollywood. She's 95 years old and still sexy and sophisticated.

http://www.elportaltheatre.com/elportal/

Miss Laurie, you just received a public proposal by being yourself and openly watching t.v.

Carmen - see, I read, laughed, posted, refreshed, read, giggled - cried - refreshed and reposted... happens to us all ;)

I 'member Kitty from the game shows when I was little. Glamour and wit.

Got a man who says, year after year, "We must banish the teevee. No one needs it. The media are [insert expletive here]." (Might I mention that I am a writer and do not appreciate the "media" comment?) For the past 15 years we have had a single 13". No other teevee anywhere. The kids' friends ridicule them. But guess who watches the little teevee and incessantly controls the remote? Not the kids. And heaven knows I'm not "allowed" to, especially to watch news, but DH is. He cannot stop clicking the remote, which drives me snakes on a plane. He never settles on an actual show and watches it. If I holler, he will hover on Mythbusters long enough to contribute his engineering expertise to the problem. However,in consequence of my inability to withstand the clicking, I've read a lot more than he has in the past 15 years and am far superior the conversationalist at parties; I have to read my topics and rumors, but I get them anyway. Since he never stays long enough on a channel to see anything, he has no idea what topics are out there--it's just a clicking blur to him. I like me some teevee and will have one of my own someday.

Ummm, doesn't Neil need to get divorced first?

And I always thought Holly Golightly was a call girl/escort of sorts. I mean she went out with men and they gave her money for her time. Oops. Actually they said it was to tip the bathroom attendant, but a $50 tip? Really now. If the above wasn't true, then she was most assuredly a kept woman.

dana - you go! sounds like my DH.

you have GOT to get a book deal!! your blog rocks! what a talented way you have with words calie girl!! now before your laugh it off, check out the waiterrant blog, it happened for him! august 2 - http://waiterrant.net/ thanks for the daily smile.
aloha! kat

OMG, I just snorted in my cubicle when I read what your momma said about your daddy shrink wrappin' everything. That cracked me the hell up. You rock!

I must admit to a neurotic need to sleep with the tv on. Drives my husband nuts. And for some reason I keep waking up thinking "Must buy Magic Bullet/Sheer Cover/Seal-A-Meal . . ."

Who names their child Nipsy? He was a fun guy and all, but what a weird name!

April - I'm afraid that Dagny is right. Holly Golightly was indeed a Call Girl. They down-played that aspect of the character in the movie because Audry Hepburn was worried about her squeeky clean image. Actually, I believe that she wanted the whole Lady-Of-The-Night thing taken out completely, but Truman Capote, the author of the orignal short story by the same name, had a hissy fit, so they left it in.

PS Breakfast At Tiffany's is one of my favorites which is why I have this weird and totally useless information . . .

Finally, someone else (besides my mom) who knows who Kitty Carlisle is. I love her. I always loved Arlene Francis a smidgen more however

OH MY GOD

You and my daughter (ya know almost 7, wanted to know what sex was?) and infomercials....

She sort of has a love affair with the tv. And perhaps, just maybe I should wean her from it some. She pops off with saying from comercials all the time. She is enthusiastic, she whole heartedly believes everything they tell her and wants to convince you to jump in the van and drive to the store and BUY !!! She really should be IN comercials, she could sell a blind man reading glasses.

Of course it was a comercial on tv that taught her the word sex, and lead to her asking what it was.

I actually met Kitty Carlisle about seven years ago, in a LaGuardia hospitality area where the airline was stashing first-class passengers while they worked out our flight delay -- she was mesmerizing. Exuded that old-school elegance that today's Hollywood girls probably don't even know ever existed. She was in a wheelchair at the time, as I recall, but was impeccably dressed, genteel, a charming conversationalist, and just radiated that old-fashioned grace and luminosity .... what an impression of yourself to leave on people, don't you think?

Laurie, my husband vaccuum packs everything in sight, mostly food and linens. But he even vaccuum packed homemade bread once-- and he was so bummed when it got squashed flat. I know, I know.

I seriously needed your factual interlude today. I might need to pull out my own tiara and flammable materials tonight. :D

dork. I hate people like that. so full of themselves, no fun. zzzzzzzz. I bet you were bored stupid. when reality TV first caught on I was totally against it (not The Real World, of course, that is real tv, yo), but then I took one hit and I was watching Hotel Paradise. HOTEL PARADISE. that is the crack of reality TV. but I also read, knit, and drink. I think that makes me a pretty well rounded person, no? hey, I don't know who this Kitty chick is, but I'm actually watching Gilmore Girls now. makes me want to be a teenage mother. and lastly, do you remember TARNEX??? little tot sitting indian style in front of the TV trying to hold her pee because she didn't want to miss one sec of Brady Bunch or the Tarnex commecials. I begged my mother to buy for me. man, when they dipped that nasty tarnished spoon in and it came out all clean and pretty ... ahhhhhh.

I loved watching To Tell The Truth, and What's My Line, and Match Game. I had a bad crush on Gene Rayburn!

And, what is special about August 7, you ask?? It is my birthday!!!

Hey, I used to watch those game shows with Kitty Carlisle when they were originally aired. Don't bother calculating the time that has passed -- yeah, back in the age of carving on stone tablets and putting mastadons away in the freezer. I often wondered what people like Kitty Carlisle and Soupy Sales did besides game shows. They were clearly celebrities of some kind. But what else they were famous for, I had no idea.

These days I don't watch TV, because there's nothing much on that appeals (and from a former game show, Gilligan's Island, Perry Mason, and Addams Family addict, that's saying something), and my day's schedule is already so tightly regulated, that I don't want my evenings pre-planned by the network gods. I'll watch what I want, when I want, thenk yew, and what I want can range anywhere from Jane Austen flicks to samurai films to Plan 9 from Outer Space. I guess I kind of miss the naive spontenaity of the old "live broadcast from our studio" days. But I can always rent a copy of Fractured Flickers and relive those not-quite-professional days.

Hey, I used to watch those game shows with Kitty Carlisle when they were originally aired. Don't bother calculating the time that has passed -- yeah, back in the age of carving on stone tablets and putting mastadons away in the freezer. I often wondered what people like Kitty Carlisle and Soupy Sales did besides game shows. They were clearly celebrities of some kind. But what else they were famous for, I had no idea.

These days I don't watch TV, because there's nothing much on that appeals (and from a former game show, Gilligan's Island, Perry Mason, and Addams Family addict, that's saying something), and my day's schedule is already so tightly regulated, that I don't want my evenings pre-planned by the network gods. I'll watch what I want, when I want, thenk yew, and what I want can range anywhere from Jane Austen flicks to samurai films to Plan 9 from Outer Space. I guess I kind of miss the naive spontenaity of the old "live broadcast from our studio" days. But I can always rent a copy of Fractured Flickers and relive those not-quite-professional days.

...You had a date? Where did you meet this fellow?

And more importantly, has your dad succombed to the Magic Bullet?

That takes me back to the great pea glut of um, '70 or '73; sometime when I was a little girl. The year my Dad decided to get "serious" about the garden, and, having read that peas were good for the soil, planted the whole damn garden full of peas. It was loads of fun walking through an alien landscape of canes and pea flowers. Much less fun was the harvest; And I can still remember shucking peas, the peas into a pan, and the pods into my seaside bucket. Me and Mum on the top step, and my little brother two steps down. And then the production line in the kitchen when it turned into an impromptu bottling plant. Well over a bushel of peas. And more pea-pod soup than you could shake a stick at. I really can't bear the smell of pea-pods, even now.

LOL!
Okay, I repeat my daily affirmation of Adoration for Laurie- Gawd yer funny!
As for the TV-Free guy- I LOVE your response! What a great Asshole-screener that was! You see, his first strike was his holier-than-thou RUDENESS to even INFER that he was better than his dinner partner because of his personal choices (my LORD- some people's mamas did NOT do their job right!) and oh PLEASE- if his sense of humor and perspective are so atrophied that he didn't snort his wine out his NOSE at your comeback-- well all I's gotta say is: NEXT!

("Next" in case you haven't heard that one, is short for "Life is too short to spend my time with anyone/thing/situation that is sub-par when I deserve WAAAAY better than this and there's TONNES of other men/objects/situations out there for a discerning and deserving girl like myself. So kindly move on so I can review the NEXT candidate for this desirable postion.")

And LORD do I love "The Closer"- I was raised by carbon-steel fist in a girly-soft-velvet-southern-drawl-glove women, and I have the same super-girly soft soprano voice (with a southern CALIFORNIAN drawl)so I ADORE role models of girly-girls who kick ass! Such as yourself. Oh, and Kitty Carlise. (I LOVE you late-night Game Show TV channel!)

MY dad has one of those vacuum sealer thingies too! He sends food home with me that he has sealed - Purl, you could get some southern food on the plane with dad's little bundles...
My dad also has a broaster, the knife sharpener, some other fancy kitchen implements that we get the doubles of for Christmas. Gotta love our crazy folks though! Who else would give us such great material?

Your post literally made me go *snort*, and hubby looked at me and said "Which one is it this time, CAP, Yarn Harlot, or You Knit What?"

I grew up in a TV household. I knew I was getting towards being a grown-up when my parents allowed me to stay up late enough to watch M*A*S*H (9pm on Mondays), and we still have standing rules on when we cannot call each other... don't call me during Survivor or CSI (William Peterson is coming to do theater in Providence this winter, woohoo!!!).

Thanks for a great blog. You are smarter than the guy who was stupid enough to get righteous about anything on a first date.

i've got a friend who doesn't own a tv. when i lived in the area, he spent an awful lot of time at my place...watching tv! but couldn't go out and buy one. oh no. that would be bad.

and you watch anderson cooper!! my husband refers to ac as my "tv boyfriend." tv again. go figure! :)

I watch alot of tv and dammit I like it. Thank god for tivo because now I can watch my shows whenever I want. The Closer rocks. Did you see last night? Her dress in the opening scene was fabulous.

Also, am jealous of your dad's vacuum sealer. I want one.

ok dont hate me..i have met Kitty Carlisle Hart - and actually been in her NYC apt.

it was in my former life as an arts administrator. its a grand apt on the upper east side with doorman and its gorgeous and yes that is the piano where Moss wrote all those wonderful songs and shows and you cant imagine who else has been here?

yes i still go weak at the knees and yes she is as gracious as she seems.

and she's still here.

Knitting Pagan, thank you. I have never read the book but knew that they toned down the movie quite a bit. It wasn't until I saw the movie for about the 10th time at age 16 or so that it struck me as strange that the man gave her $50 for the bathroom attendant. As I got older, I realized that he had to give her money without really saying what it was for. I mean we all know she didn't really have any visible means of support. But she did seem to have a lot of fun.

I love TV, too! I'm now engaged in cable withdrawal.

I sent my new landlady an e-mail on Sunday expressing my dismay at not having had cable hooked up in my room last week and repeated, once again, my fond wish for a DVR. The message I was attempting to impart was that I was already looking for someplace else to stay WITH CABLE!

I got a voice mail with a lot of noise on the line yesterday telling me that cable would be installed on Saturday. There was no mention of DVR.

I decided to investigate with the cable company about the DVR, but between moving, work, getting my address updated on my license, etc, I apparently didn't get back to her quick enough.

I got another voice mail taday saying I didn't reply quickly enough with enough enthusiasm, so she was going to cancel cable installation.

She's obviously not getting the message. I need cable TV!

Unfortunately, stapling her hand to her head is not a valid threat when she's out of reach.

So, anyway, if someone is ever dumb enough to tell you they don't watch TV, tell them what I'm going to tell my landlady: "I NEED cable so that I can watch my friends on TV and keep track of what they're up to."

If it's no longer on PBS (sorry) in your area, rent a DVD and watch "Red Dwarf!" it's the funniest thing I've ever seen on TV! Also check out "Firefly" and the new "Dr. Who."

You are a very, very sane person.
Is this going to be a new blog category? How to "test" men on the first date? I like it.

Kitty seemed too snooty for me......I wanted to be like Betsy Palmer. That girl looked like she could have fun! And we just watched "A Night At the Opera", and Kitty was in it. She was only about 21 then, but seemed 30. And I would have been all over Groucho instead of her opera boyfriend.

And the person a few up from me is right.....Red Dwarf is a hoot!!!

Like Kim, I always wondered about Kitty's accent. There seem to be women " of a certain age" - all from the east coast- who have that certain accent - not British, not Bostonian....but odd and very proper. I would love to learn how they did that!

My own grandmother had a derivative of that accent. She grew up in rural Ohio. It reminded me of Scarlet O'Hara, but she was allowed to speak with a southern accent. Grandma wasn't a city girl, but she was a northerner. What up?

All this talk of Kitty and Arlene! No one has mentioned their fellow panelist, Henry Morgan. Now there was a dashing bon vivant, gadfly about town, and thoroughly witty fellow. I liked Henry. Not to be confused with the Henry Morgan who played Colonel Potter on M.A.S.H.

Now I wanna get myself a vacuum seal thingamajig!!!

And your comment on the TV to that guy was priceless!!

There was sort of an Old Hollywood fad during the 30's, wasn't there, for the Mrs. Howell-esque sort-of-Yankee or Boston-Brahmin-but-sort-of-quasi-British allegedly uppah-class-dahling accent, wasn't there? What the hell was that, anyway, and where did it come from???
Sometimes at work random snippets of your blog pop into my head; I almost bit the tines off my plastic fork once.

I'm somewhat RELEAVED to know that I'm not your only blog stalker who remembers watching the originals of "Whats My Line?" or "Match Game" or
any of those wonderful shows! Long Live Kitty!

I love the old shows but sooo glad you mentioned The Closer, which is one of my current faves, along with Monk. I don't know anyone that watches (or will admit) those two shows.

LOL - two things:
#1 - I (HEART) The Closer. Mom told me to watch it because Kyra's character reminded her of me. I was so flattered. Southern Women can tell you to kiss their ass and be happy about it and you just go "yes ma'm"

#2 - funny commercials - there's a Granola bar commercial that features kids and the things they say and don't you wish they had something in their mouth so as not to be speaking? My favorite - little boy, in southern hick speak:
"We dont pay fur cable."

rolling. hugs, Laurie. Have a great day!

Good God, you posted yesterday and already have 123 comments (well, 124 with mine!)

I'm absolutley STOKED that you are going to stalk me! So excited, I love to be stalked.

I'm sure, when work realizes how much time I spend on Xanga.. they'll block me as well.. so back to blogspot it will be.

P.S. I stalk you too. Crazy Aunt Purl always has fun tidbits to write about. I heart it!

I've loved Kitty Carlisle since I was a little girl!

I cannot stand it when people make that particular comment about watching TV in that snotty, superior way. I turn around and say, in the same tone of voice, "I LOVE my TV and my DVR even more". Unless the person is also a socially backward idiot, they get the message.

I remember Kitty! She was so elegant and so New York! I loved watching "What's My Line" at my Grandma's while growing up! So Fun!
And I think TV can teach people as well as entertain! I've watched "Walking with Dinosuars" so often I keep looking for them outside my own house. The birds you know! :)

I was a severely TV deprived child so I'm not familiar with Kitty Carlisle but I love Brenda Lee on the Closer. I think we may watch just to hear her say "Thank yew" a million times. Did you know that Kyra Sedgwick is from NYC? Hard to believe.

ahhhhh..............Soupie Sales................I remember, I was a young girl and wanting to go N.Y.C ........and meet Soupie Sales..

Thanks for reminding me of that little bit of life.

Karyn! - thanks for giving me a Kitty reference I know.. I have heard her name (along with Soupy Sales as he was referenced in a song by the Bloodhound Gang - but not the 3-2-1 contact bloodhound gang)
I was, however, exposed to all the Marx bros. movies I could watch when I was little (as well as musicals & Bette Davis movies) A night at the opera was one of my favorites - and now I can be in the Kitty Carlisle fan club too ;)

I LOVE. TV. Yes, there, I've said it. And I am a big fan of retro TV. Love those old game shows (remember when Game Show Network had "Sunday Night in Black and White" and "Stay at Home with Monochrome"?) I stayed at home with monochrome and watched all those "What's My Line?", "To Tell the Truth" and "Beat the Clock" and loved them ('cause I also remember them from my younger years). Beat the Clock was especially fun with all those 1950s housewives in skinny dresses and high heels and men in suits trying to do those tricks. If the stunt was going to be something "risque" '50s style, they'd make the ladies put on overalls over their dresses (they still wore the stiletto heels though). And it never occurred to me to question why Kitty Carlisle wore a tiara sometimes. I mean, really, she was just Kitty and that's what Kitty did! Who cannot love TV? C-R-A-Z-Y.

I got two words for ya - Dorothy Kilgallen. I used to make my neck look like hers when I was a kid and ask people who I looked like. In retrospect, that was a bad idea, because now it DOES look like hers (yes, old lady here).

I watched all those shows in "real time" also. I began to think that What's My Line? was rigged cuz Arlene Frances ALWAYS got it. I mean, come on.

Kitty Carlisle was to me the earlier version of Marlo Thomas of That Girl. Love Marlo. Both had cool clothes, a cosmopolitan life, fab lacquered hair, make-up . . . then of couse, there's Mary Tyler Moore. She was fantastic as Laura Petrie -oh the stretch stretch pants and big flip hair! And then of course in her role as Mary Richards. I guess for me it's about the clothes and hair -- and SHOES!

Gene. Rayburn. Nothing brings back the 70s like the sight of him, his big lapels, sneering smile and honkin huge sideburns. Takes me back to a simpler time when my clothes were 100% polyester, never matched and the summer sun glinted innocently off my gi-normous silver head gear (orthodonture, no head trauma involved). Loved all the game shows of that era and yes, Kitty Carlisle Hart was the grande dame of all of them. Paul Lynde in the center square. Charles Nelson Riley (Reilly?). Charley Weaver. Allen Luden.

Kitty Carlisle Hart was also an opera singer and was chairwoman of the NY State Council of the Arts for 20 years! Not just another pretty face! A multitalented woman, still going strong.

Hey Laurie,

Colorado'an me was out in your neck of the woods over the weekend... Flew to San Diego, and drove up to Santa Ana for a wedding. HOLY CRAP, there were 16 LANES of traffic. We don't have that here. mountains get in the way.

Anyway, I thought of you.

It was HOT.

Joy

Laughed out loud at the seal-a-meal story! My friend's fiance bought one and it arrived when we were out shopping one day. When we got home, he was already out of bags, everything in the kitchen had been "sealed" and we panicked a little when we couldn't find the cat! (He was fine - hiding from the seal-a-meal man under the bed).

Oh my Gawd! MY dad is an informercial junkie. I don't even watch them because I know that (soon) I will be getting the "But wait! That's not all!" 2-for-1 dealio from dad. No Seal-A-Meal's yet, but that may be coming.

Sigh... luckily I don't feel guilty when I hear of friends who don't have cable, or don't watch tv - mostly because all my friends for whom that is true of ARE MARRIED WITH KIDS... that gives me the excuse of - well a single woman can't really survive without cable can she?

(I won't go into what I would say to some single guy if he said he didn't watch tv... actually though I might take it as a good sign as long as he wasn't trying to create converts - I mean a guy who doesn't watch tv would know how to cook and clean right?)

(actually its amazing how few channels I could survive on if they'd let us pick and choose - CBS, Fox (seriously - the only two things on Network tv I watch are NCIS and House), TLC, HGTV, Discovery, Food, History, and occasionally VH1 or E! for a few guilty pleasures ("Kid Stars: Where Are They Now" and the like)

Anyway - the short point of my really long comment is - LONG LIVE THE TELEVISION/CABLE/DVD PLAYER!!!! (and this coming from a librarian with a long love affair with books, lol!)

Elocution lessons! MGM, RKO, Paramount, etc., paid for actors (and actresses) to have elocution lessons. They were real people who sounded like you or I (if you got yourself a Hoosier twang like me), but the studio bosses wanted actors to sound aristocratic. Some refused, of couse, but many who did were unable to work when talkies became the rage. Elocution lessions were still utilized -- though less popular -- even into the late 50s/early 60s (does anyone remember Inger Stevens -- she lost her gorgeous Swedish accent, then had to relearn it for her part on the TV show "The Farmer's Daughter"). One movie star you might remember who lost his thick Bronx accent via speech lessons was Tony Curtis.

And then there was Ronald Colman who could have taught speech... I saw one of his movies, Googled him, and thought "wow!"

As for Brenda Leigh Johnson, my personal heroine, I had to hush my dh Monday night in order to listen to those lovely phrases of hers. I told my dh, "sometimes she's the only person I can understand!"

Gads, I missed this blog. Kitty Carlisle? Grace, deportment and elocution? Elbow-length gloves (was *I* was the only girl whose mother bought her a pair promptly at the age of 13)?

Why do people have the need to write "first" because they are posting first? WE CAN ALL SEE who posted first why shout it out?? Grrrr....

Laurie, have you seen the website: http://www.asseenontv.com/

It's infomercial paradise.

i love that you love tv. i love tv. i let my kids watch tv. i am a smart person who comes from a smart family and we all watch tv. tv good.

He he - I like the Gilmore Girls too but we don't get the channel which shows it any more ... I want to know - didn't the egg break under the vacuseal?