Building upon Chris' concept for his Favorite Things post, I've expanded the categories. One of the first things I think of about the 50's is the cars. And I've been meaning to post about my idle and buried comic collection too. Plus, if you've got movies, you might as well add TV shows too, right? All that, plus card sets and players by decade may make this way too long for a single post, so I may have to split it up. A lot of this stuff spans two halves of consecutive decades, so some things may seem a bit early or late.
Cars - I love 1950's Pontiacs. I want one. Started out liking Cadillacs of the same era. They just have the right look. Then I saw the Pontiacs - Silver Streaks, Cheiftains, Super Chiefs, and Star Chiefs. They're just the consummate Old Cars. The size, all the chrome, and the styling...
Card Set - Gotta be 1959 Topps. I like the '57s the more I get them, but '59 is an all time classic.
Music - Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. My musical wheelhouse generally involves long hair and guitar solos, but as I've aged, I've developed an appreciation for some classics as well. I can't say I listen to these guys with any regularity, but if I'm with an older crowd, I have no problem with hearing stuff from these two. Timeless songs from the classiest gentlemen in history.
Baseball Players - Stan Musial and Charlie Keller. I don't collect Musial specifically (who could?) but he's the best player of the decade. My connection to Keller has been mentioned a few times here. Neat custom Musial I found on the interwebs - no artist named.
The remaining categories will expand in the later decades. Comics and TV weren't nearly what they turned into later.
Cars - Pontiac GTO, Jaguar XKE. Don't have a deep connection to either one, (never owned or driven either), but they look cool. GTO is the king of American muscle cars, and the Jag reminds me of one of my favorite 70's cars - just a lot more exotic and luxurious. Stay Tuned.
Card Set - This one's kind of a tough call. The 1960 set is nice (and I'm done with it), but the '64 set is growing on me more and more. It's a bit simpler, but I think that's why I like it.
Comics - Gold Key Disney and Sad Sack. I only own one comic that's older than the 60's, so this category starts here. Even with these titles, I'm not sure if I was reading original books, or reprints. Not that it mattered to me at the time. I didn't actually read anything until the early 70's anyway. I remember Archie comics at the same time, and I had a few, but wasn't into them as much. Lord knows I didn't relate to the dating and socializing in those stories.
Baseball Players - Willie Mays, Bob Gibson, Tom Cheney. I've got a lot of PCs that start in the 60's. But if you ask me who the best slugger/fielder and pitcher are for the 60's, it's gotta be Mays & Gibby. (I'm waffling between listing my favorites and who I think is the BEST player.) Cheney is one of those Joe Shlabotnik players that did something amazing and wasn't heard from much after that. He is a PC, and a relatively small one.
Movies - James Bond films with Sean Connery, Manchurian Candidate. Any of the Connery Bond films are classics. He's a man's man. And the original Manchurian Candidate stars Frank Sinatra in a really intense story.
Music - Motown. I'm sure there's some early rock that happens in the 60's, but Motown was the best of the decade to me. Again, it took me a few decades to develop an appreciation, and it's all secondary to hard rock overall, but I like a lot of the songs from these artists.
TV shows - Batman, Star Trek. Weekdays after school, there were a lot of animated shows, but one standout was the live action Adam West Batman show. I was the Caped Crusader for at least one Halloween back then. And of course, Star Trek (The Original Series) started in the late 60's as well.
Yep, looks like this will be at least a three-parter. The 70's and 80's are next.
Love the tweaks you made to the BBA. Had I seen this earlier... I would have added my favorite TV shows and cars too.
ReplyDeleteI thought about adding my favorite cars but I knew if I did there would have been no way I'd ever finish the post. Too many to choose from!
ReplyDeleteFun post.
ReplyDeleteI was going to this BBA, but ultimately decided against it. If I had gone through with it, I was going to be television shows as well, so it's nice to see that someone else thought of doing them as well.
ReplyDeleteNice to see you build on the BBA. I don't drive or collect comics, but obviously you're not alone on the blogosphere when it comes to appreciating classic cars.
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