The boys rock band

[Stepperry40]

Were the boys in Junior high or not? The show was from 1964. What wrong with them having a band?

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by Stepperry40

Were the boys in Junior high or not? The show was from 1964. What wrong with them having a band?

They were in junior high. I think their parents/guardians couldn't stand them NOT sticking with classical music- even though they somehow WERE successful with their own band (even got on TV)!

[Wawwie]

I felt bad for the boys. The adults IMO were selfish and very wrong to trick the boys into conforming to their will. They weren't hurting anyone. They were having fun and being normal.

[PracTz]

Yeah, the worst thing the boys did was let their fans tie up the phone. One talk from Steve could have put an end to that.

Of course, I think it would have been funny had Jeff's dad decided he LIKED being a beatnik since it sure didn't sound as though he'd had much fun being married to Jeff's mother Mona (an apt name- since she seemed to constantly gripe and moan)!

[Hazel Anyday]

A while back we had an interesting discussion about this episode. If you search back the old Hazel messages here you'll find it.

But basically this was the older generation's idea (those that were writing the show) of "rock & roll" music. To them it was stupid and without any quality and that's how they presented it on TV. Horrible generic banging of drums and the people performing it, insipid idiots who "needed a haircut". Further the rock and rollers of the mid and late '60's were portrayed as 50's style beatniks rather than rockers of the '60's. This was a generation of the '30's and '40's that wrote these shows and they no more understood rock than I do rap. I find rap un-listenable and that must be the way they felt about rock.

That was how it was & how it was presented in most shows of the '60's, the music never really represented good rock music of the day just generic noise played by mental rejects. Look for the old messages here at the Hazel site, you might find it interesting.

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

A while back we had an interesting discussion about this episode. If you search back the old Hazel messages here you'll find it.

But basically this was the older generation's idea (those that were writing the show) of "rock & roll" music. To them it was stupid and without any quality and that's how they presented it on TV. Horrible generic banging of drums and the people performing it, insipid idiots who "needed a haircut". Further the rock and rollers of the mid and late '60's were portrayed as 50's style beatniks rather than rockers of the '60's. This was a generation of the '30's and '40's that wrote these shows and they no more understood rock than I do rap. I find rap un-listenable and that must be the way they felt about rock.

That was how it was & how it was presented in most shows of the '60's, the music never really represented good rock music of the day just generic noise played by mental rejects. Look for the old messages here at the Hazel site, you might find it interesting.

IMO, 'My Three Sons' did the whole 'how do we deal with teen rebellion' bit MUCH better. I mean, it had Robbie get entranced by a beatnik girl (played by, of all folks, Tina Cole[!]) and drawn into 'The Coffee House Set' via them liking his songs (including the then-unknown Jamie Farr playing the hip-lingoed owner) ! The songs actually had been composed by Don Grady himself and they actually were appealing in themselves even if the rest of the coffee house entertainment was bogus (e.g. a beatnik girl dancing to the 'tune' of a deflating balloon). Anyway, Robbie seeing Mike, Chip, Ernie, Sally and even Bub dressed as beatniks laughed him back to his usual squareness.

As for the 'Hazel' one? Well, it might have worked better had the adults gone hip after being told by the kids that they WISHED they were like them (the kids). Of course, it also didn't help that I can't recall a single time in which Jeff's mother Mona didn't either nag Jeff and/or his father or whine about something so why the writers expected the viewers to conjure sympathy for her 'plight' is beyond me.

[Hazel Anyday]

At least in the My 3 Sons episode you reference it was actually closer to the beatnik age than the later Hazel "rock & rollers" episode. In My 3 Sons they weren't trying to portray rockers as beatniks they actually were all beatniks in that club with Katie not rockers. That Hazel episode was from either 1965 or even 1966 (I'd have to look it up to see exactly the month and year) but that was the last year of Hazel from the '65-'66 season. So once again the kids were supposed to be rockers but the adults all portrayed beatniks as if they were all one and the same. Old writers from the '30's generation who probably thought rock and beatniks were the same.

Oh well, that's the way I sees it.

[PracTz]

Well, it's more believable to me that Robbie would have given up being a beatnik with his brainy, fetching sister-in-law to be Sally (played by the appealing Merideth MacRae) making the appeal than Harold or Jeff would have with Jeff's unintelligent and annoying mom Mona doing so!

BTW, I will say that Hazel's 'Blue,Blue, Blueberry' poem was as funny as Bub's 'Chicken Fat' one!

[biffbronson]

I also liked Herman Munster making the scene:

"Life is real
Life is earnest
If you're cold
Turn up the furnace."

The best thing about the Hazel boys band episode is seeing how Lynn Borden looks. She was a head-turner no matter how they changed her look, quite hot.

[Hazel Anyday]

I agree, Lynn Bordon was hot esp. in her mini-skirt! That Herman Munster hipster poem was funny too. I'm sorry though, I don't even understand what PraTz is trying to say with his response to my cogent explanation above. Oh well, fine with me my explanation is still the one that makes sense.

[PracTz]

OK, I liked Lynn Borden in the mini-skirt and go-go boots .

However,
to each one's own re our own interpretations of the various mid-60s teen rebellion/adult counter-rebellion plots, Hazel Anyday! We EACH can decide for ourselves which one interpretation/s makes sense.

[stevea]

Probably one of the best take-offs on so-called beatniks was on The Beverly Hillbillies. Those writers could make virtually any situation funny.

[just1paul]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

I also liked Herman Munster making the scene:

"Life is real
Life is earnest
If you're cold
Turn up the furnace."

The best thing about the Hazel boys band episode is seeing how Lynn Borden looks. She was a head-turner no matter how they changed her look, quite hot.

Herman making the scene is hilarious!

Ibbidy bibbidy
Sibbidy sab
Ibbidy bibbidy
Canal boat

Dictionary
Down the Ferry
Mary Mary quite contrary

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy lost his hair

Scooba doo and Scooba die
That chicken's not too young to fry.

[jehobden]

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

At least in the My 3 Sons episode you reference it was actually closer to the beatnik age than the later Hazel "rock & rollers" episode. In My 3 Sons they weren't trying to portray rockers as beatniks they actually were all beatniks in that club with Katie not rockers. That Hazel episode was from either 1965 or even 1966 (I'd have to look it up to see exactly the month and year) but that was the last year of Hazel from the '65-'66 season. So once again the kids were supposed to be rockers but the adults all portrayed beatniks as if they were all one and the same. Old writers from the '30's generation who probably thought rock and beatniks were the same.

Oh well, that's the way I sees it.

The episode's original airdate was Feb. 14, 1966 (Valentine's Day), so it was in the last dozen episodes of the whole series.