Did anyone get interested in history because of UM?

[Oldschooler81]

Even though I mostly liked it for the wanted and missing persons cases, I have to say the old (let's say pre-60s) cases were fascinating to me. They did a great job with research and authenticity and making the segments seem like documentaries that really were from then (i.e. fashion, look and just the basic way of acting). Of course it helped that alot of the people were still alive so you could hear firsthand, and even Stack was born in 1919.

One of the first old stories that really got my interest (even if it was solved) was the Barney Dewey case in Texas, when he was looking for his half sister whom he was separated from in 1941 after they were mistakenly put into different foster homes. Just the way he basically was already a "young man" even tho he was only 12 (my age when I saw it) and hitchhiking across the state to find his dad, then being reunited with his mom and stepdad later. Not only because I'd have been too shy to do anything like that in '94, but because something like that was very unlikely to even be allowed to happen then. Made it feel more legendary. I felt like Dewey was reciting the story personally, ala Wonder Years style.


P.S. I think of the whole 80s as "my time" even if I was born in '81, since alot of things were changing around then and standards I grew up on (MTV, video games, things like microwaves or just that general suburban lifestyle). Even the 70s are close enough to feel kinda familar....but anything before felt old and harder to relate to. I really have to credit UM with generating interest in the more vintage, pre-rock and roll generations.

[Mastermind]

Well, UM got me more interested in the Russian Royal Family than I probably ever would have.

I have always been proud of the fact that I can name all five children of Tsar Nicholas by heart and by decreasing age.

Tatiana, Olga, Anastasia, Marie, Alexei.

[tiddlywinks950]

Originally Posted by Oldschooler81

Even though I mostly liked it for the wanted and missing persons cases, I have to say the old (let's say pre-60s) cases were fascinating to me. They did a great job with research and authenticity and making the segments seem like documentaries that really were from then (i.e. fashion, look and just the basic way of acting). Of course it helped that alot of the people were still alive so you could hear firsthand, and even Stack was born in 1919.

One of the first old stories that really got my interest (even if it was solved) was the Barney Dewey case in Texas, when he was looking for his half sister whom he was separated from in 1941 after they were mistakenly put into different foster homes. Just the way he basically was already a "young man" even tho he was only 12 (my age when I saw it) and hitchhiking across the state to find his dad, then being reunited with his mom and stepdad later. Not only because I'd have been too shy to do anything like that in '94, but because something like that was very unlikely to even be allowed to happen then. Made it feel more legendary. I felt like Dewey was reciting the story personally, ala Wonder Years style.


P.S. I think of the whole 80s as "my time" even if I was born in '81, since alot of things were changing around then and standards I grew up on (MTV, video games, things like microwaves or just that general suburban lifestyle). Even the 70s are close enough to feel kinda familar....but anything before felt old and harder to relate to. I really have to credit UM with generating interest in the more vintage, pre-rock and roll generations.

yes! I agree with you completely. i loved the older stories that they did...it always felt like a portal into the past. and i can agree with you on your post script....i was born in 1990, but the 80s seem like something familiar. UM definately peaked my interest in history

[Oldschooler81]

Originally Posted by tiddlywinks950

yes! I agree with you completely. i loved the older stories that they did...it always felt like a portal into the past. and i can agree with you on your post script....i was born in 1990, but the 80s seem like something familiar. UM definately peaked my interest in history

Thanks. Yeah, it's weird how your time can kinda start before you were born in a way! I guess because it takes awhile for things to be totally refaced. Alot of 80s stuff was still around in the 90s, so you probably remember that from being a kid too.

Sometimes I'd even forget how old the stories really were because they did it so well.

[sdb4884]

The D.B Cooper case Intrigued me.

[soilentgreen]

Originally Posted by Oldschooler81

Even though I mostly liked it for the wanted and missing persons cases, I have to say the old (let's say pre-60s) cases were fascinating to me. They did a great job with research and authenticity and making the segments seem like documentaries that really were from then (i.e. fashion, look and just the basic way of acting). Of course it helped that alot of the people were still alive so you could hear firsthand, and even Stack was born in 1919
.

I've always preferred the older crimes/disappearances to the more modern segments. The Black Dahlia, the Cleveland Torso Killer, Audrey Moate, Rudolph Hess, Grace Brown (Big Moose Lake haunting), D.B. Cooper -- they were really produced well. Butch Cassidy and the Brushy Bill segment were interesting, even if you didn't believe the theories proposed, the only one I couldn't stand was the John Wilkes Booth impersonator/mummified man.

[mah79]

Yes, yes, yes! Thanks to UM, I became practically obsessed with the Romanovs and Huey Long, and also the Martin Luther King case.
Actually, I think that Olga is the oldest of the 5 children.