From Primetime to Daytime: A primer on racism (Happy Days, 1982)

 From season 9 of Happy Days:

Fonzie (Henry Winkler) & Al DelVecchio (Al Molinaro) take a trip to Alabama, and discover just how much racism is prevalent in the South in the early 60's. In a speech, Al reveals he'd been in the restaurant business for some 25 years, meaning he'd started in the late 30's!

"Southern Crossing", first shown in January 1982, was the 2nd episode of the series to address racism, the first having aired nearly 7 years earlier.

Al's speech is the climax of this clip.

Would that certain people in today's society would learn this lesson.

Retro Toy Chest: Remember the Do Bee Dough Machine? (1970)

 Hasbro's Romper Room line of toys came out with its answer to Play-Doh with the Do-Bee Dough Machine, released in 1970.

In the ensuing years, Play-Doh has changed hands multiple times, from Rainbow Brands to Kenner to---wait for it----Hasbro, its current owner. The dough machine, however, didn't last long enough to be incorporated into the Play-Doh line.

Looney TV: A parody of cigarette commercials (Pinky & The Brain, 1998)

 Nearly 30 years after the FCC banned cigarette commercials, the staff of Pinky & The Brain decided to poke fun at the tobacco industry........

Amusing, no?

Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits (Revisited): Just Got Lucky (1985)

 From season 2 of Kids Incorporated:

Future Wild Orchid singers Stacy Ferguson & Renee Sands are featured on a cover of the JoBoxers' 1983 hit, "Just Got Lucky":

You Know The Voice: Gary Owens (1969)

 We had this next item before, but it was deleted. This is also at The Land of Whatever.

The early success of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In led to George Schlatter & Ed Friendly being commissioned to produce a series of unrelated specials for NBC, plus a game show spin-off from Laugh-In, hence, Letters to Laugh-In. Gary Owens pulls double duty as host & announcer. Our panel in this sampler has Laugh-In co-host Dan Rowan, series regular Jo Anne Worley, plus Jack E. Leonard and Angie Dickinson, then known more for movies, well before Police Woman.

The first joke, read by Worley, comes from a local viewer out of Saratoga. Cool!

Leonard had some voiceover credit doing Alpha-Bits commercials before the mailman character was replaced by Lovable Truly. Worley got into cartoons later on (i.e. The Wuzzles).

Getting Schooled: Meet the Dental Defenders (2007)

 It had been nearly 30 years since Procter & Gamble had introduced the Crest Team in a series of popular commercials, narrated by veteran actor Jackson Beck. Since then, P & G had acquired Gillette, which, in turn, had expanded their line to include the Oral-B brand of toothbrushes.

With Crest now a secondary brand of mouthwash, in addition to its line of toothpaste, P & G commissioned a new animation house to produce this nearly 8 minute video for schools. Meet, then, the Dental Defenders:

Animation looks like the same folks who may have designed the logo for PBS Kids, but I am not sure.

Toon Legends: Spider-Man in Scourge of The Scarf (1968)

 From season 2 of the 1st Spider-Man animated series:

The Scarf, not to be confused with a villain from the live-action Green Hornet 2 years earlier, comes across as a minor league Mysterio wanna-be with his tricks. Let's see how Spider-Man handles him.

Yes, the video was uploaded from a camera phone. Beggars can't be choosers.

Part of the reason they kept the closing montage from season 1 before jumping to the updated credits is because Grant Simmons (part of Grantray-Lawrence) had relocated to LA to continue working on the show.

Rating: B.