Saturday 9

 Before I get to this week’s Saturday 9… last  week you asked about sirens.

Sunday morning I heard sirens right in front of my house! 

We have a volunteer fire department here, and every year at Christmastime one of the firefighters dresses as Santa and they drive the fire trucks through the various neighborhoods they service, handing out popcorn to the children.  

Rollin' Stone

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here is today's questions!

Saturday 9: Rollin' Stone (1958)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 

1) The title comes from the proverb, "a rolling stone gathers no moss." What do you suppose that proverb is trying to teach us?

Keep moving and growing, don’t stagnate.

 

2) The lyrics warn us not to be lazy stay-at-homes but to go out and learn about the world around us. Tell us about a place you haven't visited yet but would like to.

Oh, there are so many places I’d like to go.  I’ll mention just one:  Italy.  The history, the culture, the romance, the food …

 

3) Karen and Cubby were Mouseketeers on the original Mickey Mouse Club, a TV show which ran from 1955 to 1959. Then, from 1962 to 1967, local TV stations reran it in syndication. In 1989, there was a Mickey Mouse Club reboot, which launched the careers of Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilara. So The Mickey Mouse Club has entertained generations of kids. What shows did you enjoy as a child?

I remember watching Mickey Mouse Club and Wonderful World of Disney and Romper Room and Captain Kangaroo.  And there was also The Monkees and Batman and …my aunt (who lived with us) liked Perry Mason. My mother liked the original Jeopardy! with Art Fleming.

  

4) Karen was Karen Pendleton, among the youngest of the original Mousketeers. Producers discovered her at a local dancing school. Have you ever taken dance lessons?

No.  I wanted to, but never did.  But I was a good dance mom. My daughters took a lot of dance classes. And they were both great dancers.

5) When The Mickey Mouse Club ended, Karen left show business. She went to public school, graduated, got married, and had a daughter. When she was in her 30s, she was involved in a car accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Still, she went back to college, earning first her Bachelor's and then Master's degrees in psychology. Have you considered continuing your education? What subject would you pursue?

At my age, if I went back to school, it would be purely for pleasure and my own edification.  I love history and literature.  Maybe art history?

 

6) Cubby is Cubby O'Brien, a drum prodigy who began playing professionally when he was just 8 years old. After the Mickey Mouse Club he went on to The Lawerence Welk Show. As he entered his teens, he prioritized school over TV. He later returned to television as musician on The Carol Burnett Show. He also performed in concert behind The Carpenters. Do you have a favorite Carpenters song?

Karen Carpenter, what an incredible talent.  Such a shame she died so young.

When I was in junior high I sang in the chorus.  We altos always loved to sing a Carpenters song because for once we had the melody and the sopranos had harmony.

Heres my favorite song.

 

7) In 1958, when kids were watching the original Mickey Mouse Club during the day, adults were watching Westerns. The most popular TV shows of that year included Gunsmoke, Wagon Train and The Rifleman. Have you ever fantasized about life as a cowboy/cowgirl?

Yeah, I did.  When I was 9 or 10, I’d ride a horse at summer camp.  We had western saddles.  That led to a lot of fantasizing.

 

8) Also in 1958, Dwight Eisenhower became the first President to appear on color TV. Not many Americans saw him in color, though. It wasn't until 1972 that color TVs outsold black-and-white sets. Did you ever own a black-and-white TV?

Of course.  We got our first color TV  in 1966.  That’s when all the show started filming in color.  My best friend and her brother used to come to my house to watch Batman because we had a color TV and they did not.

 

9) Random question -- Did you pass your driver's license test on the first try?

Yes.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!