Get Cracking-What Was It About EGGS in the Seventies?

Have you ever noticed how obsessed people were in the seventies with eggs? No, not scrambled and over-easy, but the shape. Look at these seemingly unrelated things and how they all somehow involved the shape of an egg.  Mork from Ork, played by lovable Robin Williams hatched out of space egg. People decided for some reason that those flat pantyhose packages just weren't cutting it and thought it would be smarter to package them into egg-shaped dome, like  "L'Eggs".   As if that weren't enough, they also though that sitting in an egg would be interesting, hence the "egg-chair" was born. Remember that scene from the movie "Dazed and Confused" where those kids are sitting in an egg-chair?  Perhaps this is a mystery that will never be explained, but it is rather puzzling.

Fon-do, Fun-don't!

 Remember fondue parties?  Everyone gathered around a usually lime green-colored pot filled with hot oil or cheese with those rather dangerous-looking little wooden-handled forks with the different colors on the ends (so you know which one is yours-how clever!). The whole thing more closely resembled some sort of tribal ritual rather than a meal! You almost expect to see shrunken heads somewhere in the picture!  When you think about it, fondue was not really the most hygienic way to eat-all those forks that had been in other people's mouths in the same pot, I know the stuff was hot but still...ewwww.   The other thing about a fondue party is that it was not a place you could go to expect a filling meal.  All those little dice-sized pieces couldn't fill anyone, what was it with the seventies and small food-remember melon balls?  It's like someone said, "Let's take all the things we usually eat and shrink them!" How do you think those pieces of meat and veggies got so tiny?  The answer: YOU + a Knife + hours of work= fondue party! So the idea that fondue was somehow a quick and easy meal is very misleading, no wonder they haven't really made a comeback, other than the chocolate dipped strawberries kind!

Macrame- They used it for everything!

 

Ah, Macrame!

Who can forget those ropey little knot designs

that just seemed to find their way into everything?  Macrame was like a multipurpose material of the day that could be used for making anything really. Check out the picture on the left-"disco macrame" LOL, gotta love it!

The picture on the right reminds me of my nursery school teachers from back then, two Scottish ladies.
But look at those wall hangings in the background, I remember my mother having stuff like that.  It's like someone skinned Chewbacca and hung his hide on the wall!  Of course there were the owls too, and the poodle dog face, we had all of those in various sizes.  I can't imagine wearing macrame myself, it would make me feel like a plant hanger!  But people made tops(like the disco girls), belts, purses and even shoes out of it just the same. Macrame wasn't just a past-time for little old ladies either, I can recall my teenaged sister making stuff with it in the late 70s, it was a craft for every age it seemed. I wonder if it will ever come back one day?

I Wanna Put on my, my, my, my.....Platform Shoes!

I think there must have been an obsession  with being tall in the seventies because of the popularity of "height enhancing footwear" such as platform and elevator shoes.  Maybe Randy Newman's song "Short People Have No Reason to Live" made a lot of people start to worry that they were in fact a short person with no reason to live?! who knows...But it seems when it came to footwear, the chunkier and clunkier the better.
These shoes had a presence everywhere, in the halls of high schools, at the mall-remember most shopping malls in the seventies all seemed to have brown-tiled floors and those round-globe light fixtures along the walls? and of course at the disco.  There is a classic scene in what I consider the best movie about the seventies, Boogie Nights, where the lead character, Dirk Diggler played by Mark Wahlberg is in a shoe store buying some platforms and of course what song is playing during this scene? "Boogie Shoes" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band! But the seventies sure turned out some funky footwear, I guess it was to go with those lovely socks that were popular at the time....does anyone remember the rainbow socks with the separate toes? They were kind of like gloves for your feet but they were socks!

As Promised-The Seventies Laugh of the Week

COLONEL MUSTARD'S KITCHEN!

This kitchen looks as though it was fashioned out of earwax!  I cannot imagine actually eating in this kitchen-just looking at it makes me feel nauseous!  It kind of reminds me of Midge and Bob's kitchen on That Seventies Show.  I still don't know why practically everything had to be yellow, orange, brown or green back then, it's as though some kind of conformity law had been passed!  What's with those ovens that were in the wall too? It seems like every house in the 1960s and 1970s had one of those, I don't see what the appeal was personally. What orange, yellow, brown or green memories do you have from the seventies?

My Favorite Movie of The Seventies is...

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER!

Who can forget 1977's Saturday Night Fever? 

At first glance it may seem like a superficial movie about the irresponsible and decadent lifestyle of the seventies, but when you look closer you see the true meaning of the story. SNF is the story of a young man, Tony Manero played by John Travolta who gradually starts to see that there is more to life than just getting drunk and getting laid every weekend like his friends do.  The character of Stephanie played by Karen Gorney has a pivotal role in helping him realize his true potential as does his ex-priest brother.  This is truly a charming film when you look at it closely, I have watched it many times, even got my daughter's name (Stephanie) from the movie :)  The most pitiful character I think is poor little Bobby C, the guy who got his girl pregnant and feels he has nowhere to turn, ultimately  leading to his death when he falls into the river from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.  Tony's relationship with his parents' seems to frustrate him as he does not want to end up like them living mundane lives full of complaining.  One of the funnier lines in the film is said by Tony when his father swats him in the head after spending a long time grooming himself he says "Watch the hair! You know I spend a lot of time on my hair, and he hits it, he hits my hair!".   This movie to me is a perfect seventies time capsule. Everything from the city streets and shops to the cars, clothes and music really take you back.  What did you like about this movie? What stood out about it in your opinion? 

Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back!

Hey Man-Welcome Back to the Seventies! The hippest, hottest, most boogie-rific decade ever.  What better subject to start the ball rolling with here than "Welcome Back Kotter".
"Kotter" aired from 1975-1979 and springboarded young John Travolta's career. Everyone else on the show seems to have more or less disappeared these days though. Who can forget Horshack's laugh, or "Up your nose with a rubber hose"?  The show of course was a high school drama that was set in Brooklyn. Have you ever noticed how many tv shows/movies made in the seventies were set in NYC?  It seemed to be the "IT" place at the time.  The show was from the last great years of the seventies and had the true feel of the decade, everything from the fashions worn to the furnishing in the Kotters' apartment really takes you back when you watch reruns.  What are your thoughts on "Welcome Back Kotter"?