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Should auld acquaintance be forgot,.....

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Should auld acquaintance be forgot,.....
Posted by Miningman on Friday, December 30, 2016 10:06 PM

....and never brought to mind. 

http://pin.it/Fm75qQt

Cannot imagine the pride at Baldwin with this look to the future. We lost all the T1's, all the Q2's, all the J series Hudsons, all the Niagara's and these beauties. 

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Posted by Firelock76 on Saturday, December 31, 2016 11:03 AM

It's sure food for thought Miningman.  Certainly we can rage at the short-sightedness that sent all those magnificent machines to the scrapper, but I try to keep a little charity in my mind.

After all, the railroad execs back in those days weren't historians or museum curators, they were businessmen.  Historic preservation just wasn't in their mindset.  The only anger I can have at them, especially the New York Central people is "Hey!  Ten years ago you were calling your Hudsons, Mohawks, and Niagaras the pride of the company, now you think they're just so much junk?  What gives?"

Anyway, Happy New Year everyone!  I'm looking forward to another year of discussions and learning with you all.  "God bless us, everyone!"

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Posted by wanswheel on Saturday, December 31, 2016 6:47 PM

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Posted by Firelock76 on Sunday, January 1, 2017 10:07 AM

Thanks for that post Wanswheel!

I'm struck by a few things.  First, that "Camel" billboard, the one that had the guy blowing smoke rings.  No way would it be tolerated now in these more "enlightened" times, but back then it was quite the tourist attraction in its own way.

Then there's the billboard on the right with what looks like the cartoon character "Little Audrey,"  I wonder what it was advertising?

Then those vintage NBC TV cameras!  I'm reminded of the fact it took a half-hour to warm one up for use.  When President Kennedy was assassinated the TV network news departments were "caught with their pants down," they couldn't go live with any of their on-air journalists for a good 30 minutes after the word came in.  After that, the policy became at least one studio camera had to be kept on at all times, "just in case..."

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Posted by Miningman on Sunday, January 1, 2017 10:20 AM

Firelock 76- Then there's the billboard on the right with what looks like the cartoon character "Little Audrey,"  I wonder what it was advertising

I think it's for Kleenex Tissues. 

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Posted by wanswheel on Sunday, January 1, 2017 12:03 PM
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Posted by Firelock76 on Sunday, January 1, 2017 12:25 PM

Oh, Little Lulu!  I knew it was little "something!"  And thanks for finding that cartoon, I haven't seen it in decades.

Although, the portrayal of the baggage handler may have had something to do with that.  Less said about that the better.  Hoo, boy.

There was another female comic strip character years ago called "Little Iodine,"  I haven't thought about her for years.  If I remember correctly she used to get in more trouble than the boys did!  Quite an accomplishment for a young lady in those days.

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Posted by RME on Sunday, January 1, 2017 2:26 PM

Miningman
... the cartoon character "Little Audrey,"

My mother was always a bit irritated when you brought up that character, because it was her middle name and she didn't care much for it.

An interesting thing about Little Audrey was that she was the Paramount (Famous) replacement for Maude's Lulu in cartoons, and that any copyright 'infringement' could be lessened because Little Audrey was an older, and better-established ... and not quite as determinedly 'wholesome' ... little girl, featuring prominently in a number of jokes with the trope "but Little Audrey laughed and laughed because..." (the first of which I didn't realize was a formula joke, and involved the Italians bombing someone during, I think, the Spanish Civil War or in Ethiopia with Haile Unlikele -- Little Audrey laughed and laughed because she knew Italian balm was only for the face.

So in context this was Audrey as a kind of Jay Jay or Theodore to Lulu's Thomas, but hearkening back to earlier anthropomorphized trains to eliminate some of the more obvious ripoff perception...

Different in one other major way, too: Lulu had Casper's voice, but Audrey had Betty's and Olive's!

Now, neither of these girls in my opinion held a candle to Kay Thompson's Eloise ... but that may just be my native Manhattan sensibilities (and somewhat warped sense of humor).

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Posted by wanswheel on Sunday, January 1, 2017 2:59 PM

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Posted by Firelock76 on Sunday, January 1, 2017 3:53 PM

Wow, that Little Audrey in that "Holiday Number" was rough!  What a psycho!

I wonder if she's what gave William March the idea for his 1954 novel "The Bad Seed?" 

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Posted by Penny Trains on Sunday, January 1, 2017 6:17 PM

Geez.  I'm glad that Rebecca from Sunnybrook Farms wasn't anything like that!  Penny Robinson either for that matter!  Or Becky Thatcher...

Trains, trains, wonderful trains.  The more you get, the more you toot!  Big Smile

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Posted by Miningman on Monday, January 2, 2017 11:05 PM

That Little Audrey was nuts...and I thought the Walking Dead was pushing the limits! As for Little Lulu, I remember those quite well but, as Firelock'76 points out, there is no way those are ever going to shown again. Yikes!

Back to the grind tomorrow morning for the start of second and fourth semesters depending on the class year. After 2 weeks of stress free calm, leisure, overindulging, bottomless coffee, zero discipline, late nights and equally late mornings sleeping in, this relic from the Pleistocene needs to fire it up, get some steam pressure registering and ease it out the door. My train ( the students) have been also sitting in a siding for those 2 weeks, so, hopefully will be able to roll trouble free. No doubt there will be glitches. New schedule looks brutal. -26C does not help. 

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Posted by Penny Trains on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 6:30 PM

Miningman
Little Lulu, I remember those quite well but, as Firelock'76 points out, there is no way those are ever going to shown again.

Probably not on TV, but there are dvd sets of cartoons avalable at Wal-Mart etc. that have them.  I have at least one of them.

Trains, trains, wonderful trains.  The more you get, the more you toot!  Big Smile

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Posted by RME on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 9:00 PM

Miningman
As for Little Lulu, I remember those quite well but, as Firelock'76 points out, there is no way those are ever going to shown again. Yikes!

What about the reboot with Tracey Ullman?

 

Little Iodine was actually a near-contemporary of Lulu, and predated Audrey's cartoon incarnation - she was likely the female predecessor to Dennis the Menace.

Actually a spinoff from one of my favorite strips, "They'll Do It Every Time".

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Posted by Miningman on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 11:36 PM

"What about the reboot with Tracey Ullman?"- RME

Well yeah ok but it's a reboot with today's sensibilities..the character is still charming and fun, so why not,  but without the extreme stereotyping.  Can you imagine running that original cartoon on Saturday morning cartoon shows....not gonna happen. 

It brings to mind cartoons shown in the fifties on network TV Saturday mornings that were made during the war years ,,,Popeye blasting Japanese battleships as if they were duck decoys at a carnival along with extreme caricatures and depictions of Japanese soldiers, sailors, even Hirohito. Guess that stuff was propaganda light. 

Was always amused by a cartoon, can't recall which one, with the Democrats as bunch of Donkeys and the Republicans as Elephants, all in a Congessional setting yelling "we accept it"  followed by "we reject it" over and over ...which just goes to show you some things never change!

First day back at the College was very rough...most of my brain power was just focused on breathing!

 

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Posted by RME on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 4:16 PM

Miningman
Was always amused by a cartoon, can't recall which one ...

It's one of the more famous Popeye cartoons ... and interestingly enough has Little Audrey in it:

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Posted by Miningman on Wednesday, January 4, 2017 9:33 PM

WOW! What a great way to start the year. What a great memory.

Secretary of Love- Of course!

Thanks RME. Terrific. 

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Posted by wjstix on Thursday, January 5, 2017 3:25 PM

Just to dip in my vast vat of useless information, the term "Auld Lang Syne" is supposedly an attempt to write down the sound of the Scottish phrase "old long since" (meaning something like our "way back when" or "back in the day") spoken in a Highland brogue...although I would think then it would sound more like "old lawng sin" then "old lang sign".

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Posted by Firelock76 on Thursday, January 5, 2017 6:02 PM

The phrase probably has it's roots in Scottish Gaelic.  At any rate according to the late Sir Harry Lauder the "syne" part is pronounced "sign," or "sine," not "zine."

Pronounce it "zine" and you're not a real Scot, said Sir Harry!

By the way, anyone remember Harry Lauder?

"Oh, roamin' in the gloamin', by the bonny banks o' Clyde..

Roamin' in the gloamin' wi' m' lassie by m'side..."

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