Getting mail from the Monkees, Beach Boys, and “Jeannie”

I love old pictures.  In recent years, I’ve tried to organize my collection.  That book I did about Chattanooga radio and television?  That’s just the beginning.  I’m still finding pics I didn’t even know I had.  I found a big envelope last week, and look what I found:

Hey hey, it’s the Monkees!  Mike, Micky, Davy and Peter signed this photo just for me!  Okay, not really, but as a fifth grader, I thought they did.  My teacher, Mrs. Winoa Hixon suggested this really cool class project.  She gave us the mailing addresses for the TV networks, and encouraged us to write letters to the stars, requesting autographed photos. (By the way, here’s the Monkees’ new song for the summer of 2016. It’s good!)

This was a brilliant idea.  First, it was a lesson in penmanship and sentence structure.  Also, it gave us an opportunity to write letters, which was a big deal back in those days.  And of course, what could be better than going to your mailbox in Bryant, Alabama, and opening an envelope from NBC, postmarked Burbank, California?

So I put more time and energy into this project than any other.  Each day, I wondered, who would be sending me their autographed picture today?  Gilligan? Samantha? Elly May? How about Agent 86 himself, Maxwell Smart?

People always talk about how “The Jetsons” 1960s cartoon family predicted the gadgets of today, like talking alarm clocks, robotic vacuum cleaners, and flat-screen televisions.  But let’s give credit to the man talking into his shoe.  Could we have imagined having a telephone conversation without that cord attached to the wall?  And doors that open when we approach, and then close after we enter?  It didn’t seem possible until this:

Here are a few others from my collection.  Does anyone remember “These Boots Are Made For Walkin?” Well, Nancy Sinatra sent this fine photo.

Or at least, her fan club did.  They wanted me to send two dollars to join, but as a fifth grader, that was four weeks of allowance money.  Sorry Nancy, but I had to buy stamps!  How else would I score a photo from the one and only Ken Berry?

This is a prized possession.  “F Troop” star Ken Berry wasn’t a big name, but he was on TV a lot.  He later went on to “Mayberry RFD” and Carol Burnett’s “Mama’s Family” show.  But look at the photo: he signed it personally, “To David.”  You’re thinking, he probably had an assistant do it.  I’m not so sure.  I choose to believe that Ken is just a good enough guy, that he responded to his fans one by one.  Besides, maybe he didn’t get the volume of fan mail the Monkees did!  Either way, Ken made a lifelong fan out of me.

His cast mate Forrest Tucker also sent one.  It wasn’t personalized, but I think he really signed his name.  Look at the ink smudge:

If you’ve never seen “F Troop,” look it up on YouTube.  It must have been written with fifth-graders in mind,  because we thought it was hilarious. Fair warning, these shows were created long before the era of political correctness.  Don’t say I didn’t tell you.

Westerns were big in the 1960s, and I got autographed photos from the two biggest.  One I watched, the other I didn’t.  First, the one I did: “Bonanza.”

This one brings back great memories.  The first person I knew who had a color TV happened to be our preacher.  So each Sunday night we would go to his house to watch “Bonanza” in living color on NBC.  In those days, not every show was in color, so this was a real treat.  My favorite episodes were the funny ones.  Occasionally, Hoss and Little Joe would get into trouble, and then try to get out of it before their “Pa” Ben Cartwright found out.  “Bonanza” was about 90% serious, but they could make us laugh too.

Now for the western I never watched:

“Gunsmoke” was on for twenty years, and was enormously popular, but I never saw a minute of it.  For some reason it never appealed to me. As you can see, that didn’t stop me from requesting an autograph, and I love this photo because the cast members are smiling.  I don’t think they smiled that much during the show, but I can’t say that for sure, can I?

And now, my final three:

I requested, and received photos of the entire “Ozzie and Harriet” cast, but this is the pic everybody wanted.  Rick Nelson’s music is underrated to this day.  That’s too bad, he put out some great singles.  He died far too young, in a 1985 plane crash, but I still turn up the radio when his songs come on.

I love this 1967 Beach Boys photo, even without founding member Brian Wilson, who had stopped performing.  His brothers Carl and Dennis have both passed away, while Bruce Johnston, Al jardine and Mike Love still perform today.  Brian does too, but not with the Beach Boys. I’m sure my little fifth-grade brain had no idea of the turmoil behind the scenes.  I kind of wish I had never learned about all that.  Still, when I listen to their music, I only think about the good times.

And, for a closing photo, why not Jeannie?

Barbara Eden’s show was called “I Dream of Jeannie,” and I’ll just say that Larry Hagman was one lucky astronaut when he found that bottle on the beach.

My teacher Mrs. Hixon passed away long ago, but as I look through these photographs, I’m eternally grateful for a class project that was educational and fun.  I wonder if she knew that in 2016, her students would still treasure these great memories?