Comments on: The Unusual Legacy of Robert Preston and Meredith Willson

By: Liz Taylor

Liz Taylor — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:37:14 +0000

Will the movie “Dark At The Top of the Stairs” ever be released on DVD???????

By: Claudia

Claudia — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 11:49:41 +0000

Oh boy, I sure remember this from grade school and was thinking about it because of all the bru-ha-ha over Obama’s upcoming speech to students. What would 2009′ers make of Kennedy’s big physical fitness push?
No one has mentioned the part of the song I remember:
Thank you Mr President for your speech the other day
We know you are so right, we must all get fit and stay
Yes, we like to exercise. It’s not work it’s more like play
This is how we do our part for a healthy USA!
or something like that…went to a Catholic grade school in Mn and I liked the song but didn’t much care for the jumpingjacks and situps.

By: Medusa

Medusa — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:25:06 +0000

Hi Abby!

We are SO happy to find young classic film fans — all us Morlocks started out as kids loving movies, and once you get that classic movie love thing going, it’s impossible to kick it!

You have many years of wonderful movie-watching ahead of you — so much to catch up on! In many ways you are very lucky because now many older films are available more easily than when many of us were kids; we had to catch them on TV before VCRs made them more easily viewable. And there were no stations like TCM playing just old movies!

Yes, I’m sure many of us are jealous for the thrills you will get watching classics for the first time! There’s nothing like it!

Thanks for writing and keep watching!!! :-)

By: franko

franko — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:30:38 +0000

YES! YES! I REMEMBER “CHICKEN FAT!!!” AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!

By: abby

abby — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:35:58 +0000

actually, your part in the blog saying that noone young is interested in classic movies was wrong. i’m just 14, and my friends always joke around with me because i’m such a classic movie fanatic. (and no, by classic, i don’t mean legally blonde).
lately, though, i have gotten my friends interested in it, and one of my friends and i are going to watch vertigo next week. so, i guess i’m trying to say that even though there are some catty girls at there, the teenage population these days is not hopeless. (:

By: Medusa

Medusa — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:35:28 +0000

Marianne! Glad you remember this from school! Maybe there were just pockets of “Chicken Fat” around the country…you and I obviously were in a couple of them! :-)

You can download the song from various sites, including the JFK library site —

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/The+Federal+Government+Takes+on+Physical+Fitness.htm

There’s a link at the top of the page to “Multimedia” (by the fitness badge) and it opens up a “Chicken Fat” window and there’s a download link, to the long version! You’ll never be without CF again!

Thanks for your comments!

By: Marianne

Marianne — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 09:02:37 +0000

Oh I love this! Was just thinking about it the other day, something I never forgot. We did this almost every day in phy ed when I was in elementary school—and it was my favorite thing to do. Would love to find the record….
Was in elementary school in Minnesota, 1962-1968

By: Medusa

Medusa — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:02:12 +0000

NCeddie — love “The Sadder but Wider Girl For Me”! :-)

And Suzi…I’m so with you about hating gym class. It took over forty years to get me back into exercising!

By: Suzi

Suzi — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:03:48 +0000

I don’t remember “Chicken Fat,” either but I do remember being traumatized by President Kennedy’s horrible approach to make me and my friends physically fit during school hours — the dreaded gym class. I never thought anything was so stupid and inconvenient in my life — getting dressed for school, then going to school to change into different clothes for less than an hour of gym, then changing back to school clothes. Also, some teachers were downright sadistic about making us do the recommnended amount of calisthenics. Kennedy’s program was a big fat failure in my experience.

If only Robert Preston led the gym class, then it would have been worthwhile.

By: NCeddie

NCeddie — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:34:11 +0000

Addendum:

Then Preston could have been singing,
“The Sadder But Wider Girl For Me.”

Or maybe,
“76 thromboses hit the coronary, while 110 cornets played the aire.”