Just Hoppity-ing Along

Began a gorgeous (if warmer) morning with this week's American Top 40. I would have been 3 years old in the summer of 1982, and I remember many of these songs well. Hits that August included "Abracadabra" by the Steve Miller Band, "Let It Whip" by Dazz Band, "Wasted On the Way" by Crosby, Stills, and Nash, "Vacation" by the Go-Gos, "Sweet Dreams" by Air Supply, and "Don't You Want Me?" by the Human League. The #1 song that week (and for most of August) was the blockbuster number from that summer's big hit movie, Rocky III, "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor.

Work was slightly busier in the morning, otherwise on-and-off steady. At the very least, it went faster than it did yesterday. Other than a few obnoxious customers, there were no major problems. My relief was even on time. I was in and out.

When I got home, I finished Annie while cleaning the kitchen, then ran the remaining Hoppity Hooper episodes as I made dinner and baked a Blueberry Coffee Cake. Unlike the episodes on the public domain cartoon set Jessa gave me a few years ago, they were presented here in their correct order, one after the other. They're supposed to be spoofs of serials and cliffhangers - the stories are told in four-part episodes. While none of them got quite as bizarre as the Twilight Zone spoof on the other set, there were some pretty strange shorts. "Diamond Mine" has Waldo selling off a vacant lot as a diamond mine...but the moles who live under the lot aren't too happy about all the digging! Gangsters "Costra Nostra" want Filmore the Bear to help them kidnap the baby son of a millionaire, but Waldo accidentally mixes Hoppity in a baby carriage with the human child. "Detective Story" sends the trio after a stolen painting and mixes them up with British thieves.

Jay Ward did these, and his touches are everywhere. There's tons of Rocky and Bullwinkle references and even a cameo by Dudley Do-Right in "Detective Story." The 60s satire may be lost on a lot of people who don't know the time period, but if you're a fan of Ward or of the cartoons of the 60s, this may be worth a look.