Who was a famous name when you were growing up that young people today wouldn't have heard of?

[RUDisney]

Spiro Agnew

I just asked my DD (27) if she knew who he was a couple weeks ago. She looked at me like I'd spoken in a foreign language. She had no idea he was a person, let alone VP.

 

[NannyBeBe]

I watched Captain Kangaroo every morning until I graduated high school. His cheery and positive attitude gave me a good start to my day.

 

[CGB]

As a history teacher, I run into this issue all the time. When I show clips in class of Lucille Ball, most have never seen her. I will say that MeTV has exposed kids more to older shows/people in recent years. And video games. It blew me away when kids recognized Robert McNamara's name (he's in Call of Duty: Black Ops) a few years ago. However, my students expose me to a lot of newer celebrities too. At the start of the year, I teach the kids how to make a collage poster using Google slides on somebody they admire. I'm constantly asking "Now, WHO is this???" Otherwise, I'd never know who Ice Spice is today.

 

[DDuckSouthBend]

Veronica Lake, Minnie Pearl

 

[disneyseniors]

Gareth Gates

Twiggy!

 

[disney-inspired]

I was shocked by a 20 something at my work who had never seen I Love Lucy or The Dick Van Dyke Show and did not know who Lucille Ball or Dick Van Dyke were. And this was at a TV station!

I am shocked and appalled - two of my favorite shows that I still watch today (34). I grew up watching I Love Lucy on Saturday mornings and found The Dick Van Dyke show about a decade ago but had always loved DVD growing up and watched Diagnosis Murder.

I love it so much I bought this drawing off Etsy for my room.

 

[tvguy]

I am shocked and appalled - two of my favorite shows that I still watch today (34). I grew up watching I Love Lucy on Saturday mornings and found The Dick Van Dyke show about a decade ago but had always loved DVD growing up and watched Diagnosis Murder.

I love it so much I bought this drawing off Etsy for my room.
View attachment 769489

I Love Lucy and Dick Van Dyke ran in reruns at 11 am and 11:30 am when I was in Kindergarten in 1962. I had afternoon session Kindergarten, and my mom worked graveyard shift and slept during the day. At noon when those shows were over, I would wake my mom up, she would fix me lunch, and then I was off to school because my session started at 1 pm.
But I find myself hearing people talk about shows now that I have never seen and in many cases, I don't have access to because they are streaming only, on services I don't have. And one thing I learned when the writers went on strike, some of these series now only do 8 episodes a year. 30 episodes per year was the norm in the I Love Lucy/Dick Van Dyke show days. This explains now when I do get access to some of the current streaming shows, it seems like the same episode is on every time.

 

[jimmalru80]

Ralph Kramden

 

[DDuckSouthBend]

Kate Smith, Sgt. Bilco

 

[barkley]

I am shocked and appalled - two of my favorite shows that I still watch today (34). I grew up watching I Love Lucy on Saturday mornings and found The Dick Van Dyke show about a decade ago but had always loved DVD growing up and watched Diagnosis Murder.

I love it so much I bought this drawing off Etsy for my room.
View attachment 769489

not sure if it's streaming anywhere but there's a dvd available on amazon called 'wait for your laugh' that's a facinating watch for dick van dyke show fans. it's about rose marie and dealves into lots of details about the creation and progession of the show (along with commentary by carl reiner). as an aside it's also facinating to watch the progression of las vegas within the video-rose marie was a rabid home movie fan and filmed her car travels into and out of the city over decades-it's literaly seeing the city take shape and the strip emerging.

LOVE your print!

 

[disney-inspired]

not sure if it's streaming anywhere but there's a dvd available on amazon called 'wait for your laugh' that's a facinating watch for dick van dyke show fans. it's about rose marie and dealves into lots of details about the creation and progession of the show (along with commentary by carl reiner). as an aside it's also facinating to watch the progression of las vegas within the video-rose marie was a rabid home movie fan and filmed her car travels into and out of the city over decades-it's literaly seeing the city take shape and the strip emerging.

LOVE your print!

Ooo I have to go find this! Thanks for the tip!

 

[goofyernmost]

Kate Smith, Sgt. Bilco

Sgt. Bilko was a character played by Phil Silvers.

 

[Skywalker3]

Tons! but one fairly recent example was when we were playing Parents vs kids game, and the kids had no idea who John Wayne was, never heard of him. Doubtful they'd know any of the older movie stars like that. Until my DD watched Good Will Hunting, she only knew Robin Williams as the genie in Aladdin.
doubtful any younger folks know the earlier talk show hosts like Dick Cavett, Donahue, Mike Douglas, all of those, and the late nights hosts.

 

[barkley]

Bilko was a charactor played by Phil Silvers.

and the cartoon 'top cat' was a parody of the show.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Spiro Agnew

I was going to say him. And he was president of the PTA at the junior high I attended.

Squeaky Fromme

 

[RangerPooh]

on the subject of older kid's shows-shout out to san francisco bay area 'kids', do you remember charley and humphrey or buster, vanilla and russel from 'buster and me'?

That's a blast from the past! I'm barely considered a Gen Xer, but remember them! And the commercials that had a song, that was probably put out by the LDS church about kindness (one, two three, four.... this one sticks out in my head).

 

[disney-inspired]

I was going to say him. And he was president of the PTA at the junior high I attended.

Squeaky Fromme

Oh I bet tons of young people know who she is if they are interested in true crime (which many are)

 

[KVH]

It's not just "kids these days" as an excuse they lack any knowledge or understanding of their own culture from before the time they were born. Part of it seems to be a lack of desire to understand the history of American culture even from just the Great Depression on. If no one cares, no one is going to pay attention. Too, it depends on the individual's social circle (older relatives mostly). I think I knew more about Americana from my parents and grandparents before I was twelve than I did about my own time (singers, actors, movies experiences, etc). You can't just blame younger people, a lot of people don't care. How about almost half of a country forgetting they were in WWII?

What's really frustrating is when you're talking to some people and use a line from a movie before 2000 and people give you a blank stare. "Surely you can't be serious" is a line I wait to pounce on anytime and I'd say 75% of the time, it bombs. Or "Abby-Normal", "The same thing we do every night, Pinky ", and a ton of others.

Now I has a sad.

 

[disney-inspired]

It's not just "kids these days" as an excuse they lack any knowledge or understanding of their own culture from before the time they were born. Part of it seems to be a lack of desire to understand the history of American culture even from just the Great Depression on. If no one cares, no one is going to pay attention. Too, it depends on the individual's social circle (older relatives mostly). I think I knew more about Americana from my parents and grandparents before I was twelve than I did about my own time (singers, actors, movies experiences, etc). You can't just blame younger people, a lot of people don't care. How about almost half of a country forgetting they were in WWII?

What's really frustrating is when you're talking to some people and use a line from a movie before 2000 and people give you a blank stare. "Surely you can't be serious" is a line I wait to pounce on anytime and I'd say 75% of the time, it bombs. Or "Abby-Normal", "The same thing we do every night, Pinky ", and a ton of others.

Now I has a sad.

Can you believe we are 6 years away from the start of the great depression being 100 years ago?
That's like asking me when I was teenager to know about and/or care about something that happen in 1903. I'm huge history nerd so I def did know/learn about the 1906 earthquake and fire in San Francisco and I was always interested in civil war & WW2 as well but I know most of my classmates didn't know and didn't care to know.

 

[prairie_girl]

It's not just "kids these days" as an excuse they lack any knowledge or understanding of their own culture from before the time they were born. Part of it seems to be a lack of desire to understand the history of American culture even from just the Great Depression on. If no one cares, no one is going to pay attention. Too, it depends on the individual's social circle (older relatives mostly). I think I knew more about Americana from my parents and grandparents before I was twelve than I did about my own time (singers, actors, movies experiences, etc). You can't just blame younger people, a lot of people don't care. How about almost half of a country forgetting they were in WWII?

What's really frustrating is when you're talking to some people and use a line from a movie before 2000 and people give you a blank stare. "Surely you can't be serious" is a line I wait to pounce on anytime and I'd say 75% of the time, it bombs. Or "Abby-Normal", "The same thing we do every night, Pinky ", and a ton of others.

Now I has a sad.

I 100% get what you’re saying but I’d bet that most people on these boards would have a hard time naming and recognizing stars from current day. If we want them to remember the past, I think it’s only fair that we learn the now.