Picture of the Day: A look back at the (original) Morris kids

I’ve always loved this old photograph of my dad and his brothers & sisters.  In the upper left is Dad, in front of him is my (shirtless) Uncle Mike.  In the top center is my Aunt Dena, followed by my Aunt Terry & their youngest brother, Uncle Shane.

But who is the elderly woman in the center of things?   Many of my relatives say she was their grandmother, my great grandmother Carrie Morris.  Carrie died in March 1948, at the age of 73.  This woman looks older than that, but I suppose “back then” older people looked older than they do today.  

This photo, taken in 1948, must’ve been shortly before her passing.

I wondered about their (maternal) Grandmother Temple, but when I began digging through old records, Blanche Temple died in 1932 at the age of 43.  I knew my Grandma Morris’ dad Justus Temple passed in 1970, but I had no idea or had completely forgotten Grandma Morris’ mom had died at such an early age. 

It always surprises me how quickly many of us forget or simply don’t know where we came from.

Grandpap & Grandma Morris celebrating a Happy New Year, 1950

For instance, I didn’t know (or didn’t remember) my Grandma Morris also came from a family of 3 brothers & 3 sisters;  Dorothy May (Grandma), Elmer, Benjamin, Betty, Robert & Terry.  I remember great-uncle Bob, and I got birthday cards for years from great-aunt Terry.  A vague memory of Betty & no recollection of Elmer & Benjamin Temple.

My grandpap’s family had 5 kids and I saw his brother (great-Uncle Kenneth) at Morris gatherings for years, and their older sister Ruth who passed in 1986.  But that’s it. 

Y’know, for losing her own mom at such an early age, Grandma Morris was not only a terrific grandmother, but a much-loved Mom as well.  I mean it, my dad & his siblings were fiercely devoted to her for as long as I can remember. 

I was pretty close to her myself and wrote a blog about her here. It’s been 25 years since she left us, I still think about her every day.  Saturday is her birthday, she’d be 107.

In 2016 when I moved back home for 6 months, I ran into my Aunt Dena at the local Giant Eagle and we talked for a good hour.  All I could think was why don’t we do this more often.  My Aunt Dena (the oldest of the Morris kids and the only one who attended college, was an English teacher at Waynesburg High School for 40 years) told me a great story from those early years.

She said the first year she came home from college (for Christmas break), she was feeling a little more ‘worldly’ and in no hurry to return to the family farm.  Grandpap had just brought in their Christmas tree, and Grandma yelled for Aunt Dena to come down & join them in decorating it.  Aunt Dena declined, saying she wasn’t interested.

She said the next thing she heard was a STOMP STOMP STOMP on the stairs, Grandma coming into her room, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her off her bed and down the steps while Dena scrambled & kicked all the way.  She shouted “Let me go!” and Grandma yelled back “You can be fancy all you want out there, but in this house you’re still part of this family!”

Oh that makes me laugh everytime I picture it—I’ll always be thankful I’m a part of this family too. 

Love them all & missing Grandma, Dad & Uncle Shane, who were taken too soon.  I’m not a person of faith, but I sure do enjoy the notion of them being back together again.

 

Here’s the story of a lovely lady… oh wait, it’s just my friend Danielle

Recently my friend Danielle surprised me with this early birthday present, a pair of 8 x 10 lithographs of… the Brady House!   (I’m definitely going to frame one of these beauties, I think the bottom one.)   This isn’t something I’m especially proud of, but I suppose I was a big fan of the Brady Bunch in it’s heyday and awhile after, and still keep up with the latest doin’s of the cast. 

(Did you know Susan Olsen, who played the youngest girl Cindy, is a godawful Trumper?  Oh the humanity!)

Several generations of kids grew up with this show of course, but I’m one of the original fans who watched it Friday nights at 8pm from 1969 to 1974.  I’ve probably mentioned it here once or 10 times before, but I can still remember the night of it’s premiere, my mom turning to Dad and saying “Who do they think is going to watch this sh-t?” 

(She should’ve known better than to ask; her and Dad had 5 kids, with a sixth on the way.  3 boys and 3 girls, just like the Bradys!  I’m the middle boy in my family, but I’m the same age as Mike Lookinland, who played the youngest boy Bobby.)

In fact, this is how Danielle & I became friends.  In 2011, when she transferred to my work-group in our company, she was being led around and introduced.  When she was brought over to my desk, the person doing the introductions said “You’ll like Doug, he’s a Brady Bunch fan too.”   (How did they know that, and how did they know that about her?) 

I said “Well, there’s a lot of people out there who claim they’re fans, but know next-to-nothing about the show.   You’re probably one of them, and I’ll be proving that in the weeks ahead with a series of quizzes you’ll be given.”  

She said “Bring ‘em on!”   I did, and she surprised me greatly; she knew as much as me and I’m the BRADY MASTER.

Last year when HGTV reconstructed the interior of the actual home used to film exterior shots for the show, they had a comprehensive online ‘walking tour’. 

I studied every room and was surprised to discover only ONE clock in the entire house, on Alice’s nightstand. 

When I relayed my findings to Danielle, I got a lecture in return on how Alice was mistreated by the family.  See, this is what mental fans do!

Of course, as time went by we learned we had more in common than an old tv show.  We had a very similar upbringing (we grew up in parallel small towns in Pennsylvania that turned red for Trump) and we share a death wish for most Republicans on Capitol Hill.  Okay, all Republicans.  We’re both hams, and we each have a sibling named Shawn! 

Anyway, even with our 15 year age difference I knew right away we were going to be good friends. 

Oh and for the record, I love her husband Josh too. 

 

Thanks again, Danielle

 

Oh, how the mighty have fallen: c’mon TV Guide, enough with the shakedowns

Hey, remember TV GUIDE?  If you were born in the 20th century, sure you do.  Still, growing up in the 1960s and 70s, it was NOT a regular thing in our house. 

1) The Sunday paper already had ‘TV Week’ in between the shuffle of store coupons and PARADE Magazine.

2) My family had a town crier (ahem, me) who somehow knew what was airing on every channel, every night of the week.  “Hear ye, hear ye!  Tonight on ABC is Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, followed by Three’s Company & Taxi!  On CBS is Paper Chase and the CBS Tuesday Night Movie!  On NBC…”

Still, it managed to find it’s way into our house on occasion, especially if there was someone notable on the cover like Frank Sinatra or Elvis.  And when we went to Grandma’s house, I’d always skim thru her copy.  It was just a part of everyone’s life, like Kleenex.

When I moved out of my parents house in 1979, I bought TV Guide weekly without fail.  (I didn’t have a lot of money, but in 1979 the cover price was only 30 cents.)  When I got my first real place, I began subscribing to it. 

Did you know (unlike most magazines) TV Guide did not offer a discount for subscribing?  Not until the 2000s anyway, when it’s popularity began to wane and the cover price reached a couple dollars.  I can still remember when I finally let my subscription lapse, when they went from digest-size to “regular magazine” size. That was in October 2005.

The final ‘digest-sized’ copy of TV Guide, for the week of October 9-16, 2005

Along with ten million others, I realized I no longer needed it.  Cable & dish services supplied a schedule of shows on your tv screen.  (Smart tvs now do that too.)

For 15 years or so, TV Guide was just a memory.  

And then last year, a Youtuber I follow (FredFlix) posted a brief video of things he missed from his youth.  TV shows like Space 1999, drive-in movies, 15 cent comic books, TV Guide.

We got to talking about TV Guide in earnest, and one of his followers commented “I’m going out to buy one today!”  and I said I was going to do one better and sign up for a subscription.  

I went on Google and found a link from TV Guide to subscribe for one year for $15.00.

When I got my first copy a few weeks later, I was a little surprised, a little disappointed.  It no longer had local listings with local channels.  Just a double-page grid showing what was playing on the major networks and cable channels from 7:00pm to 10:30pm.   What?  No daytime or late night listings?

Also, it no longer came out weekly.  More like twice a month.

It still included the classic TV Guide crossword puzzle & the Cheers n’ Jeers column, but I could tell who this magazine’s intended demographic was.  The cover stories were always about NCIS or Law & Order, and the advertisements were for things like walk-in bathtubs, Jitterbug flip-phones and “Genuine Swiss” cuckoo clocks.

To be honest, I got bored with it fast.  It became a coaster for my coffee cup and remote.  I always intended to read it but the next thing y’know, 2 weeks had passed and here’s the next issue.  

Pretty much a waste of my fifteen dollars, but I enjoyed the nostalgia of seeing it in my house again, at least.  Still, I had no intention of renewing my subscription so when I got a “TIME TO RENEW YOUR TV GUIDE” notice in the mail, I tossed it in the trash.

Then a couple weeks ago I got one labeled ‘2ND NOTICE’.   Gosh, they sure want that $15.00 of mine!  I opened it up out of curiosity, and frankly couldn’t believe what I saw inside:

 

They didn’t want $15.00—THEY WANTED 4 PAYMENTS OF $13.99—FOR ONE YEAR.  It says you’re getting a 56% discount, but who the hell is going to shell out $55.96 for a one year subscription to this magazine?

Anyway… I took the photo above to share on my blog, then changed my mind, gathered up their silly papers, threw them away and hoped no one else was coerced into paying that much money for this quaint mag. 

And then yesterday, this arrived.  Oh TV GUIDE… give it up!