Several decades ago, when my kids were young teenagers, there came a time when I was no longer trusted to go to Blockbuster by myself. This loss of trust happened after I came home one night with the movie “Delicatessen”. After that, whenever I’d go to get in the car to go to the video store, the kids would shout, “Somebody go with him. Remember Delicatessen!” There was a loss of trust (it was a bizarre movie, with a soupçon of cannibalism).
from around 1991 to 1997, I worked at Sony Service Center. this was directly affiliated with Sony Corp of America. it was thought at the time that Sony should have a human presence to accommodate customers. (yeah, I know. weird, huh?) so not only could people come in to have their stuff fixed, we also had a large lobby of accessories.
the whole time I worked there, we stocked blank beta max tapes. we had two customers who would come in once per month and buy all ten of them. they were in friendly competition and were always jockeying to be first in to get all ten!
I was JUST thinking last night about how I want to send my VHS tape of my greatest performance, in "Streetcar Named Desire"--got rave reviews in the Washington Post!--to get transferred to DVD.
"Video Girlfriend" features Jessica Tuck. It runs only 22 minutes and lists Harlin C. Kearsley as it's only other participant in a "voice only" role. IMDB lists 143 roles for Ms. Tuck's career with the most recent being an "SVU" episode in 2024.
My brother passed away about eight years ago. To the day he died, as his present for every birthday and Christmas, he wanted VHS tapes of movies with his favorite actors. He insisted on them for many long years after everyone else stopped using them.
I should mention that my brother was autistic and had an extremely hard time mastering new technology of any kind. All his life, as far as I know, he never touched a computer or cell phone. I gave him an MP3 player one Christmas, thinking he would love it because he spent hours at a stretch out walking or waiting for public transit, and now he could listen to music while he did so. It wound up barely touched in a dresser drawer.
Having all those VHS tapes around used to drive my sister, who lived with and cared for him, crazy. She would tell me every holiday not to give him any more, to which I had the stock reply: "It's what he wants."
If only everyone in my life had been so easy to please.
I’ve got video tapes of New Yankee Workshop episodes - paid extra to get them with the measured drawings - and nothing to play them on. Missed the chance to get the dvd versions because they’d already stopped making them when I noticed. If I want to watch the web versions I’d have to pay for them again.
With the magic of the Internet you can find dozens of places that sell new VCRs and also you can find gizmos to convert a VHS tape to a digital format and WalMart (and probably lots of other places) offer a service to do it for you. Ebay also has used VCRs for sale.
~
I'm fortunate to live only about 6 or 7 miles from one of a reported 29 drive-in theatres still operating in PA. (PA is second behind NY for the number of operating Drive-Ins.) It's called the "Super 322 Drive In" (https://www.super322drive-in.com/ ) and it has been operating continuously (Seasonally of course) since being founded in 1950. That's SEVENTY-FIVE years. On Monday June 23 (normally dark in Mondays) they will be showing "Munster Go Home" and Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster) will be on hand to chat and sign autographs. Thirteen bucks a carload - can't beat it. The "Super 322" is located on US Route 322 between Clearfield and Philipsburg (near the villages of Woodland and Bigler) and is only about 5 minutes off of I-80, Woodland exit #123.
The first VCR I ever used was a Sony Betamax, top loader with corded remote that only had buttons for Stop, Play, Record, Pause, FF and Rwd. It was enormous, very heavy, and the outside was faux walnut grain. It cost $3000 and sat on top of the enormous walnut-grained console TV my parents owned. My sister bought it for my parents in 1980 to use to record children's programs because she was living in Saudi Arabia with first 1, then 2, then 3 little kids and there was absolutely NO children's programming on Saudi TV. It cost a fortune to mail tapes to her, but we did it anyway. The Saudi Religious Police would open every box and play the tapes to make sure we weren't sending porn or Christian religious programming, which they would confiscate, but all they got was Sesame Street and lots and lots of Disney stuff and Saturday morning cartoons. I wonder what they thought of Scooby Doo and The Smurfs!
I asked my sister about that, and she told me that SHE was told by a Saudi lawyer that they probably sat and watched them all the way through, because it was entertainment, and they were bored.
That blue car that Video Girlfriend is so crazy about is a 1955 Studebaker, so it was an "antique" even in 1989...
Still have my VCR (and the rewinder) but my AV Receiver has no plug ins to record shows - Not that there's anything worth recording anymore.
Kudos for the FOTC reference.
Several decades ago, when my kids were young teenagers, there came a time when I was no longer trusted to go to Blockbuster by myself. This loss of trust happened after I came home one night with the movie “Delicatessen”. After that, whenever I’d go to get in the car to go to the video store, the kids would shout, “Somebody go with him. Remember Delicatessen!” There was a loss of trust (it was a bizarre movie, with a soupçon of cannibalism).
Okay, I have to take exception. Ace’s middle name shouldn’t be Steve (just dumb). It should be Hardware. For all the reasons.
from around 1991 to 1997, I worked at Sony Service Center. this was directly affiliated with Sony Corp of America. it was thought at the time that Sony should have a human presence to accommodate customers. (yeah, I know. weird, huh?) so not only could people come in to have their stuff fixed, we also had a large lobby of accessories.
the whole time I worked there, we stocked blank beta max tapes. we had two customers who would come in once per month and buy all ten of them. they were in friendly competition and were always jockeying to be first in to get all ten!
thanks for the memories.
Those whiskers!
I was JUST thinking last night about how I want to send my VHS tape of my greatest performance, in "Streetcar Named Desire"--got rave reviews in the Washington Post!--to get transferred to DVD.
"Video Girlfriend" features Jessica Tuck. It runs only 22 minutes and lists Harlin C. Kearsley as it's only other participant in a "voice only" role. IMDB lists 143 roles for Ms. Tuck's career with the most recent being an "SVU" episode in 2024.
My brother passed away about eight years ago. To the day he died, as his present for every birthday and Christmas, he wanted VHS tapes of movies with his favorite actors. He insisted on them for many long years after everyone else stopped using them.
I should mention that my brother was autistic and had an extremely hard time mastering new technology of any kind. All his life, as far as I know, he never touched a computer or cell phone. I gave him an MP3 player one Christmas, thinking he would love it because he spent hours at a stretch out walking or waiting for public transit, and now he could listen to music while he did so. It wound up barely touched in a dresser drawer.
Having all those VHS tapes around used to drive my sister, who lived with and cared for him, crazy. She would tell me every holiday not to give him any more, to which I had the stock reply: "It's what he wants."
If only everyone in my life had been so easy to please.
I’ve got video tapes of New Yankee Workshop episodes - paid extra to get them with the measured drawings - and nothing to play them on. Missed the chance to get the dvd versions because they’d already stopped making them when I noticed. If I want to watch the web versions I’d have to pay for them again.
With the magic of the Internet you can find dozens of places that sell new VCRs and also you can find gizmos to convert a VHS tape to a digital format and WalMart (and probably lots of other places) offer a service to do it for you. Ebay also has used VCRs for sale.
~
I'm fortunate to live only about 6 or 7 miles from one of a reported 29 drive-in theatres still operating in PA. (PA is second behind NY for the number of operating Drive-Ins.) It's called the "Super 322 Drive In" (https://www.super322drive-in.com/ ) and it has been operating continuously (Seasonally of course) since being founded in 1950. That's SEVENTY-FIVE years. On Monday June 23 (normally dark in Mondays) they will be showing "Munster Go Home" and Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster) will be on hand to chat and sign autographs. Thirteen bucks a carload - can't beat it. The "Super 322" is located on US Route 322 between Clearfield and Philipsburg (near the villages of Woodland and Bigler) and is only about 5 minutes off of I-80, Woodland exit #123.
The first VCR I ever used was a Sony Betamax, top loader with corded remote that only had buttons for Stop, Play, Record, Pause, FF and Rwd. It was enormous, very heavy, and the outside was faux walnut grain. It cost $3000 and sat on top of the enormous walnut-grained console TV my parents owned. My sister bought it for my parents in 1980 to use to record children's programs because she was living in Saudi Arabia with first 1, then 2, then 3 little kids and there was absolutely NO children's programming on Saudi TV. It cost a fortune to mail tapes to her, but we did it anyway. The Saudi Religious Police would open every box and play the tapes to make sure we weren't sending porn or Christian religious programming, which they would confiscate, but all they got was Sesame Street and lots and lots of Disney stuff and Saturday morning cartoons. I wonder what they thought of Scooby Doo and The Smurfs!
I wonder what they thought of them on fast-forward, which is undoubtedly how they watched those tapes.
I asked my sister about that, and she told me that SHE was told by a Saudi lawyer that they probably sat and watched them all the way through, because it was entertainment, and they were bored.
How much action would a guy named Ace Steve get.
Wouldn't others make certain assumptions?
Winking Jesus! Yay!
The downward slide into fascism started when they pushed VHS over beta, just saying.
Begun, the format wars have. Again.
We have an all in one 19in color teevee with the VCR built in that came with the cabin.
Came with about 30 tapes, and we've been collecting classics. Goodwill has them for a dime a piece.
Best thing we have on tape: the complete series of The Prisoner. On rainy days at the cabin pop one of those in and rejoice.
Not only do I have a VCR - I have two Super Betamax VCRs. Ran when parked.
I still have a VCR, and I still have the Tae-Bo Workout on VHS!
Billy Blanks or whatever his name was?
Yes! That guy!