Saturday 9

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here are today's questions!

Saturday 9: Rollin' Stone (1958)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 

1) The title comes from the proverb, "a rolling stone gathers no moss." What do you suppose that proverb is trying to teach us?
I suppose if you move from place to place, you will never get many friends or possessions.

2) The lyrics warn us not to be lazy stay-at-homes but to go out and learn about the world around us. Tell us about a place you haven't visited yet but would like to.
I have always wanted to visit an African country where I can see wild animals in their homes.  Too late for that now. 

3) Karen and Cubby were Mouseketeers on the original Mickey Mouse Club, a TV show which ran from 1955 to 1959. Then, from 1962 to 1967, local TV stations reran it in syndication. In 1989, there was a Mickey Mouse Club reboot, which launched the careers of Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilara. So The Mickey Mouse Club has entertained generations of kids. What shows did you enjoy as a child? 
I did watch The Mickey Mouse Club, also Lassie and Howdy Doody, RinTinTin, Time for Beany, and Romper Room (which I was on once).

4) Karen was Karen Pendleton, among the youngest of the original Mousketeers. Producers discovered her at a local dancing school. Have you ever taken dance lessons?
I desperately wanted to take ballet when they started teaching it at my grammar school, but my mother told me I was too fat.  I did take one semester of social dancing at UC Berkeley and enjoyed that.

5) When The Mickey Mouse Club ended, Karen left show business. She went to public school, graduated, got married, and had a daughter. When she was in her 30s, she was involved in a car accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Still, she went back to college, earning first her Bachelor's and then Master's degrees in psychology. Have you considered continuing your education? What subject would you pursue?
I have, over the years, thought about continuing college (dropped out after a year), but definitely not in a long time.  I was a French major and it would be nice to major in that again, though I can't think of a single reason why I would need to major in French!

 6) Cubby is Cubby O'Brien, a drum prodigy who began playing professionally when he was just 8 years old. After the Mickey Mouse Club he went on to The Lawerence Welk Show. As he entered his teens, he prioritized school over TV. He later returned to television as musician on The Carol Burnett Show. He also performed in concert behind The Carpenters. Do you have a favorite Carpenters song?
I don't  think I have a "favorite."  I've enjoyed them whenever I hear them and am most familiar with their Christmas music.  She was an amazing vocalist.  Such a terrible shame that she died so young.

7) In 1958, when kids were watching the original Mickey Mouse Club during the day, adults were watching Westerns. The most popular TV shows of that year included Gunsmoke, Wagon Train and The Rifleman. Have you ever fantasized about life as a cowboy/cowgirl?
I never fantasized about being a COWGIRL, but I fantasized for years about doing something with horses. 

8) Also in 1958, Dwight Eisenhower became the first President to appear on color TV. Not many Americans saw him in color, though. It wasn't until 1972 that color TVs outsold black-and-white sets. Did you ever own a black-and-white TV?
We got our first set in 1953...I don't think there were color TVs  then.  Walt and I never got a color TV until a f ew years after we were married (in 1965).  I don't remember which year, but I know all the kids first watched TV on a b/w set. 

9) Random question -- Did you pass your driver's license test on the first try?
Yes!  My father was more strict with me than they were at the DMV.  I got my license in San Francisco and they didn't have me drive on a single hill, which was really stupid!  (We lived on a steep hill and my father made me learn how to parallel park, in a stick shift, on the hill before I could get my license)

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 PHOTO OF THE DAY

Our new puzzle.
We work one small puzzle each day
and by Christmas, we have a big puzzle.

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