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Of course I remember Colorforms - they were the best! Right up there with Lightbright and Underoos. This post really makes me smile thinking about the good ole days.

These were fun to play with. Thanks for the memories.

I still have a bunch of old Colorforms in my Disney collection- I have that same 101 Dalmatians set, too!
I really appreciate the limited color breakdown of the old ones- one color with black outlines.
They still make 'em- but they have full color "stickers"- and you're right, I don't know how much kids appreciate this lo-tech type of thing these days. My kids did play with them when they were very young (maybe up to 6). BTW, my company makes a old-style Colorforms clock (we licensed the original set). see here: http://www.worldwidefred.com/colorforms.htm

I couldn't wait for Saturday morning to pop out of bed to see Pee Wee. Why didn't he just rent a video??? Good question!

I think it is more Spring Awakening what with the full frontal nudity such a big deal way back in 1968. Went with my family (liberal sorts my parents) just after we moved to New York (suburbs that is) from the midwest and I remember the excitement of the show, of Broadway, NYC, and the Carnegie Deli afterwards.

The Public Theater(from whence it sprang) did a 40th anniversary concert (so we showing our age, Rog?) in the Park this September (only two performances gosh darn it) with the lead of Spring Awakening (Jonathan Groff) playing Claude.

Ah, you bring back memories....

I went to NY in 1969 on a double date to see the show. It consisted, I think, of many of the original cast members, if not all.

I was just about 17 and VERY naive and I had led a sheltered life. At the end of end of the first act, when everyone got naked, I thought I would faint. (The same thing happened to me on the first day of life drawing class in college. Of course, by my sophomore year it was old hat, and I was telling the models to leave their clothes on so drawing would be more interesting).

But back to Hair. It was fun and it was my first Broadway show. I loved the album and could sing along with everything.

Did I get the sexual references? No way. But I loved the show and the era, and the album brings back many memories.

BTW, the Three Dog Night version of Easy to be Hard is still a classic I enjoy, and for a great jazzy interpretation of more music from Hair, check out the Quincy Jones "Walking in Space" album.

My uncle Gerry Berlin was the lawyer who got the show opened again after the censors closed it down. It's a long and very funny story and Gerry tells it with great gusto and a Boston accent underladen with his original Virginia drawl.

Jane

We saw some genuinely edgy subversion last night in the unlikely context of a song recital, by the terrific Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman. For her last encore she announced she was going to sing a lullaby, and smiling as sweetly as if she were singing "Canción De Cuna Para Dormir A Un Negrito," she gave us Tom Lehrer's "The Old Dope Peddler." The Jordan Hall audience didn't know where to look.

This is in regards to a completely different thread, but I just wanted to note that 8 out of 10 of the NYTimes best illustrated books are by men. All 10 are solo projects (with no separate writer.)

Back to Hair for a second. (Disclosure: I'm the "older sister" he refers to.) Of course I remember the show, not that I was ever allowed to see it - I, too, knew it from the music, all of which did indeed speak to my generation.

But when my youngest brother called me from UMass, where they were staging it, to find out some of the "history of the Sixties," I almost croaked of old age right then and there.

Ha! I hope the class gave him a loud, collective groan.

The only thing worse than relentless psycho-babble from psycho-babblers is when your college age and teen children turn into armchair psychologists. Now my two older sons are more than willing to analyze my every word and deed....

But what do I know? Not much. But apparently they do. I am only a guilt inducing, cliche-speaking, angst ridden, nervous nellie mom. Just to name a few things...

Yes, but how would handle a child like Cam Jansen?

"Click."

Gives me the shivers every time.

THANKS, Kevin, now I have them too ;-)

Harriet IS a pretty unpleasant character, and so are all the rest. Especially with the illustrations. Kind of creeped me out when I was a kid, and believe me, I knew plenty of unpleasant kids in real life.

I thought the Newsweek article was more about labeling than over-diagnosis.