The Mahoning Drive-In Opens for the 2019 Season!

***Note: some photos in this post are shared without permission from the Mahoning's website and Facebook page (but hopefully they won't mind!)***

The Mahoning Drive-In Theater in Lehighton, PA opens for the 2019 season on Friday, April 26. There are many reasons that this fact is a good thing, an amazing thing and even kind of an historical thing. Please allow me to explain.

The Mahoning was built in 1948. That would seem to indicate that LAST year was a year to celebrate (being the 70th anniversary and all). And, in fact, I DID write a post about the theater last year for that precise reason (The Mahoning Drive-In Theater), but then was subsequently schooled about the fact that, while the drive-in was BUILT in 1948, it actually OPENED for its first season in 1949. So NOW we can finally celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Mahoning as an operating drive-in! It's also worth mentioning that it has been in CONTINUOUS operation for that entire time (and still uses the same 35mm projectors that were installed when it opened)! Of course, the fact that it opened in 1949 means that 2019 marks it's 71st season in operation, but we'll stick with focusing on the 70th anniversary for this post...

In a time when drive-ins have become an endangered species this survival story is very impressive. In the 1950s there were over 4,000 drive-in theaters in the United States. Today there are only about 300 left. Keeping the remaining theaters alive is really a labor of love. A number of years back Hollywood announced that all theaters (including drive-ins) would have to convert from 35mm projectors to digital projectors if they wanted to continue getting the latest films--which would no longer be produced on film and only be available in a digital format. The decline of drive-ins really sped up with this ultimatum. Many drive-ins are seasonal and are only open for six months a year at most. Very few were in a position to suddenly shovel out the $50,000-$70,000 or so that it would take to convert them to digital projection (which includes not only new, expensive projectors, but also costly upgrades to the projection booth). For many theaters this was the final nail in the coffin and the excuse for the owners to finally throw in the towel.

The Mahoning was in the exact same position as hundreds of other drive-ins. There was no realistic way for them to raise the funds necessary to stay in business. That could have easily been the end of the story. The drive-in could have closed and the land could have been sold off to make another strip mall or housing development--both of which would undoubtedly be much more profitable options for the land. But the people behind the Mahoning made a bold and daring decision. They passed on buying the digital projectors and instead switched to an all-retro format featuring older 35mm prints of movies rather than the latest Hollywood blockbusters. Instead of projecting digital images onto the screen the Mahoning would continue to project 35mm film images from the same projectors that have been in the projection booth since it was built in 1948! This was a very exciting prospect for old movie fans (by "old movie fans" I'm referring to fans of old movies, but I suppose it also applies to old people, like myself, who happen to be fans of movies too). But it's also something that might be just a bit tough to sell to the average drive-in customer who is used to seeing the latest releases up on the screen rather than old movies that they could throw on the DVD player and watch at home.

I'm not going to say that this process was easy, or that it was an overnight success. While they didn't have to hand over all that money for the digital projectors, they did lose the opportunity to get all the new movies that would allow for a steady, predictable cash flow. They also lost the relatively automatic pipeline that those movies would come through. The old 35mm movies might seem like a cheaper option, but they still need to be tracked down, found, rented and acquired before a show could go on. This is NOT an easy process by any means. But the Mahoning was all in. Starting with the 2015 season they began screening retro shows. It wasn't just random films from the old days though. They put a lot of work and thought into producing themed shows that made the experience something special. They started a new tradition that year by opening the season with a double feature of "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) and "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (1971). This Friday those same beloved classics will open up the 2019 season as well.

Business wasn't "great" for the first couple of seasons and the operators actually didn't even pay themselves. All of the money generated was put right back into the drive-in and the movies. But they began to develop a following of fans who spread the word. Now people come from all over the country to attend the great themed shows and see films they may love but have never had the opportunity to see on a giant screen. And that screen IS huge. It's actually the largest one in Pennsylvania and one of the largest remaining in the whole country!

Some of the themes from over the past few years have included the Vampyrty (vampire movies), Zombiefest (zombies, duh!), Bite Night ("Jaws" and "Jurassic Park"), Drive-In VHS Fest (which features, yes, old VHS tapes projected onto the screen rather than 35mm films!) and retrospectives of the works of some great directors and actors like John Carpenter, Martin Scorsese and Bill Murray. There are also double-, triple- and sometimes quadruple-features of films from series like "Ghostbusters", "Indiana Jones" and "Harry Potter".

A flyer from the 2018 season

After the traditional opening weekend some of the shows already lined up for this year include: 90's Action Party (with "The Last Action Hero" and "Demolition Man"), Killer Klown Double Down ("Killer Klowns from Outer Space" and "IT"), Turtle Power! (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Zombie Fest V (NINE classic zombie films over three nights!), Lost in the Labyrinth ("Labyrinth" and "Pan's Labyrinth"), Vampyrty ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Fright Night" and "Fright Night II"), Bite Night, Godzilla-Palooza! (featuring SIX classic Godzilla movies), Harry Potter and the 8 Movie Marathon, Christmas in July ("Home Alone" and "Home Alone 2") and Universal Monster Mash (four classic Universal monster movies). And that's only the list through early August! Check out the theater's website and Facebook page for a LOT more information on the shows and the Mahoning than I could ever hope to share here.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg. The theme weekends also include special custom posters featuring great artwork specific to that show, special menu items, special displays of memorabilia and props from many of the films being shown, vendors, special guests, director Q&As, contests, promotions and giveaways. It all makes for a great experience for the film fan!

As if all this weren't enough (a drive-in celebrating its 70th anniversary AND a great story of a successful rebranding and rebirth as an all-retro theater) there's one more thing to celebrate as the Mahoning opens up for another season. A few years ago a team of filmmakers was looking to create a documentary on drive-ins. Once they found the Mahoning they decided to focus on it and its story for the film. The final product is the documentary "At The Drive-In", and after some wait and a number of premieres around the country it has finally been released and is available for purchase on DVD and in digital format (rental or purchase)! You can get it at Amazon, Amazon Prime and iTunes.

Here's the trailer for the film:

I can't finish this story without sharing yet another hardship that the Mahoning has had to face in its journey recently. I mentioned earlier that all of the money from the first few seasons went directly back into the drive-in rather than paying the people who run it. That's a difficult way to run a business, but it's just what they had to do in order to keep the Mahoning alive. If that weren't hard enough, the past couple seasons have given them even MORE opportunities to spend money they really don't have. In the winter of 2018 a storm heavily damaged the theater's marquee sign. It had to be repaired and restored in time for last season. And then this past winter brought another expensive repair challenge to the Mahoning. A wind storm heavily damaged another of the property's few structural features. And this time it was THE most important one--the screen! A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for the repairs.

I've only been able to attend a few of the Mahoning's shows, but consider myself very lucky to have been able to go whenever possible. I live in Massachusetts, so it's a bit of a long ride to go all the way to Pennsylvania to go to a drive-in. Luckily I have a friend who lives even further away (New Hampshire) who goes nearly every weekend and has become part of the Mahoning's extended family. He has brought me along when time and circumstance has allowed me to attend. I've seen three shows over the course of the first four seasons of the Mahoning's new format: an Indiana Jones double feature in 2015, an awesome show called Bigfoot Weekend that featured SIX old Bigfoot films mostly from the 1970s in 2017 (which I wrote about in this post and this post) and VHS Fest II in 2018. I would LOVE to get to a couple more shows this year (Godzilla-Palooza is VERY high on the wish list), but time will tell. The good news is that the Mahoning has continuously increased its audience and reach. As far as I know it's THE all-retro drive-in theater at this point. Other places put on occasional shows and special events, but mostly still feature the latest Hollywood releases (not that there's anything wrong with that!).

SEE YOU AT THE DRIVE-IN!

The Greatest American Hero: March 18, 1981

Thirty-eight years ago tonight the television show "The Greatest American Hero" premiered on ABC. Interestingly enough, just one night earlier I had purchased my first cassette tape recorder (an event covered in this recent blog post). That might not sound like anything all that amazing, but you have to remember that in 1981 I was an eleven year old boy, and there were no such things as the Internet and smart phones. Heck, my household wouldn't even get our first VCR (video cassette recorder for you young folks) for another four years and it would be about the same amount of time before cable TV finally came to my little hometown. So March 17th and 18th of 1981 were a real one-two punch of entertainment value for me.

From TV Guide

The cover of the TV Week section of the Worcester Telegram from Sunday, March 15, 1981 featuring William Katt and Connie Sellecca

I can't say that I really knew much (if anything) about the show before it aired. It's not like I had read all about it online and was eagerly awaiting the premiere. But at the same time, with a name like "The Greatest American Hero" I was bound to tune in--and I did. It certainly didn't disappoint. And while the show is now readily available on DVD and streaming sources, I'm very happy that I have a couple little snippits from the pilot episode on an ancient cassette tape which I recorded that very night with my brand-new tape recorder!

The same model of GE tape recorder that I had just purchased

The actual first-ever tape that I used on March 18, 1981!

"The Greatest American Hero" quickly became one of my favorite shows of that time (along with stuff like "The Dukes of Hazzard", "The Incredible Hulk", "The Fall Guy" (which would premiere later in 1981) and the Tom Baker era of "Doctor Who" (which PBS was airing at the time). It couldn't really have come out at a better time for me. If I had been much younger or older than eleven I don't know if it would have really hit the sweet spot for me. But it did, and I thoroughly enjoyed the adventures of Ralph Hinkley (William Katt), FBI agent Bill Maxwell (Robert Culp) and "Councilor" Pam Davidson (Connie Sellecca).

And what wasn't there to love about the show? Along with the silly but engaging concept of a curly-haired, regular-guy high school teacher being chosen by aliens to wear a suit that granted him superpowers (which he could never completely master because he lost the instruction manual) who was compelled to work alongside a brash FBI agent, the show is also memorable for its theme song. "Believe it or Not" (written by Mike Post and sung by Joey Scarbury) was not only a great 1980s TV show theme, it ended up becoming a major hit on the radio (reaching number 2 in the Billboard Hot 100) and still remains a very familiar and recognizable all-time song from the 80s.

Unfortunately the show only lasted for three seasons. And to be honest I think I actually stopped watching before it even ended. It's not really clear why I seem to have lost interest, or what show(s) might have become a replacement for me, but I can't say that even remember when it went off the air. Nevertheless, along with seemingly countless other shows from my youth, "The Greatest American Hero" remains an all-time favorite in my heart. I was able to introduce The Little Monsters to the show on DVD a number of years back and was thrilled to see that they really liked it (again, what's not to like?). We watched quite a few episodes together and I had a very proud moment when we were at Disney World a few years ago and one morning when we were just waking up in our resort room the girls started singing. But despite being in the land of Disney, with all of its catchy tunes that have been drilled into kids brains for generations (including the songs from "Frozen"--which was still a huge hit at the time), The Monsters were singing "Believe it or Not"! Appropriately enough they had also sung the song earlier, on the plane as we were flying to Florida (walking on air indeed!).

There's been talk about a remake or reboot of "The Greatest American Hero" for a number of years, but as of now (March 2019) nothing has really come together. Apparently in 2017-18 there were plans for an Indian-American woman to don the super suit in a new version of the show, but ABC declined to pick it up. We will have to see if anything materializes on that front. I'm not really sure how I'd feel about a new and different take on the show, but it would certainly be interesting to see! You can read a whole lot more about "The Greatest American Hero" at its Wikipedia page.

On a final note, and to show just how much the show meant/means to me, back in 2010 I attended the annual Rock and Shock show in Worcester, Massachusetts. One of the guests that year was none other than William Katt! I don't know where the autograph that I got from him that day is (lost in deep storage somewhere), but I was also able to get a photograph with the man himself. It was a highlight of the day, and remains a very cool memory for me.

Believe it or not, that's me with William Katt!

After The Little Monsters had developed an interest in "The Greatest American Hero" I remembered this photo and decided to impress them with it. "Check out who your papa met a few years ago!" Well, I do think that they were somewhat impressed, but at the same time they also seemed to have a little bit of trouble with the concept that the show had originally aired around thirty years earlier. The Little Monster's reaction was something to the effect of "He looks kind of...old." Well, after thirty-eight years, don't we all?

From William Katt's Facebook Page

HAPPY 38th BIRTHDAY TO
THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO!

Important Dates in History: March 17, 1981 (The Tape Recorder Incident)

Where were you on March 17, 1981? Considering we're talking about a date that was thirty-eight years ago it's likely that many people who might see this were not even born yet. But Monster Dad WAS around way back then (though still just an eleven year old Monster Kid at the time). Tuesday, March 17, 1981 seems to have been a pretty quiet news day, historically speaking. Of course it was Saint Patrick's Day. That's something. But the holiday had nothing to do with why that seemingly random date was/is so important to me personally.

March 17, 1981 was the day that I got my first tape cassette recorder! Does that NOT sound very important? Does that NOT sound very interesting? Does it seem that I'm making some sort of joke rather than relating a story about an actual "Important Date in History"? Well, it WAS an extremely important and influential thing for my eleven year old self. Please allow me to explain why.

In 1981 there was no such thing as the Internet (at least not what we think of today as the Internet). There was no such thing as streaming video. There weren't even DVDs and Blu-ray discs (two relatively recent technologies that are already looking like endangered species). Video Cassette Recorders (VCRs) were around, but they were still a relatively new (and extremely expensive) consumer product. We didn't get our first VCR until four years later in 1985. But something that WAS available--and relatively affordable--was the humble cassette recorder.

One of my older sisters (I was the youngest of nine kids in my family) had a tape recorder and I remember thinking that it was so cool that you could record your own voice, songs off the radio or anything else that you wanted to, as long as it made an audible sound. My sister would allow my nephews and I use her tape recorder to make little newscasts and other such things. The only topic I remember "reporting" on was the 1980 Summer Olympics and the fact that the U.S. was going to boycott them. While I don't recall many details of what we recorded on her machine, I do recall that the experience made me REALLY want to have my very own tape recorder! It was like a way to capture something that would normally simply happen and then recede into the depths of the past, never to be heard from again. Recording "stuff" on a cassette tape had an almost magical element to it. To me it seemed kind of like the idea of explorers finding a primitive tribe in the jungle and having the natives think that there were tiny people in the explorers' radios, or that their cameras would steal the souls of the tribe members if their pictures were taken. Am I building this up too much? Maybe so, but hopefully you can get an idea of why it seemed so important to me to acquire a cassette recorder of my very own--especially in this age of ubiquitous smart phones that can do seemingly anything and have more computing power than the entire space program that put man on the moon (or so I've heard).

There were a few times when my parents took me on special trips to purchase pretty important and special things. My first bicycle was one of those times. In addition to going to the store where the item could be purchased we would usually have dinner out and/or see a movie to really make it an event. The purchase of my first tape recorder was one of those events. I'm not sure why it was done on a Tuesday night (a school night!), but in doing some research on microfilm some years back I was able to find the ad from the Sunday newspaper that featured the tape recorder I wanted to purchase (a General Electric Model 3-5091)--and it was on sale too! I suppose that if I saw that ad on Sunday and made my pleas to my parents they might have agreed to make our little shopping trip on Tuesday (even if only to quiet my incessant and annoying pleading).

I remember going to the store to look for and buy the tape recorder, but there does seem to be some discrepancy between my memory and the physical evidence. The newspaper ad I found was for a sale at Caldor's, but I recall going to a Kmart. It doesn't really matter all that much, except for the fact that the two stores were a similar distance from our town--but in opposite directions. Either way, I did indeed spend my saved up allowance money on the treasured piece of technology, as well as a pack of three cassettes (the recorder would be pretty useless without some tapes, right?). I don't recall what restaurant (if any) we went to that night, but I do remember going to the movies to see "The Incredible Shrinking Woman". And that memory seems to be correct because the film was released on January 30, so it was very likely to have still been in theaters on March 17.

We returned home at what I'm guessing must have been a relatively decent hour (as mentioned earlier, it WAS a school night). That would more or less seem to end the story of this "Important Date in History", except for the fact that I just HAD to try out my new toy when I got home! It would be unreasonable to think that I'd simply be able to go to sleep while the tape recorder sat around waiting for me sleep peacefully through the night, go to school the next morning and come home after school to open it up. No, I took it out of the box and put the batteries and a cassette into it and... This is probably the most interesting part of the story because it's the first thing to really go wrong in this adventure. I knew exactly how to use the machine. It is a pretty simple, self-explanatory thing to operate, and I imagine that it was quite similar to the one my sister had. But the one thing I wasn't prepared for was the leader tape--which is about five seconds worth of non-recordable tape at the beginning and end of each cassette.

My very first cassette tape!

That seems like such a natural thing now, though quite possibly a completely foreign concept to all the millennials and other young folks out there who might never have seen or used a cassette tape. But these were the very first cassette tapes I had ever owned myself, so it was a pretty new concept to me. Anyway, to test it out I very excitedly pressed the Record and Play buttons to start recording and said something into the microphone (maybe "Testing, testing, one, two, three"?). Then I pressed Stop, Rewind and Play to hear my first-ever recording on my brand new tape recorder. But all that played was a bunch of silence. I must have done something wrong! So I tried it again and got the same result. Okay, let's check the volume control. Yup, that's turned up about halfway, should be fine. Let's make sure I'm pressing the right buttons. Yup, according to the owners manual that should be fine too. I made a third attempt and...nothing. The machine was getting power, the tape was moving, but I was still hearing NOTHING! And the hour was getting late. It was starting to look like maybe I got a defective tape recorder. Would I have to make my parents bring me all the way back to the store to get a replacement or refund? Would I need to send it away by mail to be repaired and then have to wait 6 to 8 weeks to be able to make my first recording? Why couldn't anything be easy?

I went to bed frustrated and confused. Somehow I managed to get some sleep, and at some point the next day I was able to figure out what I was doing wrong (basically not waiting about five seconds for the leader tape to pass through the recording head before talking) and I was FINALLY able to start recording to my heart's content. So that's pretty much the story of Tuesday, March 17, 1981--the day I bought (but wasn't able to use) my very first tape recorder. The actual recording part had to wait until after school on March 18th, and the recording part is REALLY what makes getting the device on the 17th such a defining moment for me. My tape recorder pretty much became the most important thing in my life for quite some time. There was the "new toy" novelty of the first few days and weeks. But that novelty never seemed to wear off. I didn't really have a plan for exactly HOW I wanted to use my tape recorder, or exactly WHAT I wanted to record. So I basically started to record EVERYTHING that I could! I would talk into the microphone (basically using it like a journal to either talk about something that had happened, or to recap what had just been recorded on the tape). I would record songs off the radio. I would take it outside and record the sound of me playing outside (an audio version of "Reality TV" in a way). My nephew (who got a tape recorder of his own soon after) and I would record shows--including our favorite one which we called "The Burp Show" (can you guess what that was about?). I would attempt to make various "sound effects" through experimentation. And I would tape audio from the TV. That may seem like kind of a pointless exercise since you couldn't SEE what was going on, but it ended up being probably the most important part of my recording activities for the next few years. I spent many, many hours sitting in front of the TV with my tape recorder propped up against the little speaker and my fingers on the Record, Play and Stop buttons. March 17th of 1981 was like any other day for the most part, with the exception of having one of those special nights with my parents and the purchase of a new tape recorder. But that purchase had such an effect on me for the next several years that I do feel the date is a very important one in history (even if it's only MY own personal history).

My tape recorder remained one of my favorite (maybe my MOST favorite) possessions for a long time. It was in almost constant use for about four years (the recording of TV audio came to an abrupt stop once we got our first VCR in 1985). Four years may not seem like all that long of a period of time, but to a ten-year-old four years is an eternity! I really used the heck out of that little tape recorder and eventually had to buy another one once it showed serious signs of decline. I attempted to replace it with a cheap, made-in-China knockoff unit I bought at a flea market and was so disappointed in its performance that my old GE was taken out of retirement and pressed back into service once again. But eventually it really did start to fail. To the best of my knowledge it was still working when I finally pressed Stop on it for the very last time.

But the old machine was never actually thrown away, and I was able to find it at my parents' house about nine or ten years ago. It was in remarkably bad condition--the battery cover was missing, the tape compartment cover was broken and it was dingy and covered with dust. But I had hope that it might still work. I had also managed to find the vast majority of my old tapes that had been recorded over those four or so years and wanted to listen to them on the same machine that had been used to record them. Unfortunately time and neglect really hadn't been kind to my old friend, and while it still seemed to get power with a fresh set of batteries, it simply was no longer capable of playing any tapes (much less recording on them). Because it had meant so much to me for so long I still wasn't able to throw it out. Showing it here would probably be the best way to end this post (even if I couldn't say that I was able to repair it), but after moving and selling our house in recent years the tape recorder is now somewhere among stacks of stuff in a storage unit that I don't access very often. But there IS still one more chapter to this story, and it will have to wait a little longer to be told...

TO BE CONTINUED

Luke Perry, Dead at 52

Okay, so I suppose it's time for a little confession. This is one of those things that I could have never mentioned here and nobody would have been any the wiser. But lately I've been writing some things that are ever so slightly on the more personal side. I've talked about a couple embarrassing moments that I had never shared before (Reliving an Embarrassing Moment from My Youth, That New Year's Eve When I Washed My Own Mouth Out With Soap). In that new spirit of openness and sharing I suppose it's time to risk any credibility I may have had within certain circles by admitting that, yes, I watched "Beverly Hills 90210". Actually, if we're being completely honest here, I didn't just watch it. For a time I might even go so far as to say that I loved the show. There, it's out. Now we can get on with other things. For instance, why am I writing this sudden "confession"? Well, Luke Perry, one of the stars of "Hills" (as my friends and I called the show) died today at the age of 52 after suffering what was described as a "massive stroke" last week.

 
When "Beverly Hills 90210" premiered in October of 1990 I was a little bit older than what I'd expect the target demographic probably was. I graduated from high school three years earlier and was a "young adult". I don't think I was even aware of the show until a few weeks or months later when it really exploded as a mega-hit among the teeny-bopper crowd. At the time my little group of friends used to hang out pretty much every day after work or school or whatever we had to do during the day. We sometimes got out and did stuff (going to a movie, restaurant, music store...), but a lot of the time we'd just all hang out together and have a good time. I remember the topic of "Beverly Hills 90210" coming up and we would routinely put the show down and make fun of it. None of us watched it, and I don't think any of us had any interest in it (despite what I said in my confession above). But then something strange happened over the next year or so. We actually started watching the show a few times. At first we thought we'd simply tune in to make fun of it and see what all the fuss was about. But then, without realizing it, we started to find ourselves getting into the characters, storylines and all the drama. Suddenly we needed to see what was going to happen next (I suppose this is how people get sucked in to soap operas, and this very much WAS a soap opera for a younger crowd). Before we knew it, we were hooked. Even when we started seeing each other less because of different commitments and general life changes over time we would make a point of getting together every Wednesday for "Hills Night". We may not have had anything in common with the characters of the show, but we did kind of feel like they were "friends" of ours anyway, and it seemed like we were all growing together and sharing our life experiences together. Granted the life experiences of good-looking, fictional young adults growing up in Beverly Hills were quite a bit different and more exciting than the life experiences my real friends and I were going through (which I suppose is part of the reason we wanted to be "friends" with the Beverly Hills kids in the first place), but we were still drawn to them week after week. Through all the cast changes and twists and turns we remained loyal to our pals from 90210 and then felt a sense of loss when the show finally ended.

Now that I've explained my own personal relationship with "Beverly Hills 90210" it's time to get back to the untimely passing of Luke Perry. It's the kind of celebrity death that I wouldn't have expect to hear--and also wouldn't have expected to hit me very hard. I suppose it's kind of a two-fold thing though. First off, it was very much unexpected and seemingly came out of nowhere. While I wasn't exactly keeping tabs on him, Mr. Perry was apparently doing pretty well for himself recently. I didn't realize that he was currently starring on the show "Riverdale". So the news of his massive stroke was pretty shocking. You never know who the "Fickle Finger of Fate" will choose to point at, but Luke Perry is someone I wouldn't have had in my Death Pool, if I had one. Wondering if and how he was going to recover from his stroke was already on my mind when I heard this morning that he had passed away.

The second part of the shock was the fact that he was only 52. I remember the ridicule that "Beverly Hills 90210" endured when it first came on because of the advanced age of some of its "teenaged" stars, who were in fact very much adults at the time. As I mentioned, I was also a bit older than the main target audience of the show. And as it turns out Luke Perry, who was in his early 20s when the show started, was only about three years older than me. Which means that this is not only another completely random, gone-too-soon celebrity death, but the celebrity that died in this case suffered a "massive stroke" and was only three years older than me! THAT really makes this story hit home, regardless of what roles Luke was known for in his acting career and what I may or may not have thought of him.

All of this brings us to another really strange thing about the timing of Luke's death. The news of his stroke broke at almost the exact time as the announcement of a new show starring most of the original cast of "Beverly Hills 90210". The show had already been rebooted a number of years ago. That version of the show had a new cast of youthful actors (kind of like "Beverly Hills: The Next Generation"), with a couple members of the original cast reprising their old roles in a few episodes. But this new show is going to feature the original cast. And instead of being a straight-up reboot or continuation it sounds like it's going to be kind of a mockumentary-type show where the actors actually play "exaggerated versions" of themselves looking to pull off some sort of reboot of the show.

Most of the cast has apparently signed on to the project. The only notable exceptions being Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty. Luke was busy with "Riverdale" and Shannen is, well, Shannen. Apparently the door was left open for them to join in on the fun if they wanted to and if their schedules allowed. Obviously all that has changed now, and Luke will not be a part of the show. I feel kind of bad about the fact that there's really no way for his death to not have some sort of effect on the new show. Even though he wasn't slated to be a part of it, it seems like his death casts a shadow over the whole project. And now I'm wondering if they might even find a way to write it into the show. What would be a better reason for the "exaggerated versions" of the original cast to want to get together to do a reboot than the passing of one of their own? Time will tell...

I'm Just a Big Ol' Curmudgeon (or Crumudgeon)

So what's got me in such a negative mood anyway? Well, nothing really, but I was thinking about some things and it occurred to me that I might just be a bit on the curmudgeonly side. Strangely enough, it's the word "Curmudgeon" itself that's got me thinking this way.

I was writing a (friendly) response to a friend on Facebook where I referred to myself as being a curmudgeon. But I didn't spell the word that way. Instead I spelled it the way I THOUGHT it was spelled: "Crumudgeon". Instantly the little red lines appeared under the word to let me know I had made a mistake. Looking at the word I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. So I did what I usually do in those situations--I Googled it. Needless to say the word came up as "Curmudgeon" and I was left wondering what had just happened to me. I suppose the good thing that came out of this experience is that it has just proven once again that you really can "learn something new every day". But the bad thing was the realization that I'm getting close to being fifty years old(!) and I didn't know how to spell the word curmudgeon. Sure, it's not a very common word and it is kind of long and ungainly, but I had gone for nearly fifty years thinking it was spelled differently.

The odd thing was that this realization kind of got me feeling even more curmudgeon-like. It might have been simply a case of familiarity, but after nearly half a century with the incorrect spelling in my head I really felt that "Crumudgeon" was a better word than the correct "Curmudgeon". Doesn't it sound more negative? The "Crum" part makes one think of feeling crummy, or the word crumb, which leads (at least for me) to the insulting term "Crumb-Bum" (or "Crum-Bum"), which is quite negative sounding itself.

 

It's true that the actual root of the word, "Cur" has probably even more of a negative connotation according to another Google search: "an aggressive dog or one that is in poor condition, especially a mongrel". And how about its sub-definition: "a contemptible man"? I will admit that "Cur" probably DOES make more sense, but "Crum" SOUNDS worse, doesn't it? And who uses the word "Cur" these days anyway? Maybe it's time to re-think the word curmudgeon (or at least its spelling) for the current world we're living in. Who's with me?

Does all this gnashing of the teeth over the spelling of curmudgeon necessarily make me a curmudgeon (or even a crumudgeon) myself? Maybe not on its own. But another issue came up while I was unexpectedly "researching" this post. My Google search for the word curmudgeon brought up the definition of the word: "a bad tempered person, especially an old one." That's a pretty short and concise definition right there, and it kind of hit me at my core. Not only have I been feeling a bit bad-tempered (actually only a little bit, but still...), but as I mentioned above, I'm nearly fifty. That means that I am OLD. And that means that I now fit into the second part of the curmudgeon definition! I think that would make anyone feel a bit curmudgeonly, wouldn't you?

I hope to get out of this mood very soon and that I don't permanently become one of those old curmudgeons like Statler and Waldorf from the Muppet Show. I've always thought of myself as being more like Kermit or Fozzy. But, perhaps, in reality the fact is that time and age are forcing the true curmudgeon in me to come out. We shall see. But in the meantime I now have even MORE reason to feel like a curmudgeon at this particular moment. As I was writing THIS VERY POST I had to leave it as a draft to tend to something else. Upon returning to the site I saw TWO entries for the post (even though I have no idea how the second one managed to find its way there). Upon realizing that one contained my draft and one was just an empty post I deleted the empty one. Or at least I THOUGHT I did. I forgot that once you open a post to edit it (which I did to check which one had content and which one didn't), it jumps to the top of your post list. So, yes, I (naturally) ended up deleting the half-composed post rather than the empty one by mistake, and had to start all over again! Let's hope the rest of the day goes better...

Chef Boyardee Beefaroni "Throwback Recipe" vs. Current Recipe

My diet has certainly changed over the years. As a kid I always enjoyed getting a chance to eat (among other unhealthy choices) canned pasta products like Campbell's SpaghettiOs (whether the regular version or the ones with meatballs or sliced hot dogs) and the different varieties from Chef Boyardee (stuff like Spaghetti with Meatballs, Beef Ravioli, Lasagna and Beefaroni--which was probably my favorite). Even back then I didn't eat this stuff on a regular basis, and it was always a fun treat to get to have some.

Times have changed and now I find it even more rare that I get a chance to try out this kind of stuff. Thanks to aging and trying to eat a somewhat more healthy diet I generally find that when I decide to splurge (dietetically speaking) on this kind of thing, or stuff like fast food from McDonald's and Burger King, I almost always regret it afterward when I feel all sluggish and greasy because of all the processed and less-than-healthy ingredients. I do still find myself wanting to try out this stuff every once in a while as a bit of a nostalgic taste trip back in time, but am almost always disappointed by the experience.

In the case of Chef Boyardee in particular (and the other stuff in general) I've always figured that the memory of these foods simply doesn't live up to the reality of what's in them and what they taste like. Well as it turns out, there may actually be a difference between the Chef Boyardee foods I ate in my youth and the ones I've eaten as an adult.

Chef Boyardee recently introduced "Throwback Recipes" for it's cans of Beef Ravioli, Lasagna and Beefaroni. Probably at least partly owing to being old, I'm kind of a sucker for most anything in "retro" or "throwback" packaging. I've bought cans of Mountain Dew and bags of Doritos simply because of the fact that they were presented in old-school packaging that harkened back to the snacks I ate as a kid. I've also bought some beers in retro cans and bottles--including the little stubby bottles that Budweiser and Coors have used in recent years, and the "Limited Edition" 1975-style cans that Narragansett has been putting out for the past few years. That can was made famous when it was crushed by Captain Quint in "Jaws". While I wasn't drinking beer as a kid, the throwback cans and bottles still hit my nostalgia nerve and I always enjoy getting that kind of stuff when I can find it.

Quint enjoying his can of Narragansett in "Jaws"...

...and then crushing it!

The funny thing is that, in most cases, the throwback and retro packaging is just that--packaging. Most of the products themselves remain the same, and are simply dressed up with packaging that appeals to earlier generations that enjoyed them in the past. The main exception to this rule that I've seen is the Coke and Fanta products (from Mexico), and the Pepsi Throwbacks that replace their usual high fructose corn syrup with real sugar. This does seem to make a difference in taste that is usually pretty enjoyable.

I'd probably pick up and try out the Chef Boyardee Throwbacks even if the throwback nature only extended to the labels. But they actually have gone a major step further with what they're calling "Throwback Recipes" that are supposedly the same as what was used in an earlier time. I haven't been able to figure out precisely WHEN the recipes are supposed to be from. I appreciate the fact that they're using old recipes, but can't be sure whether these are the recipes I was eating as a child or not. The good news is that this potentially confirms the idea that there's something different (worse?) about the modern Chef Boyardee products and that's what always seems to make them such a disappointment when I try them out now.

So, what IS different about the "Throwback Recipes"? Well, you're still getting a helping of canned pasta products, so obviously it's still going to taste like something from a can--as opposed to the kind of pasta that you would expect from home-cooking or something you might get in a fine Italian restaurant. But there ARE some interesting differences. First off, the cans promise "More Meat, More Cheese, More Goodness" than the regular Chef Boyardee products--although I'm not really sure if the "Goodness" refers to the quality and/or relative healthiness of the ingredients, or just the overall taste.

The first real difference is a welcome one--the standard high fructose corn syrup has been replaced by what's simply being billed as "sugar" (not unlike the sodas I mentioned earlier). I think the reason they say "More Meat" on the label isn't because they have added more meat to the dishes so much as the fact that they're ONLY using meat in the throwbacks. The new recipes include Textured Vegetable Protein. The regular Chef Boyardee meals certainly aren't vegetarian, but I suppose they add TVP as kind of a "filler" and a way to make them seem the same as earlier versions while removing some of the negative aspects of real beef (fats, cholesterol...). There's nothing "healthy" about Chef Boyardee products of course, but I suppose that they're at least trying in some small way. Which brings us to another change in the Throwbacks (and a reason why they are probably doomed to only being around for a limited time). For some years now there has been a big movement to remove trans fats from American foods. It's been a tough haul, but overall it's definitely a good trend. Personally I think we've had to suffer some amount of loss of flavor with this trend, but I certainly support the health benefits. Well, as expected, the current recipes do not have any trans fats (or at least little enough that they can put 0 grams in the Nutritional Facts). But the Throwbacks have actually added some of the trans fats back in. The label indicates that there is 0.5 grams of trans fats per serving. This is one of the food industry's sneaky little tricks though because there are actually "About 2" servings in a can of Chef Boyardee. So while 0.5 grams might not sound all that bad, it's actually 1 gram for the whole can (and who eats only half-a-can of Chef Boyardee in a sitting anyway?). Another refreshing thing to see on the Throwback Recipe label is that it includes "real" sounding items like olive oil, dried garlic, dried onion, beef broth and spice at the end of the ingredient list, where the regular recipe simply lists "flavorings". Possibly the strangest difference was with the cheese that was used (and this will could have the biggest effect on the overall taste). The Throwback Recipe uses Romano cheese (and it appears to be a pretty "real" version of processed Romano too). I don't know when Chef Boyardee made this decision, but the current recipe has replaced the Romano with an "Enzyme Modified Cheese" that features cheddar cheese! This would certainly change the flavor profile and would seem to make the whole dish seem a little bit less "Italian" in nature.

Current recipe label

"Throwback Recipe" label

The bottom line is that there ARE indeed some major differences between these two ingredient lists (recipes). Because of that there are also differences in the Nutritional Facts. Some of these differences look better for the Throwback, while others seem to portray the current recipe as being more "healthy". Of course this is all relative. Either way, we're still talking about Chef Boyardee canned Beefaroni after all! The more "natural" ingredients of the Throwback cause it to have more sodium (180 extra grams!), more calories (only 10 extra though), more fat and more cholesterol. On the other hand, the Throwback does have a bit less sugar in it. Another difference not seen in the ingredient or nutritional lists is the fact that the Throwback Recipe is more expensive than the current one. That seems to make sense, as this is a specially-produced variation that features different (and possibly more expensive) ingredients and a whole new, retro label. My local grocery store currently sells regular cans of Chef Boyardee products for $1.09, while the Throwbacks sell for $1.79.

Okay, so there ARE some differences between the two, but the big questions remain. How does the Throwback Recipe taste? And is it better than what is currently being passed off as Chef Boyardee foods? Well the only way to answer that is to try some out! And that's what I did. While there are three varieties of Throwbacks (Beef Ravioli, Beefaroni and Lasagna) I decided to pick one to do a taste test with. And Beefaroni has always been my favorite of the three, so it was an easy choice. I bought cans of each version, heated them up and tried them both out. It was an interesting enough experiment that I thought it was worth making a video about and posting on my YouTube channel. Please check out the video here to see the results!

Results:

At first glance there was some difference in the looks of the two recipes when poured into pans to heat. The current recipe looks a little more orange and the Throwback has more of a red appearance. The sauce in the Throwback looks a little thicker and seems to have more meat. But it also appears a bit runnier (kind of looks like it has some water (or other fluid) separation.

Current Recipe

Throwback Recipe

After heating them up the smell was pretty similar. The current recipe had a bit more of a sweetness in the aroma, but also seemed a bit less robust overall. But the biggest difference (not too surprisingly) came with the taste test. I tried the current recipe first. It tasted very familiar, and once again left me with the feeling that it simply wasn't as good as I remembered it being when I was a kid. I had always chalked this up to changing tastes and the fact that it's tough for anything to live up to the fond (and sometimes faulty) nostalgic memories of childhood. But now I had a chance to potentially figure the answer out once and for all. The Throwback Recipe thickened up even more upon heating. The water separation seemed to be just that--the natural separation of more "natural" ingredients in the recipe. It all came back together once heated up on the stove. The rich color and thicker sauce really added to the visual, and upon closer inspection you could actually see little pieces of "stuff" in the sauce (my best guess was that it was bits of the Romano cheese and/or the dried onion and garlic). That appearance wasn't found in the paler, thinner sauce of the current recipe. That sauce was very runny and didn't even stay on the pasta when you picked it up with your fork. It just left a light coating of orange on the pasta tubes. The Throwback sauce and meat stuck on the pasta much better. At first I didn't think there was too much of a difference in overall taste. But the more I ate the more I could taste the difference--and it was significant. The more "natural" ingredients of the Throwback actually came through in the taste (and even the texture and feel of the food as you eat it). I think the biggest taste difference most likely comes from the cheese--and the Throwback's use of Romano instead of the cheddar in the current recipe.

Closeup of the more hearty Throwback

An even closer look at the Throwback

In the end the Throwback Recipe was the clear winner. I'm now thinking that all these years of disappointment in my adult Chef Boyardee experiences WAS actually due to the fact that the recipe had been changed over the years. I still don't know for sure if the Throwback Recipe was the one in use when I was a kid myself, but it certainly seems to be a lot closer to what I was eating back then. We're still talking about a processed, canned pasta product, but I do feel that the Throwback Recipe is vastly superior (even if maybe a bit less healthy--if that's possible). While I don't buy this stuff often (and the Little Monsters really haven't had the chance to try out much if any of these canned pastas in their young lives--which is probably for the best), if I DO find myself buying more Chef Boyardee in the future I'll be glad to pay the extra price for the Throwback Recipes. And for a cheapskate like myself to say that, it's really saying something!

BUON APPETITO!