Up & Coming Weekly

6 UCW NOVEMBER 25 - DECEMBER 1, 2009 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM PITT DICKEY, Contributing Writer COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or email editor@upandcomingweekly.com. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear when there were only two channels on television. As startling as that may seem to the younger set, once upon a time, in Fayetteville you could only get Channel 5 from Raleigh and Channel 11 from Durham. On a really cloudy day you could pick up Channel 4. Unfortunately Channel 4 just showed calculus classes. Imagine if you can, what it was like to have only two channels on a black and white TV without a remote control. It was a barbaric time. How we survived, I'll never know. Late night TV was a bit odd back in the 1950s. Channel 5 used to show a program on Friday night called Jim Thornton's Dance Club which was local country music at its most rustic. Jim would come on about midnight. Big Jim actually had a dance club with a live band in south Raleigh in a former tobacco warehouse. The dance club appeared to be a bit rough. It looked like the kind of place where someone would walk up to you, punch you in the mouth and then dance with your date as you lay picking up your teeth from the sawdust and beer on the fl oor. It was authentic eastern North Carolina in mid-20th century. Big Jim wore overalls and would sing occasionally. He wasn't a particularly a good singer but he was so big, so no one told him not to sing. He had not missed too many meals in his time as his overalls were stretched to the limit. I wasn't a country music fan back then, but I watched the dance club because it was all that was on after Channel 11 went off the air fi rst. Jim's show was sponsored by a locally made brand of canned dog food. Jim did testimonials for the fl avory goodness of the dog food. Jim would enthusiastically tell the viewing audience it was the best tasting dog food ever made. To prove how good the dog food was, Jim would then dip a spoon into it and eat a big chaw right on camera and allow it was the best dog food he ever ate. I lived for those moments. I didn't much care for the country music but I loved watching Jim Thornton eat dog food. Those of you beyond a certain age will remember the Indian Test pattern appearing with this column. Let us ponder the mysteries and the surrealities of the Indian Test Pattern. As a kid I was sure that the Indian was the Last of the Mohicans. The four small circles around the big circle represented bombing sights on a B-52 because we were all worried about the Commies bombing us. Nuclear destruction was as real as the June bugs on a string we would catch in the summer. The big circle in the center was the target that the Indian used to practice archery when he wasn't appearing on television. For those of you born after the invention of Cablevision and 24-hour TV programming, the appearance of the test pattern was a symbol that the broadcast day was over. Channel 5 would play the "National Anthem," show some jets fl ying over head and then suddenly the Indian would appear along with this weird humming sound. As a child I was disappointed to see the night Indian because I was left to my own devices which meant going to sleep. If you stayed up long enough, even the Indian Test Pattern would disappear leaving you alone with your thoughts and a white screen fi lled with electronic snow. Once the Indian was gone you knew it was time for bed. Fortunately, as Scarlett O'Hara would say, "tomorrow is another day." Back then, Channel 5 would show horror movies that started at about 6 a.m. Saturday morning horror movies were great events, fi lled with Creatures from the Black Lagoon, werewolves, vampires, witches, Vincent Price in haunted houses, giant ants in the sewers of Los Angeles, giant intelligent carrots in the arctic circle, Rodan swooping into Tokyo, and Godzilla stomping on scurrying Japanese as Raymond Massey opined about the best way to stop giant lizard attacks. It was a kinder gentler time fi lled with wild and wacky critters. About 5:30 a.m. the electronic snow on the TV would suddenly shift and the Indian Test Pattern would appear signaling the return of another broadcast day. Our hearts would leap up as the electronic babysitter returned to duty. If the morning Indian appeared, could Frankenstein and Mothra be far away? This Is a Test, This Is Only a Test by PITT DICKEY

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