The Dirt Road Wonder – We Were So Corny

Corny is one of those words that the young people call our music and movies from the 1940s and 1950s.

The dictionary defines it as being mawkishly (sickly) sentimental or being slightly nauseating.

That definition would have been an insult because we loved those old movies and songs.

To us it was just music and movies with a heart

Let’s start with the movies. I miss the old movies that were happy most of the time.

There were very few that didn’t have a happy ending.

One of the ones that didn’t end the way I wanted it to was Casablanca .

I always thought Rick should have gotten the girl. My hero was a outside guy that swung through the

trees on vines, loved elephants and had a pet monkey.

When it comes to heroes, I think Tarzan will always be in the forefront of my candidates.

If you were standing outside the theater watching the people leave, you would see something that you never see today.

Most of the people came out of the theater with a big smile because they had been thoroughly entertained and had not been embarrassed by filthy talk and low-down living.

Then there were those wonderful musicals.

I wonder if it costs too much to make good musicals in today’s market, because they are few and far between.

The last good one I remember being released was Les Misérables . I don’t like the new ones because I don’t think stomping around the stage is dancing and I think most of the new ones are pitiful.

Back in our day we went about singing songs from Show Boat , Yankee Doodle Dandy , Singing in the Rain , Easter Parade , White Christmas , and of course, Song of the South or as most people know it, Uncle Remus.

Remember Zippy Do Da?

My son told me the other day that he didn’t care for Westerns, and I told him that was sacrilegious.

I love a good Western and still watch Gunsmoke as often as I can.

Dances with Wolves was a great Western and Tom Hanks has made one of the best ones I have seen in a long time, News of The World .

We are overrun with cops and robbers, how about more Westerns, for a change?

I think Lonesome Dove certainly made a lot of money for the men that produced it.

Older people love Westerns.

Then there were the beautiful love songs.

If you were going steady, you had what was known as “our song”.

When there was a school dance most of the people danced instead of sitting around and looking at each other; we were very lucky at Havana High, because the Physical Education teachers took time to teach us how to dance, although the one that I had trouble with was the Polka.

The love songs had such beautiful words and melodies; I call them ‘feel good’ songs.

Most of us had record players and stacks of records and when we had sleepovers, we spent half the night playing records and singing along with them.

The old 78s just had one song one each side of the record so you were changing records all the time.

This was before Elvis, so it was Perry Como, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, The Ink Spots, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Tony Bennett, Mel Torma, and a lot of other smooth crooners.

Rock and Roll was just coming of age, so we danced to a lot of those songs too.

I remember my school years fondly and remember all of those good old times.

Of course, it was not without its faults, but as the old song goes “It was close enough to perfect for me”.

‘Till next time keep on the sunny side. Gwynn0720@Comcast.net

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The Dirt Road Wonder – We Were So Corny

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