Gene Gene the Dancing Machine Dies

timswi · Mar 18, 2015

Seems the Gong Show staple has passed. I was a little kid when this was going on so I really don't remember it but I watched a few of these You Tube's and haven't laughed this hard in a really long time.

I give you that it's juvenile, absurd and has no socially redeeming value--So what's not to like?

https://video.search.yahoo.com/vide...ge=1349018891&fr2=p:s,v:v&fr=yfp-t-252-s&tt=b

Bird · Mar 19, 2015

I think I like some of that really old stuff on YouTube better than the newer stuff. And to me the best performance I've seen on YouTube was Larry Griswold and The Diving Board on the Frank Sinatra Show on November 13, 1951. And you know my family didn't have a television until 1952.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MYngnu6Ncs

MoKelly · Mar 19, 2015

Yikes. After seeing this again I guess I can't complain much about what my 16 year old son watches on TV.

MoKelly

stingray1 · Mar 19, 2015

Good clip,thanks for sharing.

2LaneCruzer · Mar 19, 2015

Bird said:
I think I like some of that really old stuff on YouTube better than the newer stuff. And to me the best performance I've seen on YouTube was Larry Griswold and The Diving Board on the Frank Sinatra Show on November 13, 1951. And you know my family didn't have a television until 1952.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MYngnu6Ncs

That's about the same time my folks got a TV...don't forget, they were fairly expensive. I recall seeing the diving board skit back in the day...as a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I've seen it several times. What most folks don't realize is that TV came along at a time when Vaudeville was in its death throes, and there were a lot of really talented performers out there looking for work...Television furnished them a new medium to the benefit of its viewers...we didn't know how well off we really were. Folks like Red Skelton, Milton Berle, Burt Lahr; etc. etc. with years of experience in front of live audiences we got to see on TV. I actually liked the "local" shows; I believe the FCC required each station to provide so many hours of local programming each week. Other than the sorry quality of the TVs, and seeing Christmas shows in July, we didn't know how well we had it!