I took a Music Appreciation course in college way back when. One day the professor played a piece of music for us to identify. I knew it immediately as WTO, but kept quiet. Student in front of me tried to come up with the name and I whispered that it's Lone Ranger Theme. Student spoke out that response. Professor not amused as he wanted WTO.
Whole gallery laughed and a few woke up from their naps!!!
When I was in the first grade, in '55 or so, the teacher asked us all what our favorite TV theme song was. I was the only one who piped up with "The Lone Ranger". She became quite excited at that response (probably hoping to get it from one of us) and pressed and prodded for just the right reason why - something about how the stirring orchestration got me fired up to conquer the world or something. Instead, all I could come up with (at six) was a disappointing "cuz I like it!" Clearly let down, she gave up on me and went on to someone or something else.
shareGood one! Check out my post.
Goddamit! Things ain't workin' out for me today!
Lone Ranger fans may remember that the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company also used this stirring WTO theme in their "Show us your Larks" advertising campaign. IIRC, the ads featured a truck with a camera driving around while people on the street were encouraged to "Show us your Larks! [cigarette packs]".
There were even lyrics along the lines of "Have a Lark, have a Lark, have a Lark today!"-- a horrible, horrible earworm jingle. It insulted both Rossini and the Lone Ranger!
Also:
In the mid-70s, a friend of mine participated in a college exchange program, and spent a year studying at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.
He attended a Music Appreciation course there, and one day the focus was on Mussorgsky's opera "Boris Godunov".
The American exchange students probably never heard of this opera, but they were all highly familiar with "Boris Badenov" from the 1960s Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons.
The Swiss professor couldn't understand why the American students kept bursting out with laughter whenever he said "Boris Gudonov".
You left out the best part. Maybe you didn’t remember it. Shortly after that, Gino’s Pizza Rolls ran a TV ad using the William Tell Overture as the background music. A guy, obviously intoxicated, with his necktie askew and a cig in his mouth, accosted the Gino’s rep and said, “Hey, I want to talk to you about the music that you’re using.” A hand grabbed the cig guy on the shoulder. There stood the Lone Ranger and Tonto. Clayton Moore (whom I met when I was a little boy) said, “Yes, I’ve been meaning to have the same talk with YOU.”
Best TV commercial of all time.
As a kid, we found out our grandparents had an old upright Victrola in a closed-off upstairs bedroom. On one visit, they let us go in and play some of the records. It was quite a thrill to discover the Lone Ranger Theme on one of those records. We wondered how the theme from a TV show we watch could have been on such an old record?
shareYour photo sure reminds me of Jon Nagy, an artist who, back in the fifties, gave art lessons on TV. I drew along with him every Sunday (I think) and was given a box of artist supplies under his name for Christmas one year. Memories!
That's because it IS Jon Nagy! I watched him and Mr. Wizard faithfully, er, when I wasn't sleeping-in late on the weekend. I could do the 3-D cones and cubes but anything beyond that was a hopeless exercise.
shareNot to be picky, but Jon's* surname is spelled "Gnagy".
This sticks in my mind because when I was little, my siblings and I were given Jon Gnagy kits and drawing books.
We were old enough to read, but baffled by that "Gn" combo-- so, naturally, we pronounced the "G". It sounded something like "Gi-nagy".
One day my aunt, who'd given us the Gnagy material, overheard us and explained that the "G" was silent. Still, whenever I see the name, I always mutter "Gi-nagy" to myself. 😉
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* Edit: After posting this Mister Smarty-Pants comment about the correct spelling of Mr. Gnagy's last name, I saw that I'd misspelled his first name as "John". Ahem. It's fixed now.
Rats, g-nats!
shareAh, yes - I remember watching both, though I had almost forgotten the art show. Now I remember actually learning something about drawing - perspective, shading, shadows, and so on. I think about those quality shows, then I think about today's trashy programming - ugh.
shareI loved the Lone Ranger when I was a little kid, especially the theme music the William Tell Overture.
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