I don't know if when you were little you had this experience, but I think I assumed that we kids all knew the same kinds of things. I don't think I ever asked anyone about it, but I imagine that that's the perception I had. I watched Saturday morning cartoons; you watched Saturday morning cartoons. A public phone call cost a dime. George Burns liked to smoke cigars and Sammy Davis Jr. wore a glass eye. Adults, I figured, knew more than we did because they were our parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. They had to know more because they'd been on the planet longer. Of course, now that I'm an adult, I have come to realize that those who have been alive longer don't necessarily know more than younger folk. Sometimes, however, I'm still a bit taken aback by the fact that people of my generation, Gen X, who grew up under fairly similar circumstances do not know what I know (about a given subject).
Case in point: Sotheby's is currently putting on an auction of some of Sir Peter Ustinov's personal effects. Why this is happening now, I do not know. What I do know is that I really dug Ustinov's work when I was a kid and decided to check out what was being auctioned off. On a lark, I bid on an artwork as soon as the auction opened. I also mentioned the auction to a few of my friends and my older siblings and none of them knew who I was talking about. I tried to explain who Ustinov was based on what I thought they might have seen him in, but everything began coming out as a question the more I was met with blank stares.
Me: You know. He played Hercules Poirot in Death on the Nile. An Agatha Christie novel turned into a film? He starred as Poirot in many films in the 70s and 80s? These films were shown on television? Evil Under the Sun? Great big mustache?
Apparently, either these flicks or Ustinov weren't that memorable. Ah, well. And, PS, I was outbid, but I figured I would be.
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I seem to have an eclectic memory. Somethings I remember well - and other things escape me. Repeatedly. I much prefer books to movies so haven't seen any Poirot fillms.
ReplyDeleteI am frequently horrified about the things I know that apparently 'date' me.
Sadly we didn't watch any morning television. It was banned, and cartoons a rare treat.
I am more horrified by all the things I don't know. :D
DeleteBummer to read that morning TV was not to be watched in your house. We loved watching Merrie Melodies and Warner Bros. cartoons. Bugs was my hero.
I hear you on being appalled at how much we don't know. Including quite a lot of things I am sure I SHOULD know.
DeleteOh yes, I've been a fan of Peter Ustinov all my life. And as a boomer, I remember his roles in older movies too, like Quo Vadis, Spartacus, The Sundowners and Blackbeard's Ghost! Marvelous actor.
ReplyDeleteTruly marvelous.
DeleteWe didn't have a TV until I was 14, and even then there were no morning programmes.
ReplyDeleteIt was always made out that Ustinov was one of the greatest actors ever, but I seem to have avoided him completely.
Yes, it was said that he was...many of his numerous acting awards are being auctioned by Sotheby's as well.
DeleteI know that name, but I wasn't a big mysteries fan, so I didn't watch those shows. Our generation has a weird collection of knowledge, but then again, I assume each generation accumulated their own specific facts that other generations didn't.
ReplyDeleteUnderstood. I loved a 'whodunnit' myself.
DeleteInteresting perspective. I'm older than you being a boomer, but agree when you're small your world is small and you figure everyone is alike and doing the same things. We watched very little tv when I was young. I know the name Ustinov, but don't recall watching him in anything; then again I rarely know the names of actors and actresses. I just didn't pay much attention. What I'm really shocked and sadden by is when you watch one of those man on the street type interviews and young people don't know things like who was President when etc. Down right scarey how uninformed the younger generation seems to be.
ReplyDeleteI like how you put that, Sandy. When you are small; your world is small.
DeleteTV when I was young--and you, too--was, of course, also 'small' in that we only a few channels, so everyone who did watch watched the same things: The Lawrence Welk Hour, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Disney movie hour (whatever it was called), Hee Haw, etc.