Added to my list of things kids don't do anymore: Stay up late to watch TV

When we were kids, we stayed up late to watch Cecil B DeMille's The Ten Commandments every Easter. It was typically broadcast on Sunday night and started at 7pm. Since we went to church every Sunday night, and church ended at 7pm, we often missed the first half hour. No matter, with commercials it ran 4 hours, and we always fell asleep before it ended.

As an adult I realized why, after all these years, it continues to be a perennial favorite: it appeals equally to Jews and Christians who share sacred scriptures and a hope in a deliverer.

(And it doesn't hurt to have a handsome lead in Charlton Heston and some sexy Egyptians and sweaty slaves.)

We stayed up late to watch other things in those days, too, because there were no VCRs, Tivos, or Internet. If you didn't watch the broadcast, you didn't see it.

Things we stayed up for:

1. The Midnight Special with Wolfman Jack.

2. The Late Great Horror Show. This was local and hosted by Jim Cook, a DJ with AM rock 'n roll station WJET in Erie. Jim Cook went on to be a VP of Clear Channel Radio.

Around the same time, Cleveland's Channel 8 (now a FOX affiliate, there was no FOX in those days) had an oddball duo that hosted late night movies; one was very tall and the other very small. If the atmosphere cooperated and we didn't mind a little snow, we could sometimes tune them in.

Yes, boys and girls, with an antenna. There's one inside your cell phone, too. It talks to satellites.

I pass Cleveland's FOX8 on my way home to Erie, PA. As a boy on I-90 through Cleveland, I always pictures that tall guy and short guy taping segments inside that building somewhere. Sort of like I was nearing then passing Hollywood royalty.

3. Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon

4. Any Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movie.

5. Any horror movie with Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, or scantily clad girls being chased by monsters.

[2013-05-04]

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