In last week’s issue, this writer was filing a review to one of the nation’s leading magazines, TV Guide, the series that wrote about television as well as providing what’s on the air each and every week. Upon looking at the then current issue, I noticed something unique about this magazine. Not so much for the type of shows features in terms of reviews and profile pieces, but through the advertisements that were found. Nearly every item being advertised seems to be marketed for a certain demographic, and that demographic tends to be of one that can be called “seasoned”. Specifically, older baby boomers and the generation before the babies went boom called “The Silent Generation”–those born before 1945 that can still recall a time before that newfangled device called “television” became a way of domestic life–the same notion that Millenniums and the next generation “Gen Y-ers” see how the internet and its high tech connected gadgetry is a way of their life.
So I took a challenge. I would compare the current issue of TV Guide to an issue taken from the era when yours truly was a paid subscriber, the time where TV for me was part of my life. This was the time that I was enrolled in junior high school, where every day after school, I would come home sometimes to an empty house, and sometimes not, only to turn on the TV set for a does of after-school television. Such programs that would await for me consisted of The Mike Douglas Show, Dinah (talk show hosted by Dinah Shore), reruns of 1960’s-era “idiot” sitcoms (Gilligan’s Island, The Munsters, F-Troop, My Favorite Martian, etc.), as well as reruns of theatrical cartoons from the 1930‘s, 1940’s and 1950’s from the studios of Universal, Paramount-Famous Studios, and MGM.
So the issue I will revisit came from this writer’s personal collection as picked from random choice. The issue will be commenting upon comes from the week of February 1st-7th, 1975. (Saturday through Friday). I will only comment on the national edition part-not the local pages since the issue I have is the Los Angeles edition. The edition that I received some 43 years beforehand was the metro Chicago edition as that copy wasn’t available for me to review or revisit.
One the cover was James Garner, star of NBC’s The Rockford Files, a program that premiered the previous September, and would be successful for the network running for five more years. Besides the news and details to what is current on TV, as well as reporting on other trends in television, were the ads. In the national version sections that “bookeded” the local listing part, the ads featured were for a number of cigarette brands (BelAir, Parliament, Pall Mall, etc.), Kraft’s Cracker Barrel brand processed cheese food spread, a Time-Life book series subscription offer for “The American Wilderness”, a correspondence course for job training skills, Mrs. Paul’s brand frozen fish sticks (complete with a ten cent off coupon), and an ad for the RCA Record Club where one can get eight record albums on 12” disk, audio cassette, or 8-track tape cartridge (your choice) for ten cents as an introductory offer.
Upon reviewing these advertisements, the pattered that this writer could see tends to be for adults over 21 years of age. Specifically, it would be adults in the 20’s through 40’s (21-49 reach). This would mean these adults would be in the form of college undergraduates or perhaps post-graduates, (or those currently enrolled), those that were working some kind of professional job, perhaps married with kids. This target market would be considered as a rather healthy and perhaps “normal” range of people that would exist in an urban and/or suburban domestic landscape pulling $15k per year and up.
Using the 21-49 age range with 1975 as its reference point, the youngest of this group would have been born in 1954, while the elders turning the age of 49 in 1975 would have been born in 1926. Using today’s demographic placement, that would include The Silent Generation born between 1925 through 1945, and the first tier Baby Boomers. (First tier BB’s were born between 1946-54, while the second tier was born between 1955 through 1964).
In 2018, the youngest would be 64 years, while the oldest would be 92. This range of age is somewhat synced to the products that were advertised in the current issue previously discussed.
So does this mean that the folks that once used TV Guide as their be-all-to-end-all source to find out what’s on the tube as carried through the local stations are the only ones that still read this magazine? Maybe, or maybe not!
Since the turn of the 21st century, people have been scrambling to the internet to find out what’s in store on broadcast, cable/satellite, and eventually streaming. There are phone apps one can download (including one for TV Guide magazine itself) where one can get the lowdown to their favorite shows available to see one episode at a time, or all at once via their phone! TV in indeed everywhere, even if that everywhere consists of viewing content on a screen size around 6” with tinny sound–unless one is using big-deal headphones to make up the tinniness.
Of course, these listings as provided by TV Guide are only limited to the commercial sources that provide programming, There are series running on YouTube created by professionals as well as amateurs that range from very well done to something that can be called as a “nice try”. It would be nearly impossible to have a listing for every one of these programs as they are uploaded and made available every minute of the day. Besides, in order to find them, one can always google their way to happiness to locate ‘em–if one dares to do that!
So TV Guide we are happy to report is very well alive and living. Yes, TV itself has changed over the many decades past. Within the last five years, the method of providing content has shifted from delivery via over the air signals or coax cable to internet streaming. However, people will still want to have a paper magazine to have and to hold in order to find out if such a program is even worth its time to gawk at. There are only twenty four hours in a day, and so many hours to view anything. And having that mag is there for that purpose. even if one has fallen and couldn’t get (it) up!!
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NEWS AND REVIEWS
Theatre Palisades closes out their 2018 calendar season with the romantic comedy PARFUMERIE, E.P. Dowdall’s adaptation of Miklos Laszlo’s original stage piece Illatszertar, about a pair of employees at a perfume shop that compose letters to their secret yet romantic pen-pans, never to realize that they are writing to one another.
The setting is a perfume shop in downtown Budapest, Hungary. It’s Christmastime, 1937, and proprietor Miklos Hammerschmidt (Mitch Frinstein) is getting the place prepared for the upcoming shopping season. The two head clerks, Mr. Sipos (Manfred Hofer) and George Horvath (Tyler Gaylord) are managing the store the best they can. George holds conflict with Amalia Balash (Mariel Suarez), a fellow clerk that he constantly feuding with. To make matters worse, Hammerschmidt receives an anonymous letter stating that somebody at the shop is having an affair with his wife. Just before Christmas, he accuses George as the guilty one. But George isn’t having the affair. In fact, he has a pen-pal to a woman where he writes romantic interludes. So does Amalia as she too, corespondents with a secret admirer. Little do they know that the people they are writing to is one another–two lost souls they they barely tolerate with!
This play was first performed as written by Miklos Laszlo in 1937 and became a hit throughout the theaters of Hungary and the rest of Europe. It wasn’t until the early 21st century when Laszlo’s nephew, E. P. Dowdall, adapted this play from the English translation by Florence Laszlo–the spouse of the playwright, into a “new” play that holds the charm and grace of a romantic comedy that actually contains genuine romance! Many have compared this piece to other sources where this play brought inspiration, from the 1940 feature film release The Shop Around The Corner, the 1949 film musical release In The Good Old Summertime, the stage musical She Loves Me, the 1999 remake of TSATC, You’ve Got Mail, as well as other sources remotely suggested. But this play as seen on the Theatre Palisades stage is the genuine source!
The robust cast that appears in this production is a cross blend of roles that can be humorous in nature, yet shows some dramatic interludes throughout. The comedy depicted isn’t of the “laugh-out-loud” stance, and the drama isn’t anything that can be called as “heavy”. The cast that perform these forms of dramatic comedy episodes (and vise versa) keep everything in check thanks to Brandon Ferruccio’s stage direction.
In addition to the above noted cast members and the roles they portray, the performing ensemble consists of (as listed in their order of appearance), Kristian Kordula, Kiara Feliciano, Brittany Turner, Mariel Suarez, Kevin Kempis, Hana Pak, Nancy Hullihan, and Judy Rosenfield.
Sherman Wayne, Theatre Palisades’ residential set & lighting designer, once again presents a stage set along with the lighting of the same set, that consists of a quaint perfume shop that is pink in nature without the standard “foo-foo”-esque style that perfume shops found in Europe would contain. June Lissandrello’s costuming shows that one can be very stylish even in a cold climate that Hungary may experience in December.
Although there is a Christmastime thread in this production, it’s far from being a “Christmas” play in the traditional sense. However, it’s an ideal show to experience to not only get one into the holiday seasonal mood, but to also experience a play that is gentile in scope, yet has enough romantic interludes that keep the nature of this play as adorable. Those words can describe PARFUMERIE. It has a pleasant lingering fragrance throughout, and it doesn’t stink!
PARFUMERIE, presented by Theater Palisades, performs at the Pierson Playhouse, 941 Temescal Canyon Road (off Sunset Blvd.), Pacific Palisades, until December 9th Showtimes are Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 PM, and Sunday matinees at 2:00 PM. For more information and for ticket reservations, call (310) 454-1970, or via online at http://www.TheatrePalisades.com
Theatre Palisades can also be found and followed through social media via Facebook and Twitter as “Theatre Palisades”.
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ACCESSIBLY LIVE OFF-LINE (C) 2018 Linear Cycle Productions. All rights reserved. The views and opinions are those of the writers, and not necessarily of the staff and management. ‘Nuff said!
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