Sunday, April 29, 2007

IN THE LAND OF SANDRA DEE

Long ago and far away,
In a land that time forgot,
Before the days of Dylan,
Or the dawn of Camelot.
There lived a race of innocents,
And they were you and me,
Long ago and far away,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

Oh, there was truth and goodness
In that land where we were born,
Where navels were for oranges,
And Peyton Place was porn.
For Ike was in the White House,
And Hoss (& Little Joe?!) was on TV,
And God was in his heaven,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

We learned to gut a muffler,
We washed our hair at dawn,
We spread our crinolines to dry,
In circles on the lawn.
And they could hear us coming,
All the way to Tennessee,
All starched and sprayed and rumbling,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

We longed for love and romance,
And waited for the prince,
And Eddie Fisher married Liz,
And no one's seen him since.
We danced to "Little Darlin,'"
And Sang to "Stagger Lee,"
And cried for Buddy Holly,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

Only girls wore earrings then,
And three was one too many,
And only boys wore flat-top cuts,
Except for Jean McKinney.
And only in our wildest dreams,
Did we expect to see,
A boy named George with Lipstick,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

We fell for Frankie Avalon,
Annette was oh so nice,
And when they made a movie,
They never made it twice.
We didn't have a Star Trek Five,
Or Psycho Two and Three,
Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

Miss Kitty had a heart of gold,
And Chester had a limp,
And Reagan was a Democrat,
Whose co-star was a chimp.
We had a Mr Wizard,
But not a Mr T,
And Oprah couldn't talk yet,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

We had our share of heroes,
We never thought they'd go,
At least not Bobby Darin,
Or Marilyn Monroe.
For youth was still eternal,
And life was yet to be,
And Elvis was forever,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

We'd never seen the rock band
That was Grateful to be Dead,
And Airplanes weren't named Jefferson,
And Zeppelins weren't Led.
And Beatles lived in gardens then,
And Monkees in a tree,
Madonna was a virgin,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

We'd never heard of Microwaves,
Or telephones in cars,
And babies might be bottle-fed,
But they weren't grown in jars.
And pumping iron got wrinkles out,
And "gay" meant fancy-free,
And dorms were never coed,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

We hadn't seen enough of jets,
To talk about the lag,
And microchips were what was left,
At the bottom of the bag.
And Hardware was a box of nails,
And bytes came from a flea,
And rocket ships were fiction,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

Buicks came with portholes,
And side show came with freaks,
And bathing suits came big enough,
To cover both your cheeks.
And Coke came just in bottles,
And skirts came to the knee,
And Castro came to power,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

We had no Crest with Fluoride,
We had no Hill Street Blues,
We all wore superstructure bras,
Designed by Howard Hughes.
We had no patterned pantyhose,
Or Lipton herbal tea,
Or prime-time ads for condoms,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

There were no golden arches,
No Perriers to chill,
And fish were not called Wanda,
And cats were not called Bill.
And middle-aged was thirty-five,
And old was forty-three,
And ancient were our parents,
In the Land of Sandra Dee.

But all things have a season,
Or so we've heard them say,
And now instead of Maybelline,
We swear by Retin-A.
And they send us invitations,
To join AARP,
We've come a long way, baby,
From the Land of Sandra Dee.

So now we face a brave new world,
In slightly larger jeans,
And wonder why they're using,
Smaller print in magazines.
And we tell our children's children,
Of the way it used to be,
Long ago and far away,
IN THE LAND OF SANDRA DEE.

Don't cry because it's over,

Just smile because it's been....

Here's A TOAST TO ALL THE GIRLS WE'VE LOVED BEFORE...

How's This For Depressing?
------------ --------- ---
Brigette Bardot 71
Stella Stevens 68
Sophia Loren 71
Gina Lollobrigida 78
Deborah Kerr 94 (WOW!)
Lena Horne 88
Kay Starr 83
Patti Page 78
Annette Funicello 63
Barbara Eden 71
Angie Dickenson 74
Doris Day 81
Joan Collins 72
Julie Christie 64
Leslie Caron 74
Carroll Baker 74
Ann-Margret 64
Debra Padget 72
Julie Andrews 70
Ursula Andress 69
Rita Moreno 74
Jean Simmons 76
Julie Newmar 72
Kim Novak 72
Jane Powell 76
Debbie Reynolds 73
Shirley Temple 77 (NO!)
Jane Russell 84
Kathryn Grayson 83
Esther Williams 82
Elke Sommer 65
Gale Storm 83
Jill St John 65
Liz Taylor 73 (wow!)
Mamie Van Doren 74

UNBELIVEABLE.

Shavuah tov...a good week.

Have a great day...stay safe...and thanks for dropping in.

14 Comments:

At 6:19 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Author! Author!

That was great! It's a keeper.

However, I don't see who wrote it.

You?

Excellent post!

- John

 
At 11:40 AM, Blogger marallyn ben moshe said...

hiiiiiiiiii honey...i don't know who wrote it...sorry...wish it had been moi but it wasn't...but i loved it and am glad you did too...a sweet shavuah tov...come home already

 
At 11:42 AM, Blogger marallyn ben moshe said...

for everyone...looked it up on google...written by leland waldrip...bravo!!!

 
At 4:54 PM, Blogger Susan said...

Thanks for posting this. I've lived it and I'm so glad to be who I am today and where I am today. No regrets!!! God is good!!!

 
At 5:23 PM, Blogger Portrait of Peter said...

I so luv this delightful poem, so very true and brought back a flood of memories.

Thank you so very much for sharing this amazing poem.

Bless you and keep you safe too.

 
At 8:03 PM, Blogger Pen of Jen said...

I think you have outdone yourself! I am sometimes wishing for these things for my children.

BTW I am a huge Doris Day fan, I knew she was older, but I was surprised.

 
At 5:27 AM, Blogger Rita Loca said...

Are they all really that old?!?! Now I am depressed! This was fun, thanks!

 
At 5:40 AM, Blogger Perez said...

Wow, that was great. Made me smile, but at the end, it has that feeling you want to cry.

Ummm....One question...Who are all the people you listed?

 
At 8:06 AM, Blogger marallyn ben moshe said...

me too penless...me too

 
At 8:07 AM, Blogger marallyn ben moshe said...

shalom peter...nice to go back and still smile...

 
At 8:07 AM, Blogger marallyn ben moshe said...

hi jennifer...everyone loved doris day, no? and annette funicello...sigh

 
At 8:08 AM, Blogger marallyn ben moshe said...

shalom jungle...they are they are and we are too but don't tell anyone lol

 
At 8:08 AM, Blogger marallyn ben moshe said...

ahhhh perez my darling...they were the madonna of our day...

 
At 8:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So glad you posted the poem, and thanks for finding the author! You are so good! It is a great poem, and the list of our beloved actresses at the end is hard to believe. No wonder we don't see them in front of the camera anymore!! Makes me feel kind of sad. They were wonderful in their day, and most set good examples for generations that followed. Nothing like the disappointments in Hollweird today.
Thanks for posting this great poem.

 

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