Vintage Fun with Notty and Little
Ray and I sometimes entertain grandchildren with—you may find this hard to believe—game shows from the 1960s. They enjoy PASSWORD, To Tell the Truth, and What’s My Line? These shows are much better than more modern fare, but we still usually show them ones that we have already seen so that we are sure that the topics are appropriate for their tender hearts.
I recently found a vintage Milton Bradley PASSWORD™ game at an antique store. I knew that our grandchildren would love playing it with us.
Last weekend we enjoyed playing it with the 11-year-old and 8-year-old. Though we played for fun, it has the added benefit of being a good vocabulary builder. In fact, one of our passwords was vocabulary. We also watched a couple of episodes of the show.
The PASSWORD TV show had two celebrity guests and two contestants. In one episode, famous dancer Gene Kelly was one of the celebrities. Having watched him dance across the screen many times, I enjoyed seeing him intently using his intellect to make good clues and guesses. Realizing that the children had probably never seen the talent and hard work of this American legend, we showed them some of his dance performances on YouTube (that’s what happens when your Notty and Little are history lovers).
The children enjoyed Kelly’s performances. We all especially enjoyed watching him dance on roller skates, which prompted them to tell us about a Charlie Chaplin dance on roller skates that their mama had showed them. We weren’t familiar with that one, so we watched it, too, and were all learning together.
While a contestant was being introduced on one episode of PASSWORD, we learned that she volunteered with a group of 25 young people. Host Allen Ludden asked her what her role was with them. She said, “We encourage them to be better Christians and better Americans.”
How refreshing that was to hear. Thank you for your own goal of doing that with your young people and for your role in carrying that out.
My son, observe the commandment of your father
And do not forsake the teaching of your mother;
Bind them continually on your heart;
Tie them around your neck.
Proverbs 6:20-21