It's was 1953 when Swanson Foods discovered they had 260 tons of turkey meet left after the Thanksgiving holiday. That year, one of their salespeople, Gerry Thomas, had been served the actual first frozen dinner aboard a flight on Pan Am Airlines. That dinner was the invention of William Maxsom, a farmer who had discovered how long foods could be kept frozen when he began freezing  crops he overproduced in the 1940s. Maxson discovered they retained most of their flavor when unthawed - even a full year later. Maxsom called his first efforts "Strato-Meals" and sold Pan Am on the process.

When Gerry sampled one of the Straoto-Meals on that flight, he went back to the Swanson brothers with a solution for all that frozen turkey. While Thomas onbviously didn't invent the concept, he did propose one key element which quickly catapaulted Swanson into the forefront of the frozen food frontier. He proposed naming the meals "TV Dinners."

It was marketing genius! Television was rapidly taking over in homes across the American 1950s. The idea of a quick, easy-to-fix dinner that families could eat while remaining glued to the tube was an instant hit. The fact that most of these meals were about as tasty as chewing cardboard didn't matter. A major shift in American cuisine had taken place, just as significant as the McDonald brothers hamburger stand would be a few years later.

And if you are a Baby Boomer, you were there when it happened!

Medical experts say most of us, even those north of 70, don’t need to be taking multivitamins. If w eat a well-balanced diet with fruits, veggies, proteins, dairy, and whole grains, we should be getting all the vitamins and minerals we need, despite what that YouTube video told you.

You should be getting a yearly physical from your primary care physician. If any vitamin deficiencies show up, let your doctor tell you and prescribe the right amount to take.

Multivitamins probably won’t hurt you, but it’s money wasted.

Who knew that an entire show biz franchise would grow out of what should have been a one-off novelty record?

In the spring of 1958, singer and composer Ross Bagdasarian wrote and recorded a cute little tune called “Witch Doctor.” Bagdasarian released the song using his stage name, David Seville, and also using the gimmick of speeding up his own voice for the record’s infectious chorus: “Ooo-Eee-Ooo-Ah-Ah, Ting-Tang-Walla-Walla-Bing Bang.” The song surprised everyone when it raced up the charts and hit #1.

Bagdasarian’s follow-up, “Bird on My Head,” didn’t do nearly as well. But Ross was undaunted, and for him, the third time would be the charm.

He wrote a pretty catchy little Christmas tune. And this time, instead of just using one sped-up voice, Bagdasarian created three sped-up voices and named them the Chipmunks. “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas, Don’t Be Late)” became an even bigger smash than “Witch Doctor,” also becoming a #1 hit before the end of ’58 and saving struggling Liberty Records from bankruptcy.

With most novelty acts, that would have been the end of the story, but the Chipmunks went on to score two more hits the following year, “Alvin’s Harmonica” and “Ragtime Cowboy Joe.” Obviously, the Chipmunks’ main fan base consisted of Baby Boomer children. So, Bagdasarian recorded several Chipmunk albums of songs kids would like (“She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain,” “Pop Goes the Weasel,” “Home on the Range,” etc.). Those sold well and kept the Chipmunk name prominent through 1960.

It was then, that someone got the bright idea to turn David Seville and the Chipmunks into a Saturday morning cartoon show. Debuting on CBS in the fall of 1961, The Alvin Show revolved around the star Chipmunk and perennial bad boy.. Strange but true, on the show Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were cast almost as sons to the very human David Seville. They all lived in the suburbs in what looked like a typical middle-class neighborhood. The boys had their own recording studio in the house.

The Alvin Show also featured the adventures of inventor Clyde Crashcup and his assistant Leonardo. Crashcup’s specialty was inventing things that had already been invented and breaking down the names of his inventions into syllables (“That’s elec for elec and tricity for tricity… electricity!”). Leonardo could speak, but for some reason would only whisper into Crashcup’s ear.

To round out the half-hour, after each Chipmunk and Crashcup story segment, there would be a musical number performed by the Chipmunks.

Only one season of 26 episodes was produced, but CBS ran those shows over three seasons, an eternity for young Boomers. The show’s popularity in turn spun off even more Chipmunk albums and other memorabilia.

After Bagdasarian passed away unexpectedly in 1972, most thought that would be the end of the Chipmunks, but Bagdasarian’s song, Ross, Jr., stepped in and kept the franchise going.

In all the Chipmunks have released over 50 albums (not bad for a band that doesn’t really exist), notching 4 gold and 3 platinum LPs, countless movies and TV series, 5 Grammy awards, and a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

Currently, there is a disc consisting of 3 episodes of The Alvin Show available on home video.

As we head into 2025, it's great to report this good musical news!

By the way, this list is not complete, so don't panic if you don't see your personal favorite here.

We're sockin' it to you with wishes for a Merry Christmas and loads of "Laughs-In" the New Year!

Gift-giving season will soon be here. There’s going to be lots of advertising and lots of places to shop online and off. So how do you know if you’re getting the best deal?

There are several websites that can do comparison shopping for you and show you where the deals are. Some of them include:

BizRate.com – They cover just about every product category from electronics to home décor and everything in between.

Shopping.com – Another “all-in-one” website, you can find deals on home & garden, appliances, health & beauty supplies, and more with just a few clicks.

PriceGrabber.com – Here you’ll find a compilation of the lowest prices on millions of items from across the virtual retailing landscape.

ShopStyle.com – This site focuses mainly on clothing and accessories. It also has a function that lets you shop by designer brand names.

You won’t have to drive all over town. Now, you can shop & compare right from the comfort of your own home. Enjoy!

Yeah, there's nothing like a Gershwin tune,but who knew he wrote tashy novels about perverted beatniks? (Unless its some other George Gershwin.)

Fad diets come and fad diets go. Experts say ignore the fads. A simple dietary change of eating more legumes (beans, peanuts, etc.), nuts, whole grains, fruits and veggies while cutting back on red meat and processed foods can extend life expectancy.

Think it’s too late to start? Nonsense. Changing to an optimal diet even as late as age 80 can have a positive impact on your longevity.

The smug answer to that question might be, “Easily at first, then with increasing difficulty.”

We tend now to think of the primary composer of any “Lennon-McCartney” tune as whoever is singing the lead vocal. But in the beginning, the lads actually did sit down and write songs together. In fact, their very first single, “Love Me Do” was primarily Paul’s work, yet John sang the lead.

Most songwriting duos consist of a lyricist and a composer. You know, one writes the words, the other writes the music. The Lennon-McCartney collaboration was different. They both contributed to the lyrics and the tune. And in the early days of Beatlemania, they definitely worked in partnership. Songs like “From Me to You,” “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” were worked out by both of them.

As their fame grew, they began to compose separately. Yet, because of their early agreement to share all songwriting credits, each felt free to offer suggestions to improve the other’s compositions. One outstanding example of this would be a song most would rank as one of the Beatles’ greatest, “A Day in the Life” from Sgt. Pepper. John had written most of the verses but felt the tune needed something in the middle to break it up. Paul wrote that middle part, the one that begins with “Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head…” Again, as both were getting credit for the song anyway, John had no problem including Paul’s contribution.

Indeed, there are those who feel that the songs of John & Paul while in the Beatles surpass the quality of their solo work precisely because each was critiquing and improving the other’s work.

In general, Paul liked writing songs in the third person, often about other people and places, while John preferred writing the personal, “confessional” style of songwriting. While much has been written about John disparaging Paul’s songs immediately after the split, the truth is that as time went by, John expressed a desire to collaborate with his old mate again. Most feel that had his life not been cut short; we would likely have seen more true Lennon-McCartney compositions.

Another icon of the Baby Boom era has passed away. Whether you knew him as Moondoggie from the Gidget movies, Anthony Newman from The Time Tunnel, James Corrigan on T.J. Hooker, or Vic Fontaine on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, James Darren had an acting and singing career few of his generation equaled. He died on Labor Day Monday of heart failure.

Born in 1936 and raised in Philadelphia, James Ercolani moved to New York and changed his name to James Darren in an attempt to launch an acting career. He was discovered by talent agent, Joyce Selznick, who brought him to Hollywood and got him signed to Columbia Pictures.

After starring in a few B-movies for the studio, Darren got his big break when he was cast as Jeff “Moondoggie” Matthews in the proto-surfer film, Gidget, opposite Sandra Dee. While Dee did not appear in either of the Gidget sequels, Darren played Moondoggie in all three, never once remarking that his girlfriend seemed to look different in every picture.

He was launched into a singing career he never really planned on when he volunteered to sing the title tune for the first Gidget film. The studio was pleased with his vocals and began marketing him as a teen idol in the early 1960s. His “Goodbye Cruel World” hit #3 in 1961 on the Billboard Hot 100. His follow-up, “Her Royal Majesty,” peaked at #6.

Despite that success, Darren mostly focused on his acting career. Choosing not to renew his contract with Columbia, he moved over to Universal Studios in 1963 where Irwin Allen cast him as one of the leads in his science-fiction series The Time Tunnel. While that show only lasted a single season, it was a hit with the Baby Boomers.

For the next several years, Darren found steady work as both a singer and a frequent guest star on TV series like Love, American Style, Hawaii Five-O, and Fantasy Island.

His next big break came in 1983 when he was cast in a recurring role on the TV cop series T.J. Hooker. That show also allowed Darren to develop a third career as a director. His directing credits include episodes of action series like Hunter, The A-Team, Silk Stalkings, Renegade, and Nowhere Man, as well as dramas such as Beverly Hills, 90210, and Melrose Place.

In 1998, Darren became a holographic lounge singer on the series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In turn, the series led to a revival of his singing career as he released two albums in the style of classic crooners like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.

Darren was married to a former Miss Denmark, Eve Norlund, from 1960 until the time of his death. He also was father to three children.