For 8 seasons, The Donna Reed Show provided Baby Boomers with a sort of Mother Knows Best amid a ton of family sitcoms focused on the father.

Cast as Donna Stone, Donna presided over a family with the proverbial sweet and lovely oldest daughter, Mary (Shelly Fabres) and mischievous, mildly rebellious son, Jeff (Paul Peterson).

Her TV husband Alex, played by Carl Betz, was a pediatrician who worked out of their home! Can you imagine any pediatrician doing that today? Also, can you imagine any pediatrician living in such modest accommodations?

The location for the show was the town of Hilldale. But in what state Hilldale was located was never mentioned.

At its peak, the show attempted to duplicate the success Ricky Nelson was having on the pop charts. Both Fabres and Peterson did find chart success with “Johnny Angel,” “She Can’t Find Her Keys” and “My Dad.” But neither really built credible singing careers.

The show also provided a launch pad for Bob Crane. He was a popular L.A. deejay who wanted an acting career. He was cast as Alex’s doctor buddy, Dave Kelsey. From there, Crane was able to land the title role in Hogan’s Heroes.

In The Donna Reed Show’s 6^th season (1963), the Stones adopted an orphan named Trisha. For an orphan, she bore a strange resemblance to the Stone’s son. That’s because in real life, she was his sister Patty Peterson. Maybe Dr. Stone wasn’t so wholesome after all.

As the 60s wore on, we started wanting our sitcoms with more gimmicks, like witches, genies and flying nuns; so, Donna Reed called it a day in 1966.

A few things you may not have known about Donna Reed:

• She was a pin-up during WWII and saved over 300 letters she received from GIs in a shoebox.
• She once milked a cow on the set of It’s a Wonderful Life to win a bet with Lionel Barrymore.
• She replaced Barbara Bel Geddes on Dallas & successfully sued the show when Bel Geddes returned and she was fired.
• When Nickelodeon acquired the reruns rights to The Donna Reed Show, that’s what inspired them to create Nick at Nite!
• You can still find her recipe for bundt cake online

When we were growing up, did any of us not either have this game or play it at friends’ homes?

The term “cootie” was first coined by U.S. soldiers during World War I. They used it to describe any of the various vermin like lice and bugs that infested the trenches in which the war was waged. When they returned after the war, they brought the term home with them. Kids, in particular, liked using it.

Cootie, the game, was created in 1948 by a Minneapolis postman named William Sharper. Sharper liked to whittle and the first “cootie” was whittled by him as a fishing lure. When he finished the lure, he got the idea of turning it into a kid’s toy.

Sharper had a little store where he sold homemade popcorn machines. He started selling his wooden cooties there. After a year of pretty good sales, Sharper decided to build a game around assembling his somewhat oversize critter. He formed the W. H. Sharper Manufacturing Company and began creating his cooties in plastic. He approached Dayton’s, a local department store, and got them to carry Cootie on a consignment basis. By the end of 1950, Dayton had sold nearly 6,000 sets of the game, not bad for a local product with no advertising. Those sales convinced a distribution company to begin carrying Sharper’s creation nationwide. By 1952, over 1 million Cootie games had been sold. Thereafter, Sharper’s company sold a million a year until well into the 1960s. As time passed, Sharper added other games to his line such as Tumble Bug, Inch Worm and Busy Bee.

Eventually, Sharper sold his creation to Tyco Toys in 1973. By 1976, Hasbro acquired Cootie which it still sells to this day.

So, raise a glass to the only cooties any kid really wanted to have!

There is a right way and a wrong way to fall. As we get older, falls that result in broken bones, concussions or other injuries can be more serious.

The people who fall for a living – Hollywood’s stunt men and women, have some tips should you find yourself losing your balance:

• Protect Your Head – If you’re falling backward, tuck your chin into your chest. If you’re falling forward, turn your face to the side.
• Land Where the Bones Aren’t – Try to position yourself so you fall on muscle, not bone. The best place to absorb a fall is on your butt. Second best would be your back or thighs.
• Stay Bent – Our natural instinct when we fall is to panic and stiffen up. This is the wrong move. Try to stay loose with your arms and legs bent. Do not try and stop your fall with an outstretched hand. That’s a good way to break your wrist.
• Keep Falling – Don’t try and stop suddenly. The more you can roll and spread the stress out to a larger area of the body, the better your chances of minimizing injuries.s

Hope the Easter Bunny treats you right...

Just like I Walked with a Zombie, behind the incredibly silly title lurks a pretty decent little B-movie.

I Married a Monster from Outer Space was made by Paramount Pictures in 1958. Directed by Gene Fowler and written by Louis Vittes, it involves a young suburban bride (Gloria Talbot) who comes to suspect that her husband (Tom Tryon) has somehow changed since their recent marriage. She is wrong on that account. Her husband hasn’t changed, he’s been totally replaced by the afore-mentioned monster. So have several other husbands in her neighborhood.

Yes, the plot seems like a blatant rip-off of the oft-remade sci-fi classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but the acting, script and production values (particularly how lightning can reveal parts of the monster’s true visage) are very well done.

Obviously intended for the drive-ins that were so popular at the time, I Married a Monster from Outer Space was actually part of a double feature Paramount put together. The “second great co-hit” was a little film that was a lot sillier but has fared a lot better in people’s memories – The Blob!

I Married a Monster from Outer Space is available on DVD and from several online streaming services. Trust us, it’s worth a look. And keep watching the skies!

As technology gives us more and more options, it turns out that more features do not always equate to consumer satisfaction.

Studies have shown that when purchasing hi-tech devices like smartphones and smart TVs, consumers overestimate the likelihood that they will use all the extra features that come with their latest gadget.

What’s more, those who pick models with fewer features are more likely to report they are satisfied with their choices. Those who opt for all the bells and whistles are often less satisfied!

The other advantages is that less features often mean a lower price tag as well!

"Beatlemania" claims another victim!

Do you know this woman?

She inspired two of rock’s all-time great story songs.

Her name is Clare MacIntyre. She was working as a counsellor for the Fresh Air Fund camp during the summer of 1960. A fellow camp counsellor was a young lad named Harry Chapin.

A summer romance blossomed between the two. That in turn developed into a serious two-year relationship.

Clare’s father was the head of Eastern Airlines and Harry was just some kid from the wrong side of the tracks. Malcolm MacIntyre did not approve of Harry and the relationship eventually ran its course.

Fast forward to a Friday in 1969. Harry is out of work and applies for a hack license so he can drive a taxi (you can see where this story is leading). Now, from their relationship, Harry knows that Clare never took the subways. Her father insisted that she always take a cab. So, all that weekend in 1969, Harry is wondering, “What happens if Clare gets in my taxi? What would I say?” Come Monday, Harry is so bothered by that possibility that he never reports to his job at the cab company.

Instead, Harry writes a song about the situation he has imagined. He changes the locale from Manhattan to San Francisco and changes Clare’s name to “Sue.”

And that’s how Harry Chapin’s “Taxi” came to be written.

Years later, Chapin wrote a second great song about the couple, aptly titled “Sequel.”

How much of the second song is based on fact? You’ll have to decide for yourself as Harry never commented on it.