Kids those days – Ultrasparky

From the foreshortened perspective of the 21st century, this extraordinary clip just reads as a bunch of old or dead people doing stuff a long time ago that sure looks goofy now:

But yet if we pick it apart, we can see that it was even ridiculous back then. Like a lot of stuff that made its way onto variety TV, this blends enough weird stuff together in a way that would make anyone cool just want to scratch their skin off. It’s kind of like watching Celine Dion do a Britney Spears dance to gangsta rap, if you want to put it in a modern context.

Some notes:

Yes, that’s Tommy Tune and the dancers from Seesaw dressed as hippies…
…dancing the popcorn…
…to express their admiration of Carol Channing…
…who eventually is whisked away on a motorcycle by Dean Martin dressed as a greaser…
…to a song form Mame that was originally about a fun-loving older lady loving the Jitterbug and the Lindy Hop.

All those elements are pretty great in their own ways, but really almost none of them should ever go together. It’s a clear sign that just about every cultural influence noted above had lost its edge or relevance by the time they all got thrown together for the benefit of viewers of network TV.

Of course, I also think it’s kind of amazing, but maybe that’s just me. My pop culture interests cross encompass all the stuff they’re throwing together, and I’m a huge homo with a penchant for dated camp and no patience for ironic detachment.