The Retroist

Grease as a studio movie in the late 1970s was a big swing. Sure it had two big stars in it, but its success entering a crowded summer of movies was not a foregone conclusion. But it turns out it was just what people were craving at the time and the film, much like the stage musical it was based on, was a huge success.

On this episode of the Retroist Podcast, I talk all about Grease. Starting with my first interactions with the film. Like many, I found the songs in the films hard to resist and re-listened to the soundtrack until I had memorized my favorite song, Greased Lightnin’. What I didn’t know about the song, was that it had some adult themes that I was too young too understand. How did my family react, with laughter, of course.

Then I move onto the film going all the way back to its origins as a stage musical. After that, I discuss its development, casting, production, release, reception, and much more. This is a film that not only was big at the box office, but managed to find success in related media. Notably the soundtrack.

The soundtrack for the movie was a big seller and was a major reason for its snowballing success. The movie made you want to buy this infections soundtrack, but then after listening to it, you wanted to re-watch the movie and the studio obliged. Re-releasing the film in theaters, making it an early title on VHS, and getting it on television on a regular basis.

Grease ended up being more than a hit movie. It became something people lived with. It moved easily from theaters to records to home video and television, and each stop fed the next. Over time it stopped feeling like a release and started feeling like a fixture. On this episode, I look at how that happened, how a movie built on nostalgia became part of everyday life, and how a song you could sing without thinking ended up revealing more than you expected when you finally slowed down and listened.

You can support the Retroist by joining my Patreon. Supporters will get member-only shows and audio extras associated with the show. Click the giant button below to check out the Patreon Page.

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If you have a moment, please stop by Apple Podcasts or wherever you might download the show and perhaps give the show a quick rating. It is very much appreciated.

Maybe I will release this Podcast on Cassette? Join Patreon for a chance to get a mixtape.

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• This is the 358th episode of the Retroist Podcast and episode 7 of Season 18.

• I don’t think I have ever sang Grease Lightning again.

• Longish episode, but it was actually much longer.

• Cut a mini-episode within the episode about Grease 2. Maybe that would eventually become its down podcast?

• Had a breakdown of each song, but that deviated from the movie too much and I am not great talking about music in detail.

• Watching lots of Sha Na Na really put Grease back into my head.

• The Grease record my family owned was one of the most played and was being played long after the family had moved to cassette tapes.

• I had to cut a commercial I found about the musical, the audio was difficult to tame.

• I am surprised that they don’t re-release the sing-a-long version or that it hasn’t become a Rocky Horror style midnight movie.

• Bonus clippings can be found over on Patreon for Supporters.

• Some fun retro audio in this one. I want to include double what I did, but it was getting too long.

• Music on the show is, as always, by Peachy.

Thanks for listening to the show and I hope you have a great weekend.

The Retroist is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In 1978, the TV station WPIX, channel 11, began sending its signal up to satellite so cable systems outside New York could carry it. Viewers across the US were suddenly able to watch the same WPIX feed that aired locally, commercials included. That shift is what earned the station the label Superstation. Only a small number of stations ever fit that def…

I was never really a doll kid. Action figures were fine, and I liked stuffed animals, especially bears. Those were easy to love. Dolls that looked like actual children just never appealed to me. I understood why other kids liked them, and I never thought there was anything wrong with that, they just were not my thing. As a kid in the eighties, I leaned toward toys that did something, or let me build or arrange something. I liked toys that suggested action or purpose, rather than ones that mostly sat there and waited for me to imagine everything about them.

So when the My Buddy commercials started running constantly during Saturday morning cartoons, I knew pretty quickly it was not for me. They were selling the idea of a built in human-like friend, made of fabric and stuffing, who would always be there for you. That was fine as a concept, just not one that spoke to me. In retrospect, what really stood out was how carefully it was framed, a doll for boys, complete with overalls and a baseball cap. It felt like someone assumed the problem of selling dolls for boy had never been dolls themselves, only the clothes they were wearing.

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My mom was very determined that I should have a Cabbage Patch Kid when they came out, even though I never asked for one and did not show much interest. It was not a bad toy, it just wasn’t one I connected with, and it spent most of its time in my closet. I did not feel much affection toward it, but it did teach me something useful. I learned that if I was not clear about what I did and didn’t want, things could still show up anyway, sometimes wrapped and waiting on Christmas morning. So when the My Buddy commercials started airing, I made a point of letting my mom know early on that this was not a toy I wanted. Even if I could sing the jingle by heart.

That warning worked, and Christmas morning came and went without a My Buddy under the tree. Avoiding ownership, though, did not mean avoiding the toy itself. The commercials were everywhere, and I couldn’t stop singing that jingle. When I went to the toy store, I saw the boxes stacked high. The push was so constant that even without owning one, I ended up remembering My Buddy more then some toys I actually owned. That is probably why, years later, I started wondering where the whole idea came from, and how a toy company in 1985 landed on the notion that what boys really needed was a stuffed doll dressed in overalls.

When I finally looked into it, the answer turned out to be pretty practical. By early 1985, Cabbage Patch Kids had been such a massive hit that toy companies were openly trying to figure out how to stretch that success without starting over. Articles from the time talk about My Buddy as a close relative, not a brand new idea, just something aimed a little younger and clearly marked as being for boys. It was meant to be a best friend more than a plaything, soft and familiar rather than an “active” toy. They were looking at the biggest trend of the moment and hoping it would carry a little farther with a new audience (the half that they might have been missing).

By the fall of 1985, the conversation around My Buddy had become very interesting. In a November Greensboro News and Record article, they go into detail about the doll nature of the toy. These were meant to be an alternative to the macho end of the toy aisle, with GI Joe and He Man named directly as contrasts. No weapons, no battles, no muscles, just a soft, kid sized companion that a boy could drag around like a large stuffed animal, about twenty two to twenty three inches tall. The same idea shows up in other reporting from the time. It was clear, and for the moment surprising to many, that Hasbro was trying to carve out a doll category for boys, and they leaned hard on the image of a buddy who could keep up with a kid’s day.

A lot of that discussion is aimed squarely at adults to tell them its okay to buy a doll made for boys. still the tone is always reassuring. Store managers talk about kids singing the commercial song in the aisles, while grandparents come off almost relieved, like they finally had a doll they could buy for a grandson without hearing complaints from the men in the family. A Hasbro executive in the article puts it pretty bluntly, saying they did not see anything in the toy aisle aimed at preschool boys that filled this role. From there, the rest of the messaging follows, soft and nurturing, but constantly framed as being boy appropriate, even though it was still, at the end of the day, a doll.

Remember this was 1985, so it is not surprising that they go one step further to try and clarify the value of a doll for boys. They bring in an expert voice to calm nerves, basically saying there is nothing wrong with boys having dolls as long as it fits into “acceptable behavior.” At this point, My Buddy has stopped being just a toy and turns into something people feel the need to explain. You can almost hear the sales pitch shifting from kids to parents. It is not just buy this, it is also do not worry about buying this.

It definitely feels like these articles are tied into a broader more subtle marketing campaign. With Hasbro, selling the toy through Playskool, seeing the objections people might have to buying a boy a doll and worries that it fell out the gender norms of the time. Instead of straightforward advertising, they manage to get some well-placed pieces written and experts to quote.

It worked and the doll was a big seller and once that approach took hold, the follow up was straightforward. The line expanded with Kid Sister. The name was different, but in practice it was the same large, soft companion doll, restyled and marketed for girls. In the mid eighties, My Buddy came with explanations and reassurance. Kid Sister did not.

My Buddy had a solid run. It hit the market in July of 1985 and did well during the holiday season, well enough to justify the Kid Sister spinoff. Since most people associate it with the eighties, you might assume it flared out quickly, but it did not. My Buddy and Kid Sister were still being listed in stores during Christmas of 1996. If it was there then, it almost certainly lingered into 1997 and probably showed up in clearance aisles in 1998. That is roughly an eleven year run, not bad at all, and that doesn’t even count the much more recent revival by The Loyal Subjects.

And yes, this is the doll that helped inspire Chucky from Child’s Play, at least in part. According to writer and director Tom Holland, the starting point for Chucky was the popular My Buddy doll, though the design quickly became something much stranger. Holland has explained that Chucky was originally named Buddy, but the name could not be used because of the existing toy line. To refine the look, he started with some other well-known dolls, including a My Buddy, a Raggedy Ann, a Raggedy Andy, and a life size baby doll he still owns. What he wanted was the basic Buddy form combined with Raggedy Andy colors. This meant the buttoned overalls, freckles, and yarn hair, which would then be pushed into the meanest and most unsettling version possible, with the added creepiness of the infant doll. The result was not a copy of any single toy, but a deliberate mash up that turned something familiar and friendly into something openly hostile and disturbing.

Looking back at My Buddy, what stays with me is not the toy itself, but how much work went into explaining it, something I did not see or hear at the time. My Buddy feels less like something kids demanded and more like something adults carefully assembled and defended in advance, just in case anyone challenged its existence as a boy’s toy. That said, it was a well thought out creation with a smart marketing strategy. Millions of kids loved My Buddy, but even those who skipped it were influenced by it and remember it almost as clearly as the toys they actually owned.

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In the late 1960s, the pop culture of the 1950s was still well-remembered, but the United States was going through some major changes. A counter-culture was going mainstream and with it came a rejection of things associated with older generations. Emblematic of this era was Woodstock. This music festival was filled with bands and artists that defined the era. But another act, took to the stage during the festival that didn’t quite fit in, Sha Na Na.

Started as a college performance act, Sha Na Na came to the attention of Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix liked their energy and with his urging, the organizers of Woodstock went to see them and invited them for perform. You can see their performance in the Woodstock documentary and some members of the audience look confused, but in the end, Sha Na Na wins them over and you can see why. Their energy and talent was relentless. The music? Timeless.

The group would go onto tour successfully, star in their own TV show, and have a memorable turn in Grease. So they were on the stage, the radio, the small screen and the big screen. Yet now, they are not often talked about, and if they are, its often as a punchline, which is all sorts of wrong.

On this episode, I started talking about how both my parents enjoyed the show and how I remember watching it with them. Then I move onto the group, discussing their creation, membership, rise, and slow fade. I also compare the band to another band I enjoy, DEVO. Its a fun ride about a great act, so I hope after you give this a listen, you revisit or check them out for the first time.

You can support the Retroist by joining my Patreon. Supporters will get member-only shows and audio extras associated with the show. Click the giant button below to check out the Patreon Page.

Support the Retroist on Patreon

If you have a moment, please stop by Apple Podcasts or wherever you might download the show and perhaps give the show a quick rating. It is very much appreciated.

Maybe I will release this Podcast on Cassette? Join Patreon for a chance to get a mixtape.

🛒 Visit the Retroist Store 🛒

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• This is the 357th episode of the Retroist Podcast and episode 6 of Season 18.

• Watch Sha Na Na perform at Woodstock.

• Watch The Ramones appearance on Sha Na Na.

• Longish episode.

• I had to cut out a section about John Lennon’s brush with Sha Na Na. I completely flubbed the section and mingled with some other stuff that I had to edit out. Maybe if I revisit I can add it back in.

• I think you can tell that I do not think of Sha Na Na as a joke. I think people who say that have not watched their early performances or given them much of a chance.

• Bowser’s cartoon-like behavior probably made him beloved by most young people, but it didn’t sit well with me as a kid. Now I admire his commitment to the character.

• I had opportunities to the band over the years and I regret it never happened.

• Can you imagine going to see Sha Na Na and the opening act is this kid named Bruce Springsteen?

• Bonus clippings can be found over on Patreon for Supporters.

• Some fun retro audio in this one. I want to include double what I did, but it was getting too long.

• Music on the show is, as always, by Peachy.

Thanks for listening to the show and I hope you have a great weekend.

The Retroist is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In the fall of 1988 I went over to my friend’s house to hang out and play video games. Three of us took turns playing his Sega Master System and after about 2 hours we took a break. While in the kitchen getting a drink he showed us an all new beverage his mom had bought him. It was in a red container with accordion style walls that allowed it to be folded up. We had never seen anything like it. What we were seeing here was Fruit Burple and while we enjoyed the flavor, it was what he revealed to us next that really wowed us.

This wasn’t his first container of Burple, he had finished a Purple Burple, and following instructions on the package was able to turn the container into an amazing toy, a powerful water gun. Even though it was pretty chilly out, after a quick demonstration of the power of the Burple Water Gun, it became the rest of our day. We took turns filling it with water in his backyard and trying different techniques to get the most power and distance from it. While the Super Soaker would become the gold standard for water guns, a Burple container, with just the right size hole, could hold its own. Even if it was harder to aim.

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So what was Burple? Where did it come from? How did it taste?

Burple was a fruit dry powder beverage that came in various flavors. Originally they were orange, fruit punch, grape, and berry. Eventually though they would add cherry to the mix. I have read online people mentioning peach, but I haven’t found any proof of it, the max number of variations I have seen mentioned in a print ad was five.

If I were to think of a beverage that it was most like, I would probably pick Kool-Aid. It was sweet, artificially fruity, and went down easy. I could rip through a container of grape on my own in just a few minutes. It really wasn’t the beverage that made Fruit Burple so exciting though. It was the accordion bottle.

These bottles were very clever. Brightly colored, they could fold down pretty small, about 12.8 ounces, but when fully expanded they could hold 64 ounces. This ability to change size made them easy to store and very light when not filled with liquid. When you got home from the store you extended the accordion bottle, filled it with water, and gave it a good shake. Then as you drank it, you could actually make the bottle smaller to take up less room in the fridge. Here you can see that illustrated as a selling point in a Wal Mart ad from the summer of 1988.

Sold by Sundale Beverages of Redwood City, CA and developed by Mattson & Co, Fruit Burple entered 10 test markets in the summer of 1988. Sundale already had the concept and the name when they approached Mattson, who helped them work through flavor choices. How did they come up with the name? Very simple, it is based on the burping sound the bottles make when you pull them open or close them rapidly.

As I mentioned they eventually added cherry to the mix, which is a solid flavor choice, they also offered a reduced size bottle that they called a Baby Burple. These were sold in a three pack and at 8 ounces it made for a perfect single serving beverage. Now I know you are about to ask, did the smaller bottle make for a decent water gun? It was okay, nothing like the larger bottles, maybe that is why they decided to mention in ads that it makes a great pencil holder. Or maybe they were just hearing from too many parents complaining about all the water shooting bottles around the house.

Burple was also briefly pitched as a way to make a kind of homemade sparkling drink. Some ads and coupons suggested mixing the powder with sparkling water instead of tap water. The idea was simple enough, turn it into something closer to soda. The bottle, however, was not built for pressure. The accordion design meant you had to vent it while mixing, slowly letting the gas escape so it would not force itself open. It worked, but just barely, and it was easy to imagine most people trying it once and moving on. Still, it fits the pattern, Burple was less about delivering a perfect drink and more about encouraging you to mess with the container and see what happened.

They also released some Burple bottle ideas around Halloween and Valentine’s Day. The Jack O Lantern idea works better, though it is hard to say how practical either one really was.

Even if you didn’t drink any Burple at the time, you might remember the commercials that they ran on television. These ads, produced by the Los Angeles agency Campbell and Wagman were kinetic, colorful and had some catchy music. Two are available to watch online and are very late eighties. Here is the ad for the original large bottle Burple.

And here is the commercial for Baby Burple.

When you have a product that is known for reusing the container, other people are going to figure out a use for it. In the January 1989 edition of Popular Photography, they suggest reusing the bottles to help control the oxidation of darkroom chemicals. According to the article, “Gary Riggs of Lansing, MI buys the large size Burple for $1.69, and he’s completely stocked his darkroom with the bottles.” They further add that he also acquired a taste for the drink in the process. This novel use comes with a warning, do not use these containers if you have small kids in the house who could injure themselves when they think they are going to have a delicious fruit treat.

Burple hit supermarkets in 1987 and went nationwide by 1988. By mid 1989, despite the earlier introduction of Baby Burple it was already peaking and by the summer of 1990, stores stopped advertising it. While it’s not clear exactly how long it lasted after that, I would guess because of the nature of the product, it was still available in stores well into 1991. People probably had it on the shelf for years afterwards and many also reused the containers with other drink mixes. While reuse is good, I can tell you, these things were a real pain to clean out. It might not seem like a lot in retrospect, but almost 4 years is pretty good for a beverage that was mostly about the container.

I sometimes think Burple stuck around in our heads longer than it ever did on shelves, not because the drink was amazing, but because it gave you permission to keep the bottle and keep playing with it. That feels very late eighties to me, a product that assumed you would poke at it, repurpose it, and probably annoy someone in the process. You drank it fast, you burped the bottle on purpose just to hear the sound, and then you figured out what else it could be, a water gun, a pencil holder, a science experiment, or just something to absentmindedly compress while watching TV. Long after the powder was gone, those bottles kept showing up in garages, basements, and backyards, a little sticky, slightly warped, and still refusing to fully collapse. Even now, when I think about Burple, I do not picture a flavor, I picture that purple accordion plastic fighting back against my hands, which is a pretty good legacy for a drink that was never really trying to be just a drink.

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Also Available on Patreon

On the December 2025 Monthly Update I talk about what’s been going on with the site and podcast, but also some other things going on in my life and some random thoughts I have. They include:

• Chachos

• Toys R Us Circular

• Smurfberry Crunch

• Koosh Balls

• A Charlie Brown Christmas

• Retroist Christmas Commercials

• Hawaiian Punch

• Genesis Top 5

• Video Store Podcast (Arnold)

• N…

Also Available on Patreon

One of my favorite treats when I was a kid, was a Hawaiian Punch. So much that when we went to the supermarket once a month, and my mom let me pick out a single treat for myself, I would opt for a can of bottle of Hawaiian Punch. On today’s show, I want to take a look at the history of this sweet red drink from its inception in a garage in California, t…

Welcome to the Retroist Christmas Commercials III Podcast. Christmas is almost here. You know what that means? Time to buy stuff! That’s why this week’s show is all about the Christmas commercials that we love. I have done this format twice before and people liked it. So be warned, this show has a bit of a different format from the regular podcast. It is dedicated solely to holiday commercials. I hope you enjoy it.

I tried to break it down in little themes and also tried to not repeat what I have shared in past specials. I can also be limited by existing audio. A few commercials I found just had unsalvageable audio. Here are how I organized the show.

1. Atari

2. Music

3. Other

4. Newspapers and Magazines

5. Foods

6. Cameras

7. Beverages

8. Colognes

9. Stores

10. Fast Food

11. Toys

You can support the Retroist by joining my Patreon. Supporters will get member-only shows and audio extras associated with the show. Click the giant button below to check out the Patreon Page.

Support the Retroist on Patreon

If you have a moment, please stop by Apple Podcasts or wherever you might download the show and perhaps give the show a quick rating. It is very much appreciated.

Maybe I will release this Podcast on Cassette? Join Patreon for a chance to get a mixtape.

🛒 Visit the Retroist Store 🛒

• Apple Podcasts

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• Spotify

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• Twitter

If you like what you are hearing, the Retroist is also a blog and newsletter. So subscribe below to get the newest articles delivered right to your Inbox.

• This is the 356th episode of the Retroist Podcast and episode 6 of Season 18.

• I have said a few times that I wouldn’t do another one these specials. They are a challenge for me to choose, clean-up, and balance. But a few fans of the show really seem to enjoy them. So I started work on it last year after Christmas.

• I think this might be my last one of these special, but keep emailing me and I will probably change my mind.

• Music on the show is, as always, by Peachy.

Thanks for listening to the show and I hope you have a great weekend.

Thanks for reading The Retroist! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Every year after Christmas, my friends and I would visit one another to see what we had gotten. It was a fun time, but I can’t say I was ever surprised much. Sure, sometimes an amazing toy that someone didn’t expect to get would be under the tree, but rarely did a toy show up that was a complete puzzler. In December of 1987, I went over to my friend’s house to see what he had gotten. I cannot remember anything but the thing he threw at my head as soon as I entered his family’s living room, a Koosh Ball. It was weird looking and fun to play with, but it was also something that felt all new, a toy that none of us had ever seen before, but that would change very quickly.

If you haven’t seen a Koosh Ball before, let me describe it to you. It’s a peculiar and delightful toy that consists of thousands of thin, colorful rubber filaments. They are like tiny tentacles that radiate outward from a central core in every direction. The strands are soft and flexible, giving the ball a fuzzy, almost hair like appearance that makes it look like a whimsical sea creature or a pom pom. When you squeeze it, the rubbery tendrils compress easily in your hand, and when you throw it, those same filaments create air resistance that gives it an unpredictable, bouncy flight path. I remember being more confused than impressed at first, because it did not look like a toy that was supposed to work. It looked like something unfinished, like a prototype that escaped the lab.

Most importantly, when you threw the Koosh Ball at someone, it was both easy to catch and, if you hit them with it, it didn’t really hurt much. This was something my friend bragged about, and despite having many other toys to show off, we spent most of our time together that day trying to hurt each other with this brand new toy. I knew then that I needed to own one, but I was curious why I had never seen one before and neither had my friend. It turns out that this particular toy was sent to him by his aunt, who had just moved to California. I didn’t know it at the time, but its presence there and not in New Jersey made total sense.

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They got their start out in the heart of Silicon Valley. There, an engineer named Scott Stillinger, who was working at a computer company, had a problem. He had two young kids and he wanted to teach them to catch, but he wanted to do it in a safe way. So, according to an article by the Scripps Howard News Service, he started to experiment. “Foam balls bounced out of your hands and bean bags were too heavy, kids were scared of being hit by them.” Exhausting the classics, he started playing around with new materials and forms and hit upon the concept of the rubber filament ball. It worked exactly as he hoped, but he also saw its potential to help other people learn to catch safely.

In an interesting twist, Stillinger’s brother in law, Mark Button, was an executive at the Mattel toy company. There he had worked on “such top selling items as Barbie and Hot Wheels.” He also saw the promise of what would come to be known as the Koosh Ball. Together, the two founded OddzOn Products to properly manufacture and distribute this creation. They did some market research and things looked good. Positive enough that, according to Stillinger, “We both quit our jobs on the same day and set out to develop it.”

In October of that year, they started selling the toy at a Los Gatos, California toy store. The results were phenomenal, with the toys flying off shelves. So they expanded to other stores. Button said at the time, “It really sells itself. If you just give people the opportunity to pick it up, they want one.” This is very true. The Koosh Ball shape is so unusual and compelling, you can’t help but want to play with it. It’s amazing that it might have been this very Los Gatos toy store that sold the toy that eventually made its way to New Jersey.

A year later, in 1988, the Koosh Ball was a nationwide smash success. It was available at over 10,000 retail locations, where it was often the best selling toy. I observed it appearing everywhere, but didn’t realize it was becoming such a massive success. The manufacturing process at the time was kept a secret (at the time), but demand had grown so much that they already had 75 employees and plans for expansion. These included new products and an international strategy that would start in 18 countries in 1989. The product list would eventually grow to include 50 other Koosh related items, including the popular Koosh Kins and their follow up, the Koosh Lings.

Koosh Kins and Koosh Lings were related but distinct attempts to turn the Koosh Ball into something more character driven. Koosh Kins came first in the early nineteen nineties and stayed close to the original toy, essentially standard Koosh Balls with faces and small hands added. They were released as a group of characters and were supported by a short Archie Comics miniseries and coloring books that gave them a shared backstory and setting. The emphasis was on world building and identity, with the toys meant to represent specific characters and extend the playability of Kooshes.

Koosh Lings arrived later in the decade and reflected a shift in how character toys were being marketed. While they still used the Koosh texture, they leaned more toward small action figures, with fuller faces, more detailed expressions, and bendable limbs that allowed for posing. They were less tied to a single narrative and more focused on variety and play patterns, often released in themed waves with different looks and personalities. Koosh Kins were about extending the original Koosh idea into a story and cast, while Koosh Lings treated the Koosh material as just one element in a broader, more conventional character toy line. The Koosh Kin remained a ball toy, while the Koosh Ling made more of a jump into figure territory. They were clearly trying to solve a problem that did not exist yet, how do you make a hit toy feel new again without breaking the thing people liked in the first place.

In the mid nineties, Koosh products started showing up as cereal premiums, which felt like a sign that they were everywhere. Honeycomb ran a promotion where you could use Honeybuck coupons from marked boxes to send away for assorted Koosh items. My favorite was from Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which offered a glow in the dark Koosh Ball. I never actually sent away for one, which is probably why I still remember it.

The company itself would eventually be acquired by Russ Berrie and Co. in December 1994 in an attempt to diversify their offerings. The amount paid wasn’t disclosed, but OddzOn at the time was netting about $30 million annually. As a side note, I think Russ Berrie has made some of the finest teddy bears, and I still own several. Koosh wasn’t in that company’s paws for very long because, according to a timeline published in 2003, OddzOn was sold, along with Cap Toys, to Hasbro for $166 million. This didn’t surprise me since Hasbro seems to have a hand in most every toy nowadays.

Nowadays, Koosh Balls are made by the company PlayMonster, formerly Patch, in cooperation with Hasbro. They might not have the selection of products that were available in the late eighties and early nineties, but you can still find a good number of balls and playsets if you want to relive some Koosh memories or introduce another generation to this toy.

The Koosh Ball is one of those toys that seemed to show up already knowing what it wanted to be. It wasn’t built around a character or a screen tie in, it was just a clever solution that happened to be fun. You didn’t need to read anything or figure anything out. You grabbed it and started throwing it. That straightforward design helped it move quickly from a single store in California to living rooms everywhere, including mine, where it mostly became an excuse to test how hard you could hit someone without getting in trouble. A lot of late eighties toys chased complexity, but Koosh stuck with simplicity, and that may be why it still looks inviting decades later.

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In 1965, Christmas television in the United States changed forever when, A Charlie Brown Christmas, premiered. Nothing about its creation and tone said it was going to be a success, but it touched people and was a huge hit. A hit that has continued to deliver Christmas Magic year after year for decades.

I start the episode talking about something that became important in the eighties. That’s when it wasn’t enough to just watch the special. Now with VCRs, you could own the special. Sure, you could eventually buy or rent a copy, but with a blank tape, you could make your own copy. So I discuss what that was like in my home at the time.

Then I dive into the special itself. I discuss the people in front of and behind the camera, its production, music, and much more. I also reference some newspaper articles, and I will share my clippings over on Patreon, so if you are a support, make sure to check them out.

It isn’t Christmas for me unless I watch, A Charlie Brown Christmas. It is a special that not just enhances my holiday mood, but helped to define it. Many of us who grew up watching it, when we try and think about what the season is really about, will hear Linus’ speech in our head. Its a message that is presented in an earnest way that doesn’t feel preachy, and for network programming, that is pretty amazing.

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• This is the 355th episode of the Retroist Podcast and episode 5 of Season 18.

• I know what you are thinking, didn’t you already do this special? Weird, I have not. It was supposed to be one of my first Christmas-themed episodes, but when I recorded it during my first year, I disliked how it turned out. So now a decade and a half later, I have revisited it and I think this one is much better.

• Longish episode.

• I spend some time talking about the 4 main people behind this special. I hope that is okay.

• How many of you had the Charlie Brown Xmas tree? Have you ever seen an aluminum tree?

• I like a lot of Peanuts animation, but this and The Great Pumpkin are peak. Everything else pages in comparison.

• I originally did the whole Linus speech during the show, but cut it out. It was indulgent on my part. Linus does it better.

• My two favorite Peanuts characters are Snoopy and Linus. Although I am probably most like Charlie Brown.

• Bonus clippings can be found over on Patreon for Supporters.

• Some fun retro audio in this one. I want to include double what I did, but it was getting too long.

• Music on the show is, as always, by Peachy.

Thanks for listening to the show and I hope you have a great weekend.

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