80s PROM Tulsa
Bueller?...Bueller?...1/23/2017 There is absolutely no debating that John Hughes films were the epitome of the 80's. The characters, the clothes, the story lines reminded us all of a swankier version of our day to day lives. Even to this day future generations can't help but identify with the characters of his many films. One of the most famous by far is Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The movie has so many iconic moments, but one of the most remembered is the scene where the economics teacher takes roll call. Ferris is playing hooky from school and the teacher played by Ben Stein repeatedly says "Bueller, Bueller..." to his empty chair. That 150 seconds on screen changed Ben Stein's life forever. “By total chance, without ever having seen the inside of an acting school, without ever having read scripts or gone on a cattle call, I was given a part in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” Stein once said. He recalled, “They wanted me to just do one simple thing – call the roll, offstage. And the studio extras and all the crew laughed so hard that John Hughes called producer Michael Chinich aside and had a hurried conference, and they said, ‘We’re going to put you on camera. We’d like you to improvise a scene, a subject you really know well.’” “So I said, ‘Well, what do I know really well? Let’s see, I really know a lot about the Great Depression.’ So I just improvised that scene on camera. And we did it all in one take. I did it all out of my head.”
Stein later went on to have an entire career in comedy. Even earning an Emmy for his show on Comedy Central. He speculates though that on his gravestone it will still say "Bueller?...Bueller?...". “Ferris didn’t do a single thing to hurt anybody else. He just freed the people he was around. When I walk down the street in Georgetown on a summer night, when there are all the college kids there to be summer interns, every few steps somebody says, ‘Bueller, Bueller – Anyone? Anyone?’ I love it. I love it, love it, love it, because see – Ferris Bueller liberated me, too. Ferris Bueller said, ‘You don’t have to be locked away at your typewriter. You can be yourself and let people see your personality.’” Very well said Mr. Stein. The 15th Annual 80's Prom 2017!
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When the Duracell Bunny debuted in North America, it was intended to be just a one-shot character, but when Energizer's parody became a great success, Duracell decided to revive the Duracell Bunny. Energizer Batteries thwarted this by filing a North American trademark over "battery bunnies", effectively ending the Duracell Bunny in the U.S. and Canada. Despite the immense popularity of the campaign, sales of Energizer batteries actually went down during the years that the ads ran.
2. The Cheesiest Thing Bruce Willis Ever Did...
Do you remember those Seagram's Golden Wine Cooler commercials? If not allow me to refresh your memory...
| He may have kicked some serious ass in the Die Hard series, but in this mid-1980s commercial, super tough guy Bruce Willis shows his more gentle side. We find him on a porch dancing and twirling to his love of Seagrams. The ads feature Bruce and his "boys" letting loose on a porch and singing about how awesome wine coolers are. "Hey big fellas, look here," he sings. "It's wet and it's dry — my, my, my. Me and the boys love, love, love it all the time." |
In later Seagram's commercials Willis continues to tout his love for his favorite wine coolers. He meets up with Sharon Stone in a bar, does a whimsical blues number and even dances it out with some "simply irresistible" 1980's babes. (Seriously if you don't remember these I suggest taking the time out to peruse them all.) Despite the epic cheesiness of the campaign ad the commercials became wildly popular. With Bruce Willis as their uncomfortably embarrassing pitchman, Seagram rose from fifth place among distillers to first in just two years. In a rather ironic twist of fate Willis was fired as Seagram's spokesman for getting busted driving drunk. I guess Bruce may of liked those Golden beauties a little too much.
3. The World's Most Famous Party Animal...
I don't think there has ever been a more memorable spokes model for beer than the dog himself, Spuds MacKenzie.
Spuds MacKenzie was a fictional dog character created for use in an extensive Bud Light marketing campaign in the 80s.
Spuds MacKenzie was a fictional dog character created for use in an extensive Bud Light marketing campaign in the 80s.
Discovered by an ad agency, posters of the dog as Spuds MacKenzie sitting behind a goblet of Bud Light while wearing a "Delta Omicron Gamma" fraternity sweatshirt began to pop up at college campuses. The premise—original party animal—proved so popular that wholesalers demanded Anheuser-Busch put Spuds on television.
Spuds became the coolest of party dogs, featured in tons of commercials partying it up with the hottest babes. Spuds became so popular the dog was soon surrounded by controversy. Shortly after Spud's rise to fame it was learned that "he" was in actuality a female. The ads also became the subject of attacks and calls for censorship. Soon after the ads were first aired in 1987, Senator Strom Thurmond began his own media campaign, claiming that the beer maker was using Spuds to appeal to children for the purpose of getting them interested in their product at an early age. More legal action resulted from Budweiser's use of ads featuring Spuds dressed as Santa, which is illegal in states such as Ohio. Anheuser-Busch decided to retire Spuds in 1989, because they felt the character's image had started to overshadow the product. The real Spuds, Honey Tree Evil Eye, passed away in 1993. Spuds still lives in infamy and will always be the original party animal.
4. "And Thank You For Your Support..."
Alright here we are, back to wine coolers, people in the 80's really loved them some wine coolers. By far the most famous commercial characters were Frank Bartles and Ed Jaymes.
Patterned after two men who started a little winery which eventually became the Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery, two older gentleman characters sat on a front porch and related their new discoveries or projects on which they were working. Bartles did all the talking, and ended each commercial with the tagline, "... and thank you for your support." They would often play off their folksiness and drop B & J in odd situations like flying a bi-plane over a beach full of party goers to air drop their wine coolers to the grateful folks below.
| Of course, nowadays they’re a bit of a punchline, but back in the 80s, dude… they were just about as radical as it got. Who would of thought two old guys yapping on a porch could become icons of a young generation. The commercials were so wrong on so many levels that they instantly became a huge success. |
David Rufkahr played Frank Bartles and Dick Maugg played Ed Jaymes. Most people don't know that prior to the ads neither of them had acted. Rufkahr, a career Air Force veteran and cattle rancher from Redmond, Oregon, won the job in a talent search. Maugg was a Santa Rosa contractor and developer who happened to be a friend of the ad agency director. Ten days before the first Bartles & Jaymes commercial was shot, agency staffers arrived at his home where they “put a baseball cap on me,” he told the Associated Press in 1988, “started shooting film and told me to say, ‘Hello there,’ a couple of times.” Whatever man, it worked.
5. We'll Be Back After These Messages...
Who can forget watching Saturday morning cartoons? Every time there was a commercial break they would play those bumpers reminding you that they would "be right back". Just hearing one of these makes me nostalgic and I can almost taste cereal.
| These bumpers used to play on Saturday mornings on ABC. They first appeared in 1988 and were animated by Olive Jar Animation Studios in Boston. |
How did these bumpers become apart of our Saturday morning ritual? You can blame the FCC and the Action for Children's Television (ACT) non-profit. In 1970, the ACT drafted several proposals for the FCC about children's programming. They asked for the networks to include 14 hours of children-appropriate programming throughout the week, and they demanded that all commercials be removed. Advertisers weren't exactly thrilled by this and the FCC came up with their own set of rules. They made it a regulation that all children's shows must have a clear separation between programming and commercials. Thus these creative and fun bumpers were born. They lasted throughout the 1980's. Eventually though research found that they actually made it more difficult for children to distinguish the commercials and they went away. However, those catchy tunes will live in our heads forever.
Do you love the 80's? Don't miss the biggest throwback party of the year - The 15th Annual 80's Prom!
Thousands gather under the neon star in Cains Ballroom to flash back to the 1980s. Outrageous costumes & hair, DJs and dancing, Fashion Show, Stage Acts, Prom style photo booth, replica 80's cars and much more make it an amazing experience not soon to be forgotten. April 29, 2017 tickets on sale now at www.cainsballroom.com
You Can Dance If You Want To...
1/18/2017
There has been much speculation over the years as to the meaning of the 1983 hit "The Safety Dance". Released by Canadian new wave band Men Without Hats the lyrics say:
"We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance
And if they don't dance
Well, they're no friends of mine"
Theories about the meaning of the No. 3 billboard charting hit range from safe sex to nuclear war.
"We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance
And if they don't dance
Well, they're no friends of mine"
Theories about the meaning of the No. 3 billboard charting hit range from safe sex to nuclear war.
Released in 1983 in Canada as the second single from "Rhythm of Youth" the song was written by lead singer Ivan Doroschuk. Dororschuk wrote the song after being kicked out of a club for pogoing.
The Pogo was a dance inspired by new wave and was the precursor to moshing and slam dancing. Pogoing was less violent then moshing. Dancers would stand rigid and jump up and down. Sometimes they would lightly collide into one another. Hands could be kept to the side or flail about. Sid Vicious often took credit for the invention of the dance move in the London underground punk rock scene. | |
Bouncers in clubs at the time were used to disco dancing, usually done with partners or groups. When these "new wavers" came in and started thrashing about and bumping into each other they perceived it as violent and possibly dangerous. Often times the pogoers were kicked out of the club for the dance. That is exactly what happened to Doroschuk and what gave birth to the inspiration for the song "The Safety Dance". (Everyone in the video is doing the pogo btw...)
In 2003, 20 years after the song's release, Doroschuk appeared on VH1's True Spin and dispelled two common interpretations of the song. One being that the song was a call for safe sex. He remarked that people were looking too deep into the lyrics. The other theory was that the song was an anti-nuclear protest because of imagery in the video. Doroschuk stated that "it wasn't just a question of being anti-nuclear, it was a question of being anti-establishment." So the next time you are pogoing to "The Safety Dance" on the dance floor remember it's not just a catchy tune but also a protest and a call for freedom of expression.
The 15th Annual 80's PROM 2017
@ Cains Ballroom in Tulsa, OK. Tickets on sale now!
Walk Like an Egyptian...
1/16/2017
Top of the charts, 30 years ago this week, 1987.
"Walk Like an Egyptian" made famous by the American band the Bangles was released in 1986 as the third single from the album Different Light. It was a million-selling single and became Billboard's number-one song of 1987. The song also served as the end theme of the anime adaptation JoJo's Bizarre Adventure during the first half of the show's Stardust Crusaders arc.
It's also said that music producer Liam Sternberg wrote the song after seeing people on a ferry walking awkwardly to keep their balance, which reminded him of figures in some Ancient Egyptian paintings and reliefs.
"Walk Like an Egyptian" made famous by the American band the Bangles was released in 1986 as the third single from the album Different Light. It was a million-selling single and became Billboard's number-one song of 1987. The song also served as the end theme of the anime adaptation JoJo's Bizarre Adventure during the first half of the show's Stardust Crusaders arc.
It's also said that music producer Liam Sternberg wrote the song after seeing people on a ferry walking awkwardly to keep their balance, which reminded him of figures in some Ancient Egyptian paintings and reliefs.
Don't miss the biggest throwback party of the year - The 15th Annual 80's Prom!
Thousands gather under the neon star in Cains Ballroom to flash back to the 1980s. Outrageous costumes & hair, Djs and dancing, Fashion Show, Stage Acts, Prom style photo booth, replica 80's cars and much more make it n amazing experience not soon to be forgotten. April 29, 2017 tickets on sale now at www.CainsBallroom.com
Thousands gather under the neon star in Cains Ballroom to flash back to the 1980s. Outrageous costumes & hair, Djs and dancing, Fashion Show, Stage Acts, Prom style photo booth, replica 80's cars and much more make it n amazing experience not soon to be forgotten. April 29, 2017 tickets on sale now at www.CainsBallroom.com
Okkle Music Group presents the 15th Annual 80's Prom Party in Tulsa, OK. Each year this event brings together over 1000 club goers & 80's enthusiasts, joining for one night of over-the-top, outrageous, throwback awesomeness! The 15th Annual 80's PROM will be held on Saturday April 29, 2017 at the historic Cains Ballroom. Tickets go on sale Friday the 13th of January! Get your advanced tickets online at the Cains Ballroom website, or purchase at the Cains Box Office at 423 N Main St. Tulsa, OK
RSVP & get more info on Facebook here
https://www.facebook.com/events/314169345645073/
RSVP & get more info on Facebook here
https://www.facebook.com/events/314169345645073/