Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Nancy, Sluggo, Transistor Radios, Change Alley, T-Dance In Singapore 60s

In reply to Lucy's note, Sluggo, Nancy's boyfriend, provided a warning shot:

"But then Lucy, I was with Nancy and if you see our personal snapshot (above) here she wouldn't have allowed any hanky panky so going to tea dances with you would've been a no-no."



I cannot remember the context of the above quote but found it somewhere during a read. 'Lucy' could have been the kay-poh (busy body) girl in the other strip series, Peanuts and with whom Charlie Brown had problems (left image). 

But then how the Lucy character could wander into Nancy's comic strip kept me wondering. She might give Nancy's transistor, A Heartbreak Radio. 

For me, the interest were the keywords, the combination of Nancy and Sluggo cartoon characters, tea dances and the transistor radio on the image. This formula, I thought, would make interesting music stories.

Nancy Comic Strip In Newspapers

Nancy and Sluggo became famous from about 1933 after the introduction of the Fritzi Ritz comic strip in 1922. Nancy soared in popularity up to the 70's and beyond, syndicated in nearly 900 newspapers all over the world.

This comic strip was part of the fun I had during the 1960's when transistor radios also became very popular. 

Transistor Radios

Meanwhile, as I grew up, patronising tea dances in the middle of the day at a cinema in Katong wasn't part of my schedule but it was interesting to know that such a past-time existed.

So one day, cycling all the way from my house in the East, I bought my first transistor radio in 1960, from a row of shop houses at North Bridge Road (image for illustration) but have lost this beauty somehow. National brand it was, popular and cheap.
This transistor invention and revolution relieved me of having to sit beside my father's PYE radio and my neighbour's Rediffusion set just to listen to pop music. I could just carry it around. Portability!

I still keep one transistor radio today (above) but this one has AC/DC attachment; so it is being used at home.  I bought it in the early 80's.
Change Alley

I remember too taking a bus all the way to Clifford Pier or was it Shenton Way to look for a more expensive and exclusive transistor radio. And they sold these pocket radios at a place called Change Alley. It was about opposite Clifford Pier, an alley with rows of shops on both sides, selling stuff from fountain pens, watches, tourist souvenirs, curios to clothes and toys. The alley penetrated through to the other end to a huge departmental store called Gian Singh.

Change Alley was actually a shopper's paradise and catered to most tourists wanting to experience an eastern shopping atmosphere. I remember going there because you could bargain for a cheaper price for whatever you wanted to purchase. To avoid the crowds I would go there either before lunch or the best bet was to visit it at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. It was a very shady alley and reasonably cool because it was open-air.

Heartbreak Radio: Roy Orbison
YouTubeVideo from: hirosh58
Thank You.
Tea Dance

Tea Dances too were the in-thing those years when it started. You could go dancing on a week-end afternoon at some of the dance halls at cinemas like the Odeon-Katong and Palace in the East or the one called the Celestial Room where Dhoby Gaut MRT stands today. And a soft drink was like two Singapore dollars. Buy a glass and dance the whole evening to your hearts' content. Two bands were usually on stage to rock your souls out. One band would be the highlight of the evening and the other, the guest band.

So for the younger readers - how many new words have you learnt today? Transistor radio? Nancy and Sluggo? Change Alley? Tea Dance and, snapshot? Now that's a word I haven't heard in years.
A Tea Dance in Singapore 60s night spot. 
Crowds of teenagers sweat the evening away.

*PYE
https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.sg/2012/08/searching-for-my-favourite-chinese.html

Original article: Andy Lim.

Videos and Images from YouTube and Google.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of my favourite comic strips. Built like an Amazon, Nancy was no push over despite the macho name in Sluggo.
So cute.

Anonymous said...

Thank you sir. It's true and she always gets the upper hand... sometimes using her hands. They always do! She even has the choice of listening to her favourite music on the transistor. Me? No choice.

Yours sincerely,
Sluggo.

ANDY: Pop Music Not Pills. © said...

The transistor radio awareness was one of the first postings on the relatively new blog I started. Some paragraphs have been added and photos changed because this post has been copied and published on another Internet copy-cat.

I hope this guy won't copy it again.

henri gann said...

Hey Andy
That's Roy Orbison with a custom built Gretsch body style guitar. Mercy Grrrowl ...

ANDY: Pop Music Not Pills. © said...

Yes, Henri. It's been put up as a teaser before your own photo with the machine. Knowing Mr Orbison, he used the best growl machines when he was around.

Now the younger readers know what a Gretsch machine is.

RKO RADIO YOU TUBE said...

Hmmm, growing up, Nancy was always the lamest comic strip in the paper, that's why you read it. I never knew it had been animated, so I checked Wikipedia: Nancy was featured in two animated shorts by the Terrytoons studio in 1942–43: School Daze and Doing Their Bit.

In 1971, several newly created Nancy and Sluggo cartoons appeared on the Saturday morning cartoon series, Archie's TV Funnies, which starred the Archie Comic Series characters running a television station.

Nancy appeared along with seven other comic strip characters: Emmy Lou, Broom Hilda, Dick Tracy, The Dropouts, Moon Mullins, the Captain and the Kids and Smokey Stover. The series lasted one season.

In 1978, she was also featured in several segments of Filmation's animated show The Fabulous Funnies, a repackaging of Archie's TV Funnies material minus the Archie characters wraparounds.

BARRY HUNTER (ENGLAND) said...

I built my own transistor radio in the early 60's when I was a boy soldier.

SPACEPATROLMAN YOU TUBE said...

APB ROY ORBISON'S GUITAR A GRETSCH WHITE FALCON PAINTED BLACK WITH A GIBSON NECK IT WAS SHIPPED TO JAPAN AND IS MISSING IT WAS USED ON THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW AND THE MONUMENT CONCERT
Reply

MARK HALL YOU TUBE said...

This makes me wonder what it would have been like if Roy hadn't died when he did. I would hope he would have worked with Jeff Lynne of ELO on remastering his ENTIRE catalogue. Between Roy's voice, George Harrison's guitar work and Jeff's studio wizardry, Roy would have made it into the 21st century with guns blazing.

henri gann said...

here's a comment about Roy Orbison's Gretsch from uniqueguitar.blogspot.com...

Musicman1942October 7, 2016 at 4:00 PM
Hi Guys, I played a white Fender Jazz bass with Roy on the road back in 1961-63 and actually got to play this Custom "Gretsch" at his house in Hendersonville, Tn.. (My thing was Chet's finger picking style). I have pictures and 8mm movies, B&W and Color, from those times. Go to YouTube and search for: "The Webs, on the Road with Roy Orbison". (Bobby Goldsboro was in this group and of course, went on to be a star in his own right). Portions of this film has been incorporated into the BBC's new documentary "Roy Orbison: One of the Loney Ones". My name, Amos Tindell, is listed in the end credits.

Roy was the nicest Guy you would ever meet. If you have any questions I'm at nifty1t4@gmail.com

HORACE WEE (PROFESSIONAL GUITARIST said...

Yes, would go straight to the back pages of the Sunday papers to see the comics. Nancy and Sluggo and don't forget Alley Oop! Transistor radios had a tinny sound together with their tiny size. Never thought how the semiconductor would evolve and change the world.