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Last night, I was at a viewing party for The Pick Up Artist (more on that later, lucky you) and we were all joking around the way that friends do and I made a reference to Picture Pages and the room went silent. No one got my joke, and it did not help when I tried to explain that it was this thing where Bill Cosby did puzzles with his magic talking pen from outer space. I have never felt so old. Here I was making what I thought was a fun pop culture reference when I might as well have been talking about the cigarette girls who used to walk around at the Benny Goodman shows offering filterless Chesterfields for a quarter, and penny candies for the lovely lady as long as she was wearing her gloves. This morning, I recounted this story to a pop culturally astute friend over IM and they had also never heard of Picture Pages. But I know that I did not make it up, and I have the YouTube evidence to prove it.
At least I THINK I have the YouTube evidence to prove it. After last night and this morning, I’m not entirely convinced that YouTube isn’t just a minor invention in the endless fever dream that is my comatose existence and that in reality I’m a 98-year-old man lying in some hospital bed somewhere as his family sits impatiently at his side waiting for him to die.
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Gabe, I must know: what was the Picture Pages/Pick-Up Artist reference you made? I mean, there are so many obvious jokes comparing the two, I just want to know which one you picked.
Gabe, not only do I remember this, I have a little part of my soul that is still bitter at my mother for not buying me the book so I could do Picture Pages at home.
I still sing the theme song from time to time.
I clearly remember Picture Pages.
::wheels away on her Rascal Mobility Scooter::
when I was a kid, I had a for real Mortimer Marker. it made all the sounds and everything. somewhere in the past 30 years it has been lost to time. I hate myself everyday for not having the foresight and understanding about what would be “collectible” and “awesome to still have when you are an old man” c’est la vie.
I, too, had the at home kit, but the pin was silent… To remedy that I usually tied up my nerdier, weaker friends and made them make the sound as I played along.
I had the home kit, but I couldn’t wait for Cosby to get to my pages, so I just drew on it by myself while singing the theme song. Totally anticlimactic.
Odd that you should mention “Picture Pages” since I was just talking about “Pinwheel” & “Today’s Special” this weekend.
I loved Today’s Special. I once referenced that show when I was at the mall and a mannequin’s hat fell off, no one got the joke.
I so loved “Today’s Special”, even though it kind of scared me sometimes when he had to turn back into a mannequin.
Nostalgia clip, almost made my head explode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cxLfIs051c
That was a worthwhile trip, thanks for that link. Too bad that for some reason I find those early 80s computer graphics oddly unsettling. Peoples silhouettes turning into rainbows puts me off, I guess.
I think it’s time you drop these fools who don’t remember Picture Pages.
I remember this, but it’s fuzzy. Around when is it from? Nickelodeon you say?
I did not have any home kit, but I do remember putting saran wrap on the tv and trying to draw on that.
I remember the entire song clearly, but absolutely nothing whatsoever about the show. I don’t know what that means about my brain function.
Thank you, Gabe, for this. I had completely forgotten about this, but the second I heard that pen sound it all came back. I remember especially liking it when the dots were far apart because the sound went on for longer. I don’t remember Bill Cosby’s expressions being so amazing.
Gabe, I love you.
I am so filled with happiness when I read this site. That acting was bad. And the Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals skit from SNL was SPOT ON!
Wasn’t this on in between Pinwheel and Today’s Special?!?
Picture Pages was great fun! You’re not the crazy one here, Gabe.
This exact thing happened to me recently, only one person at the party vaguely remembered it. As others have expressed I also have a deep seeded parental resentment problem based mainly on their failure to buy me the picture pages book and the lego pirate ship. Damn I wanted that lego pirate ship.
References to Booker T Washington and the high cost of living and the sharing of chores? What has HAPPENED to children’s edu-tainment in the twenty years since?
The Bill Cosby Picture Pages were the best. But I can actually remember back to when Captain Kangaroo did them … which makes me older than old, I guess. Which makes my parents older than older than old. I don’t even think time existed before that.
i have no idea what this is…..
also – huh?
My calculus professor made a reference to picture pages, and when no one knew what he was talking about he showed us this same youtube clip. Gabe, you are just like a calculus professor.
AAAGHHGHHHRRRHHHAAA!!!!! Are you kidding?!?!?!? I remember Picture Pages. Hello! The minute I read that I had the song in my head. I also had the at home book & pen that made the noise. I had COMPLETLY forgotten about this until just now. It’s amazing the things that one has done or lived thru or been crazy for and they just totally go out of your head. Thank you so much!!!! Everything for kids was so much better back then
I’m a little late- but I loved this show and I was really sad when I got the picture pages and matching pen for home and the pen didn’t make any sounds… Boo-to that bit of TV Magic…
What about the one guy who drew futuristic landscapes/cityscapes- I can’t for the life of me remember the name of that show. But I do remember that the artist dressed in a futuristic uniform and had a nifty marker holder on his arm and was all about geometric shapes and aliens…Ok- this could be something I made up.
You did not make that show up. Feast your eyes on this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta9KoQZID3U&feature=related
I had this same experience with the Monchichis cartoon (the one about jungle monkeys, named monchichis, with weird ponytails that control a totem pole with a gem necklace to defend themselves from the evil monchichis that live in the ruins. Got that?). I went through 5 years of my life thinking I might have dreamed it up.
OMG! Check it out, some people love Picture Pages so much they get one TATTOOED on their very own leg! Although really, for authenticity she should have gotten a Mortimer Marker on her ankle.
http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2008/10/connect-the-dot.html
I had the picture pages kit at home along with all my pages thrown everywhere around the house. it kind of foreshadowed my high school years with my notebook and homework! I also remember having another kit like it for Sesame Street but i cant recall the premises of it. iv got to look it up and take the trip to memory lane
anyone remember anything like that?