Wednesday, March 24, 2010

"Ugga Ugga Boo..."

Hey, Y'all,
What in the world does that mean? Have you ever heard that before? The other evening when our neighbors were here and we were talking, that phrase popped into my mind and I said it aloud, wondering from what recesses of my memory it came. The next day, (yesterday), I went to my trusty computer browser and entered the whole phrase: "Ugga Ugga Boo, Ugga Boo Boo Ugga". Lo and behold, it came from the Mel Blanc Radio Show on CBS in 1946. On his show, he was the proprietor of a fix-it shop with motto, "you bend it, we mend it". Also on the show he belonged to the fraternal lodge, The Loyal Order of Benevolent Zebras, and the access password was "Ugga Ugga Boo, Ugga Boo Boo Ugga". I read also on the entry that in 1947, Spike Jones and his City Slickers Band came out with a song with that same title.

I am sure my brothers and my sister and I had repeated the phrase many times in jest. We were loyal listeners of the radio shows. How many of the following radio shows have you ever heard? "Can You Top This?" ( a show full of jokes told by comedians trying to top one another with clean jokes, even), "The Arkansas Traveler", "Fibber McGhee and Molly" (with their closet that was jammed with stuff that fell out when the door was opened - and it was each week), "Lum and Abner" (who ran a jot 'em down store),
"Burns and Allen" (with George Burns and Gracie Allen), "Inner Sanctum Mysteries" (with a screaking door), "The Shadow" (who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men), "The Green Lantern" and "The Green Hornet", "Superman", "Terry and the Pirates", "Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy". On Saturday mornings they aired "Let's Pretend" which presented fairy tales, and following that there was "Armstrong Theater" which did plays each week.

Then there were the daytime soapers, "Ma Perkins", "Young Widder Brown", "Our Gal Sunday", "Life Can be Beautiful", "One Man's Family", "Lorenzo Jones" (he was an inventor), "Young Dr. Malone", "Search for Tomorrow" (it actually began on radio), "Portia Faces Life".

Well, that is my walk down memory lane this morning. My family, along with others, I am sure, enjoyed our years of listening to drama, comedy and music on radio. There was not a lot of entertainment available during those years. Of course, we played together and shared the common bond of relationships. Our family was very close and remained close. We did not have those explosions that happen in so many families, breaking them apart, and we have our parents to thank for that.

Today is the middle of the week and the weather is going to be beautiful. We have plans to go into Knoxville tomorrow for our "movie day". I talked to both Mae and Imazo yesterday, and Mae told me she was walking around in her yard yesterday and fell. She did not break anything, thank God, but she told me this morning that she is black and blue all over. She is 90 and still gets around really well, all things considered. She is having some tests today, an EKG and scanning the carotid arteries in her neck and ankles. Maybe an echo cardiogram as well. These were already scheduled and had nothing to do with the fall. We are so thankful that she didn't break anything yesterday.

Gramps spent most of yesterday in bed, and only got up around four to eat. I made a good breakfast for him at that time, and it wasn't long before he headed back to bed. He is up early this morning and is eating breakfast. I need to go in there and have my breakfast in a few minutes. I got up early this morning so that I could call Mae as a back up to her alarm clock. She has to go in at 8 a.m. this morning for her tests. When I called her at 7 she told me she had not slept good because she was worried she wouldn't hear her alarm. She had already had her shower and brushed her teeth and was getting dressed when I called her.

Well, that is about it for right now. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. More later. Much love to each of you. Bye for now.

4 comments:

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Hello Ruby, have never heard of that expression over here.
Hope the weather is better , today we have actually saw some sun.

Take care and have fun,
Yvonne.

Serbian Mink said...

Tia,

you can enjoy the shows you mentioned again on Sirius Satellite radio. there is an entire channel that plays these pre-TV shows 24/7. you can install Sirius at home or in your car. we have it in my Volvo. S. Mink
p.s. Vern has lost 50 lb in 2 months.

Tanya said...

cute post, i wish radio shows were still so entertaining :)

Wayne said...

That nonsensical phrase "Ugga ugga boo ugga boo boo ugga" popped into my head today for no apparent reason. I vaguely remembered it had a connection with Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters). So I looked it up and found that indeed the phrase originated on Mel Blanc's radio show. More important, I found this very entertaining post about old radio days. Thank you.