Sunday Showcase Review September 4, 1977

September 5th, 1977 was Labor Day and so this September 4, 1977 edition of the Sunday Showcase has a cover devoted to what was once a huge part of my childhood: the annual Jerry Lewis Telethon to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I would sometimes try to watch as much of it as I could on Sunday night when it would begin, but never made it far past midnight. If someone was going to be on it I liked I would try to make sure I caught them during the course of its 21 and a half hour broadcast. The telethon had hit its peak in 1976 with 213 stations carrying it making it, effectively, America's fourth largest television network. Even if you didn't watch a minute of the telethon there would be local drives to raise money for MDA. The telethon was inescapable yet reassuring showing that people cared for others less fortunate. Stories abound of how horrible Jerry Lewis was, but I think we can all agree that the telethon was a good thing.

Jerry conducts the Count Basie Orchestra

The Exit/In was going strong with an eclectic line-up for the week. Fats Domino rated an ad of his own. 

Jimmy Buffett was coming to town soon with Jesse Winchester to play the Grand Ole Opry House.

Al Green was grappling with his decision to become a minister, but was still making secular music with The Belle Album set to come out later in 1977 so I don't know if this concert was going to just be gospel or not. Al Green is an artist that is worth hearing no matter what he's singing about. 

Al singing "Belle" in 1978

Heart was going to play the Tennessee State Fair on September 24, 1977. Note that 15WLAC was promoting it. It was around this time when I was in 5th grade that I would listen to 15WLAC on my father's big battery powered AM/FM/shortwave radio under the covers late at night when I was supposed to be asleep.

Barracuda 1977

The circus was coming to town. There was a WNGE family night. 

I love old camera ads. I prefer Polaroid, but a Kodak will do in a pinch.

Hi-Fi Corner could sell you a Channel F Fairchild Video Entertainment System. It's a really interesting system. Erin Plays gives us a great breakdown on it below the ad.

Erin Plays gives us the lowdown on Channel F

Seventies television had some weird pairings as Darth Vader meets Marty Allen on The Wacko Saturday Morning Preview and Other Good Stuff Special which will air on Channel 5 later that week. That would have been can't miss television for my 10 year old self. 

Then there's Muhammad Ali appearing with Annie's Andrea McArdle on the NBC Saturday morning preview show called "C'mon Saturday!" which was going to air on Friday. I'm pretty sure I watched that one too. I loved those preview shows. They were an absolute must watch so you would be ready for the new Saturday morning shows. As far as this one goes, who didn't like Muhammad Ali plus I had crush on Andrea after seeing her sing on the Tony Awards or some other show. 

The Paramount is screening the Bruce Lee movie Fury Of The Dragon which was actually just several episodes of The Green Hornet edited together. It's rather shameless.

More like fury of Kato

Audio Systems is selling the amazing black box that "unscratches" records! It appears to be just a noise tampering filter to me. I decided to see if I could find a video on YouTube about it and, sure enough, I did. 

Guy starts the test around 5:12 into the video

The Top 10 Records are Elvis heavy with his recent death casting a shadow on the charts with Ronnie McDowell's "The King Is Gone", Leon Everette's "Goodbye To The King of Rock 'n' Roll", along with Elvis's "Way Down" taking up a just under a third of the top 10. My 3 favorites from this chart round out this week's Sunday Showcase review. Next week will feature a State Fair insert so hope to see you then.

the lights are going dim

Meco is an honorary Jedi

so you're having trouble with your romance