Old Fashioned is Often Better

I remember growing up thinking that the phrase “Old Fashioned” sounded so bad. When I heard the phrase the first thing that came to mind was the Winter Sisters. They were two old spinsters that my father bought who our house from. They dressed in Victorian garb, long black dresses, laced boots and black head bonnets. To me that was old fashioned.

Somehow the term, “Old Fashioned” has gone from a term to describe that which is archaic to that which is quality or retro. I’m sure the redefinition came about because of the nostalgic Baby Boomers that have seemed to redefine so much to accommodate their fond memories or to remake not so fond memories into to something better.

Some products have become “New and Improved” over the years, however most of them never needed to be. I’ve been doing a little research on an old thing I grew up with and found myself shocked at the revised image. This would be the image of Bazooka Joe.



If you grew up when I did you could expect a “swell” prize in your Cracker Jacks and you could expect a Bazooka Joe Comic when you opened your Bazooka Bubblegum. The photos above are of Bazooka Joe and his turtle-necked friend Mort from 1954 until 1981.




Look what they did to Joe and poor Mort in 1983. Mort looks like a character in Pogo




They didn't have any new comics from 1986 - 1988, but when they returned in 1989 they had this for the next ten years.




Finally this is the way they look in the present and have looked this way since 2000. With Mort they are obviously going for an amalgamation of R. Crumb, Bill Griffith, Grim Natwick and Dr. Seuss. Were these changes really necessary?