How do you remember Phoenix? Stories from long time residents... (Tempe: community college, department store)

[azdr0710]

we always had good luck with Cornforth's for appliances and car A/C repair.....they seemed like a good old local hometown business....

are they still around?....any remembrances of them?....

I could google them, of course, but wouldn't hear any comments from you on them that way!....

[GilbertMom]

In 1965 there was a movie made about over population in the U.S. in the year 2065. In fact, that was the name of the movie, 2065, I think. I have looked and looked and can't find anything about it, but I remember watching it on TV. The gold "punchcard" building at Central and Osborn was used as an apartment building where people were cramped into small apartments and had to rat out their neighbors in order to get their sick child into a hospital because the world had become so overcrowded.

Does anyone else remember this strange movie being filmed in Phoenix? There is nothing about it on the IMDB.

[Arizona Mike]

Originally Posted by GilbertMom

In 1965 there was a movie made about over population in the U.S. in the year 2065. In fact, that was the name of the movie, 2065, I think. I have looked and looked and can't find anything about it, but I remember watching it on TV. The gold "punchcard" building at Central and Osborn was used as an apartment building where people were cramped into small apartments and had to rat out their neighbors in order to get their sick child into a hospital because the world had become so overcrowded.

Does anyone else remember this strange movie being filmed in Phoenix? There is nothing about it on the IMDB.

I do remember it, but can't remember the title. If we're thinking of the same movie, it was filmed in different parts of Phoenix and was an early made-for-tv movie (maybe one of those anthology TV shows that was popular at that time, like "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater" - it wasn't on the big SF shows like Twilight Zone or Outer Limits). Part of it was also filmed at the Celebrity Theater at 440 N. 32nd St., which at the time was known as the "Star Theater". The plot involved a foot race with the grand prize being a small piece of land to live on away from the hordes of people populating the earth. The race started at the Celebrity Theater. (A friend was an extra for the scene - I'd ask him the title, but he has, sadly, passed away since then.) The only other thing I can remember is at the end, as the hero has won the race and the prize, and the last scene shows he and his wife on a little square of grass - then slowly zooms out to show them surrounded by hundreds of other people.

I thought Robert Culp was in it, but I checked his filmography on IMDB and didn't find anything similar (and 1965 sounds about right, for the time frame). I think it was only on TV, not released theatrically. Hope this jogs your memory.

[roosevelt]

Originally Posted by Arizona Mike

I do remember it, but can't remember the title. If we're thinking of the same movie, it was filmed in different parts of Phoenix and was an early made-for-tv movie (maybe one of those anthology TV shows that was popular at that time, like "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater" - it wasn't on the big SF shows like Twilight Zone or Outer Limits). Part of it was also filmed at the Celebrity Theater at 440 N. 32nd St., which at the time was known as the "Star Theater". The plot involved a foot race with the grand prize being a small piece of land to live on away from the hordes of people populating the earth. The race started at the Celebrity Theater. (A friend was an extra for the scene - I'd ask him the title, but he has, sadly, passed away since then.) The only other thing I can remember is at the end, as the hero has won the race and the prize, and the last scene shows he and his wife on a little square of grass - then slowly zooms out to show them surrounded by hundreds of other people.

ABC Stage 67 television show called "People Trap" with Vera Miles in 1966. Also Stuart Whitman.

I always thought Vera Miles was a knock out, former beauty queen; I would have liked to have been trapped with her.......

[Arizona Mike]

Originally Posted by roosevelt

ABC Stage 67 television show called "People Trap" with Vera Miles in 1966. Also Stuart Whitman.

I always thought Vera Miles was a knock out, former beauty queen; I would have liked to have been trapped with her.......

That's it - good memory, Roosevelt!

It aired 11/9/1966. It was written by Earl Hamner, who would go on to create "The Waltons", from the short story by veteran SF writer Robert Sheckley. It starred Lew Ayres, Connie Stevens, Lee Grant, Vera Miles, Michael Rennie, Mort Sahl, Pearl Bailey, Jackie Robinson, Cesar Romero, Phil Harris, and Estelle Winwood.

IMDB describes it:

This episode portrays the story of a world so over populated that open land is almost completely gone. It is 2067 and there is so little space left that children are not allowed without government approvals, and there is literally no place to live.

In an effort to provide for his family the James Whitman character "Steve" enters one of the last "Land races" where the winner will receive title to one acre of land carved from one of the last remaining national parks.

The story follows Steve through the race and his encounters with other competitors and observers. He has a brief tryst with a woman who in the end helps him, but challenges his faith in his marriage.

While the issue of world population plays a strong background part in this presentation, it is not really pressed home until the end of the program. While overpopulation is not frequently mentioned in the popular press today, at the time this program was made it was a much debated topic of popular and scientific concern.

The scene at the end is both chilling and provocative.

This is a must see should it ever be made available on video

TV.com gives more details:

Story was about a young couple living in one of those overpopulated futures where you have to have a special permit to have a child. They get a little careless, and the wife gets pregnant. If you don't have the permit, your child will be put in cold storage at birth. Later, if you can get a permit, the government will unfreeze the baby and give it back to you. They have a neighbor who has one of those kids, but he's never been quite right in the head since he was thawed out. The couple's only hope is for the husband to win a foot race whose first prize is an acre of land and a baby permit. All the other competitors have agreed that if they win, they'll sell the land to a Big Corporation. The husband won't sell, so the Big Corporation does various underhanded things to keep him from winning. He has to climb over a building to avoid them and win the race. At the end of the movie, the couple and their kid are frolicking on their land while a solid mass of people watches them through a chain-link fence.

Probably one of the first filmed stories set in an overpopulated future - a lot of others followed - SOYLENT GREEN, Z.P.G., THE LATHE OF HEAVEN.

[jackster1953]

Does anyone remember all of the slot car places you could take your car too. Off hand I can remember about four lacations in central Phoenix. and how about the old airport skywalk, you could spend hours there watching the plains come and go. I graduated from East High in 72, was such a beautiful campus, hated to see it demolished.

[jackster1953]

My Father is also burried there, Been there since 1970. Lots of rabbits there LOL

[Westside Willie]

Originally Posted by beazy1

Wow, I had totally forgotten about Wallace and Ladmo until I read this these threads!

Really. You forgot about Wallace & Ladmo. Really.

Thats like saying you forgot to breathe.

I cant remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but if I live to be a million zillion years old, I could never forget W&L.

Here's a clip of what is arguably the quintessential moment that shall forever be seared into my memory of the show. The Human Bagpipes.

Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mL8CYC3CVI

[roosevelt]

Originally Posted by Westside Willie

Really. You forgot about Wallace & Ladmo. Really.

Thats like saying you forgot to breathe.

I cant remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but if I live to be a million zillion years old, I could never forget W&L.

Here's a clip of what is arguably the quintessential moment that shall forever be seared into my memory of the show. The Human Bagpipes.

Enjoy

After watching the youtube segment I ran across this gem with W&L and Joe Bethancourt:


YouTube - Joe Bethancourt - Wallace & Ladmo and a Paper Sack

[observer53]

I looked at that one, too. Love Wal-Boy and Ladmo, and the whole gang-- a much loved memory from childhood and beyond, as I went to high school with Wallace's daughter.