Posted by 
vp19 on 2015.08.30 at 23:37
Current mood: 
nostalgic
Thanks to Carole Lombard, my mind has returned to nearly three decades ago, when millions were experiencing the joy of videocassettes. It’s January 1986, and my mother — never the most technologically adept of ladies (OK, she was a Luddite) — jumped into the mid-eighties high-tech pool and bought a videocassette player/recorder. (Now that I recall, it was my brother, who then was living with her, who probably pushed her into it.)
Hearing the news, I decided they needed a present for their new gizmo, so I bought them a few blank VHS tapes and a pre-recorded videocassette. Recalling that Mom liked old movies, I bought her this — it was cheap and in the public domain:
Now you’ll note the copy lists “Nothing Sacred” as being in black and white, when it actually was in color…washed-out public domain color as I recall it, but color just the same. I brought it to them on Super Bowl Sunday 1986, and a few hours before the Chicago Bears blitzed the New England Patriots (the long-downtrodden Pats in the Super Bowl? What a concept!), we ran “Nothing Sacred.”
Mom enjoyed it, as Lombard was one of her favorites (though no match for Ruby Keeler, as I later learned), but best of all, we discovered the joys of video, and I discovered the joys of Lombard. A few months later, I bought my own machine (from JCPenney, which at the time sold electronics, microwaves and such), joined several video stores and got into the habit big-time. (“Be kind — please rewind.”)
Seeing this Canadian VHS tape on sale at eBay brought back a torrent of memories, and while this tape probably won’t elicit the same reaction from you, if you’re one of the few VHS collectors still around it could have some sentimental value. It’s said to be in very good condition, and its price has been knocked down from $6 to $5.10. What a bargain! However, the sale ends Wednesday. Interested? Visit http://www.ebay.com/itm/CAROLE-LOMBARD-NOTHING-SACRED-VHS-1985-interglobal-/380815521563?hash=item58aa5fb71b to find out more.
And while you’re watching, immerse yourself in the total ’80s experience by wearing legwarmers and drinking a can of New Coke.
Carole & Co. 