"Blasts From the Past" (1962)

[Wilson Gray]

On Mar 30, 2005, at 5:42 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Blasts From the Past" (1962)
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>
> "Watching the submarine races" means lounging about on a river bank,
> lake shore, margin of the sea, etc., engaging in amorous
> demonstrations while supposedly enjoying unseen competitions between
> underwater craft.
>
> JL
>

Thanks, Jon. I sorta kinda figured something like doing the same thing
at a drive-in movie. But these lost-virginity locations were already
ancient history by the '70's.

-Wilson

> Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: "Blasts From the Past" (1962)
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> --------
>
> On Mar 30, 2005, at 9:46 AM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
>> Subject: Re: "Blasts From the Past" (1962)
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>> -
>> --------
>>
>> On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 05:41:16 EST, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>>
>>> I remember "blast from the past" from Wolfman Jack in the film
>>> AMERICAN
>>> GRAFFITI. It's at least from 1962. "Blast from the past" is not in
>>> the OED.
>>> ...
>>> Display Ad 9 -- No Title
>>> Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1963). Chicago, Ill.: Jan 19, 1962. p. 10
>>> (1
>>> page)
>>> ...
>>> meet JIM LOUNSBURY in person
>>> Bring the gang...and have the fun of meeting Jim Lounsbury in person
>>> in
>>> The Fair's record section, second floor. He'll be autographing copies
>>> of
>>> his great new album, "Blasts from The Past" ($3.98)--all songs that
>>> have
>>> sold a million copies or more!
>>> (SEARS ad--ed.)
>>
>> Let's not give a Chicago DJ credit for a New York invention! "Blast
>> from
>> the past" is generally attributed to 1010-WINS DJ Murray Kaufman, aka
>> "Murray the K", or the station's assistant program director Rick
>> Sklar:
>>
>> -----
>> http://www.1960sailors.net/05b_Murray_the_K.htm
>> As the overnight host of the "Swingin' Soiree," which began in
>> mid-1958,
>> Murray Kaufman built a large following that readily tuned in earlier
>> every
>> day after Murray assumed Alan Freed's primetime slot when the payola
>> scandals of 1959 caused Freed's sudden fall from grace. Kaufman was
>> the
>> creative genius who invented both the "blast from the past" and
>> "submarine
>> race watching."
>
> WTF *is* a "submarine race"? I first heard this term used by the other
> "Little Walter," *the* oldies DJ in the greater Boston area, in 1972.
> Walter often played a doo-wop oldie entitled "Submarine Race
> [?Watching"?] and also used the term regularly in his patter. I had
> come to Boston from California, where both the song and the term were
> unknown. Apparently, it was such an old and well-known term in the
> Boston area that Walter never felt the need to give the slightest hint
> as to its meaning and the words of the song also assumed prior
> knowledge of the meaning of the phrase.
>
> -Wilson Gray
>
>> -----
>> http://musicradio.computer.net/Sklar.html
>> At WINS Rick also met and worked with another legendary disc jockey;
>> Murray "the K" Kaufman. In fact, it was Rick Sklar who was responsible
>> for
>> Murray Kaufman picking up the name "Murray the K". And, it was also
>> Rick
>> who coined the phrase "a blast from the past" as a way to introduce
>> oldies
>> on Murray’s WINS show.
>> -----
>>
>> There's a clip on of Murray the K
>> saying,
>> "This is Murray the K on the Swingin' Soiree with a blast > effect>
>> from the past..." Don't know what year that's from, but there was a
>> 1961
>> album of oldies called "Murray the K's Blasts From the Past":
>> .
>>
>>
>> --Ben Zimmer
>>
>
>
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