Arts, Crafts, Music, & Events of Breckinridge County Issue 2, July 2015 | Page 59

draw their toy gun from its holster located on the child’s hip,
in order to determine how fast of a shooter they were. No
one of that time hollered it was not politically correct for kids
to have toy guns. Even all we cowgirls had toy guns and
holsters. It was a much more naïve time in history. Kids, at
the end of the show, also sang a song which no selfrespecting kid of today would be caught singing. The song
had lyrics about minding their mom and daddy, brushing their
teeth each night, and looking both ways as they crossed the
street. This show was hosted by “Cactus” Tom Brooks who
wore white make up on his face and funny overalls and Randy
Atcher, who dressed up as a cowboy too.Randy also had a
show on Saturday night called “Hayloft Hoedown”, where
local talent appeared doing square dances and singing
country music. It was much like a miniature “Grand Ole Opry”
imitation, but, at that time it was serious business. Moms in
shows on TV in that time period always dressed in fancy
dresses (even to do the dishes), wore high heels to the
grocery, and when husbands came home from work, they
removed their ruffled apron and ran out in pearls, fancy
dress, heels and all to welcome them home. Dads, of that
time on TV, wore business suits and ties always. They had all
the answers and solved all the problems of the family in thirty
short minutes. Angela Cartwright, to little girls of my age, was
the perfect little girl we all envied, wanting to be like her, as
she bounced aroundweekly on the “Make Room for Daddy”