Carry-On Camping

A coworker doing repairs on his house found a section of newspaper from 1971. He brought it in because of an article about Augusta Mental Health Institute's forensic unit, which in fact, was pretty interesting. AMHI is no longer a going concern, but the stories had similarity to my own experience starting at NH State Hospital in 1978.

Old newspapers have their own brief fascination. Michigan's Bo Schembechler was advocating for a college football playoff, The Patriots were improving under new QB Jim Plunkett and surprising rookie WR Randy Vataha. Prices in ads always elicit a chuckle, and long-closed restaurants come back in memory.

There were also movie ads. "Gone With The Wind" was playing. In those days movies were re-released infrequently, and in between you couldn't see them for any money. If you didn't catch GWTW this time around, you might wait five years or more. The Strand Theater, where my mother first had to pay adult price for me when I turned 12 and we went to see "The Sound of Music," now had a XXX feature with Platinum-something in the name. 1971...I turned 18 that April before leaving for college...X-rated theater right there on Hanover St, where I often walked...how had I missed this?

There was also an ad for an R-rated comedy I had never heard of. It was apparently one of more than two dozen "Carry-On" films, British comedies with similar casts each film.



They don't make 'em like that anymore, eh?