Wonderful World of Videotapes

     Does anybody else remember what the world was like before the VCR was invented? Videotape players seem quaint now, maybe even obsolete. But at the time, boy, were they exciting. It was 1981 or so, and I was probably 12 years old. My dad brought home a beautiful Sony Beta max!!! It was stainless steel, and primitive by today's standards. It had push down buttons, like the kind you see on an audio tape recorder. It only had one speed, Beta 1, which was fast, and recorded 90 minutes.
     It was such a novelty to be able to record programs that you wanted to see again. I'm trying to remember what's on some of our oldest tapes. American Graffiti, old B&W movies with Cagney and Bogart, Andy Griffith. We had lots of bits and pieces that today are irreplaceable: clips from local news broadcasts, music videos from MTV when they actually showed music! (Joe Jackson's Steppin' Out, Steve Winwood's Still in the Game, are etched in my mind forever. I wonder how MTV went down the tubes, but that's an article for another day).
    One of the funniest clips on an old tape was from "Dick Clark's bloopers and practical jokes". It may have been a dumb show, but the clip of local Boston clown Willie Whistle laugh/whistling as a huge boa constrictor is crawling down his pants has to be one of the funniest moments in TV history. The last time I saw it I laughed so hard I cried. I don't know where that video is now, because the Beta machines (we had at least 3 or 4 of them) have long since been stored away. The newest one is underneath a VHS, a DVD/VHS combo player, and the regular DVD player. It would be great to use it, but we'd have to re-wire the cables, and that's too much trouble.  Before I post this, I'm going to see if Willie Whistle's clip is on you-tube. It's worth seeking out!
     I got the original idea for this article a few minutes ago, as I dug through a pile of VHS tapes. Whenever we run out if DVDs to watch, we plug the VCR in, and watch one of thousands of tapes that are piled up all over the place. One thing about having a VCR and blank tapes, I had a penchant for recording everything, or so it seems. And I didn't always have the brains to mark the tapes. So we have lots of great programs that I will never be able to find, unless it's by accident.   Then I have that I have recorded multiple times, "just in case" one gets lost, or recorded over by accident. That happened a lot too.
     When VCRs first came out, remember how expensive the blank tapes were? You had to be a little bit selective in what you chose to tape, and take the ads out so there would be enough time (especially if it was a movie.) Our brand of choice was TDK, and we always went with the high grade tape. I don't care what anybody says, Beta was far superior to VHS as far as I'm concerned. VHS won the popularity contest, and when Beta was phased out, we ended up getting one. The tapes were bigger, took up more space.
    When DVD players came out, (and video discs before them), some people abandoned their video collections to go to the new format. Just like when Cd's replaced cassettes in the music world.  But not us- we still use our videotapes to this day. Blank tapes are still available, but not as easy to find.  DVDs do have two things going for them- smaller size and not having to re-wind. But videotapes are good because you can stop a show and it stays where you stopped.
    At work we have hundreds of videos that we can't use since we got all new large screen Hi-def TV's.  We need a combo player. Pronto. My boss is working on it.
    The video tapes at my house are stacked all over, like building blocks, and some are nicely organized in boxes, never to see the light of day unless I finally get to that winter project- viewing all the ones that are not labeled, finding rare clips of old snow storms and old baseball and hockey games.  I miss the past, but it's all there. I hope some historian doing an archaeological dig 1000 years from now finds my video tapes. They will enjoy that Willie Whistle clip!!!!

     I'm so excited I found the clip! See if this doesn't make you laugh out loud!!!! Enjoy!