Do you know.......?

Borderstone · 03-22-2003, 07:59 PM

Do you know that the names Gordon mentions in "The Pony Man" are the same for all but 1 main character on 3rd Rock From The Sun? In his song Gord mentions Tom & Dick & Sally and Mary (JO and Me). Do you also know that they did an episode of that show where they go to a GL concert and Sally tries to get an interview with him? (He's not in the episode of course.) What's more is,there's the other alien Harry and Gord played a character named Harry in "Harry Tracey". Coincidence? I think Not!

Your thoughts,please. Borderstone,outta here and Alberta Bound!

SomewhereupinMichigan · 03-22-2003, 10:40 PM

Well, Tom & Dick & Sally are pretty common names....remember Tom & Sally, Dick & Jane from the grade school readers of the late 50s and 60s? Maybe not, I think you are a bit too young. I wouldn't necessarily affix too much significance to those names. MaryJo is less common but I don't think that's one of the 3rd Rock names, is it? The other part about attending the concert might suggest some special significance. Could be a producer of 3rd Rock is a GL fan but that may, or may not, mean any signicance to the names. I tend to think not. The use of Harry and Gord appearing in the movie - pure coincidence I think. Sorry Border, you've raised a lot of good points here, but I'm not buying into this one. Somewhere, hangin' out and bound for nowhere!

Borderstone · 03-23-2003, 06:54 PM

I know it's coincidence and I'm just kind of goofing around anyway. I just thought it was an "Incredible" coincidence that the names in the song & show & movie are the same. Y U trying 2 roo-in my fun?

Borderstone,O.H. & A.B.

roseanna · 03-23-2003, 08:44 PM

They do go to the moon in that song. Maybe you're on to something Borderstone. outta here and celestial bound.

SomewhereupinMichigan · 03-23-2003, 09:29 PM

Sorry Border...not intentional to roo-in u-r phun!

Somewhere...S.H.H. & B.F.N.

Oma · 03-24-2003, 02:57 PM

quote:Originally posted by SomewhereupinMichigan:
remember Tom & Sally, Dick & Jane from the grade school readers of the late 50s and 60s?

Uh...I remember Sally, Dick and Jane books!!! First grade if I remember right...gee, that was a long time ago. Those books taught me to read. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

Borderstone · 03-24-2003, 03:12 PM

Hey Roseanna:Thank you for your support! For that act of kindness I hearby dub you "Dream Street Roseanna!"

The Dick & Jane books? They had those in my kindergarten when I was 5 in '73! Then also I had Sesame Stret and The Electric Company to teach me as well. HMMM...maybe Letterman could play Gord in a movie! Ha ha. Borderstone,outta here and Alberta Bound faster than a rolling "O"!

SomewhereupinMichigan · 03-24-2003, 05:03 PM

Oma: See Spot! See Spot run! See Dick chase Spot! Run Spot run! See Jane! See Jane run after Spot! (This trip down memory lane brought to you by Dick and Jane readers - available on e-bay.)

TheWatchman · 03-24-2003, 05:57 PM

I remember those too! I remember sitting with a kid on the bus, on the way home from school reading those books. He was 1 or 2 years ahead of me and he would help me. First grade it was. As we rounded the corner by my street, the bus driver, who was an older man, would stop at the local suds shop and we were aloud to go in and by a couple of pretzel rods out of the BIG jar next to the register. Funny some of things that come to mind with something as simple as "see Jane run". Great childhood memories from a much simpler time.

SomewhereupinMichigan · 03-24-2003, 10:31 PM

Yeah, and odd how we get off on some of these tangents. Border started this thread by posing the question as to whether Tom & Dick & Sally had a connection to a 3rd Rock episode. I would suggest that there is a greater coincidence that Gord learned from some of the same elementary readers as a youngster growing up in Canada. The Dick & Jane series got its start in the 1940s (maybe even the 30s) and it is entirely possible that his first school books included this series. It pretty much died out as the educational tool of choice by the late 60s/1970 when a new generation of training tools took hold. I'm thinking Gord gravitated to these names as recollections of his youth as he was writing a song to be sung as a bedtime story for his children, which was the true origin of The Pony Man. What do you think?

Borderstone · 03-25-2003, 04:01 PM

It's true that he drew from child hood rcollection and then wrote it for his kids,it was mentioned in the liner notes of the "Songbook" CD set. Just read the little book that comes with it,if you don't have it yet. B-Stone,O.H. & A.B.

MaryEllen · 03-26-2003, 02:26 PM

Borderstone, reading your last post and its reference to "little book" reminded me of *another* childhood frame-of-reference memory that this song triggers--and I hadn't even been aware of it before!

I know you were referring to the little book that came with the "Songbook" set, but I recall a very small, red-covered book called "Ponies" that I insisted my Mom or Dad read to me every night before I would go to sleep for about 2 years when I was a toddler. (And, boy, did they get sick of it!) I know it was still around in the 80s, because I got it as a gift then, but I haven't seen it since.

I think if I *really* tried, I could recite the whole thing, even today--anyway, I know it starts with:

"The ponies all stand by the fence where they're tied
while the children buy tickets so they can ride."

Does anyone else remember "Ponies," the novel? I wonder if Gord might have been inspired from reading/hearing it read to his oldest kids in the 60s?

There is no "pony man" in the book, BTW, just kids, who are paired up with various-colored equines.

Brian 57 · 03-26-2003, 07:58 PM

Down the hall their voices ring, see Dick and Jane run
Phantoms on the winter sky, together they do come...

06-04-2003, 07:12 PM

I have never watched 3rd rock from the sun,but now I think I have too. Has anyone beside Borderstone seen this eppisode? Just so it does not take forever to find,what year of the series was that? Thank you in advance. Bye now.

06-06-2003, 01:51 PM

I'm probably telling you more than you'd care to know about this subject, but Dick, Jane, Sally, and their dog Spot were featured characters in the very old Scott-Foresman basal reader series. The books probably extended from pre-primer to second grade level or so. Some of you may have read from the Ginn basic readers, which featured Tom, Betty, Susan, and their dog, whose name may have been Flip, but I'm not absolutely sure. That series, too, probably extended from roughly pre-primer to second grade level.

quote:Originally posted by SomewhereupinMichigan:
Yeah, and odd how we get off on some of these tangents. Border started this thread by posing the question as to whether Tom & Dick & Sally had a connection to a 3rd Rock episode. I would suggest that there is a greater coincidence that Gord learned from some of the same elementary readers as a youngster growing up in Canada. The Dick & Jane series got its start in the 1940s (maybe even the 30s) and it is entirely possible that his first school books included this series. It pretty much died out as the educational tool of choice by the late 60s/1970 when a new generation of training tools took hold. I'm thinking Gord gravitated to these names as recollections of his youth as he was writing a song to be sung as a bedtime story for his children, which was the true origin of The Pony Man. What do you think?

Auburn Annie · 06-06-2003, 03:17 PM

Ah, yes. "See Dick run. Run, Dick, run." See Annie frow up. I remember them all too well. Dr. Seuss did it better.

"He started his Cat in the Hat series when he read an article by the novelist John Hersey who observed that the early readers used in schools were pallid and idiotic. Told that they had to be because they used only words on the Dolch reading list, Seuss took 223 of those words and created a funny, zany book worth reading. Together with his wife Helen Palmer, he launched a whole line of Beginner Books some of which he wrote and illustrated. Sometimes he wrote under the name of Theo LeSieg (Geisel spelled backwards) and let others illustrate. Still others were done by other authors and illustrators but they all used the same, scholastically approved word lists, and revolutionized children's beginning reading books."
http://www.carolhurst.com/authors/drseuss.html

Oma · 06-09-2003, 08:36 AM

quote:Originally posted by Auburn Annie:
Dr. Seuss did it better.

"Green Eggs and Ham", one of my all time favorite stories!!!

Oh, also the one about the Starbelly Sneetches...what a great description of the human condition! And, of course, "Horton Hears a Who"! I guess the list could go on and on...

Borderstone · 06-09-2003, 05:59 PM

"Cat! Hat! In French Chap Chappeau! In spanish Mi El Gato in de Sombrero!"

Remeber that song from the cartoon? I also remember this,"Thing 2 and thing 1! They can find anything,anything under the sun! Thing 2 and thing 1!

Great memory huh? I watched those between 20 to 30 years ago! Hate to be a grinch but I gotta go! Catch ya on the flipside of Sundown!

(I will not catch you on a plane,I will not catch you on a train,I will not catch you in Eastern spain! I will catch ya flipside of Sundown Man! So there! Sam I Am!

)

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Borderstone (Also known as,"The B!")

[This message has been edited by Borderstone (edited June 09, 2003).]


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