Deaths: Original Svengoolie-- Nintendo Guy-- Mister Moose

1. JERRY G. BISHOP, 77 --Died Sept. 15th. Former radio and TV host best known as the original Svengoolie. Nothing like watching a hokey horror movie with the Sven's even more hokey comments and sight gags.

HIROSHI YAMAUCHI, 85. Died Sept. 19th. Ran Nintendo for 53 years and transformed the company into the world's biggest maker of video games. We've sure come a long way from Pong even if I don't play video games, I'm impressed. Well, I was sort of hooked on a video game called Slither back in the early 80s.

COSMO ALLEGRETTI, 86. Died July 26th Puppeteer who gave life to "Captain Kangaroo's" Grandfather Clock, Running Bear, Bunny Rabbit and Mister Moose. I was a big fan of the Captain and especially like Bunny Rabbit and Mister Moose.

Deaths: The Interview-- Cleveland-- Nintendo

DAVID FROST, died Aug. 31, at age 74. I couldn't stand that accent or hair, but that was one great bit of sparring on the Nixon interview.

THAT GUY IN CLEVELAND (who will go nameless) -- With the three women hostages. Good! 

HIROSHI YAMAUCH, 85. President of Nintendo since 1949. All those video games. I only have ever bought one video game and that was Pong. Also, majority owner of the Seattle Mariners.

Some Anniversaries: Oreos and Video Games

The OREO COOKIE as we know it, was invented in New York City on March 6, 1912, and celebrating its 100th munch or dip-day, depending on your leaning.  More than 95 million of them are sold each day.  I don't dip them in milk, wash them down with milk, or split them open and eat the frosting first.  I just munch them and smile.

The VIDEO GAME is most likely 40 years old this fall.  It first appeared in bowling alleys and bars in 1972, and then, remember this, the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home-gaming system arrived the same time.

This was as far as ever got in home-gaming as we did buy one in '73 or '74.  I thought, wow, is this neat.  How do they do that?  But, compared to today's home video games, it wasn't much, but you have to start somewhere.  Wish we hadn't given the Odyssey console away.  It might be worth something today.

As far as video games in bars and places, I didn't make it much past Pac-Man.  Asteroids were a particular favorite of mine.

Blip...Blip...Blip.  --Cooter