Raleigh Chopper

The Raleigh Chopper is a children’s bicycle, a wheelie bike, manufactured and marketed in the 1970s by the Raleigh Bicycle Company of Nottingham, England. Its unique design became a cultural icon, and is fondly remembered by many who grew up in that period. Based on the look of a customised chopper motorcycle, made popular with films such as Easy Rider, the Chopper bike was the “must have” item and signifier of “coolness” for many children at the time.

Children’s Palace

Child World was an American chain of toy stores that was founded in Avon, Massachusetts in 1970. Child World once boasted 182 stores and revenues of approximately $830 million annually. From 1977 until its closure Child World also operated the Children’s Palace chain of stores after acquiring it from Kobacker Stores, and later incorporated most of the aesthetic design features from the latter chain into Child World stores.

Challenge Of The Super Friends

Challenge of the Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from September 9, 1978, to December 23, 1978, on ABC. The complete series (16 episodes) was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for Warner Bros. Television and is based on the Justice League and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics and created by Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. It was the third series of Super Friends cartoons, following the original Super Friends in 1973 and The All-New Super Friends Hour in 1977. It continues to air on Boomerang in the United States. Click here to watch the intro »

B.J. & The Bear

B.J. and the Bear is an American comedy series which aired on NBC from 1979 to 1981. Created by Christopher Crowe and Glen A. Larson, the series stars Greg Evigan and Claude Akins.

In the 1995 movie Mallrats, Jason Lee’s character Brodie makes a reference to the show with: “Why don’t they ever bring back or remake good shows, like ‘BJ and the Bear.’ Now there’s a concept I can’t get enough of, a man and his monkey”.

In an episode of My Name is Earl, Earl’s brother Randy asks Joy why a chimp was named “Bear”. She obligingly explains that B.J. McKay was a fan of the University of Alabama’s football team, hence the moniker.

In the series Breaking Bad a replica of the red and white Kenworth appears in the episode “One Minute.”

Seattle Washington indie rock group “Minus the Bear” derives their name from a joke referencing B.J. and the Bear. “A friend of the band had gone on a date,” explains singer-guitarist Jake Snider, “and one of us asked him afterwards how the date went. Our friend said, ‘You know that TV show from the ’70s B.J. and The Bear? It was like that… minus The Bear.’ That’s the straight truth.”

The Six Million Dollar Man

The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI (which was variously referred to as the Office of Scientific Intelligence, the Office of Scientific Investigation or the Office of Strategic Intelligence). The show is based on the novel Cyborg by Martin Caidin, and during pre-production, that was the proposed title of the series. It aired on the ABC network as a regular series from 1974 to 1978, following three television movies aired in 1973. The title role of Steve Austin was played by Lee Majors, who subsequently became a pop culture icon of the 1970s. A spin-off of the show was produced, The Bionic Woman, as well as several television movies featuring both eponymous characters. Click here to watch the intro »