It's true. She was a bit concerned about how upset I was about some of the events of 1968 including the murder of MLK and Robert Kennedy and decided that I should sit down with her and watch, in prime time, Liberace and the Young Folk (the name of the group) perform 'Feelin' Groovy' on The Red Skelton Hour. Although I was born a member of the silent generation as they called us (1941), I considered myself a member of the 60s generation. I wasn't a radical or anything like that but I was upset, very upset, by how angry people were in 1968 about the Vietnam War, about politics and the government lying (pre-Watergate), about assassinations and black power. It seemed as though society was fracturing and this performance was so "normal". Feeling groovy was never my thing. When I look at this today I smile because this sweet and innocent aspect of what was presented each evening in the lATE 1960s on prime time American television seemed to ignore (until Norman Lear produced All In The Family) what a good part of America was feeling. Studies showed that more than half of America felt like I did, that things were not good and getting worse.

Liberace to me was something else. He was a child prodigy and during those years he was the highest paid entertainer in the world! He was incredibly flamboyant in his dress and in his speech and I don't know that TV audiences would accept him today in prime time. Let me just say that he was a bita effeminate. He had a huge following of people like my grandmother who enjoyed his innocent and sweet ways and the smiles coming from all the singers aimed directly at viewers as we sat in front of the TV eating our TV dinners. My favorite was macaroni and cheese but my mother wanted me to eat more protein so she got me a hamburger with mashed potatoes and gravy – cooked in the stove in 18 minutes!

As for the Simon and Garfunkel song:
Slow down, you move too fast
You got to make the morning last
Just kicking down the cobblestones
Looking for fun and feeling groovy
Ba da-da da-da da-da, feeling groovy

I assume that there are members of the baby boom generation, the 60s generation, who felt that groovy way some of the time with a dose of marijuana, but for me - I was a working man and an up-and-coming documentary filmmaker who when I think back on it, didn't really know what the word fun or groovy meant.

I am eager to hear what my subscribers think about this clip and whether it gives them a smile as it gives me. Please Leave me a comment and let me know if you're one of the folks who taps your foot when you watch it.

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