14 May 2009

Ladies First



Lately, the kiddos and I have been reading selections from Free To Be You And Me. The original version, a LP record with illustrated storybook and a TV movie (which I never saw), was released in 1974. I was 5. I still have my record. It was one of my very favorites, next to the story version of "Lambert The Sheepish Lion" (though the wolf in that story scared the bejeebus out of me).

I love Marlo Thomas' reading of this Shel Silverstein short, "Ladies First." This animated version's pretty cute, too, but nothing compares to the audio version, it was my all-time favorite track (second favorite was Alan Alda & Marlo Thomas' rendition of "Atalanta").

I'm pleased that "Ladies First" is Flynn's favorite. If you can, get your hands on a print copy; it's worth it just for Silverstein's drawings (the last one never fails to make us laugh). Evan's comment on the main character of the story: "That girl is a jerk." She's supposed to be and she gets what's coming to her in the end.

Yes, the animation is very dated. But it's still fun. Evan and I spent quite a bit of time on YouTube last night watching segments like Rosey Grier's "It's Alright To Cry". And while the show is visually dated, the message in each segment is not: it's OK to be different.

If you are a child of the '70's this will bring back memories. If not, enjoy it anyway.

3 comments:

SunnyD said...

I'm a huge FTBYAM fan. Huge. Atalanta was my favorite followed by Grandma.

Quigs78 said...

My sister bought me the book for Christmas because we watched it all the time when we were younger! (And I actually still have Loosey's DVD of it. Sorry bout that, Loose.)

I always loved the babies talking about the difference between a boy and girl.

Jenna said...

We grew up with FTBYAM as a constant. We acted out all the stories in our living room. I finally broke down and got it on cd and retired the old lp. I love William wants a doll. oh, alan alda!

We use it in the car a lot.