SC Rewind: The Golden Rule

This week's Rewind takes on a slightly different theme and format. It is intended to coincide with Family Day, a fairly new holiday that is celebrated this year on Monday, February 15th.

It is not universally observed but does exist in several Canadian provinces. This year of course it will not be a conventional holiday everywhere as many students at all age levels are taking their schooling from home due to COVID. No beloved day off; they are already at home.

Harness racing down through the years has found itself intertwined with many other happenings in life. There have been entire movies made about it but more frequently it has been part of a larger script. One example of that occured when the long-running TV show "I Love Lucy" filmed an entire episode at Roosevelt Raceway around 1950.

This week's Rewind takes the form an offering based on a rather old TV show that was very popular in the early days of television. The classic show called "Lassie" aired almost 600 episodes from its launch in September 1954 all the way through to March 1973. As most people know that is an extremely long time for a TV show to survive.

The show chosen as the centrepiece of today's story was filmed way back in 1959. It has a pretty simple plot (which usually means that even I can understand it) and follows the theme of most Lassie episodes. It is from the era of "feel good" TV and almost goes without saying filmed in black and white which is the way all television shows once were.

I would encourage everyone to take a few minutes and watch this show and also to persuade any younger children to do so as well. It is a great depiction of harness racing as it existed for many years and also the story line is heartwarming. It should be of interest to persons of any age. There once was a time when it seemed like the whole world wasn't in a huge hurry. Most of the better TV shows were on during the evening hours and many households had only one television. Families shared the time as they watched these rather simple yet meaningful shows that taught us all so much. At our house a huge bowl of freshly popped popcorn often accompanied our family watching a TV show.

One note about the show. If you remember the original weekly episodes a very small cast was used and some of the stars stayed for a long time. The part of the mother on the show was played by a wonderful actor of the day named June Lockhart. It is very interesting to note that she is still living and has reached the grand old age of 95. Both of her parents were actors and she started her acting career at the age of eight.

Actor June Lockhart and the beloved Lassie

Quote For The Week: "People are always grateful when they have been listened to."

Who Is It?: This week we have a trio of old photos for your viewing and guessing pleasure. See how you make out.

#1 - Can you name this very well known trotter and also identify the driver? It's a little hazy but that shouldn't stop our experts.

#2 - Who is this young fellow at the horse's head...after all it was only 35+ years ago? You know the year and the location now all we need is a name.

#3 - Can you correctly identify these two ladies from a few years ago?

HAPPY FAMILY DAY And Also HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Be sure to stay tuned during the coming week to learn who was in this week's Quiz pictures.