A Few Words About the Sixties!

Many people who did not live through the 50's , 60's , and 70's may find some aspects of Scooby Doo strange. Four kids, zipping about the countryside in an oddly painted van. Those of us "old timers" don't find it strange at all! In fact, in the late 60's, for better or worse, many of us did just that! It was called "finding yourself." This is something that for many very good reasons, just is not done these days! Still, Scooby Doo was a cartoon from and about the 60's, or was it.....

There is no question that the Mystery Machine was something right out of 1969 with it's Flower Power painting and all, but what about the rest of the gang? Daphne really could have come out of any decade, Freddy as well, except for that ascot. I don't know what decade that thing is from! Scooby, of course wears fur, which has always been in style for a dog. And then there's Shaggy and Velma! They are from the 60's. Maybe....

Most decades are known by the music that kids listened to. In the 90's it is Rap. In the 80's it was Rock. In the 70's it was Disco. In the 60's it was an early form of Rock. And in the 50's it was..... well.... This is a little hard to explain. There was this sub-culture of musicians, artists, and poets known as Beatniks. Kind of laid back, didn't take too many baths, just taking in life and eating. Kind of... well... Shaggy! Many people think Shaggy is a hippie since hippies are from the sixties, but Shaggy is missing the tie-die shirt and the love beads. No, Shaggy is just a leftover Beatnik. When Hanna - Barbera was putting the whole thing together, they found the essence of Shaggy in a early sixties TV show called "The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis." Thus, Shaggy was a Beatnik, ten years behind the times!

And then there's Velma. She is classic 1966. There was a brief mid-sixties fashion rebellion. Sick of wearing skirts, blouses, and cat's eye glasses, some girls went to the opposite extreme! Now Velma was not quite that rebellious. She did wear a miniskirt, knee-highs, and women's shoes, but that was were she drew the line. For a top, she wore a simple turtle-neck sweater which was very practical but not too feminine. The glasses were the far more practical men's style. (Just ask anyone who tried to wear cat's eye glasses back then!) Remember, this was the sixties, there were only a handful of glasses styles to chose from!

So what decade does Scooby Doo really come from? You decide! As with anything this good, the humor is timeless! I think the show is as funny today as it was back in the sixties. When Zombie Island came out, I wondered if the characters would be out of place. They weren't!

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