Comments on: Down in front!

Down in front!

miss lynnster — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 01:44:31 -0800

The Fonz & Henry Winkler teach us about sexual abuse. Yes, you read correctly.
Special appearances by John Ritter, Fred Flintstone, and a creepy singing guy in overalls.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 02:01:06 -0800

This is obviously not the same guy who dated the Hooper triplets.

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 02:18:46 -0800

Didn't he abuse Joanie in the real world?

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 02:20:09 -0800

The Fonz raped me.

By: chrismear

chrismear — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 03:20:17 -0800

That was just plain confusing.

By: falcon

falcon — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 03:29:18 -0800

I see why they didn't go with: "Vulva, it's what girls have down in front, Vulva, ..."

By: psmealey

psmealey — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 03:32:45 -0800

Fonzie talking about sexual abuse makes me a saaaad panda.

By: zardoz

zardoz — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 04:24:37 -0800

All this time I was supposed to have called it a vulva? Really?

By: grouse

grouse — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 04:32:29 -0800

Is this for real?

By: A Thousand Baited Hooks

A Thousand Baited Hooks — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 04:41:26 -0800

grouse, I doubted as well so I tracked down some supporting evidence: imdb, aol movies, Amazon.com. I still do not entirely believe.

By: grouse

grouse — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 04:53:07 -0800

A Thousand Baited Hooks: I have no doubt that at least some of the clips used were recorded for such a video. But the way it is edited together seems bizarre to me, as does the down in front song. Stranger things have happened though.

By: champthom

champthom — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 04:58:15 -0800

Ayyy!

By: vagabond

vagabond — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 05:20:20 -0800

At least they didn't try to differentiate the Fonz and Henry by putting a creepy mustache on one of them.

By: furtive

furtive — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 05:37:56 -0800

Metafilter: You are never to blame.

By: Kibbutz

Kibbutz — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 05:39:18 -0800

I think this was made right around the time he jumped the shark.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 05:43:12 -0800

"The anus, gives relief in time of need" That's a sentiment I can really get behind!

By: psmealey

psmealey — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 05:47:37 -0800

I never realized that the anus shared that in common with the Salvation Army, Goofyy. What a bunch of assholes.

By: pax digita

pax digita — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 06:06:38 -0800

Is "it" "a" vulva, or are "they" vulva? Never noticed that before....

By: Uther Bentrazor

Uther Bentrazor — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 06:27:36 -0800

My favorite parts are all the random shots of kids looking moderatly uncomfortable

By: symbioid

symbioid — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 06:28:45 -0800

Sweet! I am totally going to remix that acoustic guitar track. Totally asking for a Breakcore sound.

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 06:36:09 -0800

It's a vulva. Feminine singular in Latin. When two or more come together, I suppose they'd be vulvae.

By: The Straightener

The Straightener — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 06:51:20 -0800

I think I prefer the Gordon Jump as child ball toucher episode of Diff'rent Strokes, personally.

By: grouse

grouse — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 06:55:35 -0800

So apparently we're talking vulva now. When two or more come together, I suppose they'd be vulvae. I'd like to see that.

By: papakwanz

papakwanz — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 06:57:53 -0800

Watching this, I see where Wonder Showzen got their ideas from.

By: emjaybee

emjaybee — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 07:05:11 -0800

My husband had the original video as a child. Aside from teaching them safety, it also taught them how to sing these wonderful lyrics in front of Grandma. Their mom still hasn't lived THAT down.

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 07:25:15 -0800

It's still no scrotum song, though.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 07:26:50 -0800

I've always found it funny that Henry Winkler, in life, is much closer to Woody Allen than the Fonz.

By: Acetylene

Acetylene — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 07:38:40 -0800

Who wrote this? I did the aural equivalent of a double-take when the Fonz said to the children, "We got a lot of surprises for you along the way, so sit there, enjoy yourself ... or I'm gonna run over your knees with my bike."

By: revgeorge

revgeorge — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 07:42:41 -0800

That Amazon link lists the run time as 42 minutes, I'm guessing this was edited for comedic effect. But yeah, that was awesome and uncomfortable and disturbing like a BLT made of shame.

By: Optamystic

Optamystic — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 07:55:22 -0800

I just realized that Henry Winkler is a terrible actor. Holy shit. I think part of me just died.

By: jb

jb — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:21:51 -0800

I like the penis and vulva and anus song. It teaches kids the proper words. But they should have been clearer on the anatomy - maybe some cartoon diagrams, and explanations of the reproductive and digestive systems. And no one should feel ashamed of having one, or saying the words. (as you can tell, I'm in favour of full biological disclosure for kids. The more they know about how their own plumbing works, the safer they will be, whether from predators or just from the power of their own hormones a couple of year later.)

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:40:25 -0800

Well hey... the song is such a hit, maybe I should do a jazz acapella version of it for MeMu! But very probably not.

By: nathancaswell

nathancaswell — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:47:56 -0800

Miss Lynnster, I'd like to shake your hand.

By: nathancaswell

nathancaswell — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:50:48 -0800

And if you don't shake my hand you'll grow up alone and your parents will never give you hugs.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 09:22:42 -0800

revgeorge, thanks for pointing out this is 42 minutes long. Because at 4 minutes it makes no freaking sense. I understand that talking to kids about molestation is difficult and sensitive, but the jump cuts and elision of what the actual danger is was totally confusing.

By: sharkweek

sharkweek — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 09:25:06 -0800

Strong Kids, Safe Kids was a free rental at the video store my parents frequented when I was a kid. My brother and I used to insist on checking it out every time we rented movies because we loved that song. It wasn't long before we had it memorized and sang it every chance we get.

By: tadellin

tadellin — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 09:30:12 -0800

Leather Tuscadero was hotter the Pinky Tuscadero.

By: tadellin

tadellin — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 09:30:31 -0800

the=than.

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 09:31:15 -0800

Gee, I'll bet your parents must've loved taking you to church.

By: somersault

somersault — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 10:13:21 -0800

Mind? Blown.

By: mazola

mazola — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 11:12:53 -0800

For the longest time I used to wish Happy Days never really happened, that it didn't really exist. Now I realize, if not for Happy Days, this video would never exist. It was all worthwhile.

By: hincandenza

hincandenza — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 11:26:32 -0800

Man, I remember this from the free video rental when I was a kid... as an adult, though, it's infinitely more creepy and bizarre. And good lord if that video isn't fostering more sexual hangups and fear mongering than the actual "pedophile stranger" (especially since we know the bulk of childhood sexual abuse comes from family members- although I suppose they watched this too... ).

By: contraption

contraption — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:12:09 -0800

Like others, I've loved this video since my friend discovered it in the free rental box at a local video store. And now my apologies, as I really can't help but say: Metafilter: A Useful Thing Indeed

By: Adam_S

Adam_S — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:47:29 -0800

A bunch of these segments feature prominently in TV Carnage, so it's interesting to see them during daylight hours while I'm sober.

By: Sparx

Sparx — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:35:20 -0800

Leather Tuscadero My Suzie Q

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:00:44 -0800

Ok, so here's the video broken down for ya.

By: grouse

grouse — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:35:08 -0800

Goddamn it now I have that song stuck in my head!

By: mr_roboto

mr_roboto — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:05:45 -0800

Nice sweater, Hank!

By: web-goddess

web-goddess — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:29:07 -0800

I can't watch the Youtube now because I'm at work, but I totally remember watching "Strong Kids, Safe Kids" with my brother and sister way back when. It was a free rental at our video store too. Does the clip have the "Oh, a penis is a part of your body..." song? We lost it at that point. Also there was a bit where all the funny words that kids use to describe their genitalia scroll across the screen, and that's the moment we learned the term "tallywhacker." We still say that to each other.

By: troybob

troybob — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 19:11:03 -0800

hmm...the thread actually has activated a buried childhood memory: when i was like 8 or so, i went to the house of a girl down the street, and we found a bunch of porn mags under her parents' bed...i remember were were listening to captain and tennille singing 'muskrat love'...we crawled under the bed and looked at the porn mags, and in one was a full-page cartoon of the fonz, frontal view, holding his penis, which was rather huge...and i think he was saying 'ayyyy!' as he was so prone...i wonder if i could find that on ebay... ...i think that might have been what made me gay...not long after, when my friends and i would play 'fonz and pinky tuscadero,' i was always pinky tuscadero, not least because i had the white short-shorts and a pink shirt that i tied with that cute midriff-knot, and I had that move down where she snaps her fingers with one hand while slapping her other hand on top of it...

By: etc.

etc. — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 19:50:17 -0800

I've never been more proud to be a ukulele player.

By: interrobang

interrobang — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 12:12:21 -0800

Fonzie told me I have AIDS.