Time for Christmas!

Well, Half-Christmas, anyway--that's June 25th, of course. To celebrate, I uploaded this Time Magazine ad. It aired, naturally, in October of 1984. (I'm posting it at the bottom so the sidebar doesn't block it.)

First, Judy the Operator gives her intro from the familiar Time Magazine call center, and we see that the office is decorated early for the season, lending modest festivity to the five-foot-tall maroon fabric dividing panels and massive computers.

After that, we're watching families who clearly don't know much about each other and likely don't care to. I mean, a Time subscription for Christmas? Saint Nicholas Day I could see, maybe, or an off night of Hanukkah. At first I thought the people portrayed were all part of one family. There's a old couple that could be the grandparents of the college girl, who may be the sister of the teen boy, whose father might be a brother to either the mom or dad with the little girl. Then I realized there's no interconnectivity evident, so they're probably just random white folks with scant imagination for gifting.

My favorite part is the old fella burning the burgers while his wife fusses unheard. Either that article he's reading is really interesting, or he's as deaf as a Dalmatian.

The girl looks a lot like Alexandra Paul, but she was working regularly in television by 1982, so unless this commercial was a few years old by this airing, I'd guess it's not her.

The credit card wallet and pocket diary are pretty sweet. It would have made a nice re-gift--maybe on June 25th, 1985! Happy Half-Christmas, everybody! <