On This Day In History: The Dukes of Hazzard Premieres!

'69 Dodge Charger

It was a very important day in American history for boys my age.  The premiere of "The Dukes of Hazzard" in 1979!  It brought phrases like "get 'em, Flash," "you just hush, you dipstick,"  and "lost Sheep to shepherd, lost sheep to shepherd" into the American lexicon.  For seven seasons, Daisy squeezed into those cut-off shorts, and Bo and Luke jumped the same creek in the General Lee week after week.  You'd think even Rosco and Boss Hogg after so many years would figure out those ornery Duke boys were going to jump that same damned creek again this week to escape, but they never did.  I guess they were the "dipsticks."



I don't know why my dad let
me watch it every week . . .



But by August 16, 1985, all the young boys had grown up, and the Dukes of Hazzard faded away.  It's funny, but a few years ago, Valerie and I went to Warner Brothers Studios, and she took my picture standing in front of Crazy Cooter's Garage.  It wrecked it for me forever.  I learned that garage sits right across the square from the Gotham City Courthouse from the original Batman series, and next to a church where Elvis and Ann Margaret were married in one if those (I better be careful in word selection here) classic Elvis movies.  Around the corner from Rick's Cafe where Bogart and Bergman met again.  In fact, Cooter's garage is only a couple doors down from Ben Matlock's House, and across the street from "Animal House."

And of course there's Daisy.  Daisy was the first contender to come along and challenge that Farrah Fawcett poster on our bedroom walls.  You have no idea the trouble I've gotten into in life chasing girls wearing cut-off jeans.

TEC