I was planning a going-away party for a co-worker last week. In the interest of saving fuel, I wanted to remind everyone to carpool to the restaurant. For fun, I decided to use a term from my childhood in the invite. It was from a public service announcement which aired during the gas crisis of the 70's. A cartoon Noah is explaining that he was the first to carpool, and how they called it "kalaka" in his day. The ad ended with "Kalaka with a friend!" I changed it slightly in the invite, saying "Kalaka with a co-worker or two!" I had hoped that at least some of my peers (age-wise) would get a smile out of this memory.
Would you believe, no one at all remembers this? I don't know why it stuck in my brain. I can't seem to find much history about the ad, other than this entry in the Urban Dictionary. Perhaps it only aired in the New York Metropolitan area? Does anyone else remember this and know more about it?
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11 comments:
I certainly remember it playing in South Georgia. I've been scouring You Tube for it for a while now. That's how I found this blog. Through Google.
The best part is the penguin at the end singing "Beats driving alone."
I remember this commercial as well. I was trying to tell my children about it, but could not remember the word Kalaka.
Would Noah have spoken Ancient Babylonian, or Hebrew?
I was just googling this term and came upon your comment. I grew up in small town Iowa and distinctly remember this commercial. I also remember there being a jingle that came along with it, too. Now if only someone would post that video!
I have few details from my fuzzy memory about this cartoon PSA. It started off with an on-the-street reporter introducing a interview with Noah, the originator of carpooling. Noah states, "That's right, only in my day, we didn't call it carpooling, we called it 'Kalaka'."
The spot concluded with the animals on the ark belting out a jingle about our duty to share the ride and the giraffe wrapping up the song with solo.
I've been looking for video for years.
I believe the song went: "Double up every morning...double goin' home each night...Double up every day it's a better way...."
And then the penguin (I thought it was a crow or a mynah bird) sings: "Beats drivin' alone.."
I remember another PSA with Chicken Little from the same era. It contained the phrase, "Oh, what a dumb-dumb Chicken Little". Anybody remember what that one was about?
HAHAAHA! I found it!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yY_9D8d0rk
I am blessed/cursed with a tenacious memory. I remember the ad well enough to wish amnesia ;-)
I remember this from TV when I was a kid in Massachusetts. Thank you Eric for finding this on YouTube! Now I can prove to my friends that I didn't make it up. Funny how everyone remembers the last line of the song but no one remembers that it was sung by a skunk (I had thought it was a turtle...)
Thanks all, especially to Eric for finding the commercial on YouTube! It is wonderful to know that I hadn't imagined this.
And now here in 2020, I can report the same. You've all pieced it together for us very well.
Here are the lyrics I recall:
"Double up every morning/
Double-up going home (that's right)/
Double-up everyday/
it's a better way/
We're gonna have more fun together.
Solo male voice at the end: Beats drivin' alone..."
It appears the world, at least the world of older adults, is divided into two types of people: those who remember Kalaka with a Friend and those who do not. And the group who forgot far outnumbers the group that remembers. I take a certain pride, maybe slightly perverse, in remembering the phrase but not the cartoon that ran with the PSA. Good to see it again.
These PSA would show up on a regular basis back in the 60's-70's. I do wonder why some catchy and a little funny PSA's were not created & given air time around the need to get vaccinated. I figure if shown enough they worm-hole their way into our minds and the message hits home--with desired results.
Oh well, at least we have Kalaka, from the ancient Babylonian. Reminds me, I've heard that Noah was bi-lingual, fluent in both Babylonian and Hebrew.
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