What does it say about me that I know more about Baby Boomer pop culture than my parents?

To explain: my folks don’t have their own e-mail addresses, e-mail apparently being something akin to the arcane arts of blackest magic as far as they’re concerned. That means that all their buddies who are e-literate tend to send their jokes and stories and other assorted spam to me, hoping that I will be a good son and relay it to the parental units. Most of the time I don’t bother because very little of it is worth their time, or mine, either. (I especially despise the would-be heartstring-tuggers!) But every now and again something comes through that’s kind of fun and worth passing along.

Case in point: a trivia quiz that arrived yesterday, composed of questions about TV, music, and historical events from the late 1950s and ’60s. When I first opened the message, I was confident that I’d know quite a few of the answers, since I spent a good part of my childhood watching re-runs of the previous decade’s television programming, but imagine my surprise when I got more of these correct than my parents. Obviously something is seriously amiss in the space-time continuum…

Here’s the quiz, slightly edited by me for grammar and such:

This is a test for us, old kids! The answers are printed below, but don’t you cheat.
READY????? Here we go!

1. After the Lone Ranger saved the day and rode off into the sunset, the grateful citizens would ask, “Who was that masked man?” Invariably, someone would answer, “I don’t know, but he left this behind.” What did he always leave behind?
2. When the Beatles first came to the U.S. in early 1964, we all watched them on The __________________ Show.
3. Finish the song lyric: “Get your kicks ___________________.”
4. Finish this tagline: “The story you are about to see if true. The names have been changed___________________.”
5. Finish the song lyric: “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, ________________.”
6. After the Twist, The Mashed Potato, and the Watusi, we “danced” under a stick that was lowered as low as we could go in a dance called the “_____________.”
7. Finish the song slogan: “N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestle’s makes the very best _______________.”
8. Satchmo was America’s “Ambassador of Goodwill.” Our parents shared this great jazz trumpet player with us. His name was _________________.
9. What takes a licking and keeps on ticking?
10. Red Skelton’s hobo character was named __________________ and Red always ended his television show by saying, “Good Night, and_______________.”
11. Some Americans who protested the Vietnam War did so by burning their____________.
12. The cute little car with the engine in the back and the trunk in the front was called the VW. What other names did it go by?
13. In 1971, singer Don MacLean sang a song about, “the day the music died.” This was a tribute to ___________________.
14. We can remember the first satellite placed into orbit. The Russians did it. It was called ___________________.
15. One of the big fads of the late ’50s and ’60s was a large plastic ring that we twirled around our waist. It was called the________________

ANSWERS:
01. A silver bullet.
02. Ed Sullivan
03. On Route 66
04. To protect the innocent
05. The Lion sleeps tonight
06. Limbo
07. Chocolate
08. Louis Armstrong
09. A Timex watch
10. Freddy The Freeloader, and “may God Bless.”
11. Draft cards (Bras were also burned.)
12. Beetle or Bug
13. Buddy Holly
14. Sputnik
15. Hoola-hoop
If you scored:
0-3 Does your mother know that you are out this late?!?!?!
4-6 Still gets carded at the Bar!!
7-10 Getting close to 40 but still can pass for 30!!
11-14 Starting to show your age… and proud of it!!!
15 The “Old Folks Home” is looking for you!!!!!!
Send this to your “old” friends. It will drive them crazy! And, keep them busy and let them forget their aches and pains for a few minutes!

For the record, I missed only one of these, number 10, the one about Red Skelton. I’m aware of who Skelton is, of course, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen his program and I’m absolutely unfamiliar with any of his characters or catch-phrases.

Everything else on this quiz seemed rather elementary to me, which means, according to the scoring key, that I’m “starting to show my age… and proud of it!” Except that, by implication, my age must be about twenty years older than my birth certificate says it is. My parents’ scores, by contrast, indicate that they’re still passing for 30.

Yep, something definitely wrong with space-time. It’s the only explanation…