"Not Knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
The first time I saw comedian Sebastian Maniscalco was when he was performing the routine that brought him to the attention of a national audience. It focused on doorbells and how, back in the day, the sound of your doorbell in the evening brought joy and excitement because it meant an unexpected but welcome visit from friends or relatives. Maniscalco then contrasts that reaction with how people now react to a night-time doorbell – with anger and trepidation.
It’s a routine that has been viewed more than ten million times on YouTube. Deservedly so, because not only is it funny, but it’s also true to life for so many of us whose time on earth spans the decades from the Comfort TV era to the present day. When we were young we remember how we responded to a doorbell at our parents’ home. And that’s not the same way we feel about them now. It’s a good thing we were more open to those visits, because back then doorbells rang far more often than they do now. Milk was delivered and diapers were delivered, and the dry cleaners brought your newly cleaned clothes back to you. Neighborhood children sold tickets to school events and Girl Scouts sold cookies. Or, in the case of Peter on The Brady Bunch, Sunflower Girl cookies.
And there were door-to-door salesmen. They were often selling either vacuum cleaners or encyclopedias, which in retrospect seem like two of the most impractical things to sell that way, given the exertion of lugging them around an entire neighborhood. Lucille Ball was on TV long enough to be on both sides of the vacuum transaction. On I Love Lucy she was talked into buying a vacuum from a fast-talking salesman (“Sales Resistance”). On The Lucy Show she is selling vacuums and accidentally sucks up a rare stamp from Mr. Mooney’s collection (“Lucy and the Missing Stamp”).
Of course, we still get stuff delivered now, but the men and women who execute those deliveries just drop the package and leave. I like that, but on the older shows they’d be just as likely to stop and chat for a while about the weather or if the rain will hurt the rhubarb, and perhaps even be invited in for a glass of lemonade (summer) or hot chocolate (winter).
Some companies, like Avon cosmetics, built their entire business around home visits. “Ding Dong! Avon calling,” was once as familiar a phrase as “Ring around the collar.”
Around the holidays, the doorbell turned into another Christmas bell, with everyone from the mailman to the paper boy providing extra personal service, while hoping for a little something in return. The Christmas episode of The Donna Reed Show featured several such scenes, in which Donna passed out fruitcakes instead of cash. Knowing Donna they were probably home-made, but that didn’t make them any more desirable.
Then there were the types of visits that no one could anticipate. A strolling Shakespearian actor stops by the Nelson residence to help them stage a reading of Hamlet. “An Evening With Hamlet” is one of the more unique episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, made more special by the guest appearance of John Carradine.
Uncovering an essential truth can be a sobering, even disturbing experience. I must confess that me, Mr. Comfort TV, who would gladly hop in a time machine and return to that kinder, gentler era, am no different than anyone else these days. I want to be the person that opens the door with a smile, the way Fred Rogers always did when Mr. McFeely stopped by.
I know that’s the better way to go through this life – but as Alice says in Wonderland, “I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it.”
It shames me to confess that there is a “No Solicitors” sign on my front door. I do not react well to doorbells in the evening, or even in the afternoon. And anyone who rings that bell before 9 am better be telling me my house is on fire.
Of course, society has changed too. Cities are more crime-ridden, communities aren’t really communities anymore – most people aren’t even on a first-name basis with their next-door neighbors. Friends or relatives who want to pop in for a visit will likely call or text first, so no one panics when they hear the doorbell.
From the Comfort TV era, we have progressed to the Ring Video Doorbell era, when we can tell whoever’s out there to get lost without leaving the couch.
Among the comments left on the Sebastian Maniscalco video was this: “I’m crying knowing those times will never come back but I’m grateful I had a chance to experience that era.”
Me, too.
You can watch the Maniscalco doorbell routine here:
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