January 14: Rainbow Brite

As I have mentioned previously, I organize a trivia game every week for some friends based on Jeopardy, called Jeo-Party. Like my cats, chickens/ducks, and husband, I am sure that Jeo-Party will appear often during this Year of Delight. I could list hundreds of moments from not only the experience of the game last night but also the building of the game (lots of "research" in the OED and wikipedia) that delight me. For example, did you know that in the dictionary there are over 50 words that have one of their actual definitions listed as "to have sex with"? I didn't, and I had to capitalize on that fact, so my husband and I developed a special round last night, based on a game from Says You, one of our favorite NPR game shows, where we give a definition of a word (that has a LOT of  different definitions) and have the team guess what they think it is. If they guess incorrectly, we give another definition. Each time we give another definition, fewer points are at stake. If guessed correctly at first, the team gets $1000, then $800, then $600, etc. For last night's round, the $1000 definition was "to have sex with." And it was absolutely delightful to see the looks on the faces of my friends as they tried to guess what the word was. SO. MUCH. FUN. (and delight). In case you are curious and want to play along, here are the lists of definitions and the words:

Word #1:

1. to have sex with
2. to be full of or dominated by
3. to annoy, to pester, or to tease
4. to travel on a horse
5. to transport (someone) in a vehicle

Answer: Ride

Word #2:

1. to have sex with

2. to clench (one's fist) tightly

3. to form into a round shape

4. the rounded protuberant part of the foot

5. a spherical object that is kicked, thrown, or hit (in a game)

Answer: Ball (inspired by the song, Good Golly Miss Molly by Little Richard)

Word #3:

1. to have sex with

2. to bet, to wager, or to gamble (some amount of money)

3. to make ready (a trap)

4. to produce an egg from inside the body

5. to put (down), especially carefully or gently

Answer: Lay

Word #4:

1. to have sex with

2. to spend (a specified period of time) in prison

3. to solve, to work out

4. a hairstyle

5. to perform an action

Answer: Do

Anyways, that was just an example of delight. What I wanted to write about today is Rainbow Brite. One of the questions last night was a Before and After, in which I combine (or mash up) two or three different things. This particular answer was "Daily Double Rainbow Brite" (so I created clues for Daily Double + Double Rainbow + Rainbow Brite). When I was developing this question, I googled Rainbow Brite and was immediately transported back to my childhood (FYI, when my husband and I were editing and play testing the game, I discovered that he had never heard of Rainbow Brite! What a travesty!). 

Most often when I think of my childhood, I am confronted with some pretty painful memories. But I loved Rainbow Brite, and I remember how much joy and delight watching her show gave me. (Interestingly, even my memories of Rainbow Brite are tainted in misery. When I was really little, I had a bad lisp/stutter and often couldn't pronounce words correctly. I called Rainbow Brite "B O Brite" and my dad relentlessly teased me about this mispronunciation, instead of helping me pronounce it correctly, or informing me that BO meant body odor and I should try not to call her that. He just laughed in my face, and made sure to always bring it up around people like my uncle, who would also laugh and laugh and laugh at me. It was bad enough that I was teased relentlessly at school for being overweight, I found no reprieve from teasing at home. Anyways, enough of the despair... back to the joy....) 

In the world of Rainbow Brite, a young girl named Wisp is brought to a gray, desolate land with the mission to bring color assisted by a furry creature named Twink, a horse named Starlite, and the Color Kids. Wisp is renamed Rainbow Brite in honor of her new role as leader of the Color Kids, who are together in charge of all the colors in the universe. Rainbow Brite's mission is often complicated by villain Murky Dismal, his sidekick Lurky, but at the end of the day, she always wins. Not only was I enchanted by the colors of this world, I think I was also inspired by the fact that she was a strong (and young) female leader who was kind, compassionate, and caring. She lived in a wonderful place full of color and happiness, and she brought color and happiness to kids who were experiencing sadness. Rainbow Brite gave me hope. 

In reflecting back on my experience with Rainbow Brite as a child, I also made a delightful discovery which is what really inspired me to write this post. When I was in 1st grade, I was chosen to be in a special honor's program. I distinctly remember one of our group gatherings when our teacher asked us to name something that was different about the world in the past than it is now. My answer was: the world used to be in black and white but now it is in color. My teacher said, yes, TV was in black and white but now TV is in color. And I emphatically said, no, I mean the whole actual world was in black and white, not just TV! I was convinced that this was the truth, and my teacher had to explain the reality to me. 

I have always attributed that misunderstanding to watching the Wizard of Oz, seeing Dorothy go from black and white in Kansas to color in Oz, and thinking that that actually happened in real life. But rewatching episodes of Rainbow Brite on YouTube, especially my favorite, a special feature-length "live-action" version shot at the San Diego Zoo (which I still have my VHS tape of!), the trope of the going from black and white to color happens in reverse, when the villain takes the color from the animals. Right there on screen, it looks as if the WORLD actually turns black and white, and then later Rainbow Brite restores the world to color. I totally see how as a kid I could have been led to believe that this had happened in reality, not understanding at the time how film production worked, or having anyone explain to me the difference between fiction and reality! As embarrassed as I was in 1st grade to be corrected by my teacher and laughed at by my classmates, I am delighted by the story now. I was a naïve child living in an imaginary world based on the loads of TV I watched to escape my not-so-good reality. It is delightful to relive in this imaginary world/safe haven that I created for myself. 

(Another incredibly delightful discovery, the "weapon" that Murky and Lurky used to take the color away from the world at the San Diego Zoo was constructed out of a sousaphone, which looks JUST like the one my husband has, gold and very dented!)

With Delight,

♥Jamie