Re: Dinosaur Renasissance

[MBell16766@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-10-24 20:59:24 EDT, you write:

<< Another big factor in the "Renaissance" is that we who grew up in the 50's
 and 60's had a lot of cool dinosaur stuff to excite us.  The Life magazine
 and the World We Live In books (with Zallinger's murals), movies like The
 Animal World, Fantasia, the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. even Godzilla,
 Gorgo,etc... Tor and Turok comics, the Marx dinosaur figures.... Famous
 Monsters magazine which hipped us to King Kong (and their finally showing
 it on tv)... Books by Colbert, Bill Scheele, Roy Chapman Andrews etc.  All
 those things had POWERFUL effects on young imaginations--- and those people
 (and of course even younger ones) are now making the new books, studies,
 models etc. to carry on the tradition.  Before the 50's there were no
 popular books or toys to speak of.  It was DULL.  The Renassance was
 something just waiting to happen, thanks in large measure to all those
 influences. >>
 Thanks Pete, for recapitulating my ancient childhood. I do, however, want to
repeat something from my original posting that that Franczak guy so brazenly
"snipped". The generation or two before us from the 30's and 40's had their
dreams and ambitions snatched from them by the Depression and the second
world war. Not only here in the U.S. but even more so elsewhere. Sure, some
stiffs considered dinosaurs an evolutionary dead end ( I've met plenty of
them ), but you must remember that there was no money AT ALL available for
dinosaur studies. That's why Miocene rodent molars became so popular. All you
needed is one guy and a screen.  And their labors resulted in excellent
research.  And I don't seem to recall anyone from   that generation wandering
about in a funny cowboy suit ...OOOPS, better stop now.
  Dan Varner