Headlines & tidbits from the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Front Page News:

1942: Japanese Americans in San Francisco were ordered to leave their homes and report to internment camps for the duration of World War II.

1963: Hundreds of children ranging in age from six to eighteen were arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, as they marched from Kelly Ingram Park, across from 16th Street Baptist Church, to downtown singing, “We Shall Overcome.”

1969: U.S. troop levels in Vietnam peak at 543,400. There have been 33,641 Americans killed by now, a total greater than the Korean War.

1975: The war in Vietnam ended as the government in Saigon (then the southern capital, now Ho Chi Minh City) announced its unconditional surrender to the North Vietnamese Army (NVA).

American Living:

1952: Checking accounts become the new way to pay bills with Manufacturers Trust Company Bank leading the cause

1958: The government reports that the average family income last year was $6130 - 50% higher than a decade ago.

Movies & TV:

1953: I Love Lucy (CBS) - #1 Show

1954: Roman Holiday is in the theatres – starring Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn

1953: The FCC gives New Hampshire its first TV channel allocation, leaving neighbor Vermont as the only state without an allocated TV channel

Music:

1956: Heartbreak Hotel is #1 on the billboard pop charts and #6 on the R&B
RCA Victor says that Presley records are selling at the rate of 50,000 a day, accounting for about 50% of the label’s business.

1960: The Everly Brothers had their first hit for Warner Brothers Records with “Cathy’s Clown.”

1964: “The Beatles’ Second Album” reaches #1 on the Billboard LP chart in just its second week of release. It was the first album ever to make it to the top that quickly.

1967: Aretha Franklin releases “Respect”, a song that will become her signature tune.

1971: The Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar” is released. It would reach number one in the US and number two in the UK.

1979: Blondie brought a touch of New Wave music to the Hot 100 when “Heart Of Glass” reached #1. They would score three more chart toppers over the next two years.

1983: After leading the Billboard chart for seven weeks with “Billie Jean”, Michael Jackson was back on top with “Beat It”.

Hollywood Headlines:

1967: On May 1st, 32 year old Elvis Presley married 21 year old Priscilla Beaulieu

The Arts

1968: The Hair musical opened on Broadway in New York. It would last for 1750 performances, and featured songs like “Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In,” “Good Morning Starshine,” “Easy to Be Hard” and the title track, a hit for The Cowsills.

Sports:

First career home runs for Ted Williams (1939) and Hank Aaron (1954).

1952: In Chicago – Sugar Ray Robinson knocks-out Rocky Graziano in the third round and retains the middleweight boxing championship title

1956: Rocky Marciano (31) retires as undefeated world heavyweight boxing champ

1967: Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title for refusing induction into the U.S. Army.

Rockingham Park Grandstand Fire Pictures 1980

July 29, 1980 was a dark day for Salem, NH. Early that morning a devastating fire tore through the Rockingham Park grandstands. It would be 4 years before “The Track” would open again, and some would say it was never the same. From age 10 on, I lived very close to Rockingham Park and have lots of memories of it from before and after the fire.When we were kids we used to sell sandwiches and lemonade outside the main gate during the busy summer thoroughbred meet. In the winter (the trotters season) we would climb through the mountains of snow that were created from plowing the enormous parking lots. Years later and after the fire, we would occasionally sneak out of work to place a few bets on a friend’s horse, Maguru, (later nicknamed Maglueru ). I also had a friend who was married at the park. I didn’t know it at the time, but when we were selling lemonade, my future father-in-law was out front with his taxi. When guys had a good day betting, they would ride home in style in his Crown Victoria, rather then take the bus.

My mother worked in the clubhouse and it’s also where a lot of my friends had their first jobs. At least in my world, there were endless connections to Rockingham Park, so when I heard there was a fire at the track I grabbed my camera and ran over and captured these pictures. But this blog is really about all my memories from before and after the fire, not the fire itself. Looking through my pictures just got me thinking about all my connections and memories from Rockingham Park.

Here are a couple of interesting items that I hope will remind you of some of your Rockingham Park memories that you can blog about.

The track kitchen was a dining hall down in the stables where trainers, jockeys, owners and gamblers looking for an edge would go for breakfast and lunch. It really was an interesting place with great food and lots of character and characters. The gamblers were called clockers, always looking for some inside info or hoping to overhear something that would help them out at the betting windows.

Fight night was a unique Rockingham Park event. One night a week, during the summer meet, a boxing ring was set up over by the stables for a night of boxing. I don’t remember how they matched up people—maybe some stable grudges were settled there—but it was entertaining with an almost carnival-like atmosphere.

These days the trotters are still around but the live thoroughbred racing is gone, except for simulcasts from other tracks. I would guess that unless they get some sort of slot machines or other gambling, Rockingham Park might not be long for this world, given the size of the property. If I were a betting man (and I am), I would say that unless things change we will probably see something like an Ikea in its place someday. I like Ikea, but that would be a shame.

Piggies In a Blanket

You haven’t lived until you’ve had Piggies in a blanket. The flip side of that is if you have Piggies in a blanket too much you may not live too long. Way before everyone was aware of the perils of fat, salt, cholesterol and nitrates, “Piggies” were in the regular rotation in my Mother’s supper arsenal.

To make Piggies you would start with a hot dog. Being in Lawrence, MA they where probably Essem franks. An excellent local brand with a natural crunchy casing. You slice the dog lengthwise about three quarters of the way through the dog. Now take a slice of Land O’ Lakes white American Cheese. Cut the slice in to quarter strips and stuff it in the length of the hot dog. Finish it off by wrapping a slice of bacon around the entire hot dog. Hold the bacon in place with tooth picks. Bake in the oven at 350 or so for about 20 minutes until it is all crispy and golden. Don’t worry about the melted crispy cheese all over the pan, that is just a bonus.

For a perfect side dish try Kraft Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese. After you prepare it almost to the directions, ( make sure the macaroni is very firm ) place in a casserole dish, sprinkle with a little bread crumbs and put in the oven along with the piggies. A big glass of milk and you are in heaven.

Piggies in a blanket are not something you want to eat to often but give them a try before they are banned by the food police.

Let us know how you like them.

The Kinks

My sons, a few friends and I went to see Ray Davies of the Kinks the other night in Boston. I think I became a Kinks fan with the release of Sleepwalker in 1976. I have probably seen Ray or The Kinks 15 times since then. If you have never listened to much Kinks stuff I highly recommend checking them out in depth. I would put any of their 60’s British invasion songs up against any band of the time ( excluding the Beatles of course ). And as far as a song writer Ray is one of the best.

Pete Townshend said “The Kinks were much more quintessentially English. I always think that Ray Davies should one day be Poet Laureate. He invented a new kind of poetry and a new kind of language for pop writing that influenced me from the very, very, very beginning.”

After a few hits in the early 60’s, You Really Got Me, Tired of Waiting , All Day and All of the Night the group was banned from The US. The American Federation of Musicians refused permits for the group to appear in concerts in the states after their 1965 tour. Although neither the Kinks nor the Union gave a specific reason for the ban, at the time it was widely attributed to their rowdy on-stage antics. It would be four years before they played live again in the US. No touring meant no radio play so they were pretty much silent during the height of the British invasion. But they pressed on releasing a slew of great songs and albums in the 70’s. The 80’s and 90’s weren’t as productive but they still put out some great tunes.

Had it not been for that four year ban I think today The Kinks would be talked about in the same circle with The Beatles, Stones and The Who as one of the top five British groups.
By the way, the show in Boston was excellent, the old Orpheum Theater was rocking, paint chips were falling from the ceiling. Ray’s new songs are very good and he cranked out lots of Kinks classics.

Here is a list of what I think are some great Kinks songs. Some hits, some not, but all great songs. Also a couple of pictures I took of The Kinks many years ago.

No More Looking Back - Schoolboys in Disgrace
Moving Pictures - Low Budget
Set Me Free - Kinda Kinks
I Gotta Move - On an EP with All Day and All of the Night
Where Have All The Good Times Gone - The Kink Kontroversy
Get Up -Misfit
Sitting in the Midday Sun - Preservation Act One
Life Goes on - Sleepwalker
You Cant Stop The Music - A Soap Opera
One Of The Survivors - Preservation Act One
Victoria - Arthur
Waterloo Sunset - Something Else By The Kinks
Better Things - Give The people What They Want
Shangri-La - Arthur
God’s Children - Percy ( Soundtrack )
Everybody’s Gonna Be Happy - Kinda Kinks
Who’ll Be The Next In Line - Kinkdom
Im Not Like Everybody Else - Face to Face
Sittin’ On My Sofa - The Kink Kontroversy
She’s Got Everything - Days 7” Single or The Ultimate Collection
Star-struck - Village Green Preservation Society
Do It Again - Word of Mouth
Living On A Thin Line - Word of Mouth
20TH Century Man _ Muswell Hillbillies

And of course there is You Really Got Me, Apeman, Till The End Of The Day, Lola and the list goes on and on. A lot of these songs can be found on Compilations and you can sample most on iTunes, but some of the earlier stuff is not there.

Let me know what you think.

Earth Shoes 1970’s

Does anyone remember Earth Shoes? Somehow these things came up in a conversation the other night. Man they were the ugliest shoes ever made and I owned a pair. Introduced in the 70’s and unlike other shoes the front of the soles were thick and the heels were thin. “Negative heel technology” as they were called. I wonder if they were inspired by the keep on trucking guy of the 60’s. He looked like he was trucking uphill.

I did a little research and the company that made them is still in existence and has recently reintroduced “negative heel technology” shoes again. It is to be hoped that this time around they are much better looking.