Headlines & tidbits from the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s.
American Experience:
1956 – RCA Victor Big Color TV sells for $495. Payment plans were available and trade-ins of old TVs were an option.
1963 – President John F Kennedy turns 46 this week
1969 – Walt Disney World construction begins
1972 – White House “plumbers” break into Democratic National HQ at Watergate
1986 – 30,000,000 watch “Live Aid,” a massive benefit concert
1986 – Hands Across America – 6 million people hold hands from Calif to NY
Movies & TV:
1955 – “The Seven-Year Itch” starring Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes, Sonny Tufts and Robert Strauss was in theaters
1971 – ABC News’ Hong Kong bureau chief Ted Koppel joins the Washington bureau as diplomatic correspondent
1978 – “Star Wars” released
1983 – “Return of the Jedi” released
Music & Radio:
1942 – Bing Crosby records “White Christmas,” the greatest selling record to date
1960 – Everly Brothers “Cathy’s Clown” hits #1
1962 – Isley Brothers release “Twist & Shout”
1966 – Percy Sledge was at the top of the U.S. charts in 1966 with “When a Man Loves a Woman,” arguably the best soul recording of all time.
1968 – Rolling Stones release “Jumping Jack Flash”
1969 – An eight-hour benefit concert is performed for the Berkeley (Calif) People’s Park bail fund at Winterland. On hand – The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Elvin Bishop, Santana and Banger Flying Circus.
1973 – Beatles’ “Beatles 1967-1970,” album goes #1
Hollywood Headlines:
1967 – John Lennon has his Rolls Royce redecorated. It now sports a
yellow background with bunches of flowers, leaves and scrollwork painted in other bright colors.
1968 – The headstones of Bonnie and Clyde, who were gunned-down 34 years ago this week, are stolen from the Crown Hill cemetery in Dallas.
1987 – Michael Jackson attempts to buy Elephant Man’s remains
The Arts:
1972 – “Applause” closes at Palace Theater NYC after 900 performances
1973 – Pablo Picasso’s final paintings, 201 unsigned works from the last two years of his life go on exhibit for the first time at the Avignon Arts Festival in France. Many called them “puzzling.”
Sports:
1946 – 1st night game at Yankee stadium (Senators 2, Yanks 1)
1965 – Muhammad Ali KOs Sonny Liston in 1 for heavyweight boxing title
1975 – In sports – Joe Nameth rejects a $4 million offer the join the World Football League’s Chicago Wind. Nameth became a free agent May 1.
1977 – Janet Guthrie becomes 1st woman to drive in Indy 500
1980 – Larry Bird beats out Magic Johnson for NBA rookie of year
1984 – Boston Red Sox retires #9 (Ted Williams) & #4 (Joe Cronin)
Technology & Inventions:
1954 – Max Factor introduces “Erace” – the original “cover-up” used before make-up. “Swiftly, instantly every trace of “problem-points” which mar your beauty can
disappear from sight.”
1955 – RCA’s electronic synthesizer makes a debut over radio and WGMS in
Washington, DC. RCA says the music-making device can originate any sound and any voice. This huge and unwieldy system was controlled by a punched paper roll, similar to a player piano roll. A keyboard was used to punch the roll, and each note had to be individually described by a number of parameters (frequency, volume, envelope, etc.) The output was fed to disk recording machines, which stored the results on lacquer-coated disks. One of these can be seen at the left in the photo below.
1961 – A portable U.S-made tape recorder is in the stores. It’s battery operated and completely transistorized. It weighs less than 2 pounds and measures only 8 1/4 in x 9 1/4in x 3 1/8 in and sells for $29.95.
1961 – 1st black light is sold
Automobile News:
1962: Studebaker introduces the Avanti. Aerodynamic design, bucket seats, automatic power-shift transmission, power steering and extremely fast.
1973 – The world’s only V-12 engined sedan, the Jaguar XJ12 is announced. The 140- mph, five-passenger four-door XJ12 carries an $11,025 price tag.
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