Posted on 01/09/2007 9:18:52 AM PST by HungarianGypsy
I am wanting to write a story based on a young adult in the 1960s. Since I was born in 1973 all I really know is what I studied in books. But, I want to get beyond love beads and LSD. I want to be able to write this as it really was. I know it's said if you remember the '60s you weren't really there. But, if anyone does remember I would appreciate reading your stories and facts. Thank you.
Well, you had Engineer Bill at dinner, and Sheriff John at lunch. Also, right before dinner was Soupy Sales, and the Popeye cartoon show with Tom Hatten.
The day president Kennedy was shot, I was in the 9th grade, living in NE OK, and we were just leaving the lunchroom and going to 5th period, which was English Lit for me.
A rumor went all around that JFK and LBJ had been in Texas hunting and that LBJ had accidentally shot Kennedy, but he was still alive.
It was another 45 minutes or so before they came over the loudspeaker and told us that Kennedy had been assassinated (not shot on a hunting trip or by LBJ) and had died in Dallas. We didn't cry, but were very sad that such a thing could happen.
Our small town was a Pubbie enclave in a mainly Demo state and there had been a very public incident of JFK being hung in effigy a little earlier in the year - and it wasn't a kid prank. JFK and the oil industry were not friends.
Being teenagers, we just wondered about a friend's private party that was going to be Friday night at the Elks Club (seems like it was that night, was Nov 22 a Friday? Or was it a Thu? Can't recall which day Oswald was shot - seems like it was Sat, but we were all home all day long, so it was like every day was a weekend day) and if it would still be on.
The dance went on as scheduled, but we decided to wear black clothes to it, out of respect. Every other moment for the next few days, we were home glued to the TV with the family.
The 60's . . ah . . it was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . we had fire drills at school and it was common knowledge that if the Russians nuked us, we would be protected by our desks at school if only we crawled under them. . . the media showered us nightly with footage of the war in Vietnam . . people in general were tired of a long war that seemed to just drag on and on because it was being conducted in a politically correct fashion. . the tie dyed tee shirts you see today aren't authentic looking as the dyes are too bright . . we thought our hair looked good all "ratted" up six inches high, girls didn't wear britches to school at least for part of the 60's anyway . . nothing was really as it is depicted in the "flower children" land that Hollywood creates . . like now, though, there was too much stimulation in the environment and things moved too fast . .
Do or Die, Gung Ho. I have often wondered if Paris Island was anything like "Full Metal Jacket" in the 60's. My grandpa was a doughboy, and dad was an engineman on a transport and minesweeper during Korea. He never tried to tell me that MARINE stands for Must Accept Rides In Navy Equipment. He met guys that had reinlisted after WWII, and were being transported home after a Korean tour. This one gunny had seen so much, (and was such a hardass) the transport captain let him sleep on the deck with his BAR.
Sunday nights were "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" with Marlon Perkins, followed by "The Wonderful World of Disney"
Other ABC programming included "The Wide, Wide World Of Sports" and "The American Sportsman"
Not certain when "My Favorite Martian" was on, but learned to love "Bewitched", "I Dream Of Jeannie", "Get Smart", and "Star Trek" from 1970's re-runs.
Disney movies I remember from the time include "Monkey's Uncle" with Annette Funicello and the Beach Boys, "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" with Kurt Russell, "Mary Poppins", "Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang", and the Herbie The Love Bug series.
I remember the Diggers. They fed me in Boston (brown rice concoctions) and asked me to join. It was an honor. I didnt.
I remember the Apollo fire was it Apollo 13? What year did the tragedy occur? All I can recall, was watching the funerals for the Astronauts on TV, sick on the couch.
I was a street kid during the late 60s and early seventies. Email for more info
Ah Woodstock! Turn your speakers up and enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKeJKegby8w
>>>>>>>>>...seeing a bunch of hippies taking a bath in one of the streams beside the road...<<<
Reminded me of taking a hike near Palm Springs with family to see Tahquitz Falls. Hippies had moved in, written on the rocks and were bathing in the water. Really ticked me off...
I've always said the sixties were so drastic.
We went from "Leave it to Beaver", to "Laugh In".
1966 Chevy Caprice Coupe, 396/425 rat motor (closer to 500 hp but GM fudged this for insurance purposes.) Came with mechanical lifters and three speed automatic. Jeez, the scream that motor made at 5800 rpm. Then, one day, I discovered the 6,000 red line was for real when all that expensive machinery went "boom."
Life Magazine did a shocking expose of "the arrangement" I think they called it - college students shacking up. The sexual revolution was taking off with Cosmo and "Sex and the Single Girl," Woodstock and all that.
The Civil Rights Act passed and the walls of segregation tumbled down, although not growing up in the South I don't know how that felt. The old segregationists forgot about their opposition and fell all over themselves courting votes from their new black constituents.
Except George Wallace. He left the Democratic Party for a time and split the Solid South away from the Dems. It never really went back, especially after the Dems turned pacifist.
Vietnam was raging and the country was beginning to divide over that. That's the real issue that split the Democratic Party and threw the neocons and Reagan Democrats over to the Republicans.
The violence. The Kennedy, King and Kennedy assassinations. Chicago convention riots. The race riots. I remember bypassing Kansas City on a vacation (people mostly drove those days) because cars were being fired on on I-70.
The tremendous low of the Goldwater rout and then the Nixon win just four years later giving hope to the cause.
The whole country absorbed network TV as part of the popular culture. Most adults watched Johnny Carson - at least the monologue. You got your news from Cronkite, or maybe Huntley/Brinkley, if you liked Beethoven. The country believed the MSM was giving it to us straight, although after Cronkite told the country we'd lost the Tet Offensive battle and the media went negative on Vietnam, doubts began to emerge.
The draft. People were obsessed about the draft. Guys who couldn't get deferments joined the Navy, Air Force, Guard or Reserves, unless they were the guys with swagger who wanted a taste of combat.
It felt like the country was out of balance. Some thought the country was about to fall, either to civil war or to the communists. Except for that irrepressible optimist who was elected Governor of California against all the odds in 1966 - Ronald Reagan.
Peanut allergies were unknown because all the small children that had them died early of a suspected jelly allergies.
You were either college-prep or not. No zip codes. Cities were divided into mail zones, and you put the city, then the zone, then the state in the address. Rotary dial phones, and most usually you had to get the operator to help you dial long distance. No 911 - the operator helped you when you had an emergency.
Ladies wore nylons or socks - bare legs and bare feet were not acceptable. Dinner out meant getting dressed up. Cocktails with lunch, and salads were always a side dish. Jackie Kennedy shocked everyone the first time she wore a dress that came to the top of her knees.
Real estate ads discriminated. Church required gloves and hats, regardless of denomination. Not only were there S&H green stamps, but there were Raleigh coupons as well.
HG, if you watch the Twilight Zone reruns you will learn what people were afraid of - if you watch That Girl reruns, you'll get a pretty good idea of what a "career girl's" life was like in those years.
9-year-olds could drive loaded grain trucks (90,000 lbs. +), on state highways without attracting the attention of a SWAT team.
Everyone, including 9-year-olds, could smoke anywhere they wanted without attracting the attention of a SWAT team.
Juveniles caught in possesion of alcoholic beverages had their beverages poured out or confiscated, and asked to drive home.
Adults caught with alcoholic beverages in an automobile were encouraged to not throw the empties out, and be careful.
Gasoline was $0.23 per gallon, and people complained it was too high.
Anyone could buy premium brands of cigarettes from vending machines on the street. Some brands put pennies inside the pack for change.
Cops were a source of help, if you needed it; not a source of fear.
The cheapest family sedan would do 0 - 60 in less than 10 seconds while getting 8 MPG, and nobody cared.
There were no seatbelts in automobiles, much less mandatory seat belt laws.
The federal, state, and local governments were involved in providing services, rather than extracting revenue.
I could go on.......
I went through boot at MCRD San Diego during the summer of 65, and it was exactly like full metal jacket's portrayal. Lee Emory lives in my next door community.
And yeah, I've heard that "naval" saying about us "grownup" members of the Naval Service. (as well as some other versions)...
Now all the P.I. Marines made fun of us "hollywood" Marines, until they hit the Pulgas area of Camp Pendleton prior to going overseas and being introduced to Mount M.F. . Then they quit mouthing off to us.
60s? I remember the 50s and then the 70s but for the life of me I'm not even sure there was a 60s. I just can't remember. Are you sure there was one?
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