Do you remember 1961' ?

Do you remember 1961?

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Mercury Program Rocket How well do you remember 1961 ? A lot has changed. Things are different then, they are now.

Long gone are the Drive-in theater, Sock Hop, and vinyl records. You could usually fix the TV yourself by changing a tube. Most of it has been lost to the digital age of technology. We are no longer in the space race, and the cold war is over.

An energy crisis and gas lines were unheard of. You never went to a “gas station” instead you went to a “service station”. This meant that you got service, including someone to fill your tank, clean your windshield, and check the oil at no extra charge.

Cars were not only simpler and more reliable, but compared to today's standards; they were built like a tank.

A high school diploma actually meant something.

It was a lot safer to keep your doors unlocked.

You didn't need a password to use a typewriter.

When you made a copy of a document or form, you genarally used carbon paper.

There were no pagers, cell phones, VCR's, DVD players, video games, personal computers, computer viruses, internet, PDA's, GPS, or Big Brother.

You could actually work for one company until you retired.

When you wanted fresh vegetables and great food prices, you went to a farmers market. And the vegetables didn't cost more than the meat.

The big supermarket chains in our area were A & P, Acme, and Giant.

Before most movies began, a couple of cartoon shows or The Three Stooges were shown first.

Instead of having over 200 channels of junk on TV, there were really only three networks in the US in 1961 and it didn't cost a penny extra to get them. The defination of the word "junk" has changed with the times.

In May of 1961, in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, Federal Communications Committee chairman Newton Minow called TV "a vast wasteland" and threatened not to renew licenses unless there was more programing in the public interest.

"I do not think the public taste is as low as some of you appear to believe."
~ Newton N. Minow

In fact color television was considered to be hi-tech, even though it spent more time in the repair shop rather than at home.

But if you tell your grandkids that today, do they believe you?

1961 - The year that was...

Robin Williams said "If you remember the 60's, you wern't there! " So I am including a few stats here to show you how bad things were in 1961.

1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

As MAD Magazine pointed out on its cover for the March 1961 issue, this was the first "upside-up" year—i.e., one in which the numerals that form the year look the same as when the numerals are rotated upside down—since 1881, and the last until 6009.

President: ...................................... John F. Kennedy ( A war hero )
Cost of a new home:........................ $17,200.00
Cost of a first-class stamp:.............. $0.04
Cost of a gallon of regular gas:......... $0.31
Cost of a dozen eggs:....................... $0.57
Cost of a gallon of Milk:..................... $0.49
US GDP (1998 dollars):...................... $544.8 billion
Federal spending:............................. $97.72 billion
Federal debt:.................................... $292.6 billion
Consumer Price Index:...................... 29.9
Unemployment:................................. 5.5%
Population:....................................... 183,691,481
Life expectancy:................................ 70.2 years
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000):.......... 19.1
Property Crime Rate (per 1,000):........ 17.5
Homicide Rate (per 100,000):............ 4.7

What a difference! It must be the "new math".

From 1993 to 2003, cable rates have risen by 53 percent, according to the FCC.

Local phone rates in urban areas have risen by 23 percent from 1994 to 2004. There was only one phone company, but it was reliable. It also was the only company that handled your long distance. You only had to dial 7 digits to get a local number.

Elvis Presley was the King of pop.

Competitions in 1961

In 1961 the American Football League season was the second regular season of the American Football League. The Los Angeles Chargers moved to San Diego, California following the 1960 season, retaining the Chargers name.

The season ended when the Houston Oilers defeated the San Diego Chargers in the AFL Championship game.

Sports:

The 1961 World Series: ...................................... New York Yankees

Beauty Pagents:

Miss USA 1961: ...................................... Sharon Brown ( Louisiana )
Miss Universe 1961: ...................................... Marlene Schmidt ( Germany )
Miss World 1961: ...................................... Rosemarie Frankland ( Wales )

Slang terms of 1961

Slang Term	1961 Translation	Translation today
A chick	A single girl	Profit potiential at Perdue Farms
A coed	A girl who didn't get her man in high school.	Someone attending collage
A minute man	A fellow who can make it to the refrigerator and back with a sandwich while the commercial is on.	Something too graphic to discribe here.
Germ warfare	Kissing	A threat to Americans by terrorists
Teen torture	Homework	Kids moving back in their parents home because they can't get a job.
murgatoid	A square	A catchphrase of the cartoon character Snaglepuss
Grody	A square	A form of Valley Speak or "Valspeak" by a "valley girl" that refers to something weird "Grody to the Max"
Poor Pearl	An unpopular girl	An unpopular investment
chicken	An engaged girl	A typical KFC dinner
"a fry in the ointment."	Sunbathing	Dropping junk food into an ointment.
"A fungus among us"	There's a character in our midst.	Toxic mold costing expensive home repairs
"And, that's the way the gravity pulls".	means "that's life."	Means you are seriously considering plastic surgery
"Don't bust me"	Quit Kidding	Pleading not to be arrested to the cops.
"Turn up the stereo"	Listen to me	What you do with your iPod
"Wave your wig"	To comb your hair.	To get rid of your topee
"Failed to orbit "	You failed to get a date	Another failed space lauch costing over a million dollars.
"It's been heaven but I think I'll jump for Earth"	The evening's over.	Returning to reality
"Psyche it out"	To think a problem through.	To drive something crazy
cannibal's cave	home economics room	Where a serial killer leaves the bodies
Pony express	a date, just you and the driver	Means to deliver the mail in an old Western
stage coach	a double date.	Means of transport in an old Western
Chrome-plated	All dressed up	Metal on cars that has disappeared since the invention of plastic bumper.
Coffee pot	the life of the party	Something that we haven't seen since Starbucks
"A library kiss"	A kiss with lots of volume	Being kissed in the library - Duh!
King George's jive is English or the creep catalog.	the yearbook	King George's jive is English - African American getto slag for English The creep catalog - A sexual preditor website
A pedestrian.	A man with two cars, a wife and a son	A man with two cars, a wife and a son that are potiental targets for road rage.
The ringleader.	The first one in the bathtub.	The head of a drug dealer's source.
A tourniquet	a wedding ring.	A constricting or compressing device used to control venous and arterial circulation to an extremity for a period of time.
nest	hairdoo	A place of refuge built to hold an animal's eggs and/or provide a place to raise their offspring.
a splouse	An extra special louse	No meaning - except in Korea
A squeep	A cross between a square and a creep	A squid in sheep’s clothing
Pucker Palace	A drive-in movie	A weekend in Vegas
Skull drag	To Study	A synonym for muse, contemplate, mull over, think, etc.
Earth pads.	shoes	See Electro Surgical Accessories > Patient (or) Earth Pads
Antsville	a crowded place	Where a serial killer leaves the bodies
Vampire	A fictional B-movie character that is a member of the living dead. Known for sucking the blood out of its victims	A non - fictional character that is a member of the living dead. Known for sucking the life out of its victims. Today they are called divorce lawyers.

News events in 1961

Jan. 3 - US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Jan. 20 - John F. Kennedy inaugurated as President of the U.S.

January 31 - Ham, a 37 pound male chimpanzee, is rocketed into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, in a test of the Project Mercury capsule, designed to carry United States astronauts into space.

February 9 - The Beatles perform for their first time at the Cavern Club.

February 14 - Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized in Berkeley, California.

March 29 - The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, DC to vote in presidential elections.

April 17 - In an attempt to "liberate" Cuba, 1,500 Cuban refugees started the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba. All were killed or captured by the Cuban armed forces within 3 days. They had been trained and armed in Guatemala by the CIA since May, 1960; but, as Secretary of State Rusk testified, all U.S. agencies involved had unanimously recommended the attack. President Kennedy accepts responsibility.

May 5 - Mercury program: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space aboard Mercury-Redstone 3. rockets 116.5 miles up in 302-mile trip.

May 25 - President Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade.

July 2 - Ernest Hemingway commits suicide by gunshot in Ketchum, Idaho.

July 21 - Gus Grissom, piloting the Mercury-Redstone 4 capsule Liberty Bell 7, becomes the second American to go into space (sub-orbital). making 118-mile-high, 303-mile-long rocket flight over Atlantic. Upon splashdown, the hatch prematurely opens, and the capsule sinks (it will be recovered in 1999).

August 6 - Gherman Stepanovich Titov is launched in Soviet spaceship Vostok II: makes 17 1/2 orbits in 25 hours, covering 434,960 miles before landing safely

August 13 - During the filming of One, Two, Three - the building of the Berlin Wall had begun in the night of August 13, 1961, right trough the set at the Brandenburger Tor. The team, discovering the change in the morning, had to move to Munich to shoot the missing scenes on the parking lot of the Bavaria Film Studios, where a copy of the lower half of the Brandenburger Tor had to be built.

September 19 - The first Grey alien is reported.

October 1 - Baseball player Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hits his 61st home run in the last game of the season, against the Boston Red Sox, beating the 34-year-old record held by Babe Ruth.

October 30 - The Soviet Union detonates a 58 megaton yield hydrogen bomb known as Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya. It remains the largest ever (man-made) explosion.

December 11 - The Vietnam War officially begins. The 1st 2 U.S. military companies arrived in South Vietnam, including 32 helicopters and 4,000 men. They were assigned to Vietnamese units, but remained under U.S. order to fire only if fired on.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT:

Movies: West Side Story, The Hustler, Judgment at Nuremburg, The Apartment

Songs: Moon River, Where the Boys Are, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Blue Moon, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, I Fall to Pieces and Crazy

Grammy Record of the Year: "Theme From A Summer Place," Percy Faith

Grammy Album of the Year: Button Down Mind, Bob Newhart (Warner Bros.)

Grammy Song of the Year: "Theme From Exodus," Ernest Gold, songwriter

TV Shows: Bullwinkle, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, Hazel, Dick Van Dyke Show, Top Cat

Books: Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein; Catch-22, Joseph Heller; The Carpetbaggers, Harold Robbins; The Making of the President: 1960, Theodore White; The Agony and the Ecstasy, Irving Stone; The Winter of Our Discontent, John Steinbeck

Henry Miller's 1934 novel Tropic of Cancer published legally in the U.S. for the first time

Ernest Hemmingway dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound

Gary Cooper dies

Looking Back

Things that we know now, that we didn't know then.

January 13 - Julia Louis-Dreyfus, American actress is born

January 24 - Musician Bob Dylan reportedly makes his way to New York City after bumming a ride in Madison, Wisconsin. Dylan is likely on his way to visit his idol Woody Guthrie. He later finds fame in the Greenwich Village protest folk music scene.

February 9 - The Beatles perform for their first time at the Cavern Club.

April 23 - George Lopez, American actor and comedian is born

May 6 - George Clooney, American actor is born

May 28 - Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.

June 19 - The British protectorate ends in Kuwait and it becomes an emirate.

June 25 - Iraqi president Abdul Karim Kassem announces he is going to annex Kuwait.

June 27 - Kuwait requests British help; the United Kingdom sends in troops.

Aug 4, 1961, Barack Obama was born

August 13 - Construction of the Berlin Wall begins.

October 9 - Digital photography invented by Eugene F. Lally presented in a technical paper at the American Rocket Society's Space Flight Report to the Nation in New York.

October 19 - The Arab League takes over protecting Kuwait; the last British troops leave.

November - The Fantastic Four #1 debuts, launching the Marvel Universe and revolutionizing the American comic book industry.

November 10 - Catch-22 is first published by Joseph Heller.

November 22 - Mariel Hemingway, American actress is born

November 30 - The Soviet Union vetoes Kuwait's application for United Nations membership

December 2 - In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares he is a Marxist -Leninist, and that Cuba will adopt Communism.

OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) formally constituted.

In 1956, Time described Mad Magazine as a "short-lived satirical pulp". Now the magazine was commonly cited as one of the three greatest publishing successes of the 1950s, along with Playboy and TV Guide.

Miscellaneous Inventions and Discoveries:

Things that we know now, that we didn't know then.

Electric toothbrushes introduced.

Barbie" gets a boyfriend when the "Ken" doll is introduced.

"Frito" corn chips appear.

First lasers developed

Jack Lippes develops the contraceptive intrauterine device (IUD).

Anthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey discover Homo habilis in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania

Wrong Predictions:

"There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television, or radio service inside the United States. "
~ T. Craven In 1961
(the first commercial communications satellite went into service in 1965).