How To Speak Hip

The whole playlist for all 13 cuts is here. Track 1 below.

Wikipedia entry for the album here.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 19, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Languages, Vinyl Albums and Other Media Recordings, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1960s, Parody

Miss National Car Care Queen

As far as I can tell, the selection of a "Miss National Car Care Queen" was a one-off event, not repeated in subsequent years.

But it managed to attract the attention of George Kirstein, owner of The Nation magazine, who included it in a story he wrote titled "The Day the Ads Stopped" (pdf), published in The Nation in June 1964. The story imagined a future America in which all advertising had been banned and as a result:

New York Daily News - May 11, 1964

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jan 04, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Advertising, 1960s, Cars

Tibor Sarossy’s Cannonball Run

In late August of 1968, 22-year-old Tibor Sarossy set a record by riding a motorcycle from New York to Los Angeles in 45 hours, 41 minutes. He had rigged up extra fuel tanks on the back of his bike so that he only had to stop for gas four times. Also, he wore a condom connected to a hosepipe to avoid stopping for bathroom breaks.



Attempting to set a speed record for driving across the United States is known as doing a Cannonball Run. The term traces back to 1914 when Erwin Baker was nicknamed "Cannonball" by the media after he drove his motorcycle coast-to-coast in 11 days and 11 hours. That may seem slow today, but it was before modern highways and widely available gas stations. So, for the time and driving conditions, it was incredibly fast.

The current motorcycle record for a Cannonball Run is 32 hours, 27 minutes set by Felix Hofmann in October 2023.

More info: LPMCC.net

Los Angeles Times - Sep 8, 1968

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 03, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: World Records, 1960s, Motorcycles

The Vincent Price Art Collection at Sears

Read the whole story here.

Sears had commissioned famous actor and art collector, Vincent Price, to assemble a collection of art and gallery paintings that would be merchandised through its stores, making fine art more accessible to all Sears’ customers. They gave Price carte blanche to travel the world to put the collection together. After that first opening in Denver, the program was broadened with exhibits of art in ten additional Sears stores and after the first 1,500 pieces of art has been sold, it was expanded nationwide to all Sears stores. The program ended in 1971, but more than 50,000 original artworks had been sold during its time.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 29, 2023 - Comments (2)
Category: Art, Celebrities, Hollywood, Retailing, 1960s

Suffer the Children

Another fine Xmas ditty.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 21, 2023 - Comments (1)
Category: Holidays, Toys, Children, 1960s, Weapons

The Dobie Gillis Teenage slanguage dictionary

A small dictionary of teenage 'slanguage', created in 1962 by an ad agency to promote The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, a sitcom that aired on CBS for four seasons.

Yes, that's Gilligan on the cover (before he was Gilligan).

More info: libraries.indiana.edu

Posted By: Alex - Sun Dec 17, 2023 - Comments (3)
Category: Television, 1960s, Slang

Electric Trains and You

A song of the season. This word might come in handy: paraphilia.

Paraphilia is the experience of recurring or intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals.[1][2] It has also been defined as a sexual interest in anything other than a consenting human partner.[

Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 14, 2023 - Comments (0)
Category: Holidays, Toys, Trains and Other Vehicles on Rails, 1960s, Love & Romance

Charmin’s Marshall Money

He's no Mister Whipple!

Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 11, 2023 - Comments (1)
Category: Hygiene, Premiums, Come-ons, Giveaways, Lossleaders and Freebies, Advertising, Wild West and US Frontier, 1960s

Candidate for Harem

Aug 1964: Marie Miller, a 23-year-old divorcee, announced that in return for $50,000 per year she would be willing to join the harem of Sheik Suleiman el-Haseil who lived in Israel's Negev Desert. She explained that she was responding to a magazine ad apparently placed by the Sheik seeking an American wife.

The Sheik responded that he didn't want her in his harem. He explained that he had placed an ad for an American wife back in 1958, but he was no longer interested in one.

Chillicothe Gazette - Aug 18, 1964

In fact, in December 1957 Sheik Suleiman had been reported to be seeking not just any American wife. He was hoping to marry Eleanor Roosevelt (widow of FDR).

Newsweek - Dec 16, 1957

The stress of the media frenzy following Marie Miller's offer seems to have overwhelmed her, and she ended up in the hospital with a bad back. She was also kicked out of her church.

Dayton Daily News - Aug 27, 1964

Sheik Suleiman (right) with reporter Paul McMahon (1961)

But where exactly did Miller get the idea that Sheik Suleiman was seeking an American wife? I think it traces back to a February 1964 article in HQ magazine by Trevor L.M. Maynard, "I Buy Brides for Arab Sheiks." It described Maynard's lucrative business as a finder of western wives for Arab sheiks, including Sheik Suleiman. He claimed to have arranged 117 marriages between young western women and Arab sheiks.

Click to read full article (pdf)

Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 09, 2023 - Comments (5)
Category: Marriage, 1960s

Don’t Go Near the Eskimos

Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 07, 2023 - Comments (4)
Category: Ethnic Groupings, Music, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1960s, Love & Romance