The Connection

Unless you're a film buff you probably haven't heard of Shirley Clarke's 1961 movie The Connection. It was an experimental film, purporting to be actual footage of a group of heroin junkies waiting in an apartment for their dealer ("the connection") to show up. Though, of course, the supposed junkies were all actors, and the film was scripted.

But the movie's real claim to fame is that it was the first American film to ever use the word "shit." From wikipedia:



The trailer:



The full film:

Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 15, 2016 - Comments (1)
Category: Movies, 1960s, Curses, Slurs, Insults, Vituperation, Libel and Slander

Fashion 2000

Interestingly, I think the predictions from farther away from the year 2000 were a bit more accurate than those that were closer!

Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 15, 2016 - Comments (1)
Category: Fashion, Futurism, 1930s, 1960s, Twenty-first Century

America needs a space age president

Gabriel Green campaigned to be President of the United States in 1960, promoting himself as "your write-in space-age candidate."

His main qualification was that he had "seen at least 75 flying saucers and has chatted with space people." Also, he was founder of the Amalgamated Flying Saucer Clubs of America. He promised that his presidency would usher in "The World of Tomorrow, and UTOPIA now."

However, he didn't attract a lot of support from voters. He attributed this to the fact that "not enough Americans have yet seen flying saucers or talked to outer space people." So he dropped out of the race and endorsed John F. Kennedy. The space people told him that they approved his decision.

He ran again in 1972, with similar results.

More info (and photos) at Gabriel Green for President.

Posted By: Alex - Tue Nov 08, 2016 - Comments (6)
Category: Politics, Strange Candidates, 1960s

Kenner’s Scottie Bagpipe

Introduced by Kenner in 1962, this plaid-patterned vinyl bag attached to a plastic flute allowed kids to play "exciting bagpipe effects." You need to watch the short video to appreciate the true horror of the sounds this thing created. Guaranteed to drive parents insane in mere seconds.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Nov 07, 2016 - Comments (7)
Category: Music, Toys, 1960s

Electromechanical Arcade Games

Barring pinball and skeeball, how did primitive youngsters amuse themselves in arcades before computer-chip video games?

With electromechanical games.

As in the videos below.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 06, 2016 - Comments (2)
Category: Technology, 1960s, 1970s, Videogames and Gamers

Let’s Say It Right

In October 1969, the U.S. Command in Vietnam issued a directive titled "Let's Say it Right" to the American Forces Vietnam Network (AFVN). The directive forbid military press officers from using certain terms and provided a list of acceptable terms in their place.

For instance, instead of referring to "free firing zones" in which anything that moved was considered enemy and could be fired at, officers were supposed to say "pre-cleared firing zones." And instead of "lull" they were supposed to refer to "light and scattered action."

A military spokesman said that the directive was actually just a "style sheet" whose purpose was to "get everyone using similar words."

Some more of the "no-no" words (as AFVN officers described them) were listed in this NY Times piece:

New York Times - Jan 11, 1970

GI Press Service - April 1971

Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 04, 2016 - Comments (5)
Category: Languages, Military, 1960s

Follies of the Madmen #295

So that's where corporate executives come from! It's something in their breakfast cereal as kids!

Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 01, 2016 - Comments (5)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Food, Children, 1960s

Post Toasties

Here's an ad campaign over the course of a decade or so that shows the Mad Men flailing around blindly. Whom do we appeal to? Kings, Indian Chiefs, housewives, nursery-rhyme characters, despotic sea captains, or cartoon animals? Or, in the end, the anti-hippie conservatives embodied by Andy Griffith and his fancy-neckwear disparagement?

Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 30, 2016 - Comments (2)
Category: Business, Advertising, Food, 1950s, 1960s

1960’s Beatnik Glossary

Contributed by "hotsauce269".

Posted By: Alex - Fri Oct 28, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Languages, Slang, 1960s

Mrs. Living Corpse

June 9, 1966: After being buried alive for a week outside of a drive-in theater in Denison, Texas, Lottie Howard married "Country" Bill White. Both of them were "buried alive" practitioners. After she was disinterred, the two left on their honeymoon.

Long Beach Independent Press-Telegram - June 19, 1966

Update: Looks like the marriage didn't last long. Two years later Country Bill got served with divorce papers — while he was buried alive. The papers were dropped down the six-inch pipe he used for air and food.

Wilmington News Journal - Mar 28, 1968

But Bill rebounded pretty quickly from his divorce. Just a few months later he was buried alive with a "34-year-old grandmother" and a go-go dancer. However, they each had individual compartments in the coffin, evidently to prevent any buried-alive hanky panky.

The Indianapolis Star - June 21, 1968

And here's a picture of Bill from 1978, looking a bit rougher around the edges.

The Benton Harbor News-Palladium - May 19, 1978

As far as I can tell, Bill kept doing his buried alive stunt until the late 1980s. In 1981 he set an endurance record for the longest time buried alive (140 consecutive days in a plywood box, 6 feet long by 3 feet wide). This record seems to have been beaten in 1999 by Geoff Smith, who spent 147 days buried in a coffin under the beer garden of his local pub. Though it's hard to know for sure because Guinness doesn't maintain a record for longest time buried alive (because of their policy of not encouraging unhealthy or life-endangering acts).

In 2005, the New Bedford Standard-Times ran an article about Bill, but that's the last media reference to him I can find. If he's still alive, he'd be around 82.

Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 23, 2016 - Comments (1)
Category: 1960s, Weddings