1964

1964

Overbrook

Philadelphia, PA

My age:  8- 9

School- Our Lady of Lourdes.  Miss Capra was my 4^th grade teacher.  I thought she was beautiful and she was much nicer to us than other teachers. I think she was about 20 years old.

Music- The Beatles came on the scene and changed the music world and took up all my interest in music; I became an audiophile. The Beatles made their first appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. And the whole country watched. They  had 13 singles on Billboard's Hot 100 at the same time and they held the top five positions in the Billboard Top 40 singles in America.  Everyone loved the Beatles.  Every song they released became a hit.

Movies

•       It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World 
•       The Unsinkable Molly Brown – This movie was so inspirational.
•       My Fair Lady 
•       Mary Poppins- Feed the Birds was such a sad song.

Books- Beverly Cleary- Ramone-I loved these books.

News Events- it was a turbulent year.

•     North Viet Nam became a household word.

•     The Boston Strangler was captured and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

•     Warren Commission report on the assassination of President Kennedy concluded Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone.  Now 50+ years later, there are still lots of conspiracy theories out there. It is still a disputed conclusion.

•     President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law and it wasn’t well received.

•     Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr receives the Nobel Peace Prize.

•     Elizabeth Taylor married Richard Burton.  This was gossip for everyone.

Cassius Clay beat Sonny Liston for World Heavy weight championship. And while everyone talked about this fight, it did not measure up to the discussion when he changed his name to Mohammed Ali and converted to the unknown religion of Muslim.

•     President Lyndon Johnson declared a War on Poverty Campaign. It’s unfortunate that we made some progress but now have more poverty than we did when the war started.

•     The first Mustang from Ford Motor Company was made. Now fifty years old, it still commands a level of coolness that so many of us aspire to earn.

•     The 24th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified which removed the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. 

•     Race riots plagued our cities all summer long. At times, I thought we were at war.

•     Three civil rights field workers disappeared after investigating the burning of a Black church by the Ku Klux Klan.

•     The World's Fair was held in New York. I went to the fair and saw the Pieta.

•     U.S. Surgeon General reported that smoking may lead to lung cancer.  This was something the cigarette companies disputed with vengeance.

•     Jack Ruby was convicted of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President Kennedy. His involved in this awful situation was a mystery now and still is today.

•     Sidney Poitier became the first black actor to win the "best actor" Oscar in his role To Sir with Love. I just watched this movie again after 50 years and I cannot believe how sexist it is.

•     "Hello Dolly," "Funny Girl," and "Fiddler on the Roof" premiered on Broadway. These plays have had their share of remakes and updated renditions.

•     The Rolling Stones released a debut album, "The Rolling Stones."  They were too cool for me at this time.

•     Hasbro launch G.I. Joe an action figure for boys to join the Barbie Doll for Girls. I don’t know if my brothers wanted these dolls but my father wouldn’t have let them get these dolls. “Boys don’t play with dolls,” he announced.

•     BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), a programming language is introduced. It wouldn’t be until 1981 that I ever heard of this language or understand its purpose. 

•     United States Presidential Election - Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic) defeated Barry Goldwater (Republican).  I still have my Goldwater pin.  It’s an elephant with big, black eye glasses.

Family

      We went to the movies on Halloween night. My mother thought it was a great alternative to taking the six of us out to hoard candy.  We went to see Mary Poppins. So, she put a basket of candy on the porch and left a note, “Take one and have a Happy Halloween”. One of the neighborhood kids told my brother that he got to our house early and took all the candy.