The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread | Page 290 | The Trek BBS
The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread | Page 61 | The Trek BBS

 

55 Years Ago This Week

May 14 – On the pretext of responding to a threatened Israeli invasion of Syria, the UAR's President Nasser sent two divisions of Egyptian army troops across the Suez Canal and into the Sinai peninsula. A historian would later comment that "The size of the force clearly indicates it was intended as a demonstration of Egyptian solidarity with Syria rather than an invasion group," but as tensions escalated, Nasser would follow two days later with a removal of UN Peacekeeping forces from the border with Israel.

May 15

• In re Gault, a decision that would lead to a dramatic change in the American juvenile court system and a correction of injustices within the juvenile codes of numerous states, was rendered by the United States Supreme Court. For the first time, the Court ruled that minors were entitled to the same constitutional rights as adults on criminal charges. At the time, there were 48,500 boys and girls in reform schools. The decision arose in the case of 15-year-old Gerald Gault of Gila Bend, Arizona, who had been given a sentence of more than five years at the Arizona industrial school after being convicted of making obscene phone calls to a neighbor. "If Gerald had been over 18," Justice Abe Fortas wrote for the majority opinion, "the maximum punishment would have been a fine of $5 to $50 or imprisonment in jail for not more than two months." He added, "Under our Constitution, the condition of being a boy does not justify a kangaroo court."
• The day after the celebration of the 19th anniversary of the formation of the State of Israel as an independent nation, Israeli Defense Forces paraded through the divided city of Jerusalem, in defiance of the 1949 Armistice Agreements and as an apparent response to Egypt's deployment of its armed forces into Sinai in a breach of the 1956 cease-fire agreement that ended the Suez Crisis.
• Paul McCartney goes to see Georgie Fame perform at the Bag O'Nails night-club in London, and during the evening he meets Linda Eastman for the first time.

May 16 – President Nasser sent a letter to Indian Army General Indar Jit Rikhye, the commander of the 3,400 man UN Emergency Force (UNEF), asking for UNEF's immediate withdrawal from the 117-mile-long (188 km) frontier between Egypt and Israel. "Whether intentionally or not," a historian would write later, "the UAR's desire to evict the UN force after more than a decade ultimately paved the way for the resumption of hostilities between Israel and Egypt in the form of the Six-Day War.

May 17

• Two MiG-21 jets from the Egyptian Air Force made a surprise flight into Israel's airspace, flew over the Negev Nuclear Research Center and reactor at Dimona in an apparent surveillance of the Jewish state's secret nuclear weapons program, and then were able to cross back over the border into the Sinai before the Israeli Air Force could scramble its jets to intercept. The expectation that the Dimona facility would be attacked by air, as well as President Nasser's deployment of two army divisions in the Sinai the same day, accelerated the crisis that would lead to the Six-Day War.
• Queen Elizabeth II announced that her 18-year-old son, Prince Charles, would be invested as Prince of Wales in the summer of 1969.

May 18

• For the first time since the Vietnam War began, American and South Vietnamese troops crossed into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separated North Vietnam and South Vietnam near the 17th parallel. Under the Geneva Accords of 1954, armed troops were not supposed to come into the two kilometer wide DMZ, but Viet Cong and NVA troops from the north had been crossing it for years. Operation Hickory began at dawn as a combined force of 5,500 troops moved into the DMZ on the South Vietnamese side and began engaging the enemy.
• The number of American servicemen killed on that day was 101, as daily U.S. deaths in the war passed 100 for the first time, surpassing February 28, when 61 were killed, and 102 would be killed in action on May 20. For the entire week from May 14 to May 20, the U.S. Department of Defense reported that 337 troops were killed.
• Yuri Andropov was appointed as the new Director of the Soviet KGB intelligence agency by Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. In 1982, Andropov would succeed Brezhnev as both First Secretary and as President, and serve a little more than a year before dying in office.
• General Electric announced the recall of 90,000 large screen color television sets that had been manufactured between June 1966 and February 1967 because they emitted dangerously high levels of x-rays at a level well above U.S. government radiation limits. The move came six months after the defect had been discovered and six days after the U.S. Public Health Service had suggested that GE voluntarily make the announcement.
• The state of Tennessee repealed its law that made the teaching of evolution a criminal offense, as Governor Buford Ellington signed a bill that had rescinded the Butler Act. (Violation of the law had led to the famous Scopes Trial.) On May 16, the state senate had voted, 19-13, in favor of a bill that permitted school teachers to discuss Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in classrooms. The state house of representatives had approved the measure, 66-13, on May 4. The states of Arkansas and Mississippi would be the last to prohibit the teaching of evolution; the U.S. Supreme Court would strike down the remaining state laws as unconstitutional on November 12, 1968.
• Troops in Syria and in Egypt were placed on maximum alert, while Kuwait announced that it would mobilize its own armed forces.
• NASA announces the crew for the Apollo 7 space mission (the first in the Apollo series with a crew): Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele, and R. Walter Cunningham.
• John Lennon and Paul McCartney attend a Rolling Stones recording session at Olympic Sound Studios, Barnes, and add backing vocals to their song "We Love You".

May 19

• The 3,400 man UN Emergency Force (UNEF) departed from its observation posts along the 117-mile-long (188 km) Egyptian/Israeli frontier in the Gaza Strip, after "a hurriedly organized flag lowering ceremony" ordered by UNEF's commander, Indian Army General Indar Jit Rikhye. At the same time, 12,000 troops of the Palestine liberation army took positions inside the Gaza Strip, and the first of more than 80,000 Egyptian troops and more than 800 tanks began crossing into the Sinai. The action came three days after Egypt's President Nasser had demanded the UN to withdraw its forces, and a day after UN Secretary-General U Thant ordered their departure.
• The Soviet Union ratified the treaty with the United States and the United Kingdom, banning nuclear weapons from outer space.
• Brian Epstein hosts a party at his Chapel Street house to launch Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band to selected members of the press and broadcasting media. Linda Eastman attends as a photographer.

​

May 20

• At the close of the week, a record 337 Americans had been killed in battle in the Vietnam War in a single week, as announced by the U.S. Defense Department five days later in its report of the seven days from May 14 to May 20. The Associated Press would note on May 25 that the 337 deaths marked a new milestone of more than 10,000 American servicemen killed in action as it "raised to 10,253 the number of Americans slain and 61,425 the number wounded in the war".
• The Spring Mobilization Conference, a gathering of 700 antiwar activists is held in Washington D.C. to chart the future moves for the U.S. antiwar movement.
• The BBC puts a radio and television ban on the playing of "A Day in the Life," one of the tracks from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, fearing its lyrics may encourage drug-taking. On the BBC Light programme's Where It's At, Kenny Everett gives an exclusive preview of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, including a pre-recorded interview with Paul McCartney.

Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

Leaving the chart:

• "At the Zoo," Simon & Garfunkel (9 weeks)
• "Bernadette," Four Tops (10 weeks)
• "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," Aretha Franklin (11 weeks)
• "My Back Pages," The Byrds (7 weeks)
• "With This Ring," The Platters (12 weeks)

New on the chart:

"Here We Go Again," Ray Charles

(#15 US; #38 AC; #5 R&B; #38 UK)

"7 Rooms of Gloom," Four Tops

(#14 US; #10 R&B; #12 UK)

"Ding, Dong! The Witch Is Dead," The Fifth Estate

(#11 US)

"Sunday Will Never Be the Same," Spanky & Our Gang

(#9 US)

"Can't Take My Eyes Off You," Frankie Valli

(#2 US)


And new on the boob tube:

• The Ed Sullivan Show, Season 19, episode 34
• The Avengers, "Who's Who???" (US season finale)

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Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki pages for the month or year and Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day, with minor editing as needed.

_______

 

50 Years Ago This Week

May 15

• After 26 years of rule by the United States, the island of Okinawa and the other islands of the Ryukyu Islands were returned to the jurisdiction of Japan. Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew appeared on behalf of the U.S. in ceremonies marking the transfer. A colony of Japan, Okinawa had been captured by the United States in the last major battle of World War II at the cost of thousands of lives on both sides, and the Okinawans, considered their own ethnic group in Japan, numbered nearly one million residents. The Okinawa Reversion Treaty had been approved by the U.S. Senate, 84–6, the preceding year. U.S. bases remained, but as Okinawa became a prefecture of Japan for the first time, yen replaced dollars as currency, and in 1977, traffic laws changed to conform to driving on the left side of the road rather than the right.
• Alabama Governor George C. Wallace was shot five times while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president. The would-be assassin, Arthur Bremer, wounded three others in addition to Wallace at a rally in at the Laurel Shopping Center in Laurel, Maryland. Wallace survived, but was permanently paralyzed from the waist down. At the time of the shooting, Wallace had won more votes (3,354,360) in the primaries than either George McGovern (2,202,840) or Hubert Humphrey (2,647,676), but was second to McGovern in delegates won (323 vs. McGovern's 409).

May 17

• The Ohio College Library Center OCLC in the United States amended its articles to allow its five-year-old computer network to link with libraries outside the state, linking over 500 sites by 1975 and over 2,000 by the end of 1979. OCLC now stands for Online Computer Library Center and connects 60,000 libraries.
• John Lennon and Yoko Ono attend deportation hearings at the US Immigration and Naturalization Office in New York City. John pleads for mercy for them and Kyoko, although she is still missing with her father.

May 18

• Four troopers of the British Special Air Service and Special Boat Service are parachuted onto the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) across the Atlantic after a bomb threat and ransom demand which turn out to be bogus.
• The Sea-Bed Treaty (officially, the "Treaty on the prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil Thereof"), signed on February 11, 1971, took effect.

May 19

• Three out of six bombs explode in the Axel Springer AG media company offices in Hamburg, Germany, injuring 17; the Red Army Faction claims responsibility.
• A bomb exploded at the Pentagon, destroying an unoccupied women's restroom where it had been placed. Though nobody was injured, a computer tape archive with highly classified information was severely damaged.
• The National Eagle Scout Association was created by Boy Scouts of America.
• Northeast Airlines was acquired by Delta Air Lines, along with its direct flights from New York and Boston to Florida destinations.

May 20 – The Indiana Pacers beat the New York Nets, 108–105, to win the ABA championship in Game 6 of the series. The Pacers and Nets would be among four teams to join the NBA in 1976.


Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

Leaving the chart:

• "Jump into the Fire," Nilsson (9 weeks)
• "Puppy Love," Donny Osmond (12 weeks)

New on the chart:

"Woman Is the N***** of the World," John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band w/ Elephant's Memory & The Invisible Strings
[Audio not provided because board policy, but easily found on YouTube]
(May 20; #57 US)

"Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You)," Stevie Wonder

(#33 US; #13 R&B)

"Living in a House Divided," Cher

(#22 US; #2 AC)

"Day by Day," Godspell

(#13 US; #8 AC)

"Amazing Grace," The Pipes & Drums & Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards

(#11 US; #9 AC; #1 UK)

"I Need You," America

(#9 US; #7 AC)

_______

Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki pages for the month or year and Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Day by Day, with minor editing as needed.

_______

But when Captain Kangaroo is on the open sea beyond the three-mile limit, does he gain judicial powers...?

Prince Charles & Princess Di ---> Prince William ---> Kate Middleton. Not seeing a problem here.

Tennessee responds, "You sure do got a purdy mouth..."

What you did there was a little too obvious.

Ray's in good form, though.

Not one of their stone-cold classics, but I was exposed to it on oldies radio way back when.

Covering The Wizard of Oz is about as lightweight as mid-to-late-'60s pop gets.

Sounds like sunshine pop coming into full bloom.

Very pretty stone-cold classic.

 

55 Years Ago This Week Overflow Special

Also recent and new on the chart the week of May 20, 1967:

"Too Many Fish in the Sea & Three Little Fishes," Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels

(Apr. 29; #24 US)

"Tramp," Otis & Carla

(May 6; #26 US; #2 R&B; #18 UK)

"Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat," Bob Dylan

(#81 US)

"Shake," Otis Redding

(#47 US; #16 R&B; #28 UK)

"Soul Finger," The Bar-Kays

(#17 US; #3 R&B; #33 UK)

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John uses the word to make a point, about women suffering inequity across racial barriers. It's actually one of the highlights of the generally dreadful Some Time in New York City album. John's concept for the album, as attested to by its cover, was to do an album that was as in-the-moment as a newspaper. The problem with that is that the album naturally didn't date well, as it's chock full of songs about people and issues that I only knew about because John Lennon did songs about them. The studio disc of the double LP is also John and Yoko, sharing tracks on the same album, in full-on, heavy-handed political mode. The second disc is a live recording featuring long jams by Frank Zappa and Yoko.

This one is of interest as one of the charting singles from Music of My Mind, which is on the RS list, so I featured the full album version. The single edit consisted of only the "Superwoman" part of the song. This and the other charting single from the album don't exactly stand out among Stevie's stone-cold classics of the era, so I can see why the singles didn't perform better.

It both loses me while I'm listening to it and sticks in my head afterward...

Now as you're on record as a Godspell fan, I was gonna ask you to sell me on why I should get this one. I'm not familiar with the musical, but I get the impression that it's something of a Hair meets Jesus Christ Superstar.

"Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most...human."

Pleasantly mellow early '70s, and not All About Jesus.