Years come and go (name one thing that happened in 1953, 1962, or 1977, for example), but decades are a little harder to dismiss. One year’s fad (Dingo boots, bow ties, Pet Rocks, David Clyde) can easily be the next year’s folly. But things that survive 10 years or more (Oxford cloth, Clearasil, Bob Barker, cowboy boots) become a part of history, or at least someone’s master’s thesis.
When a decade turns, you can do one of two things: recall what was, or try to figure out what will be. We were tempted to try the latter, but things being the way they are (Hamilton Jordan, Suzanne Somers, the Ayatollah, Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier), we decided we didn’t want to think about it very much.
So we decided to take a look at the three decades that got us into this fix – the Fabulous Fifties, the Soaring Sixties, and the Me Decade. We figure the turn of a decade is like a 30th birthday: It’s only worth what led up to it. In this case, there’s plenty of important history you’ve probably already forgotten. If you haven’t, you’ve spent entirely too much time reading stories like this one.
50’s
Republic Bank
Beacon
Mickey Cohen and
Candy Barr
Sputnik
Dallas Eagles
Knock Knock
Gen. Mac Arthur
fired
’57 tornado
John Sparkman
Margo Jones
Superman
Buddy Holly
D. Harold Byrd
Goss on Ross
Brylcream
Tom Collins
Sen Sen
The Airport War
“Made in Texas by
Texans”
Lenny Bruce
Fizzies
’57 Chevy
Alaska becomes
biggest state
Abe’s Colony Club
The Old Cool Fool
Cipango Club
TCU 28,
Syracuse 27
60’s
The Schoolbook Depository
Lance Rentzel and Joey Heatherton
Peacenik
Dallas Texans
Elephant
Prayer banned
Warren Culbertson mugged in Chicago
Bill Miller
Clarence Jones
Batman
Janis Joplin
Lady Bird
Art Grindle
Hair spray
Daiquiri
Cinnamon
toothpicks
The Second Gun Theory
“America: Love It or Leave It”
Flip Wilson
Tang
SS 396
Packers dash Cowboy’s title hopes
Athens Strip
The Weird Beard
Ports O’ Call
Texas 15,
Arkansas 14
70’s
Reunion Tower
Cullen and Priscilla Davis
Ethnic
Dallas Chapparals
Aggie
Chicken Ranch
The New Year’s ice storm
Bob Dole Preston
Jones The Hulk
Willie Nelson
Don Byrd
Carl Westcott
Blow dryer
Margarita
Binaca
DISD Scandal
“I Found It”
Steve Martin
Gatorade
280 Z
Gulf oil spill
ruins Texas coast
LaBare
Ron Chapman
elan
Piano 29,
Highland Park 28
50’s
Ladies Home Journal
Winston Tastes Good Like A Cigarette Should
Chicks
How to Marry a Millionaire
’Our little girl, Tricia, named him Checkers.”
Henry J.
cheeseburger
3-D movies
Elevator operators
Eddie Barker
National Banker’s Life Insurance
Fluorescent lights
Giant
FBI
“Spaz”
“Leave It to Beaver”
The Nude Prowler
Nat King Cole
Johnny Champion
Wailing Wall
TV dinners
Billy Sol Estes
Dallas Dispatch
Bucky Beaver
“Dydamic Dallas”
60’s
Cosmopolitan
Show Us Your Larks
Doves
Sex and the
Single Girl
“You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore.”
LBJ
cheeseburger
Lettuce
cigarettes
Black-and-white TV
Murphy Martin
LTV
Gas lights
Hud
LSD
“Queer”
Eldridge Cleaver
King of Diamonds
Martin Luther King
Eddie LeBaron
Berlin Wall
Pop Tarts
Billy Sol Estes
Dallas Notes
The White Knight
“The City of Hate”
70’s
Ms.
Us Tareyton Smokers Would Rather Fight Than Switch
Turkeys
Looking for
Mr. Goodbar
“I am not a crook.”
Dr. J
cheeseburger
Coors push-top
beer cans
Cadillac convertibles
Iola Johnson
Oz
Black lights
Last Picture Show
ERA
“Nerd”
Earl Weaver
The Friendly Rapist
King Tut
John Tower
Great Wall
Hamburger
Helper
Billy Sol Estes
Fort Worth Press
Mr. Whipple
“The Time of
Your Life City”
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