1963

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Welcome to Retroville! It’s 1963!

IN THE NEWS:

  • President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas as his motorcade passes through Dealy Plaza
  • Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson becomes the 36th President
  • Lee Harvey Oswald, accused Kennedy assassin, is shot by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner, as Oswald is escorted through the Dallas Police parking garage
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his “I have a dream” speech in Washington D.C. on the Mall before a crowd of more than 200,000 black and white spectators
  • Red Phone (the Hotline) is installed at the Kremlin and the White House in an effort to prevent accidental war
  • Russian Cosmonaut Valentina becomes the first woman in space
  • Michael E. DeBakey implants the first artifical heart in a human at a Houston hospital (the patient lives for four days)
  • Los Angeles Dodgers defeat NY Yankees in the World Series
  • The U.S. now has 15,000 military advisors in Viet Nam
  • Pope John XXIII dies at 78
  • Pope Paul VI installed as Pope

ON THE RADIO:

  • CBS Radio Mystery Theater
  • Guy Lombardo Orchestra
  • Journey to the Center of the Earth
  • Meet the Press
  • Sherlock Holmes
  • Sky King

ON TELEVISION:

  • Jerry Lewis Show
  • My Favorite Martian
  • Judy Garland Show
  • Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color
  • Outer Limits
  • The Fugitive
  • Petticoat Junction
  • Patty Duke Show
  • Beverly Hillbillies
  • Twilight Zone (reintroduced)
  • Dr. Who
  • John F. Kennedy’s funeral becomes the highest rated program with 93% of Americans watching the ceremonies

FADS & FASHION:

  • Mousetrap
  • Easy-Bake ovens
  • Bowl-a-Matic
  • Rat Fink (the game)
  • Smiley faces

WHAT THINGS COST:

  • Car: $2,3,00
  • Gasoline: 30 cents per gallon
  • House: $19,300
  • Bread: 21 cents per loaf
  • Milk: $1.04 per gallon
  • Postage Stamp: 4 cents
  • Average Annual Salary: $6,998
  • Minimum Wage: $1.25 per hour

ACADEMY AWARD – BEST PICTURE:

  • Toms Jones – by Tony Richardson

TONY AWARD – BEST MUSICAL:

  • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum – based on a book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondeim, choreographed by Jack Cole, starring Zero Mostel, John Carradine, Raymond Walburn, and Jack Gillford

PULITZER PRIZES:

  • The Reivers by William Faulkner (fiction)
  • Washington: Village and Capital by Constance McLaughlin Green (history)
  • Henry James by Leon Edel (biography)
  • Pictures From Breughel by William Carlos Williams (poetry)
  • The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman (non-fiction)

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE:

  • The League of Red Cross Societies, Geneva; and
  • The International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva, founded in 1863

TOP SONGS:

  • He’s So Fine by the Chiffons
  • Walk Like a Man by The Four Seasons
  • Dominique by The Singing Nun