1969

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Welcome to Retroville! It’s 1969!

IN THE NEWS:

  • Richard M. Nixon becomes the 37th President
  • ATMs (Automatic Teller Machines) are patented
  • The first artificial heart is patented
  • Bar code scanners are patented
  • Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong (along with shipmates Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. and Michael Collings) becomes the first man to walk on the moon
  • NY Mets defeat the Baltimore Orioles to win the World Series
  • Mario Andretti sets a new track speed record at the Indianapolis 500 getting his car to an average speed of 156.867 mph
  • On January 23 in an unexpected outbreak of tornadoes in Mississippi 32 people are left dead
  • Actress Sharon Tate and other houseguests are murdered in her Los Angeles Hills home by Charles Manson and his followers
  • Woodstock Festival is held on an obscure farm in New York

ON THE RADIO:

  • Bell Telephone Hour
  • Heartbeat Theater
  • Jean Shepard
  • Meet the Press
  • Sherlock Holmes

ON TELEVISION:

  • Wonderful World of Disney
  • Bill Cosby Show
  • The Bold Ones
  • The Music Scene
  • The New People
  • The Survivors
  • Love, American Style
  • Marcus Welby, M.D.
  • 60 Minutes
  • Room 222
  • The Courtship of Eddie’s Father
  • Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
  • Medical Center
  • This is Tom Jones
  • Jim Nabors Hour
  • Let’s Make a Deal
  • The Brady Bunch
  • Get Smart
  • Sesame Street

FADS & FASHION:

  • Barrel of Monkeys
  • Upsy Downsy Babies
  • Nerf balls
  • Silly String
  • Tie-dye T-shirts
  • Bare feet
  • Peace symbols
  • Headbands
  • Hippie hair (long and straight)

WHAT THINGS COST:

  • Car: $3,400
  • Gasoline: 35 cents per gallon
  • House: $27,900
  • Bread: 23 cents per loaf
  • Milk: $1.26 per gallon
  • Postage Stamp: 6 cents
  • Average Annual Salary: $10,577
  • Minimum Wage: $1.60 per hour

ACADEMY AWARD – BEST PICTURE:

  • Midnight Cowboy – drama by John Schlesinger starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voigt

TONY AWARD – BEST MUSICAL:

  • 1776 – music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards, choreographed by Onna White, starring William Daniels, Howard DaSilva, Paul Hecht, and Clifford David

PULITZER PRIZES:

  • House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday (fiction)
  • The Great White Hope by Howard Sackler (drama)
  • Origins of the Fifth Amendment by Leonard W. Levy (history)
  • The Man From New York: John Quinn and His Friends by Benjamin Lawrence Reid (biography)
  • Of Being Numerous by George Oppen (poetry)
  • The Armies of the Night by Norman Mailer (non-fiction)

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE:

  • The International Labor Organization (ILO), Geneva

TOP SONGS:

  • In the Year 2525 by Zagar & Evans
  • Aquarius by the Fifth Dimension
  • Na-Na-Hey-Hey Kiss Him Goodbye by Steam