You are here -> HOME – RETROVILLE – 1974
Welcome to Retroville! It’s 1974!
IN THE NEWS:
- President Richard M. Nixon resigns as President
- Gerald R. Ford is sworn in as the 38th U.S. President
- Patricia “Patty” Hearst, 19-year old daughter of publishing magnate Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA)
- President Ford grants a full, free, and absolute pardon to former President Richard Nixon
- Giorgio Fischer of Rome invents liposuction
- On April 3 and 4 an amazing series of 148 tornadoes ripped across 13 states in the South and Midwest with the deadliest tornado hitting Xenia, Ohio, leaving a total number dead of 350 and doing more than $600 million in damage in the largest known outbreak of tornadoes in U.S. history
- Lucy, a 3 million year old hominid, is discovered by Donald Johansen
- Oakland A’s defeat LA Dodgers to win the World Series
- Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors take control of the pro tennis circuit
ON THE RADIO:
- CBS Radio Mystery Theater
- I Was a Communist for the FBI
- National Lampoon Radio Hour
- Theater USA
ON TELEVISION:
- The New Land
- Friends and Lovers
- NFL Monday Night Football
- Happy Days
- Good Times
- The Man Hunter
- Little House on the Prairie
- Lucas Tanner
- Petrocelli
- Harry O
- Movin On
- Night Stalker
- Chico and the Man
- Rockford Files
- Police Woman
- Fawlty Towers
FADS & FASHION:
- Post-It notes
- Rubik’s Cube
- Sit-n-Spin
- Digger the Dog
- Connect Four (the game)
- MoPeds
WHAT THINGS COST:
- Car: $4,440
- Gasoline: 53 cents per gallon
- House: $38,900
- Bread: 28 cents per loaf
- Milk: $1.39 per gallon
- Postage Stamp: 10 cents
- Average Annual Salary: $14,711
- Minimum Wage: $2.00 per hour
ACADEMY AWARD – BEST PICTURE:
- Godfather Part II – crime drama by Francis Ford Coppola starring Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and Robert DeNiro
TONY AWARD – BEST MUSICAL:
- Raisin – based on “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, music by Judd Woldin, lyrics by Robert Brittan, starring Joe Morton, Ralph Carter, Ernestine Jackson, and Virginia Capers
PULITZER PRIZES:
- The Americans: The Democratic Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin (history)
- O’Neill, Son and Artist by Louis Sheaffer (biography)
- The Dolphin by Robert Lowell (poetry)
- The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker (non-fiction)
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE:
- Sean MacBride, Ireland, 1904-1988, President of the International Peace Bureau, Geneva, United Nations Commissioner for Namibia; and
- Eisaku Sato, Japan, 1901-1975, former Prime Minister of Japan
TOP SONGS:
- Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks
- The LocoMotion by Grand Funk
- Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas
