by david allan van nostrand | Jul 13, 2026 | Americana, Items in the News, The 1960s, The Wayback Machine
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters didn’t sing moon-June-spoon songs like most white bands. Their songs were considered by many to be raunchy, a catchall word that captures things earthy, sexual, and vulgar. Their 1954 song Annie Had a Baby was salacious (“She can’t...
by david allan van nostrand | Oct 29, 2023 | Americana, Human Behavior, The 1960s, The Wayback Machine
Who Was Newton Minow? In 1961, President John F. Kennedy chose Newton Minow as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and gave him free rein to challenge the status quo. Minow was not an industry insider, which the industry found troublesome....
by david allan van nostrand | Jan 23, 2023 | Americana, Human Behavior, Point of view, The 1960s
Famers and physical laborers needed three square meals a day: all full, well-balanced and hearty. They’d eat breakfast before sunup, work until lunch, load up on calories again and work until sundown, when they ate a big dinner and went to bed. One origin story...
by david allan van nostrand | Oct 3, 2022 | Americana, Social archaelogy, The 1960s, The Wayback Machine
Hollywood Squares was a popular game show on television in the 1960s, patterned on the pencil and paper game of tic-tac-toe. The studio set had nine small cubicles, stacked three high and three wide. Within each open-faced square sat a celebrity. The two contestants,...
by david allan van nostrand | Jul 19, 2021 | Americana, Human Behavior, The 1960s
A woman named Liza asks a man named Henry to fetch a pail of water. Henry says he cannot because there’s a hole in the bucket. Liza, a practical woman, tells Henry to fix the hole. Henry asks what he is supposed to fix the hole with. Please click on the link here to...
