Phil Sniffing Out Fake News
Category: 1960s
Those Bangs Tho
While I admit that Sophia Loren is a beautiful woman (no question), this image doesn’t sit well with me. It’s not just the fact that the hair is reminiscent of Klute hair (go Google that on your own time); it’s that this photo is credited as being taken in 1960. It doesn’t seem consistent with the moment. Think of Marilyn Monroe in 1960. This was not the style. Plus, it’s ew.
The classic Sophia has voluminous dark hair and thick eyeliner and a bosom for days.
If she’s supposed to be dressed in day-laboring peasant clothes, we’re not buying it. Her stare is regal, almost confrontational. Her skin is supple and dark, her posture solid.
Early blond bleach job Sophia is lovely (and ever-voluptuous), but nearly unrecognizable.
The internet is full of Sophia images with her arms raised, hairy armpits on display. Is that the Italian way? I’ll spare you those, as well as the classic Jayne Mansfield side-eye.
So instead, I’ll leave you with this playful one.
And this chiropractor’s nightmare.
Or fantasy, depending on your perspective.
Picnic Table Lecture
Spring Break, She Is A’Coming
To me, it looks like Spring Break in the French Quarter. But then again, I’m not well-traveled and have never seen a Brisbane Parade before. This image was taken on January 26th, aka Australia Day, clearly a warm day down under. It’s a national holiday, marking the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales, and the raising of Great Britain’s flag by Governor Arthur Phillip. And they celebrate with bikinis and floats, as Governor Phillip would have wanted.
The Popular Cork Room
Rare is the moment I get a yearbook pic without documenting the source. All I know about this source is that it was mid-60s and probably in Texas. In any event, I love the font on the Cork Room sign above. What I don’t get is why the other sign appears to say DROGS, not DRUGS.
But it wasn’t drugs that made this ‘do. Only black magic and sorcery could have enabled Lynda to achieve these “Kentucky Waterfall” tresses. Lynda shoots and scores on volume! 
This last one looks shows an era-specific soundboard with a not-so era-specific blond haircut. Must have seemed cutting edge at the time. 
And A Happy New Year
Lassie, Come Aboard
All aboard Grandpa’s 1955 Chevy pickup for Greg, Kevin, and Paula, joined by Rex atop bales of hay. Walter and Barbara Mohr’s family farm near Millington, Michigan provided many great photo ops throughout the 1960s.
And who wouldn’t want a kiss from Rex?
And The Living Is Easy
As the temperature drops, folks still enjoy the outdoors.
As we jump from 1943 to 1964, the outdoors continues to hold its allure.
Sometimes being outside may pose problems…
But ultimately, fresh air does a body good.
In The Arms Of Santa
This WWII Santa doesn’t appear that much older than the doe-eyed toddler he’s holding. Volunteering from a university fraternity, he seems a bit smoother about the edges than his later counterpart in 1967, shown below.
Sideburns and skinny ties share the stage with both a plusher Santa beard and Santa suit, which appears to have been velveteened. Of course, not everyone can get the Santa gig. Some folks have to settle for holiday titles.
Who even knew Barnwarming Queen was a thing? Are barns notoriously cold? Do queens exude that much heat?
It looks pretty toasty for these Savitar Barnwarming Queen Candidates in 1959. The only real loser here is the missing “g” in barnwarming.
Makes it sound oddly like barn-worming. But that’s another thing altogether.
We Were Merely Freshmen
The era of donning the traditional freshmen beanies has all but faded into history. But it was alive and well in 1964 New Mexico.
Jack Sprat Could Eat No Fat
It’s no news flash that most of us today are fat fat fatties. Reminds me of the old Morrissey song, “You’re The One For Me, Fatty.” It’s not surprising if you’ve never heard of Nutrament, as it exists today mainly only in New York and Florida. They have added new flavors, including cappucino, dulce de leche, mango, and the seasonally appropriate eggnog. Yeah, I still don’t want it. Why drink your calories when you can feast on meat and sides?
Now I was not alive in 1967 when this ad debuted, but women have ALWAYS been drawn to tall drinks of water. I doubt this lanky lad was at a loss for ladies, except that his proportions are all off. An average person is 7 1/2 heads high, and he is easily 9 heads high. Nobody likes a shrunken head.
The UK also struggles with obesity. They posted this image, comparing a typical 1967 male with a modern man. The difference was 23 lbs.
Converted to lbs, that’s 162 lbs vs 185. I don’t know about you, but I know a lot of folks who would LOOOOOOVE to weigh 185. That would be a blessing. And fatty evidently is outliving his thinner counterpart by quite a bit. Probably pumped up on medications, though. Time is a beast and steals our beauty and our firmness. Rare is the bird who looks better now than then.
Unless you’re Al Roker.
Now here’s what’s happening in your neck of the woods: you are surrounded by fatties like me.
Gladys Tempts Fate With Sub-Par Tinsel Skills: Deanne Snaps
Gabriel and Maria were privy to the final moments before Deanne went ballistic on poor, inept Gladys, wrestling her to the ground and yelling, “It’s tinsel, Gladys, not a beaded curtain!”
And Gladys never did tinsel again.
I Don't Get It 