Touch How Pretty I Am
Category: Fun
Love Was Meant For Beauty Queens
“…and high school girls with clear-skinned smiles…”
“…who married young and then retired…”
Lyrics “At Seventeen” by Janis Ian
Root For The Home Team
A young Michael Landon can’t help but hoot and holler during the 1947 football season.
Male cheerleaders lunge and make one jazz hand as a show of support.
After the “eighth straight victory over Farmers,” the Longhorn football players rejoice as they hit the showers.
Meanwhile, at the basketball game, Hank Williams, Sr appears to be ornery as heck. Come on, fellas! You need to have the ball rest on the side of the thumb rather than on the tip of the thumb on every shot! Move it on over!
Prints And The Revolution
Well, y’all, it’s hard to believe the bicentennial was nigh on 40 years ago. Some of you were already married, some weren’t even born, and I was in pre-school, oblivious to the fashion faux-pas going on in society. Scarves and bandanas for women, pointed shirt collars for men. And prints so loud coming together in a dangerous cacophony such as this! It’s as though clothing designers suddenly decided to make garments of sofa and wallpaper material.
Other fun facts of ’76 include:
- Apple Computers was formed by double Steves, Jobs and Wozniak.
- Gymnast Nadia Comaneci earned her first Perfect 10.
- Eva Peron told Argentina not to cry for her.
- North and South Vietnam united to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
- The United States Treasury Department reintroduced the two dollar bill. I still have several!
- Jimmy Carter won the Presidential election.
- The world’s first laser printer was introduced by IBM.
- Eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes dropped dead at the age of 70.
- The musical groups Black Flag, The Clash, U2, The Cure, Foreigner, Joy Division, and Madness were all formed in 1976. (source: rwrant.co.za/20-facts-the-year-1976)
When I think about bands forming, I think about a group of dudes (yes, I realize that’s sexist) in a basement, slowly getting gigs and paying their dues for years until being launched out of obscurity. Right? But Foreigner had major hits the following year, selling four million with songs like “Feels Like The First Time.” Way to get it going right off the bat, Foreigner!
Per www.thepeoplehistory.com, the cost of living was much lower:
Average Cost of new house $43,400.00
Average Income per year $16,000.00
Average Monthly Rent $220.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 59 cents
And a microwave oven cost $169.00. I could buy one for that price now. Although the interwebs says that sales of microwave ovens exceeded that of gas ranges in 1975, I didn’t know ANYONE who had a microwave then. I didn’t know anyone who had one in the 1970s at all. And I didn’t have one until my first college apartment. Do you recall Tappan microwaves?
As far as music goes, these were the songs the people requested on heavy rotation:
1. Silly Love Songs, Paul McCartney and Wings
2. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, Elton John and Kiki Dee
3. Disco Lady, Johnnie Taylor
4. December 1963 (Oh What a Night), The Four Seasons
5. Play That Funky Music, Wild Cherry
6. Kiss and Say Goodbye, The Manhattans
7. Love Machine, Pt. 1, The Miracles
8. 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Paul Simon
9. Love Is Alive, Gary Wright
10. A Fifth of Beethoven, Walter Murphy and The Big Apple Band
So tell me–when did you get your first microwave? Did you have awful yellow and avocado green tupperware dishes to put inside it? Do you remember when earning 16K was a decent salary, and not the price of a used car? Did you vote for Jimmy Carter or Gerald Ford? Did you know the popular vote for Carter was 40 million and for Ford it was 39 million? That’s a pretty close call.
And did you know Carter was the first president to be born in a hospital? Wow! Were you born in a hospital?
Horsing Around
Isn’t He Just Dreamy?
Radiators Are Your Friends
Hubba Bubba
Ugliest Man Crowned
What we’ve got here today is bald Brad Bourland crowning the winner of the University of Texas’s 1947 “Ugly Man Contest,” Ed Andrews. I don’t know about you, but Ed is certainly not the ugliest man to which I’ve born witness. Not by a longshot. As a result of the election, the Campus Chest received funds, which the pinned Jimmye Kimmey (that’s what the yearbook says her name is, folks) is delightfully clutching, alongside the repugnant Ed.
Abominable Yeti Sweater
I can’t tell if those figures are bald skiers or yetis, but at least he’s got the confidence to pull this thing off. They really dug Christmas sweaters in days of yore.
Well, it appears that the DUDES did.
No wait, here’s a cute couple, wearing matching reindeer moose sweaters. And a guy with a pipe.
You have to keep it interesting. These two matched, but the design was basic.
Now this couple knows how to customize! Way to be festive.
Beverage Station
We’re hosting Christmas this year, and I’m already thinking about what part of kitchen counterspace will be designated as the beverage station. There will be hot coffee, freshly-brewed from freshly-ground beans, and half & half available. No one but my husband and I will use it, as my family curiously prefers their coffee black. Iced tea will be an option, so various sweeteners will also be at the ready. It’s important to have enough cups, glasses, and teaspoons. And if you make iced tea, make sure you have fresh wedges of lemon or lime. I’m no Martha Stewart, but that’s basic. Nothing worse than patronizing a home or restaurant that offers you a beverage and lacks the standard accoutrements.
Of course, they won’t be allowed to smoke inside, like these fellows (no one in the family smokes anyway), but there will be plenty of beer and wine to help the turkey and dressing go down.
And what about hot tea? I had some this morning (and then I had coffee), but it doesn’t sound good with Christmas dinner. I won’t offer that.
But like a good waiter, we’ll keep the pitchers full, and there will be plenty of ice for Lipton and Cokes because who knows? It was 80 degrees on Friday. It may be warm on Christmas, and we’ll need cool refreshment. The goal is to make everyone as happy as these ladies.
Silly Goose
This sums up playtime: older Jemima resigned to her role as straight man, and Tonto drunk and content as Cooter Brown.
I Don't Get It 