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IN THE NEWS War of the Worlds
Radio Broadcast
1930s
On October 30, 1938 Orson Welles directed and
Babe Ruth Calls narrated and adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel
his HR Shot The War of the Worlds on the CBS Radio network
as an episode of Mercury Theatre on the Air.
It is one of baseball’s all-time great mysteries. Did Babe
Ruth really call his shot just before hitting a mammoth During the broadcast Welles presented the show
World Series home run? The undisputed facts of the events in mini news bulletins, which were so realistic that
were as follows: many listeners thought an actual alien invasion
It was October 1, 1932, Game 3 of the World Series in Wrigley by Martians was currently in progress. Because the
Field, with the Yankees leading the Cubs 2 games to 0. In Mercury Theatre on the Air ran without commercial
the top of the 5th inning, Ruth was at bat with the score breaks, this just added to the realism of the hoax.
tied at 4, facing Cub pitcher Charlie Root. The Cubs’ bench In the days following the show, there was widespread
was heckling the Babe as he took strikes one and two. Now, outrage and over 12,000 newspaper articles.
at this point in time, fact and myth get a bit jumbled. The The episode established Orson Welles’ fame.
Babe made some type of outward gesture with his bat, but
it is unclear whether the gesture was toward the pitcher,
or the centerfield bleachers, as Ruth proudly proclaimed
for many years thereafter. Either way, Ruth smashed the
next pitch well beyond the centerfield fence, for one of the
most memorable and debated World Series home runs
of all-time. An interesting side note to this story is that on
the very next pitch, Lou Gehrig, forever playing in Ruth’s
shadow also hit a home run, his 2nd of the game as well
knocking Charlie Root out of the game. Typical for Gehrig,
his two home runs in the game paled in comparison to the
legend of the mighty Babe’s Called Shot.

Lou Gehrig’s Farewell Speech

The New York Yankees proclaimed July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine
at Yankee Stadium. Between games of the Independence Day doubleheader years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best
against the Washington Senators, the emotional ceremonies were held on the manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I’m lucky. When the New York
diamond. 61,808 fans witnessed the event. New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a
called Gehrig ‘the greatest prototype of good sportsmanship and citizenship’ and gift – that’s something. When everybody down to the grounds-keepers and those
Yankees Manager Joe McCarthy, struggled to control his emotions. The Yankees boys in white coats remember you with trophies – that’s something. When you have
retired Gehrig’s uniform number ‘4’, a first in Major League Baseball history. After a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own
Babe Ruth spoke, Lou came to the microphone and spoke these words: ‘Fans, daughter – that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all
for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet their lives so that you can have an education and build your body – it’s a blessing.
today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage
ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and than you dreamed existed – that’s the finest I know. So I close in saying that I might
encouragement from you fans. Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for. Thank you’.
consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day?
Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Lou Gehrig at Yankee Stadium, July 4, 1939
Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years
NOSTALGICAMERICA | 5

IN THE NEWS

1940s

Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941

Jackie Robinson signs MLB
contract with Branch Rickey

1947

6 | NOSTALGICAMERICA

The Kissing Sailor

August 14, 1945

NOSTALGICAMERICA | 7

IN THE NEWS

1950s

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks refusal to make room
for a white passenger on a city bus in
Montgomery, Alabama in December
of 1955 sparked the Montgomery Bus
Boycott. This one brave act made
great strides towards the end of
racial segregation and the Civil Rights
Movement. The boycott lasted 381
days and ended segregation on buses.

Sputnik I
The Space Race Begins

History changed on October 4, 1957, when the
Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I.
The world’s first artificial satellite was the size
of a beach ball, weighed only 183.9 pounds, and
took 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical
path. That launch ushered in new political, military,
technological, and scientific developments. Sputnik
marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-
U.S.S.R. space race.

McCarthyism

Senator McCarthy Leads Communist Witch Hunt

On December 2, 1953, Senator Joseph McCarthy with Roy Cohn leads the House
of Un-American Activities Committee Hearings in Washington D.C.

Disneyland
Opens

Disneyland opened with an
invitation only event on Sunday,
July 17, 1955. Ronald Reagan,
Bob Cummings, and Art Linkletter
hosted ABC’s 90-minute Telecast,
the largest live TV event ever. The
entrance fee was one dollar with
rides and attractions each costing
from 10¢ to 35¢. The television
crews and staff contributed to
the overcrowded conditions,
along with the dignitaries, and
the extensive guest list. Because
of the heat, women were literally
sinking into the freshly paved
asphalt on Main Street. Others
were getting paint all over
themselves from the wet paint
on the buildings and light posts.
Walt Disney guaranteed that the
park would be completed within
the next 30 days.

NOSTALGICAMERICA | 9

IN THE NEWS

1950s

Today Show Premiers on NBC

January 14, 1952

Dave Garroway the first host began the show with these words:

“Well here we are, and good morning to you. The very first good
morning of what I hope and suspect will be a great many good
mornings between you and me. Here it is, January 14, 1952, when
NBC begins a new program called Today and, if it doesn’t sound too
revolutionary, I really believe this begins a new kind of television.”

Levittown

The building firm Levitt and Sons, Inc. was founded by
Abraham Levitt and his two sons William and Alfred. They
developed Levittown on Long Island beginning in 1947 and
in to the 1950s. William spearheaded the project and is
considered the father of modern suburbia. He developed an
expertise while in the Navy for mass-producing buildings for
military housing using uniform and interchangeable parts.
His architect-brother Alfred, designed a small ranch style
house on one floor with a concrete slab. The planned 2,000
home rental community was a hit with returning GIs and
their young families and half of the properties were rented
within two days of the community being announced on
May 7, 1947. The houses were constructed at a rate of 30
houses a day by July 1948. The project expanded to include
thousands more homes with schools, community services
and postal delivery. With the full support of the FHA, houses
were being sold for $ 7,990. with 30-year mortgages, no
down payment required, and monthly costs the same as
rentals. Unfortunately, Levittown would also become a
symbol of racial segregation, consistent with government
housing policies of the time who allowed developers to
justify segregation within public housing. Non-whites were
prohibited from purchasing or renting until the 1960s.

Joe DiMaggio weds
Marilyn Monroe

San Francisco, California
January 15, 1954

Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio wedded the girl of his and many
other men’s dreams yesterday afternoon in the
San Francisco City Hall. The time and place was
kept a closely guarded secret and only about 500
people managed to hear about it in time to turn the
corridors outside Municipal Judge Charles S. Perry’s
court into a madhouse. The couple arrived shortly
after 1 p.m. They posed willingly for pictures and
politely answered questions. When the excitement
was over, Judge Perry announced with a cheerless
sigh: “I forgot to kiss the bride”.

NOSTALGICAMERICA | 11

IN THE NEWS Charles Valo and Danny Valente just like Walter O’Malley
turn their backs on Ebbets Field, which is rapidly being
1960s demolished. They happen to be reading about the opening

day of baseball in the New York
Daily News on April 13, 1960.

John F. Kennedy
Defeats Nixon

September 26, 1960

In a tumultuous campaign that was highlighted
by the first televised presidential debate,
John F. Kennedy a wealthy Democratic
Senator from Massachusetts narrowly defeated
Richard M. Nixon by 118,000 votes to become
the thirty-fifth president of the United States.

A crucial factor and turning point in this election
was the first ever-televised presidential debate.
Nixon felt poorly, he injured his knee on the way
to the studio, and refused television makeup.
He expected to win voters with his foreign-policy
expertise, but people only saw a sickly man
sweating profusely and wearing a gray suit that
blended into the scenery. On the other hand
his rival, Kennedy, looked great. The television
audience gave the win to Kennedy.

I Have A Dream

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 was one of the largest political
rallies for human rights in United States history. Martin Luther King Jr. standing in front
of the Lincoln Memorial delivered his historic I Have a Dream speech, on the 28th day of
August 1963. An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people were in attendance that day.

IN THE NEWS

1960s

JFK in Oval Office 1961

John F. Kennedy Jr.
salutes his father’s flag-draped
casket in funeral procession for

President John F. Kennedy
November 26, 1963

Walter Cronkite Announces
JFK Death is official
November 22, 1963

NOSTALGICAMERICA | 15

The Lunar Module “Eagle” landed on the
moon at tranquility base on July 20, 1969
at 4:18 pm

Neil Armstrong realized that they were heading into a field of boulders on
the northeast shoulder of a crater the size of a football field. Drama was the
last thing that any one had wanted. A warning light was telling him he had
less than 60 seconds of fuel left, but they were close now and it was just
a matter of easing themselves down. Forty seconds had passed since the
sixty-second warning, and Armstrong stated “The Eagle Has Landed”. For
the Astronauts, the landing had been the big moment of the mission. But,
for the waiting world, the big moment was still to come… the first footstep.
Armstrong stood on the pad for a moment or two, testing the soil with the
tip of his boot before he proclaimed, “That’s one small step for a man,
one giant leap for mankind”.

“That’s one small step for a man,
one giant leap for mankind.”

IN THE NEWS

1960s 

The Beatles Arrive
in America

On Feb. 7, 1964, the Beatles were greeted by
thousands of screaming fans as they landed at
John F. Kennedy Airport in New York to begin
their first American tour, highlighted by three
performances on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The Beatles Perform on the Ed Sullivan Show

Woodstock

Held at Max Yasgur’s 600 acre farm in Bethel, NY
1969

Ed Sullivan Show on CBS
Sunday Night February 9, 1964

The Beatles, the new British sensation, appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show last night.
An estimated 73 million Americans, the largest viewership ever, tuned in to watch
the band perform their hit songs All My Loving, Till There Was You, She Loves You,
I Saw Her Standing There and I Want to Hold Your Hand. 50,000 ticket requests
were made, but only 703 people were granted admission to the small theater in
the heart of New York City. America came to a standstill. Police from several cities
reported that the crime rate in their cities dropped dramatically during the show’s
broadcast time.

IN THE NEWS

1960s 

Tiny Tim Marries
Miss Vickie Live on
the Tonight Show

December 17, 1969

Over 45 million people tuned in to
The Tonight Show to watch the marriage
of Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki. It was the
most attended wedding in television
history, and also received the highest rating
in television history for a talk show. Asked
if he thought getting married would hurt
his public image, Tiny Tim replied: “No, I’m
not a sex symbol like Tom Jones”. The bride
is 17 and Tiny Tim is rumored to be 42.

Northeast Blackout

On Tuesday November 9, 1965, over
30 million people and 80,000 square
miles were left without electricity for up
to 13 hours in the Northeast. New York,
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island,
Vermont, and New Jersey were affected. As
was common on a cold November evening,
power for heating, lighting and cooking was
pushing the electrical system to near its
peak capacity. At 5:16 p.m. Eastern Time
a small surge of power coming from the
Robert Moses generating plant in Lewiston,
New York caused the improperly set relay
to trip at far below the line’s rated capacity,
disabling a main power line and instantly,
the power that was flowing on the tripped
line transferred to the other lines, causing
them all to become overloaded.

The investigation found that the cause of the
failure was human error when maintenance
personnel incorrectly set a protective relay
on one of the transmission lines too low.

52,693 Witness History

January 20, 1968
Houston Astrodome

Hayes Dominates Alcindor

Last night, in what will certainly be considered the Greatest Game
of the century, the University of Houston led by Elvin Hayes and
his last minute free throws, upset the undefeated and top ranked
UCLA Bruins in front of an overflowing capacity crowd at the
Houston Astrodome 71 – 69. This epic battle was dominated by
Hayes who continuously frustrated Lew Alcindor, who was injured
and played with double vision from an eye abrasion.
The loss ended the Bruin’s 47 game winning streak.
This was not just a game; this was a historic moment that
combined sports and entertainment on prime time national
television. This was a stage that will change sports, as we know it
today. An overflowing crowd of 52,693 fans in an indoor baseball
stadium witnessed what will surely set the bar for the future of
Prime Time sporting events.

NOSTALGICAMERICA | 21

IN THE NEWS

1970s 

Monday Night Football
Debuts In 1970

ABC broadcasted the first ever Monday Night Football
game on September 21, 1970. It has been a staple in
American culture ever since. The first Monday Night
Football broadcast featured the Cleveland Browns
hosting the New York Jets with Keith Jackson,
Howard Cosell, and Don Meredith calling the game,
a 31-21 Browns victory, for a large television audience.
Frank Gifford replaced Keith Jackson in the broadcast
booth in 1971 and would remain with Monday Night
Football through 1997.

Sammy Shocks Archie

Sammy Davis Jr. kisses Carroll O’Connor on the set of
the CBS series All in the Family during an episode titled
Sammy’s Visit. The episode aired on February 19, 1972.

On August 9, 1974, President Richard Nixon
of the United States prepares to board the
Presidential helicopter to leave the White House
for the last time after delivering his resignation
speech following the Watergate scandal.

IN THE NEWS

1970s 

Three Mile
Island

On March 29, 1978 at the
Three Mile Island nuclear
power plant located near
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania there
was an accident and part of
the core in the #2 reactor
melted. The cleanup of the
damaged nuclear reactor
system took nearly 12 years
and cost approximately
One Billion dollars.

The 1973 Oil Crisis

The crisis started in October 1973, when
the members of OAPEC proclaimed the
oil embargo as a response to the U.S.
decision to re-supply the Israeli military
during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until
March 1974 when the Arab oil producers
acknowledged U.S. efforts to create peace
in the Middle East.

24 | NOSTALGICAMERICA

The Battle Of The Sexes

In 1973, 55 year-old Bobby Riggs, a former tennis champion and # 1 player
in the world played the role of male chauvinist and promoter, and challenged
the top women players of the day. He claimed that the women’s game was
inferior and that even at the age of 55, the top female players could not beat
him. Riggs’ defeated Margaret Court the top ranked women’s player at the
time in straight sets and was soon on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Finally
Billie Jean King accepted Riggs’ challenge.

On September 20, 1973 Riggs and King played The Battle of the Sexes
in the Houston Astrodome, in front of over 30,000 fans. The match was
televised worldwide and an estimated 50 million viewers tuned in to the
$100,000 winner takes-all battle. Playing up to the battle of sexes theme,
King entered the court while carried aloft in a chair held by four bare-chested
muscle men dressed in the garb of ancient slaves, while Riggs entered in a
rickshaw drawn by scantily-clad models. Once the match started however,
it was all Billie Jean King, as she defeated Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

IN THE NEWS John Lennon
Gunned Down
1980s 
On December 8, 1980 Howard Cosell
Team USA Wins interrupted ABC’s Monday Night Football
Gold In 1980 to announce the untimely death of one
Winter Olympics of the greatest musical legends of all time,
John Lennon. Lennon, one of the founding
The Miracle on Ice is the nickname given to the members of the Beatles, was shot to death
US men’s ice hockey team for their amazing in front of his home at the Dakota in
performance during the 1980 Olympic Winter New York City that same evening upon
Games. A team comprised of amateur and collegiate returning from a recording studio with
players defeated the Soviet Union team, who his wife, Yoko Ono. Crowds gathered in
were considered to be the best International memorial around the Dakota for days
hockey team in the world in the semi-finals. following. Ono was given Lennon’s ashes,
They then defeated Finland to win the Gold Medal. but chose not to have a formal funeral.
Coach Herb Brooks, Captain Mike Eruzione
and goalie Jim Craig led the team.

26 | NOSTALGICAMERICA

The American shuttle orbiter Challenger broke up 73 seconds
after liftoff on January 28, 1986, devastating people worldwide.
The disaster claimed the lives of all seven astronauts aboard,
including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire
who had been selected to join the mission and teach lessons
from space to schoolchildren around the country.



NOSTALGICAMERICA | 29

CLASSIC MOVIES

The Godfather I
1972

Director Francis Ford Coppola collaborated on
the epic film with Mario Puzo. This film centers
on the Corleone crime “family” in the boroughs
of New York City in the mid 1940s. It focuses on
aging godfather/patriarch “Don” Vito Corleone,
played by Marlon Brando, the head of one of the
five Italian-American “families” that operates a
crime syndicate tracing the history of their close-
knit Mafia family over a ten-year period.

Citizen Kane
1941

Orson Welles made his debut at the age of 25, starring,
directing, and producing this film. Budgeted at
$800,000, this film received unanimous critical praise.
The film’s famous first words fill up the screen, and
to this day is one of the ultimate questions in film:

what or who is R-o-s-e-b-u-d!

Joseph Cotton as Jedediah Leland - “the best friend
and reporter” Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane –
The Publisher Erskin Sandford as Herbert Carter -
the editor of the Inquirer

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
1939

The movie premiered months after America had gone to war. Producer/Director Frank Capra’s
classic comedy-drama established James Stewart as a leading actor with this film. He is teamed
with his co-star Jean Arthur from 1938’s Best Picture Winner, Capra’s You Can’t Take It With You.
Stewart’s character represents the powerful forces of American freedom, democracy and morality
over oppression and evil in his emotional portrait of a naive, idealist, patriotic young politician.
After being sent to Washington as a junior Senator, he matures in wisdom, fights political corruption
within his state’s political machine, and guards American values as a moral hero.

32 | NOSTALGICAMERICA

North by Northwest 1959

MOVIE QUOTES

The Graduate
1967

In one of the most memorable lines from film history,
set by the family swimming pool, Benjamin receives
words of advice from Mr. McGuire a family friend...
Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you -
just one word.
Benjamin: Yes sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes I am.

Mr. McGuire: ‘Plastics’

Benjamin: Exactly how do you mean?
Mr. McGuire: There’s a great future in plastics.
Think about it. Will you think about it?
Benjamin: Yes I will.
Mr. McGuire: Shh! Enough said. That’s a deal.

The Godfather I
1972

Don Corleone:
I’m gonna make him an offer
he can’t refuse. Okay?

I want you to leave it all to me.
Go on, go back to the party.

Gone With The Wind
1939

Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn

Spoken by Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) as his last words to
Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) in response to her tearful question:

“Where shall I go? What shall I do?”

“Go ahead.
Make my day.”

Dirty Harry
1971

Spoken by Clint Eastwood

“I know what you’re thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth,
in all this excitement, I lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most
powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask
yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?” “Go ahead. Make my day.”

NOSTALGICAMERICA | 35

West Side Story
1961

The setting is the Upper West Side of New York City in the late 1950s. Like many other
musicals of its time, Hollywood looked to a successful Broadway stage play for its material.
Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer were selected as the lead roles, and Rita Moreno played Anita.
The film won ten Academy Awards.

Guys and Dolls
1955

Starring Marlon Brando as Sky Masterson, Frank Sinatra as Nathan Detroit,
Jean Simmons as Sarah Brown, and Vivian Blaine as Miss Adelaide.

Singin’ in the Rain 1952

Set in 1927, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are the darlings of the silent
silver screen. With the advent of sound in motion pictures, it is decided to
turn the film into a “talkie” and a musical at that. The only problem is Lina’s
voice, which mere words cannot describe. Kathy Selden, originally a chorus
girl, is brought on to dub her speaking and singing voice in secret. Kathy
zooms to stardom.

Starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen,
Rita Moreno, and Cyd Charisse.

Mr. Magoo

Jim Backus provided the voice
for the ‘Mr. Magoo’ cartoons

I Love Lucy
Candy Scene

Job Switching episode aired in 1952

Steven Spielberg
on the set of E.T.

Steven Spielberg works with Henry Thomas
on the set of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - 1982

1960s TELEVISION

Sunday Night Lineup

6:30 pm – 7:30 pm ABC Walt Disney Presents
7:30 pm – 8:00 pm CBS Dennis the Menace
8:00 pm – 9:00 pm CBS The Ed Sullivan Show
9:00 pm – 9:30 pm CBS General Electric Theater

Hosted by Ronald Reagan

9:30 pm – 10:00 pm CBS The Jack Benny Program
10:00 pm – 10:30 pm CBS Candid Camera

NOSTALGIC AMERICA | 41

1970s TELEVISION

Monday Nights Lineup

7:30 pm – 8:00 pm ABC Let’s Make A Deal
7:30 pm – 8:30 pm CBS Gunsmoke
7:30 pm – 8:00 pm NBC The Red Skelton Show
8:00 pm – 8:30 pm ABC The Newlywed Game
8:00 pm – 9:00 pm NBC Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In
8:30 pm – 9:00 pm CBS Here’s Lucy
9:00 pm – Midnight ABC Monday Night Football
9:00 pm – 9:30 pm CBS Mayberry R.F.D.
9:30 pm – 10:00 pm CBS The Doris Day Show
10:00 pm – 11:00 pm CBS The Carol Burnett Show

Friday Nights Lineup

7:30 pm – 8:00 pm ABC The Brady Bunch
8:00 pm – 8:30pm ABC Nanny and the Professor
8:30 pm – 9:00 pm ABC The Partridge Family
9:00 pm – 9:30 pm ABC That Girl
9:30pm – 10:00 pm ABC The Odd Couple
10:00 pm – 11:00 pm ABC Love American Style



TELEVISION MINI SERIES

ROOTS 1977

Roots was written by Alex Haley,
a personal account of his ancestry.
It was the most watched miniseries
of all time.

Beginning with Kunta Kinte’s
captured by slave traders in 1750,
Roots follows the life of Toby (as
Kunta Kinte was forcibly renamed)
through his escape attempts and
adulthood. The tale develops to
tell the story of his children and
grandchildren past the Civil War.

Kunta Kinte played by LeVar Burton

Chicken George
played by
Ben Vereen

Kizzy played by Leslie Uggams and Sam played by Richard Roundtree

The Thorn Birds 1983

Set on the Australian outback, The Thorn Birds miniseries follows
the Cleary family for 40 years, starting in the 1920s. The story
concentrates on young Meggie Cleary played by Rachel Ward
and her illicit relationship with banished Catholic priest
Father Ralph de Bricassart played by Richard Chamberlain.

Shogun 1980

Based on the novel by James Clavell, the story tells of Englishman
John Blackthorne played by Richard Chamberlain who becomes
assimilated in 1600s Japan after he is shipwrecked. The entire
show was filmed in Japan.

NOSTALGICAMERICA | 45

MUSIC Glenn Miller Band

1940s – 1950s Moonlight Serenade, In the Mood, Tuxedo
Junction, Chattanooga Choo Choo and
Duke Ellington I’ve got a girl in Kalamazoo were all chart
toppers of the Glenn Miller Band Orchestra.
He is best remembered for such titles; The musical quartet was formed in 1938, and
It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got was arranged around a clarinet and saxophone
That Swing, Sophisticated Lady, playing melody, while three other saxophone’s
Mood Indigo, Solitude, In a Mellotone, focused on the harmony. Solo artist and creator
and Satin Doll. When asked what inspired of the band, Glenn Miller, gained experience
him to write, he replied, “my men and by playing and recording with the likes of
my race are the inspiration of my work. Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Gene Krupa,
I try to catch the character and mood Eddie Condon and Coleman Hawkins.
and feeling of my people”.
In 1943, big bands and musicians around the
46 | NOSTALGICAMERICA country began to receive draft notices, and
Glenn Miller organized the Glenn Miller Army Air
Force Band, which had a goal of entertaining
the fighting troops overseas. This talented
group performed in over eight hundred live
performances entertaining over six hundred
thousand screaming and yelling fans. After the
war had ended, the band scheduled a six-week
tour of Europe and on December 15, 1944
Glenn Miller boarded a transport plane to
Paris, never to be seen again.

Louis Armstrong

Known as “Satchmo”, he was not the
first to record scat singing, but helped
popularize it. During his long career
he played and sang with the likes
of Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington,
Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith,
and most notably with Ella Fitzgerald.
In 1955, he made his first appearance
on the Ed Sullivan Show and his
1956 recording with Ella Fitzgerald of
George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess
was one of the most popular and
best loved duets of the 1950s.

MUSIC

1940s – 1950s

Perry Como

His first and biggest hit ever
Till The End of Time was recorded in 1945

Liberace

Liberace once stated, “I don’t give concerts, I put on a show”. His Candelabra was his signature
prop, and he dressed in white tie and tails to be better seen in large halls. His Las Vegas act
became his hallmark, expanding his fan base dramatically, and making him one of the highest
paid performers in the world. In 1954, his performance at Madison Square Garden earned him a
record $138,000 for one performance, and by 1955, he was making $50,000
per week at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The Rat Pack

The Rat Pack originally sprung up around Humphrey Bogart, whose wife, Lauren Bacall, first
named them. Seeing Bogie, Frank Sinatra and a few of their cronies come straggling in from
a night of carousing, Lauren exclaimed, “You look like a damned rat pack!” The name stuck.
Frank became the group’s “Leader”. Dean Martin “Dag” and Sammy Davis, Jr. “Smokey”
were the other two full time members. Peter Lawford “JFK’s brother-in-law” and Joey Bishop
rounded out the pack, with occasional appearances by Shirley MacLaine as their honorary
mascot and Girl Friday.

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ELVIS

Elvis Aaron Presley was born in East Tupelo,
Mississippi to Vernon Presley, a truck driver, and
Gladys Love Smith, a sewing machine operator.
His parents were very protective and he grew
up a loved and precious child. At ten years old,
he entered a singing contest at the Mississippi-
Alabama Fair and Dairy Show. Decked out
in a cowboy outfit, he had to stand on a chair
to reach the microphone singing Red Foley’s
Old Shep. He won second place, a $5 prize and
a free ticket to all the rides. Later he received as
a birthday present his first guitar, priced at $12.75.
He and his Mom soon moved to Memphis where
he spent time on Beale Street listening to the
Memphis blues scene and the gospel sung
at his church. He was most influenced by
the music of Little Richard, Chuck Berry,
and BB King.

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MUSIC Linda Ronstadt

1960s – 1970s She began her career in 1968
with her band called the
Carole King Stone Poneys, and then
embarked on her solo
At the age of 18, Carole King career, reaching great
had her first chart topper heights with her 1974
as a songwriter with album Heart Like A
Will You Love Me Tomorrow Wheel which featured
co-written with Gerry Goffin. hits You’re No Good,
She is best known for her When Will I Be Loved,
album Tapestry which and It Doesn’t Matter
topped the U.S. charts for Anymore, The Album
15 weeks in 1971. Over the reached number one
years King has been inducted and sold over two
into the Rock & Roll Hall of million copies.
Fame, Songwriters Hall of
Fame, and been awarded
four Grammy’s.

Joni Mitchell

Early on in her career, she composed the song Woodstock,
which became a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young.
Her 1971 album Blue, firmly established her as one of pop
music’s most insightful talents, and in 1974 her classic
album Court and Spark reached the number two spot on
the U.S. charts and launched three hit singles; Help Me,
Free Man in Paris, and Raised on Robbery.

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