The Beatles appear on the Ed Sullivan Show

February 9, 1964 - 73 million Americans - 40% of the population -tuned into the Ed Sullivan Show on CBS that evening.  For months the airwaves and popular culture where abuzz about a new group from England.  Teenage girls were hysterical in the infatuation.  John, Paul, Ringo and George were the subject of rabid devotion as screaming mobs followed their every move.  More than 50,000 requests were made for the 700 seats in the theater.  The screams of the audience drowned out their singing and young girls bumped and grinded to their parent horror in living rooms across America.  If was a welcome relief to a tragic assaination just 77 days prior.  Any the Beatles were handsomly compansated $2500 for their efforts.

Hasbro introduces the Action Figure - 1964

 In 1964 everybody knew that real, red blooded American boys did not play with dolls.  So Hasbro launches a new concept - it's not a doll, it's an Action Figure!  Now little boys can act out their aggressive fantasies indoors as well as out, as the try to kill and maim the enemy rather than each other.  Mothers sighed with relief when they learned that though GI Joe was a male, he was not exactly anatomically correct.  No need to worry about embarrassing questions from grandma or little sis. And fathers, many of them veterans of WWII, could explain to their sons what dog tags were and how to clean a rifle.  Ah, the Spartans!  Now they had something,  Strart training warriors from the begining.

Aint' we lucky we got 'em, Good Times!

February 8, 1974
Good Times premiers on CBS.

The Norman Lear factory, which first gave us All in the Family, then Maude, creates another spin off.  Good Times is the story of a poor, hardworking family struggling to survive in Chicago's infamous Cabrini-Green housing project. In typical 1970s sitcom fashion, the shows characters faced everyday problems as they struggled to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table, while interjecting comedy to lighten the moment.  The cheers of the live audience lent support to the underlying moral message that good people will triumph over oppression.  Leftist politics were never more entertaining.

The British Invasion has begun

On February 7, 1964 The Beatles arrive at JFK airport.

For months the airwaves had been abuzz about this new group from Liverpool with strange clothes and long hair.  More than 3,000 scream fans were there to meet them and Beatlemania had begun.  They would give three concerts and appear for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Where's the 19th hole?

On February 6, 1974 Allan Shepard, who had been the first American in space in 1961, was commander of Apollo 14 mission.  He created a golf club by attaching a 6 iron to a lunar scoop handle and managed to be the first man to play golf on the moon.  Unfortunately, he was unable to follow up with the customary martini.