I Remember JFK: A Baby Boomer's Pleasant Reminiscing Spot

Some of our memories as Boomers are so universal that we take them for granted. Practically all of us had TV's in our households, or if not, we still had regular access to them. And the odds are overwhelming that 99.99% of us are familiar with a little town in North Carolina called Mayberry.

The Andy Griffith Show was a spinoff of The Danny Thomas Show. On February 15, 1960, an episode aired where Danny was detained by a small-town sheriff for running a stop sign. Outraged at the size of the fine, Thomas elected to sit in jail rather than pay. While in the hoosegow, he observed Sheriff Taylor's kindly ways in dealing with Opie, his son, Otis, the town drunk (played by Frank Cady, who would go on to star as Mr. Drucker in multiple TV series), and Henrietta Perkins, played by Francis Bavier. Yes, the character names and actors were familiar, but their roles were not yet established as we know them.

The episode was a hit, and plans were made to launch a series that fall based on Mayberry's day-to-day small-town activities. Andy Griffith was a hit from the word go, and never fell below #7 on the Nielsen ratings for its entire eight-year run.

An actor named Don Knotts watched the Danny Thomas episode and called his friend Andy Griffith when he got word that a new series was in the works. He suggested that Sheriff Taylor would need a deputy, and Griffith agreed.

Good call.

We grew up listening to the early morning gurgling sounds of the percolator. Even though we were probably too young to enjoy its taste, the coffee smell and the calming sound made for great kitchen ambiance.

But all of that changed in 1972.

That year, Vincent Marotta released his invention for sale to the general public: Mr. Coffee.

With the help of one of baseball's greatest players, it revolutionized the way we prepared the essential get-going beverage. Within a few short years, the percolator was nearly extinct.

Our parents drank percolated coffee and were used to it, but the percolation process has issues.

The same water is continuously pumped over the grounds over and over. This is simply not good coffee making form. Plus, the brewed coffee is subjected to 212 degree heat, and that's bad for flavor. However, it did make for one catchy TV commercial!

One of the most obvious differences between the present day and the world we Boomer kids grew up in is the amount of naughty words flying through the air. What would our grandparents think if they heard modern-day conversations at the shopping mall? Anyone who watches network television is now subjected to a number of George Carlin's famous Seven Deadly Words on a regular basis. Shocking stuff to someone who might have just time-traveled here from 1965.

Profanity, I discovered, has a very interesting history. Taboo words have been largely generational. Thus, thumbing one's nose is nowadays considered a childish insult. But go back a hundred and fifty years, and "cocking a snook," as it was then known, was as obscene as the modern-day one-fingered salute.

The scatological S-word has taken the opposite track. Once, it was as proper to use as, say, the term "feces." But somewhere along the line, it gained a reputation for vulgarity.

One thing's for sure, though. Words and expressions that were sternly forbidden by society in general, our parents in particular, are now quite commonplace, for better or, mostly, worse.

But other pendulums swing in opposite directions. Take ethnic terms, for instance.

1960's Miami, Oklahoma was ethnically diverse, to a degree. The degree consisted of two races: white, and Native American. Of course, back then, the latter race was "Indian." But nowadays, that word has taken on some tarnish. Thus, you don't hear it as much as back then.

Once upon a time, comic books were a part of every kid's existence. They were cheap, available everywhere, and were irresistible. Their themes ranged from war to horror to comedy to romance to their biggest attraction: superheroes.

The list of famous names behind the scenes at comic book publishers is a short one. DC comics, purveyors of Superman, Batman, and the rest of the members of the Justice League of America, was largely a faceless corporate entity. I can't recall a single name that jumps out at me, despite reading hundreds of editions of their products.

But when you're talking Marvel comics, two names stand tall. One is Jack Kirby, artist/editor who will likely rate his own column here in the future. The second is Stan Lee, creator of a huge number of superheroes whose names have become as familiar to us as our own.

Stanley Lieber was born on December 28, 1922 in New York City. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Romania. Stanley loved reading as a child, and by his teenaged years had found a talent for writing as well. He made a few bucks writing obituaries for a press service and press releases for the National Tuberculosis Center. He also took on whatever other odd jobs he could find, helping out his family's Depression-ravaged situation.

The Jet Age hit full stride during the 1950's, as piston-powered aircraft gave way to faster jet-driven models. And as we got addicted to pure speed, the next logical step was to go supersonic.

And that was the ambitious plans of airlines all over the world. In the US, development of the Boeing 2707 was undertaken. In Russia, the Tupolev Tu-144 was created. And over in England, the Concorde was born.

Thus, during the late 60's, a race to become the first airline offering supersonic flights was started. This 1968 Braniff commercial from Youtube shows that 1975 was the magical year that was being forecast as the time that supersonic flights would become, not only available, but commonplace.

The Tu-144 was first conceived of in a January 1962 article in a Russian aeronautical magazine. On December 31, 1968, the first Tu-144 took off on a test flight. In June of next year, the Russian bird broke the sound barrier for the first time. A month later, it hit Mach 2.