Books/Magazines/Etc. Archives
When Big Catalogs Came in the Mail These mailmen today have it made. Why, back in my day, they used to haul a hundred pounds of catalogs five or six times a year! One of the most pervasive memories we Boomers have locked away is a big catalog or two sitting on the coffee table right next...
Stan Lee 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...
Peanuts Charles Monroe Schulz was born on November 26, 1922 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His uncle, possibly in an act of prescience, gave him the nickname "Sparky," after Barney Google's Horse Spark Plug. Charles grew up loving to draw. Once, he drew a picture of his dog Spike, who relished eating nails...
CARtoons Magazine As a kid hanging around Moonwink Grocery, one of my favorite activities (and one of Mark, the owner's, LEAST favorite activities) was reading comic books. Sometimes, these would be Archie, Batman, or Superman. But sometimes, it would be an issue of CARtoons. CARtoons was a mixture of comics and captioned...
Great News for Boomers: LIFE Magazine Now at Google Books! Boomers, you can now browse through every single issue of LIFE magazine, thanks to Google Books. I've spent an hour this morning re-reading the amazing article they did about Woodstock. And I was amazed to see some homey articles written about Nazis in the days before WWII had begun. Need...
Getting Mad, Sick, or Cracked Pity America's youth prior to 1952. They had to manufacture their own sick, irreverent, cutting-edge humor. Nowadays, the term for such is "politically incorrect." But that year, a strange new comic book called MAD began to be published by EC Comics. EC would be infamous for pushing the envelope a...
The Attack of the Killer Fan Mags Once upon a time, circa 1965, teen idols arose and began dominating the daydreams of young ladies. The media industry picked up on this, and began covering the newsstands with brightly colored magazines with titles such as 16, Tiger Beat, and FaVE. These periodicals were a source of great consternation...
3D of the 50's The neighborhood movie theater was a welcome spot for rainy and/or swelteringly hot summer afternoons in the 50's. The drive-in theater was likewise a fond destination that many of us remember. One of the most amazing innovations that were enjoyed by the older members of the Boomer generation were 3D...
When We Went Nuts Over a Seagull Nowadays, New Age is everywhere. Some are into nature sounds (I particularly enjoy writing while "rain" falls all around me), some into crystals, others dig reflexology. But go back to 1970 and the concept of New Age was an obscure one. Some hippies were into Yoga, but by and large...
Cigarette Ads Everywhere When television was in its infancy, it may well have foundered if not for the influx of advertising dollars from tobacco companies. Thus, many early shows featured cigarette brands as part of their names. As television got bigger and bigger, the concept of a single sponsor for shows waned. This...
When You Didn't Watch TV Without TV Guide It's with mixed feelings that I present today's I remember JFK memory. You see, my very thrifty father simply saw no reason to spend 15 cents on a copy of TV Guide, so we didn't have the diminutive periodical in our house when I was a child. However, I would...
The Insult that Made a Man out of Mac In 1892, Angelo Siciliano was born in in Calabria, Italy. Thirteen years later, he and his family moved to Brooklyn. Like many Italianos, he Americanized his name. He became known as Charles, and became a leatherworker. Charles was on the scrawny side. One day, on a visit to the zoo,...
Selling Grit In the vast closet of my memory banks, I recall a kid in the neighborhood who was always asking if our parents would be interested in reading Grit. It was a dime, as I recall, and my folks weren't interested. But many other parents were, and the kid had nice...
Giant Rockets and Subs in Comic Book Ads How cynical we Baby Boomers are. And for good reason, too. After all, we devoured comic books like they were cotton candy. And the comics' ten or twelve cent price was subsidized by advertising. But it wasn't just advertising. It was huge, colorful, lavishly illustrated ads for things that, if...
Blogging Boomers Carnival #50 Wow, it's hard to believe we're up to Blogging Boomers Carnival # 50. It's a good one, too, over at Gen Plus. Cruise on by and enjoy!...
Monkeys and Dogs in Teacups The Boomers who can recall the coonskin cap and Howdy Doody years also remember ads in magazines designed to separate kids from their nickels and dimes. One of these scams, excuse me, opportunities, was tempting kids to get monkeys or dogs that are small enough to fit in a teacup...
Silent Spring About fifteen years ago, I was stunned by the sight of a bald eagle that flew across the road while I was driving. I had never seen the gorgeous creatures outside of zoos. Now, they are a common wintertime sight in northwest Arkansas, and we even have year-round residents that...
Archie Comics, Part 2 Despite the sameness of Archie and his friends, they have reacted to the times, albeit gently. The latest dances are always featured, Betty and Veronica are always on fashion's cutting edge, and even modest excursions into movements like beatniks, hippies, and punks were taken. But despite that, Archie fans knew...
Archie Comics, Part 1 I had two older brothers growing up. We bonded in different ways. My oldest brother and myself shared a love for science, as can be exemplified by our mutual love for the Mr. Wizard show. My middle brother and myself shared love for things like fireworks, Flipper, and Archie comics....
Dr. Seuss A wonderful tradition began in our childhoods, which was passed on to our children, and then our grandchildren. It was reading the books and savoring the included illustrations of one Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss. What Baby Boomer out there doesn't have among their earliest childhood recollections reading about...
Chariots of the Gods? Humans, no matter what generation, have always loved a good implausible theory. Nobody actually ever SAW a dragon in medieval times, but that didn't stop the hordes from believing fervently in their existence. A comprehensive sonar scan of Loch Ness revealed no evidence of elasmosaurs, yet sightings and fuzzy photos...
You may use any images you find on my site on your own personal site. COPY the images to your own server, PLEASE. If you link directly, you will likely get a logo encouraging others to visit I Remember JFK instead of the graphic that you expected. In return, I request that you include a link back to I Remember JFK. Fair enough?
Water Rockets:
I certainly didn't hurt for toys when I was a kid. However, I didn't have EVERY toy. Witness the Texaco Fire Truck. Another cool toy that sadly never made it into my toybox was the water rocket. I saw hundreds of ads for water rockets in various comic book ads....
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