This was Thursday: 1963

Some of us are still waiting…

And lo, the world wept for Pope John XXIII, Kennedy, Vietnam and the many victims of disasters natural and airborne.  Although the first woman in space and the reawakening of the feminist movement signalled that the fairer sex was making strides toward equality the road to was still a rocky one for many other minorities.  Martin Luther King had a Dream but not everyone saw eye to eye with his vision and racial tension in the US continued with sometimes violent results.  It was the beginning of the end of fiscal and moral willpower for many as American Express introduced credit cards and the Profumo Affair rocked the UK.

As in other years, the ordinary man sought solace in those things that painted his life with broader strokes – music, movies and cool stuff! Troll dolls reared their little mugs everywhere, Beatlemania drew squeals of desire from even the most proper young things and Surf Culture was washing over the nation with an attitude and the music to match. Television shows like Dr. Who and the Beverly Hillbillies along with the popularization of the Smiley Face showed the need for a little levity amidst the news of the world – Graphic art with a message and a bolder, brighter, more humorous approach by mass media was the beginning of the Creative Revolution…

Roy_Lichtenstein_Whaam

For more on 1963 visit:

Harvey Ball – creator of the Smiley Face
Martin Luther King
The Beatles
Roy Lichtenstein – Whaam!
1963
1963 JukeBox

6 thoughts on “This was Thursday: 1963”

  2. Allan G. Smorra says:
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    Thanks for this reminder and for Sam Cooke’s song — it never fails to bring a tear to my eye. 1963 was the end of the beginning of a lot of positive changes and the beginning of the end for a lot of ‘standard practices’ (racism, feminism, and militarism).

    A timely look back, for sure.

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