Inflation was at 9.2%, it has doubled in consecutive years
Average cost of a new house: $39,300
Average income: $14,100
Gasoline: $0.44 a gallon
Movie ticket: $1.50
Hugo for best SF Novel goes to Ursula K. Le Guin for The Dispossessed.
Fran Tarkington and my Vikings lost the Super Bowl to Pittsburg. I could have named almost the entire roster for Minnesota back then.
Microsoft is created by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. The first microcomputer, the Altair 8800 is released. The Cray-1, world’s first super-computer is commercially developed.
Betamax and VHS video machines are created and begin to slug it out for supremacy.
Digital Cameras and Laser printers are invented.
You might recall that I mentioned Mrs. Anderson substituted for Mr. Hamilton on occasion in my last post. Well, the night prior was the famous M*A*S*H episode where Henry Blake dies on his way home in a helicopter crash. We watched that show religiously, and that episode really hit us hard. When I got to school the following day, it was all everyone was talking about, and thank God Mr. Hamilton wasn’t there that day, he didn’t strike me as the sentimental sort. Mrs. Anderson had the crazy idea to write to the producers of the show and tell them how distressed we were by what happened. The most wonderful thing happened. Larry Gelbart, the director of the episode, sent each one of us a handwritten letter in response, on M*A*S*H stationary with green felt pen. He explained that bad things happened in war, and it was often a sad ending for a lot of people. Not the response I was looking for, but it was incredible that he took the time to answer a bunch of ten and eleven year olds.
Michael Shaara won the Pulitzer for Killer Angels.
Jaws was released, and scares the crap out of me. I struggle with swimming in the ocean forever more. And where do I go right after this moving comes out? The beach.
My Dad drove me and my brother to Florida that summer and we started at Disney World, staying on the property at the Howard Johnsons hotel. It had a wonderful glass elevator in the center courtyard. It’s not there anymore, but it was a cool place to stay. I also remember standing in line in 90+ degree heat for more than an hour and half to ride Space Mountain, which just opened in January. We saw all the sights and after a couple of days there, we went to Sea World and then to Daytona Beach and up the coast to St. Augustine Beach. It was a wonderful trip and a great time to bond with Dad.
The Big Red Machine won the World Series. Dad and Papaw (my Mom’s dad) took us to Riverfront that fall, so I got to see them in person. Earlier that year, Dad took us to see the Pirates play at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburg, and Willie Stargell hit 3 home runs. While I was growing up our local AAA baseball team, the Charleston Charlies was a farm club for the Pirates and I knew a lot of these players from those days. Dad took my brother and me to Charlies’ games often. Thinking back to this, I am almost the same age now that he was then.
Clear Ether!
Remind me never to slight you. You have way-too-good a memory.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday.
I only remembering graduating from high school in 1975. And then joining the Army that summer. As for what was going on around me, not a clue! Either I didn't care or my memory is completely shot!
ReplyDelete