This Week In '66

 

With Lynn Peril

The week of August 8 was pretty typical for the summer of 1966: Vietnam, the space race, the Beatles, cosmic retribution, the Pill . . . oh, and a “rainmaker” hard at work in drought-stricken San Diego. This week’s episode is also the penultimate for This Week in ‘66. Can you believe it’s been a year already? 

SHOW NOTES

“A Hero’s Medal Given to Widow,” San Francisco Examiner, June 15, 1967, 15. 

“A Near Sell-out for Beatles in Detroit,” The Oakland Tribune, August 14, 1966, 5. 

“Apology by Beatles Wins DJ’s Approval,” Lake Charles American-Press (Lake Charles, Louisiana), August 13, 1966, 7. 

“Ban Beatles Event to be in Marshall,” The Times (Shreveport, Louisiana), August 11, 1966, 8. 

“Beatle Burners,” Odessa American (Odessa, Texas), August 14, 1966, 

“Beatle Sorry About Remark, ‘But It’s Still True,’” The Oakland Tribune, August 12, 1966, 8. 

Brody, Jane E., “Birth Control Study Finds No Proof Pill is Unsafe; Panel F.D.A. Sponsored Asks More Research to Get at the Facts,” New York Times, August 15, 1966, 1. 

“Chicago Teen-agers Still Adore Beatles,” The Oakland Tribune, Saturday, August 13, 1966, 12-B. 

“Deluge of 1916 Recalled; Amateur Rainmaker Seeking to Fill Nearly Dry Reservoir,” The Los Angeles Times, August 10, 1966, 3. 

“‘Honest Error’ in Ship Attack; Widow of Skipper Bitter,” The Oakland Tribune, August 12, 1966, 1. 

Kirkman, Don, “Research Shows Birth Control Pill Not Causing Female Illness,” El Paso Herald-Post (El Paso, Texas), August 15, 1966, 1. 

“Lightning Hits KLUE,” August 14, 1966, The Longview News-Journal (Longview, Texas), 2. 

“‘Mistake’ Raid Hits U.S. Ship; Two Coast Guardsmen Die in Second Misdirected Air Strike in Two Days,” The Oakland Tribune, August 11, 1966, 1. 

“Rainmaker Gives Up on Production,” The Kansas City Times (Kansas City, Missouri), August 18, 1966, 2.

“Roar of Jets; Sparse Turnout for Beatle Entry,” The Oakland Tribune, August 11, 1966, 16. 

West, Richard, “Spacecraft Starts 35-Day Trip to Photograph Areas on the Moon,” The Los Angeles Times, August 11, 1966. 1. 

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Scratchy Singles

 

With Mark Ehmcke

1. Sookie Sookie - Don Covay

2. The Joker Went Wild - Brian Hyland

3. There Was A Time - James Brown

4. Whole Lotta Love - C.C.S.

5. Last Night - Mar-Keys

6. I'm A Man Of Action - Jimmy Hughes

7. Band Of Gold - Freda Payne

8. Outa Space - Billy Preston

9. Telstar - Tornadoes

10. Ain't That Loving You Baby - Jerry Butler & Betty Everett

11. Blues In The Night - Doris Day

12. The Lady Wants To Twist - Steve Lawrence

13. Playgirl - Thee Prophets

14. He Ain't Give You None - Freddie Scott

15. Tell Me Something Good - Rufus

16. Bull Dog - Shangri-Las

17. The City Never Sleeps At Night - Nancy Sinatra

18. The Lonely Bull - The Tijuana Brass ft. Herb Alpert

19. Move On Up - Flying Lizards

20. Give Me One More Chance - Wilmer Alexander Jr & the Dukes

21. C.C. Rider - Bobby Powell

22. Come And Give Your Love To Me - New Colony Six

23. Dix-A-Billy - Lavern Baker

24. Kon-Tiki - The Islanders

This Week In '66

 

With Lynn Peril

The first week of August 1966 was not only a microcosm of that whole tumultuous year, but also a harbinger of the twenty-first century. There was gun violence, racial unrest, calls for liberalized abortion laws, a celebrity wedding, and, of course, John Lennon versus the fundamentalists. 

SHOW NOTES: 

Barnes, Michael, “Finding No ‘Responsible’ Book on Shooting, He Wrote One,” Austin American-Statesman, July 31, 2016, D-9. 

“Beatle Boycott Widening in Dixie,” New York Daily News, August 4, 1966, 14. 

Bruckner, J.D.R., “King Hit By Rock as Whites Resist Civil Rights Marchers,” Los Angeles Times, August 6, 1966, 1. 

Cleave, Maureen, “The Beatles, Part III; John in His Gorilla Suit, Seeking What?” The Detroit Free Press, May 8,1966, 28.

“Epstein Arrives in U.S., Trying to Halt Beatle Ban Bandwagon,” The Los Angeles, Times, August 6, 1966, 27.

Haber, Joyce, “It Was Luci’s Day All the Way as She Became Mrs. Nugent,” The Los Angeles Times, August 7, 1966, 1. 

“John, the Beatle’s, Quote on Jesus ‘Out of Context,’” The Miami News, August 5, 1966, 20. 

“Knife Misses, King Stoned,” New York Daily News, August 6, 1966, 2. 

“Local Radio Station Joins Beatle Ban,” The Daily Times-News (Burlington, North Carolina), August 3, 1966, 1. 

McCabe, Charles, “We’re More Popular Than Jesus Now,” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), April 22, 1966, 24. 

“Quote Angers Beatle Fans,” The Selma Times-Journal (Selma, Alabama), August 2, 1966, 10. 

“Sniper Buried Beside Mother He Murdered,” Los Angeles Times, August 6, 1966, 15. 

Thornhill, Barbara, “Sorry About That, But You Can Still Hear the Beatles in Macon,” The Macon News (Macon, Georgia), August 4, 1966, 8.

University of Texas tower shooting

“Weekend TV; 3 Networks to Cover Luci’s Wedding Today,” The Los Angeles, Times, August 6, 1966, 28. 

“With Tears of Joy; Luci, Pat Nugent Exchange Vows,” The Los Angeles Times, August 7, 1966, 1. 

Beatniks

 

With Mark Ehmcke

1. The Beat Generation - Bob McFadden and Dor

2. Beat Girl - Adam Faith

3. Recitation - Fred Gwynne (Far Out Munsters)

4. Kookie's Mad Pad - Edd "Kookie" Burns

5. Teenage Beatnik - Louis Nye

6. Opp-Pop--A-Da - Dizzy Gillespie and his Orchestra

7. Like Young - Perry Como

8. Beatnik - The Royal Jokers

9. Basic Hip - Del Close & John Brent

10. Crazy Vibrations - The Bikinis

11. Bongo Beatin' Beatnik - Joe Hall & the Corvettes

12. Twisted - Lambert, Hendrick & Ross

13. Beatnik Daddy - Barbara Evans

14. Doin' the Beatnik Twist - Huey Smith and the Clowns

15. Sorta Blue - Henry Mancini

16.The Beat Generation - Paul Evans

17. High School Drag - Phillipa Fallon

18. Pad - Bobby Summers

19. Beatnik Bill - Richard Pine

20. The Image Pt. 1 - Hank Levine

21. Like I Love You - Edd "Kookie' Burns

22. Recitation - Kelton Garwood (Far Out Munsters)

23. Laughin' Beatnik - Johnny Beeman

24. Kerouazy - Don Morrow

25. Beat-nik - J.M. Van Eaton

26. Beatnik Baby - The Bee Hives

27. No Pictures, Please - Rod McKuen

28. Professor Bop - Three Bips, A Bop

29. Reaching Into In - Ken Nordine

30. Beat Guitar - The Wailers

31. Benny the Beatnik - Untouchables

We Say Yeah Yeah Yeah #02

 

With Robin Braid

01 The Flying Burrito Brothers - If You Gotta Go

02 Brian Auger with Julie Driscoll & The Trinity - A Kind Of Love In

03 Clifford Curry - I Can't Get A Hold Of Myself

04 Gino Parks - Same Thing

05 Yvonne Baker - You Didn't Say A Word

06 The Romeos - Precious Memories

07 Gordon Jackson - A Day At The Cottage

08 Duane Eddy - Mule Train

09 Theola Kilgore - The Sound Of My Man

10 Johnny Cash - Going To Memphis

11 The Selah Jubilee Singers - Downward Road

12 Betty Harris - There's A Break In The Road

13 Aaron Neville - Over You

14 Johnny Horton - I'm Coming Home

15 The Mersey Men - I Can Tell

16 The Troggs - You're Lyin'

17 Johnny Burnette - If You Want It Enough

18 John Lee Hooker - What Do You Say

19 Small Faces - Understanding

20 Dusty Springfield - Little By Little 

21 Guitar Ray - Ball And Chain

This Week In '66 - The Fishers Disappear

 

With Lynn Peril

Were there more kidnappings and disappearances than usual in 1966, or am I just attracted to those stories? If it’s the latter, what does that say about me? Perhaps it’s an easy answer: If I fall down a rabbit hole to find out what happened next, maybe listeners will be intrigued as well. The story of Max and Edith Fisher is a wild one, involving arson, a likely murder, and a faked suicide. Also in the news this week, a Merry Prankster gets married and a teen critic harshly reviews the Rolling Stones show at the Cow Palace–on Mick’s 23rd birthday, no less! 

SHOW NOTES: 

Interesting blog post with memories from Space Daisy's son. 

“303rd Golden Gate Suicide Feared,” San Francisco Examiner, June 27, 1966, 20. 

Bengelsdorf, Irving H., Ph.D., “Of Atoms and Men; Carbon Dioxide Enriched Air–A Lot of Contemporary Sun,” The Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1966, 33. 

“He’ll Stay, Despite Hostility; Cranks Harass Negro in Ritzy Detroit Area,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 27, 1. 

Leggett, Jim, “Widow Remembers Husband Who Died in Crash 25 Years Ago,” The Town Talk (Alexandria, Virginia), July 29, 1991, 21. 

Looney, Gerri, “Stone Shook Up?” Oakland Tribune, July 30, 1966, 8.

Mealey, Mike, “Cabin in Mystery Razed in Clue Hunt,” The Oakland Tribune, July 15, 1966, 4. 

Mealey, Mike, “FBI Joins Hunt for SF Man–Wife’s Body at Cabin?” The Oakland Tribune, July 14, 1966, 5. 

O’Brien, William, “Cops Still Baffled by the Missing Fishers,” The San Francisco Examiner, July 2, 1967, 8. 

“Pope to OK Birth Pill, Italian Paper Claims; Fantasy, Vatican Says,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 27, 4. 

Spears, Larry, “Groom Had the Second Longest Hair,” Oakland Tribune, July 25, 1966, 3. 

“Tragic Rampage; Elephant Tramples Trainer,” Oakland Tribune, July 30, 1966, 4. 

Weston, Mary Ann, “Jobs Run Out; 2 Negro Families Leaving Pointes,” The Detroit Press, November 24, 1966, 3. 

Trash!

 

With Mark Ehmcke

1. She's A Fat Girl - Rock-a-Bouts

2. Camel Walk - Saxons

3. Bacon Fat - The Triads

4. Emulsified - Rex Garvin and the Mighty Cravers

5. Big Fat Mama - Roy Young

6. Chimpanzee Ride - Mike Lawing

7. The Beat Generation - Mamie Van Doren

8. One Potato - The Elite

9. Betty Lou's Got A New Tattoo - The Creep

10. Go Go Gorilla - The Shandells

11. The Gamma Goochee - The Gamma Goochee

12. We All Love Peanut Butter - The One Way Street

13. Tarzan - The Ape Quartet

14. Karate - Ray Sanders and Friend

15. New Dance In France - Bobby Lee Trammell

16. Duh - The Fantastic Emanons

17. Big Fat Baby - Sonny Hall

18. Beatnik's Wish - Patsy Raye and the Beatniks

19. Cave Man Hop - Jerry Coulston

20. Fire Water - The Premieres

21. Surfin' Monkey - The Spinners

22. The Trance - Gary Shelton

23. Man With The Golden Arm - Gemtones

24. Konga Joe - Arch Hall Jr.

25. Jugue - Johnny Amelio

26. Bip Bop Bip - Pretty Boy

27. Discombobulated - Rex Johnson

28. Cheese Blintzes - Don Thompson Quartet

This Week In '66

 

With Lynn Peril

It was the week that Bobby Fuller died under mysterious circumstances and Mrs. America 1966 gave her opinions on fighting divorce and raising happy children. Other names in the news this week: Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, Jayne Mansfield, and Montgomery Clift, alas, not all in the same place at the same time. 

SHOW NOTES

“‘66 Mrs. America; Houston Housewife No. 1 Homemaker,” Evansville Courier and Press (Evansville, IN), May 9, 1966, 8.

“Autopsy Inconclusive,” Daily News-Post (Monrovia, CA), July 20, 1966, 22.

Brimmell, George, “San Diego corners market on off-beat beauty contests,” The Ottawa Citizen (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), December 19, 1967, 22. 

Gundersen, Edna, “Broken Melody,” El Paso Times, June 7, 1982, 13.

Hall, Claude, “Bobby Fuller Four Fills Nitery Air With Excitement,” Billboard, May 14, 1966, 48. 

“Houston TV Ratings War,” Texas Monthly, May 1974, 12. s

Klemesrud, Judy, “Woman’s Place in School Too, Says Mrs. America,” Corpus-Christi Caller-Times, July 1, 1966, 30. 

“Marital Inquiry Asked in House; Justice Douglas’ Character Under Attack,” The Los Angeles Times, July 19, 1966, 1. 

“Misadventures of Mrs. America,” Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA), October 9, 1966, 100. 

“Movie Manager Files Suit,” The Jackson Sun (Jackson, TN), July 20, 1966, 2. 

“Montgomery Clift, 45, dies of heart attack in New York,” The Los Angeles Times, July 24, 1966, 3. 

“Mrs. America Ired; Dispute Rises About Prizes,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 17, 1967, 18. 

“Mrs. America Tells How to Beat Divorce Scandal,” Oakland Tribune, July 24, 1966, 8. 

“Policeman Closes Show; He Wasn’t Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” The Memphis Press-Scimitar, July 18, 1966, 17. 

Silverman, Jan, “Luncheon with Mrs. America,” Oakland Tribune, October 7, 1966, 34. 

“Singer Found Dead in Automobile,” Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA), July 19, 1966, 25. 

Stanford, Nancy, “Mrs. America Tackles Her Homework,” Corpus Christi Times, January 9, 1969, 25. 

“Tests Slated in Death of Rock and Roll Singer,” Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz, CA), July 20, 1966, 13. 

Thompson, Thomas, “Raw Dialogue Challenges All the Censors,” Life Magazine, June 10, 1966, 92. 

Wilson, Earl, “It Happened Last Night,” Courier-Post (Camden, New Jersey), July 19, 1966, 19. 

“‘Whose Afraid’ Gets Cleared for Nashville,” Chicago Tribune, July 21, 1966, 53. 

Songs of 1966

 

By Mark Ehmcke

1. It's a Man's Man;s Man;s World - James Brown

2. Sha La La La Lee - Small Faces

3. Happenings Ten Years Time Ago - The Yardbirds

4. Solitary Man - Neil Diamond

5. Papa Was Too - Joe Tex

6. They're Coming To Take Me Away - Napoleon XIV

7. Seven & Seven Is - Love

8. Good Thing - Paul Revere and the Raiders

9. I Need Somebody - ? and the Mysterians

10. The Cheater - Bob Kuban and the In-Men

11. I'm Your Puppet - James and Bobby Purify

12. No Milk Today - Herman's Hermits

13. Hey Joe - The Leaves

14. Keep On Running - Spencer Davis Group

15. Ninety-Nine and a Half - Wilson Pickett

16. Rain - The Beatles

17. The Rains Came - Sir Douglas Quintet

18. Pretty Flamingo - Manfred Mann

19. Nashville Cats - The Lovin' Spoonful

20. It Tears Me Up - Percy Sledge

21. Sugar Town - Nancy Sinatra

22. The Ballad of Irving - Frank Gallop

23. Green Grass - Gary Lewis and the Playboys

24. The Pied Piper - Crispian St. Peter

25. Where Were You When I Needed You - The Grass Roots

Kogar's Jungle Juice 015

 

With Kogar the Swinging Ape

This Week In '66

 

With Lynn Peril

This is the week in 1966 when eight young women, six student nurses and two visiting exchange nurses from the Philippines, were murdered by a madman in Chicago. You can read about him elsewhere; here we're going to talk about the victims. Also in the news this week: a pair of May-December marriages draw comparisons. 

SHOW NOTES

“Delmore Schwartz,” New York Daily News, July 14, 1966, 61. 

Freeman, Alex, “How Sinatra’s Kids Feel About His New Bride,” Detroit Free Press, July 31, 1966, 28. 

Getze, George, “Trainers Thump TV Slump; Young Adults Called Flabbiest Generation in Nation’s History,” Los Angeles Times, July 12, 1966, 31. 

Goodyear, Sara Jane, “Hunt for Clews in Killing of Eight Nurses on S.E. Side; Neighbors Tell of Awakening to Tragedy,” Chicago Tribune, July 15, 1966, 1. 

“‘Newlywed Game’ Pits Couples in Daytimer,” The Daily News Leader (Staunton, Virginia), July 8, 1966, 13. 

“The Murder Story Unfolds,” Detroit Free Press, July 16, 1966, 32. 

Wiedrich, Robert, “Detailed Report of Terrible Crime; The 8 Nurses: 5-Hour Killing,” Chicago Tribune Magazine, July 23, 1966, 9.