April 15th

Host Milton Berle welcomes baseball greats Willie Mays, Jimmy Piersall and Maury Wills to The Hollywood Palace … now THAT would have been pretty cool to see!  After a brief interview, the quartet performs "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend". 

 

The Who's second album, "Happy Jack", is released in America. 

Additional Viet Nam War protests are held in San Francisco and New York City.  

After a 19-game winning streak, England is defeated by Scotland 3-2 in the British Football Championship, held at Wembley Stadium.  It is England's first loss since winning The World Cup. 

After 49 minutes of deliberation, a Chicago jury finds Richard Speck guilty of the murder of eight college student nurses and recommends the death penalty.  In 1971, The US Supreme Court upheld his conviction but reversed his death sentence due to the fact that more than 250 potential jurors were unconstitutionally excluded from his jury due to their personal or religious beliefs against capital punishment.  A year later, Speck was re-sentenced to 400-1200 years in prison.  He would die there on December 5th, 1991 … one day before his 50th birthday. 

Chicago Tribune Reporter Bob Greene became the only journalist to interview Richard Speck while he was incarcerated.  During the interview, Speck first denied any involvement in the crime, then said he had an accomplice and later admitted to the murders.  An article about one of the biggest highlights of Greene's career can be found here:  http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-12-08/features/9104200595_1_murderer-confession-heroin

Forgotten Hits 50th Anniversary coverage of this event can be found here:  http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2016/07/50-years-ago-today.html  

In 1996, five years after Speck's death, a TV journalist made public a very controversial prison video, which showed Speck taking drugs and engaging in sex with another inmate during the 1980s, while he was incarcerated at Statesville Correctional Institute.   Speck appears to have breasts in the video, apparently as a result of hormone treatment received while in prison, and he is wearing women's underwear. In the video, Speck also casually admits to the killing of the nurses, describing the strangulations in some detail, and bragging about the strength required to kill someone in this manner.  The release of the video caused a major scandal within the Illinois Department of Corrections, and was widely cited as justification for the reintroduction of death penalty.

April 14th

You'll find very few memorable top debuts this week … Percy Sledge hits the chart at #69 with "Out of Left Field" and Otis Redding premiers at #74 with "I Love You More Than Words Can Say" … but newcomer Engelbert Humperdinck will soon make a mark for himself here in The States as "Release Me" (a UK chart-topper for six weeks earlier this year) finally premiers on the US Chart at #76.  (The Guinness World Records British Hit Singles and Albums book refers to Engelbert this way … "Internationally popular cabaret entertainer and easy-on-the-ear vocalist".  I think most of his fans would tend to agree.)

Actually Hump made a pretty impressive mark on The British Chart … his first seven releases all made The Top Five … and two of those ("Release Me" and "The Last Waltz") went to #1.  "There Goes My Everything" and "A Man Without Love" both peaked at #2 … and "Am I That Easy To Forget" and "The Way It Used To Be" both peaked at #3 … not too shabby for a brand new artist breaking into the pop scene! 



Herman's Hermits' two sided hit "There's A Kind Of Hush" / "No Milk Today", issued just two months ago, is certified gold. 

The very first Bee Gees single ("New York Mining Disaster, 1941") is released in The United States.  Their record label (Atco) issues it with the following promotional tag line:   "The most significant talent since The Beatles".  (There just may be some truth to that statement … although little of us knew it or recognized it at the time.  In fact, several radio stations wondered aloud when this record first came out if might actually BE The Beatles in disguise!  Something tells me that's exactly what The Brothers Gibb were going for!) 



Depending on which source you believe, somewhere between 10,000 and 40,000 demonstrators march in protest of The Viet Nam War in San Francisco.  (We'll split the difference and call it "around 25,000".)

April 13th

The Monkees have taken over the top spot on the WLS Chart this week (even though the title was consistently spelled wrong throughout its chart run!) while The Turtles hang on for another week on the WCFL Sound 10 Survey.

 

Meanwhile, police in Poland resort to using tear gas as a means to control the crowd that has turned out to see The Rolling Stones perform.

April 12th

Earning bullets along their way up the chart this week are "I Found A Love" by Wilson Pickett (up 15 places from #56 to #41), "My Back Pages" by The Byrds (also up 15 places, from #58 to #43), "Friday On My Mind" by The Easybeats (up twelve from #57 to #45), "I Got Rhythm" by The Happenings (which climbs 14 places from #71 to #57), "When I Was Young" by Eric Burdon and the Animals (up to #58 from #75), "Casino Royale" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, up 22 places from #85 to #63, "Here Comes My Baby" by The Tremeloes, up thirty spots from #95 to #65 and "Somebody To Love" by The Jefferson Airplane and "Yellow Balloon" by The Yellow Balloon, which move up 17 places and 18 places respectively, from #81 to #64 and #84 to #66. 





Hall of Fame Football Legend Jim Brown makes his acting debut this evening on the hit television series "I Spy" starring Bill Cosby and Robert Culp.

The Chicago White Sox open their 1967 season in Boston today, losing to The Red Sox by a final score of 5-4.    

Their Opening Day Line-Up consisted of:

Walt Williams - LF

Don Buford - 3B

Tommie Agee - CF

Pete Ward - 1B

Ken Berry - RF

Jerry McNertney - C

Ron Hansen - SS

Jerry Adair - 2B

John Buzhardt - P

Other Notable Names on the Roster this year: Joel Horlen - P; Tommy John - P; Bob Locker - P; Don McMahon - P; Gary Peters - P; and a pair of knuckleball pitchers, Hoyt Wilhelm - P; Wilbur Wood - P; JC Martin - C; Sandy Alomar - 2B; Tommy McGraw - 1B; Al Weiss - SS; Rocky Colavito - OF; Smokey Burgess - PH; Moose Skowron - 1B and Eddie Stankey - MGR

April 11th

On a flight back to London (after visiting girlfriend Jane Asher for her birthday a few days earlier) Paul McCartney refers back to his notes about a Beatles television special, borrows a notepad from a stewardess and starts to write down the lyrics to the song "Magical Mystery Tour".  He also begins sketching out a few ideas based around the concept. (An actual plot would have been nice!)



The Chicago Cubs win their season opener at home by a score of 4-2 over the Philadelphia Phillies.  

The Opening Day Line-Up:
Don Kessinger - SS
Glenn Beckert - 2B
Billy Williams - LF
Ron Santo - 3B
Ernie Banks - 1B
Lee Thomas - RF
Dick Bertell - C
Adolfo Phillips - CF
Ferguson Jenkins - P

Other Notable Names on the Roster This Season include Bill Hands - P; Ken Holtzman - P; Don Larsen - P; Joe Niekro - P; Randy Hundley - C; Paul Popovich - IF and Al Spangler - OF.  The 1967 Chicago Cubs were managed by Leo Durocher.

April 10th

It's Nancy and Frank Sinatra who take over the #1 spot on this week's Super Chart as their father / daughter duet "Somethin' Stupid" slides into the #1 spot from the #3 position last week.  (It is the first father / daughter duet to ever hit #1 on the pop charts.)  The Turtles fall to #2 with "Happy Together" after two weeks on top.  

The Monkees move into third place as their latest, "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" moves up three places from #6 to #3.  Minimum movement elsewhere in this week's Top Ten … "This Is My Song" by Petula Clark (#4), "Bernadette" by The Four Tops (#6) and "Western Union" by The Five Americans are all up a spot or two … while "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tommy James and the Shondells and "Dedicated To The One I Love" by The Mamas and the Papas are beginning to slip down the chart.  

Top Ten newcomers include "Jimmy Mack" by Martha and the Vandellas (#9, up from #12) and "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)" by Aretha Franklin (#10, up from #13.) 

Elsewhere within The Top 40, Arthur Conley continues his climb up the chart as "Sweet Soul Music" moves from #21 to #13.  "At The Zoo" by Simon and Garfunkel (#17, up from #28), "With This Ring" by The Platters (#18, up from #25) and "Dry Your Eyes" by Brenda and the Tabulations (#19, up from #23) all earned bullets this week … but the BIGGEST mover has got to be "The Happening" by The Supremes, which leaps an incredible 34 places from #54 to #20.  

"I'm A Man" by The Spencer Davis Group is up from #36 to #21, "Don't You Care" by The Buckinghams is up from #31 to #25, "Love Eyes" by Nancy Sinatra takes a 14 point leap from #41 to #27, "Sunday For Tea" by Peter And Gordon jumps up to #29 from #43, "Close Your Eyes" by Peaches And Herb is up from #49 to #36 and "You Got What It Takes" by The Dave Clark Five, enters The Top 40 for the very first time at #40, thanks to a leap from #53, rounding out this week's biggest movers.  

The Monkees' second album, "More Of The Monkees", holds on to the #1 spot on the album chart for the tenth straight week.  

Peter Tork makes a solo appearance this evening at The Troubadour's "Hoot Night", performing a fifteen minute set.  

The 13-day AFTRA / television strike ends just in time to broadcast the 39th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Bob Hope.  "A Man For All Seasons" wins the Best Picture Oscar, Elizabeth Taylor wins Best Actress for "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf" and Paul Scofield wins the Best Actor award for "A Man For All Seasons".  

Paul McCartney attends a Beach Boys recording session in Hollywood.  (He would appear on the track … and some say he produced the track … "Vegetables", which was later released as part of their "Smiley Smile" album.)  

Marvin Gaye records his version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" in Studio A of Motown / Hitsville USA in Detroit.  Berry Gordy doesn't feel it is good enough to release as a single so he has Gladys Knight and the Pips record a new, more uptempo version two months later.  In September, the Gladys Knight version is released as a single and it goes on to top The Cash Box Chart.   

Gaye continued to fight with Gordy for his own release, believing in his heart that he had recorded a VERY important piece of music.  Gordy finally relented and released Gaye's version as a single a year later in November of 1968.  In the end, Marvin Gaye was proven right as his version of "I Heard It To The Grapevine" went to #1 in all three major trades and stayed at #1 for 7 straight weeks in Billboard, ultimately becoming The Biggest Motown Hit of the '60's.  (My guess is that even today Berry Gordy will very happily admit to being wrong on this one … the record has literally never been off the radio in nearly 50 years!  Can you even imagine this one being locked up in the vault for all this time?!?!)

April 9th

The Doors and The Jefferson Airplane shared the bill at The Cheetah Club located on the  Santa Monica Pier in Venice, California, to an audience of approximately 3000 people, the largest audience of The Doors' career to this point.

The Blues Magoos appear on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour  

Ed Ames appears on The Ed Sullivan Show  

The first Boeing 737 completes its maiden flight.  

Number One at the Box Office this week:  Double Trouble