1969: The Movies

The best movies of '69?

Well, naturally, that's somewhat subjective ...

We can tell you which films won The Academy Awards that year ...

We can run down a list of the Box Office Giants ...

But ultimately it really boils down to which films hit YOUR buzzer or rang YOUR bell ...

And which ones have held up over the past 40 years of time.

Academy Award Winners were as follows:
BEST PICTURE: Midnight Cowboy
BEST DIRECTOR: John Schlesinger (for Midnight Cowboy)
BEST LEADING ACTRESS: Maggie Smith (in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie)
BEST LEADING ACTOR: John Wayne (in True Grit)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Goldie Hawn (in Cactus Flower)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Gig Young (in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: William Goldman (for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Waldo Salt (for Midnight Cowboy)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Z (France / Algeria)
BEST MUSIC: Hello Dolly (Lennie Hayton and Lionel Newman)
BEST SONG: Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head (by Burt Bacharach from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)

Midnight Cowboy became the first ... and ONLY ... X-Rated Film to win a "Best Picture" award. In hindsight, it's pretty tame ... but by 1969 standards (which also gave us the cult classic "I Am Curious ... Yellow") it was really considered something else.

It was interesting to see Dustin Hoffman go from "The Graduate" to Ratso Rizzo in just two short years ... already he had established himself as one of the best actors of our generation.

A personal favorite? "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".
I've probably seen it 30 times ... and, in fact, we just watched it again recently ... TWICE!!!
It's just a well-made film ... entertaining ... and, perhaps because it IS a period piece, it doesn't seem even the least bit dated some forty years later.

Talking about "cult favorites", we can't rule out "Easy Rider" which, by most standards, is a pretty crappy film ... but it made a HUGE impression on the youth movement of the day and, as such, remains a film that people are still talking about some 40 years later. Made with money earned from "The Monkees" television series, it is probably MOST interesting today because of the early intensity displayed by the now-legendary Jack Nicholson, prominently featured acting beside Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper.

Other notables: Disney's "The Aristocats", "The Wild Bunch", "Patton" ... Academy Award Winners "They Shoot Horses Don't They", "Cactus Flower" and "True Grit".
(And who could forget when John Wayne, winning his first Oscar EVER, commented "If I had known that, I would have put that patch on thirty five years earlier!"

Click here: YouTube - John Wayne winning Best Actor for "True Grit"

1969 holds another very special silver screen memory for me ... as part of a High School Field Trip that year, we were required to see the new film version of the classic Shakespeare piece "Romeo And Juliet" ... first time EVER for me to see boobs up on the big screen!!! (Olivia Hussey was certainly easy to look at, too, at the ripe old age of 16!!!) She went on to marry Dino Martin of Dino, Desi and Billy fame, breaking the hearts of teen-aged boys everywhere in the process.
I remember there being some bit of controversy about her topless scene due to her age at the time ... in fact, LEGALLY (because of the film's "R" Rating) she wasn't old enough to see the film because it contained nudity ... even though SHE was the one who was nude IN the film!!! lol
(Maybe Billy Hinsche can shed some light on THIS topic!!!)

Box Office Giants that year?
The Top Ten films (based on total grosses for the year) were:
1) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (nearly $46 million ... which, when adjusted for inflation brings that tally today to about $257 million!!!)
2) The Love Bug ($23 million ... sorry, but you'll have to do your OWN math from this point foward!!!)
3) Midnight Cowboy ($20.5 million)
4) Easy Rider ($19 million)
5) Hello Dolly ($15 million)
6) Bob And Carol And Ted And Alice ($14.6 million)
7) Paint Your Wagon ($14.5 million)
8) True Grit ($14.25 million)
9) Cactus Flower ($11.85 million)
10) Goodbye Columbus ($10.5 million)

Other notable films released in 1969 include Alice's Restaurant (of course we HAD to go see THAT one after falling in love with the album ... for the record, the movie is a pale comparison); The April Fools; Anne of the Thousand Days; Goodbye Mr. Chips; Hook, Line and Sinker (starring Jerry Lewis!); If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium; the original version of The Italian Job (starring Michael Caine); John And Mary; Last Summer; The Magic Christian (Starring Ringo and Peter Sellers ... and featuring the Badfinger hit "Come And Get It", written by Paul McCartney ... no way we were gonna miss this one either!!!); Marlowe (saw that one a few times!); On Her Majesty's Secret Service; The Sterile Cuckoo; Support Your Local Sheriff; Take The Money And Run (another personal favorite, I've probably seen this one AT LEAST thirty times!!!); The Wild Bunch and Winning.

Wanna feel old??? Anjelica Huston, Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight each made their film debuts this year ... even worse, 1969 is the year that Anne Heche, Jennifer Lopez, Edward Norton, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Aniston were BORN!!!

***

For more on The Movies of 1969, we went to our resident Film Buff, TheOneBuff, for HIS take on which films might be worth renting this weekend!!!

1969 ... Reflections of an Old Movie Buff
Over forty years ago, yet many movie memories are fresh in my mind. It was the year of Midnight Cowboy and the media posed the question, "Dustin Hoffman's Ratso Rizzo or John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn for Best Actor Oscar". Now Oscar meant more to me in my thirties than it does now, so I had a rooting interest. My own pick was Jon Voight whose Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy was central, riveting and incredibly real, if not as colorful as costar Hoffman or one-eyed Wayne. Given John Wayne's long career and his status with the Hollywood elite, it was not surprising that he won the award. Hoffman and Voight probably cancelled each other out anyway. If I ruled the world, such tandem performances would be nominated as a team.

Midnight Cowboy was rated X in 1969 but was changed to R, later. Compared to modern stuff, it is pretty tame.

Other goodies that year included Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, a funny and fun movie with the already established Paul Newman giving a hand up to Robert Redford in his big breakthrough role. It marked the second time the lovely Katharine Ross was on hand for a breakthrough since she had been opposite Dustin Hoffman two years earlier in The Graduate. Katharine never went too far up the Hollywood ladder but she was gorgeous.

Then there was Support Your Local Sheriff, an even funnier western with no pretensions other than to make you laugh. James Garner and Joan Hackett displayed considerable comic skills, no surprise in Garner but quite a surprise from Joan, who did mostly serious roles before and after. The likes of Walter Brennan and Bruce Dern in comic form and folks like Harry (the eternal) Morgan made this a favorite.

Maggie Smith lit up the screen as Jean in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and the Oscar was virtually guaranteed. Meanwhile, Goldie Hawn was picked as Best Supporting Actress for Cactus Flower. I have seen Cactus Flower and her role did not seem like a supporting one to me. However, she was quite good in a lightweight movie.

This was the year Jane Fonda got her first critical acclaim from the Oscar people for her portrayal of a doomed, miserable soul, in They Shoot Horses, Don't They, a depressing movie about the depression. Jane was the shootee who inspired the title quote at the end of the movie when she asked Michael Sarazzin to put her out of her miserable life.

Meanwhile, while Butch Cassidy did the freeze-frame bit to spare audiences the sight of Paul and Robert being riddled with bullets, The Wild Bunch showed no such compunction. Stars William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates all got chewed up pretty good at the end of this one, but not until after that magnificent scene of these outlaws walking four abreast towards their fate. Good stuff. It should be noted that Holden was a replacement for Lee Marvin in the role of the leader. This was not new for Holden. He had replaced Monty Clift in Sunset Boulevard and Kirk Douglas in Stalag 17.

After splashing around in the surf 16 years earlier in From Here To Eternity, Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr were getting it on in color and with nudity in The Gypsy Moths which also featured Gene Hackman, a rising star. This was also an adulterous romance with an unhappy conclusion.

Peter O'Toole got one of his many Oscar nominations in a musical remake of Goodbye Mr. Chips which featured pop sensation Petula Clark as his significant other. Barbra Streisand was miscast in Hello Dolly, but at least we got to see Louis Armstrong sing the song he had made his own. This was mostly a miss, directed by Gene Kelly who should have known better. It was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, however, in another instance where Oscar and I were not on the same page.

Easy Rider came out in 1969 and it remains a cult classic to this day. Those fellows on motorcycles, the songs, and Jack Nicholson moving towards superstardom all help to make this interesting watching today. Coincidentally, Peter Fonda was getting his big role in the same year as sister Jane. She went on to win two Oscars. Peter just went on, getting a single nomination in his career. Dennis Hopper, of course, is Dennis Hopper and has had a flock of interesting roles. He also directed Easy Rider.

Jean Simmons was Oscar nominated for her role in a forgotten movie called The Happy Ending. The most lasting thing from that movie is the song "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life", which is now a standard. A beautiful song, it was Oscar nominated but was overwhelmed by the popularity of Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head which finally gave Bacharach and David the Oscar which had eluded them. In retrospect, Raindrops seems the lesser song, but Oscar is a thing of the moment. The Best Song category, which is in total disarray nowadays, is littered with things which were very popular at the moment, but which don't have lasting power. This is true of all such awards and people who are critical of the award process should take that into consideration. I could write a whole thing on awards but in the end it would be my opinion versus theirs. I am content to say it was what those people thought at that time and leave it alone.
End of Oscar soapbox

Some of my other favorite movies of that year are:
The Good Guys and The Bad Guys: Robert Mitchum and George Kennedy having a lot of fun as friendly enemies...a lawman and a badman respectively
Sweet Charity: Shirley Maclaine and a bunch of great musical numbers slowed down by bland leading man and a downbeat story. Bob Fosse's choreography and the appearances of Ricardo Montalban, Sammy Davis Jr and Ben Vereen all help to make it watchable. I fast forward a lot.
Anne of The Thousand Days: Genevieve Bujold joining the long list of Anne Boleyn portrayers and Richard Burton the equally long list of Henry VIII's. We know how this is going to end, but it is literate and colorful.
-- Mister Hil
TheOneBuff

Thanks, Hil ... there are at least a dozen of these I want to see ... things I missed the first time around because I was either too young or I didn't yet appreciate the movies as an art form. (I've spent the entire month of August listening to nothing but 1969 music in the car ... maybe during September Frannie and I can spend our weekends catching up on some of these 40-year-old classics!!!)

1969: TV

With only three channels to choose from, did we have better television choices back in 1969?

A look at the Fall TV Schedule tells us this:

Sunday Nights: The Ed Sullivan Show was still required viewing back in 1969 ... it aired against The F.B.I. and Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color. (Earlier evening fare included Lassie, Land of the Giants, Wild Kingdom and The Bill Cosby Show. Depending on what time dinner was served on any given Sunday Night, I might have watched The Bill Cosby Show ... unless my younger sister had already commandeered the television set to watch Lassie.) Most likely after Ed I switched over to Bonanza (although by 1969 this program had pretty well run its course for me ... incredibly it would air for another four years and, by 1969, had already been a Sunday Night fixture for ten!!!) or The ABC Sunday Night Movie. I don't think I've ever seen an episode of The Leslie Uggams Show and wasn't a fan of The Bold Ones either. Most of my friends were hooked on Mission Impossible but, other than the ultra-cool theme song by Lalo Schiffrin, this one never really grabbed me either.

Monday Night we had Music Scene (which I did watch, naturally!), something called New People, Harold Robbins' "The Survivors" and Love, American Style on ABC, Gunsmoke, Here's Lucy, Mayberry R.F.D., The Doris Day Show and The Carol Burnett Show on CBS and My World and Welcome To It, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and The Monday Night Movie on NBC. I was still a big "Laugh-In" fan in '69 and, in that respect, I wasn't alone ... much of the country was ALSO tuned in and Laugh-In ended up being the #1 Television Show of the Year ... but I'll also admit to seeing more than a few episodes of "Love, American Style", too!

On Tuesday Night it was one of MY favorite shows, "Mod Squad" on ABC, followed by the Movie of the Week and then Marcus Welby, M.D., one of my Mom's favorite TV shows. (As "hip" as it seemed at the time, "Mod Squad" SURE looks dated nowadays!!! lol I guess it can best be described as television's version of what THEY thought was hip!!! These seemed to be a current trend, trying to lure in more younger viewers as programs like "Room 222" also tried to show the world through teen-aged eyes.) CBS gave us Lancer, The Red Skelton Hour, The Governor and J.J. and The CBS News Hour, which, at that time, incorporated 60 Minutes into their programming. Over at NBC we had I Dream Of Jeannie (starring Barbara Eden's well-hidden navel), The Debbie Reynolds Show, Julia (starring the beautiful Diahann Carroll ... I liked that one, too) and The NBC Tuesday Night Movie.

Wednesday Night on ABC gave us The Flying Nun and The Courtship of Eddie's Father ... I don't think I've ever seen a single episode of either of these two so-called television classics ... I was most likely tuned into The Glen Campbell Good-Time Hour on CBS, which is how I happened to be one of the ones that caught the video of The Beatles performing "Get Back" on the Apple Rooftop that we wrote about a couple of weeks back. But after Glen, I DID switch over to ABC to watch "Room 222", another one of my then-favorite shows. (As mentioned above, I can only imagine how dated this one must look today!) Other Wednesday Night television fare included The Virginian, The Kraft Music Hall, Medical Center, The ABC Wednesday Night Movie, Then Came Bronson and Hawaii Five-O, whose theme song was a BIG hit for The Ventures that year.

On Thursday Nights I did a bit of channel surfing (and this was in the PRE-remote days, too, when you actually had to get up out of your seat to change the channel!!!) I'd start the night with Family Affair on CBS, then switch over to That Girl and Bewitched on ABC. Then we'd watch This Is Tom Jones, another one of my Mom's favorites before ending the night with The Dean Martin Show on NBC. If you didn't watch THESE shows, you were probably watching The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Daniel Boone, The Jim Nabors Show, Ironside, Dragnet, It Takes A Thief or The CBS Thursday Night Movie.

Friday's gave us Get Smart, The Good Guys and Hogan's Heroes on CBS before their Friday Night Movie, High Chaparral (another one of my favorites) on NBC, followed by The Name of the Game and Bracken's World or Let's Make A Deal (my Dad's favorite show), The Brady Bunch (brand new in 1969 and now a permanent, historic part of pop culture), Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, Here Comes The Brides (starring new heart-throb Bobby Sherman, who was also tearing up the pop charts by this time with his hits "Little Woman" and "La-La-La, If I Had You") and Jimmy Durante Presents The Lennon Sisters. (Really?!?!? In 1969?!?!?)

Saturday's kicked off with either the back-to-back hits The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game or, depending on the guests, we might instead watch The Andy Williams Show. (Typically, we skipped the competition, which on CBS was The Jackie Gleason Show.) Then came My Three Sons, Green Acres, Petticoat Junction and Mannix on CBS or The Lawrence Welk Show and Hollywood Palace on ABC or Adam-12 and The Saturday Night Movie on NBC.

Emmy Winners for the 1969-1970 Television Season were:
OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES: My World And Welcome To It (Sheldon Leonard, Executive Producer, Danny Arnold, Producer)
OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC SERIES: Marcus Welby, M.D. (David Victor, Executive Producer, David J. O'Connell, Producer)
OUTSTANDING VARIETY OR MUSICAL SERIES: The David Frost Show (Peter Baker, Producer)
OUTSTANDING NEW SERIES: Room 222
OUTSTANDING CONTINUED PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A DRAMATIC SERIES: Robert Young, Marcus Welby, M.D.
OUTSTANDING CONTINUED PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A DRAMATIC SERIES: Susan Hampshire, The Forsythe Saga
OUTSTANDING CONTINUED PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A COMEDY SERIES: William Windom, My World and Welcome To It
OUTSTANDING CONTINUED PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A COMEDY SERIES: Hope Lang, The Ghost And Mrs. Muir
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN DRAMA: James Brolin, Marcus Welby, M.D.
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN DRAMA: Gail Fisher, Mannix
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN COMEDY: Michael Constantine, Room 222
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN COMEDY: Karen Valentine, Room 222.

As for the actual television ratings for the '69 season, THESE are the shows that finished in The Top Ten:
1. ROWAN AND MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN (NBC) Rating 26.3
2. GUNSMOKE (CBS) 25.9
3. BONANZA (CBS) 24.8
4. MAYBERRY R.F.D. (CBS) 24.4
5. FAMILY AFFAIR (CBS) 24.2
6. HERE'S LUCY (CBS) 23.9
7. THE RED SKELTON HOUR (CBS) 23.8
8. MARCUS WELBY, M.D. (ABC) 23.7
9. WALT DISNEY'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOR (NBC) 23.6
10. THE DORIS DAY SHOW (CBS) 22.8

Other notable programs with 20 million or more viewers: The Bill Cosby Show (22.7), The Jim Nabors Show (22.4), The Carol Burnett Show (22.1), The Dean Martin Show (21.9), My Three Sons (21.8), Ironside (21.8), The Johnny Cash Show (21.8), The Beverly Hillbillies (21.7), Hawaii Five-O (21.1), The Glen Campbell Good-Time Hour (21.0), Hee Haw (21.0), The ABC Movie Of The Week (20.9), Mod Squad (20.8), The NBC Saturday Night Movie (20.6), Bewitched (20.6), The F.B.I. (20.6), The Ed Sullivan Show (20.3), Julia (20.1), The CBS Thursday Night Movie (20.0) and, just missing, Mannix (with 19.9)

Echoes Of 1969

Boy, the echoes of 1969 have been all around us lately, haven't they?

This week, Senator Edward Kennedy passed away due to complications from his brain tumor. Although he was driving the vehicle that went off the bridge in Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts, ultimately killing his female passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, he was never charged with manslaughter ... in fact, he never faced ANY charges at all! Instead, while her life tragically ended that night, he got to enjoy a high-profile, 40 year career in politics. Apparently Kennedy's only "official" crime was leaving the scene of an accident. Of course he ALSO failed to even REPORT this accident for the next nine hours, allowing plenty of time for sobering up and getting his story straight. (After a career encompassing public drunkedness and lewd behavior, it really isn't much of a stretch of the imagination to "suppose" that Kennedy had been drinking that evening at his Martha's Vineyard party. He "lost control" of his vehicle while driving Kopechne home from this party and, despite decades of instance that "no inappropriate behavior" had occurred, it has since been published that Kopechne's body was found sans underwear. Sounds to me that if Mary Jo was going "commando" that evening, Teddy may have had a tough time keep both hands on the wheel, if you catch my drift!!!) Kennedy settled with Mary Jo's family (financially) and was pretty much let off the hook ever since ... although the scandal DID "dampen" any Presidential aspirations he might have had, following in his brothers' footsteps. Hard to imagine ANY other U.S. Citizen being let off for a crime of this magnitude with barely a slap on the wrist.

A week or so ago Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, one of Charles Manson's followers, made headlines when she was released on parole after serving 34 years for pointing a gun at then-President Gerald Ford back in 1975. Manson's followers were deemed responsible for the Sharon Tate / Abigail Folger / Jay Sebring / Leno and Rosemary LaBianca murders back in 1969 and are still serving time (along with Charlie) for these crimes after he basically seduced and brain-washed them with his "Helter Skelter" mind-games version of Kool Aid. (Manson, now 74, has been denied parole himself a total of eleven times since he was first incarcerated. When California overturned the death penalty, Manson's sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. Certainly by now The State Of California would have expected Charlie to have died in prison ... but he's still kicking and still living up to his creepy reputation. One cannot help but wonder what it has COST The State Of California to keep ol' Charlie alive and well these past 40 years ... probably a little bit more than the tab for Michael Jackson's recent funeral!) And how exactly do you qualify for parole after pointing a gun at The President Of The United States??? Shoot a cop in Chicago and they'll string you up by the short-hairs for life ... but make a threat against The President Of The United States ... all the while pledging your allegience to Helter Skelter ... and you're still awarded a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card!!!

And this weekend, the film "Taking Woodstock" opens at theaters nationwide, reliving the incredible Woodstock experience from the OTHER point of view ... this time focusing on the guys who organized and promoted the ultimate music festival. We're going to see it on Saturday ... and I can't wait!!! (And in yet another twist of fate, The Chicago Cubs are playing The New York Mets this weekend, too!!! Although, as pointed out by one of our readers, without anywhere near the same amount of excitement and fanfare THIS season, however!!! lol)

Kent ...
You talked about The Cubs and The Mets in 1969. In the next couple of weeks, starting on Friday, The Cubs & The Mets play six games against each other. As I look at today's newspaper, I find The Cubs nine games out of first place. The Mets are 14 1/2 games out of first place. I say let's forget about today and keep talking about 1969!!! Frank B.

I enjoyed Mike's reflections on our 69 Cubs. Things haven’t changed much – lol!!
Greg

Add all this up with our own Forgotten Hits coverage of the events of 40 years ago ... including the moon landing, the sports headlines created by The Cubs, The Mets and "Broadway" Joe Namath, the pop chart success spawned by the music from the hit / hip musical "Hair" and (still to come) other trends in popular music, television shows and movies of 1969 and we have TRULY been experiencing Deja Vu all over again this past month!!!

Clearly, it wasn't ALL happy memories ... there was, after all, still a war going on in Viet Nam ... in fact, some of our readers were there to experience it first hand ... although our brand new President, Richard Nixon, was doing his best to pull the troops out of combat and bring the boys home to their families, by now realizing that this war was NEVER going to be won by anybody.

Lt. William Calley was held accountable for the My Lai Massacre ... the trial of The Chicago Eight (soon Seven after defendant Bobby Seales was bound and gagged and then tried separately) begins in response to the revolution right here at home at 1968's Democratic National Convention ... and Hurricane Camille ripped through Mississippi with a fury not witnessed again until Katrina four years ago.

Today we share a few more of YOUR memories of 1969!!!

I can't say I have any memories of 1969 ... my parents hadn't even met yet (or if they had, they hadn't been dating very long) and I would be 16 years in the future still ... Tom Diehl

Wow - 1969 - what a year. I couldn't wait to turn 21 and when I did I was married, pregnant and too sick to celebrate! I still feel cheated!! LOL 1969 was the year Nixon became President and Ted Kennedy plead guilty to leaving the scene of fatal accident at Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts, in which Mary Jo Kopechne was drowned — got a two-month suspended sentence. Politics has been more exposed since that time. It was a different economy - Unemployment was 3.6%, Median Household Income was $8,389, Federal Spending was $365.8 Billion and the cost of a postage stamp was 6 cents! And, let's not forget 1969 was when the FCC banned all cigarette advertising on radio and television - as if we wouldn't know cigarettes were still there. But, the most important event in the life of children - Sesame Street was born! I know everybody talks bad about the 60s, but I'd go back in a heartbeat.
Lea Mea

Hey Kent,
Long time no type.
I spent the Summer of 1969 working for the U.S. Postal Service in a balmy almost tropical setting.
I was the company clerk for the 43rd Army Postal Unit, at Danang, South Viet Nam, APO 96349.
Yes, I was at China Beach before it was a TV show!


Radio was a great escape for us, and AFVN did the trick.
The Dawn Buster (program) got us up each day, and of course 9:05 Means Exercise, was usually was on the air when we got to work. By the way, I think the corporate P.D’s of today are missing a sure thing buy not having a morning exercise program on the radio!!!

During the day, the majority of the programming came from Saigon, but at night we listened to “Your Brother” who was local - he was at DaNang high on top of Monkey Mountain, where the AFRTS AM, FM & TV studio and transmitters were located. Here it is in the distance.

Our postal unit was located next door to the library / arts and crafts shop, (yes the troops did get some down time) And I worked the counter at the crafts shop at night. We sold model airplane kits, model cars, and taught film developing in the darkroom. You would be surprised how many of those in combat took a 35 mm camera with them into the field, and snapped pictures during the mission! When they got a little R & R, they would develop the film or slides. I saw some pretty gruesome stuff, as well as some beautiful shots of southeast Asia.

On the radio (Donna Summer, 1979) I remember Oh Happy Day by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, AFVN played that a lot, I remember thinking that the line from the Creedence Song said, ‘there’s a bathroom on the right”. I promise you - I really did.

The Fifth Dimension got a lot of play with Aquarius of course, and I remember one night “Your Brother” played Love is Strange by Buddy Holly, which I had never heard, and he said it was a new release of a lost tape.

I would mail requests to radio stations to send us air checks that I played each night on the house P A system, so the folks could get that back home feeling, (plus I got to keep the tapes, still have a couple of them). Cousin Brucie even personalized his WABC tape for us, we got material from WLS, WKYC, WSGN, WAYS, WQXI, KOMA and a bunch more that I cant remember. The stations were very generous to do that for us.

Even though there was a war going on, I have good memories of the Summer of 1969, mostly because I lived through it.

I salute the ones that did not.

Thanks for giving me a chance to reflect.

Bobaloo
THE GOOD TIME GOLD SHOW

I remember helping my brother deliver flyers on the air base my Dad served on. It was the first job I had where I made money from someone besides my parents. It rained on us and got really nasty. It turned out it was the remnant of Hurricane Camille which had devastated the Mississippi coast earlier in the week and even killed people (we were in Arkansas).

-Chuck

Losing Another Legend

We lost another one of the great "behind the scenes" voices of rock and roll music yesterday when songwriter Ellie Greenwich passed away at the age of 68 from a heart attack.

Frannie was the first one in with the news ... and then it got picked up by the wire services and pretty soon we were flooded with emails, too, surrounding this sad, sad news.

Greenwich's songwriting credits read like a "Who's Who" List of the Greatest Music of the '60's ... "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes, "Hanky Panky" by Tommy James and the Shondells, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" by Manfred Mann, "Leader Of The Pack" by The Shangri-Las, "Chapel of Love" by The Dixie Cups all topped the charts yet, despite this incredible legacy of music, she, too, has been ignored by Jann Wenner and his Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame!!!

Fortunately, some of our readers shared their personal experiences (and some music) with us ... we'll give you the best of that today ... along with the initial report:

Click here: Ellie Greenwich, Legendary Songwriter, Dies at 68 - Spinner
Songwriter Ellie Greenwich, who co-wrote many of the classic hits of the girl group era, has died at age 68. According to her niece, Greenwich died of a heart attack at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital in New York, where she had been hospitalized for pneumonia.Greenwich's songs, mostly written with her then-husband, Jeff Barry, include such '60s girl-pop standards as 'Be My Baby' and 'Baby I Love You,' by the Ronettes, 'Da Doo Ron Ron' and 'Then He Kissed Me,' by the Crystals, and 'Leader of the Pack,' by the Shangri-Las. Her songbook also includes penning 'Chapel of Love' for the Dixie Cups and 'River Deep, Mountain High' for Ike & Tina Turner. Greenwich was part of New York's Brill Building songwriting factory alongside the likes of Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Burt Bacharach and Neil Diamond. "Ellie Greenwich was one of the most important people in my career," Diamond told Spinner. "She discovered me as a down-and-out songwriter, and with her then-husband, Jeff Barry, co-produced all my early hits on Bang Records. She has remained a great friend and mentor over the years and will be missed greatly." The songwriting (and onetime married) couple had their songs recorded by performers including Tommy James and the Shondells ('Hanky Panky'), Lesley Gore ('Maybe I Know,' 'The Look of Love') and Manfred Mann ('Do Wah Diddy Diddy'). Greenwich also had a Top 20 hit of her own with 'The Kind of Boy You Can't Forget' under the group name the Raindrops.

Eleanor Louise Greenwich's infatuation with music began with the least sexy of instruments: the accordion. She later learmed piano and began writing her own songs, forming a group called the Jivettes as a young teenager.With her blond hair, huge doe eyes and easy smile, Greenwich looked like a cross between her contemporaries Dusty Springfield and Carole King. Her fresh-faced good looks, ear for melody and earnest voice got her noticed by RCA Records where she issued a single under the name of Ellie Gaye when she was 17. No one noticed.

In 1959, Greenwich met Jeff Barry, the man who was to become her romantic and creative partner. Soon after, a chance meeting with Jerry Leiber (of songwriting duo Leiber and Stoller) launched her career as a professional songwriter, and once Greenwich and Barry were married they decided to work solely with each other.But after penning a string of iconic girl group hits, the couple divorced in 1966 and their creative partnership eventually dissolved. Greenwich continued in the music business, discovering Neil Diamond, producing Dusty Springfield and recording a solo album as well as working as a session singer for the likes of Frank Sinatra. A difficult period followed her success, which included a nervous breakdown, and Greenwich left the business for a couple of years. In 1973, she released the singer-songwriter album 'Let It Be Written, Let It Be Sung' and later in the decade collaborated with Blondie. In the early 1980s, she wrote for Cyndi Lauper and sang backup on Lauper's solo debut, 'She's So Unusual.'

"Cyndi Lauper's stuff has a '60s edge," Greenwich said in an interview with Charlotte Greig for her 1989 book 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.' "Although she doesn't wanna see it that way, because she doesn't wanna be dated, so to speak. 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' could have been 1960s, if you took those synthesizers out."In that same interview, Greig writes that Greenwich came across as funny, friendly and effervescent." She opened the door, a huge smile on her face. Her hair was platinum blonde and she was fully made up, with pale pink lipstick and plenty of black mascara, just as in the '60s. She looked dazzling, despite being 20 years older than the girl I'd seen in the photographs, and having a heavy cold that day, which she had decided to ignore. She welcomed me in, and for several hours we sat and talked while she drank coffee and chain-smoked. I was enchanted by her; Ellie had a way of sounding conspiratorial when she spoke to you, as though you were a girlfriend she hadn't seen in ages."The 1984 Broadway musical 'Leader of the Pack' was based on Greenwich's life and music. She and Barry were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991.

Legendary songwriter Ellie Greenwich -- who with her then-husband Jeff Barry gave us such hits as "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Chapel Of Love," "Leader Of The Pack," "Maybe I Know", "Be My Baby" and "Hanky Panky" -- died Wednesday (August 26) from a heart attack at a New York hospital where she had been admitted with pneumonia. She was 69. Born in Brooklyn, she grew up in Long Island and by 17 had a recording contract using the name Ellie Gaye. Though she met Jeff at a family Thanksgiving dinner while still in college, the two didn't immediately write together. It was Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller who gave Ellie her break after meeting her by chance as she waited for an appointment with another Bril Building composer. While composing songs like "Today I Met The Boy I'm Gonna Marry" she cut demonstration recordings for other writers and soon became known as the "Demo Queen." As romance with Jeff blossomed into marriage, the two began not only writing -- but singing -- together. As The Raindrops, Jeff and Ellie charted five times, including "The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget" (#17 - 1963), "What A Guy" (#41 - 1963) and the original "Hanky Panky" (the B-side of "That Boy John" in 1964). Ellie also recorded as the Butterflys ("Good Night Baby" reached #51 in 1964) and under her own name ("I Want You To Be My Baby", #83 - 1967). Jeff and Ellie also produced many of their compositions, as well as the early Neil Diamond hits "Solitary Man" and "Cherry Cherry." The couple's marriage and creative partnership broke up in 1965. In 1985, a Broadway musical based on Ellie's tunes entitled "The Leader Of The Pack premiered, earning a Tony nomination for Best Musical. Ellie was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 1991.
-- Ron Smith / oldiesmusic.com

I just heard the sad news of Ellie Greenwich's passing from Artie Wayne. I'm sharing with you an early demo recording Ellie did of a song called Love Is Better Than Ever, which was recorded and released by the LeVons on the Columbia record label. Although the quality of this on my actual acetate 78 is much better, I have deliberately downgraded the audio quality to prevent bootlegging of the song (yet I am sharing it everywhere), as other songs I have shared in the past have been bootlegged in their high quality. This song was written by my friend Mark Barkan and the late Ben Raleigh, who was a songwriting partner of Artie Wayne. RIP Ellie.
Tom Diehl




Check out the the incredible career of Ellie Greenwich here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellie_Greenwich
Billy Hinsche


Kent,
My husband asked me if I heard what they had just said on the news and I told him no. He told me that Ellie Greenwich died and that she was 68. I heard that she died of a heart attack. I could hardly believe it. I guess they didn't have much information on that news report. I was emailing Scott Shannon on a song he played on True Oldies Channel. It's hard to believe she's gone. You tend to think that everyone is going to stay young forever and live forever. My condolences go to her family, friends and associates. May she Rest In Peace.
Arlene


Ellie Greenwich and George Goldner came to see me at KQV in Pittsburgh in the 60's with tapes of "Leader of the Pack" and "Chapel of Love" saying they could not interest anyone in radio in programming after stops in New York, Cleveland and Detroit. I added them to the KQV playlist where they soon topped our Hit Parade and with Bill Gavin spreading the news to other programmers nationally they became giant hits.
Then Ellie and Ilene Berns of Bang Records came to see me in Chicago with tapes of a new singer named Neil Diamond. WLS broke his "Solitary Man" and “Cherry Cherry” started him on a forty year run of success.
It was a time when radio and the recording interest both gained from "music excitement", sadly missing from radio these days.
John Rook
Hit Parade Radio
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2325108/posts
Neil Diamond credits Ellie's belief and dedication in him as being what pushed him over the edge ... and he hasn't looked back since. One of my all-time favorite Neil Diamond recordings came from his first LP when HE cut his version of Ellie's '60's classic "Hanky Panky". ("I don't care WHO wrote it!!!") We've featured this one a couple of times before and it even earned quite a few of your votes as a Favorite, Forgotten B-Sides in our Forgotten Hits Poll a few years back. (kk)




Hi Kent ...
The great Ellie Greenwich!! What a sad day. I worked with Ellie dozens of times. Here's a song we did together called "I've Gotta Go Now".
I will miss her, a great lady. R.I.P. Rock In Perpetuity!
Lots of love,
John Madara

So sad to hear that Ellie Greenwich passed away today. DJ Stu Shea

Her hit list is INCREDIBLE. For a list of her songwriting achievements, click this link: Click here: Ellie Greenwich

8 - 25 - 67

In a special mid-week WLS Flashback this morning, we're taking a look back at the chart dated August 25, 1967.

This week Chicago's own Cryan' Shames sit on top of The WLS Super Summer Survey for the FOURTH straight week with their MONSTER local hit, "It Could Be We're In Love". (It is, in fact, the BIGGEST Local Hit of All-Time here in Chicago ... despite greater national success for hits by The Buckinghams and songs like "Bend Me, Shape Me" by The American Breed and "Vehicle" by The Ides Of March, it's "It Could Be We're In Love" that is most revered here in Chicagoland. Incredibly, despite a four week reign on top of The WLS Chart ... a 50,000 Watt Powerhouse MEGA Station in the '60's ... it only managed a #85 showing in Billboard Magazine. It fared a LITTLE bit better in Cash Box, where it peaked at #70.)

Earlier this year in our annual June 3rd salute to Bobbie Gentry's hit "Ode To Billie Joe", Jim "Hooke" Pilster told us that he HATED that song because it knocked The Shames out of the top spot after a six week run. That's not entirely true ... while it DID replace The Cryan' Shames at #1 the following week, "It Could Be We're In Love" only topped our local chart for FOUR weeks, not six ... still a pretty impressive run when you consider that because of this, National #1 Records like "Light My Fire" by The Doors and "All You Need Is Love" by The Beatles never reached the summit here in Chi-Town.

(Click to enlarge)

Across town at competitor WCFL, The Cryan' Shames record sat at #1 for three weeks (so I guess you COULD say they had the Number One Record for a total of SEVEN weeks if you were the eternal optimist!!! lol But three of those weeks were "shared".) In fact, the week before, their picture even graced the cover of Super 'CFL's "Sound 10 Survey".

Other big "Summer Of Love" Hits on the chart this week include the two-sided hit by The Monkees, "Pleasant Valley Sunday" / "Words" (note how these titles are reversed depending on which chart you check!), "Carrie Anne" by The Hollies, "Thank The Lord For The Night Time" by Neil Diamond, "Reflections" by Diana Ross and the Supremes (their first record to push Diana Ross' name ahead of the rest of the group), "Silence Is Golden" by The Tremeloes (a remake of the great Four Seasons B-Side) and "Blue's Theme" by our FH Buddy Davie Allan and the Arrows.

In that 1967 is my all-time favorite year in music, it's tough to pin down just a few favorites from this week's chart ... I love ALL of these tunes. "A Girl Like You" by The Rascals, "Take Me Back" (a local hit by The Flock, which we've also featured a number of times before in Forgotten Hits), "Heroes and Villains" (which I personally preferred to "Good Vibrations" despite all the media-hype surrounding this earlier Beach Boys masterpiece), "I Had A Dream" by Paul Revere and the Raiders, "You Know What I Mean" (one of my all-time favorite Turtles tunes!), "Never My Love" by The Association and "12:30" by The Mamas and the Papas not only rank as some of my 1967 favorites but also as some of my biggest favorites of all-time.

Add to this list tracks like "Society's Child" by Janis Ian, "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Frankie Valli, an unexpected yet very rewarding return to The Top Ten by Bobby Vee with "Come Back When You Grow Up", "Baby I Love You" by Aretha Franklin, "I Was Made To Love Her" by Stevie Wonder and "I Dig Rock And Roll Music" by Peter, Paul and Mary and radio just didn't get any better than this!

Today we'll feature a few of these tunes for your listening pleasure. We've introduced hundreds and hundreds of oldies music fans to "It Could Be We're In Love" by The Cryan' Shames over the past ten years ... and NOBODY can understand how on earth this song wasn't the HUGE hit it deserved to be ... and that truly IS a cryan' shame. Most often compared to the work of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys at the time, a lot of the credit has to go to the song-writing genius of Jim Fairs, along with the impeccable vocals that The Shames always delivered on ALL of their records.









By the way, James Fairs is taking his newest musical venture, The Jamez Band, to the stage tomorrow night at The Bolingbrook Performing Arts Center starting at 7:30 PM. It promises to be an exciting evening of sights and sounds as FIVE of the original members of The Cryan' Shames will join him on stage throughout the evening. Complete information can be found on The Cryan' Shames website:
Click here: NEVER SAY NEVER
You'll want to check this out as James Fairs promises there won't be another reunion like it until 2049!!!

8 - 21 - 1965

Last week we told you how The British Invasion had inspired a bunch of young kids from Beverly Hills, California to start their own rock band ... and THIS week, the results of that inspiration are sitting at #9 on The WLS Silver Dollar Survey.

(click to enlarge chart)

Dino, Desi and Billy (like thousands of OTHER kids across America) picked up guitars and bought drum kits hoping to emulate the sounds of their favorite new artists of the day. Depending on your point of view, THESE kids were either blessed or cursed by the fact that the parents of two of the members were already established American icons. (There were cynics on both sides of the fence on this issue ... some would argue that this group couldn't possibly fail, due to these established family connections ... while others HOPED that they would for that very same reason!!!)

Dino's father was Dean Martin, whose #1 Hit "Everybody Loves Somebody" topped the 1964 WLS Chart we featured last week in Forgotten Hits. Martin, of course, was well known as a singer, an actor, a television star and a top-drawing Vegas show act ... the consumate entertainer. Desi's parents were Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, stars of perhaps the most revered show in television history, "I Love Lucy." Billy was Billy Hinsche, a neighborhood friend and school mate, who completed the trio ... and went on to become a touring member of The Beach Boys Band as well as Carl Wilson's brother-in-law. (Today he still performs regularly with any number of acts ... and participates from time to time with our Forgotten Hits mailings!)

Their break-through hit, "I'm A Fool" (which incorporated that popular "Louie Louie" riff a few months before The McCoys would ALSO use it in their #1 Hit "Hang On Sloopy"), became a #17 Billboard Hit ... but here in Chicago, it was HUGE, going all the way to #4 on The WLS Chart. (You'll find that McCoys Hit debuting on the chart featured this week at #35! You'll also learn about ANOTHER all-time classic rock song inspiration for "I'm A Fool" in Billy Hinsche's comments below!) Sadly, "I'm A Fool" is another one of those GREAT records that seems to have slipped through the cracks on most oldies playlists ... so we're hoping that by featuring it here today, we might just inspire a few of the jocks on the list to feature it on THEIR radio programs, too!

Also in The Top Ten this week was the local hit "Little Miss Sad" by The Five Empressions (aka The Five Emprees), a song that we'll be featuring in a couple of weeks in another one of our WLS Survey features. Other songs included in this week's Top 40 Countdown that seem to have fallen off of the Oldies Radar include "Looking Through The Eyes Of Love" by Gene Pitney, in at #21, "Who'll Be The Next In Line" by The Kinks, right behind it at #22 ... (I know, I know ... why play this one when you can play "You Really Got Me" four times a day instead!!!) ... and "I'm A Happy Man" by The Jive Five, which sat one spot lower at #23 this week in '65.

A few more surprises can be found a little futher down the chart: "Moon Over Naples" by Bert Kaempfert was the #26 record, followed by one of MY favorites by Chad and Jeremy, "I Don't Wanna Lose You Baby", a song we featured AGES ago in Forgotten Hits. Below that came "Candy" by The Astors, "Give Me All Your Love" by Gerry and the Pacemakers, "A Little You", a GREAT little long-forgotten tune by Freddie and the Dreamers, "I'm Alive" by The Hollies, "I'll Take You Where The Music Is" by The Drifters, "Drums A Go-Go" by The Persuaders, "A World Thru A Tear" by Neil Sedaka, another one of my favorites, "Mohair Sam" by Charlie Rich (that's the song that Elvis kept playing on his jukebox over and over and over again the day he met The Beatles!), "It's Gonna Take A Miracle" by The Royalettes and another local hit, "Trouble With A Woman" by Kip and Ken.

Clearly, there was some GREAT representation by The British Invasion Artists looking at that list of titles above. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, The Dave Clark Five, The Yardbirds and The Fortunes ALSO scored Top 40 Hits this week with "Help!", "Satisfaction", "What's New Pussycat", "Catch Us If You Can", "Heart Full Of Soul" and "You've Got Your Troubles", respectively.

American acts in The Top Ten included Sonny and Cher (who not only had the #1 Record with "I Got You Babe" but also held down the #33 spot with "Just You"), The Beach Boys with "California Girls" (#3), Billy Joe Royal with "Down In The Boondocks" (#7), "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me", the eternal favorite by Mel Carter (in at #8) and Bob Dylan, who sat at #10 with his big hit "Like A Rolling Stone."

Another over-looked classic held down the #14 spot ... TV Star Patty Duke had a HUGE hit record that week that radio rarely remembers with a song called "Don't Just Stand There", a virtual Lesley Gore / "You Don't Own Me" clone.

Today we're featuring three of my favorites from this week's countdown ...

"I'm A Fool" by Dino, Desi and Billy, "A Little You" by Freddie and the Dreamers" (when's the last time you heard THIS one?!?!?) and "Don't Just Stand There" by Patty Duke.

Aww ... what the heck!!!
Sorry ... but I've just GOTTA feature "Mohair Sam", too ... this one is just WAY too good a song for radio to continue to ignore (although our radio buddy Phlash Phelps has played this one for me a few times on XM60s!!!)




AN EXCLUSIVE FORGOTTEN HITS BONUS!!!:
I asked Billy Hinsche to share a few Dino, Desi and Billy memories with our readers ... and we hit the motherlode!!! GREAT stuff here, Billy ... thank you SO much for sharing this with us!!!

Kent,
At your request, I have written a short piece on Dino, Desi and Billy ... use whatever you like!

Dino Martin and I were longtime best friends and classmates in grammar school (Good Shepherd of Beverly Hills) and started out as a duo - just me and Dino, following the lead of Chad & Jeremy and Peter & Gordon, and both of us just playing 6 string acoustic guitars.

It wasn't long before we realized that having a drummer would be a good idea and we should "go electric" and proceed as a trio. We knew that Desi Arnaz, Jr. (in a younger class) could play drums and so we asked him if he wanted to start a group with us - we asked him during a lunch break out by the basketball court. He was happy to accept the role as our drummer (his older sister, Lucie Arnaz, was our classmate).

We played at local neighborhood parties and made $20 a show. I remember thinking - how do we split this equally?
Our rehearsals began at Lucille Ball's outside playroom and eventually moved to
Dean Martin's large den, that had a small riser for a stage.

Over time, we got better and better as musicians and singers. Jeanne Martin (Dean's wife) picked up the phone one day, called Frank Sinatra and told him that he had to hear us play - she thought we were really good.

We auditioned for Mr. Sinatra as he and Dean listened to us perform a few songs in the bar area of the Martin home - perfect, right ? There they sat - old blue eyes and old red eyes!

After the audition, Mr. Sinatra walked over and asked if we would like a contract on his label, Reprise. Of course, we gladly accepted his kind and generous offer.
We were shocked to learn that we wouldn't be playing on our first recording session but would have professional studio musicians record the tracks instead of us. This hurt our feelings, as we thought we were good enough to record for ourselves but didn't realize how things worked in the LA recording scene even though, apparently, it was commonplace, as we know today. I remember that Jerry Cole played guitar on our first two sides but I don't recall who the other musicians were. On subsequent recordings it shouldn't surprise anyone that the Wrecking Crew played on our sessions though, over time, Dino, Desi and I recorded and were incorporated more and more onto our tracks.

I don't think most people know that the first song we released was a dud, sold nothing and went nowhere ("Since You Broke My Heart" / "We Know"). I wanted us to record "Since You Broke My Heart" after I heard it on a Searchers' LP. I didn't realize at the time that it was written by the Everly Brothers - no wonder I liked it so much. The B side, "We Know," was pitched to us as having been "turned down by the Beatles," so we eagerly agreed to record it, since anything that even came close to being a Beatles' song was good enough for us. Even though we performed "Since You Broke My Heart" on the Hollywood Palace TV Show on November 28, 1964 (Tony Martin hosted and the broadcast was in black & white), it got little airplay.

In 1965 (I was 14 years old), our Producer and A&R man, Jimmy Bowen, brought in a young country gentleman named Lee Hazlewood to try his hand at producing us and it yielded our first and biggest hit, "I'm a Fool" / "So Many Ways". If I'm not mistaken, it went Top 20. Earl Palmer played drums and James Burton played guitar on "I'm a Fool". If I had to guess, I believe that Ray Pohlman played bass, though it *might* have been Carol Kaye -- sorry for the lapse in memory. But give me a break - after all, it's been 45 years !@#$%

It opened the doors for us to tour with the Beach Boys, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, and many tours of our own in both the US and Canada. Over the next 4 years we recorded four albums for Reprise and had six songs that charted on the Billboard / Cash Box Hot 100.

As a result of the success of "I'm a Fool" (written by Red West - yes, THAT Red West & Shindig regular Joey Cooper), we appeared in countless articles and pictorials in Gloria Stavers' 16 Magazine, Tiger Beat, etc., and did all the relevant television shows of the day including Shindig, Shivaree, Hullabaloo, Sam Riddle's 9th Street West, the Lloyd Thaxton show, Where the Action Is, the Joey Bishop show, the Mike Douglas show, the Dean Martin show and Sammy Davis Jr.'s Thanksgiving Day Special for kids. We even made appearances on the Hollywood Squares and the Dating Game.

But the TV appearance that was the most important and memorable was the Ed Sullivan show. It was the first color broadcast of the Ed Sullivan show and we did it at the CBS studios on Beverly Blvd. / Fairfax in LA - not in the studio in NY, so it was historical on several levels.

We were also in the Matt Helm (Dean Martin) spy spoof flick "Murderer's Row" wherein we performed Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart's composition of "If You're Thinkin' What I'm Thinkin'" - one of our charted hits.

You can still see our RC Cola TV commercial on YouTube and filmed at the Hollywood Bowl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymwK-n2VCms
But getting back to the main topic - I found out many years later that Red West had based 'I'm a Fool" on Elvis Presley's "Dont' Be Cruel". The titles even rhyme! When you compare the two songs you can see the similarities, especially lyrically in the first verse of each song:

"Don't Be Cruel" (Otis Blackwell / Elvis Presley)
You know I can be found
Sitting home all alone
If you can't come around
At least please telephone
Don't be cruel
To a heart that's true

"I'm a Fool" (Red West / Joey Cooper)
You know where I can be found
(Dontcha' know) I'll be waiting by the telephone, girl
While you're out running around, yea
I'm sitting home all alone
I'm a fool, just a silly fool
To be in love with you

I think it is very cool that Dino, Desi & Billy had this connection, albeit minimal, to Elvis.

Thanks for including "I'm a Fool" as a topic in your newsletter.
Billy Hinsche
Dino, Desi & Billy

Dino, Desi & Billy publicity photo taken on Dean Martin's tennis court
Photo credit: © Guy Webster circa 1968
Visit:
http://www.billyhinsche.com and http://www.myspace.com/billyhinsche


Thanks again, Billy ... this is GREAT Stuff ... and I know that our readers will love it. (I never knew about the "I'm A Fool" / "Don't Be Cruel" connection ... amazing how even 40-something years later we're STILL learning new stuff about this great music that we love!) kk

1969: And In Other Sports ...

The Cubs and The Mets weren't the ONLY sports story in 1969 ...

In addition to the Amazing Mets winning the World Series, you can't forget that it followed Joe Namath and the Jets winning Super Bowl III in January.
Rich

Ah, yes!!! Broadway Joe!

Actually, history has been rewritten to show the 1969 game as Super Bowl III ... but the truth is, this is the first year the battle between the NFL Division Leaders was actually CALLED "The Super Bowl", a phrase coined by Kansas City Chiefs Owner Lamar Hunt after reportedly seeing his grandchildren playing with a Super Ball! (NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle initially wanted to call the ultimate play-off game "The Big One" ... thankfully, the other league owners liked Hunt's idea better!!!)

The Championship Series was initiated as a means to help pacify the merger of The National Football League and The American Football League into one football dynasty forever after known as The NFL. The best two teams in each conference would play each other in the game designed to show COMPLETE supremacy in the sport of football.

The heavily favored Baltimore Colts won ten games straight that season behind the arm of quarterback Earl Morrall, substituting for an injured Johnny Unitas for most of the season. They finished the season 13-1 (and even that one loss was avenged when they shut out The Cleveland Browns 34-0 in The NFL Championship Game.) Even though Unitas was ready to play by Super Bowl time, Colts Coach Don Shula went with the guy who had gotten the team this far in the first place. (Morrall won The NFL Player Of The Year Award and threw 26 touchdowns that season!)

Meanwhile, The New York Jets, 18-point underdogs at game time, led by Broadway Joe Namath ... probably an even bigger celebrity OFF the field than he was on ... dominated the game after showing virtually no interest in preparing for it. Instead, he was seen out late partying with his flock of female fans or sunning himself by the pool. Namath was a footloose and carefree soul, often spouting off to the press and totally amerced in his own celebrity. But he DID promise a Jets victory ... and to this regard, he delivered. It's still considered to be one of the best Super Bowl games ever.

It's often said that when the truth and the legend collide, you should always print the legend. Such is the case with Joe Namath. Taking NOTHING away from his abilities or showmanship, the fact is that although Namath won The NFL / MVP Award that year, his season was uneven at best. (It was a running inside joke that in a loss to The Buffalo Bills, Namath threw SEVEN touchdown passes in that game ... unfortunately only four of those were to his own team ... the OTHER three were intercepted, allowing The Bills to capitalize on these mistakes and win the game!) While the memories may be golden, the truth is that this was pretty much the norm ... Namath threw more interceptions that season (17) than touchdown passes (15). But he kept his promise at Super Bowl time by delivering a Jets victory and, as such, has gone down in the annals of sports legend for his performance during that game ... despite the fact that he not only didn't throw a touchdown pass during the game, but, in fact, did not even attempt a single pass in the entire fourth quarter!!!

The popularity of football had been overtaking America's so-called "National Past-Time" for a few years already ... and, in during the 1969-1970 football season, the idea for Monday Night Football was born ... giving arm-chair quarterbacks one more opportunity to see their favorite teams play each week ... and the match-ups were typically geared with the ultimate sports fan in mind. (This new trend also gave birth to "Tuesday Morning Quarterbacks" ... and an AWFUL lot of sleepy Tuesday Mornings as millions of normally early risers stayed up WAY past their bedtimes to catch the end of the game!!!)

Major League Baseball was trying out new ideas to keep their fans interested, too. With newly-appointed Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn in place, discussion of the designated hitter first came into play in 1969 (although it wouldn't be adopted until 1973.) The general feeling was that baseball was becoming dominated by superior pitching ... perhaps the addition of another "clutch hitter" in the line-up would liven things up a bit and bring more excitement to the game. (The counter philosophy to all of this was that this change would take away one of the ultimate managerial skills of knowing WHEN to take a pitcher out of a game ... if he's pitching well, do you let him bat in the late innings or, if you're down a couple of runs, do you bring in a pinch hitter and go to the bullpen?) Ultimately, only The American League adopted the designated hitter rule ... although The National League abides by it when playing in American League ballparks now that inter-league play is part of the regular season ... as well as in the post-season.

Four new expansion teams were added to the major leagues that season: The Kansas City Royals and The Seattle Pilots (later Mariners) in The American League and The San Diego Padres and The Montreal Expos in The National League. With 24 teams now in existence, for the first time, both leagues were divided into two divisions, an East and West Division, now requiring a Play-Off Series prior to The World Series. (Baseball would expand again into THREE divisions, adding a Central Division in 1994.)

In other baseball news, former Yankees Great Mickey Mantle decided to hang things up before the start of the 1969 baseball season ... this after 18 years with The Bronx Bombers. On June 8th of that year, Yankee Stadium held a special Mickey Mantle Day when they retired his uniform #7. Mantle was named American League MVP three times during his illustrious career.

Speaking of baseball's greatest hitters, former Boston Red Sox Great, Ted Williams, was named manager of The Washington Senators that season as D.C. Stadium was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium. Although The Senators finished 23 games out of first place, Williams was STILL named American League Manager of The Year for improving the team's record by 41 games from the previous season.

Curt Flood made baseball as well as national headlines after the 1969 season when he refused to accept a trade from The St. Louis Cardinals to The Philadelphia Phillies. Appealing first to Commission Bowie Kuhn ... and then all the way to The Supreme Court ... Flood filed for what today is known as "Free Agency". Flood argued "After twelve years in the major leagues, I do not feel I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes. I believe that any system which produces that result violates my basic rights as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States and of the several States.
It is my desire to play baseball in 1970, and I am capable of playing. I have received a contract offer from the Philadelphia club, but I believe I have the right to consider offers from other clubs before making any decision. I, therefore, request that you make known to all Major League clubs my feelings in this matter, and advise them of my availability for the 1970 season." Flood would not win his case ... and ended up sitting out the 1970 baseball season ... but the rights of players were forever changed after he took his stand in 1969.

And here's a little known fun baseball fact: In 1963, San Francisco Giants Manager Alvin Dark remarked during a post-game interview, regarding the consistently weak hitting by his legendary pitcher Gaylord Perry, "They'll put a man on the moon before HE ever hits a home run." On July 20th, 1969, Perry hit his very first major league home run ... literally HOURS after Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon!!!

Meanwhile, two basketball legends squared off against each other in The NBA Finals that year. Bill Russell of The Boston Celtics and Wilt Chamberlain of The L.A. Lakers faced each other for the last time in this classic match-up, won by Boston in the seventh game after Chamberlain injured his knee and was unable to return to the court. It would be Russell's last year on the court. (In fact, his "official" status that season was Player / Coach.) Wilt The Stilt had only recently come over from The Philadelphia 76ers and fell right into form leading The Lakers to The Division Championship Series. (Nice of him to squeeze in some of those basketball games between his 10,000 bedroom conquests!!!)

In 1969, Boxing Great Muhammad Ali was still serving out his suspension from boxing as part of his draft evasion conviction a couple of years before. With Ali stripped of his title, Joe Frazier was crowned the new World Champ and in 1969 he defeated Jerry Quarry. (Both would prove to be fitting Ali nemesis when Ali returned to the ring the following year. In 1970, The State of Georgia allowed Ali to fight Jerry Quarry and in 1971 the first of the legendary Ali-Frazier Fights was held.) One of the all-time boxing greats, Rocky Marciano, passed away in 1969.

Another guy making headlines that year was young Mario Andretti, who won The Indianapolis 500. In fact, he won eight other races on the Indy Car circuit, won The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and was named Athlete Of The Year by ABC's Wide World Of Sports. Ironically, despite winning The Daytona 500 in 1967, The Indianapolis 500 in 1969 and The Formula One World Championship in 1978, Andretti never again won at Indy.