April 23rd

The Happenings appear on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.  

Bobby Vinton performs "Georgy Girl", "Matchmaker", "Sunrise, Sunset" and "L'Chaim" on The Ed Sullivan Show.  (Not sure I quite get ANY of these!!!)  

Number One again at the Box Office this week:  Thoroughly Modern Millie

April 22nd

The Cyrkle perform "Turn Down Day" on The Hollywood Palace.  

Due to overwhelming demand, two more shows have been added to The Monkees' UK Tour.  Also announced today is that Lulu will be The Monkees' opening act for these performances.

April 21st

Top debuts this week include "Sunshine Girl" by The Parade, new on the chart at #72, "My Girl Josephine" by Jerry Jaye, a great remake of an old Fats Domino tune, in at #82 ... this was my first exposure to this songs and I absolutely LOVED it ... "Groovin'" by The Young Rascals, premiering at #91 (and soon to be a '60's summer classic), "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman", an instrumental novelty hit by Whistling Jack Smith (#94), a new track by The Seeds, "Can't Seem To Make You Mine" (#95) and a premier by our FH Buddy Davie Allan who enters the chart at #96 with his latest, "Blue's Theme".  

The Monkees attempt (for the third time!) to record the Harry Nilsson song "The Story Of Rock And Roll" but again nothing suitable for release comes out of these sessions. (Nilsson himself was there in the studio today, playing piano and contributing backing vocals.)  Michael Nesmith believes in this track and in January of the following year, they will attempt to record it a fourth time (again with Nilsson onboard.)  

Producer Chip Douglas believes in it, too, and convinces his old band The Turtles to have a crack at it.  Their single is finally released in June of 1968 and ultimately peaks at #36 on the national charts.  

Locally a series of SEVENTEEN tornadoes rip thru the Chicago area, killing 33 and injuring over 500, causing upwards of $50 million in damages.  I remember driving thru Oak Lawn with my parents a few days later to view the damage.

After defecting from The Soviet Union back on March 6th, Joseph Stalin's only daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, finally arrives in the United States seeking political asylum.  (She first approached the United States Embassy in New Delhi, India, and stated her desire to defect in writing.  US Ambassador Chester Bowles offered her political asylum and a new life in The United States.  Fearing repercussions from The Soviet Union, the Embassy sent her to Rome.  From Rome she was sent immediately to a six week tour of Switzerland prior to coming to The United States.)  When she arrived in New York City on April 21, 1967, she denounced both her father and The Soviet Union during a prearranged press conference.

April 20th

Baseball pitching great Tom Seaver of The New York Mets earns his first major league victory over The Chicago Cubs, 6-1.  Seaver will later pitch for the crosstown Chicago White Sox.

Seaver had an amazing Major League Career, posting 311 victories and 205 defeats over 20 seasons, the first ten of which were with The New York Mets.  (Yep ... he was with them when The Miracle Mets won the National League Pennant in 1969 ... all the more fitting since his first major league victory was over The Chicago Cubs!)

In 1977 he moved to The Cincinnati Reds (where he stayed through 1982) ... and then he was back with The Mets for a season in 1983 before joining our Chicago White Sox for three seasons (1984 - 1986) for his first of three million dollar-plus salary seasons.

He's a four-time 20-game winner (including 25 wins in that 1969 pennant-winning season) and struck out an incredible 3640 hitters in 4783 innings.  (In 1970, he struck out ten straight batters, which is STILL a Major League Record to this day.)

He's also a twelve-time All Star and, without question, one of the most highly respected pitchers in Major League History.

In 1992 he was inducted into The Baseball Hall Of Fame, earning votes on 425 of the 430 ballots cast.  (What the hell were these other five guys thinking ... or drinking ... that day?!?!)

*****

We did a big salute to 1969 on the website back in 2014 ... not quite as elaborate as our 1967 Series ... but we still covered a lot of ground.

For the lowdown on the collapse of The Chicago Cubs ... and the guys who took advantage, here are two articles we ran way back when on The Miracle Mets:

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-sunday-comments-07-13-14.html

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2009/08/1969-cubs-mets-part-2.html

Scroll around that general area and you'll some of our other 1969 features, too!

 

April 19th

Other bulleted movers on this week's chart include "Music To Watch Girls By" by Andy Williams (up to #42 from #51), "Casino Royale" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (now sitting at #44, up from #63), "Walkin' In The Sunshine" by Roger Miller (up to #45 from #56), "Here Comes My Baby" by The Tremeloes climbs from #65 to #49 and Engelbert Humperdinck seems poised to run up the American Charts just as he did back home in Great Britain as "Release Me" jumps from #76 to #56, a move of twenty places.  

James and Bobby Purify are up 17 spots from #78 to #61 with "Shake A Tail Feather", Booker T. and the MG's move from #77 to #63 with "Hip Hug-Her", and The Who make a big move with their latest as "Happy Jack" climbs from #85 to #67.  Lower down the chart The Yardbirds also make a twenty point jump as "Little Games" climbs from #100 to #80.

April 18

The Monkees hold on to the #1 Spot on the WLS Silver Dollar Survey ... and now move up to that position on the WCFL Sound 10 Survey, too.

Lots of Local Hits on the charts this week, too ...  

First, we find The Buckinghams at #5 with "Don't You Care", "Mr. Unreliable" by The Cryan' Shames is at #7, "You're Gonna Be Mine" by The New Colony Six sits at #8, Michael and the Messengers (from just across the Wisconsin border) holds down the #16 spot with their version of "In The Midnight Hour", The Riddles are at #19 with "Sweets For My Sweet" and Lou Rawls can be found at #24 with "Dead End Street".

April 17th

Nancy and Frank Sinatra hold The Monkees off for at least one more week as "Somethin' Stupid" maintains its #1 position on top of our Pop Super Chart for the week ending April 22nd.  The Monkees' "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" still manages to creep up a notch to #2, followed by The Turtles at #3 with their former #1 Hit, "Happy Together"  Meanwhile, The Supremes make the biggest leap into The Top Ten as their latest, "The Happening" jumps all the way from #20 to #8.  

"I'm A Man" by The Spencer Davis Group climbs eight notches from #21 to #13, "Love Eyes" by Nancy Sinatra is up to #16 from #27 and The Buckinghams manage to crack The Top 20 with "Don't You Care", up from #25 from the week before.  

The Dave Clark Five continue to make impressive inroads as "You Got What It Takes" climbs 18 spaces from #40 to #22.  "Friday On My Mind" by The Easybeats is up to #31 from #45, a move of 14 places and Neil Diamond's latest, "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" jumps nearly twenty places from #55 to #36.  "I Got Rhythm" by The Happenings seems to be a bonafide hit, rising from #57 to #38 … and Eric Burdon and the Animals are up 17 spots from #58 to #41 with their latest, "When I Was Young", falling just outside The Top 40.  

It's The Monkees again with the #1 Album in the nation … "More Of The Monkees".  

The US Supreme Court denies Muhammad Ali's request to be exempt from Army induction as a conscientious objector.  

Filming wraps up on "Clambake", a very long, tedious venture which later opens to very dismal results.  

"The Joey Bishop Show" premiers on ABC in direct competition against "The Tonight Show" featuring Johnny Carson.  Despite a wide variety of guests (and several appearances by members of the so-called Rat Pack) it never bested Carson in the ratings … and was cancelled two years later.  BTW, Joey's sidekick announcer was none other than a young Regis Philbin. 

April 16th

Nancy Sinatra performs "Love Eyes" on The Ed Sullivan Show … and is then joined by Producer Lee Hazlewood to perform their hot new duet, "Summer Wine".  Tony Bennett also appears on this evening's program and performs "The Sunny Side Of The Street," "I Left My Heart In San Francisco," "Don't Get Around Much Any More" and "The Lady's In Love With You" with The Count Basie Orchestra. 

The Electric Prunes perform on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. 



Number One at the Box Office this week:  Thoroughly Modern Millie

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