1961: The origins of 'Ms.'

From the book "Who Said That First? The Curious Origins of Common Words and Phrases" by Max Cryer:

Sheila Michaels was a member of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and like other feminists was seeking an honorific that didn't disclose her private status. One day a newspaper dropped into her mailbox and she noticed what seemed to be a misprint in the address: Ms. She had never seen it before, but decided that this was what she sought.

There was still difficulty promoting the idea, but in a later radio interview discussing feminism, Michaels suggested that Ms. be adopted, and pronounced Miz as she had heard in her home state of Missouri. A friend of Gloria Steinem's heard the interview, and in 1971 suggested it to Ms. Steinem as the name for a new magazine about to be launched. The first issue of Ms. magazine sold 300,000 copies in one week, and the 'new' honorific started to take hold.

Note: In an email, Ms. Michael says the newspaper arrived in late 1961.

* Article from New York Times Magazine (October 2009): @

* "Missing piece of puzzle in story of 'Ms.' " (from japantimes.co.jp): @

* "Hunting the Elusive First 'Ms.' " (from visualthesaurus.com): @

-- More about Ms. Michaels' work in civil rights

* Entries from Civil Rights Movement Veterans (www.crmvet.org): @ and @

* Televised interview, 2009: @

* Oral history (from the University of Southern Mississippi's Center for Oral History & Cultural Heritage): @

* Sheilah Michaels Papers (housed at USM): @

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December 11, 1961: 'Black Nativity'

From the book "Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History":

On this date in 1961, "Black Nativity" opened on Broadway. Langston Hughes' self-described "gospel song play" was staged at New York City's Lincoln Theater. The Christmas story performed in dialog, narrative, pantomine, gospel song and folk spirituals in an expression of Hughes' late-in-life interest in African-American spirituality and the oral traditions of the African-American church.

(Note: The Broadway opening was actually at the 41st Street Theatre.)

From a review in The New York Times:

There is a lot of song but hardly any play in Langston Hughes' Christmas song-play, "Black Nativity" ... what play there is might well be dispensed with. It takes the form of amateurish choreography, which gets in the way of the gospel singing. If there is any justification for "Black Nativity," it is in the singing. ... The rhythms are so vibrant that they seem to lead an independent existence. The voices plunge into sudden dark growls like muted trombones and soar in ecstatic squeals like frantic clarinets. ... It is not always art -- and the occasional organ sounds are embarrasingly cloying -- but it is overflowing in fervor.

* Excerpt from "Langston Hughes" (book by Harold Bloom): @

* Excerpt from "The Collected Works of Langston Hughes": (book): @

* Selections from "Black Nativity": @

* More about Hughes (from www.poetryfoundation.org): @

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December 1961: Pampers

The disposable diapers are test-marketed in early December in Peoria, Illinois, by manufacturer Procter & Gamble. However, shoppers considered the cost -- 10 cents per diaper -- too expensive, and the product did not achieve nationwide success until P&G could sell them for about half that, thanks to advances in production.

* Excerpt from the book "Rising Tide: Lessons from 165 Years of Brand Building at Procter & Gamble": @

* Excerpt from the book "Strategic Marketing Management: A Means-End Approach": @

* "Disposable diapers are 25 years old now" (Associated Press article, 1986): @

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Undated: 'Merda d'artista'

Italian artist Piero Manzoni creates 90 tin cans, all (presumably) containing his own feces. The cans are labeled in Italian, English, French and German:

"Artist's Shit / Contents: 30 gr net / Freshly preserved / Produced and Tinned / In May 1961."

He prices each can for what 30 grams of gold would cost at the time of purchase. The works were first exhibited in August; gold was selling for about $35.25 an ounce, meaning a single can intially sold for about $37.

From an essay on "Commodity Self" by Jennifer Way in the 2010 book "Encyclopedia of Identity, Volume 1," edited by Ronald L. Jackson II:

Interestingly, modern Western societies abhor overtly valuing individuals as commodities and seeming to directly exchange human life for money. Many find putting a price on a person objectionable if not also ludicrous. Nevertheless, in The Preservation of Self in Everyday Life, sociologist Erving Goffman observed that the middle classes made sense of themselves in terms of consumer culture, for example, as a finished product, polished and packaged for the social market. In 1961, something along the lines of a packaged self issued from the art world. ... Institutions from the art world valued the series for its contradictions. On one hand, the series seemed to avoid commodification because like many works of art, it insisted on qualities such as uniqueness and person expression, which was typical of avant-garde art. On the other hand, their standardized appearance rendered the cans similar to other consumer goods, and they were like some advertisements that avoid revealing what their rhetoric promotes. Additionally, associating waste with art raised important questions about value, the body, and the self. Do we value anything an artist generates ... ?

* Description from official website: @

* Description from Tate Collection: @

* "Excremental Value" (Tate Etc. magazine, 2007): @

* "Not exactly what it says on the tin" (The Guardian newspaper, 2007): @

* "Piero Manzoni: An Exemplary Life" (Art in America magazine, May/June, 1973): @

* "Poop Culture: How America Is Shaped By Its Grossest National Product" (book by Dave Praeger): @

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Tuesday, December 5, 1961: Escape from East Berlin

From the book "Berlin Wall: Monument of the Cold War" by Hans-Hermann Hertle:

Train driver Harry Deterling and his wife Ingrid do not want to live in the GDR as prisoners with their four children. In early December 1961, word gets around among railway employees that a still-open rail connection to Berlin is soon to be blocked off. Harry Deterling resolves to escape immediately to West Berlin on this line by steam train. On December 5 1961, he tells his relatives and friends the departure time: "The last train to freedom departs today at 7.33 p.m."

At around 8.50 p.m., the train driven by Harry Deterling passes the East German terminus, Albrechtstof, crosses the border and stops on West German territory. As a safety precaution, train driver Deterling and his stoker Hartmut Lichy have climbed into the coal tender while crossing the border; the passengers who know about the escape have thrown themselves onto the floor -- but not a shot is fired.

Twenty-five passengers remain in the West; seven return to East Berlin of their own accord. The train is pulled back to the West by a GDR locomotive.

The railway line is closed off the very next day. Tracks are torn up and barriers put in place; the border is made impassable. No train ever succeeds in breaking through the barriers again.

* Associated Press article (December 6; headline at left): @

* "The Berlin Wall: Monument of the Cold War" (book): @

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Monday, December 4, 1961: Yves Saint Laurent

From "International Directory of Company Histories":

Yves Mathieu-Saint-Laurent was born in the French Algerian port town of Oran in 1936. At the age of 18, Saint Laurent journeyed to Paris to begin a career as a fashion designer. Success was immediate: in November 1954 Saint Laurent was awarded his first prize, the Prix Robe (dress) in a competition held by the Secretariat. ...

Less than a year after his arrival in Paris, Saint Laurent entered the prestigious house of Christian Dior as Dior's assistant designer and designated heir-apparent. Saint Laurent debuted his first major design, an evening gown, in 1955. Two years later, at Dior's death, Saint Laurent assumed direction of the Christian Dior line. Saint Laurent's first full collection, dubbed Trapeze, debuted on January 30, 1958. The collection was a hit, elevating Saint Laurent to instant celebrity and earning the 21-year-old designer the prestigious Nieman Marcus Award for the Dior house. Three years later Saint Laurent set out to found his own fashion empire. Leaving Dior, Saint Laurent, joined by Pierre Berge, established his own maison de couture on the rue la Boetie in Paris in July 1961. The partners, assisted by several former Dior employees and backed financially by the American J. Mack Robinson, officially opened the House of Saint Laurent on the rue Spontini in December 1961, presenting the first true Yves Saint Laurent collection -- under the famed YSL logo designed by Cassandre -- one month later.

1961 photo of Yves Saint Laurent and dancer Zizi Jeanmaire by Getty Images.

* Biography from Fashion Model Directory: @

* Entry from "The Berg Companion to Fashion" (book by Valerie Steele): @

* Fashion show footage from 1962: @

* 1992 BBC documentary on Saint Laurent: @

* "The Genius of Yves Saint Laurent" (New York magazine, November 1983): @

* 2008 obituary from The Guardian newspaper: @

* Official website: @

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December 1961: Avrocar

The joint Canada-United States project to develop a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) craft ends when the U.S. military withdraws funding for the Avrocar. The flying-saucer-like vehicle proved unstable in flight.

* Entry from National Museum of the Air Force: @

* Entry from "The Encyclopedia of Science": @

* Entry from Arrow Digital Archives: @

* "The Pentagon's Flying Saucer Problem" (Air & Space magazine, 2003): @

* Project Silver Bug summary: @

* Air Force technical report on Project Silver Bug (February 1955): @

* Newspaper stories from 1999 and 2000: @

* Footage: @

* "Flaws of the Avrocar" (video from howstuffworks.com): @

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Friday, December 1, 1961: Fallout shelter sign

A press release issued on this date by the Department of Defense:

The National Fallout Shelter Sign will be a familiar sight in communities all over the United States next year. It will mark buildings and other facilities as areas where 50 or more persons can be sheltered from radioactive fallout resulting from a nuclear attack. The sign will be used only to mark Federally-approved buildings surveyed by architect-engineer firms under conract to the Department of Defense. The color combination, yellow and black, is considered as the most easily identified attention getter by psychologists in the graphic arts industry. The sign can be seen and recognized at distances up to 200 feet. The shelter symbol on the sign is a black circle set against a yellow rectangular background. Inside the circle, three yellow triangles are arranged in geometric pattern with the apex of the triangles pointing down. Below the fallout symbol, lettered in yellow against black, are the words FALLOUT SHELTER in plain block letters. Yellow directional arrows are located directly underneath the lettering which will indicate the location of the shelter.

"An Indelible Cold War Symbol: The Complete History of the Fallout Shelter Sign" (from conelrad.blogspot.com): @

* Signs page from Civil Defense Museum: @

* Signs page from Health Physics Instrumentation Museum Collection (Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Tennessee): @

* "Protection Factor 100" (1963 Office of Civil Defense film about National Fallout Shelter Survey Program): @

* "September 1961: Fallout shelters" (blog entry): @

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Undated: Reverse mortgage

The first documented reverse mortgage is made by Deering Savings & Loan in Portland, Maine. The recipient is Nellie Young, the widow of the loan officer's high school football coach.

* Reverse mortgage definitions (from thefreedictionary.com): @

* History of reverse mortgages (from reverse.org): @

* Gardner Historical Museum of Reverse Mortgages (located in Gardner, Kansas): @

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Friday, November 24, 1961: SAC-NORAD communication failure

From www.mentalfloss.com:

On November 24, 1961, all communication links between the U.S. Strategic Air Command (SAC) and the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) suddenly went dead, cutting cutting off the SAC from three early warning stations in England, Greenland and Alaska. The communication breakdown made no sense, though. After all, a widespread, total failure of all communication circuits was considered impossible, because the network included so many redundant systems that it should have been failsafe. The only alternative explanation was that a full-scale Soviet nuclear first strike had occurred. As a result, all SAC bases were put on alert, and B-52 bomber crews warmed up their engines and moved their planes onto runways, awaiting orders to counterattack the Soviet Union with nuclear weapons. Luckily, those orders were never given. It was discovered that the circuits were not in fact redundant because they all ran through one relay station in Colorado, where a single motor had overheated and caused the entire system to fail.

* Entry from "The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents and Nuclear Weapons" (book by Scott Douglas Sagan): @

* Entry from "Book of Lists: Subversive Facts and Hidden Information in Rapid-Fire Format" (entry by Alan F. Phillips, book by Russell Kick): @

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November 1961*: The Beach Boys

Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine -- The Beach Boys, newly renamed from The Pendletones -- see their first single, "Surfin'," released. The song would be popular locally in Southern California and a minor hit (reaching No. 75 on the national charts); the group's next song, "Surfin' Safari," would put them on the pop music map to stay.

* Note: Various dates are given as to the actual release date of "Surfin' " -- Jim Fusilli, the author of The Wall Street Journal article linked below, said in an email that it could be either November 11 or November 16. Other sources, including The Beach Boys' own website and "The Definite Dairy" book (both linked below), give December 8 as the release date.

* Beach Boys official website: @

* "Fifty-Year-Old Boys" (Wall Street Journal, November 2011): @

* "The Beach Boys: The Definitive Dairy of America's Greatest Band On Stage and In the Studio" (book by Keith Badman): @

* Rolling Stone biography: @

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Tuesday, November 21, 1961: Revolving restaurant

From The New York Times:

Honolulu's tallest office building has a revolving restaurant perched on its roof. The saucer-shaped restaurant, opened last week, offers diners a panoramic view of the city. A sixteen-foot-wide ring set into the floor of the restaurant, called La Ronde, makes one compete revolution every hour. Windows completely circle the restaurant and are tilted outward to reduce glare. The dining facilities are on the roof of the twenty-two-story Ala Moana Building. The office building, restaurant and an adjoining shopping center were designed by John Graham & Co., Seattle and New York architects. The restaurant seats 162 persons on the revolving floor. The seventy-two-foot-wide restaurant is cantilevered from a thirty-eight-foot-diameter concrete core which contains stairwells, elevators, kitchen and other facilities for La Ronde. A three-horsepower motor moves the floor of the restaurant. Two additional motors have been installed for emergency use."

From "Some Construction and Housing Firsts in Hawaii," by the Hawaiian Historical Society:

La Ronde is a revolving restaurant on the twenty-third floor of the Ala Moana Building, 1441 Kapiolani Boulevard. Opened to the public on November 21, 1961, it was variously described as "one of the first of its kind in the United States" and even as "the first revolving restaurant in the United States."

* Entry from "Firsts: Origins of Everyday Things That Changed the World" (book): @

* "Revolving Restaurants in the Americas" (from InterestingAmerica.com): @

* "Revolving architecture: A History of Buildings That Rotate, Swivel and Pivot" (book): @

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Sunday, November 19, 1961: Michael Rockefeller

The youngest son of New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller disappears in New Guinea. He had been studying the Asmat tribe and collecting native art. Through the years various theories have been put forth as to his fate. He was declared legally dead in 1964.

* Short summary from outsideonline.com: @

* Long summary from trutv.com: @

* Newsreel (from britishpathe.com): @

* Newsreel (from criticalpast.com): @

* Life magazine article (December 1, 1961): @

* Website for the documentary "The Search for Michael Rockefeller": @

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Monday, November 13, 1961: Pablo Casals at the White House

Spanish cellist Pablo Casals' dramatic rendition of "Song of the Birds" closes an evening of classical music at the White House. The performances, considered a cultural high point in the Kennedy years, were recorded and released as the album "A Concert at the White House."

* NPR story (from 2011): @

* Kennedy's remarks: @

* Listen to "Song of the Birds": @

* More about "Song of the Birds" (from kennedy-center.org): @

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Saturday, November 11, 1961: Volgograd

From a Reuters story that appeared Nov. 11 in The New York Times:

The "Hero City" of Stalingrad has been renamed Volgograd, the Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda reported today.

The move was the third name change of a Soviet city named for Stalin since the sweeping "de-Stalinization" program of Premier Khrushchev was stepped up last month.

The huge steel city of Stalinsk in southern Siberia reverted today to its old name of Novokuznetsk and the Ukrainian mining city of Stalino was renamed Donetsk yesterday.

Last Wednesday the Mayor of Stalingrad, which earned the status of "Hero City" because of its defeat of Nazi Armies in World War II, said the proposals had been made to change the city's name.

Pravda reported the Stalingrad name change in a decree issued today by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (Parliament) of the Russian Republic.

Cities in the Soviet Union still carrying the former Soviet leader's name include Stalinabad, capital of the Tadzhik Republic; Stalinogorsk, in central European Russia; and Staliniri, in the Georgian Republic.

The highest mountain in the Soviet Union, a 24,590-foot peak in the Pamirs, is also named for Stalin.

Note: The photo is of "The Motherland" statue commemorating World War II's Battle of Stalingrad. It was completed in 1967.

* Volgograd website: @

* "The High Cost of Forgetting Stalin" (Life magazine, November 17, 1961): @

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