September 1966: 'Turn on, tune in, drop out'

     Though he had used the phrase earlier, Timothy Leary's mantra of enlightenment through psychedelic drugs (especially LSD) and unconventional lifestyles starts to become a well-known phrase in September.

      Above is Leary's definition of the phrase, from the September 20, 1966 edition of The New York Times: @

     Note: "The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs" also lists a usage from the April 15-May 1 edition of The East Village Other newspaper: @

June
* "Turn On/Tune In/Drop Out" (Berkeley Barb, June 24): @ 

September

* Leary interview with Playboy magazine: @
* Cover of Datebook magazine: @

* "Leary Seeks LSD Faith, Needs Court Authorization" (Associated Press, September 20): @

* "Dr. Leary's Formula: Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out" (The Village Voice, September 29): @

Also
* "The Politics, Ethics and Meaning of Marijuana" (Leary in The Marijuana Papers," 1966): @

* "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out" (spoken-word album by Leary, 1966): @

* Listen to album: @

* Listen to 1967 version of album: @
* "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out" (1967 film by Jerry Abrams): @

* "Legend of a Mind: Timothy Leary & LSD" (Pop History Dig): @ 

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Monday, April 11, 1966: LSD in the United States

Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, the nation's only licensed distributor of LSD, has ceased distribution of the hallucinatory drug in this country. LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, is produced by the company's parent concern, Sandoz Ltd., in Switzerland. ... The company had informed the federal food and drug administration in Washington that it was withdrawing its investigational drug application because of "unforeseen public reaction." Authorities said the drug produced extreme sensations of color, sight and taste, breaking down the sense of reality.

     -- From Associated Press: @

     -- Image from Life magazine, March 25, 1966: @

* LSD information (National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health): @

* LSD information (www.erowid.org): @

* "How LSD was popularized" (Schaeffer Library of Drug Policy): @

* "Legend of a Mind: Timothy Leary & LSD" (The Pop History Dig): @

* www.lysergia.com: @
* The Albert Hofmann Foundation: @
* "History of Sandoz Pharmaceuticals" (The Herb Museum): @

* "Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, The Sixties, and Beyond" (Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain, 1985): @

* "Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream" (Jay Stevens, 1987): @ 

* "Drugged: The Science and Culture Behind Psychotropic Drugs" (Richard J. Miller, 2014): @ 

* "Acid Hype: America News Media and the LSD Experience" (Steven Siff, 2015): @

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February 1966: 'Valley of the Dolls' published

A swinging first novel about fast spending, free loving and despair among the jet-set celebrities of Broadway and Hollywood. Miss Susann spans 20 postwar years in the lives of three women who can be loosely categorized as Anne, the Face; Jennifer, the Body, and Neely, the Talent.

     Each of the three achieved fame in her own way -- Anne doing high-priced commercials on television; Jennifer making nude movies in France, and Neely singing in nightclubs and films -- but none of them was able to attain happiness.

     All three ultimately become devotees of the "dolls" of Miss Susann's title. The pills which a Broadway attorney who functions as a deus ex machina in the story describes as "standard equipment for this business."

     Miss Susann's thesis is the not unfamiliar one that the pinnacle of stardom is a cold and lonely place, likely to destroy anyone who ascends to it. The point is not clearly made. Certainly stardom is self-destroying the one of her characters, but another is plagued by cancer and the third by an unfaithful husband -- afflictions not peculiar to show business.

     -- United Press International

* www.valleyofthedolls.com: @

* Book: @
* "Actress-Writer's Best Seller Creates Furor in Hollywood" (UPI, August 1966): @

* "Happiness is Being Number 1" (Life magazine, August 19, 1966): @

* " 'Valley of the Dolls' at 50" (Simon Doonan, Slate, February 2016): @

* "How 'Valley of the Dolls' went from a reject to a 30-million best-seller" (Martin Chilton, The Telegraph, February 2016): @
* "What Was It about 'Valley of the Dolls'? It Was Jacqueline Susann" (Kate Dries, Jezebel, February 2016): @

* "Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann" (Barbara Seaman, 1996): @ 

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February 1966: Southern Living magazine

Begun as a section in The Progressive Farmer titled "The Progressive Home" (retitled "Southern Living" in 1963), a new monthly magazine made its debut as a separate publication, Southern Living, in February 1966. At a time when the South was changing rapidly from a rural to a more urban region, Southern Living targeted families who often lived in suburbs, owned their homes, and enjoyed cooking, gardening, entertaining, travel and home-improvement projects.

     -- From "The Companion to Southern Literature: Themes, Genres, Places, People, Movements, and Motifs" (2002): @

* Southern Living 50th Anniversary Headquarters: @

* Entry from Encyclopedia of Alabama: @

* Entry from North Carolina History Project: @

* "Azalea Death Trip: A Journey Through the Land of Southern Living" (Allen Tullos, Southern Changes, 1979): @

* "Living Southern in Southern Living" (Diane Roberts, in "Dixie Debates: Perspectives on Southern Cultures," 1996): @
* "Life at Southern Living: A Sort of Memoir" (John Logue and Gary McCalla, 2000): @

* "Whitewashing Southern Living: The Sociocultural Significance of the 1966 Magazine Launch in Birmingham, Alabama" (Summer Hill-Vinson, 2011): @

* "A Timely Invention: The Evolution of The Progressive Farmer and Southern Living" (Jamie Cole, 2012): @
* "Southern Living at 50: Editors reflect and look toward the future" (Alabama News Center, 2016): @ 

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1966: 'The Green Book'

First published in 1936, "The Green Book" -- variously titled "The Negro Motorist Green Book" and "The Negro Travelers' Green Book" -- provided information on how blacks could travel more safely. The last edition was published in 1966; the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 had lessened the need for such a guide.

     -- Image from National Postal Museum: @

Note: Most of the editions can be viewed online at The New York Public Library's Digital Collections site: @ (Also see the NYPL's "Navigating The Green Book": @)

Summaries
* "The Green Book" (The Postal Record, 2013): @
* "An atlas of self-reliance: The Negro Motorist's Green Book" (National Museum of American History, 2015): @
* "The segregation-era travel guide that saved black Americans from having to sleep in their cars" (Vox, 2015): @ 

Similar guides
* "Directory of Negro Hotels and Guest Houses in the United States" (1939, National Park Service): @

* "Travel Guide of Negro Hotels and Guest Houses" (1942, David Rumsey Map Collection; search for title): @ 
* "Go: Guide to Pleasant Motoring" (1959, The Newberry, Chicago): @

Books
* "Technology and the African-American Experience: Needs and Opportunities for Study" (Bruce Sinclair, 2004): @
* "Republic of Drivers: A Cultural History of Automobility in America" (Cotten Seiler, 2008): @
* "Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways, Transforming American Life" (Tom Lewis, 2013): @

* "Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism" (James M. Loewen, 2013): @

Other resources
* Map of 1956 listings (University of South Carolina): @

* "Driving While Black: The Car and Race Relations in Modern America" (Thomas J. Sugrue, Automobile in American Life and Society): @

* "The Architecture of Racial Segregation: The Challenges of Preserving the Problematical Past" (Robert R. Weyeneth, 2005): @

* "Route 66 and the Historic Negro Motorist Green Book" (National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, National Park Service): @

* Mapping The Green Book: @

* The Green Book Chronicles: @

* The Green Book Project: @

* " 'Green Book' Helped African Americans Travel Safely" (NPR, 2010): @

* "The Green Book" (podcast): @ 

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November 1965: 'Flower power'

Written by poet-activist Allen Ginsberg and published in the Berkeley Barb on November 19, 1965. Ginsberg was talking about tactics that might be used during an antiwar demonstration scheduled for November 20 in Berkeley and Oakland, California. Ginsberg did not use the term "flower power" in this piece; the counterculture catchphrase, along with "flower child," would come into wider use in 1967.

* "10,000 Marchers Protest Policy" (Associated Press, November 20): @

* Summary from "1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music" (Andrew Grant Jackson, 2015): @
* Berkeley Barb archives: @ 
* Allen Ginsberg Project: @

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Tuesday-Wednesday, November 9-10, 1965: Great Northeast Blackout

The nation's worst power failure plunged an estimated 30 million persons into darkness tonight in the huge metropolitan areas of the Northeast and President Johnson ordered an immediate investigation.

     -- Associated Press, November 9: @

Lights flashed on in New York city early Wednesday and transportation systems slowly began to move, signaling the end of a massive and frightening electric power blackout that brought hardship, cold and fear to 30 million persons. But New York city remained crippled because hundreds of thousands of workers could not get to their jobs. The city was still partly paralyzed. Little was normal.

     -- Milwaukee Journal, November 10: @

The enormous scope of the nation's most stunning technological breakdown became starkly clear today, but the cause of the 10-hour blackout remained itself a dark mystery.

     -- Associated Press, November 10: @

     -- Photo by Bob Gomel; published in Life magazine, November 19, 1965: @

* Blackout History Project (George Mason University): @

* NBC television coverage: @
* WABC radio broadcasts, November 9-10: @
* New York Times front page, November 10: @

* "Week of Wonders -- November 14, 1965" (pastdaily.com): @ 
* "Report to the President by the Federal Power Commission on the Power Failure in the Northeastern United States and the Province of Ontario on November 9-10, 1965" (December 6, 1965): @

* "From Here to Maternity" (snopes.com, 2007): @

* "When the Lights Went Out: A History of Blackouts in America" (David E. Nye, 2010): @
* Photos by Rene Burri: @

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October 1965: 'Midlife crisis'

The term is coined by psychologist and social analyst Elliot Jaques in his paper "Death and the Mid-Life Crisis," published in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis.

As summarized in The Psychoanalytic Quarterly (1967):

At age thirty-five the individual has reached the summit of life and sees a declining path before him with death at its end. This results in a crisis, stronger in some than others, connected with having to accept the reality of one's death. It is a period of anguish and depression at the anticipated loss of one's life and revives the infantile experience of loss of the good object (mother). Working through the infantile experience again increases one's confidence in being able to love and mourn what has been lost and increases the possibility of enjoying full maturity and old age. If creativity is present, it may take on new depths and shades of feeling. Dante's descent through Purgatory is essentially an expression of the mid-life crisis and its resolution.

* Complete text as reprinted in "Is It Too Late? Key Papers on Psychoanalysis and Ageing" (2006): @

* Entry from Encyclopedia.com (includes links to various summations): @

* Entry from Psychology Today: @

* "Middle Age Couples Are In Comfortable Rut" (Alison Goddard, Women's Medical News Service, 1970): @
* "Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life" (Gail Sheehy, 1976): @; author's website: @
* "Men in Midlife Crisis" (Jim Conway, 1997): @
* "The Existential Necessity of Midlife Change" (Carlo Strenger and Arie Ruttenberg, Harvard Business Review, 2008): @

* "Midlife Crisis: A Myth or a Reality in Search of a New Name?" (Vivian Diller, Psychology Today, 2011): @
* "The Myth of the Midlife Crisis" (Anne Tergeson, Wall Street Journal, 2014): @
* "The Intellectual Odyssey of Elliot Jaques: From Alchemy To Science" (Douglas Kirsner, www.psychoanalysis-and-therapy-com): @

* Obituaries for Jaques, who died in 2003: @ (The New York Times) and @ (The Guardian)
* Midlife Club: @
* The World of Dante (University of Virginia): @
* Danteworlds (University of Texas at Austin): @

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Sunday, September 5, 1965: 'Hippie'

Following in the line of hep/hip and hipster, the term comes into wider use after Michael Fallon's series of stories for the San Francisco Examiner (and later with San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen's frequent use of the term). The articles also serve to put San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district at the center of the counterculture movement.

-- Image from http://blog.littlehippie.com: @

Other early uses
* "Certainly most musicians in their teens start out as what people call "church" rather than as hippies." ("What's Wrong with the Clubs," Kenneth Rexroth, Metronome magazine, May 1961): @
* "Do What the Hippies Do" (song by Freddy Cannon, 1963): @
* "Where do all the hippies meet?" (from "South Street," song by The Orlons, 1963): @
* "New York hippies have a new kick -- baking marijuana in cookies" (Dorothy Kilgallen, June 1963): @
* "... finally the bar reaches a sort of equilibrium, the hippies return and the cycle starts all over again." ("Baby Beatniks Spark Bar Boom on East Side," Sally Kempton, The Village Voice, September 10, 1964): @
* "Their music is Berry-chuck and all the Chicago hippies." (Andrew Loog Oldham, liner notes for "The Rolling Stones, Now!", released February 1965): @

* ... "a kind of glorious spokesman for the pubescent hippie." (Gary Greene, writing about Bob Dylan, Tucson Daily Citizen, July 24, 1965; subscription required): @

* "The result is a thoroughly likable, relaxed performance of a well-educated hippie who moves through his role with no reference to the fact that he is a Negro." (United Press International article on Bill Cosby, September 28, 1965): @

References
* "American Hippies" (W.J. Rorabaugh, 2015): @
* "American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles and Radical Ideas in U.S. History" (edited by Gina Misiroglu, 2015): @

* Entry from "The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English" (edited by Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, 2013): @

* "Hippies: A Guide to an American Subculture" (Micah L. Issitt, 2009): @
* "Hip: The History" (John Leland, 2004): @
* "Hippie" (Barry Miles, 2005): @

* "San Francisco: A Cultural and Literary History" (Mick Sinclair, 2004): @
* "Debating the Counterculture: Ecstasy and Anxiety Over the Hip Alternative" (article by Michael Wm. Doyle, from "The Columbia Guide to America in the 1960s," 2001): @
* "Beneath the Diamond Sky: Haight Ashbury 1965-1970" (Barney Hoskyns, 1997): @
* "The Haight-Ashbury: A History" (Charles Perry, 1984): @ 
* "Defining 'hippy' " (audio from John Gilliland's "The Pop Chronicles," 1969): @
* "The Social History of the Hippies" (Warren Hinckle, Ramparts, March 1967): @ 

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September 1965: Eight-tracks in cars

Starting with its 1966 models, Ford is the first American automaker to offer eight-track players (as an optional installment for around $130).

-- Top image from Mustang specs (Ford publication): @

-- Middle image from The Kansas City Times (October 6, 1965)
-- Bottom image from United Press International (December 1965)

* "Ford Will Offer Motorola Tape Units in 1966 Cars" (Billboard magazine, April 3, 1965): @
* "RCA Fires 175-Title Burst With Release of Stereo 8 Cartridges" (Billboard, September 25, 1965): @
* "Tape for Turnpikes" (High Fidelity magazine, June 1965, page 42): @
* "Lear Jet 8-Track Recorder May Be Tape 'Breakthrough' " (United Press International, January 3, 1966): @
* "Stereo In Your Car" (High Fidelity, May 1966, page 58): @
* The Rise and Fall of the 8-Track" (Doug Hinman and Brabazon, 1994): @

* "A History of The Eight Track Tape" (David Morton, 1995): @

* "The 8-Track Cartridge" (from "Magnetic Recording: The First 100 Years," edited by Eric D. Daniel, C. Denis Mee, Mark H. Clark, 1999): @

* 8-Track Heaven (website): @

* Mustang TV ads: @ and @

* Thunderbird TV ad: @

* Optional equipment, 1966 Thunderbird (automotivemileposts.com): @ 

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August 1965: Up with People

Moral Re-Armament was an international religious movement that developed in 1938 from the ideas of an American, Rev. N.D. Buchman, and his students called the Oxford Group. Buchman headed the MRA until his death in 1961. The Oxford Group believed the world in the late 1930s needed moral re-armament, not military re-armament. Initially based in Christian roots, the group grew to encompass people of various backgrounds and faith who believed in the "Four Absolutes" -- absolute honesty, absolute purity, absolute unselfishness and absolute love. (From Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University: @)

Up with People -- essentially the Moral Re-Armament doctrine set to upbeat songs -- emerged from the group's annual conference at Mackinac Island, Michigan, in June 1965. The show by the troupe of young people, called "Sing-Out '65," was first staged in Stamford, Connecticut, in early August. Among the songs was "Up with People!", which the touring group later took as its name.

     -- Images from program for "The Colwell Brothers in Sing-Out '65" (University of Arizona): @

* Up with People website: @

* Timeline (From UWP): @

* Up with People alumni website: @
* Up with People Digital Collection (University of Arizona): @
* "Up with People!" song (audio): @
* Up with People YouTube channel: @
* "Change Yourself -- And You Can Change the World" (Kiplinger's Personal Finance, June 1953): @
* "Escalation of an Answer" (Moral Re-Armament advertisement, The Desert Sun, Palm Springs, Calif.; July 12, 1965): @

* "Sing-Out Turns Into Big Thrust" (King Features Syndicate, September 23, 1965): @
* "Moral Re-Armament Plans Revolution of Love, Purity" (United Press International, October 20, 1965): @

* "Smile 'Til It Hurts" (website for 2009 documentary): @

* "Moral Re-Armament: The Reinventions of an American Religious Movement" (Daniel Sack, 2009): @

* "Frank Buchman: A Life" (Garth Lean, 1985): @

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Monday, June 28, 1965: 'It's What's Happening, Baby'

In this prime-time special on CBS, hosted by disc jockey Murray the K (Murray Kaufman), performers donate their time and talents to educate teenagers about the function of the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity. ... In between segments, Murray the K and other entertainers comment on the various opportunities provided by the OEO and appeal to employers to help youths find work. (From The Paley Center for Media; link: @)

     -- TV listing from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 28

     -- Image from Martha and the Vandellas' performance of "Nowhere to Run," filmed at Ford's Dearborn Assembly Plant (where the Mustang was built)

Note: As of this writing the entire show is available online. Start here with part 1; to the right are links to parts 2 and 3.

* "Experimental Show Aimed at Teenagers" (Associated Press, June 25): @

* "Hip Show Passes the Word" (United Press International, June 29): @

* "Antipoverty Film Called 'Shameful' " (Associated Press, June 30): @
* "Battle Against Poverty Has Been Beset By Controversy, Criticism, Complaint" (United Press International, July 15): @
* " 'It's What's Happening' did the job: 10,000 wrote" (Washington Afro-American, July 27): @

* Entry from The Murray the K Archives: @

* Entry from Ray Charles Video Museum: @

* Chapter by Norma Coates in "Music in Television: Channels of Listening" (Edited by James Deaville, 2011): @

* Excerpt from "The SAGE Handbook of Popular Music" (Edited by Andy Bennett and Steve Waksman, 2015): @ 

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May 1965: Teenage diets

An Agriculture Department nutritionist contends that the teen-age girl is the poorest-fed member of the whole family. The teen-age boy also needs an improved diet. Dr. Evelyn Spindler, nutritionist for the department's Federal Extensive Service, says there is nothing wrong with a teen-ager eating a hamburger or a piece of pizza, if the youngster drinks a milkshake at the same eating, and consumes a green salad, or a banana. She says such a meal, or snack, is far better than a combination of a soft drink and potato chips.

     -- From "Nutritionist says teen-age girl poorest fed member of family" (United Press International, May 19, 1965): @

     -- Image from "Improving Teenage Nutrition" (Federal Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, December 1963): @

* "Nutritionist Says Diet of Today's Youth is Improper" (United Press International, May 25): @

* "Selected Programs on Improving Teen-Age Nutrition" (Federal Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1962): @ 

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1965: The miniskirt

Sensitive to the youthful revolt against established values, two designers in particular produced clothes which epitomized the 1960s look for women: Courreges in France and Mary Quant in Britain. Both expressed the spirit of the age and its desire for physical and social freedom in deceptively simple, pared-down garments with abbreviated skirts (christened by the British press "the mini") and, in Courreges' case, pants suits. Both created a complete look, with tights (essential with the mini), shoes, boots, hairstyles and even sunglasses and make-up. Quant appealed directly to the very young; Courreges, possibly because he was in essence a couture designer (having worked with Balenciega for eleven years before opening his own house in 1961), to a slightly more mature woman.

     -- From "Fashion in Costume, 1200-2000" (Joan Nunn, 2000): @

     -- Image from an advertisement for an Indiana department store in August 1965, showing just how quickly the look took hold throughout the United States

* Mary Quant page (Victoria and Albert Museum): @

* "Why Mary Quant's Swinging Sixties London Look Still Holds Sway" (Vogue, 2015): @
* Andre Courreges article (Victoria and Albert Museum): @
* "Andre Courreges: The Couture's Space Captain" (House of Retro): @
* Jacques Tiffeau article (Fashion Designer Encyclopedia): @
* "Skirts for Fall To Be Shorter" (United Press International, July 1964): @

* "Up, Up, Up Go the Skirts: The new look is the knee look -- but there's controversy" (Life magazine, December 18, 1964): @
* "The Lord of the Space Ladies: Andres Courreges is the new powerhouse of Paris Fashion" (Life magazine, May 21, 1965): @
* "Negro Women have the prettiest knees" (Jet magazine, July 8, 1965): @

* "The man who launched the miniskirt remains aloof" (Sydney Morning Herald, August 1969): @
* "On June 4, 1965, Puritan Fashion Co. launched Youthquake" (On This Day in Fashion): @

* "On September 1, 1965, Mary Quant introduced the miniskirt" (On This Day in Fashion): @
* Excerpt from "Fifty Years of Fashion: New Look to Now" (Valerie Steele, 1997): @

* Excerpt from "Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible" (2012): @ 

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