Friday, September 30, 1960: 'The Flintstones'

The cartoon about a "modern Stone Age family" debuts in prime time on ABC. The main characters -- Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty -- closely resemble those on "The Honeymooners," the popular comedy from the mid-'50s starring Jackie Gleason. The familiar theme song would not be part of the show until 1962. (This image is from the first episode; it's the moment when Fred says "Yabba-dabba-doo" for the first time.)

* Show summary (Museum of Broadcast Communications): @

* Watch the first episode, "The Flintstone Flyer": @ and @ and @

* More about the first episode: @

* Early reviews of show (most were not positive): @

* Flintstones and Hanna-Barbera website: @

* Watch ads for Winston cigarettes: @ and @

* Other new shows from fall 1960: @

---

Wednesday, September 28, 1960: Ted Williams retires

One of the greatest hitters in baseball history hits a home run in his final at-bat for the Boston Red Sox. Williams missed nearly five seasons worth of playing time while serving in the military -- during World War II and again during the Korean War.

* Timeline: @

* Career statistics: @

* Boston Globe coverage: @

* "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu": (story by John Updike for The New Yorker): @

* Slideshow from Life magazine: @

* Official website: @

---

Tuesday, September 27, 1960: Travolator

Europe's first "moving platform" opens to the public, as part of London's subway system. (The world's first such system dates to 1954 in New Jersey.)

* More about Travolator: @

* Newsreel: @

* Photo from first day: @

* "Conveyor Belts to Move Crowds" (Popular Science magazine, 1954): @

* "Passenger Conveyors" (book): @

---

Undated: Surf rock

With its catchy, signature sound of jangling, reverb-heavy electric guitars, surf rock starts to take its place on radio stations and singles charts. Early surf rock songs were usually instrumentals.

There's no consensus on the very first surf rock song, but typically on the short list are Duane Eddy's "Movin' 'N' Groovin' " (1958), The Ventures' "Walk, Don't Run" (1960), Dick Dale's "Let's Go Trippin' " (1961) and The Belairs' "Mr. Moto" (1961).

The genre's first big hit was "Walk, Don't Run," which reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts for the week ending August 29, 1960 (sandwiched between Elvis Presley's "It's Now or Never" and Chubby Checker's "The Twist").

* Surf rock primer: @ and @

* Top 100 surf rock songs: @

* www.surfmusic.com: @

* surfguitar101.com: @

* Listen to "Walk, Don't Run": @

* More about "Walk, Don't Run": @ and @

* Listen to "Movin' 'N' Groovin' ": @

* Listen to "Let's Go Trippin' ": @

* Listen to "Mr. Moto": @

---

Tuesday, September 27, 1960: 'Ten Years of TV'

Look magazine assesses the state of American television in a cover story titled "TEN YEARS OF TV: How it's better / How it's worse / A forecast of the season ahead." The article reads: "Intellectuals complain that so potent a medium will undermine our values with its escapism, materialism and repetitiousness. ... Others look upon TV as primarily an entertainment medium, whose purpose should be to act as a giant tranquilizer."

Also in the issue, which featured actor Robert Stack on the cover: "How 'The Untouchables' Hypoed TV's Crime Wave."

* Text of TV article: @

* More about "The Untouchables": @

* "Eliot Ness and the Untouchables: The Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions" (book): @

---

Saturday, September 24, 1960: 'Howdy Doody' ends

The last episode of the children's show "Howdy Doody" airs on NBC. It ends with the only words ever spoken by the clown Clarabell Hornblow: "Goodbye, kids." (Photo shows the first person to play Clarabell: Bob Keeshan, who went on to become Captain Kangaroo.)

* Footage from last episode: @

* Footage from show's opening: @

* Entry from "Encyclopedia of Television": @

* Show summary (from www.tv-pop-cult.com): @

* Characters and assorted facts: @

---

Saturday, September 24, 1960: USS Enterprise

The world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is launched from Newport News, Virginia. At the time, "The Big E" was the biggest ship ever built.

* Summary: @

* Navy site: @

* Federation of American Scientists site: @

* History through present day: @

* Other sites: @ and @

* Footage of christening (without sound): @

---

Undated: Miss America

Lynda Lee Mead of Natchez, Mississippi, is crowned Miss America for 1960 (the pageant was held in September 1959). She is from the same sorority (Chi Omega) at the same school (the University of Mississippi) as the previous year's winner, Mary Ann Mobley of Brandon. (Photo shows Mead, left, and Mobley after Mead was crowned Miss Mississippi in August 1959.)

Time magazine takes note: "For the second consecutive year Miss Mississippi became Miss America: Natchez' brunette, green-eyed, 20-year-old Lynda Lee Mead (36-24-36, 5 ft. 7 in., 120 lbs.), successor and University of Mississippi Chi Omega sorority sister of 1959's brunette Mary Ann Mobley, 22 (34 1/2-22-35, 5 ft. 5 in., 114 lbs.)." Life magazine refers to the two as part of the "New Mississippi queen crop."

* Pageant footage (without sound): @

* Miss America website: @

* "All the Miss Americas, Then and Now" (from Life magazine): @

* Prominent Chi Omegas: @

---

Undated: Railroad steam era fades away

Norfolk and Western Railway is the last major railroad line to convert its engines from steam to diesel (May 7). These two iconic photos are from O. Winston Link, who documented the last years of steam-powered trains.

* Last steam runs of other railroad lines: @

* Norfolk and Western Historical Society: @

* More about Norfolk and Western: @ and @

* "Post-war Railroads": @

* O. Winston Link Museum: @

* Link's obituary: @

* Details on photos: @ and @ (left); @ (right)

---

Undated: Solar-powered car (update*)

Dr. Charles Alexander Escoffery develops and demonstrates a solar-powered car: a 1912 Baker electric with 10,640 silicon cells arrayed on the roof that convert sunlight to electricity. On a full charge the car can run for 3 hours at a top speed of 20 miles per hour.

* Dr. Escoffery, who is still alive, sent along this additional information: "The car was a renovated 1912 Baker Electric with a panel of photovoltaic cells on the roof and lead acid batteries front and rear. It was a project of The International Rectifier Corporation to publicize their photocells and although power output of the cells was only 100w, it attracted world-wide attention with people believing gasoline (petrol) would no longer be needed to power their automobiles. The car was demonstrated in Chicago, New York City, Rome, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and London."

* Article from Science and Mechanics magazine (August 1960): @

* Other solar-powered devices in magazines (1920s-1950s): @

* "Solar Energy Back in the Day" (Life magazine slideshow): @

* "The Quest for New Solar Batteries" (New Scientist article, August 1960): @

* Footage of Escoffery's car: @ and @ and @

* More about Baker cars at electric vehicle sites: @ and @

---

Undated: Herman Leonard

Photos taken in 1960 by the renowned photographer of jazz greats. Click on them for a larger view. (From left: Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.)

* Herman Leonard website: @

* Selections of photos: @ and @

* Articles: @ and @

* Obituaries (Leonard died in August 2010): @ and @

---

Undated: Flannery O'Connor

1960 sees the publication in February of "The Violent Bear It Away," the second (and last) novel by the influential Georgia-born author, as well as the essay "Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction." The latter was not published during her lifetime (O'Connor died in 1964); it was a lecture given at Wesleyan College in Macon, Ga., in October. It contains this passage: "Of course, I have found that anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the Northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic."

* Short biographies: @ and @ and @

* www.flanneryconnor.org (lots of information and links): @

* Essays by Joyce Carol Oates: @

* Text of "Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction": @
* Audio of O'Connor reading the essay: @

---

Undated: Orange Slice Chair

Designed by Pierre Paulin for the Netherlands furniture maker Artifort, it was an immediate success when it was introduced at a trade fair in Cologne, Germany.

* More about the chair: @

* Pierre Paulin website: @

* Artifort website: @

---

Wednesday, September 14, 1960: Sir Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Hillary (who with Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay were the first people known to have reached the top of Mount Everest, in 1953) sets off on the Himalayan Scientific and Mountaineering Expedition. While a primary objective of Hillary's mission is to study the effects of high altitude on the human body, he is also searching for physical evidence of the Yeti, the so-called Abominable Snowman. Fur samples collected by Hillary's team turn out to be those of a bear and a serow (a goat-like animal).

* Hillary biography (from New Zealand History online): @

* "Epitaph to the Elusive Abominable Snowman" (article by Hillary for Life magazine), January 1961: @

* Yeti descriptions and links: @ (Museum of Unnatural History) and @ (Live Science)

* "Abominable Snowmen" (Ivan T. Sanderson, 1961): @

---

Wednesday, September 14, 1960: OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is established during a four-day meeting in Baghdad, Iraq. Its members are Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela; its mission is "ensuring the stabilization of prices in international oil markets with a view to eliminating harmful and unncessary price fluctuations." It was created in response to the United States' decision to restrict the amount of oil imported from those countries in favor of oil from Canada and Mexico. That action had depressed the OPEC countries' oil prices while benefiting U.S. oil companies.

* OPEC history: @ and @

* "The Founding of OPEC" (from New York Times): @

* Timeline: @

* Economic overview: @ and @

* Statute: @

* Short history of oil: @

---