Last month’s article concentrated on the 1970s but in this edition I shall look at the 1960s via local postcards.
However, what would local people have been watching at the cinema? Perhaps you were viewing Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Psycho, A Space Odyssey, The Mancunian Candidate, Blow-up, The Producers, Lawrence of Arabia, 81/2, Breathless or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Other films that you might have seen then were The Apartment, The Birds, Bonnie and Clyde, Cool Hand Luke, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Graduate, Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary’s Baby, The Wild Bunch and Yojimbo.
What would people be watching on television if they were lucky to have one? The 1960s saw a new era of television programming as broadcasts began to change from black and white to colour. Most popular were the following: The Addams Family, Adam-12, Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, the Andy Griffith Show, The Avengers, Batman, The Beverley Hillbillies, Bewitched, Bonanza, The Brady Bunch, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Dragnet, F Troop, Father Knows Best, Flipper, Get Smart, Gilligan’s Island, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., Green Acres, Gunsmoke, Have Gun - Will Travel, Hawaii Five-O, Hogan’s Heroes, The Honeymooners, I Dream of Jeannie, I Love Lucy, Lassie, Leave it to Beaver, Make Room for Daddy, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Marcus Welby M.D., McHale’s Navy, Mission: Impossible, Mister Ed, The Munsters, My Favourite Martian, My Three Sons, Petticoat Junction, Rawhide, Star Trek and the Twilight Zone.
Which were your favourites?
Children’s programmes ranged from The Addams Family, Adventure Island, Animal Magic, Arabian Knights, The Archie Show, The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show, Boleki Lolek, Blue Peter, Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School, Biggles, Belle and Sebastian, The Beatles, Batman, Batfinks, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, The Clangers, Cattanoogan Cats, Camberwick Green, The Flintstones, The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo, H. R. Pufnstuf, Here Comes the Grump, The Magilla Gorilla Show, Magpie, Marine Boy, Mary Mungo and Midge, Milton the Monster, The Monkees, The New Hanna Barbera Cartoon Series, Noggin the Nog, The Perils of Penelope Pitstio, The Pink Panther Show, Professor Balthazar, Roger Ramjet, The Road Runner Show, The Sooty Show, Sesame Street, Trumpton, Top Cat, Tom and Jerry, Tijuana Toads, Thunderbirds to Wacky Races!
What were the top motor cars of the 1960s? The following appear to be:
1969 Chevrolet Corvette 427
1968 Chevrolet Camaro 2/28
1966 Plymouth Satellite 426 Hemi
1964 Porsche 904
1965 Ford Mustang GT 289 and
1969 Plymouth Road Runner 426 Hemi.
All in all, the 1960s were a time of change: the Civil Rights Movement as led by Martin Luther King Jr.; the Women’s Movement with its demand for equal rights; Russia beat the USA into outer space; Elvis hit the UK; The Beatles hit the world big time, the advent of the counterculture when hair grew longer and beards became common, reaching its zenith in August 1969 at Woodstock, and later in the decade, man set foot on the moon.
Back home in Tenby, the photographs and postcards of Arthur Squibbs were still being sold by Mr. Graham Hughes at Napleton House, Warren Street. The following are examples of Squibbs’ work.
Once again, I wish to thank Rody for his latest poetic contribution. Rody explains that in the poem ‘The Patina of Your Names’ “Your Names” are those of Tenby and the Tenby area.
THE PATINA OF YOUR NAMES
by Rody Vanrijkel
Devoted to your pertinent places
I venerate their persistence
in all kinds of weather.
I try to know the names
by heart, dazzled by
their configuration and confidence.
Heart-warming names whose
letters stand out, whose sound waves
enchant, enhance my self-portrait.
A network of names
which mirrors
the network of my blood vessels.
Vaccinated by your names
I nestle my head
on your shoulder.