LOOKING BACK

Prof. Joel Snell, MA (Ret)

Peggy Sue got married. In this box office success and award winning movie, Peggy Sue travels through time. With the pseudo-magic of Hollywood a young lady is transferred from 1985 to 1960. The film was released in 1986 so it was current for its time.

What was so engaging was the 1960 portion. Dad had a haberdashery (hat shop) and on a single salary supported a family of five. He just purchased an Edsel, one of the most likely cars to not succeed. Mom was a housewife and could only mention the term “penis” so that Peggy Sue would remain a virgin.

Her little sister was a bother and Peggy Sue’s boyfriend was a clerk in a record shop where one could take a vinyl record into a “listening room” and preview the record. He hoped to make it big as rock n’ roll singer. He drove his Chevy convertible with abandon. It was trendy in the early 60’s for the males to screech out of their drive way and hit the accelerator at all the wrong places.

High school was essentially a zoo and a meat market. With the knowledge of the mid 80’s, she sought out a “brain.” He was very bright and thus thought to be a scorn to the other members of the class. Peggy told him her secret. She had traveled back from the future and she could give him information so that he could change the world. Those around him could benefit from his inventions and he would also profit to top the income and assets charts of the 80’s.

Peggy had a special bond with her grandparents who were alive in the early 60’s. Her grandfather belonged to a fraternal lodge. They wore space craft/medieval hats and robes and they sent Peggy through a special ritual ahead to the 80’s. The lodge then went about playing cards and watching those grainy black and white porn movies.

The story is engaging, but it is the little details that give its support. Her dad must have gone broke with a haberdashery as most would no longer wear hats. Peggy Sue was much more literate about sex and how she probably would be working most of her life. She really knew that she would NEVER, NEVER use algebra. She sang with gusto the America’s anthem and the pledge allegiance.

The last portion of this book introduces the non-historical products, stories, quotes, movies, and other trivia that helps us look back. This little book will introduce readers to some descriptions that are new and for others a bit of nostalgia. We will stop at 1965. This is the year, most historians call the “60’s” And so Peggy fits in our time boundary.

We begin with 1940’s. Why? This time period of 1940 to 1965 was a time thought as a golden era. Many would disagree, but I will begin not because I agree or disagree. It is in folks’ common wisdom. And so…….

RECORD/ WAKE THE WORLD/ BEACH BOYS

It is the early 40’s and the whined up alarm clock goes off. Out of bed and into a quick shower or bath. Shaving one’s beard is hazardous. If infected, one can get staph or maybe lockjaw. Old razors are placed in the open slit at the back of the medical cabinet. Horrible stories are spread about shaving so after that activity one puts on Old Spice a product that is still around today. One is safe with a stainless steel Gillette blue blades. Husband pops some Listerene in his mouth and so he is ready for the day. He has some underarm powder, but anti-perspiriant and deodorant are not available. In the heat of the summer in the work setting lots people means a strong ambience of “body order.”

 The wife heads for the kitchen to create a gala of cholesterol. She is in a robe and the husband is in a three piece suit. He leaves the house and heads for the bench of the trolley stop two blocks away. He will get on the trolley and head for downtown where he is a clerk.

The father is a bookkeeper and both he and the big boss wear suits. Tina the secretary has a matching outfit of gray, and Ralph the janitor wears a gray uniform. The building is a warehouse filled with various cleaning chemicals. There is an open elevator where one can see all the walls as it heads upwards. Barrels are placed on the elevator and move downward to transfer trannies that push the barrels onto the street into big trucks. The whare house is on 13^th and Leavenworth St. It is two blocks from the mass transit.

The trolley is made of metal and wood. The seats are of wicket strains woven together. The ride is a bit rough but one sees fellow workers who are heading to similar places. There is a huge steel bar that connects to the electric lines 25 feet above ground. There is a small heater for the winter. The wire lines at times pop with sparks as it careens around the street.

The wife straightens the house and gets the kids off to school. She has gotten up in the middle of the night to put more coal in the furnace. Morning means more coal and washing the breakfast dishes. She has bobby pins in her hair and a net over head. She wears a robe.

She turns on the kitchen radio. It is white and has all the local stations as well as the two major stations NBC and CBS. The war is on and she listens to the latest. After that she makes lunch, dresses up, and heads for church. There they plan for a gathering to celebrate a Protestant holiday.

Back home she prepares for dinner. She listens to her soap opera such as the “Romance of Helen Trent” and “Wendy Warren and the News.” Dad returns home and has a whisky and smokes a pipe. The kids play up stairs and she makes the meal. Her daughter and she wash the dishes.

Monday means washing clothes with 4 tubs. One washes as the second rinses. The third has a bluing for all the white clothes. The fourth does a final rinse.

Tuesday means hanging the clothes on the clothes lines which hang all over the basement. There are newspapers on the floor so the clothes do not become soiled. Wednesday means that the clothes are ironed. Thursday the family garments are distributed throughout the house to the proper closets.

Friday is the day of shopping for groceries. They are then placed in the cabinets, ice box, or pantry. Saturday means the big game where the local university plays somebody else. All of above is exhausting and she powers up with lots of coffee.

She learns to drive the family car when she is about 40 years old.

Sunday is the premiere time where she wears her best and at 11 AM church begins. After church is a special meal with roast beef and a number of vegetables. The women wash the dishes and the men go to the living room to listen to a game of some sorts.

The living room radio is magnificent. It is a deep brown and an early form of plastic. It has large speakers with two dials. One turns on the radio and adjusts the sound. The other chooses the station. This is the radio that FDR could be heard giving his “fireside chats”

Are you tired? Welcome to the early 40’s.

 THE TELEPHONE/ BEECHWOOD 4  5789/ CARPENTERS

I have a 1955 Bell Telephone book and in the yellow sheet section is a list of long distance rates to talk for 3 minutes from one city to another. From Omaha to Minneapolis, the cost for 3 minutes was 5 dollars. Now that is not too bad. However, 3 minutes is a short time and 5 dollars today is about 30 dollars. Times have changed.

Our first phone in the 40’s was a long stem phone without a dial. You took the speaker-receiver off the hook and asked the operator for name and number.

In the basement, we had a wall telephone. It too worked on the same principle. So, “operator, I would like to talk ‘person-to-person’ with Charles Snell in Omaha at Glendale 2859 5647 Corby ‘“The phone had its own shelf on the second floor. One had to be cautious as most had a party line which means that others can hear what you say.

My father would answer the phone and generally it was a customer. His machinery quit working and wanted my dad to come up north 500 miles on a cold February night to Fargo, North Dakota. How’s that? Dad packed the car and put extra warmers in the car so he would not freeze.

As time went on, we had a “dial phone.” That meant you picked up the speaker-receiver and dialed GL 2859. Long distance worked roughly on the same basis. We had 3 phones as there was one for every floor. However, you could buy a “princess” phone. This gave the daughter a special plug to go in another room so she could talk to her boyfriend. Then in 1960 came the all digit number 1/402/553/2859.

One New Year’s Eve, I was at a friend’s house and he invited me to stay overnight. I wanted to call my parents, but they had a princess plug which was located in the parent’s bedroom. We were both drunk and it was early in the morning so I did not call. The next day my parents were livid with anger and inadvertently relieved. That was a long New Years day. As your mind can play tricks on you, thirty years later I woke up New Year’s Day and rushed to the phone to tell my mother how sorry that I was for that night.

At that time, Grandma Dode, a dear lady that would take care of me when my parents were on the road would use the “40 call.’’ That meant if you were on a tight budget, you could call less than 40 times a month you could get a  discount. Dode would ring us 4 straight times and then hang up. We would then call her.

As time went on the telephone chords got longer and therefore one could move that phone around. After our time boundary for this small book, phones do all kinds of tricks and can go anywhere.

 THE RECORD PLAYER/ MOON LIGHT SERENADE/ GLENN MILLER

The big band era really meant that a 20 person band would travel to your hometown and play their music. You could hear their music on a 78 player. The 78’s easily cracked and thus an advanced form of musical technology. It was the 45. You could put up to 6 records on a small record player and turn on the machine. Music came from a small speaker. RCA had a best seller in this area.

One could buy a pack of 6 records in a cardboard box that contained the full number of songs from your favorite artist.

Although Miller died in World War II, a movie and records followed him from the grave. He had a special sound that was serendipitous. Most bands lead with the trumpet or trombone. Miller always had a particular sound in the back of his mind. One night, the lead trumpet player got a bloody lip and the clarinet player had to substitute for the brass.

Alas, Miller found his sound and he enjoyed a great deal of success. That sound just stood out and most of the music that followed put him in the history books.

Bands generally started with a soloist who sang very loud through a cylindrical tube. As technology improved the lead singer used microphones to “croon” a lullaby. Miller just fit in. All the big names would sing for the two-step or the jitterbug.

In “Colored town” Jazz which meant sperm was apparent. Jazz would take a major chord and play it in a minor key. Some bands broke through the color barrier and played before white audiences. They entered in the back door of the ballroom and made their presence. This was rare.

Like classical music, Jazz became a feature in coastal big cities. The “beats” would show their approval by popping their fingers. The rest used the standard applause. All of the above died in 1965.

 THE   BIG BOX RECORD PLAYER/ROCK & ROLL MUSIC/ CHUCK BERRY

Now Chuck Berry is the Father of Rock and Roll and all the top bands from the states and the UK copied him.  Berry was the best. That is if you could buy his music. The Chess label was a race record and like the Specialty label you just could not find his music. However, the same song was sung by Pat Boone and Gail Storm. Finally, after numerous protests, you could buy a Chuck Berry record. Again, he was the father of rock and roll. Parents said it would not last.

Further, white rockers like the late Everly brothers made it okay to listen to the music. All of you know the rest of the story…. Today, there are numerous variations of rock. Hip-hop has merged into global indie.

By 1962, the Beach Boys used Berry and harmonies to make millions. By 64’ they had 4 albums in the top 40. They had already produced 10 to 12 albums by that time. Unfortunately, they had a name that quickly dated itself. Their music focused on surfing and cars. They continued to wear the same outfits and they had a manager from hell. They were born too soon. They started too soon and the musical lyrics could have been changed earlier.

By 65’ they were heavily into girl-boys songs. They still had short hair and appeared squeaky clean. As this is being written males have all kinds of lengths of hair. Back then, hair was short or shorter. By 66’ they created an album that remains at the top or near there some decades later. It is called Pet Sounds. They had a song that is known to everyone called “Good Vibrations.” Lastly they had a back up complimentary album entitled the “Best of” and it sold like crazy. 60 years later they had 2 albums in the Hot 200. “Feel Flows” peaked at #9 and “Sounds of Summer” is 140 and has been in that vicinity for hundreds of weeks. They had a # 1 album registered in the classical music  album charts.

It all  in 68’ They were hated. They played good music to no one. Their venues were high school gyms, bowling alleys, and bars. Overseas they were still admired.

All that was needed was placed upon Brian Wilson and his brain went bust.  He suffered for his songs. He was overwhelmed and spent years in his room. Or, he had a sand box in the living room with a tent, so that he could create. He is much better now.

After about 10,000 hours and singing back up to strippers, the Beatles were ready for America. All the support was there and the early bubble gum songs turn to gold. Their hair was long and the Rolling Stones were even longer.

Rock was changing and there were riots in the streets and an unpopular war was being conducted. Rolling Stones was a winning name. The Beatles supposedly copied Buddy Holly’s Crickets. However, Beatle is not a bug like Beetle. It is an integer in numerology. Here the Beach Boys connoted Sunday school and suburbs. Got it? At any rate, the band sold millions of albums up to 66’ then hung on to 68’ then came bad press and Charlie Manson.

MOVIE/ AMERICAN GRAFITTI/ ALL SUMMER LONG/ BEACH BOYS

By the mid 70’s, the ongoing struggles within the country created a craving for nostalgia about the golden era. ENDLESS SUMMER and SPIRIT OF AMERICA were compilations of songs from those days before the Vietnam War. Those two albums and a third put the Beach Boys band back at the top.

At the time, the Beatles flamed out in 1970 and the Rolling Stones created a special dark sound by singing other peoples songs. The Beach Boys would return to prominence about every 7 years. At the time of this writing, there is a new album out that stimulated critical success 50 years ago.

The movie AMERICAN GRAFFITI put nostalgia in its proper place. It is about a couple and their friends on a summer night. In the end, two friends died in the Vietnam War, one went to Canada and the lead went on to sell insurance. The film ended with a gentle Beach Boys rocker called “ALL SUMMER LONG.” Audiences cried and clapped their hands. The late 60’s and early 70’s would become an historical cultural revolution.

SEX REVOLUTION/ GO ALL THE WAY/ RASPBERRIES

Briefly, the pill was invented in 1960. Sexual activity increases before marriage. Women learn how to have an orgasm. Abortion is legal and birth control is abundant. You smoke dope and copulate. So the other night, they were playing a song that one copulated to so many years ago. He wants her back. She is married with a couple of kids. The parents are separated and she becomes a daydream believer and a homecoming queen. We meet Peggy Sue again.

Later, Conservatives rely on abstinence training and Liberal Progressives tell their kids about Abstinence Plus. Unwanted pregnancies become a boom in the Bible belt.

After males discover porn, females discover bi-sexuality.

Women fight back. Prominent males lose their jobs because of sexual advances. Boys will be boys and they will be unemployed. Divorce rates become tricky. If one looks at all couples who live together, or marry or separate, or whatever. You get a statistic of about 50%.

Rates and proportions confuse the issue and all states need a constant like per thousand. So there are so many who look back at their class reunion and decide never to go to another. The tough jock becomes a drunk and a wimp is making tons of money and is really important.

There is life after high school.

CARS/LITTLE GTO/ RIP CHORDS

There was a time when straight males sang love songs to cars. In the Sunshine Pop era of the early 60’s, cars took you places and a nice car could help pick up a young lady. She was beginning to wear “the slut look” because it got the attention that she temporarily wanted. Or, you could be driving a Honda bike. Actually, that wasn’t the case but a neat car meant that your chances improved.

However, once you earned the right to encourage a young lady into the car, you had to figure out who she was. That about killed it right there. She was pretty, but she was also a human and those songs about cars and girls were a heavy dose of fantasy. Soon there would be kids and the hot rod was traded for an SUV or something.

The kids were fighting in the back seat and you’re wondering what went wrong? Secretly, so is she. As they grow older, both of you get a mid-life crisis and so you get two cars. One is practical and the other glows in the dark. Further, you are losing your hair.

Do you remember the incredible time that you had at the drive-in? Now it is better to watch some movies on cable. There are some movie houses that were palaces and other neighborhood movie theaters that were great before you could drive a car.

There was a zombie like characteristic to a room full of kids on Saturday afternoon at a neighborhood theater. The first movie was about ROCKET MAN. It was an ongoing theme with a guy who drove his rocket all over the region. It was attached to his blue pajama like uniform. What happened next? Rocket man was going to fix another social problem next week.

Now the premiere B movie started. A professor who looked like Albert Einstein was being disturbed by a phony from another pharmaceutical company and he needed help. Now a new assistant arrives and like all the other characters he is white. As he is getting pumped up to help the professor, the daughter of the professor demands that she can help too! Therefore, the two take off to save the world. However, the daughter really screws things up. What was a doable problem is now almost impossible because of her. What does this tell young women watching the movie?

The problem is just about to be solved. When some creep throws a Holloway bar that sticks to the movie screen, the kids in the audience start screaming and laughing. The candy bar is stuck on the screen.

The lights turn on and a red face manager comes out looks at the audience to see who may be the culprit. It is not easy so he goes to get the candy bar and it is really stuck on the screen. He then rips off the candy and part of the screen. The lights go off and every new scene is tarnished by the soiled screen.

One liked to sit behind Jeanie and her boyfriend. They made funny sounds as they were making love. The neighborhood theater that I went to was called then the Benson Theater. It closed down and was replaced by a huge appliance store. However, the Benson Theater is back and the entire area has become an old market.

SONG/SIXTEEN TONS/ TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD

Coal can be a real problem. After a long winter, one needed to do a “spring” cleaning. You used a dry mop and gently moved the dust off the walls. Curtains were washed and carpets were cleaned with hand soap and dry towels.

A thorough job meant that every last area needs cleaning. One then called the awning company to put them on so that the sun did not directly go into your home and warm it up. Windows were replaced with screens so that a summer breeze could come into the house.  You removed the floor fans from storage to help the air continuously move throughout the house. On August evenings, you slept in your own perspiration on the sheets attached to the bed(s.)

By autumn, the leaves had fallen and they were raked into a pile and put on fire. The entire city was smoggy, but there was a sweet smell. By first snow, the house was usually ready for the remaining part of the year and a month or two into the next year.

The summer meant riding your bike. I had a Schwinn that was ready and a battery operated button in the belly of the bike the made a sound. A rearview mirror was attached. With old poker cards, you could bend them so that they could be attached with clothes pins to the wheels of the bike and they sounded like a motor.

You wore a t-shirt, blue jeans, and U.S. kids tennis shoes. Girls had it harder as usual they wore sun dresses and running around was tougher for them. Just about every tool of the society drove females into passivity.

The “tom boys” played soft ball with us. Further, they also participated in the “tag” football. Unlike flag football, you stopped your opponent by touching their bottom with both hands.

There were trees to climb and windows to look into. One summer I broke my arm twice, and one summer fell on cements steps at Kathy’s house and cut a sizable scar that bled onto a red cloth jacket. The elementary school called Rose Hill was great in the summer. We could lie in the sand in the middle of the lot and stare into the sky. What was up there? Where was heaven located? The sun appeared to roll around the sky.

The next alley over was cemented. We could put on a jacket and a football helmet and get into our wagons. The alley was high on one end and low on the other. So you could pull your wagon to the top and roll the wagon down to the bottom. It was great and you could have races.

There were kids in the neighborhood so you knew something about the neighbors. Most folks spent much of their life in the same house. With the phone and the internet, globalization intensified. Corporations grew to be the size of small countries. Working for a big corporation could require many moves. We lived in 15 different places.

RECORD/ CHILDREN’S SONG/ BRIAN WILSON

From birth to late in life, we lived in three out of fifteen places that had woods. Two were woods within a city, but one was clearly out in the country. Although small, it contained 4 little bedrooms. It was located in a cluster of about 12 other cottages. A marina was down from the little house and near the Missouri river.

During the winters, we would have to call the driver of the snow plow. He could give us the information that we needed to get to town.

Other than our house now (which is in the woods) this was my true home. Here you knew your neighbors. We had a rubber boat that we could paddle in the inlet.

My oldest son who was about three loved to ride on the hood of the car. I would drive about 3 to 5 miles an hour and he hung on.

As we had to move on, my last night in the cottage I had a dream where all kinds of people living and dead said good bye to me. We moved 250 miles away. We often drove back in the early years to see friends and then it became longer between visits. The cottage became flooded and a new more commercial arrangement was constructed in its place.

INTERMISSION

RECORD/ PAPERBACK RIDER/ BEATLES

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States appeared to still be far away from the war. All of our allies were bombed and in tatters. Historians argue how Roosevelt could keep us involved. Indeed the war was in the newspaper and on the radio. Further, so many families lost their loved ones “over there.”

However, so many little things added up to a reminder that we were fighting what seemed like a long holy war. So there were “paper drives.” The war department for some reason needed paper. So folks saved a spot in their houses to pile up all the newspapers’ yesterdays. The kids at school would have a competition to get as many papers to beat the other competitor. At the end of the contest, the winner won an extra half hour of recess. Why did the war department need newspapers? Recycling of paper is now very common, but that environmental movement came years and years after the Second World War.  Some may have known that it was a solidarity move by FDR, but for kids like me, it was extra recess.

I wonder if the paper was recycled. Was it used for fuel? Maybe.

RECORD/ THE AIR THAT I BREATHE/ HOLLIES

There was a knock on the door. Our neighbor was in a uniform. He was the captain of the block or air warden. He reminded us that all windows should be covered. Why?  Up in the air, enemy planes fly over at night and when they see lights they can bomb them because the lights mean that they can kill the enemy. The enemy of course was our family.

We were in the war too. By killing us, they could disrupt the great engines of manufacturing and production. People that do those things like manufacturing lived in houses and apartments. So if a light beams upward, the bombs head downward to create hellish conditions. They were called “brown outs” because no one could be completely covered from using a light. Windows were covered, and one could get out a card table cover it with a table cloth, and listen to the AM radio in the dark. The air warden could drive slowly with dimmer lights to check to see if the neighborhood was dark brown.

On the AM radio, there were constant reminders that “bright lights take lives.” Further, “loose lips sink ships.”

RECORD/ YOU’RE SO COLD/ ROLLING STONES

When the ice box became refrigerators, it was a wonder. At room temperature, milk spoils. So there were weekly visits from the milk man. During the cold weather, milk bottles were placed in milk boxes at the back door.

Mr. Forsberg was the milkman and he was part of the family. If you had used up all the milk, you put it in the sink and washed it out. Mr. Fosberg would replace the old bottles with new ones that were filled with fresh milk. The milk sat in the refrigerator. However, even in colder temperatures milk can date itself and turn sour. So Fosberg was continually checking his schedule for the older bottles of milk.

Today, milk that is non-organic is filled with chemicals to make it sweeter, prettier, and has a date on it in terms of spoilage. Is it better for you? I don’t think so, but it is more efficient. Isn’t that what food is all about? Food that is pre-cooked looks great and is full of fats that can kill you faster than the old organic milk. However, cosmetics transcend substance.

RECORD/ YELLOW SUBMARINE/ BEATLES

At one time, butter and margarine were bitter enemies. There is a state like Minnesota that made arrangements so that margarine was hard to deal with. Butter was a pretty yellow and margarine was too. However margarine cost less and rumor had it that it did not increase one’s weight.

So to help the butter people back then, margarine came in a package with yellow dye. The margarine was an off white slab of lard. It looked like… well it was sort of nauseating. So one placed the white slab in a pot and gently heated it. Then the drop of yellow dye was spilled all over the lard. Once complete, you put the butter like stuff in a butter tray.  By now, you have lost your appetite. Thus, butter was a big winner.  The margarine was called “Oleo.”

RECORD/ MONEY, MONEY, MONEY/ ABBA

There were a number of products that were purchased with ration stamps. That included sugar, butter, tin, and gasoline. One had a stamp book and the stamps were one’s ticket to ride. You could purchase  U.S. War Bonds. They had little return, but indicated one’s patriotism.

Wall Street still made a ton of money as the war raged on. As time went on, the war bonds lost their magnetism. You saved your money and spent it on toys for the kids. That included yo-yos, Howdy Dowdy ventriloquist dolls, Teddy Bears, and electric trains. Later, there would be Barbie dolls, hula-hoops, slinkies and related. Young males had toy guns, chaps, cowboy hats, and a horse like creature that fit under the legs of the boy. Sometimes, girls dressed like cowboys so it made it more interesting.

RECORD/ LITTLE BOXES/ MALVINA WASHINGTON

Near New York City, a new development was created. It was called Levittown. The cost was $4,500. They were 2 stories and a tree was hard to find. Located in Long Island, this first suburb was meant for returning soldiers from World War 2. There were rows upon rows of houses. All pretty much the same save the color.

The series WEEDS was based on this neighborhood. Rumor had it that the long monotonous streets could lead you to someone’s house, but not your own. You could be tossing a ball in your yard and the ball would penetrate the house. HOWEVER, it was a good deal for blue collar soldiers that return to the area.

A 1960’s song about little boxes emphasized the homogeneity of the area, and that with the cheaper price, you got over conformity. One was constantly facing ticky-tacky houses and white bread citizenry. No Black folks were allowed. Nor did they receive the GI Bill of Rights.

Suburbs began to sprout everywhere and the main emphasis meant that similar looking houses were divided by the color of the house. Everything else was just about the same.

Today, the suburban house is replaced with condos, slabs, trees as well as shopping centers. Levittown is alive and well today.

RECORD/ ANOTHER PLEASANT VALLEY SUNDAYS/ THE MONKEES

The story of rock n’ roll is one in which a garage is the backdrop of a group of males who play their own instruments. Although they cover some other bands, their original music is what makes them rock star(s.)

Most don’t make it to the top. They have local support. Then they go back to other jobs. By now, you know the story of the big rock bands. At first, they can do no wrong. Then they start slipping. There is a drug to keep them calm on stage and then a drug to wake them up in the morning.

They continue to tour. They come to hate each other. They break up and part of the group starts playing bowling alleys and cocktail lounges. They play the songs that got them to the top. One may commit suicide. They play just enough to pay alimony. Further, they may have fathered a couple other kids and they play them for them. Touring may also mean traveling. So there is an underlying tension that they may be in an accident and die.

That was not true with the Monkees. A corporation held cattle calls for 4 young males that could sing and play instruments. The songs, outfits, hair style and related was organized by big business. Songs were written by professional writers as well as the music.

Music and lyrics rarely said anything about the Department of Defense, hard drugs, and actual sex. There had to be something in the song that grabbed the attention of the parents. It had to piss them off. However, coded words were there to keep the teen girls and boys to buy the record. So, honey really meant sperm.

The Monkees also meant a television show that included very little about nothing. It had a beginning, middle, and end. Are there really happy endings? Most girls in the plot were there for a short time and they said very little.

Somehow, the band wanted to get laid. Nothing was mentioned about birth control. At any rate, it was her fault. She was a groupie. In FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, Jennifer Jason Leigh was the first victim of a guy who just couldn’t get the money together to pay for an abortion.

She was the star. Fortunately, she ends with that rarity called a good guy. They are taking sex outer course slowly. Hopefully, they will stay together.

The Monkees finally died after a few seasons and periodically gathered together to do an oldies act. The story of the Monkees is the story of American capitalism. The stars are really workers too.

 On Military street in Benson (Omaha) when I was a kid most stores had individual owners. Then they didn’t. Frank’s, Rose hill Grocery, Louis, and a number of others became corporate stores. Further, gas stations had a grocery store, café, take-out, hardware and gas. The name was familiar because there were thousands all over the country.

Hey, hey, we are the Monkees and we are just monkeying around. We’re the new generation.

CD/ THE WINDS OF CHANGE/ BEACH BOYS

It is time to end this story and so we’ll talk about Jake. He was the barber and he saw change up close. Most of the time, boys got crew cuts or duck tails. They also bought Brylcream or Even Up.

As boys’ hair got long, they bought their girl friends in and Jake was in a rage. Girls were sitting on million dollar vaginas and they could own the world. Girls kept changing, Further, Jake hated cutting long hair. Finally, he went to my psychiatrist. My doctor pointed out that he was born too LATE. One time he really chopped my long hair and I quit.

He would speak real low when he was talking about sex. He clearly did not like Blacks and if a Black person would come in the shop, he would gash their hair. One of the most difficult times is when he was cutting my hair and his first wife came in and sat on the chairs. His hands started shaking and could hardly cut my hair. Later that day they were going to copulate. He joined the John Birch Society but that did not seem to help. He died in his mid 50’s. I moved away, but the barber shop is still there and the downtown of Benson gentrified. And so…let’s hope Jake found his way back home. Today, how much are we like Jake?  Is forever, forever? So what are you going to put on your tombstone? Mine has my name and GOOD VIBRATIONS/ STRAWBERRY FIELDS.

Prof. Joel Charles Snell, M.A.(Ret.)

Apple wood Hills

finis