Play Analysis
Director’s Play Analysis (Kiely)
First Steps in Preparation
First Read: General Impressions
This is an amazing story. I was interested from the beginning. This story happened close to where I live (in the town where I started my undergrad, actually) and I’ve never heard it. (In my research I discovered that she had her first flight at the Air Force Base in my hometown!)
General Beauty: At first glance what makes this play special
I’m drawn to the strong women characters. I LOVE a play based on a true story. I’m drawn to the Technical opportunities (and difficulties) that the isolation tank and airplane scenes provide.
Different Editions:
This is a new play. It was workshopped in 2017. It was part of the Powers New Voices Festival and the New Works Festival in 2018. It was produced at the Old Globe in 2019 and at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in 2020, but the 2020 run was shut down due to Covid. The script was published in April 2022.
Given Circumstances:
Time Period, Season
Cornfield- specifically ambiguous
Jerrie goes into the isolation tank- February 14, 1960, Winter
Jerrie at school- 1938
Jerrie before surgery- Early July 1937, Summer
Jerrie meets Jackie- 1943
Jackie’s pie conversation with her mother- 1943
Jackie reaches Mach 1, Jerrie meets Jack- May 18, 1953, Spring
Jerrie almost crashes- 1950s
News conference- August 18, 1960, Summer
Life magazine- August or September 1960, Summer
Jerrie and Jack- 1960
Astronettes- 1960
Program cancelled- July 1961
Meeting with congress- July 17, 1962, Summer
Russian woman in space- June 16, 1963, Summer
Jerrie goes to the Amazon- Mid 1960s
Jerrie in the Amazon- August 9, 1980, Dry
Location(s)
Cornfield- near Norman, Oklahoma
Jerrie goes into the isolation tank- Pensacola, Florida
Jerrie at school- Oklahoma
Jerrie before surgery- Sheppard Field, Wichita Falls, TX
Jerrie meets Jackie- Oklahoma
Jackie’s pie conversation with her mother- Oklahoma
Jackie reaches Mach 1, Jerrie meets Jack- in the play Oklahoma, in real life Miami, Florida
Jerrie almost crashes- Henderson Field Airport, Midway Atoll, US Minor Islands
News conference- Stockholm, Sweden
Life magazine- Oklahoma
Jerrie and Jack- Anywhere
Astronettes- Anywhere
Program cancelled- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Meeting with congress- Washington D.C.
Russian woman in space- Anywhere
Jerrie goes to the Amazon- Oklahoma
Jerrie in the Amazon- Amazon
Socio-economic-religious environment
Socio-economic
The Cobb family was probably upper middle class as they were able to afford planes.
https://allfamousbirthday.com/jerrie-cobb/ estimates that Jerrie Cobb’s net worth would be
approximately $1.5 million in 2022 were she still alive.
William Randolph Lovelace was probably lower upper class as he was a doctor during his
lifetime.
https://allfamousbirthday.com/jacqueline-cochran/ estimates the Jackie Cochran’s net worth would be approximately $1.5 million in 2022 if she were still alive.
Jack Ford was probably lower middle class to lower upper class during his lifetime.
https://networthpost.org/net-worth/victor-l-anfuso-net-worth/ estimates that Victor Anfuso’s net worth would be approximately $1.7 million in 2022 if he were still alive.
Joe D. Waggonner was probably lower to middle upper class in his lifetime.
Religious
Helena and Jerrie Cobb are devout Christians, most likely Baptist or Southern Baptist as that is
the most common religion in Oklahoma.
Both Jackie Cochran and Harvey Cobb reference their struggles with their faith.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/c
ochran-jacqueline-c-1910-1980 says that Jackie Cochran was a devout Roman
Catholic.
No other characters reference their religions specifically.
Important previous actions
Jerrie’s mother, father and sister all attended the University of Oklahoma. Jerrie’s sister is engaged to be married. She attended the same elementary school as Jerrie and they had the same 1st grade teacher, Mrs. White. One night when Jerrie was approximately 7 years old she was being babysat by her sister. She ran away from the house and spent the night in a cornfield near the Cobb home close to Norman, Oklahoma. Jerrie has a speech impediment and her family has been urging her to go to the doctor’s office to have a small piece of skin cut under her tongue. Jerrie refused but does eventually get the operation.
Men from the Mercury 7 space program were trained using the isolation tank in a private facility in Pensacola, Florida. The men were held in isolation for no more than 3 hours each and many of the men suffered from hallucinations and emotional trauma while in the tank.
Jackie Cochran won the Bendix race in 1938 and has set several aviation records. Amelia Earhart went missing in 1937. Dr. Lovelace and Jackie Cochran have worked together previously and she has provided the funding for the Mercury 13 project. Jackie was married at 12 years old. She also opened a makeup company.
Jerrie began flying at 10 years old. Her father, Harvey, was in the Army Corps. He is known to be a heavy drinker. Helena’s mother is a devout christian. Her father was a congressman and she had high hopes for her future with Harvey. She was disappointed. Jerrie has studied and memorized the parts of every plane she could get close to.
Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947. Jack Ford begins Fleetway International. He married Mary Ford in 1943. Jerrie earns three thousand hours of certified flying time in forty-one different airplanes and four world records in distance and altitude by 1953.
Jerrie is featured in Time Magazine in 1960. Twelve other women were chosen for the Mercury 12 project. In the mid 1960s, Jerrie begins humanitarian work in the Amazon and continues to do so for almost 40 years.
Getting Ready to talk to Designers
The World of the Play: (pgs 127-128 Kiely)
What does it look like?
Yellow, green, tall, maze, cornfields
Blue, green, shadow, round, blurry, isolation tank
Beige, brown, sharp, harsh, school
Grey, leather, windy, airfields
Light blue, floral, bibles, fabric, home with Helena
Red, white, stripe, gold, circus
White, spacious, isolated, spotlight, news conference
Red, white, leather, grey, contrast, clashing, Life Magazine (losing Jack)
Blue, dim, small, program cancelled
Red, white, blue, government seal, Congress
Red, gold, hammer and sickle, Russian in space
Grey, rainy, flashing, dark, storm, then Green, leaves, tall, like cornfields, Amazon
Sound like?
Wind, leaves moving, sound of walking on ground, cornfields
Water, silence, muffled, humming, microphone, isolation tank
School bell, writing, playground sound, children in unison, school
Wind, airplanes landing and taking off, airfields
Soft music, home with Helena
Papers shuffling, chattering, silence, news conference
White noise, buzzing or humming, head noise, program cancelled
Patriotic music, chattering, papers shuffling, mic feedback, Congress
USSR state anthem, space sounds, correspondence from flight, Russian in space
Plane beeping, storm, static, then Amazon sounds, wildlife, Amazon
Feel like?
Tight, tall, maze, cornfields
Vast, silent, muffled, isolation tank
Loud, chaotic, angry, school
Loud, big, things above us, airfields
Traditional, quiet, home
Scary, isolating, anxious, news conference
Sad, disappointing, earth-shattering, program cancelled
Scary, being ignored, anxious, Congress
On the wrong team, Russian in space
Scary, loud, shaky, dangerous then peaceful, beautiful, Amazon
Images, works of art, textures, clips of music
Cornfield
School
Program Cancelled
Jerrie Cobb
William Randolph Lovelace
Isolation Tank
Home
News Conference
Congress
Jackie Cochran
Life Magazine
Jerrie and Jack
Airplanes/
Airfields
Amazon Jungle/Storm
The Moment Chain:
Big Es/Little Es
Big Es
Jerrie's speech impediment
Jerrie meets Jackie as a child
Helena slaps Jerrie
The mission is cancelled
Congressional hearing
Little Es
Jerrie in the lab
Jerrie fights with her mother
Jerrie meets Jack
Stockholm conference/Jack breaks things off
Jerrie in the Amazon
Playing Space Analysis:
How does the space need to function?
The space must be able to quickly change functions. There needs to be a cornfield, an isolation tank, an airplane, an airfield and these places need to switch back and forth quickly.
Is it in the round, thrust proscenium?
All of our contest spaces will be proscenium.
Levels, entrances and exits
I'm considering a level upstage with steps on top, but I want the majority of the space to be empty. The idea of entrances and exits will be made through movement onstage into different playing areas. People will only leave stage to make character changes.
Size of playing space
The size of the playing space is determined by the Hirschi High School stage which is approximately 40 feet wide and 20 feet deep. We will stage in this amount of space at all venues.
Where is the audience?
We will play to the judges' seats. They are usually located center, left and right toward the back of the house.
What kind of space is needed for the actors to perform the actions of the play?
I think the less that we can put onstage, the better. We can bring on and take off items as the play goes on to create spaces, but leave the vastness of the stage for isolation. I am hoping to create scenery through projections, lighting and sound.
Idea/Theme
Meaning of title
Jerrie (and her father) believed that she had been promised a position as an astronaut (the moon). She was called the first female astronaut (by everyone, including Life Magazine) before she had gone into space, but the mission was cancelled and the dream was taken away from her. Jerrie gets her own "moon" in the Amazon. She fulfills her dream of being a pilot in a place where she can be herself and feel like she is serving her life's purpose.
The guiding idea
A woman's place vs. a man's place and the kind of woman who "breaks the mold." Helena represents what a woman is "supposed to be." She is a devout Christian homemaker who put her dreams aside to support her husband and raise her children. Divorce is not an option, even if you aren't happy. Jackie represents "the rebel woman" who does a man's job and has to do it better than them to be noticed. He rejects Christianity (making her a heathen), dresses like a man, and works outside of the home. Jerrie is a mix of the two "kinds" of women. She is a devout Christian who wants a man's job and can do it better than them. She is rejected by Jackie when she outshines her. She finds her happiness in solitude while Jackie desires fame. She closes off when she is disappointed while Jackie (and Helena) lash out.
The guiding image
A small woman in a large man's world using a man's giant machine. Jerrie is tiny in the cornfield. Her voice is tiny. Jerrie is a small woman surrounded by things that try to overshadow her.
The guiding metaphor
The sky as a metaphor for space. Space as a metaphor for isolation.
Style or genre
Psychological Realism
Realistic acting and storyline with a focus on the internal workings/struggles of an individual. Doesn't follow a realistic storyline as the mind embellishes some memories and we switch quickly between what is real and what is imagined/remembered.
What do you want the audience to leave feeling, knowing or understanding?
I want the women to walk out feeling like the can take on the world and the men to feel proud of the women in their life for how strong they are. I also want them to be interested in reading more about Jerrie Cobb and Jackie Cochran.
Central conflict
Women vs. Men
Women vs. Society
Women vs. Other Women
Getting Ready to Cast the Play
Characters
Protagonist: Jerrie
Antagonist: Jackie
Whose play is it? Jerrie
For each of the main characters:
Jerrie
Super objective:
I want to fly.
What are they willing to do to get what they want?
Anything.
Jerrie is willing to leave behind her family, friends, lovers, anyone and anything to fly, whether that is in the sky or in space.
List some actions that the character takes in order to get what they want:
Nine hours in the isolation tank and all NASA testing
Speak up for herself when she was scared
Work with men that treat her like she is beneath them
Fly in scary situations
Speak in front of reporters and congressmen
Go to the Amazon alone
General Decorum (how to they behave?)
Quiet, shy, soft-spoken (but will speak up when she is presented an opportunity to fly), driven by religion and knows her scripture, most at ease in the cockpit
Descriptive adjectives
Strong, shy, determined, talented, quiet, isolated, religious
Suffering: How does he/she suffer and what do they do to alleviate the suffering? Jerrie had a speech impediment as a child. She struggles to find her voice as an adult and gets run over for much of her life, including being denied the opportunity to go to space. She finally finds her voice and her place after being sabotaged by Jackie.
Jerrie suffers for being a woman in a male-dominated world/profession. She proves herself as better pilot to the men to even be considered equal.
Character back story, biographical sketch (good exercise for your student actors to do):
Jerrie was born to an upper middle class family in central Oklahoma. As a child, she had a speech impediment. The trauma of not being understood by others led her to be quiet and reserved for much of her childhood. Her mother was a stern, religious daughter of a congressman married to a pilot who drinks heavily. Jerrie is religious like her mother, but loves to fly like her father. She isn't interested in anything considered traditionally "feminine" like marriage or having children and being a housewife. She is fearless and an incredibly talented and brave aviator.
Lovelace
Super objective:
I want to put a Jerrie into space.
What are they willing to do to get what they want?
Lovelace risks Jerrie's well-being to prove that she is eligible for space. He allows Jackie to push him around because she funds the program. He is devastated when the program is cancelled, but attacks Jerrie because she can't get him what he wants.
List some actions that the character takes in order to get what they want
Pushes Jerrie farther than he would have pushed any man.
Puts up with Jackie because she is paying for the project
Wants to be the one to announce the results to the right people
Honest with Jerrie when the program is cancelled
General Decorum (how to they behave?)
Lovelace is professional and analytical. He relaxes a little with Jackie because they have known each other for so long. He treats Jerrie like an experiment and takes some anger out on her when the project is cancelled.
Descriptive adjectives
Professional, often unemotional, but lashes out when his emotions are high, analytical, methodical, logical
Suffering: How does he/she suffer and what do they do to alleviate the suffering?
Lovelace dedicates his life to sending others to space. He is devastated when the program is cancelled. He lashes out and then drops from contact when he isn't successful.
Character back story, biographical sketch (good exercise for your student actors to do):
Lovelace is a doctor that successfully tested the astronauts on the Mercury 7 mission. He has known Jackie since he was a pilot in WWII. He sees the potential in Jerrie to be the first female astronaut.
Jackie
Super objective:
I want to be a part of something big.
What are they willing to do to get what they want?
Anything.
Jackie is wealthy and she doesn't need friends. She is willing to spend whatever money and use whatever fame she has to get what she wants. She runs a cosmetic company. She wants to be a famous pilot, so she becomes one. She wants to be known as (or being attached to) the first female astronauts. When Jerrie becomes more famous/more well liked than her, she sabotages her chances and looks for the next person that she can manipulate, but that will give her the glory.
List some actions that the character takes in order to get what they want
Throws money at it
Uses her fame/talents to speak with powerful people
Bullies and manipulates those that are weaker than her/need her
Sabotages the entire program when she is no longer the face of it
Cuts ties with those that don't get her what she wants
General Decorum (how to they behave?)
Jackie is a talented pilot and she knows it. She is conceited about it. She loves the fame. She is good in front of a camera and knows how to use her fame to her advantage.
Jackie is commanding of others and when she isn't the center of attention or doesn't get what she wants, she is vengeful. She doesn't need anyone, even her husband.
Descriptive adjectives
Strong, detached, witty, conceited, brave, catty, rude, revengeful, commanding
Suffering: How does he/she suffer and what do they do to alleviate the suffering?
Jackie suffers for being a woman in a male-dominated world/profession. She proves herself as better pilot to the men to even be considered equal. She is only able to accomplish more and push people around because she has her husband's money to back her up.
Jackie is getting older and learning that she won't be allowed to do some things physically because of this. She hides this hurt and is vengeful when a younger woman takes the spotlight.
Character back story, biographical sketch (good exercise for your student actors to do):
Jackie a wealthy middle-aged woman who married very young. She was able to use her husband's money to further her ability to start a cosmetics company and become a pilot. She met Lovelace when she worked with the military in WWII. She uses her femininity when it is to her advantage and fights against it when it doesn't. She is quick to cross anyone that stands in her way. She doesn't not develop strong personal relationships with anyone. She looks for how each person in her life will work to advance her prerogative.
Harvey
Super objective:
What are they willing to do to get what they want?
List some actions that the character takes in order to get what they want
General Decorum (how to they behave?)
Descriptive adjectives
Suffering: How does he/she suffer and what do they do to alleviate the suffering?
Character back story, biographical sketch (good exercise for your student actors to do):
Helena
Super objective:
What are they willing to do to get what they want?
List some actions that the character takes in order to get what they want
General Decorum (how to they behave?)
Descriptive adjectives
Suffering: How does he/she suffer and what do they do to alleviate the suffering?
Character back story, biographical sketch (good exercise for your student actors to do):
Jack
Super objective:
What are they willing to do to get what they want?
List some actions that the character takes in order to get what they want
General Decorum (how to they behave?)
Descriptive adjectives
Suffering: How does he/she suffer and what do they do to alleviate the suffering?
Character back story, biographical sketch (good exercise for your student actors to do):
Relationship Web
Getting Ready for Rehearsals
Understand the Dramatic Action
Scene Score:
Aristotelian plot structure or Freytag breakdown (Kiely p159)
Dialogue analysis
Repetitive words
Speak
Isolation
Woman/Women
Pie
Pickles
Pray
Faith
God
Imagery
Cornfields
Hallucinations
Isolation
Sky
Space
Storms/Danger
Congress/American
Swallowing Emotions/Hiding Emotions
The Amazon
Sentence length
Jerrie's dialogue tends to be in short sentences because we are to believe that she has issues with speech and anxiety about speaking.
Lovelace's dialogue tends to speak in longer sentences because he is often explaining or justifying the situation.
Jackie's dialogue tends to be longer when speaking to men and much shorter and clipped when talking to Jerrie. She feels the men deserve her time, but Jerrie doesn't until she is talking to Jerrie after the congressional hearing. She has an opportunity to rub Jerrie's nose in what Jackie feels was a betrayal. She is sure to explain this to Jerrie in more detail.
Harvey speaks in long sentences to and about Jerrie, but is short and terse with his wife.
Helena speaks long-windedly about religion to Jerrie. She speaks in longer sentences when she is challenged, but gloats in shorter sentences when she believes she has the upper-hand.
Jack is a man of few words, but is quick to use his power over Jerrie to keep her from talking, as well.
The congressmen both speak in the longest blocks of text of anyone in the play.
Vocabulary
Structure of lines and speeches
The speech of the play is natural. The characters speak to one another as we do in real life. They often speak over one another. The only real exception to this rule is that Jerrie purposefully speaks anxiously, quietly and with reserve as a result of the trauma of having a speech impediment when she was young.
Short speeches vs long speeches
Most of the characters keep their dialogue short. Lovelace and the congressmen are the most long-winded of the main characters. Jackie tends to talk more around men but really lays it out when explaining her dominance over Jerrie after the congressional hearing.
Prose/poetry
The play is written in prose and as naturalistic speech.
Rhyming
The play does not rhyme.
Punctuation
The punctuation of the piece is important and the actors should take note of it. There are pauses to be noted at commas and periods. There are elipses where thought needs to continue when speech does not. Characters cut one another off and fight to be heard. This is all noted in the punctuation and should be honored in the acting of the piece.
Rate and Rhythm:
Dramaturgical Work:
Past Production History:
“They Promised Her the Moon” was developed and produced by Miranda Theatre Company in 2017.
“They Promised Her the Moon” was further developed at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley as part of their New Works Festival.
“They Promised Her the Moon” received its West Coast premiere on April 11, 2019 at The Old Globe, Barry Edelstein, Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director, and Timothy J. Shields, Managing Director
-https://laurelollstein.com/project/they-promised-her-the-moon/
University of Oklahoma
April 12 and April 15, 2012
OU is presenting the world premiere of “They Promised Her the Moon” by Laurel Ollstein through the Faith Broome Playwright in Residence Fellowship.
Miranda Theatre Company
May 15-27, 2017
NEW YORK — A new play focusing on a privately run program to test women for spaceflight in the early 1960s opens tonight (May 15) in the off-Broadway Theatre at St. Clements in New York. Preview performances started May 12, and the show will run until May 27.
"They Promised Her the Moon," produced by the Miranda Theatre Company, follows the story of Jerrie Cobb, a pilot who was part of an independent astronaut-testing program — women who came to be known as the Mercury 13, paralleling the first seven men selected for NASA's Mercury program, called the Mercury 7.
Cobb and other women passed physical testing equivalent to that done by NASA, which was run by Randy Lovelace, the NASA contractor who performed the tests on the official Mercury astronauts. However, Lovelace's program eventually ended and none of the women made it to space — America's first female astronauts weren't selected until 1978.
Tickets for "They Promised Her the Moon" are available online. Three performances will feature talk-back panels after the show:
― A discussion of the status of women in the media and popular imagination (May 16 after the 7 p.m. performance), featuring Ms. Magazine co-founder Joanne Edgar and news anchor Carol Jenkins.
― A look at the future of women in science, technology, engineering and math (May 21 after the 3 p.m. performance_, featuring Melissa Lane, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, and Girls Who Code co-founding president Nicole Valencia.
― And a conversation about the challenges of portraying famous women (May 22 after the 7 p.m. performance), featuring Amanda Quaid, who plays Jerrie Cobb, and Andrus Nichols, who plays Jackie Cochran, a pilot and sponsor of the Mercury 13 program.
https://www.space.com/36845-they-promised-her-the-moon-opening.html
Old Globe
April 6-May 12
Production stills
Program
https://www.theoldglobe.org/globalassets/pdfs/programs/18-19/moon-finalweb-april.pdf?id=34514
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
March 4-10, 2020
Cast List/Research Info
-https://theatreworks.org/201920-season/promised-her-the-moon/
Program
Reviews:
University of Oklahoma
It’s great and all to pay homage to past heroes, such as Jerrie Cobb. But quite frankly, this script was just boring.
Even with a solid production, I simply was not engaged in the story, and there were at least two characters who had no explanation for existence.
The costuming by costume design sophomore Melissa Perkins was well done and captured the time period.
The lighting and sound were fantastic and highly effective since they were the foundation for most of the settings.
The physical set on stage was very minimal, and there were few scenic elements — limited to four wooden crates that represented various podiums and cockpits, so the lighting and sound stepped in to represent the large aircraft.
The crew executed this very well. It was believable, and I felt that a plane was in the room.
Drama junior Lindsay Sawyer was effective in the lead role of Jerrie Cobb. Her portrayal of a young, passionate tomboy was on point.
Although she never left stage, Sawyer was able to believably transform from a child to an adult in seconds.
Drama junior Conner Wilson was a standout as a likable doctor and aeronautics enthusiast, Doctor Lovelace.
As the man responsible for the training of all astronauts, he and drama junior Kelcie Miles, who played Jackie Cochran — the money behind the training — had some great moments together.
Miles was very convincing as the figure of power calling the shots: likeable for the press, mean to everyone else and ultimately responsible for pulling the funding from Jerrie’s training.
Drama junior Riley Pierce as Harvey Cobb, Jerrie’s father, was also a standout. He portrayed a loving father with ease. He and Jerrie had some awe-worthy daughter and father moments together.
Miranda Theatre Company
"This story of strength and resilience is beautifully told in this insightful and humorous play [They Promised Her the Moon]. The performances are all top notch, some playing several characters. As directed by Producing and Artistic Director of the Miranda Company, Valentina Fratti brings this too little known story beautifully to life. Graham Kindred’s set and lighting design is simply perfect.Hopefully, this wonderful show, having run its course at St. Clement’s will soon find a new home it deserves."— Nancy Cohen Koan, Huffington Post
"They Promised Her the Moon, is an excellent piece of theatre. A story that deserves to be told, and that feels increasingly relevant given the gender politics of our age.... and Amanda Quaid’s central performance is nothing short of a joy."— Thomas Burn Scully, PopDust
"[They Promised Her the Moon] a solid story by Laurel Ollstein, impeccably directed by Valentina Fratti and skillfully acted. Ms. Quaid is sincerely convincing as a 12-year old as she is a barnstorming young lady, a NASA wannabe and a solo pilot maneuvering through the jungles of the Amazon. The rest of the cast provides just the right ensemble performances to bring us back and to remind us that even some things haven’t changed much."— Steve Nardoni, Theater Pizzazz
-https://www.mirandatheatrecompany.com/full-production-history
Miranda Theatre Company
This really would have been a more interesting play, if the focus had been on the two women and not the early life and affair she was suppose to have had with Jack Ford (the comedic and romantic John Russell). If Cobb had this affair, I could not find it and knowing the time this is set, I don’t see how, if this was common knowledge, how she would have been allowed into the space program, knowing the moral and ethic code of the time.
Also the play ends when Jackie Cochran dies, which is August 9, 1980. Cobb, who had a strong Christian background is smugly content. Wouldn’t a better ending have been when Sally Ride went into space in 1983 saying “well we finally did it,” or in 1986 when Sharon Christa McAuliffe died trying to go to space, stating “I guess it wasn’t my time to go home.” Both of these would have been more appropriate, from what I have read.
-https://t2conline.com/they-promised-her-the-moon-theres-a-better-story-hidden-inside-there/
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
The strength of the play rests in Mitchell’s ability to convincingly play everything from a little girl of 7 to a woman of 50. She delivers mightily, portraying a woman whose ambitions chafe at the expectations placed on women of that era (i.e., how will she manage a family if she’s galavanting in the clouds?).
In a humiliating moment, Cobb is forced to see news of the first woman in space, Russian Valentina Tereshkova, during the Space Race of the 1960s. Tereshkova was uniquely qualified if one considers skydiving and textile factory work a qualification.
The rest of the cast is strong, with four playing multiple characters. Ross is stellar as Cochran, portraying an inspiring and infuriating figure, one who refuses to live in a box that society tries to give her.
Fusco and Hiatt are sharp, in one moment playing characters who frustratingly analyze Cobb’s abilities based on her looks. And Sermol effectively plays a woman who is understandably guarded about her daughter’s ambitions, a woman who has a bible verse ready for every occasion.
Finally, Marker’s characters carry a rich swagger, reminding us that the ceiling Cochran and Cobbs bump up against seems to be made of cement more than glass.
All these proceedings are strongly assisted by a fantastic soundscape from designer Jane Shaw, filling the space with zipping planes and static headset communication. Christopher Fitzer’s multi-layered set offers some surprising touches
-https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/10/theatreworks-flies-us-to-a-captivating-moon-in-palo-alto/
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
This Northern California premiere gets an expertly designed and deployed TheatreWorks Silicon Valley production directed by Giovanna Sardelli. The scenes whip along and overlap, with a host of characters popping on and off like cue cards in Cobb’s life story. Dan Hiatt plays, among others, her adoring father, yet another ex-pilot who has taken to drink and selling Oldsmobiles. Luisa Sermol is Jerrie’s Scripture-spouting mother praying her daughter will come to her senses, get out of the cockpit and get married. Craig Marker is Jerrie’s dashing but diffident love interest hiding behind his aviator shades.
Christopher Fitzer’s barrel-like, multilevel set, lit with vertical bands of light and a starry sky above by Steven B. Mannshardt, creates a sense of spacious possibilities and the rigorous discipline required to reach them. Doors and drawers are embedded in the set’s corrugated walls, concealing the tools of the pilot’s trade. Jane Shaw’s sound design comes roaring to life when Jerrie is in flight somewhere, more than once in perilous conditions.
Everything fits snugly into place, right down to the actors’ crisp line deliveries and the hair-trigger space and time management onstage. That’s both the well-engineered appeal and the self-limiting liability of the evening. The characters make their presence felt in crystal-clear ways and then keep repeating what they’ve already said and shown us. The dialogue is studded with homilies and nuggets of pat wisdom: “Women know isolation better than anyone.” “I never ask questions that get no for an answer.” “Leave the stratosphere to the men.”
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley
Craig Marker smoothly transitions between portraying John Glenn’s slimy machismo and the flirtiness of Jack Ford, a flight transport guy who takes an immediate interest in young Cobb and becomes a mentor/lover. Anthony Fusco shines as Randy Lovelace, lead of the Women in Space Program, also called Mercury 13. The chemistry between a mentor and mentee never sizzled as much as it does between Cobb and the legendary pilot Jackie Cochran — played to perfection by Stacy Ross. In many ways, this show is the story of these two women.
There is plenty of impressive gadgetry and lighting in the production. The story alternates between Cobb’s long and suffocating stay in the isolation tank and flashbacks of her life. I chuckled at some cool automated rigs that were in play during the show.
When I spoke with Ollstein ahead of the opening, she reminded me of the continuing significance of this story: “If you remember the Mercury 7 guys you will remember: They all looked alike. Identical.” I cracked up at this but only because the image conjured up in my mind is that of a typical corporate board, bulk of our Supreme Court justices (but we have Ruth Bader Ginsburg so we can’t complain) or indeed any political aggregation.
On opening night, the end of “They Promised Her the Moon” received a standing ovation that I thought continued past mere politeness. Remarkable, given the visceral reaction it evokes portraying the injustices of the time. But it also brings satisfaction that yet another bold story was told. By two women no less.
-https://stanforddaily.com/2020/03/15/women-lift-women-in-they-promised-her-the-moon/
Period of the Play:
Texas Summer 1937
List of 1937 10 Major News Events in History
Amelia Mary Earhart mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during a circumnavigation flight
The German airship Hindenburg bursts into flames while attempting to moor at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
Walt Disney premieres "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves"
Aviator Howard Hughes breaks his own transcontinental flight speed record when he flies from Los Angeles to Newark.
British author J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel “The Hobbit” was published
First Blood Bank Opens in Chicago
1937 unemployment continued to drop to 14.3% dropping some 6.7% from the previous year. And the Engineering feat of the Golden Gate bridge opening gave Americans great pride, and the Millionaire Inventor / Industrialist set a new air record by completing the flight from Los Angeles to New York in 7 hours 28 seconds. After a number of strikes in the Auto industry General Motors were forced to recognize the UAW United Auto Workers Union. The pride of Germany the flying ship Hindenburg exploded while attempting to hook itself to a mooring post and signaled the end of the flying ship as a major form of transport, and the immortal words of reporter Herb Morrison who was filming the Hindenburg " Oh The Humanity! The Humanity " were shown and heard around the world. One of the unsolved mysteries of modern times the disappearance of Amelia Earhart also occurred in this year.
What Events Happened in 1937
United States --- Amelia Earhart Disappeared
Amelia Mary Earhart mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during a circumnavigation flight
1. Amelia Mary Earhart started her career during World War I as a nurses aid in Toronto, Canada looking after wounded soldiers ( Mostly as a Cook )
2. 1920 after saving by working multiple jobs including photographer, truck driver, and stenographer she saved the $1,000 needed to take flying lessons
3. 1923, Amelia Earhart became the 16th woman to be issued a pilot's license
4. 1928, Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the North American continent and back
5. 1932 she became the the first woman to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic
6. 1937 On June 1 Amelia Earhart and her flight navigator Fred Noonan take off from Miami attempting a round-the-world flight.
7. At midnight GMT on the July 2nd after travelling 22,000 miles they take off from Lae, New Guinea for the final 7,000 miles, 1st stop would be Howland Island in the Pacific.
8. The last recorded radio broadcast from Amelia Earhart was at 8:43 am stated "We are on the line 157 337" , she was never heard from again
9. After multiple searches Amelia Earhart was declared legally dead on January 5, 1939.
After more than 70 years and using the latest technology her plane has still not been found and Myths and urban legends abound, but her legacy of the pioneer spirit she showed and the records she achieved are a tribute to her spirit of adventure.
United States --- Hindenburg
The German airship Hindenburg bursts into flames while attempting to moor at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
1. 1931 Construction of the The LZ 129 Hindenburg starts as the largest German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship built by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH ( Zeppelin Company )
2. The Hindenburg was 803.8 feet long with an envelope of (7,062,000 cubic feet) filled with Hydrogen gas which is highly flammable to provide the lift
3. Forward and Reverse power from four Daimler-Benz 16-cylinder diesel engines
4. 1936 The Hindenburg makes 17 round trips across the Atlantic Ocean 10 trips to the U.S. and seven to Brazil
5. On May 3 The Hindenburg leaves Frankfurt, Germany bound for Lakehurst, NJ, United States
6. At 7:21 PM on May 6th while attempting to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station the Hindenburg bursts into flames killing 35 passengers, crew and 1 ground crew, when watching the disaster ( Video below ) it is amazing any passengers and crew survived.
The incident together with other high profile problems in the Airship Industry shattered public confidence in passenger-carrying rigid airships and marked the end of the era for Airships.
Cost of Living 1937
Average Cost of new house $4,100.00
Average wages per year $1,780.00
Average Monthly Rent $26.00 per month
Cost of a gallon of Gas 10 cents
A loaf of Bread 9 cents
A LB of Hamburger Meat 12 cents
Average Price for new car $760.00
Toothpaste 35 cents
Couple of examples of houses advertised for sale
Port Authur, Texas --- 5 room Cottage home and bath in town center $2,250
Other Major Events From 1937
United States --- Howard Hughes
Aviator Howard Hughes breaks his own transcontinental flight speed record when he flies from Los Angeles to Newark.
On January 19, millionaire aviator Howard Hughes broke his own transcontinental flight record that he had set in the previous year. Hughes flew his monoplane a total of 2,490 miles from Los Angeles, California to Newark, New Jersey in 7 hours, 28 minutes, and 25 seconds. The record was nearly two hours shorter than his previous record. Hughes averaged a speed of 332 miles per hour. His flight was successful but it was believed that he had a few problems with his oxygen mask during the flight.
United States --- Ronald Reagan
Actor and future U.S. President Ronald Reagan makes his film debut in "Love Is on the Air."
United States - Waterman Aerobile
The "Waterman Aerobile" flying car has its first flight.
Waldo Waterman's flying car the "Waterman Aerobile" has its first flight during February . The Aerobile was a tailless monoplane with high wings and tricycle landing gear. The design and creation of the Aerobile was the result of Waterman working on plane prototypes since the 1910s.
-https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1937.html
Roosevelt's Second Inauguration
Economy enters a second depression
Hindenburg
On May 6 the Hindenburg explodes at Lakehurst, N.J., killing 36 people
Recession of 1937-38 begins
Hundreds of "hunger marchers" are turned away from the White House after trying to petition for employment at a minimum wage
Unemployment rises to 20 percent
There were more labor strikes in 1937 than in any previous year. More than 4000 strikes occured costing 28.4 million man-days of work
Science and Technology
Dupont pattens nylon invented by Wallace H. Carothers on Februay 16
May 6: The Zepplin Hindenberg crashes at Lakehurst Naval Station, N.J., killing 35
Polystyrene is offered to consumers in the U.S. by Dow Chemical.
Arts and Culture
Popeye the Sailor Man :Cartoon
Books Published in 1937
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
Gone With The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell, Novel
You Can't Take it With You, by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, Drama
July 2: Amelia Earhart's plane goes down some 35-100 miles off the coast of Howland Island. She is presumed to have died attempting to be the first woman to fly around the world
Songs Released in 1937
Terraplane Blues, Robert Johnson
The Dipsy Doodle
Donkey Serenade, Allen Jones
Marie, Tommy Dorsey
Dipsy Doodle, Russ Morgan
Bei Mir Bist Du Schon, the Andrews Sisters
Boo Hoo, Guy Lombardo
They Can't Take That Away From Me, Fred Astaire (?)
The Joint is Jumpin, Fats Waller
Carelessly Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday
Sweet Leilani
If You ain't Got the Dough Re Mi, Woody Guthrie (recorded by Alan Lomax 1940)
Goodnight My Love, Benny Goodman
Films Released in 1937
Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleepy, Sneezy, et al
Dick Tracy Serial Chapter I, The Spider Strikes
-https://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s2/Time/1937/1937fr.html
Oklahoma 1938
List of 1938 Major News Events in History
The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later known as the March of Dimes, was founded
Orson Welles's radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds is broadcast, causing mass panic in the eastern United States
Superman makes his first appearance during April when Action Comics #1 is published (issue dated June 1938)
What happened in 1938 Major News Stories include
The First use of A seeing eye dog
Minimum Hourly Rate of 25 cents
Germany begins persecution of Jews
Howard Hughes sets a new Round The World Record of 3 days, 19 hours
1938
following a number of years of success with the US economy a recession hit which caused unemployment to rise back to 19%.
In Europe Germany was continuing it's strategy of persecuting the Jews and occupation in Czechoslovakia
The law changed in the US that meant the minimum hourly wage was 40 cents per hour for a 44 hour working week. On October 30th Orson Wells dramatization of "War of The Worlds" radio programme caused panic when it was broadcast more like a news breaking story than a play.
Most of the world cheered when Germany's Max Schmeling was defeated by a knock out in the first round by the great Joe Louis for the heavyweight championship
What Events Happened in 1938
United States -- March of Dimes
1. The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later known as the March of Dimes, was founded on January 3rd.
The non-profit organization was established by President Franklin Roosevelt (who had contracted polio at the age of 39 in 1921) to combat the polio epidemic that mainly impacted infants and children, causing paralysis or death.
United States --- War of the Worlds
Orson Welles's radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds is broadcast, causing mass panic in the eastern United States.
The War of the Worlds was a radio adaption of the H.G. Wells' novel of the same name. It was directed by future film genius Orson Welles for the Mercury Theatre on the Air radio show on October 30th .
The Radio drama began with an announcement that let listeners know that it was not a real news broadcast, however many listeners missed the disclaimer as they were switching stations from another program. The play was broadcast without commercials and was done in a style that emulated real breaking news reports, creating a realistic feeling to the drama. The reports chronicled an alien invasion of the Eastern United States.
After the play had ended, newspapers reported that the broadcast had incited a mass panic in the country, stating that many believed the hoax to be real. While it is true that some listeners were disturbed by the fake reports, there was no evidence of a mass panic taking place. In reality, not very many people had actually listened to the program and it is thought that many of the reports were made up by newspapers who had been angry that the booming business of radio was increasingly taking a large portion of their ad revenue.
Cost of Living 1938
Average Cost of new house $3,900.00
Average wages per year $1,730.00
Average Monthly Rent $27.00 per month
Cost of a gallon of Gas 10 cents
A loaf of Bread 9 cents
A LB of Hamburger Meat 13 cents
Average Price for new car $763.00
Blanket $5.00
Kellogs Corn Flakes 3 Pkgs 25 cents
Mixed Nuts 19 Cents per pound
Pork Loin Roast 15 cents per pound
Channel Cat Fish 28 cents per pound
Other Major Events From 1938
Atlantic Ocean - RMS Queen Mary Speed Record
1. The RMS Queen Mary breaks the record for the fastest passenger liner to cross the Atlantic Ocean during August of 1938.
3. It was bested by the SS Normandie in 1937 but the RMS Queen Mary reclaimed its title with the fastest Eastbound and Westbound Atlantic crossings the following year. The honor was unofficially known as the Blue Riband.
United States - Superman's First Appearance
The popular comic superhero Superman makes his first appearance during April when Action Comics #1 is published (issue dated June 1938). The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster in 1933 when they were teenagers and it was one of the first major superhero characters. Siegel and Shuster created the Superman comic until they were fired in 1947 and subsequently made very little money off the character as they had sold their rights for $130. The Action Comics #1 issue that first featured Superman is considered one of the most valuable comic books ever created and has sold for more than $3 million.
United States - Agricultural Adjustment Act
The U.S. Congress passes the Second Agricultural Adjustment Act during February. The law was created as a replacement for the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 which had been deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the United States v. Butler case during 1936. The act was a part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal program and it mandated price support for corn, cotton, and wheat in order to keep the supply regular in times of low production. This was necessary at the time as economic and environmental conditions, like the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl were disrupting the farming industry. It also established temporary support for other crops until 1940 and created the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation.
United States --- Fair Labor Standards Act
Fair Labor Standards Act ( Wages and Hours Bill ) passes regulations "labor of persons under eighteen years of age"
Many believe that the Fair Labor Standards Act was one of the defining laws of the New Deal and one of the more important laws to come out of the Great Depression in the United States.
The Fair Labor Standards Act did several important things:
1. It defined the maximum work week as forty-four hours in a seven day week.
2. It created a national minimum wage.
3. It made employers pay employees "time and a half" for overtime work in certain jobs.
4. It also stopped "oppressive" child labor in most cases.
The law had been discussed in several forms prior to its adoption , but proponents were afraid that the conservative Supreme Court would strike it down as unconstitutional as they had done before with several liberal measures that were intended to curb the Great Depression.
Germany --- Nazi Germany Escalation
Germany begins its persecution of Jews
10. It was clear that these actions were building up to the outbreak of World War II that would start the next year, and the Nazis were also accelerating their persecution of the Jews that would become the Holocaust and kill millions. In the next year more and more Jewish people would be sent to ghettos and concentration camps where millions would die from the conditions or be killed.
Hughes Breaks Around the World Record
Howard Hughes breaks the around-the-world flight record during July. Hughes and his four-person crew flew a Lockheed 14 Super Electra for 14,672 miles. The whole trip took 3 days, 19 hours, and 17 minutes. Hughes and his crew began their trip in New York City and made stops in Paris, Moscow, Omsk, Yakutsk, Fairbanks, and Minneapolis before returning to New York City. Following the flight Hughes was celebrated with a ticker-tape parade through New York City. The around-the-world flight was just the latest in a string of aviation accomplishments that Hughes had been pursuing throughout the 1930s.
United States --- Civil Aeronautics Authority
The Civil Aeronautics Authority is established by the United States government.
During June , the United States government created the Civil Aeronautics Authority with the passage of the Civil Aeronautics Act. The purpose of the act was to create an independent board to regulate and oversee the safety of non-military aeronautics. The newly created agency would also be tasked with the investigation of accidents, crashes, and complaints related to civil aviation. The development of this authority was important in that it gave the fledgling civil aeronautics industry federal oversight to help legitimize and standardize civil aviation practices.
-https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1938.html
Howard Hughes flies around world in record time in a Lockeed Vega--3 days, 19 hours, 8 minutes, and 10 seconds.
The 30s Jukebox
Our Town by Thorton Wilder opens at the Henry Miller Theatre in NYC
The Adventures of Dick Tracy
Songs released in 1938
A Tisket A Tasket, Chuck Webb and Ella Fitzgerald
Begin the Beguine, Benny Goodman
Bei Mir Mist Du Shon, The Andrews Sisters
Stompin' at the Savoy, Benny Goodman
I Got Rhythm , Benny Goodman Sextet and Lionel Hampton
Flat Foot Floogie with the Floy Floy, Slim and Slam (Slim Gaillard and Leroy Stewart
Zing Went the Strings of my Heart, Judy Garland
The Blues ain't Nothin..., Georgia White
I'm Gonna Lock My Heart, Billie Holiday
Pulitzer Prizes awarded:
drama— Our Town by Thornton Wilder
-https://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s2/Time/1938/1938fr.html
Oklahoma 1943
List of 1943 Major News Events in History
Due to shortages America sees it's first rationing
The Glenn Miller Orchestra provided the most popular music of the time.
1943
Following American involvement in the war manufacturers around the US became as efficient at producing war machines as they had been producing other goods with companies like ford and GM managing to change from cars to bombs and aircraft engines and at the same time due to the number of men overseas fighting the war using more women for manufacturing a total of 18 million women were employed.
What Events Happened in 1943
World War II 1943
In the United States, it is announced that shoe rationing Canned food, meat, cheese, butter and cooking oils will go into effect
Cost of Living 1943
Average Cost of new house $3,600.00
Average wages per year $2,000.00
Average Monthly Rent $40.00 per month
Cost of a gallon of Gas 15 cents
Average Price for a new car $900.00
Bottle Coca Cola 5 cents
Army Doctor/Nurses Kit $1.98
World War II Model Plane Kits $1.00 for five
World War II Plane Models From 23 cents
United States - Steel One-Cent Coin
1. The US Mint begins producing the one-cent coin in steel due to copper shortages during World War II. Copper was being used for the created of ammunition and other military items.
3. The pennies had the same design as the regular copper penny which was introduced in 1909.
4. The steel pennies were made with low-grade steel and coated with zinc. They had previously been made with a 95 percent copper-based bronze.
-https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1943.html
History Has Forgotten This Bizarre Oklahoma Event From 70 Years Ago
One of the most bizarre events during World War II didn’t happen overseas, it happened right here in the small town of Boise City, Oklahoma. On July 6, 1943, Oklahoma became the only town in the United States that was bombed by airplanes during the war. As bizarre as that sounds, it happened. Read on to find out more about this forgotten event from over 70 years ago.
Boise City is located in the Oklahoma Panhandle region and is the only continental American town to be bombed during World War II.
Jimmy Emerson DVM/Flickr
On July 5, 1943, four B-17 Bombers left Dalhart Army Air Base in Texas for what was supposed to be a routine training exercise.
The planes somehow took a 45-mile detour and instead of bombing their target in Conlen, Texas, they bombed the town of Boise City.
The practice target in Texas looked very similar to the courthouse square in Boise City, each lit by four lights on each corner. Just after midnight, the town of Boise City awoke to the loud sounds of explosions.
The air raid lasted for over 30 minutes, damaging a few buildings and putting a few large craters in the ground. Luckily, no injuries were reported from the practice bombs.
-https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/oklahoma/bizarre-event-ok/
On This Day in 1943: Record Rainfall in Oklahoma Begins
It's no secret that spring comes with its fair share of storminess, but nothing could’ve prepared Oklahoma for the deluge on their horizon more than 70 years ago.
May of 1943 set a new level of rainfall records untapped for Oklahoma at the time. In fact, the heaviest rainfall started on May 7 and carried over until May 11, 1943. A big factor of the flooding that ensued during that month was that neighboring streams were already on the high side in terms of water levels. This was only exacerbated by the 5+ inches that fell over much of the state during those days, with the eastern counties hit the worst.
McAlester, Okla., recorded nearly 13 inches of rainfall during this first wave of storms with the second wave rushing in between May 16 to May 20. The second wave of showers was similar to the first; more regions recorded more than 5 inches of rainfall with one city in the eastern quadrant reporting over 13 inches. Eastern Oklahoma was battered by the storms so badly that a total of 26 people lost their lives due to flooding from both events.
This insurmountable flooding resulted in nearly $900,000 in damages, with both the North Canadian and Canadian Rivers receiving the brunt of the damage. Livestock and property damages accounted for more than $300,000 of the total damages.
The record rainfall also crossed state lines. Records were broken along the Arkansas River as it crested at approximately 41.8 feet, the highest on record during this time. The river would remain at flood stage until June 4, 1943. As for Oklahoma, May of 1943 would break the previous record for the wettest month of May at the time, with the eastern region recording an average rainfall of 14.26 inches and Miami, Okla., reporting a total of 23.95 inches of rainfall.
-https://www.weatherbug.com/news/On-This-Day-in-1943-Record-Rainfall-in-Oklahoma-B
1950
List of 1950 Major News Events in History
Korean War begins when North Korea invaded South Korea in June
United States -
Diner's Club issues the first credit cards.
President Harry Truman sends United States military personnel to Vietnam to aid French forces
Albert Einstein warns that nuclear war could lead to mutual destruction
Diner's Club issues the first credit cards ( Made with Cardboard )
1950
Year In History including
James Dean big break comes with Pepsi Commercial.
1950 was the start of the fast changes that would be seen in the next 2 decades , the great depression was becoming a faint memory and families were moving out to the suburbs, kids watched howdy doody on 12 inch black and white TV sets and spent Saturday afternoons watching cartoons at Cinema matinees , times were gentler with little violence and the consumer revolution was about to start in a big way, and the man of the household became the sole breadwinner. The median family income was $3,300 a year and milk was still delivered to the doorstep.
Cost of Living 1950 - How Much things cost
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.09%
Average Cost of new house $8,450.00
Average wages per year - $3,210.00
Average Cost of a new car - $1,510.00
Ball Point Pen - 25 cents
Samsonite Case - $25.00
Clock Radio - $59.95
Baby Diapers ( Cotton ) - From $2.79
Children's Tricycle - From $14.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 18 cents
Korean War begins when North Korea invaded South Korea in June
The Korean War begins when North Korea invaded South Korea in June . The country had previously been divided after the end of World War II with the North becoming Communist and the South remaining Capitalist. After the initial division each side had indicated that they wanted to unify the country under their preferred ideology but only small attacks had been made. Full on civil war began after the North launched a full invasion and eventually captured the South's capital of Seoul. Not long after the war began, it became an international conflict when the United States and United Nations sent troops to help the South and China began helping the North. The war ended in 1953 when the two countries settled on maintaining the original division
American troops and North Korean forces fight each other for the first time in the Korean War during the Battle of Osan.
In July American troops and North Korean forces fought against each other for the first time in the Battle of Osan. The Korean War had only just begun in June when North Korea launched a full scale invasion of the South. Only a few U.S. troops had arrived in Korea by the time the Battle of Osan began, and they were considered largely unprepared to face the North Koreans. During the battle, the North Koreans quickly moved in on the U.S. forces and the Americans decided to withdraw from the fighting. Unfortunately, the withdrawal was uncoordinated and in the confusion the U.S. Troops suffered many casualties. The aftermath of the battle revealed that a combination of outdated equipment and a lack of organization would likely make it difficult for the Americans to win against the more well-prepared and organized North Korean forces.
Diner's Club issues the first credit cards.
1. The first independent credit card company is created by Frank McNamara in February .
2. The first cards were made with cardboard and the plastic versions did not appear until the 1960s.
3. The Diners Club credit card was the first multi-purpose charge card and within a year of beginning operations the company had over 40,000 members.
4. Soon after that businesses in other countries began to accept the Diners Club Card as a form of payment, making it the first international credit membership in 1953.
5. By the end of the decade, over one million people were members in 1959.
Part of our Collection of Toys 1950
Adding Machine From The 1950s Price: $1.62
Youngsters love it for playing store. Accurate and dependable enough to take the headaches out of addition for older people, too. Older children can use it to solve homework addition problems. Even Mom finds it useful for her household accounts. Takes four column figures, adds up to 9,999.
Popular Culture 1950
James Dean gets his break when he appears in a Pepsi Commercial
First Peanuts Comic Strip appears in newspapers across the U.S. for the first time.
Popular Films
Cinderella
Samson and Delilah
Sunset Blvd
Father of The Bride
Annie Get Your Gun
Popular Music
Gary & Bing Crosby
Nat King Cole
Sammy Kaye
Andrews Sisters
Popular TV
The Lone Ranger
The Ed Sullivan Show
-https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1950.html
Oklahoma Spring 1953
List of 1953 Major News Events in History
The Korean War ends after three years and one month
Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the President of the United States
Salk gives himself and his family the polio vaccine
Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay perform the first successful ascent to the summit of Mount Everest
Queen Elizabeth II crowned queen of England on June 2nd
What happened in 1953
First color television sets go on sale
First Corvette car goes on sale
First James Bond novel Published
1953
saw the growth of the buy now pay later mentality with car makers leading the way by allowing longer and longer periods to pay for your new car.
The unions gained strength with more and more workers belonging to unions, with wage and price controls ended and unemployment at 2.9% the increases in standard of living continued to grow and appear to have no boundaries.
A teachers average salary was $4,254 and a pound of round steak was 90 cents. The first color television sets appear selling for $1,175, and transistor radios start to appear for sale.
Cost of Living 1953 - How Much things cost
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 0.82%
Average Cost of new house $9.550.00
Average wages per year - $4,000.00
Average Cost of a new car - $1,650.00
Average Cost of Rent $85.00 per month
LB of Hamburger Meat 53 cents
Kodak Brownie Flash Six-20 $13.00
Eggs per dozen - 27 cents
Chain Saw $225.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 20 cents
Part of our Collection of Toys 1953
Mickey Mouse Phonograph Price $9.95
Portable and battery operated. Safe for children. No wires, no plugs. Automatically starts and stops. Has Vani-tone Volume Control. Comes in official Mickey Mouse Club carrying case including batteries.
Korea --- The Korean War Ends
11. 1953 - US President Eisenhower informs the Chinese that he would not be afraid to use nuclear weapons or invade China in order to end this, North Korea decides to allow voluntary repatriation
During the Korean War 33,629 US troops, about 3,000 UN troops, about 50,000 South Koreans, and an estimated 1.5 million Communists from China and North Korea died.
Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the President of the United States
Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated as the United States president during January . Republican Eisenhower and his running mate Richard Nixon defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson with a total of 442 electoral votes to 89 and a popular vote of 55.2 percent to 44.3 percent. Eisenhower had previously been known for his service as a five-star general during World War II, eventually becoming the Supreme Allied Commander. He also acted as a Chief of Staff for the Army under President Truman, the governor of U.S. occupied Germany after WWII, the president of Columbia University and the Supreme Commander of NATO forces. During his two-term presidency he was credited with creating the U.S. highway system, strengthening Social Security, easing tensions with the U.S.S.R., creating NASA, helping to fully desegregate the Armed Forces, and signing some of the first modern civil rights laws.
Popular Culture
Playboy Magazine's 1st issue features Marilyn Monroe as its first cover girl and nude centerfold.
Popular Films
Peter Pan premieres
The War of The Worlds
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Marilyn Monroe
Popular TV
Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet
I Love Lucy
The Lone Ranger
Popular Singers
Percy Faith
Perry Como
Frankie Laine
Patti Page
Tony Bennett
Nat King Cole
Queen Elizabeth II crowned queen of England on June 2nd in UK.
Queen Elizabeth II's coronation took place June 2nd in the United Kingdom. The coronation was held at Westminster Abbey where thousands of guests gathered to witness the historical event. Elizabeth's father King George VI had passed away during February of the previous year, and not long after his death Elizabeth began her duties as a monarch. She was not formally crowned until the coronation as it was tradition to allow several months to pass for mourning of the previous monarch. It was the first coronation service to be broadcast on television.
double-helix discovery
James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announce discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA.
-https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1953.html
Florida Winter 1960
List of 1960 Major News Events in History
Soviet missile shoots down the US U2 spy plane
The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers are going to be sent to Vietnam
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into law
The first televised U.S. Presidential debate takes place between Kennedy and Nixon
The classic American novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee was published
John F Kennedy wins presidential Election
What happened in 1960 Major News Stories
include US Enters Vietnam War
John F Kennedy wins presidential Election
Chubby Chequer and The twist start a new dance craze
Soviet missile shoots down the US U2 spy plane
Aluminum Cans used for the first time
The US announces 3,500 American soldiers are going to be sent to Vietnam
Xerox introduces the first photocopier
1960
The cold war continued to become colder as the two sides distrusted the other more and tried to influence other parts of the world. John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson won the Presidency with one of the smallest margins in history ( 113,000 votes ) out of 68.3 million.
The sexual revolution of the 60's had begun with the use of birth control pills and Hugh Hefner opening the first of his Playboy clubs in Chicago.
The "Flintstones" is shown on television for the first time and movies this year include "The Magnificent Seven" and "Psycho" .
France tests its first atomic bomb and joins those countries with nuclear bomb technology.
The US sends the first troops to Vietnam following the French withdrawal in 1954 in the fight against communist North Vietnam.
Cost of Living 1960 - How Much things cost
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.46%
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.1%
Average Cost of new house $12,700.00
Average Monthly Rent $98.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 25 cents
Average cost new car $2,600.00
23 inch Television $219.95
Piaggio / Vespa Scooter $319.95
Can of Beef Ravioli 30 cents
Loaf of Bread 20 cents
Mens Electric Shaver $20.30
Polaroid Land Camera, looking back it seems quite expensive but this was the only way to see your photo nearly instantly Polaroid Camera $93.45
Vietnam --- Vietnam War
The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers are going to be sent to Vietnam
US Presidents starting with Dwight D. Eisenhower believing in the Domino Theory / Effect that if one country fell to communism each country with borders would be more likely to fall, combined with the financial / Military backing of the Soviet Union and China of North Vietnam. Over the next few years the war escalated on both sides eventually ending in 1973 when the US pulled out of Vietnam following a North Vietnam Victory
USA -- Pioneer 5 Spacecraft
NASA launches the Pioneer 5 space probe on March 11. The purpose of its mission was to travel between the orbits of Earth and Venus in order to gather information about deep space between the two planets. The space craft measured the interplanetary magnetic field and gathered information about ionization and solar flare particles. It successfully completed its mission and stopped transmitting data back to Earth by April of that year. In June, Pioneer 5 was able to establish communications with Earth at a then record 22.5 million miles away, but contact with the craft was lost after that point.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into law on May 6th. The purpose of the law was to close loopholes from the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and dealt primarily with voter disenfranchisement. The act created some penalties for anyone who tried to obstruct voter registration and extended the life of the Civil Rights Commission which had been set to expire. It also established federal inspection of local voter registration polls in an effort to counter-act discriminatory laws in the South that worked to disenfranchise voters on a racial basis.
United States - First TV Presidential Debate
The first televised U.S. Presidential debate takes place between Kennedy and Nixon.
U.S. Presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon take part in the first ever televised presidential debate during September . The debate was held in Chicago and the two discussed domestic issues. In this historic debate, Kennedy seemed to have an advantage over his opponent as he appeared more collected in contrast to Nixon's visible nerves. Three more debates were held where Nixon was able to recover his composure. Kennedy would go on to win the election in November and Nixon would eventually win the presidential election in 1968.
United States --- JFK Wins Presidential Election
John F Kennedy wins presidential Election.
Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy wins the United States Presidential election on Tuesday, November 8th after defeating current Vice President, Richard Nixon, at the polls. Kennedy was the first Catholic and the youngest person to be elected at 43 years old. He was a Harvard educated, World War II veteran who came from one of the country's wealthiest families. He previously held office as a U.S. Senator for the state of Massachusetts. Kennedy became a wildly popular leader, despite his narrow win against Nixon, as he faced tense situations and private and public drama during the early years of the cold war. He was assassinated, tragically, in November of 1963 .
USA -- Psycho Film Premieres
The classic suspenseful horror film “Psycho” premiered on June 16th in New York City. The film was produced and directed by legendary film maker Alfred Hitchcock and it was considered the mother of modern slasher films. It starred Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, and Martin Balsam. It was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Supporting Actress for Janet Leigh. The plot revolved around a psychologically disturbed motel owner and his Mother and the mystery surrounding the murder of a motel guest. It was based on the 1959 book with the same title by Robert Bloch.
USA -- To Kill a Mockingbird Published
The classic American novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee was published on July 11th. It was Lee’s first novel and was an immediate success, earning her critical acclaim and a Pulitzer Prize the following year. The themes of the novel revolved around morality, racial injustice, courage, and the loss of innocence. The plot focused on the trial of a falsely accused black man and the characters were loosely based Lee’s own small town growing up in the segregated South during the Great Depression. In 1962, it was turned into a successful Academy Award-winning film starring Gregory Peck.
-https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1960.html
The Mercury 13 were thirteen American women who took part in a privately funded program run by William Randolph Lovelace II aiming to test and screen women for spaceflight. The participants—First Lady Astronaut Trainees (or FLATs) as Jerrie Cobb called them—successfully underwent the same physiological screening tests as had the astronauts selected by NASA on April 9, 1959, for Project Mercury. While Lovelace called the project Woman in Space Program,[1] the thirteen women became later known as the Mercury 13—a term coined in 1995 by Hollywood producer James Cross as a comparison to the Mercury Seven astronauts. The Mercury 13 women were not part of NASA's official astronaut program, never flew in space as part of a NASA mission, and never met as a whole group.
William Randolph Lovelace II, former Flight Surgeon and later, chairman of the NASA Special Advisory Committee on Life Science, helped develop the tests for NASA's male astronauts and became curious to know how women would do taking the same tests. In 1960, Lovelace and Air Force Brig. General Don Flickinger invited Geraldyn "Jerrie" Cobb, known as an accomplished pilot, to undergo the same rigorous challenges as the men.[1]
Lovelace became interested in beginning this program because he was a medical doctor who had done the NASA physical testing for the official program. He was able to fund the unofficial program, the Woman in Space program,[1] and invited up to 25 women to come and take the physical tests. Lovelace was interested in the way that women's bodies would react to being in space. The program was hidden from the public eye; the Mercury 13 were not reported in any major publications. However, they were not entirely unknown.
Cobb was the first American woman (and the only one of the Mercury 13) to undergo and pass all three phases of testing. Lovelace and Cobb recruited 19 more women to take the tests, financed by the husband of world-renowned aviator Jacqueline Cochran. Thirteen of the women passed the same tests as the Mercury 7. Some were disqualified due to brain or heart anomalies.
Candidate background
All of the candidates were accomplished pilots; Lovelace and Cobb reviewed the records of more than 700 women pilots in order to select candidates. They did not invite anyone with fewer than 1,000 hours of flight experience.[6]: 207 Some of the women may have been recruited through the Ninety-Nines,[1] a women pilot's organization of which Cobb was also a member.[6]: 222 Some women responded after hearing about the opportunity through friends.[1] This group of women, whom Jerrie Cobb called the First Lady Astronaut Trainees (FLATs), accepted the challenge to be tested for a research program.[6]: 250–251
Phase I tests
Nineteen women took astronaut fitness examinations given by the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico.[8] Unlike NASA's male candidates, who competed in groups, the women did their tests alone or in pairs.[9] Because doctors did not know all the conditions which astronauts might encounter in space, they had to guess what tests might be required. These ranged from typical X-rays and general body physicals to the atypical; for instance, the women had to swallow a rubber tube in order to test the level of their stomach acids. Doctors tested the reflexes in the ulnar nerve of the woman's forearms by using electric shock. To induce vertigo, ice water was shot into their ears, freezing the inner ear so doctors could time how quickly they recovered. The women were pushed to exhaustion while riding specially weighted stationary bicycles, in order to test their respiration. They subjected themselves to many more invasive and uncomfortable tests.[10]
The 13
In the end, thirteen women passed the same Phase I physical examinations that the Lovelace Foundation had developed as part of NASA's astronaut selection process. Those thirteen women were:
Myrtle Cagle
Jerrie Cobb
Janet Dietrich
Marion Dietrich
Wally Funk
Sarah Gorelick (later Ratley)
Jane "Janey" Briggs Hart
Jean Hixson
Rhea Woltman
Gene Nora Stumbough (later Jessen)
Irene Leverton
Jerri Sloan (later Truhill)
Bernice Steadman
At 41, Jane Hart was the oldest candidate, and was the mother of eight. Wally Funk was the youngest, at 23.[1] Marion and Janet Dietrich were twin sisters.[11]
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_13
Lovelace’s Woman in Space Program was a short-lived, privately-funded project testing women pilots for astronaut fitness in the early 1960s. Although nothing concrete resulted, the women who participated have since been recognized as trailblazers, whose ambitions to fly the newest and the fastest craft led them to be among the first American women to gain access to sophisticated aerospace medical tests.
The participants were never together in one place. The tests were typically performed on one or two women at a time, as Lovelace selected test subjects largely from a group of women pilots called the Ninety-Nines. Not all tests were performed on all participants.
The testing ended when Lovelace requested permission to use U.S. Navy equipment at the Naval School of Aviation Medicine in Pensacola, Florida. The testing so far had been at his private clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but now he wanted to use government resources. Since this was private research not funded or requested by a government agency, the request was denied.
Trying to force the resumption of testing, Cobb flew to Washington, DC. She finally found a sympathetic ear in Rep. Victor Anfuso (R-NY), who held two days of Congressional hearings in July 1962.
Why were there no female military test pilots in 1958?
During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces used women to deliver military aircraft overseas. According to a U.S. Army history web site:
Cochran served as director of WASP and its training division, while [Nancy Harkness] Love was director of the ferrying division. In the 16 months WASP existed, more than 25,000 women applied for training; only 1,879 candidates were accepted. Among them, 1,074 successfully completed the grueling program at Avenger Field — a better “wash-out” rate than 50 percent of male pilot cadets.
Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II. Image source: U.S. Army.
The WASPs were disbanded in December 1944. General Hap Arnold wrote:
When we needed you, you came through and have served most commendably under very difficult circumstances, but now the war situation has changed and the time has come when your volunteer services are no longer needed. The situation is that if you continue in service, you will be replacing instead of releasing our young men. I know the WASP wouldn't want that. I want you to know that I appreciate your war service and the AAF will miss you ...
Apparently there was only one female military test pilot during World War II.
Ann Baumgartner was a WASP pilot who was assigned to Wright Field Air Base in Dayton, Ohio. She flew various test flights at Dayton. “I was the first woman to fly a jet for nearly 10 years. I also flew some British bombers and the German JU-88,” she wrote. But she was turned out with the other WASPs when the program was terminated.
If the military had allowed women to apply for pilot training after World War II, some of them most likely would have qualified as test pilots.
But that's not the fault of NASA, or Project Mercury.
There's no evidence that any of the so-called “Mercury 13” participants had an engineering degree. Although many had extensive flight experience, none of them had test-pilot experience.
Contrast that with the résumés of the Mercury 7. Those pilots typically had engineering degrees, along with years of flying experimental aircraft, and some had combat experience.
Given the opportunity, women could have achieved the same but, for a dangerous rush program that had the highest national priority and international ramifications, military test pilots were the logical choice.
During the hearing, Glenn pointed out that the Lovelace Clinic tests had been only one small part of the astronauts' selection criteria.
In answer to other questions, Glenn said there has been a misunderstanding about the fact that 13 women pilots passed space tests given by the Lovelace Foundation at Albuquerque, N.M. One of them was Jerrie Cobb, a consultant to NASA, who plugged the girls-in-space idea before the subcommittee yesterday.
“They're such a minimum,” Glenn explained. “Those tests merely show if anything is wrong with you. As an analogy, my mother could probably pass the pre-season physical exam given the Washington Redskins. But I don't think she could play many games.”
The irony is that, while NASA chose military test pilots for its international prestige program, the Soviet Union secretly was recruiting candidates for the first space flight by a woman.
As these hearings were held, the Soviet Union was selecting and training women to be cosmonauts. The Soviet program viewed their spacecraft occupants more as passengers than actual fliers, so the woman recruits didn't have to meet the high standards of the American program. In November 1962, four finalists were given an honorary rank of lieutenant in the Soviet air force.
-http://spaceksc.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-myth-of-mercury-13.html
Sweden Summer 1960
The results were announced at the second International Symposium on Submarine and Space Medicine in Stockholm, Sweden on August 18, 1960.[5]
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_13
Oklahoma Summer 1960
The Mercury 13: Meet the Woman Astronauts Grounded by NASA
These aspiring astronauts were part of the little-known 'Mercury 13' program.
In the early 1960s, 13 trailblazing American women participated in a secret program to become America’s first female astronaut. Although the skilled pilots passed the same physiological screening tests given to the Mercury Seven astronauts, NASA abruptly shuttered the little-known Woman in Space Program before its participants could ever leave the ground. The “Mercury 13” may have had the right stuff, but for NASA they were the wrong gender.
When NASA introduced its first astronaut corps in 1959, it was strictly a men’s-only club. Although women weren’t explicitly barred from the “Mercury Seven,” NASA’s requirement that astronauts be experienced military jet test pilots—a job open only to men—effectively prevented their selection.
However, space medicine experts such as Air Force Brigadier General Donald Flickinger and Dr. Randy Lovelace, a NASA contractor who conducted the official physical examinations of the Project Mercury candidates, believed that women could be preferable to men as astronauts because on average they are lighter, shorter and consume less food and oxygen—an advantage when every pound is critical to the cost and feasibility of space flight. In addition, tests have found women more resistant to radiation and less prone to cardiovascular issues.
After a chance encounter, Flickinger and Lovelace found their perfect candidate for testing an aspiring female astronaut. Like many young pilots at the dawn of the Space Age, Jerrie Cobb had stars in her eyes. A licensed commercial pilot at the age of 18, Cobb was flying routes from California to Paraguay by the time the Associated Press profiled the 24-year-old “girl pilot” in 1955. Five years later, Cobb had logged a total of 10,000 hours in the cockpit, twice that of Mercury astronaut John Glenn.
A dozen women, whom Cobb called Fellow Lady Astronaut Trainees (FLATs), passed the screening. Later dubbed the “Mercury 13,” the aspiring astronauts prepared to undergo space flight simulation at a Navy facility in Pensacola, Florida. Just days before leaving, however, Lovelace sent word that the testing had been abruptly cancelled once the Navy learned that his program was not sponsored by NASA.
Florida Winter 1960
In February 1960, the 29-year-old Cobb traveled to Lovelace’s private clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as the first participant in his secret Woman in Space Program, which was not sanctioned by NASA. She underwent the same grueling tests given to the Mercury Seven. Researchers poured ice water into her ears to simulate vertigo and jammed a 3-foot rubber hose down her throat to test stomach acid. She was poked and prodded with needles and submerged in water and darkness to simulate sensory isolation.
Cobb not only passed all three phases of the screening program, she even surpassed the male astronauts on some tests. When Lovelace announced the test results in August 1960, Cobb became a media sensation. She appeared in Life magazine, and newspapers debated whether to call the would-be space traveler an “astronautrix,” “astronette” or “lady astronaut.”
To see if Cobb’s results could be replicated, Lovelace recruited another two-dozen skilled female pilots—ranging from 21-year-old flight instructor Wally Funk to 39-year-old Janey Hart, a mother of eight and wife of Senator Philip Hart—to come to New Mexico. Famed aviatrix Jackie Cochran, the first woman to break the sound barrier, used some of the money from her successful cosmetics business to bankroll the privately run program. As with Cobb, the women outperformed the men on numerous medical and screening tests. Funk, who grew up playing with planes instead of dolls, spent more than 10 hours in the isolation tank—better than any other astronaut trainee, male or female.
-https://www.history.com/news/right-stuff-wrong-gender-the-woman-astronauts-grounded-by-nasa-2
Oklahoma Summer 1961
List of 1961 Major News Events in History
US Cuban Exiles and CIA mount unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Castro known as the Bay of Pigs
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space.
John F. Kennedy was sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren as the 35th President of the United States
President John F. Kennedy advises American families to build bomb shelters
What happened in 1961 Major News Stories include
Alan Shepard makes first US Space Flight
1961
The cold war continued to worsen with the USSR exploding some very large bombs during testing and then masterminding the building of the Berlin Wall separating East from West Berlin, America sent a battle group to Germany and Americans and Russians Glared at each other across the border, due to this uncertainty many Americans built backyard fallout shelters in case of nuclear war. To make matters worse the Americans financed anti-Castro Cubans for an invasion at the bay of pigs which was an unmitigated disaster.
The Soviets put the first man in space on April 12 Yuri Gagarin followed by the US in May with Alan Shepard.
Popular music included Chubby Checker's "Pony Time" and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" by the Shirelles
Top movies included "West Side Story" and "The Parent Trap."
Space --- First Men In Space
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space.
5. 1961 April 12th The Soviet Union launches the first spacecraft to take a man into space the Vostok 1 carrying Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin
6. 1961 May 5th The United States launches it's first man in space Alan Shepard on the Freedom 7
7. 1961 President Kennedy asks Congress for $531 million to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade
If you look at the timeline for space travel up to this point the The Soviet Union was consistently one step ahead of the United States, but following the speech by President Kennedy on May 25 the United States was determined to be the first to put a man on the moon which they achieved on July 20 News Events 1969 when Apollo 11 landed Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr, who became the first human beings to walk on the Moon's surface.
Germany --- Berlin Wall
East German Authorities close the border between east and west Berlin and Construction of the Berlin Wall begins.
2. 1961 20% of the entire East German population leave and defect for West Germany including a high percentage of engineers, technicians, physicians, teachers, lawyers and skilled workers
3. Following the large defection of professionals from East Germany a decision to build a wall securing the border is confirmed by Soviet and East German leaders
4. 1961 August 13 German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) closes the border with West Germany and install barbed wire entanglements and fences
5. August 17 First concrete elements and large blocks being put in place to create the Berlin Wall
6. 1961-1975 Concrete wall 87 miles long built separating East and West Germany
7. Nine border crossing points between East and West Berlin including Checkpoint Charlie at the corner of Friedrichstrae and Zimmerstrae, which was restricted to Allied personnel and foreigners
The Berlin Wall was a good example how society was effected by the Cold War which existed between the East and West following the end of World War II up to the nineties.
Cost of Living 1961 - How Much things cost
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.07%
Year End Close Dow Jones 731.14
Average Cost of new house $12,500.00
Average Income per year $5,315.00 -
Cost of a gallon of Gas 27 cents
Average Cost of a new car $2,850.00
Bacon for 1LB 67 cents
Eggs per dozen 30 cents
Few Examples of Houses For Sale
Sheboygan Wisconsin
Double Flat 4 bedrooms 2 baths seperate garage
$8,800
Mansfield Ohio
Ranch Home Brick Exterior Large Living room open fireplace built in oven and range 3 bedrooms 1 1/2 baths full basement with recreation space
$26,500
Chicago Illinois
Brick Ranch 3 bedrooms large garage
$22,800
Popular Films
101 Dalmatians
Breakfast at Tiffany's
West Side Story
Popular TV
Wagon Train
Bonanza
Gunsmoke
Perry Mason
The Red Skelton Show
Andy Griffith
Candid Camera
My Three Sons
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Twilight Zone
Mister Ed (first broadcast in October, 1961)
United States -- John F. Kennedy Inauguration
John F. Kennedy was sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren as the 35th President of the United States during January . Kennedy, the youngest person to be elected president at the time, was also the first Catholic president. He was a decorated World War II veteran who had served in Congress as a member of the House of Representatives and a Senator from Massachusetts and came from a family that had been previously involved in politics. JFK’s inauguration was notable for his memorable speech which featured the imploration to his fellow citizens, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Kennedy would remain as the U.S. President until he was assassinated in November of 1963.
United States -- Mercury Atlas 5 Mission
NASA launches the Mercury-Atlas 5 (MA-5) mission during November . MA-5 was the final test mission prior to beginning manned missions by the United States. The space capsule carried a chimpanzee named Enos aboard. While in space, Enos performed a few tasks to test his psychomotor capabilities. The spacecraft made 2 orbits around Earth and the flight lasted about 3 and a half hours. After the capsule splashed down it was recovered with Enos was alive and in good condition.
-https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1961.html
Additional tests and termination of the program
A few women took additional tests. Jerrie Cobb, Rhea Hurrle, and Wally Funk went to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for Phase II testing, consisting of an isolation tank test and psychological evaluations.[9] Because of other family and job commitments, not all of the women were able to take these tests. Once Cobb had passed the Phase III tests (advanced aeromedical examinations using military equipment and jet aircraft), the group prepared to gather in Pensacola, Florida at the Naval School of Aviation Medicine to follow suit. Two of the women quit their jobs in order to be able to attend. A few days before they were to report, however, the women received telegrams abruptly canceling the Pensacola testing. Without an official NASA request to run the tests, the United States Navy would not allow the use of its facilities for such an unofficial project.[6]: 271–273
Funk reportedly also completed the third phase of testing, but this claim is misleading. Following NASA's cancellation of the tests, she found ways to continue being tested. She did complete most of the Phase III tests, but only by individual actions, not as part of a specific program. Cobb passed all the training exercises, ranking in the top 2% of all astronaut candidates of both genders.[12]
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_13
After NASA shuttered the Woman in Space Program, Cobb and Hart met in person with Vice President Lyndon Johnson in March 1962 to lobby for its resumption. According to Stephanie Nolen’s book “Promised the Moon: The Untold Story of the First Women in the Space Race,” Johnson aide Liz Carpenter drafted a letter to NASA asking why women couldn’t be astronauts. After meeting with Cobb and Hart, Johnson picked up his pen, but instead of signing the letter, he scrawled, “Let’s stop this now!”
Cobb and Hart fared no better on Capitol Hill when they testified before a congressional subcommittee in July 1962. “We seek, only, a place in our nation’s space future without discrimination,” said Cobb, who was referred to in United Press International reports as “an attractive 31-year-old astronaut aspirant.” “There were women on the Mayflower and on the first wagon trains west, working alongside the men to forge new trails to new vistas. We ask that opportunity in the pioneering of space.”
“I think that our society should cease to frown on the woman who seeks to combine family life with a career,” Hart told lawmakers. “Let’s face it: For many women the PTA just is not enough.”
Still being showered with adulation five months after becoming the first American to orbit the Earth, Glenn backed NASA’s position that a new training program for women would jeopardize the goal of landing an American on the moon before the end of the decade. Glenn told lawmakers that although he believed women had the capabilities to become astronauts, “I think this gets back to the way our social order is organized, really. It is just a fact. The men go off and fight the wars and fly the airplanes and come back and help design and build and test them.”
Jerrie Cobb (left) and Jane Hart, are shown at the Capitol after warning Vice President Johnson that Russia will put the first woman astronaut into space unless the U.S. moves quickly. (Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images)
Two pilots, Jerrie Cobb (left) and Jane Hart, are shown at the Capitol after warning Vice President Johnson that Russia will put the first woman astronaut into space unless the U.S. moves quickly. They sought a program which would enable the U.S. to launch a feminine astronaut that summer.
The Mercury 13 found no more support in Congress than they had in the White House for women becoming astronauts or military test pilots. NASA hired Cobb as a consultant on women’s issues, but then gave her little to do. “I’m the most unconsulted consultant in any government agency,” she groused after a year on the job. Her frustration only grew when Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963. By the time Cobb resigned her position with NASA, the closest she had ever come to outer space was posing with a Mercury spaceship capsule for newspaper photographers.
-https://www.history.com/news/right-stuff-wrong-gender-the-woman-astronauts-grounded-by-nasa-2
Washington DC Summer 1962
List of 1962 Major News Events in History
John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth in February of 1962
Cuban Missile Crisis when USSR plans to deploy Missiles in Cuba brings the world to the brink of world war,
Marilyn Monroe serenades President Kennedy on his birthday.
Rioting on University of Mississippi campus following Black student James Meredith attempting to enroll
Marvel's Spider-Man superhero makes his first appearance in a comic.
Marilyn Monroe is found dead on August 5 after apparently overdosing on sleeping pills
Oral Polio Vaccine developed by Albert Sabin given to millions of children to combat Polio
What happened in 1962 Major News Stories include
Telstar first live trans-Atlantic television signal
First Beatles single "Love Me Do" released
John H. Glenn, Jr., becomes first American to orbit the earth
First Wal-Mart discount store is opened
1962
The cars continued to evolve as more compacts appeared and sold well in the US.
The Cold War continued to worsen when the Russians placed Ballistic Missiles on Cuban land just 90 miles away from the coast of Florida in and JFK called the bluff by threatening war unless they were removed which they were but for a short time the world was on the brink of nuclear war and self destruction.
The president then set a goal of landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade and became more involved in politics in Southeast Asia by training South Vietnamese pilots.
Folk music was evolving into protest music thanks to young artists like Bob Dylan and the birth of Surfing music by the beach boys grew in popularity meanwhile in England the Beatles record the single "Love Me Do".
The new hit on TV for that year was "The Beverly Hillbillies" and the first of the James Bond movies "Dr No" was an instant success, some of the other movies released included "Spartacus" and "El Cid".
Cost of Living 1962 - How Much things cost
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.20%
Year End Close Dow Jones 652
Average Cost of new house $12,500.00
Average Income per year $5,556.00 -
Average monthly rent $110.00 per month -
Tuition to Harvard University $1,520.00 -
Cost of a gallon of Gas 28 cents
Average Cost of a new car $3,125.00
All Wheel Drive Scout off road $2,150.00
Renault Imported car $1,395.00
Eggs per dozen 32 cents
Factory Workers Average Take Home Pay with 3 dependents $94.87
Few Examples of Houses For Sale
Lancaster Ohio
3 bedroom , stocked pond , barn on 20 Acres
$3,700
Salisbury Maryland
Ranch Style 3 bedroom , large modern kitchen , living room , carport , utility room, large 100ft X 150 ft Plot
$14,500
Sheboygan Wisconsin
30 acre farm and 5 bedroom home and 4 car garage and outbuildings
$12,000
Popular Culture 1962
Andy Warhol's famous painting of a can of soup
Beverly Hill Billies is on TV
The Dick Van Dyke show on TV
Johnny Carson begins as presenter for The Tonight Show
Popular Films
West Side Story
Spartacus
Lawrence of Arabia
To Kill a Mockingbird
Popular Singers
The Beatles
Bob Dylan
Chubby Checker
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
-https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1962.html
In the 1960s some of these women were among those who lobbied the White House and US Congress to have women included in the astronaut program. They testified before a congressional committee in 1962. In 1963, Clare Boothe Luce wrote an article for LIFE magazine publicizing the women and criticizing NASA for its failure to include women as astronauts.[2]
House Committee Hearing on Gender Discrimination
When the Pensacola testing was cancelled, Jerrie Cobb immediately flew to Washington, D.C. to try to have the testing program resumed. She and Janey Hart wrote to President John F. Kennedy and visited Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. Finally, on 17 and 18 July 1962, Representative Victor Anfuso (D-NY) convened public hearings before a special Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics.[14] Significantly, the hearings investigated the possibility of gender discrimination two years before passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that made such actions illegal.
Cobb and Hart testified about the benefits of Lovelace's private project. Jacqueline Cochran largely undermined their testimony, talking about her concerns that setting up a special program to train a woman astronaut could hurt the space program. She proposed a project with a large group of women, and expected a significant amount to drop out due to reasons like "marriage, childbirth, and other causes".[6] Though Cochran initially supported the program, she was later responsible for delaying further phases of testing, and letters from her to members of the Navy and NASA expressing concern over whether the program was to be run properly and in accordance with NASA goals may have significantly contributed to the eventual cancellation of the program. It is generally accepted that Cochran turned against the program out of concern that she would no longer be the most prominent female aviator.[15]
NASA representatives George Low and Astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter testified that under NASA's selection criteria women could not qualify as astronaut candidates. Glenn also believed that "The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order."[16] They correctly stated that NASA required all astronauts to be graduates of military jet test piloting programs and have engineering degrees, although John Glenn conceded that he had been assigned to NASA's Mercury Project without having earned the required college degree.[15] In 1962, women were still barred from Air Force training schools, so no American women could become test pilots of military jets. Despite the fact that several of the Mercury 13 had been employed as civilian test pilots, and many had considerably more propeller aircraft flying time than the male astronaut candidates (although not in high-performance jets, like the men), NASA refused to consider granting an equivalency for their hours in the more basic propeller aircraft,[17] it was presumed at the time that training and experience in piloting jet and rocket aircraft, such as the X-15 then being developed, would be “most useful for transition to spacecraft.”[18] Jan Dietrich had accumulated 8,000 hours, Mary Wallace Funk 3,000 hours, Irene Leverton 9,000+, and Jerrie Cobb 10,000+.[19] Although some members of the Subcommittee were sympathetic to the women's arguments[citation needed] because of this disparity in accepted experience, no action resulted.
Executive Assistant to Vice President Lyndon Johnson, Liz Carpenter, drafted a letter to NASA administrator James E. Webb questioning these requirements, but Johnson did not send the letter, instead writing across it, "Let's stop this now!"[20]
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_13
On July 18, 1962, after the first day of the hearings, the Orlando Sentinel ran an editorial cartoon mocking the hearings. Titled, “Congress to Study Woman's Place in Space — They Drive Cars, Don't They?” the cartoon depicted stereotypes of women in that period, including a rocket crash-landed on the Moon.
Three women testified that day — Jacqueline Cochran, a contemporary of Amelia Earhart whose flying bombers for delivery across the Atlantic during World War II led to the creation of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program; Jerrie Cobb, who'd in the 1950s also delivered planes; and Janey Hart, a helicopter pilot who was the wife of Senator Phil Hart (D-MI).
The Associated Press report as published in the Boston Globe was headlined, “Blondes Ask Equality for Space Women.”
Three blondes argued before a House Space subcommittee that all they needed was the training to join the Mercury astronauts in orbit ...
Miss Cobb, who testifies the same way she flies — with her shoes off — said women are now prevented from becoming astronauts because NASA insists its spacecraft pilots be test pilots — a job limited to men.
NASA astronauts Scott Carpenter (left) and John Glenn testify before Congress on July 18, 1962. Image source: Newspapers.com.
On the second day of the hearings, NASA chief of human space flight George Low, as well as Mercury astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter, testified before the committee.
Low said that six women had applied for the second group of astronauts being selected at that time. According to the Associated Press report, “... none of the six women among 250 applicants for the 5 to 10 new astronauts now being picked met all the stringent age and training requirements.”
Low added that the pool of qualified men is more than ample to meet the need for 40 to 50 astronauts who may be used in the next few years.
The article quoted the two astronauts as saying that whomever was chosen had to be a qualified test pilot, regardless of gender.
“The best qualified people, whatever their sex, color or creed, should be picked,” Glenn added ...
Carpenter, asked for an opinion about women in space, disagreed with Rep. James G. Fulton, R-Pa., who said space travel is not so much in the experimental stage that women should be barred.
“There are many unknowns,” Carpenter said. “I think as many as possible should be eliminated.”
Carpenter added that present standards for astronauts are not a matter of protecting women but of protecting the program.
The hearings ended after the second day. No action was taken.
It had been more than a year since President John F. Kennedy, on May 25, 1961, proposed sending a “man” (not a person) to the Moon by the end of the 1960s and returning “him” safely to the earth.
Kennedy proposed what eventually became known as Project Apollo to demonstrate that American technology was superior to the Soviet Union.
At the time of these hearings, the United States and the Soviet Union were waging the Cold War. If Kennedy had not placed a time limit on Apollo — the end of the decade — perhaps the lack of urgency would have permitted more consideration for training women to be test pilots.
But that decision had been made by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958. According to a NASA history web site:
NASA originally intended to issue a general solicitation of applications for the position of “research astronaut-candidate,” and considered that several occupations besides test pilot might qualify. President Eisenhower, however, directed the agency to select its astronauts from the ranks of military test pilots; this would simplify selection, keep out undesirable applicants, and eliminate the need to run security checks on the candidates.
-http://spaceksc.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-myth-of-mercury-13.html
Summer 1963
List of 1963 Major News Events in History
John F. Kennedy assassinated on Friday, November 22nd , 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas
Due to the high cost of daily maintenance and repairs, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closes
The United States Postal Service launches the ZIP Code System during July of 1963.
Beatles Release I Want To Hold Your Hand/I Saw Her Standing There and Meet the Beatles
What happened in 1963 Major News Stories include
Start of Beatlemania
Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his "I have a dream" speech
1963
The biggest news from 1963 was the assassination of the US President Kennedy on November 22 which thrust Lyndon Johnson into the role of president and the murder two days later of Lee Harvey Oswald by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. This was a difficult time to become president with the mounting troubles in Vietnam where the Viet Cong Guerrillas had now killed 80 American Advisers and the continued campaign for civil rights by the black community caused violent reactions from whites including Mississippi, Virginia and Alabama where the black civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was arrested.
Films included "The Birds" and "The Great Escape" and popular TV programmes "The Virginian" and "Lassie". ladies fashion clothes and hairstyles included fur boots and towering hair do's for evening wear. In music the beginning of Beatlemania after they release "I Want To Hold Your Hand/I Saw Her Standing There" and "Meet the Beatles".
Cost of Living 1963 - How Much things cost
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.24%
Year End Close Dow Jones 762
Average Cost of new house $12,650.00
Average Income per year $5,807.00 -
Average Cost of a new car $3,233.00 -
Cost of a gallon of Gas 29 cents
Loaf of bread 22 cents
Oven ready Turkeys 39 cents per pound
Sirloin Steaks 89 cents per pound
Eggs per dozen 45 cents
Few Examples of Houses For Sale
Lowell Massachusetts
New Homes on large tree wooded plots, colored bath and kitchen fixtures, full basement formica kitchen 3 bedrooms
From $15,500
Frederick Maryland
3 bedroom ranch, 2 baths, modern kithen with built in appliances , full basement oil fired heating , with double garage
$19,000
Mansfield Ohio
Two story Brick Built large living room built in fireplace, den , dining room , kitchen , 3 bedrooms , attached garage house needs repairs and decorating
$15,900
Van Nuys California
Custom Built Home 3 bedrooms living room , dining room and seperate detatched guest house double garage small orchard
$19,950
Popular Culture 1963
This was the year an Insurance firm State Mutual Life Insurance invented the Smiley Face found on anything and everything around the world including T Shirts , it's popularity was at it's peak in the 1960's
Popular Films
Cleopatra
Lawrence of Arabia
Popular Musicians
The Beatles
Buddy Holly
Popular TV Programmes
The Andy Griffith Show
The Flintstones
Mister Ed
The Dick Van Dyke Show
U.S. -- Final Project Mercury Mission
NASA's final Project Mercury mission carrying astronaut Gordon Cooper launches from Cape Canaveral.
The final Project Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9, is launched by NASA during May . The Faith 7 spacecraft carried astronaut Gordon Cooper into space for about 34 hours during which he orbited the Earth 22 times. The purpose of the mission was to test the limits of the Mercury space capsule. Cooper's flight was about three times longer than any other human space flight that had been completed at that point in history. It also marked the final time that NASA launched a solo orbital mission. Near the end of the flight Cooper experienced several technical problems but was able to overcome them and successfully returned to Earth.
-https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1963.html
Lovelace's privately funded women's testing project received renewed media attention when Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on June 16, 1963. In response, Clare Boothe Luce published an article in Life criticizing NASA and American decision-makers.[2] By including photographs of all thirteen Lovelace finalists, she made the names of all thirteen women public for the first time. On June 17, 1963 New York Times published Jerrie Cobb's comments following the Soviet launch, saying it was "a shame that since we are eventually going to put a woman into space, we didn't go ahead and do it first."[24]
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_13
Oklahoma Mid 1960s
List of 1965 Major News Events in History
The Voting Rights Act, guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote becomes law
The Gemini Space Program continues into 1965 and lay the groundwork for an eventual manned mission to the moon.
The popular daytime soap opera "Days of Our Lives" debuted on NBC
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leads civil rights march in Alabama from Selma to Montgomery.
Malcolm X shot in New York
What happened in 1965 Major News Stories include
1965 the war in Vietnam continues to worsen as whatever the Americans do including major bombing of North Vietnam they continue to lose more men , at the same time the Anti-War movement grows and on November 13 35,000 march on Washington as a protest against the war. There is also civil unrest with rioting, looting and arson in Los Angeles. This was also the first year mandated health warnings appeared on cigarette packets and smoking became a no no. The latest craze in kids toys was the Super Ball and The Skate Board. Fashions also changed as women's skirts got shorter men's hair grew longer as the The miniskirt makes its appearance. The word Hypertext is created to describe linking in early computer systems and computer networking. The St Louis Arch is completed and The Beatles release 4 new albums including "Help".
Cost of Living 1965 - How Much things cost
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 1.59%
Year End Close Dow Jones 969
Average Cost of new house $13,600.00
Average Income per year $6,450.00 -
Average Cost of a new car $2,650.00 -
Average Monthly Rent $118,00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 31 cents
Loaf of bread 21 cents
Veal Cutlets 68 cents per pound
Frozen Chicken Pies 29 cents
Few Examples of Houses For Sale
Mansfield Ohio
Rambling Brick Ranch 3 large bedrooms, large bathroom, big basement fitted as recreation room , 2 car garage large 1 acre secluded plot
$22,500
Appleton Wisconsin
New Subdivision lots 1/2 acre
from $550
Lowell Massachusetts
Colonial Split level home 3 Bedroom , Garage , Laundry and Play room
$19,900
Deming New Mexico
1/2 acre Plot Located close to country club
$1,950
Popular Culture 1965
The Mary Quant designed Mini Skirt appears in London and will be the fashion statement of the Sixties
One of most popular films "Sound of Music" released
Popular Films
Mary Poppins
The Sound of Music
Goldfinger
My Fair Lady
Popular Musicians
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
The Kinks
Moody Blues
Tom Jones
Simon and Garfunkel
Gemini Space Program
The Gemini Space Program continues into 1965 and lay the groundwork for an eventual manned mission to the moon.
1, The Gemini Project was created with the goal of making a two-person spacecraft, testing long-term flights and weightlessness on humans, docking spacecraft with orbiting objects, and creating re-entry and landing methods all in preparation for an eventual manned mission to the moon. Half of the missions take place during .
2. The Gemini I mission launches in April of 1964.
3. The Gemini II unmanned spacecraft launched as a part of the Gemini Space Program on January 19, . The Gemini II craft had been scheduled to launch in December of 1964 but technical difficulties had prevented it from doing so. It had also been disassembled twice to avoid Hurricanes Cleo and Dora in August and September of 1964. Its launch was successful in its goals which included testing heat protection and structural integrity upon launch and re-entry, training controllers, and testing guidance steering among other tests.
4. The Gemini III mission launches in March and is the first of the Gemini missions to be manned. It carried astronauts Virgil Grissom and John Young.
5. The Gemini IV mission launches in June and carried astronauts Edward White and James McDivitt.
6. The Gemini V spacecraft launched on August 21st and carried astronauts Charles Conrad and Gordon Cooper into orbit around the Earth. Their mission was to test long-term weightlessness and to test rendezvous procedures with other objects in space. They also tested maneuvering the spacecraft near other objects, controlled reentry, and several other experiments. The Gemini V mission set the record at the time for the longest crewed orbital flight, with the crew being in space for a total of 8 days. The spacecraft landed back on Earth successfully on August 29th, .
7. The Gemini missions, twelve in total, continued until November of 1966 and were important as they laid the foundation for the first moon landing and greatly enhanced knowledge about what humans can accomplish in space. Other astronauts that participate in the Gemini missions included James Lovell, Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Richard Gordon.
"Days of Our Lives" debuts
The popular daytime soap opera "Days of Our Lives" debuted on NBC during the month of November . Known for its complicated and shocking plot lines, the drama chronicled the fictional trials and tribulations of modern American families. During the Seventies, the show was recognized for tackling controversial and important subjects of the time like interracial relationships and fertility issues. Airing nearly every weekday, "Days of Our Lives" has currently shown over 12,000 episodes and continues to remain popular.
Civil rights march in Alabama
In March Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. organized a peaceful demonstration for African-American civil rights and voting rights by marching from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama. The first two attempts at crossing the Pettus bridge were halted by state troopers, but on the third march the protesters were backed by the U.S. Army and National Guardsmen and allowed to pass through. King led about three-thousand people on the journey to the capitol and when they arrived in Montgomery they were met by about 30,000 more people who wished to join the demonstration. By August , President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, guaranteeing African-Americans the right to vote.
-https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1965.html
Amazon Summer 1980
List of 1980 Major News Events in History
The Iran-Iraq war begins in September of 1980
CNN (Cable News Network) began broadcasting on June 1st.
3M begins sales of it's latest product Post-It Notes invented by Arthur Fry and Spencer Silver.
Former Beatle John Lennon is shot to death
Severe Summer Heat Wave in Southern US Causes 1,117 deaths in 20 States
The Killer Clown ( John Wayne Gacy Jr ) sentenced to death for the murder of 33 boys and young men.
What happened in 1980 Major News Stories include
As the continued miniaturization continues new technology allows for new consumer products that could never have existed to appear including Domestic Camcorders and Fax Machines , One other notable is the release of the Pac-Man arcade game. Politics enters the Olympic games with the boycott by the US of the Moscow Olympics and War breaks out between Iraq and Iran. This was also a bad year for natural disasters including Mount St. Helens eruption on 27th March and a major heat wave in the US. Also the world tunes in to the answer of Who Shot JR? on the popular soap Dallas.
Rubik's Cube Debuts
Cost of Living 1980 - How Much things cost
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 13.58%
Year End Close Dow Jones 963
Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 21.50%
Average Cost of new house $68,700
Median Price Of and Existing Home - $62,200 -
Average Income per year $19,500.00
Average Monthly Rent $300.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas $1.19
Average cost new car $7,200.00
Ground Beef Lb $1.39
Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head $4.77
LCD Pendant Watch $34.95
Pontiac Firebird $5,992.00
Men's Casual Shirt $14.00
Magnavox VHS Recorder $699.00
VHS Home Movie Camera $1,599.00
Tomi Cosmic Combat Electronic Game $28.99
Mens 3 Piece Suit $89.95
1980 Ford F150 TruckFord F150 Truck Price: From $7,595 EPA : 19 MPG
CNN Launches
CNN (Cable News Network) began broadcasting on June 1st. The American-based network was headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and founded by Ted Turner. It was the first 24-hour news network available to cable subscribers in the United States and Canada and has since become available worldwide. The network originally struggled to find success but by the mid- 1980s it had gained more influence and became well known for its live coverage of events as they happened, often being the first to broadcast during big news events.
Former Beatle John Lennon is shot to death
More Information for John Lennon
Popular musician and former Beatles member John Lennon was shot and killed by obsessed fan Mark David Chapman outside of Lennon’s apartment in Manhattan during December of 1980 at the age of 40. Lennon, beloved by many around the world for his talent as an artist and outspoken nature as a public figure, had given an autograph to Chapman earlier in the day and was returning home from a recording studio with his wife Yoko Ono at the time of the attack. In the days following his death hundreds of fans gathered outside of his apartment in mourning.
-https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1980.html
Jacqueline Cochran Odlum Dies at 73
By Maureen JoyceAugust 10, 1980
Jacqueline Cochran Odlum, 73, and aviation pioneer who was regarded for many years as the world's leading aviatrix and was a former cosmetics manufacturer, died Saturday at her 800-acre ranch in Coachella, Calif.
Mrs. Odlum had worn a pacemaker since suffering a heart attack 10 years ago. A family spokesman said she had been in ill health for the past month and a half.
The former president of Jacqueline Cochran, Inc., manufacturers and distributors of cosmetics and perfume, she became a world-famous figure for her aviation feats.
She began her flying career in 1932 and won her first major air race, the Bendix transcontinental, in 1938.
In 1941, before the United States entered World War II, she became the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic as a captain in the Royal Air Force auxiliary. After Pearl Harbor, she returned to this country to teach women to fly transport planes.
In 1943, she was named commander of the Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASPS). When the WASPS were phased out, she became a war correspondent for Liberty magazine.
She resumed speed flying in the late 1940s. In 1953, she became the first woman pilot to break the sound barrier, flying an F-86 Sabre Jet fighter.
She also set three flying records that year and, in 1961, set an altitude record of 53,253 feet. In 1964, she set a world speed record of 1,429 miles per hour flying an F104G Superstar jet plane.
Mrs. Odlum established so many flight records, principally for speed, that she was awarded the Clifford Burke Harmon trophy of the International League of Aviators as the outstanding woman aviator in the world for three successive years, 1937 through 1939.
In 1956, after receiving many of aviation's highest awards, she ran unsuccessfully for California's 29th congressional district seat.
She had lived in California since her marriage in 1936 to the late Floyd Odlum, a California rancher.
During her flying career, Mrs. Odlum received the Gen. Billy Mitchell award for her contribution to aviation progress.
Mrs. Odlum received the Distinguished Service Medal in 1945, as a civilian. She later received a commission as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve, from which she retired in 1970 with the rank of colonel.
She was born in a sawmill camp in northern Florida and orphaned at an early age. As a child she worked in cotton mills in Georgia and had earned her own living ever since.
She established her own cosmetics firm after working as a beauty operator in a small-town beauty shop and later in New York City. She sold her cosmetics business in 1964.
Mrs. Odlum also was a director of Northeast Airlines and was voted "Woman of the Year in Business" in Associated Press polls in 1953 and 1954.
Her only survivors are grandchildren of her late husband, Floyd Odlum, by a previous marriage.
Author/Biographical Info:
Laurel Ollstein is a playwright, writer, director and educator whose plays most recently have been produced at The Old Globe and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Other plays produced across the county include They Promised Her the Moon; Laughter, Hope and a Sock in the Eye; CHEESE; Esther’s Moustache; Unhappily Married in Valencia; OPA! the Musical; Dorothy Parker Is in the Bath; Blackwell’s Corner; The Dark Ages; Bias Cut; and Showing Our Age. She is also currently writing the second season of a podcast radio drama for New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco
Laurel has been commissioned to write new works by The Getty Villa, About…Productions, Virginia Avenue Project, New Jersey Repertory Company, Playwrights’ Arena, and Clark Library, and she has developed plays with TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, The Actors’ Gang, Cornerstone Theater Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, The Road Theatre Company, The Barrow Group, Miranda Theatre Company, and Playwrights’ Center among others. Several of her television and film projects have been optioned for development.
Her awards include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and California Arts Council, as well as Ovation, Garland, and LA Weekly Theater Awards. She wrote the first draft of They Promised Her the Moon at The University of Oklahoma, where she was a Faith Broome Playwright-in-Residence. They Promised Her the Moon is also recipient of a 2018 Social Impact Theatre Grant from The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation.
Laurel also directs playwriting programs, provides writing and arts education in schools and for mature adults, and creates plays on social justice themes. She serves as adjunct faculty at California Institute of the Arts, UCLA, Loyola Marymount University, University of Redlands, and Otis College of Art and Design.
Ollstein holds an MFA in playwriting from the School of Theater, Film and Television at UCLA.
An artist with range has tastes to match
Playwright Laurel Ollstein is a bit of a cliche in this town: Actress-writer-director. But she’s the real deal. As a member of the Hollywood ensemble company the Actors’ Gang, she has worked as an actress and playwright in many collaborative pieces, including “Hysteria,” “Blood Love Madness” and “Insomniac.” Her award-winning one-woman play on writer Dorothy Parker was produced across the country and she currently teaches playwriting, acting, directing and screenwriting. Her next role is that of writer and co-director of “Showing Our Age,” a play exploring the myths and realities of aging and based on material she gathered through interviews at 40 senior centers.
Liesl Bradner, Los Angeles Times
Laurel has ongoing involvement in the artistic and educational programs of the Virginia Avenue Project, About Productions, Cornerstone Theatre, Ghost Road Theatre, Ensemble Theatre Los Angeles and Playwrights’ Arena.
Ollstein also creates her own devised theatre, community-engaged work that is ensemble-driven and documentary theatre. She has initiated and received funding for projects including an extensive, ongoing project with senior citizens of Los Angeles, garment industry workers, students in Los Angeles Unified School District, holocaust survivors partnered with university theatre students and professional playwrights and more.
Her essays and memoir pieces have been published by The Middle English Literary Group, the Sea Oats Review, Tiny Lights and Fresh Yarn.
-https://laurelollstein.com/about_writer_laurel_ollstein/
is a playwright/director based in Los Angeles whose produced plays include Laughter, Hope and a Sock in the Eye; CHEESE; Esther’s Moustache; OPA! the Musical; Dorothy Parker Is in the Bath; The Dark Ages; Bias Cut; and Showing Our Age. She drafted They Promised Her the Moon at the University of Oklahoma as the Faith Broome Playwright-in-Residence. Subsequently, Moon was showcased in a successful Off-Broadway production and a critically acclaimed West Coast premiere production at the Old Globe theatre in San Diego, directed by Giovanna Sardelli.
Ms. Ollstein has written commissions for The Getty Villa, About Productions, New Jersey Repertory, and Playwrights’ Arena, and developed plays with The Actors’ Gang. She is a recipient of Ovation, Garland, and LA Weekly Theater awards and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and California Arts Council. Ms. Ollstein directs playwriting programs, writing and arts education in schools, and creates plays on social justice themes. She has been a faculty member at Cal Arts, UCLA, Loyola Marymount, and Otis College of Art and Design.
-https://www.otis.edu/faculty/laurel-ollstein
Laurel Ollstein is an award-winning playwright based in Los Angeles. This year, Ms. Ollstein’s They Promised Her the Moon premiered Off Broadway at Theatre at St. Clement’s in a production by Miranda Theatre Company. She began her career as an actress before becoming a writer. Her one-woman show Laughter, Hope and a Sock in the Eye had successful engagements at three theatres in Minneapolis and toured New York City, Baltimore, and Los Angeles, winning awards and “critic’s choice” from LA Weekly and Los Angeles Reader. Returning to California, she became a founding member of Tim Robbins’ The Actors’ Gang. Her plays include Insomniac, Storage Room, Pot Roast, Cheese, OPA! The Musical, Dorothy Parker in the Bath, Blackwell’s Corner, Esther’s Moustache, The Dark Ages, andBias Cut. She also directs playwriting programs serving mature adults and teens, provides writing and arts education in schools, and creates plays on social justice themes. One result of this work is Showing Our Age, a play with music about aging produced at [Inside] The Ford. Ms. Ollstein also writes essays, memoirs, screenplays, and television. Her honors include the Marty Klein Comedy Writing Award, Kenneth McGowan Award in Playwriting, White Buffalo Mask Award, and UCLA Playwriting Recruitment Scholarship. Ms. Ollstein holds an M.F.A. in Playwriting from UCLA.
-
-https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Laurel-Ollstein/#bio
History of the Time/Influences:
What Happened 10 years ago in 2012 Major News Events, Popular Culture, History Prices
United States --- Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy devastates the US East Coast and kills around two-hundred people on the US Coast and in the Caribbean in October.
United States --- 2012 Presidential Election
US President Barack Obama is re-elected for his second term after running against Republican opponent Mitt Romney.
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut shooting
Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza attacked Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut shooting and killing 26 people on December 14th, most of the victims were children. Lanza killed himself before he could be caught. The attack was recorded as the second deadliest mass shooting committed by a single gunman in US history and opened up further discussion on gun control and mental health.
How Much things cost in 2012
Average Cost of new house $263,200.00
Average Income per year $39,423.00
Average Cost for house rent $1,045.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas $3.91
Move Ticket $8.20
Dozen Eggs $1.54
Loaf of Bread $1.88
Popular Culture 2012
Musicians like Rihanna, Adele, Bruno Mars, Gotye, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Taylor Swift top the charts and win awards.
Television shows like Homeland, The Voice, NCIS, Revolution, and Elementary are widely watched and discussed.
Popular movies released in 2012 include The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Hobbit, The Dark Knight Rises, The Hunger Games, and Lincoln.
Whitney Houston, widely recognized as one of the greatest voices in history, dies in the bathtub of a hotel at the age of forty-eight after drowning due to a drug overdose on February 11th.
Other pop-culture icons who died this year included Dick Clark, Etta James, Andy Williams, Donna Summer, Andy Griffith, and Phyllis Diller.
Worldwide --- Mayan Calendar
The end of the Mayan calendar, or the end of the world as some believed, is observed with little to no consequence.
Many people believed that the Mayan Calendar marked the end of the world when the calendar stopped. The date that was believed to correspond to the end of the calendar was December 21st, 2012. There was a faction of people who actually believed that this date would mark the end of the world and it was a much discussed topic in social media, news sources and there were even television specials dedicated to the topic. The world did not end however, and there were no catastrophic incidents to report.
United States - Endeavour's Last Flight
The space shuttle Endeavour has its final flight in September.
The Space Shuttle Endeavour has its final flight during September of 2012. The spacecraft flew on top of a modified 747 aircraft, touring across California for a four and a half hour flight before landing at the Los Angeles International Airport. The Space Shuttle Endeavour had 25 total missions and traveled about 123 million miles before its retirement from the shuttle program. After it landed it was carefully transported to its new permanent home at the California Science Center where it would be put on display.
A gunman opens fire at a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colorado, killing twelve and injuring fifty-eight people on July 20th. The suspected shooter James Holmes was captured by police and his trial was scheduled for February of 2014.
The Mars Science Laboratory or "Curiosity Rover" successfully lands on Mars.
Austrian Felix Baumgartner becomes the first person to break the sound barrier without mechanical assistance when he jumps over New Mexico on October 14th.
US Space Shuttle Endeavour
The retired US Space Shuttle Endeavour has arrived at is final destination in a museum in Los Angeles after its journey was delayed due to trees, street lights, power lines and other such objects being in the way of its path.
Earth observes the Transit of Venus, a rare astronomical event.
An extremely rare astronomical event called the “Transit of Venus” happens for the second and last time in this century. The event occurred when Venus passed across the front of the Sun, creating a visible shadow of the planet that could be seen on Earth. The event will not happen again until the year 2117 when it is unlikely that anyone living in 2012 would still be alive. The event took place over seven hours spanning across June 5th and 6th and it was visible across seven continents.
-https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/2012.html
2017
From the inauguration of Donald Trump to the first total solar eclipse to traverse the Lower 48 in nearly a century, 2017 was a year for the history books. Here we review the biggest news in politics, culture and science this year.
Politics
Trump’s inauguration: After a divisive election season, Donald Trump officially became the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017. In a 16-minute inaugural address (the shortest since Jimmy Carter‘s in 1977), Trump repeated his “America First” campaign slogan in which he delivered a dark-toned nationalist, populist message.
Culture
Women’s rights: In January, the Women’s March on Washington, which advocated for policies regarding women’s rights and other issues, became one of the largest single-day demonstrations in U.S. history.
The Washington Post estimated that more than 5 million people may have attended 653 marches in U.S. cities, rivaling participation in the Vietnam War Moratorium Days of 1969 and 1970.
Later, women of the #MeToo movement, a social media campaign to raise awareness about sexual harassment and assault, would be named Time magazine’s Person of the Year, after helping take down a number of pop culture’s most powerful men.
BOSTON – APRIL 15: Police officers with their guns drawn hear the second explosion down the street. The first explosion knocked down 78-year-old US marathon runner Bill Iffrig at the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon. NFL anthem protests: During the 2017 football season, several National Football League players remained kneeling during the national anthem in silent protest of racial bias, violence and profiling by police forces around the country. President Trump attacked the players on Twitter, sparking a further wave of protest by NFL players.
Health, Science and Environment
Solar eclipse: On August 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse crossed the United States from coast to coast, the first total solar eclipse to do so since 1918. The next total solar eclipse visible from the U.S. mainland will take place in 2024.
-https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/2017-events
2020
From a deadly pandemic to a global movement for racial justice, the year 2020 certainly experienced its fair share of world-shifting events. (NOTE: The show closed due to the pandemic, so that will not be included)
Here is a list — and timeline — of the major events that happened last year:
Australian bushfires
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle quit royal family
Impeachment of President Donald Trump
Harvey Weinstein verdict
The disgraced Hollywood kingmaker was convicted Feb. 24 of raping an aspiring actress and sexually abusing a TV and film production assistant. The verdict was celebrated by his dozens of accusers and their supporters as a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement.