I’d call myself the best well-known baby boomer ever forgotten. They say Vice-Presidents fall into political obscurity after their terms, and I’m certainly not exceptional. The way people ridiculed and poked at me, you’d think I was Sarah Palin, or someone. I know, don’t say it, I’m no John Kennedy, either. That was a set-up.Read the Rest…
“History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there.” ~George Santayana, philosopher “History never looks like history when you are living through it.” ~ John W. Gardner, Vice President 1990: Back to the Wheel. Final episode of Pat Sajak’s ill-fated late night television show. 1984: Pete RoseRead the Rest…
“Everybody reads it but they say the cook brought it into the house.” ~ Humphrey Bogart Before there was baby boomer-inspired People and US, before there was Star, even before National Enquirer, there was Confidential, the celebrity gossip/crime/scandal magazine that Newsweek called “sin and sex with a seasoning of right wing politics.” Until it closedRead the Rest…
Baby boomers brought up in the 1950s were taught that men and women are different creatures. Those assumptions would be challenged in the women’s liberation 1970s and have since retreated and advanced, advanced and retreated. Much of the debate stemmed from the fact that women were denied equal economic opportunity. The world remains imperfect, butRead the Rest…
I was doing just fine: top 40 hits, including Paper Roses, and several albums. As television spokesperson for the Florida Citrus Commission, my face was as familiar across baby boomer America as your mother’s. Close your eyes, it’ll all come back to you: “A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.” WhatRead the Rest…
What’s good for the boomer goose is good for the boomer gander. The sexual revolution of the 1960s isn’t over. Nor is women’s liberation. Meet the cougar. Are we having an epidemic of female baby boomer chronophilia? The male version is regarded as a natural part of life. What is chronophilia? An age related romanticRead the Rest…
“Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all: the conscientious historian will correct these defects.” ~Herodotus, the ancient Greek often called “The Father of History.” 1993: Construction begins on Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 1988: Michael Dukakis is chosen as the Democratic nominee for President. 1987:Read the Rest…
What the heck did happen? One day, I’m the hottest comedian on television. There’s hardly baby boomer or their parents who don’t watch and laugh their heads off. Five years later—oblivion. I was kicked out of my own “Church of What’s Happenin’ Now.” The Flip Wilson Show was me, no regular cast, and a bunchRead the Rest…
It’s the pop culture icon of the 20th century, trumping even television. Try to imagine the suburban baby boomer boom without the automobile whisking us back and forth from town to country – the name of a popular Chrysler model that began over 60 years ago and still rolls out the factory. 1948 Town andRead the Rest…
Let me say, right off the bat, I could have been a baby boomer pop culture music star. The producer who discovered Elvis begged me to sign as the first gospel singer on Sun Label. I turned him down but did OK on my own, selling over 15 million albums. That’s not a typo, myRead the Rest…
