This page is from the 3-volume set of "Entertaining Tucson Across the Decades."
Let's
hearken back once again to when today's baby boomers– those born
between 1946 and 1964– (baby boomers) were assembling their first
mini-crystal sets and searching for their first station with 'rock and
roll' rhythms. It was a chance to dig the world of cars, cliques and
class, with this new mod music in the background. This was the 1950s in
Tucson, Arizona.
The newest fad– customizing cars in California– set the pace for a few local car clubs. Tucson's "Banshees"
beamed proudly with vehicles sporting fender skirts, flipper hubcaps
and continental kits. The twin aerials brought in radio signals from a
society of high fidelity, both fraternal and familial. Yah, man, Ike
smiled, Khrushchev rattled his rockets, but all else was well!
From
'53 to '63, the nation cruised as smooth as a finely tuned engine. Life
was lived for the daily fun of it like an adventure rather than a
venture as it is today. Young lads had fun pegging the five local
stations on their brother's car radio before he went on the "big date"
that evening. She looked neat with his class ring hung on a chain around
her neck, as they smooched (in front of people). He looked cagey in his
flashy car club jacket as they roared down the lane with the open pipes
purring.
Kids
sure wanted to be 16 in a hurry to cruise about– even in an Edsel!
Vroom! But, kids just rode their bikes and settled for a "transistor"
sister radio hanging from the handlebars listening to KTKT-990 AM–
Tucson's top rock and roll radio station. This reporter reminisces each
time he sees a '50s logo, be it cars, soda pop, or petrol! Like wow man!
Pop
art Americana comes to Tucson in the '50s. The sweet, colorful echoes
of heartfelt "Fabulous Fifties" music sprung to life in the form of the Sonic Drive-in restaurant, on West Grant Road east of the Interstate. Baby boomers, who once cruised the four Johnnie's Drive-In's, then Ritchie's on 22nd
Street, with great pride, will reminisce with much fervor once again
here, as the spontaneity of youthful life whiles on and idles by ...
This classy red arid white striped burger eatery by day becomes a "Sea of Neon," "Jewel of Illumination," "In the "Still
of the Night" and under "A Thousand Stars in the Sky." Golden oldies
ooze through the atmosphere from radios of a line of parked cars nosed
into nostalgia. One needs merely to push the menu button and order from
the past... Elvis, Fabian, Dionne, Bobby Rydell. Sadly, there are no
skating carhops.
Lighthearted
frolic has given way to liability, Still "Only You" can watch the
sprightly lasses disperse the fast food, as they display their darling
derring-do, while the drive-thru lane "rumbles" on with "busyness." Even
today's teens and preteens will "dig" the "bob-shoobob" tunes of
yesteryear, in this super Sonic place of fun. Look for the classic car
out front.
As
the "Nifty Fifties" came to a close, lazy contemplative weekends in our
amiable, affable town were celebrated by folks in myriad ways. Some
viewers watched "Dean Armstrong's Country Music Store" on KOPO-TV, Channel 13.
Dean occasionally featured the perennial national craze for square dancing. Dancers also promenaded at Old Tucson each Sunday, or at nearby ranches. There were a dozen colorful clubs and even more callers. KTKT, the Old Pueblo's mainstay station, highlighted its "Swinging Seven" rock and roll DJs. One recalls Jerry Stowgram and Dave Nelson "swinging through,"among others.
Yes, we even had fun high-jinx crafted by mobile transmitter announcers at shopping centers then, too! Radio 99 (KTKT) also sanctioned The Miss Tucson Trailer Court contest in the late '50s.
Then, they really revved things up by sponsoring the Speed Sport dragster at the Tucson Strip. This was located on what is now Golf Links Rd. on the Davis-Monthan AFB. City folk also reveled in PhD RichardsonÕs radio-editorials. Noted, too, were daily ditties, such as "Sleep well tonight, your Air National Guard is awake."
Ah, Tucson in the '50s.
Now Available From Amazon.com
Download a free,
100 page, special edition digital PDF sample of selections from all
three volumes, including the full Table of Contents, Indexes and a
samples of historical articles and photographs. "Entertaining Tucson Highlights.
Tucson Entertainment Book Now Available!
By Michael Hamilton
September 1989 – Entertainment Magazine. Page 19
This page is from the 3-volume set of "Entertaining Tucson Across the Decades," Download a free,
100 page, special edition digital PDF sample of selections from all
three volumes, including the full Table of Contents, Indexes and a
samples of historical articles and photographs. "Entertaining Tucson Highlights.
Brushing aside the glossy gossamers off one's memory, one recalls rising for high school to the radio alarm clock and the Guy Williams program of the city's flagship rocker station KTKT. Williams' shifty mercurial shenanigans were so symbolic of the late 1950s-early '60s era.
The "wild one" of the Swingin' Seven played
a variety of tunes typical of the times. Listeners sometimes cringed as
groups cut songs like "Did Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor On the
Bedpost Over Night" and "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny, Yellow Polka Dot
Bikini" and the like! Thank your lucky airwaves that these melodies we
interspersed among better ballads like "The Battle of New Orleans" or
"Big John" by Jimmy Dean. "El Paso" with Marl RobbinsÕ eerie alto wail
was on the Top 40 for 14 months.
There were several crossover country songs back then. KMOP and KHOS were
favorite footpattin' frequencies of those days. This reporter walked to
school and played sax in a "before classes" combo that belted "big
band" sounds like "In the Mood," etc. Understandably, it was not too
popular with the student rockers of the day.
One
thing, though, almost any student could make music during voluntary
study halls. Ample students were allowed to leave the campus, head for
burgervilles, thinking that was just neat, choice, and boss ... !
in print and ebook on Amazon.com.