Pontiac GTO, one of the first “muscle” cars
I was one natty, cool dude, dude. I rose like a meteorite in the auto industry by developing models baby boomers craved. First was the wildly popular Pontiac GTO. Next came the Firebird, soon outselling the Camero. And then the Grand Prix, the most successful new car in Read the Rest…
It was the right story at the right time. Close Encounters broke the mold of hostile, war-bent aliens, introducing instead the hope of a kinder, gentler extra-terrestrial universe. The movie offered, as one critic said, “a benign, dreamy-eyed vision.”
Baby boomers were raised on steady diet of sci-fi fright and horror. Intelligent life beyond Earth was Read the Rest…
BABY BOOMER REVERIE: 1968
“So, what’s Italy like?” dad’s voice crackled over the ancient phone. The only time most parents of baby boomers got to visit Europe was in uniform. My dad was lucky. He had a hernia in boot camp and went home.
“It’s a lot like France,” I said, “except the people are nice.”
I was Read the Rest…
The Great Debate, 1960
It was an historic changing of the guard. It would be another generation before the first actual baby boomer (Clinton) became President. But boomers staged a spiritual coup d’eat in 1960. Let’s look at the contenders.
Laaadies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the Heavyweight Presidential Election! In this corner, accompanied by his loyal Read 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 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.” What baby Read the Rest…
BABY BOOMER REVERIE: 1964
I had a black girlfriend at the University of Southern California. Black-white couples were rare in those early boomer college days. Almost anywhere we went, people starred at us, even on campus. Most weren’t hostile, just surprised and curious. We got used to it.
I begged Sonya to take me to an “authentic” Read the Rest…
“I know it when I see it.”
Supreme Court Justice Stewart’s definition of “obscenity.”
What could be more exciting and scandalous? A gorgeous (36D-25-36), wildly enthusiastic, underage porn star? Of course, no one knew (ha! ha!) I was 15 when I started. You might say I put the “baby” in baby boomer X-movies.
I was living with my mother’s Read the Rest…
A LONG AND WINDING BOOMER ROAD
*58 Chevy Impala convertible (mother’s car, greatest chick magnet in auto history
*58 Cadillac Coup Deville (father’s car)
*58 Nash Rambler (older brother’s car)
61 Cortina (lost in a poker game but the engine was shot)
62 Volkswagen Bug (cherry red, drove from Illinois to California, where it belonged)
66 Thunderbird 4 door (father-in-law’s Read the Rest…
Lots of boomers swear they were there. It was a hippie badge of honor. Golden Gate Park, a few months and few blocks from ground zero of the 1967 San Francisco Summer of Love.
We’re talking about the first, the historic, the star-studded, stoned-out Be-In, officially known as the Human Be-In, A Gathering of the Tribes. Read the Rest…
Some people call me a one role boomer wonder, but I’ll take it. It’s not like I didn’t have any career after Wonder Woman, but that’s a tough act to follow.
I always had the looks. I was Miss World USA in 1972. Sure, I wasn’t Helen Hayes but I was good enough to be in Read the Rest…
