The New Year Cometh

 

DMN January 1, 1963

 

Hopeful looking little fellow, wasn't he?  Little did he know.

 

As we awaited the New Year of 1963, the class was on its Christmas vacation, studying for their examinations, of course (tongue firmly in cheek at this point). In those days, the semester did not end before Christmas, and the fall exams awaited us in January. And, as hope springs eternal, we might even graduate in late May.

Some of us had firm college plans, others were still awaiting news of acceptance (or otherwise) to their college of choice.

Some of the big news, which most of us didn’t particularly care about, include a push for a tax cut by President Kennedy, a United Nations military action in he Republic of the Congo to forcibly reunify the breakaway province of Katanga with that country, and cold weather coming to North Texas.

More to the important stuff, the Billboard No. 1 hit that straddled the New Years was "Telstar’ by the Tornados. It was the first #1 pop music hit in the U.S. by a British band – a harbinger of things to come. Other popular records were "Sherry" and "Big Girls Don’t Cry" by the Four Seasons, "Monster Mash" by Boris Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers, and "Walk Right In" by the Rooftop Singers. Nary a political or protest song in sight. The Beatles has been around in England for a few years, and the Rolling Stones, who turned 50 and are still rolling, were formed in 1962, but no one this side of the Pond had heard of either. That would change, but not for a year.

Louann’s, owned and operated by classmate Tony Bovis’s mother, was a popular nightspot at Lovers Lane and Greenville. The school had occasional social functions there, sans adult beverages, officially anyway. Blues singer Jimmy Reed appeared there, as did local talent Trini Lopez, Scotty McKay, and Kenny and the Kasuals.

The Number 1 pop music station in Dallas 1962-63 was Gordon McLendon’s AM station KLIF "the Mighty 1190" with morning DJs "Charlie & Harrigan" ("Harrigan" was actually Ron Chapman, who went on to be a legend with KVIL for 30 years), and "The Weird Beard" (Russ Knight) at night. KLIFs main – really only – competitor was KBOX, which ultimately went to a country & western format in 1967. FM radio was relegated to the easy listening and classical music formats; few had receivers for FM. WRR 101.1, the City of Dallas’s classical music station was around with few listeners. That changed in the late 1960s when Congress required radios manufactured to be sold in interstate commerce to be AF-FM capable.

 

Charlie & Harrigan (Ron Chapman with hair)

 

 

At that time, Dallas-Fort Worth television stations were KRLD Channel 4 (CBS), owned by the Dallas Times Herald, WFAA Channel 8 (ABC) owned by (still) the Dallas Morning News, WBAP Channel 5 (NBC) owned by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and KTVT Channel 11 (no affiliate, FOX was far off in the future). KERA Channel 13 was an educational station that started as a project of DISD (the "Little Red Schoolhouse of the Air"). Reception for 5 and 11 in Dallas could be "snowy" if the only antenna was "rabbit ears." Prime time shows included Andy Griffith, Cheyenne, The Rifleman, Ozzie & Harriet, Perry Mason, Dr. Kildare, Hawaiian Eye, The Untouchables, Route 66, and others. Broadcast news was not big; networks only devoted 15 minutes for the evening news. Another change coming in the fall of 1963.

Merry Christmas

Here is a remembrance of the Christmas of 1962. W. H. Auden's FOR THE TIME BEING: A Christmas Oratorio was written during the dark times of World War II. The poem is about 1500 lines long, or 52 pages. (For comparison: Shakespeare's Macbeth is about 2100 lines long.)

Thanks again to John Cuellar for furnishing his yearbooks so I could make decent copies of the pics.

Seasons Greetings to all of us who are here, and let's not forget the ones who have passed on. 

Merry Christmas

 

and

 

Happy New Year 

 

 

More Homecoming 63

 

Thanks to John Cuellar's generosity in loaning me his 1963 yearbooks from Jesuit and Our Lady of Good Counsel (I hasten to add that, understandably, his lending conditions made Antonio's bond with Shylock appear leninent  -- I guess he paid attention in English class) I managed to copy the 1962 Homecoming photos of our lovely royalty that perhsps does them some justice. These are from the Jesuit book.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the OLGC book

 

 

If anyone can provide me with a Ursuline or St. Ann's 1963 yearbook, I will give equal space.

 

 

A good time was had by all.

 

 



Coming Home

An across the pond visit to France, Thanksgiving trip to the Hill Country, and pressing work matters back here turned out to be a perfect storm that interfered with my blogging about our Golden Class. Anyway, I’m back, for awhile. Still would like some contributions, especially stories, however embellished.

Missed the 1962 Homecoming Game of 1962, where the Waco Reicher Cougars beat the Rangers 30 – 14. Jesuit was not supposed to lose, but....

I’ll pay tribute to our gorgeous homecoming queens and princesses. Jesuit, being an all male school, had to choose our female royalty from sister Catholic all girl schools. Back in those days, we recall if later classes do not, there were three in Dallas: Ursuline, Our Lady of Good Counsel, and St. Ann’s Academy. In the spirit of equal opportunity, Jesuit chose a queen and princess from each one. Since those days, OLGC morphed into Bishop Dunne, admitted boys. and formed their own football team. St. Ann’s became history, presumably because the needs it fulfilled were taken up by both Bishop Dunne, and Bishop Lynch in East Dallas, who also has its own team. I suppose that Ursuline, being Jesuit’s only all female sister school, still provides our queen and princess.

So, lest we not remember the lovely and accomplished ladies who graced our 1962 homecoming, they were:

Ursuline:                                  Queen Barbara Neuhoff            Princess Lou Ann Hairston

Our Lady of Good Counsel:    Queen Cora Sue Hollern           Princess Kathy Bell

St. Ann’s Academy:                Queen Theresa Silva                 Princess Diana Vega

Attempted to copy photos from the yearbook at the Dallas Public Library (mine disappeared over the years), but the B&W half-tone printed photos didn’t come out well, and didn’t do these ladies justice. If anyone has decent photos, or can loan me their yearbook so I can use my photo equipment at home, I’ll post them at a later time.

Here is a photo of the old place as it looked around our time, courtesy of my brother Steve (Class of 1968).