Sunday, April 27, 2014

Fifty Years Ago This Week in 1964: 4/27/1964 to 5/4/1964

Spring thunderstorms hit Rome Tuesday evening, April 28th, bringing brief heavy rain, 35 mile per hour wind gusts, and quarter-inch hailstones to some parts of Rome. Much of Shorter Avenue was without power for a while as a result of the storms.

The West Rome track team defeated Cedartown and Calhoun in a three-way meet on April 27th, winning 65 1/2 to 63 1/2 to 30.  Chieftain Steve Rush set a school record in the low hurdles with a 20.95 second time. Alas, the Chieftains fell to the Gladiators on Wednesday, April 29th; East Rome posted 86 1/2 points to West Rome's 40 1/2.

West Rome's baseball team defeated Berry Academy 4-1 on Thursday, April 30th.

McDonald's held an official grand opening party for its Turner McCall Boulevard store on Saturday, May 2nd; the highlight of the program was an appearance by WSB's Officer Don himself as Don Kennedy flew into Rome on the WBS Skycopter. To celebrate the grand opening, McDonald's offered their All-American meal—a hamburger, a milkshake, and french fries—for 47¢.

WSB ran a half-hour Salute to Rome as part of its Today in Georgia program on Wednesday, 4/29; the half-hour feature included a brief segment on West Rome.

Piggly Wiggly had fresh whole fryers for 23¢ a pound, fresh squash for a dime a pound, and a one-pound bag of Lay's potato chips for 39¢. Big Apple had Peter Pan tuna for 29¢ a can, whole cantaloupes for 29¢ each, and all meat bologna for 39¢ a pound. Kroger had 3 pounds of Crisco for 49¢, sirloin steak for 79¢ a pound, and lettuce for a dime a head. A&P had  Eight O'Clock coffee for 67¢ a pound, cubed steak for 79¢ a pound, and honeydew melons for 49¢ each. Couch's had center cut pork chops for 39¢ each, Aristocrat ice milk for 39¢, and large tomatoes for 19¢ a pound.

A week at the movies began with Sunday in New York (with Rod Taylor, Jane Fonda, & Cliff Robertson) at the DeSoto and Lilies of the Field (with Sidney Poitier) at the First Avenue. The last half of the week brought Advance to the Rear (with Glenn Ford and Stella Stevens) at the DeSoto and Summer Holiday (an eminently forgettable rock-music film with Cliff Richards and Lauri Peters) to the First Avenue. For the weekend, the West Rome Drive-In ran a double feature of Showdown and Kiss of the Vampire on Friday and Saturday nights.

Once again, the Beatles held three spots in the Top Ten this week in 1964 with "Can't Buy Me Love" (#1), "Do You Want to Know a Secret" (#3), and "Twist and Shout "(#7). Other top ten hits included "Hello, Dolly!" by Louis Armstrong (#2); "Bits and Pieces" by the Dave Clark Five (#4); "My Guy" by Mary Wells (#5); "Don't Let the Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man)" by the Serendipity Singers (#6); "Suspicion" by Terry Stafford (#8); "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan & Dean (#9); and "Ronnie" by the Four Seasons (#10).

And this week in 1964, the Beatles second Capitol Records album, appropriately entitled The Beatles Second Album (although it was actually their third album if you count the VeeJay Introducing the Beatles... which Capitol would prefer you didn't), was released. Naturally, it instantly went to number one on the album charts. And on this same week in 1964, the Beatles completed filming on A Hard Day's Night, their very first feature film.

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