Saturday, October 18, 2014

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 10/19/1964 to 10/25/1964

Former President Herbert Hoover passed away on October 20th. Nowadays, we think of the Hoover era as a  part of distant American history, but he had been out of office for only 32 years in 1964--less time that has passed since the end of the Jimmy Carter presidency. Somehow, the gap between the Depression era US and the 1960s seems enormous, however, while the gap between the late 1970s to today seems much less (at least for those of us who lived it, I guess).

Dickie Sapp was once again chosen as the Rome News-Tribune's back of the week in recognition of his outstanding performance in the prior Friday's game against Cedartown, in which Sapp not only scored the second and deciding touchdown, but also gained 91 net yards (more than half of West Rome's rushing total) and intercepted a pass that stopped Cedartown from tying the game.

Coach Kennedy told the Rome News-Tribune that West Rome was scheduled to face its toughest foe of the year on October 23rd when the Rossville Bulldogs made the trip down to Barron Stadium to face the Chiefs on a Saturday night in a game that also marked West Rome's homecoming. "They probably have the best passing attack of any team we play," Coach Kennedy said. "We've got to eliminate a few more of our mistakes, and we certainly have to improve on our pass defense if we hope to stop them." Alas, Coach Kennedy's evaluation of the team turned out be correct, as West Rome fell to Rossville 32-14.

Esther Ransom was crowned as Homecoming Queen; other members of the homecoming court included Sondra Adams, Sara Coffey, Jane Hairston, Carole Sewell, and Judy Wessinger.

A disagreement over zoning of Shorter Avenue between Hughes and Sycamore Streets led to the Rome City Commission spending almost four hours listening to arguments from both sides. The proposed zoning change would have designated the segment of Shorter Avenue as R-2 (which would allow for the construction of motels, hotels, offices, and nursing homes), while a counter-proposal would have rezoned it as C-1, which would allow for commercial development for stores and other businesses; prior to the change, it was zoned for evidential use only. The board finally decided to go for the C-1 classification, opening more of the Shorter Avenue corridor for business, shopping, and restaurant development.

Coosa Valley Tech was proving so successful that the school began a study of expansion options this week in 1964. Plans called for the addition of a 15,000 square foot building to house additional classrooms for drafting, radio/tv repair, welding, data processing, and textile production.

Freezing temperatures came early to West Rome, with the thermometer dropping to 28 degrees on Wednesday morning, October 20th, marking the first freezing temperature of the autumn.

The Milwaukee Braves began a legal fight to clear the way for their move to Atlanta this week in 1964, hoping to overturn a restraining order designed to block them from asking for League permission to make the move. Henry Aaron spoke out against the move, saying "I just won't step out on the field" in Atlanta; apparently he changed his mind as time passed.

Piggly Wiggly had Lady Alice ice milk for 29¢ a half-gallon, Sunset Gold potato chips for 49¢ for a twin-pack (2 8 ounce bags), and pig liver for 19¢ a pound (and that's one meat I've never tried, thank you very much--we ate a lot of beef liver and chicken livers, but no pig liver). Kroger had fresh whole fryers for 29¢ a pound, lettuce for 15¢ a head, and 11 ounces of perch, haddock, or flounder for 49¢. Big Apple had center cut ham slices for 79¢ a pound, a 12 ounce bag of tater tots for a quarter, and 25 pounds of White Lily flour for $1.99 (did anyone really use 25 pound bags of flour?). A&P had whole young ducklings for 39¢ a pound (another meat we never ate), Virginia apples for a dime a pound, and a box of Post Toasties cereal for 21¢. Couch's had chuck roast for 37¢ a pound, tomatoes for 19¢ a pound, and Del Monte catsup for 19¢ for a 24-ounce bottle.

The cinematic week began with The World of Henry Orient (with Peter Sellers) arriving for a short two-day run at the DeSoto and Quo Vadis continuing at the First Avenue. The weekend brought Where Has Love Gone? (with Susan Hayward & Bette Davis) to the DeSoto; Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (with Sophia Loren & Marcello Mastroianni) to the First Avenue, and a weekend double feature of That Kind of Woman (with Sophia Loren & Tab Hunter) and Thunder in the Sun (with Susan Hayward & Jeff Chandler) to the open-on-weekends-only-for-the-fall West Rome Drive-In.

The Supremes took the top chart position tis week in 1964 with "Baby Love." Other top ten hits included "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" by Manfred Mann (#2); "Last Kiss" by J. Frank Wilson & the Cavaliers (#3); "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" by Gale Garnett (#4); "Dancing in the Street" by Martha & the Vandellas (#5); "Let It Be Me" by Betty Everett & Jerry Butler (#6); "Have I the Right?" by the Honeycombs (#7); "Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison (#8); "Little Honda" by the Hondells (#9); and "Chug-a-Lug" by Roger Miler (#10).

And on Sunday, October 25th, the next wave of the British Invasion began when the Rolling Stones made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, performing two songs from their 12 X 5 album: "Around and Around" in the first half of the show and "Time Is On My Side" as the closing act. The day after the performance, Sullivan said that he'll never invite them to return... but he obviously changed his mind, since they returned in the spring of 1965 and many times thereafter.

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