Saturday, March 28, 2015

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 3/29/1965 to 4/4/1965

Dickie Sapp smashed two West Rome school records to lead the Chieftains to a victory over Armuchee and LaFayette in a three-way track meet held at West Rome's track on April 1st. Sapp ran the 100-yard dash in 10 seconds flat, then posted 22 feet 8.25 inches in the broad jump, both of which beat prior records that, as it turns out, were also set by Dickie Sapp!

It was a very good week for West Rome, athletically speaking, as pitcher Todd Zeiger led the Chieftains to a 2-1 baseball victory of Dalton. Alas, it wasn't such a good week for Zeiger, who was struck by a batted ball and injured sufficiently to take him out of the game and place him on the disabled list for at least a week.

West Rome took  fourth place at the Region 3-AA Literary meet held at Berry College on Friday, April 2nd. Chieftain Jerry Shaw tied for first place in Boys Solo, posting West Rome's only first-place win.

Candidates for Student Council offices made their campaign speeches during an assembly program on April 1st.Sarah Whitworth and Jeannie Maxwell were on the ballot for president; David Garrett, Tommy Fricks, Yvonne Housch, Tommy McMahon, and Regina Swinford, for vice-president; Gwen Day, Tommy Sapp, Kay Shoemaker, and Cynthia Tolbert, for secretary; Pam Callaway, Teresa Deleski, Pat Finley, Baxter Joy, and Pam Williams, for treasurer.

West Rome's academic offering expanded with the addition of German I, enriched reading, and general shop; all three courses were slated to be initially offered for the fall 1965 semester, with students pre-regstering in the spring. General shop classes became possible with the construction of a $66,000 shop that was slated to be finished by August 1965, just prior to the beginning of the 1965-66 school year. The addition of these three classes expanded West Rome's total number of elective offerings to 45.

McDwain Sandlin and Anna Payne, who were chosen to represent West Rome at the State Science Fair in Athens, were presented with a modest financial grant by the JETS and Science Club to help cover some of the attendance costs.

Kentucky Fried Chicken kicked off its Wednesday Finger-Lickin' Specials with a 15 piece family bucket for $2.91 (regularly $3.50). Don't get too excited, though: when you factor in the inflation multiplier, that special price would equal $21.88!

Piggly Wiggly had Wilson's bacon for 59¢ a pound, eggs for 33¢ a dozen, and canned biscuits for a dime a can in an apparent effort to corner Rome's breakfast market. Kroger had sirloin steak for 89¢ a pound, a five-pound bag of oranges for 33¢, and a six-bottle carton of Diet-Rite or RC Cola for a quarter plus deposit. Big Apple had Sealtest ice cream for 49¢ a half-gallon, prime rib for 69¢ a pound, and a five-pound bag of White Lily for for 49¢. A&P had ground chuck for 59¢ a pound, strawberries for 29¢ a pint, and bananas for 11¢ a pound. Couch's had chicken breasts for 39¢ a pound, Libby's vienna sausages for a dime a can, and a one-pound can of JFG coffee for 69¢.

The cinematic week began with Bus Riley's Back In Town (with Ann-Margret & Michael Parks) at the DeSoto and None But the Brave (with Frank Sinatra) at the First Avenue. The midweek switch out brought John Goldfarb Please Come Home (with Peter Ustinov, Shirley MacLaine, & Richard Crenna) to the DeSoto, while both the First Avenue and the West Rome Drive-In were screening a rather odd movie choice—Tennessee Jamboree: A Roadshow Musical, a country music performance film featuring Jim Reeves, Webb Pierce, Marty Robbins, Jimmy Dickens, Ernest Tubb, Minnie Pearl, Chet Atkins, and many others. The success of this film played a role in CBS's decision to launch the Hee Haw television program a few years later, since the low-budget film's ticket sales indicated an interest in country music beyond the Deep South.

Freddie and the Dreamers were probably doing the Freddie this week in 1965, because they had the number one slot with their single "I'm Telling You Now." Other top ten hits included "Stop! In the Name of Love" by the Supremes (#2); "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" by Herman's Hermits (#3); "Shotgun" by Jr. Walker & the All-Stars (#4); "The Birds & the Bees" by Jewel Aikens (#5); "King of the Road" by Roger Miller (#6); "Game of Love" by Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders (#7); "Nowhere to Run" by Martha & the Vandellas (#8); "I Know a Place" by Petula Clark (#9); and "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" by Vic Dana (#10).

Most superheroes stayed out of real-world combat, but not at Marvel Comics, where Thor headed into Vietnam to face off against the Viet Cong in Journey Into Mystery #117, on sale this week in 1965. This was also the week that Charlton resurrected its early 1960s hero Captain Atom, reprinting early Steve Ditko-illustrated stories in Strange Suspense Stories #75. In the years since Captain Atom had initially been published, Ditko had become a major comics superstar at Marvel due to his work on Spider-Man, so many Marvel fans were thrilled to see another superhero book with Ditko art. And Henry Pym made his final solo appearance as Giant-Man in Tales to Astonish #69; the next issue would see his spot in the book taken by Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner. (It's strangely appropriate that Marvel's original Ant-Man would be one of the company's superhero short-timers...)

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