Dante's Divine Harmony

 You've probably never heard of Ron Dante, but you've almost certainly heard him.

Ron Dante managed to have two songs in the top forty at the same time, neither of which had his name on them. The first was "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies; the second was "Tracy" by the Cuff Links. "Sugar, Sugar" was number one in the US for four weeks in September and October 1969; "Tracy" rose to number nine in the US in October 1969.

So what does this have to do with Ron Dante? Well, he pretty much is the Archies and the Cuff Links, at least vocally; Dante sang all the male vocal parts in the Archies recordings (and in some cases even did falsetto voices for some of the supposed female vocal lines, such as the female lead on the hit song "Jingle Jangle," although Toni Wine joined Dante to perform the female vocals on the aforementioned "Sugar, Sugar." Wine later went on to write "Candida and "Knock Three Times" for Tony Orlando.), and Dante did all the lead and harmony vocals for the first Cuff Links album, Tracy. Pretty amazing pop stuff--energetic, bouncy, build on strong harmonies (and in the case of the Cuff Links, some great counterpoint vocals as well)--I particularly loved the Cuff Links album, and still consider it one of my ten favorite albums.

A week or so ago, as I was replaying the Cuff Links album, I began thinking that I'd like to hear more Ron Dante stuff--and the I realized that I could do just that if I'd just track down copies of the albums The Archies, Everything's Archie, Jingle Jangle, and Sunshine. I already had The Archie's Greatest Hits, but I hadn't even thought about the fact that those other albums had other Ron Dante recordings on them that I hadn't heard (unless I had heard bits and pieces of them on the old Archies cartoon show).

Tracking them down wasn't that hard. I found all of them at very good prices, and ironically all four albums arrived today! (Unfortunately, the USPS thought less of Everything's Archie than the others, and they expressed their opinion by bending the box until the album cracked, so I'll have to find another copy of that one.)

While the songs are less polished than the Cuff Links stuff, they're still a lot of fun. I've listened to the other three, and have enjoyed the mix of familiar hits and less familiar songs. I've also been amused that songs like "Waldo P. Emerson Jones," which could have been a great Monkees song, made it onto an Archies album; it's far from typical Archies fare, with its wry pop-cultural references. Songs like "Sugar and Spice" also show a bit of the tight vocal production that typified Dante's work on the Cuff Links album.

And just this evening I learned that there's another album, Ron Dante (Brings You Up), that was recorded after the Cuff Links album; I've ordered it and hope to give it a listen sometime next week. (And yes, I know that there's also a second Cuff Links album, but it turns out that Dante didn't own the rights to the name, and after a falling out with Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss, who did own those rights, Dante was replaced by Rupert Holmes for most of the songs on the second album). I'll let you know what I think of that one once it shows up... but I think I'm already inclined to enjoy it, based on how much fun I've had listening to these other albums.

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 1/21/13 to 1/28/13

A surprise announcement destined to please West Rome shoppers (and West Rome High School students looking for a convenient place to spend time and money after school): The Rome City Commission announced that a $1.7 million shopping center had been proposed for West Rome-- a center that would be opened directly across the street from West Rome High School and would house several national retailers as well as some local stores. The shopping center developer had already acquired some of the necessary land, but he hoped to buy some land owned by the city to fully develop the shopping center. Surprisingly, the board of education opposed the plan, stating that they had hoped to keep the land available for a possible West Rome Junior High School if needed; either way, they opposed major retail development near the high school. (Of course, we know that the board of education's request was ultimately denied and Gala Shopping Center was indeed developed, with Big K occupying the anchor position in the center. And the board of education also lost out on the whole "keep retail away from our schools" concept, since a Kmart eventually opened just across the parking lot from East Rome High School.)

The Georgia Highway Department announced that they were ready to begin the log-awaited widening of Shorter Avenue and Alabama Road from Burnett Ferry Road  to Georgia Route 20. This would expand the road from two to four lanes for the entire 2.7 mile stretch; at the same time, the city was hopeful that they could work with the state to repave Shorter Avenue from the underpass to Burnett Ferry Road.

The cold winter kept an icy grip on Rome, with temperatures falling to five degrees below zero in the early morning hours of Thursday, January 24th. It was the coldest temperature recorded in Rome since a seven degrees below zero temperature measured way back in January 1899. The weather was so cold that traffic lights froze in downtown Rome, rendering them non-functional, and water pipes froze in homes and businesses across Rome and Floyd County.

Three teenagers were arrested on Sunday, January 27th, for breaking into West Rome High School and stealing change from ten vending machines. A fourth teenager was held as an accessory. The burglars had nothing against the Chieftains; it turned out they had also broken into East Rome High School and ransacked the vending machines there as well.

West Rome played Lafayette on Friday, January 25th. Alas, Lafayette's boys defeated the Chieftains 67-48, but the girls won handily with a 49-33 victory.

Sears unveiled its new bargain-priced 23" Silvertone console television for only $179 and its 14,800 BTU window air conditioner for $199. Of course, with temperatures below zero, there weren't too many Romans looking for air conditioners that week…

A&P had hickory smoked hams for 33¢ a pound; 21-ounce frozen pizzas for 10¢ each; and 10 pounds of potatoes for 39¢. Big Apple offered ground beef for 39¢ a pound, a one-pound bag of Maxwell House coffee for 39¢, and sliced bacon for 45¢ a pound. Couch's had stew beef for 29¢ a pound, Saltine Crackers for 31¢ a package, and the ever-popular Libby's Potted Meat for 10¢ a can. Piggly Wiggly offered whole fryers for 25¢ a pound; large eggs for 49¢ a dozen; and a two-pound carton of Kraft American Cheese for 59¢.

If you wanted to catch a movie, you had a choice of Gypsy (with Rosalind Russell & Natalie Wood) at the DeSoto, Escape from East Berlin at the First Avenue, and a double feature of Son of Robin Hood and the Diary of Ann Frank at the West Rome Drive-In. (And doesn't that sound like one of the strangest double-features in drive-in history?) On Saturday, January 26th, the DeSoto offered a family-friendly double feature: The Tunnel of Love with Doris Day and Bachelor in Paradise with Bob Hope and Lana Turner. (We're so accustomed nowadays to movies lasting for several weeks that we forget how it was in the days when a town the size of Rome only had two indoor theater screens: double features were more common, and movies often ran for just a few days before another film took their place on the schedule.)

Finallly, some new music moved into the  top of the Billboard charts for this week in 1963 as "Walk Right In" by the Rooftop Singers took first place. Other Top 10 songs included "Hey Paula" by Paul and Paula (#2); "Go Away Little Girl" by Steve Lawrence (#3); "Tell Him" by the Exciters (#4); "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" by Bobby Vee (#5); "My Dad" by Paul Petersen (#6); "Two Lovers" by Mary Wells (#7); "Telstar" by the Tornadoes (#8); "It's Up to You" by Rick Nelson (#9); and "Limbo Rock" by Chubby Checker (#10).

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 1/14/63 to 1/20/63

1963 continued its cold trend with a 12 degree low on Monday, January 14th; temperatures remained below freezing through Wednesday afternoon, January 16th. (Many of us who grew up in this time came to think of the colder weather of the 1960s and early 1970s as Georgia's norm, which is one reason that we don't remember summers being as hot as they are not--because they weren't!)

If the cold was too much, you could always make a trip to Penney's for their January clearance sale, where their entire stock of winter jackets was ons ale for $5.88 per jacket regardless of former price. And according to their ad, Penney's was open "all day every Wednesday!" (We sometimes forget that many businesses in Rome closed for a half-day on Wednesdays back then.)

Rome's growth continued as official results indicated that Rome saw a 7% increase in store sales in 1962, which put Rome ahead of all Georgia cities other than Atlanta in business growth. No wonder so many new businesses wanted to open Rome locations in the 1960s!

Meanwhile, the US set records with a proposed $99 billion budget with a $10.3 billion deficit, the largest budget in US history. And just think--if today's US budget was the same proportionate level adjusted for inflation, we'd be looking at about a $750 billion federal budget with about $75 billion in deficit spending!

New Georgia governor Carl Sanders proposed a new junior college for Rome as well as an expansion of Coosa Valley Vocational Technical School (which hd just opened its doors in September 1962). As we know, Floyd Junior College opened less than a decade later, eventually becoming Georgia Highlands College with multiple northwest Georgia campuses.

Alas, Rockmart's Yellow Jackets proved too formidable for West Rome as both the boys and girls basketball teams lost on Friday, January 18th. Rockmart's girls team won 55-29, while the boys won 55-44.  The next night was better for the Chieftains, though, as West Rome took revenge on Model for their early season loss with two victories on Saturday, January 19th. The girls won 55-37 and the boys won 47-33. Linda LIppincott and Wesley Jenkins Lippincott were spotlighted for their respective 35 point and 25 point contributions to the Chieftain victories.

West Rome's wrestlers won their third season victory by defeating the East Rome Gladiators; Mike Murphy, Jimmy Cowart, and Larry Lippencott all pinned their opponents in the match.

Joan Tillery was West Rome's only winner in the Leithauser Studio of Art competition's teenage category.

Rome City Police Captain Nelson Camp announced plans to issue tickets for motorists who avoided stopping at red lights by cutting through business parking lots--and is it any surprise to anyone that the Shorter Avenue corridor was cited as a problem area.

Belk-Rhodes made a strong push to get Romans to try their relatively new line of Corning Ware (the product was introduced in limited markets in 1958, but it didn't begin its national push until the early 1960s) with their "Corning Ware Get Acquainted" program; they encouraged their customers to try Corning Ware ("made of PyroCeram Space Age Ceramic") for 10 days; if they weren't satisfied, Belk-Rhodes would buy it back at full price.

In 1963, one of the most affordable sources of new gas ranges was Atlanta Gas Light Company (this was before deregulation of the natural gas industry, when Atlanta Gas Light was our only gas choice, prices were more affordable, and service was a priority). A bring new Magic Chef gas range was available for only $209.00, or $10 down and $7.90 a month with no interest chages.

Piggly Wiggly had bacon for 43¢ a pound; Blue Plate apple jelly for a quarter per 16-ounce jar; and Heinz Tomato soup for 9¢ per can. Kroger was offering 2 large boxes of Tide detergent for 49¢; Campbell's Tomato soup for 10¢ a can;and large eggs for 49¢ a dozen (which seems pretty high; when you adjust for inflation, that would be more than $3.50 today!). Couch's had country sausage for 49¢ a pound; stew beef for 29¢ a pound; and vine ripened tomatoes for 19¢ a pound (and back then, they really were relatively fresh off the vines, and they really were ripe!).

Jim Walter Homes advertised their new pre-fab home plans for 1963, including the 3-bedroom "Hollywood" for $3790, built on your lot, with prices of less than $38 per month for 13 years.

Rome's movie choices for the first half of the week included Barabbas at the First Avenue; Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? at the West Rome Drive-In; and Billy Budd at the DeSoto. Billy Budd stayed around for the weekend, while the First Avenue brought in Jumbo with Doris Day and the West Rome Drive-In offered a double feature of In Love and War followed by Blue Denim..

January's top ten songs included "Go Away Little Girl" by Steve Lawrence (#1); "Telstar" by the Tornadoes (#2); "Hotel Happiness" by Brook Benton (#3); "Tell Him" by The Exciters (#4); "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" by Bobby Vee (#5); "Limbo Rock" by Chubby Checker (#6); "Two Lovers" by Mary Wells (#7); "My Dad" by Paul Petersen (#8); "Pepino the Italian Mouse" by Lou Monte (#9); and "Hey Paula" by Paul & Paula (#10). Meanwhile, across the ocean, the Beatles' first single, "Please Please Me," was climbing up the charts in the UK (although it would be the end of the year before West Romans would hear much about the Fab Four).


(Sorry that I forgot to post this over the weekend--and thanks to those of you who wrote to me today to let me know you were waiting to see it!)

Fifty Years Ago This Week - 1/7/63 to 1/13/63

Fifty years ago this week, James Meredith told the world that he wouldn't register for another semester at th University of Mississippi unless steps were taken to end the harassment that made his college life difficult. As we know now, Meredith's courageous determination to study at Ole Miss paved the way for blacks to benefit from an educational system that had until this time been largely closed to them.

A new year, a new Congress, but the same political disputes: in January of 1963, a group of senators called for tighter curbs on filibusters, the President's proposed tax cuts were criticized because they weren't accompanied by spending cuts, labor disputes threatened to close American docks, the government struggled to agree on a ($99 billion) budget… Everything old really is new again, apparently!

Rome's growth took a setback when Eastern Airlines announced that it had filed an FAA request to suspend its air service to Rome, less than a month after the Rome Chamber of Commerce had announced that it hoped to bring more air service into Rome.

Rome officially approved the mid-block crosswalks on Broad Street in spite of opposition from Police Chief Ted Peacock. Both local businessmen and residents were very enthusiastic in their support for the crosswalks--and as we know, they proved to be both popular and safe, and have remained a downtown feature ever since.

Floyd Hospital made public its plans to add a psychiatric hospital unit to the growing medical facility. Hard to believe, but until this time, psychiatric patients were held in the county jail because there was no hospital space in Rome authorized to house them!

In January 1963, first class postal rates increased by 25%, jumping from 4¢ to 5¢.

If you wanted to escape your troubles with a good movie, you could catch Jerry Lewis's It's Only Money at the DeSoto, the classic Oklahoma at the First Avenue, or The Music Man at the West Rome Drive-In (apparently Rome was in a very musical mood!). First Avenue brought in Barabbas for the weekend, the DeSoto added both The Honeymoon Machine and The Horizontal Lieutenant in alternating screenings, and the West Rome Drive-in screened the double-feature of Say One For Me and Ten North Frederick. (And yes, the West Rome Drive-In was open for business every week of the year, even in the chill of winter!)

Piggly Wiggly offered a number of items as part of their dime sale, including Libby potted meat, Bush's Mexican Beans, Aunt Jemima Grits, or cans of assorted vegetables. Sirloin steak could be had for 89¢ a pound. A&P was running their Bean-O-Rama sale, with canned beans for 13¢ to 20¢ a can. Big Apple was advertising their 5¢ margarine, 37¢ per pound picnic ham, and 19¢ fatback (how come no one runs specials on fatback nowadays?).

The Top Ten Songs for this week in 1963 included "Go Away Little Girl" by Steve Lawrence (#1), "Telstar" by the Tornadoes (#2), "Limbo Rock" by Chubby Checker (#3), "Hotel Happiness" by Brook Benton (#4), "Pepino the Italian Mouse" by Lou Monte (#5), "Tell Him" by the Exciters (#6), "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" by Bobby Vee (#7), "Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah" by Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans (#8), "Two Lovers" by Mary Wells (#9), and "My Dad" by Paul Petersen (#10). (Remember Paul Petersen, the son from The Donna Reed Show? He did indeed have a top ten song as well!)

A couple of thousand miles away from West Rome, the Beatles released their first single, "Please Please Me," in the UK, while an unknown named Charlie Watts was joining a local band known as the Rolling Stones.  Neither group ever paid a visit to West Rome, but all Chieftains would soon know who they were...

Some Heavy Listening

Today's mail brought my copy of the 180g vinyl LP reissue of Iron Butterfly's first album, Heavy. While it's actually my third-favorite Iron Butterfly album, following the brilliant Ball and the energetic In-a-Gadda-da-Vida, it still has a lot going for it. Doug Ingle is primarily responsible for the album's most appealing qualities: a bold, rhythm-driven sound overlaid by an ethereal, evocative organ tone and a resonant, deep vocal that defines Iron Butterfly as far as I'm concerned.

So why isn't this one my favorite? Well, it has some lead vocals by Darryl DeLoach, whose thin, lackluster style doesn't blend with the Iron Butterfly sound. It also lacks the haunting guitar playing of Erik Brann, Nevertheless, some of the album's tracks, including "Possession," "So-Lo," and "Iron Butterfly Theme," are prime examples of the sound that typified Iron Butterfly later on.

The new vinyl reissue is superlative--timbrous, wide-ranging, and rich in sound, with a very low surface noise level and clean, quiet vinyl.

It also features one of the finest examples of early psychedelic-rock album cover art--a plus that can only be appreciated on the vinyl LP, since the CD is too small to allow one to fully appreciate the art.

Alas, Iron Butterfly in its prime--Lee Dorman, Ron Bushy, Erik Brann, and Doug Ingle--only lasted for two more albums, In-a-Gadda-da-Vida and Ball. After that, Brann and Dorman left, Ingle replaced his signature organ sound for a more generic approach, and the musical style that defined the group gave way to a more standard rock sound. But Heavy is a great portent of wonderful things to come, and it includes a few cuts that are just as memorable today as they were when I bought my first copy of this album back in 1969.

(I already have a 180g reissue of In-a-Gadda-da-Vida; now let's hope that someone decides to reissue the superlative Ball in the same audiophile format! Better still, Rhino or some other label devoted to quality 1960s reissues should assemble a box set that includes outtakes, B-sides, etc.)

An Annual Quest

Since I've been working on these weekly 50 Years Ago This Week in West Rome features for the West Rome newsletter and for these pages, I decided it would be most helpful if I could actually track down copies of the West Rome Watanyah (the school yearbook) for the years I'm chronicling--that way, I could take scans of some photos from the book to accompany the news coverage. Alas, some yearbooks are proving quite difficult to find. If anyone out there has a lead on copies of West Rome yearbooks for 1962, 1964, 1965, and 1966, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know the source and the price.  I've tracked down 1961 and 1963, and have 1967-71 already--and I figure it'll be several more years before I need volumes later than that (although I'd certainly pick them up if the price was right... may as well get 'em now!).

I'd also be interested in 1959 and 1960 yearbooks, although that's just to satisfy my completist nature. I will say, though, that I've had a couple of emails from people asking me to do highlights from those years, since my 50 Years Ago feature began with the fall of 1962, so they could come in handy for that, at least!

I've tried Dogwood Books in Rome, my source for some other bits of Rome history, but they don't currently have any of those volumes in stock.

Just leave a post here if you have a lead on one of the missing volumes!

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 12/30/62 to 1/6/63

Rome and Northwest Georgia continued in "growth mode" as 1963 began, which was the reason that the Rome News-Tribune launched a redesign of the paper that would last for years: the addition of a "second front page" on page 3, focused entirely on local news. This "local front page" approach would become a mainstay of the Rome News-Tribune--and for many readers, it was the "front page" they turned to first.

(And on a personal level, January 1963 saw the debut of a weekly sports column by my father, Don Biggers, which featured sports commentary, predictions, interviews, and more. Dad's first pick? West Rome over Cedartown… which proved to be right on the money!)

Coosa Valley Tech announced the addition of four new courses of study beginning in January 1963: appliance repair, electrical technology, electronic technology, and machine shop. With the early 1960s seeing a boom market for electronics and appliances, trained technicians were in short supply.

International tensions continued to dominate the news: the end of 1963 saw a new dispute between China and the Soviet Union, with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev warning the US to stay out of the matter.

Meanwhile, the war in Vietnam was escalating, with three American soldiers killed when the Viet Cong shot down an American helicopter 50 miles outside of Saigon. Alas, the war was destined to get much more bloody in years to come…

And doomsday fears are apparently timeless: in Pelham, South Carolina, Church of God members ended the year in the basement of their church, barricaded behind sandbags, plywood, and barred doors, convinced that the end of the world was coming as 1962 wrapped up. (Not sure how being locked into a room with a few boxes of food and some jugs of water was going to enable them to survive if the planet was coming to an end.)  Imagine they felt  a little foolish come January 1st, 1963...

1963 saw a new Internal Revenue Service requirement that had lots of taxpayers grumbling: for the first time, businessmen were required to keep an expense record diary for their expense accounts. Believe it or not, until 1962 any businessman could simply list an expense and deduct it with no further record required!

Rome author Calder Willingham released his new novel Eternal Fire at the end of 1962; many are unaware that this award-winning novelist and screenwriter hailed from Rome. His new novel dealt with life in a middle-class Southern town in the 1930s (wonder if Rome was the model?).

Kroger kicked off '63 with stew beef or pork chops or chuck steak or trout fillets or pork shoulder roasts for 63¢ a pound.

Couch's Grocery went even lower, offering pork chops, chuck steak, or shoulder roasts for 59¢ a pound, stew beef for 30¢ a pound, bacon for 55¢ a pound, and chicken breasts for 49¢ a pound. Oscar Mayer bologna could be had for 29¢ for a one-pound package--which probably explained why we ate a lot of bologna when I was a kid!

Piggly Wiggly had whole chickens for 25¢ a pound, sweet potatoes for 10¢ a pound, and fresh hot barbecue pork sandwiches for 20¢ each. Whole barbecue chickens were available in the deli for 39¢ each.

Sears was pushing their all-new frost-free 13.6 cubic foot Coldspot refrigerator, bargain priced at $249.99. (By today's standards, a 13.6 cubic foot refrigerator would almost be a mini-fridge, wouldn't it?)

If only tires were this inexpensive today: Firestone was offering regular or winter tires for $12.50 each, with free installation and a lifetime road hazard warranty.

West Side Story continued its run at the First Avenue Theater, while the DeSoto brought in Period of Adjustment and the West Rome Drive-in was showing The Notorious Landlady.

Meanwhile, one of Hollywood's greats breathed his last on January 2nd, succumbing to cancer with his wife June Allyson by his side.

The Top Ten songs for the first week of 1963 included "Telstar" by the Tornadoes (#1), "Limbo Rock" by Chubby Checker (#2), "Bobby's Girl" by Marcie Blane (#3), "Go Away Little Girl" by Steve Lawrence (#4), "Big Girls Don't Cry" by the Four Seasons (#5), "Return to Sender" by Elvis Presley (#6), "You Are My Sunshine" by Ray Charles (#7), "Release Me" by Esther Phillips (#8), Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah" by Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans (#9), and "Hotel Happiness" by Brook Benton (#10).

And if you were as hooked on comic books as I was, then you may remember December 1963's biggest need release: a quirky title by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko called Amazing Spider-Man launched its first issue in late 1963, with the character destined to become Marvel's best-known superhero in short order. I bought my copy of that book at Candler's Drugstore, along with a 5¢ strawberry ice cream cone that promptly dripped onto my new Spider-Man comic, leaving a pinkish stain that always reminded me of that memorable trip to Candler's!

Making a List, Checking It Twice...

So after spending the better part of a week looking for a near-mint copy of The Rolling Stones' Got Live If You Want It, I was flipping through some unsorted vinyl and discovered that I already own a mint copy of the album! That was enough to convince me it was time to create a spreadsheet for my vinyl collection. Remembering what I currently own, as opposed to what I once owned but got rid of when I foolishly decided that CDs were the only form of music I'd ever want, was proving entirely too complicated.

Other discoveries that came about as a result of the spreadsheet: (1) I apparently own every Josie Cotten and Comateens album ever released; (2) I actually purchased an Ebn Ozn album at some point; (3) Jan and Dean Meet Batman is still the dopiest album I've ever purchased.

The spreadsheet is only about 90% complete at this point, but I should wrap it up tomorrow or the next day. It's interesting to see how many albums I own in multiple editions--in some cases, it's the mono and stereo version of the same album (the first 9 Beatles albums, for instance), in other cases it's a different cover (the UK and US versions of Blind Faith), but in a few cases it's because I didn't remember having an album so I bought it again. *sigh*

Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome: 12/24/62 - 12/30/62

1962 was a turbulent year in so many ways—the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Sino-Indian War, the tail end of a recession—but it was nevertheless a year filled with hope. West Rome was a particularly positive place to be in 1962: it was growing faster than any other part of Rome, and it seemed that all the promise of the future was centered in this side of town. West Rome High entered its fifth year in the fall of 1962, which meant that the school had existed longer than any of its students had been in high school... certain proof that the sense of newness had given way to an established reality. The area was growing so quickly that West End Elementary had to be constructed nearby to supply another feeder school for West Rome's ever-expanding population. Some of us who had attended Elm Street would soon be redistricted to West End... and some of us would actually spend some of our elementary school years attending classes on the West Rome campus, since the rapid growth forced Rome City Schools to use some of the classrooms on the south end of the school (where West Rome Junior High was located) for overflow elementary classes.

And 1962 closed out on a small city that could offer almost everything its residents could hope for: numerous employers hiring everyone from laborers to skilled craftsmen to technicians and engineers, a growing economy, a full selection of shopping that made it possible for families to find everything they needed in Rome without ever having to go out of town, an array of educational opportunities that included both Berry and Shorter as well as Coosa Valley Tech (Floyd Junior College was still a few years away), vigorous new home construction... it's no wonder that 1962 was such a year of optimism.

Luther H. Hodges, President Kennedy's Secretary of Commerce, was busy over the holiday week, pushing for a tax cut in 1962. Secretary Hodges was hoping to convince both Democrats and Republicans to vote in favor of the tax cut--and apparently he was quite persuasive, because that cut passed and the economy boomed, just as he and President Kennedy said it would.

The Nina, an exact replica of one of the ships in Christopher Columbus' fleet, reached the Bahamas on its voyage to the "New World" on Christmas Day. (Remember how excited our teachers were about this historic re-enactment? I still recall Mrs. Cook at Elm Street Elementary talking about it…)

Rome's crime spree continued as a gun-toting bandit robbed a local fruit stand operator at gunpoint, taking $437 in cash (and that's a LOT of fruit!). The neatly-dressed bandit had a shiny new car AND a shiny new revolver. Then, on December 30th, burglars took down the door to Duke Tire Company on DeSoto Avenue, tore open the safe, stole $1042--but thoughtfully put the door back up and repaired the hinges before leaving.

Rome's Chamber of Commerce began a concerted push for regular airline service for Russell Field, hoping it would benefit the city and the county. As we know, their efforts were largely unsuccessful except for a few small feeder flights

Main Elementary School burned down on December 27th, forcing the relocation of students to other schools in the area. It's hard to believe that 1962 was a year when Rome still had segregated schools; it would be several more years before Rome City Schools would be fully desegregated.

Sears had a big after-Christmas sale that led off with "a shoe sale so big we've moved to the toy shop," with all shoes priced from $3.97 to $7.97. White sheets were on sale for $1.47 each (but they only carried twin and full sized sheets; the move to queen-sized mattresses was just beginning in this part of the country in the 1960s, and the queen-sized sheet wouldn't become a part of most department stores' regular stock for a few more years), and a state-of-the art completely frostless refrigerator was marked down to $247.00.

Looking ahead to New Year's, Kroger ran a special on hog jowls at 19¢ a pound, black eyed peas at 9¢ a pound, and smoked ham at 59¢ a pound. Turnip greens were 9¢ a pound at Big Apple. Potatoes were 29¢ for a ten-pound bag at Piggly Wiggly. And at A&P, the relatively unknown avocado was the subject of a major marketing push; not only was it sold at a price of 2/29¢, but any purchase came with a recipe book that told buyers what to do with the avocado after they got it home!

If  you wanted hog jowl, black eyed peas, and collard greens but didn't feel like cooking, McCullough's Restaurant on Martha Berry Highway at the Underpass was the place to go: they offered a meal of all three for only $1 per person through New Year's Day.

West Rome's girls basketball team lost to Johnson 51-47 in the opening round of the third annual Dave Spring Invitational Girls Basketball Tournament. Other than that one game, our Chieftain athletes had the week off.


Christmas Eve and Christmas Day brought showings of White Christmas at the DeSoto Theater; Gay Purree at the First Avenue; and That Touch of Mink at the West Rome Drive-In. The day after Christmas saw The War Lover with Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner open at the DeSoto, while the First Avenue ran Splendor in the Grass and Parrick, with the warning that "these pictures are adult drama! Children would not like or understand this type of picture!"  Apparently they had second thoughts, because those films ran only one day; West Side Story opened on December 27th. The weekend saw the opening of Debbie Reynolds' The Second Time Around at the DeSoto and Walk on the Wild Side at the West Rome Drive-In.

And so 1962 came to a quiet close in Rome as we welcomed in 1963--a year that began with so many dreams and expectations but was destined to end in sorrow...

Fifty Years Ago This Week: 12/17/62 - 12/23/62

Hard to believe, but those mid-block crosswalks that are an accepted feature of Broad Street were heating things up during December in1962, with the City Commission voting to test them out even though there was a great deal of opposition to the idea. Even Police Chief Ted Peacock was opposed, fearing that they would great increase the number of pedestrian injuries and fatalities. As we know, they proved to be both safe and popular, and have been a feature of downtown Rome ever since.

The extreme cold of the prior week led to a great many broken pipes and damaged appliances, which led to the Rome Whirlpool Appliance Center advertising their plumbing and appliance repair department. If you had a problem, they’d gladly make a repair housecall for $4.00, while broken pipe repair started at $6.00. (Even allowing for the index, that would translate to $30 for a housecall, $45 for a broken pipe repair... and I don't think any of us could find a professional who'd do the job for that price today!)

We didn’t have DVRs or big-screen TVs in 1962, but we did have the perfect way to share family photos with friends and neighbors: a remote-control slide projector! For only $172.50, Brocks offered a deluxe remote-control (wired, of course--wireless remotes were a few years away yet) slide projector that could project “movie-sized images.”

And if you wanted the ultimate cookware gift “sure to please any housewife,” then Rome Seed & Feed had the special for you: an 11-piece Royal Family Set of Corningware for $24.95.

London Fog, the in-demand coat of the 1960s, was on sale at Esserman’s for $32.50 for their deluxe all-weather coat, tailored to an individual fit.

Murphy's was advertising the must-have holiday fragrances of 1962: for men, there was Old Spice in a cologne/aftershave/deodorant set for $3.50--and for women, there was Tabu spray cologne and powder for $5.00. (And after all these years, I still vividly remember the scent of both!)

Wyatt's Book Department was promoting Out of the Past But Still Alive: 1861-1961 by Sibley Greeg Mooney, a look at familiar locales in the Rome area, written and illustrated by a Rome Native. Among the sites spotlighted in the book was Shorter Avenue, West Rome's main traffic artery. Autographed copies, perfect for holiday gift-giving, were available for $3.

If all the shopping made you hungry, Murphy's was running a fried catfish dinner special for 50¢, including hush puppies, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, and bread. (I never knew that Murphy's served fried fish--apparently I never looked at the menu when I was there).

Piggly Wiggly was running a special on the must-have holiday candy treats: 2 pounds of Brach's candy orange slices for 39¢, 2 pounds of coconut bonbons for 49¢, or every grandmother's favorite--2 pounds of individually wrapped hard candy for 99¢.

What a change a week makes: on December 18th, 1962, Rome set a record high temperature of 69 degrees--a temperature 73 degrees higher than the low recorded just one week earlier! By the end of the week, however, temperatures had dropped back to a very cold 10 degrees, and the cold weather was expected to stay around through Christmas 1962.

West Rome played Cave Spring in their opening game of the Ninth Annual Northwest Georgia Basketball Tournament on December 18th, and the Chieftains trounced the Springers 59 to 23. Buddy Copeland and Van Gray were spotlighted for their outstanding performance, with each scoring 12 points. Alas, West Rome didn't fare so well in the second round of the tournament, losing to West Haralson County 40-37; Van Gray scored another 12 points in the game, but it wasn't enough to propel the Chieftains to victory.

West Rome's wrestlers defeated Rockmart 37-36 in a match held on Wednesday, December 19th.

It was nostalgia time at Rome's theaters during the week. The DeSoto Theater took a trip into the past the week before Christmas, showing Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Raymond Burr. The First Avenue offered Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with Jane Powell & Howard Keel, along wtih Father of the Bride with Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor. The West Rome Drive-In offered Wild River with Montgomery Clift and Journey to the Center of the Earth with Pat Bone and James Mason. The weekends brought The Big Show with Cliff Robertson and the Commancheros with John Wayne at the DeSoto Theater, and Elvis Presley's GI Blues at the West Rome, while Seven Brides for Seven Brothers continued at the First Avenue. And on December 23rd, the DeSoto brought back the ever-popular White Christmas, which ran through Christmas Day. (We forget that, in those days before home video made it possible for us to watch classic films any time, theaters routinely brought back popular family-friendly films from the past at holiday time.)

For younger kids, the highlight of the week had to be Saturday morning’s Officer Don Popeye Club Stage Show at the DeSoto Theater (“all seats 25¢!”), one of several in-person appearances Don Kennedy (aka Officer Don) made in Rome in the 1960s to promote his popular Popeye Club show that aired each weekday afternoon on WSB-TV.

On December 20th, it was revealed that Rome and Floyd County had assembled a committee composed of representatives from government, education, business, agriculture, and labor to pursue a junior college for the Floyd County area. In 1962 the Seventh District was the only district in the state without a junior college. We know that the committee did its job well, since Floyd Junior College opened its doors just a few years later!

The West Rome High School Dramatic Club presented a Christmas program chronicling the birth of Christ on Wednesday, December 18th, under the direction of Miss Jean Scales. Participants in the program included Alfred Fletcher, Kay Williams, Howard Fountain, Pat Jackson, Leigh Whittenberg, Edna Moore, Sandra Posey, Betty Lewis, Jan Lewis, Susan White, Allen Preiss, Tony Ledwell, and Donald Plants, along with the girls vocal ensemble from the Chieftains Chorus.

Then, on December 20th, the West Rome dance band (including Butch Mowry, John Payne, Bill Babb, Dick Thompson, Ashely Wiggins, Henry Kennedy, Danny Beard, Don Murdock, John Butler, Sid Skelton, Jan Lewis, Cindy Biglock, Donald Plants, Frankie Plemons, David Godfrey, Jimmy Brewer, Sid Garwood, Derell Brookshire, and Celia Brookshire), the Four Fellows musical quartet (featuring Sid Garwood, Jimmy Brewer, Smitty Cummings, and Butch Mowry), and the senior band presented a Christmas musical program. Band director Clyde Roberson led the band, while choral director Ronald Midkiff led the West Rome Chorus (including Janet Schere, Pat Merrill, Sheryll Andrews, Ginger McLeod, Ann Neal, Sheryll Cole, Margaret Witworth, Diane Leake, Teresa DiPrima, Ann Finely, and Diane Dorsey) in a medley of Christmas songs; afterwards, Santa paid a visit to the school, bringing gift to some of the students, staff, and faculty.

"Telstar" by the Tornadoes half on at the number one spot for the week, followed by "Go Away Little Girl" by Steve Lawrence (#2), "Bobby's Girl" by Marcia Blane (#3), "Big Girls Don't Cry" by the Four Seasons (#4), Return to Sender" by Elvis Presley (#5), "Limbo Rock" by Chubby Checker (#6), "Pepino the Italian Mouse" by Louis Monte (#7), "Love Came to Me" by Dion (#8), "The Lonely Bull" by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (#9), and "Up On the Roof" by the Drifters (#10).