Fifty Years Ago This Week in West Rome - 2/3/1964 to 2/9/1964

The effort to end polio continued with another "Stop Polio Sunday" held at all elementary schools and high schools on Sunday, February 9th (including West Rome High, West End Elementary, and Elm Street Elementary). Free oral Sabin Type 1 vaccines were given to any and all who came to the school on that date; the second round, using Type 3 oral vaccines, was scheduled for March 15th, and the final round, using Type 2 oral vaccines, was scheduled for April 19th. Steve Smith, president of the Floyd Medical Society, said that the greatest immunity was acquired when the vaccines were taken in that order, about a month apart.

Rome's airport suffered a setback when the Civil Aeronautics Board allowed Eastern Airlines to amend its request to temporarily suspend airline service to Rome; instead, the revised request would ask for permanent termination of Rome service. Eastern representatives said that Rome had failed to generate sufficient traffic to qualify for continued service.

West Rome took on Cedartown on February 7th, followed by the biggest game in town--West Rome Vs. East Rome--on Saturday, February 8th. The weekend started off wrong with a 54-50 Cedartown victory, but the Chieftains once again transformed the Gladiators into the Not-So-Glad-iators as West Rome won 47-41.

Kroger had ground beef for 39¢ a pound, dry pinto beans for a dime a pound, and D'Anjou pears for 15¢ each. Piggly Wiggly had Sally Southern ice milk for 39¢ a half-gallon, eggs for 45¢ a dozen, and boneless chuck roast for 69¢ a pound. A&P had round steak for 79¢ a pound, a two-pound bag of carrots for 29¢, and Campbell's tomato soup for 12¢ a can. Big Apple had Hormel vienna sausages for 20¢ a can, a quart jar of Kraft mayonnaise for for 49¢, and a pound of Land o' Lakes butter for 69¢. Couch's had a 12 ounce can of Spam for 39¢, five pounds of Dixie Crystals sugar for 49¢, and vine-ripened Florida tomatoes for 15¢ a pound.

Moviegoers could start the week by catching Charade (with Cary Grant & Audrey Hepburn) at the DeSoto or The Leopard (with Burt Lancaster) at the First Avenue. The weekend brought the delightful all-ages animal film The Incredible Journey to the DeSoto,  while the First Avenue brought in the horror film Children of the Damned and the West Rome Drive-In showed Under the Yum Yum Tree (with Jack Lemmon) on Friday and Saturday nights.

At 8pm on Sunday, February 9th, approximately 73 million viewers (and almost 60% of all American televisions) tuned into the Ed Sullivan Show to watch the Beatles in their first US performance. The show opened with "All My Loving," "Till There Was You," and "She Loves You," in their first set, with the Beatles returning at the end of the show to perform "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want to Hold You Hand." In spite of George Harrison's illness and John Lennon's low-volume microphone in the second set, the show was considered a phenomenal success. (Also on the show was a young Davy Jones, singing "I'd Do Anything" as part of the Broadway cast of Oliver!  Of course, hardly anyone remembered Davy Jones' performance that night... but they would remember him well a couple of years later when he'd co-star in the Beatles-influenced television series The Monkees.)  I still remember watching that show; while I didn't own any Beatles records at that time, I had heard them on the radio and was eager to watch them perform. The first two songs captured my attention, but the moment they broke into "She Loves You," I was instantly transformed into a die-hard Beatles fan... along with millions of other kids across the country!

Appropriately enough, the show that had to air against Ed Sullivan on ABC, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, aired an episode entitled "The Day of the Lame Duck." With the Beatles on CBS, every other television show in that time slot was a lame duck, indeed!

The number one song this week in 1964 was the song the Beatles chose to end their Ed Sullivan performance, "I Want to Hold Your Hand;" the number three song was the song that ended their first set, "She Loves You." Other top ten hits included "You Don't Own Me" by Lesley Gore (#2); "Hey Little Cobra" by the Rip Chords (#4); "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um" by Major Lance (#5); "For You" by Rick Nelson (#6); "Out of Limits" by the Marketts (#7); "Anyone Who Had a Heart" by Dionne Warwick (#8); "Java" by Al Hirt (#9); and "What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am?" by the Tams (#10).

Comic books fans were thrilled to discover a new Marvel series, Daredevil, on the comic shop spinner racks at Conn's, Couch's, Candler's, and Liberty Hatworks & Newsstand this week in 1964.(I bought my copy at Conn's!)