1960 Wow! What a Year

By George Wilson Morin

1960 Wow! What a year is the eyewitness account of a year viewed by a newly minted college grad who wanted to see what life was like beyond his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Leaving his longtime girlfriend before the altar was even reserved, he headed west armed with little cash and loads of hope.

The hitchhike produced not only miles of travel but a long and winding collection of the curious and remarkable from the devout Benedictine monks to the down-and-almost-out drifter relentlessly searching for a wife he could call his own.

The journey starts at the outskirts of Pittsburgh. It coils its way across the continent to the fog-shrouded hills of San Francisco, then returns across parched rattlesnake country and rolling highway to the smoke-wreathed hills of home and a first job just in time to witness the Pittsburgh Pirates' 1960 World Series miracle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9781491830772

George Wilson Morin

George Wilson Morin worked for New York advertising agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather and McCann-Erickson as a copywriter and creative director in a career that spanned some three decades. He created award-winning ad campaigns for General Motors, the Travelers, Minolta cameras, Mercedes-Benz, MG and Jaguar motorcars. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, he earned his B.A. in English Literature at Duquesne University. Today George is a freelance copywriter and journalist. His articles have appeared in the New York Times and AARP, The Magazine. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Kathie, with occasional visits by Elena, the couple’s globetrotting daughter.

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Contents

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Preface

Chapter 1.  Even The Chairs Clapped

Chapter 2.  Hit The Road, George

Chapter 3.  A Twilight Symphony

Chapter 4.  A Ride Of A Lifetime

Chapter 5.  The Snowballs Of June

Chapter 6.  Are Ya’ Watchin’?

Chapter 7.  The Golden Gate Opens

Chapter 8.  The Perfect Irish Coffee

Chapter 9.  Heavenly Salvation, Exciting Travel

Chapter 10.  Oil Wells And Rattlesnakes

Chapter 11.  Pax Vobiscum

Chapter 12.  Lemonade To The Rescue

Chapter 13.  Abide With Vance!

Chapter 14.  Sleep At Last

Chapter 15.  Iron City

Chapter 16.  Something In Advertising

Chapter 17.  Beat ’Em Bucs!

Chapter 18.  Flying High

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Preface

Who knew what we were getting into when we blew the cork out of the champagne bottle as the clock struck midnight and 1960 came gushing in?

The new year looked harmless enough since we had recovered from the 1950’s loss of the space race when the Russians launched the world’s first artificial satellite.

But it didn’t take 1960 long to mess things up. First there was the payola scandal! Radio disc jockeys were furtively getting paid by record companies to play selected songs. Imagine that! It shocked the nation.

In February, in North Carolina, four black college students were refused service at a segregated department store lunch counter. The outcry was intense, but it took seven months before the store’s lunch counter would serve a meal to a black customer.

On a lighter note, movie star Joanne Woodward received the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Then Elvis Presley was discharged from the Army to resume his civilian job as national heartthrob with his new recording "Are You Lonesome Tonight".

In March, the U.S. announced that 3,500 soldiers would be sent to Vietnam.

In May, Air Force pilot Francis Gary Powers and his U-2 spy plane was shot down over Russia. In a rage, Nikita Khrushchev aborted a planned summit meeting in Paris. Powers was captured and subsequently sentenced to ten years in a Soviet prison.

Later in the month, Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was apprehended by Israeli agents.

Hawaii had joined the Union in 1960, so for the first time on July 4th the 50-star Flag of the United States was flown over Philadelphia’s Independence Hall.

On July 13th, at the Democratic National Convention, U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy was nominated for President of the United States.

Twelve days later, in Chicago, Vice-President Richard M. Nixon was also nominated for President at the Republican National Convention.

In August, Cuba’s Fidel Castro nationalized all American and foreign-owned property in Cuba.

In the same month, a new British rock band named The Beatles booked a 48-night gig at a club in Hamburg, Germany.

The 1960 Olympic Games began in Rome on August 25th.

In late September, Vice-President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy made history’s first televised presidental debate.

In October, the mighty New York Yankees faced the upstart Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1960 World Series.

In the same month, in Atlanta, Georgia, Robert Kennedy secured the release from jail of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for a traffic violation. A few days later, Cassius Clay (later named Muhammad Ali) won his first professional boxing match.

On November 8th, John Kennedy was elected President of the United States, defeating Richard Nixon by a razor’s edge.

On December 5th, the Supreme Court declared that segregation in public transportion was illegal.

On December 31, 1960, at a rollicking New Year’s Eve party, I made a toast to 1960 as having been the very best year of my 24 years of life.

Let me tell you about it.

Chapter One

EVEN THE CHAIRS CLAPPED

It was one o’clock in the morning of January 1, 1960 and the twenty dollars I had slipped Duffy, the janitor, to allow the party to go an hour past midnight had just been spent.

H.J., the disc jockey, had segued from the Platter’s Smoke Gets in Your Eyes to Paul Anka’s Put Your Head On My Shoulder. The dancers closed their eyes a little tighter and drew their partners a little closer—and who knows what else they did in those deep blue shadows.

Duffy, across the floor, caught my eye and speared his wristwatch twice with his finger. There was no way to get around it—it was time to go.

It was my job to make the announcement because I was the president of DUVA, the Duquesne University Veterans Association, that was throwing one of our storied New Year’s Eve parties. With almost three hundred veterans of legal drinking age, we were the only group on campus that could openly serve alcohol, making our parties exceptionally big and popular.

I mounted the stage with a microphone and cued H.J. to fade the music under so I could deliver the bad news.

Happy New Year everybody. It’s been 1960 for a whole hour—and now it’s time to go home. I felt a little cheerleading was needed to top the party off, so I added, Let’s make the new year DUVA’s best year yet.

A few people glanced at me suspiciously, but the dancers dreamed on and the crowd lining the bar grunted and moaned