SONGS OF THE 1960's
The number one song in 1968 was the seven-minute long “Hey Jude” by this group.
The Beatles
Both Mary Martin (in 1954) and Sandy Duncan (in 1979) played this “flying” character on stage and screen. They both also grew up in Texas.
Peter Pan
In The Miracle Worker (1962), she was played by a young Patty Duke.
Helen Keller
This Pennsylvanian became a princess in 1956.
Grace Kelly
The Cinderella Castle is the iconic logo on the movies, television shows, and theme parks of this company.
Disney
In 1968, actor Richard Harris recorded this song that reached #2 on the Billboard charts, even though it contained almost universally panned lyrics such as: “Someone left the cake out in the rain; I don't think that I can take it, 'Cause it took so long to bake it, and I'll never have that recipe again.”
“MacArthur Park”
This actor was born in Uvalde, Texas. He went back there in 2022 to give an impassioned speech on gun control laws after a shooter entered the Robb Elementary School with an assault rifle, killing nineteen students, two teachers, and injuring seventeen others.
Matthew McConaughey
Sally Field won an Academy Award in 1979 for playing the title character of this film, who helps organize a union in the textile factory where she works.
Norma Rae. (The real Norma Rae was Crystal Lee Sutton of North Carolina.)
This Pittsburgh minister started his own children’s TV show in the 1960s because he didn’t like with the way television addressed children.
Mr. (Fred) Rogers
This movable technology allowed people and horses to enter and exit castles that had a moat.
Drawbridge
The 1967 film The Graduate boosted the careers of the young folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel with the inclusion of this song about the character played by Anne Bancroft.
“Mrs. Robinson”
This Texan began his journalism career at age 16 as a cub reporter for a local newspaper. In college, he interned for Texas senator Lyndon Johnson, and in 1961, he was a key player in the creation of the Public Broadcasting System. He went on to spend more than forty years creating some of PBS’s most memorable programs, including Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth.
Bill Moyers
Julia Roberts played this feisty legal clerk who takes on Pacific Gas & Electric for using cancer-causing chemicals.
Erin Brockovich
This singer from South Philadelphia invited us to “Do the Twist” in 1960, to “Twist Again” in 1961, and to “Twist Around the Clock,” later in 1961.
Chubby Checker
Built by William the Conqueror, this castle, located about 20 miles west of London, was the center for royal entertainment during Queen Victoria’s reign; the safe place for the royal family during the Luftwaffe bombing in WWII; and Queen Elizabeth II’s preferred weekend home.
Windsor Castle
Shortly before his death in a plane crash, Otis Redding wrote and recorded his most iconic song. Written while he was living in a houseboat in Sausalito, California, this song rocketed to number two on the Billboard charts.
“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”
The front of the state seal of Texas depicts a “lone star”; but it’s probably not surprising that the back of the seal shows six of these features.
Flags, representing the six sovereign countries that, over the course of its history, have had control over some or all of the territory of Texas: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States, and the Confederate States.
Faye Dunaway played this famed actress (but brutal mother) in 1981’s Mommie Dearest.
Joan Crawford
This pop art pioneer, who once observed that “in the future, everyone will be worldfamous for 15 minutes,” grew up and went to college in Pittsburgh.
Andy Warhol
Kiss a stone that has the same name as this Irish castle and you’ll be blessed with the gift of gab.
Blarney Castle
In 1968, this singer released three of her signature songs, all written by Burt Bacharach: “Alfie,” “I Say A Little Prayer,” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?”
Dionne Warwick
This author and native Texan set many of his novels, including Lonesome Dove, in his home state
Larry McMurtry
Sissy Spacek won the Oscar for Best Actress in this 1980 film about the life of country music legend Loretta Lynn.
Coal Miner’s Daughter
Born in Italy, this future NASCAR and Formula One superstar moved with his family to Nazareth, Pennsylvania in the 1950s, when he was 15 years old.
Mario Andretti
If you are “building sandcastles in the air,” what are you doing?
Daydreaming, especially about things that are impossible or unrealistic