1966 WEEK: Guest columnist MARK VOGER picks them through the eyes of an 8-year-old boy — 60 years later!
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Welcome to 1966 WEEK — a 60th anniversary celebration of an extraordinary, landmark year in popular culture. For seven days, we’re bringing you a whole host of features on everything from Star Trek, to Batman, to the Beatles, to the Monkees, and much, much more. (Just check out Walt Grogan’s latest fab banner, above!) Click here for more of the far out fun! — Dan
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Mark Voger is the author and designer of nine books for TwoMorrows Publishing, including Groovy, Britmania, Futuristic, and Zowie! The TV Superhero Craze in ’60s Pop Culture. His newest, Son of Monster Mash, is due out in October.
Mark was the perfect choice to kick off 1966 WEEK — and he ranked the TOP 13 POP CULTURE MOMENTS of that year. But rather than approach the list from the distance of six decades, he picked them based on how they hit him when they happened — as an 8-year-old kid. (Hence, no Beatles’ Revolver, for example — he didn’t discover it until later.)
Dig this charming piece by a guy who was there. (I was not.) — Dan
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By MARK VOGER
13. Hearing “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'” by Nancy Sinatra. We’re all accustomed to it now, but man, what a weird song! Dig that slinky upright bass, lyrics like “You keep lyin’ when you oughta be truthin’,” and those crazy-groovy horns at the end.
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12. Seeing the “Batman” Movie at a Drive-In With My Family. I could hear people in nearby cars laughing hysterically when the shark clamped onto Batman’s leg. My mom packed Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets.
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11. Seeing the Premiere of “The Marvel Super Heroes.” The first TV series based on Marvel Comics characters, at 7:30 on a Friday evening over Channel 3 in Philadelphia. It’s not cool that the artists weren’t compensated for their comic book art, but thanks to that show, a lot of us kids discovered a whole new universe of heroes beyond Batman and Robin.
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10. Seeing Kato (Bruce Lee) Fight Bad Guys on “The Green Hornet.” No Bat Tranquilizer Spray for this guy; his roundhouse kicks did the trick.
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9. Seeing Peter Parker Meet Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man #42. My first Marvel comic book just so happened to be a moment in Spidey history. Thank you, Smilin’ Stan Lee and Jazzy John Romita.
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8. Opening My First Pack of Topps Batman Trading Cards. Instead of TV photos or comic book panels, these were paintings. Later in life, I found out that Norman Saunders was the king of pulp-fiction covers in the olden days.
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7. Watching Hanna-Barbera’s “The Impossibles.” The cartoon about a silly superhero trio whose secret identity was a pop band also called the Impossibles. I still think their song “Hey You Hiddy Hiddy Hoo” is a Sixties pop treasure.
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6. Seeing Episode 5 of Batman (“The Joker is Wild”). Introducing Cesar Romero as the Clown Prince of Crime! It opens with the Joker playing baseball in Gotham State Penitentiary. There was no closeup of Romero yet, but even at a distance, you could tell there was something off about this guy.
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5. Getting My First Issue of DC Comics’ Metal Men. I read Issue #22 on a Greyhound Bus from South Jersey to Long Island, N.Y. It was a sci-fi soap opera, and still my favorite single comic book. Thank you, Bob Kanigher, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.
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4. Hearing “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones. Blaring from every radio, seemingly every hour of every day. It made me feel like there was something going on beyond Saturday-morning cartoons and Mister Frostee.
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3. First Laying Eyes on a Dick Sprang Joker. The story was in Signet’s reprint paperback simply titled Batman. Sprang’s Joker had a contorted, rubbery face that seemed to morph right on the page. At 8 years old, I was transfixed.
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2. Seeing the Premiere of Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Chuck Jones’ colorful animation is superb, and horror icon Boris Karloff’s delivery as the narrator and the voice of the Grinch is perfection.
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1. My First Glimpse of Adam West and Burt Ward in Costume. On Jan. 12, 1966, when Batman premiered, I was watching Lost in Space on another channel. During commercial I switched over, saw Bruce and Dick climbing up the side of a building, and never switched back.
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MORE
— The Complete 1966 WEEK Index of Columns and Features. Click here.
— PAUL KUPPERBERG: Memories of 1966’s MARVEL SUPER HEROES Cartoon Show. Click here.
