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September 28, 2018 12:05 am  #1


Friday Flashback: Teen Aged

This isn’t your average Friday Flashback because it’s not about radio or TV at all. In fact, I’m not even sure where these came from. But I suspect my older sister must have bought them, because I can attest I never would have. How they ended up with me is a mystery I may never unravel, but in a long forgotten box, I found them – old teen magazines from 1963 and 1964.
 
Now ordinarily, that wouldn’t mean much. But what’s interesting to me as I thumbed through them for the first time ever was the distinctive dividing line. The stuff from 1963 and early January 1964 was all about names like Elvis, Paul Petersen (of Donna Reed Show fame) Paul Anka, and for some reason, Haley Mills, George Maharis and Richard Chamberlain.
 




 
After February 1964, while those names weren’t forgotten, everything was replaced by the Beatles and the British invasion. It’s almost like someone crossed an invisible date line and the world of teenage-dom had forever changed.
 

 
Here’s a look at some of the more bizarre stories from back then.
 
May The “Fab Fours” Be With You
 
You didn’t have to be a teenage girl to realize the Beatles were something special. Here are a few samples from the publications (including 16 Magazine) that couldn’t get enough of the Lads from Liverpool.
 





 
These items were cheap – two bucks at best – and a lot of kids bought them. I can only imagine (and I don’t mean the famous John Lennon tune) what their value might be today on the collector’s market. If only we knew then what we know now!
 

 
But while the Beatles were on the top of both the music and admiration charts, other groups didn’t get the same love. Check out this “letter to the editor.”
 

 
What He Didn’t Teach Your Children
 
Even after the Beatles landed on these shores, teenage girls still seemed to have an endless fascination with Richard Chamberlain, who played the handsome school teacher Mr. Novak on a weekly NBC series. The irony of the article depicted below can’t be lost on anyone. While Chamberlain was endlessly portrayed as the object of a feminine fantasy, the truth was that he was gay and leading a very hidden life he later said he feared would destroy his career.
 

 
Other articles in the same issue featured Lesley Gore coming out (you should pardon the expression) with dating advice. She, too, would not admit she was a lesbian until decades later. Thankfully, times seemed to have changed for the better. But in the swinging 60s, it was still important you weren’t swinging too far the other way.
 
The Definite Articles
 
There was one magazine I’ve never heard of before or since that had titles so hilarious, I had to include them here – because otherwise you’d think some satirist had made them up. “Intimate Magazine” from October 1964 featured the following stories:
 

 
And who could forget this gripping tale:
 

 
Other must read titles include “The Boys Crashed Our Slumber Party,” “I Wish I Wasn’t Married,” “Ashamed Of My Baby,” “She Used To Be His Wife and Now She Was Back in Town,” and the classic “I’m Bearing Another Man’s Child!” All this for only 30 cents.
 
It’s In The Bag
 
Some of the ads in these things were simply unbelievable and – especially those claiming to clear your pimple-filled face - probably wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny today. But here’s one of my favourites, a product that threatened to be all the rage in the beatnik era, until it wasn’t.
 

 
You could always play your Bongo Bag while going – and listening to – surfing songs by a new group called “The Beach Boys.”
 

 
Other ads touted the latest flick. Like this one. And forget about spoiling the ending. They didn’t want you to tell anyone about the middle of this movie, as the ad’s last line warns.
 

 
And then there’s this campaign, featuring a busy hairstylist. It came out in 1963. By 1969, the woman was no longer working on hair but walking on air. Because Ali McGraw made a huge splash in the movie “Love Story.”
 
         
 
Leave It To Beaver’s Brother
 
I got a kick out of this piece. It came out after the classic “Leave It To Beaver” was cancelled. And it asks the question, “Is It All Over For Tony Dow?” Turns out, it mostly was, although he did surface in some bit parts and turned up as a director on a number of shows in the later decades.
 
Among the programs he guested on: The Love Boat. His character’s name? Wally Cleaver.
 

 
A Change of Address for Bandstand
 
It’s amazing what was considered a “big” story back then. Consider: When Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” left Philadelphia and a daily show for Los Angeles and a weekend only broadcast, many fans were angry. They had become so invested in the young high school-aged dancers on the show that those kids became celebrities and household names – well, depending on your household.
 
But you have to admit this could never happen today – publishing the home addresses of Bandstand’s movers and shakers in a public magazine. But that’s just what they did, likely to the delight of would-be stalkers everywhere.
 

 
If It Has Fans, It’s For Sale
 
It’s really amazing the marketing forces that were unleashed when young people took hold of a trend and made it come alive. (Which was also the slogan for the Pepsi Generation…)
 
When Soupy Sales hit it big in 1966, he had his daily TV show, made appearances on talk and games shows, did personal appearances, recorded a few albums and, oh yeah, got his own comic book from the people who put out Archie Comics. Here’s a sample page:
 

 
Fortunately, the show was a lot funnier. And you didn’t even have to still be on the air to make the grade. The Honeymooners had been off TV for decades when this book was put out.
 

 
This sample page shows this thing might not have been perceived as politically correct today. (Although a character threatening to send his wife to the moon with a “Bang Zoom,” might not stand scrutiny, either.)
 
 
 
But if you weren’t good for a comic book, you could always come out with your own magazine. It’s enough to make you cry uncle. Or, at least, U.N.C.L.E.
 

 
And finally, that might not have been a laughing matter. But an NBC show from 1969 was certainly a “Laugh-In” matter. And so, a magazine was sure to follow. Which it did.
 

 
Tune In Next Week, Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel
 
If you DID tune in next week, you might have seen if your idea won the create-your-own Batman villain contest. The winner received a phone call from the Caped Crusader himself, although there’s no word if it was Adam West from the ABC TV show in 1966. (The loser received two phone calls!)  
 
Still, they’d have to go some to beat the likes of The Joker and The Riddler. But who the hell is Zelda The Great?
 

 
Next week, our final Friday Flashback features some odds and ends you haven’t seen before.

 

September 28, 2018 7:53 am  #2


Re: Friday Flashback: Teen Aged

RA I remember 16 Magazine at my local magazine counter.  It's not something I would have bought.  The only magazine I bought was; after The Beatles came on the scene, I bought "FAB" magazine.  Everything Beatles and perhaps more of the British Invasion.

 

September 28, 2018 9:27 am  #3


Re: Friday Flashback: Teen Aged

Grew up on radio, records and rock mags. Started for me with my sisters fan mags and then there were a few transitional ones which like Hullabaloo and Hit Parader. Serious rock journalism may have started with Crawdaddy ! and then on to Rolling Stone, Creem, Fusion etc etc. Have amassed a large collection throughout the years and here is a random sample:


 


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http://www.lettheuniverseanswer.com/
 

September 29, 2018 11:15 am  #4


Re: Friday Flashback: Teen Aged

16 Magazine's first issue arrived in May 1957. It's last, sometime in 2001. Interesting, throughout the 60's and 70's, Motown artists were virtually ignored despite huge record sales, ample radio airplay and many appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. It's rival, Tigerbeat, arrived in 1965 and is still published today. Haven't seen it in a magazine rack for decades though.                                                                                     Seeing the Man from U.N.C.L.E. magazine cover brought back memories of the bubblegum cards that were introduced during the 1965-66 season.                                                                                                  You learn something new every day. I never knew Tony Dow played the accordian. Maybe he had his eye on the Lawrence Welk Show.                                                                                                                         Hey RA we only have one more Flashback Friday to look forward to? I and I am sure everone else here really enjoy them.

 

September 29, 2018 11:24 am  #5


Re: Friday Flashback: Teen Aged

Why only one more?

This is a great feature.

 

September 29, 2018 11:43 am  #6


Re: Friday Flashback: Teen Aged

Ah, yes. Paul was a-head of his time. He had the October 17th look nailed, even way back then.  See you in the funny papers.


 

 

September 29, 2018 11:16 pm  #7


Re: Friday Flashback: Teen Aged

Media Observer wrote:

Why only one more?

This is a great feature.

Thanks for that. The reason next week's in the last one is that, after 6 months of scanning, collating, researching and writing all these things, I simply ran out of material!

But at least it gave me an excuse to go through my collection and see what I had. It took forever to scan it, but after digitizing everything, it seemed easy to share it - and that's what you've been seeing since May 18th. 

Next week's final installment contains some odds and ends that didn't quite fit into any particular theme and deserved to be featured anyway. 

Anyway, if I come across anything else that I forgot or that someone here might like, I'll be sure to do another one. In the meantime, thanks for reading. When I started out, I wasn't sure anyone would really care. It's nice to know some of you did! 

Here's a list of the entire Flashback collection, in case you missed one:

Only The CBC Would Do This In 1974 

Hockey Night In Canada - On Vinyl? 

Local Radio Hosts Who Wound Up On Local TV 

What Might Have Been & Other Weird TV Events

CJCL & The Great Talk Experiment 

Everything Old Is "News" Again

When DX-ing Brought A World Of Television 

The Kids (Hosts) Are Alright

The Art Of The Chart, Part 1 

The Art Of The Chart, Part 2 

City TV Election Coverage – Suited To A “Tee”
 

The Oddities of TV 

Firsts & Lasts Part 1 

Firsts & Lasts Part 2 

Woodstock: Get With The "Program" 49 Years Later 

Pleading No Contest About Contests 

“Sticker” Shock 

Weird Promotables 

Not The Latest News 

When Radio Stations Advertised Radio Stations

Teen Aged

     Thread Starter
 

September 30, 2018 10:21 am  #8


Re: Friday Flashback: Teen Aged

Here's more scans that speak to the transition from the fan mags to the "underground" rock press.

Some Canadian content including "Beetle" which was Canada's answer to Rolling Stone.

Hit Parader was perhaps the first mag to actually transition itself from fan to serious and they continued for many years. 

Creem magazine was one of my favorites and they started to audaciously bill themselves as "Americas Only Rock Magazine" at some point in the 1970's. They continued well into the 1980's and even had a revival in the 1990's

Crawdaddy ! has been credited as the first serious rock mag and I was not old enough to buy their initial exclamation point version but I bought many issues in the 1970's and 80's. 

Fan mags to underground, was similar to the transition from top 40 to FM underground radio.

 

Last edited by Fitz (September 30, 2018 10:24 am)


Cool Airchecks and More:
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