A look back at the year of 'pizazz'
(Editors' note: This year of turbulence and insanity, 1966, is nearing a close. Today and tomorrow, summaries of the top news stories of the year will be run on pages two and three of the UDK; the summaries were written by students enrolled in Journalism 170 (The Editorial). The following article attempts to set the stage for the year-end review by summarizing the mood of 1966.)
By Judy Faust and Elizabeth Rhodes
1966—schizophrenia with pizzaz.
It's the year that launched the Yellow Submarine, then almost sank John Lennon. Who knows, maybe the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ.
It was the year skirts went up and hair came down. Men cheered the change, even if it meant girls had to roll two feet of hair on soup cans, and Tom the Peeper never had it so good when women tried to sit in the thigh-high mini-skirts. Modesty died an awkward death.
AND IT WAS the year topless clubs spread coast to coast, but one club, apparently unsure that the body
was really all that beautiful, asked patrons to sign a statement saying their morals weren't being corrupted.
In passing, it was a good year if you weren't 1-A, afraid of becoming 1-A or in Viet Nam. The emphasis was on youth, and adults responded. Sometimes this response caused a few lifted eyebrows, however.
Justice William O. Douglas married a 23-year-old college coed, Cathleen Heffernan, and Congressional tongues wagged. Frank Sinatra married that 21-year-old Peyton Place kid and got a few sly winks. The oldsters were acting like youngsters.
USING IMAGINATION all their own, the kids turned the tables. Old movies, silent movies, monster movies became a fad. The Bogie cult came on like gangbusters. Even clothing fell into step.
London mods, short on money but rich in imagination discovered secondhand stores and the Salvation Army look. Girls looked like soldiers or sailors or big pieces of high-fashion tinfoil. Shiny silver dresses and accessories became a New York rage, and women wore enough metal to make the U.S. Treasury envious.
It was also the year of the accessory with a message; lapel buttons sounded the sentiments of the
moment. Campus wits wore buttons proclaiming "Hire the morally handicapped," or "Custer died for your sins." Then there was the button that said "God is not dead: He just doesn't want to get involved."
AND WAS GOD DEAD? If He were, the controversy over His demise almost generated enough heat to assure a second coming. Theologians and philosophers debated, and someone came up with the inside story: God was alive in Argentina (along with a host of others, including Hubert Humphrey).
Like God, folk music went underground, and a new, homogenized sound—folk-rock—rose to the surface. Enter musical groups with bizarre names, and bizarre but often beautiful sounds, like the Mamas and Papas, and Simon and Garfunkel.
And in 1966, Camp didn't really die, it just went on the tube. In his super- keen Batmobile with Robin at his side, Batman roared into the vast wasteland and was greeted with the biggest howl heard in a long time. Everybody over age nine knew it was designed to be high-camp . . . or was it? And did it matter anyway in this Year of the Yellow Submarine?
So tor twelve months it went—a very fine madness, and a kicky kind of year.
'Bods' will race at spring meet
A "bod race" challenge has been given to KU by Southern Illinois University.
This grudge match will be run during the National Association of College and University Residence Halls (NACURH) convention which will be held here April 6-9.
This may not be the most important part of the convention, but it is a part all of the KU people involved are looking forward to. The race, an annual feature of Spring Fling, is run by teams of four men carrying a woman on their shoulders.
THE THEME of the convention is "Let's Stage A Live-In." The program will deal with the student's intellectual and social growth, along with the responsibilities of student leaders.
One of the most recent steps in preparing for the conclave was KU's chapter of the Association of University Residence Halls (AURH) joining the Lawrence Junior Chamber of Commerce.
"The Jaycees will be a big help to us for speakers and convention publicity." Miss Ball said. "We represent a big part of Lawrence, so both the AURH and the Jaycees thought it would be a good idea if we joined."
The KU chapter of AURH is
the first in the country to join the Jaycees.
THERE WILL BE a meeting of the national officers of NACURH at KU on Jan. 10-11. Five regional presidents, the national president, vice-president and adviser will meet with KU members who are working on the convention.
BULLETIN
MOSCOW—(UPI)—The Soviet news agency Tass said American planes bombed residential areas within the Hanoi city limits for the first time Tuesday.
"Scores of buildings were destroyed in the fire that ensured," Tass said. "Smoke from fires is hanging over the city. Scores of ambulances are taking the wounded to hospitals and first aid centers."
Tass quoted a Hanoi Radio report that four American planes were shot down and several American pilots captured.
Discrimination in rent studied
Carl Struby, Leawood senior and chairman of the ASC Human Rights Committee (HRC), will present to the Council results of a fair housing survey taken by his committee.
An old KU problem, housing discrimination, will be presented in facts and figures tonight to members of the All Student Council (ASC).
The survey was made through letters mailed to all landlords in Lawrence. The letters asked the dwelling-owners if they rented to persons without regards to color, creed or national origin.
OUT OF THE 190 letters mailed,
only 55 recipients replied to
Struby. The 55 indicated that
they practiced fair housing.
Struby, however, said he is
One reason for the lack of replies, he said, is because a number of landlords contacted have already signed the official University housing code.
concerned with the other 135 who did not answer the questionnaire.
Furthermore, Struby said that someone's failure to answer the committee's request does not imply that person discriminates in renting housing.
When Struby does speak to the ASC, he will ask them what further action should be taken by his committee to investigate the housing practices of the 135 land-lords not answering the HRC's letter.
See related story on page 5
77th Year. No. 57
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan Serving KU for 77 of its 101 Years
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
Tuesday, December 13, 1966
-UDK Photo by Emery Goad
SWASTIKA APPEARS ON POTTER?
This Indian Good Luck Sign was carved in the ice of Potter Lake last night or early this morning. Possibly the parties that deeply engraved the sign were trying for a Swastika.
Only drugs can save Ruby
DALLAS — (UPI) — Both surgery and radiation have been ruled out for treating Jack Ruby's cancer, and drugs are the only possible means left to save the life of the once-convicted killer of Lee Harvey Oswald, a physician at Parkland Hospital said today.
Dr. Jack Barnett, a specialist in internal medicine at Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, said there will not be any exploratory surgery.
DR. BARNETT said at a news conference that cancer has been found in the wall and the lining of Ruby's chest in addition to the lymph node on his neck, where it was originally discovered.
In addition, Barnett said, there
are nodules in both of Ruby's lungs that have been detected by X-ray and which may be cancerous.
And the primary source of the malignancy still has not been found, he added.
RUBY WAS convicted in 1964 and sentenced to death for killing Oswald, the assassin of President Kennedy, in the basement of the Dallas police station two days after the Nov. 22, 1963 murder of the President.
An Appeals Court this year reversed both conviction and sentence, and a new trial had been set for Wichita Falls, Tex., probably in February.
But a high medical source said Monday it was doubtful Ruby would ever leave the hospital.
WEATHER
Continued fair and mild tonight and Wednesday is the prediction of the U.S. Weather Bureau. The predicted low temperature tonight is 20-25 degrees. The high for tomorrow is expected to reach the middle 50's.