Reminisce Extra

the thoughts that count

History adores inventors, and our country in particular has had a long, unbroken love affair with tinkering thinkers, from Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs. Our cover story, “What If We Tried This?” (page 24), salutes those brave souls of the 20th century who dared to think outside the box. It features excerpts from the recent book Brainstorms and Mindfarts by Tom Connor and Jim Downey. We selected a few of their essays about brainstorms that advanced culture, such as Velcro (page 26), or saved lives, such as the cardiac pacemaker (page 28). But not every idea is a home run, or even a single, as Connor and Downey also deftly explore. In their book, you’ll read about such mindfarts as the Baby Patting Machine, the Beerbrella and…

tell us your story!

LET’S EAT OUT! It’s half-past snow-o’clock, so it must be time to dream about summer meals. We’re planning a story around American makers of outdoor products, including Igloo coolers, Weber grills and Wilson footballs. Share your favorite picnic stories and photos. Label your submission “Picnics.” DEPARTMENTS Submissions for our many standing departments are welcome. Below are a few favorites. Still can’t decide where your story belongs? Send it along and let us figure it out. Growing Up: Joys of childhood and the teenage years. Pictures from the Past: How we lived and looked back when. Is it a fantastic picture? Send it for consideration for our Back Cover. Name That Car: Challenge us to guess your vintage vehicle. At Work: Jobs that earned a place in your memory. Brush with Fame: The thrill of meeting someone famous. Keepsakes: Stories…

1972 comix, munchkins and veggie burger

American Bobby Fischer outmatches Russian Boris Spassky to become top chessman. The International Tennis Federation approves optic yellow for tennis balls, which are easier to see than white ones in color broadcasts. Hewlett-Packard debuts the HP-35, a pocket calculator with scientific functions; slide rule sales take a nosedive. The nation’s first subscription cable service—Home Box Office (HBO)—launches with 365 subscribers. Little kids ride Hot Cycles trikes, while big kids play Pong, Atari’s revolutionary video game. And Merriam-Webster adds these words. AIR HOCKEY: Brunswick Billiards’ new frictionless, air-cushioned table game re-creates a high-contact sport, with paddles in place of hockey sticks, right middle. BAG LADY: To bring attention to society’s neglect of old people, activist Sharon Curtin writes about one who carries everything she owns in shopping bags. CASH COW: Executives spout management expert…

trivial pursuits

FAREWELL FOR A GENERATION Born in New York in 1945, Don McLean grew up playing and writing folk songs, and hanging out with such influential music icons as Pete Seeger. In early 1972, a few months after McLean recorded the album American Pie, its title-track single went to No. 1, catapulting him to international stardom. At a 2015 auction, McLean’s original working manuscript for “American Pie” fetched $1.2 million. “American Pie” wasn’t just another hit 45. On the surface, it was a heartfelt tribute to rock pioneer Buddy Holly, whose 1959 plane-crash death shook 13-year-old McLean’s world to its foundation. “Buddy Holly was the first and last person I ever really idolized as a kid,” McLean explained in an interview with Fred Bronson in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. “I liked…

glitter rock

Also known as “glam rock” in the U.K., where it started, this pop culture movement was a sharp turn away from ’60s hippie influence and a protest against mainstream rock ’n’ roll. Highly produced concerts—often themed with space-age futurism—celebrated synthetic excess, with artists in heavy makeup, glitzy bodysuits and sky-high platform shoes. Merriam-Webster added the term in 1972 (see page 10), the year Roxy Music and David Bowie released bestselling albums—proof that rock music was still pushing limits. Born David Jones, the musician told an interviewer he picked the edgier “Bowie” as a tribute to 19th-century American folk hero Jim Bowie.…

richard roundtree born 1942

~ Richard Roundtree ~ “I constantly deal with being called Shaft. But it never ceases to blow me away ... the impact that character had on my life and my fans’ lives.” First he played football Roundtree was on his high school’s U.S.-ranked team in New Rochelle, New York, and won a scholarship to Southern Illinois University. He dreamed of going pro but changed his mind after suffering a couple of concussions. Then he was a fashion model He left college after Eunice Johnson of Ebony magazine asked him to model in the magazine’s Fashion Fair. He invested in his new direction by taking acting lessons and then got some gigs, including with the Negro Ensemble Company’s The Great White Hope. He had the John Shaft look Roundtree didn’t even know what a screen test was…