Magazine Cover of the Week

June 6th 1968

Senator Robert F. Kennedy dies at the age of 42 after being shot the previous day at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, CA.   

This edition of TIME commemorating his life is dated June 14th 1968

Men's Adventure Magazine Cover of the Week

Man's Story

February 1968

(click title to get the full story of the issue)

Classic Movie Poster of the Week

"Shoes of the Fisherman"

The movie based on the worldwide bestselling novel by Morris West opens in US theaters on November 14th 1968.

Sports Illustrated Cover of the Week

Issue dated September 23rd 1968

September 14th 1968

 Denny McLain becomes a thirty-game winner when Tigers rally for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat Oakland 5-4. The Detroit right-hander, who will finish the season 31-6, is the first hurler to accomplish the feat since Dizzy Dean reached the milestone in 1934.

We Love Bonanza!

March 2nd 1968

Lorne Greene and David Canary

Sports Illustrated Cover of the Week

January 8th 1968

A preview of Superbowl II

Sports Illustrated Cover of the Week

Bill Russell

1968 Sportsman of the Year

Classic Movie Poster of the Week

1968

WE LOVE RANDOM PICTURES

James Brown and Muhammad Ali grand marshal a parade in 1968

1968 Prime Time Emmy Awards

Winner of the 1968 Emmy Awards for:

Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actor in a Drama -

 Milburn Stone (Gunsmoke "Baker's Dozen") CBS

Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actress in a Drama - 

Barbara Anderson (Ironside)  NBC

The 20th Annual Emmy Awards (May 1968)

The 20th Annual Prime Time Emmy Awards

May 19th 1968

Don Adams, Lucille Ball and Bill Cosby celebrate their Emmy wins for the 1967-68 television season

Don Adams - Best Actor in a Leading role in a comedy series 

(Get Smart) NBC

Lucille Ball - Best Actress in a Leading role in a comedy series (The Lucy Show) CBS

Bill Cosby - Best Actor in a Leading role in a dramatic series 

 (I Spy) NBC

41st Academy Awards - Mel Brooks

April 14th 1969

The 41st Academy Awards were held in Los Angeles to celebrate the year of 1968.  

The winner for Best Original Screenplay went to comedy legend Mel Brooks for : 

"The Producers"

All In The Family Before It Was All In The Family

Norman Lear filmed a pilot for ABC in 1968, the show was called "Justice For All".  Starring Carroll O'Connor as Archie Justice, it was based on the british tv show "Till Death Us Do Part".   There was Jean Stapleton as Edith Justice and daughter Gloria played by Kelly Jean Peters and her Irish-American liberal husband Richard and his black friend Lionel Jefferson played by D'Urville Martin.
ABC didnt pick up the show for the 1968 season and the pilot never aired.  Norman Lear did a pilot for with basically the same script but this time it was called "Those Were The Days", Archie and Edith were the same but different actors played Gloria and Richard .  Also not picked up by any network, Lear reworked the script a third time with "Justice" gone and "Archie and Edith Bunker" in with 2 other actors as Gloria and renamed husband Michael Stivic (now polish-american) and Lionel Jefferson was played by Mike Evans.  This pilot would be picked up and ultimately aired as the debut of "All In the Family" on CBS in January 1971.

Here is the original "Justice For All" 

Top of the Pops

This weeks Top of the Pops is our UK edition.   The Top 5 songs on the UK Top 40 singles chart for this week in 1968.

5  -  Help Yourself - Tom Jones


4  -  Do It Again - The Beach Boys


3  -  This Guy's In Love With You - Herb Alpert


2  -  Fire! - Crazy World of Arthur Brown


1  -  Mony Mony - Tommy James and The Shondells
(1 week at #1)

Kentucky Derby - 1968

The 1968 race was won by Dancer's Image (pictured above) but he was disqualified to last place after traces of phenylbutazone were discovered in the mandatory post-race urinalysis.  Phenylbutazone is a drug that was commonly give to relieve inflammation in the horse's joints.  It is legal at many tracks but not at Churchill Downs.  A post race appeal was filed and the race awarded to 2nd place finisher Forward Pass.

here is a video from the author of the recent book : 

Dancer's Image: The Forgotten Story of the 1968 Kentucky Derby 

Here is a montage of Kentucky Derby Winners from 1968 (Dancer's Image) to 1986 (Ferdinand)

1968 Oscar Winners

Tonight in 1969 was a night of firsts at the 41st Annual Academy Awards ceremony.
For the first time, the happenings at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles were beamed to TV audiences worldwide. Appropriately, a foreign (British) film was honored as Best Picture: Oliver! (John Woolf, producer), which also won for Best Director (Carol Reed); Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (John Box, Terence Marsh, Vernon Dixon, Ken Muggleston); Best Sound (Shepperton SSD); Best Music/Score of a Musical Picture/Original or Adaptation (Johnny Green). And, for the first time, there was a tie for Best Actress. Barbra Streisand picked up her statuette for her starring role in Funny Girl, and for the second year in a row, Katharine Hepburn was honored as Best Actress, this time for her performance in The Lion in Winter.
Other veteran actors received their first Oscars this night: Cliff Robertson for his Best Actor role in Charly; Jack Albertson for his Best Supporting Actor role in The Subject Was Roses and Ruth Gordon for her Best Supporting Actress role in Rosemary’s Baby.
Even the Best Music/Song award was presented for the first time to Michel Legrand (music) and Alan and Marilyn Bergman (lyrics) for the song The Windmills of Your Mind from the The Thomas Crown Affair. Other great 1968 films that were Oscar-winners or nominees: 2001: A Space Odyssey; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; For Love of Ivy; Planet of the Apes; Bullitt; The Odd Couple; Romeo and Juliet; The Producers; Rachel, Rachel.

Bob Gibson Wins NL MVP Award

Today in 1968 Bob Gibson, Hall of Fame pitcher for the St Louis Cardinals, was named the National League MVP of the 1968 season. He just beat out Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds.

Here is a clip of Game 1 of the 1968 World Series between the Cardinals and the American League Champion Detroit Tigers. Bob Gibson set a new record for strikeouts in a World Series game with 17 in this game.

A couple of thoughts on this video, first its the announcers Curt Gowdy and Harry Caray, 2 legendary voices together and Harry was the regular announcer for Cardinals games along with Jack Buck and its just great to hear how excited Harry was for Gibson to set the record.

Second, as the camera scans the crowd during ovations for Gibson I noticed almost all of the men had on dress shirts and ties and the women present were in dresses and it was all so very classy looking and truly a bygone era in sports.

Lastly, during the ovations for Gibson setting the record you could almost see the annoyance in Gibsons face as he wanted the crowd to settle so he could finish the game, not one for pomp and adulation he had a job to do and wanted to get it done.

Top of The Pops

Thought I would change things up a little and post a Top of the Pops segment over here for you all to enjoy.

This Top of the Pops goes back to this week in 1968 for an eclectic top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.


5 - I'm A Girl Watcher - The O'Kaysions
Peaking at #5 this week


4 - Little Green Apples - O.C. Smith
On his way to peaking at #2 is the former vocalist for Count Basie's band


3 - Fire - The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
Also headed to a peak position of #2 with this psychedelic classic.


2 - Harper Valley P.T.A. - Jeannie C Riley
After one week at #1 this country/pop crossover classic written by Tom T. Hall, gives way to one of most successful songs in Billboard chart history


1 - Hey Jude - The Beatles
In the second of 9 consecutive weeks at #1, this is the most successful of all Beatles Top 40 charting songs. After debuting at #10 it was at that time the highest debut in the history of the Top 40 singles chart.