TIME CAPSULE
1962: Baggies, launch window and ticky-tacky
John Glenn meets with a hero’s welcome on his safe return from orbit. Cold War tensions rise, peaking with the Cuban missile crisis. School kids get a cherry-flavored dose of Albert Sabin’s oral polio vaccine. Rachel Carson ignites an environmental movement with Silent Spring. Discount chains Kmart and Motel 6 debut. Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in a single NBA game. Bob Dylan and the Supremes are musical newcomers, while the Beatles make noise in the U.K. Viewers laugh at a reality-type show, Candid Camera. And these words are in common use, according to Merriam-Webster.
BAGGIES: ColgatePalmolive test-markets clear plastic bags, center right, which keep Junior’s PB&Js fresher than wax paper bags do.
BOSSA NOVA: Sax player Stan Getz joins Brazilian musicians for a major concert at Carnegie Hall, fueling Americans’ love for the new jazz-samba rhythm. BUCKLE UP: Fastening a seat belt is a no-brainer after Volvo gets a U.S. patent for one that secures the chest and hips with a single click. See more on page 12. HEAT SHIELD: NASA and space junkies hold their breath when the protective barrier for Friendship 7 comes loose during reentry. LAUNCH WINDOW: The best time for the Mercury capsule
Friendship 7 to take off for its orbit around the earth—as calculated by NASA human computer Katherine Johnson. LAVALIER MICROPHONE: This wireless “transistophone” hangs from a cord around the neck to allow movement around a stage or set without losing sound quality. MINISKIRT: Inspired by street fashions, London designer Mary Quant, top right, raises hemlines to several inches above the knee. ONE-LINER: Nobody delivers a well-timed witticism better than James Bond—his quips in Dr. No set the standard for postmortem drollery. SCUT WORK: Is anyone surprised to learn that superiors hand off menial tasks to trainees, as in the 1962 medical drama The Interns? SITCOM: Audiences get to know characters in weekly situation comedies, which rule this TV season: The Beverly Hillbillies is on top, with The Lucy Show close behind. THREE-POINTER:
An international hoops tournament in Puerto Rico defines a threepoint line. It will be
17 years before the
NBA adopts it, making Chamberlain’s (bottom left) 100-point game this year even more impressive. TICKY-TACKY: Malvina Reynold’s song “Little Boxes” pokes fun at the shoddy materials and dreary sameness of housing in the suburbs. Pete Seeger’s later version will make the song an anthem for nonconformity.
TURF GRASS: Rutgers University develops top-performing grasses—such as Kentucky bluegrass—for golf courses, while well-kept lawns symbolize postwar