Time, Text, and Dr. Jim.

Our friend Dr. Jim comes over about once a month and has dinner with us. We love Jim. He and David have been friends since the early 1970s, and when David and I got married in 1988, he became my friend too. Now, he likes me better. :-)

As an avid reader, Jim loans me books, mostly non-fiction, but he also has a mind like a steel trap. His memories of growing up in College Park, Georgia, in the 1950s come across as organized narrative, full of humor and detail, and he and I enjoy reminiscing about old Atlanta. He's a fascinating guy.

The other week when he came over for dinner he brought a Time magazine dated August 6, 1979, with a cover story titled Leadership in America: 50 Faces for the Future. He found it in his basement, apparently he hadn't cleaned it out in a while. Jim's kind of a pack rat, and he hasn't remodeled the interior of his finished basement since the 1970s either – it has shag carpeting, a Naugahyde covered sofa, and probably a Betamax player. In fact, I know he still has a Betamax player.

Some of you might have to Google that... Betamax, not Naugahyde.

 

Just a few of the interesting things in the Time magazine, including the fact that at that time, no pun intended, the magazine editors and writers aimed their text at a reading audience. I was totally amazed at the amount of text in the magazine. Running full of text, overflowing with text was the first thing that I noted -- three columns of it and pages – sometimes as many as ten.

Really?

Yes. Unbelievable.

One of the ads showcased Kool Super Lights cigarettes – “a light menthol blend gives low tar smokers the smooth taste they want. Never harsh tasting. Now you can make the smooth move to Kool Super Lights.”

 

Even the ads had text.

“Buick LaSabre. What $6110 buys these days could be a pleasant surprise.”

 

Apparently, you couldn't buy a Toyato Cressida, a VW Dasher, a Datsun 810, or an Audi 5000 for that price. Just saying.

 

Datsun? I feel old.

Time's ads mainly were for booze, cigarettes, and cars.

On page 10 is an article on Rosalynn Carter, who campaigned for her husband for his second term. I think he lost.

“Bundy: Guilty – He faces life – or death” graces page 22 with a two column article dedicated to the the former law student turned serial killer who murdered at least thirty-six young women in the 1970s.

BTW: The state of Florida executed him in 1989.

Don't Google him.
 

In the special section, which ran about twenty pages, Time covered fifty-up-and-coming men and women who would influence leadership in this country  in the next years. Among them --- Marion Berry, age 43, William J. Clinton, 32, Gary Hart, 41, and the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, 37. 

 

Hmmmm.

The other forty-six --- well, I don't have that kind of time. Sic.

Only one page featured People, and they were not all celebrities – it included a bull fighter, a mayor, the world's first test tube baby, and Jane Seymore and Christopher Reeve who were starring in a movie titled Somewhere in Time. Heh. Didn't see that movie --- cause Jane seemed to be in mini-series that made me wanna poke my eyes out. Then. Now. Always.
 

Only one page for celebrities --  Show Business featured George Burns.
 

Other areas of the magazine had sections with the latest news on Medicine, Economy and Business, Living, Education, Sport, Press, Books [no kidding], and Religion.

Pshaw. What was all that about?

Hard to believe, that anyone ever had the time, no pun intended, to read all that.

Just sayin'.

Just wanted to note this ad: “Before you buy a word processor, talk to all three. Here are their telephone numbers.”

Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.

I feel old.