Throwback/Nostalgia

CATCH 5

It was the news team that had it all — groovy dancers, swirly colors and a jingle that spun in your head like a 45 on a turntable. We’ve got the lyrics. Do you remember this popular Cleveland TV news team?

FEAR AND LOATHING

The ’72 Presidential Conventions Incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon and Democratic Sen. George McGovern won their party’s nominations for president during the summer conventions in Miami Beach. Hunter S. Thompson’s coverage of the democratic convention for Rolling Stone magazine and his book “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72” influenced thousands of would-be Gonzo journalists.

It makes no difference Who you are

If you’ve been lookin’ near and far

To get the feel of life

You’ll find the world at hand.

You’ve got to catch 5.

You’ll see it all when you catch 5

The world is yours when you catch 5

When you reach out and you catch 5

You’ve caught it all.

SURPRISE. SURPRISE.SURPRISE!

Remember when we had to get up to change the TV channels? Here are the top shows of 1965 your family might have watched in order of popularity: “Bonanza,” “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.,” “The Lucy Show,” “Red Skelton Hour,” “Batman,” (the newest episodes), “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Bewitched,” “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Hogan’s Heroes,” and “Batman,” (the old season).

HIGBEE’S

Higbee’s department store at 100 Public Square got an elegant remodel — a block-long main aisle lined with crystal chandeliers. The downtown stalwart was a “dress up” destination for thousands of shoppers. The 10th floor housed The Silver Grille, Winter Garden Restaurant and The Pronto Room.

AND THE BEAT GOES ON…

Tiger Beat magazine debuted in 1965. Did you save your babysitting money to buy it? Did you tape the posters to your bedroom walls? Did you think The Beach Boys just might want to relocate to Northeast Ohio? Yes. yes and yes.

HAIR CONTROL

Anyone who wanted picture-perfect hair that could withstand a windstorm knew just the product to buy: Dippity-do. It was invented in 1965. The tub was found on bathroom counters and dressing tables everywhere. Even late rocker Eric Carr, of Kiss, reportedly drenched his hair in Dippity-do when he was a teen and pulled a stocking over his head before bed in an attempt to get his curly hair to lie flat like the Beatles’, according to a CNN program on the history of cosmetics.

CLASSIC JAZZ AND A ROOFTOP SING-A-LONG

Jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrain appeared at Leo’s Casino Aug. 19- 22, performing songs from his classic album, “A Love Supreme.” Leo’s Casino was a popular destination for R & B and Motown artists. It was located in the Quad Hall Hotel at 7500 Euclid Ave.

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“Chim Chim Cher-ee” from “Mary Poppins” won best song at the 37th Academy Awards, which honored films from 1964.

For many of us, the weekend didn’t officially begin until Kid Leo said it did. The popular radio DJ at WMMS (100.7 FM) played Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” just before 6 p.m. Friday afternoon. When the song ended, the weekend started.

We blasted the song on the car radio while driving home from work or while prepping for a night out with friends. A console stereo in the living room or a transistor radio propped on a bathroom counter — the music sounded perfect regardless of how we got it.

The radio station that brought us the weekend also brought one of the most coveted — and recorded — performances in Cleveland history. Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Agora Theatre and Ballroom in August 1978.

Just over a year ago, Springsteen released an official recording of the Agora performance. It sounded just fine on a cassette player back in 1978.

THE SNOW NEVER STOPPED

How did you spend the Blizzard of ‘78? Digging out a buried car? Enjoying days off from college classes? Or were you stuck on an interstate or at work, watching the snow pile deeper and deeper that last week of January?

The blizzard crippled northeast Ohio with more than two feet of snow. Stranded motorists hiked to nearby churches or homes to wait out the storm.

When it was over, deep drifts turned the landscape into an eerie flatness. If you were old enough to remember the Blizzard of ‘78, you’ll never forget it.

THE MIRACLE OF RICHFIELD – THE AFTERMATH

Today it’s a grassland for bird lovers, but the open field on state Route 303 just off Interstate 271 was at one time home to the Richfield Coliseum and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team made the playoffs during the 1975-76 season and became “The Miracle of Richfield.”