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Jesup, Georgia 31545

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

$1.00

JFKs death and birth of Beatlemania rocked America

My Opinion
MMM
Dec. 7, 1941. Nov. 22, 1963 Feb. 9, 1964. Sept. 11, 2001. If youre old enough, these dates are burned into your brain. Mother recalls every detail of where she was when the news came on Dec. 7, 1941: The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor! I know exactly where I was when the Wayne County High School DINK intercom blared on Nov. 22, 1963: NeSMITH President Kennedy has been shot! Chairman I will never forget the Sunday night when Ed Sullivan waved his arm and said on Feb. 9, 1964: Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles! And no American could ever forget when planes crashed into our calm on Sept. 11, 2001: Terror hits home! If I start a sentence with I remember, I can expect six eyes to roll in synchronization. Dad, Alan, Emily and Eric say, you can remember the day you were born. Actually, I dont. But I tease, I do remember The Nov. 22, 1963, assassination the ride home on a America. Seventy-seven days later, pillow in a wire rocked America. basket. Daddy drove Mother and me in one of the funeral homes black Cadillac hearses. Mark Twain quipped, When I was young, I could remember anything whether it happened or not. When Lewis Grizzard was asked, How do you remember all the things you write about? he answerd, Because I remember some things that never happened. Of the four events above, twoJFKs assassination and the launch of Beatlemaniaare approaching their 50th anniversaries. Where were you on Friday afternoon, Nov. 22, 1963? I was in the athletic training room, chatting with Doc Tommy Causey. The playful banter skidded to a halt when the principals voice in the little wooden box on the wall announced, President Kennedy has been shot. What? Where? Why? Our nation skidded to a halt, too, as it stared at tiny black and white TV screens for four solid days. No Andy Griffith Show, Bonanza, or As the World Turns. Programming was all about what happened in Dallas. And then, before our eyes, Jack Ruby gunned down Lee Harvey Oswald. Russias Nikita Khrushchev was making noise. And the civil rights movement was stirring, but I confess. I was living in a Mayberry world, oblivious to most things outside my small circle. Oswalds rifle shots shattered my innocence, along with the innocence of millions of others. I was a 15-year-old who loved football and daydreamed about holding a cheerleaders hand. Seventy-seven days after JFK slumped in the backseat of that convertible, a group of long-haired British lads had my generation singing, I want to hold your hand. The BeatlesPaul, John, George and Ringobecame the Fab Four and changed our world in a different way. Some would say they helped heal a grieving nation. Where were you on Sunday night, Feb. 9, 1964? At 7:25 p.m. I was in First Baptist Churchs choir loft. The youth choir had of President John F. Kennedy shocked just sung. At on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles 7:30, I was on the way to 187 S. Ninth St. While the Rev. Floyd Jenkins was praying, the entire choir tiptoed out the back door. By 7:45, I was sitting, crossedlegged, on an oval-braided rug in our den, ready for The Ed Sullivan Show. Back at church, the Rev. Jenkins turned to commend the teenagers. The loft was empty. Later, my mother, our youth leader, confessed, Brother Jenkins, they just had to see the Beatles. One-half century later, my friends still sing her praises. Wait a minute. Did I just say a half-century ago? That cant be. Either my mind is playing tricks or Im getting old. Uh-oh, maybe both. dnesmith@cninewspapers.com