Inflation Strikes Again!

A blind legacy for the First Man on the Moon shrinks in the wash!

As you can see, this notice is from the August 21, 1969 Tulsa World.

Five seconds of interweb search tells us that 100,000 francs nowadays is about $106,000.  And $106,000 in 1891 is worth $3,304,823.74 today.

Not bad.  See you next week.

  

Blaming Jules Verne

If anybody in the past wrote about a trip to the Moon, of course it was newsworthy in the summer of 1969. This is a feature from the May 25, 1969 issue of Look.

It's up to you to decide if Verne was prescient or playing the odds.  He did get the Florida part right!  See ya next Monday.

  

!ERROR * Reference Missing * ERROR!

Yep, I must confess I wasn't completely complete in my clipping prowess!  Here's the proof.  Y'see, this note from the August 4, 1969 Newsweek refers to the cover of their July 28th issue.  But I ain't got that issue.  Mea culpa!

If you go a-lookin' online to buy one of these critters, it can run from less than ten bucks to $40+.  But every version I spied contained the center image, the cover of the "domestic" issue.

See you next Monday with something less controversial, I hope!

  

Bombeck's True Love

From the August 14, 1969 Tulsa World:

See you next week.  Hope your love isn't moonstruck!

  

An Ecstatic Space Wife for Valentine's

From the July 22, 1969 Tulsa World:

As you can read, all three "space wives" were covered.  I'd be tense too!

See you next week.

  

Packed with Prowess

This is from the July 21, 1969 Tulsa World.

And the reason why the headline font is distinctive is, this article-cum-personality-profile was in the Women's Section.

See you next week.

  

Exciting Flips

This is from the August 13, 1969 Tulsa World.

Those flips would be less exciting if the critter had passengers, I'll bet!

  

By John Barbour

Whether this book, Footprints on the Moon, is an assembly of stuff Barbour wrote as an AP "space expert," or generated instant-book-style, I can't say.

This ad/article appeared in the August 17, 1969 Tulsa World.

You can buy your own copy on Amazon or at other booksellers, where you will find that the book's cover looks like the above.  However, I ain't got one.

See you next Monday!

  

Bluejackets Don't Sting

From the July 21, 1969 Tulsa World:

I'd throw my hat too, if I were there!  See ya next Monday.

  

Not a Lot Earlier

This is from the July 18, 1969 Tulsa World.

Actually, the steps took place about 15 minutes later than this, about 40 minutes after the hour, not 20.  But who's quibbling?  What excitement!  (Please pardon the tape discoloration.)

Were you watching?  I think I was put to bed, and had to watch one of the zillions of playbacks the next day.

See you next Monday.

  

Rewards of the American System

This is from the July 21, 1969 Tulsa World.

So buck up when folks tell you how terrible America is.  Sure, we can do better.  Let's get started!

Until then, see you next Monday.

More Than Three Cities' Welcome!

From the August 14, 1969 Tulsa World:

Remember when tickertape parades were an honor, not an environmental menace?

See you Monday!

  

Thankful for a Near Failure

That's because there WASN'T a failure!

This is from the August 13, 1969 Tulsa World.

See you next Monday, Moon friends!

  

Some Moonish Ads

These are both from the August 1, 1969 issue of Time.

Honeywell Industries is now "Honeywell Automation India Limited."

Stouffer's is still in business as they were in 1969.  I also found a PDF of Stouffer's press kit puffing their moon-food connection, available here.

See you next Monday!

  

God Is Safe from Arrest

Some Kenyans weren't interested in hearing about the Moon Shot, according to this brief squib from the July 21, 1969 Tulsa World.

Assuming mankind arose in Africa, you can't argue with "We saw it first."  But I'm glad they decided to share!

See you next Monday.

  

Now That's Optimistic

In this article from the July 20, 1969 Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, we learn that the Apollo astronauts weren't cut-rate fictional spies with cyanide in hollow tooths.

The first sentence-paragraph spells out the quiet heroism of these guys.  Spend your last hours, if necessary, helping somebody else, not bailing out like a coward.

See you next Monday, fellow aspirational brave ones!

  

The Vatican, Hell, and the Moon

What a trifecta of excitement!

Both articles are from the July 20, 1969 Tulsa World.  See you next Monday!

  

He Studied, Then Quit

 This article from the July 27, 1969 Tulsa World reports on the strange resignation of the leader of the "Moon Studies" team.

You can read all about him here.  Hess had quite a career besides NASA.  The resignation wasn't much of a speedbump for him.

See you next week.  Generally speaking, I advised you NOT to quit!

  

M-O-O-N! That Spells Moon, Oklahoma!

I hate to point this out, but today's article is incorrect in one respect.  Moon, Oklahoma, is in SE Oklahoma, not "southwest."  It's just a tad west of the OK-Arkansas border.

It became slightly notorious around 1969, as shown in the above article from the July 21, 1969 Tulsa World.

See you next week.

  

Make Sure Your Report Is Typed Cleanly, with Three Carbons!

As seen in the August 12, 1969 Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, the astronauts of Apollo 11 couldn't go on a summer vacation without having to write a report about it.

Please join us next Monday!  I haven't yet decided what our report will be about, though ...