The Question of Time: What Was Life Like in 1963?

[Jeff Wrangler]

Life was great for me...three squares a day, slept as much as I wanted to, went to the bathroom whenever I wanted...could throw up on anyone without getting hit...course I was 2.

Lucky you. If I'd thrown up on anyone at age 2, I'd have gotten spanked.

I did get spanked once when I had an "accident" because my mother didn't get back inside from hanging up the laundry in time to help me use the potty chair. Talk about injustice! 

[Front-Ranger]

How do you guys remember back to age 2??

Gay awareness started to happen with "glam rock" in the late 1970s. It was fashionable for men to wear makeup and be bisexual...if you were a rock star anyway!! That was when David Bowie became Ziggy Stardust.

There were lots of gays and bis in the crowd I used to hang with in the 1970s. But it was a crowd of actors, artists, musicians, theater people, and waitpersons (mostly the latter LOL).

I recently read John Schlesinger's reminiscences as an openly gay movie director. His movie, the X-rated Midnight Cowboy, won Best Picture in 1968. Some of the gay parts of the movie were excised or toned down but other parts were preserved.

[Kd5000]

I always think of the early 1960's as being a continuation of the 1950's. JFK's assassination put an end to that time period and the 1960's really began in earnest.  However, even in 1963,  I gather there were rumblings of upcoming social upheaval as integration was front and center.   1963 is before my time and I'm glad I wasn't around for "Camelot" so to speak.

[HerrKaiser]

Not only was the "gay stuff" never mentioned back then, neither was the "straight stuff" in terms of all their sexual conquests, the groupies, the drugs, the all night sex orgies with scores of women. All these things occured. to a somewhate lesser extent, the same was true, apparently, with President Kennedy. But, nothing of substance was ever publicized.

There were no National Enquirer's back then and the mainstream media simply did not delve into those parts of celebrity life or lives of the average people. Such human behavior was considered by the conventional wisdom folks to be on the 'dark side' of activity and was left pretty much untouched. That was an era of Father Knows Best, Donna Reed, Andy Griffith, and My Three Sons. Gay subjects were not "outed" but everything else was pretty much off limits as well.

in addition, even the word "gay" was not used by mainstream to refer to homosexuals. It existed within the clandestine world of the era, but the vast amount of population did not used this term. 'gay' at that time still meant happy. Men who were bachelors and believed to be homosexual were often referred to as "he's funny" or "he's different". Gay broadened to general use much later.

[Katie77]

I remember going to the movies to see Midnight Cowboy the day after it won the Academy Award, and because I was familiar with homosexuality, I was aware of the theme that was hidden in the movie, but I'm sure a lot of people didnt back then.

[Brokeback_Dev]

How do you guys remember back to age 2??

Gay awareness started to happen with "glam rock" in the late 1970s. It was fashionable for men to wear makeup and be bisexual...if you were a rock star anyway!! That was when David Bowie became Ziggy Stardust.

There were lots of gays and bis in the crowd I used to hang with in the 1970s. But it was a crowd of actors, artists, musicians, theater people, and waitpersons (mostly the latter LOL).

I recently read John Schlesinger's reminiscences as an openly gay movie director. His movie, the X-rated Midnight Cowboy, won Best Picture in 1968. Some of the gay parts of the movie were excised or toned down but other parts were preserved.

 
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was awesome.  The '70's rocked. 
Originally, Im from the Jersey Shore and my best friend's dad owned a huge hotel and bar.  We hung around there a lot.  At night the guys in the band wore make up, long hair and  sparkly platform shoes.  They were too cool.

But something you said brings back something i remember so vividly and have often think about, my mom and dad singing "Orange Juice on Ice is Nice"  from the movie Midnight Cowboy.  I was 9 and still think of it when i drink  my orange juice always with ice.  hehehe

[David In Indy]

How do you guys remember back to age 2??

I remember President Kennedy's assassination and I wasn't quite 2 years old when it happened. But I do remember it. Mom always told me I was thinking about something else. I never could convince her otherwise. I guess I remember it because it was so traumatic for my parents. It scared me.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I remember President Kennedy's assassination and I wasn't quite 2 years old when it happened. But I do remember it. Mom always told me I was thinking about something else. I never could convince her otherwise. I guess I remember it because it was so traumatic for my parents. It scared me.

It was very scary for a small child. You didn't know what it all meant. I was 5 years old--lined up for dismissal from afternoon kindergarten when the school principal made an announcement over the public address system--and I was scared, couldn't wait to get home to my mother. I remember thinking it meant the Russians were coming!

[Front-Ranger]

I was not a small child then...you guys are making me feel ancient! But I was a naive girl in junior high school, and the person who told me about the assassination was Kirstie Alley, who was in my class. 

[Marge_Innavera]

It was very scary for a small child. You didn't know what it all meant. I was 5 years old--lined up for dismissal from afternoon kindergarten when the school principal made an announcement over the public address system--and I was scared, couldn't wait to get home to my mother. I remember thinking it meant the Russians were coming!

I was 13, very immature for 13 even at that time, and had used a slight cold as an excuse to stay home that Friday and finish some kind of book report I'd been putting off, so I wouldn't have to work on it over the weekend. The first thought I remember having when it came on the TV was "this is the end of my childhood." And it was. It was like a door slamming.

In the story, Ennis and Alma are married in December of 1963; in the movie it's in November. In the movie version, they married either right before the assassination happened or right after. If it was right after, or December, they married at a time when the country was in a huge upheaval and on the cusp of some very big changes.