Plastic Headquarters

Bakelite (pronounced bake-a-lite) is another name for phenolic resin, developed by the Belgian-American chemist Dr. Leo Baekeland in Yonkers, NY, in 1907. It was the first plastic made from synthetic components, making it revolutionary for its electrical nonconductivity and heat-resistant properties in electrical insulators, radio and telephone casings and such diverse products as pipe stems, children's toys, and firearms, as well as a popular alternative to everyone's silver kitchenware. It was also seen as an inexpensive alternative to high-end jewelry materials. Some bracelets can be quite beautiful due to the penetration of light and Bakelite's transparency. The resin can be molded quickly, is smooth, retains its shape, and is resistant to heat, scratches, and destructive solvents. It is not flexible, however.

Bakelite Corporation faced serious competition from other companies after its patent expired in 1927. The term Bakelite is sometimes used in the resale market to indicate various types of early plastics, including Catalin, Plaskon, Beetle, or Faturan, which may also be brightly colored material. Since its glory days through the 1940s, Bakelite jewelry and radios have become popular collectible items. New reproductions can resemble Bakelite, however.

Defining A Type-A Personality

 

On this date in 1918, Lieutenant Edward "Eddie" Vernon Rickenbacker, 94th Aero Squadron, Air Service, American Expeditionary Force, while flying a Nieuport 28 C.1, with the famous "Hat in the Ring" squadron, scored his first aerial victory. shooting down a Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte Pfalz D.III fighter near Saint-Baussant, France. He was awarded the first of eight Distinguished Service Crosses. By the end of World War I, he had destroyed twenty-six enemy aircraft making him the United States' most successful fighter ace in the war.

The Columbus, Ohio native's passions spanned many levels. He was a race car driver with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, an automotive designer, a government consultant in military matters, and a pioneer in air transportation, specifically as the long-time head of Eastern Air Lines. Rickenbacher died at the age of 82 in 1973.

Small Town of The Seas

 

As of 2018, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ship, the Symphony of the Seas, is the world’s largest cruise ship. Not only is it the biggest, but with 18 decks, it provides unparalleled amenities for accomodating up to 6,680 guests. The facilities include a water park with a full-sized water slide known as Ultimate Abyss and a 43-foot tall rock climbing wall and an onboard auditorium that can host 1,400 guests. The ship is 1,184 feet long and at 228,081 gross tonnages, it is roughly four times that of the Titanic and longer than any ship barring oil tankers. The homeport is Miami and she cruises the Caribbean. Equipped with the latest azipod main engines, the ship consumes 25% less fuel than other comparable size vessels, outside the US Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

Hammers In The Head

 

Anacin is the trade name of several analgesics manufactured by Prestige Brands. Anacin ingredients contain aspirin and caffeine. Their advertising campaigns became legendary in the Fifties and Sixties and were one of the earliest and best examples of a concerted television marketing campaign. The commercials advertised "tension producing" situations, and "hammers in the head" with slogans like "Tension. Pressure. Pain." Anacin was also a leading sponsor of the television soaps Love of Life, The Secret Storm, and the early years, The Young and the Restless.

Anacin was invented by William Milton Knight in 1916. It is one of the oldest brands of pain relievers in the United States, first sold in the 1930s. The pain reliever was originally sold by the Anacin Co. out of Chicago, Illinois. American Home Products (formally Whitehall Pharmacal Company) purchased the manufacturing rights in 1930. Insight Pharmaceuticals acquired the brand in the early 21st century which was in turn purchased by Prestige Brands in 2014. 

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

Dr. Kimble nearly settles down with Susan Oliver, as Karen Christian, except the series just started. Besides, with the one-armed man said to be in the area, it throws a wrench into their plans in this first two-part episode of the series, Never Wave Goodbye (1963). 

How to Fly An Oxcart

 

On this day in 1962, at a non-existent location in the Mojave Desert of Nevada, Lockheed Chief Test Pilot Louis Schalk, Jr., was scheduled to take the first Oxcart for a high-speed taxi test on the specially constructed 8,000' runway. However, he had received secret instructions from designer Kelly Johnson to take the craft airborne. Schalk roared down the runway, lifted off and flew at about twenty feet for two miles. The super-secret aircraft---code name Article 121---was oscillating badly so he set it down straight ahead on the dry lake bed and disappeared into a cloud of dust. Johnson feared the worst but Schalk taxied back to the runway. The malfunction was fixed with no further complications on subsequent flights.

This was the actual first flight of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Top Secret A-12 reconnaissance aircraft. The official first flight would come several days later. Built by Lockheed’s “Skunk Works,” the new airplane wasn’t state of the art, it was well beyond state of the art. Thirteen A-12s were built for the CIA which evolved into the more widely known two-place SR-71A “Blackbird” reconnaissance aircraft.

Buy Milk?

 

The American advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners created the phrase "got milk?" for the 1993 California Milk Processor Board campaign. However, the ad agency thought the phrase was lazy, not to mention grammatically incorrect and almost did not become reality. The phrase did become very popular and was often parodied, but did little to increase the consumption of milk. Mostly liberal celebrities, sports figures, as well as fictional characters, got their upper lip "painted" white in mock milk fashion. It has gotten so phony there may not even be a glass of milk in the image while other ads suggest sex appeal over milk endorsement. The national campaign, run by the Milk Processor Education Program added the "got milk?" logo to its "Milk Mustache" ads beginning in 1995. In 2014, the phrase was officially dropped for a new tagline, "Milk Life," yet it continued to be used. Two years later the branding was used for a line of snack foods called "Got Milk Snacks." If the dairy farmers did not benefit, seems the celebrities did.

Travel The World with View-Master

 

A Portland, Oregon pharmacist, Edwin Mayer, started a photo-finishing business and bought into Sawyer's Photo Finishing Service in 1919 and by 1926 renamed the business Sawyer Service, Inc. The company produced photographic postcards and album sets as souvenirs. Sawyer was the nation's largest producer of scenic postcards in the 1920s.

Introduced at the New York World's Fair in 1939, the View-Master was originally manufactured and sold by Sawyer's, the trademark name of a line of special-format stereoscopes and corresponding thin, circular cardboard disks. Each disk contained seven Stereoscopic 3-D pairs of small transparent color photographs on film. A lever on the unit would rotate the disk to the next image. The View-Master was an extension of the old two-dimensional cards.

The advent of Kodachrome color film made the use of small high-quality photographic color images practical. Tourist attraction and travel views dominated in View-Master's early lists of 3D  Stereo reels, most of which were meant to be interesting to users of all ages. View-Master's highest-quality viewer, Model D, was available until the early 1970s. Today, children are the View-Master's main sales target. 

Note: Shown above is Model C, made of bakelite and produced from 1946-55. My father had one. It is in my collection. 

1965 World Showcase

 

On this date in 1965, the second consecutive New York World's Fair opened at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City. Perhaps best noted for its "Unisphere" globe as the central iconic design, the previous year's fair opened on April 22, boasting Ford Motor Company's premiere the new Mustang. With a theme of "Peace Through Understanding," the fair comprised over 140 pavilions, 110 restaurants, featuring 80 nations, 24 US states, and over 45 corporations covering 646 acres. The fair was organized by NYC's "master builder," Robert Moses and was noted as a showcase of mid-20th-century American culture and technology. In many ways, the fair was an extravagant trade show covering many products produced in America at the time for transportation, living, and consumer electronic needs in a way that would never be repeated at future world fairs in North America. The term "World's Fair" was used only in the United States. Officially, it is called a "World Expo."

Hey, Buddy Buddy Buddy!

 

Brak was originally a fictional character and supervillain on the 1966 Hanna-Barbera animated series "Space Ghost," as a catlike alien space pirate trying to conquer the galaxy. He returned to television in 1994 as a cast member on Cartoon Planet's animated show, "Space Ghost Coast to Coast." According to the network, 'Brak was irradiated by Pirranamyte, releasing him from the burden of intelligence.' He was transformed into a simple-minded 7-year-old, hilariously voiced by Andy Merrill. Cartoon Planet released two CDs with the cast from "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" singing a wide variety of funny, ridiculously silly songs. Brak would branch out in 2001 in his own show, "The Brak Show," as an even more childlike character with a diminutive, Spanish-accented father and a "June Cleaver' mother. Though rare, Brak continued to make unannounced appearances on other programs, yet the character is essentially part of history today.

Following Orders Without Question

 

On this day in 1978, a major navigational error by the flight crew of a Korean Airlines Boeing 707 airliner deviated approximately 150° to the right of its planned route from Paris, France, to Anchorage, Alaska overflying Soviet territory. A Soviet Air Force Sukhoi Su-15TM interceptor was scrambled to the airliner, the pilot first thinking it was a USAF RC-135 recon plane. Upon closer view, it was identified as Korean Airlines yet his superiors ordered him to shoot it down. One of two missiles struck the airliner removing the end of the left wing. Two passengers were struck by flying debris and killed. The airline pilot made a heroic belly landing on a frozen lake without further incident. The following summer the airliner was completely dismantled.

This is Jim Rockford

 

Hey, Jimmy, it's cousin Lou! Gonna be in town a coupla days. Know you won't mind puttin' us up. It's just me, and Aunt Cissy, and B.J., and the kids, and little Freddie, and ...

The Rockford Files Message: Resurrection in Black and White, 1975
Joan Van Ark guest stars.

Make Yourself at Home

 

On this day in 1947, the comedy "Happened on 5th Avenue" premiered in New York City. It was directed by Roy Del Ruth for the first Allied Artists Pictures project. On paper one might wonder how this could possibly be poignant and funny. Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story. 

Victor Moore is outstanding as an honorable hobo who seasonally makes his home in a boarded-up Fifth Avenue mansion during the winter months each time its owner, Charles Ruggles—the second richest man in the world—winters at his Virginia estate. He helps himself to Ruggles' wardrobe and is assumed to be the owner once his "guests" start arriving. Two of which are Ruggles' ex-wife and runaway daughter. Ruggles returns early but his daughter requests he not be his usual self as "a game." While on his morning constitutional, Moore is introduced to Ruggles and he is invited back to the mansion, thinking he is just a guy down on his luck. Moore reveals himself to be quite the philosopher and wise counsel, much to Ruggles' ire. Their hilarious interaction is worth the wait. Once the stuffy Ruggles calms down and learns the positive turn of events that have transpired, he invites Moore back next year but instructs him to use the front door instead of accessing his home through the loose board at the rear.

Little Sure Shot of The Wild West

 

On this day in 1922, Annie Oakley (Phoebe Ann Mosey 1860-1926) set a women's record by shooting 100 clay targets in a row (above in 1899). The American sharpshooter starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show earning more than anyone except Buffalo Bill himself. Born near Greenville, Ohio, she won a shooting contest against experienced marksman Frank E. Butler at age 15. They would later marry and the duo joined Buffalo Bill in 1885, performing in Europe before royalty and other heads of state. At five feet tall, Oakley was given the nickname of "Watanya Cicilla" by fellow performer Sitting Bull, a rough translation meaning "Little Sure Shot" for the purposes of public advertisements. Audiences were astounded to see her shooting a cigar from her husband's lips or splitting a playing-card edge-on at 30 paces, or shooting her rifle backward over her shoulder using a mirror.

Pluto Platter. Just Call It a Frisbee.

Headquartered in Emeryville, California, since 1948, Wham-O, Inc. has provided children and adults with innovative, imaginative toys that spark creativity, encourage social interaction and get kids playing. The Wham-O name was meant to evoke the sound of a slingshot when it connected with a target. Wham-O continually redefines the concept of fun by remaining simple, uncomplicated and without age boundaries. In 1958, Wham-O introduced the Hula Hoop, which became a national phenomenon.

But first came the Frisbee in 1957, thanks to a California carpenter, Fred Morrison (above), who obtained a patent in 1955 for his plastic throwing discs he called Pluto Platters and cashing in on the martian craze at the time. He sold the rights to Wham-O and within the year, they had sold a million discs. In 1958 Wham-O enhanced the design of the disc and renamed it Frisbee---the origins of the name are immersed in mythology---though the Pluto Platter name remained on the disc for some time after. The Frisbee proved an enduring favorite, and eventually Wham-O marketed and promoted the toy, creating a Frisbee sport and then sanctioning national competitions by the 1960s. Frisbee sports grew so popular that by 1974 the World Frisbee Disc Championships were held in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Many manufacturers have since produced their own versions of the "flying saucers" yet most are colloquially referred to as a frisbee.

Revolutionizing World Air Travel

Flying in the lap of luxury was the hype for Pan American World Airways's Boeing 377 Stratocruiser with its lower-level lounge. The Stratocruiser's first flight was in 1947 and Pan American took charge of 29 in 1949, twenty years before they bought the Boeing 747. Pan American was the first operational airline of both types and each became game-changers. 

The large long-range airliner was developed from the C-97 Stratofreighter military transport, itself a derivative of the B-29 Superfortress. Advanced for its day, its innovative features included two passenger decks and a relatively new feature on transport aircraft, a pressurized cabin. Though larger than the Douglas DC-6 and Lockheed Constellation competition, it cost more to buy and operate and the reliability of its complex Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major radial engines had issues. Its dominance was short-lived as Boeing's own 707 jet airliner overwhelmed the 377's performance in less than a decade.

The Chesapeake Roller Coaster

 

On this date in 1964, the original 2-lane northbound Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (officially the Lucius J. Kellam, Jr. Bridge-Tunnel) was opened after 42 months of construction in the state of Virginia. The 2-lane southbound lanes were opened in 1999 making it a four-lane 20-mile-long vehicular toll crossing of the lower Chesapeake Bay, replacing the long-standing ferry system as the primary channel crossing. The crossing consists of a series of low-level trestles interrupted by two nearly one-mile-long tunnels beneath two Atlantic shipping channels, Thimble Shoals and the Chesapeake Channel. The manmade islands, each approximately 5.25 acres in size, are located at each end of the two tunnels. 

The Streamliners Efficient Friend

 

The Alcoa Corporation touted it use of aluminum incorporated in the railroad's Streamliner passenger trains of the 1930s. The integrated-body-and-frame construction using aluminum and Cor-Ten steel was used to reduce the required structural weight to a fraction of conventional railcars. Outwardly, stainless steel was the dominant material, however, typically left unpainted except for the car's reporting marks required by law. In general, the above-illustrated advertisement exaggerates the typical length of these trains.

Burlington and Union Pacific railroads sought to increase the efficiency of their passenger service and looked to the lightweight, petroleum-powered technology offered by Budd and Pullman-Standard. Union Pacific's project was named the M-10000 (top, above) and Burlington's was named the Burlington Zephyr (top, bottom). The M-10000 was the star attraction at the 1934 World's Fair "Century of Progress" in Chicago, Illinois. It was officially named The Streamliner during its demonstration period. With nearly a million miles on its engine, the trainset was scrapped in 1942 and its aluminum recycled for use in the wartime aircraft industry.

Note: Founded in 1888 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Alcoa Corporation (a portmanteau of Aluminum Company of America) is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum.

Not Your Average Joe

 

Joseph Raymond (Joe) Maross (1923-2009) was an American actor of stage and a few notable films in a career spanning over four decades. From 1952, he worked predominantly on television in supporting or guest roles, often with intensity as an authority figure or criminal, in westerns or military dramas. His versatility made it impossible for him to be typecast. It would have been hard through the 1970s to turn your television on and not find Maross guest-starring. Just do not expect him to ever show up on The Tonight Show. His list is endless but perhaps known for one of two The Twilight Zone episodes, "Third From the Sun" (1960) or his two appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He essentially had only three recurring roles, however, for Peyton Place (1968-69), Code Red (1981-82) and Dallas (1983). After his stint in the Marine Corps during World War II, the Pennsylvania native attended Yale University earning his theater arts degree in 1947.

Abbott and Costello In Color

 

On this date in 1952, Jack and the Beanstalk premiered---the famous fairy tale about a young boy who trades the family cow for magic beans. The family film gets amusingly tweaked by the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, the first of only two color movies they made---the other being "Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd, also in 1952. The film begins in sepia tone and then changes to full color during the rather clever real life to fantasy transition. The seventy-eight-minute film is arguably the duo's best venture of their last decade together, the fable being well-suited for them.

This Library's Check-Out Can Be Deadly

 

This 1942 release, Quiet Please, Murder, is an enjoyable yet routine detective mystery with art forger, George Sanders, at his condescending best. His partner in crime is Gail Patrick, playing a phony art expert. They tolerate each other only for their monetary rewards. This unknown film was a World War II encourager in defeating the Nazis. Film vacillates between serious and humorous making it a fast seventy minutes. Richard Denning is a standout with plenty of quips as is Byron Foulger as the nervous head librarian during an air raid. My full assessment at Unknown Hollywood.

Jackie Ward, Anonymous Alto

 

In the early to mid-1960s Jackie Ward (Jacqueline McDonnell, 1941-) was one of the singers on The Red Skelton Show, The Danny Kaye Show, The Carol Burnett Show, and later singing on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, and The Partridge Family. Ward lent her voice to numerous television commercials or on someone else's hit records. All heard but not seen. A studio musician's life. But she had her own hit record, "Wonderful Summer," as Robin Ward (taking her daughter's name) in 1963. Her voice was sped up slightly giving it a higher, teenager's sound. Perhaps best known as one of two smooth altos (the other being B.J. Baker) with the Anita Kerr Singers quartet during their 5-year Los Angeles recording period (Anita Kerr, Gene Merlino, Ward, and Bob Tebow, above). During the 1960s she provided the singing voice for a number of famous film actresses. Most notably, Natalie Wood and Janet Leigh for her lip-sync to the 1966 Oscar-nominated best song, "A Time for Love," written by Johnny Mandel and Paul Francis Webster. 

Despite the noted songwriting nomination above, An American Dream was the pseudo-thriller that tanked at the box office. Produced by William Conrad and Jimmy Lydon for Warner Bros. and directed by actor Robert Gist, a frequent co-star on television's Have Gun Will Travel, everyone apparently lost focus on the film's potential. It starred Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh with an over-the-top performance by Eleanor Parker. Accompanying them is a host of B-movie or television regulars including Warren Stevens, Joe De Santis, Stacy Harris, Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Paul Mantee, Harold Gould and J.D. Cannon. 

Main Street of America

 

U.S. Highway 40 (US 40) is a major east–west United States Highway extending across the United States from the Mid-Atlantic to the Mountain States. As with most routes ending in a zero, US 40 once traversed the entire United States. It is one of the first U.S. Highways created in 1926 spanning from San Francisco, California to Atlantic City, New Jersey. The route was built on top of several older highways, most notably the National Road/Cumberland Road. Built between 1811 and 1837, the National Road was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. In the western United States, US 40 has been replaced by Interstate 80, resulting in the route being truncated multiple times. US 40 currently ends at a junction with I-80 in Silver Summit, Utah, near Salt Lake City.

The Texas Company

 

On this day in 1902, Texaco (The Texas Company) was founded in Beaumont, Texas as the Texas Fuel Company. The star arrived in 1903 when a 19-year-old Italian refinery worker suggested we embrace the five-pointed symbol of Texas. He later added a green "T", perhaps influenced by the Italian flag colors. In 1931, Texaco purchased Indian Oil Company, expanding their refining and marketing base in the Midwest and gave Texaco the rights to Indian's Havoline motor oil, which became a Texaco product. 

In 1959, Texaco, Inc. was formed from the assets of Texas Fuel assets, and additional capitalization. Legend has it that a salesman saw the portmanteau "Texaco" in a telegram and the name stuck. By 2001, Texaco became an oil subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, at which time most of its station franchises were divested to the Shell Oil Company. A midwesterner may have noted the subsequent proliferation of Shell stations with an abrupt absence of Texaco.

Arthur Murray Out From His Shell

 

Arthur Murray (Moses Teichman 1895-1991) was an American ballroom dancer and businessman, whose name is most often associated with the dance studio chain that bears his name. Currently, there are approximately 180 Arthur Murray Franchised Dance Studios worldwide. Though shy as a child and self-conscious about his tall, lanky appearance, Murray won his first dance contest at the Grand Central Palace, a public dance hall where he later became a part-time dance teacher after graduation from high school. In 1920, he organized the world's first "radio dance" on the Georgia Tech campus. He devised the idea of teaching dance steps with footprint diagrams supplied by mail. Within a couple of years, over 500,000 dance courses had been sold. in 1938, the first Arthur Murray dance studio franchise was opened in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Murray turned to television with a dance program hosted by his wife, Kathryn, The Arthur Murray Party, which ran from 1950 to 1960.

A Noted Television Theme

 

Cashing in on the popularity of Magnum P.I, handsome Lee Horsley played Matlock "Matt" Houston, squeezing out three seasons in the early Eighties before running out of cases to solve or cast members to add. Houston was a likable and wealthy mustachioed Texas oilman working as a private investigator as a hobby more or less. The show possessed enough humor and action to be popular but it was nearing life-support by the time producers brought in Buddy Ebsen as Uncle Roy Houston in the final season. He owned a unique automobile, though Magnum owned none. Pamela Hensley played his data specialist. A number of Houston's friends or business associates were murdered during the show's run as this might often make up an episode's premise. Dominic Frontiere wrote the original Magnum pilot theme and wrote this great action-packed theme as well.

Synopsis: Thrust Into Television

 

Probably best known for his Western villainy, Harry Lauter (1914-1990) also snagged bit parts in a few significant modern-day films as in White Heat (1949) or as a well-hidden platoon leader in The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951). The former male model neared stardom on television's Tales of The Texas Rangers (1955, above). One might find him in such comedies as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet or My Favorite Martian as the straight man, of course. He was cast in Adam-12 and other series during the 1970s. Lauter spent time on the rodeo circuit before turning to acting. For his many Westerns, he also learned how to safely do his own stunts. Learning from the best: Jock Mahoney. Unknown to most entertainment fans, much of his energy later in life was devoted to his own paintings and running an art gallery. 

Body by Fisher

 

"Pound for pound -- what do you find?" is the headline accompanying this 1949 illustration. Do all sorts of pounding, thumping and slamming to discover the solidity of steel. I guess. The Fisher Body Corporation was a Detroit, Michigan automobile coachbuilder founded by the Fisher brothers in 1908 but its beginnings trace back to a horse-drawn carriage shop in Norwalk, Ohio, in the late 1800s. Since 1919 a division of General Motors, it was dissolved to form other GM divisions in 1984. Noted for many innovations, Fisher Body designed slanted windshields to reduce glare in 1930, dual windshield wipers in 1936 and produced GM's first airbag in 1974. The name and its iconic "Body by Fisher" logo were well known to the public, as GM vehicles displayed the emblem on their door sill plates until the mid-1990s.

The Mercury Seven

 

On this date in 1959, the NASA selection committee of Charles Donlan, a senior management engineer; Warren North, a test pilot engineer; Stanley White and William Argerson, flight surgeons; Allen Gamble and Robert Voas psychologists; and George Ruff and Edwin Levy, psychiatrists, selected the first astronauts for Project Mercury. Beginning January, the committee received and screened 508 service records of a group of talented test pilots, from which 110 were assembled. Less than one month later, through a variety of interviews and a battery of written tests, the NASA selection committee pared down this group to 32 candidates.

Each candidate endured stringent physical, psychological, and mental examinations, including total body x-rays, pressure suit tests, cognitive exercises, and a series of unnerving interviews. Of the 32 candidates, 18 were recommended for Project Mercury without medical reservations. Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., John H. Glenn, Jr., Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Donald K. “Deke” Slayton” were known as the Mercury Seven.

The Quintessential City Bus

 

General Motors' dominating transit bus began life in 1944. Yellow Coach was an early bus builder that was partially owned by General Motors before being purchased in 1943 to form the GM Truck & Coach Division. The GM "old-look" moniker was an unofficial retronym for GM buses after the release of the GM New-Look "Fishbowl" series in 1959. Their most distinctive feature was its inward slanted front windshield to cut glare from on-coming headlights or lighted signs in general. The hooded brow also gave it a determined attitude of strength. Dropping coins into the "token tower" by the driver and hearing the clickity-clunk of the coins being processed might also bring back memories. 

The GM "old-look" bus was somewhat streamlined in appearance that resembled the older PCC streetcar styling. Its friendly shape equated to some as a loaf of sandwich bread on wheels. The specifically designated THD models (T=transit; D=diesel or G for gasoline; H=hydraulic automatic transmission) were available in several lengths ranging from the adorable 25 footers to the more common 35 and 40-foot models. Some smaller models continued to be built until 1969. Approximately 38,000 "old-look" series were built in Pontiac, Michigan's assembly line.