The other day I inherited a stack of teen magazines that originally belonged to my sister.
What makes these unique and oh-so-interesting is that they are from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s.
Some of them look like they probably did the day she got them from the store.
Others are missing the covers but the pages are mostly in good shape.
Since most of these magazine were before my time (or when I was young enough my biggest concern was which baby doll to lug around that day and how to get my dad to take me with him irrigating so we could make a candy run to the neighborhood store and Mom would be none the wiser) there were a lot of names and faces I didn’t recognize.
Like the band The New Seekers.
Or The Hudson Brothers. Member Bill is the father of Kate and Oliver Hudson.
I also had no idea who Jeff East was, but apparently he gave a rousing rendition in a 1970s version of Tom Sawyer.
Michael Gray played in a TV series called Shazam! (That I also have no recollection of ever seeing.)
One thing I noticed is that the magazines seemed to assume anyone buying them would recognize the people featured because I noticed several times no last names were mentioned and on full-page photos, some had no identifying names at all. While probably cool at the time, not so cool now when you have no idea who these people are – forty years later.
There were also some faces and names I recognized.
Like Donny and Marie. I think they are mentioned in almost every magazine.
And Robbie Benson. How could you not know Robbie Benson? (The theme from Ice Castles is right now playing in my head.)
Of course there would be Randy and Kev from Emergency! One year for my birthday, I may have been five or six, I got an Emergency fireman’s hat with their pictures on the front. I wanted to be a fireman for Halloween that year but I think I got dressed as a witch or cat or something not nearly as exciting. You know, back in those days, little girls were not firemen, or so my mother said.
Vincent Van Patten. I’m pretty sure he looked twelve in some of the magazines although the one article claimed he was 16.
He and Shaun Cassidy offered their thoughts on “Our Secret Love Tricks – or How we Make Out!” They each talked about different kinds of girls and the “tricks of the trade” they use to attract each different type – like the Shy Type, The Good Looker (that was tops on both their lists), Miss Hard-T0-Get and Ms. Liberated.
I have to admit, I was somewhat surprised and completely entertained by their responses.
Other names that were easy to recognize included Leif Garrett, Alice Cooper, Linda Blair, Susan Dey, Cher, Freddie Prinze and Michael Landon.
Oh, and I can’t forget the advice column on love and relationships from Maureen McCormick (Marsha Brady).
The fashion columns nearly pushed me into fits of hysterical laughter, so I think I’ll stop for now.
I’m sure I shouldn’t be so thoroughly amused and fascinated with these magazines, but I am. I’ll try and take as good of care of them as my sister did. Who knows, someone twenty or forty years from now might really get a kick out of them.
She Who Is Craving Pop Rocks and Chick-O-Sticks
