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Chattanooga: Television, music stars dominated wall posters of '60s,'70s
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| Frank Chambers | |
Television, film and popular music were the top influences for posters and pinups beloved by Chattanooga teenagers born in the baby-boomer generation.
Television stars such as Annette Funicello, who was one of the original Mouseketeers on “The Mickey Mouse Club” in the 1950s, went on to make both pop records and movies in the late 1950s and 1960s.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, singer Tom Jones and Glen Campbell went from pop stardom to their own television shows, and in the 1970s David Cassidy and Shaun Cassidy parlayed their stardom on “The Partridge Family” and “The Hardy Boys Mysteries” to success in the pop-music field.
Farrah Fawcett, meanwhile, found success simultaneously from a swimsuit poster and the television series “Charlie’s Angels,” in which she co-starred, in 1976.
LOCALS REMEMBER SEX SYMBOLS
“Tom Jones without a doubt! No one since Elvis was able to croon or swing his hips like Tom; he defined the word sultry. Elvis did it for my mom; Tom Jones did it for me!”
— Sherri Bishop, 54, Hixson
“Nothing much in the way of attraction happened until:
(Age 11) Becky Thatcher (from ‘Tom Sawyer’). In my imagination, Mark Twain’s words made her the essence of beauty and innocence as I began to seriously ponder the fairer sex.
(Age 12) Discovered Hayley Mills. Was it her accent? Her eyes?Her lips? Pondering took on a whole new meaning!
(Age 13) Mother took my sister and me to see ‘West Side Story’ at the movies. Fell in love with Natalie Wood.”
— Frank Chambers, 59,
Chattanooga
“If I had any pinups, they would have been cars or motorcycles. I was a car freak, but I did like Annette (Funicello) in the Mouseketeers.”
— Skip Eddings, 60,
McDonough, Ga
.
“My favorite pinup guy would have to be David Cassidy. When he skyrocketed to popularity due to the success of ‘The Partridge Family’ show, his face was on the cover of every fan magazine. Finding pinups of David was not a problem. I was also a huge Osmond Brothers fan at the time and was lucky enough to see them when they came to Chattanooga in July of 1972. I have my program from the concert, along with several newspaper clippings.”
— Susan Kendall, 47,
Chattanooga
“As I remember, Ann-Margret was my pinup girl. I did a pencil drawing of her while serving my country and now have misplaced it through the years. I guess I just saw her beauty.”
— Ron McCammack, 60,
Chipley, Fla.
“I always had a crush on David Cassidy with ‘The Partridge Family.’ He was so cute, and his music was great. He had great hair!”
— Fran Robertson,
Chattanooga
“Hands down, Annette Funicello. I, like many other guys my age, fell in love with her when we were in elementary school when she played one of the Mouseketeers on ‘The Mickey Mouse Club.’ Later, when we were teenagers, we continued our love affair with her as she starred in the beach-party movies with Frankie Avalon. Who didn’t wish they had her phone number? To me, she was always the pinup-girl icon — at least until that swimsuit poster of Farrah Fawcett came out in 1976.”
— Doug Swafford, 56,
Chattanooga
“Farrah Fawcett — what guy who was a teenager in the ’70s wasn’t crazy about her? Raquel Welch was always a holdover from the first movie I remember of hers in the ’60s — “One Million Years B.C.” I think that poster of her in that ragged, caveman-looking bikini stayed in my possession until college or later! Julie Newmar: Even though this pinup-type crush began as a 9-or 10-year-old boy, it never died out. The queen of my boomer fantasies was and always will be Julie Newmar as Catwoman on ‘Batman’ — wow!”
— Tim Vaughn, 50,
Athens, Ga.
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This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc.