SPREE KILLERS CHARLES STARKWEATHER AND CARIL FUGATE

On this day in 1958, Charles Starkweather, a 19-year-old high-school dropout from Lincoln, Nebraska, and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, kill a Lincoln businessman, his wife and their maid, as part of a murderous crime spree that began a week earlier and would ultimately leave 10 people dead.

The killer couple’s deadly road trip, which generated enormous media attention and a massive manhunt, came to an end the following day when Starkweather and Fugate were arrested near Douglas, Wyoming.

The crimes later inspired a slew of books, movies and music, including Terence Malick’s 1973 film “Badlands,” starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek, and Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 song “Nebraska.”

Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek in Badlands

Growing up, Charles Starkweather (1938-1959) was bullied and did poorly in school. He later idolized James Dean and identified with the actor’s rebellious, outsider image.

Starkweather committed his first murder on December 1,1957, when he robbed a gas station and killed the attendant. Reportedly, an attendant at the station had previously refused Starkweather’s attempt to buy a present for Fugate (1943- ) on credit.

Starkweather turned serial killer on January 21, 1958, when he shot Fugate’s stepfather and mother after arguing with them at their home, and strangled Fugate’s two-and-a-half-year-old sister.

Starkweather and Fugate remained holed up at the scene of the crime for several days, before taking off in Starkweather’s car and murdering three more people–a farmer and two teenagers–on January 27.

On January 28, the couple killed another three people–the Lincoln businessman, his wife and their maid. Starkweather and Fugate’s final victim, a shoe salesman, was killed on January 29; the couple was captured later that day.

Starkweather and Fugate were convicted of murder. He was given the death penalty and died in the electric chair on June 25, 1959. Fugate was sentenced to life in prison but was paroled in 1976. Read More

19 ALUMINUM VINTAGE CHRISTMAS TREES PART 2!

HOW CHARLIE BROWN KILLED 
THE ALUMINUM CHRISTMAS TREE

 

BROWNIE WISE THE NATION'S FIRST TUPPERWARE LADY!

Earl Tupper invented the container’s seal, but it was a savvy, convention-defying entrepreneur who got the product line into the homes of housewives

Enter Brownie Wise, a rep for a range of cleaning utensils sold at home parties in the Dearborn, Michigan Area. When a friend gave her a set of Tupperware bowls, Wise immediately saw the potential for selling them at parties. Women needed to see someone demonstrate the seal lock.

Wise joined the company and by 1950 her team were selling more Tupperware than regular stores. Tupper saw her success and made her his vice president and sales manager. From then on, Tupperware was sold exclusively at parties.

  

HIDDEN FIGURES: THE WOMEN BEHIND NASA 1953

The human computers group photo in 1953. (Credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech)

They were known as “human computers” long before desktop, laptops and multi-function calculators. Comprising an elite team of mathematicians, engineers and scientists, these women were tasked with turning numbers into meaningful data at what would later become NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Langley Research Center. Their calculations would chart the course of many ground-breaking missions, carrying U.S. astronauts to the moon and beyond.

Photo above: Macie Roberts’ computing group circa 1955 (far right). Barbara Paulson is on the telephone (standing, back left). Helen Ling is at the second desk in the left row. (Credit: JPL)

Barbara “Barby” Canright was the first and joined California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1939. As the first female “human computer,” her job was to calculate anything from how many rockets were needed to make a plane airborne to what kind of rocket propellants were needed to propel a spacecraft.

Mary Jackson

These calculations were done by hand, with pencil and graph paper, often taking more than a week to complete and filling up six to eight notebooks with data and formulas.

It was the careful and precise hand-made calculations of these women that sent Voyager to explore the solar system, wrote the C and C++ programs that launched the first Mars rover and helped the U.S. put a man on the moon. Though rarely seen in the famous photos of NASA’s mission control, these early human computers contributed immeasurably to the success of the United States’ space program. Read More

HAPPY 80TH BIRTHDAY JOHNNY MATHIS!

Singer Johnny Mathis' suave ballads helped him survive the dominance of rock in popular music, and his signature style propelled him to stardom across generations.

With a hit in every decade of his recording career, and his popular Christmas recordings a mainstay each season, Mathis has spanned generations with his smooth vocals. He has performed for heads of state around the world, and in 1972, Mathis was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

He has received the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' Lifetime Achievement Award and the Society of Singers' Ella Award. Mathis is also a member of the Pop Music Hall of Fame and the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame.

POLKA DOTS MORE THAN A 1950'S FAD

Polka dot dresses made their cinematic debut in 1928 when Disney Cartoons illustrators fashioned Minnie Mouse in a black and white dotted skirt for her role in “Steamboat Willie.” They continue to hold a place in fashion history that remains unrivaled by any other design or fad.READ MORE