David Mansour - From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century

From
abba
to
Zoom

Copyright 2005 by David J. Mansour. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews. For information, write Andrews McMeel Publishing, an Andrews McMeel Universal company, 1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

www.andrewsmcmeel.com

Mansour, David.
From Abba to Zoom: a pop culture encyclopedia of the late 20th century / David Mansour.
p. cm.
E-ISBN: 978-0-7407-9307-3
1. Popular cultureUnited StatesHistory20th centuryEncyclopedias. 2. United StatesCivilization1970Encyclopedias. I. Title: Pop culture encyclopedia of the late 20th century. II. Title.

E169.12.M327 2005
306.097303dc22

2004062782

Book design by Holly Camerlinck
Composition by Coleridge Design
Cover design by Design Monsters

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To my mom and dad,

Jim and Rose Mansour,

with love

John Bode, Jennifer Breck, Misty Brown, Marcia Cardello, Matt Culley, Patrick Doran, Sherri Elliott, John Escalada, Jimmy Evans, Liz Giffin, Tina Hillhouse, Lendy Kesler, Jeff Lampe, Raymond Lopez, Michelle Maple, Pam Powell, Don Schreiner, Jill Silva, Eden Thorne, Karma, Viva, Cindy, and my salon clients. Thanks for believing!

A respectful thank-you to Tom Thornton, Dorothy OBrien, Josh Brewster, Nick Kowalczyk, and the staff at Andrews McMeel Publishing for giving an unknown Kansas City writer the chance of a lifetime.

Hey, gotcha! The title From ABBA to Zoom has intrigued you enough to pick up the book (or better yet purchase it) leading you to turn to this page. Now I would like to ask you a series of questions.

• Did you watch The Huckleberry Hound Show while devouring a bowl of roaring Frosted Flakes?

• When asked Say, kids, what time is it? did you answer Its Howdy Doody Time!?

• Were your favorite toys a Hula-Hoop, Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, and the Easy-Bake Oven?

• Did you go on dream dates with Barbie and Ken?

• Did you wear a coonskin cap while aiming at road signs with a Daisy BB Gun?

• Did you carry a lucky Troll in your pocket on the way to school?

• Did you Swim, Frug, and Twist to The Beach Boys, The Supremes, and The Beatles?

• Did you swoon over Davy Jones or Bobby Sherman?

• Did your raging teenage hormones have you torn between Kansas cutie Mary Ann and Hollywood sexpot Ginger?

• Did you wear go-go boots, miniskirts, love beads, and white lipstick?

• Did you wear your hair in a bouffant flip style, just like TVs That Girls?

• Did you starve yourself stick-thin to be like British model Twiggy?

• Were you a Gidget or a Robbie Douglas who secretly wished to be a hippie letting-it-all-hang-out at Woodstock?

• Did you utter the words groovy, outtasight, and far-out?

• Did The Sound Of Music make you think about becoming a nun, or The Graduate make you contemplate seducing your girlfriends mother?

• Are you a Baby Boomer?

• Did you watch the Saturday-morning adventures of Jonny Quest, H.R. Pufnstuf, and Josie and the Pussycats?

• Did you debate which was the better-tasting cereal, Quisp or Quake?

• Did you consume futuristic Tang with Space Food Sticks while wishing you were in space with Captain Kirks Starship Enterprise?

• Did you know the address to Bostons Zoom-a-Zoom-a-Zoom; how many Bananas were in the Splits; and the story of a man named Brady?

• Did you play with Creepy Crawlers, G.I. Joe, Hot Wheels, and SSP Racers?

• Did you lovingly hug your Mrs. Beasley and wear a Lucky Locket Kiddle around your neck at the playground?

• Do you know what Super Elastic Bubble Plastic is?

• Were you daring enough to sneak the oft-banned Pop Rocks to school in your Disney School Bus lunch box?

• Did you Hustle, Freak, and Bump to the Bee Gees, Donna Summer, and K. C. and his Sunshine Band?

• Were you crazy over Donny, Michael, Leif, and David and his little brother Shaun? Did you lust over a Charlies Angels poster taped to your bedroom wall?

• Were your bell-bottoms wide and your platforms high?

• Did you just have to have a pair of Calvins or Glorias latest designer jeans?

• Was your hair cut in a shag, a wedge, a wing, a feather, a mushroom, or a bi-level?

• Did you reek of Babe, Stetson, or just plain marijuana?

• Were you the Richie Cunningham type who yearned to shake his groove thang on the Studio 54 dance floor?

• Did Jaws scare you out of the sea, Earthquake scare you away from L.A., and The Exorcist scare you back to church?

• Was The Force with you?

• Or, was it up your nose with a rubber hose?

• Are you confused about whether youre a Baby Boomer or a Generation Xer?

• Did you ponder Scooby-Doo, where are you? Or Conjunction junction, whats your function?

• Did breakfast consist of such toaster favorites as Pop Tarts, Eggos, and Danish-Go-Rounds?

• Did you know how to get to Sesame Street?

• Did you think the squeaky Smurfs were just the cutest little blue things in the world?

• Did you collect every single one of the Masters of the Universe action figures?

• Were your high-score initials displayed on Pac-Man, Galaga, and Donkey Kong arcade video games?

• Did you Pogo, Flashdance, and Roger Rabbit to Devo, Michael Jackson, and the New Kids on the Block?

• Did you cry yourself to sleep wishing you could be teen queen Molly Ringwald and hang out with the Brat Pack studs?

• Did you emulate the MTV fashions of Madonna, Boy George, and Duran Duran?

• Was your hair as big as Bon Jovis, or were your bangs as tall as Tiffanys?

• Were like, totally, fer shur, gnarly, rad, tubular, and to the max part of your vocabulary?

• Were you a preppie like Blair Warner, a stoner like Jeff Spicoli, or a nerd like Screech Powers?

• Did you laugh when Ferris skipped school and cry when E.T. phoned home?

• Are you a Generation Xer? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this book is for you, because its about you! From ABBA to Zoom is an extensive pop culture encyclopedia and reference guide about the late twentieth century. In its pages, you will find entries showcasing the people, places, and things that shaped and influenced Americans born after World War II. With a youth-friendly emphasis, the entries cover toys, dolls, games, books, comics, television shows, movies, celebrities, fictional characters, make-believe lands, fashions, food, drinks, restaurants, songs, dances, slang, fads, events, lists, and much more.