Writing about a time associated with your youth holds a certain satisfaction. As I wrote (and researched) for my novel Beth Bettencourt, which will release in 2026 (gracious, that sounds like a long way away!), I was continuously transported back to the days of my youth.
I can hardly remember 1962, which is when the novel is set, but there are certain moments that easily come to mind. Like Christmas . . .
But most of what happened during the short period of time in which my novel takes place, I don’t recall. However, I know about some because of history and, oddly enough, a mini-series called The Crown.
With this month being December, I decided to look at what took place during this same month 62 years ago.
Let’s take a look at a few of them.
Beginning on December 2, 1962, a week of invasive smog descended on London. Within four days, at least 106 people were dead and over 1000 were hospitalized. If you watched The Crown, you will remember that the episode depicting this incident came early in Season One.
While the Vietnam War (November 1955-April 1975) would not call Americans to its battles until March 8, 1965, it had already laid its fingerprints all over American politics. On the same day in December that fog attacked London, U. S. Senate Majority Leader, Mike Mansfield, became the first American official to make a negative comment—publicly—on the progress of the war in Southeast Asia. On that day, he reported to President Kennedy that U.S. money given to Ngo Dinh Diem (the first president of the Republic of Vietnam) and his government was being squandered and that we should avoid further involvement in ‘Nam. This made him the first U.S. official to comment—even in the slightest negative tone—on the war.
My novel doesn’t get into anything about the war—even though one of my main characters recently left the U.S. Army. There is only one slight mention of the rumor of the unrest in Southeast Asia because, most Americans in 1962 could not begin to imagine how this “unrest” would shatter American lives and families for decades to come.
Let’s move on from that awfulness. On December 19, the Mona Lisa arrived in the States for the first time. After arriving by boat and being unloaded in NYC, the Da Vinci masterpiece was placed in a truck and driven to the National Gallery of Art in DC. But that truck wasn’t alone—it was part of a seven-car motorcade! Such protection for such a lovely lady with such a mysterious smile.
Of course, December means . . . Christmas. And, in 1962, as they had done since 1933, children of all ages scanned the pages of the Sears & Roebuck Co’s Christmas catalog (later called the Sears Wish Book) to help them decide what they should ask Santa for in that once-a-year-letter addressed to the North Pole.
The number one toy of 1962 was the Chatter Telephone, which sold for the whopping price of $1.42. (That’s $14.52 in today’s money.) The Chatter Telephone was the brainchild of a man named Ernest Thornell. He’d seen his daughter dragging their phone around the house and decided to turn the concept of a phone into a toy. After creating the base, he added wheels, then assorted noise-making buttons and a rotary. While the original was made of wood, today’s model is commonly made of plastic.
Did you have a Chatter Telephone? What do you remember about it? If not, what was your favorite toy as a child? What do you remember about it?
I look forward to this one because I enjoyed your other novels so much. I was barely a teen in 1962, but I’ll be able to identify with that period. It will be fun recalling my own memories.
Nancy, I was only five in ’62, but I do have wonderful memories of that era and even of that age. Writing Beth Bettencourt was really a LOT of fun, especially in the research and development of the era, the clothes, the music, etc.