Weldon E Howitt High School - Hi Life Yearbook (Farmingdale, NY)

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— Culture Prime Time Soaps Bubble Up The delayed start of the '80-’81 televi- sion season due to the actors’ strike was only a foreshadowing of the bad times to come. The season produced flop after flop with a few hits. Many shows, like Charlie’s Angels and Mork and Mindy which drew good ratings in the past, struggled, while new shows came on and off with the blink of an eye. Even shows which received critical acclaim, like Breaking Away, were cancelled, much to the protest of many irate viewers who felt this was one quality show not rely- ing on sex and violence but real characters with depth for high ratings. This was the year Saturday Night Live lost all its familiar faces, replaced by a new group who were not well received by viewers. However, Fridays, a Saturday Night Live clone, fared a bit better and provided some late-night comedy. In the midst of the many failures, there remained some old reliable shows like M‘A S H and One Day at a Time, which continued to entertain audiences. But, because of the lack of quality sit- coms and dramas, networks gave us real life shows, such as Real People, That’s Incredible, and Those Amazing Animals. Also due to the interruption of pro- duction of regular programming, miniseries and special shows provided a large amount of prime time material. Dramatizations of novels such as A Tale of Two Cities, East of Eden, and par- ticularly Shogun did extremely well in the ratings. Shogun, opening up the season for NBC, dominated the ratings with the last episode picking up a televi- sion audience second only to Roots for a miniseries. The biggest story of the season, however, had to do with an evil oil ty- New Sound for '80s As we proceed into this new decade, we find ourselves greeted by many new sounds, as well as some familiar ones left over from the seventies. Punk or New Wave seems prevalent, although disco and good old rock and roll are still holding their own. In any case, the 1980-81 year provided music listeners with a wide assortment of new albums and artists. One newcomer who has become ex- tremely popular is Pat Benatar, who happens to be from Lindenhurst, and has enticed many with her hit album, Crimes of Passion. Other popular novices are New Wavers such as The Clash, Devo, The B-52’s, The Pretenders and The Police, whose album Zenvatta Mondatta, was an especially big success. Several already-established groups and artists came out with new hit albums this year. Among these are the legendary Rolling Stones whose disc en- titled Emotional Rescue quickly rose to the top of the charts. This same plight befell Billy Joel’s Glass Houses and Queen’s The Game as well as Bruce Spr- ingsteen's long-awaited The River album. Then there was the album that marked the return of a great musician and at the same time a farewell, John Lennon’s Double Fantasy. If these albums are any inkling of the direction of music in the eighties, we can surely look forward to a bright future. Heather’s recovery was eagerly ex- changed by girls and boys alike. The season ended with shows thought to be good becoming flops and flops turning out to be the best shows aired. Even though it started off with trouble, the season improved and television brought us some of the finest programs in years. coon named J.R. Ewing of the immense- ly popular series Dallas. The biggest question of the year wasn’t who would win the presidential election, but rather Who shot J.R.?” The night Kristin was revealed as the culprit, Dallas made history with the most viewers for any single episode of a series. The phenomenal success of Dallas prompted the networks to flood the air- waves with nighttime soap, using the same formula as Dallas — wealth, power, sex, and an evil character everyone loves to hate. CBS featured Knots Landing, a spinoff of Dallas, and Secrets of Midland Heights, while NBC and ABC gave us Flamingo Road and Dynasty respectively. Perhaps even more popular that the nighttime dramas to high school students were their predecessors, the daytime soaps. Shows like All My Children and Edge of Night continued to keep audiences addicted. Without a doubt, the most popular soap was General Hospital. Students would race home from school in order to catch it, and in practically any class, the latest news about Laura and Luke or Standing Outside Culture 29

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—Late Greats Mae West American actress and playwright Mae West died at the age of 87 on November 22, 1980. She was American show business’ bawdy personification of the brazen vamp for more than 60 years. She was known for making the quote, “Come up and see me some time,” universally famous. Elston Howard Star catcher for baseball’s New York Yankees and the first black player with the team, Elston Howard, died at the age of 51 in December 1980. Howard played with the Yankees from 1955 to 1967 and with the Boston Red Sox in 1968. He was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1963. Colonel Sanders The founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food chain, known as Colonel Sanders, died of pneumonia on December 16, 1980. Sanders was considered an ingenious entrepreneur and salesman who established a famous worldwide chain of restaurants from a small restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky. He was also the perfect image of a Southern gentleman known for his white hair, black string tie, and double-breasted white suit. Shah of Iran More commonly known as the Shah of Iran, Pahlevi was in power from 1941 to 1979. He applied Iran’s immense oil wealth to a massive modernization program known as the White Revolution. He suppressed all opposition to his absolute power and established working relationships with Western powers, the Soviet bloc, Israel and Arab states. Pahlevi was driven from the throne and into exile in January 1979. He died in a military hospital near Cairo, Egypt, after treatment for cancer in the United States, Panama and later, Egypt. 28 Standing Outside Obituaries Ella Grasso Connecticut governor, 61-year-old Ella Grasso, died of cardiac arrest following a long bout with cancer on February 5, 1981. Grasso was the first woman in America to become a state’s top executive without suc- ceeding a husband. Bill Haley Bill Haley, the Father of Rock and Roll,” died on February 9, 1981 at the age of 56. Haley was best known as the leader of his group, Bill Haley and the Comets. One of his most famous recordings was the 1950s “Rock Around the Clock.” Steve McQueen Steve McQueen, famous Hollywood actor, died on November 7, 1980, at the age of 50. McQueen became one of the highest- paid motion picture stars of the 1960’s and 1970’s through the popularity of his portrayals of tough, cool loners with sex appeal. He was also known to perform dangerous stunts himself in his movies. Peter Sellers British comedian, Peter Sellers, died of a heart attack in London, on July 24, 1980. Sellers was known as one of the most versatile satiric actors of his time and as the screen’s star “great imper- sonator.” He was also the famous star of the Pink Panther series of the movies. Matthew Beard Matthew Beard, “Stymie” from the Our Gang series, died of a stroke on January 8, 1981. Beard began his career joining the Our Gang team in the 1930s. He spent six years in a bat- tle with drugs but recovered from his addiction in 1966. His last ap- pearance was in the T.V. miniseries, Backstairs at the White House.

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Culture Airplane 1980: New Trend Seen in Movies As a decade ended, the 1980 movie year was one that showed changing times and attitudes. 1980 will be known as the year the large-budget pictures failed and the small-budget pictures won critical and box office acclaim. Audiences showed that they longed for meaningful movies which appealed to their mind, as they flocked to movies like All That Jazz, Black Stallion, Coal Miner’s Daughter, Ordinary People, Tess, Raging Bull and Woody Allen’s latest, Stardust Memories. The biggest stories, however, seemed to be the low-budget films. Audiences loved the humble, but in- teresting, movies such as Breaking Away, and Fame. Another trend in low-budget films was towards horror films, which tended to appeal mostly to the large high school audience across the country. These movies spent most of their budgets developing realistic effects that “grossed out” the audience. The Empire Strikes Back may have been a superior movie, but the talk of the school always seemed to be such films as The Fog, The Shining, Prom Night, Friday the 13th, Maniac, Blood Beach and My Bloody Valentine. Of course, as usual, comedies did well at the box office. The big hits included Nine to Five, Being There, Popeye, Airplane and The Incredible Shrinking Woman. The 1980 movie year also proved that a movie didn’t have to be good to have a successful soundtrack. Films like American Gigilo, Blues Brothers, and Xanadu were more popular with radio listeners than movie-goers. Finally, movies seemed to foresee the downfall of disco and the rise of coun- try, as Urban Cowboy scored a surpris- ing victory over the disco movie, “Can't Stop the Music. Despite approximately 182 new releases in the past year, what was the most talked about movie? Bedtime for Bonzo, the 1953 film starring Ronald Reagan. “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.” These lyrics to the song New York, New York contain about as much truth as any ever written, and the 1980-81 Broadway theatre season reflected this, as does every theatre year. 1980 was a year for big hits, bigger flops, and even bigger revivals. The story of the year had to be the enormous popularity of a British musical, Evita. With Long Island’s own Patti Lupone in the lead role, this show attained legendary status only weeks after it opened. Another big hit was Barnum, starring Jim Dale. The show centered around the famous P.T. Bar- num of circus fame. Aided by an inten- sive television advertising campaign, this show reached a close second in popularity behind Evita. The past season saw many other shows open and play to packed houses. Stars such as Christopher Reeve, Tim (Rocky Horror) Curry, Rex Smith, Lin- da Ronstadt and even David Bowie, made their debuts on the Broadway stage in hits such as The Fifth of July, Amadeus, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Elephant Man. Other long-running favorites included A Chorus Line, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Annie, Deathtrap and Sweeny Todd which unfortunately clos- ed this year after a successful run. This season also saw some colossal flops, such as Carl Reiner’s The Roast and Frankenstein, which both closed after one performance. Broadway producers also put their money into revivals. However, they did not always work. Productions such as West Side Story, Brigadoon, Oklahoma, The Five O’Clock Girl, and a sequel to Bye Bye Birdie, called Bring Back Birdie, opened, but with little success. Producers also raised a big controver- sy by raising prime ticket prices as high as $35. Although many theatre-goers complained, this season proved to be a prosperous one and theatres announced a doubling in attendance figures over last year, proving that there’s nothing like live theatre. Art Update Like the theatre and media, milestones in the field of art were reached during the past year as well. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a new $18 million American Wing was opened. The wing contains many of the country’s fine and decorative arts, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, silver and ceramics and textiles. Another major event was the Picasso show at the Museum of Modern Art. Over 957,000 tickets were sold for the exhibit. Many celebrities, including former Presi- dent Carter and Larry (J.R.) Hagman, were on hand to view the show. On Broadway Photo Credits: Paramount Pictures 30 Standing Outside Culture