This cartoon is drawn by Jenn Lee, who added so many great 1970s details!
Jenn and I sometimes work sharing a table at a coffee shop, and she’d sometimes laugh aloud as she thought of more 70s details to squeeze in, and I was so happy when I finally saw the finished art. She was nice enough to make a list, which I’ve posted after the transcript.
I could just as easily have had this cartoon’s flashbacks be to the sixties or even fifties, or to the eighties, but the seventies were when both Jenn and I were kids, so this seemed the most natural.
From “The Illusion of Moral Decline,” by Adam M. Mastroianni & Daniel T. Gilbert in Nature:
The social fabric appears to be unravelling: civility seems like an old-fashioned habit, honesty like an optional exercise and trust like the relic of another time. Some observers claim that “the process of our moral decline” began with the “sinking of the foundations of morality” and proceeded to “the final collapse of the whole edifice”, which brought us “finally to the dark dawning of our modern day, in which we can neither bear our immoralities nor face the remedies needed to cure them”. But as apt as this description of our times may seem, it was written more than 2,000 years ago by the historian Livy, who was bemoaning the declining morality of his fellow Roman citizens. From ancient to modern times, social observers have often lamented the ugly turns their societies have taken, and have often suggested that a recent decline in morality—in kindness, honesty and basic human decency—was among the causes.
…The perception of moral decline is a psychological illusion to which people all over the world and throughout history have been susceptible. …We show that people in at least 60 nations do indeed believe that morality is declining, and that they have believed this for at least 70 years.
And in Psychology Today, Loretta G. Breuning writes:
Thinking about the good old days triggers neurochemicals that make you feel good. You might reach the conclusion that life was better in the past. But if you had actually lived in the past, you would not have liked it. […]
Because your brain focuses on what you lack, and takes for granted what you have. If you feel you lack leisurely dinners with friends, and you imagine people having them in the past, then the past seems better regardless of the facts.
When you feel you lack something, your brain rings the alarm that says your survival is threatened. Obviously, lacking friendly dinners is not life-threatening, but if it’s the biggest lack on your mind, your brain processes it with equipment that evolved to confront survival challenges. Your present lacks feel urgent while the lacks of the past are just historical abstractions.
In less scientific terms, a lot of us remember the past as being simple and good because we were children then. If we were lucky enough to be well fed and loved children, then life for us was simple and good. But it probably didn’t feel that way to our parents at the time.
Yesterday, some friends and I watched Jacques Tati’s 1958 movie Mon Oncle. The movie – a comedy about how the new and fashionable is ridiculous – was wonderful and extremely funny. But over a half century after it came out, it’s striking to me that the movie’s dislike of things for being new still feels very current. People always feel that way.
I have two nieces, now young adults, who’ve been living in the same household as me since they were born. It’s been fascinating watching kids growing up in what is in so many ways an entirely different world than the one I was born into. The ubiquity of cigarette smoking in the 1970s – people used to smoke on planes! – is as unimaginable to today’s 20-year-olds as life without any internet at all.
And yes, there really was a riot over people’s hatred of disco records! 1979’s Disco Demolition Night is a pretty interesting story, if you don’t already know it. There’s a really fun episode of the podcast You’re Wrong About telling the story.
TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
This cartoon has seven panels. Each panel shows different characters and scenes. The first six panels are all set in the 1970s.
PANEL 1
Two women lie in bed chatting and petting a cat; one of them is holding a newspaper which has the simple headline “NIXON!”
WOMAN 1: Hmm… Should I spend today waiting in line at the gas station or the unemployment office?
WOMAN 2: Gosh, they both sound so enticing!
PANEL 2
In a bar, a blue-collar looking man is waving a disco LP around angrily while drinking. Another man, in a suit and tie, smiles agreeably.
BLUE COLLAR: “Disco” music is liked by Blacks and gays and even gay Blacks! Let’s burn records and riot!
SUIT: That seems reasonable.
PANEL 3
At the counter of a 7-11 style convenience store, one that has tons of cigarettes for sale, a clerk is selling a pack of cigarettes to a ten year old girl. A boom box radio is on the countertop.
RADIO: First they let women have bank accounts, now they want to make it a crime for us to rape our own wives! Whatever happened to family values?
PANEL 4
We are looking at a large (by 1970s standards) TV, much heavier and thicker than any TV today would be. On the screen, a news reporter is reading from a script while he holds a lit cigarette in his other hand. The air around him is filled with cigarette smoke.
TV REPORTER: Our forecast says smog will be high today. So if you must leave your home, avoid unnecessary breathing.
PANEL 5
A well-off-looking man stands on the front steps of an expensive looking club, talking to a couple of reporters.
MAN: Merely because our club doesn’t allow Jews or women or Blacks or Hispanics or Orientals or gays is no reason to call us prejudiced! I consider that a slur!
PANEL 6
A bohemian-styled woman and a punk-styled man are walking together on a city sidewalk. She looks like she’s pondering something, one hand holding her chin. He is struggling with a high stack of thick hardcover books he’s carrying and has a big grin.
WOMAN: I need to look up some basic facts…
MAN: That’s why I always carry an encyclopedia!
PANEL 7
An enormous caption says DECADES LATER.
A middle-aged man sits in a chair at the barber shop, reading something on his smartphone and looking a little sad, while a barber is using clippers on the back of the man’s neck.
MAN (thought balloon): Sigh… Things were so much better when I was a kid.
1970s DETAIL WATCH
Jenn slipped in so many 1970s details to this cartoon! And she sent me this list! Take it away, Jenn:
I just realized that I have, yet again, illustrated a Barry strip that end with a grown man yearning for the way things were in his youth. For most of the 1970s I was single digit in age and am mostly glad I survived it what with riding free in the back of pickup trucks, bouncing all the way, playing in junkyards, skateboarding without a helmet and all the rest. What follows are the details I remember from that time:
PANEL 1
Wicker Headboard
As with many 1970s decor, this probably started in the later 1960s but held on in popularity for at least another decade. They were most commonly natural as seen here, or painted white.
Green walls
So many green walls, anywhere from avocado to fern.
Spider plant
Most everybody had a hanging spider plant.
Macrame plant hanger
Those and macrame wall hangings. Such great dust catchers, not unlike the wicker headboard.
Faux oil lamp electric bed lamp
Colonial touches like these were hugely popular in the run up to the U.S.A.’s Bicentennial in 1976. Anything alluding to 1776, musicals, Mr. Magoo cartoons, movies, Halloween costumes, furniture and so many decoupaged plaques of colonial America scenes with torn edges.
You also saw the outside of houses adopting decorative window shutters, porch pillars redone in the Georgian style or an eagle plaque over the door.
Pet Rocks
Rocks with painted eyes were a thing that people actually paid money for.
A digital equivalent is Tamagotchi which had a recent revival. I confess I had one decades ago that I let “die” will watching “Trainspotting” with Barry and others at Cinema 21, which seems relevant all around.
Ziggy Mug
Ziggy was a popular sad sack character that had a certain charm. He was a comforting proletarian character you could imagine hugging.
Orange comforter
Orange was a prominent color in many soft goods.
Nixon!
He was talked about for years after Watergate. Rich Little’s impressions helped that along I’m sure.
Gas lines
Not only were there gas lines, but you were only allowed to get gas on certain days depending on if your license plate ended in an even or odd number. I remember trekking a half mile in the snow to check for my mother if it was an even or an odd day based on the cars being served. (She had just gotten off a double shift as a nurse in the CCU [Cardiac Care Unit] and needed to catch up on her sleep).
PANEL 2
Wood paneled lounges and bars
I remember these all the time as restrictions on minors in these places were loose and variable.
“Animated” waterfall beer pictures
Many beer brands had these alternating light advertisements in bars, sometimes with a clock jammed in there. Fresh water of distinct source was something many beers boasted about. They were often yellowed by tobacco smoke and made a grinding noise as the mechanism simulated running water.
Disco Album
Most compilation albums of disco music featured rainbow coloration.
Blue collar worker
Actually wore blue shirts or overalls by and large.
Billy Beer
President Carter’s brother Billy was shameless in leveraging his connection to Jimmy. Absolutely not appropriate but was a fart in a hurricane in comparison to today’s indiscretions.
Mustache
Mustaches were quite a thing in the 1970s. Not so much beards.
Wide lapels and ties
Haute couture in business wear then.
Brown suits
Very common. Along with a touch of light blue, a combination I am actually fond of.
Harvey Wallbanger
An iconic 1970s cocktail will vodka, orange juice and radioactive maraschino cherries.
Red leather Padded bar edge
Classy.
PANEL 3
Convenience Stores
A little bit of everything but mostly cigarettes, candy and magazines. Overcrowded and informal, often with a spinner rack of comics and brown paper wrapped porn mags, but also easy access to Heavy Metal magazine.
Tic-Tacs
These zig-zag displays were always delightful to me. And dusty.
Portable radio
How music was streamed, along with car radios. I have a play list in Tidal called “Red Panasonic Clock Radio” of 1970s songs I actually like. I had to explain the title to my daughter who was appalled I had no control over the music I ‘streamed’ as a kid and had no option but to endure commercials.
Tacky uniform shirt
Bright colors of a poison dart frog in polyester. Garnished with a name tag. Did not breathe and smelled funky in combination with body heat, no matter how many times it was previously washed.
Kid buying cigarettes
This was me, with a note from my mom saying I could buy cigarettes for her. Though, instead of Marlboros, she smoked Benson & Hedges Menthol 100’s Ultra Lights. Which did cost 47¢ back in the day. Though I actually usually bought a carton of 10. (Yes she was the Assistant Head Nurse of CCU. I was aware of the irony even then.)
You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby
I loved the Virginia Slim Ads that pictured back in the day versus the more liberated attitude to women smoking now. Mostly for the elaborate reconstruction of the “then” scenes.
Keep on Truckin’
Back when memes were carried through bumper stickers and t-shirts. My favorite one being a take on the Christian Bumper sticker of “My boss is a Jewish carpenter” altered to “My carpenter is a bossy Jew.”
PANEL 4
Television as furniture
Real wood casing of a bulky cathode tube TV unit where the max screen size was limited to 30 inches and color was still not the default. And no remote controls. Any channel over 13 was UHF where the public access channels lived, the equivalent to You Tube today. The fact my family had one of these beasts was due to a generous gift from my mother’s parents. Also we displayed our nativity scene on top of it every Christmas. (The mantel for our stockings was draped over an accordion style steam heat radiator which made Santa extra magical).
Orange shag carpet
Nothing more 1970s than that. I remember ours as uncut loops.
Dried pampas grass in floor vases
A decor choice that extended into the 1980s and 1990s, only the color and treatment of the vases changed. This was another great dust collector of the time, along with aluminum vertical blinds. Lots of my memories of the 1970s involve dust.
Fuzzy toile wallpaper
Everywhere, meant to imitate velvet flocked Victorian wall paper. But was just more dust filled polyester (hat tip to Barry for this touch).
Anchor smoking on TV
Never actually happened as far as I know. But people did smoke EVERYWHERE. On line in the pharmacy, in restaurants, staff rooms, you name it. And I’m sure anchors would smoke on air if they could.
Leaded gasoline
Speaking of air borne toxins from car exhaust, there’s a theory that there were so many serial killers in the late 1960s to early 1980s due to the lead added to automobile gas to get rid of ‘knocking’ noises in car engines starting in the 1920s. With the invention of the catalytic converter in the mid 1970s, the ‘need’ for the lead was eliminated and eventually made illegal nationwide n the 1990s. (When Barry and I and others first moved to Oregon, there were still leaded gasoline pumps).
Cigarillo
A short thin cigar considered classy in the 1970s.
PANEL 5
Men’s Clubs
Were a big deal as that was the main place deals were struck in business, politics and other fields and so an important barrier to overcome for any non Anglo-Saxon male member of society.
The BO Club
I named it the BO club as a reference to Boys Only but also the Warner Bros. Cartoon Insult for body order, usually delivered after the target said something objectionable.
The adult onesie
A ridiculous piece of impractical ‘unisex’ wardrobe. The only men who made this outfit look remotely cool are the BeeGees on the cover of “Saturday Night Fever.”
Blond feathered hair
The unisex hairstyle was there for Farah Fawcett and Peter Frampton.
Tanned skin
A resurgence of the leisure class’s ability to cultivate an even and pleasing tan from the 1920s as a sign of health and natural good looks.
Female reporter
Long natural hair, bulky turtle neck in a natural color and hand written notes.
Male photographer
Bulky specialized camera, army surplus utility vest and strapped knit top. Also natural hair afro.
PANEL 6
The OG BoHo Lady
Honestly the Boho trend is a call back to the “peasant” look of the 1970s, an urban “gypsy’” with flowing hair, loosely tied hair scarf, oversized tinted sunglasses, peasant blouse, bangles and a large beaded necklace.
Metal Trash Can
Oscar the Grouch’s home, the ordinary made magical, a big theme in the the 1970s in all sorts of media.
Punk
The other proletariat movement, a more confrontational one with Mohawks, piercings, safety pins and studded black leather. Never mind the music and its anti-establishment message. But just regular folk for the most part.
Encyclopedia
From the Greek for “general education,” the pride of any home before the internet, the jumping off point for any serious research at a library. Huge double shelf volumes of varying spine widths with annual updates.
PANEL 7
Traces of retro:
Lava lamp
First a feature of the 1960s, it continued as an item prized in the 1970s and has been revived several times since.
Smiley Face sticker
First introduced in the early 1960’s, it remained popular as a prototype emoticon in the 1970s.
Flower power “Love Bug” Sticker
The first “Herbie the Love Bug” movie was released in 1969 about a sentient Volkswagen Bug with sequels throughout the 1970s. Along with “Benji” movies, following the trials and tribulations of the all American mutt.
I’m adding Dicebox to my list of comics to try.
I recall in 2016(?), the Washington Post interviewed a bunch of Trump supporters and asked them “when was the last time America was great?” They all gave different answers, mostly whenever they were kids.
Fair bet that the interracial same-sex couple in the first panel would probably have to stay closeted. In addition to the homophobia depicted in the second and fifth panels, there would have been way more laws and jurisdictions criminalizing their relationship. And even if they lived in a state without sodomy laws at the time, finding housing or employment would have still been a nightmare or nonstarter for any openly LGBTQ person.
Yeah, unless they live in an unusual neighborhood, they probably identify each other as roommates and best friends in public.
And even then, a white woman and black woman associating would still make plenty look askance.
@Megalodon, @Ampersand,
They would definitely have told everyone outside their community that they’re roommates. I knew an older guy in the mid-aughts when I was working at one of the most queer friendly companies I’ve worked for who would only refer to his partner as his roommate.
I grew up in the eighties, and every now and then I’m shocked by where people were allowed to smoke… usually in 70s movies. Every time I watch Jaws, for example, I’m always shocked that the Mayor is smoking IN THE HOSPITAL!!!
I am not as often shocked by people smoking in futuristic films from the 70s and 80s, but I do give it a strong side eye, considering what has happened since the movie was made.
LOL I was in my 20’s for almost all of the 70’s. Panel by panel:
1) In the early 70’s things were booming and only the unemployable were unemployed.. In the mid-70’s – when I graduated from college. of course – there was a recession, jobs were harder to come by. I did get chased by the cops while protesting at Nixon’s 2nd inauguration, but they couldn’t run as fast as we could and really didn’t try. Actually, at one point a cop and I were standing next to each other watching the goings on. He said “Look at those hippies run!” Then he looked at me with hair down to my shoulders and said “Are you a hippie?” I said “Oh no sir!” and we both laughed and I walked off and lit a joint and caught a bus later with some people I met to get to Illinois.
Yep, I can remember waiting in line for gas, which had outrageously tripled to 75 cents/gallon. You had to pay attention, though and go on the right day; odd numbered license plate cars could buy gas on odd numbered days only, and vice versa.
2) Actually the big issue with disco that I remember with regards to my friends and I wasn’t race or sexual preference, it was that we thought they were a bunch of pretentious self-absorbed assholes.
3) I don’t know or remember anyone saying anything like that about those issues. Not just my friends, but my older relatives or acquaintances or anything I saw in print or on the radio. And it’s not like I didn’t know people with unsalubrious attitudes towards race or gays.
4) In the Chicago area the issue was the occasional smoke coming from U.S. Steel in Gary. The EPA put a stop to that and good for them, too. Regulatory excess is a thing but stopping cyanide and rust in the water and clouds of particulates in the air is to be celebrated.
5) Heck, out near Chicago a golf course at a country club called Butler International had been used for the Western Open – the 2nd oldest golf tournament in the U.S. – for decades. They lost it when they simply refused to admit women, and that was well after the 70’s. And they didn’t give a $h!t what anyone thought.
6) I was a wiz at using both encyclopedias and the card catalog at the library. I can remember in the ’60s where grocery stores would run a promotion where you would get a free volume of a high-school level encyclopedia each week with a certain amount of groceries bought. There’d be something like 12 or 16 sections. My family got the whole set and we used them for school.
Final: That guy’s got more hair than me but the color is about right. Some things were better, but lots of things weren’t and I would not want to go back. What I miss the most are my parents and people who are decades gone – I’m the guy now that kids my age then will think about only as an old guy because they never knew me in my youth. Gotta look forward. I get to sing in a chorus for Beethoven’s 9th in January. I never got to do that back then. It’s time to fix what we have been given to pass on, not to mourn what is gone past. And I’m sure glad that we have the healthcare we have now instead of what we had then.
Maybe parts of S.F. or Boston, but otherwise yeah.
Smoking in the 80’s:
I worked for a major healthcare supply manufacturer in the 80’s. The office had a cigarette machine. People smoked at their desks both in enclosed offices and in open areas. I was working on PCs and got called over because a woman’s PC wouldn’t read diskettes and wouldn’t respond to her keyboard. When the manager brought me over to talk to her she blew a gout of smoke into the diskette drive slots and said “See, nothing’s happening” as she pounded on the keyboard with a cigarette in her hand, ashes going everywhere.
“O.K. Let’s fix this.” I picked up the keyboard, turned it upside down, and banged it on the desk. Ashes dumped out. I put a cleaning diskette in the drives and ran it; black streaks wiped off of the heads onto it (you shouldn’t have been able to see a thing normally). Then I opened up the computer case and just shook out what looked like spider nests.
The computer came back up, as did one of the drives. I had a chat with her supervisor and said “PCs are tremendously efficient electrostatic dust filters. If you let people smoke in front of them you’ll lose diskettes with all the data on them [N.B. these things had no hard drives then, all documents, etc. were on 8″ floppy diskettes], the drives will fail and eventually the PC itself will fail.”
“What can we do? We can’t tell her [and half the other staff …] to stop smoking?”
“Sounds like a management problem. I can do what I just did but I can’t change the laws of physics. Smoke in front of these things and you’ll lose them and the data.”
It’s fashionable to quote this and imply that it’s always been like this and it’s just the older generation griping about the younger one. But maybe Livy was right. Maybe the issue was that Rome’s morals DID decline, weakening both it’s moral underpinnings and the desire and ability to defend it, to the point that ‘barbarians” who were more conservative (with a small c) in morals and in societial structure came in and defeated them. And then their descendants adopted easier ways off the fruit of those conquests, etc.
There’s some truth to “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” No, I don’t think that we should go back to times when women couldn’t vote and gays had to hide. But we ourselves are not the masters of the universe; there are ways to run a society that work and ways that don’t.