FADS

All Work and No Play …

Although the 1960s were a decade of great social upheaval, Americans still knew how to have fun. A series of fads captured the public's imagination briefly. Toys, hobbies, and dances that everyone could enjoy may have helped Americans keep their sense of community at a time when the country seemed to be splintering.

Toys and Crayons

Several toys caught on with kids and grown ups alike during the decade. The yo-yo, an ancient weapon from the Philippines that had been marketed as a toy in the United States by Donald F. Duncan since 1923, suddenly surged in popularity in 1961 when Duncan's team of yo-yo experts began giving demonstrations on children's television shows. Over a period of two months New Yorkers bought 4 million yo-yos, and residents of Nashville, a city of 322,000 people, bought 350,000. Wham-O, the toy manufacturers who gave Americans slinkies and hula hoops in the 1950s, scored again in 1965 with the Superball. Made of an experimental new type of rubber, Superballs would bounce for a full minute when dropped. Another children's favorite, the coloring book, made for adult fun during the decade as well: the Executive Coloring Book hit stores in 1961 and was soon followed by the JFK Coloring Book, the Nikita Khrushchev Coloring Book, and the Psychiatric Coloring Book. By the end of 1962 sales of adult coloring books had topped the one-million mark.

It's Only Rock 'n' Roll

Rock 'n' roll music, which was not turning out to be the fad the older generation had hoped it would be, inspired teenage fads throughout the decade. In 1964 a British group called the Beatles was greeted in America by hysterical fans, and the British Invasion—during which groups such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Dave Clark Five dominated rock music—had begun. The popularity of the Beatles was certainly more than a fad: as their music progressed from rhythm-and-blues-influenced pop to include psychedelia and Eastern mysticism, the "four lads from Liverpool" helped define the spirit of the time like no other group. They also provided the basis for a whole industry of Beatles boots, wigs, wallets, games, and movies.

Dancing

Pop music also set in motion a series of dance crazes, starting with the twist in 1961. That dance was so popular that First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy even had a twisting party at the White House. By the time the adults learned the steps of one dance, however, the teenagers had generally moved on to another one. The frug, the watusi, the mashed potato, the pony, the swim, and the jerk all had their brief spells of popularity on America's young dance fans.

Campus Fun

College campuses are traditionally breeding grounds for new fads, and the 1960s were no exception. In 1963, taking a cue from British collegians, American students took up piano wrecking as a pastime. The goal was to see how quickly a group could break a piano into small enough pieces that it could be passed through a twenty-centimeter hole. Telephone talkathons and kissathons were popular campus events during the decade, and at Atlanta's Emory University in 1962 so was going for a spin in a clothes dryer. In 1964 "t.p.-ing" became a fad: anything (or anyone) that would hold still long enough was wrapped in toilet paper. In 1966 computer dating, which matched couples scientifically, was a novel, if not especially successful, way of meeting that special someone.

Beach Party

Surfing was a fad of the 1960s, too, thanks to the music of bands such as the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean and a series of silly but popular beach movies that came out of Hollywood. Beach lingo spread across the country, leaving confused adults wondering if "boss" or "bitchin'" meant that something was good or bad. For those teens not fortunate enough to have an ocean nearby, skateboards let them in on some of the excitement in their own hometown streets. Skateboards enjoyed a brief popularity in 1965, until reports of injuries began to grow, and several cities cracked down on skateboarders as a public nuisance. The fad disappeared for a while, only to return in a big way in the mid 1970s.