Pop Culture Roundup for Mid-May: Rock, Spock, Elvis, and More

by Karen A. Romanko

This latest roundup of my recent social media posts about pop culture emphasizes some of my celebrity obsessions of youth, a few of which linger to the present day. 

Elvis Presley was one of my earliest crushes. I was in looove at the age of 10 after watching him in It Happened at the World's Fair (1963) from the front row of our local movie theater. I saw all his movies thereafter, and read everything I could find about him in fan magazines of the era. A little homage to his TV appearances from May 13:  Elvis on TV, 1956-1973. Clockwise, from top left: 1) 1968 "comeback" special. I had so much anticipation! It rocked my world. 2) The Ed Sullivan Show, 1956. Elvis's popularity was skyrocketing, but his moves scandalized some. 3) The Milton Berle Show, 1956. Colorized shot of the black-and-white episode. 4) The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis, 1960. Elvis was back from the army, and soon to be back at the top of the charts. Center: Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite, 1973. The second show on this list that I saw when originally aired. Superb performance!

One thing nice about celebrity crushes is you can have more than one at a time, so Leonard Nimoy joined Elvis and others when Star Trek premiered in 1966. I didn't need to enter a contest like this one, as I had met Leonard Nimoy right in my own backyard in Boston during the first season of the series. May 10: "Eight lucky ladies to have breakfast with Mr. Spock..." I'm hoping this had nothing to do with "Pon Farr."

Rock Hudson came along next, after I saw his Olympian magnificence in Pillow Talk (1959) on Sunday-afternoon television. I have followed him for years, and you'll find lots of Rock, or Roy as his fans like to call him, here on my blog, especially in regard to his 70s series McMillan & Wife, my favorite TV show of all time. May 12: I just re-watched The Mirror Crack'd (1980). It was lovely to see Rock/Roy and Elizabeth together again on screen. They had some touching scenes--still had that great chemistry. I did howl at this line from Elizabeth's character, Marina, as she looks at her own reflection in a mirror. "Bags, bags, go away...Come right back on Doris Day." Fun reference to another of Roy's famous leading ladies.

No crushes here (where would I have found the time), but an iconic TV series from my youth. May 14: The grooviest and most sensitive cops ever! The Mod Squad (1968-1973). Solid!

Eventually I grew up and married a real-world crush, whom I'd met in my junior year of college. Though he's a biologist and I'm a writer with a history degree, we have similar tastes in entertainment, and we've watched LOTS of shows together across the decades. May 14: You know you are married to a scientist when...he reads the title of Young Sheldon, "The Wild and Woolly World of Nonlinear Dynamics," and says, "oooh!" (Nonlinear dynamics is one of his research areas.)

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