THE SWINGING SIXTIES.

THE SWINGING SIXTIES. I have expressed admiration for Jonathan Leaf’s plays, so I bought his book THE POLITICALLY INCORRECT GUIDE TO THE SIXTIES. I usually like revisionist history (Leaf’s point of view is very conservative); this book was not only enjoyable, but also made me very nostalgic. Leaf makes some of the same points that Ian Jack makes about our thinking about decades—for example, that we define decades and social movements after the fact. Tastes were much more conservative in the Sixties than is remembered today. For example, Leaf points out that Bobby Vinton had two platinum records in the Sixties and Bob Dylan had none. Leaf’s lists of the most popular television shows are some of his best evidence. The top three television shows in the 1960 to 1961 season were westerns—Gunsmoke, Wagon Train and Have Gun, Will Travel. In the 1969 to 1970 season, Gunsmoke and Bonanza were numbers 2 and 3. In 1960-1961, The Andy Griffith Show, a gentle comedy set in a small town, was number 4; in 1969-1970 Mayberry R.F.D., another gentle comedy set in a small town was number 4. (Leaf gives an economic reason for the popularity of westerns. They were cheap to make on back-lots. Increased advertising revenue eventually made shooting on city streets more economic.)