Smoking and drinking, both bad ideas, 53 years ago

In May of 1967, Wisconsin lawmakers were talking about raising the drinking age to 21, and banning cigarette ads. At that time, 18-year-olds could drink beer in the Badger State, and local governments could set their own minimum ages for consuming alcohol.  As for tobacco, one legislator slammed cigarette commercials for showing people doing healthy things like running and swimming, while still smoking.  TV ads for cigarettes wouldn’t be banned until 1971, but one popular cigarette brand stopped sponsoring “The Beverly Hillbillies” in ’67 because kids were a big segment of the show’s audience.  

Men hadn’t landed on the moon yet, but one scientist at Cape Kennedy figured out how much a vacation trip to Mars might cost.  To ride a spaceship carrying 20 tourists to the red planet, you might have to pay $70,000 a seat.  You’d only spend a few days on Mars, but the round trip would take 11 months.   

For Mother’s Day, “The Ed Sullivan Show” would feature stand-up comic Woody Allen, singer Leslie Uggams, the rock band the Turtles, and two Sullivan regulars–the comedy team of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. A really big show in 1967, yesterday in La Crosse.