June 1978 - Grease, Affirmed, Seasat

Out of the Shadows and Into June 1978!

A number one hit on the Cash Box Top 100 list in June 1978 was 'Shadow Dancing' by Andy Gibb.

June 2 - Capricorn One movie premieres.

June 3 – Frank Stanford, poet, dies. (born 1948)

June 4 - The 32nd Tony Awards is held.  Best Play award went to Da.  Best Musical award went to Ain't Misbehavin'.

June 6 – California voters approve Proposition 13, which slashes property taxes nearly 60%.

June 6 - 20/20 tv series debuts.

June 6 - Damien: Omen II movie premieres.  Jonathan Scott-Taylor revealed in an interview that his characterization of Damien was at least partly inspired by Brian De Palma's film Carrie.

June 9 - Larry Holmes defeats Ken Norton to win the WBC heavyweight title at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.  Holmes considered the 15 round fight the toughest of his career.

June 10 – Affirmed becomes only the 11th horse to ever win the Triple Crown by defeating Alydar in the 110th running of the Belmont Stakes.

June 16 – The musical film Grease is released, starring 24-year-old New Jersey born actor John Travolta and 29-year-old British-Australian actress and singer Olivia Newton-John...as teenagers.

June 16 - Jaws 2 movie premieres.  At around $30 million (over 3 times the original's cost), this was the most expensive film that Universal Pictures had made up to that time and the second-most expensive film of 1978, after Superman.

June 28 - The U.S. scientific satellite Seasat is launched.

June 28 -  University of California Regents v. Bakke: The Supreme Court of the United States bars quota systems in college admissions but affirms the constitutionality of programs which give advantages to minorities.

June 28 - The rainbow flag of the LGBT movement flies for the first time (in its original form) at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.

June 28 - Convoy and Heaven Can Wait movies premiere.

June 30 - The Bad News Bears Go to Japan movie premieres.

Playboy playmate of the month, Gail Stanton, and Playgirl man for June, Stephen D'Auria:

Albums released in June (album / artist):
Darkness on the Edge of Town / Bruce Springsteen
Peter Gabriel / Peter Gabriel second album
The Cars / The Cars
Fame / Grace Jones
Octave / The Moody Blues
Some Girls / The Rolling Stones
Living Room Suite / Harry Chapin
Street-Legal / Bob Dylan
Sunlight / Herbie Hancock
Thick as Thieves / Trooper
Double Vision / Foreigner

Nielsen top shows for the week ending June 18th: 1 One Day at a Time; 2 M•A•S•H; 3 Three's Company; 4 Lou Grant; 5 Charlie's Angels; 6 Lords of Flatbush; 7 Carter Country; 8 Laverne and Shirley; 9 Starsky and Hutch; 10 Happy Days; 11 Barney Miller; 12 Love Is not Enough; 13 Earthquake; 14 Quincy; 15 Play It Again Sam.

Dance magazine for June:

Photoplay magazine for June:

Psychology Today magazine for June:

'Scruples' by Judith Krantz moves to the top of the New York Times Fiction Best Seller list.

Garfield comic strip debuts on June 19, 1978:

For detailed news/info on what happened each day in June 1978, check out this really good site:  ultimate70s.com

May 1978 - Pete Rose, Unabomber, Atlantic City

If I Can't Have You...I'll take May 1978!

A number one hit on the Cash Box Top 100 list in May 1978 was 'If I Can't Have You' by Yvonne Elliman.

May 5 – Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds gets his 3,000th major league hit.

May 6 – Ethelda Bleibtrey, Olympic swimmer, dies.  She was a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and former world record holder in multiple events. (born 1902)

May 10 - It Lives Again and The End movies premiere.

May 12 - The Greek Tycoon movie premieres.

May 13 - Pope Paul VI presides over the funeral of his friend Aldo Moro, a former Prime Minister of Italy who had been assassinated by terrorists.

May 16 – William Steinberg, conductor, dies. (born 1899)

May 18 - The Buddy Holly Story movie premieres.

May 19 - Thank God It's Friday movie premieres.  'Last Dance', sung by Donna Summer in the movie, won a Golden Globe award for Best Original Song - Motion Picture.

May 20 – Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becomes the first woman to run across the U.S.  Her trek took 69 days.

May 22 - Joe Colombo, gangster, dies. (born 1914)

May 23 - Harper Valley PTA movie premieres.

May 25 – A bomb explodes in the security section of Northwestern University, wounding a security guard (the first Unabomber attack).

May 26 – In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Resorts International, the first legal casino in the eastern United States, opens.

May 26 - Big Wednesday movie premieres.  Australian champion surfers Peter Townend and Ian Cairns doubled for William Katt and Gary Busey in the surfing sequences of this movie.

May 28 – Indianapolis 500: Al Unser wins his third race, and the first for car owner Jim Hall.

Captain America comic for May:

Flying Aces toy (released in 1978):

1978 Lincoln Mark V:

Playboy playmate of the month, Kathryn Morrison, and Playgirl man for May, Norbert Blecha:

Albums released in May 1978 (album / artist):
You're Gonna Get It! / Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Powerage / AC/DC
Stranger in Town / Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
Black and White / The Stranglers
But Seriously, Folks... / Joe Walsh
Misfits / The Kinks

Nielsen top 20 shows for the week ending May 14th: 1 Laverne and Shirley; 2 Three's Company; 3 Wheels Part II; 4 Happy Days; 5 Wheels Part IV; 6 All Star Family Feud; 7 Wheels Part III; 8 Charlie's Angels; 9 Carter Country; 10 Love Boat; 11 Starsky and Hutch; 12 Alice; 13 M-A-S-H; 14 Barney Miller; 15 Barnaby Jones; 16 The Incredible Hulk; 17 60 Minutes; 18 Eight is Enough; 19 All in the Family; 20 Sunday Movie "Leave Yesterday Behind".

Railroad Modeler magazine for May:

Woman's Day magazine for May 19th:

Heavy Metal magazine for May:

Peanuts comic strip from May 1978:

For detailed news/info on what happened each day in May 1978, check out this really good site:  ultimate70s.com

April 1978 - Panama Canal, Neutron Bomb, WAC

I Caught Night Fever in April 1978!

A number one hit on the Cash Box Top 100 list in April 1978 was 'Night Fever' by the Bee Gees.

April 2 – The CBS soap opera Dallas is launched.

April 3 – The 50th Academy Awards are held with Annie Hall winning Best Picture.  Best actor is Richard Dreyfuss for Goodbye Girl, best actress is Diane Keaton for Annie Hall, best supporting actor is Jason Robards for Julia, best supporting actress is Vanessa Redgrave for Julia.  Richard Dreyfuss became the youngest man to win an Oscar for best actor.  This was Bob Hope's 19th, and final, time hosting the event.

April 3 - Pass the Buck game show debuts on NBC.  Hosted by Bill Cullen, four contestants competed to give a list of items that fit into a specific category announced at the beginning of each round (e.g., first names with exactly five letters, things that make people laugh). 

April 5 - Pretty Baby movie premieres.

April 7 – Jimmy Carter decides to postpone production of the neutron bomb – a weapon which kills people with radiation but leaves buildings relatively intact.

April 8 - The Ted Knight Show debuts on CBS.

April 9 - Rabbit Test movie premieres.

April 10 – Volkswagen becomes the second (after Rolls-Royce) non-American automobile manufacturer to open a plant in the United States, commencing production of the Rabbit, the North American version of the Volkswagen Golf, at the Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly Plant near New Stanton, Pennsylvania.

April 14 - A 2,200-pound unexploded German World War II bomb was discovered by workers in a gravel pit in East Tilbury, Essex, located about 25 miles east of central London. British bomb disposal units successfully deactivated and removed it.

April 16–19 - Holocaust, starring James Woods and Meryl Streep, first airs on NBC.

April 18 – The senate votes 68–32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999.

April 20 - Dawn of the Dead movie premieres.

April 21 – Thomas Wyatt Turner, civil rights activist, biologist and educator; first African American to receive a doctorate from Cornell, dies. (born 1877)

April 22 - The Blues Brothers make their first appearance on NBC's Saturday Night Live.

April 24 - Card Sharks game show debuts on NBC.

April 26 - F.I.S.T. movie premieres.

April 25 - Vega$ tv series debuts on ABC.

April 28 - FM movie premieres.  Some AM radio stations played an edited version of the movie's title song in which an overdubbed "A" was substituted for the "F" of FM.

April 28 – WAC abolished; women integrated into regular Army.

1978 Dodge Magnum XE:

Star Wars comic for April:

Superman pinball game (released 1978):

Playboy playmate of the month, Pamela Jean Bryant, and Playgirl man for April, Brian Dawson:

Albums released in April (album / artist):
For You / Prince
Heavy Horses / Jethro Tull
Almighty Fire / Aretha Franklin
Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture / Various Artists
Come Get It! / Rick James
Bad Boy / Ringo Starr
Showdown / The Isley Brothers

Nielsen top 10 for the week ending April 16th: 1 Three's Company; 2 Laverne and Shirley; 3 M-A-S-H; 4 Holocaust Part I; 5 Happy Days; 6 One Day at a Time; 7 Charlie’s Angels; 8 Baby I'm Back; 9 Amazing Spider Man; 10 60 Minutes.

Teen Beat for April:

Us magazine for April 18th:

Vogue magazine for April:

Peanuts comic strip from April 1978:

For detailed news/info on what happened each day in April 1978, check out this really good site: ultimate70s.com

March 1978 - Charlie Chaplin, Larry Flynt

March 1978...So Thick!

A number one hit on the Cash Box Top 100 list in March 1978 was '(Love Is) Thicker Than Water' by Andy Gibb.

March 1 – Charlie Chaplin's coffin is stolen from a Swiss cemetery three months after burial. After recovery a few weeks later, the casket is sealed in a concrete vault which is then buried in the same grave.

March 2 -  Czech cosmonaut Vladimír Remek flies aboard Soyuz 28, becoming the first space traveler from a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States. 

March 3 – The New York Post publishes an article about David Rorvik's book The Cloning of Man, about a supposed cloning of a human being.

March 3 – Leigh Brackett completes the first draft for The Empire Strikes Back, but dies only two weeks later.

March 5 -  An Unmarried Woman movie premieres.

March 6 – American porn publisher Larry Flynt is shot and paralyzed in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

March 10 - The Incredible Hulk tv series debuts on CBS.

March 10 - Return from Witch Mountain and The Fury movies premiere.

March 13 - The Big Sleep movie premieres.

March 17 - American Hot Wax movie premieres.

March 19 – Faith Baldwin, romantic novelist and poet, dies. (born 1893)

March 22 – Karl Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

March 26 – April 1 CBS commemorates its golden anniversary in radio and TV broadcasting with CBS: On the Air, a 9½-hour retrospective special airing over 7 nights.

March 28 – Stump v. Sparkman (435 U.S. 349): The Supreme Court of the United States hands down a 5–3 decision in a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.  It involved an Indiana judge who was sued by a young woman who had been sterilized without her knowledge as a minor in accordance with the judge's order. The Supreme Court held that the judge was immune from being sued for issuing the order because it was issued as a judicial function. 

Black Panther comic for March:

1978 Plymouth Volare:

Hawaiian Punch game (released 1978):

Sears 1978 Spring/Summer catalog:

Playboy playmate of the month, Christina Smith, and Playgirl man for March, CW Mundy:

Albums released in March (album / artist):

And Then There Were Three / Genesis

Easter / Patti Smith

Gettin' the Spirit / Roberta Kelly

Guilty Until Proven Insane / Skyhooks

You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish / REO Speedwagon

Generation X / Generation X

This Year's Model / Elvis Costello and the Attractions

Kaya / Bob Marley and The Wailers

London Town / Wings

Nielsen Top 10 for the week ending March 12th: 1 Happy Days; 2 Little House on the Prairie; 3 (tie) Three’s Company and M-A-S-H; 5 One Day at a Time; 6 60 Minutes; 7 Circus Highlights; 8 All in the Family; 9 Alice; 10 Love Boat.

Sidney Sheldon's 'Bloodline' moved to the top of the New York Times Fiction Best Seller list.  This book is about a pampered heiress who inherits her father's pharmaceutical empire when he dies in a suspicious accident, and soon finds herself surrounded by ruthless board members and grasping family members who will seemingly stop at nothing to profit.

Crazy magazine for March:

Ms. magazine for March:

Seventeen magazine for March:

Peanuts comic strip from March 1978:

For detailed news/info on what happened each day in March 1978, check out this really good site:  ultimate70s.com