December 1977 - Evansville, Bakersfield Dust Storm

Your Eyes are Brown...It's December 1977!

A number one hit on the Cash Box Top 100 list in December 1977 was 'Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue' by Crystal Gayle.

December 13 – A charter plane carrying the University of Evansville basketball team to Nashville, TN, crashes.  Twenty-nine people die in the crash, including 14 members of the team and head coach, Bob Watson.

December 14 - Saturday Night Fever movie, starring John Travolta, premieres.  The album had successfully debuted the month before.

December 19–21 – The Great Bakersfield Dust Storm hits the Southern San Joaquin Valley in California resulting in 3 deaths and $40 million in damages.

December 19 – Nellie Tayloe Ross, 13th Governor of Wyoming from 1925 to 1927 and director of the United States Mint from 1933 to 1953 and first female state governor in the U.S. dies. (b. 1876)

December 25 – Charlie Chaplin, actor, dies. (b. 1889)

Batman comic for December:

1977 Dodge Tradesman:

Sears Christmas catalog for 1977:

Star Wars Land Speeder toy (released 1977):

Playboy playmate of the month, Ashley Cox, and Playgirl man for December, Mark Gartman:

Nielsen top 10 shows for the week ending December 18th: 1 Laverne and Shirley; 2 Happy Days; 3 Three's Company; 4 Eight Is Enough; 5 Six Million Dollar Man; 6 Alice; 7 Soap; 8 (tie) All in the Family and Charlie Brown Christmas; 10 The Tiny Tree.

Albums release in December  (album / artist):

Draw the Line / Aerosmith

Taken by Force / Scorpions

The Belle Album / Al Green

Running on Empty / Jackson Browne

ABBA: The Album / ABBA

Blue Lights in the Basement / Roberta Flack

Don Juan's Reckless Daughter / Joni Mitchell

Harper's Bazaar for December:

Country Music magazine for December:

 Movie Life magazine for December:

Soap Opera Serials magazine for December:

Peanuts comic strip from December 1977:

For detailed news/info on what happened each day in December 1977, check out this really good site:  ultimate70s.com

August 1976 - Legionnaires' Disease, Anissa Jones, Alice

Keep on Truckin' in August 1976!

A number one hit on the Cash Box Top 100 list in August 1976 was 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart' by Kiki Dee and Elton John.

August 1 – The Seattle Seahawks play their first football game.  In this pre-season game, Seattle lost to the San Francisco 49ers 20-27.

August 2 – A gunman murders Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr and injures Priscilla Davis and Gus Gavrel, in an incident at Priscilla's mansion in Fort Worth, Texas. T. Cullen Davis, Priscilla's estranged husband and one of the richest men in Texas, is tried and found not guilty in 1977.

August 4 – The first recognized outbreak of Legionnaires' disease kills 29 at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia.

August 4 - The Return of a Man Called Horse movie premieres.

August 5 - What's Happening!! tv series debuts.

August 11 – John Wayne appears in his final film, The Shootist.

August 18 – At Panmunjom, North Korea, 2 United States soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the Korean Demilitarized Zone which had obscured their view.

August 19 – U.S. President Gerald Ford edges out challenger Ronald Reagan to win the Republican Party presidential nomination in Kansas City.

August 25 - Gator movie premieres.

August 28 - Anissa Jones, TV child actress who played 'Buffy Davis' in the late 60s-early 70s sitcom Family Affair dies. (born 1958)

August 28 - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology reports a team led by Dr. Har Gobind Khorana is the first to synthesize a complete, functioning gene.  This is a major step toward understanding how genes regulate the growth and functioning of living things.  

August 30 - New Howdy Doody Show premieres in syndication.

August 31 - Alice tv series, based on the 1974 movie Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, premieres on CBS.

Kiss in-store appearance at Peaches Records & Tapes in Atlanta, GA.

Albums released in August (album / artist):

What a Lemon / Gasolin'

Good Singin', Good Playin' / Grand Funk Railroad

All I Can Do / Dolly Parton

My Name Is Jermaine / Jermaine Jackson

Man in the Hills / Burning Spear

Coming Out / The Manhattan Transfer

Boston / Boston

Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music / Hawkwind

No Reason to Cry / Eric Clapton

The Roaring Silence / Manfred Mann's Earth Band

Nielson top 20 shows for August 23-29:

All in the Family, Maude and MA-S-H (all CBS); Happy Days and Starsky and Hutch (both ABC); The Graduate, Phyllis and Johnny Cash (all CBS); Baretta and What's Happening (both ABC); Jigsaw John (NBC); Laverne and Shirley, Welcome Back, Kotter, Bionic Woman and Rosemary's Baby (all ABC); Joe Forrester (NBC); Kojak and Rhoda (both CBS); Six Million Dollar Man and Streets of San Francisco (both ABC)

1976 Toyota Celica:

Playboy playmate of the month, Linda Beatty, and Playgirl man for August, Greg Anderson:

Justice League comic for August:

Outdoor Life magazine for August:

Mademoiselle for August:

Movie Life magazine for August:

Six Million Dollar Man Venus Space Probe (released in 1976):

Peanuts comic strip from August 1976:

For detailed news/info on what happened each day in August 1976, check out this really good site:  ultimate70s.com