1955: Chuck Berry’s first record, “Maybelline” hits the Billboard R&B chart where it will eventually climb to #1. The song also crosses over to the pop chart where it will hit #5. One of the true giants of rock & roll is on his way!

A lot of rock legends celebrate birthdays today:

1938: Bobby Hebb
1940: Dobie Gray
1941: Brenton Wood
1941: Darlene Love
1943: Mick Jagger
1949: Roger Taylor (Queen)
1950: Duncan McKay (10cc)

1965: The day folk music officially lost to rock & roll.

It was on this day that Bob Dylan walked on stage at the Newport Folk Festival with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Dylan performed his first-ever set of electric rock songs, angering the vast majority of the crowd.

After three songs, Dylan stormed off stage. He was coaxed back by Peter, Paul and Mary to perform two more songs in his more traditional, acoustic manner.

But the “damage” had been done. Many young folkies, including John Sebastian, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, John Phillips, and more would soon leave folk and start recording rock.

1971: The Raiders have one of their last hits with “Indian Reservation.” Truth is, the record was intended to be a Mark Lindsay solo release, but the Raiders former lead singer had Columbia credit it to the entire group as a thank you to his old pal, Paul Revere.

This is the film that started it all!

Teen exploitation movies! A nationwide craze for surfing! The slang phrase “Big Kahuna!” Sandra Dee’s brief career as a movie star!

Before Gidget, there had been movies aimed at teenagers, but they were mainly bad horror and science fiction films whose stars were still adults. Gidget was the first movie for the Baby Boomers to make the kids and their personal lifestyle the focus.

The movie was based on a book written in 1957 by Frederick Kohner. The book was based on the real life adventures of the author’s daughter, Kathy who was the first female to successfully infiltrate the small California sub-culture of surfers a few years before that. The males really did call her “Gidget” (a contraction of “girl” and “midget”).

 In addition to Ms. Dee in the title role, Columbia Pictures cast future Oscar-winner Cliff Robertson as the head of the surfers (the Big Kahuna) and actor-singer James Darren as Gidget’s would-be boyfriend Moondoggie. While Gidget would change from film to film, Darren is, was and always will be Moondoggie.

The film was actually shot in the winter at Leo Carillo State Park in California. Sandra Dee reports that she had a major crush on Darren during filming and would have gladly surrendered her real virginity to him (mirroring one of the film’s plot threads), but Darren was married at the time and says he did all he could not to give into temptation (sort of  like what ultimately happened in the film)!

The movie earned Columbia a big glassy wave of cash and directly spawned two sequels (Gidget Goes Hawaiian and Gidget Goes to Rome), a TV series (Sally Field's first big break) and three made-for-TV movies (Gidget Grows Up, Gidget Gets Married, and Gidget’s Summer Reunion) as well as brief attempt at an updated TV series, The New Gidget in 1986. It was also directly responsible for inspiring American International to launch the Beach Party movies.

For whatever reason, no actress played the part twice. Sandra Dee was followed by Deborah Walley, Cindy Carol, Sally Field, Karen Valentine, Monie Ellis, and Caryn Richman.

If you watch it today, Gidget is a cut above the Frankie & Annette movies with much better production values and much less gratuitous footage of young girls shaking their bikini bottoms for the camera.

BTW the real Gidget is still around.

Still working? Great! You avoided the first mistake many Boomers make – retiring too early! The longer you work, the more secure you can make your retirement years.

Here are a few other common mistakes:

Taking Social security Benefits Too Soon – Sure, you can start getting your Social Security at age 62, but the experts say that can reduce yourt benefits by as much as 25%!

Retiring With Credit Card Debt – If you can it pays to pay off all your credit cards before you retire. If you can pay off your car loan and pay down the mortgage, so much the better.

Underestimating Your Life Expectancy – People today are routinely living well into their 80’s. The experts say it’s better to over-estimate than to underestimate; so to be safe, plan on living well into your 90’s!

2003: Sam Phillips’ Sun Records studio in Memphis is declared a national historic monument.

1996: Planning to kick off a nation-wide comeback tour, Donovan is denied entry into the U.S. due to a 30-year old marijuana conviction in the UK.

Believe it or not, multi-vitamins and other mineral supplements are the one of the leading causes for ER visits among people our age!

But for a very different reasons than what they contain.

Nearly 40% of those visits to emergency rooms and walk-in clinics among our age group are caused by choking or swallowing problems involving vitamins and nutritional supplements!

The experts recommend taking only one pill at a time and always with plenty of liquid to help wash then down.

1968: British actress, Jane Asher announces on a UK TV show, Dee Time, that she is calling off her engagement to Paul McCartney. While Ms. Asher has steadfastly refused to discuss it, those close to her say she made the decision after catching Paul in bed with another woman a few days earlier. The bed, by the way, was allegedly in the Asher family home.