Mississippi 1974: What do you remember? (Gulfport, Biloxi: crimes, appliances, how much)

[ByeByeBlackbird]

The University of Southern Mississippi is putting on the show Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley. The show is set in October of 1974 in Hazlehurst, MS. I feel like the play would be greatly enriched by stories from people who lived in Mississippi in the 60s and 70s.
Ideas to discuss: What was it like growing up? Any great stories about family life? What is your favorite part about having lived in MS during that time? What was the worst part? What did you wear? What fads came out? Who was your favorite musician/song? What appliances did you NOT have back then? You don't have to answer these questions specifically, just add your recollections of the time period.
Thank you so much for your time. Any answers are very helpful.

[riceweevil]

Originally Posted by ByeByeBlackbird

The University of Southern Mississippi is putting on the show Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley. The show is set in October of 1974 in Hazlehurst, MS. I feel like the play would be greatly enriched by stories from people who lived in Mississippi in the 60s and 70s.
Ideas to discuss: What was it like growing up? Any great stories about family life? What is your favorite part about having lived in MS during that time? What was the worst part? What did you wear? What fads came out? Who was your favorite musician/song? What appliances did you NOT have back then? You don't have to answer these questions specifically, just add your recollections of the time period.
Thank you so much for your time. Any answers are very helpful.

Dirt Track Stock Car Racing at its best on Saturday Nights in Booneville with such drivers as R.B.Hughes.

[Made_it_To_the_Metroplex]

The stench of the Hercules plant in Hattiesburg, while visiting my Mema on 7th (or was is 4th?) St. Whichever street it was, it was the one that went by the main gate of the Hercules plant. Also, the nearly non-stop sound of train horns (either close by or in the distance) in the Hub City. Playing with my uncle's bird dog, Duke, in Mema's back yard. Going to see the USM Golden Eagles play, and watching my older cousin, who was a Dixie Darling, perform during halftime. OH YEAH - the heavenly aroma of chicken frying and pan gravy being made at Mema's house. Swimming, skiing and generally playing while visiting my cousins who lived on Lake Serene. Okay, I'm getting a bit misty now...

[ByeByeBlackbird]

This is great, and I'm sure it will help the actors get into the mindset of 1974. Thanks so much for your contributions!

[xstitcher1212]

I moved to Biloxi, MS in the summer of 1969, just a few weeks before hurricane Camille. Had never seen a huricane before. I remember the days and weeks following the storm like it was yesterday. I was 13 years old. Also I remember segregation in my schools; 1970 was the first year we had a black student come to our school and the next year she made history when she became the school's first basketball cheerleader. It was the first year we were allowed to wear pantsuits to school and I remember the hem of our blouse had to reach our wrist when our arm hang by our side. There was no co-ed Phys. ED. and girls weren't allowed to take shop and boys couldn't go into the Home Eco. classes. Friday night high school football was big event. Our dress hems could be no more than 4" above the knee. The girls with the longest straightest hair were the most popular. Of course tight hip-hugger bell bottom jeans and platforms were the rage for girls. I remember selling Krispy Kreme donuts for .60c a dozen. The Klan and Dixie Mafia were always in the news. The Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo in Gulfport was a big deal then. I remember spending long hot summer days crabbing off old bridges and being on the Biloxi back bay piers when the shrimp boats docked. If you paid more than .90 cents a pound for 18 count you had to be a tourist. I remember floating down the rivers on inner tubes until we were so sunburned we couldn't move. There were no casinos on the beach and you didn't need a permit for a bonfire. The sand was clean and white. I remember floundering with a gig and light at low tide. There were just a just a few hotels all privately owned, no big name chains. The biggest headliner on the coast was Pete Fountain. Seems Huey P. Long and George McGovern were always in the news. Just like today, softball was huge in Ms. but most of the fields were way out in the country and none had infield grass or sprinkler systems. I remember the long hot weekends of tournaments, the shortest cut-off jean shorts a girl could possibly wear. We thought they were sexy but damn the huge strawberries we got sliding on the red clay. The men's teams won beer trophies. Do they still sell beer at ball parks today? The biggest employers in Stone County were the world's largest pickle factory and the lumber mill. Barq's rootbeer only came in bottles was the soda of choice and the return deposit on a coke bottle was five cents. Coors beer was boot-legged over the Mississippi river. The film "Smokey and the Bandit" made I-10 famous and made every young man in MS want a Trans Am. Highway 90 along the coast, known as the Hospitality Highway, was two lanes and had very few traffic lights. Soda vending machines and pay phones were 10 cents and 25 cents could buy a huge bowl of red beans and rice with corn bread as a side. A tailgate party was a truckbed full of cold beer on ice and dozens of boiled shrimp dumped on top of a wodden picnic table. Seems there were only two classes of white folks; the rich and the not rich. Blacks and whites didn't go to the same public places unless it was the jail. The best place to be on Friday night was the skating rink (when it wasn't football season). Despite the Child Rights Act of 1965 being passed, you could still get a belt whipping from Dad and the principle in my school had a big wooden paddle with holes in it he used quite often.
Just a few thoughts.

[poptones]

It's funny because we were out in the country most of the time and I really don't think things were that much different then except the girls did wear much shorter shorts and people were not so hung up on nudity. We used to go skinny dipping and such, nowdays parents seem to get completely freaked by any such notions. But when your day mostly consists of picking and hulling peas, fishing and shooting and playing in the yard, how much can time really change that?