50 years ago this month, Outdoor Life's July 1960 issue hit newsstands. To put things into perspective, that same month, the first 50-star American flag was flown over Philadelphia to celebrate the addition of Hawaii to the union a year earlier. Also, Harper Lee published To Kill a Mockingbird, and the Republican National Convention nominated Vice-President Richard Nixon as its candidate for the Presidency--he would not actually become President until nine years later.
SHARE
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images2010072_0.png
One of the most interesting articles in the July issue was a profile by Earl Fleming about trapping live Kodiak bears.
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images2010073_0.png
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images2010074_0.png
A basic bait-and-net system was used to trap the bears, which is something you don’t see every day in the 21st century.
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images2010075_0.png
One of the more amusing advertisements was this cigar ad. Somehow, the notion of being sawed in half by a devious woman was supposed to sell cigars. Go figure.
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images2010076_0.png
Author G. Howard Gillelan wrote a 2-page piece on what to look for when buying a bow. Funny thing, the bows were all traditional bows. _Outdoor Life’_s most recent bow test, in the May, 2010 issue, profiled 10 bows, all compounds.
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2010photo10013184917_8.png
Place your cigarette in the “Solar Cigarette Lighter” and use sunlight to light your next cig! …or, you could just use a tiny match, which is about 1/100 the size of this bulky, awkward (and presumably unreliable) thing.
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images2010078_0.png
Canoe paddles float. Backpacks float. People float (sort of). A floating rifle actually seems like a brilliant idea. Too bad the concept never caught on.
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2010photo10013184919_7.png
A portable hot water shower, “for inside -trailer -boat -tent -cottage.” Tent, really? Just how big were the tents back in 1960? …Also, who knew Audrey Hepburn liked to shower in the outdoors?
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images20100710_0.png
A full-scale model Browning automatic pistol that’s actually a cigarette lighter! Just make sure you know which gun is which, or else you might accidentally be offering your next home intruder a smoke instead of protecting yourself.
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images20100711_0.png
Whatever happened to cuckoo clocks?
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2010photo100131849112_5.png
Look at all of the bulky camera equipment that was required to take a good outdoor photo in 1960.
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images20100713_0.png
Yes, you read correctly–there was an Outdoor Life Book Club in 1960, about 45 years before Oprah made millions off the concept.
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images20100714_0.png
It’s a gun…that unclogs your toilet. What’s not to love?
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2010photo100131849115_5.png
A classic Eddie Bauer ad, showcasing the company’s famous Down jacket.
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2010photo100131849116_5.png
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Here’s a down jacket currently being sold by Eddie Bauer–nearly indistinguishable from its 1960 counterpart.
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images20100717_0.png
Anyone who has ever been around Orlando–possibly en route to fishing at the Keys–knows that the area isn’t exactly miles and miles of vacant acreage now…
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images20100718_0.png
…there’s been a tad bit of development in Florida since that 1960 advertisement.
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2010photo100131849119_4.png
The This Happened to Me from July, 1960 was by Alice G. Geagen, from Bangor, Maine. Click ahead to read the story.
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images20100720_0.png
“One July day my husband Bill, guide Junior Wilson, and I were fishing Maine’s Moosehead Lake. The men went off in the canoe.”
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images20100721_0.png
“Left on the cruiser with Junior’s dog, Rinty, I took two salmon. Then the sky began to darken ominously.”
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images20100722_0.png
“Suddenly a fierce thunderstorm struck; rain and hail came down in sheets.”
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2010photo100131849123_3.png
“Towering waves smashed against the boat, sending the dog and me sprawling.”
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images20100724_0.png
“Terrified, I realized the boat was adrift. I shouted wildly for help.”
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2014importImage2010photo100131849125_3.png
“As we drifted nearer the jagged rocks, I saw the men paddling furiously toward us.”
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images20100726_0.png
“Miraculously, they were able to board the tossing boat, letting the canoe go.”
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images20100727_0.png
“Junior started the motor, and we headed into the blow–just in the nick of time.”
httpswww.outdoorlife.comsitesoutdoorlife.comfilesimport2013images20100728_0.png
Let us know what you think about the July, 1960 issue, and my umbrella. Leave comments below!

MORE TO READ