Sale into the 90s--a 1980s/1990s history Tumblr

72. How newspapers handled Budd Dwyer blowing his brains out on live tv (January 22, 1987)

Harsh title, but that’s what he did!

It seems like everybody that has been on the internet long enough knows about Budd Dwyer, the man who shot himself to death during a televised speech in which he was resigning his post as State Treasurer of Pennsylvania. Those who dare have seen the gory video, or those who are squeamish have at least seen the countless press photos of him waving his gun around at the meeting, or just watched the animated .gif of his death (even if its just a gif and shows no blood, I guess it could shock some people, so warning). 

Dwyer was resigning because he was caught taking bribes from a California company that was trying to gain a contract to compensate state workers who overpaid federal taxes. Dwyer claimed that he was framed, but nevertheless he was convicted and forced to step down as treasurer. 

The day before his sentencing, he scheduled a news conference in which the local media came. After a long speech that some described as “rambling”, Dwyer handed envelopes to his closest co workers, and then took out one final envelope. A gun filled envelope. We all know the rest, how he lay in a puddle of his own blood, it gushing out of his nose, looking more like a bloodied, disheveled, David Crosby than the man who was speaking just seconds earlier. 

I wanted to know how the newspapers across America handled the coverage of Dwyer’s action. What pictures did they decide to publish, if any? Did their local news that evening show the entire video of him shooting himself? 

Reading Eagle, Reading, Pennsylvania: 

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The Dispatch, Lexington, North Carolina: 

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This is the photo most newspapers on Google Newspapers went with. 

Observer-Reporter, Washington Monongahela, Pennsylvania:

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The Junction City Daily Union, Geary County, Kansas: 

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Lewiston Morning Tribune, Lewiston, Idaho/Clarkston, Washington: 

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These two papers went with the final moment. 

Lodi News-Sentinel, Lodi, California: 

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The Miami News, Miami, Florida: 

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Ocala Star-Banner, Ocala, Florida: 

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The Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: 

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The Mount Airy News, Mount Airy, North Carolina: 

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA 

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This paper was the first paper I saw that actually showed a pic of Dwyer dead. The microfilm copy was in horrible shape though.

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Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA: 

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Sarasota News Herald, Sarasota, Florida:

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This was the first paper I saw that showed the pic of him immediately after shooting himself, but before he hit the floor.

The Nashua Telegraph, Nashua, New Hampshire:

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Out of all the 1980s newspapers in Google Newspapers, this was the only one I found with a clear picture of Dwyer dead. 

Telegraph Herald, Dubuque, Iowa:

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Related Links:

Budd Dwyer at Encyclopedia Dramatica (NSFW!!) ED calls Dwyer “the greatest man to ever live”. 

“An Honest Man” Documentary about Dwyer. 

Filter’s “Hey Man NIce Shot” video - Filter’s song they wrote about Dwyer. 

///edit, June 7 2013//

Hustler covered it too, and used seldom seen color shots of the incident.

69. Daily Press (Newport News, VA) news clippings from the Summer of 1994 (part 1)

I decided to go locally for this series, unlike the Reading Eagle series I did a few months ago. 1994 was around the time I began to become a regular reader of the newspaper, and that Summer was the Summer before I began middle school, and you know, everything changes once you hit middle school. 

Oh, sidenote. When I was gathering these materials back in October, I got the flu from this guy who was beside me at the microfilms who hacking a lung. So, you better appreciate this. 

Heh, I remember this lady’s giant Gumby being stolen! 

There was another section the paper used to do called, “She said it”, and this is what the lady said about her Gumby:

“He has his own room in the house. We bring him outside for special occasions.” 

I remember the stupid phone card craze, and at Spenser’s there would have a display of phone cards with every TV show that was popular at the time on them. 

I loved to read the personal ads in the paper when I was a kid. Hey, it was the closest thing to trashy romance novels or pay per view us kids had back then.  We didn’t have the “casual encounters” section of Craigslist to read then. (click to see larger)

heh. ~~**the FUTURE**~~ :

• “virtual VCR’s” that can stop, pause, and rewind movies. 
• “illustrated radio”
• “the information highway is really a super-hype way” 

I believe this is part of a CompUSA sales ad, due to the Apple Quadra for sale. Check out that weird tablet thingy Compaq made. 

I love this article about an energy drink Gatorade test marketed that summer in some areas, even if the product was about 10 years too early. For modern reference, an 8.5 oz can of Red Bull has 80mg of caffeine ¹. 

Heh, sometimes you get your hands on a really derpy microfilm printer, and it prints awesome artwork like these men in their underwear.

I only scanned this, because I mean … when was the last time you saw a coupon for Jean Naté? 

I don’t think it should be a crowning achievement to look like the Big Boy. Sorry. 

Honesty time here. I always thought Les in Funky Winkerbean back then looked cute. Yeah, I know a character in a pretty terrible comic strip.

Les looks all creepy now that the strip jumped 10 years back in 2007. 

Also, the Luann Flag Girl strip. Precursor to Meg on Family Guy.

…now you’ll be somewhere else when the boys don’t call.

“Lawyer wins his messy case” in a “Messiest Office in America” contest. ‘Dude looks like if Costanza kept his hair, and was an amazing success instead of a horrible failure. 

GUMBY WAS REUNITED WITH HIS MOMMY AND DADDY. 

60. Priscilla Ford

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I’ve been meaning to write an  entry about Priscilla Ford, the woman that went on a sidewalk driving rampage on Thanksgiving, 1980 in Reno. Priscilla was sentenced to death for killing five people, however she died in 2005 from emphysema. ^2 3 The News Review has an excellent write up about the incident here. 

54. Reading Eagle Newspaper Highlights from February 1986 (part 2)

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GIGANTOR SLEEVES. Those sleeves are bigger than her head. 

I didn’t know that Oreo was playing God with flavors way back then. 

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Sassy clothes for President’s day. 

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Excuse my language, because this blog is on my online portfolio, but seriously, are you fucking kidding me?  Skinny people get all the sex.  

I am completely serious here, if a guy gave me a 1986 Honda Prelude for a Valentines Day present, he would be mine forever. HINT HINT ANY HOT GUYS WHO READ THIS BLOG. 

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I forgot there was another Tylenol scare in 1986. ^6.  I searched and searched about this case, and apparently nobody has ever been arrested in the murder of Diane Elsroth. 

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~~~**the future**~~~

Is this what I think it is? A knockoff Members Only jacket? 

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Berkshire Mall is the mall where the lady fell in the fountain while texting last year. 

You would have to pay me $1.99 to eat salsbury steak in a KMart cafeteria.

….why doesn’t Totino’s make this pizza anymore?  You don’t understand how much I need this in my life right now. 

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Derp Derp!

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I was actually going to dedicate an entire entry to the Micro-Go-Round, but naah, we got this. When I was growing up in the early 90s, there were at least 12 of these at every thrift store mom and I would go into. 

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Unless I skipped over something,  I think this is THE first cell phone ad I’ve seen in Reading Eagle so far. 

She married every middle school band teacher in America. 

Another ad drawn by the store owners daughter.

If you want nobody to buy your product, be sure to hire Cathy to advertise it. 

Also, if you want kids to be terrified of your mascot, be sure to get your dad to make it. 

54. Reading Eagle Newspaper Highlights from Feburary 1986 (part 1)

Backstory of old newspapers on Google, and why I chose this paper here. 

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This sentence sounds so archaic.

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I’m really surprised about this, that people were trying to fundraise for a new shuttle to be built. Isn’t that what NASA was supposed to be doing?

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“a peanut with large hands”

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FREE PRETZELS?!?!! *gasp*

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This article is about a guy who was fired for getting a little too close to a student. He was upset that he thought he agreed with the school system that he would just have a permanent mark on his record, but instead he was fired. 

Is Precious Moments even a thing anymore? I had the Bible growing up, and some of the drawings in there made me really, really, sad. 

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Oh dear lord. 

25, 26 years later, Les scolded Crazy Harry’s daughter, Maddie for cheating in his class in a strip.  tisk tisk. 

A TV to watch babes on.

You know this is from 1986 because of scratch & sniff. 

lol, “pork-a-plenty” + Valentines Day. I’m 12. 

“saves it for second use!” … uh, this was 1986, not the Great Depression. 

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FIle under strange headlines. 

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Guess what, we’re still no. 2 in American Society too :P

“Surbex” sounds like a medicine one would take to mentally escape the suburbs.  

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Hoarders: 1986 style.

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It’s another adorably dorky speller just like in part 3 of the January 1986 papers. 

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Not a woman!! Keep in mind, this is 1986, and apparently it was still a big enough deal that a woman became a Superintendent of a school district that they had to highlight the fact that she was a woman in the headline.  

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No. 

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This makes me laugh so hard. Who knew CB’ing was so dirty?  

It’s called cream cheese. 

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This illustration of the couple is almost Patrick Nagel-esque. 

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“I’m important” (JCPenney) 

51. Reading Eagle Newspaper Highlights from January 1986 (part 3)

(part 2) 

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I wanted to begin part 3 with the week of the Challenger Explosion. Until now I never took into consideration that these microfilm scans of the Reading Eagle are from the evening edition, considering this paper was published on the 28th, and there doesn’t seem to be any indication that this is a special edition.

There for a brief moment, I forgot that even as recently as the 1980s, there were morning and evening newspapers. Our local paper where I live, The Daily Press discontinued their evening edition in 1989. 

One of the most saddest, and almost uncomfortable things I’ve ever seen on YouTube is the pre-Challenger Disaster news coverage from that morning. You have to take some time out one day and watch them. 

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This was at the near end of the “North American Video Game Crash”, clearly. 

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So this really happened. I thought only people in this decade did dick moves like that. 

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At the time, camcorders were still big, unwieldy, things, so I guess it was pretty darn special that someone recorded the Challenger tragedy with his own camcorder. 

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So wait, back when was Showbiz Pizza advertised as some sort of all ages fun place, instead of just a place fo kids? 

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Finally, look at this adorable, dorky 1980s schoolgirl who just won a spelling bee. 

51. Reading Eagle Newspaper Highlights from January 1986 (part 2)

(part 1)

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This headline is as though Yoda wrote it. 

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The Polaroid SLR 680 can still get that high on eBay sometimes, mainly because its one of the only folding SLR Polaroids that took 600 film, and the internal flash. 

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1986 was the first official year that Martin Luter King Jr. Day was observed as a national holiday. ³ Acme tries. 

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Penguins living in sin.  

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Dazzling. uh-huh. 

“just get my 12 year old daughter to draw the ad” - manager of The Clothes Tree.

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I’m looking at a picture of people looking at microfilms, from a microfilm that was scanned into a computer. 

*gasp!* they said “lubricant” in a newspaper! Also, there’s no way you can hide this stuff due to the pump, I mean, the chance of it leaking in your bedside table…you would have to keep it on your bedside table at all times. That’s probably why you don’t see lube in pumps these days. 

“look! Our caps are sealed!” because someone was planning on contaminating Weight Watchers Mayo. 

It wasn’t until the January 19th paper where I saw a mention of Diet Coke. That just breaks my heart. Sometimes I forget about those plastic bottoms that used to be on of 2 liter bottles of soda. I remember when I was 5, watching my dad use hot water to melt the glue from one of those bottoms so I could make an Easter basket the next day at school.

The Today Sponge came back four, five years ago, and then it disappeared again from shelves, and only exists online now. 

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So 284 sticks of dynamite were found one day, which was probably the biggest local story to hit (no pun) that area for the year.  Don’t forget the dip. 

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This is a part of an editorial where this man was complaining about how the local news treated participants at a farm show. Even in 1986, this man had way too much time on his hands. 

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This was back when nobody cared about the Golden Globes, due to the Pia Zadora scandal back in 1982. The ceremony wasn’t even aired live during the rest of the 1980s into the mid 1990s. So nobody got to see that awesome outfit Whoopi is wearing on live tv :(.

This would never fly today. Those extreme couponing broads would take IGA for every penny they have.

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Just grab him in the biscuits. 

My mom read my Funky Winkerbean as a child, and I still make fun of it read it today. I forgot exactly what the deal was with the gun turret thing on the desk in the hallway…I think it was supposed to be where the hall monitor sat?

WHERE HAS HE BEEN ALL MY LIFE?

I think this could be one of the very first ads for Hot Pockets.

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51. Reading Eagle Newspaper Highlights from January 1986 (part 1)

Google abandoned their scanning of old newspapers (Google loves to abandon things, except for the pointless Google +) a few years ago, but thankfully they kept up what was scanned. 

I try my hardest to search for newspapers from the 1980s and 1990s that include:

• National and local headlines, not just some tiny town paper that publishes articles about what Joe Jack did instead of real news. 
• Salespapers, coupon sections for mentions of defunct department stores, and short lived products. 
• Advertisements of the same defunct department stores, and department stores that are open today. 

Uh … that’s about it for my requirements, and the Reading Eagle out of Pennsylvania fits them. 

Oh, I need to mention. For some reason the January 1-10 newspapers were missing from the database. Someone probably wrecked the microfilm by accidentally winding the whole thing onto the microfilm reel that’s not supposed to be removed from the microfilm reader. Like I did the first time I ever used a microfilm reader. 

I’ve tried to cite these the best I could, but due to Google newspapers hyperlinking system, you can only click on nearby headlines. So to see the articles up close on Google newspapers, you might have to move the page around a bit. 

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I read somewhere once that Muammar Gaddafi’s name was stpelled about hundred different ways, but interesting that this newspaper went with “Khadafy”. 

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I didn’t really know that the “we make it, you bake it” business “idea” was around this early. I know a few years ago, there were places before the economy tanked that had this general idea, but most were generally short lived, because you know … you can buy the same thing at the grocery store in the deli. Why go to a separate place?

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I started on this entry at about midnight on Wednesday the 3rd, I was pretty tired, but not tired enough to sleep yet. When I was screencapping the take it and bake it pizza ad, I saw this out of the corner of my eye and thought … this was an article about a dog getting a heart transplant. My eyes are that tired. Mary Lund received a heart transplant on January 31st, 1986 and died in October of the same year of a virus that caused organ failure. 5  

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While yes, allowing unguarded prisoners renovate his office is odd, to me its also odd that the Judge’s wife apparently had all the time in the world to pick out the carpet for her husband’s office. 

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Derpin’ it up for JCPenney.

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I still can’t get over how expensive a blank vhs tape (just one!) was back then. No wonder there aren’t many surviving blank vhs tapes from this era. People must of just recorded over them over and over and over and over again to save money. 

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At first I thought this was a dog, perhaps a primitive relative to Brian Griffin. Then I saw the claws, and thought “yup that’s a bear.” Look how shocked he is about low, low prices on carpets! 

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“Fast and Easy? heh heh, heh heh” 

I remember those embroidered toilet seats. Once you threw up one, they were impossible to clean. 

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I love all this usual grocery store stuff, and then … a large type calculator on sale for an arm and a leg.

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I see that Kmart was had better prices for their blank VHS tapes. 

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Strange how one day every mom in America had stickups in her house, then one day all the stick ups in the United States unstuck themselves and left. They’re still being made, although I don’t think I’ve seen them on a store shelf in nearly 20 years. 

Nice to know that in the 1980s, Fat Albert got a job at Boscov’s. 

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Being from Virginia, I didn’t know anything about the annual Holiday known as the Shop Rite Can-Can until I read an X-Entertainment Article about it several years ago. 

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David Copperfield is a sexy beast at 56, but he was not a sexy beast back in the early 1980s. 

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These cats. 

MY PRECIOUS DOO DADS. 18

Tee, look at the baby drowning in the Dip ‘Um Sauce. 

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No pornography in Berks County! No dancin’ either!

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Obviously, the “reporter in space” program was trashed due to the Challenger Disaster. Could you imagine though, Geraldo in space?!

“Women be shoppin.’” 

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Women be shoppin’, cows be watchin’ tv. 

Hole in one! Give that guy some jellybeans. 

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A boy named Dwight, taking care of farm animals in Pennsylvania? 

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Don’t tell me what to do. 

7. Initial Reporting of the Tylenol Murders (1982)

The newspaper scans are from my local newspaper, The Daily Press, Newport News, Virginia. 

These are too big to post on tumblr, so here are the links to the newspaper article scans. 

October 1, 1982 Daily Press main page.  {part 2}

October 1, 1982 Times Herald (the Times Herald was Daily Press’ evening newspaper)

Items of note:

“Poison Center Receives Calls”: “One woman was convinced she was experiencing the symptoms of cyanide poisoning.” One of the reasons why I went out and looked up the microfilm archives of the initial local newspaper coverage, is because I wanted to read about the fright that all the Extra Strength Tylenol was laced with cyanide poisoning. However, it seems even by the first day or so of the poisonings, experts suspected that the poisoned medication was just in the Chicago area, and the cyanide was added after distribution. 

Here are some news stories on/around the time the news broke:

WFTV - Ch. 9, Orlando  - love that creepy guy walking off with the pulled Tylenol.

WBZ-TV 4 Boston - They’re pulling the wrong Tylenol off the shelves in this clip,. The tylenol that was pulled was the capsule version of Extra Strength Tylenol. 

1982 CNN - This was before it was discovered that the cyanide was being put in the capsules away from the manufacturing plant. 

1982 CNN Coverage at the Chicago Poison Control Hotline - “Officials here say if someone took a cyanide laced tylenol, capsule, they probably wouldn’t be able to make it to the phone to call.” 

October 1, 1982 ABC News w/ Ted Koppel {mirror on dailymotion.com}- It’s nice to actually see a clip of an ambulance going through a neighborhood telling people not to take Tylenol. I had only read about the loud speakers driving through town via Wikipedia, and I didn’t know if it was true or not.

News4LA Update, October 2, 1982 - I guess this was from early, early early in the morning, since the announcer says that a rebroadcast of the 11pm news will be shown. (Also, totally unrelated, but can’t you imagine Carlton from Fresh Prince dancing to the Carpeteria jingle?)

There was also a hoax related to the case, on October 9th an unknown person sent an extortion letter to the manufacturer of Tylenol demanding that a million dollars be put in a bank account, or more cyanide laced Tylenol would be put on shelves. ¹  

In retrospect, its absolutely shocking that by 1982, there was not tamper proof packaging for medications. That someone could just steal/buy these bottles, take them home, easily pop off the bottle without a wrapper, easily take apart the capsules, put poison in them, glue the box back together and sneak them back on the shelves.

Related Links:

VH1 I love the 80s 3D on the story.  

“Poison Madness in the Midwest” story from Time Magazine, October 11, 1982. 

“The Chicago Tylenol Murders, 30 Years Later”