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Born in 1963? Here's the world you arrived into

In 1963, "Surfin' U.S.A." topped the charts, Cleopatra packed theaters, a stamp cost 5¢, the average home went for about $18,000.

What things cost in 1963

A $0.30 gallon of gas in 1963 has the buying power of roughly $3.10 in 2024 dollars. A 5¢ stamp is around 51¢ today, and a $0.85 movie ticket is about $8.70.

The biggest moments of 1963

• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963.
• The Post Office introduced ZIP codes in July 1963 to speed up mail delivery.
• Across the Atlantic, Beatlemania was sweeping Britain and would soon reach American shores.

• Bell introduced push-button Touch-Tone telephone service in November 1963, beginning the end of the rotary dial.
• Instant replay made its television debut during the Army-Navy football game in December 1963.
• Alcatraz, the famous island prison in San Francisco Bay, closed its doors in March 1963.

Toys, TV & trends of 1963

• The Easy-Bake Oven arrived in stores in 1963 and baked tiny cakes with a light bulb.
• Wild-haired troll dolls became one of the biggest toy fads of the year.
• My Favorite Martian premiered, bringing lovable alien Uncle Martin into living rooms.

• Kodak's new Instamatic camera made snapshots easy with drop-in film cartridges.
• The chain-reaction game Mouse Trap had kids building crazy contraptions to catch plastic mice.
• The Fugitive premiered in September, sending Dr. Richard Kimble on a four-year chase for the one-armed man.

The music scene

Thirteen-year-old Little Stevie Wonder hit #1 with "Fingertips (Pt. 2)" — the first live recording ever to top the Hot 100. The folk revival peaked as Peter, Paul and Mary's version of "Blowin' in the Wind" carried Bob Dylan's words to millions. And in one of the chart's strangest turns, a Belgian nun's French-language "Dominique" was the #1 song in America as the year ended.

At the movies

Cleopatra was the year's top-grossing film yet still nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox — its budget had ballooned to an unheard-of $44 million. The bawdy British comedy Tom Jones took the Best Picture Oscar. Sidney Poitier's performance in Lilies of the Field would make him the first Black man to win Best Actor, and Hitchcock unleashed The Birds on unsuspecting audiences.

Cartoons kids loved

• Astro Boy
• Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
• The Flintstones

Astro Boy's American syndication debut in September 1963 quietly made history — it was the first Japanese anime series widely shown on U.S. television, decades before the anime boom. Tennessee Tuxedo came from upstart studio Total Television, with future Get Smart star Don Adams voicing the scheming penguin.

The world in 1963

• World population: about 3.2 billion
• U.S. President: John F. Kennedy (Lyndon B. Johnson after November 22)
• President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963, and a grieving nation watched history change overnight.

• The U.S., Britain, and the Soviet Union signed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in Moscow in August 1963.
• The Great Train Robbery stunned Britain in August, when thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds from a Glasgow-to-London mail train.
• Cardinal Giovanni Montini was elected Pope Paul VI in June, succeeding the beloved John XXIII.

1963 birthday questions

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