UFO FAQ by David J. Hogan

Author:David J. Hogan
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: UFOs;Extraterrestrials
Publisher: Backbeat Books
Published: 2017-06-13T19:19:48+00:00

Blue Book and Bubble Gum

And now, a brief detour into popular culture.

Although the Air Force and other Washington entities dedicated themselves to marginalizing Project Blue Book and dissipating its influence, Blue Book developed and sustained a hardy cultural presence. Generous newspaper and magazine coverage of project activity, plus occasional television documentaries, intrigued the public and cemented the connection between Blue Book and “flying saucers.” Out of such stuff came a flood of accessible and fanciful interpretations of UFOs.

Aliens and flying saucers came to dramatic radio of the 1950s via X Minus One, Dimension X, Beyond This World, the BBC’s Journey into Space, and numerous other anthology shows. Later, talk radio hosted by the likes of Long John Nebel and Art Bell turned UFOlogy into hyper burlesque. In a special moment, radio handled the UFO phenomenon with taste and intelligence in April 1950, with The Case for the Flying Saucer, a thirty-minute CBS radio documentary produced and hosted by Edward R. Murrow.

UFOs have been expressed in pop songs since the 1950s. A few highlights: “Flyin’ Saucers Rock ’n’ Roll” (performed by Billy Lee Riley); “Knocked-Out Joint on Mars” (Buck Trail); “(You’d Better Pray to the Lord) When You See Those Flying Saucers” (the Buchanan Brothers); “Have You Seen the Saucers” (Jefferson Airplane); “UFOs, Big Rigs and BBQ” (Mojo Nixon); “Rocket Ship” (Kathy McCarty); “Rosetta Stoned” (Tool). A good deal of this novelty material is collected on CD compilations; likewise vintage instrumental “space music” by composer-performers Harry Revel, Les Baxter, Ferrante and Teicher, and Esquivel.

Even Ella Fitzgerald, a sublime interpreter of the Great American Songbook, weighed in with “Two Little Men in a Flying Saucer.” The kicker of that one is that the ETs catch a game at Ebbets Field, gape at women’s hats, listen to a bloviating politician, and then decide we’re all nuts.

Amusement parks regarded flying saucer rides as must-haves for many years. The most notable is Disneyland’s Flying Saucers, which had a place in the park’s Tomorrowland section during 1961–66. The attraction operated like an air hockey table, with sixteen single-rider saucers floating on a narrow cushion of forced air. (Ceaseless maintenance on the ride’s plenum chamber, air valves, and retracting-disc floor spelled the attraction’s doom.)

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