Thursday, August 28, 2014

Sixties in Sight

Since I'm scheduled to turn 60 in a few months, and I believe in doing my advanced pre-planning ahead of time, I decided to start a series of sixty-centric posts.

First I want to deal with worries:  What will 60 be like?   Will my life force drain away?  Will I look like a hag?  Will I be poor?  Some research is in order.

One advantage of being born at the end of the Baby Boom is seeing one's age-related concerns chewed over in the media long before one reaches the age in question.  For instance, we frequently read that "60 is the new 40."  That being the case, I can get an idea of what to expect by examining some old 40s.  Below are some women who turned 40 in the 50s or 60s.


Here is actress Patricia Jessel at 40 in The City of the Dead.  She appears to be pretty tough, and she'll feel even better after drinking the blood of the young woman she's about to stab.


 Here is Coleen Gray (39) next to Dolores Faith (19) in The Phantom Planet.  Coleen is holding up pretty well. (The hero still preferred the younger one, though.)

Here is Lady Bird Johnson.  When she was 40, in 1952, she used some of her inheritance to buy a TV station, KTBC-TV/7, a move that would eventually make the Johnsons millionaires.

OK, this is what I can expect at 60.  What's next?