As cloudship points out most airlines offering first class with the tight seat pitch you mention would have had a lounge for relaxing. Even the DC-8s and B707s had a forward lounge that could sit 4 or so passengers.

The 747 used to have 6 rows of 2+2 seating in the front nose section, and sometimes more rows of 2+2+2 in zone B. However the lounge was upstairs and it was all fairly comfortable.

Also remember that airliners couldn't fly very far back in 1969 and the 70's. The average length of a 747 flight would be about 7 hours I'm guessing. Flights from the far east to London would always stop in places like Bombay or Dubai, and sometimes also againin Rome or Frankfurt or Amsterdam before arriving in London. Not much point in having a full flat bed to be woken every few hours for landing.

Once the upstairs lounges began to vanish, first class became more spacious, with the standard becoming 62' pitch (three rows of 2+2 and last row of 2+2+2 in the nose of a 747 and 3 or 4 rows in the forward cabin of a DC-10 or Tristar).

There were some noticeable exceptions to the 4 rows of first class in a 747 such as Pan Am having five rows (2+1, 3 rows of 2+2 and last row 2+2+2) and TWA also put in extra seats, including a single seat in the middle of the F cabin, second row from the back.

However - Pan Am and TWA were leaders in business class, both having a very spacious 2+2+2 configuration on their 747s (which has never been repeated in terms of a standard (non-angled/herringbone) seat).

Regards

lme ff