The 1950s

1. The 1950s The birth of rock and roll

2. News • 1955 • Disneyland Opens • McDonald's Corporation Founded • Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Seat on a Bus • 1956 • Elvis Gyrates on Ed Sullivan's Show • T.V. Remote Control Invented • Velcro Introduced • 1957 • Dr. Seuss Publishes The Cat in the Hat • Soviet Satellite Sputnik Launches Space Age • 1958 • Hula Hoops Become Popular • Lego Toy Bricks First Introduced • NASA Founded • 1959 • Castro Becomes Dictator of Cuba • Alaska and Hawaii become final two states 1950 • First Modern Credit Card Introduced • First Organ Transplant • Korean War Begins • Senator Joseph McCarthy Begins Communist Witch Hunt • U.S. President Truman Orders Construction of Hydrogen Bomb 1951 • South Africans Forced to Carry ID Cards Identifying Race 1952 • Car Seat Belts Introduced • Princess Elizabeth Becomes Queen at Age 25 1953 • DNA Discovered • Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Executed for Espionage 1954 • First Atomic Submarine Launched • Report Says Cigarettes Cause Cancer • Roger Bannister Breaks the Four-Minute Mile • Segregation Ruled Illegal in U.S.

3. People • Spies, dictators, Presidents, movie stars, athletes, music superstars • Soon to be President John F. Kennedy; Marilyn Monroe, Martin Luther King Jr., Fidel Castro • James Dean, Marlon Brandon, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day • Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Wilt Chamberlain, Maurice Richard • Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, The Marx Brothers • Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis

4. Music • Early fifties music was ‘feel good’ sung by such artists as Pat Boone, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney etc. • Mid fifties, the rock and roll era began • First rock and roll song considered to be “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets • Rock and roll music was based on r and b music • Country music was popular in the South • American Bandstand played music on television and featured dancers and countdowns of the weeks biggest hits on the jukeboxes and radio • And then there was Elvis • Most successful artist ever: 17 #1 songs; over 140 top 40 singles • Also a movie star

5. Music Top songs of the 1950s: • Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog – Elvis • Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White – Perez Prado • Sincerely – The McGuire Sisters • Singing the Blues – Guy Mitchell • Mack the Knife – Bobby Darin • All Shook Up – Elvis • Rock Around the Clock – Bill Haley and the Comets • The Wayward Wind – Gogi Grant • Sixteen Tons – Tennessee Ernie Ford • Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis • Records from popular movies and musicals dominated the sales charts

6. Television • Television was very limited in the 1950s • Very few homes had televisions • Black and white with very few channels • Programming was not available 24 hours a day • Genres included: game shows, variety, sitcom, soap operas, westerns • Remote controls were invented in the 1950s • Colour television was introduced near the end of the decade

7. Television • I Love Lucy was the most popular sitcom • First inter-racial couple on TV • The $64,000 Question was a popular game show that turned out to be rigged • Other famous shows: Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, Gunsmoke, Ed Sullivan, Lassie • When Elvis appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, he had to be shown from the waist up

8. Movies • Movies were popular escapes from suburbia and the Cold War • Drive in theatres, 3-D movies very popular • Popular genres: science fiction, horror, musicals, dramas, westerns, comedies

9. Movies Top Ten Movies of the 1950s • Lady and the Tramp (1955) • Peter Pan (1953) • Cinderella (1950) • The Ten Commandments (1956) • Ben-Hur (1959) • Sleeping Beauty (1959) • Around the World in 80 Days (1956) • This is Cinerama (1952) • South Pacific (1958) • The Robe (1953)

10. Fads and Trends HULA HOOP • Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin, founders of the Wham-O Company, are the architects of the biggest fad of all time - the hula-hoop! • In 1957, an Australian visiting California told them, quite casually, that in his home country, children twirled bamboo hoops around their waists in gym class. • They understood how popular such an item could be and proceeded to manufacture one made of plastic, Marlex specifically, a lightweight but durable plastic then recently invented by Phillips Petroleum. • The name "hula hoop" came from the Hawaiian dance its users seemed to imitate. • Talk about sales! Wham-O sold 25 million hula-hoops in two months. Almost 100 million international orders followed. They were manufacturing 20,000 hoops a day at the peak of popularity. • Japan banned the hoops thinking they might promote improprieties. • The Soviet Union said the hula-hoop was an example of the "emptiness of American culture."

11. Fads and Trends The Coonskin hats • Made famous by the Davey Crocket movies and television shows Telephone booth stuffing • The idea was to cram as many people as possible into a telephone booth • You had to be able to be able to either place or receive a call • Record was 25 people in South Africa

12. Fads and Trends 3-D Movies • the concept was re-introduced because film executives feared television would limit theatre sales • short lived fad • soon only “B” movies were3-D

13. Fashion Overview The 1950's stereotypical style… 1.  The cashmere sweater.2.   Poodle skirt. 3.  Rolled up t-shirt sleeve 4.  Pedal pushers 5.  Black leather jacket 6.  The scarf.7.  1950's gym wear.

14. Youth Fashion

15. Adult Fashion

16. Slang Here is a list of new words added to the dictionary during the 1950s • BeatnikBermuda ShortsComputerizeData processingDesegregateDoublespeakGeodesic domeHash brownsJunk mailNeutron bombPolio virusSky divingWeirdo

17. Firsts, Inventions and Innovations • The TV Dinner • McDonalds • Disneyland • The Answering Machine • Super Glue • Mr. Potato Head • Vaccine for polio • Non-stick frying pan • Home microwave ovens • Hovercraft • Liquid paper • Laser • Barbie