Our Fabulous 50's

Here are some lists to jog our memories of our era--the late 50's and the beginning of the 60's. Actually "the 60's" of cultural change fame began in 1967--the Summer of Love. We're creatures of the 1950's--our formative years--so here are some of those 50's shapers of our outlooks. By 1960 the US had 1500 military advisors in Viet Nam--the beginning of a marker for the next generation.
                                     Pop Music in the 1950’s

http://www.popculturemadness.com/Entertainment/Decades/50s-Music.html

1950s Top Twenty Dance Hall Songs:

1. Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley and His Comets 2. Rock and Roll is Here To Stay - Danny & the Juniors 3. Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino 4. At The Hop - Danny and the Juniors 5. Little Bitty Pretty One - Thurston Harris 6. The ABC's Of Love - Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers 7. All Shook Up - Elvis Presley 8. Little Darlin' - The Diamonds 9. Come Go With Me - Dell-Vikings 10. Kansas City - Wilbert Harrison 11. Love Is Strange - Mickey and Sylvia 12. Be-Bop-A-Lula - Gene Vincent 13. I'm Walkin' - Fats Domino 14. Peggy Sue - Buddy Holly 15. School Day - Chuck Berry 16. What'd I Say - Ray Charles 17. The Stroll - The Diamonds 18. Goody Goody - Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers 19. Stood Up - Ricky Nelson 20. Chantilly Lace - Big Bopper

The Top Ten 50's Songs That Mon and Dad Hated:

1. Wake Up Little Suzie - The Everly Bothers 2. Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis 3. Tutti Fruitti - Little Richard 4. Rumble - Link Wray 5. Yakety Yak - Coasters 6. Love For Sale - Billie Holiday 7. Ragtime Cowboy Joe - The Chipmunks 8. Endless Sleep - Jody Reynolds 9. Standing On The Corner (Watching All The Girls Go By) - Four Lads 10. Tequila! - Champs

The Top Ten Late 50's One Hit Wonders:

1. Donna/ La Bamba - Richie Valens 2. Sea of Love - Phil Phillips 3. Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins 4. Sorry (I Ran All The Way Home) - Impalas 5. Trickle, Trickle - the Videos 6. Silhouettes - The Rays 7. To Know Him, Is To Love Him - The Teddy Bears 8. Mr. Lee - Bobbettes 9. Sea Cruise - Frankie Ford 10. Woo-Hoo - Rock-A-Teens

The Top Ten 50s Party Rock Songs:

1. Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog - Elvis Presley 2. Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On - Jerry Lee Lewis 3. Maybellene - Chuck Berry 4. Long Tall Sally - Little Richard 5. Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry 6. Rock and Roll Music - Chuck Berry 7. Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins 8. Do You Want To Dance - Bobby Freeman 9. Book Of Love - Monotones 10. Rockin Robin - Bobby Day

The Top Ten Late 50s Love Songs:

1. Sea Of Love - Phil Phillips 2. Earth Angel - The Penguins 3. Chances Are - Johnny Mathis 4. Sleepwalk - Santo and Johnny 5. You Send Me - Sam Cooke 6. In The Still of The Night - Five Satins 7. It's All in The Game - Tommy Edwards 8. Only You (And You Alone) - The Platters 9. Put Your Head On My Shoulder - Paul Anka 10. Come Softly To Me - the Fleetwoods 11. It's Just a Matter of Time - Brook Benton 12. I Only Have Eyes For You - Flamingos 13. All the Way - Frank Sinatra 14. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing - Four Aces 15. April Love - Pat Boone

The Top Ten Naughty Songs of the 50s:

1. Sixty Minute Man - The Dominoes 2. It Ain't The Meat - The Swallows 3. (When We Are Dancing) I Get Ideas - Louis Armstrong 4. Baby Let's Play House - Elvis Presley 5. Big Ten-Inch Record - Moose Jackson 6. Get Hot Or Go Home - John Kerby 7. I Got A Rocket In My Pocket - Jimmy Lloyd 8. (I Love To Play Your Piano) Let Me Bang Your Box - The Toppers With Orchestra 9. Whistle Bait - Lorrie And Larry Collins 10. Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On - Jerry Lee Lewis

               1959–1960 Emmy Awards (Television)

Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama

Playhouse 90 (CBS)

Outstanding Performance By an Actor in a Series (Lead or Support)

Robert Stack, The Untouchables

Outstanding Performance By an Actress in a Series (Lead or Support)

Jane Wyatt, Father Knows Best

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama

Robert Mulligan, The Moon and Sixpence

Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama

Rod Serling, Twilight Zone

Outstanding Single Performance By an Actor (Lead or Support)

Laurence Olivier, The Moon and Sixpence

Outstanding Single Performance By an Actress (Lead or Support)

Ingrid Bergman, Ford Startime: The Turn of the Screw

Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Humor

Art Carney Special (NBC)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy

Ralph Levy and Bud Yorkin, Jack Benny Hour specials

Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy

Sam Perrin, George Balzer, Al Gordon and Hal Goldman, Jack Benny Show

Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Variety

Fabulous Fifties (CBS)

Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series

Harry Belafonte, Revlon Revue: Tonight With Belafonte

Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Music

Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic (CBS)

Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Public Affairs and Education

Twentieth Century (CBS)

Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of News

Huntley-Brinkley Report (NBC)

Outstanding Writing Achievement in the Documentary Field

Howard K. Smith and Av Westin, The Population Explosion

Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Children's Programming

Huckleberry Hound (Syndicated)

                  Important Historic and Cultural Events of the 1950’s

1950 - Pres. Harry Truman  ( 'til 1952) approves production of the hydrogen bomb and sends air force and navy to Korea in June.

1951 - Transcontinental television begins with a speech by Pres. Truman. 

1953 - 1961 Dwight D. Eisenhower  is president. 

1952 - The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952 removes racial and ethnic barriers to becoming a U.S. citizen. 

1953 -  Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are electrocuted for their part in W.W.II espionage. 

1953 - Fighting ends in Korea. 

1954 -  U. S. Senator Joseph McCarthy begins televised hearings into alleged Communists in the army. 

1954 - Racial segregation is ruled unconstitutional in public schools by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

1955 -  Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama. 

1955 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge making the new AFL-CIO an organization with 15 million members. 

also in 1955  Dr. Jonas Salk  developed a vaccine for  polio

1956 - The Federal Highway Act is signed, marking the beginning of work on the interstate highway system. 

1958 - Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite, successfully orbits the earth. 

1958 - The first domestic jet-airline passenger service is begun by National Airlines between New York City and Miami. 

1959 - Alaska and Hawaii become the forty-ninth and fiftieth states. 

                                                   US History 1959/1960 
                                                                                                    http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1950.html

1959

January 3, 1959 - Alaska is admitted to the United States as the 49th state to be followed on August 21 by Hawaii. January 7, 1959 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government under rebel leader Fidel Castro.  Castro becomes the Premier of Cuba on February 16. April 9, 1959 - NASA selects the first seven military pilots to become the Mercury Seven, first astronauts of the United States.  The Mercury Seven included John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepherd, and Deke Slayton. April 25, 1959 - The St. Lawrence Seaway is opened along the Canada and United States borders, allowing increased ship traffic between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. February 22, 1959 - The Daytona 500 stock car race is run for the first time with Lee Petty taking the first checkered flag. September 26, 1959 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower hosts Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev at his farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvaniaduring the first visit of any Soviet Union leader to the United States.  (Picture below) Eisenhower National Historic Site, site of the Kruschchev/Eisenhower meetings in 1959.  Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

1960

February 1, 1960 - Four black college students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, North Carolina stage a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth lunch counter, protesting their denial of service.  This action caused a national campaign, waged by seventy-thousand students, both white and black, over the next eight months, in sit-ins across the nation for Civil Rights. April 1, 1960 - Tiros I, the first weather satellite, is launched by the United States.  Twelve days later, the navigation satellite, Transat 1-b is launched. May 1, 1960 - In the Soviet Union, a United States U-2 reconnaissance plane is shot done by Soviet forces, leading to the capture of U.S. pilot Gary Powers and the eventual cancellation of the Paris summit conference.  On August 19, Powers is sentences by the Soviet Union to ten years in prison for espionage.  On February 10, 1962 , he would be exchanged for a captured Soviet spy in Berlin. July 1, 1960 - The fifty star flag of the United States is debuted in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, reflecting the admission of Hawaii into the union in 1959. November 8, 1960 - The presidential race to succeed two term president Dwight D. Eisenhower is won by Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic candidate from Massachusetts, over incumbent Vice President Richard M. Nixon.  Kennedy was a narrow victor in the popular vote, by slightly more than 120,000 votes, but won a more substantial victory in the Electoral College tally, 303 to 219.  62.8% of the voting age population took part in the contest.  The 1960 campaign for president had seen the first televised debate on September 26. The 1960 census includes a United States population of 179,323,175, an 18.5% increase since 1950.  For the first time, two states, New York and California have over fifteen million people within their borders.  The geographic center of the United States is located six and one half miles northwest of Centralia, Illinois.