Those Were the Days …

Our high school years at FA launched the fabulous ‘50s, a decade that holds a much-celebrated place in American history – the dawn of the thermonuclear age, the birth of rock and roll, and much more.

Here is a sampling of what made these years so special for our freshman and senior years.

OUR FRESHMAN YEAR, 1951

(Truman is President, Alben Barkley is VP)

Some Important Events

* May, first hydrogen bomb test

* June, the first color television broadcast (CBS)

* September, the first intercontinental TV broadcast

* November, the AMA approves adding fluorides to drinking water

* First commercial digital computer, Remington Rand Corp's "UNIVAC"

* US Airforce orders the first production models of the B-52 Bomber from Boeing

* North Korean offensive pushes beyond the 38th parallel; General Douglas MacArthur relieved of command in Korea

* Electricity generated from nuclear power for the first time
 

Popular Movies                                                         

* Best Picture -- "An American in Paris"

* Best Actor -- Humphery Bogart in "The African Queen"

* Best Actress -- Vivien Leigh in "A Streetcar Named Desire"

* Other notable pictures: An American in Paris, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Lavender Hill Mob, A Place in the Sun, Quo Vadis, The Thing

Best-Sellers (fiction)

1. From Here to Eternity, James Jones

2. The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk

3. Moses, Sholem Asch
 

Most Popular TV Shows

1. Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (CBS)

2. Texaco Star Theater (NBC)

3. I Love Lucy (CBS); very first year

4. The Red Skelton Show (NBC)

5. The Colgate Comedy Hour (NBC)
 

Popular Songs

* Because Of You (Tony Bennett)

* Be My Love (Mario Lanza)

* Come On-A My House (Rosemary Clooney)

* Cry (Johnnie Ray)

* Hello Young Lovers (Perro Como)

* How High the Moon (Les Paul & Mary Ford)

* I Get Ideas (Tony Martin)

* On Top of Old Smokey (The Weavers)

* Disc jockey Alan Freed coins the term “rock and roll”

World Series:

New York Yankees over New York Giants, 4-2.

OUR SENIOR YEAR, 1955

* April 5, Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the U.K.

* April, Jonas Salk announces a vaccine for polio

* April, Richard J. Daley first elected mayor of Chicago, starting his 21-year dynasty in that job

* May 14, Warsaw Pact signed

* June 11, during the Le Mans race, Pierre Levegh's car crashes into the grandstand, killing 80 and injuring more than 100

* July 17, Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California

* August 27, first edition of the Guinness Book of Records

* September 19, Argentina ousts dictator Juan Perón

* November 22, USSR tests its first “staged” thermonuclear weapon

* December 1, Rosa Parks arrested for not giving up her seat on a bus

* December 31, General Motors becomes the first American corporation to achieve revenues of over $1 billion dollars in a year

* Stores first carried Play-Doh, Crest fluoride toothpaste, Quaker Instant Oatmeal, the Ford Thunderbird, and Tappan home microwave ovens

* 45 rpm records outsell 78 rpm records for the first time

* Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the WebBill), Gates, Steve Jobs, Yo-Yo Ma, and Bruce Willis are born.

* James Dean, Albert Einstein, Charlie Parker die

Best Movies:

* Best Picture – “Marty”

* Best Actor – Ernest Borgnine in “Marty”

* Best Actress – Anna Magnani in “The Rose Tattoo”

* Other notable pictures: Bad Day at Black Rock, The Blackboard Jungle, East of Eden, The Man with a Golden Arm, Marty, Mister Roberts, Picnic, Rebel Without a Cause, The Seven Year Itch, To Catch a Thief

Best-sellers (fiction):

1. Marjorie Morningstar, Herman Wouk

2. Auntie Mame, Patrick Dennis

3. Andersonville, MacKinlay? Kantor

Most Popular TV Shows:

1. I Love Lucy

2. The Jackie Gleason Show         

3. Dragnet      

4. You Bet Your Life

5. The Ed Sullivan Show (The Toast of the Town)

* Gunsmoke makes its debut on CBS, and will go on to be television's longest-running western.

* Ain´t That a Shame (Pat Boone)  

* Autumn Leaves (Roger Williams)

* Earth Angel (The Crew Cuts)

* Hearts of Stone (Fontane Sisters)

* Learnin’ the Blues (Frank Sinatra)

* Love is a Many Splendored Thing (Four Aces)

* Rock Around the Clock (Bill Haley and his Comets), the first rock ‘n roll record to achieve national popularity

* Sixteen Tons (Tennessee Ford)

* Yellow Rose of Texas (Mitch Miller)

Cost of Living

Gallon of Milk                  .92
Postage Stamp                .03
Min. Hourly Wage            .75
Gallon of Gas                  .23
New Auto           $  1,950.00
New Home         $22,000.00

DOW Avg.  489

Average Annual Income  $4,137.00
 

World Series:

 Brooklyn Dodgers over New York Yankees, 4-3 (details here), becoming the legendary “boys of summer”