1950’s American Culture

If only the Gov’t. came up with some dumb way to protect me.

1950’s American Culture• Fashion

– Women• Dresses• blouses• Skirts• Pants• Hair• Swimsuits• Shoes• Makeup• Prom and Evening Dresses• Teenagers

– Men• Hair• Suits• Shirts• Hats• Shoes

• Music of the 1950’s• Houses

– Levittowns• Community Planning• House Styles• Floor Plans Plans• Apartments • Regulations

• Notable 50’s Events• Inventions• Fads• Slang

Alan Freed and Sam Phillips

• Alan Freed Cleveland DJ coins the term Rock and Roll

• Sam Phillips owner of Sun Records in Memphis

Alan Freed

Sam Phillips

Sun Records

• Owned by Sam Phillips

• Memphis, TN

Johnny Cash, Elvis, Sam Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis “The Million Dollar Quartet”

1950-1954 Music

• Coined Bubble Gum Music because of its sweet sound and nice lyrics

• Light Melodies• Innocent Lyrics• Wholesome Singers• Music reflected the Post

W.W.II good feelings• Artists such as Perry

Como, Rosemary Clooney, and Pat Boone Dominated the charts

Music of the 1950’s

• 1950-1954 Music Overview

• Freed and Phillips– Sun Records

• 1955– Influential Songs

• 1956– American Bandstand

The Rat Pack

1957

1958

1959

The Rat Pack

• Frank Sinatra• Dean Martin• Lauren Bacall• Judy Garland• Humphrey Bogart• Sammy Davis Jr. • Peter Lawford• Joey Bishop

– Cast in the 1960’s

American Bandstand

• Begin in 1952 as a local show in Philadelphia

• 1956 ABC picks it up as a national show Dick Clark becomes the host

• Starts off as a daily show, then becomes weekly in 1963

• American Bandstand Theme song

• Moves to LA in 1964• Jerry Lee Lewis performs

the first song on the national edition- “Whole Lotta Shaking Going On”

• Dick Clark’s podium that he stood at, is now in the Smithsonian.

• B.B. King is the only performer to not lip sync on American Bandstand

American Bandstand Theme Song

• "Bandstand Boogie"Music by Charles Albertine Words by Barry Manilow and Bruse Sussman

"We're goin' hoppin' (Hop!) We're goin' hopin' today Where things are poppin'(Pop!) The Philadelphia way We're goin' drop in (Drop!)On all the music they play On the Bandstand.! "

1956

• Elvis takes over• The Platters• Frankie Lymon and

the Teenagers• Johnny Cash• Little Richard

1957

• Buddy Holly• Everly Brothers• Fats Domino• Pat Boone• Chuck Berry

1957 was the last year in the history of Rock in which all of the year end Top Ten artists were American

1958• Jerry Lee Lewis’

marriage• Danny and the

Juniors• Chimpmunks• Connie Francis• Little Anthony• Elvis is in the Army

1959

• The day the music dies

Ritchie Valens, Big Bopper, and Buddy Holly all killed in a plane crash

Paul Anka

Bobby Darin

1955

• Chess Records in Chicago signs Chuck Berry

• Leonard Chess is introduced to Berry by Muddy Waters

• Bill Haley and His Comets have a hit with “Rock around the Clock”

• Chuck Berry record Maybellene which was called Ida Red

• Berry had been studying cosmetology before this song

1955

• 1955 spawned five titles considered by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to be among the 500 Most Influential - Ain't That a Shame (Fats Domino), Earth Angel (The Penguins), Mannish Boy (Muddy Waters), Maybellene (Chuck Berry), and Rock Around the Clock (Bill Haley and the Comets).

Inventions of the 1950’s

• 1950• 1951• 1952• 1953• 1954

• 1955• 1956• 1957• 1958• 1959

1950

• Zenith introduces "lazy bones" tuning - change all television stations from the comfort of your easy chair. Hand held device plugs into TV

• Antihistamines enter popular use for treatment of allergies and head-colds.

• Leo Fender's guitar company introduced their Broadcaster and Esquire models, the first mass-produced solid body electric guitars.

• Telephone Answering Machine created by Bell Laboratories and Western Electric.

1951

• UNIVAC 1 First commercial computer. • A.E.C. (Atomic Energy Commission) produces electricity

from atomic energy.• Super glue invented. • American automobile manufacturer Chrysler Corporation

introduces power steering., which they called Hydraguide.

• Charles Ginsburg invented the first videotape recorder (VTR).

• J. Andre-Thomas invents the first heart-lung machine, allowing advanced life-support during open-heart surgery.

• Still camera gets built-in flash units.

1952

• The first patent for bar code (US Patent #2,612,994) issued to inventors Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver

• American automobile manufacturer Chrysler Corporation introduces power steering., which they called Hydraguide.

• Sony, a brand new Japanese company, introduces the first pocket-sized transistor radio More

1953

• Radial tires invented.• The first musical synthesizer invented by RCA • The first 3-D movie is shown: Arch Oboler's Bwana

Devil, starring Robert Stack. Learn More• Francis Crick and James Watson discover the ``double

helix'' of DNA. • Con-Tact paper debuts • Dr. Jonas Salk announces discovery of the vaccine for

poliomyelitis• White Rose Redi-tea is the world's first instant iced tea• Dow Chemical creates Saran Wrap • TV color broadcasting began in 1953

1954

• Oral contraceptives invented. • The first nonstick pan produced. • The solar cell invented by Chaplin, Fuller and

Pearson. • The first successful kidney transplant is

performed in the U.S. by Harvard physicians. The patient will survive for seven more years.

• General Electric introduces colored kitchen appliances. Bye, bye white!

1955

• Tetracycline invented.

• Optic fiber invented Zenith engineer Eugene Polley invented the "Flashmatic," which represented the industry's first wireless TV remote.

• Gregory Pincus develops the first oral contraceptive

1956

• The first computer hard disk used. • As a result of the joint research of Sherman and

Smith, the Scotchgard™ Protector was launched in the marketplace

• Secretary Bette Nesmith Graham invented "Mistake Out" later renamed, Liquid Paper

• The first commercial videotape recorder is introduced. The device is intended for industrial applications, and it quickly revolutionizes the way television programming is produced.

1957

• Fortran (computer language) invented.

• Velcro is patented by George de Mestral of Switzerland.

• Eveready produces "AA" size alkaline batteries

1958

• The modem invented.

• Gordon Gould invents the laser.

• The integrated circuit invented by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce.

• Sterophonic recordings, which use two separately recorded channels of sound to recreate a sense of space, come into commercial use.

1959

• The internal pacemaker invented by Wilson Greatbatch.

• In 1959, Joseph-Armand Bombardier of Valcourt, Quebec, Canada patented the Ski-Doo, originally christened the Ski-Dog, but renamed because of a typographical error that Bombardier decided not to change. You know it as a snowmobile.

Notable 50’s

• 1950 1956

• 1951 1957

• 1952 1958

• 1953 1959

• 1954

• 1955

1959

• The Day the Music Dies• One word: Barbie• Jiffy Pop• Last Confederate soldier dies(the South will not

rise again)• Bonanza debuts• The Guggenheim• Sleeping Beauty• Vince Lombardi starts in Green Bay• Metrecal is introduced

1950

• Silly Putty is introduced

• Smokey the Bear starts

• Peanuts starts

• 23% Divorce Rate

• Average age of marriage is 22 years old

• Kraft Cheese Slices are introduced

1951

– Topps sells it first complete Baseball Card set– Catcher in the Rye is published– S and H green stamps are started in Denver– Dennis the Menace is in over 750,000

newspapers– Alice in Wonderland released– First Jack in the Box opens in San Diego

1952– Old Man and the Sea is published– Mr. Potato Head– 50,000 stricken with Polio and 3,300 die– Sugar Frosted Flakes– The Power of Positive Thinking comes out. – Gibson introduces the Les Paul guitar – Sony comes out with a transistor radio

1953

• Playboy first published; first pictorials were of Marilyn Monroe.

• Jonas Salk comes up with discovery for polio

• Kraft Cheese Whiz

• Fahrenheit 451 is published

1954

• Sports Illustrated is Born• Burger King Opens• M & M’s come out• Lord of the Rings is published• Play Doh• Bazooka Joe Comics• Bannister breaks the 4 minute mile• TV dinner is born

1955

• Ann Landers columns starts in Chicago

• Home microwave sales start $1300

• KFC starts

• McDonalds starts

• Disneyland opens

• Ford Thunderbird debuts

1956

• Yahtzee is Born

• Certs save the world from bad breath

• Wizard of Oz appears on TV

• Last Union soldier dies from the Civil War

• Marilyn Monroe marries Arthur Miller

1957

• 47 million tv sets• Tang is introduced• West Side Story hits Broadway• Jackie Robinson• Frisbee is nationally marketed • American Bandstand Goes National: Dick Clark

is the Host • On the Road is published• Ed Gein’s killing spree stops• Barry Gordy starts MoTown Records

1958

• Dr. Zhivago is published in the US. Banned in the USSR

• American Express and Visa are born• HULA Hoop rolls out• Grammy Award comes out• 4,063 Drive Ins• Rice a Roni• Cocoa Krispies comes out(43% sugar)

1950’s Fads• 3-D Movies• Chlorophyll• Coonskin Caps• Think Pink• Poodles• Telephone Cramming• Burma Shave

Burma Shave

• Altho insuredRemember, kiddoThey don't pay you

They payYour widow Burma-Shave

• SpringHas sprungThe grass has rizWhere last year'sCareless drivers is Burma-Shave

Burma Shave Cont’d.

• Proper DistanceTo him was bunk They pulled him outOf some guy's trunkBurma-Shave

• A beardThat's roughAnd overgrown Is better thanA chaperone Burma-Shave

Poodles

• Poodles become very popular. Poodles influence everything from skirts to lamps, even hair influenced by the poodles.

Cholorphyl• Beat odor. I figured your first question

would be - what is that supposed to do for you? And the answer is that it was widely believed that chlorophyll eliminated bad smells.

So they added it to every kind of product imaginable. The picture at left just suggests the variety and number of items to which chlorophyll became a promotable ingredient.

Yes, chlorophyll is the stuff that makes plants green. Today many people still tout the benefits of it for health. No, I don't think you can just go out and eat a shrub and get the same result.

While not engaging in the debate of chlorophyll's therapeutic properties, suffice it to say that it sold well. Until "The Journal of the American Medical Association" pointed out grazing goats virtually live on chlorophyll and they smell bad just the same.

Coonskin Caps

• Davy Crockett was a big influence on kids. These hats were very popular with the kids who liked anything to do with the West, or cowboys or indians.

• 100 million dollars worth of coonskin caps were sold in a year.

Telephone Cramming

• Starts in South Africa, goes to England, and then comes to California in 1959.

• Record of 25 people set in S.Africa 22 in America

• VW Beetle cramming also was a short-lived fad.

Pink

• Formerly considered a "girlish" color, pink invaded men's wear. Yessir, pilgrims, even real tough hombres were donning pink ties, shirts, and bathrobes. Serious corporate types could be seen wearing pink under their grey flannel suits. This display of sartorial splendor was a radical departure from the drab neutral colors that once limited men's clothing choices.

Pink was everywhere. There were pink bathrooms with accessories to match, pink cosmetics and of course, the ubiquitous pink poodle. And then there was Elvis with his famous pink Cadillacs.

3-D Movies

• Reemerge during the 1950’s • Images appear to be coming out at you• Moviegoers are giving the 3-D glasses• Most films were sci-fi or monster movies

The misunderstood CreatureHi kids. Wanna go

for a swim?

Kitchen

Levittowns Models

Apartment Living 50’s Style

Levittowner Floor Plan

Planning the Community

The Community “Plan” included schools, places of worship, recreation areas and shopping facilities as well as houses. This comprehensive approach is analogous Levitt's house planning which, for example, included landscaping as well as providing a washer, stove and refrigerator in each house. Levitt’s approach to community planning and design created a full-service community with "built-in" features—just like its houses. For example, elementary schools were centered inside each master block of sections so that, in Levitt's words, "no child will have to walk more than one half mile to school or cross any major road." The Community Plan and design included:    41 Sections with 17,311 single family houses    171 miles of roads    5 Olympic-sized community swimming pools    Little League baseball fields    Lots of green space and neighborhood parks    Large, multi-purpose Community Hall    Two large, centralized Shopping Centers    Sites set aside & donated for churches & schools

Teenage GirlsShould I

play Pantera or

RATT?

I’ve got mad hops.

Did you see what Suzie was wearing? Hello, it is not 1945, the war is over.

They should

intern her dress.

Shoes

Shirts

Hats

1950’s Hair

Heyyy!!Yes, I am this cool.

I can’t even have my own

shake.

Men’s Suits

Women’s Shoes

Evening and Prom Dresses

1950’s Makeup

 

Lilac Pastel, Apricot Pastel, Honey Pastel, Pink Pastel, Peach Pastel, Strawberry Pastel. See what I mean? And across, Snow Ball of Fire.

1950’s Pants/Outfits

1950’s Swimsuits

Technically, any two piece suit is a bikini. But do you know where the name comes from? Originally created by Parisian designer Louis Reard in 1946, he named it after the Bikini Atoll, where the atomic bomb was tested!

1950’s Women’s Dresses

Women’s Hairstyles

Women’s Skirts

Blouses