You are here -> HOME – RETROVILLE – 1948
Welcome to Retroville! It’s 1948!
IN THE NEWS:
- Gandhi assassinated in New Delhi by a Hindu fanatic
- Communists seize power in Czechoslovakia
- Burma and Ceylon gain independence from Britain
- Organization of American States (OAS) is formed in Bogota, Columbia
- Israel is declared a nation and recognized by the United Nations and the United States
- Republic of Korea is proclaimed after elections supervised by the U.N.
- Verdict in Japanese War Trials results in 18 imprisonments while Tojo and six other military leaders are hanged
- Alger Hiss, a former U.S. State Department official, is indicted on charges of perjury after denying that he passed secret documents to a communist spy ring (convicted in his second trial, he received a five year prison sentence)
- Poloroid Camera is introduced
- Velcro is invented
- Xerox Company introduces “xeroxing”
- The LP (long-playing) record is developed by Peter Goldmark
- Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Braves in the World Series
- Eddie Arcaro takes the Triple Crown riding Citation
ON THE RADIO:
- Hopalong Cassidy
- Chandu the Magician
- Hallmark Playhouse
- Al Jolson
- Box 13
- Ford Theatre
- Meet the Meeks
- My Friend Irma
- Quiz Kids
ON TELEVISION:
- Pantomime (a game show)
- Ed Sullivan Show
- Quiz Time
- CBS TV News with Douglas Edwards
- Prize fight — Louis v Walcott – sponsored for $100,000 by Gillette
- NY baseball teams’ television rights sold for $700,000
FADS & FASHION:
- Frisbee
- Wurlitzer jukeboxes
- Scrabble
- Cootie
- Kinsey Report (Sexual Behavior in the American Male)
WHAT THINGS COST:
- Car: $1,550
- Gasoline: 26 cents per gallon
- House: $13,500
- Bread: 14 cents per loaf
- Milk: 86 cents per gallon
- Postage Stamp: 3 cents
- Average Annual Salary: $3,600
- Minimum Wage: 40 cents per hour
ACADEMY AWARD – BEST PICTURE:
- Hamlet – a dramatic film by Laurence Olivier starring Laurence Olivier and Eileen Herlie
TONY AWARD – BEST MUSICAL:
- The Tony Awards begin in 1947 but the first Tony for a musical isn’t given out until 1949 (look ahead to 1949 to see the first winner)
PULITZER PRIZES:
- Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener (fiction)
- A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (drama)
- Across the Wide Missouri by Bernard Devoto (history)
- Forgotten First Citizen: John Bigelow by Margaret Clapp (biography)
- The Age of Anxiety by W.H. Auden (poetry)
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE:
- none awarded
TOP SONGS:
- I’m Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover by Art Mooney
- Buttons and Bows by Dinah Shore
