You are here -> HOME – RETROVILLE – 1949
Welcome to Retroville! It’s 1949!
IN THE NEWS:
- A cease fire is called in Palestine
- Harry S. Truman begins his second term
- Israel signs an armistice with Egypt
- Minimum Wage Bill passes
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is formed with twelve original nations signing the establishing treaty
- Soviets set off an atomic explosion
- Communist People’s Republic of China is formally proclaimed by Chairman Mao Zedong
- South Africa institutionalizes apartheid
- Cortisone is sythetically reproduced and released as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis
- NY Yankees defeat Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series
- Joe Louis retires from boxing
ON THE RADIO:
- Burns and Allen ends its radio run before moving to television
- Father Knows Best? begins its 4 year run before moving to television
- Calling All Detectives
- Counterspy
- Crime Does Not Pay
- Dragnet
- Great Gildersleeve
- Inner Sanctum
- Superman
- Suspense
ON TELEVISION:
- Howdy Doody (merchandising rakes in $11M for the year)
- Captain Video
- Texaco Star Theater
- Ed Wynn Show
- Time for Beanie
- The Lone Ranger
FADS & FASHION:
- Prepared cake mixes
- Bikini swimsuits
- Candy Land
- Legos
- Silly Putty
- Howdy Doody lunchpails and dolls
WHAT THINGS COST:
- Car: $1,650
- Gasoline: 26 cents per gallon
- House: $14,500
- Bread: 14 cents per loaf
- Milk: 84 cents per gallon
- Postage Stamp: 3 cents
- Average Annual Salary: $3,600
- Minimum Wage: 40 cents per hour
ACADEMY AWARD – BEST PICTURE:
- All The King’s Men – a dramatic film by Robert Rossen starring Broderick Crawford and John Ireland
TONY AWARD – BEST MUSICAL:
- Kiss Me Kate – music and lyrics by Cole Porter, directed by John C. Wilson, and choreographed by Hanya Holm, starring Alfred Drake and Patricia Morison
PULITZER PRIZES:
- Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens (fiction)
- Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (drama)
- The Disruption of American Democracy by Roy Franklin Nichols (history)
- Roosevelt and Hopkins by Robert E. Sherwood (biography)
- Terror and Decorum by Peter Viereck (poetry)
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
- Baron John Boyd Orr of Brechin, Great Britain, 1880-1971, Physician, nutritionist, leading organizer and Director General of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), President of the National Peace Council and the World Union of Peace Organizations
TOP SONGS:
- Some Enchanted Evening by Perry Como
- A Little Bird Told Me by Evelyn Knight
- Riders in the Sky by Vaughn Monroe
- You’re Breaking My Heart by Vic Damone
- Forever and Ever by Russ Morgan
