You are here -> HOME – RETROVILLE – 1951
Welcome to Retroville! It’s 1951!
IN THE NEWS:
- Schuman Plan is agreed to by six nations to pool European coal and steel
- Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted and receive death sentences for passing atomic secrets to the Russians
- First transcontinental direct-dial telephone service begins
- Atomic power is produced
- Color television is introduced
- NY Yankees defeat NY Giants to take the World Series
- UNIVAC I becomes the first mass-produced computer
ON THE RADIO:
- CBS Radio Mystery Theater
- Couple Next Door
- Dragnet
- Falcon
- Fibber McGee and Molly
- Jack Benny Show
- Life with Luigi
- Magnificent Montague
- Mysterious Traveler
- Our Miss Brooks
ON TELEVISION:
- First coast to coast telecast (Truman speech)
- First international broadcast (US to Cuba)
- I Love Lucy premieres
- Red Skelton Show
- Studio One
- Your Show of Shows
- Amos & Andy
- Edward R. Murrow’s See It Now
FADS & FASHION:
- Color television (for those who can afford it – sets cost nearly $1,000)
- Color Forms
- Rock-n-roll introduced by Cleveland DJ Alan Freed
- Built-in flash cameras
WHAT THINGS COST:
- Car: $1,800
- Gasoline: 27 cents per gallon
- House: $16,000
- Bread: 16 cents per loaf
- Milk: 92 cents per gallon
- Postage Stamp: 3 cents
- Average Annual Salary: $4,200
- Minimum Wage: 75 cents per hour
ACADEMY AWARD – BEST PICTURE:
- An American in Paris – a musical romance by Vincente Minnelli starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron
TONY AWARD – BEST MUSICAL:
- Guys and Dolls – music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, directed by George S. Kaufman, choreographed by Michael Kidd, starring Stubby Kaye, Vivian Blaine, and Robert Alda
PULITZER PRIZES:
- The Town by Conrad Richter (fiction)
- The Old Northwest, Pioneer Period by R. Carlyle Buley (history)
- John C. Calhoun: American Portrait by Margaret Louise Coit (biography)
- Complete Poems by Carl Sandburg (poetry)
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE:
- Leon Jouhaux, France, 1879-1954, President of the Trade Union CGT-Force Ouvriere, President of the International Committee of the European Council, Vice President of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, Vice President of the World Federation of Trade Unions, member of the ILO, delegate to the United Nations
TOP SONGS:
- Too Young by Nat King Cole
- Mockingbird Hill by Les Paul and Mary Ford
- Cry by Johnnie Ray
- Cold Cold Heart by Tony Bennett
- Be My Love by Mario Lanza
- Sixty Minute Man by Billy Ward and His Domino
