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Welcome to Retroville! It’s 1952!
IN THE NEWS:
- George VI, King of England, dies
- Elizabeth II (daughter of George VI) becomes Queen of England
- The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) announces successful tests of its new hydrogen bomb at Enewetak
- GI Bill of Rights – Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act is enacted
- Bar Code is patented by Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver
- Jonas Salk begins trials of polio vaccine electing to immunize himself, his wife, and his children first to test the safety of the new vaccine before public immunizations begin
- Scientists discover cloning by creating a cloned frog
- NY Yankees defeat Brooklyn Dodgers to take the World Series
ON THE RADIO:
- Bob Hope Show
- Broadway is My Beat
- CBS Radio Mystery Theater
- Frontier Town
- Jack Benny Show
- Nightbeat
- Quiz Kids
- Railroad Hour
- Red Skelton
ON TELEVISION:
- Today Show with David Garroway
- Hopalong Cassidy (moved over from radio)
- What’s My Line
- Dragnet
- Today Show
- Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (starts a 14-year run)
- CBS uses the word “anchorman” for the first time on the CBS News
- Honeymooners
FADS & FASHION:
- Soft drinks
- Matchbox cars
- PEZ
- Mr. Potato Head
- 3-D movies (starting with 1952 Bwana Devil)
- Panty raids at college dormitories
- MAD Magazine
WHAT THINGS COST:
- Car: $1,850
- Gasoline: 27 cents per gallon
- House: $17,000
- Bread: 16 cents per loaf
- Milk: 96 cents per gallon
- Postage Stamp: 3 cents
- Average Annual Salary: $4,500
- Minimum Wage: 75 cents per hour
ACADEMY AWARD – BEST PICTURE:
- The Greatest Show on Earth – a drama by Cecil B. DeMille starring Betty Hutton and Cornel Wilde
TONY AWARD – BEST MUSICAL:
- The King and I – based on Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers, directed by John Van Druten, starring Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner
PULITZER PRIZES:
- The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk (fiction)
- The Shrike by Joseph Kramm (drama)
- The Uprooted by Oscar Handlin (history)
- Charles Evans Hughes by Merlo J. Pusey (biography)
- Collected Poems by Marianne Moore (poetry)
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE:
- Albert Schweitzer, France, 1875-1965, physician and missionary, founder of the Lambarene Hospital in Gabon
TOP SONGS:
- Glow Worm by The Mills Brothers
- You Belong to Me by Jo Stafford
- Unforgettable by Nat King Cole
- A Guy is a Guy by Doris Day
- Heart and Soul by The Four Aces
