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Welcome to Retroville! It’s 1956!
IN THE NEWS:
- U.S. conducts first aerial test of hydrogen bomb over Namu Islet, Bikini Atoll, releasing an explosion equivalent to 10 million tons of TNT
- Egypt takes control of the Suez Canal
- Israel retaliates against Egypt by attacking the Sinai Peninsula joined later by Britain and France in a march toward the Suez Canal
- Under pressure by the United States and the United Nations, Britain, France, and Israel halt their attack on Egypt
- Interstate Highway Act is passed
- Christopher Cockerell invents the Hovercraft
- The first computer hard drive is introduced
- Trans-Atlantic cable telephone service begins
- NY Yankees defeat Brooklyn Dodgers to take the World Series (again!)
ON THE RADIO:
- 21st Precinct
- Fort Laramie with Raymond Burr
- Gunsmoke
- Lone Ranger
- Suspense
- Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
ON TELEVISION:
- As The World Turns
- Chicago Democratic National Convention on all three networks
- Elvis Presley appears on the Ed Sullivan Show
FADS & FASHION:
- Yahtzee
- Ant farms
- Corgi die-cast cars and trucks
- Transistorized car radios
- Fuzzy dice on rearview mirrors
- Virgin pins (signs for good girls in gold and other metals)
- Varsity sweaters and jackets
WHAT THINGS COST:
- Car: $2,100
- Gasoline: 30 cents per gallon
- House: $17,800
- Bread: 18 cents per loaf
- Milk: 97 cents per gallon
- Postage Stamp: 3 cents
- Average Annual Salary: $5,300
- Minimum Wage: $1.00 per hour
ACADEMY AWARD – BEST PICTURE:
- Around the World in Eighty Days – by Michael Anderson starring Noel Coward and Sir John Gielgud
TONY AWARD – BEST MUSICAL:
- Damn Yankees – based on a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, lyrics by Jerry Ross, music by Richard Adler, choreographed by Bob Fossee, starring Gwen Verdon, Stephen Douglass, and Ray Walston
PULITZER PRIZES:
- Andersonville by Mackinlay Kantor (fiction)
- Diary of Anne Frank by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich (drama)
- The Age of Reform by Richard Hofstadter (history)
- Benjamin Henry Latrobe by Talbot Faulkner Hamlin (biography)
- Poems North & South by Elizabeth Bishop (poetry)
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE:
- none awarded
TOP SONGS:
- Memories Are Made of This by Dean Martin
- Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley
- Singing the Blues by Guy Mitchell
- This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
- Blueberry Hill by Fats Domino
- Why Do Fools Fall in Love by Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers
- My Prayer by The Platters
- See You Later, Alligator by Bill Haley and the Comets
- Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis Presley
- Don’t Be Cruel by Elvis Presley
- I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash
- Que Sera Sera by Doris Day
- Eddie My Love by The Chordettes
- Singing the Blues by Guy Mitchell
- The Great Pretender by The Platters
