1956

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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