1957

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Welcome to Retroville! It’s 1957!

IN THE NEWS:

  • Dwight D. Eisenhower begins his second term
  • Richard M. Nixon remains Vice President
  • FORTRAN (computer language) is introduced
  • The first Boeing 707 takes flight
  • Little Rock Nine integrate Little Rock High School
  • Russia puts SPUTNIK into space as the first man-made satellite
  • Russians send up SPUTNIK II with a dog, Laika, on a one-way journey
  • The Surgeon General links cigarette smoking to lung cancer
  • Milwaukee Braves defeat NY Yankees in the World Series
  • Humphrey Bogart dies
  • Hurricane Audrey becomes the most powerful storm on record as it sweeps across the Gulf of Mexico across Texas and Louisiana as a Category 4 leaving 390 people dead and $150 million in damage

ON THE RADIO:

  • CBS Radio Workshop
  • Gunsmoke
  • Meet the Press
  • Stan Freberg Show
  • Suspense
  • X Minus One
  • Yours Truly Johnny Dollar

ON TELEVISION:

  • The Restless Years
  • Perry Mason
  • Leave It to Beaver
  • Lassie
  • Lone Ranger
  • Wagon Train

FADS & FASHION:

  • Radio Flyer
  • Radio Rancher
  • Tonka Toys
  • Hula hoops
  • Sea monkeys

WHAT THINGS COST:

  • Car: $2,100
  • Gasoline: 31 cents per gallon
  • House: $18,000
  • Bread: 19 cents per loaf
  • Milk: $1.00 per gallon
  • Postage Stamp: 3 cents
  • Average Annual Salary: $5,500
  • Minimum Wage: $1.00 per hour

ACADEMY AWARD – BEST PICTURE:

  • Bridge on the River Kwai – war drama by Sam Spiegel starring Alec Guinness and Joanne Woodward

TONY AWARD – BEST MUSICAL:

  • My Fair Lady – based upon the 1914 comedy, Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, lyrics and music by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner, choreographed by Hanya Holm, starring Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Stanley Holloway, and Cathleen Nesbitt

PULITZER PRIZES:

  • Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill (drama)
  • Russian Leaves the War: Soviet-American Relations by George F. Kennan (history)
  • Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy (autobiography)
  • Things of This World by Richard Wilbur (poetry)

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE:

  • Lester Bowles Pearson, Canada, 1897-1972, former Foreign Minister, President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1952

TOP SONGS:

  • Love Letters in the Sand by Pat Boone
  • Honeycomb by Jimmie Rodgers
  • My Special Angel by Bobby Helms
  • Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley
  • Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On by Jerry Lee Lewis
  • Walking After Midnight by Patsy Cline
  • Banana Boat Song – DayO by Harry Belafonte
  • You Send Me by Sam Cooke
  • Chances Are by Johnny Mathis
  • That’ll Be the Day by Buddy Holly
  • At the Hop by Danny and the Juniors
  • Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis
  • Teddy Bear by Elvis Presley
  • Come Go With Me by the Del Vikings
  • Little Darlin by The Diamonds
  • Silhouettes by The Rays
  • Wake Up, Little Susie by The Everly Brothers
  • Be Bop Baby by Ricky Nelson
  • Bye Bye Love by The Everly Brothers
  • It’s Not for Me to Say by Johnny Mathis
  • Searchin’ by The Coasters
  • Kisses Sweeter Than Wine by Jimmie Rodgers
  • White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation by Marty Robbins
  • Twelfth of Never by Johnny Mathis
  • Young Love by Tab Hunter