"Ain't nothing but a hound dog" was barely heard through a crowd of wild teenagers of the 1950's listening to their teen idol, Elvis! This teen idol was perfect for this crowd of teens. Teenagers in the fifties wanted to be different and alike at the same time. They wanted to be cool, but "different". This is why  Elvis was perfect for them. Rock and Roll was brought into the world at this time and most parents thought it was unsuitable for a family audience. The teenagers loved him though, they thought he was the greatest thing on Earth. The 1950's was a very exciting decade and it still is. It was a time of happiness, individuality,  and plain old fun.
Entertainment Neato Toys Technology Burma-Shave
Leisure Teen Idols Songs The Day the Music Died
Civil Rights Cold War and Korean War


Entertainment

   In the fifties if you had a television, you would be the neatest kid on the block. Even though at the beginning they only had a few shows, anything would be fun ,in 1956 some scientists did a study on how much kids ages 10-16 watched television.  The results showed that a average kid watched six hours of television a day which was equal to how long they went to school everyday. Television was groovy. 
     One of the popular shows for teenagers was American Bandstand. Dick Clark, the star of the show, got more than fifty thousand fan letters a week. They thought watching this show was more important  than doing their homework. Teenagers loved American Bandstand.
     Some of the popular television shows are listed below:
 
       Comedy
I Love Lucy 
The Honeymooners 
The Families of  the Fifties 		        Drama
Dragnet 
The Twilight Zone 
Superman 
Private Everywhere		          Kids
Howdy Doody Time 
Lassie 
Walt Disney 
Mickey Mouse Club 

       In 1952 movies became more than just movies. In the month of November the first 3-D movie, Bwana Devil, was able to be seen. At first people were amused by this optical illusion, but the fad did not last very long at all. 
     In 1956 rock and roll became known to parents as bad, unhealthy, basically not right. Boyfriends threatened to break up with their girl if she went to his performances. Girls who went to the performances came home and broke with their guys before they had a chance to do anything. Ed Sullivan, a host of a weekly television show said Elvis's music was unfit for a family audience. Younger people did not agree. They thought the music was new and stylish and a great way to be different.

Neato Toys

  During World War Two toy companies were actually making supplies for the war. So afterwards they had fascinating ideas for new dolls and games. They started to see wonderful new material, like plastic. In 1948, Lionel  produced new trains. In 1949,  Silly Putty started there were over 30 million Silly Putty eggs sold. In that year Lego was introduced. Matchbox Cars, a favorite to little boys now were invented in 1954. In 1957, Hula Hoops were invented in. They became a fad in 1958 , but it was shortly over in 1959 when Barbie took over. Then in 1960 Etch-a-Sketch was put in stores, a favorite of mine. In 1961 Ken was introduced to the world, Barbie had fallen in love! Slip’n Slide was was also introduced. There were some pretty neat toys introduced in the fifties. 

Technology

     There were some new technologies in the fifties. Television was just one of them. In 1950 Paper Mate made it's first leak free ball point pen. The first copy machine was made 1950 also.  The Chevrolet Corvette becomes the first car to have a all-fiberglass body in 1953. In 1954 Bell Telephone labs produce solar battery. In 1954 you could get a yard of contact paper for only 59 cents. Polypropylene was invented in 1954 . In 1955 Jonas Salk invented a polio vaccine which was given to more than seven million American students. In 1956 a solar powered wrist watch was invented. 
A surprise came in 1957; a 184 pound satellite was launched by the Russians. They named it Sputnik 1. The space race begins 4 months later the United States launch a smaller satellite.  In 1958 the first plastic Coke bottle appeared. 
 

Fifties Leisure

1950 - "Peanuts", the comic strip begins; some of the movies in theaters were Farther of the Bride, Cinderella, and Asphalt Jungle; Club Med begins 

1952 - The sweater girl becomes popular by Marilyn Monroe; some of the movies were Singing in the Rain, The Quiet Man, and High Noon

1953 - First issue of Playboy

1955- Disneyland opens for business in California; James Dean is killed in his new sports car

1957- Tomorrowland in Disneyland opens; Elvis appears in his first motion picture, Love Me Tender; Stake dress becomes popular; tropical fish are most popular pets

1959- Popular movies were Pillow Talk and Rio Bravo; Family Circus comic first appears; Bye, Bye Birdie appears on Broadway

Burma Shave

     Back in 1925, Allan Odell convinced his farther to give him $200 to make wooden signs along the road to advertise his father's shaving cream called Burma-Shave. It didn't take long for the sales to fly. Soon Allan and his brother were putting up signs over. At first the signs were boring, then they made the slogans more fun and humorous. There were seven thousand signs across America. But then in the fifties people started to drive faster. The little signs were replaced by huge billboards. One billboard still remains at the Smithsonian Institution which reads: 

Shaving bushes 
You'll soon see’em 
On a shelf 
In some museum 
Burma-Shave 
Teen Idols

   The teens of the fifties had many role models. Some of them were known  as "hip", "groovy", or "cool". Some of the teen idols were Frankie Avalon, Bobby Darin, Fabian, Ricky Nelson, Paul Anka, and Bobby Rydell. Below are some of their famous sayings. 

  • Frankie Avalon - If a miss wants to be kissed instead of cuddled, And to this you are in  doubt as what to say, When a girl changes from bobby socks to stockings, Then she is old enough to give her heart away. 
  • Bobby Darin - There was lollipop with-a Peggy Sue, Good Golly, Miss Molly was-a even there, too! A-well-a Splish Splash, I forgot to about the bath I went and put my dancin'’ shoes on, yay... 
  • Fabian - Turn me loose, Turn me lose, I say. Gonna rock and roll As long as the band's gonna play 
  • Bobby Rydell - Forget him, If he doesn't love you. Forget him, If he doesn't care... 
  • Ricky Nelson - Some people call me a teenage idol, Some people say they envy me. I guess they got no way of knowing how lonesome I can be. 
  • Paul Anka - And they call it Puppy Love just because we're seventeen. Tell them all, oh, please tell them it isn't fair to take away my only dream. 

    •  
               A Little List of Songs
1950
Frosty The Snowman 
Mona Lisa 
Goodnight Irene 
Music! Music! Music! 
1951
Because of You
Be My Love 
Jezebel 
Mockin’ Bird Hill 
1952
Wheel of Fortune 
The Little White Cloud That Cried 
I Saw Mommy Kissin’ Santa Claus 
1953
Rags To Riches 
How Much is That Doggie in the Window 
Your Cheatin’ Heart 
1954
Mr. Sandman 
Oh, My Papa 
That's Amore 
Shake, Rattle, and Roll 
1955
Rock Around the Clock 
Maybellene 
Sixteen Tons 
I Hear You Knockin’ 
1956
Heart Break Hotel 
Don't Be Cruel 
The Green Door 
Blue Suede Shoes 
Blueberry Hill 
Be-Bop-A-Lula 
1957
Jail House Rock 
Chances Are 
Bye Bye Love 
All Shook Up 
That'll Be The Day 
You Send Me 
1958
At The Hop 
It's All in the Game 
Get a Job 
To Know Him is to Love Him 
Great Balls of Fire 
1959
Mack the Knife 
Sleep Walk 
Mr. Blue 
Donna 
My Happiness 

The Day The Music Died

   On a winter's night, a plane from Clearlake, Iowa had a destination of Fargo, North Dakota. They did not accomplish their goal. When the plane crashed it took with it the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson and the pilot, Roger Peterson. Three rock and roll stars had died a tragedy. 
    The Big Bopper known to by fans, was a Texas D.J. He found his fame in 1958  with a famous song. Known to kids as cool or groovy , the song Chantilly Lace. He was known to his friends as Jape. He was killed in the crash. 
     Ritchie Valenenzula was discovered by Bob Keane in Pacomi, California when he was only sixteen. Keane changed Richie's last name to Valens. In 1958 they recorded the song, Come on Let's Go. Some of his more successful songs were Donna and La Bamba. He was very popular he was even on American Bandstand. He was also killed in the crash. 
     Charles Huddin "Buddy" Holley and his band The Crickets were popular in the fifties. His last name was changed in spelling to Holly, because of a misspelling on a contract. They had a number one hit in 1957, "That'll Be The Day". This song was followed by "Peggy Sue" and a grand performance on the Ed Sulivan Show. He and his band quit . He moved to New York and got married. I wonder how his wife felt when he was killed. 
     The tour bus they were all on broke down so they got a four passenger charter flight. The worst decision in their lives. Reportedly, singer Waylon Jennings gave up his seat to "Big Bopper", because he didn't want to spend $35, some say.
 

Civil Rights

   In the 1800's there was slavery. We passed a law that said you could not do such a thing, but even after that the blacks were not treated fairly. There were schools in the fifties that did not allow blacks. The schools for the whites were nice and clean. The schools for the blacks had very little supplies and were dirty. In the south states, they spent, on a average, ten times more money on white schools then they did on black schools. In 1954 this changed; those schools that had segregated children, had to bring them together. Just because they were in school together didn't mean everything was fair. When I was researching on this project I found a picture of a black girl and white girl looking at each other. This made me very sad. I felt just terrible. 

The Cold War and the Korean War

   The Cold War was the name of a military conflict with no actual warring. Beginning after World War II, it was a time of diplomatic struggles and mutual suspicion between the United States and a group of nations led by the Soviet Union. The United States, being a democracy, was at odds with the communist ideals of China and the Soviet Union. The fear of Communism was very powerful in the United States. In Congress there was a series of highly publicized inquiries into pro-Communist activity. The best-known investigator was Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, who was known for his strong stance on anticommunism. McCarthy first attracted attention in February 1950, with the charge that the Department of State had been infiltrated by Communists. Although his accusation was never substantiated, during the next several years he repeatedly accused various high-ranking officials of "subversive" activities. Many movie actors and actresses were also thought to be communists at that time. 

      A by-product of the Cold War was the Korean War. When Communist North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, President Truman sent the American military into action. The Korean War ended three bloody years later in a truce that left the border between North and south Korea intact, the infamous 38th parallel. The U.S. suffered 157,530 casualties and South Korea sustained over 1.3 million casualties. Estimated Communist casualties were 2 million. 
 
      The fifties was a time of excitement  and joy. I would like to thank you for reading this. Even though this may have taken a while I'm sure you agree with me that it was worth it. I hope you learned something and had some fun. Below are the research books and internet sites  I used for this project. 

                                      Thank you, 
                                      Molly 

Bibliography

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A Century in Review