History of the United States (1945–1964)  

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 +"By compiling [[propaganda]] or fictions denying 'nuclear-truth', ''[[The Atomic Cafe]]'' reveals the American public's lack of resistance to the fear generated by the government propaganda films and the [[misinformation]] they generated."--''[[Subject to Change: Guerrilla Television Revisited]]'' (1997) by Deirdre Boyle
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During the early '''1950s in the United States''' manufacturing and home construction was on the rise as the American economy was on the upswing. The [[Korean War]] and the beginning of the [[Cold War]] created a politically conservative climate. The [[Cold War]] between the [[Soviet Union]] and the United States played out through the entire decade. Fear of [[Communism]] caused public Congressional hearings by both houses in [[U.S. Congress|Congress]] and [[Anti-Communism]] was the prevailing sentiment in the United States throughout the decade. Conformity and conservatism characterized the social mores of the time. The 1950s in the developed [[western world]] are generally considered both [[social conservative|socially conservative]] and highly [[Consumerism|materialistic]] in nature. The beginning of [[decolonization]] in Africa and Asia occurred in this decade and accelerated in the following decade of the 1960s. [[The Library of Congress]] has dubbed the 1950s as the decade with the least musical innovation. The 1950s are noted in [[United States history]] as a time of both compliance and conformity and also, to a lesser extent, of rebellion. Major U.S. events during the decade included: The [[Korean War]] (1950–1953); The [[World War II|Second World War]] hero and retired Army [[General|Gen.]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] as [[President of the United States|President]] in [[United States presidential election, 1952|1952]] and his subsequent [[United States presidential election, 1956|re-election in 1956]]; The [[Second Red Scare|Red Scare]] and anti-[[Communist]] concerns of the [[Joseph McCarthy|McCarthy]] era; The U.S. reaction to the 1957 launch by the [[Soviet Union]] of the [[Sputnik]] satellite, a major milestone of the [[Cold War]]. During the early '''1950s in the United States''' manufacturing and home construction was on the rise as the American economy was on the upswing. The [[Korean War]] and the beginning of the [[Cold War]] created a politically conservative climate. The [[Cold War]] between the [[Soviet Union]] and the United States played out through the entire decade. Fear of [[Communism]] caused public Congressional hearings by both houses in [[U.S. Congress|Congress]] and [[Anti-Communism]] was the prevailing sentiment in the United States throughout the decade. Conformity and conservatism characterized the social mores of the time. The 1950s in the developed [[western world]] are generally considered both [[social conservative|socially conservative]] and highly [[Consumerism|materialistic]] in nature. The beginning of [[decolonization]] in Africa and Asia occurred in this decade and accelerated in the following decade of the 1960s. [[The Library of Congress]] has dubbed the 1950s as the decade with the least musical innovation. The 1950s are noted in [[United States history]] as a time of both compliance and conformity and also, to a lesser extent, of rebellion. Major U.S. events during the decade included: The [[Korean War]] (1950–1953); The [[World War II|Second World War]] hero and retired Army [[General|Gen.]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] as [[President of the United States|President]] in [[United States presidential election, 1952|1952]] and his subsequent [[United States presidential election, 1956|re-election in 1956]]; The [[Second Red Scare|Red Scare]] and anti-[[Communist]] concerns of the [[Joseph McCarthy|McCarthy]] era; The U.S. reaction to the 1957 launch by the [[Soviet Union]] of the [[Sputnik]] satellite, a major milestone of the [[Cold War]].

Revision as of 19:47, 9 July 2020

"By compiling propaganda or fictions denying 'nuclear-truth', The Atomic Cafe reveals the American public's lack of resistance to the fear generated by the government propaganda films and the misinformation they generated."--Subject to Change: Guerrilla Television Revisited (1997) by Deirdre Boyle

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During the early 1950s in the United States manufacturing and home construction was on the rise as the American economy was on the upswing. The Korean War and the beginning of the Cold War created a politically conservative climate. The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States played out through the entire decade. Fear of Communism caused public Congressional hearings by both houses in Congress and Anti-Communism was the prevailing sentiment in the United States throughout the decade. Conformity and conservatism characterized the social mores of the time. The 1950s in the developed western world are generally considered both socially conservative and highly materialistic in nature. The beginning of decolonization in Africa and Asia occurred in this decade and accelerated in the following decade of the 1960s. The Library of Congress has dubbed the 1950s as the decade with the least musical innovation. The 1950s are noted in United States history as a time of both compliance and conformity and also, to a lesser extent, of rebellion. Major U.S. events during the decade included: The Korean War (1950–1953); The Second World War hero and retired Army Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower as President in 1952 and his subsequent re-election in 1956; The Red Scare and anti-Communist concerns of the McCarthy era; The U.S. reaction to the 1957 launch by the Soviet Union of the Sputnik satellite, a major milestone of the Cold War.

Contents

Cold War

The Cold War (1945–91) was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, led by the United States. Although the primary participants' military forces never officially clashed directly, they expressed the conflict through military coalitions, strategic conventional force deployments, a nuclear arms race, espionage, proxy wars, propaganda, and technological competition, e.g. the space race.

Korean War

The war, which lasted from June 25, 1950 until a cease-fire on July 27, 1953 (as of 2010, there has been no peace signed), started as a civil war between communist North Korea and the Republic of South Korea. This was America's least popular war. A monument for the veteran wasn't created until the 1990's. When it began, North and South Korea existed as provisional governments competing for control over the Korean peninsula, due to the division of Korea by outside powers. While originally a civil war, it quickly escalated into a proxy war between the capatialist powers of the United States and its allies and the communist powers of the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union.

On September 15, General Douglas MacArthur conducted an amphibious landing at the city of Inchon (Song Do port). The North Korean army collapsed, and within a few days, MacArthur's army retook Seoul (South Korea's capital). He then pushed north, capturing Pyongyang in October. But the Chinese intervened the following month, driving the UN forces south again. MacArthur then planned for a full-scale invasion of China, but this was against the wishes of President Truman and others who wanted a limited war. He was dismissed and replaced by General Matthew Ridgeway. The war then became a bloody stalemate for the next two and a half years while peace negotiations dragged on.

A cease-fire was finally agreed to by both sides on July 27, 1953. The war left 33,742 American soldiers dead, 92,134 wounded, and 80,000 MIA or POW. Estimates place Korean and Chinese casualties at 1,000,000–1,400,000 dead or wounded, and 140,000 MIA or POW or in fact the whole as a whole.

Suez Crisis

The Suez Crisis was a war fought over control of Egyptian territory in 1956. It followed the unexpected but legal nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956 by Gamal Abdel Nasser, in which the United Kingdom, France and Israel subsequently invaded. The operation was a military success, but after the United States and Soviet Union united in opposition to the invasion, the invaders were forced to withdraw. This action was seen as a major humiliation, especially for the two Western European countries, and symbolizes the beginning of the end of colonialism and the weakening of European global importance, specifically the collapse of the British Empire.

Britain was eager to tame Nasser's increasingly independent actions and looked towards the United States for support. However, President Eisenhower remained unsympathetic; America's closest ally in the region, Saudi Arabia, was just as fundamentally opposed to the Hashemite-dominated Baghdad Pact as Egypt, and the U.S. was keen to increase its own influence in the region. Nasser's growing influence in the Non-Aligned Movement and the recent failure of the Baghdad Pact aided such a goal by reducing Britain's dominance over the region. "Great Britain would have preferred to overthrow Nasser; America, however uncomfortable with the "Czech arms deal", thought it wiser to propitiate him."

The events that brought the crisis to a head occurred in the spring and summer of 1956. On 16 May, Nasser officially recognized the People's Republic of China, a move that angered the U.S. and its secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, a keen sponsor of Taiwan. This move, coupled with the impression that the project was beyond Egypt's economic capabilities, caused Eisenhower to withdraw all American financial aid for the Aswan Dam project on 19 July.

Nasser's response was the nationalization of the Suez Canal. On 26 July, in a speech in Alexandria, Nasser gave a riposte to Dulles. During his speech he deliberately pronounced the name of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the canal, a code-word for Egyptian forces to seize control of the canal and implement its nationalization.

In his 26 July speech in Alexandria, Nasser announced that the Nationalization Law had been published, that all assets of the Suez Canal Company had been frozen, and that stockholders would be paid the price of their shares according to the day's closing price on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The nationalization of the Suez Canal negatively influenced British economic and military colonial interests in the region. The British government was under immense domestic pressure from Conservative MPs to maintain its historic control, and they drew direct comparisons between these events and those of appeasement in the Munich Agreement of 1938. Since the US government did not support the British aims and protests, the British government decided in favor of military intervention against Egypt to avoid the complete collapse of British prestige in the region.

Direct military intervention, however, ran the risk of angering Washington and damaging broader relations with the Arabs. As a result, the British government colluded in a secret military pact with similarly anti-Nasser France and Israel that sought to regaining control over the Suez Canal, while maintaining the appearance of reestablishing peace in the area.

Americas

  • In the 1950s, Latin America was the center of covert and overt conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. Their varying collusion with national, populist, and elitist interests destabilized the region. The United States CIA orchestrated the overthrow of the Guatemalan government in 1952.
  • In 1957, the military dictatorship of Venezuela was overthrown. This continued a pattern of regional revolution and warfare making extensive use of ground forces.
  • In 1957, Dr. François Duvalier came to power in an election in Haiti. He later declared himself president for life, and ruled until his death in 1971.
  • In 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew the regime of Fulgencio Batista in Cuba, establishing a communist government in the country. Although Castro initially sought aid from the US, he was rebuffed and later turned to the Soviet Union.
  • NORAD signed in 1959 by Canada and the United States creating a unified North American aerial defense system.

Cuban Revolution

The overthrow of Fulgencio Batista by Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and other forces in 1959 resulted in the creation of the first communist government in the western hemisphere. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 led to a confrontation between the United States, Cuba, and the Soviet Union.

Society in the US

Capitalism and Consumerism

The 1950s saw a large-scale expansion of the middle class. Unions were strong, comprising almost half the American work force. Politics tended to be moderate, with extremist positions being out of favor.

The need to always have more and better goods emerged rapidly in the West during the 1950s. Consumerism became a key component of Western society. People bought big houses in the new suburbs and bought new time-saving household appliances. This buying trend was influenced by many American cultural and economic aspects such as advertising; television; cars; new offerings from banks (loans and credit); immediately being able to have what one wanted; and achieving a perceived better life.

Domestic policy

The US federal government authorized the Interstate Highway System in June 1956, and construction had begun by the fall of that same year. The originally planned set of highways took decades to complete.

The Kefauver hearings about country-wide organized crime and corruption, were held between 1950 and 1951. The Kefauver Committee, officially the Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce, held all of America's attention. It was the first committee made up of senators from around the country organized to not only gain a better understanding of how to fight organized crime, but also to expose organized crime for the conglomerate empire that it was. Headed by Estes Kefauver, the committee traveled the country, investigating all levels of corruption.

[[File:Herblock1950.jpg|thumb|right|Herbert Block, who signed his work "Herblock," coined the term "McCarthyism" in this cartoon in the March 29, 1950 Washington Post.]] McCarthyism of the early 1950s, which included the speeches, investigations, and congressional hearings of Senator Joseph McCarthy; the Hollywood blacklist, associated with hearings conducted by the House Committee on Un-American Activities; and the various anti-communist activities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under Director J. Edgar Hoover. McCarthyism became a widespread social and cultural phenomenon that affected all levels of society and was the source of a great deal of debate and conflict in the United States. Investigating private citizens for alleged communist affiliations in government, private-industry and in the media produced widespread fear and destroyed the lives of many innocent American citizens. Using innuendo and intense interrogation methods, the "witch-hunt" produced blacklists in several industries; this included notable citizens in Hollywood's Motion Picture industry who were persecuted, with certain directors, actors and screenwriters being prohibited from further employment. In the course of the anti-communist investigations in the early 1950s Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were charged in relation to the passing of information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union, and they were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. On June 19, 1953, they were both executed. Their execution was the first of civilians, for espionage, in United States history.

Public disapproval and the 1954 Senate subcommittee hearings

The Cold War era seemed to encourage witch hunts, and comics found themselves blamed for the alarming increase in juvenile delinquency and other social ills. In 1948, American children across the country piled their comic book collections in schoolyards, and, encouraged by parents, teachers, and clergymen, set them ablaze. In the same year, the media began attacking comic books. John Mason Brown of the Saturday Review of Literature described comics as the "marijuana of the nursery; the bane of the bassinet; the horror of the house; the curse of kids, and a threat to the future." Dr. Fredric Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent rallied opposition to violence, gore, and sex in comics, arguing that it was harmful to the children who made up a large segment of the comic book audience.

The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings in April and June 1954, focused specifically on graphic crime and horror comic books. When publisher William Gaines contended that he sold only comic books of good taste, one of Gaines' comics cover was entered into evidence which showed an axe-wielding man holding aloft a severed woman's head. When asked if he considered the cover in "good taste", Gaines replied: "Yes, I do -- for the cover of a horror comic."

Because of the unfavorable press coverage resulting from the hearings, the comic book industry adopted the Comics Code Authority (CCA), a self-regulatory ratings code that is still used by some publishers today in a modified form. In the immediate aftermath of the hearings, several publishers were forced to revamp their schedules and drastically censor or even cancel many popular long-standing comic series.

Civil rights movement

The civil rights movement began in earnest, with the landmark Supreme Court ruling of Brown vs. the Board of Education in 1954. In the early 1950s the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States opened the door to the beginnings of the right for all Americans to an equal and fair education regardless of race, creed or religion. During this time, racial segregation was still present in the USA and other countries. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s would soon begin. Key figures like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Rosa Parks highlighted and challenged those who were against equal rights and freedoms for black Americans. In 1957 the Little Rock Nine integrated the Central High School, which was a key event in the fight to end segregation in schools and other public places in the US. These developments among others would be key talking points in the advancement of equal rights across the world over the years to come.

Science and technology

Popular culture and mass media

  • The popularity of television skyrocketed, particularly in the US, where 77% of households purchased their first TV set during the decade.

Art movements

Visual arts movements

Abstract expressionism, the first specifically American art movement to gain worldwide influence, was responsible for putting New York City in the centre on the artistic world, a place previously owned by Paris, France. This movement acquired its name for combining the German expressionism's emotional intensity with the anti-figurative aesthetic of the European abstract schools such as Futurism, Bauhaus and Synthetic Cubism. Jackson Pollock was one of the most influential painters of this movement, creating famous works such as No. 5, 1948.

Color Field painting and Hard-edge painting followed close on the heels of Abstract expressionism, and became the idiom for new abstraction in painting during the late 1950s. The term second generation was applied to many abstract artists who were related to but following different directions than the early abstract expressionists.

Bay Area Figurative Movement was an important return to figuration and a reaction against Abstract Expressionism by artists living and working on the West Coast in and around San Francisco during the mid-1950s.

Literature

The strong sexual taboos of mass culture were also reflected in literature, with the institutionally established modernist tradition, and most writers feeling compelled to self-censor themselves. This will clash with the Beat fiction which pushed the boundaries of what was considered allowed, causing a liberating and exciting cultural effect which encouraged other writers to free up. For this, the Beat movement was met with a series of censorships and law enforcement excesses.

Beatniks and the Beat Generation, a culture of teenage and young adults who rebelled against social norms, appeared towards the end of the decade and were criticized by older generations. They are seen as a predecessor for the counterculture and hippie movements.

Beatniks and the beat generation, an anti-materialistic literary movement whose name was invented by Jack Kerouac in 1948 and stretched on into the early-mid 1960s, was at its zenith in the 1950s. Such groundbreaking literature from the beats includes William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch, Allen Ginsberg's Howl, and Jack Kerouac's On the Road. This decade is also marked by some of the most famous works of science fiction by science fiction writers Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, A. E. van Vogt, and Robert A. Heinlein. One of the most influential and most highly critically-acclaimed of the many books about the era is The Fifties by journalist and author David Halberstam. Other significant literary works included:

Though it wasn't published until 1960, John Updike's Rabbit, Run was written during and exemplifies the culture of the 1950s. Agatha Christie was also at a stage where she published at an average rate of one book every year.

Music trends

Popular music and Country music in the early 1950s featured vocalists like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Frankie Laine, Patti Page, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Judy Garland, Johnnie Ray, Kay Starr, Bill Monroe, Eddy Arnold, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Édith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Maurice Chevalier, Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, Jimmy Durante, Georgia Gibbs, Eddie Fisher, Pearl Bailey, Jim Reeves, Teresa Brewer, Dinah Shore, Sammy Davis Jr., Tennessee Ernie Ford, Loretta Lynn, Chet Atkins, Guy Mitchell, Nat King Cole, and vocal groups like The Mills Brothers, The Ink Spots, The Four Lads, The Four Aces, The Chordettes, The Jordanaires, and The Ames Brothers.

Jazz stars in the 1950s who came into prominence in their genres called Bebop, Hard bop, Cool jazz and the Blues, at this time included Lester Young, Ben Webster, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Art Tatum, Bill Evans, Ahmad Jamal, Oscar Peterson, Gil Evans, Jerry Mulligan, Cannonball Adderley, Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Dave Brubeck, Art Blakey, Max Roach, the Miles Davis Quintet, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, and Billie Holiday.

Rock-n-Roll and Electric blues emerged in the mid-50s as the teen music of choice with Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard, James Brown, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, Bobby Darin, Ritchie Valens, Duane Eddy, Eddie Cochrane, Brenda Lee, Bobby Vee, Connie Frances, Johnny Mathis, Pat Boone, and Ricky Nelson being notable exponents. Elvis Presley was the musical superstar of the period with rock, rockabilly, gospel, and romantic ballads being his signatures. Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty, Johnny Horton, and Marty Robbins were Rockabilly musicians. Doo Wop was another popular genre at the time. Popular Doo Wop and Rock-n-Roll bands of the mid to late 1950s include The Platters, The Flamingos, The Dells, The Silhouettes, Frankie Lyman and The Teenagers, Little Anthony & The Imperials, Danny and the Juniors, The Coasters, The Drifters, The Del-Vikings and Dion and the Belmonts.

Calypso enjoyed popularity with Jamaican Harry Belafonte being dubbed the "King of Calypso". The Kingston Trio was instrumental in launching the folk music revival of the fifties and sixties. On March 14, 1958, the RIAA certified crooner Perry Como's single, "Catch a Falling Star", its first ever Gold Record.

Theater and musicals

During the 1950s several Rogers and Hammerstein musical shows were popular on Broadway in Manhattan, notably South Pacific, The King and I, The Flower Drum Song, and The Sound of Music. The team of Lerner and Loewe created two popular Broadway musicals during the 1950s Paint Your Wagon and My Fair Lady. Other popular musicals of the 1950s include:Guys and Dolls, Wonderful Town, Kismet, The Pajama Game, Fanny, Peter Pan, Silk Stockings, Damn Yankees, Bells Are Ringing, Candide, The Most Happy Fella, The Music Man, and West Side Story among others.

During the 1950s some important and award winning dramas included: The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Picnic by William Inge, The Teahouse of the August Moon adapted from the novel by Vern Sneider by John Patrick, The Desperate Hours by Joseph Hayes, The Diary of Anne Frank adapted from the book by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Bus Stop by William Inge, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams, The Chalk Garden by Enid Bagnold, Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill, Separate Tables by Sir Terence Rattigan, A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre, The Cocktail Party by T. S. Eliot, Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie, The Waltz of the Toreadors by Jean Anouilh, Look Back in Anger by John Osborne and Sunrise at Campobello by Dore Schary, among others.

Cinema

With television's growing popularity, there was a decline in movie revenues. Hollywood was thus prompted to seek ways to draw audiences back to the theaters. New film techniques were developed (Cinemascope, VistaVision, Cinerama, and 3-D film) that were ideally suited for the big budget sword and sandal epics The Robe, Demetrius and the Gladiators, The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur and Cleopatra (1963). Hercules (1958) and its follow-up Hercules Unchained launched internationally popular low budget epics with bodybuilders Steve Reeves, Gordon Scott, and others cast as the heroes of Greek and Roman mythology.

The spectacle approach to film-making, Cold War paranoia, public fascination with Outer Space, and a renewed interest in science sparked by the atom bomb lent itself well to science fiction films. Martians and other alien menaces were metaphors for Communism, foreign ideologies, and the misfits threatening democracy and the American way of life. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 film), Invaders from Mars, Them!, The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, It Came from Outer Space, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Thing from Another World, This Island Earth, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Destination Moon, and Forbidden Planet were popular. Queen of Outer Space (1958) with Zsa Zsa Gabor brought sex to the genre. There were also Earth-based subjects, such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) and When Worlds Collide (1951). Companies such as American International Pictures, Japan's Toho, and Britain's Hammer Film Productions were created to solely produce films of the fantastique genres. Japanese films included Godzilla (1954), Godzilla Raids Again (1955), and Rodan (1956), The Mysterians (1957), Varan the Unbelievable (1958), and Battle in Outer Space (1959).

With the difficulties of World War II now in the past, the decade also gave birth to what might be referred to as "the suburban dream" (the typical 1950s housewife would eventually become a universally recognised stereotype). Reflecting this were films such as the melodramas by director Douglas Sirk; All That Heaven Allows (1955), There's Always Tomorrow (1956), Written on the Wind (1956) and Imitation of Life (1959). Decades later, the themes of these films would be revisited with films such as Far From Heaven (2002) and The Hours (2002).

Teen films came into their own during the decade, beginning with The Wild One, starring Marlon Brando as an outlaw biker. MGM's Blackboard Jungle (1955) examined race and class dynamics in an inner-city high school, and is regarded by some as the spark that lit the Rock and Roll revolution by featuring Bill Haley & His Comets' Rock Around the Clock over the opening credits. Screenings of the film occasionally led to teen violence and vandalism, and, for some, the film marks the start of visible teen rebellion in the 20th century. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) thrust its angst-ridden star James Dean to international stardom, and, unlike Blackboard Jungle, told its story from the viewpoint of its teen characters, another James Dean film East of Eden (1955) showcased his extraordinary talent as an actor. Gidget (1959) set off a wave of light-hearted teen beach party and surfing movies that alluded to sex but respected fifties taboos, conformism, and traditional values. Love, sex, marriage, divorce, alcoholism, dysfunctional families, and adultery were themes of A Summer Place featuring Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue as teen lovers and Dorothy McGuire and Richard Egan as their adulterous parents. Low budget teen films punctuated with rock and roll soundtracks were produced through the decade with provocative titles such as High School Hellcats, High School Confidential, Girls in the Night, Girls Town, Hound-Dog Man, Lost, Lonely, and Vicious, Running Wild, Hot Rod Girl, Juvenile Jungle, Teenage Devil Dolls, and the Ed Wood-scripted The Violent Years. Teen and sci-fi genres were wedded in B-film The Blob with Steve McQueen in his first starring role while teen horror flick I Was a Teenage Werewolf launched Michael Landon's Hollywood career.

Musicals were still an enormously popular genre during the 1950s, although over the last thirty-five years or so, the musical film has declined in popularity. Many of the musical films of the 50s and early 60s, were straightforward adaptations or restagings of successful stage productions, some of those include the Rodgers and Hammerstein shows: Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King and I, and South Pacific. Other popular musicals of the 1950s include Love Me Tender which starred Elvis Presley, High Society, An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, Guys and Dolls, The Band Wagon, Show Boat, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Gigi, Daddy Long Legs, Funny Face, Calamity Jane, Porgy and Bess, Carmen Jones, and many others.

The Walt Disney Studios enjoyed a decade of prosperity with animated feature-length films Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp (Disney's first wide-screen animated film), and Sleeping Beauty. The studio began producing live-action period and historical films such as The Sword and the Rose, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, Johnny Tremain, Old Yeller, Light in the Forest, Tonka, and Darby O'Gill and the Little People. The studio produced its first live-action contemporary comedy The Shaggy Dog in 1959 with Disney teen stars Annette Funicello and Tommy Kirk.

Established stars appeared in films that have come to be regarded as classics such as Sunset Boulevard (Gloria Swanson), and (William Holden), All About Eve (Bette Davis), Vertigo (James Stewart) and (Kim Novak), Some Like It Hot (Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon), High Noon (Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly), The Searchers (John Wayne), North by Northwest (Cary Grant), Lust for Life (Kirk Douglas) and (Anthony Quinn), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (Gregory Peck), The Bridge on the River Kwai (Alec Guinness), Singin' in the Rain (Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor), White Christmas (Bing Crosby), and Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston), a film which holds (with Titanic and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) a record for most Academy Awards. The Stanislavski method's natural approach to acting was exemplified in screen stars Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando James Dean, and Paul Newman. Brando's performances in On the Waterfront, The Wild One, and A Streetcar Named Desire influenced sales of T-shirts, leather jackets, and motorcycles.

European cinema was both influenced by American cinema and an important influence on American cinema as well. European cinema experienced a renaissance in the '50s following the deprivations of World War II. Italian director Federico Fellini won the first foreign language film Academy Award with La strada and garnered another Academy Award with Nights of Cabiria. In 1955, Swedish director Ingmar Bergman earned a Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival with Smiles of a Summer Night and followed the film with masterpieces The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries. Jean Cocteau's Orphée, a film central to his Orphic Trilogy, starred Jean Marais and was released in 1950. French director Claude Chabrol's Le Beau Serge is now widely considered the first film of the French New Wave. Notable European film stars of the period include Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Max von Sydow, and Jean-Paul Belmondo. Russian fantasy director Aleksandr Ptushko's mythological epics Sadko, Ilya Muromets, and Sampo were internationally acclaimed as was Ballad of a Soldier, a 1959 Soviet film directed by Grigori Chukhrai.

Japanese cinema reached its zenith with films from director Akira Kurosawa including Rashomon, Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and The Hidden Fortress. Other distinguished Japanese directors of the period were Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi. The films of Japan were also influenced by and influential on American cinema.

Comics

Comic book audiences grew during and after World War II. Charles Schulz's Peanuts, appeared for the first time on October 2, 1950 in seven US newspapers. This and comic strips such as Hi & Lois and Dennis the Menace marked a revival of humor strips, a genre that had largely disappeared in the previous decade. Newspaper comic strip reprint books such as Ace Comics and King Comics ended their decade-long runs while caped crimefighters and superheroes declined in popularity. Attempts to bring out single character comic strip reprints, such as Flash Gordon, Steve Canyon, and Terry and the Pirates were unsuccessful. The Golden Age of Comic Books gave way to the Silver Age with romance comics, horror comics, western comics, science fiction comics, and crime comics in demand. Classics Illustrated continued its popular literary adaptations, finally ending its run in the early 1970s after 169 titles. In 1953, Classics Illustrated Junior debuted with fairy tale adaptations for the younger set.

Romance comics kicked-off in 1947 with Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Young Romance and its companion title Young Love. While both titles generally featured innocuous stories about youthful relationships, other romance comics of the period ventured into grim tales of alcoholic spouses, two-timing, and wife-beating. The genre was hugely successful with more than 150 series published during the early 1950s. Good girl comics of the period depicted the exploits of voluptuous women in bosom-hugging sweaters or jungle heroines clad in animal skin bikinis. 'Headlight' covers featured young women bound with ropes or chains, their ample breasts swelling against torn clothing.

Horror comics enjoyed a heyday during the same period. While superheroes had been menaced by warlocks, zombies, and vampires in the employ of Nazis and the Japanese through the war years, it wasn't until 1947 that the horror genre was established with Avon Periodicals' Eerie Comics, the first out-and-out horror comic. Marvel, Harvey Comics, and American Comics Group hopped aboard with the latter's Adventures Into the Unknown (1948) enjoying a twenty year run. In 1950, EC Comics published The Haunt of Fear, Tales from the Crypt, and The Vault of Horror with characters meeting gruesomely violent ends. Horror titles numbered in the dozens in the early years of the decade, most crudely scripted and drawn.

Western comics were fueled by the popularity of television westerns. Dell Comics produced comics based on Roy Rogers, Gabby Hayes, The Lone Ranger, and Gene Autry. The Lone Ranger's pal, Tonto, had his own title. Dell also published titles based on popular television shows and films such as I Love Lucy and Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. DC published several western titles while Marvel saw fifty different titles including The Rawhide Kid, The Arizona Kid, Kid Colt, and The Ringo Kid.

Science fiction comics were published in abundance. DC Comics picked-up on the public's interest in science and Outer Space with Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space. EC Comics published Weird Science and Weird Fantasy.

Superhero comics during the 1950s were enormously popular. Some of the titles DC comics published include Superman, Superboy Comics, Adventure Comics (Superboy stories), Action Comics (Superman stories), Batman, Detective Comics (Batman stories) amongst others. DC and sister company, World's Finest Comics featured stories with Superman, Batman and Robin, and other superheroes combined together. Superman's sweetheart Lois Lane received her own title also. All-American Comics also introduced such popular superheroes as Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, the Atom, Hawkman, and Aquaman, while Timely Comics, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics, had million-selling titles that featured the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, and Captain America.

Satire and Humor during the 1950s were popular and abundant. MAD the American humor magazine was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Originally launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century. Other Mad comics imitators during the 50s included Cracked, Sick, Crazy, and Panic, produced by future Mad editor Al Feldstein.

Television

Sales of television sets boomed in the '50s. Popular programs included Your Show of Shows, a live 90-minute weekly sketch comedy television series (1950–1954) with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, and Producers' Showcase (1954–1957), a 37-episode, multi-Emmy Award-winning, 90-minute NBC anthology series that featured A-list talent such as Margot Fonteyn in The Sleeping Beauty Ballet, Helen Hayes in The Skin of Our Teeth, and The Fourposter with original Broadway cast members Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. Other anthology series included Lux Video Theatre, Fireside Theater. and Kraft Television Theater.

Sitcoms offered a romanticized view of middle class American life with The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–1966), Father Knows Best (1954–1960), and ABC's The Donna Reed Show (1958–1966) exemplifying the genre. Emmy-winning comedy I Love Lucy (1951–1960) starred husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball and enjoyed such popularity that some businesses closed early on Monday nights in order to allow employees to hurry home for the show. In Life of Riley (1953–1958), blue collar Chester A. Riley (William Bendix) became the protype for a long line of bumbling television patriarchs that included Fred Flintstone and Archie Bunker. The show's first incarnation for the DuMont Television Network lasted a season (1949–1950) and won an Emmy during the first Emmy Awards in 1949. The Honeymooners (1955–1956) followed bus driver Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) and his sewer-working sidekick Ed Norton (Art Carney) while archetypal suburban life was limned in Leave It to Beaver (1957–1963), purportedly the first sitcom to be told from a child's point of view and the first to strike a blow for television realism by displaying a toilet in an early episode. Genre series were popular with Dragnet (1952) starring Jack Webb representing police procedural drama, British syndicated series The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955) starring Richard Greene representing historical drama, and Gunsmoke (1955) with James Arness and Amanda Blake representing the western. Mid-decade, Warner Bros. produced a group of five westerns with Maverick starring James Garner and Cheyenne starring Clint Walker leading the group in popularity.

Musical programs distinguished the decade. Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, the first opera written for television, was performed on December 24, 1951 at the NBC studios in New York City, where it was telecast as the debut production of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. The opera was performed live on or near Christmas Eve annually until the mid-sixties when a production starring Teresa Stratas was filmed and telecast for several years. The Broadway musical Peter Pan was televised in 1955 on NBC with Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard in their original roles as Peter Pan and Captain Hook. The telecast drew the largest ratings for a single television program up to that time, and was restaged in 1956 and 1960. On January 28, 1956, Elvis Presley made his first televised appearance on Stage Show, while, the same year, musical film The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland saw its first telecast on November 3 on CBS. Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella was written for a live television broadcast in 1957 and starred Julie Andrews. In 1957 American Bandstand hosted by Dick Clark debuts, highlighting most of the popular Rock N' Roll acts of the 1950s.

Comedy and variety shows were popular. Comedy stars with their own shows included: Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Burns and Allen, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, Abbott and Costello, Martin and Lewis, and Groucho Marx who starred in his quiz show You Bet Your Life. Dinah Shore, Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Lawrence Welk as well as other stars had popular weekly musical variety shows. The Ed Sullivan Show showcased many famous acts during the decade.

Westerns quickly became a staple of 1950s TV entertainment. The first, on June 24, 1949, was the Hopalong Cassidy show, at first edited from the 66 films made by William Boyd. A great many B-movie Westerns were aired on TV as time fillers, starring actors like: Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter, John Wayne, Lash La Rue, Buster Crabbe, Bob Steele, Johnny Mack Brown, Hoot Gibson, Ken Maynard and others. A number of long-running TV Western series became classics in their own right. Notable TV Westerns include: The Gene Autry Show, The Roy Rogers Show, Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, The Rifleman, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Have Gun, Will Travel, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Tales of Wells Fargo, The Range Rider, The Cisco Kid, Bonanza, The Virginian, Wagon Train, The Restless Gun, Trackdown, Annie Oakley, The Big Valley, Maverick, The High Chaparral , Sugarfoot, Cheyenne, The Adventures of Kit Carson, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, Death Valley Days and many others.

Children's programs included the 19-season, Emmy-winning CBS dramatic series Lassie (1954–1973), sci-fi series Adventures of Superman (1952), variety show The Mickey Mouse Club (1955), anthology series Disneyland (1955), and live-action fairy tale anthology series Shirley Temple's Storybook (1958). Bozo the Clown enjoyed widespread franchising in early television, making him the best-known clown character in the United States. Ding Dong School (1952), Captain Kangaroo (1955) and Romper Room were aimed at pre-schoolers. Howdy Doody (1947–1960) was a pioneer in early color production during the period. Fury, Sky King, The Roy Rogers Show, Andy's Gang, with Andy Devine taking over the show in 1955 for Smilin' Ed McConnell, Heckle and Jeckle, Mighty Mouse and similar live-action and animated half-hour shows held sway on Saturday mornings.

Quiz and panel shows included The $64,000 Question, What's My Line, I've Got a Secret, The Price is Right, Beat the Clock, Truth or Consequences, Queen for a Day, and Name That Tune. The quiz show scandals of the period rocked the nation and were the result of the revelation that contestants were secretly given assistance by the producers to arrange the outcome of a supposedly fair competition.

Current events, Newscasting and journalism were distinguished by several broadcasting programs by Edward R. Murrow of CBS. Murrow's 1951 See It Now and Person to Person showcased important events, places and people in the news. NBC's Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, and CBS' Walter Cronkite also pioneered important news programming. On July 7, 1952, the term "anchor" was coined to describe Cronkite's role at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, which marked the first nationally televised convention coverage. Talk shows had their genesis in the decade with NBC's Today creating the much-sopied genre format. The Tonight Show debuted in 1954 with Steve Allen as host. The coronation of Elizabeth II was televised on June 2, 1953, highlighting the start of pan-European cooperation with regards to the exchange of TV programs. The Academy Awards show was first televised in 1953 on NBC, and the show holds the distinction of having won the most Emmys in history, with 38 wins and 167 nominations. In 1953 CBS anchor Walter Cronkite was the host of an historical news show entitled You Are There. Which highlighted important news events from history like the 1776 signing of The Declaration of Independence and which featured live interviews with the famous participants like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams et al., all played by actors.

Toys

Popular toys of the period included Wham-O's Hula Hoop and its flying disc Frisbee, both introduced in 1957. Kids got around on Schwinn bicycles and Radio Flyer wagons. Nomura's 9" tall, tin, remote-controlled Robbie the Robot walked, moved his arms, and sported moving lighted pistols. Girls wanted Ohio Art Company's tin lithographed tea sets and Little Chefs Stoves, Ideal Toy Company's diaper-wetting Betsy Wetsy, and Mattel's 1959 adult-bodied fashion doll Barbie first produced on March 9, 1959. Boys wanted Daisy BB guns, Lincoln Logs, and miniature Matchbox vehicles. In 1955, Walt Disney's Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier saw the production of 'coonskin caps' and other frontier-themed toys. View-Masters, Silly Putty, and Slinky were bestsellers. Mr. Potato Head, a toy of plastic face parts that could be stuck into a potato, was the first toy to be advertised on network television, and in its first year of production (1952) made over $4 million. Television shows and films generated show-related toys and books. Popular board games included Milton Bradley's Candyland (1949), Chutes and Ladders, and Careers (1955).

Vehicles

Automobiles changed considerably over the course of the 1950s. Boxy and conservative in the first half of the decade, they became lower, longer, wider, and sleeker. Tail fins, chrome, and multicolor paint jobs would dominate the late '50s. It was the beginning of the end for the independent American auto manufacturers, which were crippled by the Ford-GM price war of 1953–1954. Ford's launch of the Edsel in 1958 was hotly anticipated, but a variety of factors caused the make to be cancelled after only three years. The 1950s was also the decade when the popular sport Formula One started.

People

American political leaders

World leaders

Notable sports figures

Olympics

See also



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