Conquest of Mount Everest
Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay and New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary reached the summit of Mount Everest in May 1953. Wikipedia Wikipedia Britannica
read more
Mr Potato Head
https://youtu.be/g58CFvquOtE Mr. Potato Head was invented by George Lerner in 1949 and first manufactured and distributed by Hasbro in 1952. The first toy advertised on television, Mr. Potato Head has remained in production since its debut....
read more
Amahl and the Night Visitors
https://youtu.be/VUKvrNeNgk8 Amahl and the Night Visitors was a one-act production by Gian Carlo Menotti that was the first opera specifically composed for television in America. The story: One night in Judea, a disabled shepherd...
read more
The King and I – Rodgers and Hammerstein
Wikipedia The King and I was a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein based on Margaret Landon's novel, Anna and the King of Siam derived from the memoirs of a governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the...
read more
Ernie Kovacs Popular TV Comedian
https://youtu.be/U2AWAZ0gojY Ernest Edward Kovacs (1919 – 1962, was a popular American TV comedian, actor, and writer. Often spontaneous, his zany comedy style influenced numerous TV comedy programs for years after his death. Frequently his slapstick humor...
read more
Victor Borge Danish Pianist & Comedian
Victor Borge (born Børge Rosenbaum) was a Danish conductor and pianist whose comic renditions of piano concerts were widely popular in the United States and Europe. Born to two concert musicians, Rosenbaum was a child prodigy pianist. After classical...
read more
Top Movies of 1950
https://youtu.be/s9_vnMHYyig Top-grossing American films of 1950 RankTitleStudioBox-office gross rental1King Solomon's MinesMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer$5,047,000[1]2Annie Get Your Gun$4,708,000[1]3Cheaper by the Dozen20th Century Fox$4,425,000[2]4CinderellaWalt Disney/RKO...
read more
Guys and Dolls Award-Winning Broadway Musical
https://youtu.be/SiUK-TDTIpo In 1950 the musical Guys and Dolls premiered on Broadway. The hit show continued for 1,200 performances and in 1951 won the Tony Award for best musical. In 1955 the show was made into a movie starring Marlon...
read more
Al Jolson
https://youtu.be/KD_YRnuuKyY Al Jolson, born Asa Yoelson, was an American singer, comedian, and actor who lived from 1886-1950. In the 1920s, Jolson was immensely popular as America's highest-paid entertainer. In 1927 Jolson starred in The Jazz Singer, the...
read more
Miles Davis
Miles Davis explored the trumpet’s middle register, experimenting with harmonies and rhythms and varying the phrasing of his improvisations.
read more
Marilyn Monroe
https://youtu.be/SKhyLCjIpvw SOURCE: Wikipedia Born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926, she began working as a model in 1944 using the name Jean Norman. By 1946, she had appeared on 33 magazine covers for publications such as Pageant, U.S. Camera, Laff, and Peek. In 1946...
read more
Zoo Parade
https://youtu.be/IwDnUeCh35M 1950 Philadelphia Zoo TV commercial Zoo Parade, a popular Sunday afternoon TV show on NBC from 1950-57 was hosted by Zoo director Marlin Perkins. ~ The show was actually shot at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo (I couldn't find a short video)....
read more
Beat the Clock
https://youtu.be/H0cBnWgZOKg First televised by CBS in 1950, Beat the Clock was an American television game show that required its contestants to accomplish various stunts within 60 seconds. Contestants were chosen from the studio audience and usually were...
read more
Color TV
https://youtu.be/e7hpZbGd2Uw In 1950, the first public demonstration of the RCA system for color television, the all electronic tri-color picture tube, was made at a press conference in Washington, DC. The RCA system was eventually accepted by the...
read more
Arthur Godfrey
https://youtu.be/3FlVhQTIL1Q Sponsored by Lipton Tea, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts was broadcast on CBS radio and television from 1946 until 1958. Godfrey was also hosting Arthur Godfrey and His Friends at the same time. Arthur Godfrey delivered...
read more
Fats Domino
https://youtu.be/7eU90nf7xJg Antoine "Fats" Domino's 1950 song "The Fat Man" is widely regarded as the first million-selling Rock 'n Roll record. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. LISTEN Fats Domino: 12 Essential...
read more
Bogart on Baseball
https://youtu.be/onojPONm-9A Concerned that the emerging medium of television would hurt ticket receipts, Major League baseball officials produced TV commercials similar to those used to promote movies in the early 1950s.
read more
God Bless America
Kate Smith' s version of Irving Berlin's song God Bless America has been part of American sports tradition for decades. https://youtu.be/-BIoN9bWTMo However, a recent revelation that she also recorded two songs with racist content in the 1930s (That's Why Darkies Were...
read more
R.I.P. Doris Day
https://youtu.be/D0MtzQDltr0 Doris Day, the freckle-faced movie actress whose irrepressible personality and golden voice made her America’s top box-office star in the early 1960s, died on Monday at her home in Carmel Valley, Calif. She was 97. ~ NY Times May 13, 2019...
read more
What’s My Line
What's My Line? was a game show on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967. Blindfolded celebrity panelists questioned a weekly "mystery guest" to determine his/her employment. Moderated by John Charles Daly, regular panelists included Dorothy Kilgallen, Arlene...
read more
Popular Music
https://youtu.be/Oi6oSjmDV4U https://youtu.be/j11rwc6Sf4o
read more
Your Show of Shows
Premiering on NBC TV in February 1950, Your Show of Shows was a weekly, variety show featuring comedians Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. https://youtu.be/ZmCCxEUfEsE https://youtu.be/e0iMF6DWpo8
read more
South Pacific on Broadway
In 1949 the book Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener was adapted by Rodgers and Hammerstein into the Broadway musical South Pacific. https://youtu.be/6H3hVAfFcZY In 1958 it was produced as the movie South Pacific starring Rossano Brazzi and Mitzi Gaynor....
read more
Hopalong Cassidy
In 1904 Clarence E. Mulford created the fictional cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy, in a series of popular short stories and novels based on the character. Early on, Mulford portrayed Cassidy as a rude, dangerous, rough-talking man with a wooden leg that caused him to...
read more
TV Soap Operas
Irna Phillips (Old Magazine Articles) In January 1949 NBC broadcast the first TV daytime soap opera entitled "These Are My Children." Written by long-time radio and screen writer Irna Phillips, the show was broadcast live from Chicago for just fifteen minutes at...
read more