Scrabble
Scrabble is a word game that gained enormous popularity in the 1950s. In the game, two to four players may score points by forming words with placement of single letter tiles onto a board divided into squares. Like a crossword puzzle, Scrabble words are read...
Marian Anderson Sings at the Met
https://youtu.be/J-Q8MbUsWac In 1955, at the age of 58, Marian Anderson became the first African-American soloist to sing at New York's Metropolitan Opera. Singing the role of the sorceress Ulrica in Verdi's Un ballo en maschera, Anderson later said: "I was...
Godzilla, Them and the Creature from the Black Lagoon
1954 was a great year for classic monster movies. https://youtu.be/lM1o1xe5FGE https://youtu.be/CugQcmapiwc
Marilyn Monroe Marries Joe DiMaggio
In January 1954, Marilyn Monroe and and baseball star Joe DiMaggio were mobbed by reporters and fans when they married in San Francisco. On their honeymoon in Japan, Monroe was asked to perform for American soldiers stationed in Korea. She went, leaving her new...
Playboy Magazine
In 1953 Hugh Hefner and Eldon Sellers founded Playboy Magazine featuring Marilyn Monroe as its first cover girl and nude centerfold. Although best known for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude models known as playmates, Playboy has published...
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
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Miles Davis
Miles Davis explored the trumpet’s middle register, experimenting with harmonies and rhythms and varying the phrasing of his improvisations.
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...
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)....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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.
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...
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...
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...