1950s
When The Red Scare Came For America's Favorite Redhead
January 20, 2022
Lucille Ball in a 1955 film still for I Love Lucy episode "Face to Face." (CBS Television/Wikimedia Commons) At the dawn of the Cold War in the 1940s and '50s, th...
Joe DiMaggio Retires From Baseball
December 11, 2021
Joe DiMaggio in his first year as center fielder for the New York Yankees on October 6, 1936. (Bettmann/Getty Images) Joseph Paul DiMaggio, also known as the Yankee Clipper, was one ...
1959: Ford Motor Company Announced It Was Halting Production Of The Unpopular Edsel
November 19, 2021
The 1956 Ford Edsel is displayed at The Museum of Failure in Los Angeles. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images) In 1957, the Ford Motor C...
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico: A Game Show Gimmick With Lasting Results
July 9, 2021
Truth Or Consequences was one of the most popular game shows of the genre's golden age, running intermittently on both radio and television ...
Watson and Crick: Scientists Who Discovered DNA Double Helix Structure, Explained
February 28, 2021
On February 28, 1953, a couple of scientists from Cambridge University's Cavendish Lab stopped to grab some lunch. As they chewed thei...
Rosa Parks: Stories, Biography, & Things You Didn't Know About The Civil Rights Leader
February 4, 2021
Civil rights leader Rosa Parks smiles while people gathered around her applaud at a ceremony held in her honor. (Angel Franco/New Y...
Earl Lloyd: The First Black Player In The NBA Makes His Debut
October 31, 2020
Basketball player Earl Lloyd dribbling a basketball, Virginia, 1966. (Photo by Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images) On October 31, 1950, Earl Lloyd ...
Lenny Bruce: True Stories, Trivia, And Facts You Didn't Know
August 2, 2020
Although he never achieved the massive success of acolytes like Richard Pryor and George Carlin, Lenny Bruce is considered the father of modern comedy. He ...
Disneyland Opens For The First Time To The Public In 1955
July 17, 2020
On July 17, 1955, Walt Disney brought to life characters that children had only seen on the silver screen. With Disneyland, Uncle Walt didn't just create a sp...
Brink's Building Robbery: The Heist That Tore A Gang Apart
January 17, 2020
The Brink's building heist of 1950 is one of the most daring robberies of the 20th century. Like something from a movie, the robbery itself went off without a hit...
TV Dinners Exist Because They Killed Way Too Many Turkeys One Thanksgiving
November 30, 2019
As ZZ Top once said, "TV dinners, there's nothing else to eat. TV dinners, they really can’t be beat." It's a succinct argument for the quick mea...
Ed Gein: Stories, Trivia, And Facts You Didn't Know Until Now
November 16, 2019
Ed Gein: The Wisconsin cannibal. The hungriest mama's boy of the 20th century. He's long-held a strange place in Americana, but no one living in Plainfield, Wi...
Rebel Without A Cause: Curse, Trivia, And More
November 13, 2019
Released on October 27, 1955, nearly a month after Dean's fatal car accident on September 30, Rebel Without a Cause was a groundbreaking film that portrayed the disillusionme...
Edward Paisnel: A Masked Sex Offender Known As 'The Beast Of Jersey'
November 9, 2019
When you live in an isolated area, you have to find your own ways to entertain yourself. You could go with something harmlessly mild, like erecting...
The Evolution of Television Weather Reports
July 19, 2019
Jack Lescoulie doing the weather report from Atlantic City on June 26, 1956 -- Photo by: NBC/NBC NewsWire(Getty Images) If you are like most people, you probably have at lea...
Remember 'Kukla, Fran And Ollie,' The TV Show That Time Forgot?
May 31, 2019
Kukla the puppet and hostess Fran Allison in an episode of Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Source: (Photo by: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank) Do you remember watching Kukla,...
Scandalous Music: Songs That Were Banned in the 1950s
May 9, 2019
American singer and actress Rosemary Clooney (1928 - 2002), circa 1955. Source: (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images) When compared to many of today’s p...