Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing: Year 1956

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Thursday Thirteen #29 1956

(Thank you Chaotic Home for the great graphic!)

The Year 1956...It Was A Very Good Year

For my parents anyway -- they look happy (they have NO CLUE as to the headache I will be in about 13 years....) Anyway, I'm not too sure what I was thinking. Maybe I was worried my head would never pop out of that cone shape. But it did -- less than a year later! See?

The baby daughter of Frank and Rose appeared a month early in December of 1956. So without further baby pictures, here's 13 things about 1956!

#1. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon are President and Vice President.

#2. The minimum wage is $0.75/hour. Most Americans make about $1.00 per hour and the average yearly income hovers at $4,454.00.

#3. A new car will set you back about $2,100; a new home about $22,000.

#4. A gallon of milk is $0.97; a loaf of bread $0.18; a dozen eggs $.80.

#5. A first class postage stamp is $0.03 and a gallon of gas is (hold your breath here) $0.25.

#6. Zenith introduces the first wireless remote control for televisions and the first videotape recorder is demonstrated.

#7. Richard Doll, MD, 37, an Oxford physician presents research linking cigarette smoking with lung cancer. The London Times did not publish his research.

#8. The Andrea Doria, a luxurious Italian oceanliner, sinks off Nantucket Island, Massachusetts after colliding with the SS Stockholm. 52 lives are lost.

#9. Japan becomes a member of the United Nations.

#10. President Eisenhower signs the Joint Resolutions of the US Congress making "In God We Trust" the US National Motto. He also authorizes the phrase "One Nation Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

#11. Elvis Presley appears on Ed Sullivan on September 9, 1956 for the first time. His second album "Elvis Presley" goes gold.

#12 "The Wizard of Oz" is shown on TV for the first time. TV shows debuting in 1956 include: As the World Turns, Edge of Night, NFL on CBS, the Dinah Shore Show and the Steve Allen Show.

#13. John F. Kennedy publishes his Pulitizer Prize winning book, "Profiles in Courage", written the year before while he recuperates from an operation to repair a spinal problem. The book in part, is reportedly dictated to his wife, Jackie, who remained at his side.