1950s

Ch. 26

Fifties FactsPopulation: 151,684,000 (U.S. Dept. of

Commerce, Bureau of the Census)*Unemployed:  3,288,000Life expectancy:   Women 71.1,  men  65.6Car Sales:  6,665,800Average Salary:  $2,992Labor Force male/female: 5/2Cost of a loaf of bread:  $0.14Bomb shelter plans, like the government

pamphlet You Can Survive, become widely available

World Events in the Fifties Harry Truman is President until 1952, then Dwight Eisenhower until 1961 In 1953 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are put to death for being spies. In 1954 Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings looking for communists.

This is called the red scare. Some people called it witch hunts. In 1954 A case in the Supreme Court called Brown versus the Board of

Education decides it is not okay to force children of different races to go to separate schools.

1955 A young wife named Rosa Parks decides not to give up her seat on a bus for a black man and she goes to jail. This starts the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

In 1955 a disease called Polio was making children very sick, some were unable to walk and others died, Dr. Salk invented a shot that made it so people would not get the disease any more.

1956 The United States starts a highway system so people can drive more easily between states.

1958 The first airplane companies start in the US and the first US satellite goes into space.

1959 Alaska and Hawaii become he 49th and 50th state.

World Events in the Fifties Harry Truman is President until 1952, then Dwight Eisenhower until 1961 In 1953 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are put to death for being spies. In 1954 Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings looking for communists.

This is called the red scare. In 1954 A case in the Supreme Court called Brown versus the Board of

Education decides it is not okay to force children of different races to go to separate schools.

1955 A young wife named Rosa Parks decides not to give up her seat on a bus for a black man and she goes to jail. This starts the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

In 1955 a disease called Polio was making children very sick, some were unable to walk and others died, Dr. Salk invented a shot that made it so people would not get the disease any more.

1956 The United States starts a highway system so people can drive more easily between states.

1958 The first airplane companies start in the US and the first US satellite goes into space.

1959 Alaska and Hawaii become the 49th and 50th states.

1950s Art Williem De Kooning

and others continued in their practice of Abstract Expressionism

Lavendar Mist by Jackson Pollock ‘50

Writers and Writing

All kinds of books and poems were popular from great literature to penny paper back novels also called trash novels.

Plays started to be something even common people would go to see

Black people and women started to become much more famous as writers

The Beat Writers Also know as the Beats or the Beatniks,

these writers wrote poems that had a beat like music and were very rebellious

One of the most famous was Jack Keroauc, from Lowell, Massachusetts, for his poetry and his book, On the Road

Another famous beat was Allen Ginsberg

Science Fiction Writing People liked to write about how things

might be in the future in the fifities, they liked to think about things like space, martians and robots. They also wrote about out of control governments.

Ray Bradbury wrote the Martian Chronicles

Isaac Asimov wrote I, Robot

Other Fiction Books J.D. Salinger wrote The

Catcher in the Rye, which most high school students still have to read today. The story is about a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield who calls lots of people “phoneys”

William Faulkner wrote many books in the fifties and later, including the book The Town.

James Baldwin was a writer famous for many books and stories but in the 50s one of his biggest was Go Tell It On the Mountain.

Famous Plays Based on a line

from a Langston Hughes play Lorraine Hansberry wrote a play about a Black family trying to get ahead called “A Raisin in the Sun”.

Fabulous Fifties Fads The Coonskin Cap The Frisbee The Hula Hoop The Poodle Skirt Saddle Shoes The Ant Farm Letter Sweaters

50s Food Bananas Foster Mrs. Eishenhower’s

Million Dollar Fudge California Onion Dip Chex Mix Maypo Jello Instant

Pudding Marshmello Peeps

Ranch Dressing Tang Diet-Rite (Soda) Rice-a-Roni German’s Sweet

Chocolate Cake Navy Been Soup Smoothies Non-Dairy Creamer

                           

LEVITTOWNLEVITTOWN

•BABY Boom – 21 million babiesBABY Boom – 21 million babies

•GI billGI bill

•36 houses a day built in Levitt 36 houses a day built in Levitt developmentsdevelopments

•17,000 houses total17,000 houses total

•1955 ¾ of houses built in US 1955 ¾ of houses built in US were like Levit’s suburbswere like Levit’s suburbs

Compare and Contrast

According to our textbooks these new homes could be paid for over the course of thirty years at fifty dollars a month.

$58X12months=696 $696X30years=$20880 (Total cost of a home after a thirty

year mortgage in the 1950s)

According to our slides the Levittown homes consisted of 4 ½ rooms.

A comparable home today would cost this.

$900x12months=$10,800 $10,800x30years=$324,000 Talk about inflation!!!!!

Exit Ticket

The Levittown project laid the framework for modern day suburbs.

Knowing what you know about the influence of suburbs write four sentences on how the influence of suburban life has, is, or will influence your life.

50s Inventions Super Glue Power Steering Videotape

Recorder The bar code Hydrogen bomb Radial tires Black box flight

recorder

Transistor radio Non-stick pan Solar cell Optic fiber McDonald’s Computer hard

disk Hovercraft White-out

Fifties Toys Little People Toys

’50 Color Forms ’51 Mr. Potato Head ’52 Matchbox Cars ’52 Plastic Army Men ’53 Robert the Robot ’54 Wheel-Lo ’54

Spud Guns Play Doh ’55 Frisbee ’55 Ant Farms ’56 Yahtzee ’56 Tonka Trucks ’57 Hula Hoop ’58 Chatty Cathy ’59 Troll Dolls ’59 Barbie Dolls ’59

Fifties TV (just a few of the shows)

I Love Lucy Leave it to Beaver Lassie The Lone Ranger Dennis the Menace The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet Amos and Andy The Andy Griffith Show

Top Ten Fifties Movies

Lady and the Tramp (1955) Peter Pan (1953) Cinderella (1950) The Ten Commandments (1956) Ben-Hur (1959) Sleeping Beauty (1959) Around the World in 80 Days (1956) This is Cinerama (1952) South Pacific (1958) The Robe (1953)

Other Fifties Movies A Street Car Named Desire A Rebel without a Cause (with James

Dean) East of Eden (with James Dean) Singin’ in the Rain Some Like it Hot Love Me Tender (with Elvis) Jail House Rock (with Elvis)

50s Movie Stars Marlon Brando James Dean Marilyn Monroe Cary Grant Elizabeth Taylor Gene Kelly Grace Kelly Charlton Heston Jimmy Stewart

James Dean James Dean invented the role of the

troubled teen, serving an an icon to generations of youth. An important symbol of 50's teen rebellion, he burned up the screen. Starring in only three feature films, his defining role was in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE. His other feature films, EAST OF EDEN and GIANT, are well regarded.

Ironically James Dean filmed a public service spot on auto safety shortly before he died in a car wreck in 1955.

James Dean was a major influence on some future superstars, including the young Steve McQueen, and Dean's look and attitude is still reflected in young actors today.

James Dean is part of an American pop culture "trinity", which also includes Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley.

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe was the blonde

bombshell to end all bombshells. She drove men wild with her sex appeal.

Her defining role was in THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, which contained the famous scene involving her skirt being blown up by an air blast from a subway vent. Marilyn Monroe's notable films include: ALL ABOUT EVE, BUS STOP, GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, SOME LIKE IT HOT, and THE MISFITS (her last film, and interestingly, Clark Gable's last as well).

Marilyn Monroe, more intelligent than she was given credit for, was married to playwright Arthur Miller and baseball great Joe Dimagio, and romantically linked to JFK.

She died in 1962 under mysterious circumstances.

50s Musicians and Singers Buddy Holly Elvis Presley Nat King Cole Frank Sinatra Dinah Shore Bill Haley Little Richard Ray Charles Johnny Cash Chuck Berry Everly Brothers Jerry Lee Lewis