50 Fun Facts About 1950s Pop Culture

Which children's modelling compound, sold as a toy from 1956, started out as a wallpaper cleaner?

Play-Doh was first made in Cincinnati in the 1930s to lift coal residue off wallpaper. A nursery school teacher who saw its craft potential helped turn it into a toy.

On which host's variety show was Elvis Presley filmed only from the waist up in January 1957?

Ed Sullivan's show cropped Presley at the waist only on his third and final visit, though legend says the cameras did it every time.

Which Wham-O toy, first sold as the Pluto Platter, took its lasting name from a pie company's tins?

Frisbee comes from the Frisbie Pie Company of Connecticut, whose empty tins Yale students tossed around campus. Wham-O adopted the nickname in June 1957.

What kind of animal was Bert, the cartoon star of the civil defense film Duck and Cover?

Bert the Turtle pulls into his shell when a monkey dangles a lit firecracker near him, a lesson for schoolchildren on shielding themselves from an atomic blast.

Which frontier hero, played on TV by Fess Parker, sparked a 1950s craze for coonskin caps?

Davy Crockett merchandise, from caps to bubble gum cards, had brought in more than $300 million by the end of 1955.

In which California city did Walt Disney buy 160 acres of orange groves to build Disneyland?

Anaheim was picked after a research institute studied where the region's population would grow. The park opened there on July 17, 1955.

Which star of Rear Window retired from Hollywood at 26 to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco?

Grace Kelly met the prince at a photo session in his palace, and they married on April 18, 1956.

Which former milkshake-mixer salesman opened a McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955?

Ray Kroc had visited the McDonald brothers in 1954, curious about why their restaurant was making so many milkshakes. He went on to lead the company for decades.

Which Charles Schulz comic strip, launched in October 1950, ran in newspapers until February 2000?

Peanuts grew to more than 2,600 newspapers, and its 17,897 strips have been called the longest story ever told by one person.

Which singer of Peggy Sue died in the 1959 Iowa plane crash known as the Day the Music Died?

Buddy Holly chartered the plane after growing frustrated with the tour's buses. His bandmate Waylon Jennings gave up his seat and survived.

Which 1950s sitcom starred Jackie Gleason as New York City bus driver Ralph Kramden?

The Honeymooners ended as a standalone series after just 39 episodes, yet neighbour Ed Norton went on to inspire Barney Rubble in The Flintstones.

Which 1955 film stars James Dean as troubled teenager Jim Stark, who wears a famous red jacket?

Rebel Without a Cause reached cinemas on October 27, 1955, nearly a month after Dean died in a car crash.

What are Lucy and Ethel wrapping on a speeding conveyor belt in the I Love Lucy episode Job Switching?

Chocolates race past faster than the pair can wrap them, and a 2013 Paley Center special ranked the scene first among TV's funniest moments.

In which Tennessee city did Elvis Presley buy the Graceland mansion in March 1957 for $102,500?

Memphis is where Presley asked his parents to find a farmhouse-like property with space around it, on a budget of $100,000. The house opened as a museum in 1982.

Which dog breed gave its name to the appliquéd felt skirts popular with 1950s teenage girls?

Poodle skirts began with designer Juli Lynne Charlot, who cut her first one from felt because she had little money and little ability to sew.

Which retired New York Yankees star eloped with Marilyn Monroe in San Francisco in January 1954?

Joe DiMaggio and Monroe had dated for two years, but she filed for divorce after only nine months of marriage.

Which 1959 epic starring Charlton Heston won a record eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture?

Ben-Hur's chariot race alone took five weeks to film and cost $1 million. Its awards haul went unmatched until Titanic nearly four decades later.

Which guitarist behind Maybellene and Johnny B. Goode was famous for crossing the stage in a duck walk?

Chuck Berry first did the stooping walk as a child, fetching a ball from under a table. Johnny B. Goode is the only rock and roll song on the Voyager Golden Record.

Which toy company, co-founded by Ruth Handler, unveiled the Barbie doll in New York in March 1959?

Mattel's own directors were unenthusiastic about an adult-bodied doll, yet Barbie sold about 350,000 units in her first year.

Which meat was the main course of the first Swanson TV Dinner, sold in an aluminum tray for 98 cents?

Turkey came with cornbread stuffing, peas and sweet potatoes in a tray modelled on airline meal service. The first production run was 5,000 dinners.

Which 1955 comedy shows Marilyn Monroe standing on a subway grate as her white dress blows upwards?

The Seven Year Itch shot the moment twice: first on location on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, then again on a sound stage.

Which record label run by Sam Phillips first recorded Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins?

Sun Records sold Presley's contract for $40,000 in 1955 to ease its own financial difficulties.

Which TV Western starring James Arness as Marshal Matt Dillon began in 1955 and ran for 20 seasons?

Gunsmoke aired 635 episodes, and it had started out as a radio drama with William Conrad voicing the marshal.

Which 1952 musical with Debbie Reynolds follows actors caught in the switch from silent films to talkies?

Singin' in the Rain got its 1920s setting because many of its songs were written in those years. It later topped the AFI's list of the greatest movie musicals.

Which food-storage brand was sold at 1950s home parties championed by saleswoman Brownie Wise?

Tupperware made Wise its vice president of marketing in 1951, and the parties let women earn an independent income without holding a regular job.

Which 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger made narrator Holden Caulfield an icon of teenage rebellion?

The Catcher in the Rye has sold more than 65 million copies. Salinger had first sold a story about Holden in 1941, but the war delayed its publication until 1946.

Which city was home to the dance show American Bandstand from 1952 until its 1964 move to Los Angeles?

Philadelphia station WFIL-TV launched it as a local show called simply Bandstand. It went national on August 5, 1957, with Dick Clark as host.

Which two-seat Ford convertible of 1955 was sold as upscale rather than as a rival to the Corvette?

Thunderbird buyers got a rear seat from 1958, a change credited with opening up the market for personal luxury cars.

Which singer revived a slumping career by winning an Oscar for the 1953 film From Here to Eternity?

Frank Sinatra had fallen so far that he borrowed $200,000 from his record label to pay his back taxes.

Which freckle-faced marionette starred in an NBC children's show hosted by Buffalo Bob Smith?

Howdy Doody had 48 freckles, one for every state in the union at the time he was created.

Which director of Vertigo and North by Northwest also hosted a television anthology from 1955?

Alfred Hitchcock opened each episode by stepping in silhouette into a line-drawing caricature of his own profile, which he had drawn himself.

Which piano-pounding rocker nicknamed The Killer scored a 1957 hit with Great Balls of Fire?

Jerry Lee Lewis was the last surviving member of the Million Dollar Quartet, the 1956 jam session he shared with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.

Which board game, invented by a New York architect in 1931, sold nearly four million sets in 1954 alone?

Scrabble got its name from James Brunot, who bought the rights in 1948 and made early sets in a converted schoolhouse in Connecticut.

Which pianist with a trademark candelabrum became a 1950s star through his syndicated TV show?

Liberace took the candelabrum idea from a prop in a 1945 film about Chopin, and at the height of his fame he was the highest-paid entertainer in the world.

Which 1953 Ian Fleming novel, drafted at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica, introduced James Bond?

Casino Royale sold out in Britain in less than a month, though American sales a year later were much slower.

Which actor won the 1954 Best Actor Oscar as ex-prizefighter Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront?

Marlon Brando at first turned the part down, and the performance he eventually gave is credited with popularising method acting on screen.

Which magazine's first national issue in April 1953 put Lucille Ball's newborn son on the cover?

TV Guide sold 1,560,000 copies of that first issue across the ten cities where it was distributed, with a headline valuing the baby at $50 million.

Which police drama following LAPD detective Joe Friday moved from NBC radio to television in 1951?

Dragnet takes its name from the police term for a coordinated effort to catch suspects, and creator Jack Webb set out to depict policing realistically.

Which signature burger did Florida restaurateur James McLamore create in 1957 and sell for 37 cents?

Whopper was McLamore's answer to a rival restaurant in Gainesville, Florida, that was succeeding by selling a larger burger.

Which 1953 romance won Audrey Hepburn an Oscar as a runaway princess opposite Gregory Peck's reporter?

Roman Holiday was co-written by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo, who went uncredited; full credit for his work was not restored until 2011.

Which Cleveland disc jockey popularised the phrase rock and roll on mainstream radio in the early 1950s?

Alan Freed did not invent the phrase, which was in use before his radio shows, but he pushed it into wide use and helped stage 1952's Moondog Coronation Ball.

Which record company launched the 7-inch 45 rpm single in 1949 as a rival to Columbia's LP?

RCA Victor refused to license its competitor's system, and the two formats fought it out in what was called the War of the Speeds.

Which TV cowboy appeared on Aladdin's 1950 lunch box, the first for children based on a television show?

Hopalong Cassidy lunch kits sold 600,000 units in their first year at $2.39 each, and more than 120 million metal lunch boxes followed over the next two decades.

By which one-word title is Domenico Modugno's Grammy-winning 1958 hit Nel blu, dipinto di blu popularly known?

Volare finished only third for Italy at Eurovision, yet it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks and won both Record and Song of the Year at the first Grammy Awards.

In which state did restaurateur Pete Harman open the first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise in 1952?

Utah came first because Colonel Sanders franchised his recipe to a friend in South Salt Lake, whose sign painter coined the chain's name.

Which comedian was the first host of The Tonight Show when it reached the full NBC network in 1954?

Steve Allen pioneered the man-on-the-street interviews and audience-participation breaks that became staples of late-night television.

Which word is columnist Herb Caen credited with coining in 1958, its ending borrowed from Sputnik?

Beatnik began as Caen's derogatory label for followers of the Beat Generation, and Jack Kerouac complained that pundits had buried his ideas under jokes and jargon.

Which slicked-back 1950s men's haircut was parted down the back of the head?

Ducktail styling took so much pomade to hold in place that it contributed to the term greasers. A barber named Joe Cirello said he invented the cut in 1940.

Which practice, probed by Congress in 1959, saw record promoters bribe disc jockeys for airplay?

Payola was coined by Variety in 1938, joining pay to the -ola ending of brand names of the day such as Victrola and Pianola.

Which Revlon-sponsored quiz show displaced I Love Lucy as television's top-rated programme in 1955–56?

The $64,000 Question took its name from the radio quiz Take It or Leave It, whose top prize had been just $64.