The 1950s
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This 1950s trivia quiz has 100 free questions with answers and covers the decade people actually lived through: Elvis and the birth of rock and roll, I Love Lucy and the first TV dinners, tail-finned Chevrolets, hula hoops and Davy Crockett caps, the polio vaccine, Sputnik and the early Cold War, and prices at the soda fountain. Most questions are gentle memory-joggers; a handful will stump even someone who was there. It was written with seniors in mind, so it works as a reminiscence activity for senior centers, care homes and family gatherings, read aloud or played on a phone. Every answer has been checked against a reliable source, and each question shows a short explanation after you answer, which usually starts a story. Play the whole set for a shareable score, then try the 1960s and 1970s quizzes to keep going.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Elvis Presley released his first studio album in what year?
1956
Elvis Presley's self-titled debut album was released in March 1956 by RCA Victor.
Q 02Which of these songs is often credited with helping to popularize rock and roll music in the mid-1950s?
Rock Around the Clock
Bill Haley & His Comets' 'Rock Around the Clock' became a massive hit after being featured in the 1955 film 'Blackboard Jungle', significantly boosting rock and roll's mainstream appeal.
Q 03In what year did Ray Kroc open his first McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois?
1955
Kroc opened his Des Plaines, Illinois store on 15 April 1955 - his first and McDonald's ninth - and went on to buy out the McDonald brothers in 1961.
Q 04Who developed the first effective polio vaccine in the 1950s?
Jonas Salk
Jonas Salk developed the first successful inactivated polio vaccine, which was introduced to the public in 1955.
Q 05In what year did the Soviet Union launch Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite?
1957
Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957, by the Soviet Union, initiating the Space Race.
Q 06The Korean War began and ended within what decade?
1950s
Fighting began with the North's invasion on 25 June 1950 and an armistice was signed on 27 July 1953, though no peace treaty ever followed.
Q 07Which U.S. President served for most of the 1950s?
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower was President from 1953 to 1961, serving for the majority of the decade. Harry S. Truman was president from 1945 to 1953.
Q 08The Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the Civil Rights Movement, began in what year?
1955
The Montgomery Bus Boycott began in December 1955 after Rosa Parks' arrest, lasting over a year and leading to a Supreme Court ruling against segregated buses.
Q 09Which sitcom, first aired in 1951, pioneered the three-camera setup before a live studio audience?
I Love Lucy
'I Love Lucy' premiered on October 15, 1951, and became one of the most popular and influential sitcoms in television history.
Q 10Which actor, famous for his rebellious persona, starred in the 1955 film 'Rebel Without a Cause'?
James Dean
James Dean cemented his iconic status with his role as Jim Stark in 'Rebel Without a Cause', though he tragically died before the film's release.
Q 11Which American marque introduced the Corvette two-seat sports car in 1953?
Chevrolet
Chevrolet unveiled the Corvette at the GM Motorama in January 1953 and built 300 fiberglass-bodied cars that year, every one painted Polo White.
Q 12What famous doll, created by Ruth Handler, was introduced at the American International Toy Fair in 1959?
Barbie
Barbie made her debut on March 9, 1959, and quickly became one of the best-selling dolls of all time.
Q 13Which author's seminal Beat Generation novel 'On the Road' was published in 1957?
Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac wrote On the Road, published by Viking in September 1957; he appears in it as narrator Sal Paradise, with Neal Cassady as Dean Moriarty.
Q 21Which genre of crooners and big bands dominated the early 1950s before rock and roll?
Traditional pop
Traditional pop, crooners like Perry Como and Patti Page backed by orchestras, drew on Broadway, Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood songwriters such as Irving Berlin and Cole Porter.
Q 22Which 1954 film features a giant monster awakened by nuclear testing?
Godzilla
Godzilla (1954), directed by Ishirō Honda with effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, shows a monster awakened by hydrogen-bomb tests and became a lasting metaphor for nuclear weapons.
Q 23Which surgeon performed the first successful human kidney transplant, between twins, in 1954?
Joseph Murray
Q 14What major musical, featuring songs like 'Tonight' and 'Maria', premiered on Broadway in 1957?
West Side Story
Conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the 1957 production was Sondheim's Broadway debut.
Q 15Which game show featuring Charles Van Doren was embroiled in a rigged-answers scandal in the 1950s?
Twenty-One
The game show 'Twenty-One' was at the center of a major scandal when it was revealed that contestants, including Charles Van Doren, had been given answers in advance.
Q 16Disneyland, the first Disney theme park, opened its gates in what year?
1955
Disneyland in Anaheim, California, opened on July 17, 1955, quickly becoming a landmark of American entertainment.
Q 17Who was the leader of the Soviet Union for most of the latter half of the 1950s?
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev emerged from the power struggle after Stalin's death in March 1953, serving as First Secretary until 1964 and as premier from 1958.
Q 18In what year was the Federal-Aid Highway Act creating the Interstate System signed?
1956
It authorised $25 billion for 41,000 miles of highway over ten years, the largest public works project in American history to that point.
Q 19Which European country was split into Western federal and Eastern democratic republics throughout the 1950s?
Germany
Germany's Federal Republic was founded in May 1949 and the Soviet-aligned Democratic Republic that October, with Berlin itself divided between the two.
Q 20Which 1950s American youth subculture is associated with leather jackets, hot rods and rock and roll?
Greasers
Greasers were working-class teenagers in the United States and Canada; the slicked-back hairstyles required constant combing to keep in shape.
Joseph Murray transplanted a kidney between identical twins Ronald and Richard Herrick in Boston on 23 December 1954, later sharing the 1990 Nobel Prize for the work.
Q 24Which 1957 TV show depicted the lives of the suburban Cleaver family?
Leave It to Beaver
CBS dropped Leave It to Beaver after one season; ABC picked it up and ran it for another five years, and it became far more popular in reruns.
Q 25Who began hosting 'American Bandstand' in 1956, becoming a major influence on teenage culture?
Dick Clark
Dick Clark took over as host of 'American Bandstand' in 1956, transforming it into a national phenomenon that showcased rock and roll to a young audience.
Q 26What mutual defense treaty did the Soviet Union and its satellites form in 1955?
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was established in 1955 as a collective defense treaty among eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, in response to NATO.
Q 27Which two U.S. states, the 49th and 50th, were admitted to the Union in 1959?
Alaska and Hawaii
Alaska and Hawaii joined as the 49th state on January 3, 1959, and the 50th that August 21; no state has been admitted since.
Q 28Which Beat Generation poet published the influential collection 'Howl and Other Poems' in 1956?
Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl' became a landmark work of the Beat Generation, leading to an obscenity trial that challenged censorship.
Q 29What popular children's television show, featuring a group of young performers, first premiered in 1955?
The Mickey Mouse Club
The original 'Mickey Mouse Club' television series debuted on October 3, 1955, and was a popular after-school program for children.
Q 30In 1954, Roger Bannister became the first person to do what?
Run a mile in under four minutes
On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister ran the mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds, a feat previously thought impossible.