Entertainment
ENTERTAINERS IN THE FIFTIES
Entertainment in the fifties was a big thing. In the fifties the color TV came out and the fifties was a time when teenagers rebelled. Some of the entertainers were looked upon as idols. Teenage girls would be heads over heel for Elvis Presley. The 1950's were the decade of Rock 'N Roll. He had many hit songs amongst the teenagers. The Andrew Sisters were also famous in the late forties and early fifties. They had “soul” in them.
Elvis Aaron Presley was known as “The King of Rock n' Roll,” or simply as “The King.” He was born in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935. He was supposed to have a twin brother, but he was stillborn. When a baby is stillborn it means the baby died at birth. He moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948 and grew up there later on. As a kid growing up he was influenced with music and loved most kinds of music.
In 1954, was the first time he recorded his music with the Sun Records Label in Memphis, which was very well known at that time. His recording contract label was later sold to RCA Victor in late 1955. He was an international sensation in 1956. His music was new and refreshing to music listeners. He was controversial because of his suggestive dancing. So when he was on television, the shot him from the waist up.
In his lifetime, he starred in 33 films. He also preformed songs that were record breaking and toured all over America. His blue suede shoes are worth $1,000,000. He sold one billon records, and he has earned many awards like platinum, gold and multi-platinum for his one hundred fifty albums and singles, far more than any other artist. He was nominated for fourteen Grammy's and had won three Grammy's. The Grammy's were from National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and at the age of thirty-six he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. August 16,1977 he died. Everyone loved him and his music is still loved by young and old.
The Andrew Sisters were a real famous group of their
time. The youngest one was Patty, her voice led the group and she was the
blonde. The oldest was
LaVerne, red headed, and whose personality was outgoing.
The sister who was stuck in the middle, Maxene had a harmonic type of range that
gave the song more power. AS you can guess the three of the girls were all
sisters.
The Andrew sisters were born in Minnesota and like Elvis Presley had a great passion for music. They had a family piano and they practiced their sound with it. The singers idolized Boswell Sisters, Mel Torme, and Ella Fitzgerald.
They started their careers when Larry Rich hired them to go on a tour that had 55 members. They kept singing at fairs after they stopped touring with Larry Rich. One of the biggest hit song was “Bei Mir” it sold three hundred fifty thousand copies. In the 1940's they became so popular their weekly income was twenty thousand dollars! They appeared in seventeen films.
In 1954, Patty split up with the group but she wasn't as famous as with the group. In 1956, once again they reunited and sang soft rock n' roll. The rock n' roll wasn't as popular.
In 1967, LaVerne died of cancer. Maxene and Patty didn't want to pursue their careers without LaVerne, so they picked different careers. Maxene died of a heart attack at the age of 79. The Andrew Sisters were in the entertaining industries for about 30 years. In their lifetime they sold 90 million records and recorded almost about 700 songs. They also earned nine gold records.
Marilyn Monroe was a famous actress, model, and singer
in the 1950's. She 
was born under the name of Norma Jean
Mortenson. Since her
mother had a mental disability she had to live in a foster home until she was 7
years old. She lived with Grace McKee, a good friend of her mother's after the
foster home. Grace loved Norma dearly. When Grace married she wasn't able to
take care of Norma anymore, so she went to live in an orphanage. Even though,
Grace visited Norma and spent time with her.
In her acting career, Norma Jean Mortenson became Marilyn Monroe. She did musicals, love stories, and even comedies. In the middle of her career, Marilyn started depending on drugs and her health started to deteriorate. She started on drug therapy and didn't succeed. She had many affairs and was married three times. She gave performances to troops and all over the world.
In her lifetime, she made 29 films and 24 of those were in the first 8 years of acting. Her acting career lasted for 16 years. She died on August 5, 1962 at the age of 36 because of a drug overdose.
Drive in Theaters
In the early fifties there used to be no TV, so to
watch movies people would go to the indoor theaters. Then in the mid fifties,
the indoor theater popularity decreased, as well as the amount of them. They
decreased by 5,000 but drive-in theaters increased from less than 1,000 to
5,000. Teenagers enjoyed going to the drive-in theaters. Some even went on a
weekly basis, it was a time for them to catch up on gossip and have fun time
with their friends. In the 1950, the car heater was invented; it helped
Hollywood because the people who lived in the northern states could come to the
theaters year round. All-Weather drive-in theater located in Copiague, New York
was the largest drive-in theater at that time. It had 2,500 car spaces along
with a restaurant. It also had 1,200 indoor seats where you could see the movie without owning a car and it also included a playground for little kids.
Television
Television were one of the cool things to have
in the
1950's. The television became dominant, as people bought it in greater numbers
of hours per week than ever before. The TVs were black and white; they were also
7 inches in height. There wasn't even a remote control for the set! The other
problem was that there was an antenna; it was on top of the roof. When the
signal was lost people had to go up on the roof and find the right direction!
The shows that were watched weren’t reality. The lives of the shows seemed unreal. People who watched TV started to think that what was portrayed on TV was all true. The more people watched TV the less time they spent watching movies. Unfortunately, they also used the TV to keep up with current events not the newspaper.
In 1954, the color TV came out. Color TV was to expensive so only rich people had it. Sitcoms like The Honeymooners , Father Knows Best, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriette, Families of the Fifties, Dragnet, the Twilight Zone, Superman, I Love Lucy, and Private Everywhere were some of the shows geared for the teenagers. Little kids enjoyed shows like Lassie, Howdy Doody Time, and Mickey Mouse Club. Families enjoyed The Ed Sullivan Show. In the afternoons, soap operas like Guiding Light, were popular and they helped advertisers sell many products to America.
In the early fifties, young people watched TV more
hours than they went to school. The kids in the 1950’s used to watch
television for about 6 hours each day!
In 1952, the first 3D movie was seen. The movie was Bwana Devil, seeing 3D movies unfortunately didn’t become a fad.
American Bandstand was like the MTV in the 1950’s. American Bandstand played records soly for teenagers. Teenagers in the 1950’s loved to listen to American Bandstand, it was popular but the parents were not so fond of it. Bandstand appeared on WFIL-TV in Philadelphia in the middle of September of 1952. Bob Horn first hosted the show but then Dick Clark hosted it. Dick Clark was the host of American Bandstand from 1956-1989 and he was also the producer. When Bandstand was first televised the show was very popular among teenagers. It was first aired on ABC on August 5, 1957.
The Ed Sullivan Show was the longest running series show in television history. It ran from 1948 through 1971. Ed Sullivan was a former newspaperman on CBS before e created the show. The show didn’t target a specific group like American Bandstand but it tried to appeal to everyone. Opera singers, rock stars, comedians, ballet dancers, songwriters, and circus acts were preformed on the show. It was first known as Toast of the Town but then it was changed to the Ed Sullivan Show.
Movies
There were many famous movies in the fifties. The following are few of them.
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) this movie is an action packed movie. It won 7 Oscars and including an award for Best Picture.
Ben-Hur (1959) this movie is based on religion in the Roman times. This film won 11 Oscars.
High Noon (1952) Gary Cooper won the Oscar for Best Actor and Fred Zinnimann won the Oscar for Best Director.
On the Waterfront(1954) this movie is about gangs and murder. It won 8 Oscars.
Singin' in the Rain (1952) this movie had a lot of dancing involved. It didn't win major awards but it should have.
Sunset Boulevard (1950) this movie is a bit sad but it won 8 Academy Awards.
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) this movie has rebellious teenagers. I guess every decade.