Leon High School
Tallahassee, Florida
Class of 1959
This is a countdown to the 50th Reunion planned May 15-16, 2009. Below, you'll (eventually) find a summary of each year from 1955-1959. I started on an earlier page with 1955, continued with 1956, now starting 1957, and will be adding info for each month of each year until we reach the June 5, 2009 anniversary of our graduation. At the bottom of the page, I've included links to websites where you'll find gobs of more info on whatever year you're interested in that I discovered while researching these countdown pages.
If the menus above don't work for you, try the text menu at the bottom of the page
Quick-Look at 1957
Like all the lists of important events, movies, etc. that I found, this one may be tainted by my own preferences. Check the links at the bottom of the page to read the lists of others. Click these links for details on months: JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, APRIL, MAY,
WIKIPEDIA 1957 MAJOR EVENT SUMMARY - CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL LIST:
* January 3 - Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
* January 4 - After 69 years the last issue of Collier's Weekly magazine is published.
* January 10 - Harold Macmillan becomes the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
* January 13 - Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee.
* January 14 - Humphrey Bogart dies of throat cancer at age 58.
* January 16 - The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool.
* January 16 - Arturo Toscanini dies of a stroke at age 89.
* January 20 - Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated for second term as President of the United States.
* February 15 - Andrei Gromyko becomes foreign minister of Soviet Union.
* March 8 - Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal.
* March 13 - The FBI arrests Jimmy Hoffa and charges him with bribery
* March 14 - President Sukarno declares martial law in Indonesia.
* March 25 - Treaty of Rome (patto di Roma) establishes the European Economic Community (EEC).
* April 12 - United Kingdom announces that Singapore will gain self rule January 1, 1958.
* April 12 - Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl, printed in England, is seized by U.S. customs officials on the grounds of obscenity.
* May 2 - Senator Joseph McCarthy dies.
* May 3 - Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn, New York, to Los Angeles, California.
* May 16 - Elliot Ness dies
* June 25 - United Church of Christ formed in Cleveland, Ohio by merger of Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
* June 27 - Hurricane Audrey demolishes Cameron, Louisiana, killing 400 people.
* July 6 - John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the very first time, as teenagers, three years before forming the Beatles.
* July 16 - United States Marine Major John Glenn flies an F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds setting a new transcontinental speed record.
* July 29 - The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
* August 21 - Eisenhower announces a 2-year suspension of nuclear testing.
* September 4 - American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis - Orville Faubus, governor of Arkansas, calls out the US National Guard to prevent black students from enrolling in Central High School in Little Rock.
* September 4 - The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel on what the company proclaims as "E Day."
* September 5 - The first edition of Jack Kerouac's On the Road went on sale.
* October 4 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth.
* November 3 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter space - a dog named Laika.
* November 6 - Jailhouse Rock opens nationally and Elvis Presley continues to gain more notoriety.
* November 7 - Cold War: In the United States, the Gaither Report calls for more American missiles and fallout shelters.
* November 13 – Invention of the laser by Gordon Gould.
* November 25 - President Eisenhower has a stroke.
* December 6 - First U.S. attempt to launch a satellite fails, the rocket blowing up on the launch pad.
1957 TOP GROSSING FILMS :
* The Ten Commandments, Around the World in Eighty Days, Giant, Oklahoma!, Pal Joey, 7 Wonders of the World, and The Teahouse of the August Moon (according to Wikipedia).
* However, filmsite.org doesn't include any of these in their list of Greatest Films of 1957: The Bridge on the River Kwai, A Face in the Crowd, Funny Face, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Jailhouse Rock, The Pajama Game, Paths of Glory, Peyton Place, Sayonara, The Spirit of St. Louis, Sweet Smell of Success, The Three Faces of Eve, 12 Angry Men, and Witness For The Prosecution.
COUNTDOWN TO THE 50TH REUNION OF THE CLASS OF '59
LINKS TO WEBSITES WITH GOBS OF MORE 1957 INFO
1957 - The Year of the Fin
The major thing that I remember about 1957 is that it was the year that automobile fins got really big, then they essentially disappeared in 1958. I've searched the internet from one end to the other and can't find a new car catalog. Best I found was the Motor Trend magazine shown below.
I was about to give up, when VOILA! Wikipedia comes through again!
CLICK HERE to see all 44 of the Wikipedia photos. I've put some of my favorites below.
CLICK ANY PHOTO (except the magazine) FOR A LARGER VIEW!
Dodge - with Big Fins
Chevy - more Fins
Even Wagons had Fins
Ford, small fins, but bigger than 1956
Thunderbird in Pink
Plymouth - really big Fins
Buick - a little more subtle
Cadillac
Chrysler 300C - IMHO, the best of the 300s
Mercury, square fins
Oldsmobile - gone now
Studebaker - Hot in 1957
WANT TO HEAR SOME GREAT 1955-59 SONGS?
CLICK THE JUKEBOX!
THEN, CLICK BACK HERE AND IT WILL CONTINUE TO PLAY IN THE BACKGROUND
JUKEBOX COURTESY OF TROPICALGLEN.COM
Here is where the links will live - If they ain't italic & underlined, they ain't active yet!
