Leon High School
Tallahassee, Florida
Class of 1959
What do you remember most about June 1955? Below are headlines for the month, followed by classmates' memories of the month, followed by links to other websites with June 1955 info.
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June 1955 Headlines
Jun 3 - Stan Musial hits his 300th HR
Jun 3 - Leon High Class of 1959 Graduates Junior High
Jun 4 - "Mickey Rooney Show," TV comedy last airs on NBC
Jun 5 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA Eastern Golf Open
Jun 5 - NY Yankee Mickey Mantle hits 550' HR off Chicago
Billy Pierce
Jun 6 - Bill Haley & Comets, "Rock Around the Clock" hits #1
Jun 7 - "$64,000 Question" premieres on CBS TV
Jun 7 - India premier Nehru visit USSR
Jun 7 - 1st President to appear on color TV (Eisenhower)
Jun 8 - Dodgers option Tommy Lasorda to make room on
roster for Sandy Koufax
Jun 10 - 1st separation of virus into component parts
reported
Jun 11 - 1st magnesium jet airplane flies
Jun 11 - 87th Belmont: Eddie Arcaro aboard Nashua wins in
2:29
Jun 11 - Le Mans race car accident kills 83 spectators (race
continues)
Jun 12 - "Mr Peepers" (TV Comedy) starring Wally Cox airs
for last time on NBC
Jun 16 - Pope Pius XII ex-communicated Argentine Pres Juan
Peron
Jun 19 - Mickey Mantle hits career HR # 100
Jun 19 - Phils beat Cubs 1-0 in 15, ties longest shut out in
Phillies history
Jun 23 - Walt Disney's "Lady & the Tramp" released
Jun 24 - Harmon Killebrew hits his 1st HR (off Billy Hoeff)
Jun 25 - "Imogene Coca Show," last airs on NBC-TV
Jun 27 - "Julius LaRosa Show," debuts on CBS-TV
Jun 27 - 1st automobile seat belt legislation enacted (Illinois)
Jun 30 - "Johnny Carson Show," debuts on CBS-TV
COUNTDOWN TO GRADUATION - JUNE 1955
LINKS TO WEBSITES WITH GOBS OF MORE YEARLY INFO
Top 20 Hits of June 1955
(In the UK - can't find USA)
1 Eddie Calvert Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom
White
2 Jimmy Young Unchained Melody
3 Al Hibbler Unchained Melody
4 Alma Cogan Dreamboat
5 Crew Cuts Earth Angel
6 Tony Bennett Stranger In Paradise
7 Perez 'Prez' Prado & His Orchestra Cherry
Pink And Apple Blossom White
8 Rosemary Clooney Where Will The Dimple Be
9 Tony Martin Stranger In Paradise
10 Dickie Valentine I Wonder
11 Les Baxter Unchained Melody
12 Tennessee Ernie Ford Give Me Your Word
13 Four Aces Stranger In Paradise
14 Frank Sinatra You, My Love
15 Johnnie Ray If You Believe
16 Joe 'Mr Piano' Henderson Sing It With Joe
17 David Whitfield Mama
18 Jane Froman I Wonder
19 Ruby Murray Softly Softly
20 Frankie Laine Cool Water
Personal Memories of June 1955
(from Bob Hoffman)
I'm writing one of these, but hope that some in the future will be emailed to me (rjhoffman@yahoo.com) by others in the class who have memories to share.
First and most obvious, June 1955 is the month that most of us graduated from Junior High School. For many including me, that was Elizabeth Cobb. My family moved to Tallahassee from Minnesota in the summer of 1954, so the eighth grade at Cobb was my first and only year there. Spent most of that year hanging out with Lee Dragoo and Roger Fernandez. Roger was from Spain and was the first person I can recall meeting who was from outside of the USA. He had a bright Red Cushman motor scooter that was his pride and joy. One day, someone attached one of those smoke bombs to his spark plug. When he came out of school and started his scooter, there was a loud explosion and a huge cloud of smoke coming out of the engine compartment. Roger got really shocked, was dancing around hollering "ai, ai, ai", those who were in on it were laughing, and those who weren't were as surprised as Roger. Seemed funny looking back on it, but probably not to Roger.
I turned 14 in May 1955, so was old enough to get my Learner's Permit and to buy my first transportation. In my case, this was an Allstate Cruisaire motor scooter. Not a new one -- they cost $395. I got a used one and rode it on several different Tallahassee Democrat paper routes. During the next 5 years, I went through a bunch paper routes, mostly with the Democrat, but also a time with the Florida Times-Union. Those paper routes were my primary source of income during those years, allowing me to run through several scooters and a couple of cars.
Those are my inputs for June 1955 - do you have any you want put here? Or for July or August? If so, send them on!
I'd say June 1955 was also the summer of the birth of Rock and Roll music. Although Bill Haley and the Comets had recorded Rock Around the Clock in 1953 and released it in 1954, it really didn't move to top hit status until it came out as the theme song to Blackboard Jungle in March 1955. By June 6, 1955, the song was at the top of the charts, stayed there for much of the rest of the year, and is in every list of top songs for 1955. Elvis was also out there singing every day of 1955 (see Elvis Live 1955 link below), but most of us hadn't heard of him yet. My first exposure to Elvis was a year later, when he came out with Hound Dog and I heard it on my car radio. For the summer of 1955, however, it was Bill Haley and the Comets that had us all hopping.
It was also sometime around June that I started my lifelong fascination with automobiles. I recall Lee Dragoo's father buying a Yellow and White 1955 Chevrolet BelAir 2-door hardtop. Quite a car in those days. 1955 was really the year that cars began to change drastically from year to year. That's the year they started with the fins, V-8 engines, and the beginnings of what would later be referred to as the muscle cars. The next four years 1956-1959 were big years for most brands of automobiles, when the industry started battling for the biggest fins, the biggest engines, the most new color schemes, etc. Who can forget the Pink and Black 1955 Ford? And that was just the beginning ...
