Leon High School
Tallahassee, Florida
Class of 1959
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October 1956 Headlines
(courtesy of http://dmarie.com/timecap/)
Oct 2 - 1st atomic power clock exhibited-NYC
Oct 4 - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Maralinga Australia
Oct 5 - Yogi Berra becomes the 4th Yank to hit a World Series Grand
Slam (World Series #53)
Oct 6 - Dr Albert Sabin discovers oral polio vaccine
Oct 8 - Don Larsen, NY, pitches only perfect world series game, vs
Brooklyn (World Series #53)
Oct 9 - 10th NHL All-Star Game: All-Stars beat Montreal 1-1 at Montreal
Oct 16 - "Love Me Tender" with Elvis Presley premieres
Oct 16 - William J Brennan Jr becomes a Supreme Court Justice
Oct 17 - England's 1st large scale nuclear power station opens
Oct 20 - Hannes Lindemann begins journey across Atlantic in a 17' craft
Oct 23 - 1st video recording on magnetic tape televised coast-to-coast
Oct 23 - Revolt against Stalinist policies began in Hungary
Oct 24 - Soviet troops invade Hungary
Oct 29 - Chet Huntley & David Brinkley, NBC News, team up
Oct 31 - 1st American to land airplane at South Pole-Rear Adm GJ Dufek
Oct 31 - Britain & France begin to bomb Egypt to reopen the Suez Canal
Oct 31 - Brooklyn, NY ends streetcar service
COUNTDOWN TO GRADUATION - OCT-NOV-DEC 1956
Hope you all have a GREAT HOLIDAY SEASON!
I'll be back in 1957. If you have ANYTHING to contribute, AS USUAL, PLEASE SEND IT ON!
The End of 1956 at Leon High School
You may notice that I'm getting a little bit lazier as our high-school career moves along. I was doing monthlies for a year, then sneaked in a bi-monthly, now here we have a quarterly. Oh well ... I just can't think of much to say and haven't gotten any contributions for 1956, so here we go with what I recall from the headlines and top ten songs above.
News-wise, it looks like we were most concerned about Elvis, the Middle East, the Hungarian Revolt against Communism, and the Civil Rights Movement (although I don't think it had a name yet). Although Elvis was pretty much dominating the charts, there were still a variety of singers in there, ranging from Rock and Roll of Fats Domino and Pat Boone, to the slower and more "romantic" singers, like Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, and Johnny Ray. I see that Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly even got one in there in December. I'm surprised that I don't see any Chuck Berry or Little Richard, but I guess they come later.
Those photos above are Saturday Evening Post covers for October, November, and December 1956. Click on them to see details of what was inside each one. Below are some of the articles in them - click them to see a larger view of the pages.
One headline that caught my eye was "Nov 26 - The Price Is Right debuts on NBC", since that's one show that I watch almost every day. I'd always thought that Bob Barker had been on since it started. Not so! According to Wikipedia, Bill Cullen was the original host from 1956-1965. Bob didn't show up until 1972. In October 2006, he announced his retirement, after 35 years on TPIR and 50 years in television. Using my analytical math brain, I calculate that he must have started about this time -- October, 1956! Now ain't that amazing? I naturally had to go look up Bob in Wikipedia and learned that he grew up in Rosebud, South Dakota and hosted Truth or Consequences from December 31, 1956 until 1975. Now, doesn't all this just make reading this page a bunch more worthwhile? And you thought you were too old to learn anything ...
For want of something better to do, I just did a search on "Christmas 1956" and got some interesting hits. The photos left and below show a few. Click on them to get more details.
The one on the left is really interesting. This is just a family photo somebody put out there and it showed up on a Yahoo Search. I find it strange that innocuous webpages like this show up with no effort from their authors, yet if you try to get something on Yahoo or any other search engine, it's nearly impossible without paying. ... frustrations of a webmaster, 2006 :)
November 1956 Headlines
(courtesy of http://dmarie.com/timecap/)
Nov 2 - Hungary appeals for UN assistance against Soviet invasion
Nov 2 - Israel captures Gaza and Sheham
Nov 3 - "Wizard of Oz" 1st televised (CBS-TV)
Nov 4 - Israeli troops reach Suez Canal
Nov 4 - USSR sends tanks into Hungary & threatens to bomb Budapest
Nov 5 - Britain & France land forces in Egypt
Nov 6 - Holland & Spain withdraw from Olympics, protest Soviets in
Hungary
Nov 6 - President Eisenhower (D) re-elected vs Adlai E Stevenson (R)
Nov 8 - UN demands USSR leave Hungary
Nov 12 - Largest observed iceberg, 208 by 60 miles, 1st sighted
Nov 14 - Hungarian revolt put down
Nov 13 - Supreme Court strikes down segregation of races on public buses
Nov 24 - "Pajama Game" closes at St James Theater NYC after 1063
performances
Nov 26 - "The Price Is Right" debuts on NBC
Nov 27 - "Diary of Anne Frank," premieres in Netherlands
Nov 30 - 1st use of videotape on TV (Douglas Edwards & the News)
Nov 30 - Floyd Patterson KOs Archie Moore in 5 for heavyweight boxing
title
Top 10 Hits of October 1956
(First week of the month)
(courtesy of
US Top Ten (first week of the month):
1. Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel - Elvis Presley
2. My Prayer/Heaven On Earth - Platters
3. Canadian Sunset - Hugo Winterhalter
4. Whatever Will Be Will Be - Doris Day
5. Honky Tonk - Bill Doggett
6. Tonight You Belong To Me - Patience & Prudence
7. The Fool - Sanford Clark
8. Just Walking In The Rain - Johnnie Ray
9. Allegheny Moon - Patti Page
10. Canadian Sunset - Andy Williams
US R&B chart topper this month:
Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel - Elvis Presley
US Country chart topper this month:
Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel - Elvis Presley
Top 10 Hits of November 1956
(First week of the month)
(courtesy of
US Top Ten (first week of the month):
1. Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel - Elvis Presley
2. Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley
3. Green Door - Jim Lowe
4. Honky Tonk - Bill Doggett
5. Just Walking In The Rain - Johnnie Ray
6. Canadian Sunset - Hugo Winterhalter
7. Tonight You Belong To Me - Patience & Prudence
8. Whatever Will Be Will Be - Doris Day
9. Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino
10. Friendly Persuasion/Chains Of Love - Pat Boone
US R&B chart topper this month:
Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino
US Country chart toppers this month:
Singing The Blues - Marty Robbins
Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel - Elvis Presley
October 20, 1956 - CLICK TO LOOK INSIDE
Although the Suez Canal action was making news, as well as the Civil Rights Movement, I think the real biggie to most of us then was the Hungarian Revolution. This was the start of the fall of Communism that didn't end until 33 years later in 1989. Hey! I just learned something ... I was going to say how we'd all watched the Berlin Wall go up after World War II ended, but it didn't actually get built until 1961! Wow! I didn't realize that.
Anyway, if you'll look at all of the Hungarian headlines above for October and November, it really tells a story. Oct 23, revolt starts; Oct 24, Russians invade; Nov 2, Hungary appeals to UN; Nov 4, Russia sends tanks; Nov 8, UN demands they leave; Nov 14, Hungarian revolt "put down." In just over 3 weeks, the Russians ignored the demands of "the world", sent in tanks, and stopped the revolt. Notice that a few weeks later, you see "Dec 11 - Anti-Russian demonstrations in Stettin & Wroclaw Poland" ... and the 33-year struggle continued.
How different things are today ... Iraq invades Kuwait and we jump in the battle. Kind of makes you wonder if things go pretty much the same way, whether the world sits by and watches or jumps in to help. Either way, people get killed and, hopefully, the suppressors are eventually eliminated. Maybe it's a difference of 33 years versus however long this Iraq thing is going to take .. hopefully not 33 years. Of course, our intervention didn't really get rid of the suppressors in Korea .. or Viet Nam ... so .. who knows what really should be done? Glad I'm not in charge.
Top 10 Hits of December 1956
(First week of the month)
(courtesy of
US Top Ten (first week of the month):
1. Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley
2. Singing The Blues - Guy Mitchell
3. Green Door - Jim Lowe
4. Just Walking In The Rain - Johnny Ray
5. True Love - Bing Crosby & Grace Kelly
6. Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino
7. Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog - Elvis Presley
8. Honky Tonk - Bill Doggett
9. Hey, Jealous Lover - Frank Sinatra
10. Friendly Persuasion/Chains Of Love - Pat Boone
December 1956 Headlines
(courtesy of http://dmarie.com/timecap/)
Dec 1 - Frank Robinson (National League) & Luis Aparicio (American
League) voted Rookie of the Year
Dec 2 - Fidel Castro lands with "Granma" on coast of Cuba
Dec 3 - Wilt Chamberlain's 1st collegiate basketball game (scores 52)
Dec 3 - England & France pull troops out of Egypt
Dec 4 - 22nd Heisman Trophy Award: Paul Hornung, Notre Dame (QB)
Dec 6 - Nelson Mandela & 156 others arrested for political activities in
South Africa
Dec 7 - Helen O'Connell joins the Today Show panel
Dec 8 - 1st test firing of the Vanguard satellite program, TV-0
Dec 8 - Guy Mitchell's "Singing the Blues" single goes #1 for 10 weeks
Dec 11 - Anti-Russian demonstrations in Stettin & Wroclaw Poland
Dec 16 - "Fanny" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 888 performances
Dec 18 - Japan admitted to the United Nations
Dec 18 - "To Tell the Truth" debuts on CBS-TV
Dec 20 - Montgomery AL, removed race-based seat assignments on buses
Dec 24 - "I Love Lucy" Christmas show airs, never put in syndication
Dec 28 - Miss Frances [Horwich], last Ding Dong School on NBC-TV
November 3, 1956 - CLICK TO LOOK INSIDE
December 1, 1956 - CLICK TO LOOK INSIDE
December 22, 1956 - CLICK TO LOOK INSIDE
Stories about people, like the young Sophia Loren ...
Ads showing the Great, New 1957 Cars!
Great fiction with elaborate illustrations
... and the young, struggling Walt Disney
The original logo for the show - click to read all about it in Wikipedia
Text on this reads "Christmas, 1956: : I had just turned 2 and we lived in a tiny house on Cortez Street in Dallas. My sister still has the Raggedy Ann and Andy -- and I still have my Mom's chairs."
Recognize them? Ozzie, Harriet, Ricky, and David; Their 1956 "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet – The Busy Christmas" is listed as a Christmas Classic
Jackie Gleason's Merry Christmas 1956; click to read all about it and others like it
Tennessee Ernie’s Family Christmas Show 1956;
Click to buy if for $10.89
haha ... 5 Great things to buy at Christmas - buy cigarettes for your loved ones; click to enlarge
