Leon High School
Tallahassee, Florida
Class of 1959
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October 1957 Headlines
(courtesy of http://dmarie.com/timecap/)
Oct 1 - B-52 bombers begin full-time flying alert in case of USSR attack
Oct 3 - Willy Brandt elected mayor of West Berlin
Oct 4 - "Leave It to Beaver," debuts on CBS
Oct 4 - USSR launches Sputnik I, the 1st artificial Earth satellite
Oct 6 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
Oct 7 - "American Bandstand" premieres
Oct 8 - Brooklyn Dodgers announce move to Los Angeles
Oct 9 - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Maralinga Australia
Oct 10 - Accident at British nuclear reactor in Windsdale
Oct 14 - Everly Brothers' "Wake Up Little Susie" reaches #1
Oct 16 - USAF sends 2 aluminium bullets into space
Oct 20 - Walter Cronkite begins hosting weekly documentary
Oct 21 - Jailhouse Rock starring Elvis Presley opens
Oct 22 - Conrad Adenauer re-elected chancellor of West-Germany
Oct 23 - 1st test firing of Vanguard satellite launch vehicle, TV-3
COUNTDOWN TO GRADUATION - OCT-NOV-DEC 1957
REALLY CLOSING OUT?
Well, here's where I usually close with "that's all the chatter I've got right now" and "I'll be back next quarter." HOWEVER, this month is a little different. Being year's end, I did some reflecting on how I'm spending my time, the value of various pursuits, and how to decide what to continue and what to terminate. I've decided to not continue spending time on these countdown entries, unless they're really of some value to others. I enjoy writing them, and later re-reading them, but if they're really only for me, I'm probably wasting my time putting them on the website. If you'd like to see them continue, check out my Blog entry Closing Out 2007 - Sell 50 or Stop Wasting Time.
November 1957 Headlines
(courtesy of http://dmarie.com/timecap/)
Nov 3 - USSR launches Sputnik 2 with a dog (Laika), 1st animal in orbit Nov 15 - US sentences Soviet spy Rudolf Ivanovich Abel to 30 years & $3,000
Nov 22 - Mickey Mantle beats Ted Williams by 1 vote for MVP
Nov 22 - Miles Davis Quintet debuts a jazz concert at Carnegie Hall in NY
Nov 22 - Simon & Garfunkel appear on "American Bandstand" as "Tom & Jerry"
Nov 24 - Cleve Browns' fullback Jim Brown sets record 237 yds rushing
Nov 25 - Pres Eisenhower suffers a mild stroke, impairing his speech
Nov 27 - Army withdraws from Little Rock after Central HS integration
Nov 30 - Assassination attempt on Indonesian president Sukarno, kills 8
Top 10 Hits of Oct 1957
(First week of the month)
(courtesy of
US Top Ten (first week of the month):
1. That'll Be The Day - Crickets
2. Tammy - Debbie Reynolds
3. Diana - Paul Anka
4. Honeycomb - Jimmie Rodgers
5. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On - Jerry Lee Lewis
6. Teddy Bear/Loving You - Elvis Presley
7. Mr Lee - Bobbettes
8. Rainbow - Russ Hamilton
9. In The Middle Of An Island/I Am - Tony Bennett
10. Remember You're Mine/There's A Goldmine In The Sky - Pat Boone
US R&B chart toppers this month:
Mr Lee - Bobbettes
Honeycomb - Jimmie Rodgers
Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley
Wake Up Little Susie - Everly Brothers
US Country chart toppers this month:
My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You - Ray Price
Wake Up Little Susie - Everly Brothers
December 1957 Headlines
(courtesy of http://dmarie.com/timecap/)
Dec 1 - Sam Cooke, Buddy Holly and Crickets debut on Ed Sullivan Show
Dec 2 - 1st US full-scale atomic electric power plant, Shippingport PA
Dec 2 - Sam Cooke's "You Send Me" reaches #1
Dec 5 - NYC is 1st city to legislate against racial or religious discrimination in housing market (Fair Housing Practices Law)
Dec 6 - 1st US attempt to launch satellite fails-Vanguard rocket blows up
Dec 6 - AFL-CIO votes to expel Teamsters (readmitted in October 1987)
Dec 11 - Jerry Lee Lewis weds Myra
Dec 17 - US successfully test-fires Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile
Dec 19 - "Music Man" opens at Majestic Theater NYC
Dec 20 - Elvis Presley given draft notice to join US Army
Dec 29 - Singers Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gormé wed in Las Vegas
Click the jukebox to hear songs from 1955-59!
Top 10 Hits of Nov 1957
(First week of the month)
(courtesy of
US Top Ten (first week of the month):
1. Jailhouse Rock/Treat Me Nice - Elvis Presley
2. Wake Up Little Susie - Everly Brothers
3. Honeycomb - Jimmie Rodgers
4. Tammy - Debbie Reynolds
5. Chances Are - Johnny Mathis
6. Be-Bop Baby/Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? - Ricky Nelson
7. Diana - Paul Anka
8. Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby - Tune Weavers
9. Keep A Knockin' - Little Richard
10. That'll Be The Day - Crickets
US R&B chart toppers this month:
Wake Up Little Susie - Everly Brothers
You Send Me - Sam Cooke
US Country chart toppers this month:
Wake Up Little Susie - Everly Brothers
Closing Out 1957
It's mid-December and this is truly the "holiday season." We've made it through Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, and have yet to go through Christmas and New Years, plus other holidays depending upon your religion or ethnicity. I've decided to close out the year with this chapter, plus a Blog entry, plus a Newsletter, plus a chapter in my Travel Log, all related. How's that? Read this first, then use the links here to visit the others.
I've been pondering the last few days about what types of holiday season things have endured over the years and how these were viewed as I was finishing 1957 as a Junior at Leon High. Something I thought of immediately was Coca-Cola, famous for their holiday advertising. Some say they're the ones that invented Santa Claus, although I've learned from Wikipedia and Snopes.com that that's just an urban legend. I think in 1957 we referred to them as Old Wive's Tales, not Urban Legends. Whatever, it seems that Coke has been instrumental in popularizing the fat, friendly Santa in the bright Red suit. To read the Coca-Cola website, you might think that they in fact did invent the jolly old St. Nick figure. Below, I've included Santas from 1931 through 1956 (couldn't find one for 1957). Below that are the Snopes Santas. Click the big 1956 Santa to visit the page where you can get larger versions of all those Santas, plus a few more.
More on Coke
Well, I went to the Coke site looking for Santas and ended up wandering around looking at historical bottles, trucks, etc. But .. enough of that, eh?
Top 10 Hits of Dec 1957
(First week of the month)
(courtesy of
US Top Ten (first week of the month):
1. Jailhouse Rock/Treat Me Nice - Elvis Presley
2. Wake Up Little Susie - Everly Brothers
3. Honeycomb - Jimmie Rodgers
4. Tammy - Debbie Reynolds
5. Chances Are - Johnny Mathis
6. Be-Bop Baby/Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? - Ricky Nelson
7. Diana - Paul Anka
8. Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby - Tune Weavers
9. Keep A Knockin' - Little Richard
10. That'll Be The Day - Crickets
US R&B chart toppers this month:
Wake Up Little Susie - Everly Brothers
You Send Me - Sam Cooke
US Country chart toppers this month:
Wake Up Little Susie - Everly Brothers
Coke Santas: 1931 1936 1937 1938 1941
1949 1951 1952 1953 1955
From Snopes.com:
1804 St Nicholas 1822 Moore Santa 1863 Nast Santa 1885 Coke Santa
1956 Coke Santa
Coke bottles 1899, 1900, 1915, 1916, 1957, 1986 (Click to enlarge)
Coke trucks: 1938 1941 1950 1955
Christmas on Chacksacka Nene in 1957
In my Junior year, the Hoffmans lived on Chocksacka Nene in Indianhead Acres. My recollection of those times were that we decorated the inside of the house, but I don't think we did anything outside. Did outside decorations come later or was that just us? I remember my mother was really big on that spray snow that made the windows look like Winter in Minnesota (where we lived until I was 14). We'd spray the big "bay windows" on the front of our house, as well as those that looked out on the patio in back. It was great fun snowing them up, but quite a chore scraping that sticky stuff off of the windows after the holidays. I think decorating for Christmas always was, and has been, more enjoyable than undecorating. I recall that we'd put a tree up in the Florida room, so it could be seen from the street. We'd use those little pointed bulbs on strings that would go out if one bulb went out. The good news was that replacing those bulbs was fairly easy, since they screwed in just like real light bulbs. When it came to putting the tinsel on, I always wanted to just stand back and throw handfuls, to give it a casual look, but mom insisted that we take 3 or 4 strands at a time and carefully hang them over a single branch. Stringing popcorn was also a biggie, with the challenge of getting some on the string before it all got eaten. And we even had a real fireplace to hang the stockings on!
I don't recall anything specific about Christmas, 1957, other than that it was probably about the last year that I spent much time at home. It was about that time that I decided I'd rather be out hanging around with friends, driving around town, or partying. I think it was New Years Eve 1957 that I got a six-pack of Cokes and a pint of Bourbon and spent my evening driving around, cycling through the Corral, Dixieland, and Mutt&Jeff's, enjoying the rock and roll music on the radio, and making my way through the Bourbon and Cokes. I awoke New Years Day at just after noon, parked by the Myers Park swimming pool. When I got home, I recollect there was some kind of family gathering going on, which I ignored and headed for my bedroom to get a little more sleep. I don't recall my mother ever even asking where I'd been all night. She sure was a lot more tolerant of me than I would be when my kids reached their teens!
Whether spending time with family or out partying, I recall this time of year always being great in my Tallahassee days. Getting out of school for Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Years .... What's to complain about? And how did you spend your holiday vacations? Mine were a combination of delivering newspapers (often accompanied by friends, who seemed to enjoy throwing newspapers at houses), frequenting the drive-ins to see who was doing what, heading out Tram Road now and then to see a drag race, wandering up to the haunted house on Thomasville Road to see who'd run first, and even having an occasional date when the mood struck. In fact, it might have been about this time that I learned that there was a Freshman girl who had a crush on me, asked her out, and soon learned that I had a lot to learn. But that's a story for another audience.
Looking at my "things I did" list above, you might notice that all involve being in my car. I think I probably spent 80% of my time in my old Studebaker in the Fall of 1957. I think that was the start of my love of being on wheels, an interest that has continued throughout my life, starting with cars and eventually evolving to RVs 30 years later. But, that gets me ahead of my Fall of 1957 reminiscing, so ...
Headlines and Musical Charts
So this is about the time I talk about what's in the headlines and charts above. Looking through the charts, the thing that stands out is that they seem to be having difficulties separating Top Ten from R&B Chart Toppers from Country Chart Toppers. I see that the Everly Brothers are on all three charts for all three months with Wake Up Little Susie. Makes me wonder when they started having a Rock and Roll Top Ten (or 40 or 100). I checked out Wikipedia, but all I learned was that they started the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958, which sounds like it's Rock and Roll. Whatever, in 1957, I guess it was still called R&B.
I also notice that American Bandstand premiered in October and Elvis joined the Army in December. There's two biggies for the Rock and Roll world! I really thought it was later that he went in the Army. Guess not.
Nuclear Testing, Sputnik, Little Rock
Other than the Rock and Roll related items above, it looks like 1957 was a year when USSR, Britain, and USA were all doing nuclear testing, USSR put up Sputnik I and II, and Central High School in Little Rock was integrated after a little fuss with National Guard, near riots, etc. All in all, I'd say it was a really tumultous year. For most of us getting through our Junior year and the trials and tribulations of being a teen, all of these world-changing events were of little consequence. I don't know about everyone else in the class, but I was just doing my thing(s), not thinking much about either tomorrow or yesterday, and not realizing that all of those things in the headlines were having major effects on our country's future and, more specifically, my future. The Sputnik was probably a major reason that I ended up starting my career working on the Apollo Mission in Houston with NASA. The nuclear testing led me to my later work in Ballistic Missile Defense. But, again, I'm wandering into the future ...
Let me end with Happy Everything! I got that graphic on the right in the email a while back and thought it was hilarious. I've been using it on holiday cards, emails, websites, etc. since. Hope it's not copyrighted :)
