Best seen with Notes about this site Let's go back to the Fifties When, it seemed, life was simpler I am going to concentrate on the year 1957. That was a special year for TinChicken. The year I graduated from High School. COST OF LIVING Average Income House Car Gas Bread Milk Postage $3,000 $14,500 $1,750.00 20¢ 14¢ 82¢ 3¢ MUSIC What is this girl doing? She is listening to a record! Something that most 50s kids did.... a lot! What is a record? (Prounced rec'-ord. Taken, I am sure, from the word re'-cord) What is a record player? A record is the predecessor of a CD. It was black and, until the arrival of the "45s", was much larger than a CD. It would scratch easily and might break, if you dropped it. 45s were much smaller than the 78s we were used to. They had a big hole in the middle as opposed to the small one of the 78s. You either bought a 45 sized spindle, or little disks that went in the middle of the record. I never did figure out what was the reasoning behind the larger hole. Almost every kid in the USA had 45s and a record player to play them on. Some record players were in a very large cabinet, that was a piece of the furniture. Some were made up in suitcases, so you could take them with you. None, that I know of, were battery operated. For some of us, our lives revolved around the record player and the marvelous music that came from it. Here are some of my favorites: Blueberry Hill- Fats Domino Don't Forbid Me - Pat Boone Young Love - Sonny James Party Doll - Buddy Knox and the Rhythm Orchids Round and Round - Perry Como Little Darlin - The Diamonds A White Sport Coat - Marty Robbins Bye Bye Love - Everly Brothers Old Cape Cod- Patti Page Diana - Paul Anka That'll Be the Day - Everly Brothers You Send Me - Sam Cooke Peggy Sue - Buddy Holly and the Crickets My Special Angel - Bobby Helms

Television

While TV didn't begin in the Fifties, practically no one had a set before then, there were few shows, and people looked to radio and newspapers for entertainment and news. In 1947 RCA mass produced a 7 inch TV and 170,000 of them sold. By 1949, 1 million sets had been sold. There were 3 knobs, ON/OFF, Volume, and Brightness. To be able to see, you needed to have the lights off, just like in a movie theater. Gee! We had our own theaters. I am sure that Hollywood thought the movies would go out of business with this new technology.

As the Fifties progressed, the post-war boom included TV. In 1950 there were about 10 million sets in the U.S.

As TV became more commonly available, people were enthralled. This was much better than radio. People would linger outside the windows of stores, that sold this new wonder. You became very popular, very quickly if your family had a TV.

FEMALE FASHION

Women wore dresses, not slacks, even doing such tasks as planting a garden or climbing an apple tree to pick apples. Girls at school wore dresses or skirts. Slacks or jeans were against the rules. Yes, we did have a dress code, back then. As, soon as you got home from school, you took that dress off and donned your comfortable jeans. We wore jeans on the weekend, but never to the movies or to church. School dances required long dresses, and they were not clingy.

Petticoats were made of net and was what gave shape to the very full skirts. They were often starched with a mixture of sugar and water, which was then hung, by the bottom edges, to dry. We sometimes wore 3 or more at one time. The pony tail, for teenagers, came into fashion and was part of your overall statement.

WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN 1957

01/06/1957 - Elvis Presley makes his 7th & final appearance on Ed Sullivan Show
02/25/1957 - Buddy Holly & Crickets record "That'll Be the Day"
03/27/1957 - 29th Academy Awards - "Around World in 80 Days,"
04/06/1957 - NYC ends trolley car service
04/06/1957 - USSR performs nuclear test
05/06/1957 - Last broadcast of "I Love Lucy" on CBS-TV
05/06/1957 - Pulitzer prize awarded to John F Kennedy, "Profiles in Courage"
05/15/1957 - 18,000 people gather at Madison Sq Garden for Billy Graham Crusade
05/15/1957 - 1st British H-bomb explosion (over Christmas Island)
05/17/1957 - School desegregation law, Brown v Board of education
06/03/1957 - Howard Cosell's 1st TV show
05/20/1957 - TinChicken graduates from High School - 11 students in the class
06/22/1957 - KC stops using streetcars in it's transit system
07/02/1957 - The Grayback, 1st submarine designed to fire guided missiles, is launched
07/12/1957 - Dwight Eisenhower, first President to fly in helicopter
07/12/1957 - U.S. Surgeon, General Leroy Burney connects smoking with lung cancer
07/19/1957 - First rocket with nuclear warhead fired, Yucca Flats, Nevada
07/26/1957 - USSR launches first Intercontinental Multistage Ballistic Missile
07/29/1957 - Jack Paar's Tonight show premieres
08/05/1957 - "American Bandstand," begins network TV (ABC)
08/17/1957 - Richie Ashburn, hits 2 foul balls and hits fan Alice Roth, twice in same, at bat; 1st one breaks her nose, 2nd one hits her while she is on the stretcher
08/29/1957 - Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1957
09/04/1957 - Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, calls out National Guard to stop 9 black students from entering a Little Rock high school
09/09/1957 - "Diana" by Paul Anka reaches #1
09/09/1957 - Nashville's new Hattie Cotton Elementary School dynamited
09/09/1957 - Pres Eisenhower signs 1st civil rights bill since Reconstruction
09/18/1957 - "Wagon Train" premieres
09/19/1957 - First underground nuclear explosion at Las Vegas Nevada
09/21/1957 - "Perry Mason" with Raymond Burr premieres on CBS-TV
09/23/1957 - "That'll Be Day" by Buddy Holly & Crickets reaches #1
09/23/1957 - White mob forces 9 black students who had entered a Little Rock high school in Arkansas to withdraw
09/24/1957 - Eisenhower orders US troops to desegregate Little Rock schools
09/25/1957 - 300 U.S. Army troops guard 9 black kids return to Central HS in Ark
09/28/1957 - "Honeycomb," by Jimmie Rodgers hits #1
10/04/1957 - "Leave It to Beaver," debuts on CBS
10/04/1957 - USSR launches Sputnik I, 1st artificial Earth satellite
10/14/1957 - Everly Brothers' "Wake Up Little Susie" reaches #1
10/20/1957 - Walter Cronkite begins hosting weekly documentary
10/30/1957 - Soviet Union launches, Sputnik II, carrying a dog named Laika
11/25/1957 - President Eisenhower suffers a mild stroke, impairing his speech
11/26/1957 - WCVB TV channel 5 in Boston, MA (ABC) begins broadcasting
12/05/1957 - NYC is 1st city to legislate against racial or religious discrimination in housing market (Fair Housing Practices Law)
12/06/1957 - 1st US attempt to launch a satellite fails-Vanguard rocket blows up
12/02/1957 - 1st US large scale nuclear power plant opens (Shippingport, Penn)
12/19/1957 - "Music Man" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 1375 performances
12/20/1957 - Elvis Presley given draft notice to join US Army for National Service

Of course, that was not all that happened in 1957, but how could you cram all of it on one little page.

And Last but NOT Least
Berma Shave signs!

You could see Burma-Shave signs all across America. The white signs with their red letters, were grouped by four, fives and sixes and were a part of any family trip. You'd read first one, then next till finally you came to the punch line on the next to last. Berma Shave was always on the last sign.

His cheek Was rough His chick vamoosed And now she won't Come home to roost Burma-Shave	The place to pass On curves You know Is only at A beauty show Burma-Shave	On curves ahead Remember, sonny That rabbit's foot Didn't save The bunny Burma-Shave
Twinkle, twinkle One-eyed car We all wonder WHERE you are Burma-Shave	These signs We gladly dedicate To men who've had No date of late Burma-Shave	A guy who drives A car wide open Is not thinkin' He's just hopin' Burma-Shave
Within this vale Of toil and sin Your head grows bald But not your chin Burma-Shave	She eyed his beard And said no dice The wedding's off-- I'll COOK the rice Burma-Shave	If your peach Keeps out of reach Better practice What we preach Burma-Shave
When Super-shaved Remember, pard You'll still get slapped But not so hard Burma-Shave	I know he's a wolf Said riding hood But Grandma dear, He smells so good Burma-Shave	To kiss a mug That's like a cactus Takes more nerve Than it does practice Burma-Shave
The whale put Jonah Down the hatch But coughed him up Because he scratched Burma-Shave	Violets are blue Roses are pink On graves of those Who drive and drink Burma-Shave	A beard that's rough And overgrown Is better than A chaperone Burma-Shave
My job is Keeping faces clean And nobody knows De stubble I've seen Burma-Shave	Doesn't kiss you Like she useter? Perhaps she's seen A smoother rooster!! Burma-Shave	Train approaching Whistle squealing Pause! Avoid that rundown feeling! Burma-Shave
He tried to cross As fast train neared Death didn't draft him He volunteered Burma-Shave	Is he lonesome Or just blind-- This guy who drives So close behind? Burma-Shave	We've made Grandpa Look so trim The local Draft board's after him Burma-Shave Lotion
She put a bullet Thru his hat But he's had Closer shaves than that Burma-Shave Lotion	Around the curve Lickety-split It's a beautiful car Wasn't it? Burma-Shave	He asked his kitten To pet and purr She eyed his puss And screamed "What fur!" Burma-Shave Lotion
For early morning Pep and bounce A brand new product We announce Burma-Shave Lotion	The ladies take one whiff And purr-- It's no wonder Men prefer Burma-Shave Lotion	His face was smooth And cool as ice And oh! Louise! He smelled so nice Burma-Shave Lotion
I'd heard it praised By drug store clerks I tried the stuff Hot dog! It works Burma-Shave	Train wrecks few Reason clear Fireman Never hugs Engineer Burma-Shave	Altho insured Remember, kiddo They don't pay you They pay Your widow Burma-Shave

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