We've finally arrived at the final year of our look at the golden decade of science fiction films. Let's start off by having a brief overview of the major events and people that helped to begin to shape our world for the last 60 years.
Review of the year 1959
Dollars & Cents
In 1959, while being faced with a yearly inflation rate of just 1.01% (US), you might ;
- be able to buy a new house for about $12,400.00.
- receive an annual average wage of $5,010.00.
- drive to work in your $2,200.00 new car.
- fill your car up on 25 cents a gallon of gas.
- relax at the movies at $1.00 an admission ticket.
- pick up a loaf of bread for 20 cents.
Popular Culture
Popular Films
- Ben-Hur (winner of 11 Oscars)
- Some Like It Hot
- Anatomy of a Murder
- North by Northwest
- Sleeping Beauty
Science fiction Films
Sci-fi films tended to rehash well-trodden paths of space travel and played on fears concerning new technologies.
Many of the science fiction films of that final year of the 1950s consisted of low-budget B offerings,
- Hideous Sun Demon
- Monster On Campus
- The Robot vs. the Mummy
- The Cosmic Man
- First Man Into Space
- Invisible Invaders
- The Mysterians
- The H-Man
- Plan 9 From Outer Space
- Destination Space
- Teenagers From Outer Space
- Giant Gila Monster
- The Killer Shrews
- The Return of the Fly
- The Alligator People
- The 4D Man
- The Angry Red Planet
- Attack of the Giant Leeches
- Wasp Woman
- The Atomic Submarine
- The Monster of Piedras Blancas
- The Giant Behemoth
- Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Popular TV Programs
“There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call “The Twilight Zone.'"
Rod Serling, narrator of the TV series, The Twilight Zone
Bonanza premieres on NBC, the first weekly television series broadcast entirely in colour
Popular Singers
Elvis Presley
- Doris Day
- Frank Sinatra
- Connie Francis
- Jim Reeves
- Cliff Richard
- Ella Fitzgerald
"The Day the Music Died,"
Singer Billie Holliday dies of liver failure at age 44.
Popular Songs
Some Number One Hits Of 1959:
- The Platters - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
- Frankie Avalon - Venus
- Wilbert Harrison - Kansas City
- Paul Anka - Lonely Boy
- Elvis Presley - A Big Hunk o' Love
- The Browns - The Three Bells
- Bobby Darin - Mack the Knife
- Guy Mitchell - Heartaches by the Number
- Frankie Avalon - Why
Technology
- Xerox launches the first commercial copier
- Volvo invents the modern seatbelt making it an "open patent," allowing other manufacturers to use the same design.
- The Integrated Circuit or microchip (forerunner of the microprocessor), invented by Jack Kilby in ’58 is released.
- Programming language COBOL, is introduced.
The Jet Age
- The first US transcontinental jet service opens (Los Angeles to New York) with Boeing 707 aircraft.
- Boeing 707 Jet Airliner comes into service cutting 8 hrs from transatlantic flight time.
- First transpacific service (Sydney-San Francisco) flown by jet - QANTAS Boeing 707.
- Pan American Airways (Pan-Am) begins offering regular jet-powered commercial flights around the world.
Space
- Lunar Probe Russia Luna 1 (USSR - Lunik 1) passes the Moon.
- Luna 2 becomes the first man-made object to crash (land) onto the Moon.
- Luna 3 sends back first photos of the far side of the Moon.
- The USSR launches the “Mechta” craft towards the Moon which misses, and inadvertently becomes the first man-made satellite to go into orbit around the Sun.
- US Launches first weather station in Space.
- NASA introduces America's first astronauts to the world including John H. Glenn Jr, and Alan Shepard Jr.
Cultural icons
- Mattel's Barbie Doll is Launched.
- The Troll Doll created by Danish fisherman and woodcutter Thomas Dam who could not afford a Christmas gift for his daughter Lila and carved the doll from his imagination.
In the US
- Alaska becomes the 49th State of the United States
- Hawaii becomes the 50th State of the United States
World Events
- After a revolution, Fidel Castro comes to power in Cuba - the first communist state in the west
- A 12 nation International agreement is signed to make Antarctica a scientific preserve and ban military activity.
- Ho Chi Minh declares a "people's war" to unite all of Vietnam, including an uprising in the southern half of Vietnam.
- Previously ruled by Britain, Singapore becomes a self-governing state within the Commonwealth of Nations.
- Archbishop Makarios is elected president of what will soon be an independent Cyprus.
China & Tibet
- China considers Tibet a part of China.
- The spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama flees Tibet and is granted political asylum in India.
Sino-Russian Relations
- Soviet leader Khrushchev abrogates the treaty with China by which the Soviet Union was to provide China with military technology.
- Khrushchev publicly denounces China's system of communes.
US & Soviet Union
- US Vice President Nixon speaking on Soviet television, criticizes communism and warns against any attempt to spread Communist ideology beyond the borders of the Soviet Union.
- Khrushchev begins a 13-day visit in the United States declaring that he has arrived "with open heart and good intentions.”
Strange, But True…..
- Pilot William Rankin, after having ejected from his jet at 45,000 feet spent 40 minutes being tossed around inside of a thunderstorm.
- 25 South African students set their own world record by climbing into a telephone booth.
- Robert Heft junior high student received a B for his history project: The design for the current US flag! His grade was later changed to an A after his design was adopted by the United States Congress in 1959.
- Soviet engineers create, “Object 269” - a tank designed to survive a nuclear explosion.
No comments:
Post a Comment