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An American newsmagazine television program broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation.

In mid-February Walter Cronkite and executive producer Ernest Lesser journeyed to Vietnam to cover the aftermath of the Tet Offensive.

Civil Rights Act of 1968

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which banned discrimination in the sale or rental housing. The bill also goes federal protection to civil rights workers and makes it a federal crime to cross state lines for the purpose of inciting a riot.

April 23-30, student’s protests at Columbia University in New York City, they took over administration buildings and shut down the university.

Were one among the various student demonstrations that occurred around the globe in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year after students discovered links between the university and the institutional apparatus supporting the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, as well as their concern over an allegedly segregated gymnasium to be constructed in the nearby Morningside Park. The protests resulted in the student occupation of many university buildings and the eventual violent removal of protesters by the New York City Police Department.

Hair

is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counterculture and sexual revolution of the late 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement. The musical’s profanity, its depiction of the use of illegal drugs, its treatment of sexuality, its irreverence for the American flag, and its nude scene caused much comment and controversy. The musical broke new ground in musical theatre by defining the genre of “rock musical”, using a racially integrated cast, and inviting the audience onstage for a “Be-In” finale.

Hair tells the story of the “tribe”, a group of politically active, long-haired hippies of the “Age of Aquarius” living a bohemian life in New York City and fighting against conscription into the Vietnam War. Claude, his good friend Berger, their roommate Sheila and their friends struggle to balance their young lives, loves, and the sexual revolution with their rebellion against the war and their conservative parents and society. Ultimately, Claude must decide whether to resist the draft as his friends have done, or to succumb to the pressures of his parents (and conservative America) to serve in Vietnam, compromising his pacifist principles and risking his life.

After an off-Broadway debut on October 17, 1967, at Joseph Papp’s Public Theater and a subsequent run at the Cheetah nightclub from December 1967 through January 1968, the show opened on Broadway in April 1968 and ran for 1,750 performances. Simultaneous productions in cities across the United States and Europe followed shortly thereafter, including a successful London production that ran for 1,997 performances. Since then, numerous productions have been staged around the world, spawning dozens of recordings of the musical, including the 3 million-selling original Broadway cast recording. Some of the songs from its score became Top 10 hits, and a feature film adaptation was released in 1979. A Broadway revival opened in 2009, earning strong reviews and winning the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Revival of a Musical. In 2008, Time wrote, “Today Hair seems, if anything, more daring than ever.

Yippies

The Youth International Party, whose members were commonly called Yippies, was an American radically youth-oriented and countercultural revolutionary offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the 1960s. It was founded on December 31, 1967. They employed theatrical gestures, such as advancing a pig (“Pigasus the Immortal”) as a candidate for President in 1968, to mock the social status quo. They have been described as a highly theatrical, anti-authoritarian and anarchist youth movement of “symbolic politics”.

1968 Democratic National Convention

The 1968 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held August 26–29 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois. As President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, the purpose of the convention was to select a new presidential nominee to run as the Democratic Party’s candidate for the office. The keynote speaker was Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).

Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and Senator Edmund S. Muskie of Maine were nominated for President and Vice President, respectively.

The convention was held during a year of violence, political turbulence, and civil unrest, particularly riots in more than 100 cities following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4. The convention also followed the assassination of Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, on June 5. Both Kennedy and Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota had been running for the Democratic Nomination at the time.

The Beatles Apple Record

Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968, as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger, and Billy Preston. In practice, by the mid-1970s, the roster had become dominated with releases by the former Beatles as solo artists. Allen Klein managed the label from 1969 to 1973. It was then managed by Neil Aspinall on behalf of the four Beatles and their heirs.

Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia

was a joint invasion of Czechoslovakia by five Warsaw Pact nations – the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany and Poland – on the night of 20–21 August 1968. Approximately 250,000 Warsaw pact troops attacked Czechoslovakia that night, with Romania and Albania refusing to participate. East German forces, except for a small number of specialists, did not participate in the invasion because they were ordered from Moscow not to cross the Czechoslovak border just hours before the invasion. 137 Czechoslovakian civilians were killed and 500 seriously wounded during the occupation.

The invasion successfully stopped Alexander Dubček’s Prague Spring liberalisation reforms and strengthened the authority of the authoritarian wing within the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). The foreign policy of the Soviet Union during this era was known as the Brezhnev Doctrine

Arthur Ashe

Arthur Ashe became the first African-American male tennis player to win the US Open Championship.

The Mod Squad

is an American crime drama series that ran on ABC from 1968 to 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Peter “Pete” Cochran, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III as Lincoln “Linc” Hayes, and Tige Andrews as Captain Adam Greer. The executive producers of the series were Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas.

The counterculture police series earned six Emmy Award nominations, four Golden Globe nominations plus one win for Peggy Lipton, one Directors Guild of America Award, and four Logies.

1968 Summer Olympics

Were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City, Mexico, in October 1968.

These were the first Olympic Games to be staged in Latin America and the first to be staged in a Spanish-speaking country. They were also the first Games to use an all-weather (smooth) track for track and field events instead of the traditional cinder track.

October 16, African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their arms in a black salute after winning.

Apollo 7

Was an October 1968 human spaceflight mission carried out by the United States. It was the first mission in the United States’ Apollo program to carry a crew into space. It was also the first U.S. spaceflight to carry astronauts since the flight of Gemini XII in November 1966. The AS-204 mission, also known as “Apollo 1”, was intended to be the first manned flight of the Apollo program. It was scheduled to launch in February 1967, but a fire in the cabin during a January 1967 test killed the crew. Manned flights were then suspended for 21 months, while the cause of the accident was investigated and improvements made to the spacecraft and safety procedures, and unmanned test flights of the Saturn V rocket and Apollo Lunar Module were made. Apollo 7 fulfilled Apollo 1’s mission of testing the Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) in low Earth orbit.

The Apollo 7 crew was commanded by Walter M. Schirra, with senior pilot / navigator Donn F. Eisele, and pilot / systems engineer R. Walter Cunningham. Official crew titles were made consistent with those that would be used for the manned lunar landing missions: Eisele was Command Module Pilot and Cunningham was Lunar Module Pilot. Their mission was Apollo’s ‘C’ mission, an 11-day Earth-orbital test flight to check out the redesigned Block II CSM with a crew on board. It was the first time a Saturn IB vehicle put a crew into space; Apollo 7 was the first three-person American space mission, and the first to include a live TV broadcast from an American spacecraft. It was launched on October 11, 1968, from what was then known as Cape Kennedy Air Force Station, Florida. Despite tension between the crew and ground controllers, the mission was a complete technical success, giving NASA the confidence to send Apollo 8 into orbit around the Moon two months later. The flight would prove to be the final space flight for all of its three crew members—and the only one for both Cunningham and Eisele—when it splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean on October 22, 1968. It was also the only manned launch from Launch Complex 34, as well as the last launch from the complex.

Richard Nixon won the Presidential Election on November 5, 1968

Elvis Presley: 68 Comeback Special

is a television special starring singer Elvis Presley, aired by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) on December 3, 1968. It marked Presley’s return to live performance after seven years during which his career was centered in the movie business. Presley was unhappy with his distance from musical trends of the time, and the low-quality movie productions he was involved in.

Initially planned as a Christmas special by the network, and Presley’s manager Colonel Tom Parker, producer Bob Finkel transformed the idea. He hired director Steve Binder to update Presley’s sound, and to create a special that would be current and appeal to a younger audience. The special garnered good reviews when it aired, topped the Nielsen television ratings for the week, and was the most watched show of the season. Later known as the “Comeback Special”, it re-launched Presley’s singing career and his return to live performance.

The Beatles: The White Album

The Beatles, also known as the White Album, is the ninth studio album by English rock group the Beatles, released on 22 November 1968. A double album, its plain white sleeve has no graphics or text other than the band’s name embossed, which was intended as a direct contrast to the vivid cover artwork of the band’s earlier Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Although no singles were issued from The Beatles in Britain and the United States, the songs “Hey Jude” and “Revolution” originated from the same recording sessions and were issued on a single in August 1968. The album’s songs range in style from British blues and ska to tracks influenced by Chuck Berry and by Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Most of the songs on the album were written during March and April 1968 at a Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India. The group returned to EMI Studios (now known as Abbey Road Studios) in May to commence recording sessions that lasted through to October. During these sessions, arguments broke out among the foursome over creative differences. Another divisive element was the constant presence of John Lennon’s new partner, Yoko Ono, whose attendance at the sessions broke with the Beatles’ policy regarding wives and girlfriends. After a series of problems, including producer George Martin taking a sudden leave of absence and engineer Geoff Emerick quitting, Ringo Starr left the band briefly in August. The same tensions continued throughout the following year, leading to the eventual break-up of the band in April 1970.

On release, The Beatles received favourable reviews from the majority of music critics, but other commentators found its satirical songs unimportant and apolitical amid the turbulent political and social climate of 1968. The band and Martin later debated whether the group should have released a single album instead. Nonetheless, The Beatles reached number one on the charts in both the United Kingdom and the United States, and has since been viewed by some critics as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Big Brother and Holding Company: Cheap Thrills

Is a studio album by American rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company. It was their last album with Janis Joplin as lead singer. For Cheap Thrills, the band and producer John Simon incorporated recordings of crowd noise to give the impression of a live album, for which it was subsequently mistaken by listeners. Only the final song, a cover of “Ball and Chain”, had been recorded live (at The Fillmore in San Francisco).

Big Brother obtained a considerable amount of attention after their 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival, and had released their debut album soon after. The followup, Cheap Thrills, was a great success, reaching number one on the charts for eight nonconsecutive weeks in 1968. Columbia Records offered the band a new recording contract, but it took months to get through since they were still signed to Mainstream Records. The album features three cover songs (“Summertime”, “Piece of My Heart” and “Ball and Chain”). The album also features Bill Graham, who introduces the band at the beginning of “Combination of the Two”. The album’s overall raw sound effectively captures the band’s energetic and lively concerts. The LP was released in both stereo and mono formats with the original monophonic pressing now a rare collector’s item. The album had been considered for quadraphonic format in the early 70’s and eventually in 2002, was released as a Multichannel Sony SACD. The original quadraphonic mix remains unreleased.

Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet

is the seventh British and ninth American studio album by English rock band The Rolling Stones. It was released in December 1968 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and London Records in the United States. The album was a return to roots rock for the band following the psychedelic pop of their 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request. It was the last Rolling Stones album to be released during Brian Jones’ lifetime, but he also played on some songs on their next album Let It Bleed, which was released after his death.

Apollo 8

Apollo 8, the second manned spaceflight mission in the United States Apollo space program, was launched on December 21, 1968, and became the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth orbit, reach the Earth’s Moon, orbit it and return safely to Earth. The three-astronaut crew — Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders — became the first humans to: travel beyond low Earth orbit; see Earth as a whole planet; enter the gravity well of another celestial body (Earth’s moon); orbit another celestial body (Earth’s moon); directly see the far side of the Moon with their own eyes; witness an Earthrise; escape the gravity of another celestial body (Earth’s moon); and re-enter the gravitational well of Earth. The 1968 mission, the third flight of the Saturn V rocket and that rocket’s first crewed launch, was also the first human spaceflight launch from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, located adjacent to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Originally planned as a second Lunar Module/Command Module test in an elliptical medium Earth orbit in early 1969, the mission profile was changed in August 1968 to a more ambitious Command Module-only lunar orbital flight to be flown in December, because the Lunar Module was not yet ready to make its first flight. This meant Borman’s crew was scheduled to fly two to three months sooner than originally planned, leaving them a shorter time for training and preparation, thus placing more demands than usual on their time and discipline.

Apollo 8 took 68 hours (2.8 days) to travel the distance to the Moon. It orbited ten times over the course of 20 hours, during which the crew made a Christmas Eve television broadcast where they read the first 10 verses from the Book of Genesis. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV program ever. Apollo 8’s successful mission paved the way for Apollo 11 to fulfill U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s. The Apollo 8 astronauts returned to Earth on December 27, 1968, when their spacecraft splashed down in the Northern Pacific Ocean. The crew members were named Time magazine’s “Men of the Year” for 1968 upon their return.

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Are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group who had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with “Searchin'” and “Young Blood”, their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller. Although the Coasters originated outside of mainstream doo-wop, their records were so frequently imitated that they became an important part of the doo-wop legacy through the 1960s.

The Coasters were formed in October 1955 when only two of The Robins were willing to go to Atlantic Records, those two were dubbed The Coasters because they went from West to East coast.

The Robins, a Los Angeles–based rhythm-and-blues group that included Carl Gardner and Bobby Nunn. The original Coasters were Gardner, Nunn, Billy Guy, Leon Hughes (who was replaced by Young Jessie on a couple of their early Los Angeles recordings), and the guitarist Adolph Jacobs. Jacobs left the group in 1959.

The songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller started Spark Records and in 1955 produced “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” for the Robins (their sixth single with Leiber and Stoller). The record was popular enough for Atlantic Records to offer Leiber and Stoller an independent production contract to produce the Robins for Atlantic. Only two of the Robins—Gardner and Nunn—were willing to make the move to Atlantic, recording their first songs in the same studio as the Robins had done (Master Recorders). In late 1957, the group moved to New York and replaced Nunn and Hughes with Cornell Gunter and Will “Dub” Jones. The new quartet was from then on stationed in New York, although all had Los Angeles roots.

The Coasters’ association with Leiber and Stoller was an immediate success. Together they created a string of good-humored “storytelling” hits that are some of the most entertaining from the original era of rock and roll. According to Leiber and Stoller, getting the humor to come through on the records often required more recording “takes” than for a typical musical number.

Their first single, “Down in Mexico”, was an R&B hit in 1956 and appears (in a re-recording from 1973—still with Gardner singing the lead) on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof. The following year, the Coasters crossed over to the pop chart in a big way with the double-sided “Young Blood”/”Searchin'”. “Searchin'” was the group’s first U.S. Top 10 hit and topped the R&B chart for 13 weeks, becoming the biggest R&B single of 1957 (all were recorded in Los Angeles).

“Yakety Yak” (recorded in New York), featuring King Curtis on tenor saxophone, included the famous lineup of Gardner, Guy, Jones, and Gunter, and became the act’s only national number 1 single, topping the R&B chart. The next single, “Charlie Brown”, reached number 2 on both charts. It was followed by “Along Came Jones”, “Poison Ivy” (number 1 for almost two months on the R&B chart), and “Little Egypt (Ying-Yang)”.

Changing popular tastes and changes in the group’s lineup contributed to a lack of hits in the 1960s. During this time, Billy Guy was also working on solo projects; the New York singer Vernon Harrell was brought in to replace him for stage performances. Later members included Earl “Speedo” Carroll (lead of the Cadillacs), Ronnie Bright (the bass voice on Johnny Cymbal’s “Mr. Bass Man”), Jimmy Norman, and guitarist Thomas “Curley” Palmer. The Coasters signed with Columbia Records’ Date label in 1966, reuniting with Leiber and Stoller (who had parted ways with Atlantic Records in 1963), but never regained their former fame. In 1971, the Coasters had a minor chart entry with “Love Potion Number Nine”, a song that Leiber and Stoller had written for the Coasters but instead gave to the Clovers in 1959. In Britain, a 1994 Volkswagen TV advertisement used the group’s “Sorry But I’m Gonna Have To Pass”, which led to a minor chart placement in that country.

In 1987, the Coasters became the first group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, crediting the members of the 1958 configuration. The Coasters also joined the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.

Several groups used the name in the 1970s, touring throughout the country, though original member Carl Gardner held the legal rights to it. Gardner continued to tour with the Coasters and made many attempts to stop bogus groups with no connection to the original group using the name. In late 2005, Carl’s son Carl Gardner Jr. took over as lead with the group when his father retired. The Coasters’ lineup then consisted of Carl Gardner Jr., J. W. Lance, Primo Candelara, and Eddie Whitfield. Carl Jr. later left this group and has started his own group with Curley Palmer. Carl’s widow Veta owns the rights to the Coasters name.

Leon Hughes is the last surviving member of the original Coasters and performs with his own group. Some of the former members suffered tragic ends. The saxophonist King Curtis (the “fifth Coaster”) was stabbed to death by two junkies outside his apartment building in 1971. Cornelius Gunter was shot to death while sitting in a Las Vegas parking garage in 1990. Nate Wilson, a member of one of Gunter’s offshoot Coasters groups, was shot and his body dismembered in 1980. Former manager Patrick Cavanaugh was convicted of the murder, which took place after Wilson threatened to notify authorities of Cavanaugh’s intent to buy furniture with stolen checks. Cavanaugh was convicted of the murder and given the death sentence in 1984, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison. He died at 60 in 2006, in Ely State Prison, in Nevada.

US Mint began to print the Lincoln Memorial on the penny in honor of the 16^th President Abraham Lincoln of his 150^th Birthday.

Fidel Castro (1926-2016)

On February 16, Castro takes the oath of office and was sworn in as premier of Cuba.

Pioneer I

On October 11, 1958, Pioneer 1 became the first spacecraft launched by NASA, the newly formed space agency of the United States. The flight was the second and most successful of the three Thor-Able space probes.

The Day the Music Died

On February 3, 1959, rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson. The event later became known as “The Day the Music Died“, after singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to it as such in his 1971 song “American Pie”.

At the time, Holly and his band, consisting of Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup, and Carl Bunch, were playing on the “Winter Dance Party” tour across the United States Midwest. Rising artists Valens and Richardson had joined the tour, as well.

The long journeys between venues on board the cold, uncomfortable tour buses adversely affected the performers, with cases of flu and even frostbite. After stopping at Clear Lake to perform, and frustrated by such conditions, Holly chose to charter a plane to reach their next venue in Moorhead, Minnesota. Richardson, who had the flu, swapped places with Jennings, taking his seat on the plane, while Allsup lost his seat to Valens on a coin toss. Soon after takeoff, late at night and in poor, wintry weather conditions, the pilot lost control of the light aircraft, a Beechcraft Bonanza, which subsequently crashed into a cornfield. Everyone on board was killed. The event has since been mentioned in various songs and films. A number of monuments have been erected at the crash site and in Clear Lake, where an annual memorial concert is also held at the Surf Ballroom, the venue that hosted the artists’ last performance.

Barbie

Mattel’s Barbie doll debuts in the US.

Mercury 7

were the group of seven Mercury astronauts announced by NASA on April 9, 1959. They are also referred to as the Original Seven or Astronaut Group 1. They piloted the manned spaceflights of the Mercury program from May 1961 to May 1963. These seven original American astronauts were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton.

Members of the group flew on all classes of NASA manned orbital spacecraft of the 20th century — Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle. Gus Grissom died in 1967, in the Apollo 1 fire. The others all survived past retirement from service. John Glenn went on to become a U.S. senator and flew on the Shuttle 36 years later to become the oldest person to fly in space. He was the last living member of the class when he died in 2016.

lthough NASA planned an open competition for its first astronauts, President Dwight D. Eisenhower insisted that all candidates be test pilots. Because of the small space inside the Mercury spacecraft, candidates could be no taller than 5 feet 11 inches (180 cm) and weigh no more than 180 pounds (82 kg). Other requirements included an age under 40, a bachelor’s degree or the professional equivalent, 1,500 hours of flying time, and qualification to fly jet aircraft.

After an advertisement among military test pilots drew more than 500 applications, NASA searched military personnel records in January 1959 and identified 110 pilots—five Marines, 47 from the Navy, and 58 from the Air Force—who qualified. Sixty-nine candidates were brought to Washington, DC, in two groups; the candidates’ interest was so great, despite the extensive physical and mental exams from January to March, that the agency did not summon the last group. The tests included spending hours on treadmills and tilt tables, submerging their feet in ice water, three doses of castor oil, and five enemas. Six candidates were rejected as too tall for the planned spacecraft. Another 33 failed or dropped out during the first phase of exams. Four more refused to take part in the second round of tests, which eliminated eight more candidates, leaving 18.

From the 18, the first seven NASA astronauts were chosen, each a “superb physical specimen” with an IQ above 130, and the ability to function well both as part of a team and solo. Grissom, Cooper, and Slayton were Air Force pilots; Shepard, Carpenter, and Schirra were Navy pilots, and Glenn was a Marine Corps pilot.

All seven had attended a variety of postsecondary institutions in the 1940s. Of the five astronauts who had completed undergraduate degrees before being selected, two (Shepard and Schirra) were graduates of the United States Naval Academy. Having earned a Master of Arts degree in 1957 at the Naval War College, Shepard was the only selectee who held an advanced degree. Following a decade of intermittent studies, Cooper completed his degree as a mid-career student at a now-defunct Air Force Institute of Technology undergraduate program in 1956. Grissom also earned a second bachelor’s degree in aeromechanics from the latter institution as a mid-career student. Glenn and Carpenter, however, did not technically meet all of their schools’ degree requirements (including the completion of Glenn’s senior year in residence and final proficiency exam and Carpenter’s final course in heat transfer) due to wartime military service. Although both were admitted on the basis of professional equivalency, Glenn had also completed a wide array of additional coursework as a U.S. Navy aviation cadet from 1942 to 1943 and as a part-time student at the University of Maryland, College Park from 1956 to 1959. Both astronauts were ultimately awarded their bachelor’s degrees after their 1962 space flights.

Statehood

January 3^rd, 1959, Alaska is admitted as the 49^th State in the Union.

August 21^st, 1959, Hawaii joined the Union as the 50^th State.

Bonanza

is an NBC television western series that ran from 1959 to 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, Bonanza is NBC’s longest-running western, and ranks overall as the second-longest-running western series on U.S. network television (behind CBS’s Gunsmoke), and within the top 10 longest-running, live-action American series. The show continues to air in syndication. The show is set in the 1860s and it centers on the wealthy Cartwright family, who lives in the area of Virginia City, Nevada, bordering Lake Tahoe. The series initially starred Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon, and later featured at various times Guy Williams, David Canary, Mitch Vogel, and Tim Matheson. The show is known for presenting pressing moral dilemmas.

The title “Bonanza” is a term used by miners in regard to a large vein or deposit of ore, from Spanish bonanza (prosperity), and commonly refers to the 1859 revelation of the Comstock Lode discovery, not far from the fictional Ponderosa Ranch that the Cartwright family operated. The show’s theme song, also titled “Bonanza,” became a hit song in its own right. Only instrumental renditions, absent Ray Evans’ lyrics, were ever used during the series’ long run.

Ben-Hur (1959)

Is a 1959 American biblical epic film, directed by William Wyler, produced by Sam Zimbalist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Charlton Heston as the title character. A remake of the 1925 silent film with the same title, Ben-Hur was adapted from Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The screenplay is credited to Karl Tunberg, but includes contributions from Maxwell Anderson, S. N. Behrman, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry.

Ben-Hur had the largest budget ($15.175 million), as well as the largest sets built, of any film produced at the time. Costume designer Elizabeth Haffenden oversaw a staff of 100 wardrobe fabricators to make the costumes, and a workshop employing 200 artists and workmen provided the hundreds of friezes and statues needed in the film. Filming commenced on May 18, 1958, and wrapped on January 7, 1959, with shooting lasting for 12 to 14 hours a day, six days a week. Pre-production began in Italy at Cinecittà around October 1957, and post-production took six months. Under cinematographer Robert L. Surtees, MGM executives made the decision to film the picture in a widescreen format, which Wyler strongly disliked. More than 200 camels and 2,500 horses were used in the shooting of the film, with some 10,000 extras. The sea battle was filmed using miniatures in a huge tank on the back lot at the MGM Studios in Culver City, California. The nine-minute chariot race has become one of cinema’s most famous sequences, and the film score, composed and conducted by Miklós Rózsa, is the longest ever composed for a film and was highly influential on cinema for more than 15 years.

Following a $14.7 million marketing effort, Ben-Hur premiered at Loew’s State Theatre in New York City on November 18, 1959. It was the fastest-grossing, as well as the highest-grossing film of 1959, in the process becoming the second highest-grossing film in history at the time after Gone with the Wind. It won a record 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Wyler), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Heston), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Griffith), and Best Cinematography – Color (Surtees). Ben-Hur also won three Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for Stephen Boyd. Today, Ben-Hur is widely considered to be one of the greatest films ever made, and in 1998 the American Film Institute ranked it the 72nd best American film and the 2nd best American epic film in the AFI’s 10 Top 10. In 2004, the National Film Preservation Board selected Ben-Hur for preservation by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for being a “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” motion picture.

Pope John XXIII (1881-1963)

was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 to his death in 1963 and was canonized on 27 April 2014. Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was the fourth of fourteen children born to a family of sharecroppers who lived in a village in Lombardy. He was ordained to the priesthood on 10 August 1904 and served in a number of posts, as nuncio in France and a delegate to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. In a consistory on 12 January 1953 Pope Pius XII made Roncalli a cardinal as the Cardinal-Priest of Santa Prisca in addition to naming him as the Patriarch of Venice.

Roncalli was elected pope on 28 October 1958 at age 76 after 11 ballots. His selection was unexpected, and Roncalli himself had come to Rome with a return train ticket to Venice.

He was the first pope to take the pontifical name of “John” upon election in more than 500 years, and his choice settled the complicated question of official numbering attached to this papal name. Pope John XXIII surprised those who expected him to be a caretaker pope by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the first session opening on 11 October 1962. His passionate views on equality were summed up in his famous statement, “We were all made in God’s image, and thus, we are all Godly alike.” John XXIII made many passionate speeches during his pontificate, one of which was on the day that he opened the Second Vatican Council in the middle of the night to the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square: “Dear children, returning home, you will find children: give your children a hug and say: This is a hug from the Pope!”

Pope John XXIII did not live to see the Vatican Council to completion. He died of stomach cancer on 3 June 1963, four and a half years after his election and two months after the completion of his final and famed encyclical, Pacem in terris. He was buried in the Vatican grottoes beneath Saint Peter’s Basilica on 6 June 1963 and his cause for canonization was opened on 18 November 1965 by his successor, Pope Paul VI, who declared him a Servant of God.

The Twilight Zone

is an American science-fiction, fantasy, psychological-supernatural horror anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964.

Each episode presents a self-contained drama in which characters find themselves dealing with paranormal, futuristic, Kafkaesque, or otherwise disturbing or unusual events, an experience described as entering “the Twilight Zone.” Episodes typically feature a surprise ending and a moral.

The series is notable for featuring both established stars and younger actors who would become more famous later on. Serling served as executive producer and head writer; he wrote or co-wrote 92 of the show’s 156 episodes. He was also the show’s host and narrator, delivering monologues at the beginning and end of each episode. Serling’s opening and closing narrations usually summarize the episode’s events encapsulating how and why the main character(s) had entered the Twilight Zone.

Rio Bravo (1959)

is a 1959 American Western film produced and directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, and Ward Bond.

Written by Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett, based on the short story “Rio Bravo” by B. H. McCampbell, the film is about the sheriff of the town of Rio Bravo, Texas, who arrests the brother of a powerful local rancher to help his drunken deputy/friend.

With the help of a cripple and a young gunfighter, they hold off the rancher’s gang. Rio Bravo was filmed on location at Old Tucson Studios outside Tucson, Arizona, in Technicolor.

Grammy

November 29, 1959, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Science holds the first Grammy Awards ceremony in New York City, honoring the music in 1958.

Quiz Show Scandal

Charles Van Doren, testifies that the producers of the hit quiz show Twenty-One fed him the correct answers.

The Untouchables

is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on the ABC Television Network, produced by Desilu Productions. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized Ness’ experiences as a Prohibition agent, fighting crime in Chicago in the 1930s with the help of a special team of agents handpicked for their courage, moral character, and incorruptibility, nicknamed the Untouchables. The book was later made into a film in 1987 (also called The Untouchables) by Brian De Palma, with a script by David Mamet, and a second, less-successful TV series in 1993.

The Untouchables won series star Robert Stack an Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series in 1960.

A topologist Louis Leakey found a 1.75-million-year-old hominid skull, the oldest to date in Olevia Gorge, Tanzania.

Kitchen Debate

was a series of impromptu exchanges (through interpreters) between then U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at the opening of the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park in Moscow on July 24, 1959. For the exhibition, an entire house was built that the American exhibitors claimed anyone in America could afford. It was filled with labor-saving and recreational devices meant to represent the fruits of the capitalist American consumer market. The debate was recorded on color videotape and Nixon made reference to this fact; it was subsequently rebroadcast in both countries.

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Eisenhower as an American Army general and statesman who served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was a five-star general in the United States Army and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe.

He was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45 from the Western Front.

He was also the first American President to be bound by the 22nd Amendment, which limits the number of times one can be elected to the office of President of the United States.

Born David Dwight Eisenhower in Denison, Texas, he was raised in Kansas in a large family of mostly Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry; his parents had a strong religious background. His mother was born a Lutheran, married as a River Brethren, and later became a Jehovah’s Witness. Eisenhower did not belong to any organized church until 1952. He cited constant relocation during his military career as one reason. He graduated from West Point in 1915 and later married Mamie Doud, with whom he had two sons. During World War I, he was denied a request to serve in Europe and instead commanded a unit that trained tank crews. Following the war, he served under various generals and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 1941. After the U.S. entered World War II, Eisenhower oversaw the successful invasions of North Africa and Sicily before supervising the invasions of France and Germany. After the war, Eisenhower served as Army Chief of Staff and then took on the uncomfortable role as president of Columbia University. In 1951–52, he served as the first Supreme Commander of NATO.

In 1952, Eisenhower entered the presidential race as a Republican in order to block the foreign policies of Senator Robert A. Taft. He won that election and the 1956 election in landslides, both times defeating Adlai Stevenson II. He became the first Republican elected President since 1928. Eisenhower’s main goals in office were to contain the expansion of the Soviet Union and reduce federal deficits. In 1953, he threatened the use of nuclear weapons until China agreed to terms regarding POWs in the Korean War. An armistice ended the stalemated conflict. His New Look policy of nuclear deterrence prioritized inexpensive nuclear weapons while reducing funding for expensive Army divisions. He continued Harry S. Truman’s policy of recognizing the Republic of China as the legitimate government of China, and he won congressional approval of the Formosa Resolution. His administration provided major aid to help the French fight off Vietnamese Communists in the First Indochina War. After the French left he gave strong financial support to the new state of South Vietnam. He supported local military coups against governments in Iran and Guatemala. During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Eisenhower condemned the Israeli, British and French invasion of Egypt, and he forced them to withdraw. He also condemned the Soviet invasion during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 but took no action. During the Syrian Crisis of 1957 he approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion by Syria’s pro-Western neighbours. After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, Eisenhower authorized the establishment of NASA, which led to the Space Race. He deployed 15,000 soldiers during the 1958 Lebanon crisis. Near the end of his term, his efforts to set up a summit meeting with the Soviets collapsed when an American spy plane was shot down over Russia. He approved the Bay of Pigs invasion, which was left to his successor to carry out.

On the domestic front, Eisenhower was a moderate conservative who continued New Deal agencies and expanded Social Security. He covertly opposed Joseph McCarthy and contributed to the end of McCarthyism by openly invoking executive privilege. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and sent Army troops to enforce federal court orders that integrated schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. His largest program was the Interstate Highway System. He promoted the establishment of strong science education via the National Defense Education Act. Eisenhower’s two terms saw widespread economic prosperity except for a minor recession in 1958. In his farewell address to the nation, Eisenhower expressed his concerns about the dangers of massive military spending, particularly deficit spending and government contracts to private military manufacturers. He was voted Gallup’s most admired man twelve times and also achieved widespread popular esteem both in and out of office. Historical evaluations of his presidency place him among the upper tier of U.S. presidents.

Hula Hoops

Wham-O Toy Company introduced hula hoops, 100 million were sold.

Explorer I

First American satellite, Explorer I, launched in orbit from Cape Canaveral on January 31, 1958.

The mission followed the first two satellites the previous year; the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 and 2, beginning the Cold War Space Race between the two nations.

Peace Symbol

Peace Symbol was deigned and completed by Gerald Holtom, commissioned by the campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in protest against Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.

Elvis Presley

King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley reported for duty with the US Army on March 24, 1958.

Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971)

On March 27^th, 1958, Nikita Khrushchev became Premier of the Soviet Union.

Van Cliburn (1934-2013)

Van Cliburn won the International Tchaikovsky Competition for pianists in Moscow, breaking Cold War tensions.

Ricky Nelson (1940-1985)

was an American rock and roll star, musician, and singer-songwriter. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

In 1957 he began a long and successful career as a popular recording artist. As one of the top “teen idols” of the 1950s his fame led to a motion picture role co-starring alongside John Wayne and Dean Martin in Howard Hawks’s western feature film Rio Bravo (1959).

He placed 53 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1957 and 1973 including “Poor Little Fool” in 1958, which holds the distinction of being the first #1 song on Billboard magazine’s then-newly created Hot 100 chart. He recorded 19 additional Top 10 hits and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 21, 1987. 

NORAD

NORAD (North American Air Defense Command was established by the US, Canada for their mutual protection.

Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970)

Charles de Gualle was a French general and statesman. He was the leader of Free France (1940–1944) and the head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (1944–1946). In 1958, he founded the Fifth Republic and was elected as the President of France, a position he held until his resignation in 1969. He was the dominant figure of France during the Cold War era and his memory continues to influence French politics.

Born in Lille, he graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1912. He was a decorated officer of the First World War, wounded several times, and later taken prisoner at Verdun. During the interwar period, he advocated mobile armored divisions. During the German invasion of May 1940, he led an armored division which counterattacked the invaders; he was then appointed Under-Secretary for War.

Refusing to accept his government’s armistice with Nazi Germany, de Gaulle exhorted the French population to resist occupation and to continue the fight in his Appeal of 18 June. He led a government in exile and the Free French Forces against the Axis. Despite frosty relations with Britain and especially the United States, he emerged as the undisputed leader of the French resistance. He became head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic in June 1944, the interim government of France following its Liberation. As early as 1944, de Gaulle introduced a dirigiste economic policy, which included substantial state-directed control over a capitalist economy which was followed by 30 years of unprecedented growth, known as Les Trente Glorieuses (“the glorious thirty”).

Frustrated by the return of petty partisanship in the new Fourth Republic, he resigned in early-1946 but continued to be politically active as founder of the Rassemblement du Peuple Français (RPF) (“Rally of the French People”) party. He retired in the early-1950s and wrote a book about his experience in the war titled War Memoirs, which quickly became a staple of modern French literature. When the Algerian War was ripping apart the unstable Fourth Republic, the National Assembly brought him back to power during the May 1958 crisis. He founded the Fifth Republic with a strong presidency, and he was elected to continue in that role. He managed to keep France together while taking steps to end the war, much to the anger of the Pieds-Noirs (settler population originating from European France) and the military; both previously had supported his return to power to maintain colonial rule. He granted independence to Algeria and progressively to other French colonies.

In the context of the Cold War, de Gaulle initiated his “politics of grandeur,” asserting that France as a major power should not rely on other countries, such as the United States, for its national security and prosperity. To this end, de Gaulle pursued a policy of “national independence” which led him to withdraw from NATO’s military integrated command and to launch an independent nuclear development program that made France the fourth nuclear power. He restored cordial Franco-German relations to create a European counterweight between the Anglo-American and Soviet spheres of influence through the signing of the Élysée Treaty on 22 January 1963. However, he opposed any development of a supranational Europe, favouring a Europe of sovereign nations. De Gaulle openly criticised the United States intervention in Vietnam and the “exorbitant privilege” of the US dollar. In his later years, his support for the slogan “Vive le Québec libre” (“Long live free Quebec!”) and his two vetoes of Britain’s entry into the European Economic Community generated considerable controversy.

Although reelected President in 1965, in May 1968 he appeared likely to lose power amid widespread protests by students and workers, but survived the crisis with backing from the army and won an election with an increased majority in the assembly. De Gaulle resigned in 1969 after losing a referendum in which he proposed more decentralization. He died a year later at his residence in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, leaving his presidential memoirs unfinished.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed by a black woman Izola Curry, while signing copies of his new book Stride Toward Freedom at a Harlem department store.

Hope Diamond

 November 10, 1958, New York Jeweler Harry Winston donated the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution, which became one of the most popular and enduring exhibits at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC.

NASA

Nasa is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.

Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have been led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the Space Launch System and Commercial Crew vehicles. The agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program (LSP) which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches.

Gigi

Gigi Is a 1958 American musical-romance film directed by Vincente Minnelli processed using MGM’s Metrocolor.

The screenplay by Alan Jay Lerner is based on the 1944 novella of the same name by Colette.

The film features songs with lyrics by Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, arranged and conducted by André Previn.

Weary of the conventions of Parisian society, a rich playboy and a youthful courtesan-in-training enjoy a platonic friendship, but it may not stay platonic for long.

The Donna Reed Show

The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone.

Carl Betz co-stars as her pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children, Mary and Jeff.

The show originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1958 to March 19, 1966. When Fabares left the show in 1963, Petersen’s younger sister, Patty Petersen, joined the cast as adopted daughter Trisha. Patty Petersen had first appeared in the episode, “A Way of Her Own”, on January 31, 1963. Janet Landgard was a series regular from 1963-1965 as Karen Holmby.

Bob Crane and Ann McCrea appeared in the last seasons as Dr. Dave Kelsey and his wife, Midge, friends of the Stones, and Darryl Richard became a near regular in thirty-two episodes as Smitty, Jeff’s best buddy. The show featured a variety of celebrity guests including Esther Williams as a famous dress designer, baseball superstars Don Drysdale and Willie Mays as themselves, teen heartthrob James Darren as a pop singer with the measles, canine superstar Lassie, and young Jay North of CBS’s Dennis the Menace.

The series was created by William S. Roberts and developed by Reed and her then husband, producer Tony Owen. Episodes revolved around typical family problems of the period such as firing a clumsy housekeeper, throwing a retirement bash for a colleague, and finding quality time away from the children. Then-daring themes such as women’s rights and freedom of the press were occasionally explored.

The show had an uncertain start in the ratings and was almost cancelled, but fared better when it was moved from Wednesday to Thursday nights. In the show’s middle seasons, Fabares sang what became a #1 teen pop hit “Johnny Angel”, and Petersen had above average success with the song “My Dad”, also introduced during the course of the series.

The Donna Reed Show was one of television’s top 25 shows in 1963-1964. Reed was repeatedly nominated for Emmy Awards between 1959 and 1962, and won a Golden Globe as Best Female TV Star in 1963. She eventually grew tired of the work-a-day grind involved in the program, and it was cancelled in 1966 after 275 episodes.

Vertigo

is a 1958 American film noir psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. The story was based on the 1954 novel D’entre les morts (From Among the Dead) by Boileau-Narcejac. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor.

The film stars James Stewart as former police detective John “Scottie” Ferguson. Scottie is forced into early retirement because an incident in the line of duty has caused him to develop acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo (a false sense of rotational movement). Scottie is hired by an acquaintance, Gavin Elster, as a private investigator to follow Gavin’s wife Madeleine (Kim Novak), who is behaving strangely.

The film was shot on location in San Francisco, California, and at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. It is the first film to use the dolly zoom, an in-camera effect that distorts perspective to create disorientation, to convey Scottie’s acrophobia. As a result of its use in this film, the effect is often referred to as “the Vertigo effect”.

The Rifleman

Was an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1870s and 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black and white, in half-hour episodes. The Rifleman aired on ABC from September 30, 1958, to April 8, 1963, as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first prime time series on American television to show a widowed parent raising a child.

The program was titled to reflect McCain’s use of a Winchester rifle, customized to allow repeated firing by cycling its lever action. He demonstrated this technique in the opening credits of every episode, as well as a second modification that allowed him to cycle the action with one hand.

The Everly Brothers

were an American country-influenced rock and roll duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Isaac Donald “Don” Everly (born February 1, 1937) and Phillip “Phil” Everly (January 19, 1939 – January 3, 2014) were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

Family and education

Don was born in Brownie, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, in 1937, and Phil two years later in Chicago, Illinois. Their parents were Isaac Milford “Ike” Everly, Jr. (1908–1975), a guitar player, and Margaret Embry Everly. Actor James Best (born Jules Guy), also from Muhlenberg County, was the son of Ike’s sister. Margaret was 15 when she married Ike, who was 26. Ike worked in coal mines from age 14, but his father encouraged him to pursue his love of music. Ike and Margaret began singing together. The Everly brothers spent most of their childhood in Shenandoah, Iowa. They attended Longfellow Elementary School in Waterloo, Iowa, for a year, but then moved to Shenandoah in 1944, where they remained through early high school.

Ike Everly had a show on KMA and KFNF in Shenandoah in the mid-1940s, first with his wife and then with their sons. The brothers sang on the radio as “Little Donnie and Baby Boy Phil.” The family sang as the Everly Family. Ike, with guitarists Merle Travis, Mose Rager, and Kennedy Jones, was honored in 1992 by the construction of the Four Legends Fountain in Drakesboro, Kentucky.

The family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1953, where the brothers attended West High School. In 1955, the family moved to Madison, Tennessee, while the brothers moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Don had graduated from high school in 1955, and Phil attended Peabody Demonstration School in Nashville, from which he graduated in 1957. Both could now focus on recording.

1950s

While in Knoxville, the brothers caught the attention of family friend Chet Atkins, manager of RCA Victor’s studio in Nashville. The brothers became a duo and moved to Nashville. Despite affiliation with RCA, Atkins arranged for the Everly Brothers to record for Columbia Records in early 1956. Their “Keep a-Lovin’ Me,” which Don wrote and composed, flopped, and they were dropped from the Columbia label.

Atkins introduced them to Wesley Rose, of Acuff-Rose music publishers. Rose told them he would get them a recording deal if they signed to Acuff-Rose as songwriters. They duly signed in late 1956, and in 1957 Rose introduced them to Archie Bleyer, who was looking for artists for his Cadence Records. The Everlys signed and made a recording in February 1957. “Bye Bye Love” had been rejected by 30 other acts. Their record reached No. 2 on the pop charts, behind Elvis Presley’s “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear,” and No. 1 on the country and No. 5 on the R&B charts. The song, by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, became the Everly Brothers’s first million-seller.

Working with the Bryants, they had hits in the United States and the United Kingdom, the biggest being “Wake Up Little Susie,” “All I Have to Do Is Dream,” “Bird Dog,” and “Problems.” The Everlys, though they were largely interpretive artists, also succeeded as songwriters, especially with Don’s “(Till) I Kissed You,” which hit No. 4 on the United States pop charts.

The brothers toured with Buddy Holly in 1957 and 1958. According to Holly’s biographer Philip Norman, they were responsible for persuading Holly and the Crickets to change their outfits from Levi’s and T-shirts to the Everlys’ Ivy League suits. Don said Holly wrote and composed “Wishing” for them. “We were all from the South,” Phil observed of their commonalities. “We’d started in country music.” Although some sources say Phil Everly was one of Holly’s pallbearers in February 1959, Phil said in 1986 that he attended the funeral and sat with Holly’s family, but was not a pallbearer. Don did not attend, saying, “I couldn’t go to the funeral. I couldn’t go anywhere. I just took to my bed.”

1960s/1970s

Ather successful Warner Brothers singles followed in the United States, such as “So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)” (1960, pop No. 7), “Walk Right Back” (1961, pop No. 7), “Crying in the Rain” (1962, pop No. 6), and “That’s Old Fashioned” (1962, pop No. 9, their last top 10 hit). From 1960 to 1962, Cadence Records released Everly Brothers singles from the vaults, including “When Will I Be Loved” (pop No. 8), written and composed by Phil, and “Like Strangers.”

In the UK, they had top 10 hits until 1965, including “Lucille”/”So Sad” (1960, No. 4), “Walk Right Back”/”Ebony Eyes” (1961, No. 1), “Temptation” (1961, No. 1), “Cryin’ in the Rain” (1962, No. 6) and “The Price of Love” (1965, No. 2). They had 18 singles into the UK top 40 with Warner Brothers in the 1960s. By 1962, the brothers had earned $35 million from record sales.

In 1961, the brothers fell out with Wesley Rose during the recording of “Temptation.” Rose was reportedly upset that the Everlys were recording a song which he had not published and, hence, for which he would not receive any publishing royalties, and he made strenuous efforts to block the single’s release. The Everlys held firm to their position, and as a result, in the early 1960s, they were shut off from Acuff-Rose songwriters. These included Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who had written and composed most of their hits, as well as Don and Phil Everly themselves, who were still contracted to Acuff-Rose as songwriters and had written several of their own hits. Nevertheless, from 1961 through early 1964, the Everlys recorded songs by other writers to avoid paying royalties to Acuff-Rose. They used the pseudonym “Jimmy Howard” as writer or arranger on two selections they wrote and recorded during this time — this ruse, however, was ultimately unsuccessful, as Acuff-Rose gained legal possession of the copyrights once the name substitution was discovered.

At this approximate time, the brothers also set up their own record label, Calliope Records, for solo projects. Using the pseudonym “Adrian Kimberly,” Don recorded a big-band instrumental version of Edward Elgar’s first “Pomp and Circumstance” March, which Neal Hefti arranged and which charted in the United States top 40 in mid-1961. Further instrumental singles credited to Kimberly followed, but none of those charted. Phil formed the Keestone Family Singers, which featured Glen Campbell and Carole King. Their lone single, “Melodrama,” failed to chart, and by the end of 1962, Calliope Records had gone out of business.

They never stopped working as a duo, but their last United States top 10 hit was 1962’s “That’s Old Fashioned (That’s The Way Love Should Be),” a song recorded but unreleased by the Chordettes and given to the brothers by their old mentor, Archie Bleyer.

Succeeding years saw the Everly Brothers sell fewer records in the United States. Their enlistments in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in October 1961 took them out of the spotlight. One of their few performances during their Marine service was on The Ed Sullivan Show, on February 18, 1962, when they performed “Jezebel” and “Crying in the Rain” while outfitted in their respective Marine Corps uniforms.

Following their discharges from active duty, the Everlys resumed their career, but with little success in the United States. Of their 27 singles on Warner Brothers from 1963 through 1970, only three made the Hot 100, and none peaked higher than No. 31. Album sales were also down. The Everlys’ first two albums for Warner (in 1960 and 1961) peaked at No. 9 U.S., but after that, of a dozen more LPs for Warner Brothers, only one made the top 200–1965’s “Beat & Soul,” which peaked at No. 141.

The brothers’ dispute with Acuff-Rose lasted till 1964, whereupon they resumed writing and composing as well as working with the Bryant spouses. By then, however, both of the brothers were addicted to amphetamines. Don’s condition was worse; he was taking Ritalin, which led to deeper trouble. Don’s addiction lasted three years, until he was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown and to treat his addiction. (The mainstream media of that time did not report that either brother was addicted. When Don collapsed in England in mid-October 1962, reporters were told he had food poisoning; when the tabloids suggested he had taken an overdose of pills, his wife and his brother insisted he was suffering physical and nervous exhaustion. It was years later that the story came out.) Don’s poor health ended their British tour; he returned to the United States, leaving Phil to carry on, with Joey Page, their bass player, taking his place.

Though their U.S. stardom had begun to wane two years before the British Invasion in 1964, their appeal was still strong in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. The Everlys remained successful in the UK and Canada for most of the 1960s, reaching the top 40 in the United Kingdom through 1968 and the top 10 in Canada as late as 1967. The 1966 album Two Yanks in England was recorded in England with the Hollies, who also wrote and composed many of the album’s songs. The Everlys’ final U.S. top 40 hit, “Bowling Green,” was released in 1967.

By the end of the 1960s, the brothers had returned to country rock, and their 1968 album, Roots, was hailed by some critics as “one of the finest early country-rock albums.” However, by the end of the 1960s, the Everly Brothers had ceased to be hitmakers in either North America or the United Kingdom, and in 1970, following an unsuccessful live album (The Everly Brothers Show), their contract with Warner Brothers lapsed after ten years. In 1970, they were the summer replacement hosts for Johnny Cash’s television show; their variety program, Johnny Cash Presents the Everly Brothers, was on ABC-TV and featured Linda Ronstadt and Stevie Wonder.

In 1970, Don released his first solo album, which was not a success. The brothers resumed performing in 1971, and with RCA Victor Records they issued two albums in 1972 and 1973. Lindsey Buckingham joined them in 1972 and toured with them. They said their final performance would be on July 14, 1973, at Knott’s Berry Farm, in California, but tensions between the two surfaced, and Don told a reporter he was tired of being an Everly Brother. During the show, Phil smashed his guitar and walked off while Don finished the show, ending their collaboration. The two would not rejoin forces musically for just over ten more years.

Fabian Forte

An American singer and actor.

Forte rose to national prominence after performing several times on American Bandstand.

He became a teen idol of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Eleven of his songs reached the Billboard Hot 100 listing.

Fabian Forte is the son of Josephine and Dominic Forte; his father was a Philadelphia police officer. He is the oldest of three brothers.

Discovery

Forte was discovered in 1957 by Bob Marcucci and Peter DeAngelis, owners of Chancellor Records. At the time, record producers were looking to the South Philadelphia neighborhoods in search of teenage talents with good looks.

Marcucci was a friend of Fabian’s next door neighbor. One day, Fabian’s father had a heart attack, and, while he was being taken away in an ambulance, Marcucci spotted Fabian. Fabian later recalled, “He kept staring at me and looking at me. I had a crew cut, but this was the day of Rick Nelson and Elvis. He comes up and says to me, ‘So if you’re ever interested in the rock and roll business… and hands me his card. I looked at the guy like he was out of his mind. I told him, “leave me alone. I’m worried about my dad’.”

When Fabian’s father returned from hospital he was unable to work, so when Marcucci persisted, Fabian and his family were amenable and he agreed to record a single. Frankie Avalon, also of South Philadelphia, suggested Forte as a possibility. “They gave me a pompadour and some clothes and those goddamned white bucks”, recalled Fabian, “and out I went.” “He was the right look and right for what we were going for”, wrote Marcucci later.

Singing stardom

Fabian was given an allowance from the record company of $30 a week. He also kept working part-time at a pharmacy as well as studying at South Philadelphia High School, while practicing his singing. Fabian later said “I didn’t know what I was doing, but I knew my goal, to try to make extra money. That meant a lot to our family. I rehearsed and rehearsed, and I really felt like a fish out of water. And we made a record. And it was horrible. Yet it got on he legendary Philadelphia rhythm and blues radio program] Georgie Woods. For some reason, Georgie Woods played it.”

The song was “Shivers”, which was a local hit in Chicago. This helped Fabian meet Dick Clark, who eventually put the young singer on American Bandstand where he sang “I’m in Love”. Fabian later admitted this song “was not very good either” but “the response – they told me – was overwhelming. I had no idea. All during that period, I was doing record hops. Not getting paid for it, but for the record company promotions. Just lip synching to my records. The response was really good.

Marcucci then gave Fabian a song written by Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus, “I’m a Man” (not the Bo Diddley hit), which Fabian later said he “liked a lot and was very comfortable with, was giving me more experience, but I still felt like a fish out of water.” The song made the top 40.

Marcucci heavily promoted Fabian’s next single, “Turn Me Loose”, using a series of advertisements saying “Fabian Is Coming”, then “Who is Fabian?” then finally “Fabian is Here”. It worked and “Turn Me Loose” went into the Top Ten, peaking at number 9. This was later followed by “Hound Dog Man”, (US #9; UK #46), and his biggest hit, “Tiger”, which reached #3 on the US charts. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. Other singles that charted included “String Along”, “About This Thing Called Love” and “This Friendly World”, which reached #12 on the US charts. At age 15, he won the Silver Award as “The Promising Male Vocalist of 1958.” His first album, Hold That Tiger reached the top 15 within two weeks.

Dion and The Belmonts

were a leading American vocal group of the late 1950s. All of its members were from the Bronx, New York City. In late 1957 Dion DiMucci joined The Belmonts with singers Carlo Mastrangelo, Fred Mila he name the Belmonts was derived from the fact that two of the four singers lived on Belmont Avenue in the Bronx, and the other two lived near Belmont Avenue.

After unsuccessful singles on Mohawk Records in 1957 and then on Jubilee Records (“The Chosen Few” Dion & the Timberlanes not the Belmonts), Dion was paired with The Belmonts. The group signed with Laurie Records in early 1958. The breakthrough came when their very first Laurie release, “I Wonder Why”, reached No. 22 on the Billboard Top 100 charts, and they appeared for the first time on the nationally televised American Bandstand show, hosted by Dick Clark. Dion said of the Belmonts, “I’d give ’em sounds. I’d give ’em parts and stuff. That’s what ‘I Wonder Why’ was about. We kind of invented this percussive rhythmic sound. If you listen to that song, everybody was doing something different. It was totally amazing. When I listen to it today, often times I think, ‘Man, those kids are talented’.” Dion and the Belmonts were the sound of the city. Their roots were doo-wop groups like the Flamingos, the Five Satins, the Dells, acts who developed their sound in urban settings on street corners, mimicking instruments with their voices, even complex jazz arrangements.

They followed the hit with the ballads “No One Knows” (No. 19) and “Don’t Pity Me” (No. 40), which they also performed on Bandstand. This early success brought them their first major tour in late 1958, with the Coasters, Buddy Holly and Bobby Darin, followed by the historic and tragic Winter Dance Party tour featuring Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. On February 2, 1959, after playing the Surf Ballroom, Holly arranged to charter a plane. Dion decided he couldn’t afford the $36 cost to fly to the next venue. According to Dion, $36 was the same price his parents paid for monthly rent. He told Holly no. Shortly after midnight, on February 3rd 1959, the plane crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, with Holly, Valens, The Big Bopper, and the pilot, Roger Peterson, all being killed. Bobby Vee, then an unknown artist, performed in Holly’s place at the very next concert. Later, Jimmy Clanton, Frankie Avalon, and Fabian were hired to finish the tour in place of the three deceased headliners. As of January 11, 2017 with the death of Holly’s tour guitarist Tommy Allsup, Dion is the lone surviving member of the original Winter Dance Party lineup (The lone surviving Belmont, Angelo D’Aleo, was not on the tour as he was in the Army at the time).

In March 1959 Dion and the Belmonts’ next single, “A Teenager in Love”, broke the Top Ten, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 28 on the UK Singles Charts. Written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, it’s considered one of the greatest songs in Rock and Roll history. It was followed by their first album, “Presenting Dion and the Belmonts”. Their biggest hit, “Where or When”, was released in November 1959, and reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the group making another national appearance on American Bandstand. The flip side, “That’s My Desire”, although never charting nationally, is as well known in many areas, especially New York City.

Other singles released for the group that year continued to chart Billboard, but were less successful. In early 1960, Dion checked into a hospital for heroin addiction, a problem he had since his mid-teens. At the height of the group’s success his drug dependency worsened. When, “Where or When”, peaked, he was in a hospital detoxifying. In addition, there were financial and musical differences between Dion and members of the Belmonts. “They wanted to get into their harmony thing, and I wanted to rock and roll,” said Dion. “The label wanted me doing standards. I got bored with it quickly. I said, I can’t do this. I gotta play my guitar. So we split up and I did “Runaround Sue”, “The Wanderer”, and “Ruby Baby”. In October 1960, DiMucci decided to quit for a solo career. Now simply known as “Dion”, his first major hit, “Lonely Teenager” was backed by a female chorus. He eventually chose to work with The Del-Satins, who backed him (uncredited) on all his early Laurie and Columbia Records hits, which, besides the three aforementioned hits Dion quoted, also included “Donna the Prima Donna” ,”Drip Drop” , “Lovers Who Wander” , and “Little Diane” . Later reissues of these songs would often be erroneously attributed to Dion and the Belmonts. The Belmonts also continued to release records on their own label, Sabina Records, but with less success, although songs like “Such a Long Way”, “Tell Me Why”, “I Need Someone”, “I Confess”, and “Come On Little Angel” all got significant radio play in the New York City area.

Bobby Darin (1936-1973)

was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and actor in film and television. He performed jazz, pop, rock and roll, folk, swing, and country music.

He started his career as a songwriter for Connie Francis. He recorded his first million-selling single, “Splish Splash”, in 1958. This was followed by “Dream Lover”, “Mack the Knife”, and “Beyond the Sea”, which brought him worldwide fame. In 1962 he won a Golden Globe Award for his first film, Come September, co-starring his first wife, Sandra Dee.

During the 1960s he became more politically active and worked on Robert F. Kennedy’s Democratic presidential campaign. He was present on the night of June 4/5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles at the time of Kennedy’s assassination. During the same year, he discovered he had been raised by his grandmother, not his mother, and that the girl he thought was his sister was actually his mother. These events deeply affected Darin and sent him into a long period of seclusion.

Although he made a successful comeback (in television) his health was beginning to fail, as he had always expected, following bouts of rheumatic fever in childhood. This knowledge of his vulnerability had always spurred him on to use his musical talent while still young. He died at the age of 37 following a heart operation in Los Angeles.

New Products

New products for the US consumer on television for the first time, including Cocoa Krispies, Cocoa Puffs, Sweet ‘n’ Low, and Tater Tots, also featured Jolly Green Giant.

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