1955 Jan 3, Melody Anderson, actress, was born.: Marilyn &
Bobby: Her Final Affair, Landslide, Hitler’s Daughter, Final Notice, Speed
Zone, Firewalker, Beverly Hills Madam, Policewoman Centerfold, Dead and
Buried, Flash Gordon, Manimal.
(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)
1955 Jan 3, At the top of the record charts:
Mr. Sandman by The Chordettes.
Let Me Go, Lover by Joan Weber.
The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane
by The Ames Brothers.
More and More by Webb Pierce.
(440 Int'l. 1/3/99)
1955 Jan 7, Singer Marian Anderson made her debut with the Metropolitan
Opera in New York, in Verdi’s "Un Ballo in Maschera." She was the first
black singer to perform there.
(WSJ, 2/28/97, p.A14)(AP, 1/7/98)
1955 Jan 13, Chase National and the Bank of Manhattan agreed to
merge resulting in the second largest U.S. bank.
(HN, 1/13/99)
1955 Jan 17, The nuclear powered USS Nautilus submarine was launched
for its 1st shakedown cruise to Puerto Rico. [see Jan 21, 1954]
(SFC, 4/30/01, p.A17)
1955 Jan 18, Kevin Costner, actor (Dances With Wolves), was born
in LA, Calif.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1955 Jan 19, Sir Simon Rattle, orchestra conductor (Berlin Philharmonic),
was born in England.
(MC, 1/19/02)
1955 Jan 19, A presidential news conference was filmed for television
for the first time, with permission from President Eisenhower.
(AP, 1/19/98)
1955 Jan 19, "Scrabble" debuted in the board game market.
(MC, 1/19/02)
1955 Jan 20, Joe Doherty, IRA activist (jailed in US), was born
in Ireland.
(MC, 1/20/02)
1955 Jan 25, Columbia University scientists developed an atomic
clock that was accurate to within one second in 300 years.
(HN, 1/25/99)
1955 Jan 28, The U.S. Congress passed a bill allowing mobilization
of troops if China should attack Taiwan.
(HN, 1/28/99)
1955 Jan 31, A document thus dated stated that Yuri Rastvorov,
a Soviet defector, told Eisenhower administration officials in a private
Jan 28 meeting that US and other UN POWs were held in Siberia during the
1950-1953 Korean War.
(SFEC, 5/5/96, World p.1)
1955 Jan 31, RCA demonstrated the 1st music synthesizer.
(MC, 1/31/02)
1955 Feb 1, Top hits included: Melody of Love, Billy Vaughn/The
Four Aces/David Carroll; Hearts of Stone, The Fontane Sisters; Earth Angel,
Penguins/Crew-Cuts; Open Up Your Heart (and Let the Sun Shine In), Cowboy
Church Sunday School.
(440 Int'l, 2/1/1999)
1955 Feb 8, John Grisham, writer (Client, Firm, Pelican Brief),
was born.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1955 Feb 8, Malenkov resigned as USSR premier. Bulganin replaced
him.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1955 Feb 9, US federations of trade unions merge into the AFL-CIO:
The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
(HFA, '96, p.24)(MC, 2/9/02)
1955 Feb 10, Bell Aircraft displayed a fixed-wing vertical takeoff
plane. An ingenious blend of airplane and helicopter features, the Fairey
Rotodyne was a case of almost—but not quite enough.
(HN, 2/10/97)
1955 Feb 12, The McGuire Sisters' "Sincerely" single went to #1
for 10 weeks.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1955 Feb 12, President Eisenhower sent 1st US "advisors" to South
Vietnam to aid the government under Ngo Dinh Diem.
(SFEC, 4/23/00, p.A19)(MC, 2/12/02)
1955 Feb 13, Israel acquired 4 of 7 Dead Sea scrolls.
(MC, 2/13/02)
1955 Feb 14, A Jewish couple lost their fight to adopt Catholic
twins as the U.S. Supreme Court refused to rule on state law.
(HN, 2/14/98)
1955 Feb 15, The 1st pilot plant to produce man-made diamonds
announced.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1955 Feb 17, Britain announced its ability to make hydrogen bombs.
(HN, 2/17/98)
1955 Feb 20, Kelsey Grammer, actor (Fraiser), was born in the
Virgin Islands.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1955 Feb 23, Eight nations (the United States, Australia, France,
Great Britain, New Zealand, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Thailand) met
in Bangkok for the first SEATO council.
(HN, 2/23/98)(HN, 9/8/98)
1955 Feb 24, Steven Jobs, co-founder (Apple Computer), was born.
(MC, 2/24/02)
1955 Feb 24, The Cole Porter musical "Silk Stockings" opened
at the Imperial Theater on Broadway for 461 performances.
(AP, 2/24/99)(MC, 2/24/02)
1955 Feb 24, Ike Eisenhower met with newspaper publisher Roy
Howard and expressed his resistance under pressure to commit American troops
to Vietnam. The conversation was recorded on a dictabelt machine that Eisenhower
had secretly installed in the president’s office.
(SFEC, 6/15/97, p.A14)
1955 Feb 26, "Peter Pan" closed at Winter Garden Theater in NYC
after 149 performances.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1955 Feb 26, G.F. Smith became the 1st aviator to bail out at
supersonic speed.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1955 Mar 1, Israeli assault on Gaza killed 48.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1955 Mar 2, The William Inge play "Bus Stop" opened at the Music
Box Theatre in New York.
(AP, 3/2/02)
1955 Mar 2, Claudette Colvin refuses to give up her seat in Montgomery,
Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks' famous arrest for the same offense.
(HN, 3/2/00)
1955 Mar 2, King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia put his father
on the throne and assumed the position of prime minister.
(SC, 3/2/02)(WSJ, 5/15/03, p.A8)
1955 Mar 3, A truck driver from Tupelo, Ms., made his first-ever
TV appearance on this night. Elvis Aron Presley was featured on "Louisiana
Hayride". This prompted promoters to send Elvis to New York City to audition
for Arthur Godfrey’s immensely popular and career-making "Talent Scouts"
program. Talent coordinators and Godfrey are said to have passed on Elvis
appearing on the show. Not much later, he was tossed out of the Grand Ole
Opry as well, and told to "go back to driving a truck." In a little over
a year, however, the nation was caught up in Presley-mania which continues
even today.
(HC, Internet, 3/3/98)
1955 Mar 4, 1st radio facsimile transmission (fax) was sent across
the continent.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1955 Mar 7, Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick said he favors legalization
of spitter.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1955 Mar 7, Mary Martin as "Peter Pan" was televised.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1955 Mar 11, Alexander Fleming (73), English bacteriologist (penicillin),
died.
(MC, 3/12/02)
1955 Mar 15, The U.S. Air Force unveiled a self-guided missile.
(HN, 3/15/98)
1955 Mar 16, President Eisenhower upheld the use of atomic weapons
in case of war.
(MC, 3/16/02)
1955 Mar 21, Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus desired Cyprus joining
Greece.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1955 Mar 24, The Tennessee Williams play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
opened on Broadway.
(AP, 3/23/97)
1955 Mar 24, The 1st seagoing oil drill rig was placed in service.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1955 Mar 24, British Army patrols withdrew from Belfast after
20 years.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1955 Mar 25, E. Germany was granted full sovereignty by occupying
power, USSR.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1955 Mar 26, "Ballad of Davy Crockett" by Fess Parker became the
#1 record in US.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1955 Mar 27, Steve McQueen made his network TV debut on the Goodyear
Playhouse.
(MC, 3/27/02)
1955 Mar 28, John Marshall Harlan was sworn in to the U.S. Supreme
Court. [2nd source says the appointment was in 1957]
(HN, 3/28/98)(WSJ, 6/11/99, p.A8)
1955 Mar 31, US Assay Office in Seattle, Washington, closed.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1955 Mar 31, Chase National (3rd largest bank) and Bank of the
Manhattan Company (15th largest bank) merged to form Chase Manhattan.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1955
Apr 1, "One Man’s Family" was seen on TV for the final time after
a six-years on NBC-TV.
(OTD)
1955 Apr 1, EOKA-bomb attacks took place against British government
buildings in Cyprus.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1955 Apr 3, A night train disaster killed 300 people in Guadalajara,
Mexico.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)(MC, 4/3/02)
1955 Apr 5, Winston Churchill resigned as British prime minister.
He was replaced by Anthony Eden who served to 1957. Eden's biography by
Sir Robert Rhodes James (d.1999 at 66) was published in 1987.
(HN, 5/5/97)(SFC, 5/25/99, p.Be)
1955 Apr 7, Theda Bara (Theodosia Goodman), silent screen sex
symbol, died. Her films included "A Fool There Was" and "Kathleen
Mavoureen."
(HNPD, 7/24/98)(WUD, 1994 p.118)
1955 Apr 8, Barbara Kingsolver, novelist (The Bean Trees, Animal
Dreams), was born.
(HN, 4/8/01)
1955 Apr 10, Dr. Jonas Salk successfully tested the Polio vaccine.
[see Apr 12]
(MC, 4/10/02)
1955 Apr 12, The Salk Vaccine was declared safe and effective.
Salk vaccine shots for polio began to be given out to school kids. The
March of Dimes accomplished its mission within 20 years. Research led by
Dr. Jonas Salk and supported by funds (those marching little dimes) raised
annually by thousands of volunteers, resulted in the announcement that
the Salk polio vaccine was "safe, potent and effective." The foundation
also supported the research that led to the Sabin oral vaccine, another
safe, effective polio preventative discovered by Dr. Albert B. Sabin. Following
the victory over infantile paralysis, the March of Dimes turned its attention
to conquering the largest killer and crippler of children: the mental and
physical problems that are present at birth. Some 100 million people were
given the vaccine during the 1950s and 1960s which was later found to be
contaminated with the SV40 simian virus, a possible carcinogen.
(HFA, ‘96, p.28)(TMC, 1994, p.1955)(AP, 4/12/97)(440 Int'l, 1/3/99)(SSFC,
7/15/01, p.A16,17)
1955 Apr 15, Ray Kroc acquired the McDonald’s chain of fast food
restaurants. He was a food service equipment salesman who owned the national
marketing rights to the milk-shake mixers used at the chain. He purchased
the chain from Richard (d.1998 at 89) and Maurice McDonald (d.1971) who
started the operation in California in 1948. Kroc built his first restaurant
in Illinois and later established his world headquarters and a company
museum there.
(WSJ, 5/30/97, p.A1)(HN, 4/15/98)(SFC, 7/15/98, p.A20)
1955 Apr 16, Abdullah Seif el-Islam, brother of Yemenite king
Ahmed, was beheaded.
(MC, 4/16/02)
1955 Apr 18, Albert Einstein (76), physicist, died in Princeton
New Jersey. Dr. Thomas Harvey, chief pathologist at Princeton Hospital,
performed Albert Einstein’s autopsy. He removed the brain and took it home.
In 2000 Michael Paterniti authored "Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America
with Einstein’s Brain." In 1999 it was reported that Einstein’s inferior
parietal lobe was larger than normal. In 2000 Amir D. Aczel published "God's
Equation: Einstein, Relativity, and the Expanding Universe." [see Apr 15]
In 1983 Abraham Pais (d.2000 at 81) authored "Subtle Is the Lord: The Science
and the Life of Albert Einstein." In 2000 Dennis Overbye authored "Einstein
In Love," on Einstein’s 1st marriage with Mileva Maric. In 2002 Fred Jerome
authored "The Einstein File: J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret War Against the World’s
Most Famous Scientist."
(EnRoute, 11/’95, p.111)(AP, 4/18/97)(SFC, 6/18/99, p.A18)(SFEC,
1/9/00, BR p.4)(SFC, 8/1/00, p.B2)(WSJ, 10/20/00, p.W10)(SSFC, 3/18/01,
BR p.6)(SFC, 9/15/02, p.M5)
1955 Apr 21, The Jerome Lawrence-Robert Lee play "Inherit the
Wind," loosely based on the Scopes trial of 1925, opened at the National
Theatre in New York.
(AP, 4/21/99)
1955 Apr 22, Congress ordered all U.S. coins to bear motto "In
God We Trust".
(HN, 4/22/98)
1955 Apr 23, "Kismet" closed at Ziegfeld Theater NYC after 583
performances.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1955 Apr 26, Popular music of the day included: "Melody of Love"
by Billy Vaughn; "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" by Perez Prado;
and "In the Jailhouse Now" by Webb Pierce. Jailhouse stayed at No. 1 for
21 weeks. Cherry Pink, sung by Alan Dale (d.2002 at 73), stayed on the
charts for 30 weeks.
(440 Int’l. Internet, 4/26/97, p.1)(SFC, 4/25/02, p.A24)(SFC,
11/27/03, p.A24)
1955 Apr 30, West German unions protested for 40-hour work week
and more wages.
(MC, 4/30/02)
1955 Apr, Richard Daley was elected mayor of Chicago.
(SFEC, 8/31/97, p.T1)
1955 May 2, Pulitzer prize was awarded to Tennessee Williams for
Cat on Hot Tin Roof.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1955 May 4, Georges Enescu (73), Romanian-French violist, composer
(Oedipe), died.
(MC, 5/4/02)
1955 May 5, The baseball musical "Damn Yankees" opened on Broadway
for 1022 performances. It was produced by George Abbott and Douglass
Wallop. Ray Walston played the devil in the play and the 1958 movie.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, DB p.41)(AP, 5/5/00)(SFC, 10/23/00, p.F3)(MC,
5/5/02)
1955 May 5, The US detonated a 29-kiloton nuclear device in Nevada.
"Apple 2" was the 2nd of 40 tests of Operation Cue, meant to study the
effects of a nuclear explosion on a typical American community.
(AH, 6/02, p.72)
1955 May 5, West Germany became a sovereign state.
(AP, 5/5/97)
1955 May 5, India’s parliament accepted Hindu divorce.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1955 May 6, West Germany joined NATO.
(WSJ, 10/8/01, p.A14)(MC, 5/6/02)
1955 May 7, West Europe Union was established.
(MC, 5/7/02)
1955 May 10, Mark David Chapman, assassin (John Lennon), was born.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1955 May 11, Israel attacked Gaza.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1955 May 13, Mickey Mantle hit 3 consecutive HRs of at least 463’.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1955 May 14, Representatives from eight Communist bloc countries:
Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary,
Poland & Romania, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland. Andras Hegedues
signed for Hungary.
(AP, 5/14/97)(SFC, 10/26/99, p.B4)(MC, 5/14/02)
1955 May 16, Olga Korbut, Olympic gymnast (2 golds-1972), was
born in Grodno, Belorussia.
(HN, 5/16/98)(MC, 5/16/02)
1955 May 16, American author and critic James Agee died in New
York.
(AP, 5/16/01)
1955 May 18, 28.7 cm rain fell at Lake Maloya, NM, for a state
record.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1955 May 18, Queen Juliana opened the E55 fair in Amsterdam.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1955 May 18, Mary McLeod Bethune (79), educator & civil rights
leader, died.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1955 May 18, Edwin Scharff (68), German painter, sculptor (Rossebändiger),
died.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1955 May 20, Argentine parliament accepted the separation of church
& state.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1955 May 21, The first transcontinental round-trip solo flight
was completed.
(HN, 5/21/98)
1955 May 25, Connie Selleca, actress (Hotel, Captain America II),
was born in Bronx, NY.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1955 May 25, Series of 19 twisters destroyed Udall, KS., and
most of Blackwell, OK.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1955 May 26, Khrushchev arrived in Belgrade.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1955 May 29, Jerry Dengler, singer (Mason Dixon-Karen Comes Around),
was born in Colorado Springs, CO.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1955 May 29, John Hinckley Jr., attempted assassin of President
Reagan, was born.
(HN, 5/29/98)
1955 May 29, Mike Porcaro, rock bassist (Toto-Roseanna, Africa),
was born.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1955 May 29, Jordan government of Tewfik Abdul Huda resigned.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1955 May 31, The US Supreme Court ordered that states must end
racial segregation "with all deliberate speed."
(HN, 5/31/98)
1955 May 31, Great Britain proclaimed emergency crisis due to
railroad strike.
(MC, 5/31/02)
1955 Jun 1, "Front Row Center", TV Anthology; debut on CBS.
(DT, 6/1/97)
1955 Jun 1, "The Sky’s The Limit", TV Game Show; last aired on
NBC. Low ratings were the limit there.
(DT, 6/1/97)
1955 Jun 2, Dana Carvey, comedian (Sat Night Live-Church Lady,
George Bush), was born.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1955 Jun 2, Garry Grimes, actor (Summer of '42, Class of '44),
was born in SF.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1955 Jun 6, Bill Haley & Comets, "Rock Around the Clock" hit
#1. [see Jun 29]
(MC, 6/6/02)
1955 Jun 7, Pres. Eisenhower became the 1st president to appear
on color TV.
(SC, 6/7/02)
1955 Jun 7, "The $64,000 Question" premiered on CBS TV. It was
the top ranking network show on television with a ranking of 47.5%. It
featured Art Carney and Jackie Gleason and was in part created by Joseph
Cates (d.1998 at 74).
(WSJ, 4/24/95, p.R-5)(SFC, 10/13/98, p.A22)(SC, 6/7/02)
1955 Jun 11, The 1st jet magnesium airplane was flown.
(SC, 6/11/02)
1955 Jun 16, The U.S. House of Representatives voted to extend
Selective Service until 1959.
(HN, 6/16/98)
1955 Jun 16, Pope Pius XII excommunicated Argentine President
Juan Domingo Peron. The ban was lifted eight years later.
(AP, 6/16/98)
1955 Jun 18, Disneyland opened in Los Angeles, California. [see
Jul 17]
(HN, 6/18/98)
1955 Jun 20, Michael Anthony, (bassist for Van Halen), was born.
(MC, 6/20/02)
1955 Jun 20, The AFL and CIO agreed to combine names for a merged
group.
(HN, 6/20/98)
1955 Summer, The Detroit centered 12 O’Clock Comics with Soupy
Sales went national on the ABC network for 8-weeks.
(DFP, 7/28/96, p.F8)
1955 Jun 23, Walt Disney's "Lady and the Tramp," the first animated
feature filmed in CinemaScope, opened in theaters.
(AP, 6/23/99)
1955 Jun 24, Soviet MIG’s down a U.S. Navy patrol plane over the
Bering Strait.
(HN, 6/24/98)
1955 Jun 25, "Can Can" closed at Shubert Theater NYC after 892
performances.
(MC, 6/25/02)
1955 Jun 27, Isabelle Adjani, actress (Story of Adele H, Driver,
Ishtar), was born in Paris.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1955 Jun 27, 1st automobile seat belt legislation was enacted
in Illinois.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1955 Jun 29, Billy Haley and the Comets reached the top of the
charts with "Rock Around the Clock." [see Jun 6]
(MC, 6/29/02)
1955 Jun 29, The Soviet Union sent tanks to Pozan, Poland, to
put down anti-Communist demonstrations.
(HN, 6/29/98)
1955 Jun 30, "Johnny Carson Show," debuted on CBS-TV.
(MC, 6/30/02)
1955 Jun 30, The U.S. began funding West Germany’s rearmament.
(HN, 6/30/98)
1955 The first US B-52 bombers began their Air Force duty.
(SFC, 3/13/99, p.A4)
1955 Jul 2, "The Lawrence Welk Show" premiered on ABC television.
(AP, 7/2/98)
1955 Jul 9, Jimmy Smits, actor (Victor-LA Law, Running Scared,
NYPD Blue), was born in Brooklyn.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1955 Jul 9, Bill Haley & Comets' "Rock Around the Clock"
topped the billboards chart.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1955 Jul 11, The Air Force Academy was dedicated at Lowry Air
Base in Colorado.
(AP, 7/11/97)
1955 Jul 13, Ruth Ellis, last English woman (murderess), was executed
by hanging. Ten days before she had shot her husband, Ellis suffered a
miscarriage after Blakely, the baby's father, punched her in the stomach
(MC, 7/13/02)(AP, 9/16/03)
1955 Jul 17, Disneyland debuted in Anaheim, Calif. [see Jun 18]
(AP, 7/17/97)
1955 Jul 18, 1st electric power generated from atomic energy was
sold commercially.
(MC, 7/18/02)
1955 Jul 21, During the Geneva summit, President Eisenhower presented
his "open skies" proposal under which the United States and the Soviet
Union would trade information on each other’s military facilities.
(AP, 7/21/97)
1955 Jul 21, First sub powered by liquid metal cooled reactor
launched - Seawolf.
(OGA, 11/24/98)
1955 Jul 25, Iman, model, David Bowie's girlfriend, actress (Star
Trek VI), was born.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1955 Jul, Mad Magazine introduced a new format under William M.
Gaines. [see 1952] In 1972 Frank Jacobs wrote "The Mad World of William
M. Gaines.
(SFC, 3/3/99, Z1 p.4)(SFC, 1/8/00, p.A20)
1955 Aug 19, Severe flooding in the Northeast caused by the remnants
of Hurricane Diane claimed some 200 lives.
(AP, 8/19/97)
1955 Aug 20, Hundreds of people were killed in anti-French rioting
in Morocco and Algeria.
(AP, 8/20/97)
1955 Aug 27, The "Guinness Book of World Records" was 1st published.
It posted sales of 80 million in 1997.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)(WSJ, 7/30/99, p.B1)(MC, 8/27/01)
1955 Aug 28, Emmett Till (14), a black teen-ager from Chicago,
was abducted from his uncle's home in Money, Miss., by white men after
he had supposedly whistled at a white woman; he was found murdered three
days later. The racists were the woman’s husband and brother. The area
was a cotton-trading center where the white Citizens Councils maintained
their regional headquarters.
(AP, 8/28/99)(SFC, 4/22/00, p.A19)(SFC, 6/28/00, p.A7)(MC, 8/28/01)
1955 Aug 31, 1st sun-powered automobile demonstrated, Chicago,
Ill.
(YN, 8/31/99)
1955 Sep 1, Philip Loeb (61), actor (Jake-The Goldbergs), died.
(SC, 9/1/02)
1955 Sep 8, The Brooklyn Dodgers won the National League pennant,
the earliest a team had achieved this.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1955 Sep 8, The United States, Australia, France, Great Britain,
New Zealand, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Thailand signed the mutual
defense treaty that established the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
(SEATO).
(HN, 9/8/98)
1955 Sep 10, "Gunsmoke" premiered on CBS.
(AP, 9/10/97)
1955 Sep 19, President Juan Peron of Argentina was ousted after
a revolt by the army and navy. The military leaders confiscated the body
of Eva Peron to keep opposing political forces from using her body to rally
the masses.
(TMC, 1994, p.1955)(SFC, 12/24/96, p.A8)(AP, 9/19/97)(SFC, 2/3/98,
p.A15)
1955 Sep 21, The last allied occupying troops left Austria.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1955 Sep 22, Commercial TV began in England. ITV began broadcasting
at 7:15 pm in the London region only. Associated Rediffusion was awarded
the London weekday license by the ITA, with ITN established as a separate
company to supply news. ATV London began broadcasting on weekends 2 days
later.
(http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1057710,00.html)
1955 Sep 22, Hurricane Janet hit Grenada (British West Indies).
500 people were killed in the Caribbean area. 75% of the nutmeg trees of
Grenada were destroyed.
(PCh, 1992, p.952)(MC, 9/22/01)
1955 Sep 24, President Eisenhower suffered a heart attack while
on vacation in Denver. The illness didn't prevent Eisenhower from being
re-elected to a second term the following year.
(AP, 9/24/97)(MC, 9/24/01)
1955 Sep 25, Patty Berg won the LPGA Clock Golf Open.
(MC, 9/25/01)
1955 Sep 26, The New York Stock Exchange suffered $44 million
loss, the heaviest one-day loss in history following word that President
Dwight D. Eisenhower had suffered a heart attack.
(AP, 9/26/03)
1955 Sep 29, The Arthur Miller one-act play "A View From the Bridge"
opened at the Coronet Theater in New York City.
(AP, 9/29/97)(WSJ, 12/17/97, p.A20)
1955 Sep 30, Actor James Dean, best known for his role as
a restless teen in Rebel Without a Cause, died in a high-speed two-car
collision at the corner of Highways 46 and 41 in Cholame, near Paso Robles,
Ca. In 1950, he had made his acting debut in a Pepsi commercial, for which
he was paid $30. Dean gained fame after a lead role on Broadway in 1952
and appearances on television and in movies. His first major film role
was in East of Eden in 1954. Just days after filming Giant the next year,
Dean was driving his silver Porsche, called "Little Bastard," to a race
with his mechanic when he collided head-on with another car. He was 24
years old.
(SFC,1/22/97, p.E1)(AP, 9/30/97)(HNPD, 9/30/98)(HN, 9/30/98)
1955 Oct 3, "Captain Kangaroo" with Bob Keeshan began its run
on CBS TV. The show ended in 1993.
(WSJ, 3/6/97, p.B1)(AP, 10/3/00)
1955 Oct 3, The Disney sponsored Mickey Mouse Club began on ABC
TV and ran to 1959.
(WSJ, 3/6/97, p.B1)(SFC, 11/30/98, p.A8)
1955 Oct 5, A stage adaptation of "The Diary of Anne Frank" opened
at the Cort Theatre in New York.
(AP, 10/5/97)
1955 Oct 6, LSD was made illegal in US.
(MC, 10/6/01)
1955 Oct 7, Yo Yo Ma, Chinese cellist, was born in Paris, France.
(HN, 10/7/00)(MC, 10/7/01)
1955 Oct 7, Allen Ginsberg read his 3,600-word "Howl" at the
Six Gallery at 3119 Fillmore St. in SF. Kenneth Rexroth was the host. Jack
Kerouac and Lawrence Ferlinghetti were in the audience. Other readers included
Philip Lamantia, Philip Whalen, Michael McClure and Gary Snyder.
(SFEC, 8/29/99, p.D7)(SFC, 10/28/00, p.D1)
1955 Oct 7, The aircraft carrier USS Saratoga was launched at
Brooklyn.
(MC, 10/7/01)
1955 Oct 11, All Peron feast days were abolished in Argentina.
(MC, 10/11/01)
1955 Oct 18, Track and Field magazine named Jesse Owens all-time
track athlete.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1955 Oct 18, University of California discovered the anti-proton.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1955 Oct 18, Jose Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher, died
at 72.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1955 Oct 20, "No Time for Sergeants," starring Andy Griffith,
opened on Broadway.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1955 Oct 20, Harry Belafonte recorded "Day-O" (Banana Boat Song).
(MC, 10/20/01)
1955 Oct 22, The prototype of the F-105 Thunder Chief made its
maiden flight. Republic Aircraft’s F-105 Thunderchief, better known as
the ‘Thud,’ was the Air Force’s warhorse in Vietnam.
(HN, 10/22/98)
1955 Oct 25, Tappan sold its 1st microwave oven.
(MC, 10/25/01)
1955 Oct 25, Austria resumed its sovereignty after the departure
of last Allied occupation forces, for 1st time since German occupation
of 1938.
(MC, 10/25/01)
1955 Oct 26, The Village Voice was first published, backed in
part by Norman Mailer.
(HN, 10/26/00)
1955 Oct 26, Ngo Dinh Diem proclaimed Vietnam a republic with
himself as the president.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1955 Oct 28, William Gates, the chairman and CEO of Microsoft
Corporation, the world’s largest software firm, was born. His 1999 wealth
was about $75 [$58] billion. He co-founded Microsoft at age 20 with Paul
Allen after dropping out from Harvard.
(HN, 10/28/98)(WSJ, 1/11/98, p.R18)(SFEC, 5/23/99, Par p.7)
1955 Oct 31, Britain’s Princess Margaret ended weeks of speculation
by announcing she would not marry Royal Air Force Captain Peter Townsend.
(AP, 10/31/97)
1955 Nov 1, A time bomb aboard United DC-6 killed 44 above Longmont,
Colorado. Jack Gilbert Graham rigged a time bomb for the Denver to Seattle
flight and put it into his mother’s suitcase in order to collect the insurance
money. Graham was executed in the gas chamber Jan 11, 1957.
(MC, 11/1/01)(AWC, 1982)
1955 Nov 2, Clarton-Schwerdt and Schaffer discovered the polio
virus.
(MC, 11/2/01)
1955 Nov 2, David Ben-Gurion formed an Israeli govt.
(MC, 11/2/01)
1955 Nov 3, The 1st crystallized virus was announced.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1955 Nov 3, An Alabama woman was bruised by a meteor.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1955 Nov 3, Argentine ex-president Peron arrived in Nicaragua.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1955 Nov 5, The new Vienna Opera house opened.
(MC, 11/5/01)
1955 Nov 5, Maurice Utrillo (71), French painter (Cathedral St-Denis),
died.
(MC, 11/5/01)
1955 Nov 9, Michael Gazzo's "Hatful of Rain," premiered in NYC.
(MC, 11/9/01)
1955 Nov 16, Big Four talks, taking place in Geneva on German
reunification, ended in failure.
(HN, 11/16/98)
1955 Nov 18, Bell X-2 rocket plane was taken up for its 1st powered
flight.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1955 Nov 19, William F. Buckley Jr. published the first issue
of the National Review a conservative political journal. In 1995 its circulation
reached 250,000. A biography of Buckley titled "William F. Buckley, Jr.:
Patron Saint of the Conservatives" was written by John B. Judis in 1995.
(WSJ, 11/10/95, p.A-14)
1955 Nov 20, The Maryland National Guard was ordered desegregated.
(HN, 11/20/98)
1955 Nov 21, Argentina asked Panama for the return of ex-president
Peron.
(MC, 11/21/01)
1955 Nov 22, RCA Victor's made its best investment paying $25,000
to Sun Records & Sam Philips for rights to Elvis Presley, a truck driver
from Tupelo, Miss.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1955 Nov 25, The Interstate Commerce Commission banned segregation
in interstate travel.
(HN, 11/25/98)
1955 Nov 26, An emergency crisis was proclaimed in Cyprus.
(MC, 11/26/01)
1955 Nov 30, "Pipe Dream" opened at Shubert Theater in NYC for
245 performances.
(MC, 11/30/01)
1955 Nov 30, Argentine government disbanded the Peronist party.
(MC, 11/30/01)
1955 Dec 1, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old seamstress and secretary
of the Montgomery NAACP, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, as she sat
in a section of a bus just behind the area reserved for whites. She refused
to move to the back the bus, to accommodate a white male passenger, as
ordered by driver James F. Blake (d.2002 at 89) and defied the South’s
segregationist laws. This prompted the Dec. 5 bus boycott, a year-long
boycott of the buses by blacks, and launched the Civil Rights movement
in the United States. Virginia Durr (d.1999 at 95) helped a black civil
rights leader bail Parks out of jail. In 1985 Durr wrote her memoir: "Outside
the Magic Circle." In 1999 Pres. Clinton authorized a Congressional Gold
Medal for Rosa Parks.
(HFA, '96, p.44)(SFC, 5/12/96, p.A-6)(SFEC, 9/15/96, p.A2)(SFEM,
2/2/97, p.8) (AP, 12/1/97)(HN, 12/1/98)(SFC, 3/10/99, p.A23)(SFC, 5/5/99,
p.A3)(SFC, 3/26/02, p.A24)
1955 Dec 2, Martin Luther King stepped forward with an impromptu
speech that marked him as the "acknowledged leader of a major mass protest."
(SFEM, 1/19/97, BR p.1)
1955 Dec 5, The American Federation of Labor and the Congress
of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO under its first
president, George Meany. [see Feb 9] George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO
from 1955 to 1979, was a New York City plumber before becoming a labor
leader. Born April 16, 1894, he became an apprentice plumber in 1910 and
a journeyman in 1915. In 1922 Meany was elected business agent of Plumbers
Union 463. From 1934 to 1939 he served as president of the New York State
Federation of Labor and in 1940 became secretary of the American Federation
of Labor. He was an architect of the AFL merger with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations and in 1955 became the president of the new AFL-CIO. Meany
led a campaign against corruption in organized labor, which resulted in
the expulsion from the AFL-CIO of the Teamsters and two other major unions
in 1957. He died on January 10, 1980.
(AP, 12/5/97)(HNQ, 6/9/98)
1955 Dec 5, The US Montgomery Bus Boycott began in 1955. In Montgomery,
Alabama, Martin Luther King organized a bus boycott and began the civil
rights movement to end segregation. Black residents chose Mr. King to head
The Montgomery Improvement Association, formed to sustain the protest against
segregation policies on the municipal buses.
(HFA, ‘96, p.44)(TMC, 1994, p.1955)(SFEM, 2/2/97, p.8)
1955 Dec 6, NY psychologist Joyce Brothers won "$64,000 Question"
on boxing.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1955 Dec 9, Sugar Ray Robinson won the middle-weight boxing crown
for the third time when he knocked out Carl "Bobo" Olson.
(SFC, 6/29/96, p.E4)(HN, 12/9/98)
1955 Dec 11, Israel launched an attack on Syrian positions along
the Sea of Galilee.
(EWH, 1968, p.1241)(HN, 12/11/98)
1955 Dec 12, 1st prototype of hovercraft patented by British engineer
Christopher Cockerell.
(MC, 12/12/01)
1955 Dec 19, Carl Perkins recorded "Blue Suede Shoes."
(MC, 12/19/01)
1955 Dec 24, A levee break on the Shanghai Bend of the Feather
River south of Yuba City, Ca., killed 38 people.
(SFEC, 1/12/97, p.C1)(SFC, 11/17/99, p.E7)
1955 Dec 29, Barbra Streisand's 1st recording "You'll Never Know"
at age 13.
(MC, 12/29/01)
1955 Dec, The "storm of the century" caused a devastating flood
in northern California and left 76 people dead.
(SFC, 1/4/97, p.A11)(SFC, 1/4/97, p.A14)(SFC, 1/10/97, p.A21)
1955 Dec, Otto John, intelligence chief, returned to West Germany
from East Germany. He was charged with treason and in 1956 was convicted
and sentenced to 4 years in prison. He insisted to the end of his life
that he had been drugged and abducted.
(SFEC, 3/30/97, p.D5)
1955 John Diebenkorn, California artist, painted his work "Berkeley."
It sold for $1.8 million in 1998.
(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.W12)(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.W12)
1955 Jasper Johns painted "Target with Four Faces."
(SFEC, 11/24/96, C15)
1955 Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), abstract artist, painted "Gotham
News." He also completed his oil and charcoal work "Woman Standing – Pink."
(SFC, 3/20/97, p.A6)(SFEC, 10/1/00, DB p.42)
1955 Bertolt Brecht wrote his play: "The Caucasian Chalk Circle."
It was a deliberately simplistic fable of class oppression and squabbling
over a foundling.
(WSJ, 5/20/98, p.A12)
1955 William Inge wrote his play "Bus Stop."
(SFEC, 5/30/99, DB p.37)
1955 Tennessee Williams wrote his play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."
(SFEC, 5/30/99, DB p.37)
1955 Eliot Asinof wrote his novel "Man on Spikes." It blew the
whistle on the indentured servitude of American major league baseball players.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, BR p.5)
1955 Edward Latimer "Ned" Beach (1918-2002), Navy captain, authored
"Run Silent, Run Deep" (1955).
(SFC, 12/2/02, p.A19)
1955 John Dunbar (d.1999 at 84), a WW II Air Forces pilot, authored
"Escape Through the Pyranees," based on his war experiences.
(SFC, 11/20/99, p.A22)
1955 Shusaku Endo (1923-1996) wrote Shiroi Hito (White Man) and
won the Akutagawa Prize for literature.
(SFEC, 9/30/96, p.A23)
1955 Fred Friendly (b. Ferdinand Friendly Wachenheimer) and Edward
R. Murrow published their book: "See It Now."
(SFC, 3/5/98, p.A24)
1955 William Gaddis (d.1998 at 75) published his first novel "The
Recognitions."
(SFC, 12/18/98, p.A38)(SSFC, 10/20/02, p.M2)
1955 Anne Morrow Lindbergh authored "Gift From the Sea," a meditation
on women’s lives in the 20th century. In 1999 Susan Hertog authored her
biography "Anne Morrow Lindbergh."
(WSJ, 11/29/99, p.A26)
1955 Sir Lawrence van der Post (1906-1996) wrote "The Dark Eye
in Africa."
(SFC, 12/17/96, p.B4)
1955 "The California Grizzly" by Tracy I. Storer and Lloyd P.
Trevis was published.
(Pac. Disc., summer, ‘96, p.12)
1955 "All-of-a-Kind Family" by Sydney Taylor was published.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, BR p.12)
1955 Joseph S. Weiner, anatomist at Oxford Univ., published "The
Piltdown Forgery." He documented the case for forgery of the Piltdown bones
but was unable to provide conclusive proof that Charles Dawson was guilty
of the hoax.
(PacDisc. Spring/’96, p.16)
1955 Graham Greene published his novel "The Quiet American."
(SFEC, 5/2/99, BR p.3)
1955 Alan Harrington (d.1997 at 79) published his 1st novel "The
Revelations of Dr. Modesto." It established his reputation as one of the
earlier "black humorists." His friends included Jack Kerouac and Allen
Ginsberg.
(SFC, 5/29/97, p.C4)
1955 Nikos Kazantzakis published "The Last Temptation of Christ."
(SFEC, 4/27/97, BR p.5)
1955 Walter Lord (d.2002) authored "A Night To Remember"
an account of the 1912 Titanic disaster.
(SFC, 5/21/02, p.A21)
1955 James Michener (d.1997 at 90) wrote his novel "Floating World."
(SFC,10/17/97, p.A17)
1955 Mario Puzo (d.1999) published his first novel "The Dark Arena."
(SFC, 7/3/99, p.A21)
1955 C. Van Woodward (d.1999) published "The Strange Career of
Jim Crow." Dr. Martin Luther King later called the book the "historical
bible of the civil rights movement."
(SFEC, 12/19/99, p.C14)
1955 The Broadway play "The Diary of Anne Frank" premiered with
Susan Strasberg (17). Strasberg died in 1999 in Manhattan at age 60.
(SFC, 1/23/99, p.A19)
1955 Ben Bagley (d.1998 at 64) burst onto the theater scene off
Broadway at age 21 with "The Shoestring Revue," a collection of songs and
sketches from many show business talents.
(SFC, 3/28/98, p.B12)
1955 Charles Bowden (1913-1996) and Richard Bar produced "All
In One" on Broadway. It brought together Leonard Bernstein’s opera "Trouble
in Tahiti," Paul Draper in a dance program, and Tennessee Williams "27
Wagons Full of Cotton" with Maureen Stapleton.
(SFC, 12/25/96, p.A22)
1955 Ossie Davis was in the play "No Time for Sergeants."
(SFEC, 10/20/96, Par, p.24)
1955 Lew Ayres made a 5-part documentary based on his book "Altars
of the East."
(SFC, 12/31/96, p.A20)
1955 Cheyenne premiered as TV’s 1st hour-long series. It was produced
by Roy Huggins.
(SFC, 4/15/02, p.B5)
1955 "Gunsmoke" began on TV and lasted to 1975.
(SFEC, 5/24/98, DB p.38)
1955 "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" began on TV with Hugh
O'Brian. It ran to 1961 and was billed as TV’s first adult western. doc
was played by Douglas Fowley (d.1998 at 86)
(SFEC,11/30/97, Par p.2)
1955 The TV series "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" starred Richard
Simmons (d.2003 at 89). The series ran for 3 seasons to 1958.
(SFC, 1/15/03, p.A19)
1955 Carlisle Floyd composed his first opera "Susannah."
(WSJ, 4/15/99, p.A20)(WSJ, 4/25/00, p.A24)
1955 Glenn Gould, Canadian pianist, recorded the "Goldberg Variations"
by Bach. The recording was released in 1956. He abandoned the concert hall
in 1964.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, p.C15)(WSJ, 10/7/99, p.A28)
1955 The Shostokovich composition "From Jewish Poetry" received
its first public performance. It was an impassioned response to the institutionalized
anti-Semitism of the Stalin regime.
(WSJ, 4/30/96, p.A-12)
1955 Sir Michael Tippett, British composer, premiered his 1st
opera "The Midsummer Marriage" at Covent Garden.
(SFC, 1/10/98, p.A19)
1955 Czech composer Martinu wrote his orchestral triptych "The
Frescoes of Piero della Francesco."
(SFC, 3/21/00, p.B2)
1955 George Avakian, jazz expert, got Miles Davis to sign a contract
with Columbia, and brought him together with Gil Evans for the album "Miles
Ahead."
(WSJ, 6/03/97, p.A20)
1955 Richard Dyer-Bennett (1913-1991) recorded the first of 15
albums called "Richard Dyer-Bennett." He was a pioneer guitar player and
folk-singer who recorded himself with a sense of perfection. He was born
in England and grew up in Canada, California and Germany. His work was
later released on CD through Smithsonian Folkways.
(WSJ, 2/18/98, p.A20)
1955 The Coasters evolved from the group the Robins. Carl Gardner
and Bobby Nunn teamed with Billy Guy (1936-2002) and Leon Hughes to form
the group under producers Leiber and Stoller. Their songs included "Charlie
Brown," Yakety Yak" and "Little Egypt."
(SFC, 11/20/02, p.A21)
1955 Perry Como recorded his big hit "Hot-Diggety-Dog."
(SSFC, 5/13/01, p.A27)
1955 Dale Evans, singer and wife of Roy Rogers, wrote the hit
song "The Bible Tells Me So."
(SFC, 2/8/01, p.C2)
1955 Thelonius Monk began to record with Riverside Records.
(SFEM, 10/5/97, p.29)
1955 Charlie and Ira Louvin, country musicians, joined the Grand
Ole Opry.
(SFEM,10/19/97, DB p.45)
1955 Cuban musician Perez Prado recorded "Cherry Pink and Apple
Blossom White." The mambo tune became a no. 1 hit.
(SFEC, 9/19/99, DB p.39)
1955 Faron Young (1932-1996) sang his No. 1 country single "Live
Fast, Love hard, Die Young."
(SFC, 12/12/96, p.C8)
1955 As Elvis Presley broke into the national rock ‘n roll scene,
he hired Colonel Tom Parker (1910-1997) as his manager.
(SFC,1/22/97, p.A20)
1955 The top hits of the year were "Rock Around the Clock" by
Bill Haley and the Comets [recorded in 1954], "The Yellow Rose of Texas"
by Mitch Miller, "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing" by the Four Aces, "Autumn
Leaves" by Roger Williams, and "16 Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford.
(WSJ, 4/10/98, p.W11)
1955 The three-chord standard "Louie, Louie" was written as a
Jamaican love song. Richard Berry wrote "Louie, Louie" on a piece of toilet
paper in a nightclub dressing room.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A19,20)
1955 Al Hibbler (d.2001), a blind singer who had worked with the
Ellington Orchestra, and Les Baxter both had hits with their versions of
"Unchained Melody." Hibbler recorded the song for the prison movie "Unchained."
(SFC, 4/28/01, p.A21)
1955 The Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach was designed by Morris
Lapidus and became the resort of choice for stars and mob figures.
(WSJ, 4/21/97, p.A10)
1955 A group of seven Savannahian women established Savannah’s
first formal preservation movement. This was in response to the planned
demolition of the quintessential Federal-style Isaiah Davenport House for
a parking lot.
(Hem. 1/95, p. 70)
1955 Jackie Onassis had a brief affair with William Holden. So
it says in the 1996 book "Jack and Jackie" by Christopher Anderson
(USAT, 6/19/96, p.2D)
1955 In SF Louise B. Edwards (d.1997 at 81) took her children
door-to-door in the Sunset district gathering pennies for the purchase
of an elephant for the SF Zoo to replace one that had recently died. The
campaign culminated in the purchase of an elephant named Penny that resided
at the Zoo for 40 years.
(SFC, 6/25/97, p.A16)
1955 Art Clokey created the cartoon character named Gumby.
(SFC, 4/28/95, p.C-5)
1955 Esther Friedman (2002) took over the Ann Landers advice column
in the Chicago Sun Times. Pauline Friedman, her twin sister, went on to
write the Dear Abby advice column. Esther was the wife of Jules Lederer,
founder of Budget Rent A Car. They divorced in 1975.
(SFC, 1/25/99, p.A20)(Reuters, 6/23/02)(SSFC, 6/23/02, p.A10)
1955 Special K, the Kellogg fat-free toasted cereal made, made
its debut.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.D1)
1955 Joe DiMaggio was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. DiMaggio,
often considered one of the greatest center fielders to play the game,
helped his team win ten American League championships and nine World Series
titles. After paying in the minors in San Francisco, DiMaggio was acquired
by the New York Yankees where he played from 1936 until his retirement
in 1951.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A10)(HNQ, 9/25/00)
1955 The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the US
baseball World Series.
(WSJ, 4/2/96, p.A-12)
1955 The Detroit Red Wings won the hockey Stanley Cup.
(WSJ, 6/12/97, p.A16)
1955 The USF Dons won the NCAA basketball championship under the
leadership of center Bill Russell.
(SFC, 1/11/02, p.A24)
1955 US Pres. Ike Eisenhower had a heart attack.
(TMC, 1994, p.1955)
1955 US Col. Edward S. Berry (d.1999 at 93) helped establish the
Ethiopian Military College.
(SFC, 7/28/99, p.C2)
1955 Military spending this year rose to $40 billion.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.A4)
1955 Massachusetts Gov. Christian Herter sent a National Guard
tank to quell a Charlestown prison riot led by Theodore "Teddy" Green (d.1998
at 82). Green’s daughter (17) persuaded her father to surrender and ended
the 85-hour standoff. He was sent to Alcatraz after the riot. Green later
bragged of robbing 20 banks and making 40 prison break attempts.
(SFC, 2/23/98, p.A21)
1955 There were 76 prisoners executed in the US this year.
(SFC,12/15/97, p.A2)
1955 Bertrand Russel, British pacifist philosopher, drafted a
manifesto that served as the philosophical origin for the Pugwash Conference
against nuclear arms. It was signed by ten other scientists such as Joseph
Rotblat (who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 for this work),
and Albert Einstein.
(WSJ, 10/16/95, p. A-15)
1955 In San Francisco Willie Brown helped attorney Terry Francois
get elected president of the SF branch of the NAACP by rounding up bums
on the street and bringing them to a meeting to vote for Francois. The
national board nullified the election.
(SFEC, 10/20/96, BR, p.6)
1955 The US National Association of Social Workers was formed
from 7 smaller groups under the leadership of Nathan Edward Cohen (d.2001
at 91).
(SFC, 2/5/01, p.A21)
1955 North American Co. was dissolved. One of its units, St. Louis
based Union Electric, took over its assets. Today the company is awaiting
regulatory approval for a merger with Cipsco Inc., a utility based in Springfield,
Ill.
(WSJ, 5/28/96, R45)
1955 The popular black picture magazine Our World folded. Photographer
Moneta J. Sleet Jr. (1926-1996) moved on to Ebony magazine.
(SFC, 10/3/96, p.C6)
1955 Becton Dickinson Corp. acquired Baltimore Biological Laboratory
(BBL).
(Horizon, summer 1995)
1955 Ford Motor Co. introduced the Thunderbird to compete with
the GM Corvette.
(WSJ, 2/28/97, p.A3)
1955 The Hearst Corp. acquired WISN-TV, Milwaukee.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A9)
1955 Proctor and Gamble test marketed Crest toothpaste with stannous
fluoride. It went on sale nationally in 1956.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, p.B8)
1955 William Shockley founded Shockley Semiconductor in Palo Alto.
(SFC, 10/11/00, p.A6)
1955 Tiffany’s jewelry store was bought by merchandiser Walter
Hoving. "we’ve got to get over this ridiculous idea that the customer is
always right."
(SFC, 8/5/00, p.B4)
1955 A TWA sponsored rocket became part of Disney’s Tomorrowland.
(SFC, 7/14/96, p.T3)
1955 Wham-O purchased a plastic disc from building inspector Fed
Morrison, who had developed it after watching Yale students toss pie tins.
It later became the Frisbee. [See Jan 13, 1957]
(SFC, 7/1/02, p.B5)
1955 A new medium priced home in the US was priced at $13,400.
(WSJ, 6/14/96, p.B10)
1955 Passenger car output hit a new high at 7.9 million vehicles.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1955 At the Mayo Clinic the first successful surgical repairs
of congenital heart defects were performed.
(SFC, 7/5/96, PM, p.5)
1955 Frederick Sanger sequenced the 1st protein, human insulin.
He later developed methods for sequencing DNA.
(WSJ, 4/5/01, p.B1)
1955 Dr. Tomin Harada (d.1999 at 87) led a group of some 200 female
survivors of the Hiroshima bombing, the Hiroshima Maidens, to the US for
plastic surgery under a program led by Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday
Review. Harada spent his life treating victims of "atomic illness" who
often displayed raised scars called keloids.
(SFC, 6/29/99, p.A19)
1955 Roehr Products introduced the first plastic disposable hypodermic syringe called the Monoject.
1955 The anti-proton was discovered by a team of scientists that
included Owen Chamberlain, Emilio Segre and Clyde Wiegand (1915-1996).
(SFC, 7/9/96, p.A20)
1955 Fred Reines and Cloyd Cowan, American physicists, designed
a neutrino trap that was effective in catching them.
(SCTS, p.6)
1955 Harold Rhodes (d.2000 at 89) partnered with Leo Fender to
produce a 32-note piano bass. The Rhodes electric piano became a success
in 1965 when CBS took over Fender.
(SFC, 1/2/01, p.B4)
1955 Milton Friedman, economist, first proposed the use of government
issued vouchers for education.
(WSJ, 9/11/98, p.A1)
1955 Kaiko, a Japanese deep-sea research submarine, dove 36,008
feet to the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the ocean's deepest point. In
2003 it was lost in a typhoon.
(SFC, 7/1/03, p.A5)
1955 Nicolai Fechin (b.1881 in Kazan), Russian émigré
(1923) painter, died on the West Coast. His work includes "Russian Singer
with Fan" (1924). He moved to Taos, New Mexico, in 1926 and turned his
home into a work of art now known as the Fechin Institute.
(HT, 5/97, p.50)
1955 Drucker, Heizer, and Squier published their report on the
excavations at La Venta, of the great Olmec Ceremonial Center.
(RFH-MDHP, p.241, pictures)
1955 Katharine Drexel (b.1858), a Philadelphia heiress turned
Catholic nun, died. By the time of her death she had given away most of
her considerable trust fund. In 2000 Pope John Paul II confirmed a 2nd
healing attributed to her, which cleared the last hurdle for making her
the 2nd American born Catholic Saint.
(SFC, 1/28/00, p.A12)
1955 The father of serial killer Gerald Gallego died in the gas
chamber for killing 2 law enforcement officials. Gerald Gallego was convicted
in California and Nevada for ten murders committed between 1978-1980.
(SFC,10/28/97, p.A17)
1955 Fernand Leger (b.1881), French painter, died.
(HN, 2/4/01)
1955 Thomas Mann, German writer, died. Two biographies of Mann
were published in 1995: Thomas Mann: A Biography by Ronald Hayman and Thomas
Mann: A Life by Donald Prater.
(V.D.-H.K.p.367-368)(WSJ, 12/26/95, p. A-5)
1955 Robert R. McCormick, head of the Chicago Tribune, died. In
1997 Richard Norton Smith published his biography: "The Colonel: The Life
and Legend of Robert R. McCormick."
(WSJ, 6/19/97, p.A16)
1955 Wallace Stevens (b.1879), American poet and author, died:
"All history is modern history."
(AP, 1/27/00)
1955 Yves Tanguy, French-born surrealist artist, died in the US.
He had emigrated to the US in 1939 and settled in Connecticut with his
2nd wife, American painter Kay Sage.
(WSJ, 8/30/01, p.A11)
1955 Cy Young (b.1867), legendary baseball pitcher, died. He was
inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937. Baseball’s 1st Cy Young
award for best pitcher was presented in 1956.
(AH, 10/01, p.20)
1955 In Brazil Pres. Juscelino Kubitschek took office. He vowed
to modernize the country and made economic growth his main goal.
(WSJ, 4/10/00, p.Sp.Adv)
1955 Iraq joined with Britain, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan in the
Baghdad Pact, a loose alliance intended to check soviet influence in the
region. The Baghdad Pact was formed at the prompting of the U.S. in an
effort to block Soviet pressures on the northern tier of Middle Eastern
states. The U.S. provided military and economic aid to the pact members.
(HNQ, 7/28/98)(SFC, 9/24/02, p.A10)
1955 W. Churchill resigned in England.
(TMC, 1994, p.1955)
1955 In Germany the "documenta x" art show, an exhibition of contemporary
art began in Kassel under Werner Haftmann. It began a tradition with new
shows every 4-5 years.
(WSJ, 7/7/97, p.A12)(SFC, 7/30/99, p.D8)
1955 In West Germany Wilhelm Karmann designed and built the Karmann-Ghia
in cooperation with Volkswagen and Porsche.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.D4)
1955 In Dresden, East Germany, Manfred von Ardenne (d.1997 at
90) established a scientific institute. He had worked for the Soviets and
innovated a process for splitting isotopes to enrich uranium, a vital part
of Soviet nuclear bomb development.
(SFC, 5/28/97, p.A17)
1955 In East Germany some Russian soldiers came down with a neurological
disorder that was thought to be the result of CIA poisoning. It was found
that the cause of illness was the eating of a rabid fox. East vs. West
tensions of this time were later documented by 2 former spies and a director
of Radio Liberty. David Murphy, Sergei Kondrashev and George Bailey in:
"Battleground Berlin."
(WSJ, 8/27/97, p.A10)
1955 The Bundeswehr, [West] Germany’s postwar conscript army,
was established.
(SFC, 4/30/98, p.A8)
1955 Andras Hegedues (1922-1999) became Hungary's youngest premier.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.B4)
1955 India established a policy that barred foreign print media
from publishing within the country.
(WSJ, 8/13/96, p.A7)
1955 In Indonesia open, free and safe parliamentary elections
were held.
(SFC, 5/20/98, p.A12)
1955 The Javanese city of Bandung hosted the int’l. meeting that
founded the Nonaligned Movement.
(WSJ, 7/24/01, p.B4)
1955 In Japan the Liberal Democratic Party was founded.
(USAT, 8/29/97, p.8A)
1955 Fighting erupted between north and south Sudan. The black
southerners are Christian and animist, while the northerners are mostly
Arabic and Muslim. It has lasted through 1996 with a cease-fire from 1972-1983.
(SFC, 4/15/96,A-8)
1955 In Moscow John Vassal (1925-1996), British attaché,
was plied with liquor and photographed in a compromising position with
2-3 men. He was then blackmailed into spying and was not caught until 1962.
(SFC, 12/6/96, p.B8)
1955 Paul Grimes (1924-2002) worked as an editor for the Bangkok
Post. He joined the NY Times in 1957 and helped establish Conde Nast Traveler
in 1987.
(SFC, 5/2/02, p.A27)
1955 Bulganin and Khrushchev vied for power in the USSR.
(TMC, 1994, p.1955)
1955 The USSR lifted a ban on abortion that had been imposed by
Stalin in 1936.
(SSFC, 8/24/03, p.A11)
1955 In Tibet Sydney Wignall, A Welsh amateur spy for Indian intelligence,
was captured by the Chinese with 2 members of his climbing expedition and
held for several weeks. In 1997 his book: "Spy on the Roof of the World"
was published.
(SFEC,12/14/97, BR p.4)
1955-1958 In Russia Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bulganin served as Premier.
(WUD, 1994, p.195)
1955-1959 Robert Rauschenberg painted "Monogram," which featured a paint-daubed
stuffed goat.
(SFC, 10/13/97, p.E3)
1955-1959 Joe Foss (1915-2002), WW II fighter pilot, served as governor
of South Dakota. He hosted ABC TV’s "The American Sportsman from 1964-1967,
and produced and hosted the syndicated TV show "The Outdoorsman Joe Foss"
from 1967-1974.
(SFC, 1/2/03, p.A16)
1955-1962 East German spymaster Markus Wolf led spy operations over
this time. He was charged in 1997 with kidnapping, coercion and causing
bodily harm.
(SFC, 1/8/97, p.A7)
1955-1963 In Greece Constantine Karamanlis was appointed prime
minister by King Paul. He built a solid center-right party and won absolute
parliamentary majorities in 5 elections. Clashes with King Paul ended in
his resignation.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.B4)
1955-1963 In Vietnam Vu Van Mau served as the foreign minister under
Pres. Ngo Dinh Diem.
(SFC, 9/12/98, p.C3)
1955-1965 The 2nd Betty Crocker [General Mills advertising icon] made
her appearance.
(WSJ, 7/5/96, p.A6)
1955-1982 William A. Hewitt (d.1998 at 83) led the John Deere farm equipment
company. Under his leadership company sales rose from 300 million to over
$5 billion. Pres. Reagan appointed him ambassador to Jamaica in 1982.
(SFC, 5/19/98, p.A21)