SECTION 22.3
POPULAR CULTURE OF THE 1950’S
DID YOU KNOW!
• AS AMERICAN CULTURE
CHANGED DURING THE
1950’S, NEW WORDS
AND TERMS EMERGED,
INCLUDING HOT ROD,
JUNK MAIL,COOL,
ROCK’N’ROLL, AND
CARRY OUT.
A. THE NEW MASS MEDIA
• ALTHOUGH REGULAR
TELEVISION BROADCAST
HAD BEGUN IN THE EARLY
1940’S, THERE WERE FEW
STATIONS, AND
TELEVISIONS WERE
EXPENSIVE.
• BY THE 1950’S, SMALL
BLACK AND WHITE
TELEVISIONS SAT IN
LIVING ROOMS ACROSS
AMERICA.
THE RISE OF TELEVISION POPULARITY
• THE POPULARITY OF
TELEVISION INCREASED
AS IT BECAME MORE
AFFORDABLE FOR
CONSUMERS.
• IN 1946 THERE WERE
BETWEEN 7-8,000
TELEVISION SETS IN THE
U.S.
THE RISE OF TELEVISION POPULARITY
• BY 1957 THERE WERE
40 MILLION T.V. SETS.
• IN THE LATE 1950’S,
THE TELEVISION NEWS
BECAME AN
IMPORTANT SOURCE OF
INFORMATION.
• ADVERTISING AND
SPORTING EVENTS
BECAME MORE
COMMON.
COMEDY, ACTION, AND GAMES
• TELEVISION SHOWS FELL
INTO THE CATEGORIES OF
COMEDY, ACTION, AND
ADVENTURE, VARIETYSTYLE ENTERTAINMENT,
AND QUIZ SHOWS.
• ED SULLIVAN’S VARIETY
SHOW THE TOAST OF THE
TOWN PROVIDED A MIX
OF COMEDY, SONG,
DANCE, AND
ACROBATICS.
COMEDY, ACTION, AND GAMES
• IN 1956 THE QUIZ
SHOW TWENTY ONE
CAUSED A UPROAR
AFTER IT WAS
DISCOVERED THAT
MANY OF THE SHOW’S
CONTESTANTS WERE
GIVEN THE ANSWERS
BEFORE THE SHOW.
HOLLYWOOD ADAPTS TO THE TIME
• WITH THE INCREASE IN
TELEVISION VIEWING,
THE MOVIE INDUSTRY
LOST VIEWERS.
• MOVIEMAKERS TRIED
SEVERAL WAYS TO LURE
PEOPLE AWAY FROM
THEIR TELEVISION SETS,
INCLUDING THE USE OF
3-D GLASSES AND
CINEMASCOPE.
HOLLYWOOD ADAPTS TO THE TIME
• MOVIE ROLES FOR
WOMEN WERE
STEROTYPICAL, OFTEN
DEALING WITH
MARRIAGE OR THE
HOPE OF MARRIAGE.
• ROLES FOR AFRICAN
AMERICANS WERE
OFTEN STEROTYPICAL
OR ONE-DIMENSIONAL.
RADIO DRAWS THEM IN
• RADIO HAD TO FIND
WAYS TO GET TELEVISION
VIEWERS TO LISTEN
AGAIN.
• RECORDED MUSIC,
NEWS, TALK SHOWS,
WEATHER, PUBLICSERVICE PROGRAMMING,
AND SHOWS FOR
SPECIFIC AUDIENCES
WERE ALL USED TO
ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO
TURN ON THEIR RADIOS.
B. THE NEW YOUTH CULTURE
• YOUNG PEOPLE
DURING THIS PERIOD
LONGED FOR GREATER
EXCITEMENT AND
FREEDOM, AND THEY
FOUND THAT OUTLET
IN NEW AND
CONTROVERSIAL STYLES
OF MUSIC AND
LITERATURE.
ROCK ‘N’ROLL
• IN 1951 RADIO DISC JOCKEY
ALAN FREED GAINED
PERMISSION FROM HIS
MANAGER TO PLAY
AFRICAN AMERICAAN
RHYTHM AND BLUES ON
THE RADIO.
• LISTENERS LOVED THE NEW
SONGS, AND SOON WHITE
ARTIST WERE COPYING THE
SOUND TO FORM A NEW
STYLE OF MUSIC CALLED
ROCK’N’ROLL.
ROCK ‘N’ROLL
• IN 1956 ELVIS PRESLEY
BECAME A ROCK’N’ROLL
HERO FOR MANY
TEENAGERS.
• HE BACAME KNOWN AS
THE “KING OF
ROCK’N’ROLL.”
• THE MUSIC WAS VERY
POPULAR WITH
TEENS,BUT PARENTS
DISLIKED THE NEW
MUSIC.
ROCK ‘N’ROLL
• THESE VARYING
OPINIONS LED TO
WHAT BECAME KNOWN
AS A GENERATION GAP,
• OR CULTURAL
SEPERATION FROM
CHILDREN AND
PARENTS.
THE BEAT MOVEMENT
• A GROUP OF MOSTLY
WHITE ARTIST, WHO
CALLED THEMSELVES
THE BEATS,
HIGHLIGHTED THE
VALUES GAP THAT
EXISTED IN THE U.S. IN
THE 1950’S.
THE BEAT MOVEMENT
• IN 1957 BEAT WRITER
JACK KEROUAC
PUBLISHED ON THE
ROAD.
• THIS BOOK DESCRIBED
FREEWHEELING
ADVENTURES WITH A
CAR THIEF AND A CON
ARTIST.
• THE BOOK SHOCKED
READERS BUT WENT ON
TO BECOME AN INSTANT
CLASSIC IN LITERATURE.
C. AFRICAN AMERICAN ENTERTAINERS
• AFRICAN AMERICAN
ENTERTAINERS
STRUGGLED TO FIND
ACCEPTANCE IN A
COUNTRY THAT OFTEN
TREATED THEM LIKE
SECOND CLASS
CITIZENS.
• MOST WERE SHUT OUT
BY TELEVISION.
C. AFRICAN AMERICAN ENTERTAINERS
• AFRICAN AMERICAN
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL SINGERS
HAD AN EASIER TIME
GAINING ACCEPTANCE.
• CHUCK BERRY, RAY
CHARLES, AND LITTLE
RICHARD RECORDED
HIT SONGS.
C. AFRICAN AMERICAN ENTERTAINERS
• AFRICAN AMERICAN
WOMEN’S RECORDING
GROUPS, INCLUDING
THE CRYSTALS, THE
CHIFFONS, AND THE
SHIRELLES, PAVED THE
WAY FOR FUTURE
WOMEN’S GROUPS.