Chapter 19:
The Postwar Boom
Section 3:
Pop Culture
Objectives…
-Explain how TV, radio, movies & music of the
1950s reflected American society.
-Explain how rock ‘n’ roll & the beats clashed
with middle class values in the 1950s.
-Describe how African American entertainers
influenced American music in the 1950s.
Role of the FCC
The Federal Communication Commission
(“FCC”) is the Federal government agency
that regulates and licenses television,
telephone, telegraph, radio and other
communication industries.
 The most popular early TV shows were
comedies giving rise to new stars like Milton
Berle and Lucille Ball; on the radio “on the
scene” news broadcasts were pulling in large
audiences and the advertising industry
scrambled to reach millions using both
mediums.

1.The “Golden Age” of
TV
 1946 -Introduction of TV
 1948
-200,000 TVs… 9% of
America
 1949 -Selling100K a wk.
 1955 -32M in US
 1956 –FCC licenses 500 stations
 1960 -45M TVs… 90% of Americans
Early television
sets…
American family watching TV in the 1950s…
National
Broadcast
Company
Columbia Broadcast
Stations
Associated Broadcasting
Company
The Economics of Television…
TV Net Revenue: 1947 $2M…1957 $1B
 Advertising $: 1949 $58M…1960 $60B

1a.
1954: Father Knows Best - A TV show
promoting the ideal (conservative, rosy
and paternalistic) American family of the
1950s.
1952-1966: Ozzie and Harriet -“The ideal
American family life” - The longest-running
"live”(non-animated) sitcom in TV history;
they were a real family! The Nelsons
1957 : Leave it to
Beaver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sam9wP_uMEA
The Honeymooners: Urban working
class people struggling with the issues
of a consumer society.
Assorted clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAKSLJySqWI
Ralph learns to play golf: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNauilZRzHk
I Love Lucy was the most watched show
in the US in four of its six seasons.
Lucy and the Chocolate factory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NPzLBSBzPI&feature=related
1950 Sitcoms…
1b. “Ideal” suburban families
Mischievous children
Kindly “all knowing” dads
1c. No politics or social issues
Critics called them:
"Aryan melodramas“– Why?
“Television can instruct, inform and
inspire, as well as distract, distort and
demean”
- Bill Moyers
How does it distract?
How does it distort?
How does it demean?
Identify the positives and the negatives
of the Golden Age of Television.
What are some of the positives & negatives of
RADIO!
2a. Began to focus on news, weather music
Many more radio stations in the 50s!
2b. Stations started playing “rhythm and
blue” - which were mostly created by
African Americans
Films?
3. Decreased due to TV but… it capacities
the advantages that movies held over
television – size, color and sound
The Beats… NON-CONFORMITY
1b.

Express disgust with…
- mass culture, conformity,
consumerism & militarism

The “Beats” believed in…
-spontaneity, friendship, jazz,
open sexuality, drug use,
black culture & music

The “Beat” look…
-black clothes, sunglasses, berets
Spontaneous
prose…
“first thought …
best thought”
1a. Allen Ginsberg

Jack Kerouac http://www.biography.com/people/groups/beat-writers

1950's Conformity Versus the Beat Generation


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q47ha9_hE8
Traditional Blues + Rhythm &
Blues +
County + Pop =
Elvis
Presley
“Don’t Step on My Blue Suede Shoes”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrjbwVhQOAw
“Heartbreak Hotel”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KYGdgMggAQ
First TV appearance…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Pv83Xrh80
Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thorton Hound Dog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=womy8Coyq7Q
Elvis Presley “Hound Dog”
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1815255454288225230#
The economics of Rock &
Roll…
Record Sales
1954
1959
$213M ……. $603M
5a. Radio Stations 1956
- 2,700 radio stations
- 70% of all airtime involves
music
Chuck Berry
Maybelline...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-azvd30UKE
Back to the Future…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1i5coU-0_Q
The Chicken Walk
American Bandstand with host
Dick Clark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AoAzhCKG
XU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFtAOltn7iw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZW538daEIw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1i5coU-0_Q
Reading Activity:
“The Birth
of
Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
1. Find the Definitions of the “Survival Words.”
2. Read “The Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
3. Complete the handout.
-Submit to the teachers when finished. If not finished, it
becomes homework due tomorrow at the beginning of class.
-Explain how TV, radio, movies & music
of the 1950s reflected American society.
-Explain how rock ‘n’ roll & the beats
clashed with middle class values in the
1950s.
-Describe how African American
entertainers influenced American music
in the 1950s.
Cold War in Film & TV
The Emergence of the Teenager
Read p. 658-659
Objective…
Describe the social & economic role teenagers
player in post war America .
The first “teenagers”….
-Born in late 30s & war
years
-Born into an affluent
Answer the
following questions…
society
1) Why did teenagers have so much
influence?...Teenager were consumers
Businesses
pursued the teenage
market…
2) How did teenage
consumerism
affect
Cosmetics, clothes, radio, phonograph, music,
cars
product development?...