[...] Mildred “Babe” Didrikson, received her Ruthian nickname for her sandlot baseball heroics in the late 1920s… But baseball was the least of her talents, as there was little in athletics she couldn’t do. Babe Didrikson would become a standout track & field sensation at the 1932 Summer Olympics, and thereafter, in the 1940s and 1950s, a golf superstar & multi-tournament winner who helped change the women’s game for the better…Her story, and death by cancer at age 45, is told here with period photos and numerous source links [...]

[...] In late 1964 a memorable spy film named “Goldfinger” arrived in theaters – the third in a series featuring British secret agent, James Bond, played by actor Sean Connery. The “Bond films” were based on novels penned by former British intelligence officer Ian Fleming… “Goldfinger” became something of a spy film trend-setter & template for 22 more “Bond films” to follow, one of the world’s most lucrative film franchises to date… “Goldfinger” song also featured, along with film screen shots, magazine covers & more [...]

[...] Drew Pearson, one of the best-known American newspaper columnists of his day, noted for his muckraking stories on politicians that appeared in his “Washington Merry-Go-Round” column, takes a crack at the “Elvis Presley controversy” in a 12-minute video commentary [...]

[...] Dion DiMucci – better known as “Dion” from his 1950s doo-wop fame – flourished as a pop recording artist through the 1960s. This story recounts parts of his career, touching on his family life, his battle with drugs, and how he explored various musical genres in later years, from Christian music to the blues roots of rock `n roll. Dismissed by some critics as being defined by his teen idol years, a range of artists – including Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed and others – have cited his influence. Six songs also included [...]

[...] Yogi Berra, the famous Hall-of-Fame, New York Yankee baseball player, in addition to becoming a sports celebrity of his day, also became something of cultural icon know for his “famous sayings” – sparking a bit of cottage industry in book publishing… Berra’s story not only captures the baseball aura of his times, but also shows how his sports popularity seeped into popular culture in a novel way, as Yogi Berra’s celebrity is now in its eighth decade [...]

[...] Advance Publications is a sprawling media empire of leading magazines, newspapers, cable TV and websites owned by the Newhouse family of Long Island, New York. In recent years the Newhouse/Advance empire has ranked among the 50 largest privately-held companies in the U.S. This article dips into the 90 years of Newhouse empire-building history, with some focus on the newspaper and magazine parts of the story, celebrity and political issues, and the Newhouse publishing and media impact on America culture…[...]

[...] This “topics page” provides thumbnail sketches and links to 14 baseball stories at this website, including in-depth profiles and photos of Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Sandy Koufax, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Honus Wagner, Christie Mathewson, Lou Gehrig, and others [...]

[...] In August 1956, when Elvis Presley and his band rolled into Jacksonville, Florida for a few shows at the Florida Theater, they were threatened with jail time if Elvis became too provocative with his dance moves on stage…. They were scheduled to play six shows there [...]

[...] In June of 1962, a series of three articles under the title “Silent Spring” began appearing in The New Yorker magazine. The articles – excerpted from a blockbuster book of the same name by Rachel Carson – offered disturbing accounts of how chemical pesticides were contaminating the environment… A national uproar followed… This account revisits book, author, controversy & legacy at its 50th anniversary [...]

  Note: This 1:33 minute video shows Dinah Shore singing the famous “See-The-U.S.A.- in-Your-Chevrolet” jingle. In the piece, she sings the entire song, adding her famous goodbye kiss at the finish. This ad appears to be from the early 1950s — likely the fall of 1952, as the Chevy models featured are for the 1953 [...]

[...] A series of 1950s Saturday Evening Post magazine covers are presented by artist Stevan Dohanos, who offered several Post Office and U.S. mail-related scenes from American communities and everyday life… These serve as indications of the importance of the local post office and U.S. postal system in American culture and local communities for both mid-20th century America and beyond, offering some relevance to the current debate over the proposed closing of some 3,600 post offices across urban and rural America [...]

[...] In 2011, Norman Rockwell’s painting, “The Problem We All Live With,” depicting a famous 1960 school desegregation scene in New Orleans, was displayed in the Obama White House. This article explores that painting and other Norman Rockwell civil rights paintings, as well as related history on magazine cover art dealing with African American and civil rights topics during the late 1950s and early 1960s [...]

[...]“The Jack Pack” was the name briefly attributed to a famous group of 1960s entertainers who supported U.S. Senator John F. “Jack” Kennedy (JFK) in his 1960 run for president. “The Jack Pack” moniker was a variant of “The Rat Pack,” a nickname for a coterie of Hollywood stars and Las Vegas entertainers… Part 1 of this two-part story covers Jack Pack & Rat Pack history, with JFK and Frank Sinatra at the center, along with related stories about Sinatra’s politics, the group and their friends during Kennedy’s presidential run [...]

[...] A Brooklyn, NY “baseball sculpture” of Brooklyn Dodger players Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese dedicated in 2005, commemorates Reese’s “arm-around-the-shoulders” support of black player Robinson on the field during racial taunts and fan heckling at a 1947 Cincinnati Reds game….This story covers Robinson’s breaking the color barrier in major league baseball, the sculpture’s genesis, Brooklyn Dodger history, and more [...]

[...] In the 1940s and 1950s, magazine ads from the John Hancock Life Insurance Co. used history and famous people from sports, business, politics & the arts to help burnish its reputation – such as this 1958 ad on baseball legend, Christy Mathewson… Story covers Mathewson’s career, accomplishments, product endorsements & “good guy” celebrity as well as some John Hancock history [...]

[...] In 1959, a singing group from the Pacific Northwest named the Fleetwoods rose briefly to the top of the pop music scene with a few top hits that were sweet and melodic with good harmonies, engaging arrangement, and innocent lyrics… The style flourished briefly as the pop music landscape was soon to be transformed by the Beatles and other British groups a few years later…But for a time, the Fleetwoods’ sound became very popular [...]

[...] In January 1957, a new song with the title “Love is Strange” by two artists known as “Mickey & Sylvia” became a top hit on the R&B and pop music charts and a million-seller… Thirty years later, the song had a revival of sorts with the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing” when the song was used as a background piece for a practice dance session with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey [...]

[...] In 2010, a hit song that was written more than 50 years ago by a rock-n roll legend and convicted murderer Phil Spector, and became a 1958 hit with The Teddy Bears, was used in a sweetly-portrayed TV ad by Humana Health Care…The ad depicts a series of loving scenes between grandchildren and their grandparents… Story covers song, Teddy Bears & Phil Spector history [...]

[...] During the 1950s, the John Hancock Life Insurance Co. ran a series of low-keyed print advertisements that touted historic figures from the nation’s past. In 1959, one of these focused on Frederic Remington, the famous artist of the American West. This story examines that ad, Remington’s work, and the John Hancock “historical figures” advertising campaign [...]

[...] In August 1957, American Bandstand, a new television show was being broadcast that featured teenagers dancing to the new rock ‘n roll music. The show had just “gone national” on the ABC television network… It soon became a place where new talent could be seen, as host Dick Clark allotted featured spots for new acts to perform their songs….In 1957, some 200 guests appeared….Story includes listing of dates & artists [...]

[...] They began singing on Philadelphia street corners in the mid-1950s…They were just teenagers, 14 and 15 years old…. They had cut a record locally, and in December 1957 caught a big break, when Dick Clark at ‘American Bandstand’ asked them to fill-in for a last-minute cancellation… Their recording, “At The Hop,” shot to No.1 on the charts and their lives were forever changed [...]

[...] There are only three people in all of baseball history who have done it: win three “triple crowns” in pitching. Sandy Koufax is one of them. He garnered this distinction during his magical years on the pitching mound with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1963, 1965 and 1966 – a memorable time for baseball…But Sandy Koufax almost missed these years, as he tossed his glove and spikes into the trash at one point, believing he was through with baseball [...]

[...] “Harlem Nocturne” is a saxophone-saturated song that has had a long shelf life. It first found fame in the late 1930s’ jazz and big band era…More than 20 years later, and again nearly 50 years after its first release, “Harlem Nocturne” found popular appeal – first in a sultry1959-1960 version by The Viscounts from New Jersey, and again in the 1980s’ as the signature crime show theme song for “The Mike Hammer” TV series… This story includes the full song and covers its history [...]

[...] A guitar tune written in 1958 has the distinction of being the only instrumental song ever banned for radio play in the U.S. The song’s name was “Rumble,” performed by a guitarist named Link Wray and his band, the Rayman… Link Wray became an influential guitar rocker, credited with the invention of the power chord and other guitar innovations… His songs were used in films such as “Pulp Fiction”, “Blow”, and “Desperado” [...]

[...] Frank Gifford, a famous professional football player with the New York Giants in the 1950s and 1960s, is shown in early 1960s’ magazine ads for the Lucky Strike cigarette brand…. Gifford’s football achievements are also covered, as well as some of his second career as a sports broadcaster on Monday Night Football and as husband of Kathie Lee Gifford [...]

[...] In mid-April 1953, a young baseball player named Micky Mantle of the New York Yankees hit one of the longest home runs ever in a game against the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C…This article includes some of the historic press coverage of that home run, some of the controversy that followed it, and a look at the power of Mickey Mantle is some of his other famous home runs… Several interesting photos and magazine covers are also included [...]

[...] John Wayne, the popular Hollywood film star of the 1950s, became one of a number of celebrities, sports stars, and other famous individuals to participate in cigarette and tobacco-product advertising in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s… This short article examines two of Wayne’s print ads, some of his film history during that period, and his personal battles with cancer [...]

[...] In the 1950s and 1960s, Timex, a brand-named wristwatch, became some- thing of an iconic American product through a long-running advertising campaign that used sports newscaster John Cameron Swayze as well as sports celebrities such as Mickey Mantle, Rocky Marciano, Ben Hogan, Babe Didrikson and others to pitch the product…. Swayze hosted 20-years of TV ads featuring various “torture tests” of Timex watches [...]

[...] In April 2009, a European entertainment company named Imagem Music, shelled out an estimated $250-to-$300 million to acquire the rights to the Broadway legacy of music legends Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein — plus their New York organization covering some 12,000 songs, 900 concert works, 100 musicals, and 200 writers [...]

…In the summer of 1959, a vocal group from Chicago named The Flamingos recorded an old standard from the 1930s — “I Only Have Eyes For You” — that rose to the top of the R & B and pop music charts… Their recording of the song gave it a whole new dimension, set in the “doo-wop” style — a version that continues to resonate with many listeners today… Some history of the group & their song is covered in this article…

Ava Gardner at about age 23, shown here in a publicity photo for ‘The Killers’, a 1946 film that also debuted Burt Lancaster.     When 18 year-old Ava Gardner hit the streets of New York on a visit to see her sister Beatrice in the summer of 1940, she was still very much a country girl – [...]

[...] Dinah Shore was one of the first television celebrities whose name became synonymous with a product – Chevrolet automobiles. Singing the “See-The-USA-in-Your Chevrolet” jingle on her popular 1950s TV show every week, Dinah Shore had the nation as her audience, reaching tens of millions…She became a super-salesperson for General Motors and a trusted national persona [...]

Close-up of Ralph Kramden-Jackie Gleason statue at the August 2000 ‘TV Land’ unveiling in New York city.      Ralph Kramden is the name of a fictional New York City bus driver who starred in the popular 1950s television comedy The Honeymooners.  Actor Jackie Gleason played the role of Ralph, who was a memorable, one-of-a-kind character.  [...]

     It was December 1937 in Chicago.  The Washington Redskins professional football team had come to town to play the fearsome Chicago Bears in the National Football League championship game at Wrigley Field.  It was a bitterly cold day with frozen turf.  Washington, although a good team, wasn’t given much of a chance against “the [...]

The top song in America during late 1955 and early 1956 was a tune about coal mining — a song about the hard life and poverty of being a coal miner. Its title was “Sixteen Tons” and it was made popular by a singer named Tennessee Ernie Ford. The song had actually been written in the 1940s, its verse grown piecemeal from oft-heard phrases….

1952 Vice Presidential candidate Richard Nixon with family dog, ‘Checkers,’ among campaign gifts which Nixon sought to explain in his famous, nationally-televised September 1952 speech.     In September 1952, the Republicans had just set their national ticket for the fall elections.  It was Dwight David Eisenhower for President of the United State and Richard M. Nixon [...]

[...] In later years Mickey Mantle would joke half heartedly about his hobbled, late-career performance: “Hitting the ball was easy,” he would say. “Running around the bases was the hard part.” Those who played with Mantle, however, knew it wasn’t funny. In the above photo, you can almost see him wincing as he ran the bases [...]

Bobby Darin & wife Sandra Dee in the 1960s.      In 1958, with the unlikely song lyric, “splish, splash, I was taking a bath,” a 22 year-old singer from New York named Bobby Darin, launched a singing career and a  No.1 hit record.  That career lasted a short 15 years, ending in Darin’s premature death at [...]

[...] “American Bandstand” was a TV dance show that began in Philadelphia, PA in the 1950s. It became an important arbiter of rock `n roll in American culture, enabling a giant rock music business to explode nationally with the help of Baby Boomer kids… The show also became synonymous with its principal creator & DJ, Dick Clark, who parlayed the show into other entertainment ventures making him a wealthy man [...]

[...] Among the first television shows to bring celebrities into the homes of millions of Americans was “Person to Person,” a 1950s show produced by CBS. “Person to Person” was created by the legendary newsman, Edward R. Murrow, a celebrity himself who first gained notoriety on radio [...]

In May 1950, a little-known U.S. Senator named Estes Kefauver, a 47 year-old Democrat from Tennessee, began a series of investigative hearings on organized crime [...] An estimated 30 million Americans watched the ‘Kefauver hearings’ in 1950-51, some in movie theaters [...]

[...] “Profiles in Courage” became a best-seller and was ground-breaking in its day, becoming one of the first books used to advance a political career aimed at the White House [...] The book gave Kennedy a certain political gravitas and national recognition he did not have before, lifting him from the ranks of unknown senators [...]

Elvis Presley in the mid-1950s, before he became a fully-known national rock ’n roll star, was constantly on the road. During 1955 and 1956, he performed widely throughout the country, making numerous personal appearances, from high schools to county fairs, especially in the south [...]