The 1950s were a prosperous time in American history known as "The Fabulous Fifties". Rock and roll music emerged and became hugely popular, especially among teenagers, led by artists like Elvis Presley. Television also rose dramatically in popularity during the decade, with families gathering to watch shows together. Overall, the 1950s represented an optimistic period of economic growth, new technologies, and social trends in America.

1. The Fabulous Fifties:
A Decade to Remember
Close your eyes, Baby
Follow my heart The 50-s were one of the most
Call on the memories popular and optimistic decades in
Here in the dark American history: the Second World
We’ll let the magic War has ended, soldiers are coming
Take us away back to the states and families are en-
Back to the feelings joying life again. The country is in a
We shared when they played state of complete bliss; the economy
is booming and Americans are experi-
In the still of the night encing happy days. Middle class
Hold me, darling, hold me tight Americans have no problem spending
So real, so right their money yet.
Lost in the fifties tonight.

2. Entertainment
of the Fifties
The decade of the Fifties gave birth to Rock and Roll. While parents were listening to
Frank Sinatra their children were moving to a new music style. Young generation was twist-
ing, thrusting and bumping to the sounds of rock and roll. The prosperity of the '50s allowed
teenagers to spend money on records by their favorite bands and singers.
The roots of rock and roll lay in African American blues and
gospel.
DJ Alan Freed began a rhythm-and-blues show on one of the
radio stations. Soon the audience grew and grew, and Freed
thought up the term "rock and roll."
White artists tried to sing R&B but their voices were too weak
for this music style, so producers began to search a white artist
who could capture the African American sound. And they
found Elvis Presley. He took an old style
and made it his own. Within two years
he became the most popular name in en-
tertainment business in the USA.
Rock and Roll was shocking for Ameri-
ca. Young teenagers were against the music
their parents loved. In general, the older genera-
tion didn’t like rock and roll too and proclaimed
it Satan’s music (first of all, because it was the
music of ethnic groups and lower classes). It
was banned from many radio stations and
schools. But when Elvis appeared on TV with
his hits Love Me Tender and Heartbreak Hotel
the rating of the show soared and rock and roll
became the music of the masses.

3. As TV became more com-
monly available, people were en-
chanted. This was much better than
radio. You became very popular and
neat if your family had a TV.
The earliest TV shows were
quite successful. One of the popular
shows for teenagers was American
Bandstand. Dick Clark, the star of
the show, got more than fifty thou-
sand fan letters a week. They
Among the first TV there were about 120
thought watching this show was
Westerns. Mostly in black and white, cowboys
more important than doing their
set the standards of right and wrong and taught
homework. Teenagers loved Ameri-
people about heroes.
can Bandstand.
In 1956 some
scientists did a study
on how much kids
ages 10-16 watched
television. The re-
sults showed that an
average kid watched
six hours of television
a day which was
equal to how long
they went to school
everyday. Television
was groovy.

4. SPORTS in the 50s
People in the Fifties loved sports. They had more free time and enough
money to go in for sports, more and more Americans participated in differ-
ent athletic activities or were fans of all types of sports.
All American sports such as base-
ball and football gave opportuni-
ties for the rise of stars like Jackie
Robinson, Roy Campanella, Henry
(Hank) Aaron, Juan Marichal, Jim
Brown, and Frank Gifford.
As television became more popu-
lar, other sports found a lot of fans.
College football and professional
golf became very popular. That
time there was an idea that to suc-
ceed in business you needed to
play golf. In 1950 women created
Ladies Professional Golf Associa-
Sports like tennis, basketball
tion and joined men on golf cours-
and boxing were also popular in es all over America.
the fifties. Althea Gibson was the
first African-American to play in
the U. S. Lawn Tennis Nationals at
Forest Hills, NY. Major names in
basketball were Wilt Chamber-
lain, Elgin Baylor, and Dolph
Schayes. Another favorite, boxing,
gave opportunities to great ath-
letes, Sugar Ray Robinson and
Rocky Marciano.

5. WORLD EVENTS
The world was recovering from the Soviet Union control and
the Second World War. People were the second one was under the con-
building houses, plants and factories. trol of the USA.
The American economy was growing During the 1950s the USA
faster and faster. But 1950s weren’t also participated in some local
peace and quiet for the American so- wars and internal conflicts such as
ciety. That time the Cold War – the Arab-Israeli conflict, Algerian and
state of political conflict, military ten- Cuban revolutions.
sion and eco- In
nomic compe- 1953
tition between the US
two super- tested
powers the their
Soviet Union first
and the United hydro-
States - started gen
and played the bomb
whole decade. on
The result of Mar-
the Cold War shal
became the Is-
war in Korea. The Soviet Union was lands. Hawaii became the 50s state
to aid the Northern part of Korea, and of the US. In the field of science
the United States to help the South. In the first IBM computer was made:
the long run Korea was divided into DNA structure was discovered and
two parts: the northern part was under NASA was established.

6. Famous people
Marilyn Monroe Achievement
(real name Norma Jeanie Award at age 36.
Mortenson or Baker) was
born on June 1, 1926 in Los
Angeles, California. She Arthur
was an icon of women’s
beauty and Hollywood Miller
films of that time. The was born on
1950s proved to be a good
decade for Marilyn Monroe. October 17, 1915 in
She became famous in New York city and
1950s for her films
“Gentlemen Prefer was a leading
Blondes” (1953), “How to American dramatist
marry a Millionaire” (1953) Elvis Presley
and “Some like It who is best known
was born on January 8,
Hot” (1959).She was mar- work “Death of the
ried to baseball legend Joe 1935 in Mississippi. He was
DiMaggio and playwright an American musician and salesman” won the
Arthur Miller. She died due actor. A cultural icon, he’s Pulitzer Prize. In
to an overdose of sleeping widely known as “The King
pills. 1956, Miller was
of Rock and Roll”. Presley
awarder honorary
is regarded as one of the
most important figures of Degree at the uni-
20th-century popular cul- versity of Michi-
ture. He had a very good gan.
voice and sang and
played in many genres.
He is the best-selling
solo artist in the history
of popular music. Nom-
inated for 14 Grammys,
he won three, and re-
ceived the Grammy
Lifetime

7. Home life
of the Fifties
Men also felt a societal pressure. A good
man had to have a wife and kids. His boss
liked it. His neighbours and family expected it.
On 50s there was a tradition to sit down
to eat together. Mom cooked because it was her
job. Most of the women worked at home as a
housewife and didn’t get money for their work.
Family life was
After dinner the family would watch TV
very different in the Fifties. if they had one, which by the end of the decade
For starters, most probably it was likely. The whole family watched the same
was a two - parent household. show, because there was only one TV in the
Both a mother and a father. whole house.
Divorce was not a com- Kids spent their free time listening to
mon thing. First of all be- their own record player or transistor radio.
cause of societal pressure. They often visited with one another to talk to
You had to get married and each other. Older children usually went to a so-
stay married, regardless of da shop or diner after school and hung out
how unhappy you were. Di- there.
vorce was a stigma. People
spent more of their lives mar-
ried than they do today due to
lower divorce rates and earli-
er ages at marriage.
Today a woman can get
a well-paid job but back in
the Fifties she could only
work in traditional women’s
jobs such as a secretary, a
teacher, a nurse, a librarian
and so far. So it was an eco-
nomic motive to stay married.

8. Technological advances and
scientific discoveries
Great steps were made in Ameri- invented in 1954.
can science during the 1950s. Im- In 1955 Jonas Salk invented a polio vac-
portant discoveries were almost cine which was given to more than
daily events. seven million American students.
There were massive military  A surprise came in 1957; a 184 pound
projects with large group of scien- satellite was launched by the Russians.
tists who worked with each other They named it Sputnik 1. The space
toward a specified research goal. race begins 4 months later the United
The example is the production of States launch a smaller satellite.
the atomic bomb.  In 1958 the first plastic Coke bottle
It is difficult to separate the appeared.
achievements of science and tech-
nology of the 1950s from the other
aspects of life. Here are only some
of them.
 Credit cards be-
came widespread
during the dec-
ade.
 The first copy ma-
chine was made
1950 also.
 In 1954 Bell Tel-
ephone labs pro-
duce solar battery.
Polypropylene was