Flashback 1958!


A typical drive in restaurant of the day


Modern living at it's finest!
Cost of living:


  • Average yearly income $4,650
  • House $30,000
  • Ford car $1,967-$3,929
  • Tuition at Harvard $1,250 per year
  • Gallon of gas .24¢
  • Gallon of milk $1.01/half gallon, .42¢
  • Loaf of bread .19¢
  • Postage stamp .04¢
  • Cantaloupe .05¢ lb.
  • Celery .04¢ lb.
  • Chef Boyardee spaghetti 15½ ounce can .19¢
  • Corned beef .59¢ lb.
  • Swiss steak: .75¢ lb.
  • Libby's tomato juice; 5 (46 ounce) cans $1.00
  • Kraft carmels 1 lb package .37¢
  • Uncle Ben’s rice 14 oz box .19¢
  • Sunkist oranges 5 lbs. .49¢
  • Nathan's hot dogs .25¢ lb.



    • The game show, Beat the Clock


    Concentration game show
    TV highlights of '58:


  • 01/3/1958 - CBS-TV's daytime game show, "Strike it rich" ends.
  • 02/16/1958 - CBS-TV's game show, "Beat the clock" ends.
  • 08/6/1958 - Situation comedy, "The Ann Sothern show" debuts on CBS-TV and would run to 09/25/1961. 93 shows were made.
  • 08/25/1958 - NBC-TV's new daytime gameshow "Concentration" begins. This show would run until September of 1978 and have 3796 episodes.
  • 09/22/1958 - The CBS-TV comedy, "George Burns/Gracie Allen" show ends. 239 episodes.
  • 09/24/1958 - "The Donna Reed show" premiers on ABC-TV and runs until 9/3/1966 with 275 episodes.
  • 10/10/1958 - ABC-TV's detective drama, "77 Sunset strip" aires. This show ran until 2/26/1964 and had a total of 206 episodes.
  • 11/2/1958 - CBS TV's primetime game show, "The 64,000 dollar question" ends.
    		• Strike it rich gameshow


     
    Top singles of '58:


    Claudette (The Everly Brothers)
    All I Have To Do Is Dream (The Everly Brothers)
    At The Hop (Danny & The Juniors)
    Don't (Elvis Presley)
    Don't Ask Me Why (Elvis Presley)
    I Beg Of You (Elvis Presley)
    Hard Headed Woman (Elvis Presley)
    It's All In The Game (Tommy Edwards)
    Poor Little Fool (Ricky Nelson)
    Purple People Eater (Sheb Wooley)
    Tequila (The Champs)
    To Know Him Is To Love Him (The Teddy Bears)
    Volare (Domenico Modugno)     		 


     
    Movies of '58:


    Auntie Mame
    Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
    Touch of evil
    Vertigo
    House on Haunted hill     		 


    Famous Births:


    January 20th - Lorenzo Lamas
    January 26th - Ellen DeGeneres
    February 3rd - Lizzie Borden
    February 21st - Mary-Chapin Carpenter
    March 5th - Andy Gibb
    March 10th - Sharon Stone
    April 3rd - Alec Baldwin
    April 29th - Eve Plumb
    April 29th - Michelle Pfeiffer
    May 23rd - Drew Carey
    June 3rd - Scott Valentine
    June 15th - Wade Boggs
    July 8th - Kevin Bacon
    August 16th - Madonna
    August 16th - Angela Bassett
    August 17th - Belinda Carlisle
    August 24th - Steve Guttenberg
    August 29th - Michael Jackson
    September 6th - Jeff Foxworthy
    September 19th - Lita Ford
    September 27th - Shaun Cassidy
    September 29th - Andrew Dice Clay
    September 30th - Marty Stuart
    October 10th - Tanya Tucker
    October 16th - Tim Robbins
    October 17th - Alan Jackson
    November 22nd - Jamie Lee Curtis
    December 1st - Charlene Tilton
    December 7th - Edd Hall
    December 11th - Nikki Sixx     		 


    Special Events of '58:


  • VISA and American Express cards are introduced.
  • The Ford Edsel makes its first appearance this year. The new Edsel for 58
  • Fords Thunderbird grows into a five-seater for 1958.
  • GM offers "Air ride suspension" on most of it's cars for 1958.
  • The first Toyotas and Datsuns are imported. (tsk, tsk...)
  • Packard ceases production.
  • The U.S. launches its first satellite, called Explorer I, into space.
  • Uncle Sam calls Elvis. Our first mega-rock star is inducted into the Army.
  • The U.S. experiences an economic recession, as unemployment goes over 5%.
  • Sweet n' Low is introduced as an artificial Sweetener, using saccharin instead of sugar. Meanwhile, Cocoa Puffs is introduced; it contains 43% sugar.
  • The first Pizza Hut opens in Kansas City.
  • The first Grammy Award is given to the song, "Volare."
  • The Wham-O company introduces the Hula Hoop; over 100 million are sold.
  • The New York Yankees win the World Series, defeating Milwaukee.
  • The Brooklyn Dodgers become the Los Angeles Dodgers and play their first season at the L.A. Coliseum.
  • Arnold Palmer wins the U.S. Masters' golf tournament.
  • The Boeing 707 goes into production.
  • The Academy award for Best Picture goes to "Gigi."
  • 45 million American households have television sets.
  • The price of 1st class US postage is raised to 4¢ from 3¢ where it had been for 26 years
  • The Jolly Green Giant appears on TV with less than stellar results! In his first incarnation he looks like a monster which scares kids. So they lightened him up and added "Ho, ho, ho" and the lilting "Good things from the garden" song.
  • Crest toothpaste inaugurates the "Look, Ma! No cavities!" ad campaign.
  • On the Air! You'd find 3,156 AM radio, 537 FM radio and 492 TV Stations.
  • Sweet n' Low is introduced as an artificial Sweetener, using saccharin instead of sugar. Sweet'N Low received U.S. trademark patent no. 1,000,000.
  • Friskees introduces the first dry cat food.
  • This is the peak year for drive-in movies with 4,063 outdoor screens nationwide.
  • Bill and Mark Richards of Dana Point, CA, invented the first skateboard. They attached rollerskate wheels to a square board and sold them at their Val Surf Shop for $8 each.
  • Cocoa Krispies breakfast food is introduced by the Kellogg Company; it's 45.9% sugar.
  • Cocoa Puffs is introduced by General Mills; it contains 43% sugar.
  • Unemployment is 6.8%



    Index    1958    1959    1960    1961    1962    1963    1964    1965