Flashback 1959!


Rear view of a 1959 Chevrolet.
The year of the Fins! Automotive styling was at it's finest for 1959.


girl dancer with poodle skirt
Cost of living:


  • Federal hourly minimum wage $1.00
  • Gallon of gas .25¢
  • Milk: $1.01
  • Loaf of bread .20¢
  • 1 lb coffee .77¢
  • 1 lb cornmeal .11¢
  • Postage stamp: .04¢
  • Average yearly income $5,016
  • Average house $30,000
  • Brook Trout: .59¢
  • T-Bone steak $1.09 lb.
  • Sirloin Tip Steaks $.89 lb.
  • Nestles Quick 1 lb can $.39
  • Two 15-ounce cans of Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee Spaghetti (with meat balls) .45¢
  • Argus M-500 movie projector $89.95
  • Man's topcoat $42.75
  • Steam iron $9.88
  • Chevrolet Kingswood station wagon $2,970
  • Ford cars: $2,132-$3,979
  • Cadillac Eldorado convertible $7401 (weight 4,890 lbs)
  • Tiny Tears doll: $9.88
  • Steve Canyon Jet Helmet: $2.88

    		• 1959 Chevrolet Kingswood station wagon

    Grocery store


    Rod Serlings, The Twilight Zone
    TV highlights of '59:


  • 4/28/1959 -"Arther Godfrey and his friends", a musical variety show, begins on CBS.
  • 8/2/1959 - Science fiction show, "The twilight zone" aires on CBS-TV. Last show on 9/27/1963 with 151 episodes.
  • 9/12/1959 - The western series "Bonanza" has it's first showing on NBC and runs until 1/16/1973. A total of 430 episodes were made.
  • 9/29/1959 - The comedy show, "The many loves of Dobey Gillis" begins on CBS. The show ran until 9/18/1963 and had 147 episodes.
  • 10/4/1959 - "Dennis the Menace" debuts on CBS-TV. Show ran until September 22, 1963 and had 146 episodes.
  • 10/15/1959 - "The untouchables" aired on ABC and ran until September 10, 1963 with 118 episodes.
    • Bonanza


    Dennis the Menace


     
    Top singles of '59:


    The Battle Of New Orleans (Johnny Horton)
    Come Softly To Me (The Fleetwoods)
    Heartaches By The Number (Guy Mitchell)
    Kansas City (Wilbert Harrison)
    Lonely Boy (Paul Anka)
    Mack The Knife (Bobby Darin)
    Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (The Platters)
    Stagger Lee (Lloyd Price)
    The Three Bells (The Browns)
    Venus (Frankie Avalon)     		 


     
    Movies of '59:


    North by Northwest
    Anatomy of a Murder
    Ben Hur
    Diary of Anne Frank
    Pillow talk
    Rio bravo     		 


     
    Famous Deaths:


    January 21st - Cecil B. DeMille (heart ailment)
    February 3rd - Richie Valens (airplane crash)
    February 3rd - Buddy Holly "Charles Hardin Holley" (airplane crash)
    February 3rd - The Big Bopper (airplane crash)
    April 9th - Frank Lloyd Wright
    October 14 - Errol Flynn (heart attack)
    November 21st - Max Baer (heart attack)

    Famous Births:

    January 22nd - Linda Blair
    February 16th - John McEnroe
    March 6th - Tom Arnold
    March 9th - Barbie Doll (mattel toy)
    April 20th - Clint Howard
    April 27th - Sheena Easton
    May 4th - Randy Travis
    May 20th - Bronson Pinchot
    May 21st - Nick Cassavetes
    July 11th - Suzanne Vega
    July 26th - Kevin Spacey
    August 10th - Rosanna Arquette
    August 13th - Danny Bonaduce
    August 14th - Magic Johnson
    September 23rd - Jason Alexander
    October 13th - Marie Osmond
    October 23rd - "Weird" Al Yankovic
    November 5th - Bryan Adams
    November 10th - MacKenzie Phillips
    November 28th - Judd Nelson
    December 13th - Johnny Whitaker
    December 30th - Tracey Ullman
    December 31st - Val Kilmer     		 


    Special events of '59:


  • Sony introduces the first transistorized TV set.
  • 86% of U.S. households have television sets in 1959.
  • Studebaker introduces its new compact car, the "Lark".
  • Mattel introduces the "Barbie" doll to 20 million baby boomers.
  • Campbells introduces Tomato Rice and Cream of Vegetable soup to their lineup.
  • Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper die in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
  • Alaska and Hawaii are admitted to the U.S.
  • Tang drink mix is introduced to the U.S. retail market.
  • Two U.S. engineers invent the microchip, which will lead to the founding of Intel Corporation.
  • Japan automakers produce 79,000 automobiles in 1959.
  • Ford introduces the Falcon, and American Motors offers the Rambler.
  • The Academy award for Best Picture goes to "Ben-Hur." Charlton Heston wins the Best Actor award.
  • The Wheatback Penny is gone for 1959. This design was used from 1909 to 1958. The new pennies display the Lincoln Memorial.
  • The new Chevrolets for '59 are released on Thursday, Oct 16th.
  • Danny's Coffee Shops are renamed Dennys.
  • Maxwell House inaugurates the "Good to the last drop" ad campaign.
  • One billionth can of Spam sold.
  • Aluminum beer can introduced by Coors of Golden, Colorado.
  • On February 3, Alaska is admitted to statehood. Followed by Hawaii on August 21. For about a year in between America had a 49 star flag.
  • The average American worker earns $91.53 a week.
  • Walt Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" released.
  • Giants Stadium is renamed Candlestick Park.
  • Unemployment is 6.8%



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