70 Years Ago This Month
December
- United Artists quits the Motion Picture Association of America over the decision to deny The Man with the Golden Arm a Production Code seal.
December 1
- In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refuses to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger and is arrested, leading to the Montgomery bus boycott.
December 3
- Resistance fighter Osvald Harjo returns to Norway after 13 years in Soviet prison camps.
- KTVE TV channel 10 in Monroe-El Dorado, LA (NBC) begins broadcasting.
December 5
- The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge to become the
UFO-CIA AFL–CIO.
- The Montgomery Improvement Association is formed in Montgomery, Alabama, by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other Black ministers to coordinate a Black people's boycott of all city buses.
- Died: Glenn L. Martin, 69, US aviation pioneer
December 6
December 10
Charting the week of December 10:
"Smokey Joe's Cafe," The Robins
(#79 US; #10 R&B)
"Speedoo," The Cadillacs
(#17 US; #3 R&B)
December 11
- Operation Olive Leaves, an Israeli reprisal operation against Syria, ends with the destruction of Syrian emplacements and fifty-four Syrians killed in action, with another thirty taken prisoner. Six IDF fatalities are reported.
December 12
- Christopher Cockerell patents his design of the hovercraft.
December 13
- The de Havilland Comet 3, the world's first jet airliner, visits an American airport for the first time when it stops at Honolulu International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii, during an around-the-world flight. It then flies to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 5 hours 39 minutes.
December 14
- An annular solar eclipse takes place.
- The Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River in New York State opens to traffic.
- Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sri Lanka join the United Nations simultaneously, after several years of a moratorium on admitting new members that began during the Korean War.
December 15
- The de Havilland Mosquito flies its final operational sortie with the Royal Air Force.
- Sun Records releases "Folsom Prison Blues," recorded by Johnny Cash on July 30 (#4 Country).
On December 15, Otto Preminger's
The Man with the Golden Arm, starring Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, and Kim Novak, premieres in New York (selected for preservation in the National Film Registry).
December 16
- Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom opens a new terminal at London Airport.
Charting the week of December 17:
"Nuttin' for Christmas," Art Mooney & His Orchestra, vocal by Barry Gordon
(#6 US)
"The Great Pretender," The Platters
(#1 on
Billboard's Most Played by Jockeys chart the weeks of Feb. 18 and 25, 1956; #1 on
Billboard's Most Played in Jukeboxes chart the week of Feb. 25, 1956; #1 R&B; #351 on
Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time [2004])
December 19
- Under the leadership of Ismail al-Azhari, Sudan adopts a declaration of independence from Egypt, to take effect on 1 January 1956 with the agreement of Egypt and the UK.
- In Jordan, King Hussein declares a state of siege, after riots and attacks to foreign embassies follow the announced adherence of the country to the Baghdad Pact. The Hazza' al-Majali government, in charge for less than a week, resigns.
December 20
- Cardiff is declared the capital of Wales by the British Government.
- In the Jordan sector of Jerusalem, a crowd assaults the embassies of the USA and France; the American diplomatic staff takes refuge in the Israeli sector.
December 22
- Javanese-born US cytogeneticist Joe Hin Tjio discovers the correct number of human chromosomes, forty-six.
December 24
- In his Christmas radio message, aired by Vatican radio, Pope Pius XII asks for the banishment of nuclear weapons. The speech is relayed also by Radio Moscow (except for the part where the pope confirms the condemnation of communism).
- A flood devastates North California, Nevada, and Oregon.
- The Lennon Sisters make their television debut on The Lawrence Welk Show on ABC.
December 25
- After being broadcast by radio since 1932, the Royal Christmas Message is broadcast on British television for the first time, in sound only at 3:00 p.m. on both television channels, live from Sandringham House. The first visual Christmas message is shown in 1957.
On December 25,
All That Heaven Allows, starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson, is released in the United States (selected for preservation in the National Film Registry).
December 29
- Bulganin and Khrushchev relate to the Supreme Soviet about their diplomatic tour in Asia. On this occasion, Bulganin reveals that Soviet Union owns intercontinental ballistic missiles.
December 31
- General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make a profit of over one billion dollars in one year.
Charting the week of December 31:
"White Christmas," The Drifters feat. Clyde McPhatter & Bill Pinkney
(released in 1954; #80 US; #5 R&B)
Sometime in 1955:
- Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel write their first song, "The Girl for Me" (copyrighted with the Library of Congress in 1956), and begin singing together as a duo while still in high school in New York City.
- Nine-year-old Al Green forms a gospel quartet, the Green Brothers.
Timeline entries are quoted from the Wiki page for the month, as well as the year in film, music, television, and comics, with editing as needed. Sections separated from timeline entries are mine.
Amazing that this happened in 1975. I got my first computer in 1984, and that was a Vic 20.
The TRS-80 (my first, indirect exposure to the concept of personal computers) isn't that far off in the historical long view.
They should have applied some of that noble thinking to East Timor.
I'm always hesitant to post UN declarations as news items. "That and a dime..."
He did. Her name was Betty.
I wonder if that's where the news item is leading to. Otherwise it comes off as non-news...reporting on something somebody said somewhere that wasn't true.
Kind of surprising that this happened so early, too.
Communication satellites have been around for a while at this point. The Beatles' 1967 TV performance of "All You Need Is Love" was part of a program broadcast internationally via satellite.
Not one of her best, but it has that nice Old-School Olivia charm.
Don't know it, hasn't made much of an impression, but I got it.
Also not one of her best, but a good one. Some nostalgic value.
Got this one, too. I've softened up on Helen Reddy via exposure here.
Pure Classic Rock. Strong nostalgic value. Apparently the sexual connotations were lost on the Guardians of Public Morality.
Enjoyable classic rock track; this was the full-length album version, the single edit was shorter.
I can't listen to this right after "Slow Ride" and right before "Golden Years."
Guess I can't blame you there. It's no improvement on the Nino Tempo & April Stevens version from '63. And FWIW,
Donny & Marie (which my sister and I watched regularly as kids) is coming next month as a mid-season replacement.
This isn't my favorite Bowie song, but it's a strong contender for number two. Strong nostalgic value.
This one is familiar and I have it, but I don't have a particularly strong opinion about it. It doesn't rank up there among his classics, and will probably be the last charting single by him that we see here until '83, if I keep this going that long.
Interesting. It was much more obvious in the 60s when the newness of Hawaiian Statehood was a big deal. I forget the exact context, but I remember
MAD doing some sort of a parody called
Alaska 4-9.
Heh.
I wish they would run M:I more often. We're in the organized crime phase now, and I want to get back to espionage.
Find a provider with MeTV+; or just watch it on Paramount+ (which, I've just seen, is now limited to the first four seasons).
I should've put a [/louscheimer] after that.
Either the Saturday-morning censors are asleep at the switch or they're becoming much more Liberal.
Or they're really not showing much, which was my point.
That's possible. She could be a financial prodigy. Maybe that's why he married her.
Or he'd just let her handle it anyway.
Wow, you're very healthy. When I get cereal, it's something like Lucky Charms or Cap'n Crunch.
It's flavorful but more wholesome than the kids' cereals. My preferred backup used to be their Blueberry Nut Crunch, but it's not as commonly carried in stores.
Interesting. I don't recall that.
Do you remember when he had a little confessional with Hawkeye about that? I think that was the episode where he allowed himself take the rap for having gotten a Korean girl pregnant.
There was one episode of SNW where they were on the border of Federation space and had to wait days for a reply from Starfleet Command-- but were able to speak to Vulcan in real time.
Something like that isn't just inconsistent within the larger series/franchise, that's a blatant inconsistency within the same episode--pure bad writing, plain and simple. "Say, while we've got you on the phone, could you relay a message to Starfleet for us?"
