Life+in+1959


 * Do you __really__ remember how we lived and what was going on in 1959?**


 * Alaska and Hawaii became our 49th and 50th states
 * Castro set up his regime in Cuba
 * __The Sound of Music__ opened on Broadway starring Mary Martin
 * __Lady Chatterly's Lover__ was published in the U.S. following a 30-year ban
 * Pope John XXIII announced "Vatican II," leading to reforms within the Catholic Church
 * At the movies: Anatomy of a Murder, Ben Hur, Suddenly Last Summer
 * Mario Lanza died
 * Iowa beat California in the Rose Bowl, 38-12
 * The Dow-Jones yearly high was 679, low 574
 * A Greyhound trip from New York to Florida took 9 days and cost $87.74
 * TV top 10: Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Have Gun Will Travel, Danny Thomas Show, Red Skelton Show, Father Knows Best, 77 Sunset Strip, Price is Right, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Perry Mason
 * Hit songs: Everything's Coming Up Roses, Put Your Head on my Shoulder, Small World
 * Best selling books: Exodus, Dr. Zhivago, Lolita, Advise and Consent, The Status Seekers
 * Wilt "the stilt" Chamberlain debut in Philadelphia
 * The first astronauts (Mercury Seven) were chosen
 * The average car cost $1,180
 * Buddy Holly died in a plane crash
 * 86% of the population owned a TV
 * The Barbie doll went on the market
 * A 7.5 earthquake hit Yellowstone Park
 * A new house cost $12,400
 * The average household income was $5,010
 * Young men aged 18 were required to register for the draft
 * Hair dryers were found in beauty parlors; girls washed their hair once a week and put it up each night in pincurls or spoolies.
 * There were no touch-tone phones, seat belts in cars, birth control pills, pantyhose, vaccines for measles or chicken pox, no AIDS, VISA or MasterCard
 * DDT was widely used and was considered more sanitary than using fly swatters
 * High school lockers did not have locks