Join the Pasadena Senior Center at 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 17, for a special trivia game dedicated to the 1950s.
This is a great way to start your morning as well as refresh your memory on events and facts that happened over 70 years ago.
In this lively discussion on Zoom, presented by Aetna, participants will virtually travel back in time while answering trivia questions to test their memories.
A Goodhousekeeping.com article talks about some of the amazing, and sometimes groundbreaking events that had people buzzing throughout that decade.
Though the Baby Boom actually started in 1946, the ’50s makes records for the number of babies born per year — around four million on average.
In 1950, the price of the median home — the American Dream — was $7,354. The average home size was under 1,000 square feet.
In 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize for her second book of poetry, “Annie Allen,” touching upon key topics such as poverty and racial discrimination, and making her the first African-American to receive such a distinction.
Disney’s “Cinderella” premiered on Feb. 15, 1950, and quickly became one of the highest-grossing movies of that year.
On Oct. 2, 1950, the first “Peanuts” comic strip debuted, although the Charlie Brown we know and love, along with his friends, looked a little different – more of a cute, toddler-like appearance – until around 1957.
The first color TV episode started on RCA on June 25, 1951.
King George VI died on Feb. 6, 1952, and his daughter, Elizabeth, ascended to the throne. She was crowned Queen of England on June 2, 1953.
On March 19, 1953, the 25th annual Academy Awards became the first Academy Awards to be broadcast on TV.
The Miss America Pageant was broadcast on television for the first time on Sept. 11, 1954, with Miss California, Lee Ann Meriwether, winning the crown.
On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks decided to sit in the section reserved for white passengers on her bus ride home. She refused to offer the seat to a white man and got arrested, leading to the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott that lasted 381 days. The next year, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the ruling that bus transportation within a state couldn’t be segregated.
In 1955, the Two Titans of Tech were born: Steve Jobs in San Francisco on Feb. 24, and Bill Gates in Seattle on Oct. 28. It was a monumental year for tech geniuses to be born.
The first McDonald’s opened in Des Plaines, Illinois on April 15, 1955, ushering in the Dawn of the Fast Food Era. The price of a burger then was 15 cents.
On Jan. 28, 1956, Elvis Presley first appeared on national TV in all his swivel-hipped glory. On March 26, 1957, he purchased Graceland.
The U.S. Congress formally created NASA on July 29, 1958, giving a boost to the Space Race.
In 1959, Alaska became one of the United States on Jan. 3, and Hawaii followed on Aug. 21.
On April 9, 1959, NASA announced the selection of the Mercury 7, including Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton.
To be part of Pasadena Senior Center’s Memory Trivia of the 50s, visit www.pasadenaseniorcenter.org/
