Week of December 8, 1957

The second subway strike in 18 months

hits New York City and causes

thousands commuters to scramble.

The Soviet Union says it is sending notes

to all U.N. members warning that, “the

danger of nuclear war has greatly

increased.”

A B-52 jet bomber crashes shortly after

taking off from Spokane’s Fairchild Air

Force Base. A mushroom cloud of smoke

had many wondering if the plane was carrying nuclear weapons. 8 crewmembers

died.

A Soviet scientist boasts that Russia had made only two attempts to launch earth

satellites and both succeeded. Another Russian expert blames the U.S. failure on

“disregard for theoretical research.”

President Eisenhower is going to Paris for the NATO summit conference as his

doctors pronounce his condition as good.

Space race - A new effort to fire a baby moon into orbit, possibly this month, is

speeding ahead at full strength. Meantime, The Defense Department dispatches

a preliminary report to President Eisenhower on what caused the failure of the

Vanguard satellite launching.

The Air Force’s Thor missile is launched at Cape Canaveral, but the Defense

Department later reports the 1,500-mile missile landed short if its target.

U.N. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold returns from a seven-day mission to

the Middle East, confident that the Arab-Israeli armistice is “reasonably stable.”

Entertainment news -

Rock Hudson (Roy Fitzgerald) and his wife, the

former Phyllis Gates who have been separated

since October, say they will be divorced soon. They

were married in November 1955.

Week of December 8, 1957

Music news - Singer Jim Reeves conducts a music and talk

show daily over the ABC radio network. Catch it afternoons.

Television news - Videotape is being introduced in a prime-

time network series as CBS-TV’s “Climax” will be recorded

entirely on tape (albeit a single episode). “Shadow of a

Memory” starring Ann Todd and Alex Nicol will be taped then

broadcast on December 26. The show is usually live. The real

reason is because one of the stars has to “time shift” and

couldn’t make the day of broadcast, so CBS is trying videotape here.

TV ratings - Apparently - ARB (American Research Bureau) has been trying a

new ratings system in private. Called “Arbitron,” makes use of a small electronic

Week of December 8, 1957

ABC - John Daley news, Circus Boy, Zorro, The Real McCoys, Pat Boone,

O.S.S., Navy Log, Hawkeye

Harbourmaster - Two bank robbers assisted by a pretty lady, steal Scott’s boat

and force him to hide them all from the cops.

Zorro - Capitan Monastario tries a trick to trap Zorro but his plot backfires.

Pat Boone - Peggy King and the Four Lads join Pat.

Playhouse 90 - “The Thundering Wave” with Franchot Tone, Joan Bennett,

Pamela Mason, James Mason, Jack Klugman and Susan Oliver. Problems

confronting a show business couple.

Rosemary Clooney - Guest is Charles Laughton.

Tonight With Jack Paar - Dody Goodman and guests

Stanley Holloway and writer Jim Bishop.

At the movies -

Wild Is the Wind - Anthony Quinn, Anna Magnani,

Anthony Franciosa

Sayonara - Marlon Brando, Red Buttons, Ricardo

Montalban, James Garner

Peyton Place

Baby Face Nelson - Mickey Rooney

Pal Joey - Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak

Les Girls - Gene Kelly