Week of March 26, 1958
Russian boss Nikita S. Khrushchev (63) takes
over as Premier of the Soviet Union, replacing
Nikoial Bulganin. The switch was unexpected;
Khrushchev takes over full “Stalin Powers” as
Premier. “You have just expressed great confidence
in me by your decision and you have done me great
honor” he told the Parliament. “I will do everything to
justify your confidence and shall not spare strength,
health or life to serve you.” The new Premier got
right down to business and in his formal address,
emphasized agriculture, calling on among other
things, the need for more cow manure. “The more cows, the more manure, the
more the crops” he told the house.
U.S. officials say that Khrushev’s power grab in the
Kremlin could spell danger for the West if the chubby
Communist Party leader follows the path of Stalin. State
Department officials noted that Khrushchev had toppled
such kingpins as V.M Molotov, Georgi Malenkov and
Marshal Georgi Zhukov in his five-year struggle for
Stalin’s power. They said these tough Communists
constitute a powerful Kremlin alumni association which
although now widely separated, might some day rise up
to take revenge. A danger for the West is that
Khrushchev might try to consolidate his position further
through foreign adventures to rally soviet public support. Precedents were set by
Stalin in the Berlin Blockade and the Korean War.
President Eisenhower orders “lunar probes” by unmanned space vehicles - the
first time he has ordered any kind of space vehicle to the moon.
In Chicago, the last rites are held for producer Mike Todd ,
who was killed with three others Saturday in a New Mexico
airplane crash. Wife Elizabeth Taylor sobbed and placed her
hand gently on the bronze casket, whispering “I Love You.”
She had been in semi hysteria since hearing the news of her
husband’s death.
Week of March 26, 1958
Divorcing - actress Esther Williams sues for divorce
from her estranged husband Ben Gage. They were one
regarded as one of Hollywood’s happiest couples.
Says Esther - “We had been having domestic troubles
for the last several years. I finally came to the difficult
decision that a divorce was unavoidable. I had to
protect my home and my children.”
Disneyland news - Walt Disney dedicates a diorama of
the Grand Canyon this week. The 306 foot-long
painting stands 34 feet high. The scene is found as
Disneyland trains enter a darkened tunnel. One side “leaps-out” the buttes and
mesas of the Grand Canyon. Train riders get the sensation of actually looking
down into the canyon. Special effects bring sunrise, sunset and an electrical
storm that is accompanied by claps of thunder.
Sugar Ray Robinson wins the world middleweight title for the fifth time as he
closed Champion Carmen Basilio’s left eye, taking a split 15-round decision at
Chicago stadium.
His second day in the Army - At Ft Chaffee, Arkansas,
Private Elvis Presley marches into an Army barbershop
and pays 65 cents out of his pocket to have his
sideburns shaved. He led an induction platoon of 51
rookies into the barbershop. The barber threw the
sideburns into the air, then went up the back of the
singer’s head with his clippers and finally took off the top.
Elvis was asked by reporters how it felt - “It don’t feel so
much different than it did before. This is the shortest it’s
been in eight years.” Col Tom Parker, Presley’s
manager, says he is staying with him temporarily to “look
after the boy ... see that he gets everything he needs.”
“Sailor Jack says - climb aboard for candy-coated snack peanuts and popcorn
with a surprise in every pack of Cracker Jack!”
At the 30th annual Academy awards, here are
some winners:
Best Actor - Alec Guinness - “The Bridge on the
River Kwai”
Best Actress - Joanne Woodward - “Three Faces
of Eve”
Week of March 26, 1958
Best Supporting Actor - Red Buttons - “Sayonara”
Best Supporting Actress - Miyoshi Umeki - “Sayonara”
Best Song - “All The Way” from “The Joker Is Wild”
Best Direction - “David Lean - “The Bridge on the River Kwai”
Best Screenplay - Pierre Boulle - “The Bridge on the River Kwai”
Alec Guinness bet a reporter a bottle of red wine he would not win the best actor
award. He paid the reporter his wine. “I really didn’t think I’d win it. I would never
have put money on myself.” Guinness was not at the ceremony due to a movie
commitment. Jean Simmons received the Oscar for the actor.
The annual PATSY awards are held this
week and the top awards go to Spike -
star of “Old Yeller” for movies and
“ Lassie ” gets one for television. Second
place in movies goes to Beauty the horse
in “Wild Is The Wind” and third to Kelly,
the dog star of “Kelly and Me.” Second
place in television goes to Cleo the
basset hound of “The People’s Choice”
and third place - to Rin-Tin-Tin. Trigger,
Roy Rogers famed horse who celebrates
his 25th birthday this month, receives the
Richard C. Craven Award, a special
trophy given each year in honor of the
man who negotiated the first agreement for humane supervision of animal actors.
Roy and Dale Evans were on hand to receive that award. Kevin Corcoran, child
star of “Old Yeller” accepted the award for Spike, as did Jon Provost for Lassie.
Jon of course, plays “Timmy” on the series.
Pre-teenage woes (yes, even in the
50’s, preteens “suffered” ... here’s a letter
to a teen column this week from a 12-
year-old girl)...
“I am a girl of 12 who doesn’t get along
with her mother. It seems that everything
I do is wrong. If she sends me to the
store and I forget something she calls me
‘stupid’ and ‘dumb.’ The same thing
happens if I misspell a word. My parents
are not very strict with me but I feel
Week of March 26, 1958
unwanted. I want to dress like other girls but my mother says I am still a baby.
She thinks I should not dress like a girl of 19. Other girls I know wear their
dresses just below the knee but I have to wear mine shorter. Will you please tell
me how I can prove to my mother that I am old enough to dress like other girls?”
Bestsellers -
The Winthrop Woman - Anya Seton
By Loved Possessed - James Gould Cozzens
Anatomy of a Murder - Robert Traver
Maggie-Now - Betty Smith
Ice Palace - Edna Ferber
Ride The Red Earth - Paul I. Wellman
Rally Round The Flag, Boys! - Max Shulman
Some Came Running - James Jones
Please Don’t Eat The Daisies - Jean Kerr
Masters Of Deceit - J. Edgar Hoover
Kids Say The Darndest Things - Art Linkletter
Baruch: My Own Story - Bernard Baruch
Be My Guest - Conrad Hilton
Attorney for the Damned - Arthur Weinberg
The New Class - Milovan Djilas
Radio news - Robert Sarnoff, president of NBC, says
its radio network has lost about $9 million since 1953,
but expects it to comeback. He says NBC-radio’s
losses were less last year than the previous year, and
the break-even point may be attained soon. The ABC
radio network is undergoing reorganization in an effort
to reduce losses that have amounted to more than $2
million a year. This week, ABC drops all its weekday
entertainment type of programs except one. ABC radio
will now concentrate on building its newscasts. Since
around 1953 - all of the major radio networks have lost
money, but things are looking better. Broadcasting
Magazine estimates that the four major radio networks
collectively had a 9.8% increase in net time sales in
1957. Meantime, some independent stations are doing
much better. Advertising is up on major music
stations, whose primary programs are manned by disc jockeys.
Week of March 26, 1958
Television news - CBS’s “See It Now” conducts a frightening program this week
on the hazards of radioactive fall-out. Hosted by Edward R. Murrow - the
program showed explosions, methods of detecting fall-out, slides of human cells
exposed to strong radiation and the constructive uses of isotopes, plus interviews
with authorities.
Leave It To Beaver” is a bonefide hit
on CBS-TV. The shows creators and
producers are Joe Connelly and Bob
Mosher, who came from doing the
same thing in radio (Amos n Andy)
and others. One fan letter seems to
sum up the appeal of the program -
“It’s just like home ... you must be
hiding behind our sofa!” Joe Connelly
says he has six children and most of
the episodes are based “on what our
own kids do or our friends’ kids.” Bob
Mosher says some of the ideas come
from their own childhood experiences... The show begins a new night this week -
See Beaver and Wally now Wednesday evenings on CBS-TV. “Gather the family
to this new time to see and enjoy the show hailed by critics as ‘honest and real
and irresistibly funny.’”
NTA (National Telefilms Associates Inc) ,
producer and distributor of films for television,
buys station WATV (channel 13 ) in Newark,
NJ and its radio stations - WAAT and WAAT-
FM for $4.5 million. NTA owns one other
television station, KMGM-TV in Minneapolis-St
Paul. The stations are being purchased from
Atlantic Television Inc (TV) and Bremer
Broadcasting (radio). Stockholders of both are
the same. NTA has plans to make channel 13
a flagship for some of its programming. (The station’s call letters were changed
to WNTA-TV and radio.)
Popular in syndication - “Divorce Court” - produced on videotape by KTTV
(channel 11) in Los Angeles and syndicated nationally. The program is hosted by
Bill Welsh.
Week of March 26, 1958
More television news - an advertisement in Variety Magazine for Desilu - that’s
Lucille Ball and Desi Araz’s television production company, shows the company
is striking a chord with viewers with its specials programming:
Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz have walked away with the audience and rating honors
in their four specials thus far on CBS-TV this year, a Top 10 Nielsen compilation
on the TV specs indicates. Lucy & Desi in their four one-hour Ford outings,
grabbed off the first four places, followed by “Annie Get Your Gun” and “The
Edsel Show,” then by Bob Hope twice and the General Motors 50th Anniversary
show and the Standard Oil 75th
Anniversary Show rounding out the
picture:”
DESI-LUCY Show (11/6) ... CBS...
Avg Audience Rating - 47.0...
18,828,000 homes
DESI-LUCY show (1/3) ...
... CBS...
Avg Audience Rating - 43.6...
18,190,000 homes
DESI-LUCY show (2/3) ...
. CBS...
Avg Audience Rating - 41.6...
17,373,000 homes
DESI-LUCY show (12/3) ... CBS... Avg
Audience Rating - 39.2...
15,738,000
homes
Annie Get Your Gun (11/27) ... NBC...
. Avg Audience Rating - 38.5...
15,491,000 homes
The Edsel Show (10/13) ...
.. CBS ...
. Avg Audience Rating - 38.5...
15,285,000 homes
Bob Hope (10/6) ...
. NBC...
. Avg Audience Rating - 32.2...
12,854,000 homes
Bob Hope (1/17) ...
. NBC ...
. Avg Audience Rating - 30.8... 12,
665,000 homes
GM 50th Anniversary Show ... NBC...
. Avg Audience Rating - 31.0...
12,442,000
homes
Standard Oil 75th Anniversary. NBC...
. Avg Audience Rating - 30.5...
12,278,000 homes
Week of March 26, 1958
Pop music this week in 1958 -
LOLLIPOP - The Chordettes
TEQUILA - The Champs
TWILIGHT TIME - The Platters
FOR YOUR LOVE - Ed Townsend
LAZY MARY (Luna Mezzo Mare) - Lou Monte
WHO’S SORRY NOW - Connie Francis
BLUEBIRDS OVER THE MOUNTAIN - Ersel Hickey
MET HIM ON A SUNDAY - The
Shirelles
BOOK OF LOVE - The Monotones
26 MILES (Santa Catalina) - The
Four Preps
HE’S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD
(In His Hands) - Laurie London
ROCK AND ROLL IS HERE TO
STAY - Danny & The Juniors
SWEET LITTLE SIXTEEN - Chuck
Berry
DINNER WITH DRAC (Part 1) -
John Zacherle
BALLAD OF A TEENAGE QUEEN -
Johnny Cash
SO TOUGH - The Original Casuals
BELIEVE WHAT YOU SAY - Ricky
Nelson
ARE YOU SINCERE - Andy Williams
A WONDERFUL TIME UP THERE - Pat Boone
DON’T YOU JUST KNOW IT - Huey (Piano) Smith
& The Clowns
BREATHLESS - Jerry Lee Lewis
WITCH DOCTOR - David Seville
EVERY NIGHT (I Pray) - The Chantels
BILLY - Kathy Linden
TEACHER’S PET - Doris Day
MAYBE BABY - The Crickets
CATCH A FALLING STAR - Perry Como
CHANSON D’AMOUR (Song Of Love) - Art & Dotty
Todd
Week of March 26, 1958
Wednesday Night Television -
CBS - I Love Lucy, Leave It To Beaver, The Big Record, The Millionaire, I’ve Got
A Secret, U.S. Steel Hour
NBC - Wagon Train, Father Knows Best, This Is Your Life, Academy Awards
ABC - Disneyland, Tombstone Territory, Ozzie and Harriet, Betty White Show,
Damon Runyon Theatre.
Disneyland - “The Best Doggoned Dog In The World”
Leave It To Beaver (new night!) -
Wally and the Beaver, with the help of
father Ward, build a soapbox racer.
Dad tells the Beaver not to ride it on
the street. Beaver does and gets a
ticket. Stars Barbara Billingsly, Hugh
Beaumont, Tony Dow and Jerry
Mathers.
Academy Awards - Bob Hope is one of
the presenters in the 30th annual presentation from the Pantages Theater in
Hollywood. (90 stars in 90 minutes!)
The Millionaire - Michael Anthony gives his latest million to an amnesia victim,
who uses The money to trace his identity. Trouble his, he discovers he’s involved
in a murder!.
The Big Record - hosted by Patti Page with guests Xavier Cugat and his
orchestra, Abbe Lane, Ted Lewis and Lou Monte.
Father Knows Best - Bud, fixed on a pretty
blond in a supermarket, gets a job there.
Ozzie and Harriet - Rick and a friend
construct a do-it-yourself television set-
studio and the Nelsons get involved in a
closed-circuit television show - live from
home. (Ozzie’s basement broadcast nearly
brings down the house!).
The Betty White Show - guests Billy
Week of March 26, 1958
DeWolfe and Jimmy Boyd
At the movies -
The Long Hot Summer - Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa,
Orson Welles, Lee Remick
Walt Disney’s Old Yeller - Dorothy
McGuire, Fess Parker
Saddle The Wind - Robert Taylor ,
Julie London , John Cassavetes
Merry Andrew - Danny Kaye, Pier
Angeli
The Young Lions - Marlon Brando,
Dean Martin, Montgomery Clift
Teacher’s Pet - Clark Gable, Doris
day, Gig Young, Mamie Van Doren
Witness For The Prosecution -
Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich,
Charles Laughton
Chase A Crooked Shadow - Richard
Todd, Anne Baxter
Raintree County - Montgomery Clift,
Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Marie Saint
Sayonara - Marlon Brando, Patricia
Owens, Ricardo Montalban, Martha
Scott, James Garner, Red Buttons
Marjorie Morningstar - Gene Kelly, Natalie Wood, Claire Trevor, Ed Wynn,
Everett Sloane, Marty Milner, Carolyn Jones
The Song Of Bernadette - Miss Jennifer Jones, William Eythe, Charles Bickford,
Lee J. Cobb, Vincent Price
The Ten Commandments -
All At Sea - Alec Guinnes
Paris Holiday - Bob Hope, Bernandel, Anita Ekberg, Martha Hyer
Teacher’s Pet - Clark Gable, Doris Day
Cell 2455, Death Row - William Campbell, Robert Cambell
Designing Woman - Gregory Peck, Lauren Bacall
Desk Set - Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn
The Bridge on the River Kwai - William Holden, Alex Guinness, Jack Hawkins