I am going all the way back to 1959 this time. It’s okay, I don’t personally remember it either. But, it is still fun to see how much our society and culture has changed since then!
In sports news, Yankee manager Casey Stengel was worried about a batting slump. As a team, they were only batting .190 – that includes baseball legend Mickey Mantle! The Dodgers held a benefit game against the Yankees for Roy Campanella, whose career ended after an automobile crash left him paralyzed from the waist down.
In celebrity news, Eddie Fisher became Elizabeth Taylor’s fourth husband in a ceremony at a Las Vegas just hours after his divorce from Debbie Reynolds. Mickey Rooney is trying to stay one step ahead of Liz – this week, he divorced his fourth wife, actress Elaine Mahnken. He plans to marry model Barbara Ann Thomason within a year. Actor Ving Rhames is born this week in New York City.
In television news, Ed Sullivan asks that the 11th Annual Emmy ballots be confiscated and publicly aired because Fred Astaire won Best Actor in a Single Television Performance over Paul Mini, Rod Steiger, Mickey Rooney, and Christopher Plummer. If you were watching television in May 1959, you could see shows like “Name That Tune,” “Father Knows Best,” and the “Desilu Playhouse” on CBS. Over on NBC, you could tune into “Restless Gun,” “Wells Fargo,” and “Charlie Chan.”
As for music, if you turned on the radio, you might hear Johnny Horton’s “The Battle of New Orleans,” Wilbert Harrison’s “Kansas City,” or Dave “Baby” Cortez’s “The Happy Organ.” What could you see at the theater? Well, you might want to take in The Mating Game with Debbie Reynolds and Tony Randall, Walt Disney’s The Shaggy Dog with Fred MacMurray, or perhaps one of the biggest movies of the year Some Like It Hot with Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, and Jack Lemmon.
In national news, the Secretary of State, Christian Herter, promised to work towards a reunification of Germany. President Eisenhower welcomed King Baudouin, the King of the Belgians while he bids farewell to Sir Winston Churchill, who was returning to England after a stay in America.