THE YEAR 1952

Cost of Living

Yearly Inflation Rate - 2.29% 

Average Cost of new house - $9,050
Average wages per year - $3,850
Cost of a gallon of Gas - 20 cents
Average Cost of a new car - $1,700
Average Cost of Rent - $80.00 per month
Pound of Hamburger Meat - 53 cents

The Year's "Best"

BEST FILM: "AN AMERICAN IN PARIS

BEST SONG: "BLUE TANGO" (LEROY ANDERSON)

BEST ALBUM: "ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC" (VARIOUS)

BEST BOOK: "THE CAINE MUTINY"

WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS: NEW YORK YANKEES

NFL CHAMPIONS: DETROIT LIONS


NBA CHAMPIONS: MINNEAPOLIS LAKERS


NHL CHAMPIONS: DETROIT RED WINGS

NCAA FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS: MICHIGAN STATE

NCAA BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS: KANSAS UNIVERISTY

NCAA HOCKEY CHAMPION: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

U.S. OPEN CHAMPION: JULIUS BOROS

BRITISH OPEN CHAMPION: BOBBY LOCKE

U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN: LOUISE SUGGS

 

WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONS: FRANK SEDGMAN/MAUREEEN CONNOLLY

Scandals, RIPs and Odd News

• Kent sold cigarettes with an asbestos filter claiming it was healthier than regular smoking, until 1957. 

• 31 inmates known as the 'Heel String Gang' cut their Achilles tendons to protest hard work and brutality at the Louisiana State Penitentiary 

• "The Great Smog" of London, UK was a severe air pollution event that lasted 5 days and killed an estimated 12,000 people in December of 1952. It led to Parliament passing the first Clean Air Act in 1956. 

• Charlie Chaplin was banned from reentering the United States, primarily due to speculation that he was a communist. 

• In 1945 Soviets presented America a gift of the Great Seal of the US at the end of WWII, in 1952 the US finally realized it contained a spying listening bug. 

• On March 21, the first rock and roll concert, The Moondog Coronation Ball of 1952, also became the first rock and roll concert to be shut down by authorities 

• When Sammy Davis Jr. took a swim in the pool at the New Frontier hotel & casino in Las Vegas, they drained the pool when he was done. 

• Polio has existed for all of written human history, but there was never a major epidemic of it until 1907 when 2,700 contracted polio in Vermont, by 1952 there were over 50,000 cases in just the United States. 

• Area 51, if it existed, at 37°14'20/N/ 115°48'58/W/ (37.239, -115.816), in southern Nevada, would have been started this year.

1952 Pop Culture News

• The phrase, "the greatest thing since sliced bread!" was first used by Red Skelton in 1952, only 24 years after sliced bread was introduced. 

• A double-decker bus was crossing London's Tower Bridge when the process to close the gates failed. Driver Albert Gunter made a split-second decision to accelerate the bus, clearing a six-foot drop onto the other side. The passengers received only minor injuries and Gunter won a £10 bonus. 

• Emil Zatopek became the only person to ever win gold in the 5000m, 10000m and the marathon all at one olympics. He had never even done a marathon before. He ended up setting the new olympic marathon record. 

• Greenland shark was tagged off Greenland in 1936 and recaptured in 1952. Its measurements suggest that Greenland sharks grow at a rate of 0.5-1 cm (0.2-0.4 in) per year, thus the largest individuals may live about 200 years, making them among the longest-lived vertebrates on Earth. 

• French writer, Alfred Sauvy, invented the term "Third World" to describe the vast stretches of Africa, Asia, and Latin America whose citizens lived in dire poverty. 

• Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver recieved the first patents for optical bar codes on October 7. 

• The British Hypnotism Act prevents the broadcasting of hypnosis procedures due to the risk that people watching the broadcast are hypnotised and cannot be brought back. 

• The B-52 bomber, which started serving in 1952, isn't planned to be retired until the 2040s. By then, it'll have been in continuous service for almost a century. 

• Les Paul started selling his classic electric guitar. 

• Margaret Wise Brown, the author of Goodnight Moon left all of the book's royalties to her 9-year old neighbor, Albert Clarke, in 1952. Since then, Clarke has been arrested dozens of times, had 2 kids with a homeless woman he met on 6th Avenue in NYC, and has squandered most of the millions he has received. 

• Season Two of I Love Lucy included the most popular and remembered skit from the show - Lucy selling (and drinking) Vitameatavegamin. It had the ingredients you might expect - vitamins, meat, veggies and minerals. It also had a high (23%) alcohol content.

• 1952 was the year that Tony the Tiger started telling people that Kellogg's Frosted Flakes were "Gr-r-reat!" Thurl Ravenscroft is best know for supplying the voice of Tony. Thurl was the guy who sang "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," in the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas TV special(1966), although many people mistakenly think it was narrator Boris Karloff. 

• George Stephen designed and sold the first Weber Grill in 1952. 

• President Harry Truman said of Presidential Candidate Dwight Eisenhower, "The General doesn't know any more about politics than a pig knows about Sunday." In 1960 he called Vice President Richard Nixon "a no good lying bastard." 

• The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 allowed the President to "suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens" who "would be detrimental to the interests of the United States". 

• Richard Attenborough said that "the wisest business decision" he ever made was taking a 10 percent share in the play The Mousetrap when he was part of the original cast in 1952. 

• George Reeves, the actor who played Superman (Adventures of Superman 1952-1958) was cautious about his young fans after a boy pulled a pistol on him to test Superman's invulnerability. Reeves convinced the boy to give him the gun by telling him that someone else could be hurt when the bullets bounced off. 

• American Bandstand, originally called Bandstand, premiered on a Philadelphia TV Station on October 7, 1952 with DJ Bob Horn serving as host. 
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• French race driver Pierre Levegh drove the Le Mans 24 hour race single-handedly for 23 hours straight, before his car suffered an engine failure in the last hour of the race with a four lap lead. 

• On May 2, the first commercial passenger jet flew from London to Johanesburg, inaugurating the age of jet travel. The trip carried 32 passengers and stopped 5 times en route. 

• October, 1952 Mad Magazine began publication

1952/53's Most Popular TV

(according to Nielsen TV Research)

1. I Love Lucy (CBS)
2. Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts (CBS)
3. Arthur Godfrey and his Friends (CBS)
4. Dragnet (NBC)
5. Texaco Star Theatre (NBC)
6. The Buick Circus Hour (NBC)
7. The Colgate Comedy Hour (NBC)
8. Gangbusters (NBC)
9. You Bet Your Life (NBC)
10. Fireside Theatre (NBC)

Popular Music

The Biggest Pop Artists of 1952 include: Al Martino, B.B. King, The Clovers, The Dominoes, Don Cornell, Doris Day, Eddie Fisher, Eddy Howard, Frank Sinatra, Frankie Laine, Georgia Gibbs, Hugo Winterhalter, Jimmy Boyd, Jo Stafford, Joe Turner, Johnny Standley, Johnny Ace, Joni James, Kay Starr, Les Paul, Liberace, Mills Brothers, Patti Page, Pee Wee King, Peggy Lee, Percy Faith, Ray Anthony, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Vera Lynn, Dinah Washington

Popular Movies

Angel Face, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Big Sky, The Golden Coach, The Greatest Show on Earth, High Noon, The Quiet Man, Road to Bali, Singin' in the Rain, This is Cinerama