The 1950s was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century. By its end, the world had largely recovered from World War II and the Cold War developed from its modest beginning in the late 1940s to a hot competition between the United States and the Soviet Union by the beginning of the 1960s.

Clashes between communism and capitalism dominated the decade, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. The conflicts included the Korean War in the beginnings of the decade and the beginning of the Space Race with the launch of Sputnik I. Along with increased testing of nuclear weapons (such as RDS-37 and Upshot-Knothole), this created a politically conservative climate. In the United States, the Red Scare (fear of communism) caused public Congressional hearings by both houses in Congress and anti-communism was the prevailing sentiment in the United States throughout the decade (this is what primarily led the country to intervene in the Korean War and later the Vietnam War). The beginning of decolonization in Africa and Asia occurred in this decade and accelerated in the following decade, the 1960s.

Wars and conflicts

Cold War conflicts involving the influence of the rival superpowers of the Soviet Union and the United States:

* Korean War (1950–1953) – The war, which lasted from June 25, 1950 until the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953, started as a civil war between North Korea and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). When it began, North and South Korea existed as provisional governments competing for control over the Korean peninsula, due to the division of Korea by outside powers. While originally a civil war, it quickly escalated into a war between the western powers under the United Nations Command led by the United States and its allies and the communist powers of the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. On September 15, General Douglas MacArthur conducted Operation Chromite, an amphibious landing at the city of Inchon (Song Do port). The North Korean army collapsed, and within a few days, MacArthur's army retook Seoul (South Korea's capital). He then pushed north, capturing Pyongyang in October. Chinese intervention the following month drove UN forces south again. MacArthur then planned for a full-scale invasion of China, but this was against the wishes of President Truman and others who wanted a limited war. He was dismissed and replaced by General Matthew Ridgeway. The war then became a bloody stalemate for the next two and a half years while peace negotiations dragged on. The war left 33,742 American soldiers dead, 92,134 wounded, and 80,000 Missing in action (MIA) or Prisoner of war (POW). Estimates place Korean and Chinese casualties at 1,000,000–1,400,000 dead or wounded, and 140,000 MIA or POW.

The Vietnam War began in 1959. Diem instituted a policy of death penalty against any communist activity in 1956. The Vietcong began an assassination campaign in early 1957. An article by French scholar Bernard Fall published in July 1958 concluded that a new war had begun. The first official large unit military action was on September 26, 1959, when the Vietcong ambushed two ARVN companies.

Arab–Israeli conflict (Early 20th century-present)

* Suez Crisis (1956) – The Suez Crisis was a war fought on Egyptian territory in 1956. Following the nationalisation of the Suez Canal in 1956 by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the United Kingdom, France and Israel subsequently invaded. The operation was a military success, but after the United States and Soviet Union united in opposition to the invasion, the invaders were forced to withdraw. This was seen as a major humiliation, especially for the two Western European countries, and symbolizes the beginning of the end of colonialism and the weakening of European global importance, specifically the collapse of the British Empire.

Algerian War (1954–1962) – An important decolonization war, it was a complex conflict characterized by guerrilla warfare, maquis fighting, terrorism against civilians, use of torture on both sides and counter-terrorism operations by the French Army. The war eventually led to the independence of Algeria from France.

Internal conflicts

Cuban Revolution (1953–1959) – The 1959 overthrow of Fulgencio Batista by Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and other forces resulted in the creation of the first communist government in the western hemisphere.

The Mau Mau began retaliating against the British in Kenya. This led to concentration camps in Kenya, the retreat of the British, and the election of Jomo Kenyatta as leader of Kenya.

The wind of destruction began in Rwanda in 1959, following the beating up of Hutu politician Dominique Mbonyumutwa by Tutsi forces. This was the beginning of decades of ethnic violence in the country, which culminated in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.

Decolonization and Independence

Decolonization of former European Colonial empires. The French Fourth Republic in particular faced conflict on two fronts within the French Union, the Algerian War and the First Indo-China War. French rule ended in Algeria in 1958, Vietnam left French Indo-china in 1954. The rival states of North Vietnam and South Vietnam were formed. Cambodia and the Kingdom of Laos also gained independence, effectively ending French presence in Southeast Asia. Elsewhere the Belgian Congo and other African nations gained their independence from France, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

Large-scale decolonization in Africa first began in the 1950s. In 1951, Libya became the first African country to gain independence in the decade, and in 1954 the Algerian War began. 1956 saw Sudan, Morocco, and Tunisia become independent, and the next year Ghana became the first sub-saharan African nation to gain independence.

Prominent political events

European Common Market – The European Communities (or Common Markets), the precursor of the European Union, was established with the Treaty of Rome in 1957.

On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists staged an attempted assassination on U.S. President Harry S. Truman. The leader of the team Griselio Torresola had fire arm experience and Oscar Collazo was his accomplice. They made their assault at the Blair House where President Truman and his family were staying. Torresola mortally wounded a White House policeman, Leslie Coffelt, who shot Torresola dead before expiring himself. Collazo, as a co-conspirator in a felony that turned into a homicide, was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to death in 1952 but then his sentence was later commuted to life in prison..

International issues

Establishment of the Non-aligned Movement, consisting of nations not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.

Africa

Africa experienced the beginning of large-scale top-down economic interventions in the 1950s that failed to cause improvement and led to charitable exhaustion by the West as the century went on. The widespread corruption was not dealt with and war, disease, and famine continued to be constant problems in the region.

Egyptian general Gamel Abdel Nasser overthrew the Egyptian monarchy, establishing himself as President of Egypt. Nasser became an influential leader in the Middle East in the 1950s, leading Arab states into war with Israel, becoming a major leader of the Non-Aligned Movement and promoting pan-Arab unification.

Americas

In the 1950s Latin America was the center of covert and overt conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. Their varying collusion with national, populist, and elitist interests destabilized the region. The United States CIA orchestrated the overthrow of the Guatemalan government in 1954. In 1958 the military dictatorship of Venezuela was overthrown. This continued a pattern of regional revolution and warfare making extensive use of ground forces.

In 1957, Dr. François Duvalier came to power in an election in Haiti. He later declared himself president for life, and ruled until his death in 1971.

In 1959 Fidel Castro overthrew the regime of Fulgencio Batista in Cuba, establishing a communist government in the country. Although Castro initially sought aid from the US, he was rebuffed and later turned to the Soviet Union.

NORAD signed in 1959 by Canada and the United States creating a unified North American aerial defense system.

Brasília was built in 41 months, from 1956, and on April 21, 1960, became the capital of Brazil

Asia

Reconstruction continued in Japan in the 1950s, funded by the United States, which ended its occupation of the country in 1951. Social changes took place, including democratic elections and universal suffrage.

Within a year of its establishment, the People's Republic of China had invaded Tibet and intervened in the Korean War, causing years of hostility and estrangement from the United States. The Chinese allied with the Soviet Union, which then provided considerable technical and economic aid. Although relations between the two communist giants remained friendly throughout the 1950s, cracks were forming in their alliance by the end of the decade. The Great Leap Forward in 1958–1960 was an attempt by Mao Zedong to rush the country's economic development with the creation of huge rural communes. It failed ignominiously, and combined with a series of natural disasters triggered an enormous famine in which several million people died.

In 1953 the French colonial rulers of Indochina tried to contain a growing communist insurgency against their rule led by Ho Chi Minh. After their defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 they were forced to cede independence to the nations of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The Geneva Conference of 1954 separated French supporters and communist nationalists for the purposes of the ceasefire, and mandated nationwide elections by 1956; Ngo Dinh Diem established a government in the south and refused to hold elections. Conflict then resumed between the communist north and American-supported south .

Europe

With the help of the Marshall Plan, post-war reconstruction succeeded, with some countries (including West Germany) preferring free market capitalism while others preferred Keynesian-policy welfare states. Europe continued to be divided into ''Western'' and ''Soviet bloc'' countries. The geographical point of this division came to be called the Iron Curtain. It divided Germany into East and West Germany. In 1955 West Germany joined NATO.

The Soviet Union continued its domination of eastern Europe. In 1953 Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, died. This led to the rise of Nikita Khrushchev, who denounced Stalin and pursued a more liberal domestic and foreign policy, stressing peaceful competition with the West rather than overt hostility. There were anti-Soviet uprisings in East Germany and Poland in 1953.

Disasters

On 15 August 1950 an earthquake and floods in Assam, India killed 574 and leave 5,000,000 homeless.

Mount Lamington erupted in Papua New Guinea on 18 January 1951, killing 3,000 people.

On 31 January 1953 the North Sea flood of 1953 killed 1,835 people in the southwestern Netherlands (especially Zeeland) and 307 in the United Kingdom

On 9 September 1954 an earthquake centered on the city of Orléansville, Algeria killed 1,500 and left thousands homeless.

On 11 October 1954 Hurricane Hazel crossed over Haiti, killing 1,000.

On 19 August 1955 Hurricane Diane hit the northeastern United States, killing over 200 people, and causing over $1.0 billion in damage.

On 27 June 1957 Hurricane Audrey demolished Cameron, Louisiana, US, killing 400 people.

Typhoon Vera hit central Honshū on 26 September 1959, killing an estimated 5,098, injuring another 38,921, and leaving 1,533,000 homeless. Most of the damage was centered in the Nagoya area.

On 2 December 1959, Malpasset Dam in southern France collapsed and water flowed over the town of Frejus, killing 412.

Economics

Science and technology

Technology

There were some new technologies in the fifties, including television. In 1950, Paper Mate made its first leak free ball point pen. The first copy machine was made in the same year. The Chevrolet Corvette becomes the first car to have an all-fiberglass body in 1953. In 1954 Bell Telephone labs produced the first solar battery. In 1954 you could get a yard of contact paper for only 59 cents. Polypropylene was invented in 1954. In 1955 Jonas Salk invented a polio vaccine which was given to more than seven million American students. In 1956 a solar powered wrist watch was invented. A surprise came in 1957; a satellite was launched by the Russians. They named it Sputnik 1. The space race begins 4 months later the United States launch a smaller satellite. In 1958 the first plastic Coke bottle appeared.

Charles H. Townes builds the Maser in 1953 at the Columbia University.

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth on October 4, 1957.

The United States conducts its first hydrogen bomb explosion test.

The invention of the modern Solar cell.

Passenger jets enter service.

The U.S uses Federal prisons, mental institutions and pharmilogical testing volunteers to test drugs like LSD and chlorpromazine. Also started experimenting with the transorbital lobotomy.

Science

Francis Crick and James Watson discover the double-helix structure of DNA.

An immunization vaccine is produced for polio.

The first successful ultrasound test of the heart activity.

The CERN is established.

The world's first nuclear power plant is opened in Obninsk near Moscow.

NASA is organized.

President Harry S. Truman inaugurated transcontinental television service on September 4, 1951 when he made a speech to the nation. AT&T; carried his address from San Francisco and it was viewed from the west coast to the east coast at the same time.

Popular culture

Music

Rock-n-Roll emerged in the mid-50s as the teen music of choice with Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard, James Brown, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, Bobby Darin, Ritchie Valens, Duane Eddy, Eddie Cochran, Brenda Lee, Bobby Vee, Connie Frances, Johnny Mathis, Neil Sedaka, Pat Boone and Ricky Nelson being notable exponents. In the mid-1950s, Elvis Presley became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll with a series of network television appearances and chart-topping records. Chuck Berry, with "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), refined and developed the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, focusing on teen life and introducing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music. Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty, Johnny Horton, and Marty Robbins were Rockabilly musicians. Doo Wop was another popular genre at the time. Popular Doo Wop and Rock-n-Roll bands of the mid to late 1950s include The Platters, The Flamingos, The Dells, The Silhouettes, Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers, Little Anthony & The Imperials, Danny and the Juniors, The Coasters, The Drifters, The Del-Vikings and Dion and the Belmonts.

Jazz stars in the 1950s who came into prominence in their genres called Bebop, Hard bop, Cool jazz and the Blues, at this time included Lester Young, Ben Webster, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Art Tatum, Bill Evans, Ahmad Jamal, Oscar Peterson, Gil Evans, Jerry Mulligan, Cannonball Adderley, Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Dave Brubeck, Art Blakey, Max Roach, the Miles Davis Quintet, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, and Billie Holiday.

The American folk music revival became a phenomenon in the United States in the 1950s to mid-1960s with the initial success of the Weavers who popularized the genre. Their sound, and their broad repertoire of traditional folk material and topical songs inspired other groups such as the Kingston Trio, the Chad Mitchell Trio, The New Christy Minstrels, and the "collegiate folk" groups such as The Brothers Four, The Four Freshmen, The Four Preps, and The Highwaymen. All featured tight vocal harmonies and a repertoire at least initially rooted in folk music and topical songs.

On 3 February 1959, a chartered plane transporting the three American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson goes down in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all four occupants on board, including pilot Roger Peterson. The tragedy is later termed "The Day the Music Died", popularized in Don McLean's 1972 song "American Pie".

Film

European cinema experienced a renaissance in the '50s following the deprivations of World War II. Italian director Federico Fellini won the first foreign language film Academy Award with ''La strada'' and garnered another Academy Award with ''Nights of Cabiria''. In 1955, Swedish director Ingmar Bergman earned a Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival with ''Smiles of a Summer Night'' and followed the film with masterpieces ''The Seventh Seal'' and ''Wild Strawberries''. Jean Cocteau's ''Orphée'', a film central to his Orphic Trilogy, starred Jean Marais and was released in 1950. French director Claude Chabrol's ''Le Beau Serge'' is now widely considered the first film of the French New Wave. Notable European film stars of the period include Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Max von Sydow, and Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Japanese cinema reached its zenith with films from director Akira Kurosawa including ''Rashomon'', ''Ikiru'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''Throne of Blood'', and ''The Hidden Fortress''. Other distinguished Japanese directors of the period were Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi. Russian fantasy director Aleksandr Ptushko's mythological epics ''Sadko'', ''Ilya Muromets'', and ''Sampo'' were internationally acclaimed as was ''Ballad of a Soldier'', a 1959 Soviet film directed by Grigori Chukhrai

The "Golden Era" of 3-D cinematography happened during the 1950s.

Art movements

In the early 1950s Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning were enormously influential. However by the late 1950s Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko's paintings became more in focus to the next generation.

Pop Art used the iconography of television, photography, comics, cinema and advertising. With its roots in dadaism, it started to take form towards the end of the 1950s when some European artists started to make the symbols and products of the world of advertising and propaganda the main subject of their artistic work. This return of figurative art, in opposition to the abstract expressionism that dominated the aesthetic scene since the end of World War II was dominated by Great Britain until the early 1960s when Andy Warhol, the most known artist of this movement began to show Pop Art in galleries in the United States.

Sports

Olympics

1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland

1952 Winter Olympics held in Oslo, Norway

1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia

1956 Winter Olympics held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy

FIFA World Cups

1950 World Cup hosted by Brazil, won by Uruguay

1954 World Cup hosted by Switzerland, won by West Germany

1958 World Cup hosted by Sweden, won by Brazil

People

World leaders

General Secretary Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)

General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev (Soviet Union)

Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill (United Kingdom)

Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden (United Kingdom)

Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (United Kingdom)

President Laureano Gómez (Colombia)

President Roberto Urdaneta Arbeláez (Colombia)

President Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (Colombia)

President Harry S. Truman (United States)

President Dwight D. Eisenhower (United States)

President Charles de Gaulle (France)

President Vincent Auriol (France)

President René Coty (France)

President Adolfo Ruiz (Mexico)

Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (Israel)

President Arturo Frondizi (Argentina)

President Juan Perón (Argentina)

Prime Minister Robert Menzies (Australia)

President Getúlio Vargas (Brazil)

President Juscelino Kubitschek (Brazil)

Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent (Canada)

Prime Minister John Diefenbaker (Canada)

President Carlos Prío Socarrás (Cuba)

President Fulgencio Batista (Cuba)

President Anselmo Alliegro y Milá (Cuba) (interim)

President Carlos Manuel Piedra (Cuba)

President Manuel Urrutia Lleó (Cuba)

President Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado (Cuba) - from 1959

Prime Minister Kim Il Sung (North Korea)

Chairman Mao Zedong (People's Republic of China)

President Chiang Kai-shek (Republic of China on Taiwan)

King George VI (Commonwealth realms)

Elizabeth II (Commonwealth realms)

Prime Minister Lester Pearson (Canada)

President Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt)

Emperor Haile Selassie (Ethiopia)

President Juho Kusti Paasikivi (Finland)

President Urho Kekkonen (Finland)

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (India)

President Sukarno (Indonesia)

Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (Iran)

King Faisal II (Iraq)

President Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i (Iraq)

Taoiseach John A. Costello (Ireland)

Taoiseach Éamon de Valera (Ireland)

Taoiseach Seán Lemass (Ireland)

Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi (Italy)

Emperor Hirohito (Japan)

King Idris (Libya) - from 1951

Prime Minister George Borg Olivier (Malta)

Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar (Portugal)

Generalissimo Francisco Franco (Spain)

Prime Minister Tage Erlander (Sweden)

President Celal Bayar (Turkey)

Prime Minister Adnan Menderes (Turkey)

Pope Pius XII (Vatican)

Pope John XXIII (Vatican)

Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (West Germany)

President Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavia)

Tunku Abdul Rahman (Malaya)

President Bolesław Bierut (Poland)

Entertainers

Steve Allen

Desi Arnaz

Fred Astaire

Gene Autry

Lauren Bacall

Lucille Ball

Brigitte Bardot

Harry Belafonte

Jean-Paul Belmondo

Jack Benny

Ingrid Bergman

Humphrey Bogart

Marlon Brando

Lloyd Bridges

Yul Brynner

Richard Burton

James Cagney

Cab Calloway

Johnny Carson

Montgomery Clift

Clay Cole

Gary Cooper

Joan Crawford

Bing Crosby

Tony Curtis

Peter Cushing

Dorothy Dandridge

Bette Davis

Doris Day

James Dean

Sandra Dee

Brandon De Wilde

Marlene Dietrich

Jon Provost

Troy Donahue

Diana Dors

Kirk Douglas

Clint Eastwood

Henry Fonda

Errol Flynn

William Frawley

Clark Gable

Ava Gardner

Judy Garland

Cary Grant

John Gregson

Alec Guinness

Tony Hancock

Julie Harris

Susan Hayward

Rita Hayworth

Audrey Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn

Charlton Heston

William Holden

Judy Holliday

Bob Hope

Rock Hudson

Van Johnson

Jessica Jones

Gene Kelly

Grace Kelly

Deborah Kerr

Alan Ladd

Burt Lancaster

Janet Leigh

Jack Lemmon

Jerry Lewis

Sophia Loren

Shirley MacLaine

Jayne Mansfield

Dean Martin

Giulietta Masina

James Mason

Marcello Mastroianni

Jerry Mathers

Toshirō Mifune

Sal Mineo

Ray Milland

Hayley Mills

Robert Mitchum

Marilyn Monroe

Yves Montand

Rick Nelson

Paul Newman

Kim Novak

Lawrence Olivier

Jack Palance

Geraldine Page

Gregory Peck

Anthony Quinn

George Reeves

Steve Reeves

Tommy Rettig

Debbie Reynolds

Thelma Ritter

Roy Rogers

Cesar Romero

Jane Russell

Rosalind Russell

Eva Marie Saint

Frank Sinatra

Kim Stanley

Barbara Stanwyck

James Stewart

Max von Sydow

Elizabeth Taylor

Robert Taylor

Lana Turner

Spencer Tracy

Vivian Vance

Robert Wagner

John Wayne

Richard Widmark

Shelley Winters

Jack Webb

Orson Welles

Musicians

Paul Anka

Louis Armstrong

Chuck Berry

Pat Boone

Teresa Brewer

Maria Callas

Johnny Cash

Rosemary Clooney

John Coltrane

Perry Como

Bing Crosby

Fats Domino

Bobby Darin

Miles Davis

Bo Diddley

Dalida

Eddie Fisher

Ella Fitzgerald

Connie Francis

Dizzy Gillespie

Lionel Hampton

Buddy Holly

Jerry Lee Lewis

Dean Martin

Charles Mingus

Thelonious Monk

Vaughn Monroe

Rick Nelson

Patti Page

Charlie Parker

Art Pepper

Carl Perkins

Elvis Presley

Buddy Rich

Little Richard

Jimmie Rodgers

Max Roach

Dinah Shore

Pete Seeger

Frank Sinatra

Joan Sutherland

Ritchie Valens

Andy Williams

Neil Sedaka

Bands

The Chordettes

Danny & the Juniors

The Heathertones

Windsbach Boys Choir

Tátrai Quartet

Sparkletone

The Diamonds

The Virtues

Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs

Little Anthony and the Imperials

Bill Haley and the Comets

Sports figures

Henry Aaron

Alberto Ascari

Roger Bannister

Yogi Berra

Jim Brown

Roy Campanella

Bob Cousy

Ben Hogan

Gordie Howe

John Landy

Rocky Marciano

Mickey Mantle

Willie Mays

Stan Musial

Pelé

Ferenc Puskas

Maurice Richard

Jackie Robinson

Sugar Ray Robinson

Wilma Rudolph

Sam Snead

Lev Yashin

Ted Williams

Emil Zátopek

See also

1950s in music

1950s in television

1950s in literature

United States in the 1950s

Post-World War II boom

Timeline

The following articles contain brief timelines which list the most prominent events of the decade:

1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959

References

Further reading

Bessel, Richard and Dirk Schumann, eds. ''Life after Death: Approaches to a Cultural and Social History of Europe During the 1940s and 1950s'' (2003), essays by scholars on recovery from the war

Judt, Tony. ''Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945'' (2005)

London Institute of World Affairs, ''The Year Book of World Affairs 1957'' (London 1957) full text online, comprehensive reference book covering 1956 in diplomacy, international affairs and politics for major nations and regions

United States

Dunar, Andrew J. ''America in the fifties'' (2006)

Halberstam, David. ''The fifties'' (1993)

Marling, Karal Ann. ''As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s'' (Harvard University Press, 1996) 328 pp.

Miller, Douglas T. and Marion Nowak. ''The fifties: the way we really were'' (1977)

Stoner, John C., and Alice L. George. ''Social History of the United States: The 1950s'' (2008)

External links

Heroes of the 1950s – slideshow by ''Life magazine''

ar:ملحق:عقد 1950 an:Anyos 1950 ast:Años 1950 zh-min-nan:1950 nî-tāi be-x-old:1950-я bs:1950te br:Bloavezhioù 1950 ca:Dècada del 1950 cv:1950-мĕш çулсем cs:1950-1959 cy:1950au da:1950'erne de:1950er et:1950. aastad el:Δεκαετία 1950 es:Años 1950 eo:1950-aj jaroj eu:1950eko hamarkada fa:دهه ۱۹۵۰ (میلادی) hif:1950s fr:Années 1950 ga:1950idí gd:1950an gan:1950年代 ko:1950년대 hr:1950-ih io:1950a yari id:1950-an ia:Annos 1950 os:1950-тæ is:1951-1960 it:Anni 1950 he:שנות ה-50 של המאה ה-20 jv:1950-an ka:1950-იანები kk:1950 жж. sw:Miaka ya 1950 kv:1950-ӧд вояс la:Decennium 196 lv:1950. gadi lt:XX amžiaus 6-asis dešimtmetis lij:Anni 1950 hu:1950-es évek mk:1950-ти mr:इ.स.चे १९५० चे दशक ms:1950-an nah:1950s nl:1950-1959 ja:1950年代 no:1950-årene nn:1950-åra nrm:Annaées 1950 uz:1950-lar pl:Lata 50. XX wieku pt:Década de 1950 ro:Anii 1950 qu:1950 watakuna ru:1950-е sah:1950-с se:1950-lohku sq:Vitet 1950 scn:1950ini simple:1950s sk:50. roky 20. storočia sl:1950. sr:1950е su:1950-an fi:1950-luku sv:1950-talet ta:1950கள் tk:1950ýý uk:1950-ті vi:Thập niên 1950 wa:Anêyes 1950 yi:1950ער yo:Ẹ̀wádún 1950 zh-yue:1950年代 zh:1950年代

name	Bettie Page
issue	January 1955
birth name	Betty Mae Page
birth place	Nashville, Tennessee, USA
birth date	April 22, 1923
death date	December 11, 2008
death place	Los Angeles, California, USA
bust	36"
waist	23"
hips	36½"
height	5 ft 5½ in (1.66 m)
weight
preceded	Terry Ryan
succeeded	Jayne Mansfield
website	}}

Bettie Mae Page (April 22, 1923 Nashville, Tennessee – December 11, 2008) was an American model who became famous in the 1950s for her fetish modeling and pin-up photos. She has often been called the "Queen of Pinups". Her look, including her jet black hair, blue eyes and trademark bangs, has influenced many artists.

She was "Miss January 1955", one of the earliest Playmates of the Month for ''Playboy'' magazine. "I think that she was a remarkable lady, an iconic figure in pop culture who influenced sexuality, taste in fashion, someone who had a tremendous impact on our society," ''Playboy'' founder Hugh Hefner told the Associated Press.

In 1959, she converted to born-again Christianity, and later worked for Billy Graham. Her later life was marked by depression, violent mood swings and several years in a state psychiatric hospital. After years of obscurity, she experienced a resurgence of popularity in the 1980s.

Early life

Page was the second of six children born to Walter Roy Page and Edna Mae Pirtle. At a young age, Page had to face the responsibilities of caring for her younger siblings. Her parents divorced when she was 10 years old. (In the 1930 Census, a few weeks before Bettie's 7th birthday, her mother Edna Pirtle Page was already listed as being divorced.) After her father, whom Page would accuse of molesting her starting at age 13, was imprisoned, Page and her two sisters lived in an orphanage for a year. During this time, Page's mother worked two jobs, one as a hairdresser during the day and washing laundry at night.

As a teenager, Page and her sisters tried different makeup styles and hairdos imitating their favorite movie stars. She also learned to sew. These skills proved useful years later for her pin-up photography when Page did her own makeup and hair and made her own bikinis and costumes. During her early years, the Page family traveled around the country in search of economic stability.

A good student and debate team member at Hume-Fogg High School, she was voted "Most Likely to Succeed". On June 6, 1940, Page graduated as the salutatorian of her high school class with a scholarship. She enrolled at George Peabody College, with the intention of becoming a teacher. However, the next fall she began studying acting, hoping to become a movie star. At the same time, she got her first job, typing for author Alfred Leland Crabb. Page graduated from Peabody with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1944.

In 1943, she married high school classmate Billy Neal in a simple courthouse ceremony shortly before he was drafted into the Navy for World War II. For the next few years, she moved from San Francisco to Nashville to Miami and to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where she felt a special affinity with the country and its culture. In November 1947, back in the United States, she filed for divorce.

Modeling career

Following her divorce, Page worked briefly in San Francisco, and in Haiti. In 1949, she moved to New York City, where she hoped to find work as an actress. In the meantime, she supported herself by working as a secretary. In 1950, while walking along the Coney Island shore, she met Jerry Tibbs, a police officer with an interest in photography. She was a willing model, and Tibbs took pictures of her and put together her first pinup portfolio.

In late-1940s America, "camera clubs" were formed to circumvent laws restricting the production of nude photos. These clubs existed, ostensibly, to promote artistic photography; but in reality, many were merely fronts for the making of pornography. Page entered the field of "glamour photography" as a popular camera club model, working initially with photographer Cass Carr. Her lack of inhibition in posing made her a hit. Her name and image became quickly known in the erotic photography industry; in 1951, her image appeared in men's magazines such as ''Wink'', ''Titter'', ''Eyefull'' and ''Beauty Parade.''

From 1952 through 1957, she posed for photographer Irving Klaw for mail-order photographs with pin-up, bondage or sadomasochistic themes, making her the first famous bondage model. Klaw also used Page in dozens of short, black-and-white 8mm and 16mm "specialty" films, which catered to specific requests from his clientele. These silent featurettes showed women clad in lingerie and high heels, acting out fetishistic scenarios of abduction, domination, and slave-training; bondage, spanking, and elaborate leather costumes and restraints were included periodically. Page alternated between playing a stern dominatrix, and a helpless victim bound hand and foot. Klaw also produced a line of still photos taken during these sessions. Some have become iconic images, such as his highest-selling photo of Page—shown gagged and bound in a web of ropes, from the film ''Leopard Bikini Bound''. Although these "underground" features had the same crude style and clandestine distribution as the pornographic "stag" films of the time, Klaw's all-female films (and still photos) never featured any nudity or explicit sexual content.

In 1953, Page took acting classes at the Herbert Berghof Studio, which led to several roles on stage and television. She appeared on ''The United States Steel Hour'' and ''The Jackie Gleason Show''. Her Off-Broadway productions included ''Time is a Thief'' and ''Sunday Costs Five Pesos.'' Page acted and danced in the feature-length burlesque revue film ''Striporama'' by Jerald Intrator. She was given a brief speaking role, the only time her voice has been captured on film. She then appeared in two more burlesque films by Irving Klaw (''Teaserama'' and ''Varietease''). These featured exotic dance routines and vignettes by Page and well-known striptease artists Lili St. Cyr and Tempest Storm. All three films were mildly risque, but none showed any nudity or overtly sexual content.

In 1954, during one of her annual vacations to Miami, Florida, Page met photographers Jan Caldwell, H. W. Hannau and Bunny Yeager. At that time, Page was the top pin-up model in New York. Yeager, a former model and aspiring photographer, signed Page for a photo session at the now-closed wildlife park Africa USA in Boca Raton, Florida. The ''Jungle Bettie'' photographs from this shoot are among her most celebrated. They include nude shots with a pair of cheetahs named Mojah and Mbili. The leopard skin patterned ''Jungle Girl'' outfit she wore was made, along with much of her lingerie, by Page herself. A large collection of the Yeager photos, and Klaw's, were published in the book ''Bettie Page Confidential'' (St. Martin's Press, 1994).

After Yeager sent shots of Page to ''Playboy'' founder Hugh Hefner, he selected one to use as the Playmate of the Month centerfold in the January 1955 issue of the two-year-old magazine. The famous photo shows Page, wearing only a Santa hat, kneeling before a Christmas tree holding an ornament and playfully winking at the camera.

In 1955, Page won the title "Miss Pinup Girl of the World". She also became known as "The Queen of Curves" and "The Dark Angel". While pin-up and glamour models frequently have careers measured in months, Page was in demand for several years, continuing to model until 1957. Although she frequently posed nude, she never appeared in scenes with explicit sexual content.

In 1957, Page gave "expert guidance" to the FBI regarding the production of "flagellation and bondage pictures" in Harlem.

The reasons reported for her departure from modeling vary. Some reports mention the ''Kefauver Hearings'' of the United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce (after a young man apparently died during a session of bondage which was rumored to be inspired by bondage images featuring Page). In fact, the Senate committee called her to testify to explain the photos in which she appeared, but then excused her from testifying; however, the print negatives of many of her photos were subsequently destroyed by court order, which ended Klaw's bondage and S&M; mail-order photography business. For many years after, the negatives that survived were illegal to print. However, the most obvious reason for ending her modeling career and severing all contact with her prior life was her conversion to born-again Christianity while living in Key West, Florida in 1959 in combination with the 1957 trials.

Years out of the spotlight

Photographer Sam Menning was the last person to photograph a pin-up of Page before her retirement.

On New Year's Eve 1958, during one of her regular visits to Key West, Florida Page attended a service at what is now the Key West Temple Baptist Church. She found herself drawn to the multiracial environment and started to attend on a regular basis. She would in time attend three bible colleges, including the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland, Oregon and, briefly, a Christian retreat known as "Bibletown", part of the Boca Raton Community Church, Boca Raton, Florida.

She dated industrial designer Richard Arbib in the 1950s. She then married Armond Walterson in 1958; they divorced in 1963.

During the 1960s, she attempted to become a Christian missionary in Africa, but was rejected for having had a divorce. Over the next few years she worked for various Christian organizations before settling in Nashville in 1963. She worked full time for Rev. Billy Graham.

She briefly remarried Billy Neal, her first husband, who helped her to gain entrance into missionary work; however, the two divorced again shortly thereafter. She returned to Florida in 1967, and married again, to Harry Lear, but this marriage also ended in divorce in 1972.

She moved to Southern California in 1979. There she had a nervous breakdown and had an altercation with her landlady. The doctors that examined her diagnosed her with acute schizophrenia, and she spent 20 months in a state mental hospital in San Bernardino, California. After a fight with another landlord she was arrested for assault, but was found not guilty by reason of insanity and placed under state supervision for eight years. She was released in 1992 from Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County.

A cult following was built around her during the 1980s, of which she was unaware. This renewed attention was focused on her pinup and lingerie modeling rather than those depicting sexual fetishes or bondage, and she gained a certain public redemption and popular status as an icon of erotica from a bygone era. This attention also raised the question among her new fans of what happened to her after the 1950s. The 1990s edition of the popular ''Book of Lists'' included Page in a list of once-famous celebrities who had seemingly vanished from the public eye.

Revival

In 1976, Eros Publishing Co. published ''A Nostalgic Look at Bettie Page'', a mixture of photos from the 1950s. Between 1978 and 1980, Belier Press published four volumes of ''Betty Page: Private Peeks'', reprinting pictures from the private camera club sessions, which reintroduced Page to a new but small cult following. In 1983, London Enterprises released ''In Praise of Bettie Page — A Nostalgic Collector's Item'', reprinting camera club photos and an old cat fight photo shoot.

In the early 1980s, comic book artist Dave Stevens based the female love interest of his hero Cliff Secord (alias "The Rocketeer") on Page. In 1987, Greg Theakston started a fanzine called ''The Betty Pages'' and recounted tales of her life, particularly the camera club days. For the next seven years, the magazine sparked a worldwide interest in Page. Women dyed their hair and cut it into bangs in an attempt to emulate the "Dark Angel". The media caught wind of the phenomenon and wrote numerous articles about her, more often than not with Theakston's help. Since almost all of her photos were in the public domain, opportunists launched related products and cashed in on the burgeoning craze.

In a 1993 telephone interview with ''Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'' Page told host Robin Leach that she had been unaware of the resurgence of her popularity, stating that she was "penniless and infamous". ''Entertainment Tonight'' produced a segment on her. Page, who was living in a group home in Los Angeles, was astounded when she saw the ''E.T.'' piece, having had no idea that she had suddenly become famous again. Greg Theakston contacted her and extensively interviewed her for ''The Betty Page Annuals'' V.2.

Shortly after, Page signed with Chicago-based agent James Swanson. Three years later, nearly penniless and failing to receive any royalties, Page fired Swanson and signed with Curtis Management Group, a company which also represented the James Dean and Marilyn Monroe estates. She then began collecting payments which ensured her financial security.

After Jim Silke made a large format comic featuring her likeness, Dark Horse Comics published a comic based on her fictional adventures in the 1990s. Eros Comics published several Bettie Page titles, the most popular being the tongue-in-cheek ''Tor Love Bettie'' which suggested a romance between Page and wrestler-turned-Ed Wood film actor, Tor Johnson.

The question of what Page did in the obscure years after modeling was answered in part with the publication of an official biography in 1996, ''Bettie Page: The Life of a Pin-up Legend.'' That year, Bettie Page granted an exclusive one-on-one TV interview to entertainment reporter Tim Estiloz for a short-lived NBC morning magazine program ''Real Life'' to help publicize the book. The interview featured her reminiscing about her career and relating anecdotes about her personal life, as well as photos from her personal collection. At Page's request, her face was not shown. The interview was broadcast only once.

Another biography, ''The Real Bettie Page: The Truth about the Queen of Pinups'' written by Richard Foster and published in 1997, told a less happy tale. Foster's book immediately provoked attacks from her fans, including Hefner and Harlan Ellison, as well as a statement from Page that it was "full of lies," because they were not pleased that the book revealed a Los Angeles County Sheriff's police report that stated that she suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and, at age 56, had stabbed her elderly landlords on the afternoon of April 19, 1979 in an unprovoked attack during a fit of insanity. However, Steve Brewster, founder of The Bettie Scouts of America fan club, has stated that it is not as unsympathetic as the book's reputation makes it to be. Brewster adds that he also read the chapter about her business dealings with Swanson, and stated that Page was pleased with that part of her story.

In 1997, ''E! True Hollywood Story'' aired a feature on Page entitled, ''Bettie Page: From Pinup to Sex Queen''.

In a late-1990s interview, Page stated she would not allow any current pictures of her to be shown because of concerns about her weight. However, in 1997, Page changed her mind and agreed to a rare television interview for the aforementioned ''E! True Hollywood Story''/Page special on the condition that the location of the interview and her face not be revealed (she was shown with her face and dress electronically blacked out). In 2003, Page allowed a publicity picture to be taken of her for the August 2003 edition of ''Playboy''. In 2006, the ''Los Angeles Times'' ran an article headlined ''A Golden Age for a Pinup'', covering an autographing session at her current publicity company, CMG Worldwide. Once again, she declined to be photographed, saying that she would rather be remembered as she was.

In a 1998 interview with ''Playboy'', she commented on her career:

Within the last few years, she had hired a law firm to help her recoup some of the profits being made with her likeness.

According to MTV: "Katy Perry's rocker bangs and throwback skimpy jumpers. Madonna's '' Sex'' book and fascination with bondage gear. Rihanna's obsession with all things leather, lace and second-skin binding. Uma Thurman in ''Pulp Fiction''. The SuicideGirls Web site. The Pussycat Dolls. The entire career of Marilyn Manson's ex-wife Dita Von Teese" would not have been possible without Page.

Death

According to long-time friend and business agent Mark Roesler, on December 6, 2008, Bettie Page was hospitalized in critical condition. Roesler was quoted by the Associated Press as saying Page had suffered a heart attack and by Los Angeles television station KNBC as claiming Page was suffering from pneumonia. A family friend said Page was in a coma, a claim not denied by Roesler. Her family eventually agreed to discontinue life support, and she died at 18:41 PST on December 11, 2008.

She is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

Films

Filmography

''Striporama'' (1953)

''Varietease'' (1954)

''Teaserama'' (1955)

''Irving Klaw Bondage Classics, Volume I'' (London Enterprises, 1984)

''Irving Klaw Bondage Classics, Volume II'' (London Enterprises, 1984)

''Bettie Page: Pin Up Queen'' (Cult Epics, 2005)

''Bettie Page: Bondage Queen'' (Cult Epics, 2005)

''100 Girls by Bunny Yeager'' (Cult Epics, 2005)

''Bizarro Sex Loops, Volume 4'' (Something Weird Video, 2007)

''Bizarro Sex Loops, Volume 20'' (Something Weird Video, 2008)

DVDs

Most, if not all, of Page's existing films have been reissued on DVD, such as ''Bettie Page: Varietease/Teaserama'', as well as a collection of five shorts called ''Betty Page in Bondage''. In 1984, London Enterprises, a producer of S&M; films, added music and narration to 28 of Klaw's silent fetish movies for the two-volume video ''Irving Klaw Bondage Classics''. Page appears in half of these featurettes. In 2005, both volumes were released on a single DVD by Cult Epics as ''Bettie Page: Bondage Queen.''

A compilation of her burlesque dancing performances from ''Striporama'', ''Varietease'', and ''Teaserama'' plus ''The Exotic Dances of Bettie Page'' (13 black-and-white dancing and cat-fight shorts) are on the Cult Epics DVD release ''Bettie Page: Pin Up Queen''.

The DVD ''100 Girls by Bunny Yeager'' (also by Cult Epics) is a documentary with behind-the-scenes footage on Yeager's photo sessions with Page and other pin-up models. Page also appears in another set of Irving Klaw bondage reels in ''Bizarro Sex Loops, Volume 20'', a collection of vintage fetish shorts produced by Something Weird Video.

Biopics

In 2004, Cult Epics produced the biographical film ''Bettie Page: Dark Angel''. This low-budget straight-to-disc biopic centers on the 1953–1957 Irving Klaw period, faithfully recreating six lost fetish films she did for Klaw. Model Paige Richards plays the title role.

Another biographical movie, ''The Notorious Bettie Page'' (2005), follows her life from the mid-1930s through the late-1950s. It stars actress Gretchen Mol as the adult Page. Bonus footage added to the DVD release includes rare color film from the 1950s of Page playfully undressing and striking various nude poses for the camera.

Academy Award nominated director Mark Mori is scheduled to release the official authorized documentary biography, ''Bettie Page Reveals All'' in 2010. After more than 10 years of working with Bettie Page this film provides a unique look into her life. The film contains exclusive interviews with Bettie Page and important figures in her life and career, such as Hugh Hefner.

Guitars

In 2006, Page and Halo Guitars collaborated to produce a limited edition of custom guitars, released at the 2007 Winter NAMM show in southern California. The total run of one hundred guitars were hand-made and designed by luthier Waylon Ford, art was designed by Pamelina H. and the only collector guitar series authorized by Bettie Page.

In popular culture

In one of his numerous fictional back-page biographical sketches, Harlan Ellison claimed to be "writing a biography of Bettie Page for young adults". Alternative country band BR5-49 recorded an ode to Page named "Bettie, Bettie" on their 1996 debut EP ''Live From Robert's''. In interviews, Page stated that this was her favorite of the songs written about her. The Jazz Butcher included the song "Just Like Betty Page" on the 1984 album, ''A Scandal in Bohemia'', using Page for a simile in the chorus "You have me/As far as I can see/roped and trussed just like dear Betty Page." The BD-3000 luxury droid in ''Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith'' was inspired by Bettie Page. Beyoncé pays homage to Bettie Page in her music video for "Video Phone". Swedish concept band DC-Pöbeln (a.k.a. Dagcenterpöbeln) from Örebro put Bettie Page on the cover of their only record ''Bettan/Dödgrävaren'' in 1985.

In a ''Venture Bros.'' episode, the then-Lady au Pair (later Dr Girlfriend) is looking for a villainess costume, and is offered the "Bettie Rage" model.

In Quentin Tarantino's film ''Death Proof'', Rosario Dawson pays homage to Page with her trademark haircut. In Seattle, Washington, a homeowner became the subject of a short-lived controversy when he had an artist friend paint a large mural of Page on the side of his home. The mural is visible from Interstate 5, just south of the 65th Street exit.

References

External links

TheBettiePage.com, web guide to Bettie Page

BettieVille.com, Dave's Bettie Page Page, a tribute and guide

BettiePageMovie.com, "Bettie Page Reveals All", authorized biography film.

Bettie Page (1923–2008) - slideshow by ''The First Post''

Category:1923 births Category:2008 deaths Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee Category:American female adult models Category:Baptists from the United States Category:Biola University alumni Category:Bondage models Category:Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery Category:Burlesque performers Category:Converts to Christianity Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Multnomah University and Biblical Seminary alumni Category:Peabody College alumni Category:People from Florida Category:People with schizophrenia Category:Playboy Playmates (1953–1959) Category:Vanderbilt University alumni

be:Бэці Пэйдж be-x-old:Бэці Пэйдж br:Bettie Page cs:Bettie Page cy:Bettie Page da:Bettie Page de:Bettie Page es:Bettie Page eu:Bettie Page fr:Bettie Page fy:Bettie Page gl:Bettie Page it:Bettie Page he:בטי פייג' nl:Bettie Page ja:ベティ・ペイジ no:Bettie Page pl:Bettie Page pt:Bettie Page ru:Пейдж, Бетти fi:Bettie Page sv:Bettie Page th:เบตตี เพจ tr:Bettie Page