Video: 'Hollywood Couples - Marilyn Monroe And Joe Dimaggio' (Oct. 27, 1954, at 33:16)
(Wednesday, October 27, 1954) — Actress Marilyn Monroe and baseball player Joe DiMaggio were divorced today in Santa Monica, California, after only nine months of marriage.
Video: 'Benjamin Davis'
(Wednesday, October 27, 1954) — U.S. Air Force Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. was promoted to brigadier general by President Dwight Eisenhower today, the first black officer to achieve that rank in the USAF.
(Monday, October 25, 1954, about 7:00 p.m. EST) — A meeting of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Cabinet was broadcast live on radio and television tonight; during the session, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, just returned from Europe, reported on agreements signed in Paris on the future of West Germany (click here to watch the video).
To date, it’s the only presidential Cabinet meeting to be carried on radio and TV.
Video: 'Casino Royale James Bond 1954'
(Thursday, October 21, 1954, 8:30-9:30 p.m. EST) — Casino Royale, a television adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming and the first onscreen appearance of the character of James Bond (played by Barry Nelson), was broadcast tonight live on the CBS dramatic anthology series Climax!.
Nelson’s character is played as an American agent with “Combined Intelligence” and is referred to as “Jimmy” by several characters.
Video: 'Regency TR-1: The First Transistor Radio'
(Monday, October 18, 1954) — Texas Instruments today unveiled the Regency TR-1, the first commercially produced transistor radio.
Video: 'Vietnam The Ten Thousand Day War 2of13 Dien Bien Phu' (Oct. 11, 1954, at 29:23)
(Monday, October 11, 1954; during the Cold War) — Transfer of civil administration of North Vietnam to the Viet Minh was given today. Ho Chi Minh was appointed Prime Minister of North Vietnam, which would be run as a socialist state.
Video: 'Vietnam a Television History Episode 1' (Oct. 9, 1954, at 57:07)
(Saturday, October 9, 1954; during the Cold War) — Thirty thousand Viet Minh soldiers, including many who had fought the French at Dien Bien Phu during the First Indochina War, today marched into Hanoi amid the cheers of a flag-waving populace.
Video: 'Marian Anderson canta Un ballo in Maschera'
(Thursday, October 7, 1954) — Marian Anderson today became the first black singer hired by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York. Anderson made her Met debut in January 1955 playing the role of Ulrica in Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera.”
Video: 'Father Knows Best: Bud Takes Up The Dance' (aired Oct. 3, 1954)
(Sunday, October 3, 1954, 10:00 p.m. EST) — Father Knows Best, a television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest, debuted tonight on CBS.
It starred Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue and Billy Gray.
Video: 'Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz - Toast of the Town October 3, 1954'
(Sunday, October 3, 1954, 8 p.m. EST) — Tonight’s 60-minute The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS-TV was dedicated to Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz, the lead actors on the hit sitcom I Love Lucy, including a celebrity testimonial luncheon.
