Video: 'Elvis Presley - Hound Dog (Audio)'
(Saturday, August 18, 1956) — “Hound Dog”/Don’t Be Cruel by Elvis Presley peaked at #1 on today’s Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart for 11 weeks (Aug. 18/25 Sept. 1/8/15/22/29, Oct. 6/13/20/27, 1956). Continue reading ‘Hound Dog/Don’t Be Cruel’ by Elvis Presley peaks at #1 in USA 60 years ago today (Aug 18 1956)
(Saturday, August 18, 1956) — “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)” by Doris Day peaked at #2 on today’s Billboard Top 100 chart for three weeks (Aug. 18/25, Sept. 1, 1956).
(Saturday, August 4, 1956) — “My Prayer” by The Platters peaked at #1 on today’s Billboard Top 100 chart for two weeks (Aug. 4/11, 1956).
(Saturday, August 4, 1956) — “Rip It Up” by Little Richard peaked at #17 on today’s Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart for one week.
Video: 'Blackboard Jungle' trailer
(Saturday, March 19, 1955) — Blackboard Jungle, a social commentary film about teachers in an inner-city school, opened today at Loew’s State Theatre in New York City. The film marked the rock and roll revolution by featuring Bill Haley & His Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock.”
Directed by Richard Brooks, the film starred Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern and Sidney Poitier.
Image: 'Charlie Parker - Charlie Parker Story'
(Saturday, March 12, 1955, 8:15 p.m. EST) — Legendary jazz musician Charlie “Bird” Parker died tonight in New York City of heart failure. Known as the inventor of bebop, Parker was 34.
Video: '"Producers' Showcase" Peter Pan (7 March 1955)' (4 videos)
(Monday, March 7, 1955, 7:30-9:00 p.m. EST) — NBC-TV presented the full-length Broadway production of Peter Pan live tonight in color (only a black-and-white kinescope recording survived) as part of Producers’ Showcase, with nearly all of the show’s original cast.
The show attracted a then-record audience of 65-million viewers, the highest ever up to that time for a single television program.
Video: 'Rosemary Clooney - Mambo Italiano - 1954 originals'
(Thursday, November 18, 1954) — ABC radio and TV today banned “Mambo Italiano,” a hit by Rosemary Clooney, for so-called “offensive lyrics,” most likely due to the exaggerated Italian vernacular, including the words “goombah” and “gidrool.”
Image: 'Elvis Presley - Backstage at the Overton Park Shell, Friday, July 30, 1954'
(Friday, July 30, 1954, 8:00 p.m. local time) — Elvis Presley made his professional debut in Memphis. It was his first concert to be advertised.
(Thursday, May 20, 1954) — Bill Haley & His Comets’s “Rock Around the Clock,” considered the first rock and roll song to top the charts, was released today, but it didn’t catch on until it appeared on the soundtrack of Blackboard Jungle the following year.
