Consumerism Unbound-New Products By the 1950s, 60% of

Americans were members of the middle class-about double the percentage from before WWII

Everyone had money to spend, and they wanted things-Consumerism, the buying of material goods, came to be equated with success

Consumers purchased electric appliances-washing machines, blenders, freezers, & dishwashers in record numbers

Turn That Thing Down!!!! With more & more leisure time to

fill, people invented new recreational items

They bought TVs, tape recorders, & the top in technology, hi-fi (high fidelity) record players

The round disks with grooves sold millions of copies each week to rock & roll hungry teens

People had to buy more casual clothing to suit their suburban lifestyles

They wanted tee-shirts and jeans to wear while using a power mower, barbeque grill, or caring for their backyard pool

Planned Obsolescence Manufacturers clued in on how

to get people to buy things they didn’t yet need

They began using a marketing strategy called “planned obsolescence”

They purposely designed products to wear out or become obsolete in a short time, so consumers would have to buy new products

Carmakers brought out new models every year, urging consumers to stay up-to-date

American culture was on its way to becoming a “throwaway society”

Buy Now, Pay Later Many consumers bought

products on credit & spread out the cost over a period of time

1950-The Diner’s Club issued the first credit card, followed by American Express in 1958

Instead of saving money like they did in the 1940s, Americans were spending it

Everyone had home mortgages & auto loans, so that total private debt grew from $73-billion to $179-billion in the 1950s

The Advertising Age Ads were everywhere-newspapers,

magazines, radio, TV, billboards They prompted people to buy

goods ranging from cars to cereal to cigarettes

1950-Advertisers spent $6-billion---by 1955, it was up to $9-billion

TV became the most valuable advertising tool

The 1st one-minute commercial produced in 1941 cost $9-by 1960, TV ads yielded $1.6-billion in revenue to TV stations

Compare that to an ad in the 2001 Superbowl—a 30-second spot cost $2.2-million

New Era of the Mass Media Mass media-the means of

communication that reaches large audiences-developed with lightning speed in the 1950s

1948-Just 9% of American homes had a TV, but by 1954, 55% had a black & white TV set

By 1960, 45-million American homes—almost 90%-had TVs

Television was the entertainment & information marvel of the post-war years

The Rise of Television Early TVs were large boxes

with small round screens showing only black & white

1949-The first regular broadcasts reached only a small part of the East Coast, with just 2 hours of meager entertainment per day

Then engineers learned how to use microwave technology from WWII to transmit TV waves over long distances

The “Golden Age” of TV 1956-The Federal Communications

Commission had issued licenses to 500 new stations

They latched on to microwave signals that provided shows such as the Texaco Star Theater with comedian Milton Berle, or The Jack Benny Show

I Love Lucy, starring Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz, began an enormously popular run in 1951

The Mickey Mouse Club, The Howdy Doody Show, & American Bandstand attracted young fans

There were also sporting events such as baseball, football, basketball, wrestling, & boxing

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The News Everyone tuned in to watch the

network news shows During a 15-minute broadcast,

viewers watched NBC, CBS, ABC, or the Mutual networks describe what was happening in the world

Veteran radio broadcaster Edward R. Murrow introduced 2 innovations: on the scene reporting with his See It Now program

Murrow also started the extended TV interview with his Person-to-Person program

What’s On TV Tonight? When Americans came home

from work, they plopped in front of the TV to relax

The TV industry spawned other products, such as TV Guide, a magazine listing all network TV shows for each week

1954-The food industry introduced a new convenience item, the frozen TV dinner

Complete, ready to eat meals in disposable trays made it easy for people to eat without missing their favorite shows

Stereotypes and White Guys Not everyone was thrilled with

TV programming Critics objected to its effects on

kids & its stereotypical portrayal of women & minorities

In Father Knows Best & Ozzie and Harriet, women were the loyal, sometimes silly wife

Male characters outnumbered women 3-to-1, while African-Americans & Latinos rarely appeared on TV at all

Idealizing White America 1950s TV omitted any

reference to poverty, diversity, or contemporary conflicts such as civil rights & racial discrimination

Instead, it glorified historical conflicts from the Old West-

Gunsmoke, Have Gun-Will Travel, Bonanza, & Rawhide were hit shows, largely due to violence

Some Americans became concerned about the effect of TV violence on children

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Radio Finds Its Way Radio had been king up until

the 1950s-then it lost all its stars to TV

Instead of competing with TV programming, radio stations turned to local programming

The strategy paid off, as radio advertising rose by 35%, & the number of stations rose 50%

They played records-& teens tuned in to hear rock & roll on stations that played Top-40 formats-the 40 most popular records

Movies Change Because of TV

1948—America had some 18,500 theaters drawing 90-million viewers per week Then came TV, & people stayed home, so that the number of moviegoers decrease by

50% New technology saved Hollywood from crumbling so that by 1954, 50% of movies

were made in color, using Cinemascope, a wide-screen format People were drawn back by stereophonic sound that surrounded viewers, & even

Smell-O-Vision, & Aroma-Rama Color TV did not become widespread until the mid-1960s

A Subculture Emerges

From LA, San Francisco, & New York City’s Greenwich Village, came the beat movement of dissenters from the popular white culture

These artists, poets, & writers called themselves beatniks-the word originally meant “tired,” but also to the beat of their jazz music

Beatniks shunned regular work-they sought higher consciousness thru Zen Buddhism, music, & drugs

The Beat Generation Beatnik poets & musicians believed

in imposing as little structure as possible on their works

They read their poetry aloud in coffeehouses

Jack Kerouac’s 1957 novel On the Road, described the search for authentic experiences, people, & values

To most Americans, beatniks were just plain weird, so they rejected their ideals

Nevertheless, beatnik attitudes & literature gained media attention & fired the imaginations of many college students

African-Americans & Rock ‘N’ Roll

Musicians of the 1950s added electronic instruments to traditional blues music, creating rhythm & blues

1951-Cleveland radio DJ Alan Freed began playing black music to his mostly white audience

His listeners responded enthusiastically, & Freed began promoting the new music that grew out of blending rhythm & blues, country, & pop

Rock ‘N’ Roll Richard Penniman (Little

Richard), Chuck Berry, Bill Haley & the Comets, & especially Elvis Presley brought rock & roll to popularity

Affluent teens rushed to buy records featuring rock’s heavy rhythms, simple melodies, & lyrics featuring love, cars, & teenage problems

The King Elvis-The “King of Rock &

Roll”-a white southerner who developed his style by singing in church, listening to country, gospel & blues

His mom bought him a guitar when he was a boy-he paid $4 of his own to record 2 songs in 1953

His 1st hit record came out in 1956-& he became a sensation

“Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog,” “All Shook Up,” & “Don’t Be Cruel” were a few of a long line of Elvis hit songs

“You Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hound Dog…”

Click on and play this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdDIKONSDUM

That Rock Music Will Corrupt You! Not surprisingly, many adults

condemned rock & roll They objected to Elvis’ sexually-

charged pelvic gyrations-Ed Sullivan’s nationwide program was afraid to show Elvis from the waste down

Rock & Roll would lead to teen delinquency & immorality-so rock concerts were banned in many cities

Despite the opposition, rock & roll record sales reached 600-million in 1960

The Racial Gap African-American musicians

like Chuck Berry & Little Richard had inspired the birth of Rock & Roll

In other musical genres, singers like Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, & Harry Belafonte paved the way for other minority artists

Musicians like Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, & Thelonius Monk played improvisational jazz Charlie Parker & Miles Davis

Segregation on the Air African-American shows were

mostly broadcast on separate stations in the 1950s

1954-Just 250 radio stations nationwide were aimed at African-American audiences

Advertisers who wanted to reach black audiences could do it only on radio, since fewer African-Americans owned TVs

By the end of the 1950s, African-Americans were largely segregated from the dominant culture

The on-going segregation would become a powerful force for change in the 1960s

Person Art Form Achievements

Lucille Ball

Edward R. Murrow

Elvis Presley

Television sit-com

TV news

Music

Star of “I Love Lucy”

Host of “See It Now” & “Person

to Person”

Rock & roll singer

Person Art Form Achievements