Baseball-America's true pastime

After WWII, the world of sports began to go under rapid changes. Sports were becoming more racially integrated and were now even beginning to broadcast on live television. In the late 1940s, leading into the 1950's, baseball was the biggest sport to go through these changes.

Before WWII, there had never been a black baseball player in the history of the game. There were certain leagues set up for all of the black players, due to the racial barrier between white's and blacks at the time.One man would change it all.


In 1947, Jackie Robinson not only changed the face of baseball, but he had changed America. With extreme pressure and hatred of many players and fans, Robinson became one of the most amazing performers in the game. He had paved the way for other black stars such as Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. The integration in baseball, that was put in place by Robinson, became a fact of baseball life so quickly that by the mid-1950s there were more African-American players on major league teams than there had been in the Negro leagues at their height of popularity just a decade earlier. Jackie Robinson had broke the racial barrier that had been in place for years. He did something that exceeded all odds at that time and changed the way baseball is today.


video wouldn't upload, so here is the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l8-r3s32ys

The Rise of TV and "I Love Lucy" in the 1950's

During the 1950's, television proliferated in homes across the United States. At the beginning of the decade, merely 10 percent of all American households owned TV sets. By the end of the decade, this number exploded; by 1960, 87 percent of all households owned television sets. Indeed, the cumulative total of annual TV set sales in the country jumped from 9.7 million in 1950 to 67.1 million in 1959. Such a phenomenon coincided with the rise of networks such as CBS, NBC, and ABC. Among the most popular programs on television during this decade on these networks were the Western drama Gunsmoke and the enthralling yet scandal-ridden game show, The $64,000 Question (pictured above.) During the decade, Question became the #1 most popular program on TV in the 1955-56 season and Gunsmoke dominated at #1 from 1957-1960. However, neither of these shows were as critically or commercially successful as the mega hit, I Love Lucy.


Recalled as an exceptionally humorous sitcom, I Love Lucy was the #1 most watched program on TV from 1952 to 1955 and, again, from 1956 to 1957. The television sitcom reached its apogee in popularity with the January 19, 1953 episode, "Lucy Goes to the Hospital," a program watched by 72 percent of all TV households, a then-record not even surpassed by President Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration the following day. This episode was an apt reflection of a unique defining characteristic of the show in that the storyline and plot was largely consistent with the real life of the show's stars, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The episode depicts Ball's character, Lucy Ricardo, giving birth to a child while - on the same exact day - Ball herself gave birth to Desi Arnaz, Jr. However, the most glaring similarity between Ball's real life and her character in the show was that Desi Arnaz, who portrayed Lucy Ricardo's husband Ricky, was actually married to Ball. Indeed, much of the popular sitcom represented a mirror image of reality. For instance, the real-life marriage of Ball and Arnaz was notably rocky and contentious, shaken by Ball first filing for divorce in 1944 - yet pulling back soon thereafter - and consumed with arguments surrounding Arnaz' party-embracing personality. In the sitcom itself, the Ricardos often engage in argument, albeit largely comical exchanges. For example, in the episode "Lucy and Superman," Lucy's efforts to dress up like Superman for Ricky's birthday party backfire when George Reeves - who played the TV role of Superman at the time - shows up to the party. The resulting events culminate in Ricky angrily suggesting that Lucy embarrassed him.


The on-screen marriage of Lucy and Ricky's landlords, the Mertzes, was also defined by occasional arguments. In real life, the relationship of the actors who played Mr. and Mrs. Mertz - Bill Frawley and Vivian Vance, respectively - was extremely contentious. The two actors reportedly despised each other so much so that when Frawley passed away in 1966, Vance is believed to have said, "Champagne for everyone!" Their mutual hatred was reflected in incidents such as Frawley calling Vance "a sack of doorknobs" and Vance protesting that Frawley's old age was a detriment to his abilities on stage. In spite of off and on screen arguments, the show's hilarity and comic brilliance made it a huge hit. The sitcom's funniest episodes include "Lucy Does a TV Commercial," a program in which Lucy becomes drunk while filming an advertisement for a bizarre medication. The episode was ranked as the second greatest TV episode of all time by TV Guide, a publication which also listed I Love Lucy as the second greatest TV show ever. The show has earned numerous other accolades for its humor as well, including the Emmy for Best Situation Comedy in 1953 and 1954 and a spot on Time magazine's 100 best TV shows ever.

SOURCES:
1. Wikipedia - "Nielsen ratings"; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_ratings
2. www.tvhistory.tv/facts-stats.htm
3. www.lucyfan.com/ilovelucy56.htm
4. The Fifties, David Halberstam. 1993.
5. Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz - February 12, 1996 - People.com
6. www.tv.com/i-love-lucy/lucy-and-superman/episode/17263/summary.html
7. Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Tom Gilbert. 1993.
8. The Internet Movie Database - I Love Lucy (1951-1957); www.imdb.com/title/tt0043208/
9. The Museum of Broadcast Communications - I Love Lucy; www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=ilovelucy

PICTURES:
1. Timstvshowcase.com (The $64,000 Question)
2. www.jimis-cyberstore.com/store/media/i-love-lucy-tshirt-115b.jpg (I Love Lucy)

Color Television

In June of 1951 CBS made history by presenting an hour long program with 16 stars that performed song, dance, and comedy routines, and better yet it was in COLOR. Before that night television was an entirely black and white medium. Viewers had heard that Loucille Ball's hair was red, but due to black and white television this wasn't something the viewers could see. Television was now truly changing colors.

Like the telephone before it and the internet today television arrived gradually. That television broadcast of June 1951 was hyped as a television technology breakthrough, but there were flaws. There was a mysterious red ring around Ed Sullivan's ear and viewers questioned the true

tone of Faye Emerson's blonde chignon. There was an even bigger problem though, not everyone had color televisions.

Very few people actually watched that first broadcast because their black and white T.V's could not receive the signal. To ensure that the event wasn't totally lost CBS invited small audiences to watch the variety program in 35 different television studios across the east coast. Meanwhile 1000 people had to retrofit their sets to receive the signal.

By 1949 there were one million television sets in America, and ten years later color television increased that number by 50. In the 1960's colored television became ultimatley popular. By the 1980's about half of all of the television sets in America were colored.

Musical Roots Run Deep

Music discovery plays a significant role within my life. Sometimes this requires me to look at how the music of today was created. By looking at the past I could learn about the foundations that great musicians formed for modern artists. While listening to music of the 1950's I was amazed at how inspirational this music was at the time. By listening to such music as Elvis Presley and Earl Flatt and Lester Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys I could see their influences in modern music. Some people may think, Earl Flatt and Lester Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys who are they? After listening to a lot of Country music as a child I could definitely hear their influences within modern Country Music. Although modern Country music sounds much different, the core of most songs is the same as Earl Flatt and Lester Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys. Even some of the songs written by Earl Flatt and Lester Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys resemble many country songs lyrically.

I am currently listening to a handful of folk and country bands and could hear banjo playing extremely similar to that of Earl Flatt and Lester Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys. It's amazing how transformational their music is. Being so transformational and inspirational says a lot about a band. Listening to their music truly repres

ents country living to me. With such songs as You Are My Flower I feel as if though I was transported back in time to a place in the west or the southern United States.

Its amazing to listen to such bands as the Avett Brothers and hear the transformation of Earl Flatt and Lester Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys's music into the modern day. It seems as if people during the 1950’s laid the groundwork for our world of today. Innovation with musicians during this period of American history is astonishing. The 1950’s may have been a long time ago but it will never be forgotten. Listen to the samples provided below and see how the music evolved for yourself.

Image Credits:

Image 1: http://www.flatt-and-scruggs.com/lesterbio.html

Image 2: http://scratchyattic.blogspot.com/2009/01/flatt-scruggs-on-radio.html

Image 3: Christian Santarelli (c) 2011

The Avett Brothers - January Wedding

Flatt and Scruggs - You are My Flower