What: Elvis Presley was one of America’s most popular singers in the 1950’s. “He was the first widely known rock and roll singer star.”He is also known as just Elvis, the King of Rock and Roll, or the King. “He rose from poverty to fame in the mid 1950’s attracting large audiences in concerts and especially teenage girls.” His genres of music were rock and roll, pop, country, blues, and R&B. He worked with Sun Records. He became popular with the new sound of rock and roll. He made appearances on network television. Throughout his entire career, he only performed at only three venues outside the United States. Some of his most popular song throughout his career was Heartbreak hotel, Hound dog, Jailhouse Rock, Suspicious Minds. “He started making movies in 1956 with the film “Love Me Tender.” “Other movies from this early period are Loving You, Jailhouse Rock, and King Creole. After returning from the army in 1961 he abandoned singing and turned to acting.”
Significance: The significance that Elvis has on era was that he had very wide success with having so many genres such as gospel, and blues. He was the second biggest selling music artist of all time in the United States. He sold over 118 million albums. He is the best selling solo artist in pop music. He was nominated for 14 Grammy awards, and won three. He has also been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. “Elvis Presley had an extensive cultural impact. His recording, dance moves, attitude and clothing came to be seen as embodiments of rock and roll. His impact on the American youth consumer market was noted on the front page of The Wall Street Journal.”
Disneyland
What: In Walt Disney’s vision for Disneyland it was supposed to be a place for children and parents to have fun together. The construction process began on July 21, 1954. It opened on July 18, 1955. 160 acres of trees, and 15 houses were cleared to make room for the park. On the opening day there was a live broadcast on ABC with celebrities like Ronald Reagan. Walt Disney started visiting other parks or inspiration. It was difficult to obtain funding for Disneyland and Walt Disney decided to use methods of television and created a show called Disneyland. When it opened it only had 20 attractions. Walt Disney bought over 160 acres, and cost 9 million dollars but by the opening day it costs 17 million dollars. “The park had five main lands. It had Fantasyland, Adventureland, Frontierland, and Tomorrowland. A lot of the rides were not finished by opening day. Adventureland had only one ride called the Jungle Cruise. Tomorrowland had more rides like Aluminum Hall of Fame, Rocket to the Moon, a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea exhibit, and Space Station X-1 in Tomorrowland, and stage coach ride in
Frontierland. Fantasyland had rides that are still open today like King Arthur Carousel, Snow White’s Adventures, Dumbo, and the kid-terrifying Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, but was missing the Autopia that opened in 1956 and it’s a Small World that was opened in 1966.”
Significance: The significance that Disneyland had is that it now gave families a new place to spend time together. It was also a new place to go to have fun instead of going to the movies, or different shows. It also leads other states and countries to follow in our footsteps and create their own amusement parks. On July 17 6,000 guest were invited for a special preview of Disneyland before it opened the next day, but unfortunately 22,000 extra people arrive. Disneyland opened to the public on July 18, 1955, with an entrance fee of one dollar. Since then Disneyland has added many other attractions and has opened the imaginations of millions of children.
Bridget Bardot
What: “Brigitte Bardot was discovered on a magazine cover at age 15, making her film debut in 1952.”Bridget Bardot was a former actress, singer, French model, and animal rights activist. She was one of the best known sex-symbols during the sixties. She stared her