For my birthday a few weeks ago, I received a complete set of National Geographic magazines from 1956, the year of my birth. It’s not easy turning 55 under any circumstances and though I appreciated the thoughtfulness of the gift, browsing the various issues made me feel old.
We don’t really start relating to our environment until we’ve put a few years into life, so the news of the day and the style of the advertising don’t resonate with me. But I can’t deny it’s the time of my birth and I really am as old as the pictures and text imply. Click on any image for a larger view.
The first ads that caught my eye were the ones for cars, which are a quickly dated commodity, especially back then when they tended to have a new and often dramatic look every year.
Mid-century cars often sported a flashy two-tone paint job. You just don’t see many two-tone cars these days, and whatever happened to vinyl “landau” roofs?
My family had a 1956 red and white Buick Roadmaster station wagon, and I do remember spending most of my time in the “way back” where there were no seatbelts or safety devices. But you could watch the traffic out the rear window and wave or make faces at the drivers behind you.
Because of National Geographic‘s highbrow image, there were ads from unusual companies—sort of like the sponsorships on PBS. This series of ads from General Dynamics caught my eye as unusual for the times (and quite attractive).
Telephone calls were still being promoted heavily back then and it was, in fact, the year that the first transatlantic phone cable was laid. So there were a number of ads from Bell Telephone prompting people to use the phone more.
In doing a little research, I discovered that I’m the same age as Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson, Kenny G, Bjorn Borg, Carrie Fisher, and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
1956 was also the year that Elvis Presley made his debut, both on the record charts and Ed Sullivan, where they would only film him from the waist up because of his scandalously suggestive hip movements.
I’m as old as videotape, which made its debut in 1956, though I like to hope I’m not quite as useless as that invention has become. It was also the year that Norma Jean Mortenson legally changed her name to Marilyn Monroe.
My favorite 1956 invention is the “Snooz Alarm” clock, which many of us still use today. 1956 was also the year that the Interstate Highway System was created by then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower. Sadly, I blame the Interstate Highway System for the decline of local America, but that’s another topic entirely.
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus held its last “big tent” circus in 1956. After that, the company played smaller arenas. And thanks to a joint act of Congress, the term “In God We Trust” became the national motto that year.
The S.S. Andrea Doria sank in the Atlantic in 1956, and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis performed their last comedy show as a duo. And at International Business Machines, the hard disk drive was invented.
In a hint of things to some, City Lights Books published Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl and Other Poems.” Times were about to change fairly radically.
I’m actually glad I don’t remember the Fifties. My lasting memories begin with the Sixties, a much more interesting time. Though I do have to say I like some of the cars from 1956, and I wish I had been at that last performance of the circus.
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This article was last modified on May 15, 2023
This article was first published on May 6, 2011
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