Journey through Christmases Past - Christmas 1955

 

Welcome to our newest feature, Journey through Christmases Past. This series is a nostalgic celebration of the holidays we all remember...

• The history and traditions of the holiday.
• The décor that filled our homes.
• The toys that defined each decade.
• The television and movie shows that brightened the season.
• The outfits we adored (and the ones we definitely didn’t).

Along the way, I’ll sprinkle in a few of my own Christmas memories. So settle in with a cup of your favorite hot beverage and join me on a journey through Christmases past.

Happy Sunday and happy first day of November! How did you all handle falling back an hour? Sure beats springing forward for me. 

There are only 53 days until Christmas. Does anyone have their tree up yet? We don't here, but I changed the batteries in the lanterns, tabletop birch trees, and LED candles so that we have more light during the darker hours. 

Let's journey back to 1955 to a world ready to embrace possibilities. Now, more than a decade after World War II ended, advances in science changed how people lived. Popular music found a new beat that DJ Alan Freed called Rock and Roll, and television transformed how Americans entertained themselves and viewed the world.

Early in the year, Marian Anderson became the first Black American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera. On January 19, President Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first American president to hold a televised press conference, though it was pre-recorded.

Following her work with DNA, Dr. Rosalind Franklin continued her work studying viruses and genetics. By the mid-1950s, she was a sought-after speaker at scientific conferences across the States and Europe. Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine, which was developed two years prior, was licensed and became publicly available. 

Photo credit: National Museum of American History

The debut appearance of Jim Henson's Kermit the Frog on the show Sam and Friends took place in the spring, and a month later, America's game show craze kicked off with The $64,000 Question. The opening of Disneyland in Anaheim, California, was televised that July. By September, Disneyland will have welcomed its one-millionth visitor. The United States approved the Vanguard Project in September as its submission to the International Geophysical Year program. And at the end of August, the first Guinness Book of World Records is published. 

Commercial television arrived in the United Kingdom, and television ownership was growing across Canada. Australia, despite many obstacles, spent 1955 preparing for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and would welcome national television that same year. Two of my favorite childhood shows, Captain Kangaroo and The Mickey Mouse Club, debuted in 1955. 

Before the end of the year, scientists demonstrated that humans have 46 chromosomes, and Dorothy Hodgkin published her determination of the 3D structure of Vitamin B12. Another invention that might sound familiar came in 1955: the Green Bean Casserole was created by Dorcas Reilly in the Campbell's Home Economics Department at their New Jersey headquarters. 

The year 1955 also saw Rock and Roll records climbing the charts from artists like Bill Haley & His Comets, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Fats Domino. And for all you fans of tracking Santa with NORAD every December, you will be happy to know 1955 can lay claim to the birth of this annual tradition. 

And in one of the most defining moments of the year, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

As Christmas neared, Queen Elizabeth II broadcast her Christmas message from Sandringham, focusing on post-war unity and "Goodwill toward men." President Eisenhower told the world that this Christmas was “brighter in its background and in its promise than any we have known in recent years.” Pope Pius XII said in his annual radio message to the world that, "Today's cultured, powerful, and dynamic humanity perhaps has a greater claim to earthly happiness in security and peace; but it will not be able to transform this happiness into reality until it incorporates into its calculations, plans, and discussions the highest and most decisive factor: God and his Christ." 

Families gathered beneath the glow of Christmas lights to celebrate the season and look ahead with hope. The world was focused on family, faith, and recovery. Looking back, 1955 was a year marked by progress and possibilities. Medical breakthroughs were saving lives, television was shrinking distances, and scientific discoveries were expanding horizons. As families gathered to celebrate Christmas that year, they did so with a renewed confidence that bright days lay ahead.