Golden Age of Television 1

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Work CitedHo

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Few shows but watching TV was very popularTV during the 1950’s made people happy and got their

minds off of warBetween 1949 and 1969, the number of households in

the U.S. with one TV rose from less than a million to 44 million

Advertisements had a huge impact The amount advertisers paid TV stations and the

networks rose from $58 million to $1.5 billionProductions and trends increased

For example: Smoking tastes good=more people smoked=more cigarettes produced

Kids (ages 10-16) watched six hours of television a dayWatching TV seemed to be more important than

homework Kids wrote fifty thousand fan letters a week

Impact of Television

Click on the picture for more information

Common national viewing of popular TV shows, news and sports events meant that there was a shared national experience

The visual and auditory experience together meant that regional cultural differences were ironed out A more generalized "American" culture co-opted

regional subcultures Television familiarized rural residents with other

regions making migration even more appealingMore people traveled

1952 first time news was able to broadcast Republican and Democratic conventions in PhiladelphiaDwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson were

running for President against each other

Impact of TelevisionHom

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Click on the picture for a video about the impact of advertisements

Starred Lucille Ball, Desi Arraz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley

Most watched show in the U.STwenty-nine million viewers watched every week

Syndicated in dozens of languages and shown world wide

Won five Emmy AwardsToday it is second on TV Guides Top 50 greatest

showsFirst show to show women power

Lucy was not the stereotypical womanShowed that males/females were equal

I Love Lucy

Click on Lucy for more fun facts

Lucy’s rebellions against the confinements of domestic life for women are meant to expose the restrictions placed on women in a male-dominated society

Show was an inspiration It rescued a rocky marriage, bringing forth an

emotionally renewed and financially triumphant familyI Love Lucy reflected Lucille Ball and Desi Araz’s

own family life in the funhouse mirror of a sitcomEisenhower's presidential inauguration in January

1953= 29 million viewers When Lucy gave birth to Little Ricky in an episode=

44 million viewers

I Love LucyHom

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Click the picture for a video on the stereotypical woman

Starred George ReevesBased on popular 1938 comic bookNot as popular as other shows during its time

but still enjoyedCredited for visual effects for advance television

of its timeKellog’s sponsored the showStill popular today, seen as “Superman: The

Movie”Show symbolized strength and power

During this time era America was looking for strength and power

The Adventures of Superman

Home

Click Superman to see “The Adventures of Superman”

Became best-known motion picture producer in the world Known for films, animations, theme parks and producer Received 59 Academy Awards, 26 Oscars, and 7 Emmy Awards Popular movies in the 1950’s:

Treasure Island Old Yeller 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Opened “Disneyland” in 1955 Disney was a founding member of the anti-communist Motion Picture Alliance Produced educational films on space program NASA

“Man in Space” “Man and the Moon” “Mars and Beyond”

Disney died of lung cancer on December 15th, 1966 Disney's animation and motion picture studios and theme parks have become a

multi billion dollar company He owns eleven theme parks, five vacation resorts, thirty-nine hotels, two water

parks, eight motion picture studios, eleven cable television networks, six record labels, and even one terrestrial television network

Walt Disney

Click on both Mickey and Walt to learn more

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Lassie stories have moved across books, film, television, comic books, and other forms of popular culture

Production increased due to the increase of merchandise to promote the show

The story focuses around the concerns of a family struggling to survive as a unit during the depression

Lassie's original owner is forced to sell his dog so his family can cope with its desperate economic situation

The story became a lesson about the importance of interdependence during hard times

Lassie increasingly became a mythic picture of principles such as courage, faithfulness, and determination in front of hardship

The ever-maternal dog became a social facilitator, bringing together romantic couples or helping the lot of widows and orphans

In 1954 Lassie made her television debut in a series which placed her on the American family farm

Lassie

Lassie series became the story of a boy and his dog Helping to shape our understanding of American boyhood during

that periodThe series' rural setting offered a conception of national culture

at a time when most Americans had left the farm for the city or suburbia

Parents were worried the show was teaching kids bad manners Lassie's cliff-hanger plots where children were placed in jeopardy

was seen as too intense for many smaller children Timmy's actions were said to encourage children to disobey their

parents and to wander off on their ownAs actor, Jon Provost, got to old to play Timmy, Lassie shifted

into the hands of a series of park rangers The focus of the programming was on Lassie and her service as a

rescue dog in wilderness areas After this the series started to decline

Lassie became an Emmy Award winning show and the most famous canine of the time

LassieHom

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Click the picture to see Lassie