The World of September 1950

June at the beach.

Skipping ahead to the slightly cooler month of September 1950, we begin building to a big event by first setting the scene.  This was the world that June and Art were living in:

Harry Truman was President.

The Korean War continued to rage on.  September 1950 was the month that U.S. Marines landed at Inchon and and recaptured Seoul after two weeks of hard fighting.  The draft was reactivated this month.

General George Marshall was sworn in as Secretary of Defense.

Joe DiMaggio was the first player to hit three home runs in a game at Griffith Stadium.

Mort Walker’s “Beetle Bailey” comic strip debuted.

The following people made the cover of Time:  Strategic Air Commander Lt. General Curtis LeMay, Admiral Arthur Radford, Berlin’s Mayor Ernest Reuter, and General O.P. Smith.

The following movies were popular in the theaters:  Summer Stock with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, The Black Rose with Tyrone Power, Tea for Two with Doris Day and Gordon MacRae, The Fuller Brush Girl with Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert, My Blue Heaven with Betty Grable and Dan Dailey, and Mister 880 with Burt Lancaster and Edmund Gwenn.

The most popular show on television was Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle on Tuesdays at 8, the second most popular was the Philco Television Playhouse on Sundays at 9, and the third was Fireside Theater on Tuesdays at 9 (doubtless benefiting from its position following Milton Berle).

And “Goodnight, Irene,” performed by The Weavers, was unavoidable on the radio that month.

(For Monday – June and Art romance in pictures.)

© 2011 Lee Price