1958 Context: News, Entertainment, Lifestyle

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News

California's Wham-O Toys plastic Hula Hoop becomes a fad in 1958 with over 100 million sold in two years.

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News

The US vs USSR "Space Race" gets underway as the US launches it's first communications satellite and forms NASA.

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News

The nuclear submarine USS Nautilus sales under the North Pole.

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Television

ABC launches The Donna Reed Show with veteran film actress Reed playing middle class housewife Donna Stone, married to a doctor with two children. The series runs through 1966.

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News

The Microchip is invented by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductors, enabling the development of modern computers.

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News

Nikita Khrushchev becomes the Premier of the Soviet Union.

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News

Pele leads Brazil to their first World Cup Championship in 1958.

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Movies

The film version of the Broadway musical South Pacific is a hit.

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Movies

Sci Fi/Horror movie The Blob starring Steve McQueen in an early role.

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Movies

James Stewart and Kim Novak star in the 1958 film Vertigo, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

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Movies

Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor star in the 1958 film version of the Tennessee Williams play Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.

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Television

British director Alfred Hitchcock launches his dramatic anthology series on CBS. Hitchcock hosts and produces. The show runs until 1965.

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Lifestyle

An airport lobby showing mid century modern design influences.

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Lifestyle

Throughout the 50's and into the 60's architecture and home furnishings are modernized with sleek lines and a new style that is later termed the Mid Century Modern design movement.

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