I’m, Stuffed
Phone Booth Stuffing began in 1959 when twenty-five students at the YMCA in Durban, South Africa managed to cram inside a standard phonebooth, setting a world record. By the spring of that year, young people from all over the United States were competing to fit inside phone booths, cars, outhouses, and whatever else they could stuff themselves into.
Life in Plastic, It s, Fantastic
In the ‘50s most dolls were representations of children and Ruth Handler sought to change that. After seeing her daughter, Barbara, assign adult roles to her dolls, Ruth suggested to her husband, a co-founder of Mattel, that the company should make a grownup doll. Ruth designed a prototype and at the American International Toy Fair in 1959, Barbie made her debut.
Pop Shop
Hand-crafted sodas reached the height of popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. Despite this, the decline of the drugstore soda fountain began in the ‘50s when self-serve machines and canned drinks became easily available and more affordable than paying a “soda jerk” for their labor.
Tribal Tradition, International Craze
Many aspects of United States culture can be traced back to Native Americans, and the Hula Hoop craze of the 1950s is no exception. In 1957 Wham-O developed a plastic hoop similar to the ones used by Native Americans in their performance of the Hoop Dance. In this dance, a single dancer would manipulate a dozen or more hoops, telling a story.
Non-Newtonian Toy
Originally created as a potential rubber substitute during World War II, Silly Putty was later marketed as a children’s toy in the 1950s with the first commercial for the product airing during the Howdy Doody Show. Silly Putty’s popularity over the years has largely been a result of its unusual physical properties; because it is made with a non-Newtonian liquid it can act as a viscous liquid or elastic solid, allowing it to bounce, snap, and copy ink from newspaper.
Movie Magic
The “golden era” of 3D movies began in 1952 with an adventure film titled Bwana Devil. Unlike the red-green (or red-blue) lenses of the past, 3D glasses in the 1950s were made with Polaroid glass that was nearly clear and did not distort the film. Using this new technology, Bwana Devil was advertised with the tagline: The Miracle of the Age!!! A LION in your lap! A LOVER in your arms!