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Born in 1956? Here's the world you arrived into

In 1956, "Heartbreak Hotel" topped the charts, The Ten Commandments packed theaters, a stamp cost 3¢, the average home went for about $10,100.

What things cost in 1956

A $0.30 gallon of gas in 1956 has the buying power of roughly $3.45 in 2024 dollars, and the $0.59 movie ticket comes to about $6.80 today.

The biggest moments of 1956

• Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and drew one of the largest TV audiences in history.
• Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in a fairy-tale wedding watched around the world.
• President Eisenhower signed the act creating the Interstate Highway System.

• Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in World Series history on October 8, 1956.
• "In God We Trust" became the official motto of the United States in 1956.
• Floyd Patterson, just 21, became the youngest heavyweight boxing champion the sport had yet seen.

Toys, TV & trends of 1956

• Play-Doh arrived in stores in 1956, originally sold in just one color: off-white.
• The dice game Yahtzee was introduced and became a family game-night favorite.
• Teenagers packed record stores for Elvis singles and swooned over his every TV appearance.

• Uncle Milton's Ant Farm turned a thin plastic sandwich of sand and ants into one of the decade's quirkiest toys.
• The Price Is Right began in 1956, with host Bill Cullen inviting contestants to bid on glittering prizes.
• Elvis merchandise — lipstick, charm bracelets, even sneakers — rang up an estimated $22 million in sales in 1956.

The music scene

Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes" became the first record to climb the pop, country, and R&B charts all at once. Thirteen-year-old Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers charmed the nation with "Why Do Fools Fall in Love." And on December 4, Elvis dropped by Sun Studio while Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash happened to be around — the impromptu jam session was captured on tape and is remembered as the Million Dollar Quartet.

At the movies

Around the World in 80 Days took home Best Picture with its globe-trotting parade of cameo stars. Elvis made his movie debut that November in Love Me Tender, and screaming fans nearly drowned out the dialogue. Meanwhile, Hollywood and television called a truce of sorts: The Wizard of Oz aired on TV for the first time in November 1956, beginning a beloved annual tradition.

Cartoons kids loved

• The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show
• Mighty Mouse Playhouse
• Popeye cartoons arriving on television

In 1956 the floodgates opened: distributors sold huge libraries of vintage theatrical cartoons to television, and Popeye reruns became an after-school sensation almost overnight. CBS even bought the Terrytoons studio outright. Kids could suddenly watch cartoons every single day — something unimaginable only a few years earlier.

The world in 1956

• World population: about 2.8 billion
• U.S. President: Dwight D. Eisenhower
• The first transatlantic telephone cable, TAT-1, began carrying calls in September 1956.

• The Suez Crisis erupted in the fall of 1956 after Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal.
• Hungarians rose up against Soviet rule in October 1956 before the revolt was crushed by Soviet tanks.
• The Melbourne Games were the first Olympics ever held in the Southern Hemisphere.

1956 birthday questions

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Anyone born in 1956 turns 70 this year — see 70th birthday gift ideas.

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