The Escapists, of course, had God, TV and the law on their side. After five years of debate, the Supreme Court ruled in April of 1954, that the FCC’s proposal to ban giveaway quiz shows was illegal. The court’s decision was based on the definition of the word “lottery”. Game shows fell into that category and had been accused of violating the U.S. Criminal Gambling Act. The Court now decided that people were not investing “something of value” to play (and win) in this case, because game shows were a complete waste of time. The floodgates opened. The 1954-5 TV season brought us several exciting new quiz shows, such as “Break the Bank”, with bigger and better prizes.
The Tailgunner Joe Show had been such a downer that the public rejected most serious tubefare, and live, dramatic shows dropped like flies. Three new TV genres filled the void in 1954: 1) Variety Entertainment on shows such as “Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town”, 2) A new style of family sit-com where “Father Knows Best” (no more bumbling authority figures), and 3) (and most important) Primetime Shows aimed exclusively at Baby Boomers (“Disneyland”).
1955
The American Dream seemed to be making a recovery in 1955… a year to believe in miracles. The Brooklyn Dodgers finally won their first World Championship after more than half a century of frustration and cries of “Just wait ‘til next year”. Most of the new television shows fell into one of three categories: 1) Instant wealth 2) Law and Order and 3) Boomer shows.
Among the money shows were “Chance of a Lifetime”, “Treasure Hunt”, “A Dollar a Second”, and the biggest big money quiz show yet… “The $64,000 Question”. Materialism spilled over into TV drama as Michael Anthony began passing out checks for J. Beresford Tipton on “The Millionaire”.
1955 was also a time for stronger Western law enforcement shows. Marshal Dillon on “Gunsmoke” loomed as a huge and menacing authority figure, who often felt compelled to slap around a much smaller man to “knock some sense into his fool head”. A big brute picking on a little guy… that scene would have felt so wrong even a year earlier, but now it seemed natural and justified. The runt probably had it coming and the public (our parents) trusted Marshal Dillon completely. On the subject of big, it was hard to ignore another new oater that season: “Wyatt Earp”, and his gigantic pistol. Sigmund Freud would have loved the symbolism.
Baby Boomers warmly welcomed Disney’s “Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier”, and soon an estimated 100,000,000 raccoons were sacrificed for our small heads. The price of the fur shot up from 25 cents to $8.00 a pound. Disney also delivered “The Mickey Mouse Club” in 1955, and soon millions of kids donned rodent ears to watch the show. The secret leaked out… Walt Disney’s ultimate goal was to sell silly headwear to children.
Television at last noticed the vast Boomer Market, and immediately responded with “Captain Kangaroo”, “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon”, “The Adventures Robin Hood”, “The Adventures of Champion”, “Lassie”, “Rin Tin Tin”, etc.
Television commercials became big business by the mid-50’s, with four advertising agencies pulling in more than $100,000,000 a year each. Those figures doubled by 1960. Symbols were the name of the game… a good one brought in millions, eventually billions of dollars. The trick was to link a common, everyday, boring product with something exciting and of real value. Suddenly in 1955, for just a handful of pennies, a housewife could command a White Knight, who was “Stronger than dirt” to rescue her from the drudgery of cleaning, and hence, the fair damsel could live happily ever after. “And, what can we do for you guys? Do you want to look more macho? Invest your coins in a pack of our cigarettes and you will be master of all you survey (including chicks) under wide-open skies… just like the Marlboro Man.” Sex and convenience became big sellers in 1955 when Playboy and McDonalds began.
Romance and sexual innuendo didn’t work on Boomer kids, so Madison Ave invented the Jolly Green Giant for us. The big, strong, friendly guy even “Ho-ho-ho”-ed like Santa. He symbolized the dollar bill to our parents, and as the Big Green Guy hinted that corporate vegetables are healthier than ones from the garden.
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While the majority of the population blocked McCarthyism from their memory, another small, but growing segment (mostly War Baby teens) landed on the other side of the fence. They felt a strong urge towards rebellion, but weren’t sure why or what or who to rebel against. In The Wild One (1954), a girl asked Hell’s Angelish, Marlon Brando, “What are you rebelling against?” He answered, “Whatta ya got?” That caught the ears of American teens and the movie industry. The following year, teens flocked to see James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and as the “bad” son in East of Eden. War Babies entered into an intense, but brief affair with rebellious cinema. A decade later, Boomers fell in love.