while sam phillips elvis presley scotty moore and bill black were making history in a small recording studio in memphis. life was going on as usual in america. 1954 was unfolding and these are some of the events that were getting a lot of attention. all the detroit car makers had a slump except oldsmobile. nash bought out hudson. studebaker merged with packard. 15 of the 18 auto makers announced higher engine outputs. gm adopted the panoramic windshield. packard introduced tubeless tires. chrysler but a turbine engine into a plymouth belvedere. a car dealer in atlanta hired female car salesperson saying the women improved showroom morale. the 1953 recession ended unemployment was 5.5. gasoline was .29 cents a gallon. gm president harlowe curtice made $637,233.00 for 1954. soon that amount of money would be nothing to a young man down in memphis. liberace was winning women’s hearts all over america with his piano. wonder how liberace would stand up being on stage with piano wonder boy j.l. lewis???? the frozen tv dinner was in front the tv eaten by thousands at the evening meal. yep, the frozen tv dinner was a product of 1954. willie mays came home from the army and batted with a .345 average for the 1954 baseball season with the new york gaints. bill vukovich won the indy 500. senator joe mccarthy was hunting communists. englishman rodger bannister ran a mile in 3.58.8 seconds setting a world record. boeing tested the 707 commerical jet with test pilot tex johnson giving the beast a barrel roll. the nautilus the first nuclear submarine was commisioned. children got vaccinated for polio. millions of young men begin to sport duck tail haircuts after seeing marlon brando portray the rebellious johnny in the wild one. ok! ok! i know we all thought elvis started the duck tail haircut. well he saw the movie too. alan freed begin to play rock n roll at a radio station in cleveland, ohio to the displeasure of millions and millions of parents who didn’t understand this new outrageous form of musical expression. shortly elvis would pour gasoline on this erupting volcano of music insanity that would have southern jack leg preachers screaming from the pulpit for his scalp along with breaking his records by the thousands – they never did understand that the more records they bought to break, the record stores bought more to sell. it was a losing battle that goes on till this very day and elvis has been dead, as all of us know for over 28 years. the new york gaints won the world series four-games-to-one over the cleveland indians with the “say hey” kid, willie mays, making his famous back handed catch that vic wertz sent flying 460 feet deep into the outer reaches of the polo grounds. willie, running backward facing the wall made an impossible over the shoulder catch, robbing vic wertz of a sure game winning home run. had any other player in the history of baseball been playing center field for the new york gaints that september day in 1954, the cleveland indians would have won the game and possibly the world series. later elvis would pull off impossible feats to equal those of willie mays. stan “the man” musial hit 5 home runs in a double header aganist the new york gaints. two were off johnny antonelli who would go on to win 27 games in 1954, one off jim hearn and two off future hall of famer hoyt wilhelm. joe dimaggio would marry marilyn monroe, but it wouldn’t last. arnold palmer would win the u.s. amateur golf championship at the country culb of detroit beating robert sweeny. big movies in 1954 were: the high and the mighty starring john wayne; river of no return, marilyn monroe, robert mitchum; the caine mutiny, with humphrey bogart and van johnson. the most popular tv shows were: i love lucy, dragnet, the milton berle show, this is your life, and the life of riely. some of the top pop songs were: little things mean a lot, kitty kallen; sh-boom,the crew cuts; answer me my love, nat king cole; the happy wanderer, frank weir; hernando’s hideaway, archie bleyer; young at heart, frank sinatra. willie mays, hoyt wilhelm, stan musial and arnold palmer are all in their respective hall of fame. along with many other greats that made 1954 a special year. no one could have known it, no one, could have. snowballs were being tossed around, and that was good because there was snow enough for everyone. however, an avalanche was slowly building on top of the mountains, and it would build momentum to the point that when it came crashing down it would sweep everthing away in it’s path … and only one person would be left standing and that person would set a trend that no one had seen since alexander graham bell invented the telephone. “elvis aaron presley had arrived.”

~ Widmarc Clark