The Long and Quiet Road

The Natural Rubber Bureau Research Laboratory was a facility that conducted experiments in the 1950s to prove the viability of rubberized roads by embedding rubber in asphalt across the U.S. and Canada. The findings were published in the report “Stretching Highway Dollars with Rubber Roads” (1952). These studies demonstrated that such roads were longer-lasting, safer, slower to freeze, and less brittle below freezing than ordinary asphalt. The pavement provided better skid resistance and produced fewer cracks when compared to concrete, reducing maintenance costs for highway departments. 

The tests were part of a broader historical timeline of mixing rubber and asphalt dating back to the 1920s and earlier experiments in the Netherlands, confirming similar benefits. By 1954, the Bureau of Public Roads had also published laboratory studies evaluating various rubber powders, including those from scrap tires, styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), and natural rubber, further validating the technology. 

Today, Rubberized Asphalt Concrete (RAC) is a noise-reducing pavement material that consists of regular asphalt concrete mixed with rubber made from recycled tires. It is currently used in many regions, though its use is not universal across America. While historically concentrated in warmer states like Arizona, California, Florida, Texas, and a couple of southeastern states, testing is expanding into northern regions of Washington, Colorado, and Missouri, with recent projects demonstrating improved durability and a quieter driving experience.

Note: Porous Elastic Road Surfaces are a type of low-noise pavement composed primarily of rubber granules, often from scrap tires, and mineral aggregates bound together with polyurethane resin rather than traditional asphalt. This composition creates a highly porous and elastic material that is even quieter, yet it faces challenges regarding durability and bonding.

Television Ratings: 1950s Part 4

A TOP 10 Nielsen ratings that charts changes over two seasons for selected popular shows of the 1950s. Check out my TOP 20 ratings charts (Parts 1-6) for the 1960s and (Parts 1-5) for the 1970s.

Wrapping up the 1950s, Westerns dominated the top 10 spots with the top three unwavering. Have Gun, Will Travel finished its run in top form. Wanted: Dead or Alive made its only appearance in its next-to-last season. The Danny Thomas Show remained solid among all the dusty gunplay, while the popular Father Knows Best finished its run with its highest rating.

Television Ratings: 1950s Part 3

A TOP 10 Nielsen ratings that charts changes over two seasons for selected popular shows of the 1950s. Check out my TOP 20 ratings charts (Parts 1-6) for the 1960s and (Parts 1-5) for the 1970s.

1956-58: I Love Lucy ended its run in the top spot, allowing Gunsmoke to shoot to number one. Two other long-running Westerns, Have Gun, Will Travel and The Life and Times of Wyatt Earp, were solid at mid-pack starting in 1957. I've Got A Secret was on an upward trajectory, offering the occasional format twists featuring host Garry Moore. December Bride remained solid until the end.

Television Ratings: 1950s Part 2

A TOP 10 Nielsen ratings that charts changes over two seasons for selected popular shows of the 1950s. Check out my TOP 20 ratings charts (Parts 1-6) for the 1960s and (Parts 1-5) for the 1970s.

1954-56: Some famous shows easily finished out the decade and beyond. I Love Lucy held the top spot, and its lead helped December Bride. Both The Jackie Gleason Show and Dragnet never returned to this ratings level. 

Television Ratings: 1950s Part 1

A TOP 10 Nielsen ratings that charts changes over two seasons for selected popular shows of the 1950s. Check out my TOP 20 ratings charts (Parts 1-6) for the 1960s and (Parts 1-5) for the 1970s.

1952-54: A few shows picked up steam in homes across America. I Love Lucy reigns as number one, and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts makes a strong showing. While still enjoying radio success, Dragnet remains in top form since its debut in 1951, as has You Bet Your Life. The Colgate Comedy Hour finished its fifth of six seasons in respectable form.

Models Citizens

The original Lionel Corporation was founded in 1900 by Joshua Lionel Cowen and Harry C. Grant in New York City. Lionel Corporation was an American toy manufacturer that operated for more than 120 years. Lionel specialized in various products throughout its existence. Toy trains and model railroads were its main claim to fame. During its peak years in the 1950s, the company sold $25 million worth of trains per year. The Lionel Corporation was permanently derailed in 1993. However, model trains are still in production as Lionel, LLC.

Lionel made its trains larger than those of its competitors, making them appear a better value. Their earliest trains ran on two-rail tracks with the rails 2-7⁄8 inches apart. In 1906, Lionel began offering a three-rail track that simplified the wiring of reverse loops and accessories. Its outer rails were 2-1⁄8 inches apart, which did not match any of the existing standards that other manufacturers had been using since 1891. Lionel marketed the non-standard track as "The Standard of the World," and soon adopted the name in catalogs as Standard Gauge. By 1915, Lionel got on the right track with most of its U.S. competitors by adopting the smaller "O gauge" standard for its budget-level trains. Cowen convinced department stores to incorporate his toy trains in their Christmas displays, linking toy trains to the holiday, and making them popular Christmas presents. 

Supermarket Drive-In

Fred McNabb illustrated an idealistic series of futuristic concepts for the New Departure Manufacturing Company, founded in Bristol, Connecticut by innovators Albert and Edward Rockwell in 1901. By the way, Albert was also the founder of the Yellow Taxicab Company of New York. New Departure later became a division of General Motors. 

The above 1956 illustration seems to have numerous details that are mystifying, at the very least, like the conveyor belt for sending out groceries on a rainy day. I cannot imagine this concept succeeding east of the Rocky Mountains in the winter. Plus loading the preferred brands one is there to purchase. They did seem to envision the drivers' ability to open the trunk from inside the 1959 models, however. Not being able to comprehend there will be more than seven shoppers at a time is a huge oversight. Let alone the idling cars behind as if at a McDonald's drive-up window. Optimistically, perhaps these were the "express lanes" when shopping for no more than twenty items. One had to shop inside the store for a full shopping experience. Without ever knowing it, it seems the bazaar illustration was heading in the right direction regarding "remote" buying. What McNabb and New Departure could not have possibly envisioned was the Internet. Or shutting down the economy in 2020. Shopping without ever meeting any live person has become common for those who experience "life" via a Smartphone.

See McNabb's full-page ads here.

John Hanley, Scale Model

Jo-Han was a manufacturer of plastic, scale model promotional cars and kits founded in 1947 by tool and die maker John Hanley (Jo-Han). Originally called Ideal Models, Hanley's first products were mid-1950s model aircraft and other promotional items including scale model kitchen sets and a training model of Chrysler's fluid drive transmission, resulting in a contract to produce models for Chrysler. Contracts with General Motors soon followed. American Motors Corporation was another common client, producing mainly 1/25 scale promo models in the 1960s. The decades of the Fifties and Sixties are considered the golden age for promotional models and kits. Most were known as "annuals" by hobbyists and followed the bigger business of promos for the new cars introduced at the beginning of each model year. Some models featured friction "motors" which could be reversed to wind up the friction gear to self-propel the models. Other companies that made promos for the automakers included Revell, Monogram, Lindberg, and MPC. Most of the original Jo-Han molds were scrapped or stolen over time as no kits have been produced in over twenty years. The last Jo-Han promotional model made was in 1979.

Let The Sparks Fly

 

The trackless trolley coach is an electric vehicle, a development of streetcar technology. They gained more acceptance by the late 1930s in large metropolitan cities across North America and became a common sight by the 1950s, with some soldiering on well into the 1960s.

By using much of the existing electrical propulsion system and distribution infrastructure already in place for streetcars, it was a cost-effective expansion of the transit system, requiring no investment in rails. Each coach appeared as the traditional rubber-tired transit bus, thus needing a second overhead wire as an electrical ground. Trackless coaches drew their electricity by utilizing the bus's two trolley poles (power collectors) attached to overhead wires. At certain points along the route, one could hear the cracking of sparks as the trolly poles came in contact when crossing parallel overhead lines or when making turns. 

Note: Chicago's trackless coach service (1964 image above) ended in 1973, co-existing with engine-powered buses that could shuttle passengers beyond the inner city. A few European cities still use this system, with Boston being the only US city as of early 2022.

Bud Meets Randy

 

Bud Boetticher (1916-2001) was an American film director who can be held in high esteem simply for six low-budget westerns, Seven Men from Now, The Tall T, Decision at Sundown, Buchanan Rides Alone, Ride Lonesome, and Comanche Station. He achieved his major breakthrough when he teamed up with actor Randolph Scott and screenwriter Burt Kennedy to make the first film listed above in 1956. Spanning a four-year partnership, all six films are crafted with care and precision, despite some factual inaccuracies. The cinematography offers tight places within the Alabama Hills, juxtaposed to wide grand vistas, and pastoral surprises. He would stop panning and hold the camera for a moment, taking in the natural beauty near Lone Pine, California.  

These bare-bones westerns made good use of Randolph Scott as a quiet, somewhat alienated hero on a journey through a hostile landscape, crossing paths with self-serving villains. His graceful, economic physicality or his calm use of his voice is consistently compelling. Always playing a character of few words, he out-Coopered Gary Cooper. Scott's screen presence glues these films together and one cannot help but like these charming and self-assured roles.

A Reel Character

 

George Winslow (George Karl Wentzlaff 1946-2015) was an American child actor of the 1950s, noted for his deadpan expression and slow, monotone delivery, belying his young age. Though hard to justify, he was nevertheless nicknamed "Foghorn." The Los Angeles native broke into the entertainment business on Art Linkletter's radio program, People are Funny. When asked his name the youngster said: "George Wentzlaff, but I'd rather be Casey Jones." Cary Grant heard the show and was impressed, which led to Room For One More (1952) and more famously as the leader of young Indians giving Hugh Marlowe a mohawk scalping in Monkey Business the same year, also with Grant. He was the scene-stealer opposite Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). With brilliant Howard Hawks comedic casting, Wentzlaff played Henry Spofford III, Monroe's young admirer. His lines about her possessing a "certain animal magnetism" or confronting her with, "Are you a burglar?" are the most charming moments in the film. He had another fine turn in the comedy Mister Scoutmaster (1953), where he traded barbs with Clifton Webb's character. After fifteen acting credits, "Foghorn" retired from show business in 1958 at age 12. He finished school and served in the Navy during the Vietnam War.

A Noted Film Composer

 

Dimitri Tiomkin (1894-1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. After his move to Hollywood, he became best known for his scores for Western films, including Duel in the Sun, Red River, High Noon, The Big Sky, 55 Days at Peking, and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. He could not be pigeon-holed into one style. From sweet melodies to his pounding "rolling thunder" timpanis, his music enhanced a film. It all worked well for contemporary dramas or science fiction such as Dillinger, Champion, D.O.A., The Thing from Another World, Giant, and Dial M for Murder.  

Tiomkin received 22 Academy Award nominations and won four Oscars, three for Best Original Score for High Noon, The High and the Mighty, and The Old Man and the Sea, and one for Best Original Song for "The Ballad of High Noon" from the former film. During the 1950s Tiomkin was the highest-paid film composer, composing nearly a picture each month. Between 1948 and 1958, his "golden decade," he composed 57 film scores. 

Note: Tiomkin composed for television as well, most famously for his memorable theme song for Rawhide. Initially he was not interested in the television medium. The now-famous legend has it that when the producer told him it would star Eric Fleming, Tiomkin was all-in. His broken English translating only heard, Errol Flynn. He said, "Oh, for Mr. Fleen I will do it!"

The Illustrator As Salesman

 

Bernd Reuters (1901-58) was a German illustrator who created stylish Volkswagen promos that stressed streamlined functionality over flourish in the mid-50s. With the rise of Volkswagen in the late 1940s, Reuters began a five or six-year run of producing striking, distinctive brochure images for the firm, some of which continued to be used following his death from a heart attack. His exaggerated upscale impressions were dreamy and perhaps made one drive to a showroom as soon as possible. More illustrations at: Bernd Reuters

The Sweet Smell of Success

 

As a rallying point for the troops in World War II, enlisted men sheared their hair to the scalp, called crew cuts. This barbering trend made it possible for nearly anyone to cut hair and display a barber pole. Around 1954 the crew cut became a phenomenon called the flat top haircut. The style left about an inch of hair sticking straight up. It took Butch Wax to make it so. A thick, sticky paste that kept the hair on the vertical. The sweet-smelling gel came in both jars and tins. Long winter walks to school revealed, however, Butch Wax could freeze solid, creating a small table of sorts. During class time, the thaw might make the student near you dream of their county fair's cotton candy.

The legend began in the 1920s in the basement of Benjamin Clarke, an amateur scientist and barber from Kansas City, Missouri. He created the Lucky Tiger Manufacturing Company and soon a new hair tonic called, “Lucky Tiger Tonic.” Lucky Tiger became the most popular brand of men’s grooming and barbershop products in America. Today their headquarters are in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After four lads from Liverpool performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, hairstyles started a new phase which left Butch Wax out in the cold.