The Curtain That Never Closes

The more commonly used term for an air door in North America is "air curtain." The concept may seem like a marvel of the modern age, where a vertical waterfall of air separates two distinct environments from one another with great precision. But this technology dates back to 1904. Theophilus Van Kannel received a U.S. patent for "Means for Excluding Drafts from Open Doorways," which described an air curtain. However, the first air curtain installation in the United States was not installed until twelve years after the patent was issued. Erling Berner brought advanced European air curtain technology to the United States in 1956 and formed Berner Industries, which later became Berner International.

Air curtains are commonly used where doors are required to stay open for operational purposes, such as at loading docks and vehicle entrances. Cold drafts can be avoided by mixing in warm air heated by the air door. They offer energy savings and increased personal comfort by maintaining interior temperatures and helping keep flying insects out by creating forceful turbulence. Modern air curtains are designed to perform their barrier function without hampering passage or creating obstructions that can lead to accidents.

Airflow through a door depends on wind forces, temperature and pressure differences. Air curtains and doors work best when the pressure differential between the inside and outside of the building is as close to neutral as possible. Negative pressures, extreme temperature differences, elevators nearby, or extreme humidity can reduce the effectiveness of air curtains.

Above is a 1960 advertisement from the American Air Curtain Corporation.

Kutol-Dough

Kutol was founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 1912 and originally sold powdered hand cleaner and a few other cleaning products. Kutol was floundering during the next decade. Saving the company from failure, Cleo McVicker bought Kuto in 1927 and made it profitable. He then purchased the company from Precision Metal Workers, owners of Kutol, and worked with Kroger to manufacture the largest seller of wallpaper cleaner "putty" in the world. But time waits for no one. By the 1950s, the days of cleaning sooty build-up from walls came to an end. The coal-burning furnaces were being replaced by cleaner natural gas or electricity. 

As the saying goes, "It's not what you know but who you know." McVicker's sister-in-law, Kay Zufall, tested the nontoxic material for modeling projects on her kindergarten students and they loved molding it into all kinds of shapes. Zufall also suggested the Play-Doh name. The original odor might best be described as the comforting smell of vanilla wheat dough. The McVickers formed the Rainbow Crafts Company to make  Play-Doh Modeling Compound in 1956. After several buy-outs, Hasbro now owns the company. Play-Doh has grown into a worldwide franchise generating a lot of dough for selling over 3 billion cans since becoming a child’s toy.

Big idea. No Sale.

Bohn Aluminum and Brass Corporation, Detroit, Michigan, were known for their futurism illustrations. One of their least bazaar concepts was a future commuter train. Its basic design came to reality in 1956 as the experimental Aerotrain, General Motors' two highly styled train sets. Their automotive designs were the inspiration and if one looks closely at Bohn's version, they may spot port holes (or not) that were closely associated with GM's Buick division. GM decided to use their city bus shells as coaches to save weight and cost. The lightweight coaches gave an unsettling ride for high-speed rail travel. Despite testing with major railroads, only the Rock Island Railroad bought them for use only in commuter service.

More on the Aerotrain here.

Infuriating Infrastructure

The Interstate Highway System, officially known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, was so named because the President signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. Its intent was to make travel safer with efficient routes, eliminate traffic jams, and speedy, safe transcontinental travel. Idealistic ideas for mid-century travel. The all-freeway system was designed with nationally unified standards for construction and signage. The money for the Interstate System was handled in a Highway Trust Fund that paid for 90 percent of highway construction costs with the states required to pay the remaining 10 percent. The eventual payments, however, were through higher taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel. Something Eisenhower wanted to avoid.

Generally patterned after the Autobahn system in Germany, General Eisenhower noted their efficient use during World War II. The original intent was to speed around cities, not through them, for quick transportation of military equipment in the event of a conventional or nuclear war. Local politicians and individual state movers and shakers, however, began slicing through inner cities disregarding any historical significance in the name of progress. In this regard, this 1960 illustration predicted things fairly accurately. Never mind the Disney mono-rail.

Freezing Entrepreneur

Clarence Birdseye (1886-1956) is known for much more than frozen peas. He was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and naturalist, considered the founder of the modern frozen food industry. 

In 1922, Birdseye conducted fish-freezing experiments and eventually established his own company, Birdseye Seafoods Inc. His experiments found that rapid freezing, at lower temperatures, gives crystals less time to form and thus does less damage than being frozen slowly. His company went bankrupt in 1924 for lack of consumer interest. That same year, he developed an entirely new process for commercially viable quick-freezing: packing fish in cartons, then freezing the contents between two refrigerated surfaces under pressure. Birdseye created General Seafood Corporation to promote this method. By 1929, Birdseye sold his company and patents for $22 million to Goldman Sachs and the Postum Company, which eventually became General Foods Corporation which founded the Birds Eye Frozen Food Company. The "Birds Eye" name remains a leading frozen-food brand. In 1949, Birdseye won the Institute of Food Technologists' Babcock-Hart Award.

Learn more about this inventor here.

Stylish and Sporty for 1956

With the exception of the Chrysler New Yorker, Chrysler Corporation's most striking sedan for 1956 was from their Dodge division in the form of the Custom Royal Lancer 2-door hardtop or convertible. Not the clean front grille design of the New Yorker, but Dodge's more aggressive, detailed design works. It was a similar design carried over from 1955. Aside from Dodge's touted performance were the optional three-color paint combinations coupled with the one-year-only color accent design that began on the hood and continued to the fins and rear deck. It gave the model a sporty position in their lineup. Certainly out-classing the rather dowdy design from Plymouth's division. It all translated into style without being garish, something infamously in Chrysler's near future. 

Broadcast Pioneers

The Huntley-Brinkley Report was a trusted news source in the early television years. Having two anchors may have seemed a bad idea but the authoritative style of Chet Huntley, reporting from New York, and David Brinkley, from Washington, DC, proved to be a big success. The program ran fifteen minutes at its inception in 1956 but expanded to thirty minutes in 1963, following the lead of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. The signature theme music used for the broadcast was by Ludwig van Beethoven with an ending theme being his Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, second movement, of the Ninth Symphony. It was broadcast from a 1952 studio recording conducted by Arturo Toscanini of the NBC Symphony Orchestra.

NBC executives were growing dissatisfied with John Cameron Swayze and the Camel News Caravan. It began falling behind CBS's Douglas Edwards with the News. As a result, Swayze was out and Huntley-Brinkley was in. Huntley handled the bulk of the news most nights, with Brinkley specializing in Washington politics. They possessed a strong chemistry with viewers liking that the anchors talked to each other. In reality, aside from their sign-off, Huntley and Brinkley's only communication came when one anchor finished a story and handed off to the other by saying the other's name, a signal to an AT&T technician to switch the long-distance transmission lines from New York to Washington or vice versa.

By 1965, the program brought in more advertising revenue than any other on television. Critics considered Huntley to possess one of the best broadcast voices ever, and Brinkley's dry, often witty, news writing presented viewers with a contrast to the often sober output from CBS News. NBC producer, Reuven Frank, wrote their closing lines which were for decades one of the most parodied catchphrases on television: "Good night, Chet. Good night, David...and good night, for NBC News." With Huntley's announced retirement, their last news broadcast together was during the summer of 1970.

Note: The 1980s television sketch comedy, SCTV, gave Rick Moranis an opportunity to parody Brinkley with extraordinary comedic accuracy, visually and vocally.

In the image above, the NBC news crew prepares for an oval office interview with President Kennedy (seated) in September 1963. Standing, facing, is Brinkley. To his left in Huntley.

Three Crosses at The Little Big Horn

 

There were a number of entertaining westerns co-produced by Harry Joe Brown and Randolph Scott. The Tall T, Decision at Sundown, Ride Lonesome, and Comanche Station are among the best. Scott is perfectly cast in these low-budget westerns. Despite some historical inaccuracies, not the least of which is period-correct apparel, they are enjoyable thanks to Scott's screen presence. One of his weaker entries in their partnership, however, was 1956's, 7th Cavalry. 

With its slow pace and talky script, the film never reaches much of a climax and lacks believability on several fronts. Acknowledging Hollywood's common practice, Scott's character never historically existed though he is surrounded by historically accurate individuals. Glaring is that Scott's character was a close friend and supporter of George A. Custer. But without a doubt, the most unforgivable error is the three times the real Randolph Scott's mispronunciation of the 7th Calvary, not 7th Cavalry. The two words could not be more diametrically opposed. Obviously, no one was aware of the Biblical location or bothered to retake the scenes. 

Technology Not Quite Ready

 

On this day in 1956, the prototype Piasecki Helicopter Company YH-16A-PH Transporter twin-turboshaft, tandem-rotor helicopter was returning to Philadelphia from a test flight, when the aft rotor desynchronized and struck the forward rotor and the aircraft broke up in flight and was completely destroyed. Test pilots, Harold W. Peterson and George Callahan, were tragically killed. At the time, the YH-16 was the largest helicopter in the world. The United States Air Force intended it as a very long-range rescue helicopter, while the U.S. Army expected it to serve as a heavy lift cargo and troop transport. A second YH-16A was modified during manufacture but the program was canceled.

Record Breaker

 

On this date in 1956, the first prototype XB-58, serial number 55-0660, made its first flight at Fort Worth, Texas, with Convair’s Chief Test Pilot, Beryl Arthur Erickson. The B-58 Hustler served with the United States Air Force as a Mach 2 strategic bomber with the singular purpose of delivering an atomic weapon from a high altitude. It was crewed by a pilot, navigator/bombardier, and a defensive systems operator, located in individual cockpits. Due to advancements in ground-to-air and air-to-air missiles, a higher than average accident rate, and perhaps political decisions, the 116 aircraft only served from 1960 to 1970. Other than the museum samples, all were sent to Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, Arizona for long-term storage, though none were brought back to serve. Other than its beautifully aggressive design, the Hustler remains best known for setting numerous speed records.

Redwing Cherokee Was A Blast

 

On this day in 1956, an RB-52 Stratofortress assigned to the 4925th Test Group (Atomic), Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, took off from Eniwetok Island, the main island of Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The aircraft commander was Major David M. Critchlow, United States Air Force. Major Critchlow’s plane was named Barbara Grace in honor of his wife and his mother, respectively. This was the second test of the OPERATION REDWING series, code name REDWING CHEROKEE. Lack of accuracy over the target---missing Namu Island by 4 miles---the test was not a total loss as it generated information on its blast effect. It also demonstrated that the U.S. could air-deliver multimegaton thermonuclear weapons using B-52 jet bombers. The plane was transferred to the National Atomic Museum (now, the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History) at Kirtland in 1971, where it has been restored for display.

Toward The Unknown for Test Pilots

 

On this date in 1956, the first of two prototype Martin XB-51 three-engine attack bombers crashed on takeoff from El Paso International Airport which shared runways with Biggs AFB. The pilot, Major James O. Rudolph, survived the crash, although he died the next month from severe burns. Staff Sergeant Wilbur R. Savage, engineer, was killed instantly. 

This XB-51 had finished its flying sequences the previous month for the movie Toward The Unknown, 1956. Read my comments at FORGOTTEN CINEMA. “Gilbert XF-120” was the fictitious name given to the bomber in the film. Pieces of the wreckage were still marked as such. The second prototype had previously crashed at Muroc Army Air Field (now Edwards AFB) in 1952. The XB-51 was a serious competitor to Boeing's B-47, but the Air Force contract was awarded to Boeing. Pilots have said the XB-51 was nimble, innovative, and fast, but casting a pall on the whole program was the crashing of both planes.

Universal Space Command

Co-founded by Ralph Matthews and Karl Hassel in Chicago in 1918, Zenith was a manufacturer of radio and television receivers and other consumer electronics, headquartered in Glenview, Illinois. The company was a small producer of amateur radio equipment with the name "Zenith" coming from ZN'th, a contraction of its founders' ham radio call sign, 9ZN. Joined in 1921 by Eugene F. McDonald, the Zenith Radio Company was formally incorporated in 1923. For many years Zenith used the slogan "the quality goes in before the name goes on," a phrase lifted from the Geo. P. Bent Piano Company, also of Chicago. 

Today, Zenith Electronics, LLC is an American research and development company that develops digital rights management technologies. It is owned by the South Korean company LG Electronics, formerly known as GoldStar. Zenith may be best known for the first practical wireless television remote control, Space Command, from 1956. Then again, they were the first company to experiment with subscription television, known as Phonevision. When a preannounced broadcast was ready to begin, viewers would call an operator at Zenith who would send a signal with the telephone leads to unscramble the video. 

Landing Anything Anywhere

 

On this day in 1956, while carrying the U.S. Navy’s Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket, problems developed aboard both the research rocketplane and the “mothership.” The modified Boeing B-29-95-BW Superfortress had a runaway propeller on the Number 4 engine, outboard on the right wing. The propeller broke apart, slicing through the Number 3 engine, the fuselage, and striking the Number 2 engine.

Research test pilot John “Jack” MacKay, in the cockpit of the Skyrocket, had called “No drop!” because of problems with the rocketplane, but he was jettisoned so that the mothership could maintain flight and make an emergency landing. McKay dumped the Skyrocket’s propellants and glided to the lake bed. The Superfortress pilots, Stanley Butchart and Neil Armstrong landed the plane safely on the lake bed at Edwards AFB. Even more monumental, Armstrong would safely land on the Moon thirteen years later.

Rolling on The Deegan

 

By 1956, drive time from the New York Thruway to Manhattan was nearly cut in half by the eight-mile stretch of the Interstate Highway System, designated the Major Deegan Expressway after William Francis Deegan. Known officially as Interstate 87 by 1957, the highway now extends over 333 miles along the eastern edge of New York State becoming a major thoroughfare between New York City and Montreal. 

According to a Portland Cement Association advertisement, the expressway was a dramatic example of the benefits of the Interstate Highway System then being built. Their "new-type concrete" became 20% stronger in the first five years. What happens after five years is up for debate. Concrete may break apart under stress or sections may rise or lower due to winter freezing and thawing. Given the advancements in paving machinery and materials, it would seem today the preferred highway paving material is [new-type] asphalt offering quieter travel and less expense to produce per mile.

House in a Utopian Future

If you spotted the flat screen television and the countertop "notebook" then congratulations are in order. Dad looking trendy in his "cargoless" shorts and over-the-calf stockings is a bonus. The 1956 futurism illustration was by Fred McNabb for Disneyland. McNabb did a series of similar illustrations for New Departures Ball Bearings under the headline, "New Departures of Tomorrow." Most of his illustrations included at least one accurate prediction.