” In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is a story of the earth.”
- Rachel Carson “Our Ever-Changing Shore” Holiday, July 1958
For our bonus time capsule installment, let’s journey back 66 years to July of 1958, where we’ll encounter “Splish Splash”, “King Creole”, and the beginnings of NASA while Mort Weisinger introduced his young readers to Elastic Lad and Red Kryptonite!
News of the Month:
2nd - The world's largest hotel at the time, the 1,065-room Stardust Resort and Casino, opens in Las Vegas
3rd - "Andy Williams Show" premieres on ABC
5th - Wimbledon Women's Tennis: American Althea Gibson beats Angela Mortimer of England 8-6, 6-2 to successfully defend her title
12th - Gene De Paul and Johnny Mercer's musical "Li'l Abner", adapted from Al Capp's hillbilly comic strip, closes at St James Theater, NYC, after 693 performances and 2 Tony Award wins
12th - The Quarrymen, a group of Liverpool musicians (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, with drummer Colin Hanton and keyboardist John Lowe), are paid 17 shillings and 6 pence to make their first professional recording, a 78 rpm disc of their performance of "In Spite of All the Danger" (an original song by McCartney and Harrison) and a cover version of Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day".
15th - President Eisenhower sends US troops to Lebanon; Operation Blue Bat is the first application of the "Eisenhower Doctrine" to use the U.S. military to protect any regime considered to be threatened by Communism
29th - President Eisenhower signs into law National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958
Newsreel of the Month: Alaska Hails Statehood, St. Lawrence Seaway Opens (July 3, 1958)
Magazine Cover of the Month: Jerry Mathers of “Leave it to Beaver” (TV Guide, July 3, 1958)
Music of the Month:
US Top Singles:
1. Hard Headed Woman - Elvis Presley
2. Yakety Yak - The Coasters
3. The Purple People Eater - Sheb Wooley
4. Patricia - Perez Prado
5. Splish Splash - Bobby Darin
UK Top Singles:
1. All I Have To Do Is Dream/ Claudette - Everly Brothers
2. On The Street Where You Live - Vic Damone
3. You Need Hands/Tulips From Amsterdam - Max Bygreaves
4. Big Man - Four Preps
5. Twilight Time - The Platters
Movie of the Month: “King Creole” starring Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones & Walter Matthau (premiered July 2, 1958)
TV Clip of the Month: Two gentlemen who would both be starring in sci-fi series a decade later, William Shatner and Jonathan Harris, are featured in the Kraft Theater drama entitled “The Man Who Didn’t Fly” (first aired July 16, 1958)
Sports Moment of the Month: In Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, the American League defeats the National League 4-3 as Ted Williams scores the winning run (July 8, 1958)
Top 10 DC Comics of the Month (as selected by Osgood Peabody, listed in order of their publication):
Rex the Wonder Dog #41: Rex stars in “Four-Footed Fire Fighter” and journeys to another world in “The Wonder Dog of Space”, while Detective Chimp is “Bobo – Sleuth on Skis”! (Cover by Gil Kane & Bernard Sachs)
Superman #124: The Man of Steel battles “The Super-Sword”, then proposes to Lois in “Mrs. Superman”, and finally goes undercover as “The Steeplejack of Steel”! (Cover by Curt Swan & Stan Kaye)
Superboy #67: Superboy appears on a TV show to reveal “The Three Secret Identities of Superboy”, then tries to prevent “The Execution of Krypto” and finally meets Klax-Ar, “The Man Who Destroyed Krypton”! (Cover by Curt Swan & Stan Kaye)
Jimmy Olsen #31: For the first time, Jimmy is transformed into “The E-L-A-S-T-I-C Lad”, becomes “The Mad Hatter of Metropolis” and “The Boy Who Hoaxed Superman”! (Cover by Curt Swan & Stan Kaye)
Mystery In Space #46: Find out what’s behind “The Mystery of the Moon Sniper”, then visit “The Devil’s Island of Space” and join the Space Cabby to “Search for a Star”! (Cover by Gil Kane & Jack Adler)
Lois Lane #4: Is Superman finally proposing to Lois? Find out in “The Super-Courtship of Lois Lane”! Then discover why the girl reporter becomes “Lois Lane, Working Girl” and thinks she’s a western heroine in “Annie Oakley Gets Her (Super) Man”! (Cover by Curt Swan & Stan Kaye)
World’s Finest Comics #96: Your Two Favorite Heroes find themselves transported to another world in “The Super-Foes from Planet X”, then find out the mystery behind “Tomahawk’s Pony Partner” and join Green Arrow as he gathers “Five Clues to Danger”! (Cover by Curt Swan & Stan Kaye)
Strange Adventures #96: Earth finds itself under a bizarre attack in “The Menace of Saturn’s Rings”, plus other vintage science fiction tales (Cover by Murphy Anderson)
Action Comics #244: Find out why the Man of Steel becomes “The Super-Merman of the Sea”, then Congo Bill and Janu unravel “The Riddle of the Roc” and Tommy Tomorrow solves “The Mystery of the Three Space Rookies”! (Cover by Curt Swan & Stan Kaye)
Adventure Comics #252: The Boy of Steel encounters Red Kryptonite for the first time in “The Super-Sentry of Smallville”, then the Ace Archer puzzles over “The Mystery of the Giant Arrows”, and Aquaman becomes “The Robinson Crusoe of the Sea”! (Cover by Curt Swan & Stan Kaye)
You can find all DC comics published this month right here courtesy of Mike Voiles’ Time Machine!
You can also find a lot of other publishers’ output this month courtesy of Mike’s site right here.
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statistics: Posted by Osgood Peabody — 11:38 AM - 1 day ago — Replies 7 — Views 123