June 1948
WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN JUNE 1948:
Little White Lies spends a month and a half in the Top Three on the charts, peaking at #2.
Dick Haymes‘ singing career began working with Harry James orchestra but he really rose to prominence as Frank Sinatra’s replacement as the vocalist in Tommy Dorsey’s band in 1942 where his warm baritone helped to define the 1940’s crooning style that was becoming the dominant commercial force in pop.
Having worked at one point as a film double and stunt man Haymes rising popularity made his transition to the movies all but assured and he began starring in pictures by 1945, notably State Fair.
He moved into radio doing popular shows with Helen Forrest and later The Andrews Sisters, but he was soon becoming known as much for his wife of the month club – he was married six times, including to actresses Joann Dru and Rita Hayworth – as for his singing. But it was still his singing that was his ticket to stardom and Little White Lies kept his winning streak alive, as he’d have multiple Top Ten hits in each year of the 1940’s making him one of the most consistently bankable recording artists of the era.
Haymes enjoyed the last of his 33 Top Ten hits in 1950 as alcoholism and changing tastes of the public sent his career into a tailspin. He relocated to Europe for much of the 1960’s, declaring bankruptcy along the way, before returning to America in the 1970’s when he revived his fortunes with guest roles on many popular television series as well as touring with fellow 40’s big band vocalists for older nostalgic audiences.
One of the most popular and longest lasting programs in television history launches as The Toast Of The Town featuring newspaper columnist Ed Sullivan as the host, makes its debut on CBS with guest acts Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, songsmiths Rogers & Hammerstein and concert pianist Eugene List, along with the June Taylor Dancers.
Sullivan was one of the defining personalities of the 20th Century. Born in New York in 1901 he worked as a sports reporter for newspapers throughout the 1920’s before he began covering Broadway in 1929 as a columnist. It was there he found his niche, becoming a rival to the legendary Walter Winchell with the ability to make stars with mentions his columns or to curtail a career by publicizing gossip and scandal. He solidified his position as a power broker by producing Vaudeville shows and even writing a movie (and appearing in both to spread his name recognition in the field even further), then later did the same on radio.
When television was in need of programming Sullivan was tapped to host The Toast Of The Town on CBS in which he’d merely do what he’d always done in such roles, act as the master of ceremonies and the network hoped with his extensive connections in showbiz he would be able to ensure big name guest stars.
But the television medium proved far different than radio or stage and Sullivan’s waxen looks, his stiff persona, awkward wooden speaking voice and total lack of personality were not suited to the screen where the early prototype that was finding success was increasingly proving to be stars with manic energy specializing highly visual jokes and mugging for the camera, and at the very least a quick verbal wit and talent for improvising in order to rescue a flailing segment. Sullivan had none of those skills and his initial appearances were skewered by the press.
But his instincts for catering to, and often predicting, the public’s tastes along with his insistence on a well-rounded show to appeal to each segment of the audience by featuring a wide array of acts ultimately made the show a ratings winner and Sullivan a household name, as the program’s title became The Ed Sullivan Show by 1955 remaining a staple of the airwaves for twenty three years, the longest running variety program in history.
Citation wins the Belmont Stakes to capture horse racing’s Triple Crown, which at the time was a fairly common occurrence. Citation was already the fourth horse to do so in the 1940’s and the seventh since 1930. However he’d be the last Triple Crown winner for twenty-five years.
One of the more dominant horses in racing history Citation reeled off 16 consecutive wins, a record that went unbroken until the next century, along the way becoming the first horse to claim over a million dollars in purses.
General Electric’s new refrigerator is the first to have a separate freezer compartment with its own door and temperature control.
Prior to this there was a only small section in refrigerators which allowed for ice cubes to be kept colder. Its arrival did away with old fashioned iceboxes which required large blocks of ice delivered daily to keep food cold, or the stand-alone freezer unit which was introduced in 1940 but took up more room than most families had to spare in the cramped kitchens of the day.
The recent advancements in technology however now allowed food to be stored far longer, eliminating the need for daily trips to the butcher or grocer which also relieved the housewife of one of the tasks she was expected to do, thereby providing less incentive for remaining a homemaker rather than enter the workforce. With the simultaneous rise of television as a nightly activity it also led to pre-made frozen TV dinners.
The two door refrigerator/freezer combo has remained the standard ever since.
To coincide with the release of the film Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House the studio actually built 73 houses across the United States to be sold and raffled off as a promotional tool for the movie, one of the first examples of the extremes movie studios were now willing to go in order to promote their products in the mass media advertising age.
The screwball comedy was adapted from a 1946 novel by Eric Hodgins and starred Cary Grant and Myrna Loy as a couple who buy an old house in Connecticut to escape the cramped confines of New York City where he’s a successful ad executive, only to find the house he overpaid for is unfit to live in and has to be torn down and rebuilt leading to one calamity after another.
The themes of the movie were ideally suited for post-war society which saw rapid increase in white collar jobs and the higher salaries that went with them giving families the means to buy their first homes at a much younger age. Dramatic advances in transportation thanks to better automobiles and roads allowed people to commute to work from further distances which gave birth to the rise of the suburbs.
The film’s popularity led to a brief radio program (also starring Grant) and two failed television pilots (without Grant) in the 1950’s and many loose adaptions of the concept in films in the years since including The Money Pit with Tom Hanks and Are We There Yet? starring Ice Cube. The original Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House remains the acknowledged masterwork of the storyline.
The state of Mississippi indicts Davis Knight, a Navy veteran who “passed for white”, for miscegenation for marrying a white woman and “willfully, feloniously and unlawfully living with her and cohabiting with her as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the State of Mississippi”.
In the forthcoming trial he was essentially found guilty of “being black”, which by law is said to mean 1/8th Negro, as the state asserts his great-grandmother was black and thus he was sentenced to five years in prison when the verdict is reached that December. The decision is overturned a year later however for lack of sufficient evidence as to his deceased great-grandmother’s race.
After his ultimate acquittal on appeal white Mississippians protested the decision by hanging members of the court in effigy.
Despite wasting two years and countless taxpayer dollars in the poorest state in America on a pointless trial challenging the rights of two people who want to be together, anti-miscegenation laws remain legal for another twenty years in the south.
Joe Louis records his 25th consecutive title defense as heavyweight champion, a record, by knocking out Jersey Joe Walcott in the tenth round of their fight in New York.
The greatest heavyweight champion in history, Louis’s record after this bout swelled to 58-1, his only loss occurring back in 1936 to Max Schmeling, a fight he later avenged with a first round knockout in the rematch two years later.
Louis’s remarkable record would’ve been even better had he not spent World War Two out of the ring, touring Army camps and putting on hundreds of exhibition fights for the soldiers, having just one authorized bout between March 1942 and June 1946 in what were still his prime years as a fighter.
Louis’s performance in this fight goes a long way to redeeming his image after winning controversial split decision the previous December over Walcott in their first matchup when he was badly out-boxed. He would officially announce his retirement the following March, making this victory over Walcott his farewell to the sport he dominated for fourteen years. However he would later be forced back into the ring 1950 in an effort to pay off back taxes the government assessed against him. His skills and reflexes were gone however and in between a succession of ten hollow victories against lackluster competition he lost both shots at regaining his title and hung up his gloves for good in 1951.
The latest fashions in men’s summer suits by Haspel costs from $20.50 for seersucker or $28.50 for their top of the line style featuring something called “refrigerated” fabric.
The New Orleans company touts their “Refreshable Clothes” are The Smartest Cool Suits… The Coolest Smart Suits
Meanwhile Peasant Dresses are the fashion trend for teenage girls featuring high necklines, short cropped sleeves and brightly colored patterns trimmed with white, exuding a cheery wholesome image. These will set you back about six bucks.
RECORDS REVIEWED FOR JUNE 1948:
THE RAVENS: Send For Me If You Need Me
THE RAVENS: Until The Real Thing Comes Along
JOE LUTCHER: The Traffic Song
PAUL GAYTEN: Stop
PAUL GAYTEN: Sally Lou
CHARLIE “BOOGIE WOOGIE” DAVIS: You Sure Got A Lotta Nerve
EARL BOSTIC: Bostic’s Boogie Blues
CECIL GANT: Hogan’s Alley
ANNIE LAURIE: Voodoo Man
ANNIE LAURIE: Wondering Blues
COUSIN JOE: Come Down Baby
IVORY JOE HUNTER: What Did You Do To Me
WILD BILL MOORE: We’re Gonna Rock
WILD BILL MOORE: Harlem Parade
PREVIOUS: MAY 1948
NEXT: JULY 1948