1961 TV Favorites

• Wagon Train
• Perry Mason
• Bonanza
• Hazel
• Gunsmoke
• Candid Camera
• The Red Skelton Show
• My Three Sons
• The Andy Griffith Show
• Dr. Kildare
• The Danny Thomas Show
• Rawhide
• The Real McCoys
• The Gary Moore Show
• Lassie
• Sing Along with Mitch
• Dennis the Menace
• Ben Casey
• The Ed Sullivan Show  

 

1961 Emmy Awards

• Best Drama - Hallmark Hall of Fame:  Macbeth
• Best Actor - Raymond Burr:  Perry Mason
• Best Actress - Barbara Stanwych:  The Barbara Stanwych Show
• Best Comedy - Jack Benny Show
• Best Variety - Astaire Time

 

1961 Popular Films

• West Side Story
• The Guns Of Navarone
• The Parent Trap
• The Absent-Minded Professor
• The Alamo
• Swiss Family Robinson
• 101 Dalmatians
• Breakfast at Tiffany's
• El Cid
• The Hustler
• Judgement at Nurenberg
• Misfits
•  Lover Come Back

 

1961 Academy Awards - Hosted by Bob Hope

• Best Picture - The Apartment
• Best Actor - Burt Lancaster:  Elmer Gentry
• Best Actress - Elizabeth Taylor:  Butterfield 8
• Best Supporting Actor - Peter Ustinov:  Spartacus
• Best Supporting Actress - Shirley Jones:  Elmer Gentry
• Song - Never on Sunday

 

1961 Cost of Living   

•   Yearly U.S. Inflation Rate 1.07%
• Average Yearly Income $5,315.00
• Average Cost of New Home $12,500.00
• Average Cost of New Car $2850.00
• Cost of a Gallon of Gas 27 cents
• Cost of a Pound of Bacon 67 cents
• Box of Cheerios 25 cents
• A Dozen Eggs 30 cents
• TV Dinner 49 cents
• Jar of Miracle Whip 50 cents
• Fast Food Hamburger 20 cents
• Postage Stamp 4 cents
• Pack of Chewing Gum 5 cents  

 

1961 Births

• Princess Diana
• Barack Obama
• Dennis Rodman
• Meg Ryan
• Scott Baio
• George Clooney
• Heather Lochlear
• Michael Fox
• Eddy Murphy
• Wayne Gretsky
• Boy George
• Ray Charles
• Nadia Comaneci
• Melissa Etheridge
• Woody Harrelson

 

1961 Popular Music

 

1. Stand By Me - Ben E. King

1. Crazy - Patsy Cline

1. The Wanderer - Dion
2. Runaround Sue - Dion
3. Let’s Twist Again - Chubby Checker
4. Crying - Roy Orbison
5. Hit the Road Jack - Ray Charles
6. Bristol Stomp - Dovells
7. At Last - Etta James
8. Quarter to Three - Gary U.S. Bonds
9. The Lion Sleeps Tonight - Tokens
10. Moon River - Henry Mancini, Marcels
11. Runaway - Del Shannon
12. It Will Stand - Showmen
13. Surrender - Elvis Presley
14. Running Scared - Roy Orbison
15. Tossin and Turnin - Bobby Lewis
16. Wooden Heart - Joe Dowell
17. Please Mr. Postman - Marvelettes
18. Pretty Little Angel Eyes - Curtis Lee
19. Take Five - Dave Brubeck
20. Are You Lonesome Tonight - Elvis
21. Mama Said - Shirelles
22. The Way You Look Tonight - Lettermen
23. I’ve Told Every Little Star - Linda Scott
24. Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It’s Flavor - Lonnie Donagan

 

1961 Overview

  

        In January of 1961, John F. Kennedy succeeded Dwight D. Eisenhower as the President

of the United States.  The cold war continued to worsen with the USSR detonating a fifty-megaton hydrogen bomb, the largest man-made explosion in history.  East German authorities closed the border between East and West Berlin, and construction of the Berlin           Wall began.  The U.S. sent a battle group to Germany, and Americans and Russians glared at each other across the border.  Many Americans built backyard fallout shelters in case of nuclear war.  Cuba adopted Communism and baned free elections under Fidel Castro.  The U.S. financed anti-Castro Cubans in an attempt to overthrow Castro in the Bay of Pigs, which turned out to be a disaster.  The Soviets put the first man in space in April, Yuri Gagarin, and the U.S. followed in May with their first man in space, Alan Shepard.  JFK sent a force of Green Berets to Vietnam in April, and a U.S. aircraft carrier to Saigon in November.  By the end of the year, there were 20,000 U.S. military advisers in Vietnam.