The Rondeliers Dance Club; A Blast From The Past

Did You Know? - The 1950s or the Fifties was a decade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959. By its end, the world had largely recovered from World War II and the Cold War developed from its modest beginning in the late 1940s to a hot competition between the United States and the Soviet Union by the beginning of the 1960s.

Clashes between communism and capitalism dominated the decade, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. The conflicts included the Korean War in the beginnings of the decade and the beginning of the Space Race with the launch of Sputnik I.

Along with increased testing of nuclear weapons (such as RDS-37 and Upshot-Knothole), this created a politically conservative climate. In the United States, the The Second Red Scare caused public Congressional hearings by both houses in Congress and anti-communism was the prevailing sentiment in the United States throughout the decade.

The beginning of decolonization in Africa and Asia occurred in this decade and accelerated in the following decade, the 1960s.

Did You Know? - Eisenhower's nickname, "Ike," was a shortening of his last name, not his first. When he was a child he was called "Little Ike," since his brother Edgar was "Big Ike."48

America's birth rate in the 1950s was higher than India's. During the decade, the American population increased by 30 million.49

Did You Know? - The first 3-D movie opened in Los Angeles in November 1953. It was titled Bwana Devil.50

Elvis Presley's first number-one hit, "Heartbreak Hotel," was inspired by a real-life suicide note. In 1955 a well-dressed man Miami man destroyed his identity papers and killed himself, leaving behind a note that said, I walk a lonely street. Guitarist Tommy Durden and his friend Mae Axton wrote the song on the theme in half an hour, incorporating the line from the suicide note into the first verse.51

Did You Know?

Rank of Eisenhower, in a 1962 poll of historians asked to rank the best presidents: 22
Rank in 1982: 9
Rank in 2009: 8

Number of viewers who watched Eisenhower's Inaugural: 29 million
Number who watched the "I Love Lucy" the night before: 44 million

Retail record sales in 1954: $182 million
Sales in 1960: $520 million

Number of drive-in movie screens in the US in 1958, the peak of the business: 4,063

Percent of persons arrested in 1959 who were under the age of 25: 60

Number of years in a row in which Eisenhower was the most "admired man in the world," according to Gallup polls: 7

Population of the US in 1950: 151 million
Population in 1960: 179 million

Spending on advertising in 1950: $5.7 billion
In 1960: $11.9 billion

Number of television sets in the US in 1946: 7,000
Number in 1960: 50 million

Song: Come Go With Me

"Come Go with Me" is a song written by C. E. Quick (aka Clarence Quick), an original member (bass vocalist) of the American doo-wop vocal group The Del-Vikings.

The song was originally recorded by The Del-Vikings in 1956 and was released on Fee Bee Records. Norman Wright was the lead vocalist on this song.

When the group signed with Dot Records in 1957, the song became a hit, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and becoming the group's highest-charting song.

The song was later featured in the films American Graffiti (1973), Diner (1982), Stand by Me (1986) and Joe Versus the Volcano (1990).