THE YEAR OF 1956

In 1956, the world was a different place.

There was no Google yet. Or Yahoo. Or Principalrua.blogspot, for that matter.

In 1956, the year of your birth, the top selling movie was The Ten Commandments. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the poster.

Remember, that was before there were DVDs. Heck, even before there was VHS. People were indeed watching movies in the cinema, and not downloading them online. Imagine the packed seats, the laughter, the excitement, the novelty. And mostly all of that without 3D computer effects.

Do you know who won the Oscars that year? The academy award for the best movie went to Around the World in 80 Days. The Oscar for best foreign movie that year went to La Strada. The top actor was Yul Brynner for his role as King Mongkut of Siam in The King and I. The top actress was Ingrid Bergman for her role as Anna Koreff inAnastasia. The best director? George Stevens for Giant.

In the year 1956, the time when you arrived on this planet, books were still popularly read on paper, not on digital devices. Trees were felled to get the word out. The number one US bestseller of the time wasDon't Go Near the Water by William Brinkley. Oh, that's many years ago. Have you read that book? Have you heard of it?

In 1956... The 1956 Winter Olympic Games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. British spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean resurface in the Soviet Union after being missing for 5 years. Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a "cult of personality." The International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization. Elvis Presley releases his first Gold Album titled Elvis Presley. The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opens in New York City. Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation. At age 48, Dutch boxer Bep van Klaveren contests his last match in Rotterdam. British diver Lionel Crabb dives into Portsmouth harbor to investigate a visiting Soviet cruiser and vanishes. Tunisia gains independence from France. Actress Marilyn Monroe marries playwright Arthur Miller.

That was the world you were born into. Since then, you and others have changed it.

The Nobel prize for Literature that year went to Juan Ramón Jiménez. The Nobel prize for physics went to John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain from the United States for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect. The sensation this created was big. But it didn't stop the planets from spinning, on and on, year by year. Years in which you would grow bigger, older, smarter, and, if you were lucky, sometimes wiser. Years in which you also lost some things. Possessions got misplaced. Memories faded. Friends parted ways. The best friends, you tried to hold on. This is what counts in life, isn't it?

The 1950s were indeed a special decade. The American economy is on the upswing. The cold war betwen the US and the Soviet Union is playing out throughout the whole decade. Anti-communism prevails in the United States and leads to the Red Scare and accompanying Congressional hearings. Africa begins to become decolonized. The Korean war takes place. The Vietnam War starts. The Suez Crisis war is fought on Egyptian territory. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and others overthrow authorities to create a communist government on Cuba. Funded by the US, reconstructions in Japan continue. In Japan, film maker Akira Kurosawa creates the movies Rashomon and Seven Samurai. The FIFA World Cups are won by Uruguay, then West Germany, then Brazil.

Do you remember the movie that was all the rage when you were 15?Summer of '42. Do you still remember the songs playing on the radio when you were 15? Maybe it was One Bad Apple by The Osmonds. Were you in love? Who were you in love with, do you remember?

In 1956, 15 years earlier, a long time ago, the year when you were born, the song Memories Are Made of This by Dean Martin topped the US charts. Do you know the lyrics? Do you know the tune? Sing along.

Sweet, sweet memories you gave-a me
you can't beat the memories you gave-a me
Take one fresh and tender kiss
Add one stolen night of bliss
One girl, one boy
Some grief, some joy
Memories are made of this
...

There's a kid outside, shouting, playing. It doesn't care about time. It doesn't know about time. It shouts and it plays and thinks time is forever. You were once that kid.

When you were 9, the movie Circus Angel was playing. When you were 8, there was Mary Poppins.

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... it's 1956. There's TV noise coming from the second floor. Someone turned up the volume way too high. The sun is burning from above. These were different times. The show playing on TV isThe Eddy Arnold Show. The sun goes down. Someone switches channels. There's Kraft Television Theater on now. That's the world you were born in.

Progress, year after year. Do you wonder where the world is heading towards? The technology available today would have blown your mind in 1956. Do you know what was invented in the year you were born? The Digital Clock. The Videotape Recorder.

I told her that I was a flop with chicks
I've been this way since 1956
She looked at my palm and she made a magic sign
She said "What you need is love potion number nine"
...

That's from the song Love Potion No. 9 by The Ventures.

In 1956, a new character entered the world of comic books: Batwoman. Bang! Boom! But that's just fiction, right? In the real world, in 1956, Carrie Fisher was born. And Geena Davis. Mickey Rourke, too. And you, of course. Everyone an individual. Everyone special. Everyone taking a different path through life.
It's 2011.

The world is a different place.

What path have you taken?