World Events:
- Anthony Eden resigns (Jan. 9); MacMillan becomes British Prime Minister.
- Russia launches Sputnik I, first earth-orbiting satellite—the Space Age begins (Oct. 4).
- The USSR tests its first successful ICBM.
- Population: 2.888 billion
US Events:
- Eisenhower Doctrine calls for aid to Mideast countries that resist armed aggression from Communist-controlled nations (Jan. 5).
- The “Little Rock Nine” integrate Arkansas high school. Eisenhower sends troops to quell mob and protect the students after Gov. Orval Faubus defies federal order (Sept. 24).
- President: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Vice President: Richard M. Nixon
Population: 171,984,130
Life expectancy: 69.5 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 4.5
Economics:
US GDP (1998 dollars): $461 billion
Federal spending: $76.58 billion
Federal debt: $272.3 billion
Consumer Price Index: 28.1
Unemployment: 4.1%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.03
Sports:
World Series
Milwaukee Braves d. NY Yankees (4-3)NBA Championship
Boston d. St. Louis Hawks (4-3)Stanley Cup
Montreal d. Boston (4-1)Wimbledon
Women: Althea Gibson d. D. Hard (6-3 6-2)
Men: Lew Hoad d. A. Cooper (6-2 6-1 6-2)Kentucky Derby Champion
Iron LiegeNCAA Basketball Championship
North Carolina d. Kansas (54-53 3OT)NCAA Football Champions
Auburn (AP) (10-0-0) & Ohio St. (UP, FW, INS) (9-1-0)
Entertainment:
Events
- Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story debuts on Broadway and brings violence to the stage.
- Eugene O’Neill’s A Long Day’s Journey Into Night is produced posthumously and wins both the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize.
- Columbia University professor Charles Van Doren becomes a media sensation by winning $129,000 on the quiz show Twenty One.
- Leave It to Beaver premieres on CBS, ushering in an era of television shows that depict the ideal American.
Movies
- The Bridge on the River Kwai, Twelve Angry Men, Sayonara, Peyton Place, Witness for the Prosecution
Books
- James Agee, A Death in the Family
- John Cheever, The Wapshot Chronicle
- Noam Chomsky, Syntactic Structures
- Lawrence Durrell, Justine
- Jack Kerouac, On the Road
- Denise Levertov, Here and Now
- Bernard Malamud, The Assistant
- Robert Penn Warren, Promises: Poems 1954—56
Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: No award
Music: Meditations on Ecclesiastes, Norman Dello Joio
Drama: Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Eugene O’Neill
Academy Award, Best Picture: Around the World in 80 Days, Michael Todd, producer (United Artists)
Nobel Prize for Literature: Albert Camus (France)
1957 Emmy Awards
| Best Series, Half Hour or Less | Phil Silvers Show (CBS) |
| Best Series, One Hour or More | Caesar’s Hour (NBC) |
| Best Continuing Performance By an Actor in a Dramatic Series | Robert Young, Father Knows Best |
| Best Continuing Performance By an Actress in a Dramatic Series | Loretta Young, Loretta Young Show |
| Best Supporting Performance By an Actor | Carl Reiner, Caesar’s Hour |
| Best Supporting Performance By an Actress | Pat Carroll, Caesar’s Hour |
| Best Direction, Half Hour or Less | Sheldon Leonard, Danny Thomas Show: “Danny’s Comeback” |
| Best Teleplay Writing, Half Hour or Less | James P. Cavanagh, Alfred Hitchcock Presents: “Fog Closing In” |
| Best Direction, One Hour or More | Ralph Nelson, Playhouse 90: Requiem for a Heavyweight |
| Best Teleplay Writing, One Hour or More | Rod Serling, Playhouse 90: Requiem for a Heavyweight |
| Best Male Personality, Continuing Performance | Perry Como |
| Best Female Personality, Continuing Performance | Dinah Shore |
| Best New Program Series | Playhouse 90 (CBS) |
| Best Single Program of the Year | Playhouse 90: Requiem for a Heavyweight (CBS) |
| Best Single Performance By an Actor | Jack Palance, Playhouse 90: Requiem for a Heavyweight |
| Best Single Performance By an Actress | Claire Trevor, Producers’ Showcase: Dodsworth |
| Best Continuing Performance By a Comedian in a Series | Sid Caesar, Caesar’s Hour |
| Best Continuing Performance By a Comedienne in a Series | Nanette Fabray, Caesar’s Hour |
| Best Comedy Writing, Variety or Situation Comedy | Nat Hiken, Billy Friedberg, Tony Webster, Leonard Stern, Arnold Rosen and Coleman Jacoby, Phil Silvers Show |
| Best Public Service Series | See It Now (CBS) |
| Best News Commentator | Edward R. Murrow |
1957 Tony Awards
| Play | Long Day’s Journey Into Night |
| Musical | My Fair Lady |
| Actor—Play | Fredric March, Long Day’s Journey Into Night |
| Actress—Play | Margaret Leighton, Separate Tables |
| Supporting or Featured Actor—Play | Frank Conroy, The Potting Shed |
| Supporting or Featured Actress—Play | Peggy Cass, Auntie Mame |
| Actor—Musical | Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady |
| Actress—Musical | Judy Holliday, Bells Are Ringing |
| Supporting or Featured Actor—Musical | Sydney Chaplin, Bells Are Ringing |
| Supporting or Featured Actress—Musical | Edith Adams, Li’l Abner |
| Author—Play | Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey Into Night |
| Author—Musical | Alan Jay Lerner, My Fair Lady |
| Director | Moss Hart, My Fair Lady |
| Producers—Play | Leigh Connell, Theodore Mann and José Quintero, Long Day’s Journey Into Night |
| Producer—Musical | Herman Levin, My Fair Lady |
| Composer | Frederick Loewe, My Fair Lady |
| Scenic Designer | Oliver Smith, My Fair Lady |
| Costume Designer | Cecil Beaton, My Fair Lady |
| Choreographer | Michael Kidd, Li’l Abner |
| Conductor and Musical Director | Franz Allers, My Fair Lady |
| Stage Technician | Howard McDonald, Major Barbara |
| Special Awards | American Shakespeare Festival |
| Jean-Louis Barrault—French Repertory | |
| Robert Russell Bennett | |
| William Hammerstein | |
| Paul Shyre |
Miss America: Marian McKnight (SC)
Science:
- Temporary artificial heart invented by Willem Kolff.
- Interferon invented by Alick Isaacs and Jean Lindemann (England and Switzerland).
- Clarence W. Lillehie and Earl Bakk (US) invent the internal pacemaker. Background: Health & Nutrition
- Bardeen, Cooper, and Scheiffer (US) propose a theory of superconductivity.
- First round-the-world nonstop jet plane flight. Maj. Gen. Archie J. Old, Jr. (USAF) led a flight of three Boeing B-52 bombers around the world in 45 hours, 19 minutes (completed Jan. 18). Background: Famous Firsts in Aviation
- Nobel Prizes in Science
Chemistry: Sir Alexander Todd (UK), for research with chemical compounds that are factors in heredityPhysics: Tsung Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang (China), for disproving principle of conservation of parityPhysiology or Medicine: Daniel Bovet (Italy), for development of drugs to relieve allergies and relax muscles during surgery
Deaths:
- Humphrey Bogart
- Richard E. Byrd
- Joseph McCarthy
- Arturo Toscanini
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