The Howdy Doody Show

The Howdy Doody Show was one of the first and easily the most popular children's television show in the 1950s and a reflection of the wonder, technical fascination, and business realities associated with early television. While Howdy and his friends entertained American children, they also sold television sets to American parents and demonstrated the potential of the new medium to advertisers.

The beehive is also known as the B-52, for its similarity to the bulbous nose of the B-52 Stratofortress bomber.

The hairstyle reached its peak of popularity in the 1960s, and was especially popular in the United States and other Western countries. The beehive remains an enduring symbol of 1960s kitsch.

The style originated in the USA in 1958 as one of a variety of elaborately teased and lacquered versions of "big hair" that developed from earlier pageboy and bouffant styles. By the late 1960s the beehive became unfashionable, although it probably continued to influence later female hair styles.

Made by Zenith Radio Corp., Chicago, IL
Solid State model
Metal, plastic, wood

This stylish wooden console houses a Zenith Solid State record player featuring stereophonic high-fidelity sound, along with an AM-FM radio. Two speakers are mounted behind louvered doors, which can be closed to conceal the speakers, or opened and directed for sound. Widely spaced microphones and the separation of bass and treble during the process of recording meant that separate speakers could create the effect of three-dimensional sound, providing the listener with the "spatial aspects" of the music.

Twenty million Wham-O hula hoops sold for $1.98 in the first six months.

Trivia

• Japan once banned the hula hoop because the rotating hip action seems indecent.
• On June 4, 2005, Australian Kareena Oates set a Guinness world record for hula hooping - with 100 hoops for three full revolutions.
• 101 hoops were spun by Alesya Goulevich of Belarus on June 11, 2006
• 105 hoops were spun by Jin Linlin of China on October 28, 2007.
• The world record for the largest Hula Hoop (by circumference) spun was set by American Ashrita Furman at 51.5 feet on June 1, 2007.