by Nathaniel R
The next Smackdown will be posted on Sunday July 7th. But first let's have a little context on the year that was: Dwight Eisenhower began his second term as President, an influenza epidemic that killed 1 million people worldwide began, Elvis Presley made his final appearance on the Ed Sullivan show (shot waist up only), and the Frisbee was introduced. here's more context for that year in a pop culture sense.
Great Big Box Office Hits: Bridge on the River Kwai, Sayonara, and Peyton Place were the top grossers (and competed for the Oscars). Other hits included Old Yeller, Raintree County, and Gunfight at the OK Corral...
Oscar's Best Picture Nominees: The Academy was obsessed with Japan / US relations that year. The top two contenders were The Bridge on the River Kwai (8 noms / 7 wins) which was nearly a sweeper and the interracial romance message movie Sayonara (10 noms / 4 wins). They were so dominant that the other three Best Picture nominees all went home empty-handed: Peyton Place (9 noms / 0 wins), Witness for the Prosecution (6 noms/ 0 wins) and 12 Angry Men (3 nominations).
...but what if there had been 10 nominees?
Surely An Affair to Remember (4 nominations) would have been been included. Les Girls probably would have made it since it was the Globe champ and had multiple nods. You should probably also assume Gunfight at the OK Corral (2 nominations) since it had that Editing nomination and was a big hit. That leaves two spots open but where do they go? PLEASE DEBATE. Five more possibilities. Only two slots!
- Epic pre civil war romance Raintree County (4 noms including Best Actress)
- Western marital drama Wild is the Wind (3 noms including both lead acting categories)
- War adventure Heaven Knows Mr Allison (2 noms including Best Actress)
- Musical drama Pal Joey (4 noms including Best Editing)
- Musical comedy Funny Face (4 noms including Best Screenplay)
Films That Endured (in some way) That Were Neither Oscar Nominees Nor Blockbusters
The prophetic A Face in the Crowd, Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory, Mikhail Kalatzovo's The Cranes are Flying, Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, The Marilyn vehicle Prince and the Showgirl, Elvis vehicle Jailhouse Rock, noir favourite Sweet Smell of Success, and the musical remake of Ninotchka, Silk Stockings.
Foreign Film Nominees that Year
Devil Strikes at Night (West Germany), Gates of Paris (France), Mother India (India), Nights of Cabiria (Winner, Italy), and Nine Lives (Norway)
Magazine Covers for Context...
(Click to enlarge)
From left or right: MLK, Liz and her newborn, Tab Hunter, Diahann Carroll, Princess Grace, Kim Novak, Ricky Nelson, Charles Van Doren (this story became the film Quiz Show), soldiers in Little Rock, Eartha Kitt, Marilyn & Olivier, Lucille Ball.
TV: The biggest television event of the year was the live broadcast of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella starring Julie Andrews which more than 100 million people watched worldwide. Wagon Train, Leave it to Beaver, Zorro, and Perry Mason all began their multi-season runs on TV while I Love Lucy aired its final episode. The Emmy Awards were then held early in the year (March) and hadn't yet separated into drama and comedy (they were then divvied up into "half hour" and "one hour"). Claire Trevor, Jack Palance, Pat Carroll (future Ursula!), Carl Reiner, Loretta Young, Sid Caesar, Robert Young, and Nanette Fabray all won Emmys.
Mix Tape (Select Hits of '57 to get you in the right headspace)
"Day-O" by Harry Belafonte, "Tammy" by Debbie Reynolds, "Wake Up Little Susie" and "Bye Bye Love" by The Everly Brothers, "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke, and "A Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" by Jerry Lee Lewis. It was also a huge year for Elvis Presley who starred in two movies (Loving You and Jailhouse Rock) and had multiple hit singles including "All Shook Up" and "Jailhouse Rock" and bought and moved into Graceland.
Literature
Book debuts: Dr Seuss's The Cat in the Hat, Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, and Robert Mason's the World of Suzie Wong; New plays: Tennessee Williams one act Orpheus Descending, and William Inge's Dark at the Top of the Stairs.
Stage
The Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Tony Award both went to Eugene O'Neill's Long Days Journey Into Night. My Fair Lady won Best Musical at the Tonys. Later that year two more musical classics premiere on Broadway West Side Story and The Music Man. Here's a look back (from 1961) at the Tony winner of 1957 which premiered in 1956. We're all over the calendar with the time-travelling but My Fair Lady and Julie Andrews are timeless...