Anyone who grew up, or tried to grown up, in the 1950’s, was inundated with a barrage of well remembered cultural influences. Few know however that many of the mythologies associated with these influences were based on patent falsehoods and brazen lies. Some of them are offered below. (This list first appeared in The Smart Aleck Chronicles II published in 2012.)
1. Davy Crockett’s coonskin hat was actually a dead squirrel. Crockett’s friend, Georgie Russell, also maintained that he wore a coonskin hat but his was actually a drawing of a raccoon on a rolled up piece of cardboard.
2. Although the Hardy Boys were not gay, as sometimes is suggested, they were not really boys either but two cosmetician school dropouts named DeeDee and Babs.
3. Elvis Presley’s stint in the U.S. army was staged after he was refused induction when it was discovered that he always wore girl’s underwear.
4. Jerry Lee Lewis’s hits, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’On and Great Balls of Fire, were written after Lewis dropped a lit match into the lap of studio musician Dave “Curlee Cue” Williams.
5. The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis included affairs with co-star Maynard G Krebs, Lucille Ball, NBC newsman Chet Huntley and a script assistant for the television sit-com Our Miss Brooks starring Eve Arden.
6. The original title of the show Father Knows Best was Father Doesn’t Know A Damn Thing. The idea was dropped however after CBS standards and practices people suggested that since they could not say “damn” during the show itself, they could hardly use “damn” in the title of the show.
7. Edd “Kookie” Byrnes was eventually fired from the television 77 Sunset Strip for repeatedly making fun of U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon.
8. Perry Como was so mellow, he did not really exist.
9. The original design of the “Barbie Doll” was anatomically accurate but was changed after the U.S. Congress opened hearings on the matter.
10. It was rumoured that U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower was erotically obsessed with Aunt Jemima.
11. The Mr. Potato Head toy was based on one of few pictures of Alfred Hitchcock laughing.
12. Lassie was not really a dog but an extremely hairy goat named Frederick.
13. The off screen romance between the actors playing the characters of Hassie and Pepino on the Real McCoys not only led to the cancellation of the show after four successful seasons but also indirectly led to the formation of the United Farm Workers.
14. The “hula hoop” was originally designed by Playtex as a woman’s foundation garment.
15. The character of Festus on the television show Gunsmoke was originally named Hop Sing but was changed when NBC executives decided that no one would believe that there were any Chinese people hanging around in the old west.
16. The term “burn rubber” was originally used to describe the hasty use of a prophylactic.
17. Leave It To Beaver: There was no Beaver and even if there had been, he left before the show got onto the air.
18. Alice never actually went to the moon at any time during the Honeymooners.
19. Joe Friday of Dragnet fame was actually a woman with a skin condition and an extremely deep voice.
20. The original title of I Love Lucy was Lucy Makes A Scene.