Guess the year #1
Here's a year for you to guess from three little clues, and with Halloween two days off, it feels like a good week for a trip back in time.
The country cheered as its very first satellite finally made it into orbit, launched from a Florida cape late one January night.
Mailing a letter just went up a penny, from three cents to four, the first rise for a first-class stamp in over a quarter century.
Kids everywhere were swinging their hips inside bright plastic hoops, and millions of them sold in just a few months.
So which year do you think it is?
Show the answer
Answer: 1958. Explorer 1, America's first satellite, went up on January 31 that year, and the first-class stamp rose from three cents to four on August 1. That same summer the plastic hula hoop craze took off, with 25 million sold in four months.
Sources:
- https://science.nasa.gov/mission/explorer-1
- https://www.prc.gov/docs/26/26350/press/Charts.html
- https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/1213/Hot-toys-through-the-ages-VIDEO/Hula-hoop-1958
Guess the year #2
Three small clues about American life point to one year. Can you name it?
A new fashion doll for girls debuts at a New York toy fair, dressed in a black-and-white striped bathing suit.
In early October, CBS airs the very first episode of a new anthology series called The Twilight Zone.
Mailing an ordinary first-class letter costs four cents in postage.
With Halloween two days away, the second clue has a fitting touch of the eerie. Which year do you think this was?
Show the answer
Answer: 1959. The striped-swimsuit doll was first shown at a New York toy fair that year, and The Twilight Zone's first episode aired on CBS on October 2, 1959. The four-cent stamp, in effect from August 1958 into early 1963, fits as well.
Sources:
- https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1176851/barbie-teenage-doll-mattel-inc
- https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/news/from-the-collection-october-2019
- https://www.prc.gov/docs/26/26350/press/Charts.html
Guess the year #3
Here are four clues to one year of everyday American life, and with Halloween two days away, they're all treats and no tricks.
The Flintstones premiered on ABC as the first animated sitcom in prime time, on Friday nights at 8:30.
The Etch A Sketch became the must-have Christmas toy, thanks to a wave of TV ads.
NASA launched Echo 1, a shiny 100-foot balloon of aluminum and Mylar, to test talking through space.
Mailing a letter first class cost four cents, so a stack of thank-you notes barely dented the budget.
Which year is it?
Show the answer
Answer: 1960. The Flintstones first aired in prime time that fall, Echo 1 went into orbit that August, and the Etch A Sketch was the toy to get that Christmas. The four-cent stamp fits right in.
Sources:
- https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/flintstones-the
- https://www.museumofplay.org/toys/etch-a-sketch/
- https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/communications-satellite-echo-1/nasm_A20030090000
- https://www.prc.gov/docs/26/26350/press/Charts.html
