Time Warp: 12 Entertaining and Surprising Fun Facts About 1958 You Never Knew

1. Hula Hoop's Medical History

Before the hula hoop helped us wiggle our worries away and gyrate to groovy tunes, it was busy moonlighting as a medieval medical device and a wise storyteller's prop: The inspiration for the modern plastic hula hoop, popularized by the Wham-O toy company in 1958, can be traced back thousands of years to Australian bamboo hoops and Native American Hoop Dancers, as well as 14th-century England when doctors prescribed hooping for back pain and heart failure.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

2. NASA's Birth in 1958

Talk about getting "lost in space": in 1958, Uncle Sam decided it was high time to join the cosmic race and put all his rockets in one space-regulating basket! The serious reveal: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing NASA as we know it, and absorbing the existing National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in a spirited bid to ensure American leadership in the skies and beyond.
Source => eisenhowerlibrary.gov

Did you know the origin of Disney's famous 101 Dalmatians has a deeper history? 🐾 Discover the courageous canine tale from 1956 that inspired the iconic film!

=> Fun Facts about The-Year-1950

3. International LEGO Day

When life handed young Godtfred Kirk Christiansen a brick, he didn't just build a house – he built an empire of pure imagination and plastic color explosions: On January 28th, 1958, at precisely 1.58 pm, the LEGO Group filed a patent for their now-iconic LEGO brick, complete with three inner clutch tubes for serious interlocking prowess. Today, we celebrate International LEGO Day, honoring that pivotal moment in toy history when playtime shifted from basic building blocks to stackable, snapable, and sometimes torturously unsnappable entertainment.
Source => brothers-brick.com

4. Ricky Nelson Tops First Hot 100 Chart

Before Elvis swiveled his hips or the Beatles rocked their mop-tops, a teen heartthrob named Ricky was topping a sizzling new chart like a hot fudge sundae on a summer's day: In 1958, 17-year-old Ricky Nelson became the first artist to conquer Billboard's debut Hot 100 chart with "Poor Little Fool," reigning supreme for two weeks as the chart's "King of Sweet Melodies." The Hot 100 chart—which replaced Billboard's previous Top 100 chart—boasted a clever formula gauging singles' popularity based on radio and jukebox plays, plus sales, securing its credibility and wooing industry bigwigs to Billboard's doorstep.
Source => billboard.com

5. Tater Tots' True Origins

Before the Tater Tot empire struck back against plain old mashed potatoes, the force of Ore-Ida founders conjured up a new hope for potato lovers: In 1953, Francis Nephi Grigg, Golden Grigg, Otis Williams, and Ross Erin Butler Sr. developed the iconic Tater Tots, not in 1958 as some believed. These bite-sized logs of seasoned potato slivers emerged from their primary production facility in Ontario, Oregon, originally established in 1949 for frozen corn and French fries. Today, Ore-Ida is a major player on the American potato battlefield, dominating a large chunk of the processed potato market.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

6. Fiat 500's Artsy Legacy

Whoever said "laughter's the best medicine" clearly didn't have the Fiat 500 to drive around in and fill that psychological prescription - Dante Giacosa, Fiat's brilliant mechanic-druggist, must've had a pharmacy's worth of comedic inspiration aligning when he concocted this iconic vehicle: In 1958, he birthed this cure for the commonplace automobile and charmed the world so much so that he won the Compasso d'Oro industrial design prize in 1959 - marking the award's debut in the automotive industry! Similarly, in 2017, the Fiat 500 celebrated its 60th anniversary like an art-world socialite, hitting the MoMA with an exhibit and nabbing a Corporate Art Award by pptART in the presence of the President of the Italian Republic.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

7. Hitchcock's Vertigo Debut

Hold on to your seats, folks, as the master of suspense takes you on a dizzying ride through the streets of San Francisco, with acrophobia and classic cinema as your travel companions: In May 1958, Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" was released, featuring the legendary James Stewart as a former police detective and introducing the groundbreaking dolly zoom effect to portray his fear of heights, all while being based on the novel "D'entre les morts" by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. Despite mixed reaction at first, "Vertigo" eventually spiraled up to join the ranks of Hitchcock's classics and was deemed worthy of preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1989.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

8. Soft Contact Lens Invention

Before Contact Lenses were a thing, folks just squinted their way through life like disgruntled pirates searching for treasure in poorly lit caves: In 1958, Otto Wichterle and Drahoslav Lím invented hydrogels for medical use, paving the way for the soft contact lens industry and transforming the world of ophthalmology forever.
Source => ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

9. Filet-O-Fish vs. McHula Burger

In a fin-tastic twist of buns and tartar sauce, an un-fishy hero swam against the tide to save the day for a fast food empire during Lent: Lou Groen, a McDonald's franchise owner in 1958, invented the Filet-O-Fish sandwich after noticing a decline in sales due to the Catholic meatless Fridays. His creation went head-to-head with the McHula Burger (a pineapple burger) in a taste test competition, and emerged victorious, becoming the first new item added to the McDonald's menu in 1965.
Source => thrillist.com

10. Presley's Hair Tragedy

While Elvis Presley may have been the King of Rock 'n' Roll, his real hound dog days were spent as an ordinary soldier in an unexpected land – courtesy of a draft that wanted even a smidgen of that legendary swagger: In 1958, Presley was drafted into the U.S. Army and served for two years, undergoing basic training and being stationed in Germany, where he reluctantly said "don't be cruel" to his iconic hairstyle and sideburns, only to never let them rock again after his return to civilian life.
Source => time.com

11. Chipmunks' Christmas Chart Dominance

Before Alvin went holly jolly nuts and Mariah Carey's Christmas dreams came true, there was a Chart-topping Chipmunk extravaganza led by a man juggling tape speeds: In 1958, Ross Bagdasarian, aka David Seville, recorded and produced "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" with his virtual band, Alvin and the Chipmunks. This unique use of audio magic made it the only Christmas record to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart until 2019, selling 4.5 million copies in just seven weeks and eventually accumulating 12 million copies sold. The high-pitched holiday hit won three Grammy Awards in 1958 for Best Comedy Performance, Best Children's Recording, and Best Engineered Record (non-classical), and even bagged a nomination for Record of the Year.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

12. Steve McQueen's Slime Beginnings

Before "The King of Cool" set his heart on racing, he battled an extraterrestrial mound of slime: Steve McQueen made his first leading role in the 1958 sci-fi horror, "The Blob." Filmed in Valley Forge with a budget that left pocket change from $120,000, it grossed an impressive $4 million and spawned an infectiously catchy title song penned by Burt Bacharach and Mack David.
Source => en.wikipedia.org