-- 33 - -
THE AMERICAN CENTURY
I J cni m s and ho tdogs.skyscrapers a nds u permar k et s.
m assp roductionandro ckmllsic-w hat doallt hese
have incommon?Onc thing is that theycanbefound
toda y: 111 overth eworld.A no t he rISth a t allofth em
were bornIIIth e Uni tedStates.The cou n trywhich
fo r mo stofits e xistencehadbeen animporte rof
influe nceshas beco mein thetwentieth cen tu ryJ
m ajorexporterofthem .In m an yareas oflife,
Americanpopulartastes and an i ru dcshave
conqueredt heworld.
You113\'1,.'read earlie raboutehcpJ.rtt h atAmerica n
m o viesp layedin this process.Afrcrth e Second
Wo rldWarrhe sprea d ingofAmeri can influ ence was
co ntin ue dby apo werfulnewfo rce-tele vision. As
carl y as 1947,around17U.O ()UAmeri can familieshad
tele visio nsets fiickcnngi lltheirliv in grOOl 115.
T ho usan ds m o rew ere wai ti ngforsets tobe
deliv ered.Soonm illions o f peoplewereo rg aniz in g
thei r acti vities aro und rhcp ro g ra m s 011 televisionthat
cvcnmg ,
M ost ear lyAm ericantelevi sionpro gr alllswere
co ncerned w ithentertainme nt.C o med yandgalliC
shows, sto n esaboutp oli cemen and d etectives.the
ad venturesoffictionnl westernhero esliketlu-Lo ne
Ib llgn - allth esewen'ver ypopular.T he m ain
purposeofsuchpro g ram s was toattractlarge
aud ience sof"viewers. "Manu factu ring finnsth en
p aidtele visioncompanieslike N BC andC BSlotsof
111 0 11l' ytoshowadvertisements torthei r pro d ucts
w hileth eprogram swerebeingb roa dcast. or
" televise d ."
Bytill')1)(,Os filme d televisionpro g ram shad become
aun n po rtJ.mA me rica nexpo rt.Othercountries
fo un dit cheap ertobuyAmericanp ro gram s th an[0
make th eirown. So on such exporte dpro gra m s were
beingwatchedbyviewers all o ve rth e world .Oneof
themostpopularw as "I Lo veLucy , "a ]lJ5l)<,
co m ed yseriesfcanmng a red-hairedr-omcdicn uc
named Lucille Ball. Whl'n Lu cilleBJ.IIdiedill April
llJH'1, '"LO\'c Lu cy"was st illbei ngtelevised.Ithad
bee n seenbytheninseventy -nine ditf..rentco u ntries
andhadbecome th e mo stwatchedtelevisio nsh o w
ever.
Inmusic.th e pr oc esso f Am ericaniz ation cou ld be
seen mos t d earl yin the h ugein rcrnanonalpopularir v
o f ro ck. Rockbeg anas"re ck- and-roll",a m u sicthat
w as firs r played 111 th e 1951Js .Itcame fromtil('
AmericanSouth.an dcom b ined black bluesw ithth e
country musicofw o rking classwhitestop rodu cea
he:lvil Yrhy th mic -"rocking " -sound that ap pealed
especially[0youngpeople.M any o f r ock and roll's first st arswere b lack
perform e rssuchasC hu ckBerry an dLittleRic h ard.
Buttheun challenged" King"o frock-and-roll wasa
youngsouthernw h i tenam edElvisPr esle y.In )'15 6
Pres ley 'srecordi ngswereat th e to p o f theAm cric an
popularity list - th e"hitparade"- e n ' ryweekfrom
Au gu st to Decem ber. 13 yth e en dofthedecadehe
had become an in ternati o nal superstar.
T o ro ck-and -rollcnrhusiasrs. Pres leycameto
symbolizea ncvvcultureofyouth .Am o ngo the r
things, th is cultur e develo ped itso w n vocabula ry ,
W;lySofdressing,e ve nhairst y les. M o re signific lll tly