1954

Events

Dated Events

• Real World: February 23. First mass vaccination of children against polio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

• Real World: March 1. The United States officially announces their testing of a hydrogen bomb at Bikini Atoll.

• Real World: March 9. Edward R. Murrow criticizes Senator Joseph McCarthy on his See It Now program.

• Real World: March 13. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu begins in Vietnam between the Viet Minh and French forces.

• Real World: March 30. First Canadian subway opens in Toronto.

• Real World: April 7. U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower first talks about his "domino theory" during a press conference.

• Real World: May 7. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends with the French forces defeated.

• Real World: May 17. The Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision spells the end of the "separate but equal" doctrine in America.

• Real World: May 20. Chiang Kai-shek is re-elected President of the Republic of China at Taiwan.

• Real World: July 7. WHBQ, a radio station in Memphis, Tennessee, is the first station to air an Elvis Presley record.

• Real World: July 21. Vietnam is split into North and South at the Geneva Conference.

• Real World: September 8. SEATO (South East Asian Treaty Organization) established in Bangkok, Thailand.

• Ghostbusters (Films), Real Ghostbusters: October 25. Peter Venkman is born. (Ghostbusters International, "Mean Green Teen Machine" (The Real Ghostbusters), Ghostbusters Omnibus Timeline)

• Real World: November 30. A small meteorite crashes through the roof of a woman in Sylacaugha, Alabama, bouncing off her radio and giving her a nasty bruise; this is the first known case of a human being hit by a rock from space in modern times.

• Real World: December 2. Senator Joseph McCarthy's tactics and actions are condemned by the U.S. Congress.

Undated Events

• Buffy-Angel, Buffy-Angel (Expanded Universe): Rupert Giles is born. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer (at Wayback Machine))

• Buffy-Angel, Buffy-Angel (Expanded Universe): Frank Gillnitz, bellhop at the Hyperion Hotel in Los Angeles, is executed for the murder of a candle salesman. ("Are You Now or Have You Ever Been..." (Angel))

• Godzilla (Showa), Godzilla (Heisei), Godzilla (Millennium), Godzilla (Novels): The original Godzilla attacks Japan. The creature is eventually slain (or so it seems) by the Oxygen Destroyer weapon. (Godzilla (1954))

• Universal Monsters: Events of Creature From the Black Lagoon.

New Fictional Works

Notable Books

Revolt in 2100 by Robert A. Heinlein, Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Notable Films

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Brigadoon, Casino Royale (TV movie), Cat Women of the Moon, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Demetrius and the Gladiators, Godzilla (Japan), Killers from Space, Long John Silver, Men of Sherwood Forest, The Monster from the Ocean Floor, Prince Valiant, Romeo and Juliet, The Seven Samurai, The Snow Creature, Stranger from Venus, Them!, Tobor the Great.

Notable Radio Programs

The Lone Ranger ends.

Notable Television Series

• Continuing: The Adventures of Superman (Season 3), Captain Video and His Video Rangers (Season 6), Space Patrol (Season 5), Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (Season 5).

<< Back to 1953

^Up to 1950s^

Forward to 1955 >>