Significant Events this month: The CIA offers $150,000 to criminal organizations for a “hit” on Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro (7), a surprising fact uncovered years later. Marilyn Monroe sings “Happy Birthday” to President Kennedy at a Democratic fundraiser at Madison Square Garden in NYC (13). Monroe abruptly left the set of her new movie at 20th Century Fox in Hollywood to fly to New York, one of the many incidents that would culminate in her firing from the film, Something’s Got to Give. Astronaut Scott Carpenter becomes the second American to orbit the earth (24), following in the flight path of John Glenn in February. Adolf Eichmann, one of the notorious architects of the genocidal Holocaust during WWII, is hanged in Tel Aviv, Israel for his war crimes (31).
In Pop Music, Soldier Boy by the Shirelles, is the #1 single for the month, staying at the top of the charts for three weeks. Stranger on the Shore, an instrumental by British clarinetist Acker Bilk, also reaches the pole position for one week. He is the first British artist to top the American music charts, a feat duplicated later in the year. Other top ten hits and their peak position include Mashed Potato Time by Dee Dee Sharp (2), She Cried by Jay and the Americans (5), Shout by Joey Dee and the Starliters (6), Everybody Loves Me But You by Brenda Lee (6), P.T. 109 by Jimmy Dean (8), and Twist, Twist Señora by Gary U.S. Bonds (9). On the album charts, the movie soundtrack for West Side Story rises to the top, and would dominate album sales for months to come. Also climbing to the top this month is Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music by Ray Charles, mainly on the strength of his two giant hit singles, I Can’t Stop Loving You and You Don’t Know Me.
In Entertainment and Popular Culture, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, a new musical comedy, opens on Broadway (8). It is the first solo effort by composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim. The legendary composer just celebrated his 91st birthday in 2020. The Pulitzer Prize in Drama is awarded to the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, by Frank Loesser, Abe Burrow, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert. In England, the Beatles sign their first record contract. Also this month sees the publication of Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown. This manifesto for the aggressive independent woman causes a sensation when it appears in bookstores and becomes a huge best seller, anticipating the feminist movement. And Target department store, a division of the Dayton Hudson Corporation, opens in Roseville, Minnesota (1). The retailer would expand nationwide and survive into the 21st century as most other venerable department stores would fall by the wayside.
At the movies, audiences make West Side Story the top grossing film of the month; the Best Picture Oscar winner would command the box office for the rest of the Spring while still in its reserved seat, roadshow, exclusive engagements. Other hits in the top ten include Judgement at Nuremberg, The Counterfeit Traitor, the remake of State Fair, Sweet Bird of Youth, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Experiment in Terror, and art-house hit A Taste of Honey.
