1954 Events

1954 Castle & Cooke Enters the Banana Business
Castle & Cooke purchases 55% interest in Standard Fruit & Steamship Company, New Orleans, entering the banana business.
1954 Ford Thames is First Produced
The Ford Thames 300E is a panel van produced by Ford of Britain from 1954 to 1961. The Thames (or Thames Trader) name was given to all available sizes of commercial vehicle produced by Fo...
1954 Ford Versailles is First Produced
The Ford Versailles is an automobile. Two different vehicles have been sold as the Ford Versailles: 1954-1957 in France 1992-1996 in Brazil The former Ford SAF plant in Poissy, acqui...
1954 Georgia Historical Commission erects historical marker to Blind Tom Wiggins
The inscription of the Blind Tom historical marker reads: "BLIND TOM" 200 feet east is the grave of Thomas Wiggins (1843-1908) As "Blind Tom" he thrilled audiences here and in Eur...
1954
to 1955
Maya Angelou tours with the opera Porgy and Bess
Blevins Davis and Robert Breen produced a revival in 1952 which restored much of the music cut in the Crawford version, including many of the recitatives, and divided the opera into two a...
1954 Mercedes-Benz W180 is FIrst Produced
The Mercedes-Benz W180 is a 6-cylinder sedan, coupé, and convertible made from 1954 to 1959. The models associated with the W180 chassis code were the 220a and 220S. The latter has often ...
1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 is First Produced
The Mercedes-Benz W196 was the Mercedes-Benz Formula One entry in the 1954 and 1955 Formula One seasons, winning 9 of 12 races entered in the hands of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss...
1954 Muhammad Ali is pointed to boxing by police officer to channel his anger
Clay was first directed toward boxing by the white Louisville police officer and boxing coach Joe E. Martin, who encountered the 12-year-old fuming over the theft of his bicycle. However,...
1954 "The Country Girl" Is Released
The Country Girl is a 1954 drama film adapted by George Seaton from a Clifford Odets play of the same name, which tells the story of a has-been singer/actor who is given one last chance t...
1954 The Horse and His Boy published
The Horse and His Boy is a novel by C. S. Lewis. It was published in 1954, making it the fifth of seven books published in Lewis' series The Chronicles of Narnia. The books in this series...
1954 Jan Ernest Hemingway's Plane Crashes
In Africa he was seriously injured in two successive plane crashes: he sprained his right shoulder, arm, and left leg; had a concussion; temporarily lost vision in his left eye and the he...
1954 Jan 4 Elvis records "I'll Never Stand In Your Way" and "It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You"
On January 4, 1954, he cut a second acetate demo recording of "I'll Never Stand In Your Way" and "It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You". At the time, Sun Records boss Sam Phillips was on t...
1954 Jan 10 British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 781 Crashes
BOAC Flight 781 departed Rome, Italy on a flight to London, England. While climbing through 27,000 feet, the plane experienced a sudden in-flight break-up and crashed into the Mediterrane...
1954 Jan 11 Boston College defeats Northeastern, 8-5
1954 Jan 11 Harvard defeats Boston University, 3-2
1954 Jan 12 Boston College defeats Harvard, 4-1
1954 Jan 12 Boston University defeats Northeastern, 5-3
1954 Jan 12 Howard Stern Is Born
Howard Allan Stern was born to Ben and Ray Stern on January 12, 1954. He has one sister, Ellen. He grew up in Roosevelt, Long Island, and frequently references his upbringing as a Jewish ...
1954 Jan 14 Marilyn Monroe Marries Joe DiMaggio
She and Joe DiMaggio were married in San Francisco on January 14, 1954. They travelled to Japan soon after, combining a honeymoon with a business trip previously arranged by DiMaggio. For...
1954 Jan 28 Ronald Reagan Guest Stars in "Lux Video Theatre" - Season 4, Episode 13: A Place in the Sun
Lux Video Theatre is a weekly television anthology series, produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original stories, as well as abridged adaptations o...
1954 Jan 29 Oprah Winfrey Is Born
Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is an American media personality, Academy Award nominated actress, producer, literary critic and magazine publisher, best known for her self-tit...
1954 Feb 10 Blons Avalanches of 1954
The Blons avalanches in Austria was one of the worst mass burials by avalanche in recorded history. This happened on February 10 and February 11. The small village of Blons near Bluden...
1954 Feb 19 Ronald Reagan Appears in "Schlitz Playhouse of Stars" - Season 3, Episode 25: The Jungle Trap
While leading a safari, a professional hunter encounters the judge who sentenced his innocent brother to death for a crime he did not commit
1954 Mar 9 Murrow Attacks Senator Joseph McCarthy On 'See It Now'
Having reported discrete episodes in the Cold War, Murrow and Friendly decided to expose the architect of the paranoia, McCarthy himself. On 9 March 1954 See It Now employed audiotapes an...
1954 Mar 20 La Salle Beats Bradley in Final Four
The 1954 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 24 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball....
1954 Mar 25 26th Academy Awards
The 26th Academy Awards honored the best in films of 1953. The second national telecast of the Awards show draws an estimated 43,000,000 viewers. Shirley Booth, appearing in a play in ...
1954 Mar 26 Ronald Reagan Appears in "Schlitz Playhouse of Stars" - Season 3, Episode 30: The Edge of Battle
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is a weekly anthology television series telecast Friday nights on CBS from 1951 until 1959. The series presented both comedies and drama. The series was sponsor...
1954 Mar 31 "Sansho The Bailiff" Is Released
Sansho the Bailiff (Japanese: 山椒大夫Sanshō Dayū) is a 1954 film by Japanese film director Kenji Mizoguchi. Based on a short story of the same name by Mori Ogai, it tells the story of two ar...
1954 Apr 8
to 1954 Apr 12
 Sam Snead wins the 18th Masters Tournament
One of the better-known Sam Snead quotes is this: "The three things I fear most in golf are lightning, Ben Hogan and a downhill putt." At the 1954 Masters, Sam Snead had to face one of...
1954 Apr 8 South African Airways Flight 201 Crashes
On 8 April 1954, Flight 201 departed Rome for Cairo and Johannesburg. The flight was used with a leased British Overseas Airways Corporation De Havilland Comet. The aircraft crashed off t...
1954 Apr 16 Detroit Red Wings win Stanley Cup
The 1954 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the Detroit Red Wings and the defending champion Montreal Canadiens, in their fourth-straight Finals. It was the third ...
1954 Apr 26 "Seven Samurai" Is Released
Seven Samurai (七人の侍, Shichinin no Samurai?) is a 1954 Japanese film co-written, edited and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film takes place in Warring States Period Japan (around 1587/158...
1954 Apr 30 "River of No Return"
Matt Calder, who lives on a remote farm with his young son Mark, helps two unexpected visitors who lose control of their raft on the nearby river. Harry Weston is a gambler by profession ...
1954 May 4 Ronald Reagan Appears as Webb Sloane in "Prisoner of War"
Prisoner of War is a 1954 American war drama film directed by Andrew Marton and starring Ronald Reagan, Steve Forrest, Dewey Martin and Oskar Homolka. An American officer volunteers to...
1954 May 7 Viet Minh Defeat French at Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (French: Bataille de Diên Biên Phu; Vietnamese: Chiến dịch Điện Biên Phủ) was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's...
1954 May 17 US Supreme Court Rules on Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court, which overturned earlier rulings going back to Plessy v. Ferguson i...
1954 May 20 Ronald Reagan Plays Lieutenant Commander Masterson in "The Ford Television Theatre" - Season 2, Episode 34: Beneath These Waters
Ford Theatre (spelled Ford Theater for the radio version) is a radio and television anthology series broadcast in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. At various times, the televisio...
1954 May 27 "Johnny Guitar" Is Released
Johnny Guitar (1954) is a Republic Pictures feature film starring Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, and Scott Brady in an Old West tale about an Arizona cattle communi...
1954 May 29 "Dial M For Murder" Is Released
Dial M for Murder (1954) is a thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Grace Kelly, Ray Milland and Robert Cummings and released by Warner Brothers. The film was based on the a...
1954 Jun 24 "The Caine Mutiny" Is Released
The Caine Mutiny is a 1954 drama film set during World War II, directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Stanley Kramer. It stars Humphrey Bogart, Jose Ferrer, Van Johnson and Fred MacMu...
1954 Jun 25 Sonia Sotomayor is Born
Sonia Maria Sotomayor was born in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. Her father, Juan Sotomayor, had a third-grade education and did not speak English. He was from the Santurce area o...
1954 Jun 26 Elvis Presley auditions for producer Sam Phillips
She called him on June 26, 1954. However, Presley was not able to do justice to the song. Phillips would later recall that "Elvis was probably as nervous as anybody, black or white, that ...
1954 Jul 3 "The High And The Mighty" Is Released
The High and the Mighty is a 1954 CinemaScope drama adventure film with a star laden ensemble cast released through Warner Brothers. The film starred and was co-produced by John Wayne, di...
1954 Jul 4 West Germany Defeats Hungary to Win 1954 FIFA World Cup in "The Miracle of Bern"
The 1954 FIFA World Cup, the fifth staging of the World Cup, was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. As the year saw the 50th anniversary of FIFA, it was appropriate for football'...
1954 Jul 13 Frida Kahlo Dies
"I hope the exit is joyful- and I hope never to return- Frida" —Frida Kahlo
1954 Jul 22 "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" Is Released
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a musical film released in 1954. It was directed by Stanley Donen, with music by Saul Chaplin and Gene de Paul, and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The script ...
1954 Jul 24 "Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring" Is Released
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It takes place in the fictional universe Middle-ea...
1954 Jul 28 "On The Waterfront" Is Released
On the Waterfront is a 1954 American drama film about mob violence and corruption among longshoremen. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Br...
1954 Aug 'Horton Hears A Who' is Published
"I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful one-hundred percent. " —Horton the Elephant
1954 Aug 1 "Rear Window" Is Released
Rear Window is a 1954 suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder", and starring James Stew...