On September 14, 1964, the Kellogg’s Company began selling
the Pop-Tart. The innovative portable-breakfast-treat-turned-
anytime-snack would go on to sell billions annually and help
redefine the breakfast food market.

It all started when one of Kellogg’s biggest competitors, Post
Consumer Brands, trumpeted to the press that it had created
an innovative new breakfast item: a shelf-stable, fruit-filled,
handheld toaster pastry called “Country Squares.”

It sounded like the ultimate grab-and-go convenience food.
Anticipation ran high. Problem was, their pastry wasn’t quite
ready for market.

While Post dragged its feet on the actual product release,
Kellogg’s—having heard the announcement, rushed to push
out its own version.

The King of Rock and Roll teamed up with TV’s reigning variety
program, as Elvis Presley appears on “The Ed Sullivan Show”
for the first time on September 9, 1956.

After Presley earned big ratings for “The Steve Allen Show,”
the Dorsey Brothers “Stage Show” and “The Milton Berle
Show,” Sullivan finally reneged on his Presley ban, signing
the controversial singing star to an unprecedented $50,000
contract for three appearances.

With 60 million viewers—or 82.6 percent of TV viewers at the time—tuning in, the appearance garnered the show’s best
ratings in two years and became the most-watched TV
broadcast of the 1950s.

                                          
TIM MAGUIRE                     

Shortly after midnight on August 13, 1961, East German soldiers
began laying down barbed wire and bricks as a barrier between
Soviet-controlled East Berlin and the democratic western section
of the city.

In July 1956, DJ Dick Clark inherited WFIL-TV’s Bandstand
from scandal-tainted Bob Horn and revamped it.

On August 5, 1957, TV’s "American Bandstand" began
broadcasting nationally beaming images of clean-cut,
average teenagers dancing to 67 ABC affiliates across
the nation.

The show would become an iconic expression of American 
teen culture.

Dick Clark (November 30, 1929 – April 18, 2012)