BW - EP134—007: Christmas With Jack Benny In A Changing World—Christmas Week 1949 World News

Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting

On Tuesday December 20th, Clark Gable and Sylvia Ashley were married at a ranch in Solvang, California. It was the fourth marriage for both of them. They’d divorce in 1952. The next day, Samson and Delilah directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Hedy Lamarr and Victor Mature was released. It would earn more than nine million dollars at the box office — the highest grossing film of 1950. Meanwhile on Friday, December 23rd, The New York Stock Exchange rose to its highest levels since August of 1946. While Pope Pius XII invited all Protestants and Jews to "return to the one true church" to unite against militant atheism. Protestant and Jewish leaders said they had no intention of accepting the invitation. The December 24th issue of The Saturday Evening Post featured articles on The Berlin Blockade, fiction on the galaxy’s outer limit, and editorials on political advisor David Niles, dubbed Harry Truman’s “mystery man.” The cover of The New York Daily News had a story on the U.S. barring ships from entering Chinese waters. The Los Angeles Times told of a boy skier who was found frozen to death, and a forecast of holiday snow for much of the country.