Welcome to the 1955 edition of the “Shatner Year In Review.” At the end of each year covered in the review posts I will provide a summary as it relates to Shatner and his career, as well as display some key entertainment statistics.
1955 was another busy year for The Shat, including at least a dozen TV appearances as well as another full season as part of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Along the way he worked on a Rod Serling production, appeared in a television show that can still be viewed today (the first one since 1950 that is extant!), lost his life savings, got invited to Broadway and possibly met one of his future baby mamas. Big doings!
The appearances that I could find for Shatner are listed below in chronological order, and each links to my post about that appearance.
- Scope – “Antiquity 1954” (01/02/1955)
- Playbill – “Mr. Finchley Versus the Bomb” (01/19/1955)
- General Motors Theatre – “Never Say No” (02/22/1955)
- On Camera – “Man in 308” (02/26/1955)
- Scope – “One Soul in Two Bodies” (02/27/1955)
- General Motors Theatre – “The Coming Out of Ellie Swan” (03/22/1955)
- Playbill – “The Swamp” (03/30/1955)
- Scope – “The Verdict Was Treason” (04/03/1955)
- General Motors Theatre – “Billy Budd” (04/26/1955)
- Stratford Festival
- The Big Dig (09/02/1955)
- On Camera – “On a Streetcar” (12/03/1955)
- General Motors Theatre – “Forever Galatea” (12/06/1955)
The upcoming year of 1956 would be yet another busy one for The Shat, with his first trip to Broadway, more Stratford, a big move to NYC, his first major US television appearance (and a full review of it!) and a sudden and momentous event that would change his life forever. Stay tuned!
Best Shatner Appearance of 1955: General Motors Theatre – “Billy Budd”
Worst Shatner Appearance of 1955: General Motors Theatre – “Billy Budd”
1955 – Selected Statistics
US President: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Canada Prime Minister: Louis St. Laurent
- Cinerama Holiday
- Mister Roberts
- Battle Cry
- Oklahoma!
- Guys and Dolls
- Lady and the Tramp
- Not as a Stranger
- Strategic Air Command
- The Seven Year Itch
- The Tall Men
Best Picture of 1955: Marty
Best movie that I’ve seen from 1955 (of the ones listed above): Huh. I haven’t seen many of these. I guess I’ll go with Disney’s Lady and the Tramp, because Disney. I’ve seen The Seven Year Itch and was not impressed. Maybe I should give it another chance? Guys and Dolls is OK, but giving Marlon Brando the lead and putting Sinatra as second fiddle was a mistake. He can sing better than Shatner, but Brando still can’t really sing and he kind of ruins one of my favorite songs of all time, “Luck Be a Lady.”
- The $64,000 Question
- I Love Lucy
- The Ed Sullivan Show
- Disneyland (YES)
- The Jack Benny Show
- December Bride
- You Bet Your Life
- The Jackie Gleason Show
- Dragnet
- The Millionaire
- “Rock Around the Clock” – Bill Haley & His Comets
- “Sixteen Tons” – Tennessee Ernie Ford
- “Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White” – Pérez Prado
- “Only You (And You Alone)” – The Platters
- “Love is a Many Splendored Thing” – The Four Aces
Best 1955 song that I own: “Learnin’ the Blues” – Frank Sinatra (“The cigarettes you light, one after another, won’t help you forget her, and the way that you love her…”)
Runner-up for Best 1955 Song that I own: “Trying to Get to You”– Elvis Presley
Honorable Mention for Best 1955 Song that I own: “(Love Is) The Tender Trap” – Frank Sinatra (…yep)
- In The Wee Small Hours – Frank Sinatra
- The Glenn Miller Story – Glenn Miller
- Bach: The Goldberg Variations – Glenn Gould
- Sarah Vaughan in Hi-Fi – Sarah Vaughan
- Starring Sammy Davis Jr. – Sammy Davis Jr.
Best 1955 Album that I own:
In The Wee Small Hours – Frank Sinatra (The ultimate Sinatra break-up record.)
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