(MUSIC: “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”)

In Hollywood, one of the biggest movie stars of the nineteen fifties was Marilyn Monroe. She starred in films like "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" in nineteen fifty-three. Her platinum-blonde hair style also became popular among American women.

JAMES DEAN: “I woke up this morning, you know, and the sun was shining. And it was nice, and all that type of stuff. And the first thing, I saw you, and I said, now, boy this is gonna be one terrific day…”

Another famous actor was James Dean, best known for the nineteen fifty-five movie "Rebel without a Cause." That same year he died in a car accident at the age of twenty-four.

In literature, there were writers and poets who came to be known as the “Beat Generation.” These included Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsberg. To them, much of life in nineteen-fifties America was empty and meaningless.

The painter Jackson Pollock represented a spirit of rebellion in art. Pollock would drop paint onto a canvas. What did his works mean? People had to decide for themselves.

(MUSIC: “Don’t Be Cruel")

In music, the rebel was Elvis Presley -- the king of rock and roll.

Elvis was a twenty-one-year-old truck driver when he sang on television for the first time.

Some parents and religious leaders thought he was a bad influence. They thought the way he moved his body to the music was too suggestive. But young people screamed for more. They listened to Elvis' music on records, on the radio and on the television program "American Bandstand."