Jan 7 20 year-old future world heavyweight boxing championFloyd Patterson scores a 5th-round TKO of Willie Troy in a non-title super middleweight bout at New York’s Madison Square Garden

Jan 7Marian Anderson is the first African American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera, singing the role of Ulrica inGiuseppe Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera"

Jan 15Dmitri Shostakovich's "From Jewish Folk Poetry" premieres in Leningrad

Jan 19 "Scrabble" debuts on board game market

Jan 19 1st presidential news conference filmed for TV (Eisenhower)

Feb 8Georgy Malenkov resigns as USSR premier and is replaced by Nikolai Bulganin

Mar 5Elvis Presley makes his 1st TV appearance on a local video broadcast of the popular radio program "Louisiana Hayride" from the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana

Mar 6 Dutch premiere ofSamuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"

Mar 7 7th Emmy Awards: "Make Room for Daddy",Danny Thomas &Loretta Young win

Mar 7 Musical "Peter Pan", starringMary Martin broadcast live on NBC as part of "Producers' Showcase" series; attracts a then record 65 million viewers

Mar 16 NHL PresidentClarence Campbell suspends Montreal Canadiens superstar Maurice "Rocket" Richard for the remainder of the season after he viciously attacked an opponent; Riots ensued in Montreal

Mar 25 United States Customs seizes copies ofAllen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" as obscene.

Mar 27Steve McQueen makes his network TV debut (Goodyear Playhouse, episode "The Chivington Raid")

Mar 30 27th Academy Awards: "On the Waterfront",Marlon Brando &Grace Kelly win

Apr 5Anthony Eden succeedsWinston Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Apr 11 "Marty" directed by Delbert Mann and starringErnest Borgnine and Betsy Blair premieres in New York (Best Picture 1956)

Apr 11 Chartered Air India plane the "Kashmir Princess" is bombed and crashes into the South China Sea in a failed assassination attempt onZhou Enlai by a Kuomintang secret agent

Apr 12 Polio vaccine tested byJonas Salk announced to be 'safe and effective' and is given full approval by the US Food and Drug Administration

Apr 14 26-year-old catcher/outfielderElston Howard becomes first African-American to play for NY Yankees; hits single with 1 RBI in 8-4 loss to Boston Red Sox

Apr 15Ray Kroc opens first McDonald's Inc. fast food restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois

Apr 25 Captiol Records releases "In the Wee Small Hours", the ninth studio album by American vocalistFrank Sinatra; collection of melancholy ballads with arrangements by Nelson Riddle was an early example of a concept album and helped popularize the 12-inch format for non-classical recordings

May 1 Future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcherBob Feller tosses his record 12th 1-hitter in Indians' 2-0 win v Boston Red Sox at Cleveland Stadium

May 1 Showgirl Linda Lawson is crowned "Miss-Cue" in the Atomic Pageant, after the Operation Cue test is repeatedly delayed by high winds

May 2 Pulitzer Prize for Drama awarded toTennessee Williams for his play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"

May 13Mickey Mantle hits 3 consecutive HRs of at least 463'

May 16Rocky Marciano beats Don Cockell by TKO in the 9th round at Kezar Stadium, San Francisco to retain his world heavyweight boxing title

May 18Queen Juliana opens E55 fair in Amsterdam, Netherlands

May 26 Soviet PremierNikita Khrushchev arrives in Belgrade

Jun 3Stan Musial hits his 300th HR

Jun 4 "Mickey Rooney Show" TV comedy last airs on NBC

Jun 7 India Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru visit USSR

Jun 8 MLB Brooklyn Dodgers option pitcher (and future Baseball Hall of Fame manager)Tommy Lasorda to make room on roster for future Hall of Famer, pitcherSandy Koufax