December 1, 1956: "The Girl Can't Help It" Premieres

December 1, 1956: The Girl Can't Help It premieres, directed by Frank Tashlin. The girl who couldn't help it was played by Jayne Mansfield, and the film rockets her to stardom. It is often considered the best of the films to exploit the newly-emerging rock and roll.

Among the songs performed in the film are the title track, "Ready Teddy" and "She's Got It," by Little Richard; "Be-Bop-a-Lula" by Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps; "Blue Monday" by Fats Domino; "Twenty Flight Rock" by Eddie Cochran; "You'll Never, Never Know" by The Platters; "Rockin' Is Our Business" by The Treniers, the group that did "Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)"; "Cry Me a River" by Julie London; and "Spread the Word" by Abbey Lincoln, better known as a jazz singer.

Like her contemporary Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield wasn't a dumb blonde, she just played one in movies. She was very bright, and was a better violinist than either Jack Benny or Henny Youngman. Unfortunately, like Marilyn, she died young, killed in a car crash in 1967. Her 4-year-old daughter survived the wreck. We know her as actress Mariska Hargitay.

This movie proved tremendously significant, because it was shown in Britain. It made Little Richard, Cochran and Vincent more popular there than in their native America. And Cochran's "Twenty Flight Rock," about a man whose girlfriend lives in a high-rise with the elevator broken down -- "Get to the top, I'm too tired to rock!" -- was the song that 15-year-old Liverpool native Paul McCartney played 7 months later, to convince 16-year-old John Lennon to let him into his band, the Quarry Men. And that was the beginning of The Beatles.

*

December 1, 1956 was a Saturday. Among the college football games played that day were these:

* Rivalry: Number 1 Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State, 53-0 at Lewis Field (now Boone Pickens Stadium) in Stillwater, Oklahoma. This was during Oklahoma's 47-game winning streak, still a college football record.

* Rivalry: Number 2 Tennessee beat Vanderbilt, 27-7 at Dudley Field in Nashville.

* Number 3 Iowa, Number 7 Michigan, Number 8 Syracuse, Number 9 Michigan State and Number 10 Minnesota had all completed their regular seasons.

* Rivalry: Number 4 Georgia Tech beat Georgia, 35-0 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.

* Rivalry: Two days earlier, on Thanksgiving Day, Number 5 Texas A&M beat Texas, 34-21 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.

* Rivalry: Number 6 Miami beat Number 18 Florida, 20-7 at Florida Field (now Ben Hill Griffin Stadium) in Gainesville, Florida.

* Rivalry: Number 13 Navy and Army played to a tie, 7-7 at Municipal Stadium (now John F. Kennedy Stadium) in Philadelphia.

* Rivalry: Number 14 Texas Christian University (TCU) beat Southern Methodist University (SMU), 21-6 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

* Rivalry: Number 17 University of Southern California beat Notre Dame, 28-20 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* Rivalry: Holy Cross beat Boston College, 7-0 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* Rivalry: Auburn beat Alabama, 34-7 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.

* Rivalry: Mississippi (Ole Miss) beat Mississippi State, 13-7 at Hemingway Stadium (now Vaught-Hemingway Stadium) in Oxford, Mississippi.

* Rivalry: Louisiana State University (LSU) beat Tulane, 7-6 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.

* Rivalry: Missouri beat Kansas, 15-13 at Memorial Stadium (now Faurot Field) in Columbia, Missouri.

Baseball was out of season. There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Syracuse Nationals, 117-100 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Fort Wayne Pistons, 108-93 at the Boston Garden.

* The Rochester Royals beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 95-85 at the Rochester War Memorial (now the Blue Cross Arena) in Rochester, New York.

* And the Philadelphia Warriors beat the St. Louis Hawks, 107-95 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Paul Arizin led all scorers on the day with 37 points.

There were 2 NHL games that day. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 7-0 at the Montreal Forum. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The New York Rangers and the Boston Bruins were not scheduled.

And in English soccer, Arsenal were held to a draw by North-East team Sunderland, 1-1 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.