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Having been born in 1938, I'd characterize it more as a partial truth. What I recall with the most warmth about the 40's and 50's was the feeling of community and safety, and that applied even in cities. And that despite the fact that my family was bottom of working class with no money - often the choice was food or rent, and looked down upon for being Catholics.
Small towns were virtually totally safe, you did not lock your house doors or your car. Kids left the house to play outside and were gone for hours without a worry. My aunt lived in a run-down, slummy neighborhood in a city, and even it was relatively safe if crumbling and dirty and poor. And blacks and whites lived in it without constant strife and hatred.
Even as discriminated against as African Americans were, they then had a strong family tradition, and strong institutions within their communities.
In the late Fifties I moved into a slum populated in large measure by Latinos of various colors and African Americans as that is what my pay allowed. I was never mugged (and my job brought me home at 4 a.m.) and my apartment was never burglarized. In the same city twenty years later living ten blocks away I was burglarized three times and worried, for good reason about walking home late at night.
By then there was no sense of neighborhood any longer as it had become invaded by Yuppies. And the small town I came from had drug addiction, vandalization, burglaries and had become a bedroom community for a city twenty miles away and lost its cohesiveness as well.
There were certainly many social inequities in the early post-WW II period, but I would have to agree that in many respects the quality of life was better. The national ethos of the U.S. half a century later leaves a great deal to be desire by anyone, regardless of color, sexual orientation, etc.
I would far rather live in that America than the one we created from 1980 on, which is why I don't live in the U.S. now.
A discussion of the 1950s wouldn't be complete without mention of a name from the era, which most older men will certainly remember -- the incomparable Bettie Page. Some of us remember Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth and others as pinups of WWII, but Bettie Page was a true pinup phenomenon of the 1950s. She is remembered by some for her physical beauty, but her personal history is even more remarkable.
Coming out of a Tennessee hard-scrabble home of several siblings and an abusive father, she eventually made her way to New York City, where her beauty caught the attention of a former police officer. In turn, he knew a photographer, and as they say, the rest is history. However, there was much more to Bettie Page than mere glamour. I think hers is a story worth reading:
I was a bit young, born in 1943, to know anything about that. It was gamy, but very wholesome when compared to today.
Kefauver messed up a lot of things. He destroyed the wide open gambling in Colorado and Wyoming among many others. I remember playing slot machines in a gas station in Cascade, Colorado and at the Crystola Inn a few miles farther from Manitou Springs when I was seven or eight years old. Can anyone imagine that today? Ouray Inn and Paradise Guest Ranch in Woodland Park had table games. Paradise Ranch was a real casino. it was all illegal; but no one cared.
Some of the south suburbs of Chicago had gambling as well. The Green Shingle in Harvey had an electric horse racing machine with a $25.00 jackpot.
Then there was Newport, Kentucky. Frank Sinatra performed at illegal casinos there. People like my parents who had grown up during Prohibition were absolute scofflaws. I wish I could go back as an adult.
There are a couple of novels about Newport. If you've ever heard of a Newport Nightgown, you'll like them. Even for those who haven't heard of the infamous nightgown, they're fun, with lots of murders, etc. nobody cares about the law.
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Watching the old Groucho Marx show "You Bet Your Life" is another eye-opener. I was around for that and used to watch it all the time , but now those people appear to be from another planet almost. Just look at the studio audience even. Whew.
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Watching the old Groucho Marx show "You Bet Your Life" is another eye-opener. I was around for that and used to watch it all the time , but now those people appear to be from another planet almost. Just look at the studio audience even. Whew.
The last couple of minutes were really awkward. Shouldn't they have announced the two "runners-up" first before crowning the queen? That tiara looked really cheap and flimsy, something you are given on New Years Eve at a party made out of cardboard and glitter.
At least on Miss America the finale was Burt Parks singing "There She Is, Miss America."
I think it was meant to be a look at the past. Funny now some not even born yet want to run it down. I rememebr my sisters being much like thsoe girls really.
People seem to think the 1950s were perfect. Take Leave it to Beaver as an example. (With credit to Fontucky):
If Leave it to Beaver truly mirrored real life as it was back then, here's what the character descriptions might look like:
Ward Cleaver: Alcoholic, workaholic, beats his sons with a belt. Bones his secretary on the side. His country club won't allow minorities or Jews to be members. The neighborhood where he bought his home is deed-restricted to white Anglo-Saxon protestant homeowners only. Drives drunk.
June Cleaver: Pops prescription Nembutal (see Mother's Little Helper by the Rolling Stones), and has an unlimited refills script for amphetamine-based diet pills. Her woman's club membership restrictions mirror her husband's country club. Drives high.
Wally Cleaver: Pretends to like girls because of what he faces from family, friends, church and community if he were to be outed.
Beaver Cleaver: As the baby of the family, he's spoiled rotten. Wally resents him and makes his life as miserable as he can. Beaver has been regularly sexually abused by his pastor and little league coach since he was 5, but is afraid to say anything lest his abusers carry out their threats of killing his parents.
No one I know thinks the '50s were perfect. Many people realize that the '50s were far better than many other decades.
What you outlined above is more fiction than fact.
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