Was the 1950s as perfect as everyone says they were? (compared, rights)

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

Jeez, nitpick much? Some of these things came to being at various times in the 1950s. Primitive TVs became available, but newspapers printed only radio programming schedules early on. What I'm saying is there is a point when they didn't exist or were not widely utilized by the population at large.
Yeah and I know about The Comets.
I'm not saying some women didn't drive. Where do you think the term "woman driver" came from and the reason for its existence? There was no derogatory "man driver" epithet in use.
What does medicine of the 1920s have to do with anything? 1950s medical science was primitive compared to today.

Not nitpicking. Just correcting some errors. Like cars not having automatic transmissions... completely inaccurate. And you did say "women didn't drive cars."

Glad you know about Bill Haley and the Comets. No need to smack yourself because you should know by now that rock 'n' roll music was around as early as 1954. There was also the song "Rocket 88" from 1951 which some consider to be a rock song (or rock/rhythm and blues).

Regarding medicine, I was saying it wasn't all that primitive, especially compared to earlier decades.

As for "primitive TVs," that is certainly better than no TVs. Also, some of those console TVs were pretty nice. Real, quality wood and some even had a relatively big screen (although more so in the '60s).

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

But the late 1960s saw the end of them all. Certain restrictions still existed in the 1950s.

But not as bad as earlier decades. Progress started in the 1950s.

[claudhopper]

Group dance, the Jitterbug Stroll


Hub City Lindy Hop doing the JitterBug Stroll at Pen Mar - YouTube#!

_Group dances of the 1950s_

[claudhopper]

green_mariner, you should ask some of your relatives what they did as entertainment in the 50's. I imagine they entertained at home, singing, playing instruments for small gathering.

Television
On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC. The variety program was the first of its kind hosted by an African-American, which created controversy at the time.[8] Beginning as a 15-minute pops show on Monday night, the program was expanded to a half hour in July 1957. Despite the efforts of NBC, as well as many of Cole's industry colleagues—many of whom, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, Frankie Laine, Mel Tormé, Peggy Lee, and Eartha Kitt, worked for industry scale (or even for no pay)[8] in order to help the show save money—The Nat King Cole Show was ultimately done in by lack of a national sponsorship.[8] Companies such as Rheingold Beer assumed regional sponsorship of the show, but a national sponsor never appeared.[8]
The last episode of The Nat King Cole Show aired December 17, 1957. Cole had survived for over a year, and it was he, not NBC, who ultimately decided to pull the plug on the show.[9] Commenting on the lack of sponsorship his show received, Cole quipped shortly after its demise, "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark."[10][11]
Nat King Cole - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[EugeneOnegin]

It's funny that people talk about not having to lock theirs doors in the 50s. It's 2013 and I don't lock my house door or car door and I leave the keys in the ignition quite often. I think that mostly depends on where you live and how paranoid you are.

Interestingly, you have a lesser chance of being murdered today than in 1959. The murder rate per 100k is 4.8, in 1959 it was 4.9. If the decades-long trend of decreasing violent crime in the US holds up, the murder rate will very soon be at the 1950s average of ~4.4 per 100k.

I frequently see on Facebook nostalgic posts from kids who grew up in the 90s about how they drank from the garden hose and could walk home from school by themselves without adult supervision and without having to worry about being abducted, raped, assaulted, robbed, etc. and how you could never do that today. The 1990s were the worst crime decade in modern history. Crime rates in the 1990s were far higher than today. Perception and reality are usually miles apart when people start talking about the past.

From the 1961 Collier's Year Book:

The problem of American education goes deeper than the lack of buildings or lack of equipment or lack of scholarships or even lack of personnel. It involves quality; quality of teachers, quality of instruction, quality of curricula, quality of students, quality of output, quality of standards. (p. 205)

“The Gilbert Research Survey, which more usually polls student opinion, turned to a sample of 900 teachers for their opinions about teenagers. The number one complaint was lack of courtesy and respect for their elders. Other peeves of teachers included carelessness, poor grammar, and incessant talking. The teachers blamed poor parental supervision” (p. 208).

Shortages in school housing, in adequate facilities, and in teaching staff presented one dilemma. The values, morals, attitudes, ambitions, and behavior of young people - particularly the adolescent - presented another. Questions of antisocial and delinquent behavior and the weak holding power of the schools (dropouts) seemed to receive prominent attention. (p. 207)
.

Sound familiar?

[QuilterChick]

Originally Posted by Glenfield

I loved growing up in the 50s, but to be honest, I remember lying awake nights scared to death that the Russians were coming to drop an A- bomb on us any minute.

Oh yes, almost forgot about that. We had "air raid" drills in schools. Like hiding under the desk would do any good.

[markg91359]

green_mariner, you should ask some of your relatives what they did as entertainment in the 50's. I imagine they entertained at home, singing, playing instruments for small gathering.

Television
On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC. The variety program was the first of its kind hosted by an African-American, which created controversy at the time.[8] Beginning as a 15-minute pops show on Monday night, the program was expanded to a half hour in July 1957. Despite the efforts of NBC, as well as many of Cole's industry colleagues—many of whom, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, Frankie Laine, Mel Tormé, Peggy Lee, and Eartha Kitt, worked for industry scale (or even for no pay)[8] in order to help the show save money—The Nat King Cole Show was ultimately done in by lack of a national sponsorship.[8] Companies such as Rheingold Beer assumed regional sponsorship of the show, but a national sponsor never appeared.[8]
The last episode of The Nat King Cole Show aired December 17, 1957. Cole had survived for over a year, and it was he, not NBC, who ultimately decided to pull the plug on the show.[9] Commenting on the lack of sponsorship his show received, Cole quipped shortly after its demise, "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark."[10][11]
Nat King Cole - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Claudehopper,

You cited Nat King Cole as an example of what was good about the Fifties.

Why don't I tell you some other things that happened to this great man?

After becoming successful, he moved into a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles in 1948. After he moved in, the following things happened:

1. The Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on his lawn

2. An association of neighbors complained and asked him to move because he was an "undesirable".

3. His dog was killed.

4. Later, he entertained in Birmingham, Alabama in the heart of the "deep south" and he was physically attacked while on stage by a group from the "White Citizen's Alliance". He was knocked off his piano bench and injured his back.

Just sharing the whole story. He was a great entertainer. Its just a pity, so many in this time period chose to judge him more by the color of his skin than by his superb singing and entertaining ability. I'm glad we have progressed since than. That, sadly, is real history. Not something people "make up" to make themselves feel good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nat...vision_history

[QuilterChick]

There was rock 'n' roll music as early as 1954 (when "Rock Around the Clock" was recorded by Bill Haley and the Comets; it went to #1 the following year). Some would say there was rock 'n' roll music even earlier.

When did Elvis come on the scene? I thought that was in 1952. Then we had all those great groups: The Drifters, Frankie Vallee and the Four Seasons, etc. group names that we can't even remember; but I remember the songs!


There were also no computers (with Internet) in the '60s and '70s. You can't miss what you didn't have! Pizza may have been a new fad, but it was available. As were hamburgers, milkshakes, malts, hot fudge sundaes, banana splits, etc. Also, TVs were quite common by the mid-'50s... "I Love Lucy" had a big audience and ratings, which means many people had TVs. Also, to be technically accurate, the TV show "Bonanza" was broadcast in color and it premiered in Sept., 1959.[/quote]

Pizza was everywhere in the northeast in the 50's, they didn't deliver of course; but we had it just about every weekend from a "pizza parlor". TV actually came on the scene in the late 40's, and before my folks bought one it was a big deal to go downtown and watch the programs on the tv's in the furniture store window.

I don't believe cars had air conditioning in the 50's; at least ours didn't. My father bought his first brand new car then, a 1952 black Chevy 2-door. I remember the seats in a lot of cars being "itchy" in the summer, like wool fabric or whatever. Then his next one was a brandnew 1959 Ford Galaxy "hard top" with all the bells & whistles. I turned 16 that summer and he used to lock up the keys and wouldn't let me drive it. It was turquoise and white vinyl interior and a beauty.

[in_newengland]

To further reinforce some of the corrections that had to be made:

OF COURSE women drove cars in the 50s. Do you think they drove covered wagons? Mothers drove the kids to nursery school, they drove to the grocery store, they drove over to their relatives' houses to pick up the kids. Some (usually unmarried) younger women had snazzy convertibles. My great aunt had a T-bird convertible in the 50s. sheeeesh.

We didn't get the Beatles until around 1964 in this country, it was an entirely different era by then.
In the 50s we started out with songs like Mr Sand Man (give me a dream), Sho Boom, How Much is that Doggie in the Window, Oh, my Papa, Love and Marriage (go together like a horse and carriage) and if I remember, it ws around 1953-4 that we got Bill Haley and Rock around the Clock.

I first saw Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show about 1956, I think. Then came all the Elvis wannabes.

I posted over in the 60s thread but it's harder to write about the 60s because it was not a simple time like the 50s. We had seen the bare truth of the ugly underbelly of the 50s and we were trying to improve it. It was serious even though there was a lot of fun at the same time. The 60s naturally grew out of the repression and unfair treatment of many during the 50s. In the 60s we tried to make it right.

Do you think that those of us living the Leave it to Beaver life didn't also notice the news on tv and realize what was going on in the south? Do you think we didn't finally become aware, as we grew up, that women in the 50s couldn't earn enough to live on? Don't you think we were uncomfortable with having to be embarrassed every time we wanted to ask about sex? Do you think we didn't get sick and tired of having to dress exactly the same way everyone else did and that we girls didn't get tired of having to wear dresses everywhere? Especially in the cold winter when pants would have kept us warm? Don't you think we heard rumors of pregnant girls dying from trying to get an abortion using a coat hanger?

The 50s for fun for a kid but as we grew and learned and became aware, it was only natural that the 60s would become what they were: a time of rebellion and reform. By the end of the 60s some people had taken things too far and some things had become worse. But some things had become better. You can't repress people so that they're like robots, not allowed to do this, not allowed to do that, better say this and do that, dress like this, think like this--and not have some form of rebellion at some point. Hence the 60s.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Originally Posted by QuilterChick

I don't believe cars had air conditioning in the 50's; at least ours didn't.

There certainly were not many auto air conditioners in the 1950s but in the dry southwestern U.S. a few lucky folks hung a specially-built swamp cooler from their side window. It worked as long as the car was moving forward. I believe most of these things had a rotating barrel covered by a filtering material. The barrel was operated by a pull chain inside the car. The filtered barrel would rotate down into the water at the bottom of the unit wetting the filter. The dry outside air would then enter the front of the unit passing through the wet filter pad and then into the car as damp cool air. These worked somewhat well until the unit ran out of water.

Of course a swamp cooler would not work in humid NC or in deep eastern Texas where I was located in the 1950s. I still use swamp coolers in my homes in New Mexico and here in west Texas. They are very inexpensive to operate.

The auto swamp coolers are still in demand by antique auto enthusiasts but mostly for auto shows where the owner wants to duplicate the look and era that matches his/her car. I used to have one of those things lying around this farm somewhere.

Here's a pic of one the swamp coolers used on cars in the SW in the 1950s. The car is a 1955 or 1956 Ford: