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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.
Excellent post, you put it into perspective very well. It was more of an innocent time, and those of us who lived it appreciate that era now that we look back and compare it to how loose things are now. We were fortunate actually to have a lot of wholesome experiences, and knew the difference when our own children came along; and oh how we tried to avoid the ugliness when it began.
The quip about the covered wagons about made me spit out my coffee lol !
(Two of my very best friends did get married before they finished high school, because they "had to". They are still together, happily married, three successful and wonderful children, they stuck out some hard times too, put each other thru college and they are blessed. 50+ years. Awesome.)
...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! ....
1954 singing, a cover of That's All Right, but '56 saw him sing Heartbreak Hotel which pushed into national prominence.
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 lived in western NY state, where there were a lot of Italian immigrants from Sicily and the south of Italy. Every town of any size had an Italian family making pizza. The one I went to as a teenager is still open, which in the era of pizza chains I think is remarkable.
TV...ouch. I was very uncomfortable spending time at home with my parents as they had a very tense and problematical marriage. In the 7th grade I had been given permission to go to the movies on Friday or Saturday night and come home by eleven...a real boon. One weekend my father brought our first TV home, and after dinner I put on my jacket to head for the movies where I was meeting some classmates...not that TV wasnt great maybe, but out of the house was better. My father said, "Where are you going?" A tense exchange followed...ending with me saying pleadingly, "But I promised I'd meet them." And I was given the turn-to-stone-look and fled. The next day my mother announced, "Your father was furious that you went to the movies, and he's going to take the TV back if that's how you feel." And, thus, did TV enter our home.
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.
Fewer women learned how to drive though, and fewer families had two cars. I had a grandma that never learned to drive. By nursery school I'm assuming you mean something like preschool...that was less common in the fifties as compared to now. I was "nursery school" age in the seventies..it wasn't really that common then.
I think some of the car stuff depended on where you live. My parents both grew up in a very large city and weren't really in the mode of driving everywhere, like people do today.
Fewer women learned how to drive though, and fewer families had two cars. I had a grandma that never learned to drive. By nursery school I'm assuming you mean something like preschool...that was less common in the fifties as compared to now. I was "nursery school" age in the seventies..it wasn't really that common then.
I think some of the car stuff depended on where you live. My parents both grew up in a very large city and weren't really in the mode of driving everywhere, like people do today.
Same as today, if you live in a city, you might not need a car. In the suburbia of the 50s, the family usually had one car and the parents shared it. Yes, nursery school is what you call preschool today.
No, nursery school wasn't that common back then because mothers were at home taking care of the kids and reading to them and teaching them things. Kids played with their siblings, cousins, and neighborhood children and got enough socialization in most cases that they did not really need nursery school.
I do remember some wealthier people who had two cars in the 50s--the father would have the family car and the mother would drive a Volkswagen bug, the usual second car in those days.
2013 = more better 4 everybot cause we no longer has to learn abc or work, we on the dole.
1950 = more better 4 dose racist whytes mens
Unfettered thoughts that moderators might permit:
There was a lot less government. Taxes, yes all taxes combined that the average person pays were significantly lower.
No they weren't, total tax receipts as a percentage of GDP from 2008-2012 were lower than every year of the 1950s, with the lone exception being 1950, when they were slightly lower. Total tax receipts as a percentage of GDP from 1950-1959 were higher than from 2003-2012.
Was the 1950s as perfect as everyone says they were?
The 50s were a good decade for many Americans. The economy was very strong, mostly because we didn't have much competition. The rest of the industrialized world was digging out from the rubble of WWII, so we manufactured just about everything for everyone.
It was also a decade of rapid progress. We entered the 50s with a small percentage of homes having black & white TVs but left the decade with almost everyone having a TV, and color TVs becoming popular. The Interstate Highway system was built, making travel by car a LOT easier and faster than before. In 1950, there were no jet airliners. By 1960, there were few long haul airliners that weren't jets.
But we still had major work to do in regards to civil rights. That struggle gained a lot more attention in the 60s.
Same as today, if you live in a city, you might not need a car. In the suburbia of the 50s, the family usually had one car and the parents shared it. Yes, nursery school is what you call preschool today.
No, nursery school wasn't that common back then because mothers were at home taking care of the kids and reading to them and teaching them things. Kids played with their siblings, cousins, and neighborhood children and got enough socialization in most cases that they did not really need nursery school.
I do remember some wealthier people who had two cars in the 50s--the father would have the family car and the mother would drive a Volkswagen bug, the usual second car in those days.
In the 50's? Most women didn't need to drive, but if they did, they sure didn't drive a stick-shift.
The 50s were a good decade for many Americans. The economy was very strong, mostly because we didn't have much competition. The rest of the industrialized world was digging out from the rubble of WWII, so we manufactured just about everything for everyone.
It was also a decade of rapid progress. We entered the 50s with a small percentage of homes having black & white TVs but left the decade with almost everyone having a TV, and color TVs becoming popular. The Interstate Highway system was built, making travel by car a LOT easier and faster than before. In 1950, there were no jet airliners. By 1960, there were few long haul airliners that weren't jets.
But we still had major work to do in regards to civil rights. That struggle gained a lot more attention in the 60s.
Your perspective is a balanced. The truth is this. The 50s was a good time for many Americans. However, it wasn't good for everyone.
Your perspective is a balanced. The truth is this. The 50s was a good time for many Americans. However, it wasn't good for everyone.
People are not prefect, and earth is not paradise. Did that really have to be said?
If so, I said it. Nothing will ever be perfect for anybody, even rich successful people have their problems. Part of life is overcoming trials and tribulations, it's a learning experience.
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Was the 1950s as perfect as everyone says they were?
