Posted on 06/05/2005 6:37:36 AM PDT by sushiman
I would like to hear from folks who were adults during the 1950's ( I was born in 1952 ) about what it was really like back in those days . In nostalgiac moods I often wish I would go back , as an adult , and see for myself if it was a wonderful as I remember it with romantic , childhood visions ...I know this is a very broad topic ...any memories , thoughts , etc...would be appreciated ...
Good post, I would add that school kids played out all day, often forgetting about meals
We all came home by dark or our moms would yell for us out the front door
A real treat was riding our bicycles to the cornor store, sipping a RC and naming the makes and models of every car that came down the road
Schools in the surburbs were growing, had a lot of programs, mech drawing, metal shop, wood shop, auto shop.
Savings accounts in little pass books paid 4% while home loans were 6%. This rate persisted for years and years. Real Estate agents knew your payment because the rates were so constant they could memorize them
The dairy trucks that delivered fresh milk right to our porch.
The Helms Bakery truck with its distinctive whistle.
Second-story bedrooms, and homes with scary basements (until we moved to California).
Yikes. I wasn't an adult in the 50s, but a kid. Sorry 'bout jumping in...
We did too... the older houses on the mainland which were two or more stories high, often had "sleeping porches" upstairs because it was cooler away from the hot ground. Typically it was a screen porch with the side facing the street with latticed or pierced wood for privacy- I go by an old Victorian-era house like that on Union Street every day.
When the Bug Truck drove by the house spraying DDT, all us kids went and played in the fog, reasoning with childish logic, "bad for bugs, good for me!"
Polio was still a terror then- I knew one kid in an iron lung, and everytime an outbreak was reported, all the Moms kept their kids out of the public swimming pools.
Never worried me much, because I disdained pools and swam only in the ocean.
Gas $0.19
Sugar $0.10
Cigarettes $.10
Used car $50
Rent $10
Well, I wasn't an adult, but I do remember:
TV:
* DuMont network
* Ernie Kovacs, Sid Caesar, early Steve Allen
* Lots of ads for rerigerators on prime-time shows
* Daytime shows: "Bride and Groom"; "Queen for a Day"; Bess Myerson; Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon in "Who Do You Trust?"
* "Beat the Clock"
* "Omnibus" on Sundays, hosted by Alistair Cooke; "Wide, Wide World" hosted by Dave Garroway
* "Victory At Sea"
* Growing up and moving on from the "Mickey Mouse Club" to "American Bandstand" in 1958
Movies:
* Drive-ins
* 1953 version of "War of the Worlds" that scared me to death!
* "Rock Around the Clock"
Clothes:
* My gray felt poodle skirt
* First day of school: patent-leather shoes and plaid dresses
* Men wore hats, not baseball caps
* Women dressed up in cocktail dresses, hats with little veils, gloves, and fur (I'm waiting for a Dior revival...)
Food:
* "Supermarkets" then had less variety than a lot of corner convenience stores do now (although you could buy pkgs of frozen horsemeat!)
* 6 candy bars for only 25 cents (and the bars were bigger, too)
* When glass milk bottles delivered to your door had the little cup on top where all the cream collected
* Soda fountains in the drugstores
Boston:
* Before: urban renewal, the Prudential Center, Rt. 128 and the Mass. Turnpike.
* When the wind was right, you could smell the chocolate at the Baker's Chocolate factory.
* As a little kid, going anywhere on the MTA and feeling safe
* Norumbega Park, Pleasure Island, and Nantasket Beach
* Christmas at the downtown Jordan Marsh store, and their blueberry muffins anytime
* Schools: (and yes, I'm talking 1950's not 1850's) bolted down wooden desks; learning to sew on a non-electric pedal-powered Singer; learning to write in ink using dip pens in inkwells; learning U.S. geaography from a 1930's book that exclaimed about the opening of the Lincoln Highway; no cafeteria - everyone brought lunch from home, got a carton of milk at school, and ate at their desks
Science and medicine:
* Polio epidemics in the summers; first large-scale polio vaccinations with Salk vaccine
* Pre-Sputnik
* Coca-Cola syrup when you were sick
I was born in 1962, so I honestly can't tell you, I do know my parents married in the 50's, but to be honest, anything before 66 is a real blank. Though, I will always remember Hurricane Camille.
Just woke up and it is a sunny morning here in the Kumamoto hinterland ...Would like to bump this thread now , and once I've had my cup of java & breakfast will chime in with some more comments ...Thanks all for your memories !
America in the 50s was a completely different world, so different you would not recognize it if you were to somehow travel back in time.
It would take far more space then is available here to convey even some faint idea of how it was to live then. I am 77 years old, born in 1928.
A young person with a high school diploma was far better educated than most college grads today. People had manners, went to church, worked every day, paid their bills and mortgages on time, kids played in the neighborhood free of fear, murderers were killed, people got married before they had kids, charity was for the truly poor and came from the church, children took care of they parents when their turn came, banks were solid, cars cost $600 and ran for a long time, people were pourd to be an American and were independent, a good house could be built for $4000, a good suit cost $12 and a Coke was 5 cents.
Most important of all, a person never had to deal with government unless he went to the post office to get a one-cent postage stamp.
I could go on and on.
America in the 50s was a completely different world, so different you would not recognize it if you were to somehow travel back in time.
It would take far more space then is available here to convey even some faint idea of how it was to live then. I am 77 years old, born in 1928.
A young person with a high school diploma was far better educated than most college grads today. People had manners, went to church, worked every day, paid their bills and mortgages on time, kids played in the neighborhood free of fear, murderers were killed, people got married before they had kids, charity was for the truly poor and came from the church, children took care of they parents when their turn came, banks were solid, cars cost $600 and ran for a long time, people were pourd to be an American and were independent, a good house could be built for $4000, a good suit cost $12 and a Coke was 5 cents.
Most important of all, a person never had to deal with government unless he went to the post office to get a one-cent postage stamp.
I could go on and on.
America in the 50s was a completely different world, so different you would not recognize it if you were to somehow travel back in time.
It would take far more space then is available here to convey even some faint idea of how it was to live then. I am 77 years old, born in 1928.
A young person with a high school diploma was far better educated than most college grads today. People had manners, went to church, worked every day, paid their bills and mortgages on time, kids played in the neighborhood free of fear, murderers were killed, people got married before they had kids, charity was for the truly poor and came from the church, children took care of they parents when their turn came, banks were solid, cars cost $600 and ran for a long time, people were pourd to be an American and were independent, a good house could be built for $4000, a good suit cost $12 and a Coke was 5 cents.
Most important of all, a person never had to deal with government unless he went to the post office to get a one-cent postage stamp.
I could go on and on.
America in the 50s was a completely different world, so different you would not recognize it if you were to somehow travel back in time.
It would take far more space then is available here to convey even some faint idea of how it was to live then. I am 77 years old, born in 1928.
A young person with a high school diploma was far better educated than most college grads today. People had manners, went to church, worked every day, paid their bills and mortgages on time, kids played in the neighborhood free of fear, murderers were killed, people got married before they had kids, charity was for the truly poor and came from the church, children took care of they parents when their turn came, banks were solid, cars cost $600 and ran for a long time, people were pourd to be an American and were independent, a good house could be built for $4000, a good suit cost $12 and a Coke was 5 cents.
Most important of all, a person never had to deal with government unless he went to the post office to get a one-cent postage stamp.
I could go on and on.
RE: Polio
I remember when the whole small town lined up outside of the fire station to get our first polio vaccines. I remember my mother's disbelief that polio would be stopped. It was such an odd thing to see all of the families lined up in their family groups and chatting with the others about the miracle. I was probably 4 or 5; but it made a huge impression on me.
When I sold my house a few years ago, I couldn't find the key either. I had Rottweilers - who needs a key!
I used to say - if you can get past the dogs, you can have the VCR.
My next door neighbors have a burglar alarm, outside lights and a high fence. They also have two English Mastiffs at about 180 pounds per dog. All they need are the dogs. I wish they would put up video cameras so we could see the look on the face of anyone who breaks in.
I'll never forget this middle aged guy who used to walk passed by house on his way home from work . I was 5 or 6 at the time ( 1957-8 ) , and used to sit out on the porch a lot and watch the people and cars go by . He'd see me and say , " Hello Buster ! " , and pull a root beer barrel cazndy out of his pocket , give it to me , and continue on his way . I tried to give a candy to a kid on a train in Tokyo a couple of years ago and the mother looked at me like I was child serial killer . Times have changed ...
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