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What was the 50's really like ? ( Vanity )
me

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 ...


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To: Jimmy Valentine

" It wasn't all Ward and June Cleaver."

Hey - I remember cowering under my desk at St. Mary's School in Willimantic , CT ...The city also had drills ...A special siren would go off and everyone had to go indoors and stay there until the drill was over ... Weird ...


21 posted on 06/05/2005 6:53:02 AM PDT by sushiman
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To: Judge Roy

We left our doors unlocked all the time too. I remember once when we were leaving for 2 weeks, we couldn't find the key to lock the door.


22 posted on 06/05/2005 6:53:10 AM PDT by Ditter
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To: sushiman

My parents were young adults in the 50s. I've heard that you could smoke anywhere, anytime you wanted back then.


23 posted on 06/05/2005 6:54:15 AM PDT by Allegra (It's Hotter'n A Whorehouse on Nickel Night)
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To: Ditter
No one had A/C in their houses

We had a window fan that we only used at night. That thing could have you freezing by morning. We used to sleep at the foot of the bed because that was closest to the window. Also every morning I would wake up back at the head of the bed with a blanket on to keep me warm.

24 posted on 06/05/2005 6:55:14 AM PDT by jamaly
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To: Ditter

People used to leave their cars running while shopping , too !


25 posted on 06/05/2005 6:55:59 AM PDT by sushiman
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To: sushiman

Or leave the keys in the ignition !


26 posted on 06/05/2005 6:56:23 AM PDT by sushiman
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To: sushiman
Hey - I remember cowering under my desk at St. Mary's School in Willimantic , CT

Hey, I remember cowering under my desk last February. Only it wasn't a drill.

There were mortars raining in on us. ;-)

27 posted on 06/05/2005 6:56:33 AM PDT by Allegra (It's Hotter'n A Whorehouse on Nickel Night)
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To: sushiman

we rode our bikes to school. When we came home, we watched Mickey Mouse club on black and white TV.


28 posted on 06/05/2005 6:56:40 AM PDT by johnandrhonda (have you hugged your banjo today?)
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To: Archangelsk
There was no sex except for reproductive purposes.

So much for Ward being rough on the Beaver.

29 posted on 06/05/2005 6:57:31 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim (Now that taglines are cool, I refuse to have one.)
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To: Ditter; sushiman

"It was hot, sushiman, really really hot. No one had A/C in their houses or not even in cars..."

LOL, this is true!

I remember my dad talking about some place he used to visit for his work back in the 50s before I was born (in 1958 that was) and how there were two guys that worked there, salesmen or whatever they were, they were very hyper types, and no matter the weather they'd always be drinking hot black coffee. I remember him telling me this and saying "Now remember, this was before air conditioning!"

We all basically live in the lap of luxury now. But is it doing us any good?


30 posted on 06/05/2005 6:57:44 AM PDT by jocon307
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To: jamaly
Exactly what I remember too. The reason we got cold in the night was because the dampness was sucked in and our nightclothes and the sheets were wet.
31 posted on 06/05/2005 6:57:50 AM PDT by Ditter
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To: Jimmy Valentine

I remember that, too. I was born in 1956. We had to get under our desks during some of the drills, and sometimes we would cower in the hallways covered by blankets. Even at the tender age of 6, I remember wondering just how these crazy adults thought we were going to survive a nuclear attack this way.

Remember the air raid siren testing on Fridays at 11 am? That sound still makes my skin crawl.


32 posted on 06/05/2005 6:58:40 AM PDT by Wage Slave (peevish coot)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Ward got lucky just a couple of times in his life and died a very unhappy man.....lol.


33 posted on 06/05/2005 6:59:17 AM PDT by Archangelsk (Handbasket, hell. Get used to the concept.)
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To: Wage Slave
Remember the air raid siren testing on Fridays at 11 am?

Second Wednesday of every month at 11 Am for me.

34 posted on 06/05/2005 7:00:17 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim (Now that taglines are cool, I refuse to have one.)
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To: Archangelsk
Ward got lucky just a couple of times in his life and died a very unhappy man.

You think he would have known better.

35 posted on 06/05/2005 7:01:23 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim (Now that taglines are cool, I refuse to have one.)
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To: Jim Noble
Nobody had sex.

Well, not in public, anyway.

Well, I sure hope not!

:-)

36 posted on 06/05/2005 7:02:19 AM PDT by SIDENET ("You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred.")
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To: sushiman
Born in 57, but I remember.....

Flying over the front car seat when someone pulled out in front of us and Dad hit the brakes (no seatbelts).

Dad buying and installing seat belts.

A milk pasturizer in the kitchen because we lived on a dairy farm.

Three meals per day prepared by my mom during which everyone sat at the table.(Boy, do I feel lazy when I think about that.)

37 posted on 06/05/2005 7:02:42 AM PDT by Tuscaloosa Goldfinch (Thank goodness "Terayza" is not first lady.)
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To: sushiman
What was the 50's really like ?

In the U.S.A.,.......domestic jobs and 29 cent a gallon gas....

....the World's PRODUCING Powerhouse....

....Quality CONTROL.....

......Church bells ringing everywhere on Sundays.....

.....Truth in journalism....

......T.V.,.....was family FUN time,......No perverts allowed!!!

....the 'Chain-gang',.....kept crime DOWN!!!!

38 posted on 06/05/2005 7:03:06 AM PDT by maestro
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To: sushiman

"Of course we had the Cold War ...Air Raid drills ...Heavy duty racism ...Conformity ..."

In my little home town there were only people of two races,
white and a few Mexican families. Nobody locked their doors in their homes or their cars. There were very few burglaries
or violent crimes. We went to the one movie theatre in town every Saturday and watched decent western movies. The only other entertainment was dragging main and honking at your friends and meeting them at the Dairy Queen for a coke.
Almost everybody with a pickup had a rifle and a shotgun in a window rack and left them in the vehicle at school unlocked. Nobody bothered them. TV was mostly black and white and every program on the air was decent enough for children to watch.


39 posted on 06/05/2005 7:03:09 AM PDT by antisocial (Texas SCV - Deo Vindice)
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To: sushiman

i was a kid on a farm. we had no indoor plumbing, nor did our one room school. my 3rd grade teacher was our pastor's wife, and she was mean to me.

my father was a work-a-holic, a tenant farmer saving money to buy a farm, whenever we didn't get hailed out.

we didn't get tv until late--1957, just after sputnik. then my mother sat in front of the tv and got fat while us men worked on the farm.

then, in the 1960s tv told women that they were "oppressed". and my mother got even more angry.

we did not lock our doors in the 1950s.

(my father's now 91 and still working full time on his dairy farm. he does all of the tractor work and irrigation. my brother milks the cows. my mother died in 1990 from being fat and watching tv.)


40 posted on 06/05/2005 7:04:03 AM PDT by ken21 (if you didn't see it on tv, then it didn't happen. /s)
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