Posted on 12/31/2012 6:51:01 AM PST by NYer
New Year’s observances blend recollections of the past, celebrations in the present, and anticipation of the future. For a variety of reasons, I’m feeling nostalgic this year. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the decade of my childhood—the 1950s.
In October, my wife and I saw a play in which people weary of the hectic pace of contemporary life could escape to an “authentic” 1950s community where the more relaxed pace of the past had been recreated. In the play, the benefit of relocating to the ’50s was a simpler, less stressful life, but it came at a price—enduring racial and sexual prejudice. The problem was that the playwright—a man in his 30s—had zero feel for the era. He simply reproduced various one-dimensional stereotypes about the ’50s that he had heard or read.
... snip ....
My view of the ’50s is more benign. I recall it as a happy, safe time—almost a Golden Age in American history. ... snip ... I’m glad I got to be a kid at a time of peace and prosperity.
In the ’50s, homes were smaller, cars larger, attire more formal, and the range of consumer products far narrower. A sense of order prevailed. Neighbors watched out for everyone’s kids. We left our homes and cars unlocked. Kids behaved in school or were expelled. Most of us toed the line, because we knew that our parents would take the teacher’s side. Teachers were respected and principals feared. People accepted responsibility for their actions. If you hurt yourself doing something careless, you never thought of suing the company that made the thing with which you hurt yourself. Most of us went to Sunday school or synagogue every weekend, learning right from wrong and that we are accountable to a higher power.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
I was born somewhat later, but didn't hear much doo-wop with the exception of Peanuts by Little Joe & the Thrillers and the Flamingos' I Only Have Eyes For You. Our radio station of choice was usually KFI, now Rush Limbaugh's home in the Southland.
In the fifties, KFI featured variety shows such as "Hit the Road," a morning show that included a lot of popular music. Their play list included songs like The Ballad of Davy Crockett by Walter Schumann, Round and Round by Perry Como, and True Love by Bing Crosby, but occasionally a rocker such as Rock Around the Clock or Eric Nelson's Poor Little Fool would break through. We would listen to "Hit the Road" over a portable Zenith radio that usually sat on the gray Formica kitchen table beneath the big GE electric clock that was mounted on the wall.
Let's make steel and sell it all over the world
Let's make refineries and sell the refined products all over the world
The fact that liberals are always howling about what an evil time the 50s (and early 60s) were is proof of how good they were. TV shows with names like Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, and Have Gun Will Travel were on the air and nobody had a cow over it. Little boys openly played with toy guns.
I saw an old commercial on youtube for a cereal called Kellogg’s Sugar Corn Pops. The child actor (actually, the guy who grew up to be Micky Dolenz of the Monkees) had toy guns in the commercial and said, “bang, bang,” and the slogan was “shot with sugar through and through.” Yes, they bragged about the cereal having sugar, and guns and shooting were the theme of the ad! But there were few if any school shootings then, and less obesity.
I’ve even heard of high school kids in the 50s leaving guns openly visible in their cars in school parking lots because they planned to go hunting after school. Yet if two kids got into a fight, nobody ran out to the parking lot to get their gun. They settled the fight with fists. I’ve even heard of kids bringing guns on the school bus because they’d brought them for “show and tell”!
People are nostalgic for the safety and the morals of the 50s. I get email forwards all the time saying, “Remember the good old days when we didn’t have to lock our doors and the schools didn’t have metal detectors?” But nobody ever discusses why things aren’t that way anymore. That’s the elephant in the living room!
Yes, I hear you.
I was only 8 years old when the fifties chronologically ended, and was still quite politically naive.
Hopefully we will again in the future. In the meantime, we need to sell something, even if people don’t know they need it. I don’t think the world is a better place if the biggest $$$ things we can sell is munitions.
Ditto!
When I attended my last high school reunion, I wore a slacks, a sport jacket and a tie--and was way overdressed. In fact, I was the only one with a tie, and several came in shorts and sandals.
That is just completely unacceptable to me. I don’t know what people are thinking.
I forgot about Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob. That was the beginning of tv as a babysitter. I don’t know anyone that could watch that stuff nowadays, even kids.
“McCarthyism” is a term that was invented by leftists who know that Joe was onto them.
Just sayin’
of Course the fifties weren’t perfect. No era is. But it sure was a lot nicer than the world we live in today.
All of us Baby Boomers no doubt remember Tony the Tiger, who flogged Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes. I met the man who did his voice—he lived in my mother’s retirement complex. He passed away a few years ago.
The 50s were the peak years of our republic. The USA 2012 is a very different country....
I think the term ‘ism’ and it’s meaning has been around a long time, but OK, just say Joe McCarthy.
I would rather live now, then in the 1950s if for no other reason than my wife would have died 5yrs ago if this were 1962. I agree that it was a lot nicer then...if you were a healthy white male.
I think it's a different galaxy.
They should read Cold War historian Paul Kengor’s “The Communist” to learn how outrageously Barack Obama’s mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was treated because he was black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seriesly? However FMD may have been treated, I would hope it was awful based on his being a pronographer. Or a communist. Or any number of horrible things he was known for.
You’re referring to the 60’s. This article is about the 50’s.
I am sorry for your loss. My husband took his own life a year and a half ago, so I am not saying empty words.
My Point is that Joe McCarthy, for all of his faults and issues, was more right than not about the infiltration of communism into our country’s government, media, and military.
The last 60 years have seen a steady, relentless erosion of American Values and Freedoms. Most of us on FR would agree that the erosion is due to the left (ie: communism) infiltrating the institutions we hold most dear.
Yet, the term “McCarthyist” has been perpetuated in our culture as the WORST possible thing an artist, politician, or private citizen could be. Much worse than being a “Gangster”, or an “Abortionist” or most certainly, a “Communist”!
You are so right!!! Recently I rediscovered the amazing cleaning power of BORAX. It's still available in the cleaning aisle and a box of that old time product will last for months. No chemicals and it has a pleasant aroma.
There are plenty of web sites out there that offer information on how to clean various household objects, eliminate pesky bugs from the garden and turn out the whitest white clothes using ordinary household products like peroxide, brown soap, vinegar, etc. These products that date back decades, endure because they work!
Yup.....just watch some old movies & see how the nation looked in the 40s & 50s & how the people dressed & carried themselves.....and look around now.
No, the 50’s
She hasn’t died, thankfully because we are not in the ‘50s. She was diagnosed in 2007...I figured it would be like 1957, and now it’s 5 yrs later 2012, like 1962.
Thank you for you sentiment though and I am sorry for your loss.
Yes, I agree about Joe, but it was one of those not very positive things about the 50’s.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.