[Leep]

If you made several grand a year.. you could buy a house..a car ..and raise a family of four.
And still go on vacation every year.

[Fiji Hill]

Juke boxes, Coke machines, photo booths--the fifties were a machine age for teenagers.

Teenage Machine Age--The Travelers (1958)

[Dan in Wichita]

I was born in 1959, but I know in the 1950s and into the 1960s, America was leading the world in so many of the good things.

[Fiji Hill]

In 1958, we were excited by Sputnik and Explorer satellites flying through the air, but at the same time, many of us were coming down with the Asian flu, which was every bit as deadly as covid--and no one wore masks or practiced "social distancing," and no businesses, churches or schools were shut down.

Satellite Fever & the Asiatic Flu--Paul Perryman (1958)

[Leep]

I hate that they went after Eisenhower for a bunch of made up crimes...and impeached him twice...oh wait...

[Fiji Hill]

In 1950, the Soviet Union and Red China signed a treaty of "friendship, alliance and mutual assistance" that caused alarm throughout the free world.

Moscow-Peking--The All-Union Radio Orchestra & Chorus (1950)

[Nea Wood]

Liberals HATE the 1950s. Just mention it to them and watch them boil and screech and explode with rage. That tells you everything you need to know.

[Fiji Hill]

In 1955, the Warsaw Treaty Organization was formed to unite the East Bloc.

Song of the United Armies--sine nomine (1958?)

[citizen]

I lived on a dirt road in rural Tennessee. We had an 8-home party-line phone. Our ring was one long and two short. Serious talking was done in person b/c your conversation was open to anyone on the line.

Crops and cows and chiggers and being trapped at home if the creek rose. Sweating in the tobacco firlds, sneezing in the dusty tobacco barn stripping the leaves. Riding the school bus to the 3-room elementary school, catching it early “on the way up” to ride it both ways, sitting in the very back to be tossed up when the bus hit a bump. Looking forward to the county fair or being depositited in the Lincoln theater while my grandparents shopped.

White & colored schools and water fountains and pool halls - but everyone got along - playing with Gene Goodrich’s black kids at the feed house. Everyone went to church on Sunday. Having the town square all lit up with light and people on election day night.

No one talked about wars. Good times, over all.

[aspasia]

My take: the media will lie about it.

[dfwgator]

Then it’s Bandstand, Disneyland, growin’ up fast
Drinkin’ on a fake I.D.
Yeah, and Rama of the Jungle was everyone’s Bawana
But only jazz musicians were smokin’ marijuana

[Hiddigeigei]

"Can any Freepers recall the era depicted?"
I started college in 1950. Student exemption kept me out of the Korean War, although I served in Korea later.
"Congested dance halls, Rock n' roll, a post-War boom?"
I did some dancing with a girlfriend at the Student Union, but I think we were the only couple dancing.
Rock n' Roll? I never much cared for modern popular music. My tastes ran to classical and Country And Wester.
Post-war boom? I spent the whole decade in school not counting two years in the army. I was in BASIC with the husband of Patsy Cline and got a ride from him from West Virginia back to Fort Bragg with her and a sister singing on the back seat. It was a pleasant memory.
I remember the decade as good times with fond memories.

[Albion Wilde]

Church basement, Saturday night. Parents lining the walls.

[ridesthemiles]

I was born in 1939.

I remember my dad taking me to Truax AFB to watch planes flying out at night, during WW II.

I remember the farm a mile away that raised MINKS & they were very angry at the AIR FORCE JET planes that panicked the MINKS. They would attack and kill each other.

I remember picking strawberries in the early daylight at a neighbor farm. Got paid by the box.

I remember riding my pony all around & learning where all the wild asparagus plants were & bringing some home. I also knew where “Jack In The Pulpit” plants grew. Could get water for both of us at any farm nearby & SOMETIMES even a fresh cookie. Could ride at a walk—for hours...bareback.

I remember a one room school = 8 grades-14 kids-1 teacher & a MERRY GO ‘ROUND. Water was brought in every day in a milk can & put into a dispenser. 2 out houses behind the school.

I remember taking care of 40+ dairy cows/calves/pigs/7 boarded horses/ chickens/ sheep & Labrador puppies (for Christmas presents) all over in the kitchen. 3 bitches== over 30 puppies. A scissor gate at door of kitchen. Breaking ice for horse water—STILL DO THAT TODAY. Searching in the snow for halters ONE horse could always get off.

I remember trudging to the barn in winter & shoving the sliding door aside & going into a WARM BARN Full of cows.

I remember squirting milk to a ‘barn cat’-—but you could NOT pick them up-—They were WILD. I remember getting kicked a few times when power was out & e had to milk by hand.

I remember carrying 10 gallon cans of Fresh milk (with my brother) from the barn to the milk house where a concrete tank full of cold water held the milk until the truck came & picked up, leaving clean cans. When the milk truck couldn’t get thru the snow-—milk went to the pigs.

I remember “SNOW FORTS” on each side of the 2 lane road & snowball fights across the road at recess. Piles of snow pushed up by the plow could get high enough some winters to “Touch the glass insulators” on the phone poles.

I remember “multiple cords hanging down from the driveway light for “head bolt heaters” so vehicles would start. COLD WISCONSIN WINTERS.

I remember the farm manager using COCA COLA SYRUP on bolts that had rusted. ===Overnight & the lug nuts came loose. (THAT STILL IS TRUE)

I remember school bus rides to football games in other towns & being forbidden from singing “99 Bottles of Beer”. Bus driver (Chemistry teacher) would pullover & stop until we behaved.

I remember Tues May 21, 1957—2 days before graduation & watching it SNOW outside the windows of English class.

I remember that all our Proms were the night before the marching band competitions & getting NO sleep before marching & playing.

I remember EVERYTHING getting deathly quiet just before a possible tornado & OPENING up all house windows & ALL the livestock getting out into the middle of the fields away from trees. Then-when threat passed, running around & CLOSING all the windows because rain was coming.

I remember moving oats from the opening in the upper level of the barn into a LARGE bin with a flat wooden “rake” as the oats were coming off the elevator into the bin closest to the barn wall. Never could wear a good enough face covering against the dust.

I remember making “Forts” in the hay mow where we could play in winter. 40++ cows ==ALOT of bales of hay.

I remember being on the top of the bales on the trailer behind the baler & when a wheel ran over a rock, the trailer would rock ALOT at the top. I HATED THAT. Was always afraid I would fall.

I remember large litters of cute baby pigs & wanting to play with them, but being forbidden from doing so because MAMA SOWS are REALLY dangerous.

I remember stealing a bottle of JIM BEAM from my mother’s stash & putting it into the chicken water dispenser. DRUNK chickens are very funny-—but no eggs for 3-4 days wasn’t when 7 people ate eggs at every breakfast.

I remember gathering cows in late day for milking on my Welsh pony-—and the time our 2 year old bull chased me back & forth. BULL went to OSCAR MAYER the next day. WE continued Artificial Insemination. THAT IS the REAL AI ....

I remember I bought my first car—1957 Pontiac when I turned 18 in 1957 and spent a lot of time outrunning the County Deputies-—they could NOT catch me. (Today you get a ticket in the mail:”You were observed’...) IN those days, they HAD TO CATCH YOU.

I remember I was #2 on the police “HOT SHEET” for my street racing-—#1 was a guy who became very successful with sprint cars & midgets.

Would NOT TRADE THAT ONE ROOM SCHOOL EDUCATION FOR ANYTHING.

LOTS of other memories...

Still have ANNUAL HS reunions. Class was 93. I think we are now down to about 40.

[Bob Wills is still the king]

Here’s Merle for a reminder. Charlie Pride also did a great version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu_8M2L6kHY

[Fiji Hill]

The 1950s were not perfect. It was a frustrating decade for the USC Trojans, who went 2-7-1 against UCLA, 3-7 against Notre Dame and 1-1 in the Rose Bowl. The 1957 season, in which USC wone only one game, was its worst season of the century.

The only bright spot came at the end of the 1950 season in which a team that had gone 1-5-1 including a 39-0 blowout by UCLA, rose to the occasion on the last game of the year to win 9-7 over a Notre Dame coached by the legendary Frank Leahy, one of the game’s greatest coaches.

[dennisw]

Elvis shot his television in the 1960s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYJ5vbSt9K0

[minnesota_bound]

There were many films in the 1950’s like Robocop, Alice in Wonderland, Transformers, Alien, The Hobbit, Star Wars, The Terminator, Harry Potter etc. 😁
https://www.youtube.com/@abandonedfilms/videos

[WashingtonSource]

It was a wonderful decade. A great time to grow up. There was practically no crime. People didn’t even lock their doors. Neighbors looked out or one another. People were thronging the churches. We walked to school only four blocks away. Made friends for life in those walks. Schools had morning devotions. Traffic was light. Cars were dazzling and exciting.

Girls wore poodle skirts. Boys played baseball. Life was good. Young people were expected to refrain from sex until marriage. There were few if any pregnancies out of wedlock. Civilization reined.

We were not inundated with uneducated immigrants from third world countries flooding into the country to work as laborers and become a tax burden. There was a housing boom. Veterans could buy houses with no money down. Eisenhower was the President.

We were were safe, happy, healthy, prosperous and gave God the glory for blessing America. The nation was 90% white. Race relations were cordial. Imagine that. The pathologies that rage today were either absent or well contained.

[wardaddy]

Much better than now except advanced healthcare

“It doesn’t have to be perfect to be good”