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 ...
Oh how right you are. Watch the original *An Affair to Remember* and look at the people, especially the women disembarking the ship...sigh...beautiful clothes, furs and fur coats, beautiful jewelry, and hats and gloves. I miss the America of my youth.
You must have come from a wealthy family. I don’t know anyone that had that stuff in the 50s except rich folk...which is the same nowadays.
About once a month during the fifties, we would head for downtown Los Angeles to shop at the May Company, a huge department store. Even though it was routine shopping, we would always dress up in suits and ties for the occasion. This was how people shopped long before there were shopping malls that featured Nordstrom's, Sears, Macy's, etc.
The May Company and the Italian Kitchen across the street, where we would sometimes eat after shopping, are long gone.
Was that the May Co on Crenshaw? I grew up near San Francisco in Marin Co. Same thing dressed to go to the city. Hat and gloves, I’m a female, and women wore - gasp- furs!!! I really do miss the America of my youth.
Never thought we were rich...maybe we were. I just remember my mother and grandmother being beautifully coifed and dressed when they went out. At home was a little more casual. I was a bit of a tom boy having 4 brothers and all but I loved to dress when the occasion required.
You got it. We have to wise up. Our parents are not coming back to fight this one for us it’s ours.
I was reflecting on a time a bit later than the 50s for me but relevant to the point.
When I dress and look my gender, I get treated very well a lot better than when I don’t.
Wehre I teach, teachers wear dresses and ties wouldn’t dream of not doing so, there’d be no respect.
This is very true. I often feel that I no longer live in the same county I grew up in. Things have changed so much that certainly my parents and grandparent's wouldn't recognize this place as their country. But we never stand still, and the odd thing is that the '50s culture, while it was so different than today, carried the seeds of its own undoing. It was the dreams and aspirations of the '50s that gave us the '60s, and so on. I think the same is true for every age, including the present. The contradictions of a time work themselves out in a way that give rise to yet more contradictions and unforeseen results, and that's the preverse way by which history unfolds.
Thank you, I’m going to make a point to watch it.
Like I said, I’m in my forties, but my parents had me when they were older, and I remember my mother complaining about the fact that women stopped wearing gloves. When she passed away and I went through her things, I found a pair of the white summer kind, old and yellowed by then, but tucked away as a memory by her.
I believe that.
I lived in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s & 00’s. Yep I’ll take the 50s. It’s not even close.
The May Company that we patronized was at 6th and Hill in downtown LA.
The May Company that we patronized was at 6th and Hill in downtown LA.
Women probably stopped wearing gloves about the time men stopped wearing fedoras and homburgs.
Good points. What’s happening to the USA is happening to ALL Western nations. It’s an astounding historial collapse that boggles the mind.
What a lovely picture. No she didn’t. But my point is within everyday activities people were civilized, private and carried themselves with a dignity, and this was reflected in their dress, mannerisms and demeanor.
What a lovely momento to keep. I wish I had a pair of the white cotton gloves I wore as a girl when I dressed in suit, hat and gloves to travel to the city for shopping.
Agreed. I think you can even see it in her posture. Even when she was in her 80s, she TRIED to keep a straight back. I couldn’t count how often I was told to “Stop slouching”, which now seems the norm as we descent into a country of apes...
“descend”, not “descent”...gotta learn to double-check my spelling!
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