1950's Ameeerica ... why so appealing?

[tpj71mach]

I grew up in the 70s and 80s and think that the idea of climbing trees, riding without helmets, getting a broke bone then and now and the constant cuts, bruises, and other injuries were actually good for us. It made us more resilient and taught us to accept how things things hurt or are tough in life. I used these experiences and made a 27 year life in the Army with multiple combat deployments with combat arms units and never gave up if something was hard or made me sweat. Nowadays, individuals think if it is hard, it shouldn't be done or pay someone else to do it. My father taught me that if another man could do it, so could I, I taught my kids the same way. May not be the right way, but I totally believe in not giving up and just because something hurts or is hard, that doesn't mean to stop trying. I am 56 years old and working on my Masters degree in cybersecurity, not because I need it or it will make my job pay me more money, just because a friend said he was going to do it and I decided to join him to give him more motivation to get his. BTW, both of us will be graduating by Christmas of this year. I didn't grow up in the 50s but part of me wishes I would have.

Tom

I grew up in the 70s and 80s also, and I agree that all that outside activity made us more independent and resilient. In the summer, I would get on my bike in the morning and head off to meet friends and we would go on our adventures. We know we had to be home by dinner or we would get it, lol. We didn't have helmets or ever knew we needed them. I cut lawns and shoveled snow for money when I was ten. I would take my money to the hobby shop and buy models or Hot Wheels with my own money. I got my first real job at thirteen as a bike mechanic at a Schwinn store for cash under the table. I rode my bike eight miles to work in the morning and was always on time. All of these things taught me that if you work hard you can achieve any goal. I think todays generation could have used a little more competition and challenge. I jokingly blame little kid soccer for this, when my kids played little league baseball and soccer everyone got a snack and a juice box whether you tried or not that game, everyone got a trophy whether you were good or bad. Now, I hire twenty somethings and they give minimal effort and want a raise right away, they often have a "I showed up, where's my juice box" attitude.

 

[detritusmaximus]

I forgot one more thing....air conditioning.
Where I grew up, I spent a fair amount of time outside. Not necessarily because I wanted to. I was a model building, Lego, bookworm, terrible at sports. Frequently happier by myself.
But even in 1980, the vast majority of people I knew did not have a/c. In the city, summer was just too hot inside. You had to go outside.

 

[Spike Morelli]

A lot of things mentioned in the previous entrys are fair observations , and played a part in the Fifties era. Yes, it was a good era to be in America. "Made in China" was a term used to describe anything made poorly, and most everything made here was of better quality than most countrys. Children who were from the depression years had an appreciation for what they had in their later years. A totally different mindset. Which comes to the point I'll make........Besides wars, economies, and such......people have changed. My observation is that people have changed, not for the better. It feels like today, too much of society doesn't want to take responsibility for themselves, their situation, their neighborhoods, their actions. Blame your hard times, their hard times, that thing, those things, on someone else, on Global Warming, on so many of the buzz-words the "woke" use today. So much of society believes they're owed something from others. Respect? Income? These things must be earned. President John Kennedy made a famous speech, in which he declared "Ask NOT, what your Country can do for you, but what YOU can do for your Country...". Our Politicians are allowing the selling out of this Country, as are Businesses and Real Estate tradings people. These are Americans selling out Americans, selling out their OWN country. And, what in the hell is with people being organized to protest and riot, and burn, and damage property? Have they no sense of justification? YOUR issue is more important that someone elses property? I think not. People, or certainly a good portion of society, today, for a variety of reasons, act poorly. The "you're my brother" attitude that was around in the sixties has been kicked in the teeth. The seventies was a transition period to the Eighties, where, the "Me Generation" came in. The change in people? Now, whatever I feel is good for ME, is my justification for doing so. Regardless of what my actions do to you. Cocaine, the Miami Vice, Dynasty TV show glorifications, excessive living and values chipped at the wholesome fabric of the Country. Those who became homeless for economic reasons are now homeless with mental health issues because the State allowed them to be that way. There used to be a CCC that put people down on their luck, work with board .Well, here we are. The people, the Country, everybody, needs to be responsible, polite, and display these traits within themselves, bring back a sense of self and community, hell, try mowing your yard regularly, have pride in things, for a better life, a better world. It could be like the fifties again, but a lot would have to change. It takes good people. Then again, has our Country deteriorated past fixing?? Sigh....

 

[MAD IRISHMAN]

Nothings changed except those that do not conform to this do not have to hide.

Head injuries explain LOTS of peoples behavior. I think back to the things I did on a ten speed in city traffic. I wonder how many heart attacks I gave drivers.

Polio did. And the shame of catching mononucleosis in high school. But Mom always yelled about washing behind your ears!

I do this. Then again, the online internet seems to be for 'dirty laundry'...

7th grade....tackle football on asphalt, because we were geniuses! Must have been the result of not wearing helmets on our bikes. Or was it the other way around?

Nope.....however, there was seeing how high you could jump off the slope of the garage roof and not get hurt. Only took a few months for my cousins broken leg to heal. Then again, he was playing 'solo'.

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I grew up in the 70s-80s. It was different than the 50's, for sure, but not that different.

BRAVO!

 

[351c1971]

I think the achievements of president Eisenhower and the silent majority (greatest generation returning from WW2) in the 1950s are mostly forgotten.

 

[detritusmaximus]

I think the achievements of president Eisenhower and the silent majority (greatest generation returning from WW2) in the 1950s are mostly forgotten.

All anybody really remembers is that the first half of the fifties was McCarthyism and the House UnAmerican Committee and Korea. The second half is Elvis and the 55 thru 57 Chevy. Everything else was mucking about with a cold war.

 

[Spike Morelli]

More correctly, those things above may be what some associate with talking about the Fifties. Day to day living, politics aside, was a much simpler time. People were happy by and large, compared to today. Funny you mention 55-57 Chevys. Most of you all know that I was one of the lead singers in a successful vintage rock group for many years. Part of our income was derived from doing "industrial work", I.E. corporate partys. These events always had hired party planners who would decorate the venue, and "50's" partys were all the rage. Major Hotel banquet rooms would be festooned with pink and black balloons and cardboard centerpieces of 57 Chevys. Again, a corny interpretation of what the planner thought the Fifties was. In truth , half the Fifties had already passed when Chevy came out with the '55 model, and if your family had one, those were NEW cars, which, although some people had, most had a car which was older . Men returning from the service could afford to purchase a home using the GI Bill, which was a very low interest , minimum down loan. Elvis really didn't come on the sceen until halfway through in '56. The top pop song on the radio when Elvis came out was Perry Como doing his #1 hit, " Hot Diggity, Dog Diggity". Vocal groups were all the rage back then, with the Platters being huge. Most kids had limited funds to get a car, and bought 30's-40's used cars and opening up a new era in stripped-down, hopped-up rods. Any kid who wanted a job could easily find a job, entry level and minimum wage, but it added up fast. Every home had ONE telephone, many times located in a nook in the hallway. If you had a TV, it was a black and white set. Most families had a swing set and a clothesline in their backyard. Up to a certain year in L.A., we had an "incinerator" back behind the garage, like an outdoor fireplace. All of the houses in the neighborhood were built with these. You could burn refuse like leaves, lawn trimmings, discarded paper and trash. Eventually, I believe in the early Sixties, city ordinance said to stop burning, and knock apart those incinerators. Families had only One car, which Dad drove to work and Mom stayed home with the kids. A Family could do O.K. on a single income back then. If Santa brought you a bicycle for Christmas, that bike was your ticket to freedom and being a kid. Holding hands and "first base" was scary, going further was not talked about, even if it happened, a pristine reputation was paramount. Your Mom would make Dinner, pack your school lunchbag with a sandwich wrapped in wax paper ( Baggies hadn't been invented yet ), and that wax paper was used after lunch, to wax the slide at school to make it more slippery and faster. I could go on and on with how it REALLY was, but for sure, it was a good time to be around.

 

[detritusmaximus]

But you were there!
I have a guy at work that talks about how great things were back then....but he was born in 82!

 

[midlife]

Not all was great back then. Long Distance calls were expensive. Civil rights for non-whites were very bad (think Jim Crow). Anyone who was gay had to stay in the closet. In some states, one could not have an inter-racial marriage. No birth control pills. Polio was rampant, at least for part of the decade. McCarthy hearings on supposed communists; Hollywood blacklisting.

 

[detritusmaximus]

Not all was great back then. Long Distance calls were expensive. Civil rights for non-whites were very bad (think Jim Crow). Anyone who was gay had to stay in the closet. In some states, one could not have an inter-racial marriage. No birth control pills. Polio was rampant, at least for part of the decade. McCarthy hearings on supposed communists; Hollywood blacklisting.

And if that wasn't bad enough...

the Edsel!

 

[Spike Morelli]

All anybody really remembers is

Not all was great back then. Long Distance calls were expensive. Civil rights for non-whites were very bad (think Jim Crow). Anyone who was gay had to stay in the closet. In some states, one could not have an inter-racial marriage. No birth control pills. Polio was rampant, at least for part of the decade. McCarthy hearings on supposed communists; Hollywood blacklisting.

Save for the cost of a "long distance phone call", which was not a common occurance to everyday life of the majority of people then, all of the other issues, while true, are social issues that were not part of conscious, everyday life of the overwhelming majority of Americans, during those years. One cannot extrapolate how life was then, using today's issues. Sure, there were gay couples, interracial couples then, but then, just as now, they are in the vast minority of the per capita of the Country, certainly though those people did not broadcast their private lives then. Communism is a Political issue, not a part of how people really lived as a whole at all. Polio????? You DO KNOW that Jonas Salk ( I think I spelled his last name wrong ) discovered the cure for Polio back then, and gave his cure for FREE, to the world, to get rid of that horrible disease. I may be a cynic, but I doubt if any doctor today would be so generous, or that any pharmaceutical company would allow any life saving cure to be available free today! Is someone going to bring up the Korean War too???? We are talking about the overall good life of Americans in those years, of which much to point out existed, not trying to find the exception. Life was good in the big picture, and those with issues today cannot change what was.

 

[tpj71mach]

We were looking through old family pictures at my sister's house over the weekend and found this picture of my dad. It is from the late fifties after he came home from Korea. He had told me that what people nostalgically refer to as "the fifties" was actually the late fifties and up to like 1962. The music, the poodle skirts, the sock hops, the tri-five Chevy's, all that people associate with the fifties wasn't really a thing until the second half of the decade. My dad was a real life "Fonzie", minus the hanging out with high school kids, LOL. He had a lot of motorcycles back then all Indians and a few Harley's, I love this Indian with the suicide shifter! He used to race an Indian at a local dirt circle track. He said the race track would issue every racer with a piece of sheet metal and a leather strap. The racer would tie the metal to their left boot with the leather strap to use the left foot as a plant on corners. That was the "safety equipment" LOL.

 

[Spike Morelli]

I would have to agree with you that the last half of the Fifties going into the early Sixties is the most often romanced and nostalgicly thought of times. Right around the time President Kennedy was assassinated, and as the Beatles captivated the youth of the world, innocence of the times dissappeared. We were off on a new adventure......the Sixties, which I particularly think is a conversational explosion in itself, though my personal experiences were positive. I got to play with some very cool cars, and see some cool groups back then as well.

 

[Ron Tanzi]

The good old days were not always good and that includes the 1950s. But speaking as a child of the 80s when most folks still would rally around our flag and have an other Worldly reverence for our flag and this country of ours. That seems to have gone away in the last 20 years. On September 11 we saw a resurgence of patriotism, although it eventually waned. That is sad. On the bright side I do see a shift in people's attitudes. America is still the greatest country on Earth.

Ron

 

[Stanglover]

Ok, I'm just going to add this to the mix.
I was born in the 40's (late), was a kid in the 50's. we used to grab our air rifles and go shoot "things", sometimes each other. Or we'd dig up a wasp nest (yellow jackets) and kick it around a bit before pouring petrol (gasoline) on it and setting it alight. Climb trees to the top, go swim in the river etc. Good clean stuff!
In the 60's I graduated (your equivalent of high school) school at 16, then went on the art college and graduated at 20 then started work as a company product designer. Worked there for 3 1/2 years and decided they could not pay me enough anymore, so I quit.
Now the early 70's I decided life in the UK was not for me anymore and in March of 73 I emigrated to Canada. In 75 I got married to mistake number 1, that lasted until 1980.
So now it's the 80's. I got my second Mustang, a Mach 1 72 Q code 4 speed along with a 72 H code for "parts" but ended up my winter beater.
The 80's were my best years in a lot of ways. I was single and making the most of it, let's leave it at that.
In the early 90's I got remarried and still am today. Since then it's been the same as for many of you, work, sleep, pay bills, repeat until retirement on a so-called pension.
Now in the whatever it is now, I still have my health and am able to still enjoy life and my 71 Mach 1.

 

[1sostatic]

Well, I'm going to watch Howdy Doody, The Rifleman and Highway Patrol... seems good to me

 

[351c1971]

One thing for sure…we definitely have a lot of interesting people in this forum.

 

[tpj71mach]

Well, I'm going to watch Howdy Doody, The Rifleman and Highway Patrol... seems good to me

i loved me some Rifleman when I was a kid! Of course it was long in reruns by then but I liked it a lot when I was 9-10 in the mid 1970's.

 

[midlife]

On the otherhand, British TV was very good over the years: Waiting for God, Chef, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, and of course, Dr. Who.

 

[detritusmaximus]

On the otherhand, British TV was very good over the years: Waiting for God, Chef, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, and of course, Dr. Who.

...Benny Hill!