How did anyone survive the 1950s ?

[Julia1996]

After reading the thread about being a good 1950s wife, which was hilarious,  I decided to check out some 1950s videos on YouTube. OMG, what a riot! I found the "teenage social guidance " films especially hilarious. There was the film warning boys about homosexuals and giving advice on how to avoid being "predated"  by them. There was one for girls about lesbians titled " unnatural urges". There were a couple warning teenage girls of the dangers of "parking" with boys. Parking! That's what they called hooking up. Lol! There was a film about a teenage boy who smoked some " reefer" , reefer, OMG how hilarious,  and went psycho and slaughtered his entire family. And I found the duck and cover films really funny. A nuclear bomb is about to be detonated over the city and they tell school kids to crawl under their desks. Did they think being vaporized under the desk was better somehow to dying in your seat? And I loved when they told people if they were outside and they saw the flash to drop and cover their head. If they saw the flash they would be part of the upper atmosphere before they had time to drop and cover. Lol. And I loved the words they used like " slick" and "keen". 😂  The teenage boys in the films looked ok aside from being dressed weird and having greasy looking hair but why did all the teenage girls look like they were in their 40s?? And the parents all looked older than my grandparents! In one scene an entire family was gathered around this gigantic radio in a living room. It's a radio so why gather around it? It's not like there was anything to see. Lol.

If anyone wants to check some of these out just enter 1950s videos in the YouTube queary. The are only like 5 to 10 minutes long. I found them funny but also quite interesting and also sad. I felt really sorry for those poor people having to live back then.

[Devlyn]

Not me, I feel sorry for the Tide pod eaters falling in manholes and stepping in front of trains texting! 

[Julia1996]

Not me, I feel sorry for the Tide pod eaters falling in manholes and stepping in front of trains texting! 

Lol.

[Dena]

Some of the thoughts were just plain wrong in those films but many had a reason.

Parking wasn't hooking up as hooking up implies sex. While people had sex, it was best if unmarried couples didn't. This was before the birth control pill and prophylactics were the only form of protection. Abortions were illegal in most states  so if you were unlucky, you carried the baby to term and put it up for adoption. The sexual revolution completely changed how the world viewed sex.

As for duck and cover, yes a close nuclear bomb would really spoil your day but duck and cover might protect you if the building fell on you. Even a small improvement in the odds of avoiding injury is a wise thing to do.

Children had little freedom in how they dressed. They wouldn't have been permitted to dress in many of todays fashions as they where considered immoral. There was little choice in off the rack clothing and if you wanted something like that, you would probably have to make it out of wool or cotton. Some of the fabrics that stretch just weren't available back then.

Sitting around the radio, don't knock it until you try it. They were far better at telling stories than Hollywood is today and you wanted to follow the description carefully so you created the proper mental image of the story. You didn't have a screen giving you the images so you needed to "see" them in your own mind. This is much the same thing as reading a book, something your not really interested in. You might want to try it sometime as it's a great source of entertainment.

[Julia1996]

Some of the thoughts were just plain wrong in those films but many had a reason.

Parking wasn't hooking up as hooking up implies sex. While people had sex, it was best if unmarried couples didn't. This was before the birth control pill and prophylactics were the only form of protection. Abortions were illegal in most states  so if you were unlucky, you carried the baby to term and put it up for adoption. The sexual revolution completely changed how the world viewed sex.

As for duck and cover, yes a close nuclear bomb would really spoil your day but duck and cover might protect you if the building fell on you. Even a small improvement in the odds of avoiding injury is a wise thing to do.

Children had little freedom in how they dressed. They wouldn't have been permitted to dress in many of todays fashions as they where considered immoral. There was little choice in off the rack clothing and if you wanted something like that, you would probably have to make it out of wool or cotton. Some of the fabrics that stretch just weren't available back then.

Sitting around the radio, don't knock it until you try it. They were far better at telling stories than Hollywood is today and you wanted to follow the description carefully so you created the proper mental image of the story. You didn't have a screen giving you the images so you needed to "see" them in your own mind. This is much the same thing as reading a book, something your not really interested in. You might want to try it sometime as it's a great source of entertainment.

All of that is why I felt sorry for them. I hadn't thought about a building falling on you. I suppose the nuclear weapons back then weren't as powerful as the city killer war heads we have now. I do like to read and I read a lot actually. I just don't like reading books. I read ebooks on my Kindle.

[Julia1996]

Some of the thoughts were just plain wrong in those films but many had a reason.

Parking wasn't hooking up as hooking up implies sex. While people had sex, it was best if unmarried couples didn't. This was before the birth control pill and prophylactics were the only form of protection. Abortions were illegal in most states  so if you were unlucky, you carried the baby to term and put it up for adoption. The sexual revolution completely changed how the world viewed sex.

As for duck and cover, yes a close nuclear bomb would really spoil your day but duck and cover might protect you if the building fell on you. Even a small improvement in the odds of avoiding injury is a wise thing to do.

Children had little freedom in how they dressed. They wouldn't have been permitted to dress in many of todays fashions as they where considered immoral. There was little choice in off the rack clothing and if you wanted something like that, you would probably have to make it out of wool or cotton. Some of the fabrics that stretch just weren't available back then.

Sitting around the radio, don't knock it until you try it. They were far better at telling stories than Hollywood is today and you wanted to follow the description carefully so you created the proper mental image of the story. You didn't have a screen giving you the images so you needed to "see" them in your own mind. This is much the same thing as reading a book, something your not really interested in. You might want to try it sometime as it's a great source of entertainment.

And if parking wasn't hooking up then what did it mean?? How could doing anything but hooking up with guys be considered  dangerous?

[Dena]

And if parking wasn't hooking up then what did it mean?? How could doing anything but hooking up with guys be considered  dangerous?

Parking would have involved hot and heavy kissing and petting (hands on upper body). The problem is that in the passion of the moment it might go farther than that. The point of the film was to avoid anything that might cause you to go to far. As sex education isn't what it is today, they might not have anything to protect themselves with so they would have unprotected sex.

[Kendra]

Parking activities weren't just limited by the lack of birth control.  This was before the sexual revolution triggered one of the most important inventions since the front-clasp bra: tinted windows. 

One of my favorite Far Side cartoons is "In the days before television."  A family staring at a blank wall. 

[Michelle_P]

Life in the 50s and early 60s was pretty much straightjacketed for many of us.  We had our roles to play, and deviating from them marked us as 'different', not a good thing.

Some films picked up on and mocked this social conformity.  "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) with it's high paranoia contend and 'fear of the other' is a classic.  For those of us who did deviate, see the comedy "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) set in 1963 Oregon from the book written in that period.

Not a great period to be a 'different' child. 

[KatieP]

I was literally laughing out loud at Kendra's post, as I read yours, Michelle.

Thanks, Michelle for being a total buzz kill!



(OK. It was not bad. Realism is probably a good thing.)

And, Kendra, you seem to be in such fine form for humor today! Thank you very much for it!!! (My wife is talking about leaving me as she does not want to be married to a woman, and your humor has been a VERY pleasant part of a relatively bad day...)

K

[Lucca]

Sitting around the radio, don't knock it until you try it. They were far better at telling stories than Hollywood is today and you wanted to follow the description carefully so you created the proper mental image of the story. You didn't have a screen giving you the images so you needed to "see" them in your own mind. This is much the same thing as reading a book, something your not really interested in. You might want to try it sometime as it's a great source of entertainment.

Audio-only storytelling is making a comeback after decades of neglect, with podcasts like The Adventure Zone and Hello from the Magic Tavern telling long, sweeping narratives. It really is a great medium, and I'm glad it's back. Audio is especially good for improv comedy, because the actors can just make up whatever crazy stuff they want without having to worry about producing it visually.

I've listened to a bunch of old X Minus One radio shows as well, they're also really good if you like 1950s literary sci-fi.

[JudiBlueEyes]

Parking was "necking"!  My grandparents had the big radios.  They kept them when Televisions became available. 

Kids dressed similar to their parents.  Casual clothing as we know it wasn't around.  Jeans (actually "Bluejeans" were something sailors and farm workers wore, though different styles.

It certainly was not a good time to be different!

[Cindy]

I do remember being caught necking away by a policeman who was checking around the local lovers lane.

He was a bit shocked - nice boys didn't do that - with other boys!!!!! 

[sarah1972]

Duck and cover has survived much longer than the 50's. I still learned that in the early 80's in 6th grade... it stopped shortly thereafter. Also a briefcase over your head apparently helps too. We had full training days in school covering everything from a grease fire in the kitchen, using a fire extinguisher, basic first aid and CPR down to earthquakes and the mandatory (cold war) nuclear bomb scenario.

[GingerVicki]

I think the duck and cover your head was so that IF you lived you would not be blind.

In an at the end of the world scenario who would the nurse or doctor treat first? Who has a better chance during WWIII? Someone blind or someone who could see. Just saying.

[DawnOday]

Julia. Reading your comments, can you see the reason I did not come out until two years ago. The 60' prejudices were much like the 50's as were the 70's. By the 80's I had gotten sick and did not think I could transition. Surprise, Surprise. Thanks to advice from Dena I took a chance to reveal my lifelong dysphoria and depression. I no longer have either. And remember it was only 2001-2 we learned that plastic and duct tape would protect us from biological weapons. Bwahahahaha
The good thing about radio serials like Suprman, Green Hornet etc. it that you got to use your imagination.

[big kim]

I was born in 1957 so remember little of the 50s but we got those films at school. If an atom bomb was dropped put your head between your legs & kiss your ass goodbye! Remember the reefer madness & drugs films causing much laughter at the time (early 70s), no kid I knew had enough money to buy drugs, cider was cheaper! Contraceptives could be had from the barbers *Something for the weekend Sir?". Food was pretty dull, spaghetti was considered exotic! Fish couldn't be given away apart from Friday. Cars rusted to pieces in 5 years, 2 channels on TV, a BSA A65 was considered a good motorbike as the engine should easily last 6K between rebuilds! My cousin got crap from people for having a DA haircut & being a Marlon Brando type wild one (he rode a BSA Bantam 175, American readers will know it as the Harley Davidson Hummer). Many hotels in Blackpool had signs in the window saying no blacks or Irish! Sex change stories appeared in seedy Sunday  newspapers with lurid stories & pictures of burly sailors before they became glamorous ladies.

[Chloe]

. . . found the duck and cover films really funny.

         I was lucky enough to be born in the 50's . . . post WWII was the best of times for a growing small-town America! Have talked to people here in the South who walked to one room schools and their homes still had dirt for floors! Hand-me-down" clothing was standard! Father paid $15,000 for a brand new subdivision house commuting from the "pine-barrens" of NJ making $500/month and girl we were "well off" and happy! lol You actually rode the school bus just to make plans to later "play outside" with like-minded neighbors!

         Love watching the early JamesBond movies just to see the kind of cars that were fashionable! Earliest I remember was a huge black tank called a "Packard" and because dad was a new jet pilot he was one of the first to actually install 'seat belts' himself! Ever watch post-apocalyptic movies like "Transcendence" or "Book of Eli"? "Duck and cover" is passe' . . . picture life again with *no electricity* (or non-carberated cars) because our power grid is so antiquated and unstable a nuclear EMP attack is inevitable . . .

        Your own basement "fall-out" shelter would be a good idea . . . If a major city near you were to come under explosive attack radiation would clear after a week or so (unlike in Book of Eli where it took 'years') in which case we have a 7KW backup generator and 3.6kw of solar power! I live in "Walking Dead" country so a 10round .357 Henry rifle for self-defence wouldn't be a bad idea either!

[4A-GZE]

I don't know, but I would have loved to see Buddy Holly and whatnot.

[Lyric]

Every era has it's problems and it's advantages. For instance in the 1950s most women with children were married and stayed home with their children. While this was less than fulfilling for the wives, the children benefited from having parenting during the critical early years of life. Latter day latchkey children have a great many issues caused by not spending enough time with their mothers early in life.

Of course there were also more health hazards from undiscovered chemical dangers, such as the ever present cigarette smoke that filled most homes and public buildings until the '80s or so. And, as mentioned, the different social mores of the period made life quite miserable for any transgender person. As screwed up as a lot of things are right now, it's still a pretty good time to be us.