I was today year's old; finding out that TV programs like "Leave it to Beaver, "Donna Reed", one other I missed..

[electric_blue68]

the name of -
were deliberatly made to show women as "the Happy ("contented" ) Housewife" to "help" push all the women who'd gone out to work in WWII at the factories, and farms back into the home, and be happy there.

I watched those among other varied programs as a kid. Geeeebz. Yeah, it "makes sense" in their efforts, but blargh!

My mom who'd graduated as a dress
maker/designer went on to be the
Head Draftswoman at Hughes Aircraft in California! She oversaw at least 25, but might have been closer to 50 - 100 men, and "checked off" their draftsmen's work.
Back in NYC she worked at another firm doing drafting.

My dad didn't want her to work; 1950. She was a 1-2 pk/day smoker, had some allergies, and by the time she had my sister after a few months she got severe asthma. My sis and I wonder if she got frustrated, and bored at times and that's what triggered her illness w the smoking etc as the foundation.
Mysteries.

[usonian]

1. When I went to jobs in the 70's or so, many places were loaded with smokers, and in small spaces.

I would ask to work in another room, or go work in the lab. By about 1980, I only recall a pipe smoker or two, and then none.

It sure was hard to breathe for a while.

Sometimes, illnesses take time to show up. My Dad quit smoking cigarettes and later on, got pneumonia pretty bad.

No, it's not because he quit. It just took time to show.

Post hoc, propter hoc can't be counted on, but some things are pretty predictable.

Smoking was deadly to people and of course, fed by a giant campaign of lies, when the tobacco companies knew the true facts.

Men in those shows were portrayed as all-wise. Later, they were portrayed as bumbling idiots. Neither was true. Shows, and popular culture like caricatures.

And many people live in a fantasy world created by TV and movies.

[electric_blue68]

7. Sorry about your dad. I didn't encounter smokers at work...

I started working f/t in '74 post college graduation. Sounds you had a tough time with that. Could it have been bc of the kind of work you did. You mentioned working in a lab.

I sure remember the girl's bathroom in the HS Lunchroom!
Cough, cough...ack!

My mom quit smoking after she got sick. Smokers to our apt had to go outside to smoke.

[usonian]

11. After college and time in the service (USCG), I got work in aerospace

There was a "bullpen" with all the engineers crammed into one big room with no dividers, desk against desk, in rows of two, facing each other. Just no room for circulation. Well, only a few of us used the lab down the hall, so I spent most of my time there.

I had earlier done a little work for the school department, updating records, and in a smoky room, so I worked in a spare office away from the clouds of smoke.

That was about the time when the old "engineer" model was transitioning into the more modern one. That first FT job was a small aircraft engine plant. When you entered a live engine test chamber, no ties, loose garments or gear. Obviously, no smokes!

But next aerospace job was mostly smoke free, and all jobs thereafter were smoke-free ( and I did work at a real variety of jobs in the tech arena).

Dad survived the pneumonia, and lived to about 84. Heart trouble got to him later on.

Weird thing about boot camp was that smokers got a smoke break, and non-smokers didn't! Not sure how things are now.
Take care!

[FHRRK]

2. Interesting!

My mother worked in the factories in WWII, and she loved it. After the war she worked retail. Never complained, but always made a point that she loved working in the factories in the 40's.

She was a self describe D student and when I was in College told me one of the saddest things in my life. She wished she got a job with the Airlines so she could see people going off on great vacations across the US and Europe. It didn't make her sad but was close to devesasting for me.

With that it must have been brutal for them, trying to make the world a better place, yet being pushed to the back. My Mother taught me about human rights, opened my eyes to the World. Absolutely the smartest street person I knew. Grew up without a Mother, due to the Depression, yet never complained, these woman had an appetite for knowledge that boggles the mind!

As for the June Cleaver or Donna Reed comparison, I damn well know my Mother had zero interest in being one of them. Expect the same from your Mother.

[electric_blue68]

4. Sounds like your mom had a lot of strength to get through her....

experiences! Seens like the factory work really made an impression on her.
My mom, too, loved to learn about people, and cultures all over the world. Science stuff, too.

She was pretty street smart. At one point she and her siblings & parents lived in Hell's Kitchen. In their area - movie stars, and gangsters were around.
She (and my dad, but her more bc I was around her a lot more) also taught me about civil rights that we needed up here in The North, as well.

[peggysue2]

3. Father Knows Best, perhaps?

I loved all these shows as a kid. Pretty cringy now.

Makes sense why my mother was so angry. She was definitely born before her time.

[electric_blue68]

5. Hmm, maybe... Yeah, I enjoyed them, too, but

in the end they were not the TV shows & movies I remembered. I remembered a bit of the Westerns, Flicker, Flipper, the Science Fiction movies with Irradiated monsters, Forbidden Planet, ?seaquest (an advanced submarine), Super Car, Time Tunnel, Twilight Zone - all before Star Trek. 😄

Awww, a {hug} for your mom. 😔 How many women felt cheated out of other possibilities.

[TSExile]

6. The other show mentioned was Ozzie and Harriet.

Though I don't believe that one has been rerun nearly as much as the others.

[electric_blue68]

8. Ah, Ty. I think I watched the first two more..

[Kennah]

9. Eddie Haskell, aka Ken Osmond, took a very different career path

He was typecast and could not break it, so he joined the LAPD in 1970 and became a motorcycle cop. He survived being shot in 1980, fought to win a disability pension, and ultimately prevailed in 1988. He also was the subject of two urban legends. One was that he was rocker Alice Cooper and the other was that he was porn star John Holmes.

That's one helluva career!

[Kennah]

10. And June speaks Jive

[DVRacer]

13. Brother don't want no help, brother don't get no help

[Kennah]

14. Jive assed dude don't got no brains anyhow

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Finding That Odd...

...that they were making shows to encourage women to go back to the kitchen 13 - 18 years after the war was over.
Weren't the vast majority of those women already back at home by then.
Or, we're already committed to the workplace by being there for a decade & a half.
Seems like if they actually did this, it was a waste of effort.