Times are tough, but who would want to go back to 50's living.

[SoCalDem]

(Leaving out the obvious social ills of that era) Just the actual coping would be a trip for many spoiled people..

People back then lived with:


ONE rabbit-eared tv in the living room, and only 3 channels to choose from.
A couple of radios which carried music and religious shows mostly
One phone in the hall or kitchen....with a cord..and no answering machine
One family car (Dad takes it to work)
No microwaved, and very little frozen food
No ice-makers, no personal sized bottled water
No pagers, no iPods, No DVDs, No flat screens,cell phones, no computers, not even a calculator in most homes
No malls, no superstores... Most towns had Sears, Penneys, Western Auto, Kress,Ben Franklin
Peaches only in summer..oranges only in winter..strawberries for a few weeks at best
No "miracle fabrics"..everything needed ironing..and lots of washers were wringer washers



We have gotten all these goodies and are now wondering if the price we paid is too much..but we will never go back, and deep down, I doubt people would even want to..

[mykpart]

1. Thank you!

I'm saving this for when I get one of those posts about how great things were in the "good old days."

[paul_fromatlanta]

2. Women had few choices, black people could be lynched, and speech was less

free.

I'll take now.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

27. Do you really believe people are more free today than in the 1950s?....

...Women are losing their right to choose, blacks can still be lynched, and just how freely can we speak when we know now that every phone call, fax, email, internet communication, and spoken word can be, and probably is being, recorded.

Material comforts as things you can do without.

[onenote]

60. in the 50s, there was no right to choose to be lost

and there were still lynchings taking place. And speaking out got you called before Joe McCarthy's HUAC and blacklisted.

So yes, I think people are more free today than in the 50s and its absurd to think otherwise.

onenote

[LostinVA]

80. Of course we are

As bad as things are, they are certainly better than things pre-Civil Rights Bill, Brown vs. THe Board of Education, Loving vs. Virginia, etc. I'm gay, and I sure have it better than my counterpart in 1955. I'm female, and I also still have it better than my counterpart in 1955.

So, as bad as things can be now, they are still a hell of a lot better than then.

[rpannier]

3. But on a positive note:

no faux news.

[dysfunctional press]

73. it was ALL faux news...

and America could do no wrong in the world.

[Fridays Child]

4. I totally dig '50s clothing, architecture, and furniture.

I don't dig polio (uncontrolled in the U.S. until the early '60s), Teflon (commercially produced in 1946 and now present in the cord blood of all infants born in this country), or DDT (widely used during the '50s).

[noahmijo]

22. That's how I am I dig those 50's diner and some of the music

but no thanks as far as bringing it back, they would probably hang me for being "eye-talian" (though I'm half Mexican people seem to think I'm Greek or Italian) they wouldn't know or care about the difference)

[TahitiNut]

55. (Ugh!) I wore that clothing. Detestible.

The only exception I recall was Levi denims - but the 'standard' of the time called for far more 'dressy' clothing for damned near any social activity, even school. Suits were incredibly uncomfortable and tough to keep up unless one could afford a decent quality gabardine. Even then, keeping them from getting 'shiney' was a concern - ameliorated by fine-grit sandpaper. Dress shirts wrinkled within seconds of putting them on. Just about the only choice in comfortable athletic shoes were PF Flyers. High tops. Monday was wash day. Tuesday was for ironing.

[Fridays Child]

69. I was thinking more along the lines of girls' clothing...

...polka dots, poodle skirts, etc.

[TahitiNut]

72. Girdles, nylons (even on hot days), angora sweaters that shed, ...

... ugh! I remember all-too-clearly that girls who didn't wear girdles were regarded as 'tramps.' Bra-less was unspeakable. Just coming within a few inches of an Angora sweater with anything made of wool would result in hairs LEAPING across the gap. Skirts were required to hang below the knee, even in our working class community's public schools, not just parochial schools.

In my recollection, the 50's were so 'tightly-wrapped' that it was like binding of feet in China. When I watch "Pleasantville," I regard it as only slightly portraying the 50's - not even close to being exaggerated.

Even when I wax nostalgic about some of my experiences of the 50's (Route 66 to California, Davey Crockett, Elvis, Kingston Trio, Mickey Mouse Club, American Bandstand, cruising on Woodward Avenue, etc.), I'm always conscious of the extremely repressive times within which these experiences were the exception.

[Fridays Child]

74. TahitiNut?

:hug: :hi:

[TahitiNut]

76. (grin)

:hug: :thumbsup: Even as a teenager, I was a feminist-in-the-rough. I thought girls put up with too damned much crap. The Stepford-types made me feel really queasy. It probably stamped me for life - I still strongly prefer the 'tomboys' over the 'girly-girls.' I've detested the 'Tidy-Bowl'/'Mr. Clean' stereotyping for decades.

[Fridays Child]

78. I'm marrying you, dammit.

I wonder if my husband will mind. :shrug: ;)

[ChickMagic]

95. Not only that

But in order to go to a movie, or even ride a bus,
you had to wear a dress and little white gloves.
These days, I own only 1 dress.

[misanthrope]

70. Same here...

...'50s style can be very, very cool indeed. Lots of great art of various forms happening then.

[greekspeak]

5. Who wants to go back? Most people on the far Reich

Whitey was in charge-and white MALES. Few others stepped out of line because they would be beaten to within an inch of their lives or lynched. Yeah, the 50's had some fun fashions but that is about all the 1950's is good for. But many on the right clearly want to go back. They talk about the good old days as a little bit of Heaven--you know, before non-whites, women, gays and other threats to hegemony expressed themselves as human beings. The far reich blithers on about welfare queens who loot, women who fail to toe the line, and those up in your face queers.

[napi21]

6. Absolutely, we have a lot more today than back then, but.....

I'm thinking I'd glaadly give up my:

Cable TV chanels for the return of Edward Morrow.

My second car if there was no Walmart.

My ice maker.

The Malls.


To go back to:

Bit of civility in our Government

Kids being able to play outside in the street or playground without being abducted.

America being a war mongering nation.


I'm not willing to give up:

Freedom of black americans.

Equal rights for women.

The internet where I can read and post on DU!

[Telly Savalas]

31. Quit romanticizing a past that never was.

Civility in government? Like Joseph McCarthy's red scare witchhunt?

Kids being able to play outside without being abducted? Do actual statistics bear out an appreciable increase in child abductions since the 1950's? By strangers? You are aware that most kidnappings are done by estranged spouses or other family members, and that the sicko-from-the-street-grabbing-a-kid scenario is extremely rare, right?

And when in our history wasn't America a war-mongering nation?

[novalib]

37. I Agree With You

Just as Wal-Mart is destroying the small shops (such as hardware and garden shops) now, the Big Supermarkets (that started in the 1950's) destroyed the smalll grocery stores and small bakeries and the local produce shops.

Where I lived, Safeway came in -- and, like Walmart today, gave people convenience (one-stop shopping) and lower prices, but in the process, ran small Mom-and-Pop stores (where the owners knew you by name and could help you out if your family was short of money) out of business.

[saltpoint]

7. On the 1950s and American life then:

“In only one place do the twin themes of outward prosperity and inward dread come together, and that is in the figures for tranquilizer sales, which rose from $2.2 million in 1955... to $150 million by 1957.”

--Jay Stevens, Storming Heaven

After the Second World War, Americans had prosperity as they'd never had it before, and all the material accoutrements they could count.

But the paradox of that prosperity and material-based happiness was a very under-reported anxiety that drove tranquilizer sales up, up and up.

[flygal]

19. Yep - read Feminine Mystique

My mom was one of those housewives who got to shop only on Sat and kept having babies b/c there was no b.c. and there was nothing else for her to do. She got valium after baby no. 5 and then went on the pill finally.

[saltpoint]

21. Friedan? You bet. One of the first accounts of how things are behind

Ike's smile and the mainstream headline-type story.

This is such a strange country.

[Skittles]

8. except for lack of microwave, it would suit me just fine

(minus the extreme bigotry of the time, of course); I can do without everything else

[dysfunctional press]

75. i've been using the microwave less and less

i could definitely do without.

[Chipper Chat]

9. Best thing about the 50s was......

No Shrub.

[saltpoint]

10. And no Joni Mitchell yet, or Jackson Browne, or Stevie Wonder,

and James Taylor, or Yo Yo Ma, and so on. Plus a couple of rock bands from the UK...

The huge creative wave in music had not set in in the 50s, and I count it very high on the list of imperatives.

[Spider Jerusalem]

15. Um...

Miles Davis? Charlie Parker? Thelonious Monk? Dizzy Gillespie? Howlin' Wolf? Muddy Waters? John Lee Hooker? There was a lot of creativity going on in music, even in the '40's and '50's...it just wasn't very mainstream (and not very white, either...)

[saltpoint]

26. Charlie Parker, though, he predates the 50s. A lot of those folks do.

Given a question once by genuinely interested folks, I told them that the country's greatest master of composition was Duke Ellington. They thought I was kidding. I wasn't.

The folk-rock movement in the 60s, combined with the energy ad brilliance of Motown recordings did it for me -- I eschewed the fierce admonition of my piano teachers and abandoned myself to popular culture. My father was a jazz fan so I already had those recordings, or keen knowledge of them. Played trumpet early on, and can still make a stronger case for those jazz arrangements, and not just Miles'. For me it culminates in the piano-based compositions of Ellington. The Paris concerts in particular are strong.

I say the jazz musicians you name are better than "creative." I would say they pre-date the need in American culture for creative expression through music, and that their mystique is rooted, and not vaporous, the way Dean Martin is vaporous, or the way Frank Sinatra is vaporous. Jesus, I even prefer Dolly Parton to the crooners. Just a matter of taste on crooners, I admit, but still.

I trace jazz genius back farther than the 50s all the way to pre-American settings.

Just bought a Nina Simone CD and haven't really stopped listening to it.

___

Loved your political post this weekend, Spider Jerusalem. I hadn't bumped into you in a while, and it was a pleasure to read.

[Spider Jerusalem]

28. Yeah...personally I rate Ellington with Bach.

But Monk isn't far behind, IMO.

And thanks for the kind words; they're appreciated. I'm glad you enjoyed my minor contribution to our collective discourse.

[saltpoint]

30. There was nothing minor about it. It's rare and gleaming and as good

as it gets.

[KansDem]

94. Gerry Mulligan, Art Pepper, Chet Baker?

...it just wasn't very mainstream (and not very white, either...)

I'm reading "Straight Life" by Art Pepper. I'm amazed at how open communication was between black and white jazz musicians at the time. Pepper talks about jamming in the clubs on Central Ave in South-Central LA with no thoughts about racial tension. That all came later (and a big surprise to Pepper!)

There was a lot of creativity going on during the late 40s and 50s. A lot more than the 60s and beyond, if you ask me.

edited for spelling

[ikojo]

11. It was a time of mind numbing conformity

McCarthyism...if you dared express an opinion that even reeked of egalitarianism one risked being called a commie and possible loss of one's job and community ridicule.

[novalib]

39. Conformity?

People did express contrary points of view back then.

But we now live in a world of much greater conformity -- in one sense, anyway.

Go into any mall in the United States and you will see the same stores selling the same merchandise.

The O.P. said, correctly, that the 1950's was a time before Malls. But that meant that LOCAL stores sold mechandise that often was made locally.

And it also meant that there were lots of local banks -- instead of the giant, national banks we have now.

[Caution]

12. 1950's: No civil rights for minorities or women, higher crime rate, lower

standard of living, gee what fun.

[depakid]

13. Actually, we'll be headed back to reduced levels of complexity

So people might want to start thinking about how they'll manage without some of these things....

[Joe Fields]

14. I'll up you ten years and settle for being stuck in the 60's.

Minus the war, racism and assassinations.

[The2ndWheel]

16. It won't go on forever though

We'll try, but everything has a life cycle. Somehow I don't think civilization has been worth it, but that's just me.

[likesmountains 52]

17. At least the peaches tasted like...peaches. Not always true now.

[novalib]

38. And the tomatoes.....

The tomatoes tasted wonderfully back then -- like the kind of tomatoes you can only get now at a hig-priced gourmet shop.

We didn't have "hot-house" tomatoes then -- the kind that taste like cardboard.

[H2O Man]

18. "I remember a time ..." by John Lennon

One of my favorite poems was authored by John Lennon when he was only 17 years old. The second verse, quoted below, reminds me of the thinking that it would be nice to climb back into the safety of the womb of the 1950s.

I remember a time when
Belly buttons were knee high
When only shitting was
Dirty and everything else
Clean and beautiful.

[Frank Cannon]

20. The ONLY thing I would want back from the 1950s...

is the fact that even a milkman (remember them?) could support a family on ONE salary.

Granted, there were many people of color, etc., who didn't get a piece of the pie, but now NO ONE can do that, let alone someone who delivers milk.

[noahmijo]

25. that's a good point hell a milkman wouldn't be able to support a PET today

funnily enough yesterday my dad called up to tell me about how my aunt was almost laid off from the job she has had now for over 30 years. He is one of those "I wish we could return to the simpler times of the 50" but the thing is he thinks alot of things are the same as back then-i.e. companies can't get away with say laying off or screwing over the American worker! they're far too patriotic for that! plus it's illegal!

Yea well I basically said "well this is why I've become a radical leftist and I've nothing but contempt for the American businessman and corporation this is what they do and this is what they get away with"

Incidently I'm a govt employee and I've already turned down higher offers from companies soley on the basis that I will never ever trust any corporation in this country to not totally fuck me over. :)

[Deja Q]

29. I think that's their definition of "racial equality".

Nobody delivers milk these days either.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

43. That's right

I went to school with the children of factory workers. Their fathers worked the assembly line, and they all lived in single-family houses--on ONE income.

[raccoon]

98. True, I knew a lot of people like that. But houses were a lot

smaller then. Most of my classmates had three bedroom, one bathroom houses.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

109. And they survived, and even thrived!

:-)

The idea that every person in the family needs their own bathroom is an extremely recent one, as is the idea that each child needs a separate room.

[mark11727]

23. I was in elementary school during the late Fifties and early Sixties...

...and I remember DUCK AND COVER!

Not. Fun. :nuke:

[RebelOne]

33. I remember that well.

[scubadude]

24. Yeah, and no RAP music ....

respectful children
no outsourcing
no reality tv
no tv pounding bs into your head 24/7
less traffic
the ability to get by on one persons wages
the ability to easily purchase a home
the slower pace of life
kids playing outside versus sitting in front of the tv
the lack of the feeling "I want more more more...."

I think I'd like going back

Scuba

[Telly Savalas]

34. Let me guess: you're white, yes?

[Clark2008]

64. Why? Are black people not allowed to dislike rap?

:shrug:

I'm a white girl from the South and I abhor country music.

(But, I don't think children were ever any more or any less respectful).

[SoCalDem]

82. Ditto on the C & W..

I keep hearing it in STORES out here in So Cal.. Never USED to.. We used to get more "musak" style music, and more and more if you get put on hold, you get country..walk into a store and you get country..blech !!!

[SoCalDem]

81. Hiya, Ron

:hi:

[William769]

32. What about Joseph McCarthy?

:shrug:

[BooScout]

35. I have gone back....

...at least partially. Upon our move to the UK, we got rid of two cars and bought one. A good lil Fiat getting 45 mpg. Our tv in the bedroom is only attached to the antenna and gets only 4 channels (granted we do have satellite in the living room). We don't have an ice-maker or a dishwasher. And our fridge is not large....our stove is half the size of the one we had in the States. We have one phone and no answering machine. We don't have a pager or a cell phone or an Ipod and if I have my way we never will. The nearest mall is 20 miles away and I haven't been there since we moved over. I confess I do go to the B&Q (the UK equivalent of Home Depot or Lowes). Washer is a small front loader. Saves on energy. .....so I went back......sort of. Don't mind it a bit.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. Yes, I lived happily in Japan at a lower material standard

I'd be fine with fewer material goods.

[lectrobyte]

36. I could deal with that level of materialism. Or even less. I couldn't

take the cultural/social mores of that time: Racial segregation, women secondary to men, and whatever they did to gays back then...

[schmuls]

40. During the fifties people actually believed that Mars could be

populated by aliens and that earth could be invaded. Also the fear of a nuclear attack. Who would want to live with the fear that these two things could happen?

[Neil Lisst]

41. No thanks! No air conditioning. And those stanky window coolers

and slamming screen doors.

One channel of black and white TV 18 hours a day.

And let's not forget those lovely "whites only" signs.

But there are some very charming memories of the 1950s, but mainly, those are just memories of childhood.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

42. Hmmmmmmm. Things were financially easier then for my family.

I was born in 1951.

My Dad managed a furniture store and my mom didn't have to work. We were a family of five, owned a lovely house in a suburb of NYC, had a housekeeper once a week, excellent quality food, summer vacations and also a membership at a beach club right on the Atlantic Ocean, 3 cars (1 for each of my parents and my sister's). My best "toy" was my bike and for quiet time, I read voraciously. There might have been only a few tv stations and I never felt I was missing anything. How could you with a Saturday morning line-up with Sandy Becker, Shari Lewis, Fury, Sky King, Rin Tin Tin? And on Sunday's Wonderama? Then on weekend nights there was Ed Sullivan and Maverick? I also loved Paladin. On the radio was Frankie Avalon singing Venus, Bobby Darin singing Mack The Knife and Peggy Lee with her unforgettable Fever.

No calculators? Well I learned math in the old fashioned way, and curse the calculator. In my "past life" I was a bookkeeper and when I started to use a calculator, my math skills went to mush. I do love my computers though, the microwave and my automatic drip coffee machine.

[kskiska]

45. I was a kid in the 50s in suburban Connecticut

From a kid's point of view, growing up then was preferable to today. I rode my bike to school and left it outside unlocked on a rack all day. Just a few weeks ago that very same school building (vacant after a stint as a convalescent home) was blown up by a local whacko.

I spent a lot of time bike riding and roller skating down untrafficked semi-rural streets until suppertime (no one worried about us), and spent many, many hours watching whatever appeared on the newfangled TV from NYC - game shows, sitcoms, kids' programs, and wonderful documentaries and live drama. There were talk shows where people actually talked to one another (no screaming) such as the David Susskind and Jack Paar programs.

For part of the decade we had one car, but my mom would drive my dad to work, have the car for shopping, etc., then we'd go pick him up before cooking a real supper (no fast food except for hot dog stands along the shore and occasional inexpensive restaurant meals).

There were no "designer clothes," and kids were mostly unconcerned about clothes, anyway. There was lots of time to just be kids and not worry about that stuff. I do remember, though, that girls were not allowed to wear pants to school, even in the coldest weather. We would wear wool slacks underneath our dresses, then take them off on arrival at school. Teachers seemed to be older then (they seemed that way, anyway), and no one would dare talk back to one. My school was a mile away from home and until I got my bike, I would walk with friends - also walking home for lunch and back sometimes. Several times I was running late and a friendly cop would stop and give me a ride.

My family read several newspapers each day and I remember hearing about the Rosenberg case, and saw the McCarthy hearings on TV and whispers about neighbors who were "investigated," but don't remember being particularly overwrought over the Cold War. We had what we called "air raid drills," but as kids, my friends and I thought they were fun - leaving class to crouch down in the corridor and cover ourselves with our coats until the buzzer sounded all clear.

Life was much simpler then and no one needed cell phones, frozen food, or computers. We didn't have the Religious Right then, either. I do remember being amused watching Oral Roberts healing on TV. Those people were considered "Holy Rollers" back then. Of course I wasn't much aware of the racial problems until junior high. My elementary school had no minorities because there were none in my school district.

If I'd been an adult then I might have had a different view. Hardly anyone got divorced. I remember one woman in our neighborhood who was divorced with two children. She actually had a social life - belonged to a lodge and dated. People would watch her come home from behind their curtains.

[Sisaruus]

89. Birth control was illegal in CT in the 1950s

Not sure how simple that would have made one's life.

[kskiska]

104. Abortions were done

Sometimes they were written up as therapeutic abortions or D&Cs. After my mother died, someone told me she'd had an out-and-out illegal one back in 1940 or so.

I remember numerous girls dropping out of school because of pregnancy, even in junior high. They couldn't come back to class afterwards, either. Some got married, others didn't.

[SoCalDem]

107. Looking back, there were a LOT of "d & c"s in the 50s&60s

things that make you go hmmmm.. But these days, doctors are scared..scared of the people they work with who might rat them out

[sarge43]

46. I'm 63, so I grew up in the '50's

Remembrance of things past.

Yes on tv and often you were lucky to get any channels, let alone three.

Radios, depends upon when in the '50's. Early in the decade still a lot of choices -- many of the classic shows were still available, variety of music styles, in depth news program. By the mid '50's, drying up and by late '50's, pretty much gone. Depending upon how affluent the household, more than a couple of radios. There was the monster upright or if you were on the cutting edge, the radio/stereo combo in the living room. Mom had a plug in table model in the kitchen, same in the kid's room and probably a lesser monster in the basement rec room. We did have battery power portable radios. They were clunky and the reception was pitiful, but they were good to go. I had mine strapped to the seat of my bike.

Cars - yes, most of the time. Although many times, Mom took Dad back and forth to work.

Frozen food, there was a fair amount available; refrigerators had freezer compartments by then. But certainly not the variety we have today.

True on the ice makers and water. Buying water???!!!

Yes on electronics. I'd say it's the biggest technological change on a personal level in the last 50 years. Only medical advancements compare.

Yes on the malls. I'd say Sears, Penny's, Monkey Wards qualify as superstores. If you wanted to buy anything bigger than bread basket, you went to one of them. There was more of choice of locally run specialty stores.

Fruits was available all year around. The refrigerated and freezer container for ships, railroad cars, even trucks, had been on line since WWII, probably much earlier. Due more to lack of demand rather than availability was again the limited variety.

Nylon had been around even before WWII. Synthetic material and cotton was all we had for light weight material, such undies and summer clothing. Silk had completely disappeared, thanks to the close down of trade with China and linen was way too expensive (still is). Synthetics were preferred precisely because they generally didn't need ironing, unlike cotton. You did not leave the house winkled. Yes on the wringer washers. We got our first automatic late '50's after the wringer brute ate Mom's hand.

Mom (upon return from the hospital): We're going to Sears tomorrow and get an automatic washer.

Dad: Yes dear.

The only thing I'd really miss and regret is this computer.

[NNN0LHI]

47. We had TV dinners so everything was good n/t

[Ignacio Upton]

48. Going back to the '90s would be fine with me

Since I was born in 1987, I'd rather live in a time that I'm familiar with. I prefer the mid-late nineties, minus the right-wing witch-hunts against Clinton. Although....in the early '90s the music was better (Grunge from '91-'94 vs. teen pop of '97-'01...and even that hasn't entirely dissappeared.)

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

49. The 'Wingers want to go back to 1650.

[novalib]

51. 1650?

Is that B.C. or A.D.??

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

53. Damn fine distinction.

:D

[slackmaster]

50. First episode of The Beverly Hillbillies comes to mind

Pearl is trying to convince Jed that leaving the Appalachian hill country and moving to Los Angeles is the obvious thing to do.

She says something like "You got no running water, you cook on a wood stove, you hunt for your food, and your house is 50 feet from your bathroom!"

Jed replies "You're right. A man would be a damn fool to leave a life like this!"

[Squeech]

52. Yeah, but

the peaches we had then were picked when they were ripe, and they tasted absolutely wonderful.

Now they're picked way too green, with the presumption that they're going to ripen in transit and/or on the grocer's shelves. And they never do ripen exactly, they just sort of get squishier, with a mealy texture, and they taste like juicy sawdust. I think the growers have optimized their seedstock for shelf life at the expense of flavor.

One of the many things I wish I could track down from the Reagan era was a statement by one of their Treasury droids, something like "Of course things are more expensive now. That's because you're getting a better product for your money!" Most of those improvements are like those peaches-- often they're better only for the vendor (e.g. the improved shelf life), but from the consumer standpoint, they're disastrous. (I do wish we had the Internet then, however, if only to pinpoint and preserve outrageous statements like that!)

On edit: serves me right for posting before reading; Likesmountains52 already mentioned the peaches.

I'm also wholeheartedly in agreement with the comments about Duke and Monk. Yeah, I'd miss electric guitars and synthesizers, but the chance to dig Monk in real time would be wonderful. More to the point, there used to be more room for unique local scenes to develop; now we have a bland and homogenous national culture because economies of scale work for the mass media too...

[BeFree]

54. I'm almost there

Two tv channels
No radio, but have a cd player
One phone/cordless
One car that runs/motorcycle
No microwave/bottled water/ice maker or frozen foods
One computer....
No malls within 50 miles, but do have great grocery

no utilities bill... just phone/internet bill
car stays parked at least two days a week
collect rainwater for toilet flushing
recycle washing machine rinse water into wash cycle
own cheap property, no rent, no mortgage
hand built house

Life is good.

[Bridget Burke]

56. Another vote for "Don't believe the TV sitcoms!"

Yeah, a man could support his family with one job. (Well, not all men could.) But a widow had to go back to work once her kids were all in school--my mother did, at least. By the living standards in our semi-rural community, we were not badly off. But we did know that we came from a "broken home."

Book club & magazine subscriptions gave us something to read. NO libraries within walking distance. NO bookstores, either. The only real bookstores were in Downtown Houston--many miles away. Closer in, there was a crummy used paperback store where I could find SF in the back room. (Kilgore Trout!) It's easy to sniff at Mall Bookstores, but something is better than NOTHING.

We watched plenty of TV, but had fewer options. Before moving to Texas, we only had radio. The Lone Ranger didn't look as I'd imagined him--too clean? (I'd seen a few cowboys & Indians in South Dakota.)

I can remember seeing chain gangs. Downtown, the segregation was scary--but it ended in Houston with very little trouble. In my neighborhood, the Mexican kids & my family were almost the only Catholics. When I got to Jr High, there was a Jewish family, which I thought was very cool. The ethnic mix is really mixed up now--a positive change.

[wtmusic]

57. More conveniences = happier existence?

I'm not sold on that one.

A surplus of conformity in the 50s is a myth. Rock and roll was completely non-conformist, as was Beat poetry. Might have had to look a little harder.

[Jose Diablo]

58. Does it mean that women will go back to wearing those beehive

hairdo's kept in place with gobs of hair spray and do I have to go back to using Brylcream on my hair.

As for many of the modern 'conveniences' mentioned above, there are many I don't care much about anyway.

That Bunny hop dance was kinda fun as was the Shag and other line dances. I prefer the dances of the late 60's though. Then again the slow dances of the 50's, it was good to be able to hug the honey with those.

I miss the drive-in movies. But the bobbie socks and pleated skirts on the ladies, I don't know. And I say, "down with pantyhose <boo..hiss..hiss>" as a modern womans leg covering.

It's hard to beat the modern swimsuits, like what's it called, a "thong"?

All in all though, I more prefer it like it is today, not the politics, but the pleasant diversions.

[mtnsnake]

59. If you think we will never go back, you're wrong. Many are already doing

exactly that, except you just don't see it. I personally know more than a few people, people who I never dreamed would give up all the modern "conveniences" you talk about, who are purposely going so far as to live in cabins without electricity, heating with wood instead of oil, riding bicycles to work, canoeing instead of motor boating, hiking instead of watching TV, meeting like-minded people who do the same, and loving every minute of it.

These people have made it their choice to do so. The way things are going, it won't be a choice much longer, it'll be reality, maybe not for you, but for many people who can't afford to do it any other way.

[BiggJawn]

61. Things aren't that much different.

One TV, "Rabbit Ears", ONE CHANNEL...
Bunch of radios, the Shortwave used to carry programs in English, but those services have been ended, the rest play music or AM Hate Radio... Actually had to come into the 21st Century and get XM in order to have something worth listening to...
Oh, TWO telephones! The one in the bedroom was built in 1940. Has a cord. And this "rotary dial" thingee, too.
One car. Sure, 12 bicycles, but only 1 car.
Didn't have a microwave until 2 years ago.
No ice maker. 1 Liter *IS* "personal sized.
4 computers, only one cellie, a Blackberry, no MPG player. 3 of the pooters are antiques.
Malls suck. I avoid the Murkan Death-Culture "Comerce Dance" as much as possible.
Peaches come in a can, they were put there by some Man, in a factory downtown...
I don't even iron the stuff that "needs" ironing. Call me a trrend-setter some day when the wrinkled look catches on...

Books! I have lots of BOOKS! That's a GOOD Thing, yes?

And I don't think yesteryear's social ills are that much worse than today's social ills. Society is still pretty sick these days, and Don't forget, back in the 50's, there actually WAS a "Middle Class".

[FlaGranny]

62. The 1950s

We lived a comfortable existence without a lot of luxuries, on only one income - my father's. We got to go to the movies, roller skating, dances, etc. The 50s was a wonderful time for me, personally. My mother did occasionally work for short times, when she wanted extras. We even took vacations every year or so.

[kestrel91316]

63. Yeah, times were really awful...............

people had to sit around the dinner table and actually TALK to each other. They didn't all have so many things on their own personal agendas that they had no time for their family members. They actually looked at each other when speaking to each other, and didn't spend all the time on a cell phone talking to someone they would obviously rather be with.

Oh, and the POOR CHILDREN had to GO OUTSIDE and find things to do, like PLAY WITH FRIENDS, and they never heard of "play dates". Playing with each other was what they did all the time. And they had to invent pastimes, using their brains creatively, instead of sitting on their fat little asses eating chips and drinking Coke and working on that oh-so-important hand-eye coordination by playing video games by themselves.

Instead of strolling through grocery stores choosing from endless varieties of chemicalized processed foods, they worked (gasp!!) out in the garden, growing their own. And they actually COOKED FOOD FROM SCRATCH. Downright scandalous. How third-world can you get?

I got this snarky attitude, BTW, by reading one of my all-time favorite books: A REASONABLE LIFE by Ferenc Mate. Should be required reading for all Americans.

[schmuls]

101. I had to smile when you mentioned "play dates". I think it's pretty

pathetic that playing with friends actually has to be arranged and they call it a date! We just hung around with our friends!

[trogdor]

65. Rebuttal.

ONE rabbit-eared tv in the living room, and only 3 channels to choose from.
...that usually had something on that was worth watching.

A couple of radios which carried music and religious shows mostly
...some of the best music ever recorded played on 50's radio.

One phone in the hall or kitchen....with a cord..and no answering machine
...and no mobile "leash" to keep you connected with your boss 24/7.

One family car (Dad takes it to work)
...if the missus needed the car, she'd get up when you did and drive you to work.

No microwaved, and very little frozen food
...other than TV dinners, Birds-Eye, etc., and you'd miss microwaved food why?

No ice-makers, no personal sized bottled water
...you pay for WATER? Sucker.

No pagers, no iPods, No DVDs, No flat screens,cell phones, no computers, not even a calculator in most homes
...just that portable record player and your album full of 45's that you lug over to your friends' houses.

No malls, no superstores... Most towns had Sears, Penneys, Western Auto, Kress,Ben Franklin
...and this was not as good as Wal*Mart why?

Peaches only in summer..oranges only in winter..strawberries for a few weeks at best
...and apples all year. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the frozen concentrated juice industry boom in the 1950's?

No "miracle fabrics"..everything needed ironing..and lots of washers were wringer washers
...in the 'pushbutton age'? Surely you jest.

[SoCalDem]

84. No rebuttal necessary.....just musing about the "so-called good ole days"

Lots of folks who never lived in them, or lived as "commoners" then, long to go back to simplicity, for simplicity's sake, as they take cell phone call after call, while muting their ipod, as they drive their cars from mall to mall..:evilgrin:

Our "pace" today is what it is, and barring a "forceful" return to simplicity, most would not..

We are used to the "pick and choose" when it comes to memories and wishes..

We like the idealized freedom back then, without remembering that not all had it then..
we like the slower pace, but most young people then would hardly wait to grow up and GET OUTTA THERE
we long for the home cooked meals and fresh-baked goodies, but forget that a lot of women were more or less "chained to the stove"..(most just did it and probably did not think of themselves as captive)

American have always wanted MORE...and as we get MORE, we realize that "stuff" is not as important as we thought it would be, and we gave up other things to get what we have now..

The 50'S is when marketing learned how to turn us all into consumers..It's when we really started to change..

[onenote]

86. surrebuttal

ONE rabbit-eared tv in the living room, and only 3 channels to choose from.
...that usually had something on that was worth watching.\
So long as you were white, straight, Christian, and middle of the road in your tastes.

A couple of radios which carried music and religious shows mostly
...some of the best music ever recorded played on 50's radio.
Top 40. Nothing controversial. Same songs over and over (sadly, radio is back to that now, but the Internet at least gives alternative music a chance to be heard.)

One phone in the hall or kitchen....with a cord..and no answering machine
...and no mobile "leash" to keep you connected with your boss 24/7.
Car breaks down? Walk, pray. Baby-sitter emergency arises? You'll find out eventually

One family car (Dad takes it to work)
...if the missus needed the car, she'd get up when you did and drive you to work.
Not in my house. Of course, we had two cars.

No microwaved, and very little frozen food
...other than TV dinners, Birds-Eye, etc., and you'd miss microwaved food why?
You're both right.

No ice-makers, no personal sized bottled water
...you pay for WATER? Sucker.
No clean water act either.

No pagers, no iPods, No DVDs, No flat screens,cell phones, no computers, not even a calculator in most homes
...just that portable record player and your album full of 45's that you lug over to your friends' houses.
No computers. Nothing like DU.

No malls, no superstores... Most towns had Sears, Penneys, Western Auto, Kress,Ben Franklin
...and this was not as good as Wal*Mart why?
No opportunity to shop worldwide via the Internet.

Peaches only in summer..oranges only in winter..strawberries for a few weeks at best
...and apples all year. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the frozen concentrated juice industry boom in the 1950's?
Then: limited season; Now: longer season, lower quality. Can never have it all.

No "miracle fabrics"..everything needed ironing..and lots of washers were wringer washers
...in the 'pushbutton age'? Surely you jest.
Actually, Maytag continued to manufacture wringer washers until 1983. Permanent press, no-iron, wash and wear -- really not popularized until the 60s, 70s and later.

[newportdadde]

66. I'd just like the late 90s.

Coming out of college I started a new job making more then my father with mutiple job offers etc.

[Thirtieschild]

67. Some good, some bad

We never locked the doors or had trouble finding the car keys because they were always left in the car.

Fresh out of J-school in February, 1957, I was hired as a reporter for the Dallas Times Herald and paid $60 a week; a male reporter, also fresh out of J-school, was hired the same week, same paper, paid $65 a week. Why? Because men had to support families, not that he had one since he wasn't married.

And, of course, the bigotry. My college (then North Texas State College, now University of North Texas) was way ahead of other Southern schools, integrating without fanfare in 1956, I think so they couold enroll a black football player named Abner Haynes. However, black students couldn't live in the dorms.

[idlisambar]

68. Missing a big point about the 1950's

In the 1950's you knew your kids were going to better off than you are, now you don't.

It's not just where you are it's also the direction you're going.

[blueamy66]

71. you can't miss what you never had...

My boyfriend grew up in the late 50s, early 60s. I love listening to his stories of his childhood in Indiana. Life was so much simpler then.

[Bridget Burke]

92. When you're a child, things SEEM simpler. n/t

[Cleita]

77. Well, I lived in the fifties and somehow I didn't feel that

deprived. Maybe that's why I can go camping for weeks at a time with no amenities and not feel like I'm missing anything.

However, some of the worst fifties problems were pollution. Air pollution was especially bad in Southern California all the way to the San Bernardino mountains because of all the oil refineries and steel plants belching it out with no regulation. Cars added to it to but not as bad as industry.

[WI_DEM]

79. I'm not sure that only three major networks was that bad

things actually started going downhill with the media once we got cable TV and the 24-hour news networks. The media was actually more independent back in those days. You make a lot of mention of material things like one family car. Only one phone, no pagers, cell phones and stuff like that--to me constantly seeing people driving around talking on a cell phone or walking and talking on a cell phone makes me wonder--who do these people need to constantly talk to? Yes, I would miss an answering machine, but if it's really important the people could call back and would know when I would usually be home.

What really was bad about the "good old days" and which you make no mention is the social conditions of the time--especially in regards to civil rights for minorities and for women. But the material things, yeah they add some convenience, but I'm not so sure they have made us better. Back then kids played outside and made their own fun--today too many of them are tied to a computer or playing video games--alone--no wonder this nation and our kids are getting fatter.

[onenote]

83. good and bad in most things, including cable tv

Its one thing to say things "started going downhill" with the media once we got cable tv and to prove a connection. And the idea that the media was "more independent" back then...well, that debatable too. There is ample evidence that Nixon, for one, tried and sometimes succeeded, in influencing the networks. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/nixon/120197tapes.htm

And there is a lot of original programming on cable networks that is pretty crappy, the same could have been said about a lot of the programming on the big 3 back in the 50s and 60s. (By the way, ABC as we now know it didn't debut until 1962; in the 50's a lot of the country only had one or two stations and in 1950 only 9 percent of homes had a tv set, a number that grew rapidly during the decade, but still was under 90 percent by 1960).

The fact is that for all the bad that can be said about cable tv, it also has resulted in more diversity. There are networks oriented towards various communities and interests that would be underrepresented if there were only three networks. Its never all good or all bad.

onenote

[WI_DEM]

88. Well given that Nixon was exposed and the media followed the

story of Watergate proves that they certainly were more independent then than they are now. Perhaps that is debatable. I actually think entertainment values on the three networks were better then than now--but that is also a matter of opinion as well.

[SoCalDem]

85. First line: (leaving out the obvious social ills of that era)

I deliberately left out the myriad of social ills, since they are usually the MAIN things we all talk about :hi:...and because I knew they would be brought in anyway by a bunch of people along the way :hi:

[novalib]

87. You Forgot This About the '50's

You forgot to mention the smell of cigarette smoke.

It was everywhere in the '50's.

Most adults smoked. In public places. Like restaurants.

Cigarette smoke -- and the smell it leaves behind -- was just about everywhere.

Cigarettes were advertized on TV until the '70's.

[geniph]

90. 50's nostalgia makes me sick

What people like to forget about the Oh-So-Wonderful 1950s:

Yeah, sure some kids came home to a parent who was there to fix cookies and milk - kids who came from well-off families. Those working-class families like mine, the women never had a choice whether or not to work - it was work or starve.

Kids who were molested were called liars. Bruises on kids and women were ignored. Women who were beaten by their mates were told to stop provoking him.

Without birth control, my mother had 15 pregnancies in 13 years. Without legal abortion, she had to resort to drastic measures to try and bring about miscarriages. She was successful 9 times, but still had 6 kids in 13 years, while never being able to take more than a couple weeks off work with each.

My oldest sister married at 15, to a man who was in his 30s. My middle sister married at barely 18, also to an adult man. What the hell were these men even DOING around teenage girls?! In those days, it wasn't really questioned, not the way it is now.

A girl or woman who was raped did something to deserve it - either she was a "bad girl", or she shouldn't have been out walking alone, or she dressed wrong, or she was flirtatious, or...wait, none of that has changed. If you brought rape charges, you were forever tarred as a slut.

If your father or stepfather raped you, and you tried to tell anyone, you were likely to be locked up as a "wayward girl" and accused of seducing them.

Being gay or lesbian could, and did, lose you your job, your house, custody of your children, your liberty. I know women who were put in jail for being lesbians.

Women had almost no rights to their own name, their own property. A single woman could not get a credit card or a mortgage unless a man co-signed the loan. Divorce, even of an abusive spouse, was almost impossible and was horribly stressful (my mother divorced my father in 1959 - ask her sometimes what that was like).

The Cuyahoga River caught fire because it was so grossly polluted. Remember that? It was legal for industries to pour any filthy effluent into bodies of water and any foul smokes into the air. Untreated sewage was pumped out just past public beaches.

If you wanted to beat your dog to death on a public street, that was your right.

Yes, a lot of things were simpler. But a whole hell of a lot of things were uglier. Don't kid yourself.

[raccoon]

100. Good points. nt

[kineneb]

91. fast forward

2006: out in the country...what is just about the same...

-no TV
-crappy AM/FM radio reception
-one car that works
-microwave to reheat food, little prepared/frozen food-too much sodium
-no ice maker(ice trays are fine), bottled water is too expensive (we use water filters)
-no malls here, just MallWart & Kmart, not even large chain stores, shopping done online, through catalogs, at thrift stores
-seasonal fruit & vegies- I refuse to buy imported fruit/vegies except bananas
-still using, from the 1950s (or before): Grandma's vacuum cleaner, electric mixer, Grandpa's table saw, and a number of other smaller items

Good things in 2006:
-modern dialysis machines
-modern insulin for diabetics
-better treatment for chronic diseases
-internet radio
-cell phones, answering machines (necessary with medical issues)
-do have computers, calculators, DVD player, VCR, and aging turntable for vinyl record collection
-front loading washer & dryer, cotton knit shirts, jeans that don't need ironing, Spandex blends for dancewear (plain nylon-ugh)

Good things now, on the larger scale:
-more rights for everyone who isn't a white male
-faster international communications
-cleaner environment, in spite of larger population (no DDT, etc.) and more awareness of need for healthy environment

Oh- and I was not around yet in the 50s. We still were living as the OP talked about in the early 60s (two tv stations).

[Joe Fields]

93. If it's a choice between this dacade and the 50's, the 50's win out.

Hands down.

I have experienced both decades, and it is no contest. Life was much simpler for me back then, and I liked it that way. Not being blind to social issues, but on the whole, the fifties were much better than this period. At least Ike and Harry were pretty much honest leaders.

[raccoon]

96. You forgot the main thing--

no air conditioning.

It was in theaters and stores--some anyway, I remember drugstores had it.

Nobody I knew had it in their homes. Nor did we have it at school.

A summer in lowcountry SC, or even upstate SC, sans air conditioning is uncomfortable, to say the least.

"ONE rabbit-eared tv in the living room, and only 3 channels to choose from."

LOL--That's what I have now---I don't have cable.

Also, no air bags or even seat belts.

Another thing that sucked was girls had to wear dresses to school. All through the '60's even, in my neck of the woods.

[SoCalDem]

97. I lived In Panama for all of the 50's --no a/c

I guess I have repressed that painful experience.. Ten years of sweat..but then I was a kid, and kids don;t mind sweat all that much :hi:

[ChickMagic]

99. Right - and I was in Houston

We had an attic fan and hardwood floors.
I wasn't allowed to wear shorts - always
dresses - even at home. On Sundays after
church, I would lie on the floor under the
attic fan with the Sunday comics and fall
asleep from the heat.

[SoCalDem]

108. It was 1973 before the "gals" were "allowed" to wear pants to work

at the bank I worked for.. and even then we had to wear HEELS and they had to be pantSUITS..not pants and a "top"..

[nonconformist]

102. I grew up in the 70's

And much of what has been said on this thread could also be applied to my upbringing.

I was raised in a blue collar, single income, single vehicle family. I played outside all day, every day. I walked or rode my bike 1 mile to school every day. We had TV with rabbit ears, 5 channels - ABC, NBC, CBS, and two local Detroit stations. I was an avid reader. My granny cooked three squares a day. We didn't have a VCR, cable or a microwave until well into the 80's. I didn't live in a home with A/C until the late 80's. Oddly, we survived.

While I admit that I partake and enjoy the technological advances of today, I can't say that I don't think that it has contributed to an overall downfall of society.

[raccoon]

103. Another thing about the 50's most people won't miss: THE DRAFT. nt

[SoCalDem]

105. After this mess in Iraq, it might be back

:scared:

[raccoon]

106. Yep. It would sure change a lot of peoples' minds about

waging "pre-emptive" wars.