50's Lifestyle

[Dargo]

Speaking of kids games...

 

How many of you here played Carrom board games such as these back in the day?...

 

 

..and..

 

 

Do kids today still play these games?

 

(...or because it isn't electronic, has it also gone the way of the dodo?...anybody know?)

[Sepiatone]

I at first Darg, would curmudeonly gripe that if it don't come in some kind of cartridge,  and therefore can't be played with using some kind of HAND CONTROLLER, or if there's no APP for it, then kids today probably have NO interest or knowledge of it.

 

But I like the way this thread has gone from just a cursory examination of "life in the '50's"  to all of us sharing our personal  experiences from the period.

 

As movie "buffs", we all know that when Hollywood attempts to show what life was like in ANY period in the past, they typically generalize and often don't get everything right.  It often leaves those who haven't  lived through whichever period a false impression.  To whit:

 

Not everyone in the '50's went "cruising", wore Poodle skirts and "DA's",  hung out at the Malt Shop, or drove "souped up" hot rods.

 

Just as not every "hippie" in the '60's wore "granny glasses", headbands, sandles and "hip-hugger" bell bottom pants.  In fact, "hippies" didn't show up until the '60's were nearly OVER.

 

Just as the '70's was about MUCH more than DISCO.

 

And on and on....

 

The behavior and experiences and activities people engaged in during ANY decade were as varied as the people themselves.

 

Getting back.....No, I don't recall those gameboards.  I DO however, recall how "cool" we all thought it was to hit an entire roll of CAPS with a hammer and how LOUD it was.

 

And those plastic ROCKETS that flew when you pumped up enough water pressure in the handle they came with.

 

 

Sepiatone

[ElCid]

This thread shows how different each region was in th 50's and sometimes how similar.

For example, started school in 52 and we never had nuclear drills or anything similar.  We did have periodic fire drills where everybody had to leave the building.  No duck and cover though.

[DownGoesFrazier]

Maybe a flurry of Ali jabs. Many of mine were along the general

lines of does not work up to potential. You got that right honey.

But their handwriting was very good. Imagine having to do those

for hundred of kids a few times a year. Yuck.

My 6th grade teacher, at the end of the year, lined up all the kids in class (you had to stand in line, in order) in order of what she perceived as intelligence and academic competence. Talk about humiliation for the kids at the back half of the line.

[Emily Dean]

My 6th grade teacher, at the end of the year, lined up all the kids in class (you had to stand in line, in order) in order of what she perceived as intelligence and academic competence. Talk about humiliation for the kids at the back half of the line.

DGF: That would definitely not go well today where everyone gets a trophy and no one goes unrewarded.  I sometimes cannot help but wonder if the fact that everyone should be rewarded has not led to the "crying and whinging" of today.  I do remember however getting gold stars for certain classroom behaviour and having a board posted in our room where stars were awarded and your record was available for everyone to view....I believe the idea behind the stars was "reinforcement" of good behaviour if you saw others with more gold stars than you it would motivate you to do better.  

 

Recess games that I remember were dodge ball but otherwise I cannot seem to remember any others.  However I do remember playground equipment besides swings, there were slides, carousels, teeter totters and monkey bars....resulted in many scraped knees, sprained ankles and worse....dirty clothes. 

[ElCid]

My 6th grade teacher, at the end of the year, lined up all the kids in class (you had to stand in line, in order) in order of what she perceived as intelligence and academic competence. Talk about humiliation for the kids at the back half of the line.

In the 60's, but similar.  I attended the Baptist Church in town where I lived almost every Sunday for Sunday School and main service. However, I had never "joined" because of the long walk down the aisle to the front of the church and standing in front of everybody.  My parents never pushed my joining.

Around 1960 or so, one of the deacons came to our Sunday School class of about 25-30 girls and boys.  He read off the list of people in the class who were not members of the church in order to "verify the church records."  BS, it was to pressure the 3 or 4 of us who were not members to make the long walk.

[GGGGerald]

Speaking of kids games...

 

How many of you here played Carrom board games such as these back in the day?...

 

 

..and..

 

 

Do kids today still play these games?

 

(...or because it isn't electronic, has it also gone the way of the dodo?...anybody know?)

 

I was the king of both games in grammar school. But, that was over by 1980.

 

Nothing to plug in or log onto. And no virtual machine guns to fire at the enemy. Kids today wouldn't be interested.

[Vautrin]

My 6th grade teacher, at the end of the year, lined up all the kids in class (you had to stand in line, in order) in order of what she perceived as intelligence and academic competence. Talk about humiliation for the kids at the back half of the line.

Now there's a real self-esteem builder. I would have definitely ended up

in the second half of that line, but our teachers never did anything like that.

Maybe this lady was the wife of an SS guy who came to the U.S. after WW II.

 

The neighborhood kids used to play a game where some item would have

to be guarded by one team while the other team hid in the woods and tried

to sneak back and grab the item while the other team went out to capture

them. That was a lot of fun. Everybody went home went it became too dark

to play anymore. We also played baseball in the street until a car came

along and then we started up again. Back in the late 1960s there were a lot of

suburban wannabe hippies who might wear one or two hippie things without

ever really being "full time" hippies.

[Dargo]

In the 60's, but similar.  I attended the Baptist Church in town where I lived almost every Sunday for Sunday School and main service. However, I had never "joined" because of the long walk down the aisle to the front of the church and standing in front of everybody.  My parents never pushed my joining.

Around 1960 or so, one of the deacons came to our Sunday School class of about 25-30 girls and boys.  He read off the list of people in the class who were not members of the church in order to "verify the church records."  BS, it was to pressure the 3 or 4 of us who were not members to make the long walk.

 

Well, maybe NOT, Cid!

 

Nope, maybe the deacons somehow thought you kids were just ill-prepared TO MAKE that long walk and so had a few pairs of new shoes for each of you remaining kids they wanted to give ya?!

 

(...good footwear IS always a must when taking long walks...ya can get flat feet otherwise, ya know)

 

[DownGoesFrazier]

I was the king of both games in grammar school. But, that was over by 1980.

 

Nothing to plug in or log onto. And no virtual machine guns to fire at the enemy. Kids today wouldn't be interested.

I used to like to play "Chutes and Ladders".

[Vautrin]

Not as bad as some of the long walks that Jimmy Cagney took.

My parents went to a Presbyterian church. They had some

kind of membership ritual, but it was pretty low key. You did

get a free Bible.

[Tikisoo]

Emily said: That would definitely not go well today where everyone gets a trophy and no one goes unrewarded.  I sometimes cannot help but wonder if the fact that everyone should be rewarded has not led to the "crying and whinging" of today. 

 

I agree wholeheartedly with that ^^^ observation.

(snipped) 

I believe the idea behind the stars was "reinforcement" of good behaviour if you saw others with more gold stars than you it would motivate you to do better.  

 

Recognition only works when there is some level of shame included. These days, where everyone's a star, there IS no shame.

 

Most cultural trends like Sepiatone was mentioning, like 50's cruisin' and 60's bell bottoms, happen halfway through decades, like 1945-1955 and 1965-1975.

 

Re: The Cid's post: Yeah, regional differences are interesting as well. I was in elementary school 1965-1970 in NY, and never had atomic attack drills, only fire drills too. They're teaching kids today to huddle under desks for school shooters, how times have changed.

 

Around 1960 or so, one of the deacons came to our Sunday School class

 

Haha I had read that as "one of the demons came"

[Sepiatone]

@Vautrin---

 

I think(if memory serves) that "hippies" had a term for the "wannabes" .  I think they called them "Yo-Yos" due to they'd dress "straight" throughout the week, and put on "hippie" garb on weekends.

 

My sister in law was one of them.  She makes CLAIMS to have once been a hippie, but upon slight questioning it becomes clear she was only in it for the clothes.

 

TIKI and EMILY---

 

Sho 'nuff.   Rewards should  only be granted to those who either overcome difficult obstacles to achieve some level of success or accomplishment.   Or  excelled at one thing or another.  True enough, it seems kids lately get rewarded in school for just showing up.   Or some kind of trophy for doing the same on some soccer team.

 

The silliest thing I see is having COMMENCEMENT CEREMONIES for "graduating" Kindergarten and GRADE SCHOOL.  I mean, you're EXPECTED  to!   May as well hand your kids BLUE RIBBONS to reward them for BREATHING.

 

There was also a recent( like the last 20 years or so) trend in thinking one could BUY or instill "self esteem" for their children.  A lot of kids told constantly that they're "special" and/or "unique"  to the point that it seemed "self esteem" evolved into "self centeredness".  I do believe that parents should reinforce a sense of "self worth" in their children, but only to the point that THEY like themselves, but also short of giving them the feeling that EVERYTHING should be about THEM.

 

And TIKI, I too have long noticed that period "trends" and social behavior ran a lot like CAR MODELS or TV SEASONS .  Insomuch as say with cars, the NEW MODELS would come out in September of a year, and that model would be built until the following summer.  For instance, I started working for GM in September of 1971.  At the time, they were early into the 1972 model year, which lasted until July of '72.  Then there was the mid year "Changeover" and by late August or early September of '72, we started building the '73 models.

 

A TV "season" was generally from September of one year until June of the next.  Now there can be TWO SEASONS of a show within the first SIX MONTHS of a year.

 

And what we generally think of as "The '50's" is usually the period from 1955 to about the mid '60's.  and so on...  In retrospect that is.

 

 

BTW--I never got one of them gold stars stuck on my forehead.  In fact, we used to MAKE FUN of the kids who DID.  We used to call them "teacher's lap dogs"  or "brownies"( kids version of "brown nose") and tease them mercilessly.

 

 

Sepiatone

[Emily Dean]

This post has drawn me back in my life to the point that I searched out some snaps from that era of our family life and saw some more items that might inspire your further wanderings to the 50's.

 

Cabinet TV with Antenna (either rabbit ears or the one on the roof) and the following shows:

• Victory at Sea was a Sunday must when it was shown
• The Big Top...a show with Ed McMahon as a clown
• Texaco Star Hour with Milton Berle
• The Jack Benny Show
• The Bob Cummings Show  (introduced us to Alice of the Brady Bunch and Dwayne Hickman of the Many Loves of Dobie Gillis)
• Life with Riley
• My Little Margie
• The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
• Private Secretary and of course;
• Our Miss Brooks

Items no longer seen in homes

• Fostoria Glassware
• Floor ashtrays
• Ash pans (cleaning out ashtrays)
• Currier and Ives Prints
• Single slice toasters (remember how they inevitably burned the toast)
• Clothes lines with clothes poles (great for dueling)
• Clothes pins (multipurpose use including adding sound to your bike)

Vacation Memories

• All two lane highways
• Burma Shave Signs (broke up the monotony)
• Cabins instead of motels
• Roadside historical site signs
• Howard Johnson's Restaurants with Simon the Pie Man and Fried Clams followed by 28 flavours of ice cream (only if you ate all your food)
• Route 66

To quote Bugs Bunny...that's all folks. 

[Princess of Tap]

* On Saturday nights just before the Hit Parade came on, Arthur and Kathryn Murray would waltz to Tales of the Vienna Woods.

 

I used to wonder how that old man could dance the way he did and why he was dancing with that younger woman? LOL

[DownGoesFrazier]

* On Saturday nights just before the Hit Parade came on, Arthur and Kathryn Murray would waltz to Tales of the Vienna Woods.

 

I used to wonder how that old man could dance the way he did and why he was dancing with that younger woman? LOL

I promised no wisecracks today, but I am bursting at the seams. Still................................

[Sepiatone]

Lemme try to tackle your list EMILY----

 

I don't recall ever watching VICTORY AT SEA , but there was SEA HUNT.  w/Lloyd Bridges

 

And YOU ASKED FOR IT w/"Smiling" Jack Smith

 

PERSON TO PERSON x/EDWARD R. MURROW

 

THE ADVENTURES OF JIM BOWIE w/SCOTT FORBES

 

THE ADVENTURES OF WILLIAM TELL w/CONRAD PHILLIPS

 

DECEMBER BRIDE w/SPRING BYINGTON

 

CANNONBALL  can't remember who starred, but the series about two truck drivers really got to my older brother who DID grow up to be a truck driver.  It was a Canadian production, but since we were living just across the Detroit River from WINDSOR ONT.  We caught it on Channel 9.

 

I do remember the others like  BURNS AND ALLEN( remember the episodes in which George Burns would go to that apartment over the garage and watch all the antics on the show on a TV set up there?  Weird!  Kind of like a "big brother" sort of thing.

 

Yeah, always did like Bob Cummings, especially "Schultzie"

 

MY LITTLE MARGIE?  Sure.  had a boyhood "crush" on GALE STORM until SHARI LEWIS caught my eye!

 

On Saturdays and Sundays we'd watch AMOS'N'ANDY or ABBOTT AND COSTELLO

 

All on the "giant" 24" screen cabinet TV with the doors on it!  And also "rabbitt ears"  Eventually with FOIL  wrapped around the ends.

 

I don't recall the glassware and we never had any C&I prints, but a buddy of mine still has the FLOOR ASHTRAY that used to be his GRANDFATHER'S from the '30's.

 

The house I'm renting now STILL has clotheslines and I have a small canvas bag of clothespins that used to belong to my Grandmother.  SHE used to also have those poles you mentioned that held the line up to keep the heavier laundry from touching the ground.

 

A few other things---

 

I mentioned it before in some other thread a year or so ago, but we used to "call" for our friends.  Stand on the front porch yelling their names in a three syllable "sing-song" that made ANYBODY'S name into three syllables.  ie:  "Doooooonnnnnn-EEE-eeeeeee!"  If ya get my gist, I haven't heard kids do that for YEARS.

 

But some things transcend decades and generations.  Just this past fall, while walking to a nearby store, I saw the old familiar HOPSCOTCH pattern chalked on the sidewalk.  Didn't know anybody still played that.  I even this past summer caught some kids on the street playing "TAG".   We had a couple of variations in my neighborhood:

 

CAR TAG--played like regular tag except that you could get out of being "it" by dropping down to one knee while shouting out the name of a car just before you're "tagged".  The same with  "Baseball tag"( shout a team name) and "funnies tag"( the nme of a comic strip).

 

 

Sepiatone

[RipMurdock]

Lemme try to tackle your list EMILY----

 

I don't recall ever watching VICTORY AT SEA , but there was SEA HUNT.  w/Lloyd Bridges

 

And YOU ASKED FOR IT w/"Smiling" Jack Smith

 

PERSON TO PERSON x/EDWARD R. MURROW

 

THE ADVENTURES OF JIM BOWIE w/SCOTT FORBES

 

THE ADVENTURES OF WILLIAM TELL w/CONRAD PHILLIPS

 

DECEMBER BRIDE w/SPRING BYINGTON

 

CANNONBALL  can't remember who starred, but the series about two truck drivers really got to my older brother who DID grow up to be a truck driver.  It was a Canadian production, but since we were living just across the Detroit River from WINDSOR ONT.  We caught it on Channel 9.

 

I do remember the others like  BURNS AND ALLEN( remember the episodes in which George Burns would go to that apartment over the garage and watch all the antics on the show on a TV set up there?  Weird!  Kind of like a "big brother" sort of thing.

 

Yeah, always did like Bob Cummings, especially "Schultzie"

 

MY LITTLE MARGIE?  Sure.  had a boyhood "crush" on GALE STORM until SHARI LEWIS caught my eye!

 

On Saturdays and Sundays we'd watch AMOS'N'ANDY or ABBOTT AND COSTELLO

 

All on the "giant" 24" screen cabinet TV with the doors on it!  And also "rabbitt ears"  Eventually with FOIL  wrapped around the ends.

 

I don't recall the glassware and we never had any C&I prints, but a buddy of mine still has the FLOOR ASHTRAY that used to be his GRANDFATHER'S from the '30's.

 

The house I'm renting now STILL has clotheslines and I have a small canvas bag of clothespins that used to belong to my Grandmother.  SHE used to also have those poles you mentioned that held the line up to keep the heavier laundry from touching the ground.

 

A few other things---

 

I mentioned it before in some other thread a year or so ago, but we used to "call" for our friends.  Stand on the front porch yelling their names in a three syllable "sing-song" that made ANYBODY'S name into three syllables.  ie:  "Doooooonnnnnn-EEE-eeeeeee!"  If ya get my gist, I haven't heard kids do that for YEARS.

 

But some things transcend decades and generations.  Just this past fall, while walking to a nearby store, I saw the old familiar HOPSCOTCH pattern chalked on the sidewalk.  Didn't know anybody still played that.  I even this past summer caught some kids on the street playing "TAG".   We had a couple of variations in my neighborhood:

 

CAR TAG--played like regular tag except that you could get out of being "it" by dropping down to one knee while shouting out the name of a car just before you're "tagged".  The same with  "Baseball tag"( shout a team name) and "funnies tag"( the nme of a comic strip).

 

 

Sepiatone

dint gale storm show hav zazu pitt in it?

[Dargo]

If ya wanna talk "early television programs" that we Boomers probably have fond but somewhat vague memories of watching, ya probably couldn't compile a better list of them than what can be seen by clicking upon the following supplied link:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziv_Television_Programs

[DownGoesFrazier]

If ya wanna talk "early television programs" that we Boomers probably have fond but somewhat vague memories of watching, ya probably couldn't compile a better list of them than what can be seen by clicking upon the following supplied link:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziv_Television_Programs

A show that scared me half to death as a little kid was a documentary show called "Wanted", which gave details about  real-life criminals.I still remember the name of one of them, "Ralph Grubisich". I recall running upstairs crying.

[Princess of Tap]

A show that scared me half to death as a little kid was a documentary show called "Wanted", which gave details about real-life criminals.I still remember the name of one of them, "Ralph Grubisich". I recall running upstairs crying.

 

As a preschooler, Spike Jones had that same effect on me. When his show would come on with all that loud crazy music and that scary picture of him, I would run to my room and jump over my baby bed rail and immediately go to sleep in a panic.

 

My mother always forgot to lower the rail on the bed even though Spike Jones came on every week. LOL

[ElCid]

 

• The Jack Benny Show
• The Bob Cummings Show  (introduced us to Alice of the Brady Bunch and Dwayne Hickman of the Many Loves of Dobie Gillis)
•  
• My Little Margie
• The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
• Private Secretary and of course;
• Our Miss Brooks

Items no longer seen in homes

• Currier and Ives Prints
• Clothes pins (multipurpose use including adding sound to your bike)

Vacation Memories

• All two lane highways
• Cabins instead of motels
• Roadside historical site signs
• Howard Johnson's Restaurants with Simon the Pie Man and Fried Clams followed by 28 flavours of ice cream (only if you ate all your food)
• Route 66

To quote Bugs Bunny...that's all folks. 

These shows are on TV now if you know where to look.  I recorded an Our Miss Brooks this morning to watch later.  One thing on these old shows is to watch the transition of the sets from first show to later years.  Burns & Allen is one in particular.

I have a Currier and Ives print hanging in my bedroom.  My mother found it somewhere in the 50's.  It's a train (my hobby)

Use clothes pins to hold chips, cookies, etc. bags closed.  Used to have a clothes line, but one pole rusted through and I never replaced it.

For us, the main travelling two lane highways were US 17 or US 80.  My father was always asking at service stations about how to avoid the big cities.  We travelled a lot of pig trails with nothing on them but farms.

There is one Howard Johnson's left-Lake George NY.  We seldom stopped at anything as fancy as a HoJo or Shoney's or Holiday Inn to eat.  For us, it was the independent roadside diners.

Stayed in cabins a few times, but by late 50's the old man gravitated to independent motels.

Roadside historical signs are still popular, at least in the South.  My small town has put at least three up in past year alone. Actually made and placed by state DOT after they approve the "need".

Periodically I will google the name of the restarurants or motels from the good old days.  Lots of information out there as well as pictures. A few are still around.

 

Gale Storm had two shows.  First was My Little Margie with Charles Farrell and second was the Gale Storm Show with Zazu Pitts.  Farrell often shows up on TCM, some silent I think.

[EugeniaH]

Items no longer seen in homes

• Currier and Ives Prints

 

I have three of these in my apartment, in vintage frames.  I love them.  They were sold cheaply on ebay - maybe because of the general lack of interest?  If so, too bad.

[ElCid]

If ya wanna talk "early television programs" that we Boomers probably have fond but somewhat vague memories of watching, ya probably couldn't compile a better list of them than what can be seen by clicking upon the following supplied link:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziv_Television_Programs

I bought the DVD set of Highway Patrol.  Watch it farily often.  Very simplistic, no fancy stunts or sound effects, etc.  Really interesting to see the stores, houses and cars of the period.

Always impressed with how many different little roadside diners the producers could find.

When watching it, I sometimes think Broderick Crawford derservedly winning an Oscar for Best Actor.

 

Many of these shows are on the over the air stations.  Some of these are on cable and others only require an antenna.  The stations frequently change the series they show.  After all they can go through one year's episodes (26) in about 5 weeks so they change them around a lot.  Doubt they have to pay the exhoribant prices that "current" series cost. 

 

I did try the Ziv link and hadn't realized how many shows he did.  Wife and I watched Sea Hunt until they took it off last year.  Show always started with MIke saying: This would be my most dangerous situation ever or something to that effect.

[Vautrin]

My mother held onto the outdoor clothesline even when she had a

dryer. The first one I remember was a fold up job that fitted into

a small metal hole in the lawn. After the clothes were dry it was

folded up and put in the garage. You had to be careful not to

hit that little metal thingee when the lawn was mowed. 

 

I loved HoJo's. Good burgers and ice cream. They had a delicious

fudge candy bar that was better than just about any candy around.

When I lived in Vermont there was still one HoJo left in the northern

part of the state. I always meant to drive up there and have one more

meal in a HoJo, but I never made it. 

 

As a small kid I would watch Claude Kirshner's kiddie cartoon show.

I would have a peanut butter and honey sandwich and then shortly

after that it was bedtime. Life was good.