The Origin Of "The Fifties"

[Inkstainedwretch]

I've noticed that people always seem to be uncomfortable with their own time. There are always new things to fear or be anxious about and they don't remember it always to have been that way. People always seem to look back nostalgically to an unrealistic past (like the Fifties, or the Roaring Twenties or the Gay Nineties or the Wild West) and they look forward to a bright, improved future, but their present is always messy and chaotic. Right now we continually hear people complaining that "This isn't the America I grew up in!"Which is true, of course. In the history of the Republic, no middle-aged American has ever lived in the America he grew up in. America of the 50s was very different from the America of the 20s. America of 2016 is very different from America of 1976. The whole world is different. And it will be even more different in 10 or 20 years. "Normal"is the way things were when we were kids. Everything since then is unnatural.

 

[BlueTrain]

Abnormal, perhaps but surely not unnatural!

To me, the biggest difference is in how people see the future. Of course, I'm referring to those whose voices are the loudest, not to most of those will actually be living in the future. So many voices are pessimistic about the future, although most of them seem to want to sell you something to get through the coming dark days (to the green fields beyond). Everything from gold to super-duper flashlights. The only people who are eternal optimists are the nice folks over at Popular Mechanics, who, like their grandfathers who were writing the magazine in the 1950s, still envision a wonderful future full of self-driving cars, airplanes in the garage, fabulous furniture you can make for your patio and so on and it's just a couple of years down the road, too.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The 1950s were, to me, more progressive than conservative, which is not to say it was liberal, which it was not. They were conformist more than individualist, which sure enough came later, in the second half of the 1960s.

I think the word that fits more than "conformist" is "communitarian." That was the dominant ethos of the 1930s and 1940s -- the role of the individual in the community was given heavy emphasis. The goal was less about making yourself content and comfortable than it was about ensuring the health and well-being of the community that surrounded you. Different people defined this "community" in different ways -- it might be a neighborhood, or a labor union, or an ethnic group as much as it might be a town or a city or even a country -- but in all cases there was an awareness that the individual did not exist in isolation, and that the well-being of every individual depended on the health of the society in which they lived.

This was an ethos which had been taught hard as far back as the Progressive Era at the turn of the century -- if you read a civics textbook from the 1910s, you'll find it explicitly expressed, often in the analogy of fingers on a hand: the fingers, alone, can accomplish little and are easily broken, but together they can accomplish much. It was an ethos which was intensified by the experience first of the Depression and then of the war -- but it was also an ethos easily hijacked for commercial purposes, which became a hallmark of marketing during the 1950s. Belonging and "togetherness" were defined by the Boys not by working for the common good of society, but by using the right mouthwash or deodorant so as not to offend the boss who might give you a promotion, by serving the right kind of cheese dip at your patio party, or by driving a car that symbolized your status in the community. That sort of phony communitarianism undermined real communitariansm. It was that phony consumption-driven communitarianism the "individualists" of the Beat Generation and the rebels of the 1960s most strongly opposed.

 

[kaiser]

I think the word that fits more than "conformist" is "communitarian." That was the dominant ethos of the 1930s and 1940s -- the role of the individual in the community was given heavy emphasis. The goal was less about making yourself content and comfortable than it was about ensuring the health and well-being of the community that surrounded you. Different people defined this "community" in different ways -- it might be a neighborhood, or a labor union, or an ethnic group as much as it might be a town or a city or even a country -- but in all cases there was an awareness that the individual did not exist in isolation, and that the well-being of every individual depended on the health of the society in which they lived.

This was an ethos which had been taught hard as far back as the Progressive Era at the turn of the century -- if you read a civics textbook from the 1910s, you'll find it explicitly expressed, often in the analogy of fingers on a hand: the fingers, alone, can accomplish little and are easily broken, but together they can accomplish much. It was an ethos which was intensified by the experience first of the Depression and then of the war -- but it was also an ethos easily hijacked for commercial purposes, which became a hallmark of marketing during the 1950s. Belonging and "togetherness" were defined by the Boys not by working for the common good of society, but by using the right mouthwash or deodorant so as not to offend the boss who might give you a promotion, by serving the right kind of cheese dip at your patio party, or by driving a car that symbolized your status in the community. That sort of phony communitarianism undermined real communitariansm. It was that phony consumption-driven communitarianism the "individualists" of the Beat Generation and the rebels of the 1960s most strongly opposed.

Lizzie, good point about the individual not living in isolation, this is an issue today. In many cases the individual is osolated, in particular in old age. The big multi-generation families of the past are gone now so there is no community of family members to look after the old and the sick. One child families, or no child couples are not much of a community as we had in the past. This lack of community is really starting to put a strain on society.

That is a very good observation that you made regarding "community" and isolation. Solitary confinement is a terrible punishment, it is being imposed though on many members of our society today because our community, be it the family, or the neighborhood have changed dramatically during the last 60 years.

 

[BlueTrain]

I agree wholeheartedly with the two previous posts. There seems to have been such an emphasis on individualism that the old group loyalties to churches, unions, clubs and even to communities and other groups have been seriously weakened. There have been other things that have happened, too, though not necessarily the result of some organized effort on anyone's part. Of course, my observations may be entirely wrong; they often are.

I grew up in a neighborhood that was mixed, age-wise, though it certainly wasn't in any other sense mixed. I don't really know to what extent that happens these days. Of course, in other places in the 1950s, there may have been and probably were neighborhoods in new developments in which most residents were young families.

There is also a tendency for associations to be with others of like ages but I suspect that's always been the case.

Ironically, I happen to be reading a book at the moment on "Rules for Solitaries," a religious book written in the 900s. I guess I really have no quarrel with anyone about how people associate with others.

 

[2jakes]

I was in my pre-teens growing up in the 50s. There was good & bad times.
The last line from this movie sums it up for me.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

The movie takes place in 1959. I was 12 in 1959, too. Stephen King and I were born within a few months of each other, so I've always been able to relate to his stories of kid life in the 50s and early 60s because I experienced the same things at the same time. Incidentally, nobody writes better about growing up during that time period and nobody can accuse King of over-sentimentalizing the period, which in his stories was always fraught with danger and dread when it wasn't outright terrifying.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I worked with a guy who grew up in the same town as King, in the same time period, and he swears that story was based on an actual incident -- a group of boys found a body sunken in an old quarry. My friend was one of the boys, and the incident was pretty well known around town.

He later worked for King at his radio station, which gave him a whole array of stories, none of which can be repeated here. Oooowee.

 

[EngProf]

The movie takes place in 1959. I was 12 in 1959, too. Stephen King and I were born within a few months of each other, so I've always been able to relate to his stories of kid life in the 50s and early 60s because I experienced the same things at the same time. Incidentally, nobody writes better about growing up during that time period and nobody can accuse King of over-sentimentalizing the period, which in his stories was always fraught with danger and dread when it wasn't outright terrifying.

I feel the same way about George Lucas and "American Graffiti". He was four years older than me, but since there was ~ 2-4 years of time-lag for the California car-culture to diffuse to the middle part of the country, he was my contemporary in terms of attitudes and activities.
To paraphrase Pogo, I saw "American Graffiti" and they were us. I have seen it so many times since that I have lost count. I saw it when it came out in 1973 and I was stunned that it fit so well my own high school experiences, which had occurred approximately seven years prior.
However, it wasn't quite coincidence, since a fair segment of our high school people consciously emulated California culture, whether it was music, surfing, language, or especially CARS. (We were ~2000 miles away from California but that didn't keep some of our guys from dying their hair surfer-blonde and wearing surfer-style clothes.)

Having lived through that time period the movie illustrates well the transition/dying-out of the fifties and the origins of the sixties among a certain group.
One interesting aspect, if you do watch the movie, is that it is preposterously-impossible, but in a nice way. As I finally realized, it is a compilation of everything that happened to Lucas during his high-school years, as if they had happened all in a single night. Not remotely possible, but it makes a great set of memories...
I thought (and still do) that my high school years would make a similar movie if you compressed all the good and bad, funny and sad events into a single day and night.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

"American Graffiti" is one of my favorites, too. My older brother is especially fond of it because he graduated in '62 like the guys in the movie. It's classic coming-of-age story. Growing up means, among other things. disillusionment. You find out the hard facts of the world and have to put away childish illusions to move on into the adult world. For most of us, this is a long, slow process. It happens to Richard Dreyfuss's character all in one night.

He learns that the teacher he'd idolized is a jerk who is having an affair with one of his students. His lifelong friend who was going to leave with him to go have adventures is going to do the safe thing, stay home and marry the local girl. The hotrod racer he'd admired is a loser still hanging out with teenagers in his twenties. The feared Pharaohs are just another bunch of insecure kids covering up with a lot of bluster and swagger.

Finally, most devastating of all, he learns that the Wolfman, symbol of all that is wild and free, is just a lonely old guy in a shabby radio station outside of town with a busted fridge full of melting popsicles.

At the end he gets on the plane that will take him away, ready now to deal with the adult world. He is left with only a single dream: the goddess in the white t-bird is still out there, driving around.

It's a near-perfect movie.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Finally, most devastating of all, he learns that the Wolfman, symbol of all that is wild and free, is just a lonely old guy in a shabby radio station outside of town with a busted fridge full of melting popsicles.

The irony being that the actual, historical Robert "Wolfman Jack" Smith was a very popular, well-paid station manager/disc jockey playing country and western music in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1962 -- and also a happily married man with two children. The rock-and-roll "Wolfman Jack" character as he's best remembered was primarily a figure of the mid-to-late 1960s and early 1970s.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Of course "The Wolfman" (I don't think they ever say "Wolfman Jack" in the movie) is an amalgam of the DJs Lucas remembered from his California boyhood. I think using Robert Smith to play his old persona was Francis Ford Coppola's idea. Whatever, it worked wonderfully in the film.

 

[Bolero]

A few recollections...I grew up in the 50's, graduated HS in 1960, HS was Nerds, Hoods, Frats and Greasers and applied to both Genders...
Girls skirts were below the knee or sent home, Boys had to be having a belt in their slacks or back home. Shoes were all over the road map, Saddles, Penny loafers, plain tie shoes, and those weird & very popular flip ups for boys.
No drugs......., Beer and cheap wine was the path to Cool and Hip and fitting in...
Driving the Parents car was the coolest , double dating to the local park for Necking and exploring was popular along with going to the movie Drive In & local Diner-Drive In for Cokes, French fries.
On and On and On..... when I returned to HS in late 61 on a Leave from the USAF, everything had changed...The girls were mostly all Braless, skirts way above the knee, guys in Levis & no belts, Loafers and sneakers....Pot and weed was the drug of choice...Local evening Dance halls or Clubs were very popular meeting places for guys and girls to meet up. dance their butts off and find a date or lose one...

50's-60's -70's- 80's- 90's. 00's....all Relative except for the middle to late 1960's which began the influence of the Liberal Left over many Social Venue and the effect on most of the VietNam era....
***Forgot to add, all my experiences were Detroit Suburb and City life...

 

[BlueTrain]

Okay, what are "flip up" shoes? I graduated from high school in 1964. I enlisted in the army in 1965. I somehow missed out on anything drug related and a lot of other things, too, for that matter.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Okay, what are "flip up" shoes? I graduated from high school in 1964. I enlisted in the army in 1965. I somehow missed out on anything drug related and a lot of other things, too, for that matter.

They were similar to loafers. but with a outside spring loaded flip up tongue that allowed the shoe to slip on easy and then flipped shut. I had a black pair. Never did like them...

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I graduated in '65. The small HS that I went to still had regs that girls must wear dresses below the knee. However, boys wore Levis often beltless with penny loafers. No drugs around my area until a couple years after I graduated ( later '60s ). Acquiring a case of longnecks, pint of sloe gin & a pack of smokes were the usual vices.

 

[Fading Fast]

..... when I returned to HS in late 61 on a Leave from the USAF, everything had changed...The girls were mostly all Braless, skirts way above the knee, guys in Levis & no belts, Loafers and sneakers....Pot and weed was the drug of choice....

Is "late 61" a typo or did Detroit experience the "60s cultural changes" much earlier than the rest of the country? I'd say, in NJ it was definitely the second half of the '60s when the big changes hit and I thought that was true for most of the country.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Surely he meant '71.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Is "late 61" a typo or did Detroit experience the "60s cultural changes" much earlier than the rest of the country? I'd say, in NJ it was definitely the second half of the '60s when the big changes hit and I thought that was true for most of the country.

Detroit had plenty of strife in the historical 1950s -- the auto industry suffered a severe reversal during the Recession of 1957-1958, causing a sharp spike in unemployment. Racial conflict was also quite pronounced in the wake of "white flight" in the early 1960s, which all built up to the race riots of 1967-68. These riots had less to do with the cultural changes of the 1960s than they did with the same tensions which had caused a similar riot in 1943.

 

[BlueTrain]

Ah, now I know what you mean. Sort of a fad. Never heard the name or paid much attention to what guys were wearing.

There must have been a dress code at school because only certain things were expected. Girls apparently had to wear skirts or dresses, though I vividly remember one girl showing everyone she was wearing culottes (split skirts) one morning in home room. I have no real memory of skirt lengths, though. Boys could not wear jeans, though we could in grade school. We even had dress-up days, which I never liked. Of course, there's a lot I don't remember from high school and my grades reflected it.

I didn't associate with anyone who drank. I didn't come from a home where anyone drank.