The "real" cool cats.

[Caleb Bogart]

This may belong in a different section, so if it needs moved, please do so.
I am 20 years old, and was raised by my grandparents (who I call "mom" and "dad" due to a bad story about my meth junkie momma).
Mom and Dad were born in 1946 and 1947, so they were raised in the days of Elvis, malt shops, poodle skirts, and pomade slicked hair. I have been seeing a good deal of "rockabilly" clothing (or what people think is rockabilly). This includes (old style) tattoos on both men and women, beards, dickies and western work shirts, and black on everything. I was talking to mom and dad about this, and mom said "any girl that had a tattoo when I was her age would have been instantly called "cheap trash". And dad said that outfit looks NOTHING like the rock and roll greasers wore. (he should know, he was a greaser himself back in the day)
Does anybody have any input as to what "real" rockabilly style was?
Here is what I invision:

1. Not everything was black
2. pompadore hair cuts UNDER 5 FEET HIGH FOR GODS SAKE!
3. no "brand new" 57 chevys with new paint and huge custom engine.
4. typical greaser cars would be late 40s jolopys with simple and cheap improvements.
5. tattoos would be rare and few.
6. not everybody wore a leather jacket 24/7. have one for winter.
7. be cool, but stay away from stereotypical fonz cool.

Any thoughts?

 

[2jakes]

This may belong in a different section, so if it needs moved, please do so.
I am 20 years old, and was raised by my grandparents (who I call "mom" and "dad" due to a bad story about my meth junkie momma).
Mom and Dad were born in 1946 and 1947, so they were raised in the days of Elvis, malt shops, poodle skirts, and pomade slicked hair. I have been seeing a good deal of "rockabilly" clothing (or what people think is rockabilly). This includes (old style) tattoos on both men and women, beards, dickies and western work shirts, and black on everything. I was talking to mom and dad about this, and mom said "any girl that had a tattoo when I was her age would have been instantly called "cheap trash". And dad said that outfit looks NOTHING like the rock and roll greasers wore. (he should know, he was a greaser himself back in the day)
Does anybody have any input as to what "real" rockabilly style was?
Here is what I invision:

1. Not everything was black
2. pompadore hair cuts UNDER 5 FEET HIGH FOR GODS SAKE!
3. no "brand new" 57 chevys with new paint and huge custom engine.
4. typical greaser cars would be late 40s jolopys with simple and cheap improvements.
5. tattoos would be rare and few.
6. not everybody wore a leather jacket 24/7. have one for winter.
7. be cool, but stay away from stereotypical fonz cool.

Any thoughts?

Much depends on the neighborhood or city. For me...

High school in the 50s, we had the “Leave it to Beaver” guys who dressed & behaved like that .
I usually wore clean blue jeans & t-shirt with short-sleeve shirt & long sleeve shirt wool/cotton jacket in the fall.
The worst thing was drinking a beer if we could get one or smoking a cigarette. And there was the
the bullies as portrayed in “Rebel Without a Cause”. Not many black leather jackets though.
Looking at the “gang" in that movie, they appear to be clean-cut compared to later years.

To dress with raggly torn pants or below the waist was not considered,”cool”.
Haircuts were not like Elvis with the duck-tails. Schools had strict rules about the dress code.
Spanking was allowed & so was reciting the Lord’s Prayer at the start of the
morning classes in public schools.
The school staff/teachers dressed very proper & were respected.
Barbershops were on every corner, almost. Only after the Beatles did long hair became known around the neighborhood.
No tattoos except maybe one or two that were home-made like in the move ,"Stand By Me”, by the gangs.
I drove an old ’55 Chevy in my senior year. Many cars that are now considered classic & $$$$ were available,
but not new like you see in the movies.
Girls had a specific code about how they handled themselves as ladies & were not given to extreme make-up or dress.

 

[Caleb Bogart]

Much depends on the neighborhood or city. For me...

High school in the 50s, we had the “Leave it to Beaver” guys who dressed & behaved like that .
I usually wore clean blue jeans & t-shirt with short-sleeve shirt & long sleeve shirt wool/cotton jacket in the fall.
The worst thing was drinking a beer if we could get one or smoking a cigarette. And there was the
the bullies as portrayed in “Rebel Without a Cause”. Not many black leather jackets though.
Looking at the “gang" in that movie, they appear to be clean-cut compared to later years.

To dress with raggly torn pants or below the waist was not considered,”cool”.
Haircuts were not like Elvis with the duck-tails. Schools had strict rules about the dress code.
Spanking was allowed & so was reciting the Lord’s Prayer at the start of the
morning classes in public schools.
The school staff/teachers dressed very proper & were respected.
Barbershops were on every corner, almost. Only after the Beatles did long hair became known around the neighborhood.
No tattoos except maybe one or two that were home-made like in the move ,"Stand By Me”, by the gangs.
I drove an old ’55 Chevy in my senior year. Many cars that are now considered classic & $$$$ were available,
but not new like you see in the movies.
Girls had a specific code about how they handled themselves as ladies & were not given to extreme make-up or dress.

Yah, it would depend on the area in question, just like all other things. I just HATE the movie grease. I like the outsiders, mainly because it isn't overly stereotypical or cheezy. I forgot to mention about school. Yah, jeans were not allowed in school, and yes tattoos were VERY rare. And as for cars, I might not have been clear on that point. most greaser movies have working class high school kids in 1957, driving a spectacular 1955 or 57 chevy. I don't think a high school boy would be able to afford one, my guess was James deans 49 merc would be a better choice. something a guy in school could save up for, without having to wait 100 years. Thanks for your input!

 

[2jakes]

Yah, it would depend on the area in question, just like all other things. I just HATE the movie grease. I like the outsiders, mainly because it isn't overly stereotypical or cheezy. I forgot to mention about school. Yah, jeans were not allowed in school, and yes tattoos were VERY rare. And as for cars, I might not have been clear on that point. most greaser movies have working class high school kids in 1957, driving a spectacular 1955 or 57 chevy. I don't think a high school boy would be able to afford one, my guess was James deans 49 merc would be a better choice. something a guy in school could save up for, without having to wait 100 years. Thanks for your input!

You’re right about the cars. I hardly saw a spectacular "hot-rod” for the most part back then.
Mostly because we didn’t have the $$$$.

I have seen more hot-rods today by older folks who have the interest or can afford it.

I recall this comic book on the book racks back in 1962.

($19,500.00)

who knew !

 

[Stearmen]

You’re right about the cars. I hardly saw a spectacular "hot-rod” for the most part back then.
Mostly because we didn’t have the $$$$.

I have seen more hot-rods today by older folks who have the interest or can afford it.

You're spot on about Hot Rods. Outside of car shows, I don't recall, in the 60s-70s ever seeing a true Hot Rod on the street! I think it was in the 80s, when they started to become common. and now, they are big money! And Rat Rods, were just some poor chump that could not afford paint!

 

[Stearmen]

I should add, talking to my neighbor a while back about 1950s pink cars, he said, pink shirts under black jackets, was the height of cool when he graduated High School in 1958! Tuxedo Black & Pink, a Ford option.

 

[Caleb Bogart]

ok, so which is more realistic....this?

or this.....?

 

[2jakes]

ok, so which is more realistic....

or this.....?

The above.
Also if these “rebels” did attend school, the cut-off sleeves, duck-tail,
long sideburns were not allowed. If you did, you were sent to the
principal’s office. If you disobeyed, the next stop was the boiler room .

The boiler room was where school justice was dispensed.

I only went once because of a fight with these bums.
The boiler room had a table with a small mirror. You were told to lean on
the table & look at the mirror while the vice-principal took a wooden
paddle with small holes.
The first strikes on my butt weren’t too bad. But on the third hit...
it began to sting hard. I was rewarded with six hits.
I never gave him the satisfaction that it hurt. Although
there were tears in my eyes which I don’t think he saw or cared.
The purple marks remained for a while before they went away.
The memory is still vivid.

There was also the “drop-outs” who didn’t go to school.

There was two styles.
Like the ones above & the “pachucos”.

Pachucos were a throwback to the 40s zoo-zooters.

Shoes were bright orange leather pointed toe cap & always polished.
With metal taps on the soles. You could hear the clicking on the side walk
with a swagger similar to Vinnie Barbarino of Saturday Night fame.

Shirts were long & worn opened on the outside or white undershirt
or cotton tank-tops, usually with a religious necklace. (hypocrites)
Pants were soft dress style pegged pants. They never wore jeans or t-shirts.

They weren’t rich but somehow managed to always maintain a spit-shine on their stacys.
A language all their own with switch-blades doing most of the talking.

The Circle, The Dot, La Blanca were some of the names I recall that was given to their gangs.
To me they were punks who picked on the nice kids. I grew up with several sisters
in my family.

They were always picking fights with me because they thought I was a boyfriend
or my sisters wouldn’t give these bums the time of the day.
It was usually after school when we walked home. Never during school time.
You know why already !

It was challenging times living in some neighborhoods. Luckily I went to
lived with my grandmother where this was not so prevalent.
Cheers !

 

[Edward]

I'm too young to have lived through it all back when, but baed on everything I've read/ heard/ been told, Rebel Without a Cause hits it very well. Specifically, I'm thinking about the contrast between the way Jimmy Dean dresses for School, and the contrasting way he dresses when he's out playing chicken with the cars at night (the now iconic red jacket and Lee jeans). There would have been even more of a contrast here in the UK, where uniform was (and remains) the norm for all state-school kids. Most school uniforms, at least from the 30s onwards, haven't changed enormously here.

Grease is fun for what it is, but it's not even remotely period-accurate in look. Particularly the dance-sequence, which is so overwhelmingly seventies, it's ridiculous.

Modern rockabillies don't accurately reflect the 1950s as was, often even in relation to the subculture they keep alive. That said, however, few among them are trying to preserve a 'real 1950s' - for the most part, the rockabilly subculture we see nowadays is simply something that has stayed alive, evolved, remained its own thing. Much like punk rock, really. Original bands are revered, certain automotive aesthetics or tattoo styles preferred, but they're not trying to live as if its still 1956, or look as if they stepped out of 1956. Rockabilly to them is a living, breathing thing that has continued to exist, and has adapted and evolved in its own way. Many modern rockabilly folks come from a background in punk rock, or 1980s psychobilly, which has had a knock-on effect upon the styles preferred.

You're spot on about Hot Rods. Outside of car shows, I don't recall, in the 60s-70s ever seeing a true Hot Rod on the street! I think it was in the 80s, when they started to become common. and now, they are big money! And Rat Rods, were just some poor chump that could not afford paint!

It's interesting how Rat Rods became a thing; the perpetual not-quite-finished, rolling-custom project of the guy who couldn't afford to have his car off the road, becoming a desired end-product in itself.... a fascinating evolution. Hardly unseen in 'fashion' more broadly, of course; jeans being adopted as a fashion item, among other elements of utilitarian workwear, or military kit influencing fashion, or, a more direct comparison, people buying pre-distressed denim, leather, guitars.... There's not yet a market for pre-distressed vehicles, but I've certainly seen a fair few designed to look that way.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I was born in a mid-western Indiana small town (where James Dean lived) in 1947 and graduated High School in 1965. The mode of dress during the mid/late '50s for Jr High-High school kids was often short sleeve shirts over white T shirts, regular fit denim jeans often rolled up slightly at the ankles with skinny belt. Possibly a nylon jacket. Hair combed up and curled in front with ducktails and longer sideburns was usually reserved for what we called 'hoods'. Never heard the term 'greaser' until decades later. Tattoos were mostly something that Navy vets adorned themselves with. Rebel Without A Cause was an example of some youth during the mid '50s, but over dramatized ala James Dean, Brando, and a few others which some kids did try to emulate. However, short haircuts were also becoming popular for some including the 'flattop'. Cars were usually late '40s or early '50s cheap examples repainted or 'souped up' ( if you had an after school job) and knew someone who had a garage and tools.
During the early '60s just a white T-stirt with rolled up sleeves became popular with 'pegged' Levis denim jeans, often no belt, and leather 'penny loafers'. Flattops were also in vogue, but sometimes long on the sides with 'ducks' combed back. Muscle cars were entering into the scenario for those with the Jack. During this time all girls wore dresses to school or skirts (no pants or slacks allowed, unless after school) and you never saw a girl in jeans. Replacing Saddle Oxfords (black & white shoes) were also Penny loafers for girls. Usually oxblood in color was the coolest for either sex. The closest that Hollywood ever came to mirroring this period was the movie 'American Graffiti' IMO, and the comedy TV spinoff 'Happy Days. Of course these productions can be viewed as slightly 'over done' and not 100% realistic to every US teen's experience. However, for my area it hit on familiar examples most of the time.
Then the mid to late '60s changed everything. The British invasion starting with the Beatles drastically turning fashion and music into something else entirely. Along with the Viet Nam war, peace-niks and hippies.
Keep in mind that most often when Hollywood attempts to portray an era it is usually exaggerated just as the Rock-a Billy movement has presented a quite comical rendition of what was once a somewhat similar US reality.
HD

 

[2jakes]

HD is right !

There’s cowboys....

and there’s cowboys....

Some favorites I grew up watching on the black
& white television set.

There was a transparent rainbow screen in front of the TV.

Supposed to make it appear like we were watching the
movie in color.

Never worked for me !

 

[Caleb Bogart]

I was born in a mid-western Indiana small town (where James Dean lived) in 1947 and graduated High School in 1965. The mode of dress during the mid/late '50s for Jr High-High school kids was often short sleeve shirts over white T shirts, regular fit denim jeans often rolled up slightly at the ankles with skinny belt. Possibly a nylon jacket. Hair combed up and curled in front with ducktails and longer sideburns was usually reserved for what we called 'hoods'. Never heard the term 'greaser' until decades later. Tattoos were mostly something that Navy vets adorned themselves with. Rebel Without A Cause was an example of some youth during the mid '50s, but over dramatized ala James Dean, Brando, and a few others which some kids did try to emulate. However, short haircuts were also becoming popular for some including the 'flattop'. Cars were usually late '40s or early '50s cheap examples repainted or 'souped up' ( if you had an after school job) and knew someone who had a garage and tools.
During the early '60s just a white T-stirt with rolled up sleeves became popular with 'pegged' Levis denim jeans, often no belt, and leather 'penny loafers'. Flattops were also in vogue, but sometimes long on the sides with 'ducks' combed back. Muscle cars were entering into the scenario for those with the Jack. During this time all girls wore dresses to school or skirts (no pants or slacks allowed, unless after school) and you never saw a girl in jeans. Replacing Saddle Oxfords (black & white shoes) were also Penny loafers for girls. Usually oxblood in color was the coolest for either sex. The closest that Hollywood ever came to mirroring this period was the movie 'American Graffiti' IMO, and the comedy TV spinoff 'Happy Days. Of course these productions can be viewed as slightly 'over done' and not 100% realistic to every US teen's experience. However, for my area it hit on familiar examples most of the time.
Then the mid to late '60s changed everything. The British invasion starting with the Beatles drastically turning fashion and music into something else entirely. Along with the Viet Nam war, peace-niks and hippies.
Keep in mind that most often when Hollywood attempts to portray an era it is usually exaggerated just as the Rock-a Billy movement has presented a quite comical rendition of what was once a somewhat similar US reality.
HD

I'm from Indiana myself! Ever live around Bluffton? It's about an hour south of ft wayne. Every once in a while, at a free spike and the bulldogs concert, some guy a few years younger than dad would come up to him and ask "are you Danny Courtney? I used to think you were so cool. You were the Fonz of Bluffton before the Fonz!" He is nothing like that now, but so many different people have said that, that there must be truth to it. Now he is quiet and very grumpy. I try not to be too hard on him though. He had to raise himself from day one basically, and working by an annealing furnace in a factory for 40 odd years, till he was 65, must have been H. E. double toothpicks for him.

 

[kaiser]

Monroeville Indiana for me, 20 miles east of Fort Wayne, it is a small world indeed.

What HD has written is on the mark, my family moved from California to Monroeville in 1968 when I was 9 years old, and it was culture shock. When my Mom enrolled my brother and I in the local grade school she was politely informed about the dress code, no jeans, button shirts, and leather shoes. Our hair as well was not allowed to touch our shirt collars either. I still to this day remember the shocked look on her face when she heard all of this. She tokd me years later that this was like going back in time by a good 20 years for her, a real time warp. If she would have had her way she would have forced my Dad to move the family back to California which she thought was much more modern.

 

[Caleb Bogart]

Monroeville Indiana for me, 20 miles east of Fort Wayne, it is a small world indeed.

What HD has written is on the mark, my family moved from California to Monroeville in 1968 when I was 9 years old, and it was culture shock. When my Mom enrolled my brother and I in the local grade school she was politely informed about the dress code, no jeans, button shirts, and leather shoes. Our hair as well was not allowed to touch our shirt collars either. I still to this day remember the shocked look on her face when she heard all of this. She tokd me years later that this was like going back in time by a good 20 years for her, a real time warp. If she would have had her way she would have forced my Dad to move the family back to California which she thought was much more modern.

yah, Indiana is behind the times a bit. we still don't allow alcohol sales on Sundays.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

I was born in '47, too. Grew up in Ohio, Michigan and Texas, mostly small to medium-sized towns, with summers spent in California, first Pasadena then Santa Barbara after '60. I highly recommend watching the movie "American Graffiti." It takes place in a single, long night in 1962 but it's a sort of love song to the '50s and the costumes are an amalgam of '50s and early '60s. There are hot rods, but one of the principle characters builds and races them. It was George Lucas's first feature film, co-written by Francis Ford Coppola and features lots of young actors at the beginning of their careers. The look is stylized but at the same time dead-on and the sound track is world class.

 

[emigran]

Inkstainedwretch made a great observation about American Graffiti...!!!
The Elvis period was , remember, the ending of the GE.
I was born'47 in Newark NJ, so that's my time... and when I was a kid going to CYO dances at the Church cafeteria there was Sal... a self-designed cool cat... Always wore Sunglasses and had the required pomp and featherweight pointy shoes with sheer black nylon ribbed socks. He drove a 58 Chevy (like in the movie) with chrome pipes sticking out the back and would pretend it was a "stick" and jump and jerk the car while imagining going through the gears. A great dancer,Sal wore white ties and black shirts and enough Brut or English Leather Cologne that the whole room reflected his presence... guess you'd have to say he was the consummate Nicky-Newark-er... The other half of the crowd wore Richard Dryfuss style collegiate garb...

Wow , haven't thought of that in 50 years...!!!

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I call it 1996 Does 1956.

 

[Caleb Bogart]

Inkstainedwretch made a great observation about American Graffiti...!!!
The Elvis period was , remember, the ending of the GE.
I was born'47 in Newark NJ, so that's my time... and when I was a kid going to CYO dances at the Church cafeteria there was Sal... a self-designed cool cat... Always wore Sunglasses and had the required pomp and featherweight pointy shoes with sheer black nylon ribbed socks. He drove a 58 Chevy (like in the movie) with chrome pipes sticking out the back and would pretend it was a "stick" and jump and jerk the car while imagining going through the gears. A great dancer,Sal wore white ties and black shirts and enough Brut or English Leather Cologne that the whole room reflected his presence... guess you'd have to say he was the consummate Nicky-Newark-er... The other half of the crowd wore Richard Dryfuss style collegiate garb...

Wow , haven't thought of that in 50 years...!!!

interesting story. one of the reasons I posted this, and joined the lounge, was to here all the stories of the "old farts" youth. dad (grandpa) dosent tell stories at all. never did. I like hearing all this, not just for the topic at hand, but just the conversations in general. STAY CLASSY AMERICA!

 

[Caleb Bogart]

I call it 1996 Does 1956.

sounds about right!

 

[tonyb]

Don't forget the pack of smokes rolled up in the T-shirt sleeve. Or a single cigarette tucked behind the ear.

That was when smoking was cool. I sure thought so anyway, idiot that I was.