What is the Golden Era to you?

[Fading Fast]

Your comments and observations all makes sense to me.

My grandmother took me to see the house they lost in the depression when I was small (and I went back as a young adult to see it again) - let's say they were not living the high-life even adjusting for the times. What I left out (for brevity, but probably shouldn't have) is that my grandfather died right at the start of the depression which - since he ran the business - precipitated what was effectively a run on the business by its creditors (many retail businesses are extended de-facto credit when they take on merchandise to sell - still goes on today) - all the loans were called in literally right after his funeral which left my grandmother with very few choices.

She basically told the creditors they had two choices, shut her down and take back what they could of the merchandise and get, at best, 30 cents on the dollar, or extend me the same credit, let me run the business and pay you off. Some went along, some didn't and for those that didn't, she sold the house (which had a small amount of equity, but was really about getting expenses down to next to nothing), borrowed from some of the other creditors (she was amazing) and spent the next 15 years getting out of debt and keeping their heads above water.

I think - at least inferring from what I was told - that it was less the material comedown (which wasn't that huge), but the fear that the next step was homelessness that marked their entire outlook on life from then on. I grew up with fear of poverty and being grateful for having, well, anything as one of the dominant theme of my childhood.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Along this same line of discussion, one of the most illuminating books you'll ever read about the psychological impact of the Depression is "Down and Out in the Great Depression: Letters from the Forgotten Man," edited by Robert McElvaine. It's primarily a selection of letters written to President and Mrs. Roosevelt during the first years of the New Deal, in which people from all walks of life ask for help in dealing with their various personal and financial crises. Along with insight into the sense of helplesness many people felt, you get a real flavor for how so many Americans felt a direct personal connection to the Roosevelt Administration.

 

[Matt Crunk]

I mostly associate the Golden Age in general with the Golden Age of Hollywood, which most agree spanned from the end of the Silent era in the late '20s through the decline of the studio system in the early '60s.

For me, the Golden Age is a refuge from the politically correct chaos and information overload of modern times. It is a place where I go in my mind: through books, movies, music and style to escape the overt commercialism and terminal casualness that plagues modern society. It is a false nostalgia for sure, for I wasn't even born until after it's passing (1966), but in many ways I feel like I too experienced a little bit of the Golden Age through my grandparents (Born 1900 and 1913) whose daily lives (as other posters in this thread have also stated) didn't really change all that much from the 1940s through the 1980s.

 

[Matt Crunk]

Having been on this forum for several years now, I would say, most of the members seem to feel the golden age was between, November 12, 1918 to September 2, 1945. Some like the 50s, but most don't, and a few members have tried to start threads on WWI with a lukewarm response. Which is sad, since we are now in the , with the 100th anniversary!

I don't see the Golden Age as ending with the close of the second World War, as to me Film Noir, the apex of American cinematic style, had it's own golden age during the five to ten years post WWII.

 

[MikeKardec]

I always feel like it's more of a golden era of a certain sort of aesthetics, rather than a time I'd like to live in or think of nostalgically. Fashion, design, art, fiction, film, science, politics and even religion(!) all had a rough modernist energy. It could be a reaction to the era before WWI when it looked liked the world was in sort of a stasis of polite empire, then BOOM everyone in Europe started killing one and other and all these ideas emerged. Many of them had been germinated in that late empire era but were waiting for the war or the end of the war to flourish. It seems sort of like the 19th Century really ended in 1914. By my own definition I think I'm intrigued by the violent birth and youth of the 20th.

It's a time I see slowly grinding to a halt after WWII. It winked out forever with that photograph that was shot from Apollo 17, The Blue Marble ... earth was known, mapped, controlled. Borders were closed. Possibilities reduced. No Atlantis, no Skull Island AND we had given up on space too. An era spurred on by competition with the Russian Revolution, made possible by Nazi engineers working hand in hand with New Deal bureaucrats and refugee Jewish scientists was over. The inward looking alternative, hippies, over population, conservation, genetics, computers, had already started but it was after Apollo that it seemed to become convincingly the future (the only future, the REAL future) rather than a side show. I don't judge these things, that's MY world, but it's sense of possibility is limited as is its desperation and viciousness. The Golden Era was a violent, commanding, compelling and uncomfortable time and it came just before I was aware so I'm fascinated by it, the historical time I'm most connected to because it preceded my life yet gave birth to me. My Dad lived from 1908 to 1988 ... to a great extent the Golden Age is the significant part of HIS life.

I studied modernist art in college. I think of the beginning as the heyday of Picasso and The Rite of Spring and the end as trailing off with ascendency of John Cage and Andy Warhol, Eisenstein to Peckenpaw. By the time of Days of Future Passed, one future was passing and the one we have now beginning.

The one thing we should all be ready for is for it to all get turned on its head again ... make sure we're not the old folks with no teeth crabbing about what life was like in "my" day!

 

[Bushman]

To me, it's an era of good fashion sense. When everybody dressed up to look like they were going out, even if they weren't. From kids to adults of both genders, and every walk of life, everyone knew how to look like they cared about their appearance. I also consider it a time when Americans had a "can do" spirit. We didn't look for get rich quick schemes, and we didn't try to destroy the little guy while looking for a monopolized market where the rich could rule over the working class. That was the Gilded Age, and when that crumbled beneath it's own decadence with the Great Depression, Americans became the greatest generation and came together for common causes: first was rising up from the Great Depression and then it was defeating the Nazis and Japan. When Japan struck Pearl Harbor, we didn't sulk and look for ways to prevent another disaster like it by restraining our freedoms, we declared war on their sorry bums the next day, dusted off our factory equipment and created one of the greatest industrial powerhouses on the planet. That's what the Golden Age was to me. A time when Americans worked hard and looked good doing it. And not only did we look good, the stuff we made looked good. Things like the Zephyr trains and the Cleveland Greyhound Bus terminal emphasized speed, yet retained a sense of class.

 

[Dennis Young]

For me, the Golden Age is a refuge from the politically correct chaos and information overload of modern times. It is a place where I go in my mind: through books, movies, music and style to escape the overt commercialism and terminal casualness that plagues modern society. It is a false nostalgia for sure, for I wasn't even born until after it's passing (1966), but in many ways I feel like I too experienced a little bit of the Golden Age through my grandparents (Born 1900 and 1913) whose daily lives (as other posters in this thread have also stated) didn't really change all that much from the 1940s through the 1980s.

I love this quote. This is how I feel as well.

For me, the Golden era is the late 30s to the late 40s. Around WWII. Well…at least up until the point of rock and roll in the early 50s. I think what I like most about it was the fashion, the old time radio broadcasts, classic cars and diners.
I like art deco which was kind of a 30s thing I guess. But trains and automobiles were all streamlined. Buildings were beautiful. In fact, a lot of care went in to making things beautiful like that.

My own grandparents lived during the depression era in the rural south. So I guess, to them, there wasn’t a lot to like about it. Honestly my own impression of the era comes from films, so I don’t know how realistic it is.

But if I could wave a magic wand, I would certainly love to blend some of the cool things about that era with technological advances of today. J

 

[Trapped in T-wilight Zone]

"The Golden Era" encompasses so many different parts of life, and history, and "style", that is is difficult to pin down. In fact, it is like a discussion I get into within some antique automobile groups when they want to pin down the rules concerning what cars, and/or restoration quality, is to be allowed in the hobby or for the club. My usual comment is "That line is not difficult to draw? That line is IMPOSSIBLE to draw!" So many different aspects of so many different cars cannot be treated alike. A rule that may work for a Stanley Steamer may not apply at all to a Lozier automobile. And a model T Ford has different considerations entirely.

I have a favorite era. I do not call it the "Golden Era", although I guess I could. I would say the Golden Era began before, and went well after my favorite era. And I have my way of describing my favorite era;
"About thirty years. No specific beginning year, that detail could be argued till doomsday. However, basically in the mid to late 1890s it began, and moved onward for about thirty years. It ended in about the mid to late 1920s (no specific ending year can be given either). Those thirty years were the greatest single-generational leap both technologically and sociologically in all of human history. NO OTHER hundred years in all human history, before or since, changed life SO MUCH for so many people. The average person lived in the early 1890s very much like an average person in the same geographic area would have a hundred years before. Yes, there were developments. Steamships and trains, telegraph, all gave a look forward, and changed life some for many people. Electric light existed in some areas. But mostly, life in cities was pretty much how life in cities had been a hundred years earlier, for most people. And life on the farm, where most people lived, had changed even less. Yes, that steel plow sure helped break the prairie, but it really didn't push much easier behind that horse or cow.
Entertainment, music, comedy, were mostly live. If it wasn't a traveling minstrel or show? It was probably your family playing and singing. Again, Edison's talking machine did come about a bit earlier, however it did not become anything near mainstream until after 1900. And other mechanical music boxes were rather limited as entertainment goes.
The automobile. It was both a "cause" and an "effect" of what came next. The development of machines for home and business use created tremendous markets and the need for factories and even more machines. The automobile was right in the middle of it all. There was a technological explosion. Every improvement in one thing lead to more improvements in others. Every solution created a new need for more solutions. The technological leap was incredible!
And the sociological leap that came along for the ride. Hundreds of thousands of workers, people who only a few years earlier would have struggled on a small farm somewhere, now lived in cities. They worked in factories. Or they worked in offices or businesses that provided the needs for the factories, the workers, their families. Hundreds of millions of people living in small houses, or apartments, with electric lamps and running water, indoor toilet, and a telephone down in the lobby or at the corner store. They worked harder than we are used to today, but not like before. Most of them had some good time off. They could go to the movies! Drive to the country or visit with relatives thirty miles away, because they had a car. In the evenings, they would listen to the radio, or play the phonograph. Yes, life had changed a lot in those thirty years.
And what about that farm that so many people lived on for hundreds of years before? The farmer got a tractor. Some gang plows, rakes, balers, and a few other things, like a truck. He could work less hard, and farm many more acres. He had time to listen to the radio too. He could drive the truck (or car if he had one of them also) into town for supplies, see a movie if he wanted to. Life for him had changed a lot also.
People had more time to do things than ever before, and there was a lot more to chose from that could be done. "

Unfortunately, that big leap was followed by an economic collapse coupled with a madness for conquest around parts of the world (not to forget the weather shift known as the "Dust Bowl") that created an over-all out-of-control madness for nearly two decades. Personally, I find it difficult to call any of that a "Golden Era". However, that twenty years DID have a special "Golden Glow" about it. It was the people. Throughout the multi-layered depression, and all the wars, so much life was totally out of our control. Yet, in all the worst of those times, people stood strong, helped each other, saved their families, created art, music and movies, and eventually won the war that HAD to be won. And, as others on this forum like to point out from time to time, they looked good while doing it!
The '50s, in their unique to all human history way, were their own "Golden Era". From my point of view, since 1963, it has been going down hill. I will, for now, avoid the political drift. The one exception, maybe the movies, so many wonderful movies.
Computers, offer so much promise. The information and communication possibilities are incredible! They have failed to achieve that promise, miserably. That is a discussion for another time and thread.
Enough out of me, for now.
W2

 

[Barman]

My own Golden era, (speaking as a French guy for whom the World Wars represent downfall rather than glory and rise, as opposed to the American experience) is the years between 1870 and 1914.
It was dubbed the "belle époque" or "beautiful era", translated into English:

Occurring during the era of the French Third Republic (beginning 1870), it was a period characterized by optimism, peace at home and in Europe, new technology and scientific discoveries. The peace and prosperity in Paris allowed the arts to flourish, and many masterpieces of literature, music, theater, and visual art gained recognition. The Belle Époque was named, in retrospect, when it began to be considered a "golden age" in contrast to the horrors of World War I.

from wikipedia

It saw the rise of the automobile, cinema, aviation, telephone/telegraph, pasteurization, vaccines and produced awesome Art like:










In a way, it was the "Golden Age" of Paris..

 

[Harp]

View attachment 25927

Early morning and on the day's first cup of coffee, but I blearily see Van Gogh.
I need to visit the Art Institute's Impressionists gallery soon.:coffee: There is a song in my heart.

 

[Retro Spectator]

1914-1965 Although I dress more like 1945-1955.

I include before 1930 for sake of architecture and design. I include 1965 is for the sake of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and for Lawrence Welk (although his show started in 1951, and went to national TV in 1955).

I see the Golden Era as a time where people strove to follow God, even if they fell on the path. Of course, not all people were following God, but many were. Many more than today. I also see the Golden Era as a time when people were much more practical.

Clothes had proper proportions. Pants went over the navel, and were at the center of the waist, where they belong. Buildings had actual rooms, not boring, minimalistic open floor plans. Cars looked happy, not angry, or evil. Music sounded like music, and was performed by people who had genuine skill, not by people who have fake skill, and cheat by using computers. People were more modest. People did not live in giant houses, yet had larger families. Plenty of people often put awnings on their homes, either cloth or aluminum, to cool the house off, and make the house look better.

I feel the Golden Era was, indeed, a golden era. Things were designed to be beautiful, not minimalistic. Clothes were, for the most part, modest. Homes had charm, and were practical in size. Cars were not too fast, and went the right speed. Everything looked good. I can go on and on.

 

[Dennis Young]

I think that’s a fair assessment. J The early 1960s was still a time of class when it came to clothing, etc. I’m think of the Rat Pack styling really.

 

[fashion frank]

For Reto Spectator

1914-1965 Although I dress more like 1945-1955.

I include before 1930 for sake of architecture and design. I include 1965 is for the sake of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and for Lawrence Welk (although his show started in 1951, and went to national TV in 1955).

I see the Golden Era as a time where people strove to follow God, even if they fell on the path. Of course, not all people were following God, but many were. Many more than today. I also see the Golden Era as a time when people were much more practical.

Clothes had proper proportions. Pants went over the navel, and were at the center of the waist, where they belong. Buildings had actual rooms, not boring, minimalistic open floor plans. Cars looked happy, not angry, or evil. Music sounded like music, and was performed by people who had genuine skill, not by people who have fake skill, and cheat by using computers. People were more modest. People did not live in giant houses, yet had larger families. Plenty of people often put awnings on their homes, either cloth or aluminum, to cool the house off, and make the house look better.

I feel the Golden Era was, indeed, a golden era. Things were designed to be beautiful, not minimalistic. Clothes were, for the most part, modest. Homes had charm, and were practical in size. Cars were not too fast, and went the right speed. Everything looked good. I can go on and on.

Kid (I call everybody that take no offense ) I know your new to the Forum but your the bomb !
Your post that I am quoting here sums it up nicely , I wish I could take you with me ,my family and friends to the 1920 lawn party you would just love it !

http://roaringtwentieslawnparty.blogspot.com/

All the Best Fashion Frank:eusa_:eusa_

 

[PeterB]

Just my two cents worth, and pardon me, because I am new here.

I happened on this thread, and I had never thought about the question hitherto. I would reckon the golden era could have been from about 1920 to 1960. I know the lady Lizzie reckons on a two year period in the 30s, and concerning music she limits the reign of talented song writers up to about 1950, I think. But I would extend the era a bit longer. Why up to 1960? It marked the end of what I might call the last decade of optimism and a kind of naive belief that all was right with the world. the 1960s brought us the missile crisis, socialised medicine (in my home country Canada, and I realise I may be treading on toes with this), also the Vietnam war, *******, etc. Certainly style suffered, as did popular culture (Chandler died in 59), but my own rather subjective feeling is that a kind of disillusionment set in around 1960. Contrast the sounds of Buddy Holly pre 59 with those of Woodstock 1969 and you will know what I mean. in addition, small businesses were viable up to about 1960, and many managed to hang on after that, but in general, even though clear lines of demarcation are not realistic, their heyday was passing, ditto the family farm and a strong localised economy. Having said that, no era is golden for everyone. The depression was tough for my grandfather in Canada, but not for my Grandmother in England, who lived well until being virtually bankrupted by inflation in the 50s and 60s. My father remembers the early 50s in England as very hard times, but the mid to late 50s in Canada as a period of tremendous opportunity and energy. I suspect we look back searching for a place that we know should exist, a somewhere that must be better than what the world is today. Of course if you were in China, the golden era probably started around 1980, and in Europe, definitely not the 1930s and 1940s.

Other things that make the golden era golden? Cars, popular song writing (miss Lizzie is correct, and even Sinatra lamented the lack of good new material after that period), the general level of ability among popular musicians (would Art Tatum even get AM radio time today?), men's suits, ladies fashions, viable local businesses, the general level of politeness, or at least an expectation of politeness, the assumption that people could look after themselves, a generally poorer society (vacations to camp sites 15 miles away, not flying to Mexico), home economics (sewing machines in every house), a genuine sense that some things are better than others, girlie magazines behind the counter, not on the Internet, and Sunday best. All these things disappeared in the 1960s. Some of you will laugh at my list, and you may be right, because I have no statistics or proof to suggest that in certain respects, things were better. My father and mother were both born in 31, and they agree, so my list may have some validity.

Just my two cents, except that in Canada there are no cents any more, so just my $0.02.

 

[VintageEveryday]

for mt, the golden era starts around 1925 and ends around 1955. It began just after things got elegant in terms of mens fashion and ended just before they got 1960s ugly. It also represented a simpler time, where problems like terrorism and identity theft were a thing. Of course, I speak for everyone when I say I can live without the racism of the era Everything else, I'll gladly take.

 

[VintageEveryday]

I think for a lot of people the impact of the Depression varied based on how much you had to lose and how far you had to fall. My family never really had much of anything materially -- my great-grandfather was a Canadian immigrant with eight kids, and made a living as a carpenter, so there wasn't much point in material aspiration because whatever money came in went to feeding the kids. Life was about sustaining a stable existence, not striving to have something more than the guy down the street, because you and he both knew he didn't have any more than you did.

My grandfather worked in a barrel factory, on construction gangs, as a longshoreman, as a semipro basketball player, as a smalltime dance band leader, and on the WPA during the worst part of the Depression, and usually made about $400 a year -- but he'd never known any other standard of living, so he'd never expected anything different. I think that kind of mentality made surviving that period easier than it would have been from someone used to a middle-class style of life. Even when he had the gas station, he never changed his mode of living beyond buying the little house he lived in -- paying the bank for the next thirty years instead of paying the landlord. Pretty much the entire practical scope of his life, from birth to death, was lived within the space of about six blocks in one small town, and he seemed perfectly contented with that.

that's what also made the era golden: good old fashioned American ingenuity. This country wouldn't have lasted if everyone simply gave up during the Depression instead of pulling through.

 

[VintageEveryday]

Just my two cents worth, and pardon me, because I am new here.

I happened on this thread, and I had never thought about the question hitherto. I would reckon the golden era could have been from about 1920 to 1960. I know the lady Lizzie reckons on a two year period in the 30s, and concerning music she limits the reign of talented song writers up to about 1950, I think. But I would extend the era a bit longer. Why up to 1960? It marked the end of what I might call the last decade of optimism and a kind of naive belief that all was right with the world. the 1960s brought us the missile crisis, socialised medicine (in my home country Canada, and I realise I may be treading on toes with this), also the Vietnam war, *******, etc. Certainly style suffered, as did popular culture (Chandler died in 59), but my own rather subjective feeling is that a kind of disillusionment set in around 1960. Contrast the sounds of Buddy Holly pre 59 with those of Woodstock 1969 and you will know what I mean. in addition, small businesses were viable up to about 1960, and many managed to hang on after that, but in general, even though clear lines of demarcation are not realistic, their heyday was passing, ditto the family farm and a strong localised economy. Having said that, no era is golden for everyone. The depression was tough for my grandfather in Canada, but not for my Grandmother in England, who lived well until being virtually bankrupted by inflation in the 50s and 60s. My father remembers the early 50s in England as very hard times, but the mid to late 50s in Canada as a period of tremendous opportunity and energy. I suspect we look back searching for a place that we know should exist, a somewhere that must be better than what the world is today. Of course if you were in China, the golden era probably started around 1980, and in Europe, definitely not the 1930s and 1940s.

Other things that make the golden era golden? Cars, popular song writing (miss Lizzie is correct, and even Sinatra lamented the lack of good new material after that period), the general level of ability among popular musicians (would Art Tatum even get AM radio time today?), men's suits, ladies fashions, viable local businesses, the general level of politeness, or at least an expectation of politeness, the assumption that people could look after themselves, a generally poorer society (vacations to camp sites 15 miles away, not flying to Mexico), home economics (sewing machines in every house), a genuine sense that some things are better than others, girlie magazines behind the counter, not on the Internet, and Sunday best. All these things disappeared in the 1960s. Some of you will laugh at my list, and you may be right, because I have no statistics or proof to suggest that in certain respects, things were better. My father and mother were both born in 31, and they agree, so my list may have some validity.

Just my two cents, except that in Canada there are no cents any more, so just my $0.02.

I agree with this wholeheartedly.