View Full Version : Living in the 50's made better!
OK, as a sort of fun piggyback to Aqua Blue's thread topic- (Could you live like it was the 1950's), what would you bring with you/transport with you (modernities of today) that would make living in the 50's better? Here's but a handful of mine.
Indoor bath/toilet/running water.
The reliability/technologies of today's vehicles (my DH husbands dream).
Automatic washing machine/electric tumble dryer.
Advanced medicine.
Nutrients/supplements.
Modern audio/video. i.e. Televisions, music, etc.
Today's ideals related to domestic violence/child abuse, etc.
catherine
11-12-11, 8:25am
My Keurig coffeemaker! (true caffeine addict here, who could go through withdrawal waiting for the old-time percolaters to percolate).
Definitely some alternative to perked coffee, and my ipod Touch.
There's no way I would wear a girdle either.
- The foodie revolution in America, thank you Julia Child & Co.!
Catherine. Oh, but that was all part of the fun for me when I was a kid, being left to babysit the coffee percolator on the stove and turn it down once the coffee started bubbling up inside the glass dome. :)
Herbgeek. Hahahahaha....... I knew it! No ipads, ipods, itunes, iphones allowed. :laff:
Bae. I totally agree. Really helped change the way we think about food and the traditional preparation of such.
seat belts. I don't think they came out until around 1963. They've saved a few people a little trouble!
seat belts. I don't think they came out until around 1963. They've saved a few people a little trouble!
Nash had seatbelts in 1949, so you could have been stylish *and* safe in the 1950s :-) Ford had them in 1955. Saab shipped them as standard equipment in 1958. Volvo started shipping the 3-point belt system in 1959.
Still, most of the cars of the era were deathtraps compared to modern vehicles.
Civil rights? The pill, the acceptance of gays and the women's movement. Really who would want to go back to all of that? Mcarthy, sexual repression and the cold war, doesn't really sound like the good old days to me.
medication for migraines! :)
Polio vaccine! No draft.......
YES, on everyone's takes! :) Any time I reminisce about past eras, I like to focus on the positives rather than the negatives. Every era has it's negatives, but it's the positives that inspire me to relive the past.
When I see how people live nowadays and what so many stand for, i.e. outdoing everyone and trying to be something you're not, the 50's sounds like pure heaven. I'd go back to the 50's in a heartbeat!
Talk about trying to be something you're not, whole books were written about the stultifying conformism of the fifties, including Betty Friedan's seminal Feminine Mystique and several about the quiet desperation of "corporate men"--a relatively new phenomenon. And of course those closeted gays were doomed to portray someone they were not for a lifetime.
There were positives--I loved being a free-range kid roaming strawberry fields with my faithful--and unleashed--canine companion, and napping in the back seat of the family Buick. Men could get good jobs, health care was affordable--not yet perverted by insurance and Pharma--and the economy was robust. Higher education was high-quality and low-cost. That's about it. Everything else, in my rarely-humble opinion, is infinitely better now.
I was there and old enough to observe what was going on. With no outside jobs for women and free-range children, gossip was elevated to an art form among SAHMs. I would have walked myself right off the plank, personally.
Speaking of conformity, here's a website that addresses it and more:
http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade50.html
ETA: I don't think my family was an aberration, and what I remember was a whole lot more concern with country clubs (it wasn't enough just being a member; it was desirable to be a charter member) and knowing the "right" people, and certain occupations being declasse', and there was little or no crossing those rigid social boundaries. Marrying outside of your class or ethnic group was nearly unheard-of. And we took all that for granted.
Top of my list would be modern medicine, fair treatment of all minorities and genders (or at least as fair as it is today), and good stereo sound. I love the jazz and some of the popular music of the day, but those old table top AM radios and big console record player/radio combos could not do justice to the music. And maybe not having to wear suits and ties so much and bikes with more than three speeds.
I would be pretty happy with most everything else or consider it a decent trade off.
The house I grew up in was built in 1953 and came with a coal fired furnace, which I suppose was sort of a drag but it was converted to gas before the 60's. My first car was a 1956 Studebaker, which was a hoot! It required some tinkering, but at least you could work on it. Mrs M, we had an "automatic" washing machine. It had a power ringer that almost took my older brother hand off. We dried clothes on a rack inside or clothes line, which is what I do now about half the time anyway.
I was born in 1952 and had a happy childhood, so maybe it's just nostalgia, but would consider the good and bad from both eras a trade-off favoring the '50s. Except modern medicine, more social equality, and music quality. I would have to have magical powers to take those back with me. I live in a 50's house now. It's extremely well constructed with a lot of cool craftsman type features modern homes don't have. I've even entertained a few thoughts of going retro with furnishings, but since most of what I have is hand-me-downs and used, I'm not too far off.
catherine
11-14-11, 7:30pm
I am SO ambivalent about those times! There were nice times for sure. Nice that the economy was built around one income. My next door neighbor's dad drove a Drake's Cakes truck, and they, like us, lived in a little cape cod, and they had everything they needed.
My nostalgia is tarnished by the fact that as a "broken" family (although my parents' divorce actually mended the family--it was broken before they divorced) so i tend to harbor some resentment towards those people that Jane talks about who gossiped--having been the recipient of the gossip.
If we could guarantee the best of the 50s for all equally, that would be great. But it was a privileged life for those who fit the mold, and a life of social outcast for those who didn't--and there were a lot of us.
JaneV2.0. Excellent positives!!! The link you posted looks great! Can't wait to sit down and visit it. I particularly like what you said about the gossip that galloped rampantly back then. Although I'm not old enough to be able to speak with any sense of measure related to such, my mom has affirmed to me on occasion that gossip more often than not trumped the truth back then. How sad that is...
Rogar. I'm with you 100%! I too would favour the 50's- no problem. (50's or 60's). Even the 70's... Darn those old-fashioned wringer washing machines! So dangerous they could be. I too, see myself (in many ways) as being 'already there' related to bygone days (decades). It's funny how even a hint of like-minded practice and lifestyle (when compared to the old) can emanate a mirrored image/existence of the past.
Catherine. I'm most sorry to hear of your upbringing. I like what you say about "if we could guarantee the best of the 50's for all equally". How wonderful that would be.
Brain meds for me and my kids, I do9n't know how I lived before :0!
Yes, Zoe Girl, and, the common help and support available today that's made so readily accessible to all. (One on one support).
OK, as a sort of fun piggyback to Aqua Blue's thread topic- (Could you live like it was the 1950's), what would you bring with you/transport with you (modernities of today) that would make living in the 50's better? Here's but a handful of mine.
Indoor bath/toilet/running water.
The reliability/technologies of today's vehicles (my DH husbands dream).
Automatic washing machine/electric tumble dryer.
Advanced medicine.
Nutrients/supplements.
Modern audio/video. i.e. Televisions, music, etc.
Today's ideals related to domestic violence/child abuse, etc.
Well, in the 50's there was definitely running water and toliets in most homes. There was TV. And I have never owned a 'new' car so I'm still operating on the old models. In fact, I miss those old push button radios in cars.
I remember the old push-button radios in cars! Talk about a walk down memory lane. :)
I think the biggest thing I would keep about the '50's was the house buying habits. People, even married couples, usually rented a small affordable apt and generally waited until they were settled down and ready to have kids before buying a home. Then they bought a modest home with a normal affordable mortgage and often stayed there forever unless a job change required a move. They didn't feel the social pressure or need to "upgrade" to something bigger and better and more expensive. Even if they had more kids they often just added on a room or, more likely, the kids shared a room. It wasn't common for home owners to get a second mortage or home equily loan for any thing, let alone to buy a luxury cars, RV, boats, motorcycles, pay for college or add granite countertops or a swimming pool, and could therefore normally ride-out any financial storm. When they hit retirement age, their homes were paid off.
I feel that alot (most) of the financial crisis we are in today was due to the reckless spending habits and numerous home loans that people got so that they could have all the "finer" things in life. Had we retained more of our forefathers and mothers 1950's financial value - especially when it came to buying a home - then I know that this crisis wouldn't have reached the proportions that it has. JMHO.
ETA: one of the posters mentioned that having a pension was a great thing about the3 50's. True but it also tied down alot of people (men for the most part) to mind numbing very unsatisfactory jobs for 30 or more years. If you left before you reqached your 20 or 30 years with the comapany, you often lost all your pension. With a 401K, you can go froim job to job to job and never lose it. Take it with you, leave it invested, roll it over into a IRA, etc... I was in the military for 10 years plus some time in the active reserves and I got nothing. Had to do a full 20 years in order to get a pension. Same with lots of traditional 1950's type jobs, stay 'till you retire or die or you get nothing. Now there are vesting programs which allow you to leave a pension in after you reached so many years of service (5 or 10) but back then those didn't always exist.
Spartana. You hit it right on the head! I just watched a show (television) a couple of weeks ago related to new home buyers (mostly young buyers), and it was unbelievable how 'not in tune with reality' they were. One couple (mostly the woman) was bent and determined that the kitchen (which was lovely how it was) needed to be fully redone- complete with granite, yet their budget (comfortable spending) didn't call for it. In fact, their budget didn't even call for the purchase of the home itself, yet she had a one track mind Re: the kitchen and hardwood throughout. So out of touch...
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