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Home » This woman has a Fifties obsession

This woman has a Fifties obsession

The New Neo Posted on by

But it’s lighthearted and fun. And boy, does she look good. She also managed to find the perfect husband. He tolerates it and even cooperates, although he doesn’t seem to participate in terms of his own garb.

I recognize every item in her house.

In addition, not all that long ago I lived in a house in which the kitchen remained unchanged since 1953, although (unlike her kitchen) the appliances were newer. The kitchen had been top-of-the-line in 1953 and it was still fabulous. The drawers slid perfectly, and it had features that were unusual in 1953, such as lower cabinet shelves that slid all the way out on smooth rollers so you didn’t have to engage in gymnastics to get something from them.

And the entire kitchen, walls and ceiling, was lined with large slabs of green Vitrolite (scroll down for color “Jade”). It looked like Oz, the Emerald City.

Comments

This woman has a Fifties obsession — 50 Comments

  2. JUST before Avocado, and Harvest Gold, came into popular use.
    Both my sister and My rooms were painted that “Aquamarine”.
    And yes, I grew up “knowing” that ALL 10 year old appliances run perfectly.

  5. CaptDMO
    And yes, I grew up “knowing” that ALL 10 year old appliances run perfectly.

    My parents had a 40 year old refrigerator that kept running. No, it wasn’t the first-string one.

  6. Good years. 1950-54: College years. 1954-1955: First post college job as a field geologist. 1955-58: Navy OCS, flight training, marriage, and Pacific deployment on the USS Hancock. 1958-1960: Two more years as a geologist, our son was born, and I was recalled to active duty in April of 1960.

    My fist car was a 1956 Chevy similar to that one except it was Green. Our first furniture consisted of refinished chests of drawers, a simple bed purchased at the Navy exchange, a home made coffee table, a home made couch and chair. (Built in the Naval base workshop.) We still have the little bedside chest we refinished. It stores small items in our garage to this day.

    Our first TV was a 15 inch black and white that cost, as I remember, $75 in 1958. (A week’s pay in those days.) We were young and optimistic. Though the Cold War loomed over things and affected our lives, we still enjoyed the music, the TV shows, hiking, skiing, and many friends with the same optimism we felt.

    We were renters in those days so the appliances were what the landlord provided. I remember them as serviceable and my wife never complained about them.

    Styles were different – longer skirts for one thing. People dressed more formally. I wore a suit and tie to work in the oil company’s office, though I was in the field a lot and wore serviceable outdoor work clothes when in the field.

    Memories, this sure brings them back.

  7. Pingback:Something Wonderful: Let’s party like its 1955

  8. Oh yes, I love that. And the Kitchen Aid is just like it was then.

    https://www.wallswithstories.com/houses/kitchenaid.html

    Since the early 1940s, the KitchenAid stand mixers have been made in their factory in Greenville, Ohio. There is a factory tour conducted by the assembly line workers and known as the “KitchenAid Experience” that gives a behind-the-scenes look at the manufacturing process….Initially, the mixers were white until 1955 when they started being available in a variety of colors: Sunny Yellow, Island Green, Petal Pink, and Satin Chrome.

  11. I also enjoy the 1950s, though not as much as she does. Though I wonder how much energy her fridge takes to run. I’m sure that a newer, modern refrigerator would keep her electrical bill down.

  13. You can’t clean closets and garages of old stuff. Everything has a memory attached and you stop and reminisce and start thinking and becoming sentimental. You are not wired to go backward in life.The only way to do this is to croak and have your kids do it.

  15. On balance, I think I could happily return to a ’50s life style and forego the technological advances.

    I readily admit that I am not the person I was in the ’50s. In certain respects it would be a fairly close call. That is to say technologically, not culturally. I certainly remember that growing up in Florida in homes and cars without a/c was “challenging”.
    When movie theaters were among the few air conditioned venues, the quality of the product was evaluated generously; and it cost a fraction of a dollar to enjoy it in cool comfort.

    We have been told for decades now that we were sexually repressed. But, there was definite charm that went along with the mysteries. And somehow we figured it out.

    The “fast” kids I knew drank beer, smoked cigarettes, and if their parents provided them, drove fast cars too fast. They were not the majority; not even in the culture we experienced after my Dad recovered financially from WWII service and we moved to the better part of town. I don’t know, maybe we were backward in our mid-sized Southern city. Along those lines, few women to my knowledge reached their “potential”, unless their ambition was to provide a safe, loving, well managed home. I never heard any complaints about that. But, as I say, backward, mid sized Southern cities.

    The fifties may be the last decade when the preponderance of Americans understood who we were; the blessings we enjoyed; and the associated responsibilities owed to the legacy we inherited.

  18. Well…considering that there are a lot of men running around saying they’re actually women and getting into everyone’s face about it.

    And considering that there are women running around saying that they’re actually men and getting into everyone’s face about it.

    And considering that we’ve just seen our fourth Black, female, in your face activist type have to come out and admit that they’re really White…

    She seems like a breath of fresh air because even though she’s living like it was 1958 she seems to be just doing that and not getting into anyone’s face about it.

  19. She looks wonderfully happy. If I were her hubby, though, I’d have to have my own modern den. We could put up a “Room of Tomorrow” sign over the entrance.

  22. Oldflyer wrote: ” Along those lines, few women to my knowledge reached their “potential”, unless their ambition was to provide a safe, loving, well managed home. I never heard any complaints about that. But, as I say, backward, mid sized Southern cities.”

    Women are waking up, e.g., https://thatstepfordgal.com/

  23. Oldflyer: Amen.
    She should de-beard her hubby, though, and have him get a flat-top haircut!
    She has designed her life in much the same fashion as some go off-the-grid to live in remote areas, by personal choice. Nothing wrong there! Yep, it costs more than Costco.
    There is no question women were classier in 1958 than today, knew they had a uterus for a procreative purpose, and were mostly virgins until marriage. More mannerly; now prominent femmes scream the F-word in public.

  24. The drawers slid perfectly, and it had features that were unusual in 1953, such as lower cabinet shelves that slid all the way out on smooth rollers so you didn’t have to engage in gymnastics to get something from them.

    My father built our kitchen cabinets. He included a lazy Susan inside one of the cabinets and a recessed cutting board that slid out for use. The cutting board also served for bread making.

  25. Even without watching the video, the reminiscences are great. As it happened, I was just driving this afternoon through a certain part of town with a lot of houses and other buildings that go back to that period or earlier. Seeing old neighborhoods that I’d never before traversed set the stage for this video, I guess.

  26. I was given a 50’s Kelvinator by my dad that had the car door handle style latch when I bought my first home as a bachelor.
    I later moved it into the basement when I bought a newer unit.
    I left it there when I moved out.
    I bet it’s still down there chilling someone’s beer.

  27. There is a movie called Miss Meadows that features the central character as a schoolteacher in present day who has a 50’s sensibility about her.
    The video reminded me of her.
    And BTW, it’s a really good movie.

  29. Yes, a more modern fridge might be more energy efficient. But modern fridges have compressors made of cheap metal. They either come with a one year warranty or a seven year warranty. None of the former and few of the latter will make it to ten years before compressor failure.

    Her fridge is 70. One can buy a lot of electricity when one does not need to spend $800-1200 every few years.

  30. Chases Eagles
    They make modern appliances with retro styling so they match your Atomic Ranch House décor.
    At $3-$4 thousand. Sorry, I’ll take a $500 plain Jane Frigidaire for $600.

  31. And the Kitchen Aid is just like it was then.

    Might look the same but internally this is not the case since the brand was bought by Whirlpool. They no longer have the reputation they once did.

    I got mine in 2010 so I never had an old one, but apparently they switched to nylon gears. I found this out when I had one break. KitchenAid nowadays will tell you that you should not use any recipe not provided in the manual or you might break it.

    There is now a KitchenAid Pro edition with all metal gearing, but it too has a lot of complaints.

  32. I noticed no one used cars as an example of something better in the 50s then today. There are a lot more choices now and cars are much more long-lived and reliable than was the case in 50s, as well as safer for the occupants in a collision.

    Traffic fatalities in 1955 were 6 per 100 million miles traveled (22 per 100,000 population). In 2018 they were 1 per 100 million miles traveled (11 per 100,000 population). In both years there were 37,000 fatalities, but the US had half the population it does now and not as many people drove (600 billion miles driven in 1955 vs 3.2 trillion in 2018).

    As for reliability it’s true it’s much harder to fix anything yourself; on the other hand things are much less likely to need fixing in the first place.

    They’re also kind of boring too, but I think that has more to do with regulations and designers’ responses to them.

  33. It’s fun to watch I Love Lucy and compare middle class life. 65 years ago, her house is much like mine today, my lifestyle is not much different from hers. She has all the same appliances I do, but not computers or internet. I don’t have a landline but we both have something we can use to call people. My TV is a lot bigger and better and I have a lot more choices when it comes to content, and most things are cheaper for me proportionally to my income than they were for her. My car is a lot better (I have two cars, rare for the middle class in those days, and both get better fuel efficiency even though one has 100 K miles on at and the other nearly 200 K, longevity and efficiency also rare in those days). If I had air conditioning that would probably be the most notable difference in lifestyle (I’m blessed to live in a climate where it is not often needed, but most of my neighbors choose to get it anyway).

    If I were more toward the average in my neighborhood, I’d have a boat, and RV, and one or two more trucks. Lucy would have a harder time acquiring these than my neighbors have, because credit is much easier to get, and there’s good and bad comes with that. But she’s in New York City and wouldn’t have anywhere to store those things anyway.

    My lifestyle, and Lucy’s, is widely shared among the population, except for the poorest and richest 1%. In Lucy’s day country life was often considerably behind the city and this is not so today. The biggest differences that persist between my lifestyle and Lucy’s is that she lives in New York City and I don’t, and that constrains her choices in ways that mine are not. In addition I annoy fewer celebrities and engage in fewer zany schemes.

    Now compare to 65 years before Lucy, in 1890. A middle class person in New York City in 1890 will have little of what Lucy had because it exists nowhere. They may not have plumbing in their apartment and they won’t have electricity; Manhattan was just beginning to electrify households. A middle class person will have servants though, which Lucy and I don’t have. In rural life, where the vast majority of Americans are in 1890 (65% vs 38% in 1955 vs 18% in 2020), the conveniences of the city are unknown.

  35. Aaaahhhhh….
    Can still tell you the names of all my elementary teachers at Monte Vista school in LaCrescenta, Calif. 1949-1956.
    And All, Happily So.

    Our block on the 2900 Alabama St. was us kids’ world. Ours was a corner house with a big yard, so outdoor games, campouts, cookouts for us kids it was always first choice.

    Mom’s stove was an O’Keefe & Merritt gas range. First we had an ice box (reg.delivery by Ice Man) and then a 2nd hand ‘fridge. Washer was a ringer and clothes went on the clothesline. Back yard also housed the trash burning thing that all L.A. homes had. “Garbage Man’s” truck came regularly for garbage & separately tin cans.

    Staying indoors for us kids was supper time and bedtime. We were on the side of the San Gabriel Mts. & every few years there’s be (GASP!!) “Control Burn” by the forest service so that Vast Blazes were rare. (Like the sh*t consuming my Left Controlled former home state now!!)

    Nearly every dad on our block had “been in the War.” Kids of all ages, so my 3-yrs younger brother had his own bunch. Freedom was our bikes.

    God, what a wonderful time to be a kid growing up in a postwar suburb of L.A.

    Thanks Zillions for this post, Neo!!!

    NCS: dob: 1944

  37. I love her clothes. Women had more options and structure in their clothing. You could have a few pounds and still look great. I can live without the heels…

  38. I once watched an Edward Murrow interview, mid-1950s, with Bogart and Bacall at their California home. It was a nice house and it had a swimming pool, but I’ve seen more impressive McMansions today, even though B&B were about as famous as any actors in the world at the time.

    –“Person to Person – S02E01 – Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall – Sept. 3rd, 1954”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viVCkyYHNCY

  41. NeoConScum, wow, they did the controlled burns back then! Smart.

    Out of curiosity, did the households have any tendency to cluster by which service the husbands/fathers had been in? Army noncoms on this block, Navy lads over there, anything like that?

    n.n., absolutely – she wears it all so well. I guess my mom had one dress in particular, green with white polka-dot, that approached that sort of wardrobe.

  42. When I watch fifties movies I’m often struck by the crowded parties of the time, e.g. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” I remember my parents would occasionally have parties large enough to fill the living room and leave behind vast debris of beverage glasses, ashtrays full-up, and soiled paper napkins,

    It doesn’t seem people have parties like that much anymore.

  44. “When I watch fifties movies I’m often struck by the crowded parties of the time, e.g. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” I remember my parents would occasionally have parties large enough to fill the living room and leave behind vast debris of beverage glasses, ashtrays full-up, and soiled paper napkins,

    It doesn’t seem people have parties like that much anymore.”

    Hahaha!!! Boy, are you right. My kid brother – maybe 5 or 6 at the time – would get up early the next morning and we would find him in a tent he made with blankets over a table, eating stale chips, and possibly having drained the last ounce or two from beer bottles left on the cocktail tables. That was when the folks were in their early 30’s. Wasn’t long after that though before the house was always put in order before bed, no matter how damn late.

    Where they got the energy and drive …

    I was just talking to some of my cousins about that recently.

    Whether is was extended family [usually] or their friends; a houseful of dressed up people, cocktails, laughter, dinner, cards maybe, and certainly music, til one in the morning – with a coffee urn and cold cuts finale to send the crowd off home semi-sober, was more the rule than not. Not every weekend of course. But all the holidays, and some days in between.

    And they were not limiting it to the kind of ” new house, early mid 20’s ” parties my crowd had. They, the folks, were entertaining like this into their 70’s.

    So I began to think about it, and reflected on all the holiday parties and family “reunions” I also held for the last 25 years, and came to the conclusion that whereas my immediate family was still active, and my sig other’s well-heeled family is, my worthless cousins – even those with the financial wherewithal – just cannot be bothered to extend themselves when they could be sitting on their asses, watching TV, and scooping ice cream into their maws from a dish resting on their belly shelves.

    And the more deeply I thought about it, the more that I realized that it always was say, 15% of the people in our circle who were the spark plugs, and who ever did extend themselves in any way, for anybody, in the first place.

    The rest were, in retrospect, a bunch of selfish, hoarding, grubbing, free riding, uncultured, talent-less – if amiable – peasant ass-wipes. Though less conspicuously so, than their offspring are now.

    But I say this, of course, with all due respect.

    Oh one last thing. Having the ability to play music – say guitars (you need a couple and guys who can play songbook standards), or piano, counts for an enormous amount.

  45. This thread is interesting, because it shows that my idea of “the 1950’s” is probably not what most experienced, and kind of off.

    I don’t recognize that woman’s clothing, at all. If she were dressed like “mom”, i.e. “Laura Petrie” style, I’d get it.

    So, I suppose, what I imagine as “the fifties” is not really the 1950’s, though the suburban neighborhood architecture and furnishings and all must have dated (well, did) to the mid fifties.

    I imagine that going back in time to 1947 to 52 would be way different in terms of atmosphere than going back to the fall of 1959.

    Yeah and the little brother episodes must have been in 62 or 4 or so. Hmmm.

  47. DNW: The first time I tried beer as a kid was a secret swig from a party leftover the next morning. Warm, flat, horrible. I couldn’t imagine why adults liked it.

    It wasn’t until my mid-twenties on a really hot day with some really cold beer that I rethought that impression.

  48. Huxley, the apres-ski beer. One does not realize how much a day on the slopes dries one out until that first crisp cold Coors (not Coors Light) goes down in what seems like ten seconds.

  49. “neo on September 21, 2020 at 8:34 pm said:

    DNW:

    My parents gave a ton of parties and went to a ton of parties. See this and also see this.”

    Americans had more, and sought to develop more, social skills, if they aspired to any kind of middle class existence. Except in my estimation, for Southerners who, regardless of “class” would be expected to show hospitality with some measure of grace.

    [Though a Yankee myself, It came as quite a shock to me when I met my first quasi-rural dwelling upper-Midwest families [who were NOT FARMERS] as a young adult. I could not believe the stolidity, the unimaginative, dull, glum, almost resentful excuse for hospitality they offered. Being invited to an affair – inevitably subsequent to some ceremonial event – at one of their houses left you (or me at least) feeling guilty for eating any of the meal that was proffered; and I swear they seemed pleased when anything more than a roll was declined. Laughter and joking, seemed out of order too. What the hell was the point of even being with these coarse people who seemed incapable of a lighthearted or jocular moment, and whose main interest – and I am talking of middle aged adults – seemed to be elbowing anyone else away from the feed trough? At that time in my life, they were the only fat and inert people I had ever really seen.]

    But for American suburbanites, the earlier period you mention and which I refer to as my childhood life, was good. Our folks – and I’m assuming yours here too – would go to the theater, or night clubs or supper clubs. House parties would be packed, and filled with laughter and good humor, and either recorded or live music.

    My generation, across the board, seems to have lost if not all, then much of that ability to entertain or to be entertaining, or to be much interested in the process. It seems limited to the upper middle class and above nowadays. Maybe school teachers, and local bureaucrats, and plumbers never did any of that anyway … and I just never noticed …

  50. DNW:

    My parents gave a ton of parties and went to a ton of parties. See this and also see this.”

    You should solicit a few pictures from your regular readers and select a few to put up. Your readers could guess who they are.

    Not me though. And I don’t want to see Cicero getting his diaper changed either.

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