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Go to many online message boards today and you’ll probably find fulsome praise of the 1950s.
So, was that America’s best-ever decade?
Who knows? I’m not going to take a position. But I will say there are some things that we did get right in that period – “right” in the sense that we long for them today.
So, here are my nominations for 1950s culture I’d like to see return. What’s your favorite?
Store lunch counters: Woolworth’s and other retail emporiums nearly all had big lunch counters with swivel seats, sandwiches and dinners galore and low, low prices. Service was speed-of-light quick because most customers were on noontime or late-shift break from work.
TV sports events that finished in about two and a half hours: Relief pitchers, a plethora of challenges, and increased commercial time are just three likely suspects in the ballooning of game time to marathon lengths.
Stores in which you could find things without having to ask someone: Whether you had a hankering for a pack of bobby pins, a headache powder or a cigarette load, you’d find it on a pasteboard card near the cash register and still have enough cash left for a Mars bar.
Cars with leg room: I don’t understand automotive engineering, but I do understand feeling squished into a vehicle and then having trouble getting out. While we’re on the subject of cars, whatever happened to those little window vents you’d open to create a breeze?
Westerns on TV: They weren’t all first-class. In fact, some were dogs. The best of them, though, were built around keeping order and solving problems of human behavior in a time when you couldn’t just grab a cell phone and call 911.
Ice cream sodas and sundaes that cost 20 cents: What more can I say except that teenagers tended to have some sort of Guide Michelin for the places that put on the most whipped cream or nuts or cherries or … I can’t go on!
Wild comedy at the movies: Often when you went out to the local theater, the feature would be accompanied by a hilarious, slapstick shorter film with The Three Stooges or The Bowery Boys. Bugs Bunny wasn’t bad either. Who’s that funny today?
Swimming pool memberships you could pay out of pocket change: Would you believe that Wilkes-Barre’s pools once cost 50 cents for an entire summer? My father bought used cars for less than some towns now charge you for a season of splashing about.
Neighborhood dogs: Dogs of all kinds were forever wandering around, looking for kids to play with. You couldn’t relax on your porch without some nondescript canine dropping by for a visit. Licenses? I don’t remember anyone ever inquiring.
Local sports: We had good minor league baseball at Artillery Park, within walking distance for thousands. I preferred the Barons, a basketball team that played weekends at the adjacent armory. Then America got a better idea: watching TV and ordering pizza with eight toppings.
Well, we’re not going to bring back the 1950s any more than the Roaring Twenties. But maybe there’s a glimmer of something in there that we can transport to our own time.
So, make your choice. What would I pick? I’ll give you a hint. It’s a toss-up between the one with grilled cheese and the one with chocolate syrup. But then again, if I could spot a 10-cent pack of cigarette loads near the cash register …