The Fifties - Episode One - The Young
The Young.
Elvis. Jiving in the girls' cloak room to Elvis records supplied by the "big girls". Funny. You're supposed to remember the lessons in readin', writin' and 'rithmetic, but those recesses and noon hours spent rockin' and rollin' in the girls cloak room were highlights for me. In fact, most of my memories from grade school time, were of what took place at recess and over the lunch hour.
And I had no idea comics were outlawed!! How comical that is now! And kids under 18 weren't allowed into certain movies! In the town where my farming folks did their business, there was a pool hall - another scandalous thing. For a teenaged boy to be caught in the pool hall was a big faux pas. Of course, that only served to make the pool hall like any other piece of forbidden fruit. Somehow, though, I never did see the inside of the establishment. This is likely because the only time I would be in town I was with my parents, my mother mostly, tagging along as she went from store to store stocking up on necessities and what not.
And school dress codes? They were still in effect years later when I was in high school. I remember one guy was sent home because he didn't have a shirt with a collar under his sweatshirt, and that was mid-1960s. I would imagine it only got worse as the fifties and sixties kids got older. Hippies!! Long hair!! Patched blue jeans!! Or worse, jeans with holes!!! Shriek!! No wonder my parents lamented those times.
I don't remember anyone wearing leather jackets, either, but I suspect it was more because they couldn't afford them. I did not know that they too were considered a sign of youthful depravity. LOL!!
Even not so long ago, one would sometimes hear about attempts to censor certain materials from entering the country or being sold to anyone, so I guess the propensity remained with us long after the fifties. It's just the content of what is considered scandalous and dangerous changed over time. But alas, with so much deliverable over the net now, such attempts to censor are hopelessly forlorn. Vice always wins. And frankly, I think the laid back, to each his own attitude is far better for society than the overly stringent big brother knows best mentality run amok.
And having to have parliament approve a divorce!! Now, tell me Trudeau's "the state has no business in the bedrooms of the nations" idea was not a giant leap forward. What a colossal waste of parliament's time!!
Sure, divorce rates skyrocketed after no-fault divorce became legal, but those rates have fallen again, and that, I suspect, is because couples are much wiser today in the ways of forming and keeping healthy relationships, which is a heck of a lot better than simply condemning people to a lifetime of misery and pain. Anyway, glad that part of the fifties is long gone. Thanks, Pierre!
Elvis. Jiving in the girls' cloak room to Elvis records supplied by the "big girls". Funny. You're supposed to remember the lessons in readin', writin' and 'rithmetic, but those recesses and noon hours spent rockin' and rollin' in the girls cloak room were highlights for me. In fact, most of my memories from grade school time, were of what took place at recess and over the lunch hour.
And I had no idea comics were outlawed!! How comical that is now! And kids under 18 weren't allowed into certain movies! In the town where my farming folks did their business, there was a pool hall - another scandalous thing. For a teenaged boy to be caught in the pool hall was a big faux pas. Of course, that only served to make the pool hall like any other piece of forbidden fruit. Somehow, though, I never did see the inside of the establishment. This is likely because the only time I would be in town I was with my parents, my mother mostly, tagging along as she went from store to store stocking up on necessities and what not.
And school dress codes? They were still in effect years later when I was in high school. I remember one guy was sent home because he didn't have a shirt with a collar under his sweatshirt, and that was mid-1960s. I would imagine it only got worse as the fifties and sixties kids got older. Hippies!! Long hair!! Patched blue jeans!! Or worse, jeans with holes!!! Shriek!! No wonder my parents lamented those times.
I don't remember anyone wearing leather jackets, either, but I suspect it was more because they couldn't afford them. I did not know that they too were considered a sign of youthful depravity. LOL!!
Even not so long ago, one would sometimes hear about attempts to censor certain materials from entering the country or being sold to anyone, so I guess the propensity remained with us long after the fifties. It's just the content of what is considered scandalous and dangerous changed over time. But alas, with so much deliverable over the net now, such attempts to censor are hopelessly forlorn. Vice always wins. And frankly, I think the laid back, to each his own attitude is far better for society than the overly stringent big brother knows best mentality run amok.
And having to have parliament approve a divorce!! Now, tell me Trudeau's "the state has no business in the bedrooms of the nations" idea was not a giant leap forward. What a colossal waste of parliament's time!!
Sure, divorce rates skyrocketed after no-fault divorce became legal, but those rates have fallen again, and that, I suspect, is because couples are much wiser today in the ways of forming and keeping healthy relationships, which is a heck of a lot better than simply condemning people to a lifetime of misery and pain. Anyway, glad that part of the fifties is long gone. Thanks, Pierre!
Labels: Canada, Canadian politics, Canuckistanis, history
posted by Louise at 4:41 pm
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