Back In The 1950s by Mr. Ed, Page-2

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We now continue our trip down Memory Lane ~

Hello, I'm Mr. Ed

Blog Created: 12-27-2020

Last Updated: 1-5-2021 / 5-19-2024

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Dinning Out in the 1950s...or, Grabbing a Burger & Fries ~

In the 1950s there was several different ways of eating out. We had the regular restaurant setting, the drive-in restaurant, the diner, the lunch counter, the food vendor and the vending machines. Each method served a purpose at the moment. The food vendor was a great way to get a bite on the run or maybe at work. Vending machines allowed us to grab something quick and easy and get back to our desk or machine. The drive-in cafes let us eat in our cars and the food was fast giving us a new term, "fast food".

Restaurants was a nice way to spend an evening dressed up and formal. But the lunch counters and diners are two eating places that have fallen off considerately. And these are the two places that we seem to be now the most interested in. They are the two places that remind us of the '50s the most.

There were plenty of nice places to eat.

The waitresses in the nicer restaurants were always friendly. And they always had a phone booth somewhere in the place.

One of the most popular restaurants was the Howard Johnson's. After the turnpikes were built, Howard Johnson's had a contract and were the only eating places on the pike. Which ment they could charge $1.50 for a burger when everywhere else they were 35c.

There were many Chinese restaurants in cities in the '50s.

Busch's was another famous place to eat.

This family enjoys a night out where dad could pay $1.49 for a full meal.

The coffee shops were also full restaurants.

There were a lot of the smaller restaurants that catered to mainly breakfast and lunch.

The spaghetti dinner was always popular.

Restaurant soups were a thing of the '50s too.

For the most part, restaurants in the '50s were clean and very pleasant.

Many restaurants had a theme. The country style places were the best.

Lunch Counters ~

Lunch counters were located in many of the department stores, most in the basements or in an out-of-the-way corner of the first floor. Most lunch counters consisted of a single, long counter with stools where the customer sat right next to the kitchen area. Some lunch counters had booths along one wall. On the menu were meals such as the regular burgers and fries plus milk shakes and Cokes plus, grilled cheese sandwiches, ham and rye, ham and cheese, eggs and bacon, egg sandwiches and a host of other items that could be prepared quickly.

The lunch counter was a place for conversation between friends or between you and the waitress. Soda fountain shops were actually lunch counters with some booths and a juke box thrown in.

Department store lunch counters were fun for the kids. Growing up in Akron, Ohio, I went with my mother downtown to shop every Saturday and we would have lunch at the Scott's Store. The lunch counter shown above looks a lot like that lunch counter at Scott's.

Sometimes the lunch counter was in a room of it's own.

Diners ~

The diner was probably the place that we miss the most today. A few still exist but only a few. These creations were begun in the 1920s but the diners of the '50s are the ones that most folks remember. They were made mostly from old streetcars and railroad passenger cars. They sat right in the heart of downtown and were patronized by many people working and shopping right there on Main Street.

The diner was almost the same as the lunch counters as they had the long counter with stools at the kitchen side and booths along the outer wall. Many had the juke box for entertainment while eating. The menu had the burgers and fries but also had plates of roast beef and mashed potatoes, green beans, baked beans, bread and butter, rolls, and an array of other dishes. You could get the teen meal of burgers at the diner but also a meal of fish or chicken.

You couldn't mistake a diner when you saw one.

Most diners were clean and comfortable. But small and cramped.

In many cases, you got to know the waitresses by their first names.

Everyone, rich or poor ate at diners. The food was good, prices were reasonable and you could get just about anything.

While traveling on a rainy, dark night, all you had to do was watch for the neon "Diner" sign.

Most diners were made from recycled rail cars or streetcars.

After the streetcars gave way to the new city buses, many old streetcars sat in the junkyards. Instead of scrapping them out, many were reworked and used as diners.

During the weekdays, the diners were busy waiting on the city's businessmen and factory workers.

Parking was right in front and about ten cars could fit. The diners was mostly covered in tin or shiny aluminum with windows all around the front and both ends. A roast beef plate with all the fixin's cost around 70c. A fried chicken dinner was about 55c. A burger, fries and shake came to about 30c. A cup of coffee set you back a dime. And a glass of water was free. Over the years people began steeling and collecting the old diner menus. Today they are prized collectables and many are valued high from diners that had long been gone. Another thing that are collectable from diners are the paper or plastic place mats. Most of the paper ones were tossed into the trash after each meal.

You could sit in a booth and be right next to the street outside.

"Have a seat. I'll be with you in a minute!"

Most of the old diners are long gone today. What a shame.

There was just something about the old streetcar diners.

But, if you look hard enough, or drive far enough, you can still find one and get the feel of the '50s.

Drive-Ins ~

At the drive-ins you drove in and parked under the overhang and tooted the horn and left your headlights on. A young pretty waitress approached and took your order from the driver's seat and then left and you switched your headlights off. She would return a while later with a tray that clipped to your rolled down window. After eating, you would flips your lights on again and she would come to get the finished tray. Your money was on the try also and don't forget the quarter for the tip. You would have your entire meal without ever leaving your car.

The drive-in was the perfect eating place for the police. They could eat in their cruiser and be ready if a call came in.

The waitresses at drive-ins were mostly high school girls making some money.

Car hops could be young men also.

The car-hops made pretty good money with all their tips.

NOTE:

Two terms grew from the 1950s drive-in:

Fast food > Burger and fries.

Carhop > Waitresses hopping from one car to another.

By far, the most famous of the drive-ins was McDonald's.

But an up and comer was surely Steak & Shake.

Steak & Shake was famous for their sandwiches and small meals.

Steak & Shake is still around today. We have one not far from our home. However it isn't a drive-in but does have a drive-thru pickup window.

At night with the hotrods is when the drive-ins came alive.

One of the gimmicks for many drive-ins was to have the carhops on roller skates.

Some of the drive-ins had waitresses on roller skates. And I never heard of a roller skating waitress ever getting hit by a car. The drive-ins were a magnet for the hotrod. Young people were drawn to these places because, one-the hotrods, two-gathering and talking, three-food you could afford. Teenagers would spend the whole evening or all day Saturday there. They could smoke and talk and sometimes drink in the parking lots and the owners didn't say a thing about it...as long as the teens were buying food too. Friends were made at the drive-in and romances were broken. The diners and drive-ins are truly one of the biggest parts of 1950s Americana.

Root Beer Stands was another form of drive-in. A&W Root Beer was the more famous.

It seemed that in the '50s, a night out had to include a stop off at the local drive-in.

And after school and Saturdays were when you would spot the hotrods in the lots.

The drive-ins could get downright busy.

The donut shop was another form of drive-in. But they served only coffee and donuts and, of course, the morning was their busiest time of day.

Magazines of the 1950s ~

Today we get our information by way of the internet and cable TV. Back in the 1950s, we got it from local TV, radio and newspapers. But another method was the magazines. And there was a lot of them.

Today if you want to pick up a magazine at the check-out counter in your local grocery store, be ready to cough up $10.00 or more. That is really a hugh ripoff. Back in the '50s a magazine would set you back anywhere from 10c to 75c.

The local news stand was where you got the news...and the magazines.

The news stand could be a single table on the corner.

Magazines covered a wide range of topics. Information, news, photos, home repair, fashion, cars, guns, hunting and fishing, house cleaning, home decor and decorating, food and pastries, booze, travel, movie stars and films, teenage info and pictures, girly pictures, tools, bomb shelters, sports, TV listings, musle men, sewing and knitting, yard care and decorating, detective stories, the list goes on and on.

Local news stands were the place to be for the latest issues. People hung around the news stands looking through all the new magazines and it was common for the attendant to yell out, "Either buy it or move on!"

Kids loved the comic book section and would sit there all day reading them until the owner ran them off.

Many women sat there reading too.

Book and magazine stands were in drug stores, airports, train stations and everywhere that had a lot of people, even hospitals

Magazines could take us to overseas destinations, show us the latest supper dishes to prepare, help us build that home addition, make a new dress, build the perfect automobile, find the right job, buy the best furniture, see what our favorite film star was up to, there was nothing in our lives that we could not find in a magazine.

Here's a list of some of them, but not all. This blog isn't big enough to list all the magazines that you could find in the 1950s:

On a rainy or snowy day, there was nothing better than pulling out all your magazines and going through them once again.

After awhile, it seemed like the pictures moved.

The Hula Hoop ~

In 1957 Joan Anderson brought back a bamboo "exercise hoop" from Australia, and came up with the name Hula Hoop at a dinner party. Her husband showed it to Arthur "Spud" Melin, co-founder of Wham-O manufacturing and they agreed on a gentleman's handshake that they would have a share of any profits (the company cut her out, and they got nothing).

The manufacturing of Hula Hoops began in 1958 and in it's first four months of production, over 25-million were sold at a $1.98 each.

The playgrounds around town were full of Hula Hoopin' kids.

If your parents would not get you a Hula Hoop, you called them bad names behind their backs.

I remember the Hula Hoop and yes! I had one...or two...or maybe even three but who's counting? They were fun I suppose but I was not a huge fan. But many were. Younger girls loved them but they were the dancing sex and it was a form of dancing. So much so that a few years later, singer Chubby Checker came up with the song The Twist and the dance that went with it. Soon girls were doing the Twist using a Hula Hoop.

Just about every kid that wasn't in a coma had to have one. And those in comas were probably dreaming of them.

Some kids did tricks.

Some kids used more than one.

Woolworth's was a big seller of Hula Hoops along with other department stores. They were all over back yards, sidewalks and school playgrounds. Around 1960 it was common to spot kids walking home from school carrying their Hula Hoops.

The Hula Hoop was probably the first big craze of the '50s. But for sure it was one of the biggest. Considering that, in the 1950s, $1.98 is equal today to about $24.00. It's really a shame that Joan Anderson was screwed over so badly back in 1958. There surely was enough money to go around. But it appears that Wham-O didn't think so.

In the big cities, if you didn't have a yard, you Hooped in the streets.

If you couldn't Hula Hoop, you weren't a real kid.

Today, young people still use the Hula Hoop and many are still doing tricks with them.

Some today do tricks with another '50s toy, the Slinky.

There will probably always be Hula Hoops and people using them. They are a timeless toy.

Smoking was Hip in the '50s ~

Smoking in the 1950s was a status symbol. Much like it was in the 1920s, '30s and '40s and on into the 1960s.

It seemed like most men smoked at that time. And why not? After all, movie actors and sports heroes were all telling you it the THE thing to do. Even doctors smoked and if they did, it couldn't be as bad as people said it was.

John Wayne smoked. So it had to be okay.

Marlon Brando smoked.

In the '50s people smoked everywhere. In restaurants, bars, office buildings and even hospitals and funeral homes. There were ashtrays all over the place. Every time you opened a newspaper or magazine or turned on the television there were cigarette ads yelling at you to try their brand. A lot of the ads touted that theirs had less throat irritation. That may have been true. But they all had lung irritation.

Famous TV personality Arthur Godfrey advertised smokes often. He would later develop lung cancer and be one of the first to have a lung operation in 1959 and was cured...for awhile. He finally died of cancer.

James Dean smoked and how cool was he?

They even smoked in all the old movies.

But smoking was the "cool" thing to do. Teenagers smoked because celebrities like James Dean smoked. Men smoked because John Wayne and Matt Dillon smoked. And women began smoking because Lucille Ball and Rita Hayworth smoked. Smokers were happier than those who didn't smoke. Just look at any ad, their all smiling or laughing. It was even said that smokers were more successful in business. When you really sit down and think about it, people in the '50s were much more gullible. We believed we would be attacked by Russia any day now because the government said so. We believed that little Johnny who got that cut on his face and it was turning purple would be fine because the neighbor said it wasn't anything to worry about. And we believed that smoking was the thing to do because some movie star said it was. Yes! And Tinkerbell was a real person.

Cartoon figures like Ton, from Ton & Jerry, smoked.

Many of the old cartoons from the '50s and '60s are not shown today because of the smoking involved.

In the 1960s, not only did the Flintstones smoke...

...they even did their own commercials for Winston.

The 1950s was a time of yellow wallpaper from smoking, a time of burn holes in your clothes and a time of dirty ashtrays in your lawyer's office waiting room. But you had to remember, Chesterfield's had less throat irritation and Lucky Strikes were actually good for you. How things have changed.

All the guys wanted to look like the Duke or Bogart and you had to have a cigarette in your mouth to look like them. With all the tobacco chewing on the baseball field, it's a wonder that more men didn't chew. Some men smoked cigars and some even a pipe. But cigarettes were the most popular. They were milder than a cigar or a pipe and didn't last as long. Plus you could smoke them anywhere, even in the car.

The '50s was the decade where housewives began smoking more and more. Maybe they had reasons.

Bette Davis smoked one after the other.

You couldn't turn on the TV set without seeing someone, somewhere, lighting up a smoke.

Remember the Old Gold dancing cigarette pack?

Women began smoking more in t he late 1920s. But it was the 1950s that they were accepted as full blooded smokers by their piers. Many housewives traded the box of Bon Bons in for a carton of Chesterfields. My father smoked as did many of his friends. My grandfather had smoked but quite.

The '50s was truly the smoking decade. The following ads from the 1950s will show you what the non-smokers back then were up against:

They even tried using babies in their advertising.

Celebrities and sports figures were all telling you to smoke.

And many stars endorsed all the brands. But mostly Chesterfield.

But, as it turned out, many of these celebrities would go on to die relatively young due to cancer.

John Wayne
Humphrey Bogart
Arthur Godfrey
Jack Webb
Michael Landon
Steve McQueen

And many others would fall victim later in life due to smoking.

But they all looked so darned happy back then.

Ku Klux Klan ~ The KKK

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on these fools. But the '50s was a big decade for the KKK in the southern part of the country.

I guess we can't talk about the 1950s without saying something about the KKK. At the time, the organization had been around for about 90 or so years. Black people in the '50s were not treated well at all. It hadn't changed much since the days after the Civil War. Up in the northern states it wasn't too bad. But down south the treatment of blacks was horrendous.

My grandparents traveled a lot during this time and I remember my grandmother telling us that on a trip though Alabama back then they were driving through a small town very early in the morning looking for a gas station and turning a corner they were both shocked to see a young black man hanging from a streetlight post. It appeared he had been there for at least a day or two. About a block up the street was a filling station. They drove in and got a fill up and left the town right away. Grandma told me she had never forgotten that scene.

All this misery forced on a race of people by a bunch of idiots who ran around the countryside dressed in pajamas who didn't even have the guts to show their faces and wore hoods that made them look even dumber. And the members of the Klan were southern politicians, police and sometimes the local minister. Many were dirt poor farmers that were so worried that the black people just might improve themselves enough to become better. This could not happen. I won't waist anymore of this blog going into the Klan because they aren't worth it. But they were a part of the 1950s. A very sad and stupid part of that decade.

The Klan wanted rid of the blacks, the Jews, the gypsies and everyone else who was not fully white.

I guess the part that I found strange about them was that they had no idea just how stupid they looked in those outfits.

I was always taught that if you had a problem with someone, you faced them man to man. But I guess the Klan didn't get that memo.

School in the 1950s ~

I personally was not a big fan of school. I didn't do well and actually hated every minute of it. But schools in the 1950s was a lot different than today. Back then if you misbehaved, you got the standard three whacks from the paddle. I remember some of my classmates being taken to the hall and getting their whacks. And yes, I did myself once. It took one time with the paddle to set most kids straight. That was all it took for me.

At least the teachers at our schools took you to the hall where no one could see.

Most of the school buildings in our city were pretty big. And they were built around 1910 to 1930.

Everyone dressed up for school back then.

And with the exception of only a few, most girls wore dresses.

Back then if you didn't do the work you failed and had to do that year over. Today everyone passes. Back then you passed on merit not simply because you showed up. There were no snow days off. There were no teacher strikes. And if you lived in the city, you walked to school everyday no matter the weather conditions. The country kids had school buses. The city kids had sidewalks. And it didn't matter if the school was on the far side of the city. You still walked. But it was all we knew so no one complained about it.

Back then if you missed a lot of school, there were these guys called truant officers. They worked for the school board and it was their job to go to your house and grab you and take you to school. They even threatened your parents with jailtime if you didn't go to school. And I think they all thought of themselves as the Elliot Ness' of the school system. They even had badges.

Truant officer's badges.

Truant officer reading a mother the riot act for now sending little Freddy to school for a few days.

The janitor was a friend to the students. I never figured out why. But they always seemed to be the nice guys. Older men who swept and mopped the floors and ran their dusters over the old heating radiators. They also cleaned the boys and the girls restrooms and our janitors did a really good job. Keep in mind that our school buildings in the '50s were already, in most cases, 50-years old or more. But the janitors kept the whole building sparkling.

As I remember, we only had one custodian, or janitor to clean the entire school.

Janitors seemed to always be easy going older guys.

The thing I hated was reading in front of the class.

Field trips were always a field day at our school.

The parking lots were filled with the teacher's new or fairly new cars. Us kids, the ones that were old enough to drive, had old beaters or souped up hotrods like we talked about earlier. As far as homework, we didn't really have a lot. We had our share but we didn't get any on holiday vacations or too much on weekends. Most of our homework we did in the evenings during the week.

We had field trips to museums and other places. It was great to spend a day away from school even if it meant going to an art museum. So actually school back then wasn't so bad. I wish I would have known that then. It might have been easier on me.

School dances held in the gymnasium were always popular.

School was where a lot of romances were broken.

It was also a place where a lot of problems came up.

But you also had fun. Like when they taught you about guns.

That's right! Some schools even had gun clubs.

School cafeterias were pretty good too.

But all in all, school really wasn't all that bad. And if you were lucky, you had some attractive teachers.

Just don't get on the wrong side of that pesky truant officer. In short, DON'T PLAY HOOKEY!

School Playgrounds of the '50s ~

School playgrounds were a deathtrap back in the '50s. Our grade school playground was paved the same as a city street. If you fell off the monkey bars, you could really get messed up. But I do not remember a single kid getting more than a sprained wrist or a skinned knee. Maybe kids were built more rugged back then, I don't know. But when a kid got hurt at school, the school nurse would put a band aid on it and then call your parents. But no one even thought of suing the school or the city. It was just an accident. And let's face it, kids would be kids. Back then the kids weren't coddled. They were allowed to play and be themselves. And if one got hurt, you would deal with it.

The playgrounds had the standard swing set, monkey bars, sliding board and the titter-totter. We didn't have molded plastic bugs or animals to ride. And in the wintertime, these steel setups were pretty cold. And there was always those that would coax the younger kids to lick the frozen flagpole. It took the janitor to get the kid's tongue off. Yeah, the playground was a death trap alright. But no one actually died.

Some playgrounds were hazards and would never fly today.

But, to my knowledge, no one back then got brain damage playing on the playground.

School Shop Class in the '50s ~

I remember school shop class very well. There were several to choose from. Wood shop, metal shop, auto mechanics, and yes, home ec was a shop class...for girls.

I took wood shop and we made all sorts of stuff out of wood. jewelry boxes, chairs, small tables and the famous ashtray. Some of the kids were like artists and their stuff came out great. Others were just putting in the time and made some weird creations. We all seemed to have fun however.

I don't remember anyone loosing fingers with the saws. There was a few cuts here and there, but nothing serious. Shop class was a nice diversion from other school classes. In home ec, girls learned the basics for cooking and sewing. Guys interested in hotrods took auto mechanics. There was even welding classes and clay classes where you could make vases and more ashtrays. I don't know if any of the stuff we made have survived. Mine hasn't. But the memories are all still there.

Our shop class teacher was Mr. Worton. He was around 6'2" and always wore a T-shirt and jeans. Mr. Worton was around 40 years old and was pretty fit. The one thing I still remember about him is how he always had a pack of Camel cigarettes rolled up in his T-shirt sleeve. The logo showed through the material. I also remember his crew cut haircut.

Home ec was the girl's shop class.

There were metal shop.

Mr. Worton was a nice guy and a smart guy when it came to woodworking. I didn't think about it then but I bet he had a really cool workshop at home.

We were in shop class, as I remember, two days a week. Tuesday and Thursday for about an hour or two each day. The class had all the big tools and even back then, safety was an issue.

I know that Mr. Worton is long dead today. He has to be because he would be around 120 years old and after all, he smoked Camels.

There was even welding class.

And there were pottery classes.

But whatever classes you took, the best part of school was the end of the day.

And you always went home with that wood or metal ashtray for dad.

Drinking in the 1950s ~

The 1950s and drinking booze went together like a hand and a glove. Television, magazines, radio and the newspapers were chuck full of alcohol advertising. On TV programs when someone was upset they "had to have a drink". Cowboys on TV and the movies were always in the saloons. It seemed like all social gatherings were geared around drinking, pretty much like today.

Alcohol advertising was everywhere.

Lucky for this guy, he fell asleep BEFORE ho got into the car.

In the '50s drinking and driving went together. After all, how were you supposed to get home from the bar? The term, "sleeping it off," was common place. Comedians were always making jokes about drinking. The law was, if you ran over someone and killed them with your car while drunk, you served 30-days in jail and was fined $25.00. We really didn't take the ills of the drink all that seriously.

Having an accident while driving drunk was common. But sometimes the accident turned tragic.

Singer/actor Dean Martin, a drunk himself, taught a lot of men how to drink and love it.

But drunk driving was a leading cause of death all through the 1950s.

We made jokes about drunks and drinking. It seemed like every time the guys would get together, beer was involved. Some husbands beat their wives while drunk. Some fathers beat their kids. When you saw a woman at a function with a black eye, the common excuse was she walked into an open door. A lot of women were walking into open doors in the '50s.

Alcoholics were not taken seriously at all. We didn't want to be around them, but we still joked about them. I guess this was a way of passing it off. We didn't really know what to do about it. AA was a wonderful organization for alcoholics at the time. It was THE only place they could get help. Otherwise, we just passed them a bottle and forgot about them.

Bars did a booming business.

Dean Martin again showing us that drinking can be funny.

Town drunks became the joke of television. Mayberry had one on the Andy Griffith Show. He was Otis Campbell and he would lock himself in a cell at Andy's jail when ever he got drunk. Even Gunsmoke had it's town drunk, Louie. But with all the ads in magazines, newspapers, TV and radio proclaiming a drink was "just what you need", and with bars on almost every corner, it was hard not to try it. But with many, trying it was just the beginning. I've watched TV shows where there is an alcoholic living in a house with a home bar and his wife is always having a drink. This shows how serious we took it. A drunk was funny to watch but no one wanted to be around one.

Drunks were funny to watch.

Some people drank heavily and looked great at the beginning. But as the evening went on, they changed...and not for the better.

Almost everyone accepted "social drinking" but it ended up as just people getting drunk.

But, like smoking, it seemed that most folks on TV and in the movies were always having a drink.

If Miss. Kitty and Doc. Adams on Gunsmoke could enjoy a drink together, then why not the general public?

Home bars got to be commonplace.

There were even jokes with children belting back a few drinks. Everyone thought that was so funny.

We laughed at Ed and Ralph drinking on the Honeymooners.

But there was nothing funny about the toll drinking took on some of the population.

Alcohol distilleries even put some of their product in nice little flask-like bottles that could be carried around in a jacket pocket. That way, you never had to be without your favorite refreshment..

And like smoking, many celebrities endorsed booze in ads all over magazines and the media ~

Celebrity endorsements meant a lot to the brewers. After all, who didn't want to be just like John Wayne. Smoking, fighting, roping cattle, shooting the bad guys and drinking.

Wayne even had a beer named for him.

It only got crazy when you had a few and tried to land your plane on a New York City street.

And it was a nice site to see that cute waitress carrying the tray of beer to your table.

And on the upside, when your picture got in the local paper, think how proud your wife and kids would be.

And the paper placemats in restaurants showed cartoon figures along with a beer ad.

And if you lived in the '50s, you have to remember this ad.

The Toys of the 1950s ~

The toys of the 1950s were much different than the toys of today. Mainly the quality. Toys then were made of metal, wood and really hard and thick plastic. Toys today are made of much thinner plastic with all plastic parts and they are mounted on plastic bases with plastic controls. In other words, they are all plastic.

In the '50s, before the Japanese craze took over and bombarded us with their little cheap crap, toys were made in America for Americans, the same as they SHOULD be done today. I think that the 1950s was probably the best decade for toys, but I may be slightly biased as I played with those toys myself.

Chatty Cathy. The doll that wouldn't shut up.

And you never knew what that crazy doll was gong to say next.

Girls had the customary dolls and doll houses plus mini kitchen appliances and roller skates and such. I had not thought about it before but girls toys at the time had been around for several generations. Sets of Jacks, Teddy Bears, etc. Girl's toys were always being improved however like Chatty Cathy, the doll that when you pulled a string behind her head, she gabbed away telling you all sorts of stuff.

1950s mail order catalog of cap guns. Priced from $1.40 to $14.90.

Even Porky the Pig hunted Bugs Bunny back in the '50s.

The '50s was a great decade for boy's toys. The spaceage and UFOs were in the news daily and besides new designs on automobiles that took ideas from the rocket age, toys shared in those designs. Space ships, ray guns, robots and spacemen figures were just a few of the toys that were available during the 1950s. Also the old west was a big topic because of all the western TV shows at the time. So western cap guns, cowboy hats and boots plus chaps and ropes for roping cattle was popular toys and fairly new on the market. There was also western shows on Saturdays that catered to kids like the Range Rider, Annie Oakley, The Cisco Kids, the Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers and my favorite, Hopalong Cassidy. Toys from these shows were everywhere.

Toy guns created after famous TV shows were in all the stores. The Rifleman's rifle was probably the gun that all kids wanted at the time and there was no less than three different versions of it being sold.

Catalogs showed how cool it would be to have the whole family getting guns for Christmas. We were always playing war games and the need for toy guns was huge.

A few toy rifles from the '50s styled after TV ~

Some of the pistols and other guns from TV

Other cap and toy guns from TV and the movies were Wyatt Earp's pistol, the Mars Leg that Josh Randall used on the show, Wanted Dead Or Alive. Paladin's pistol and holster set that even came with a few of his business cards from Have Gun Will Travel. The Lone Ranger's rifle and pistol and the Annie Oakley BB gun in white for the girls.

An original Annie Oakley air rifle and gun set from the 1950s made by Daisy still in the original box.

Toys in the 1950s rolled, rocked, made noises, moved around and cut you. Some had sharp edges and you could get nicked. But for the most part, they were rugged and could take it. My favorites were the toys guns and toy cars. I liked the 1920 and 1930 style metal cars. I also collected a lot of the western toys. I even had a whole town set up on the dinning room table. They made a few different old west town play sets and I had them all. I mixed them up on the table and had an entire western town where Matt Dillon fought the bad guys and Lucas McCain helped out. Wyatt Earp came by sometimes to lend a hand as well.

This is the tin metal town that I had plus I had gotten several other buildings that I added to it. I set it all up from time to time on our dinning room table. All day long i was fighting the bad guys, chaising stage coach robbers and stopping train holdups.

My sisters were a lot older than I was and were out on their own when I was still young. So I had the whole house for my stuff. I built model cars and other scale models. We had a big old house with a huge full attic that was loaded with antiques from the family's history. So I was always getting into stuff. That's probably why I have always had a love of history and anything old, even people.

A very few of the toys from the 1950s ~

We were not rich folks but we were well off. I didn't get everything I wanted but I got a lot and was happy for that. I had my bike, wagon and other things. I had my share of toy cars and toy guns and in the early 1960s, for Christmas one year, my parents got me an 8mm home movie outfit with the camera, projector, screen and tons of film. I used that set all through the 1960s and still have that camera and a whole big box of movies that I shot. And even though, the movie set really wasn't a toy, I was still young when I got it and I used it probably more than anything else that I had. I really loved that darn set.

At school we guys played marbles in a corner of the playground and I got really good at it. It got to a point where some of the other boys would not play marbles with me because I won too often. Plus they didn't have any more marble as I had won them all from them. "Ha Ha! Good for me...bad for them!"

Playing marbles was a great kid's past time. I still have have some of my winnings.

Mr. Potato Head was another toy. You could use the plastic head that came with it or, you could use a real potato. Today this would be called, Potato Head Person. Drop the Mister, it's sexist today.

Girls were always taking their baby dolls out for a walk in the toy baby carriages. They always wanted us boys to go along. But we bad guys to run down and space creatures to destroy. So we just didn't have the time.

And speaking of space, there was a whole line of space guns on the market. Buck Rogers was probably the most famous of them all.

We also played war a lot and cowboys and Indians. We even played gangsters because two of us had toy Thompson machine guns. We also had fun playing cops and robbers. But cowboys and Indians was our favorite play time because we could shoot each other. A friend had gotten a bow and arrow set which had suction cups on the ends of the arrows. One Saturday we were playing cowboys and Indians and he was the Indian. He was shooting us the whole time with the arrows. But one shot he took at Tim and the suction cup fell off before the arrow got to Tim and when it hit him it hurt like the Dickins. That was the end of the bow and arrow. The kid had to be an indian with a gun from then on.

How would our neighborhoods have survived had we not had the kid troops guarding them from Nazis and hostile Indians?

A kid then could be anything. From an early pioneer to a jet pilot.

Bikes, trikes and pedal cars were a huge toy item for kids.

Even Fred MacMurray gave Barbara Stanwyck a robot. My kind of guy.

The Slinky was another toy that kids had to have.

In the 1950s I lived in the city of Akron on North Howard Street and the city lots were tiny. The houses were large so that probably was why. The house took up so much of the lot. anyway, we would find lots and woods around town to play in. We would stage old west shootouts, Civil War battles, stagecoach holdups, saloon fights, Indian massacres, cops shooting it out with robbers and all sorts of World War II bush battles. We came home at the end of the day covered in dirt or mud and with a few cuts and/or bruises. And we were worn out. But we had had a blast all day long. And all of our toys had survived.

Gaylord was another short-lived toy that was around for a few months.

Woolworth's had a great toy department in those days.

Other toys that were favorites in the '50s were baseball gloves, balls and bats, kites that mostly got struck in trees and destroyed, sleds in the winter months and musical instrument that we drove our parents crazy with. There were also a bunch of games. Board games and other kinds. Since I had the 8mm movie outfit, there were shortened, silent versions of all the old Hollywood western and horror films that you could buy and I did. I still have many of these.

Sports related toys was a big seller also in the 1950s.

Sports card collecting was popular. They came five cards in a pack with a piece of bubble gum.

Another toy in demand was the Frisbee. It fell under the term of Sports Toy. It was created back in 1874 when school boys used the tin plates from the Frisbee Pie Co. and tossed them around as a boredom breaker at school. Wham-O would begin mass producing them in plastic and the craze took hold on American youth. They are still made today and used at about every park and playground.

Here's a few more toys that may have been in your toybox in the '50s ~

Kids who live in today's world think that us kids in the '50s played with rocks and sticks and sat around bored a lot. Well, we didn't. Actually we had a lot more than the kids today and that's why most of us didn't have ADD and learning disorders and we didn't get into a lot of trouble all of the time. We had a ton of toys to take up our days and we played games and we got outside and ran around playing baseball and football. There was no reason for us to sit in front of the TV all day unless we wanted to watch the news or soap operas. NO THANKS!

Another thing that became famous in the '50s was a combination candy and toy. Yes, I'm talking about PEZ. There was a huge craze started because kids began collecting the dispensers. And there are some today that say the PEZ space guns were teaching kids about suicide because they would put the end of the gun in their mouth and shoot a PEZ candy. But strangely enough, I never heard of a single child in the '50s that used one of these ever grabbing their dad's real gun and killing themselves. Kids today? I don't know.

No one today says anything about the "PEZ Girl" who sat on the PEZ pack with a mini skirt and gave you a sexy look.

In the '50s, women's lib was catching on with the teen girls who wanted to join in the baseball games. And when boys didn't let them, the girls formed their own teams. And in many cases proved to be superior players to the boys.

The 1950s was the decade that a lot of the kid's toys were geared to construction. Erector sets allowed you to build things in metal and Lincoln Logs were used to build frontier structures in wood.

There were also projectors that showed slides or items that could be projected larger on walls.

Puppets and dolls and action figures were all the rage.

Some toys made you wonder how any of the '50s kids came out without brain damage.

And the toybox was an important part of your bedroom furniture because it was where all those toys were stored.

With all the toys that I had growing up, my favorite had to be my toy guns. I was always practicing my quick draw and other fancy moves.

You had to be good with your guns because, you just never knew when you might get the drop on John Wayne when he was unarmed.

Here's an Idea ~

Lets say, you had a time machine and could go back to a day during the 1950s and walk a neighborhood, here's a few things you just might see...

And if you landed the time machine in the winter, you'd see these ~

Homes in the 1950s ~

Back in the 1950s homes were a lot simpler. For one thing, kitchens were neater as there wasn't all the crap we have today taking up space. There were no microwave ovens, no air fryers, No automatic this or that. And no computerized gadgets. You had standard appliances that you actually used.

Kitchens were stylish too. Colors ranged from baby blue to sharp pink. That's right! Pink! Living rooms were comfortable. Overstuffed sofas and chairs that you could get lost in while watching the Cartwrights kill people on TV. That was living.

Back then, you couldn't talk to your house and tell it to do something. They weren't "smart homes" If you wanted the lights on, you turned them on yourself. If you wanted to vacuum, you got out the sweeper. There were no vacuum robots.

The cool part was, kids could play in their yards and they were mostly left alone.

Bedrooms were also pretty standard. There were no treadmills jammed in the corner that you never used. Most bedrooms in the '50s had no TV set. The bedroom was used for one thing...sleeping. Well, another thing too. But we won't go there right now.

The homes mostly had one bathroom. And the bathroom was simple. You had a sink, bathtub and a toilet. Sometimes a shower that was always IN the bathtub. There was no double sinks, no saunas, no hot tubs. They weren't needed and had not yet been invented.

Living rooms were comfortable which is what they were meant to be.

And yes, you could have a pink living room if you wanted to. But why?

New kitchens were colorful and had all the "new" appliances.

Of course, kitchens came in pink.

Most family homes had a nice dinning room off the kitchen where the entire family could have dinner and where you could have large gatherings at the holidays and birthdays. Home then did not have open floor plans. They had rooms. The standard house had a living room, dinning room and kitchen on the first floor. The second floor had three bedrooms and a full bath. A lot of houses had an attic and basement. Dad sometimes would have his workshop in the basement where he worked on things like that lamp that kitty chewed the cord on and got electrocuted. My dad had his workshop in the basement where he reloaded ammunition for hunting and shooting.

Sears & Roebuck actually sold house kits starting back in the late 1800s. They were still selling them in the 1950s.

They were called Sears Houses and you built them yourself or had a contractor do it.

There are still a few Sears houses in Akron, Ohio.

Sometime back then homes had a rec room in the basement with a pool table or a ping pong table. Then they were called Rumpus Rooms. And some rec rooms had a home bar. There were no video games then to take up room. And most homes had one central telephone. There were no cell phones and only the wealthy had more than one phone in the house. As the decade progressed, some homeowners installed a wall phone in the kitchen. Anymore than that and your friends all thought you were showing off.

Sitting in the yard was a big thing then. Lawn furniture was simple. Folding chairs and chase lounges. Maybe a picnic table and a grill. That was about it. Again, only the rich would have a swimming pool in their yard. And most all homes had no air conditioning other than the standard fan. In the summer you simply baked until it rained. Deal with it!

The teenagers rushed down to the basement rec room.

The basement rec room was the gathering spot.

The rec room was a place where young people could watch TV or do whatever they wanted.

The single floor ranch style was all the rage. No more going upstairs to go to bed or use the bathroom. The ranch was Heaven in a box. And back then home prices were simple too. A nice two story, three bedroom and one bath home would set you back around $10,000. House payments ranged from $55 a month to about $95 depending on what you had bought. And like the automobile, many homeowners had no insurance. They just lived on the edge.

Owning your own home in the '50s was the ultimate. And paying it off one day was the prize. Banks and finance companies back then was out to make money, but they weren't trying to rape you. Today it seems that everything, no matter how small, has a price. And that price increases more and more with every single thing you add. Before long you've gone from buying a $100,000 house to paying over $300,000 and you don't know why. Back in the '50s what you bought is what you got. And everyone was happy.

Some homes were tiny.

Others were large.

The suburbs was a new concept in the '50s.

Apartment living was bland but, in many cases, comfortable.

And though the cap cad style was all the rage...

...and mid-century modern was a popular style...

...a few folks still liked the colonial look.

Housework in the 1950s ~

Housework was just that in the '50s...work! The woman of the house was the cleaner and ironer for the family. There was no robot vacuum cleaner. You had to do it all. Cleaning the toilet meant getting on your knees and actually cleaning it. Clothes then had to be ironed. No wrinkle-free stuff back then. And the laundry was done with the old ringer washer in the cellar and then you hung the wet clothes outside on a line to allow them to dry in the afternoon sun.

If you were financially well off, you could hire a maid and then sit on your butt on the sofa eating candy and watching the soap operas. You could always tell who had a maid. The woman was, in many cases, around 175 to 200 pounds. But most households had to do their own work.

Other than dish washing, ironing and vacuuming, the housewife had a ton of other chores to perform.

Saturday was the day that the husband would cut the grass and work in the yard. That was his day off from his regular job. The wife had done the housework all week so on Saturday she baked pies and cakes. For the kids it was the only day that you could get away from home and run wild. And mom would let you basically so she didn't have to deal with you on top of everything else that she had to do.

The typical housewife had to cook, vacuum, wash windows, dust everything, clean the toilet, sinks and bathtub, do the laundry, make the beds, fold clothes and put them away, do the baking, run arrans, take the kids to the doctor's, do the grocery and other shopping, wash the dishes, silverware, pots and pans, clean the stove and fridge, plus attend the school PTA meetings. It was strange that it seemed like every time the husband walked in after work, it was the first time today that the wife was on the phone. So he accused her of being on the phone all day.

The man of the house was suppose to keep up with the plumbing repairs, carpentry, electrical, yard care and auto mechanics. And even though that sounds like a lot, it really wasn't as things around the house broke down rarely. But the housework went on day after day.

In the winter, tire chains had to be installed and removed as the road conditions changed.

Some the chains had to be put on at night.

But most of the time, after getting home from work and eating dinner, this was the man's favorite past time.

And while he slept, someone had to wash the dinner dishes and pots and pans.

Housewives did get a little time for their soap operas in the afternoon. But with the kids coming home at 3:00 from school and dinner had to be on the table by 4:30 to 5:00, they didn't have too much time for TV. So it was sort of comical to hear the husbands complain of how hard they had worked all week. Especially office workers who had sat at a desk all day. Poor babies! Even on camping trips, while the husband layed in a lounger or hammock, and he called to his wife, "Isn't this great! Peace and quite and the outdoors all around us." She was still cooking or washing something. But at least on Mother's Day most wives were taken out to dinner. Wow! One day a year. All the other holidays, while the guys were watching football on the sofa, the housewife was preparing a huge dinner. But don't worry, she also got to clean up afterward. She was so lucky.

Housewives baked pies and cakes.

The beds had to be made every day only to be messed up every night.

Floors had to by mopped.

Everything in the house had to be dusted twice a week.

Glass such as the TV screen and cabinet doors had to be cleaned with Windex.

Errands had to be run even if a child had to go along.

Clothes had to be ironed and folded.

Some women were still stuck with the older ringer washing machine to do the laundry.

To dry them, they had to hang them outside in good weather. Or, in the basement in bad weather.

It wasn't a good idea to hang them outside in the wintertime.

But some wives were lucky enough to have a more modern setup of a washer and a dryer.

The entire house had to be vacuumed.

Housewives were expected to sew and knit and make some of their own clothing plus clothes for family.

Housewives cooked all the meals in the household.

They also peeled the potatoes and other things.

Wives didn't only cook the meals, they served them. And didn't even get a tip.

And if they were handicapped, they worked anyway.

In many households, the wife took care of paying the bills also.

The wife not only cooked the food, she was responsible for buying it and getting it home.

She always kept the fridge stocked.

In many cases, she also cut the grass and worked in the yard.

Sometimes, the housewife got some help from her husband.

And once in awhile, she didn't have to cook as her husband would grill outside.

Most of the time, mom got gifts on Mother's Day.

But, most of the time the wife could be found in the house cleaning. And maybe taking a break for a smoke and a soap opera.

Entertainment in the 1950s ~

Entertainment in the 1950s took a wide range of methods. Today we have so many things to entertain us. But in the '50s we were limited to a degree.

First, there was no cable TV. In most cities there were three basic local channels. In the country, even less. A television station would broadcast from around 6:00 am until about 1:00 am that night during the week. The local news service aired at 11:00 pm and then the weather and sports. After that a public service message and then at about 12:30 am a religious program such as Rev. Fulton Sheen would come on to pray with you and then at 1:00 am the station would sign off with the American anthem and then a test pattern or snow all night.

Test Patterns late at night ~

The most popular shows in the '50s were westerns like the show above, "Lawman".

Another were police and detective shows like Highway Patrol, Above.

On Friday nights, there would be a movie after the news and the station would go on until around 2:00 or 2:30 am. Saturday night was the biggie. TV would continue until around 3:00 am with old movies. But in the '50s, no stations broadcasted 24-hours. If you woke at 3:30 am and couldn't sleep, you could read a book or listen to the radio.

While television showed old movies, new films could be seen at the local movie theaters. The theater was a treat. Most downtown areas had an indoor theater and many had more than one. You would buy a ticket at the door, the price being from 25c to 75c. Stop by the concession stand first to get all your snacks for the movie. The prices were not bad. Candy bars and boxed candies were 5c. Popcorn was around 15c and a soft drink cost you 15c to 20c. Now that you had your snacks, you went to the theater area and got your seat. Movies were not rated back then but if they had been, they would all have been rated G as there were no sex, bad language or extreme violence in films at that time. There were X-rated movies but those were shown at their own theaters in the bad areas of town.

Indoor theaters were a nice diversion during the cold winter months or when it was raining.

Theaters were huge and looked like palaces.

The concession stands had all the treats that you could hold in two hands.

Viewing areas had seating for hundreds.

But you had to watch out for the ushers with their flashlights.

At the outdoor drive-in theaters, this was your front row seat.

Outdoor theaters were only good at night.

Drive-In theater concession stand. 1955.

Just hook the extention speaker to your car window and sit back for the show.

It was during the 1950s that people got their first look at 3-D movies with those little cardboard 3-D glasses.

Before the film started, they always had the message on the screen to get your snacks from the concession stand. Like that was something you'd forget.

And then just sit back and enjoy the movie.

In the 1950s there was no CDs, DVDs, video tape or video cameras. If you wanted to shoot your own home movies, you had to use an 8mm film camera with no sound. Music was heard primarily from records. There was also reel-to-reel audio tape but it was bulky and troublesome to set up. The tiny, cheap tape players had terrible sound. So records was about it.

Juke boxes played the records in diners and restaurants. At home you had a record player. The older 78-RPM records were a thing of the past and had made room for the 33-RPM LPs. The letters, "LP" stood for "long playing" as now they put around 12-songs on each side instead of only one. There was also 45-RPM records that had what were called "singles" because there was only one song to each side. Everyone that was young had some sort of record player. They ranged anywhere from small portable units for a bedroom to the large console models in the living room. Some parents did not allow Rock & Roll to be played on their expensive console record player as they believed the vibrations would harm the unit.

Elvis Presley rocked us in Jailhouse Rock.

Television was, by far, the most popular means of entertainment for the family.

But if you fell asleep watching TV and then woke after 3:00 am, this is what you would see on the screen.

The '50s hosted a wide range of music. Classical, country, movie themes, rock and roll and rockabilly. African Americans had their own style but it was of a classic rock format. So both blacks and whites enjoyed it.

TV had many programs such as drama, detective, comedy, family, horror and mystery, variety, etc. But the most popular entertainment at the time was the western or cowboy shows. There was a load of them. Some of the more famous were: Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, The Rifleman, The Adventures of Wyatt Earp, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, The Rebal, Wanted Dead or Alive, Have Gun Will Travel, Bat Masterson, The Deputy, Lawman, Maverick, Tales of Wells Fargo, Death Valley Days, Zane Gray Theater, and tons more.

Before Festus was on Gunsmoke, Matt Dillon's sidekick was Chester Goode, played by Dennis Weaver.

These were probably the most famous of all character actors in the 1950s westerns ~

But in the mornings, Capt. Kangaroo was where it was at for the kids.

We laughed along with shows like: The Honeymooners, Red Skelton, The Jack Benny Program, The Life of Riley and re-runs of the Three Stooges. We watched game shows, programs about big game hunting and documentaries. We watched crime and mystery programs such as Peter Gunn, Dragnet, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, Mr. & Mrs. North, Naked City, Perry Mason and much more. We also watched the three female driven comedy shows such as The Betty White Show, I Married Joan and of course, I Love Lucy. The 1950s was a time of revolutionary television. TV was young then, not even ten years old yet. But it was jam packed with programing all day and all evening. Soap operas fed the afternoon need for housewives all over the country. Saturdays were for the kids with cartoons and Disney shows like Spin and Marty. Kid's westerns were on Saturdays such as The Range Rider, The Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers. The evenings were full of drama programing for the men plus some comedy as a stress buster. Also we had many variety shows like Ed Sullivan and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts.

But there was other entertainment as well. Music and dancing was all the craze. Many places had dance floors and some even had live local bands. Stage plays were popular in the upper society. Drive-in theaters, even though being around actually since the 1930s, were gaining in popularity. It was great that you could sit in your car and watch a movie. Teenagers without a lot of money would hide friends in the trunk of their car to get through the admission booth only to let them out to watch the film. This lead later on to the theaters looking in the trucks and under blankets and back seat floors of any teenager cars entering.

There were many TV families such as the Donna Reed Show.

Ozzie & Harriet. Later re-named The Nelsons.

Make Room For Daddy.

Father Knows Best.

But entertainment to the young was easy. Give them that Hula Hoop, jump rope, cap guns and Pogo Stick and they would be entertained for hours. In the '50s we didn't seem to need a lot to stay busy as we do today. For having so much less than we do now, we seemed to have it all then. New inventions were always hitting the market and most were really useless. But it was a time of innovation in America. It was a totally free society the likes we will never see again. And that is so sad.

Keep that hair combed ~

Television of the '50s ~

Before we end this blog, let's look at some of the shows on television that you would watch back at the time ~

Yancy Derringer

Dragnet

Peter Gunn

The Red Skelton Show

Gunsmoke

My Little Margie

The Lone Ranger

I Love Lucy

Have Gun Will Travel

Two For The Money

Hopalong Cassidy

Superman

Tales of Wells Fargo

77 Sunset Strip

Laurel & Hardy

Kukla, Fran & Ollie

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

The Twilight Zone

The Untouchables

The Milton Berle Show

Queen For A Day

The Phil Silvers Show

Wanted Dead or Alive

Perry Mason

Sea Hunt

Bonanza

The Real McCoys

The Rifleman

Wagon Train

Father Knows Best

Donna Reed Show

Walt Disney Presents

Sky King

Ozzie & Harriet

And don't forget the cool commercials.

Well, that's it! Thanks for joining me on our trip down memory lane. The '50s was a great decade. It opened the door to a whole new world. The darkness of the 12940s and World War II was over and, even though we started the decade with the Korean War, we soon got back to living a normal life. Housing and automobile manufacturing boomed and designs became more radical for houses and cars and a lot of other things. The space age was dawning in America as well.

It was truly a great time to be alive and see all the new things that life had to offer. In the decades that followed we would pass through more hard times. But those of us that lived through the 1950s will not soon forget it.

Rev. Fulton Sheen says, "Goodnight!"

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