General Background on the 1950s

    The 1950s were a time when technology was important and just starting to take shape, but life was still simple. Television was becoming newly popular, and living rooms centered around the invention.

RCA Bristol Model Television: Photo from Illinois State Museum

Yet channels were at a minimum, and people still needed each other for entertainment. The internet was something that only government agencies used to monitor wars and other important issues.

Children and teenagers enjoyed the company of their families, or turned to movie theaters and local diners as hangout spots. Telephones were connected to spiral chords and were rotary style, with buttons on a circular pad requiring people to take extra time just to dial a number.

1950s General Electric Phone: Photo from 1950s Atomic Ranch House Blog

Cars were big, bulky, gas guzzlers that were more stylish than most vehicles we will ever encounter on the road today. And people who wanted to spend time together had to make an effort to actually see each other face to face.

Buddy Holly's restored 1958 Chevy Impala, photo by Barrett-Jackson Auction Co.

    Life had an appearance of family centeredness. Women wore dresses and skirts for the most part, and fashion consisted mainly on very classic patterns. Makeup was heavy but natural looking, with cat-eyes and peaches and cream complexions maintaining popularity.

Marilyn Monroe Classic image

Shows we deem innocent today, like I Love Lucy and Leave it to Beaver, challenged the status quo by portraying interracial couples, married-couple pregnancy, and toilets on television. Even the Brady Bunch a decade later housed nine people with no bathroom.

From Leave it to Beaver Episode 2: "Captain Jack", first bathroom on television

The era had its hidden secrets, however, with June Cleaver type-housewives relying heavily on alcohol to get through the day, and suicides skyrocketing to an all-time high.

Classic photo of the late Barbara Billingsley as June Cleaver

Looking back at the era from a present-day perspective, rose-colored glasses seem to distort people’s visions of a time plagued by duck-and-cover drills and the Cold War into an appearance of innocent perfection that was nonexistent, but will forever be instilled in people’s minds and hearts as a more peaceful, simple state of life.

From I Love Lucy Episode 30: "Lucy Does a TV Commercial"