Hey, I'm 20 and I've always wondered if the 40's and 50's were any different?  http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/01/arrow-thru-heart.gif http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/01/arrow-thru-heart.gif

I've watched movies from 1945 and 1955 and realized that there wasn't much difference in fashion or style.  http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/04/farmerjohn.gif http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/05/fro.gif

Maybe we're going through the same thing right now. The 00's are pretty much the same fashion as the 90's!

But anyone who has a perspective on this, was the style pretty much the same, or was there a slight difference?  :(

I don't really think the 40's and the 50's are the same. I've noticed hair was slightly different for girls. As for culture though, way different. Especially teenagers.

Here's an article about teens in the 50's and how it differs from the 40's. Soem of what is said is actually kind of funny.

http://www.history-of-rock.com/teenagers.htm

Rock 'N' Roll started in the 50's and that's because the war ended, with rock 'n' money, teenagers were able to be teenagers instead of working youngsters.

I don't really think fashion of the 90's is similar to fashion of the 00's. Maybe from 1998 on but not really before that. I've noticed young girls have very flat, unmanageable hair these days.

I doubt you'll find anyone here old enough to actually remember the 1940s to be able to give you an accurate comparison of the two decades

I sort of get what you're saying, like the peaceful postwar/pre hippie years when alot of modern things were taking off, but before it really became mainstream. That period is interesting to me too. Even though rock existed in the '50s, I get the impression that it was still too new and the culture too conservative for it to really be accepted.

I hear alot of the adults and parents called teenagers "hoodlums" then, lol. I think the British Invasion is when that stuff really came into its own and people got used to it, by about 1967.

In some ways it seems ancient, but modern in others too. Kids had stuff like cartoons and baseball cards, and there were early forms of rock/teen culture too.

1958 was still much more like 1948 than it was like 1968, but the seeds of the 1960s were planted in the 1940s with the start of the baby boom and the post-war economic expansion. 

Talking pop culture, the 1950s were really quite different from the 1940s in that the "youth culture" began in the 1950s.  The boomers were the first generation to be able to indulge in adolescence....

And they've never stopped!
::)

I believe that between 1946 and 1959 are fairly similar.

1946-1949-People were recovering from WWII and were starting families.
1950-1953-Rock was small and there was the Korean War which ended in a Stalemate.
1954-1959-Rock and Roll and the 50's style came into full-swing.

There was quite a difference between the 40s & 50s. First of all, in 40s, the major forms of entertainment were movies & radio. Even though radio had music-there were also news programs as well as comedy shows (Fibber McGee & Molly, Amos & Andy, etc.) children's shows (Little Orphan Annie), Drama (the Shadow Knows), soap operas (Guiding Light), etc. etc. (FYI: they were called soap operas because they were first sponsored by soap companies such as Procter & Gamble)

In the 50s, things went from the radio to television. Radio slowly faded out all those shows as they moved to t.v. As they did, the only thing that really remained on radio was music. Much of the 50s were geared toward the younger generation because there were more of them.


I know we all seem to have the idea that the 50s were wonderful-everything was either Ozzie & Harriet or Leave it to Beaver. But reality was far from that. There was Jim Crow, McCarthyism, threat of nuclear war, child/spouse abuse was kept quiet, etc. etc.



Cat

1958 was still much more like 1948 than it was like 1968, but the seeds of the 1960s were planted in the 1940s with the start of the baby boom and the post-war economic expansion. 

Talking pop culture, the 1950s were really quite different from the 1940s in that the "youth culture" began in the 1950s.  The boomers were the first generation to be able to indulge in adolescence....

And they've never stopped!
::)


  I understand that "teens" didn't exist until sometime after the Great Depression when folks started pulling their kids out of the fields and putting them in classrooms.  Teen culture is a relatively new concept, perhaps only two or three generations old...

What did they call teenagers before the term was coined?  ???

What did they call teenagers before the term was coined?  ???


Youngsters?

Young Whippersnappers?  ;D

What did they call teenagers before the term was coined?  ???



There weren't any....They just went from 12 to 42 in a snap.  ;D

Hi 80sfan, I think the only thing that the 50's were like the 40's was at the turn of the decade coming from just winning a world war, the morals and mind set of those in charge to "protect" the US citizen in the 1940's carried over to a degree that those who were in charge of the government still thought should run our country like we still were in a war and your civil rights were being controlled to they're way of thinking. They were so used to the way of telling pepole what to do under war conditions that they didn't know how to let go and give the US citizen back their constitutional rights that we fought for in the first place in 1776. Censorship, freedom of expression, equal rights to our Black citizens, were only a few issues that the mid 50's took upon to correct that carried over from the 1940's, and in the late 50's the equal rights issues of the past 200 years of hypocrisies towards the Black race were being addressed and corrected.

About 1954/55 is when the influence of the 40's was put to rest,  McCarty's communist witch hunt ended, our economy was very strong and Television was playing a bigger part of our changes in the US and to the music industry the invention of electric guitar gave Rock'n Roll it's birth and a young 19 year old kid named Elvis Presley was crowed King of the new Rock n' Roll music and the leader of a new social movement amongest the teenagers. Yes, the the fist couple of years of the 50's it was like the 40's, from the mid 50's on to the 60's was a completely differrent way of living your life unlike the 40's.

I would say most definatly no, nothing like each other. Especially so in Europe where WW2 raged until 1945 and poverty and rationing continued right through the rest of the 40's.

Oh and I have to correct the grammer, it's 'weren't the 40's not 'wasn't'.

I would say most definatly no, nothing like each other. Especially so in Europe where WW2 raged until 1945 and poverty and rationing continued right through the rest of the 40's.

Oh and I have to correct the grammer, it's 'weren't the 40's not 'wasn't'.


Please elaborate on your reply, are you from Europe and did you or your family live like that and did it carry over into the 50's like 80sfan post asked "wasn't the 40's and the 50's pretty much the same? I mean "weren't'...com'on Gis, no points taken away for grammer, I'd be the biggest loser...oh yeah! and you spelled definitely wrong, but who's keeping score?

Please elaborate on your reply, are you from Europe and did you or your family live like that and did it carry over into the 50's like 80sfan post asked "wasn't the 40's and the 50's pretty much the same? I mean "weren't'...com'on Gis, no points taken away for grammer, I'd be the biggest loser...oh yeah! and you spelled definitely wrong, but who's keeping score?
Yes I'm from the U.K, where rationing continued until 1954 on food and 1949 on clothes so yes my family did live like that. My mother is Dutch/German so her family had it even harder.
The 50's when compared to the 40's were a breeze in many respects, people rebulit thier lives.... literally. Homes were built, jobs were available and people had money to spend.Youngsters could become teenagers without rationing and bombs going off or being called up to fight. They could go to College and University again. Life was completely and totally different.  

Oh and I think points should be taken away for grammer. I happen to think grammer is important, sorry if that annoys you. I hardly think a spelling mistake is in the same league much like your use of 'com'on'

Yes I'm from the U.K, where rationing continued until 1954 on food and 1949 on clothes so yes my family did live like that. My mother is Dutch/German so her family had it even harder.
The 50's when compared to the 40's were a breeze in many respects, people rebulit thier lives.... literally. Homes were built, jobs were available and people had money to spend.Youngsters could become teenagers without rationing and bombs going off or being called up to fight. They could go to College and University again. Life was completely and totally different.



Oh and I think points should be taken away for grammer. I happen to think grammer is important, sorry if that annoys you. I hardly think a spelling mistake is in the same league much like your use of 'com'on'


whatda'yamean? yousay'nIain'tgotgoodgramma'? just axesme anyting'  i'll show ya' a ting' or tree' i got good learnin'in when i was a yung'n!!

HA! HA! HA!

So why ask me to elaborate if really you just want to twat about?  ::)

Yes I'm from the U.K, where rationing continued until 1954 on food and 1949 on clothes so yes my family did live like that. My mother is Dutch/German so her family had it even harder.
The 50's when compared to the 40's were a breeze in many respects, people rebulit thier lives.... literally. Homes were built, jobs were available and people had money to spend.Youngsters could become teenagers without rationing and bombs going off or being called up to fight. They could go to College and University again. Life was completely and totally different. 

Oh and I think points should be taken away for grammer. I happen to think grammer is important, sorry if that annoys you. I hardly think a spelling mistake is in the same league much like your use of 'com'on'



So why ask me to elaborate if really you just want to twat about?  ::)


No, it didn't annoy me, only surprised me that you mentioned it. It's a fun site and if I was to be put on the carpet for correcting my grammer I wouldn't participate any of the chats in fear of being told I was a moron in front of many of the other colonists, please just lighten up it's not that important. I shouldn't have written that sarcastic goof reply to your feed back at first without following up with my serious reply because I didn't have the time to fully reply to your feed back this afternoon, I was going to finish it tonight. I see your point, it didn't look nice and I'm sorry for goofing on your up tightness to use proper grammer. And if I know some of my fellow colonists, right now they are smiling for you using the word "twat". Please let's start new.

From what you said about the post war days of the 40' s they were no different then the early 50's years and only at the end of the 50's is when life in the UK was starting to be enjoyed like the kids in the US were doing.

I was in London back in 69' and stayed in the Piccadilly section of the city. I was in awe with city and the surrounding country. I love history and growing up in the US England had a big influence in my growing years. As a little boy nursery rhymes were read to me and they painted vivid pictures in my mind of how things looked in England and then the animated movies "Alice in Wonderland" and "Peter Pan" added to England's mystique in my mind. As I got older I was infactuated with the tales of Robin Hood and all the stories about high seas adventures and pirates and and the castle life of royalty and the Knights of the Round table. In short, I thought England was the coolest place in the world to live, it had hundreds of years history and in my opinion, England produced best ever story tellers in history, they made me fall in love with the country.

Back to the point, I saw the old England and London that was painted in my mind since I was a kid and it was all that I expected and more, but there were parts of London that looked like it was transplanted from New York City. Ultra modern office buildings, railroad stations and high rise apartment buildings were part of the sky line that just didn't fit in with the old look. It threw me a little because I always thought of London only to have a Victorian look about it and most of it did but some parts of London just didn't fit in with the rest of the architecture. My romantic mind set of England I loved forgot that London was still building up bombed out areas from the war and this was a new face of old London from now on. I had a reality check, I looked into the sky and imagined buzz bombs coming down where these cranes were erecting a new building frame, then visualizing dead bodies where I was standing it sure put a damper on my romantic view of old England.

It was 1969 and Londons problems of the 1940's were still being fixed, it's economy was good and the rebuilt England in 1969 was again having a big influence in the world's social changes, as it has done hundreds of years before, this time, having it's Ambassadors of Music, the Beatles, and the rest of the British invading Rock'n Roll groups to change the world social and politcal views. It took a longer and harder time to get England's 1940's and 1950's separated than in the US but it seems everything is all even today in 2009.   

No, it didn't annoy me, only surprised me that you mentioned it. It's a fun site and if I was to be put on the carpet for correcting my grammer I wouldn't participate any of the chats in fear of being told I was a moron in front of many of the other colonists, please just lighten up it's not that important. I shouldn't have written that sarcastic goof reply to your feed back at first without following up with my serious reply because I didn't have the time to fully reply to your feed back this afternoon, I was going to finish it tonight. I see your point, it didn't look nice and I'm sorry for goofing on your up tightness to use proper grammer. And if I know some of my fellow colonists, right now they are smiling for you using the word "twat". Please let's start new.

From what you said about the post war days of the 40' s they were no different then the early 50's years and only at the end of the 50's is when life in the UK was starting to be enjoyed like the kids in the US were doing.

I was in London back in 69' and stayed in the Piccadilly section of the city. I was in awe with city and the surrounding country. I love history and growing up in the US England had a big influence in my growing years. As a little boy nursery rhymes were read to me and they painted vivid pictures in my mind of how things looked in England and then the animated movies "Alice in Wonderland" and "Peter Pan" added to England's mystique in my mind. As I got older I was infactuated with the tales of Robin Hood and all the stories about high seas adventures and pirates and and the castle life of royalty and the Knights of the Round table. In short, I thought England was the coolest place in the world to live, it had hundreds of years history and in my opinion, England produced best ever story tellers in history, they made me fall in love with the country.

Back to the point, I saw the old England and London that was painted in my mind since I was a kid and it was all that I expected and more, but there were parts of London that looked like it was transplanted from New York City. Ultra modern office buildings, railroad stations and high rise apartment buildings were part of the sky line that just didn't fit in with the old look. It threw me a little because I always thought of London only to have a Victorian look about it and most of it did but some parts of London just didn't fit in with the rest of the architecture. My romantic mind set of England I loved forgot that London was still building up bombed out areas from the war and this was a new face of old London from now on. I had a reality check, I looked into the sky and imagined buzz bombs coming down where these cranes were erecting a new building frame, then visualizing dead bodies where I was standing it sure put a damper on my romantic view of old England.

It was 1969 and Londons problems of the 1940's were still being fixed, it's economy was good and the rebuilt England in 1969 was again having a big influence in the world's social changes, as it has done hundreds of years before, this time, having it's Ambassadors of Music, the Beatles, and the rest of the British invading Rock'n Roll groups to change the world social and politcal views. It took a longer and harder time to get England's 1940's and 1950's separated than in the US but it seems everything is all even today in 2009.   
Wow this is a barbed reply.

You know I would have been happy to start anew if it wasn't for you calling me uptight and telling me to lighten up, that just makes me want to tell you to get stuffed.
Sad really as the rest of your post is quite interesting and especially as it wasn't even your grammer I commented on in the first place.

I can assure you that as I have been a member here for as long, in fact longer, than you I know just exactly how much fun these boards are.

Wow this is a barbed reply.

You know I would have been happy to start anew if it wasn't for you calling me uptight and telling me to lighten up, that just makes me want to tell you to get stuffed.
Sad really as the rest of your post is quite interesting and especially as it wasn't even your grammer I commented on in the first place.

I can assure you that as I have been a member here for as long, in fact longer, than you I know just exactly how much fun these boards are.


Hi Gis, yes your comment correcting 80sfan grammer wasn't to me directly, although in my upbringing from Newark, NewJersey, if you slam one of us you slam all of us and my instinct was to jump to my buddies aid and defend our turf in a manor of speaking, but we all are in the same family and family disagreements are never taken seriously we kiss and make up at the end and life goes on...it's your call, XOXO?