Comments on: The only problem was that there was two women for every man.

The only problem was that there was two women for every man.

anastasiav — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 15:18:23 -0800

50's Women and Their World
:: via blort and Madamjjj ::

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 15:50:07 -0800

When I see 50s women, or 40s women, or 60s women, or 18th Century women, I inevitably sigh and say "For pity - I was born too late..." Then I think of 90s and 80s and 00s (noughties!) women; realize that I'm reacting not to the decade but to the "women" part and I cheer up. Sort of. Still... thanks anastasiav and Juju... I guess... *sigh* Not that, after all the Douglas Sirk movies I've watched, I think for a minute that American women in the 50s weren't as bright and sassy as they are now. But those - how can I put this? - aprons... Who's Donna Reed? She's mentioned here every time someone mentions the Fifties. I know she was an actress - but what does she mean?

By: quonsar

quonsar — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 15:59:58 -0800

donna reed means approximately what ward cleaver meant, only female.

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 16:08:51 -0800

Great help, quonsar! You really do have a privileged insight into the European mind, dontcha? WTF is Ward Cleaver when he's at home? Or is it an ax used in hospital wards for emergency amputation purposes? :)

By: quonsar

quonsar — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 16:16:19 -0800

at home, ward mostly punishes the beaver. but that's beside the point. he was one of those impossibly wholesome 1950's american television characters. meanwhile, in the movies, donna reed mostly played a ditzy, wholesome female type who kept stumbling into vaguely naughty situations, usually with stunningly handsome men who were, in real life, busily making naughty with other men.

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 16:33:26 -0800

Oh, I see! We only got Lucille Ball, Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Dick Van Dyke here... Thanks!

By: quonsar

quonsar — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 16:37:50 -0800

yeah, donna reed was sort of a doris day clone. but then again, i'm just making all this shit up.

By: Oriole Adams

Oriole Adams — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 16:38:31 -0800

Donna Reed was a TV mom in the 1950s...she wore pearls while dusting, baked a perfect apple pie, was always there for her family. Always smiling, relentlessly wholesome, and forever the yardstick of mom perfection. Ward Cleaver was the all-American dad on "Leave It to Beaver", which actually aired in the early 1960s. The Cleaver family was at least a bit more realistic - the two kids were forever getting themselves into trouble and being misled by neighborhood wiseguy Eddie Haskell.

By: scody

scody — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 17:30:02 -0800

And before Donna Reed was a 1950s tele-mom icon, she was Mary Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life in 1946.

By: MiguelCardoso

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 17:33:11 -0800

Apologies, anastasiav, for this awful derailment, specially as the website you linked to is so much fun. This was probably AskMe fodder. Thanks for the explanations, though!

By: orange swan

orange swan — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 19:54:33 -0800

This is really a presentation of fifties advertisements, which is probably about as representative of the fifties as our advertising is representative of us. That is - only somewhat. Fun to look at though.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 20:06:01 -0800

Donna Reed (the husband/father was gorgeous, and the son became a big advocate for child stars and runs some support foundation for them now)

By: orange swan

orange swan — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 20:10:31 -0800

Did you notice that Bob Crane was on that cast list, amberglow? Very wholesome show, indeed. And the father figure was indeed quite yummy.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 20:25:01 -0800

i was surprised by that too--Hogan! (I bet he played the wacky doctor-neighbor or something) Did they ever figure out the whole death/sexfilms thing with him?

By: quonsar

quonsar — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 20:36:54 -0800

isn't crane's kid capitalizing on the films? did the punishing the beaver crack whoosh over miguel's head? inquiring minds etc etc

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 20:41:41 -0800

is he? and yup ; >

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 00:03:58 -0800

yup. and, too bad for migs :-)

By: joedan

joedan — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 02:04:16 -0800

do you mean to tell me that people actuall had sex in the fifties?

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 02:31:13 -0800

On a more serious note, an old female friend of mine tells me as recent as the early 60's a woman working in the office still had to wear gloves to work. Mind you, she was also wearing a girdle (nasty tight rubber thing worn like underwear, but it kept the tummy in) and tons of makeup--While working for less than a man doing the same work. The crack about punishing the beaver was rich.

By: Katemonkey

Katemonkey — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 05:06:01 -0800

On the site, there are some interesting recipes, if you want to take your life in your hands. Although the apple tea sounds like something I will try to make...

By: geekyguy

geekyguy — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 07:20:35 -0800

Fifties Boulevard and the aptly named EphemeraNow that even contains an ad for my car.

By: Dreama

Dreama — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 10:10:30 -0800

Ah, the idealized fifties. One day, since I am mainly a housewife these days, I am going to run the vacuum in pearls and go grocery shopping in a dress and heels in the middle of the afternoon. Maybe I'll wear something like this so that I'll have a pleasing hourglass figure beneath my dress. Hmmm. Okay, maybe not, but when I watch Far From Heaven and The Hours I do want desperately to look like (but not feel like!) Julianne Moore. I mean really, why wouldn't anyone? Gorgeous dresses, faboo hair and accessories, the steely demeanor (okay, that may be more the actress than the period), it was such a put-together sort of time.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:05:48 -0800

Maybe someday, dreama, people will look back on our advertising and say, hey, they looked perfect in the naughties! My dad says the fifties are his favourite decade for women's fashion, but my mother says the fashions were awful. Skirts with five yards of fabric in them weren't flattering. Girdles were very uncomfortable and probably unhealthy - although they were flattering. The pointy-toed shoes were murder on one's feet. They didn't have the comfortable stretch fabrics they have now. And garters were nasty little inventions - you'd sit down, feel a *ping* *ping* and then wonder how you'd get to the bathroom to fix them without your stockings falling down.

By: carter

carter — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:03:29 -0800

Made me laugh. Thanks, anastasiav!

By: plep

plep — Fri, 23 Jan 2004 00:47:41 -0800

[this is good]

By: hipnerd

hipnerd — Sat, 24 Jan 2004 20:26:56 -0800

I have a lovely little article I found in an old Reader's Digest from the fifties titled Why Women Act That Way. Answered all my questions about the weaker sex.