Back in the Day LIFE seemed less complicated
1955
The oldest Boomer is 9 years old.
Median family Income: $4,400. Minimum Wage: 75 cent/hr.
New House: $11,000
New Car: Buick Special: $2,263 Chevrolette: $2,774
Gallon Gasoline: 29 cents
|
Government |
Private Sector |
| Lawyer: $7,900 | Lawyer: $8,700 |
| Payroll Clerk $3,700 | Payroll Clerk $3,200 |
| Typist: $3,200 | Typist: $2,800 |
| Engineer: $9,400 | Engineer: $19,600 |
| Division Head: $12,00 | Plant Manager: $25,000 |
Movies: “Rebel Without a Cause,” Marty,” “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Picnic,” “The Rose Tattoo,” “Lady and the Tramp,” “Cinerama Holiday,”-filmed for curved scree Cinerama. “Mister Roberts,” “The Seven Year Itch,” “East of Eden,”
Broadway: “Plain and Fancy,”:Silk stockings,” “Kismet,” London. “Damn Yankees,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”
TV: “Gunsmoke,” “Captain Kangaroo,” “The Adventures of spin and Marty,” “The Adventures of Spin and Marty,” “The $64,000 Question,” “Ed Sullivan show,” “Highway Patrol,” “Adventures of Robin Hood,” “The Lawrence Welk Show,” “The Mickey Mouse Club,” “Fury,” “Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp,”
Music: Alex North, “Unchained Melody.” Rodgers and Hammerstein, “Oklahoma!” Elmer Bernstein, “The Man With the Golden arm.” The first rock ‘n’ roll song to top the chart: Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock.” “Fats Domino, “Ain’t That a Shame.” Chuck Berry, “Maybellene.” Ray Charles, “I’ve Got A Woman.” “Tennessee Ernie Ford, “Sixteen Tons.”
New movements in visual art, such as pop art, op art and psychedelic art, became popular during the ’60s. In the theater, although established forms of drama and musical continued, a new show, Hair! The American Tribal Rock-Love Musical, reflected the hippie, antiwar culture of the late ’60s. Movies also both took the traditional route and echoed the times-huge epics and historical drams, such as Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, A Man for All Seasons, and A Lion in Winter were top hits, and people loved Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. In addition, movies such as Dr. Strangelove and James Bond reflected cold war concerns and Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice showed the changing morality of the ’60s
The ’60s For DUMMIES by Brian Cassity and Maxine Levaren
For one person the term “old school” conjures up, happy, time when we had fun. A time of card parties. A time when music was happy music and sexual suggestion was low key. It was a time when children stayed in their place.
