This
website is about remembering the past and more to the point your past, as we get older things around us trigger a memory
perhaps something a child says or perhaps a photo of a loved one, this happens to us all from time to time and it would be
a shame to lose those memories forever
Don't forget you can double click any word for more information on that word or subject
The children of the 1950s couldn't wait to grow up and reject the false prophet of materialism and it was those children of the 50s who created
the swinging 60s the minute they could pull on their sexy jeans and mini-skirts and
gave space to sex, drugs and rock n' roll.
Teenagers were liberated in the 1950s after years of subtle oppression. Almost overnight they had their own music, their own clothes, their own way of talking,
their own culture, the PAST was behind them.
The end of World War II brought thousands of young servicemen back to America
to pick up their lives and start new families in new homes with new jobs. With an energy never before experienced, American
industry expanded to meet peacetime needs. Americans began buying goods not available during the war, which created corporate
expansion and jobs. Growth everywhere. The baby boom was under way...
The Fifties made you
feel there was nothing as important as fun. From cars with fins to skirts with poodles, the whole decade seemed to have a breezy air about it. "The Fifties—they seem to have taken place on a sunny afternoon that asked nothing of you except a drifting belief in the moment
and its power to satisfy," said one writer.What put the Fifties era in a mood to
party? The answers were simple: money in the bank and the end of WWII. Fears of not having a home or enough to eat had been left behind in the "Dirty Thirties." The grim, war-torn Forties had ended with an Allied victory. As the Fifties dawned, people plunged into fun as if
it were a refreshing pool on a hot summer day.
They came late to the ballgame by British standards, but they came to play.
They were crude, crass and lacking in military finesse according to Montgomery and other Allied leaders, but they won many more times than they lost.They were a curious
mixture of fervent volunteer kids and caustic older draftees. They were soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines from Iowa cornfields and Detroit assembly lines. They sweated through eight abbreviated weeks of basic training.Life at war for the American
GI was essentially long hours of hard physical labour, painful slogging under heavy weights and tedious boredom - interspersed
with moments of sheer gut-wrenching terror
Rational, sane people sat down in various stages and made key decisions that ended in the killing
of over six million women, men and children.
The
1930's brought a sleek, sexy look to fashion. The scandalous behavior and half nakedness of the films of the twenties brought forward a cry for a return to modesty, so clever Hollywood draped slinky silk satin over the actresses of the day,
covering their bosom but removing their brassieres. Close-fitting cap head pieces were still very popular and dress clips
and costume jewelery were made of sparkling rhinestones and sterling silver. The majority of dresses were cut on the bias
(cutting across the weave of the fabric) to give the dress a flowing look at the bottom. Fabrics such as silk, satin, organza,
net, chiffon, brocade, velvet and lace were used; but heavy satin was popular and characterized the decade.air was chin to
shoulder-length and softly waved. Finger waves and curls were seen as well. Men were well-groomed with no facial hair and
short hairstyles.
In November 1943, the United States Marine Corps'
capture of the tiny atoll of Tarawa in the central Pacific had cost more than 3,000 casualties. American censors banned a
public screening of the US Navy film of this event, arguing that its shocking images of a lagoon red with soldiers' blood would undermine the morale of US
forces and the Home Front.
Some British teens
developed a real feel for the rock-and-roll and American blues idioms. Blending that with such local
traditions as music hall, pop, and Celtic folk, they formulated original music they could claim, play, and sing with conviction. Young groups with electric
guitars began performing and writing up-tempo melodic pop, fiery rock and roll, and Chicago-style electric blues." The
rebellious tone and image of American rock and roll and blues musicians also deeply resonated with British youth in the late
1950s, influencing all the British Invasion artists. By 1962, encouraged by the anyone-can-play populism of skiffle and self-schooled in the music of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Elvis Presley,
Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Ray Charles, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis, James Brown,
Roy Orbison and Muddy Waters.
By 1959 an age of unbridled affluence and consumerism - "You've never had it so good", as Harold Macmillan coined it
- was firmly established, paving the way for the profligacy and abandon of the swinging 60s. The new entrepreneurs
of mass market consumerism on both sides of the Atlantic ensured that a week didn't go by without some new craze hitting
the shops or the media, preferably both at one. Hula hoops, popsicles, 3D cinema, Davy Crockett hats,Motoring History Bubble cars, Motor Bikes, Transistor radios, Remember the old Black and White TV set sitting in the corner of the room, pyjama parties etc the list is endless.
Fads have come to typify periods of time in popular
culture over the 20TH CENTURY. From flagpole sitting in the 1920's, dance marathons and the zoot suits of the 1930's and goldfish swallowing of the 1940's, fads really emerged in the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's with the coming of the hula hoop, telephone booth stuffing, bellbottoms, platforms shoes, mood rings and the pet rock. The
1980's and 1990's are represented as well with the Rubik's Cube, Beanie Babies and the Hacky Sack.
The 1920’s, a period that saw dramatic changes in dress, was perhaps the first modern" decade of the twentieth century. The corseted
woman of the previous decade, with her hobble skirts and huge hats, looked as if she came from another world when compared
to the ‘modern’ woman of the 1920’s. The result was extreme. Fashionable 1920’s female body evolved from the elaborately trimmed dress with its high waist position and ankle length skirt at the beginning,
to the simple, hardly decorated, shapeless tube with a hip level waistline and a skirt barely covering the knees at the end
of the decade. The initiation of the new fashion boom all began with their change in social aspects and attitudes along with
their new way of life. The women’s independence movement of the 1920’s resulted in a dramatic change in dress
as shown by the desire to look youthful, boyish, flat-chested, and at the same time want her independence and The 1920’s
was the new decade of the century. This was the Jazz Age, the decade of the flappers. 1920’s opened with an explosion
of color, wailing sounds, fast rhythms of jazz, and energetic dancing.
The mid-seventies saw the rise of punk music from its protopunk/garage
band roots in the 1960s and early 1970s. Major acts include The Ramones, Blondie, the Sex Pistols, and The Clash.
By its very definition, fashion is something that is constantly changing.
From the drape jacket and skinny, drainpipe trousers of 1950’s teddy boys, through the disco-influenced three-piece flared suits of the 1970s and on to the urban ‘trainers and loose-fit
jeans’ look of the 1990s. Fashion has always been influenced by culture and it reflects how
‘in’ someone is with the current popular mode of expression.
