The 50’s as I Remember Them

My life began in the mid 50's in Colorado. My mother tells me that it was the hottest day recorded in twenty years on that first day of summer. I don’t think that this information has ever been checked out by Scopes, but nonetheless, it’s her story and it sounded good to me. I am also part of that Baby Booming generation, but neither parent served in the military. My father had been a victim of polio, leaving a leg atrophied, but my mom did have three brothers who served in WWII.

My parents were in Colorado because my dad was going to school at Colorado School of Mines. He was learning to be a troubleshooter seismologist to please his father, a geologist. My mother was learning how to be married and rear her first born. I don’t think these roles came easy to either one of them. I say this because my father really wanted to be a lawyer, but my grandfather told him, “You can be a lawyer after you become an engineer.” The engineering eventually downsized to seismology and he never became that lawyer in the years to come. My mother had been the homecoming queen, an airlines stewardess, and had a few years of college journalism under her belt, but was also the youngest of the family who had lost her father at the age of nine, so there was no role modeling to fall back upon for lessons in being a wife or a mother.

What I can remember about the times and the people in the early part of my formative years remains vague, but a few tidbits stick to my mind. I remember men wore suave hats like from the movies, and women wore big hats like Audrey Hepburn and small hats with rhinestones. The clothes women wore showed off their figures and it seemed like they all had slim figures with pointy bras.

And of course, everyone smoked, including my parents. The cars were long and pointy, too, with lots of metal. Convertibles were in style, as were can-cans for the little girls to wear under their dresses to have that poofed-out look. I remember how the starched net material scratched and how much I hated them. In fact, I think I took mine off and let it fly out of the car window of the convertible my dad loved so much. Yes, I was a brat!

The furniture of that decade was designed in leather veneer and in colors that were pinkish-coral, turqouise, red, black or orange. The tables had sharp points and the whole decor demanded that it should be noticed. I recall that even then, I detested the style.

The toys I liked to play with were my Annie Oakley life-sized doll along with my cowgirl hat and the metal toy guns I strapped on. I liked to watch Gunsmoke and the Rifleman, but those might be leading more into the 60’s. Of course, television was in black and white those days, too.

Home life was one party after another, lots of company, lots of drinking, and lots of verbal bickering between my parents. Looking back, both my parents were the babies of their families and used to getting their way. I don't know if their lifestyle was that of those times or just immaturity. I remember my Uncle Harry’s wife, Aunt Jean, calling me her party-girl. I guess I was allowed to stay up late? Or I got woke up often?

As far as childhood pets, I think we had a German Shepherd named Flyx and later I had a Cocker Spaniel named Tammy. I remember naming her that from a popular song and TV series that I liked. Debbie Reynolds was the actress in it. She portrayed a sweet country girl.

I don’t remember any friends, but I do remember that I was the youngest of all the cousins. I remember hating to go to daycare because we had to take naps there. My Aunt ‘Cile and Grandma had given me a white, very soft, fake fur muff and during one of those naps, a kid threw up on it. I was plenty ticked off.

So, that pretty much sums up what I remember about the 50’s. Not much consistency in my life, but I think I was adept at noticing details, and had a strong sense of right or wrong being built from within because of my “upbringing.” At least I knew what I liked or didn’t like, even back then. I wonder if all Baby Boomers had the same kind of whacked, growing-up experiences? Honestly, I’ve been too busy with life that I haven’t pondered this before now. My take away from the 50's and my upbringing was to one day try to find "normalcy." I thought that it would be pretty darned easy to come by if there wasn't any drinking going on at home. And I knew that if I ever got married, that I wanted to stay married. (I failed to mention that my parents married then divorced, only to remarry themselves for a second time?) Number two failed, also...surprise!

All I wanted back then was for my life to be like the Beaver's.