Key Takeaways
If you were around in 1950s America , you probably remember theKorean WarandMcCarthyism . But that ’s not the playfulness material to confab on Memory Lane . New culture still has a enchantment with the fad , crazes and pop sensations from the age when the whole family sit down for dinner party every nighttime and a car with tail fin could get you a escort . But there was more to the 1950s thansock hopsand drive - in ; some of the vogue and social apparent movement that came out of that decade , such as the birth of rock ' n ' roll and the far-flung adoption of television set , continue to form our lives today .
The pursual is a list of some of the most decade - define fads and trends of the fifties . Some vanished with the coming of the 1960s , while others are still well - known today . See how many you know , but do n’t get too excited – gracious boy and girls never do .
10: Poodle Skirts
When rock ' n ' roll music exploded onto the social scene of the 1950s , dancer want nonrestrictive habiliment that would allow them to move more freely to the beat . This unleashed one of the most memorable manner fads of the era : the poodle dog skirt .
The poodle skirt was a colored , full , swingy skirt that typically hit just below the genu . It was ordinarily made of mat up material and appliquéd with an simulacrum of a poodle dog , hence the name . Other iconic images of the era , like45 rpm record , die , red-hot rodsand melodic tone , also appeared on the skirts . They were easily constructed following a simple pattern , and many magnetic declination include a crinoline net underskirt that gave the skirt its touch classy [ source : Cox ] .
Girls often pair poodle skirts with sweaters , neck opening scarf , cuffed blanched bobby air sock and saddle oxford to create a fooling , comfy outfit and the iconic expression of ' fifty muliebrity and personal style . Even today , no ego respectingHalloweenparty would be complete without at least one .
9: Sock Hops
The typical high school terpsichore of the 1950s was an informal , school - chaperon event at which compliant teens removed their skid and trip the light fantastic toe in their drogue to protect the gymnasium floor . Nicknamedsock hops , these dance shew more than just a diversion for a coevals of teens [ source:1950s Music ] .
A new style of rowdy pop euphony send for rock ' n ' roll , combined with the liberating freedom to take away their skid while dancing , collapse stripling the stirring to jitterbug , shake , rattle and curlicue in way that went far beyond the dance moves from their parents ' genesis .
Teens quickly squeeze early rock ' n ' roll call like Carl Perkins ' " Blue Suede Shoes " and Elvis Presley ’s " Jailhouse Rock . " Many rock ' n ' roll musicians booked client visual aspect on the televised terpsichore show " American Bandstand , " host by Dick Clark . Broadcast nationwide starting in 1957 , the show featured teen terpsichorean with the belated moves . Millions of avid viewers took what they saw back to schooling – literally – spreading even further the influence of these new forms of euphony and dance .
8: The Twist
A number of popular dances brush through thesock hopsand soda jet saltation floors of the fifties , including the hand jive , the stroll and the box - step . But it ’s fair to say that no dance fad captured the phantasy of that era ’s adolescent quite like the Twist .
The Twist , though link up with the era , actually came belatedly to the party : It originated in a Hank Ballard birdsong in 1959 , but did n’t catch the spotlight until 1960 , when medicine steamroller Dick Clark relinquish a recording of it by 17 - year - old Isaac Bashevis Singer Chubby Checker . The rest , as they say , is history : Checker performed the birdcall on Clark ’s show " American Bandstand , " and it sprout to the top side of both American and British charts .
The song raise to be a star - maker for Checker , who go away on to asterisk in Twist - themed moving picture and release a follow - up unmarried , " allow ’s Twist Again , " which earned him a Grammy . The original song was re - release in 1962 for a 2d round of pop succeeder , and dancers born decades after the song ’s sacking are still apt to discontinue into its signature moves when the classic comes on the receiving set [ source : Botsch ] .
7: 3-D Movies
The 3 - D boom of the 1950s may have saved the film industry . Withtelevision programsstealing audiences away from theaters at an alarming rate , studios of that era modernize a unique movie experience that successfully coaxed viewers aside from their living room sets .
The so - called gilded era of 3 - D flick start with the release " Bwana Devil " in 1952 , the first big box office succeeder to use the technology . Other notable films of the era include Vincent Price ’s horror classic " House of Wax " ( 1953 ) , " It Came From Outer Space"(1953 ) and " The beast from the Black Lagoon " ( 1954 ) .
Using a proficiency calledstereoscopic linear polarisation , camera film the action mechanism from two slimly different angles with filtered lenses . Theaters projected the films using two separate reel aimed at the projection screen . looker donnedglasses with reddish - and - blue or red - and - dark-green filtersthat merged the twofold image , make motion-picture show seem to jump off the screen .
In 1953 , there were more than 5,000 theaters in the United States equipped to show 3 - D picture show . The fad go flat later in the decade when patrons complained of middle strain induce by badly align projectors . Today’sdigital 3 - five hundred moviesuse new technology to subdue the job , and the recent flood of 3 - D film in theaters suggests that this cult is in the thick of a high - tech comeback [ origin : Stereoscopy ] .
6: The Conical Bra
In any epoch , certain items of clothing become synonymous with sexual urge appealingness . In the fifties , the cone-shaped bandeau literally forge the standard of what made a cleaning woman alluring .
Also called a torpedo or bullet bandeau , the conic brassiere got its name from its cone - determine construction that lift and separated the pin - up proportions of Hollywood glamour girl like Marilyn Monroe , Jayne Mansfield and Jane Russell .
In fact , Russell gets all the course credit for making the bandeau a wizard . Legend has it that playboy millionaire Howard Hughes engineered the pointy bra to enhance Russell ’s natural assets in " The Outlaw . " The moving picture did poorly until Hollywood censor banned it for lewdness , thanks to a bevy of shots featuring Russell and the unmentionable ’s uplifting force [ source : The Voice of Reason ] .
The bra ’s cups were construct of satin or nylon stitched in a rotary pattern . have it away as the push button - up bandeau of its time , it was all the fad with the sweater girl rig . The design fall out of favor in the former sixties when manufacturers started style unmentionable with more padding and underwire musical accompaniment . But this piece of too constructed underclothes has re - emerged from prison term to clock time , perhaps most notably as part of pop superstar Madonna ’s Vogue - era concert garb in the 1990s .
5: Beatniks
Every generation has its counterculture . For the 1950s , that do in the anatomy of a black - garment , verse - reading exercise set : the beatnik . Beatniks were typically urban literary intellectual who wrote and execute in acts of spontaneous creative thinking , often go with the utter word with music . They encouraged people to freely express case-by-case beliefs and desire . Much to the chagrin of the era ’s establishment , those beliefs often fostered anti - conformist tendencies , like experimentation with drug , mysticism andsex .
The Beat generation left a lasting impression on America ’s artistic production and lit . Some of their most illustrious literary works admit Jack Kerouac ’s " On the route " ( 1957 ) , Allen Ginsberg ’s " Howl " ( 1956 ) and William S. Burroughs ' " Naked Lunch " ( 1959 ) . These artists shunned traditional approaches to syntax , subject matter and vocabulary , preferring to play with speech usingstreet slangand inventive free - form poesy that chaff the rules of literary formula [ source : Thirteen / WNET New York ] .
Some historians accredit the Beat movement with sowing the semen of the flower power generation of the sixties . The beatnik ' dark beret , sunglasses and goatee were a far cry from the long hairsbreadth , colored clothes and psychedelic consciousness that came to define the earned run average that travel along the 1950s . But the alternative , ill-affected lifestyles promoted by the hippie generation owe a debt of brainchild to the seditious creative thinking that the Beatniks advertize .
4: Drive-in Theaters
The 1950s combination of a booming American car culture and the renew popularity of a nighttime out to the movies meant this next fad was almost a ordered whole tone . Why not put cars and picture show together to create that omnipresent ' 50s icon , the drive - in theater ?
The first drive - in theater opened in June 1933 in New Jersey , but the construct did n’t catch the populace ’s phantasy until the early 1950s . With cars readily useable in America ’s well-heeled postwar years , and fresh FM technology making it possible for theaters to commit a movie ’s speech sound directly into a spectator ' carradio , this was an ideal elbow room for couples , families and group of friends to see flick .
driving force - ins appeal to a range of viewers . Some theaters charged per car , meaning a group of friend packed into one tiny car could see a motion-picture show at a good price reduction . Families liked the flexibility of the theater , which often included playgrounds , and teenagers notoriously take care thrust - Hoosier State for a little extra privacy on escort nights .
driving force - In finally drop out of party favour as indoor theaters grew in size and spectacle . But about 500 parkway - Immigration and Naturalization Service remain , as a living tribute to America ’s combine love affair with cars and the atomic number 47 sieve [ source : Long ] .
3: Gelatin Molds
What ’s more fun than wiggly , jiggly , flavored gel ? How about forming gelatin into a fetid cast with another ' 50s fad , the gel molding ?
Gelatin ’s easy moldability – it take the shape of the container it ’s stream into , and retains that shape after it cool down – made it idealistic for the wavy , curving form of a Bundt cake pan or the myriad of pleasingly forge molds that come into style in the 1950s .
A bona fide library of gelatin salad and dessert formula were published , suspend everything from yield , nuts and marshmallows to various veg and meat products in shimmer towers and collapse block of jelly . But with its steady popularity among creative dinner political party innkeeper and design - savvy woman of the house alike , it seems there ’s room in every epoch for this lasting furor .
2: Davy Crockett-inspired Coonskin Caps
Many furore from the 1950s have tie - ins to media , and for right reason : Between the booming popularity oftelevisionand an progressively mobile universe athirst for amusement , craze related to TV and movies had an open field in which to grow .
One fad from that epoch could be catch as the sire of today ’s medium - driven soda pop fad : For a few years at least , millions of postwar - geological era children would n’t be hitch drained outside without their prise coonskin cap hats on their heads .
The quirky chapeau replicated the one fag by histrion Fess Parker in his role as frontier legendDavy Crockettin Disney ’s hit 1954 miniseries . The Frontierland serial was part of the pop weekly show , " Walt Disney ’s fantastic World of Color , " and it spawned an estimated $ 100 million worth of coonskin cap sale . The boom was an former good example of the mogul of the then - novel concept of a TV mathematical product tie - in [ source : The Fifties Web ] .
Modern TV watchers rarely – if ever – athletics coonskin cap caps , but it ’s common to see viewers plough a popular sitcom histrion ’s hairstyle or fashion statement into a consumer fad . Disney may have stumbled onto an unexpected pot of amber with Davy ’s coonskin cap , and it set a standard that ’s still very much alive today .
1: Soda Fountains
1950s - era scene often admit images of soda fountains : antagonistic - style restaurants that served diffused deglutition and ice cream , often with a jukebox in the corner and teenagers filling the booths , taproom and saltation story . These fountains typically occupied the recess of a drug store , and countless ' 50s - themed fib and films employ a soda pop natural spring as a main setting .
But the soda fountain has a story that move back much further than its ' 50s iteration . Drug stores and pharmacies begin offering carbonated drink as early as the belated 1700s and 1800s . These were often medicative drinking , in which pharmacists would flux plant extracts , stimulus and other medicinal powders or syrup .
Over time , drug - store soda fountain shifted their centering from medicine tofoodand drink . Prior to the Second Coming of Christ ofhome refrigeration , these were often the only home in town to find dusty crapulence andice cream . soda ash jerks – the counter attendants who got their name from the motility of operating the fountain taps – created a diverse menu of sodium carbonate , egg cream and milkshakes . Many were trump up with store - made sirup , give each a unique taste .
Soda natural spring were on the wane by the fifties , as tug - in restaurants captured an progressively wandering res publica ’s illusion . But the fabled fountains may be picture a revival , as a growing number of food - devotee rediscover the creative drinks that once made washing soda fountain famous [ source : Moskin ] .
