Life in the 1950s

Suburbs and the Fear of the Bomb

The ‘Burbs

• Baby Boom– By 1952, Canadians were having 400,000

babies/yr… up from 300,000/yr in 1945– Housing shortages in urban centres lead to

creation of “suburbia”– By 1955 4 of 5 houses were in subdivisions

• Ex. “Don Mills” in Toronto

Fear of Nuclear War

• 1949 - USSR test A-bomb

• 1950 – President Truman approves Hydrogen Bomb (1000x more powerful than A-Bomb)

• 1952 – USA & Russia test first H-bomb

• Diefenbunker built in Carp, ON (near Ottawa) to protect Cdn Gov’t during nuclear attack

Fear of Nuclear War

• Subways discussed as shelter in Toronto

• Across Canada, 2000-4000 shelters built

• Fear motivates family in London ON to live in shelter for 3 years!

• Policy of “mutually assured destruction” (M.A.D.) leads to arms race costing $4 Trillion by 1994.

Teenage Life in the 1950s

Movies, Motorcars and Music

The new concept of the teenager

• Before WW2, the concept of a teenager did not exist

• After the war, the “teenager” became a part of North American culture

• Because of TV, all teens across North America were able to see and hear the same things.

• Like today, teens looked to the TV for the newest music, movies, cars and consumer goods

• Canadian culture became very influenced by American culture as well

Music

• Record players were huge and many teens collected ’45s (singles on vinyl).

• Variety TV shows like Hit Parade and The Ed Sullivan Show brought live performances to living rooms.

• Frank Sinatra and other “crooners” were big as were folk musicians like The Weavers.

• Young white stars began to sing a Black style of music called Rock n’ Roll. Defining this new style was the use of electric guitars.

• Many parents disliked the music and thought it was too loud and too sexual.

• Singers like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Pat Boone and Jerry Lee Lewis were very popular with teenagers.

Movies

• Teenage movie stars set the trends.• Marlon Brando was the standard of cool with his “hood” look: blue

jeans (rolled up at the hem), T-shirts (with rolled-up sleeves), flipped up collar and black leather jacket

• Kids also tried to copy his “duck-tail” hair, growing hair long on the sides with side burns, and long at the back. Various forms of hair grease were used to keep the hair in place.

• Others copied the Pat Boone look with short hair and dressier shirts, flat-fronted khaki pants and white dress shoes

• Girls wore skirts to school, but jeans and pedal pushers were popular outside of school. Sweater twin sets, white blouses, pleated skirts, white bobby socks and saddle shoes with hair in a pony tail were popular high school looks.

• Other popular movie stars were Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and James Dean

Cars

• Cars in the fifties were cool if they were big in size, had large engines and large fins out the back.

• Teens saw the car as a form of independence and were buying used cars for the first time

• Used cars were fixed up, “souped up” and made louder, faster and cooler.

• Cars allowed teens to “cruise the main drag”, go to school “sock hops”, watch movies at the theatre or drive-in and visit the local drive-in restaurant