tube fanatic Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Yes, there were problems, but I'd go back with no hesitation if it were possible! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjj9VKKSV2g&app=desktop 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 TubeFanatic, Thanks for the link. Thoroughly enjoyed the video. it was a sweet time for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Such is nostalgia. I'm pretty much of the same generation but we boomers must recognize the problems to which we can't aggrandize. Even if phones had dials and cars had fins. The possibility of nuclear war was ramping up. Stalin had killed millions of his people. A good part was that polio was almost avoided with vaccinations, in the US. The issue of race had not been addressed, as it would be in the '60's. This was certainly the major failure of the U.S. Constitution, not to ban slavery. The gasoline companies were giving us tetra-ethyl-lead as an additive. In retrospect. How can we get every citizen to inhale a known neurotoxin. Answer, put it in the millions of cars we drive. Similarly. Tobacco was rampant. Carcinogen advertised by the best of entertainers. A leader in the revolt was Arthur Godrey. No, those were not the good old days. We've learned a lot. We have made a better world. WMcD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 (edited) Yup. I was there. Totally sweet times and memories well balanced by this individual whilst making the downsides quite clear. Lot of evils? Absolutely. But don't kid yourself. I can list things that have gone to hell in a hand basket that we couldn't have imagined in that time. There was no such thing as a "dropped call" and if you were "cut off" on the phone you were seriously concerned that something might have gone wrong at the other end as it simply never happened. Try telling a cop he has no cause to ask for your ID. I did it more than once in the sixties, and they went away as at that time they had to have reasonable cause even to ask for an ID. Search your vehicle? Not a chance. I recall guys in my dorm being arrested for Marijuana possession...then being turned loose because the police found there was no law against possession at that time. Of course, they "fixed" that, and a lot of other things. Some things get better, others get worse. I've learned you cannot judge the people of any generation for what they didn't know. That is arrogance. Things may be better, but we have not achieved anything like a great society, and those who come after us will see little difference between that film and our own time. Dave Edited May 2, 2014 by Mallette Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyrc Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 ... We've learned a lot. We have made a better world. Yes, in some ways ... Way back in 1960, Paul Goodman talked about the unfinished revolutions of the 1950s and the 1940s. He listed them in the back of his book Growing Up Absurd. Most of those revolutions are still unfinished, but we did polish off a few of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tube fanatic Posted May 2, 2014 Author Share Posted May 2, 2014 When I compare life over the years, I try to look at what I consider key points. For example, take respect. Today, there's none. Back then there was a great deal more. In the 50s (and 60s) elementary school kids who received a failing grade didn't threaten to kill the teacher. The parents of such kids didn't blame the teacher and sue the school claiming that it didn't do its job. Kids wouldn't dare address a teacher using foul language as is so prevalent today, and few would address an adult that way either (and I grew up in a fairly rough neighborhood). Even among adults there wasn't the level of violence over trifling matters as is so common today. Then, there's the issue of pride in workmanship and product quality. Today, there is far less than in previous generations. Close to home, in the electronics industry of the 50s, the label "made in USA" was quite significant. When I think of the area of communications equipment, as one example, companies like Hammarlund, National, and Hallicrafters made products of amazingly high quality. If problems developed, the companies were genuinely concerned and took every step possible to set things right. Today, in general, companies could care less. Store owners were genuinely interested in keeping their clientele satisfied. If not, they knew what the result would be. Today, I find few business owners who care at all in spite of the often intense competition for local sales. And, of course, there are many other areas as well. So, overall, I consider the 50s to have been a much better time in terms of overall quality of life.Maynard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 The smoking is what really bugged me. I can still smell the stink of it. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybob Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Memories are sweet. Those old Seeburg jukeboxs had some good bass and volume. Saturday mornings were special around the old tube sets. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Sargent Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Did the news back in the 50s report about feel good stories or did they report repeatedly about the very small percentage of really bad people in our society? Honestly, if you watch the news every night and believe that news makes up our society then you must believe this is a terrible world. I believe that most people are good. I believe that most people do what they say they'll do. Just like the people back in 1955. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babadono Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 For example, take respect. Today, there's none. Back then there was a great deal more. In the 50s (and 60s) elementary school kids who received a failing grade didn't threaten to kill the teacher. The parents of such kids didn't blame the teacher and sue the school claiming that it didn't do its job. Kids wouldn't dare address a teacher using foul language as is so prevalent today, and few would address an adult that way either (and I grew up in a fairly rough neighborhood). "In their eyes there's something lacking, what they need's a damn good whacking." George Harrison. I remember growing up you showed respect to your elders. Your parents, their adult friends, teachers,the "authorities". Otherwise your a$$ was grass. As I've grown older I have come to question some of the authority of the "authorities" especially when they "authority" some of my rights out of existence. But this is a whole other topic. How many "thought crimes" are you guilty of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2K Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Parents are responsible for the lazy, disrespectful and entitled generations that they raised. The beauty of it is that their 'kids' will pay now and in the future for the traits that parents allowed the kids to develop. When I was growing up my parents and grandparents sat around waiting for the opportunity to whip our a$$es. That didn't stop a kid from wanting to do something that they knew they shouldn't do, but a kid learned, after repeated applications, to weigh the benefit and repercussion of doing something that they already knew they should not do. This lost inflammatory act was responsible for the highly developed analytical skills that kids slowly developed many years ago. As much as I hate to sound like my parents, I had the opportunity to work with many people of varying age over many decades. You learn about people when you work with them. Especially when you work unsupervised in a labor intensive environment. I labeled the largest majority of these guys pu$$ies. And they called me 'hard a$$' or 'company man'. Most of them never understood that at the end of the day the hardest person to satisfy should be yourself. That's all I've got to say about that. Payin' time is comin'. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Chi-town Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 What do you call an alarm clock that wakes you to the smell of fresh coffee, bacon, and eggs? A 1950's housewife! A much simpler and better time. Best regards, John 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiser SET say Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Man, I remember like it was yesterday when my mom said OK, S&K day! She always gave me my own book of green stamps for ever ten books I made for her so when we went I always got to cash mine in for something I had been dreaming about getting in the catalogue Yes a much simpler time John The first Mickey-D's 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyrc Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 (edited) When I compare life over the years, I try to look at what I consider key points. For example, take respect. Today, there's none. Back then there was a great deal more. In the 50s (and 60s) elementary school kids who received a failing grade didn't threaten to kill the teacher. The parents of such kids didn't blame the teacher and sue the school claiming that it didn't do its job. Kids wouldn't dare address a teacher using foul language as is so prevalent today, and few would address an adult that way either (and I grew up in a fairly rough neighborhood). Even among adults there wasn't the level of violence over trifling matters as is so common today. Then, there's the issue of pride in workmanship and product quality. Today, there is far less than in previous generations. Close to home, in the electronics industry of the 50s, the label "made in USA" was quite significant. When I think of the area of communications equipment, as one example, companies like Hammarlund, National, and Hallicrafters made products of amazingly high quality. If problems developed, the companies were genuinely concerned and took every step possible to set things right. Today, in general, companies could care less. Store owners were genuinely interested in keeping their clientele satisfied. If not, they knew what the result would be. Today, I find few business owners who care at all in spite of the often intense competition for local sales. And, of course, there are many other areas as well. So, overall, I consider the 50s to have been a much better time in terms of overall quality of life. Maynard Violence is a problem. I think, but cannot establish, that there were more square miles of relatively safe neighborhoods then. Pride in workmanship varied then as well, but I still long for the look, feel, and especially, the sound, of a Marantz or McIntosh tube amp of the '50s. Now, in audio, where are the store owners? They have just about vanished. The last one I knew (a gem) went out of business about a year ago. I'm not counting the execrable Big Box stores, or those who specialize in low end Home Theater, and seem to know little about audio. Edited May 2, 2014 by Garyrc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 (edited) Here's a 50s thing that is completely incomprehensible today: I was expected to obey ALL adults in my neighborhood, church, school...whoever...just like my own parents. It was a village, even in the city. Also, from the day we purchased the house I grew up in until we had any keys for it was well over 20 years. My mom would say "Why would we want to lock it? The neighbors might need to get in for something." Younger folks, is nicht schiessen! This is how it was. Dave Edited May 2, 2014 by Mallette 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxx Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 No millennials hanging around yet.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beeker Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 I truly do wish and believe I was meant to be born in the days to live in the 50's as an adult. Maybe even before. I would toss my pc and cell phone away in 1 second to go to what i feel were the best times known to humanity on this planet...I would do anything to live in them days... Not to say I want evolution or anything catsrophic happening to humanity or nature and the earth although I hope one day we slowly get back to the basics. We are simply out growing our stay on this planet in far too many ways to begin to describe... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Panza Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 (edited) Still had some Constitutional Legal Tender in circulation then (1950's) Silver Coins. Sure wish the founding fathers had made slavery illegal in the Constitution; that way we'd not have to worry about Ratification; as only Massachusetts would have done so, maybe. Point is not to be an advocate for slavery; but, to point out that of the 13 States that had slavery at the beginning of the War for Independence ONLY Massachusetts had outlawed slavery by wars end. Edited May 3, 2014 by Sancho Panza 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyrc Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 (edited) Here's a 50s thing that is completely incomprehensible today: I was expected to obey ALL adults in my neighborhood, church, school...whoever...just like my own parents. I never experienced that -- it was expected that I would be respectful and polite, but not necessarily obey. I was encouraged to question authority, vocally, but politely. That's what my parents did, as well. My parents could not quite believe that some social ills were real, however ... at least until they were on the television news. By 1959 (I think it was) I had heard stories about police brutality, and repeated them at home. My parents really doubted that it existed. Then all of us were sitting around the television and saw news footage of a group of demonstrators sitting in a circle outside of San Quentin Prison to protest an execution. They had candles, and were singing "Michael Row The Boat Ashore." The police charged and beat the s*#t out of them. One cop picked up a girl by the ankles and swung her around in the air, then let her go. She flew through the air and her head crashed into a cyclone fence. I said, "Well, I guess there is such a thing as police brutality." Both parents agreed. Edited May 3, 2014 by Garyrc 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taz Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 A lot of changes between then and now. Both for the good and the bad. In the 50's if I hollered for mom, never knew for sure who would answer. Family camping trips where all us kids were watched over by all the parents. Or this little 7 pound dog. Never locked anything up, locks only kept out the honest folks. 10 was old enough to take the ski boat out on the lake. By 2nd grade you had better know to keep the barn clean. Saddle your own mount by 3rd grade after sneaking out the bedroom window so you could get an early ride in before it got hot. Didn't need a license to ride your motorcycle on the road if you weren't old enough for a drivers license. It was OK to race Jeeps while our dads were at work, and my uncle would leave the keys in his for us kids. Dad's didn't need a key. It was OK to contradict an adult as long as it was done respectfully and you had your facts to back you up. It was OK to make a stand on principle when you knew you were right, and your parents would back you. However if you were in the wrong, a switch or razor strap was not considered child abuse. If I could go back and do it all over again, I'd like to do a lot of things different. But I hope I'd have as much fun as I did growing up. John 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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