Reflections on the 50's

he 50's were the incubus years The 50's were the incubus years of the Boomer generation. Five years after the end of WWII, the US was undergoing phenomenal economic resurgence.

One result of that resurgence was lots of babies, hence the Boomer moniker. Being born in 1950, almost exactly in the middle of the century, I identify a lot with the period. It impressed specific memories on my growing mind — some fond, some not so fond.

To set the stage, here are some characteristics of the period as I remember them:

 
In the 1950's televisions were huge cabinet affairs with tiny CRT tubes — black and white only. Flat screen TVs were a SciFi dream all the way through the 70's.

Africa was still the dark continent, Sputnik hadn't flown, yet – there were no artificial satellites in the space above us (that we knew of...).

There were no freeways – American cities and destinations were connected with two lane roads, gravel or dirt roads in some instances.  Cars were big, lumberous affairs with V8 engines and manual transmissions.  With luck, they'd last 20,000 miles or maybe five years before they gave out.

 There was no such thing as air-conditioning. You sprinkled fans at the doors and windows and, on exceptionally hot days (110˚F in Saint George), you parked yourself in front of the fans to try to cool off.  Maybe take a trip into the higher country to get some cooler air.

Music was either on the radio or on 78- and 45- rpm vinyl disks.  33⅓-rpm vinyl was just becoming available, but no stereo until the '60s. That radio, bye the bye — and the TV — operated on a chassis with 5-10 vacuum tubes.  The transistor hadn't been invented, yet.  Finding and replacing bad tubes was an adventure, but at least all the grocery stores had a kiosk full of tubes you could match to yours and purchase.

Air travel was prohibitively expensive for most people – if you didn't want to drive, you took the train or the bus ("Remember to take the bus, and leave the driving to us!" – Greyhound Buslines advertising slogan.)

The only computers were monstrous, whole floor-occupying vacuum-tube powered affairs, operated by the government or big businesses.  They had less computing power than the basic electronic wristwatch of today.  There were no displays – input and output were read through 80 column punch cards.  Typewriters were mostly manual – the IBM Selectric wouldn't be available until the 60's.

Movie matinees were 15 cents, but first you'd stop off at the candy store next door and load up on penny candy – that was really a penny per piece.  My fave was licorice twirls with the piece of hard candy in the middle.

Bridging into the '60s, I became more economically aware as I was growing into my teens and early adult years.  Houses cost around $10,000, new cars around $1500 to $2500.  Gas was 26 cents a gallon.  Minimum wage was around $1.60/hr.  I remember thinking in the mid sixties that if I could make $5.00/hr, I'd be sitting fat and sassy.

f If I'm giving the impression that I'm waxing nostalgic or missing "The Good Old Days" — well, maybe a little bit.

I do miss what small town America represented back then. The nuclear family, the limited borders of the town that I could ride my bicycle across and be in wilderness. The emphasis on music in the schools, not to mention real education of real topics. I miss the adherence to grammar and spelling of the age and the lack of profanity in the media. I miss a culture where kids were expected to get bumps and bruises and scrapes — where allowing your kid to ride their bicycle to school or explore the neighborhood wasn't tantamount to child neglect or endangerment.

But, "The Good Old Days" would never give me the opportunity to pursue the career I loved (software development) or satisfy my lifelong obsession with all things tech.

And, I don't miss the 10, to 20,000 mile vehicle life expectancy — my current vehicle, a 2013 VW Jetta TDI — has 130,000 miles and drives like new after 10 years.

Nor do I minimize the medical breakthroughs that have happened between here and there. Personally illustrative for me is the development of cardiac arterial stent technology. I experienced a hereditary blockage in my main descending artery back in my 50's. I had two stents placed then — applied through the wrist — they're still working just fine at 73.

My father, however, had the same condition at about the same age — he had to get a bypass, which is a much more invasive procedure, involving among other things, breaking a couple of ribs and a long recovery period in the hospital.

His brothers — all older — weren't so fortunate: before the 1960's a blockage in the descending cardiac artery was a death sentence. They all died in their 40's and 50's from the same hereditary malady.

Ultimately, I'm happy to be in this age, but I'm also very happy to have experienced the times of my boomer compatriots. I like to think that it gives me perspective and solid grounding from which to base observations and view the world.