John Wayne was a star of science fiction films'

1

• John Wayne was a star of science fiction films.
• TRUE/FALSE
• Which is the other major US political party,
  apart from the Democrats?
• Ed Sullivan had a prime time TV show in the
  1950s.
• TRUE/FALSE
• Lucille Ball was the star of which TV show?
• It was fashionable for 1950s American women to
  wear trousers.
• TRUE/FALSE
• Name a womens magazine in the USA in the 1950s.
• What type of articles would it include?

2
wheels
chick
square
Far out
creep
wheels
Bid deal
drip
daddyo
cool
coolsville
loser
weirdo
kooky
Real gone
3

• Teenagers

Title
Focus

• What was the teen culture of early 1950s USA?

4
Teenagers in 1950s America. The ideal was that
"everyone" was middle class. The reality was that
1/4 of the population was living in poverty. The
ideal was that all women stayed at home with
their children. The reality was that a growing
number of women, married with children, were
working for wages. 60 stayed at home. The ideal
was that they lived in a democracy. The reality
was that African-Americans were beginning to
challenge the injustice of white society through
the civil rights movement. The ideal was the
children were junior members in a world where
"Father Knows Best." The reality is that they
doing shocking things like listening to rock 'n
roll and other things that appalled their
parents.
Ideal Teenagers
5
Teen Culture This is the lifestyle, fashions,
ideas and attitudes common amongst the YOUTH.
By youth we mean 13 19 year olds. In the 1950s
the word teenager was invented by advertising
companies to describe a new type of customer that
they wanted to target. The increased wealth of
the USA had spread to many white American
families and as a result their children also
benefited. Many were given Advertisers competed
with one another to attract these young people
and get them to buy their product. lots of pocket
money and others had part time or Saturday jobs.
6

• TEENAGE REBELS, JUVENILE DELINQUENTS, YOUTH
  CULTURE
• All these names were used to describe the teens
  at the time but in many ways they were not as
  rebellious as either they or their parents
  thought.
• Like their parents though teenagers from middle
  class families were more wealthy than they had
  been in previous generations and this meant that
  they were more able to express their dislike of
  their parents popular culture than other
  generations had been.
• So how did they do this? Teenagers meant to shock
  their elders to show them that they didnt just
  go along with their efforts to make the perfect
  apple pie world.
• Fashion
• Behaviour and attitude
• By getting involved with groups and ideas that
  their parents did not approve of.
• language

7
Teen age boys grew their hair longer and went for
a more messy look. This was different from the
traditional short back and sides.
8
One rebel look is shown here by Marlon Brando.
Jeans (work wear) with motorbike jacket and t
shirt. The makers of Grease got the look right.
The look with girls was less rebellious but they
also wore jeans (shocking) and instead of cute
girlie blouses they wore shirt styles. Pencil
skirts were elegant but you couldn't dance to
rock and roll in them.
9
Wealth

• Compared to previous teenagers, 1950s teenagers
  were rich
• Mid-1950s 16.5m teenagers buying
• 40 radios, records and cameras
• gt 50 cinema tickets
• 9 new cars
• Jobs hamburger joints