THE CHEERLEADER is set in the 1955-1957 time frame.
1950s Lifestyle examples on this page include:
Fashions, Kitchen Staples, Home Improvement, Music, and Magazines
Also on this page: Related Pages List and 1950s Reference Books
MORE: Ruth shares memories of 1950s life: The Lot • Desks • Sawyer's * Aprons • The Silent Generation
1950s Fashions
In a survey of women who were teen-agers in the late 1950s the items they most remembered wearing were: crinolines, white bobby socks, plaid pleated skirts, shirtwaist dresses, Peter Pan collar inserts (a fabric band tucked intoa pullover sweater; the collow then laid neatly over the sweater); Shoes: saddle shoes, penny Loafers,ballerina flats. Also: twin sweater sets (a short-sleeve pullover with matching long-sleeve cardigan).
To learn more you might check these:
Book: Melinkoff, Ellen. WHAT WE WORE: AN OFFBEAT SOCIAL HISTORY OF WOMEN'S CLOTHING 1950-1980
Sewing patterns from the 1950s are widely available online. Using your preferred search engine, enter search terms such as "Simplicity sewing patterns 1955" ans scroll through the examples. Substitute "McCalls" or "Butterick" or "Vogue" for "Simplicity" to see a wider range as each company had itsown style preferences.
1950s Kitchen Staples
After World War II many new food trends that had been developped for use by the military were made available to the public. The availability of frozen foods led to heightened interest in acquiring either a home freezer or refrigerator/freezer combination; earlier refrigerators offered only a small freezer area designed to hold about two ice-cube trays. Ice cream pre-home freezer availability was purchased just before use or often hand-churned at home and packed in metal canisters in a salty ice-cube bath.
Packaged cake and dessert mixes were available; a new career opportunity for women was offered by the manufacturers of these products: develop new recipes in the manufacturers' test kitchens and then create ways to encourage homemakers to actually try them. There was often homemaker-resistance at first!
Decorative items based around a theme were popular; pictured is a "rooster colection" clock which Snowy's mother might have liked.
1950s Home Improvement
Ruth describes a few of Snowy's parents' home-improvement interests in THE CHEERLEADER and SNOWY. Golloeinh World War II Homeowners found a surprising array of colors available for exterior and interior paint jobs to accompany a wide selection of wallpapers and funishings fabrics . A selection of paint color options is shown below.
1950s Music
The year 1955 marked a major musical-preference shift: such tunes as Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" and Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle & Roll" represented the rock and roll tunes that began to dominate the "Hit Tunes of the Week" listings. Earlier 1950s hit tunes included more ballad-style tunes as music taste evolved out of the Big Band Era of the 1940s.
1950s teens–boys and girls–often had after-school jobs by 11th grade and some of that income went toward record purchases. In families with several teens it was common that a younger teen's collection would be nearly all rock 'n roll/rhythem-blues; Bill Haley's Comets, Elvis Presley, Little Richard. The older teen, only perhaops a year or two older, approaching high school graduation, had a collection featuring artists such as Johnny Mathis, Rosemary Clooney, Nat King Cole, and quartets like the Four Freshmen.
Hit tunes were sold as singles on 45 rpm records; a collection of an artist's hits would be sold on 33 rpm larger vinyls. The crossover between the two collections would often be very small; the change in musical taste was quite rapid.
If you're a musician and would like piano versions of 50s music there are books of sheet music still available; one example is Hal Leonard's SONGS OF THE FIFTIES.
1950s Magazines
Magazines were available by subscription, at news stands, and in stores. The magazine Seventeen was popular with teen girls (but awkward in size as the width of the magazine was wider than the average bookshelf); their moms read Woman's Day and Ladies' Home Journal, among others.
The entire family enjoyed Life, Look, National Geographic, and numerous magazines devoted to indivual sports and recreational activities.
Wall-Ceiling Latex Samples
Enamel Paint Samples
More in "Literary Pastimes"
Trivia Quizzes for THE CHEERLEADER, SNOWY, HENRIETTA SNOW, and THE HUSBAND BENCH, OR BEV'S BOOK
The Literary Pastimes Places section describes the actual places used as settings for the storylines in all nine titles in The Snowy Series.
The 1999 "Gunthwaite Tour" article and photos is HERE.
An anthology of essays, reflections, and travelogues, entitled "Bigger Than a Postcard, Smaller Than a Novel" includes several essays and short stories written by Ruth Doan MacDougall that briefly demonstrate several genres she has explored.
Suggested 1950s Reference Books
Something From the Oven by Laura Shapiro
Changes in American cooking after World War II. as products developed for the war effort became household staples, often accepted reluctantly at first by post-war housewives.
The Fifties by David Halberstam
A n American journalist's study of culture, lifestyles, attitudes, and motivations of people living in the USA during the 1950s decade.
The American Dream: the 50s by Editors at Time-Life
This easy-to-read coffee table-style book contains numerous photos, ranging form fun to serious.
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