By Louis A. Zona
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – When I think back to cultural life in the 1950s, what comes to mind immediately is the lighthearted music that filled that decade.
Lyrics to a song by the Playmates says it all: “What is love … five feet of heaven in a ponytail.”
The Playmates also gave us the automobile-themed novelty song “Beep Beep.”
What also comes to mind is “American Graffiti,” the 1973 movie about the ‘50s starring Richard Dreyfus and Ron Howard. It was an accurate portrayal of the rock ’n’ roll and automobile drag races that were so much a part of the teen culture that the movie presents.
And while we’re on the topic of movies about that decade, let’s check out “A Christmas Story,” which I would swear is a glimpse back to my early teen memories. It’s about one Christmas season with a family, including two brothers who want Santa to do the right thing, their dad’s obsession with a suggestive lamp and mom’s frustration in balancing it all. I’m sure that everyone living in the early 1950s saw their own faces on that street in Cleveland where the movie was filmed.
The cultural significance of the arts in the ‘50s cannot be overstated.
As a student who viewed that decade from within, and without, I join the legions of fellow post-World War II folks in reminding all that the ‘50s, lighthearted or not, laid the groundwork for significant accomplishments in the ‘60s and beyond. These include the moon landing and the development of a polio and other vaccines that would have prevented the deaths of millions of young people such as my young neighbor, Dennis Vetica.
I remember as if it were yesterday a doctor and a nurse coming to my elementary school to give me and fellow classmates shots that very possibly saved my life and that of millions of other young people.
America has shared its culture with millions of movie, music, theater and art lovers.
It has given the world painters and sculptors that have transformed art museum holdings and historical studies. It’s a culture that gave the world such artistic genius as Jackson Pollock, Willem De Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns among hundreds of Abstract Expressionist stars.
Interestingly, the decade that spawned music stars such as Dave Brubeck also gave us painting master Jackson Pollock.
A British friend of mine loves to share some of the peculiarities that happen around the holidays, particularly Christmas, and its impact upon the “telly” at that time of the year.
I found it amusing that it is a tradition for many across the pond to watch movies starring Steve McQueen.
Now, what do the films of McQueen have to do with Christmas? Who knows. I guess you’ll need to ask a Brit or two to come up with an answer.
All I know about the strange custom I learned from my British friend. And why would I lie? I happen to like the British people very much. I’m not crazy about their brand of football although their sport of rugby might be more physical than American football.
I am reminded of a bumper sticker that reads “Rugby players eat their dead!”
Another strange television custom in England is to watch “Highway Patrol” on certain holidays.
That’s all I know about this rather strange custom. But hey, at least we gave the British actor Broderick Crawford, who starred in the show. They, in turn, gave us Mr. Bean, aka actor Rowan Atkinson. A fair trade … I think.
Something that I know for sure is that the Pop Art painting movement that came out of the 1960s was based on America’s popular culture. It was not born in England, as British scholars sometimes claim.
Pop Art draws from everything from rock ’n’ roll music to U.S. highway road signs to television programming. British artists were simply inspired by American Pop Art practitioners such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist and Robert Indiana.