MOVIES

Up to the 1960s, a stringent "Production Code" dictated what could (and could not) be shown in a Hollywood motion picture. Kisses on film were timed and a commode, for example, could not be shown.

A film, such as Warner Brothers' "Baby Doll", extremely tame by today's standards, was considered "dirty" in December 1956 and was banned to such a degree that it was shown in very few cinematic venues.

The code began to crack in the late 1950s. In 1968, as films became more explicit, a rating system was assembled by the Motion Picture Association of America; G - All ages admitted, M - Parental discretion advised, R - Those under 17 not admitted without parent or adult guardian and X - Those under 17 not admitted.

This system was revised in 1970, when the M rating was altered to GP. Unfortunately, GP was widely regarded to indicate "general public". It was revised again, in 1972, to read PG (parental guidance suggested).

MUSIC

In the early period mid-century years, the standard "Top 40" AM station (FM was still a novelty) would play a variety of music. Things were not like today, when every song and artist is categorized, homegenized and pigeon-holed into a specific genre...with radio stations also being highly genre-specific.

Back then, you would have the standard pop vocal tunes by Al Martino or Kay Starr. Instrumentals were quite in vogue. Tunes such as "The Poor People of Paris" (Les Baxter-1956), "Wonderland By Night" (Bert Kaempfert-1961) or "Love Is Blue" (Paul Mauriat ["mary-ahht"]-1968) hit the Billboard number one spot.

DJ's would also throw in a cross-over Country and Western song now and then, such as "Ring of Fire" (Johnny Cash-1963) or "Harper Valley PTA" (Jeannie C. Riley-1968)...and even a jazz tune or two, such as "Take 5" (Dave Brubek Quartet-1961) or "Desafinado" ["day-zaf-uh-nah-dow"] (Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd-1962).

Before the advent of "Rock and Roll" in 1955, there were the various girl and guy groups; i.e., The Andrews Sisters, Four Lads, McGuire Sisters and Ames Brothers, to name a few. Rock and roll changed things a lot in the late '50s and early '60s.

Things changed more when the "Fab Four" came along, from Liverpool, in January 1964...and changed even more when the recording industry experienced its largest growth period ever, in the late 1960s. This was due to the record buying habits of the emerging "Baby Boom" generation.

The entire recording industry was reoriented away from its former emphasis on mature, martini-set music (of the older generation) toward the "together", "with it" sounds of those on the younger side of the "Generation Gap".

RECORDS AND TAPES

A music purchase at the nearby shopping mall National Record Mart, Sam Goody or Camelot would consist of 33 or 45 rpm vinyl discs or (for the audiophile) pre-recorded reel-to-reel tapes. In 1962, the 4-track cartridge tape made the first practical car audio possible.

This format was proceeded by the 8-track format, which had been introduced in 1965 and had become the prerecorded tape standard by 1968.

The 2-channel, "stereophonic" LP record was first mass-marketed in 1958. In 1969, things advanced to four channels, or "quadraphonic" sound, with the first 4-channel, prerecorded reel-to-reel tapes.

These were followed, in 1970, by the first "matrix quadraphonic" LPs, utilizing either the "SQ" (Columbia-Sony) or "QS" (ABC-Sansui) systems, and by "Quad-8" 8-track cartridge tapes from Capital Records. RCA-JVC countered all of these with the 1973 introduction of its "discrete quadraphonic" format, known as "CD-4" or "Quadradisc".

The three competing -and non-compatible with one another- systems duked it out through the remainder of the 1970s, with none emerging victorious in the end. Quad Sound was a passing fad by the advent of the digital, compact disc, in 1982.

HOME APPLIANCES

The electric or gas range was essentially the same in 1947 and 1997. The first microwave oven appeared in 1947, but this appliance did not become a standard fixture in the home intil the 1980s.

The typical electric refrigerator was quite a bit different in the mid-century than it is today. Although "frost-free" models became available in 1952, they were something of a novelty for years thereafter.

Back in the days, your mom would have to spend hours "defrosting" the conventional, non-frost-free 'fridge. All food in the freezer compartment would have to be removed. The task of getting rid of several inches of ice that had accumulated on the inside walls of the freezer was a tedious, messy chore.

This was done (carefully) with an ice pick or (haphazardly) with several splashes of warm water onto the affected parts. Of course, the thawing, dripping mess would need to be mopped up several times during the defrosting ordeal...which had to be done every couple of months.

Another mid-century housewife-type drudgery would be doing the family laundry. Only the more well-to-do would enjoy the luxury of owning a new-fangled automatic washer and dryer. Everyone else would have probably bought their wringer-type washing machine at the local shopping center Sears or "Monkey Wards".

The first automatic washer was marketed, by Hotpoint, in 1949. Up to then, and into the late 1960s, the wringer washer, such as the Maytag Master seen here, was the modern way to launder your clothes.

The wringer washer was manually filled with water, using a garden hose. With dirty laundry in place inside the tub of the machine and detergent added, an agitator lever, or button, would be flipped "on". Mom could agitate the clothes for as long as desired, but there was no "automatic" setting.

When the clothes had been agitated sufficiently, every piece had to be run between the two rubber rollers of the wringer aparatus. Many a time, a kid would get their hand or arm caught in the wringer, causing an emergency situation for the family.

The wringed-out clothing would then go into a seperate tub of rinse water and then be run though the wringer a second time. Then, everything would need to be hung out to dry on the typical, backyard clothes line.

With clothes all dried and taken down, mom would have to spend at least a couple more hours ironing everything. With all that was entailed with homemaking in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, is it any wonder that it was highly unusual for anyone's mom to work a regular job back then?

SUBURBS AND HOUSES

After World War II drew to a close in 1945, America experienced an economic boom, the likes of which has not been witnessed before or since. An enormous housing shortage created the need for large-scale, suburban housing developments.

The "Pre-Fab" (pre-fabricated tract house) became the norm. One would have a plat with -maybe- one thousand houses all being built at the same time...or at least in rapid succession. These would surely consist of only four different models; the oblong ranch with picture window, the oblong ranch with bay window, the L-shaped ranch (with neither) or the "split" or "tri" level.

These large, outlying developments, and the new freeways linking them with the center city, necessitated the suburban shopping center or mall presently held so near and dear. Let us now explore this mid-20th century, merchandising manifestation.