Wife of the 60's (50's?)

[rydia57]

Was fantasizing this morning thinking a friend of mine was born in the wrong era and wondered on a storyline about a housewife of the late 50's or early 60's who this guy married to take care of his home , just about. She is not able to leave the home and she does the housework,but most of the time she's bored. She has the tv but it's not enough... and the only time she's able to leave the house is when her hubby takes her shopping for groceries. I don't know are there huge things about this era I'd have to be historically correct on? Otherwise I'm curious about it and wanted to know if it sounded... interesting. Opinions?

 

[only_more_so]

Was fantasizing this morning thinking a friend of mine was born in the wrong era and wondered on a storyline about a housewife of the late 50's or early 60's who this guy married to take care of his home , just about. She is not able to leave the home and she does the housework,but most of the time she's bored. She has the tv but it's not enough... and the only time she's able to leave the house is when her hubby takes her shopping for groceries. I don't know are there huge things about this era I'd have to be historically correct on? Otherwise I'm curious about it and wanted to know if it sounded... interesting. Opinions?

Don't forget that things like cooking dinner and cleaning the house took a lot longer than they do now. The cleaning products now are better and we have things like non-stick pans and microwaves.

I would think she would do the shopping on her own, but if he did take her he would do something else while she shopped. And shopping for food was done much more often since there weren't the preservatives and the shipping methods. Also shopping meant going to many different stores, the grocer, the butcher, etc.

 

[rydia57]

Don't forget that things like cooking dinner and cleaning the house took a lot longer than they do now. The cleaning products now are better and we have things like non-stick pans and microwaves.

I would think she would do the shopping on her own, but if he did take her he would do something else while she shopped. And shopping for food was done much more often since there weren't the preservatives and the shipping methods. Also shopping meant going to many different stores, the grocer, the butcher, etc.

I thought about the food and shopping first, but I didn't figure many women got out as much then, my grandmother said she never learned to drive. I'm getting more intrigued about this as i think about it...

 

[only_more_so]

I thought about the food and shopping first, but I didn't figure many women got out as much then, my grandmother said she never learned to drive. I'm getting more intrigued about this as i think about it...

Well, I suppose it depends on where you set the story. If the family lives in the city or a "small town", then chances are all the shopping places are within walking distance (which might be further than you think) and riding the bus wasn't as sketchy as it is today. If the story is out on a farm or something, then the wife has even more work to do and much of the food would be raised locally.

 

[emap]

What only said.

However, there are many things he left out, a housewife of the 50's not only cooked and cleaned, she would walk to the store, most households only had one car if that. She would walk home with paperbags because many stores of the time were not huge like they are now, they were small and freindly.

Also, most women did not learn how to drive because that was a man's job, the guy brought home the money and drove everyone on the weekends, after that, he just sat on the sofa watched TV or read the newspaper. Going out to eat wasn't really something done unless you are a teenager, then it was always Friday night, and the boyfriend drove or you walked.

Unlike now, most everyone walked unless they had a good job or owned a store, bicycles were for kids, so anyone over 12 walked for the most part. Adults on bicycles happened, but mainly in the really big cities, Chicago and New York for example.

Fun really revolved around baseball, kids were always playing it in the streets or the park, there were parks everywhere.

Oh and of course mom, was always dressed nicely, usually the same dress day in and day out, except Sunday's, only time everybody really got together even, church. Before and after church, the kids were out playing, mom was cooking or cleaning and dad was reading the paper.

In many ways, the 50"s was the best time to be alive in the US, in others, not really, microwaves were something used in a restaurant or the rich, vacuum and the duster were the end all be all of cleaning supplies outside of the sink, sponges or towels were your choices in the sink, and it would be rare to eat something pre made for dinner. Usually the wife was stuck with doing everything to the food, no predone up spice bottles, usually had to cut a bit of green off your meats when you were about ready to go to the store. Really, 50's you have to take out everythign we have besides corded telephone's, vacuums, though realy big and heavy, Television though black and white, and cars, everything else was future item or just coming out.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Actually, in the 50's the stores were more of the corner variety. The large grocery chains didn't exist like they do today. Safeway and Winn Dixie were around, but they were quite small. "Going downtown" was a big thing. You "dressed up" to go there on the bus or trolley. It was quite a big deal.

Women where not "house slaves" the way I'm reading this. They had neighborhood social clubs and gatherings. The upper classes had the country club, of course, but that is something I know nothing about. What do rich people do?

Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Brownies, Camp Fire Girls etc were big as was the PTA. I remember my mother relating stories of the community lodges.

Kitchens didn't have all the modern conviences. Dishwashers didn't appear in common use until 1957 or 58. Trash compactors were unknown. Electric and Gas ranges were simple afairs - Hi, Med, Low... that was it. Refrigerators had developed to something that looked like modern units, except they were single door with an ice tray panel at the top inside, which cooled the entire unit. There were television sets, but they were big, clunky, black and white things that were a centeral piece of furniture more than anything. Every one had AM radios - generally more than one.

All electrical wiring was copper with rubber insulation wrapped with cloth. The circuits were all two wire, not three. Electrical appliances (toasters, heaters, irons) were the same. Electrical panels had screw in fuses. Water heaters rarely had pressure relief valves and occasionally one would explode. Relief valves were not required by ICBO until 1953, but it took about 20 years to convert all the existing.

Houses typically had one bathroom with a ceiling light and a light over the medicine chest. Gillette double-edged blades were the most common and medicine chests came with a slot in the back where you disposed of used blades. Construction practices were structurally the same as today, but the materials were different. Sub siding and sub floors very often were "ship lap" or tongue and groove fir. Finished floors were quarter sawn oak, tongue and groove fir or white pine. Kitchens were linolium (the real stuff - not vinyl) while bathrooms were floored with either linolium or ceramic tile. Wainscoatings around lav sinks and bathtubs were always tile until well into the 60's. Most homes had area rugs in the living and dining rooms. Wall to wall carpeting was unusual.

Cars were usually six cylinder Fords, Plymouths or Chevys. You did see Oldsmobiles, Caddys and so on, but they were unusual. Most cars were stick shifts (three on the tree), however, the automatic was gaining popularity by the mid 50's. This was popular with women and led to mobility for them.

The most poignent thing, at least, here on the west coast, was everything was smaller. You lived only a few miles from downtown (maybe 20 min on the bus), neighbors all knew each other and people didn't lock their doors. Downtown was important because that's where all the clothing, furniture and like stores were at. Malls were not known. Here they had the first mall in 1958 and it really took about 2 more years to get that idea down right.

Women wore gloves (for shit sake) and some pretty dumb ass hats. Day dresses most often were sleeveless with full skirts that came down to mid calf. Evening dress and business dress often were tight skirts, belted at the waist, but still hemmed at mid calf with a blouse and matching short jacket.

I'm not sure what else you'd want to know, Rydia. If you want to know something, just ask. I've done a lot of research on that period.

 

[snooper]

The major difference in interpersonal relations you have all omitted to mention was the PILL.

Until that became widely available late in the 60's women had really very little control over contraception. The "Dutch Cap" was available, but many doctors would not prescribe it for unmarried women. This left the woman heavily dependent on the man for contraception.

An unmarried pregnancy was the cause of certain ostracism from all polite society, and some young women were incarcerated in institutions for the mentally unfit simply for getting pregnant.


Footnote on Microwaves:
Briefly, in 1947 the first microwave oven, the Radarange was built. It was almost 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 750 pounds (340 kg). It was water-cooled and consumed 3000 watts of power, about three times as much as today's microwave ovens. An early commercial model introduced in 1954 generated 1600 watts and sold for $2,000 to $3,000. A large, 220 volt, wall unit as a home microwave oven was produced in 1955 for a price of $1,295, but it did not sell well. In 1965 Amana introduced the first popular home model, the countertop Radarange in 1967 at a price point of $495. And remember those were 1950's and 60's prices, not today's equivalent.

 

[sirhugs]

Snoops's note is instructive, as usual.. Another major change in the mid 60's was the proliferation of labour saving devices. Automatic washing machines, dishwashers, especially, freed up housewives from hours per week of household drudgery (if you have never used a wringer washer, you don't understand what doing laundry was all about).

Even easy care fabrics made a huge difference.

 

[only_more_so]

Snoops's note is instructive, as usual.. Another major change in the mid 60's was the proliferation of labour saving devices. Automatic washing machines, dishwashers, especially, freed up housewives from hours per week of household drudgery (if you have never used a wringer washer, you don't understand what doing laundry was all about).

Even easy care fabrics made a huge difference.

Actually, that time period could be the perfect setting for the bored housewife. Her husband does her the favor of buying her all these time saving devices, and now she finds herself out of work, essentially.

 

[snooper]

... if you have never used a wringer washer, you don't understand what doing laundry was all about ...

What's a wringer washer? Is that one of those new-fangled electric thingummies that I heard about. They'll never catch on compared with a proper wash tub and a mangle.


http://uk.geocities.com/charmbrights/Mangle.JPG

 

[sirhugs]

What's a wringer washer? Is that one of those new-fangled electric thingummies that I heard about. They'll never catch on compared with a proper wash tub and a mangle.


http://uk.geocities.com/charmbrights/Mangle.JPG

after you are done washing the dishes in the creek?

 

[bareman]

Another major omission from mention here, as far as day-today life was concerned, was ironing. That was a chore that took up a large portion of the average housewife's time, as well. Permanent press didn't become commonly available until the mid-60's (as I remember it), and my mother spent a lot of time standing at the ironing board. Everything except underwear and socks got ironed, including bed sheets. That was a never-ending chore for my Mom.

It was a pretty good time to be a kid, though. I grew up in a small town in the midwest, and there were always baseball and football games going on in the neighborhood, nearby creeks and woods to explore, and the imagination was free to roam endlessly. One of my favorite games was "soldier"...my buddies and I were always heroes, and I usually had female captives (in my imagination). Hmmm...kind of enlightening, now that I think about it. LOL

 

[snooper]

after you are done washing the dishes in the creek?

Of course not. Everyone had running water in the house, and some of us had running hot water from a gas powered device above the sink. The gas also provided the lighting for us until about 1948 when electricity was installed. The wireless (now called "radio") was powered by a large battery and a low voltage acid cell which the local garage used to recharge from time to time. And we also had a battery powered TV built in 1936.

 

[snooper]

... Everything except underwear and socks got ironed, ...

You poor neglected child. My mother ironed everythig she could lay her hands on wqith a flat iron that was heated on the cooker.

 

[emap]

Oh yes contraceptives I forgot about. Though bad snoopy, you forgot condoms, they were found in most drug stores in the US during the 50's.

Which oddly enough was always a rather heated argument among the parents, little Johnny or little May would 'never ever do such a thing until marriage.' Course the funniest part being Little Johnny or little May were conceived before marriage by and large.

Of course mid to late 50's is something of a golden age for lookout point, where ever it happens to have been in your town. The baby boom having started in 1942, mid to late 50's is when all those kids turned old enough to want and look for sex in more than oh she/he is hot ways.

Jenny the rich did the same things as the poorer, just in nicer looking places and grander names for the same thing.

For an example, book clubs, a middle classed or lower book club is just that, a book club. If you look at the rich, they have a book club, it's not a book club, it's Ladies Group for the Betterment of Intelligence. And not kidding, there was one called that exact thing in Piladelphia I think it was, they got together sat around talked and discussed books.

 

[rydia57]

Actually, in the 50's the stores were more of the corner variety. The large grocery chains didn't exist like they do today. Safeway and Winn Dixie were around, but they were quite small. "Going downtown" was a big thing. You "dressed up" to go there on the bus or trolley. It was quite a big deal.

Women where not "house slaves" the way I'm reading this. They had neighborhood social clubs and gatherings. The upper classes had the country club, of course, but that is something I know nothing about. What do rich people do?

Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Brownies, Camp Fire Girls etc were big as was the PTA. I remember my mother relating stories of the community lodges.

Kitchens didn't have all the modern conviences. Dishwashers didn't appear in common use until 1957 or 58. Trash compactors were unknown. Electric and Gas ranges were simple afairs - Hi, Med, Low... that was it. Refrigerators had developed to something that looked like modern units, except they were single door with an ice tray panel at the top inside, which cooled the entire unit. There were television sets, but they were big, clunky, black and white things that were a centeral piece of furniture more than anything. Every one had AM radios - generally more than one.

All electrical wiring was copper with rubber insulation wrapped with cloth. The circuits were all two wire, not three. Electrical appliances (toasters, heaters, irons) were the same. Electrical panels had screw in fuses. Water heaters rarely had pressure relief valves and occasionally one would explode. Relief valves were not required by ICBO until 1953, but it took about 20 years to convert all the existing.

Houses typically had one bathroom with a ceiling light and a light over the medicine chest. Gillette double-edged blades were the most common and medicine chests came with a slot in the back where you disposed of used blades. Construction practices were structurally the same as today, but the materials were different. Sub siding and sub floors very often were "ship lap" or tongue and groove fir. Finished floors were quarter sawn oak, tongue and groove fir or white pine. Kitchens were linolium (the real stuff - not vinyl) while bathrooms were floored with either linolium or ceramic tile. Wainscoatings around lav sinks and bathtubs were always tile until well into the 60's. Most homes had area rugs in the living and dining rooms. Wall to wall carpeting was unusual.

Cars were usually six cylinder Fords, Plymouths or Chevys. You did see Oldsmobiles, Caddys and so on, but they were unusual. Most cars were stick shifts (three on the tree), however, the automatic was gaining popularity by the mid 50's. This was popular with women and led to mobility for them.

The most poignent thing, at least, here on the west coast, was everything was smaller. You lived only a few miles from downtown (maybe 20 min on the bus), neighbors all knew each other and people didn't lock their doors. Downtown was important because that's where all the clothing, furniture and like stores were at. Malls were not known. Here they had the first mall in 1958 and it really took about 2 more years to get that idea down right.

Women wore gloves (for shit sake) and some pretty dumb ass hats. Day dresses most often were sleeveless with full skirts that came down to mid calf. Evening dress and business dress often were tight skirts, belted at the waist, but still hemmed at mid calf with a blouse and matching short jacket.

I'm not sure what else you'd want to know, Rydia. If you want to know something, just ask. I've done a lot of research on that period.

Whoa whoa, Jen, you sound like you have your own little temperal flux going there.... not to be obvious but could I borrow you to check my obvious time mistakes when I finish? I'm already getting turned on writing this.

You got me on the town tho... I need her to be a housewife soooo... she's like my aunt who never left the house unless it was for food or her husband took her out.

 

[rydia57]

The major difference in interpersonal relations you have all omitted to mention was the PILL.

Until that became widely available late in the 60's women had really very little control over contraception. The "Dutch Cap" was available, but many doctors would not prescribe it for unmarried women. This left the woman heavily dependent on the man for contraception.

An unmarried pregnancy was the cause of certain ostracism from all polite society, and some young women were incarcerated in institutions for the mentally unfit simply for getting pregnant.


Footnote on Microwaves:
Briefly, in 1947 the first microwave oven, the Radarange was built. It was almost 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 750 pounds (340 kg). It was water-cooled and consumed 3000 watts of power, about three times as much as today's microwave ovens. An early commercial model introduced in 1954 generated 1600 watts and sold for $2,000 to $3,000. A large, 220 volt, wall unit as a home microwave oven was produced in 1955 for a price of $1,295, but it did not sell well. In 1965 Amana introduced the first popular home model, the countertop Radarange in 1967 at a price point of $495. And remember those were 1950's and 60's prices, not today's equivalent.

Nope, there are no contraceptives involved in this story either. That's part of what he married her for... gad, maybe outside of a larger but not major city? That sounds ok. Oh, saw that thing on the history of the microwave on the food channel. It's fun to watch! I got a baby question, how soon after you become pregnant, can you get pregnant again?

 

[only_more_so]

Nope, there are no contraceptives involved in this story either. That's part of what he married her for... gad, maybe outside of a larger but not major city? That sounds ok. Oh, saw that thing on the history of the microwave on the food channel. It's fun to watch! I got a baby question, how soon after you become pregnant, can you get pregnant again?

Well, Irish twins are when babies are born within a year of each other, and that happens often enough there is a nickname for it. I've heard of 10 month separation, so it can happen pretty quickly.

 

[snooper]

Oh yes contraceptives I forgot about. Though bad snoopy, you forgot condoms, they were found in most drug stores in the US during the 50's. ...

I don't know about the US, but in the UK no respectable woman could have bought condoms and survived the gossip in the UK. That is why I said

This left the woman heavily dependent on the man for contraception.

Incidentally, most men in the UK bought theirs at the barber's (hairdresser's) when they got their hair cut, or when they "just dropped in". The magic phrase was "Something for the weekend, sir?"

 

[emap]

Oh the drug store did ask that, for older men, teenagers had to go up and ask and turn all sorts of reds.

Women of course couldn't ask for condoms, the druggist always seemed to be married and his wife always worked with him, and she practically had the phone attached to her hip.

In many ways same set up as in England, in others, way different.

 

[rydia57]

Another major omission from mention here, as far as day-today life was concerned, was ironing. That was a chore that took up a large portion of the average housewife's time, as well. Permanent press didn't become commonly available until the mid-60's (as I remember it), and my mother spent a lot of time standing at the ironing board. Everything except underwear and socks got ironed, including bed sheets. That was a never-ending chore for my Mom.

It was a pretty good time to be a kid, though. I grew up in a small town in the midwest, and there were always baseball and football games going on in the neighborhood, nearby creeks and woods to explore, and the imagination was free to roam endlessly. One of my favorite games was "soldier"...my buddies and I were always heroes, and I usually had female captives (in my imagination). Hmmm...kind of enlightening, now that I think about it. LOL

I never had so much fun writing about doing housework. In RL you'd have to put a gun on me to iron. That iron you were talking about my father has a really old one he uses as a doorstop. It's late 50's (1959 I guess) so glad to not use a pump!

 

[Fantasies_only]

The instant oven (outside of E-Z Bake) may have been born early, but the use of microwave radiation was still undiscovered, and is more likely to be a gamma ray (AKA X-Ray) oven, which fuled Stan Lee's imagination.

By the way, a ringer and a washer are two separate items.
A ringer (as in put through the) is basically a clamp that squeezes the excess water into a pail.

A washer is like a flattened bottle cap often found in a toolbox.

A washboard (a big wooden cheese grater for clothes) is what you are probably thinking of.

 

[rydia57]

The instant oven (outside of E-Z Bake) may have been born early, but the use of microwave radiation was still undiscovered, and is more likely to be a gamma ray (AKA X-Ray) oven, which fuled Stan Lee's imagination.

By the way, a ringer and a washer are two separate items.
A ringer (as in put through the) is basically a clamp that squeezes the excess water into a pail.

A washer is like a flattened bottle cap often found in a toolbox.

A washboard (a big wooden cheese grater for clothes) is what you are probably thinking of.

Being a long ways from a large city.... I haven't decided which, but I'm guessing she's gonna have to use a wood stove, or gas, only going with what you guys said about electricity then. Getting a little difficult on the historical parts.

 

[Fantasies_only]

Being a long ways from a large city.... I haven't decided which, but I'm guessing she's gonna have to use a wood stove, or gas, only going with what you guys said about electricity then. Getting a little difficult on the historical parts.

Either just before or durring the time you write your story, go to an Amish community or an old fashioned town that doesn't use electricity.
After 6 weeks of that, you will get some real good ideas.

 

[snooper]

... Getting a little difficult on the historical parts.

That's what is so difficult about historical settings - there is a lot of research involved. This is even more so when the period is recent enough to be within the living memory of a goodly portion of your readers, but not of yourself.

Remember "The past is a foreign land; they do things differently there".