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The Fabulous Fifties
When someone mentions the 1950s, what images come to mind? "Grease"? Poodle skirts? James Dean? Bill Haley and His Comets? Hula Hoops? "The Girl from Ipanema"? Like any other decade, there was a lot happening in the Fifties. Want to know what really happened?
The Fifties Web (http://www.fiftiesweb.com/) is a great source for all aspects of popular culture of the decade. Despite a lot of ads and poor navigation, this is a great starting point for anyone interested in this time period. Use the links on the left-hand side of the page to get to the sections on fashion, slang, a timeline of pop history and more.
Mr. PopHistory—1950s Week by Week (http://www.mrpophistory.com/1950s_popculture_index.htm) provides a much more detailed timeline. The Web site is still a work in progress, but the pages that have been completed offer a thorough look at the happenings, prices, television ratings, ads and photographs of that particular week.
For the music lovers who want to go beyond Fifties rock, there is Space Age Pop (http://www.spaceagepop.com/), which covers everything from "space age bachelor pad music" to "exotica" to "the now sound." If those terms don't ring any bells, this is that kitschy and oddly addictive music you find in the LP collections of your grandparents or the better garage sales. The names may not be familiar, but the sounds will be. The Web site boasts an exhaustive trove of information about its subgenres, its musicians and composers, the writers of the liner notes and much more. There also are 13 selected tracks for your listening pleasure.
Every decade has its share of ephemera—materials that were not meant to last, such as magazine advertisements, pamphlets or catalogs—and the Fifties was no exception. These items can be entertaining, as well as illuminating to look at. Plan59.com (http://www.plan59.com/) is devoted to retro advertising images. There are several categories for easy browsing: cars, wagons, photographs, trucks, décor, old ads, food and my personal favorite, "demonic tots." Click on the thumbnails for the whole image. If you want to view the pictures as a slide show, continue to click on the images to advance the next one.
Truth in Advertising: A Collection of Vintage Cigarette Advertisements from the Age of Innocence (http://www.chickenhead.com/truth/1950s.html) takes us back to a time when the tobacco industry was virtually unregulated. The Web site offers up 24 different cigarette ads from the 1950s. Simply click on the thumbnails to view them.
For more information about this fascinating period, do a keyword search on "fifties" in BISON—UB Libraries Catalog (http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/bison/).
—Michelle L. Zafron, University Libraries