Six 1950s Facts

Many years ago, I was listening to an episode of This American Life, during which Ira Glass explained that bats apparently have such sharp teeth that if you find one in your house with you, you have to go through rabies shots because there’s no way to tell if a bat has, in fact, bitten you. I feel like this is not correct, but Mr. Glass used such wonderful language when describing his education that it has stuck with me for over a decade. He said, “I learned about it, it freaked me out, and now I have to tell people.”

And so, here we are with 1950s factoids that I learned about. And now have to tell you.

1) Dress codes were entrenched in law, and “crossdressing” was illegal. Much like what the GOP is trying to do now across America, people of the binary genders were not legally allowed to wear certain clothes, and any behavior that was deemed “deviant” could result in a strip search (to ensure that one was wearing the “proper” garments all the way down), fines, and jail time.

2) Sneaker companies didn’t make athletic shoes specifically for women until the 1980s. It was the Reebok Freestyle, fyi. Girls participated in sports or athletics while wearing saddle shoes, by and large.

3) Though we think of “Coney Island” as all one amusement park now, it actually is a conglomeration of several amusement companies. Back in the day, that included rides like a parachute jump and a roller coaster made up of wooden horses you just rode across a track without any sort of safety bumpers or even a seatbelt.