Country Connections By James and Ellen Perry
A Once Upon a Time video on You Tube by Kenny Vance contains this verse in this beautiful song, “Once Upon a Time there was a Love Sent Down to Earth From Angels Above.” During the late ’50s and ’60s there were lots of Doo-Wop and country songs comparing girlfriends to angels. Try to record a song today that has angel or Biblical phrases and you will be run out of any recording studio in Nashville, LA, Dallas, New York or Chicago. Referring to a teenage girlfriend as an angel only happened once upon a time 70 years ago.
During the ’50s and early ’60s or “Once Upon a Time” in the spring a teenage boy’s fancy turned to thoughts of love. It was often compared to the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees. The two things every teenage boy had on his mind was that special girl and acquiring a car. Didn’t matter if it happened to be a Ford, a Chevy, maybe a Plymouth, Mercury, Dodge, Studebaker, Olds, Buick or Pontiac.
He hoped for a 2-door hardtop and if not a 2-door sedan. During this time, you could pick up a retired car usually parked somewhere around or behind a farm barn for maybe $50 or $75.After getting the car home you’d tune it up, change the 30-weight non-detergent oil, check and make sure the brakes worked, crank the engine, drive it around the road, and then take it to the creek and give it a good scrubbing.
New tires would have to wait until you decorated your jewel with moon or spinner hub caps, fender skirts and twin pipes with new glass pack mufflers. Now you’re ready to drive your new (old) car past your girlfriend’s house real slowly and hope she would see your steed. This acquisition opened up a whole new world for your love life. If her parents were fooled by your false sincerity and dependability and would let her go on Saturday night dates with you, then boy, what awaits your Saturday night expectations!
After riding around the local burger and shake for a few times to show off your girlfriend who was sitting so close that the lookers could not tell who was driving, it would be off to the local drive-in movie. You don’t care what movie was being shown because you had more action planned with your girlfriend in your car. The first date in your new (old) car with your first girlfriend would be a lot of being slapped or if luck held out a lot of what was known as making out.
During the ’50s and early ’60s there were two kinds of high school girls known to the high school boys. There were the “good girls” who were not asked on dates and then there were the “bad girls” who every boy knew their reputation as being ready for fun. The “bad girls” had dates almost every night and always wore a smile at high school.
Then there were the high school couples who had been sweethearts since elementary school and were dedicated to each other. Most of these couples were married to each other soon after graduating and remained so for their entire lives.
You high schoolers of today must remember that in the ’50s there were no Mickey D’s, Hardees, Bojangles or other fast-food joints in small town America. We had Blue Circle, Dairy Queen, Frosty Freeze and local drug stores. The drug stores had a grill and soda fountain with a juke box that played six songs for a quarter. There was no “class” distinction among the kids as everyone was considered to be on the same level.
High school girls during the ’50s wore mostly poodle skirts w/matching tops, culottes and loose-fitting jeans with saddle oxfords or Keds tennis shoes. In 1955-1956 the most popular color combo for girls and boys clothes was pink w/charcoal. The 1955-1956 Ford, Chevy and Plymouth cars sold well in these colors.
Boys wore blue jeans with plaid shirts and during summer wore t-shirts with the sleeves rolled up. To go from regular wear to dating attire you would take off your Keds and put on your penny loafers. Don’t forget your hair as you tried to wear it either as a flat top or similar to Elvis, The Everlys, or maybe Jack Scott. Very few boys tried to dress or comb their hair like Pat Boone.
By the way, almost all boys and girls as teenagers during the ’50s chewed gum. Spearmint, Doublemint, Dentyne, Fruit Stripe. Juicy Fruit, and the cool kats chewed Teaberry. All high school boys kept gum for their sweethearts. You didn’t want her being given gum by another boy.
A lot of teenage girls during the ’50s and early ’60s preferred bubble gum. You would see them blowing bubbles, then putting the bubble back through their lips and into their mouths, then immediately blowing another bubble. This became an art with girls. The most popular brands were Bazooka, Double Bubbles and Bubble Yum. During the ’50s, bubble gum sold for one penny each and every general store sold it. If you want to see teens chewing bubble gum go to You Tube and type in Dick Clark Beechnut Show (Full Episode) 1958 Watch and enjoy.
School jackets, FFA jackets and others would only be worn for maybe one day by a high school boy. On the first day they were taken over by your sweetheart as a sign to other girls that this jacket with my boyfriends name on the left breast means he belongs to me and I to him. So lay off or face me, as this jacket is a legal contract. Next!!
Upon receiving your senior school ring, the boy had to turn it over immediately to his girlfriend. She would put it on a chain and wear it around her neck. Another type of domination by your sweetheart to warn off other girls with an eye for her boyfriend and make her boyfriend toe the line. Elvis’ song “Wear My Ring Around Your Neck” pretty well explains this practice started by high school girls. By the way, I lost my FFA jacket to a girl I can’t remember and haven’t seen it since 1960.
Life for teens during the ’50s and early ’60s was great for teens. We had our music, rock-n-roll, doo-wop and country artists like Marty Robbins, Sonny James, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Patsy Cline, pop stars like Sarah Vaughn, Teresa Brewer and Pat Boone. We had calypso, folk and instrumentalists like Santo and Johnny, Floyd Kramer, The Ventures and Duanne Eddy.
The movie “Saturday Night Fever” did not portray a true picture of how we teenagers lived here in the south during the ’50s and ’60s. Very, very few boys had new or relatively new cars. Boys would scrounge up $50-$75 to buy an old late ’40s or early ’50s preferably Ford, Chevy, or any other car sitting behind a barn or in a field. We would buy it and get it running and then we had transportation.
At most high schools there would be maybe five to ten cars driven by high school boys. There might be one or two girls who had their own car then. That’s why boys wanted to drive their own old coupes, hardtops, and convertibles, as you always had a girlfriend on Saturday night dates. The movie showed races between t-bucket and hot rods, but this was mostly a California thing. No teen boy would be seen in a t-bucket and certainly would not get a date with one.
During the ’50s and late ’60s we were lucky, as we had our music and great old cars, our clothing, neat hairstyles, courtesy, responsibility, patriotism, work ethics and we thought a promising future.
Those were the good ole days.
See you next month.