Suburban Living in the 1960's!
Pour gin and vermouth into a cocktail shaker with cracked ice. Stir or shake if your Bond. Strain and serve in a chilled classic Martini glass. Garnish.
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The American Heritage Dictionary defines the Cold War as thus:
cold war or Cold War n.
A kid growing up in the suburban Patio Culture would consider the Cold War as a heck of a lot of fun! It’s not that the nuclear holocaust is a light-hearted subject, it’s just that when you’re seven years old it doesn’t seem to be high on your worry list. By the mid-1960s the “duck and cover” drills had been abandoned in my school district. I never saw it. Maybe by then, the government figured out that it was pretty much a useless gesture. Instead, if you were a kid (especially a boy) what you saw were the sleek fighter jets that inhabited the local airbases which were plentiful in Texas. Clear blue skies were laced with numerous contrails and the suburban buzz was often punctuated with sonic booms. Here are a few icons of the Cold War as I saw it.
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For the most part, Suburbia was a happy place. Kids safely roamed the streets and the sound of laughter filled the air. But then…there was the dark side! Kids could compensate for being on the low end of the human social ladder by imposing power onto even lower orders of creatures. Oh no…not anything that could lick your face and cause joy, not to anything that belonged to the class Mammalia. No, the poor hapless creatures of choice for suburban children (and children worldwide) were insects and other assorted creepy crawlies!
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Once I actually got to BE on TV! As a birthday treat some other kids and I got to appear on Miss Carol’s Clubhouse, a local black and white kid’s show at KXII-TV, Sherman, Texas. Like most kid shows, we were seated on risers and were asked questions as the camera zoomed in for the response.
Since it was an afternoon show cartoons were played between the live segments. Recollection of our on-air comments is hazy, but by judging from Miss Carol’s off-camera brusque manner, the noise and bustle of managing a set full of kids were getting to her.
Years later I can finally sympathize! During the off-air breaks, all of the kids on the show were treated to huge bottles of Pepsi Cola that were too big to finish but kept the kids running to the restroom.
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Direct from the Knight family cookbook!
Combine all ingredients. Pour into greased 11″x14″ pan. Cover & refrigerate overnight. Uncover & bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Makes a great brunch entree.
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Since the beginning of time, the fire has been the center of family life. From the Cro-Magnon clans to the (post) nuclear family, the hearth (indoors or outdoors) has been the center of food preparation, warmth, and general entertainment. The Patio Culture was no different. The grill was the center of an exciting and fun evening full of friends, games, toys, and fun. Even in the winter or when the weather was bad, steaks were prepared and salads were mixed indoors as the electric stainless steel stove with the pull-out burner shelf became a surrogate fire nourishing both body and spirit.
[Read more…]In the decades following World War II, the population of the United States underwent a massive migration to the suburbs. The society which became the “Patio Culture” of the 1950’s and 1960’s has been the subject of much criticism from intellectuals and social scientists both then and now. Much of the criticism can be attributed to the mind set of the critics themselves, which could be considered apathetic to the conditions of the middle class. While many of the social problems that the critics so poignantly singled out did, in fact, exist, they often did not manifest themselves to the extent that was claimed, and they were also simultaneously taking place outside of suburbia as well.
When undergoing an examination of the charges against suburban culture, one must take into account the mind set of the intellectual elite of the 1950’s. It must be understood that the conclusions they reached were usually based on a cosmopolitan world view; a view which included such urban facilities as museums and ethnic districts, most of which were lacking in suburbia. What they perceived as blandness and conformity were really only the home-centeredness that is characteristic of the lower middle class culture. Suburbanites were viewed by critics as outsiders who saw their community from a “tourist perspective”. The tourist mind set required excitement and a sense of the exotic, and this conflicted with the mind set of the homeowner which required a comfortable and secure place to live. This discrepancy in views created an intellectual disappointment by critics since their expectations were not met.1
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The 1960’s Patio Culture coincided with one of the most prosperous times in American history. Despite the expenditures involved in running a Cold War globally, and a hot one in Vietnam, the U.S. provided ample opportunity for a prosperous middle class to thrive. Couples could build families on blue-collar wages, and as often the case, spoil them. Kids reared during the Patio Culture Era were often showered with materialistic goods usually in the form of toys. However, this newfound materialism was often tempered with the traditional childhood imagination exhibited by their parents from the Depression Era. A shiny new toy was often supplemented by a homemade one, and plain old sticks were always perennial favorites. The play was still a creative endeavor and the mind-numbing sedentariness that Xbox and other modern video games would produce had not been realized. Just like their parents, kids embarked on exciting, and sometimes dangerous, outdoor adventures in and around the neighborhood…only they were better equipped!
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The Slam Bang Theatre Orchestra featuring Icky Twerp (with umbrella)
Listen to the Slam Bang Theatre theme music!
Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Peppermint, Icky Twerp…screech!!! Icky Twerp? Icky was different. Slam Bang Theatre was different. Not better, not worse just…different! Gone was the candy sweetness which typified the live kid shows of the era. Instead, SBT portrayed an almost Vaudvillian brand of slapstick reminiscent of the Three Stooges.
Icky Twerp (a.k.a. Bill Camfield) wore a rumpled black suit, had black horn-rim glasses, and a small cowboy hat that was curled up on the sides with his wild black hair protruding from beneath it. We knew this was the guy who embodied real childhood values and would take on pervasive suburban conformity!
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