7.Teenage Dances

Sock Hops and Roller Palaces: Often times for school activities the student government would organize different types of dances and activities to do. The most popular activities during the time were sock hops, Roller Palaces, and dances. The sock hops were usually high school or middle school dances that students would attend and they would dance on the gym floor in their socks. They would usually dance to rock and roll or other popular music that was out at the time. Roller palaces were places where people of the community could go to dance and skate with roller skates on in a big area that was meant for skating. They had loud speakers and also would play popular music of the time. Aquinas Academy had dancers mixed with all girls’ schools in the area so they could get to meet girls since they didn’t go to school with any. They called these mixers. These happened many times a year. Often times the men from Aquinas would end up dating girls that they met at these mixers. The dances at my Grandmas school were always in her gym and she always would go. These dances were always the big thing to do during their high school days. It was always the big thing to get asked to go to these dances and then get all dressed up.

6.Popular Music

The style of music changed greatly during this time period. During one of the most popular television shows of the time one of the most popular artists was introduced. His name was Elvis Presley, and he was introduced on the Ed Sullivan Show. This was when both of my grandparents were older in age and were both able to understand what was going on. They seemed to remember this vividly. It was a Sunday night and he had a completely different style of music. Originally many people were against the style of music and dancing that Elvis was doing. My grandmother remembers many people were very offended when Elvis would shake his hips. So often times when they showed him on television they would only show either his top half or just his face. Since many people grew on the dancing style and what he was singing, media began to film his whole body and his dance moves. Elvis was one of the most popular names in rock and roll and the reason that rock and roll got so huge during this time. Many other bands also began very popular due to Elvis making this style of music. Each of my grandparents was very big fans of rock and roll. Rock and roll is the reason that many events during the fifties happened such as the most popular sock hops and different kinds of Roller palaces. These were very popular activities for teenagers during the fifties. My grandma remembers everytime Bill Haley's song rock around the clock came on my grandpa would have to get on the dance floor with her and do the twist. When i was talking to my grandma about this and my grandpa left the room i turned the song on, on my computer and when he came back in the room my grandma convinced my grandpa to show me what the twist looked like. My grandpa was laughing through the whole thing and was wondering where i found the song on my computer, not understanding that you can find everything on the internet.

5.Poodle Skirts and High Heels

The women’s style was very different to those before the time period. My grandma had to wear very different styles to her school and when she was out with friends. To school girls were not allowed to wear pants or short skirts like they can now. Then they would have to wear long skirts or poodle skirts. She said all of her friends had similar skirts with a poodle in the bottom corner of it. With the skirts they would usually wear saddle shoes, loafers, or white bucks. All of these shoes looked very similar. When my grandma was not in school she would often times wear dickeys which were a brand of jean in the fifties and I believe it is still around now. Also she would very high heel shoes when she would wear skirts. The skirts that she wore were very wide at the bottom. Due to this women would wear slips under the skirts often a color that would match the outfit that they were wearing.

4.Dungarees and Undershirts

The 1950’s was a period of many different types of styles. This includes hair, clothing choices, and footwear. Living during this time period as a middle and high school student it seemed to be the perfect time period for my grandpa to show interest in these styles. He said as a young teen he would wear the most popular shoe of the time, the “P F flyers.” Along with P F flyers as a young boy he would wear a ball cap a pair of dungarees with a white undershirt. As he got older and moved into the high school he picked up smoking, but only when he was out of season for sports. Attending Aquinas Academy it was viewed as disrespectful if someone smoked while in season for sports. As soon as his season ended, he began to smoke. To hold his cigarettes he would roll the sleeves to his undershirts and use that as a little holder for them. He would usually only smoke lucky strikes, once in a while he would buy a pack of camel. My grandpa’s style while attending Aquinas Institute was to wear dungarees with flannel lining and the bottoms rolled up. Along with the dungarees he would wear a plain white undershirt or an undershirt with a flannel shirt over it. The shoe of choice for him was either the penny loafer or white bucks. The white bucks are popular shoes that were made popular by a man named Pat Boon. He would gel his hair in the “D A” style which was when all of the back was gelled together. This choice of clothing was only when he was out of Aquinas. Since Aquinas had a dress code to school he would have to wear khaki pants and a collared shirt with a tie and a nice pair of shoes.

3.Catholic Schools and Military

After attending a catholic grammar school called Holy Rosary, my grandpa, Jim Eggleston attended an all men’s catholic school named Aquinas Institute. With a very strict disciplinarian it was impossible to get away with anything. Since the dress code was enforced, being caught without khaki pants, a collared shirt, a tie, or a nice pair of shoes would result in a punishment. Aquinas was a very strict school and a disciplinarian who took nothing lightly. Being an x-marine his punishments were very harsh. For something as simple as walking down the wrong side of the hallway, a student would receive a punishment. These punishments usually consisted of either a hit on the back and backside with a hose or getting smacked on the knuckles and wrists with a meter stick. Starting in grammar school Catholic schools were a very popular place for my grandpa to go. So ever since he met a camp counselor at his neighborhood playground that attended the University Of Notre Dame which is also a private catholic school he was determined to go there. After being accepted into this University he was very excited to attend but then financial problems stood in his way. With four younger sisters in his family they did not have the money to afford a college like Notre Dame. So after he denied their acceptance he decided to attend St. John Fisher College which at the time was 400 dollars a semester. While attending fisher he decided to rent an apartment with a few of his friends. His first week at fisher during orientation, the freshman had to face a challenge. The upperclassmen placed a hat at the top of a tall 20-30 foot poll and challenged the freshman to climbing it and retrieving the hat. After they greased the poll the freshman would climb while the upperclassmen tried knocking them off the poll by throwing tomatoes at him. After leaving Fisher before graduating he enlisted in the army reserve in order to avoid the draft. At this point he had to attend basic training in Fort Dix New Jersey. After Basic Training you went to Fort Gordon in Augusta Georgia. Here he went to a teletype school where he learned how to type. He had to take tests and he learned to type 92-100 words a minute. He remembers taking another soldiers test for him because the other man could only type about 25 words a minute. After about 10 weeks he went to Camp Drum in Watertown. Here my grandpa was the head of payroll; he would have to attend weekly meetings in order to keep the payroll in order. This camp is now Fort Drum, which is one of the largest military bases in the country. After serving in active duty for six months and going through physical training every day, he learned how to shoot, throw grenades, and fight. After becoming a three stripe sergeant, he left that part of the military and to become a reservist for 5 five and a half more years before leaving. During these years my grandpa was used as a transportation solider. He was in charge of transporting colonel and captains to different bases along the North Eastern Coast.

2. Technology in the 1950's

Appliances (Contexts): Before Television the way to get information and entertainment was through the radio. Growing up my grandmother would always listen to stories on the radio. For her Sunday nights were family nights. After her dad would purchase one Baby Ruth candy bar, he would cut it up into three pieces and give each of them a piece. While sitting on her parent’s bed with her brother, sister, and parents and listening different stories they would enjoy their little piece of the candy bar. Her personal favorite was a story called “the shadow.” Besides the television another huge invention during this time was the telephone. The way the telephone worked at the time was that each household was put on a “party line.” This means two or three families would split the line with each other. When my grandma and grandpa would pick up the phone as kids they would have to say the extension number and then they would be connected. Sometimes when they picked up the phone neighbors who were on the same party line would be talking so the funny thing to do was to listen in on their business. Another new invention during the time was the Wringer Washing Machine. This machine would wash your clothes for you, but not wring them out at all. So as kids they would have run them through the wringer at the top of the washing machine then hang them on the clothesline either in the backyard or in the basement. This was part of Yvonne’s chores around the house. She remembered what a pain it was the wear clothes that were so stiff from the drying racks.

1. Being a Child in the 1950's

The nineteen fifties brought about many visions of my grandparents life as they grew up. My grandmother, Yvonne Knittle (at the time) had vivid memories of what great times she would spend on 187 Farmington Road, Rochester New York. With an older sister named Malou and a younger brother named Renee they spent much of their time running around the neighborhood and playing ball in the streets. Since the backyards were filled with large victory gardens, ball in the street was a common activity for Rochester kids. During one of their games my grandma remembers one of her good friends on the street hitting the baseball straight through her neighbor’s window. These incidences many times resulted in a week off of the streets and the kids were forced to find something else, such as, playing on clotheslines in backyards. As kids they used to clothesline as jungle gyms and would hang upside down off of them. My grandpa, Jimmy Eggleston had some similar memories to the time period. AS a young boy living on Lexington Ave. each neighborhood had a large playground. Each of these playgrounds had a softball field and a team. After meeting early in the morning at their shed, that was located next to the field, they would walk or ride bikes to other playgrounds and challenge these teams to a game. With about eight playgrounds in the area they seemed to get a good number of games in each week. After spending hours at playgrounds and on the streets my grandparents would return to their homes with groups of friends and hang out on the large porches on the front of their homes. Since both of my grandparents were the first on their streets to purchase televisions around 1951 many neighbors seemed to congregate towards their houses. At the time televisions were in black and white so both my grandma and grandpa remember covering their televisions with a multi colored see through piece of plastic. Since each section of the colored board was different each part of the person’s body on the television was different. Looking back and talking about this, made my grandparents begin to realize how much the times have changed.