Compared to now, teenage girls in the 1950s had a lot of strict rules and etiquette considerations – and the consequences of falling short in certain areas could have a pretty considerable effect on her life. Here’s a look at the kind of messaging teens got back then.
When color TV was first invented, people wondered if you could convert a black & white TV to color, and which shows would appear in color – and when. Here are some of the answers they were given.
Decades ago, vintage table lighters like these ‘played an important part in the art of entertaining. The gracious, easy way to get a light if you smoke.’
See vintage car wreck photos of 35 of old auto accidents and crashes from the 1910s to the 1950s – before standardized seatbelts and airbags.
If you’re remodeling a 1950s home exterior, advice from that decade says to follow a simple, straightforward style. Your house will look better and cost less.
What a treat for someone with a sweet tooth – an elegant apricot rum baba! Moist and rich and redolent of apricot nectar.
Take a look back at dozens of vintage gift sets for women from the ’50s, ’60s & ’70s, filled with fancy fragrances, makeup, skincare products & more!
Seven-Up floats! Ice cream and 7-up – what a cool, cool combination for a summer afternoon! Get a few different vintage float recipes here.
Try the Bisquick dish with an elegant air: Tuna ring! It’s a baked biscuit-like ring that’s served with a cheesy tuna sauce in the center.
Swedish rosettes, a light Scandinavian cookie, uses a rosette iron to create its distinctive shape. The result is as delicious as it is beautiful.
Want to make some simple retro ’50s style jewelry? If you’ve got the gift for DIY crafts, we have the how-to guide for you, direct from the fifties.
Take these vintage centerpiece ideas from the ’50s, ’60s & ’70s, and put your own spin on them for a modern-day retro-inspired holiday or party table!
Scroll down and take a stroll into the iconic orange-roofed ice cream restaurants – vintage Howard Johnson’s – that were so popular in the fifties & sixties.
Do you want to get organized? Have you longed for the uncluttered life? Actress Doris Day reveals her plan for becoming an ‘ex-Aimless’ and an ‘ex-Chaotic.’
This old ad said you could toss these prehistoric dinosaur toys in the air, and they would always land on their feet. It sounded too good to be true… and it was.
Here’s a moist delicious lemon nut bread that is really unusual! It has a delightful fresh lemon flavor — and what an eye-catcher it is, too!
Here are three super-cute, easy-to-make vintage Easter basket cakes you can make, based on ideas from the ’50s, ’60s & ’70s!
More than just a way to dry off, these retro towels from the 1950s gave vintage bathrooms color and style! Take a look back at this functional fifties decor.
Here are a few ways to make a happy Easter surprise — cute vintage Easter cakes, using ideas and recipes from the fifties & sixties!
See clips of past Civil Defense films from the ’50s & ’60s, plus how to make a bomb shelter, what to stock, and more details from the Cold War era.
Here’s a classic timesaving, money-saving dictating machine – the vintage Dictaphone Time-Master – plus other old dictation devices.
These big, hearty potato-filled burgers are stuffed with tender cubes of potato, then you simmer them in Hunt’s tomato sauce. Quick and easy to make.
You can make your own homemade cheese sauce in 3 minutes – no flour or shortening. It’s delicious over these tuna fritters – get the recipes!
Years ago, the United States Brewers Foundation ran a series of kindly, old-fashioned ads for beer, all with the tagline ‘Beer belongs – enjoy it.’ Here’s a look back.
Look back at more than 40 different styles of vintage window coverings from the ’50s – draperies, blinds, shutters, curtains & more.
Take a look back at some retro shelf edging papers & liners – used especially to decorate open shelving in vintage kitchens without a lot of cabinets.
Here are some of the coolest vintage 1950s ice cream flavors, including several long-gone flavors. (And they seriously loved pineapple and cherry!)
What’s the history of Q-Tips – the little cotton swabs found all around the world? This big brand had a little baby-sized beginning. (Also find out their terrible former brand name.)
See some vintage Tupperware – including pitchers and picnic baskets, lunchboxes and every kind of storage container – in a variety of retro hues.
Treet is the meat (1945) The meal-ready meat most folks like best! Yes! Treet is the Meat! More people choose Treet than any other meal-ready
Elvis Presley army photos from 1958: See the King’s shocking induction, infamous haircut & early days in uniform.
Try one of these vintage 7-Up cake recipes with lemon-lime soda! ‘Never before have you had a cake so light, so airy, so high, and with such a delightful new flavor.’
A terrarium is not only easy and fun to put together, it’s a snap to care for. Here are several vintage ideas to help you make your own!
Here’s how to make individual tuna dreamboats with bell peppers. Just watch the family cheer as these boats come sailing to the table!
United Airlines flights in the ’50s offered a whole different kind of experience compared to now. Here, see what the travel industry hoped to provide to passengers!
Actress Betty White never gives up – and that’s the secret to her success. Here’s why, in the words of none other than her mother.
Come see what kinds of retro Christmas cards people sent each other to celebrate the holidays back in the fifties and sixties!
In the ’50s, they wanted to know what secretary wouldn’t prefer a job that included one of these vintage IBM electric typewriters? Compared to manuals, they were so easy to use.
This cute Jell-O Jingle Jells recipe features bells cut out of Jello (with a cookie cutter) and served with flaked or riced Jello and whipped cream.
The Twist was one of the first big dance crazes, and dozens of artists recorded copycat songs. But there was a question: Is The Twist immoral? Religious leaders weighed in.
Here are just a few of the toys you could find at a Woolworth’s store in the ’50s – the old discount retailer that seemed to sell just about everything!
Here’s a look back at some popular vintage Christmas lights, along with several old-fashioned examples from the ’40s, ’50s & ’60s of this kind of warm and wonderful holiday decor.
In a case study of terrible timing, the huge Habana Hilton hotel in Havana, Cuba, wasn’t even open for a year when it was taken over. Find out more here!
Remember these retro cups so popular years ago? Colorama, Heller’s vintage “Colorized” aluminum tumblers, were beloved for as being unbreakable, lightweight, inviting to use and smartly designed.
Leave it to the kids if you want an honest opinion of TV’s effect on family life (1955) by Jack Cluett – June 1955 When
The drop-and-bake cookie family is a big one with great variety and much good eating for all. What a world of good eating those recipes for old-fashioned drop cookies foretells!
Garden delights! Here are some old-fashioned backyard flower carts made of metal (often wrought iron) and wood.
See more than two dozen examples of vintage makeup, showing the evolution of blue eyeshadow from the ’50s to the ’80s. As you will see, sometimes it works… and sometimes it really, really doesn’t.
For nearly 30 years, Captain Kangaroo said good morning to kids across the country. Here, meet Bob Keeshan, the man behind the beloved character!
For the ’50s housewife, laundry was huge: the love you had for your kitchen paled only in comparison to the adoration you felt for your washer and dryer.
High, gold and handsome… here’s a retro ’50s meatloaf with a unique savory, golden topping that’s really a meringue made with mustard instead of sugar.
From the 1950s, here’s are two fruity, cheesecake-style dessert pizzas. You serve them like a pizza… you eat them like a pizza… tastes like a flaky party pie!
Widely regarded as one of the most innovative television shows of all time, The Twilight Zone premiered in 1959, and would go on to dazzle, delight and frighten audiences for the next five seasons.
Get the famous Can’t Fail 5-minute fudge recipe, plus 10 more fast vintage fudge recipes that you can make at home even today!
See some vintage report cards from San Francisco’s Outer Mission district schools during the ’50s. One of his classmates? Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.
For the picture-perfect housewife of the ’50s, the kitchen was the heart of the home. And the heart of the kitchen was the refrigerator/freezer combo – the kind of luxury that mother and grandmother could have only dreamed of!
If you loved the sweet taste of the classic Rice Krispies treats, you should definitely try this super easy-to-make chocolate peanut-butter spin on that recipe!
The “hex marks” painted on the old barns of the so-called Pennsylvania Dutch farmers, even on some of the modern new barns, now are merely traditionally ornamental.
The top-rated TV show, I Love Lucy, ran from 1951 to 1957 – around the time these magazines with Lucille Ball on the cover were published.
A lighthearted look back at the 50s housewife during the sunny days of yesteryear, when a woman’s home was her castle — and her kitchen was the heart of that home.
This collection of vintage evening gowns is so over-the-top, you don’t have to even like fashion to appreciate the oomph factor of these formal dresses.
Here’s an old-fashioned favorite perfect for a child’s birthday party: ice cream cone cupcakes! We have the vintage recipe right here.
Get some retro decorating advice and see floors from 1950s homes featuring creatively striped and checkerboard flooring patterns with two or more colors.
Take a look at a few of the many ways the recipe for a Thanksgiving staple – the old-fashioned green bean casserole – has been made over the years.
These amazing vintage evening dresses were as glittery and shimmering as they were form-fitting and unforgiving of an extra ounce. But there’s more to the story beyond just gorgeous models and stunning gowns.
Suppose you were a young woman anxious to find a husband, get married and settle down. What would be the best sort of job for you? Here’s what a survbey ?
Memo to June Graduates: Here are your choices under the draft You can take your chances, hoping you never will be called. Many are trying this.
The Hula Hoop fad had millions of children and adults shaking their hips to make the hoop spin. See what the craze was all about – and how to hoop!
This story is about the father of rock ‘n’ roll music. In a decade of American history condemned for its small-mindedness, blandness and apathy, Chuck Berry set the spark. Chuck Berry kindled the flame.
What were 1950s washing machines like? Here are some old-fashioned washers with high-end features for their time. These brands paid big bucks to promote these laundry appliances!
California – particularly Los Angeles – is notorious for having awful traffic, but as this video and these photos from the 1950s prove, that bumper-to-bumper freeway crawl is nothing new.
Ideas for more than 20 vintage recipes for hot dogs, including Pronto dogs, Frank-roll slices, hotdog boats, hot dog-bacon roll-ups, franks in blankets, Snappy frank-cheese rolls and lots more. Check ’em out!
See 20 vintage scenes in and around Philadelphia in the 1950s & 60s! There’s the city itself, landmarks, suburbs, skylines and more from yesteryear.
How DOES a girl win a husband? By tradition, she waits until the right man comes along, then he woos her, pursues her, and leads her to the altar.
Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, with their progeny David and Rick, are synonymous with the American family image both on and off television. The Nelson boys are perhaps the only people who have literally grown up before the eyes of millions of weekly viewers.
Bite into the past with these playful party sandwiches from yesteryear. Pretty and appealing, they make for lots of conversation at lunch!
Boy meets girl, boy marries girl. That just about summarizes the modern courtship, American style. Whatever happened to the old-fashioned courtship — complete with hearts and flowers?
Turns out the majority of baking techniques our great-grandparents used to make a cake from scratch still apply today.
Woman’s Day magazine launched in 1937 as an inexpensive in-house magazine for customers of A&P grocery stores. By the time A&P sold the brand in
Goody for you! Who can resist Chocolate Refreshers brownies, made with nuts and dates and semi-sweet morsels?
This nutty classic dessert recipe – a retro golden harvest pumpkin pie – is made the way grandma used to make it back in the fifties. Take a look!
Sha Na Na: Carefree greasers By Mary Campbell – The Evening Sun (Hanover, Pennsylvania) Jan 8, 1970 Sha Na Na is starting the 1970s performing
Dodge – Chrysler – Plymouth – De Soto – Imperial: As you can see here, there’s no mistaking the new 1959 Cars of The Forward Look, coming or going.
Disney’s ‘Third Man on the Mountain’ represents the first successful effort to capture the mystical quality of James Ramsey Ullman’s stories about man’s struggle to master the heights.
If men “hate the sight of you” read this (1930s) Good news for thousands of girls who have no sex appeal (1940s) Don’t be skinny!
Why were pink & yellow kitchens popular inn the ’50s? Because it wasn’t enough for homeowners to decorate the kitchen with just one color – they had to combine them, for a pastel buttermint effect.
Debbie Reynolds: Photo scrapbook (1978) The unsinkable star shares her very personal memories of her broken marriages, her two children and her career Some might
Dick Clark’s career — from American Bandstand to New Year’s Rockin’ Eve — helped shape American music and television. See his vintage This Is Your Life segment and his lasting impact.
Step back in time to explore the iconic world of 1950s candy. From classic confections to sugary inventions, discover the sweets that helped shape a generation.
