Every generation has its fads and they produce some fond memories as you look back at what they were. I grew up in the ‘50s and ‘60s and will share with you some interesting fads from that time period.
Drive-in movie theaters were very popular during those years. There was one located in Rutland Town that actually dates back to 1948 when it showed its first drive-in movie — a Jerry Lewis film. Watching a movie from your car on a beautiful summer night was a whole lot better than being inside a movie theater. You could watch drive-in movies there until 1975.
If you needed to make a phone call from somewhere other than your home or place of business you could use a pay phone and deposit coins to cover the cost. Some of these phones were located inside booths, which were scattered around cities and towns everywhere. People relied on them for necessary calls. The booths allowed you to stay dry while making calls on a rainy day. They were also an attraction to teens who sometimes tried to stuff as many kids as possible into the phone booth. The size of most booths was 32”x32” and 7 feet tall. From my research it appears that 25 kids “squished” into a booth were about as many as you could pack in! I saw a photo online with the phone booth door open and kids crammed in with their feet, arms and legs protruding in various directions.
Women’s clothes had some fads that if you saw them today you would know exactly what time period they came from. One of them was a poodle skirt. Many of them had a dog’s leash that began at the waist line and extended down to the poodle’s collar at the bottom of the skirt. I had one of them. My skirt was pink and the poodle was black. I remember wearing it to an elementary school dance and my “date” wore a pink shirt so we would be coordinated.
One of the oddest fads from my college days was the popularity of olive colored rain jackets from army surplus stores. There was nothing pretty about them but everyone wanted one. I went to college in Burlington and when the store up there sold out I came home to Rutland and bought a rain jacket for myself and two of my friends.
There are numerous ads on TV these days with products to lose weight. Well, the ‘60s had its own version in a product called Metrecal. It was a shake that was rather chalky in taste. I tried it but that fad was lost on me as no flavor could win me over. Back then I didn’t really need to lose weight (wish I could say the same now!) so there was no problem when that fad didn’t appeal for me.
Photo booths were a fun fad. Woolworth’s Store on Merchants Row had one. You put in a coin and posed for photos as you sat in the booth. They came out on a strip of paper. Of course, part of the fun was making funny faces during the process. I believe the cost was 25 cents and you got a strip of photos — four I think. My friend, Betty Clark, and I went to the booth quite often and we divided up the photos to keep.
A college fad was getting “pinned.” It was a step up from the high school fad of putting your boyfriend’s class ring on a chain around your neck to show you were “going steady.” In college your boyfriend gave you his college pin which you wore every day. It was proof that your relationship was serious and was often the first step to an engagement.
There is one fad that I wish would come back — soda fountains. Oddly enough in Rutland one of the easiest places to find one was in a pharmacy. Shangraw’s, Carpenter’s and McClallen’s had one. My father worked at all those pharmacies over the years but I was too young to remember the soda fountain at Shangraw’s. However, I recall stopping at the other two stores with my friends after school. My dad paid for the sodas so my friends appreciated that. Woolworth’s also had a soda fountain and I believe that Kresge’s did, too. Many of these stores also offered sandwiches but after school it was “all about” ice cream sodas.
The hula hoop was popular with the girls on our street. We all had one and twirled them around our waists for hours. It was great exercise but we didn’t care about that back then. We just wanted to keep it going. A friend told me that the exercise class she attends uses hula hoops. So for a “senior” it’s another proof that what “goes round…comes round” again!
Sideburns were a fad for young guys in the ‘50s. Elvis Presley may have been the driving force behind that fad! Add a leather jacket and you were a product of the era for sure!
Sock hops were popular at some schools. One of the reasons for having one was to not scuff up the gym floor when you were dancing. You arrived in your shoes, took them off until the dance was over and then you hunted for your shoes from the pile outside the gym.
One of the popular dances was the twist. You would twist at the hips and swivel down to the floor and back up. I remember my dance partner saying, “Let’s go down!” and we did!
