Did Sha Na Na 'Invent' the 50's ?

[Wiseguy A]

Remember the Fifties?

For a certain generation, who could forget those golden innocent days as depicted in shows like Happy Days, Grease and the band Sha Na Na. But was that vision of the 50's largely invented by a group of Columbia U students around 1969?

http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/sep_oct08/features1

 

[Wiseguy A]

In 1969, the Kingsmen, Columbia’s traditional a capella group, gambled on a new concept. At a Wollman concert, “The Glory That Was Grease,” the Kingsmen, outfitted in gold lame and sporting Elvis Presley hairdos, performed original dances while singing classic Fifties rock ’n’ roll. That led to a memorable “Grease Under the Stars” concert on Low Plaza, soon after which they shot to stardom, opening for Jimi Hendrix at the original Woodstock Festival. Renamed Sha Na Na, they became regulars at Fillmore West and East, appeared in the Oscar-winning Woodstock movie as well as the movie version of Grease, which their act had inspired. Their syndicated TV show ran for years, worldwide.

So Columbia’s place in rock ’n’ roll history has long been granted. Recently, however, there has been an interesting new level of appreciation. Contemporary scholars of American cultural history have begun writing that Sha Na Na’s greatest achievement was the invention of a new American era: the “Fifties.” The whole notion of how artists can change the way a historical era is viewed, and relatively quickly, is interesting on its own; the fact that Sha Na Na and the College played such a role in this change makes it interesting for all Columbians. Brothers and founding members George J. Leonard ’67, ’68 GSAS, ’72 GSAS, who conceived and choreographed the Kingsmen’s change to Sha Na Na, and Robert A. Leonard ’70, ’73 GSAS, ’82 GSAS, the group’s first president and gold lame singer, report on the new scholarly interest in Sha Na Na.

 

[flat-top]

It always struck me as odd that many of the old timers at car shows--guys who actually were teenagers in the 50's--do the whole satin jacket ,"Lost in the 50's" thing. Nostalgia for something that never was? I don't know.

 

[Fletch]

Many eras are redefined by nostalgia acts in a way that reduces them to flashy parody. Sha Na Na's "50s" comes from the perspective of east coast "white ethnic" teenagers who adopted, and adapted, R&B harmony singing into what we know as doo-wop. It's no more "the 50s" than what you saw on Happy Days or what Ronald Reagan was always giving speeches about.

Part of this was getting away from the "middlebrowing" of pop culture that happened in the real 50s and claiming the memories of that era for a more workingclass part of society. The core of that group is the hot rod culture and their candy colored, doo-woppy flavor of nostalgia.

 

[flat-top]

I'm not gonna say it was gritty, but the first 2 seasons of Happy Days were actually sorta "realistic" compared to the phoney 70's version of the 50's that it became.

 

[Fletch]

Yes, they hadn't quite hit their stride yet. The hair was still awful long, tho. And of course nothing like The Fonz existed in a place like Milwaukee - he was an import from the NYC youth culture, which, after SNN, had to be included in pop treatments of "the 50s." (Another reason, IMHO, is that the NYC area produces a high percentage of TV writers. Look at HD's spinoff Laverne & Shirley, which basically takes place in the "Milwaukee" section of Brooklyn.)

 

[Mike in Seattle]

How can something that comes along 10-15 years after a point in history be said to have invented something well before their time? [huh]

 

[Wiseguy A]

How can something that comes along 10-15 years after a point in history be said to have invented something well before their time? [huh]

It redefined the way we look back at the decade.

They even coined the term 'Greaser' or 'Grease' as a term defining aspects of the 50's. Did you read that part about how one of the Columbia students (Sha Na Na was composed of all Ivy leaguers - I never knew) was reading the title of a classics book, The Glory that was Greece... and they called their show 'The Glory that was Grease'

 

[Wiseguy A]

I'm not gonna say it was gritty, but the first 2 seasons of Happy Days were actually sorta "realistic" compared to the phoney 70's version of the 50's that it became.

The first episode of 'Happy Days' was an episode of 'Love American Style'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpSZuZz2LV0

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think this happens with every era -- not all women in the '20s were flappers, by a long shot, but you'd never know that from the images pop culture has given us from the 50s onward. Not every woman in the '40s was one of the two mythic archetypes, Rita Hayworth or Rosie the Riveter, but those are the only options that have come down to us.

My mother was a fifties teenager -- class of 1957 -- but she couldn't stand rock 'n' roll, thought Elvis was awful, and her favorite entertainer was Liberace. There were no "greasers" in her town -- if any showed up, they'd have been frog-marched post-haste to the barbershop.

 

[Lincsong]

Looking at the old pictures of 1950's Los Angeles and Oakland it was a car culture with the greased hair, duck tails, poodle skirts and such. Hard to think of that in a rural area.

 

[Sertsa]

It does seem a lot of people envision how people looked in the 50s as being more like this (Set in the 50s, filmed/taken long after):

(Kind of looks like a 50s Village People)


Than this (from movies filmed and set in the 50s), although the focus is on a different generation here, and most of the 50s nostalgia is centered on the youth culture.:

 

[reetpleat]

It redefined the way we look back at the decade.

They even coined the term 'Greaser' or 'Grease' as a term defining aspects of the 50's. Did you read that part about how one of the Columbia students (Sha Na Na was composed of all Ivy leaguers - I never knew) was reading the title of a classics book, The Glory that was Greece... and they called their show 'The Glory that was Grease'

Actually, greaser is an old term applied to Mexicans and Mexican americans in the Southwest. It never occured to me before, but that is odd that it became a universal term for a jd when it was not really teh case in teh era.

I would say that while they did not reinvent the 50s, they did invent a certain kind of nostalgia, and for that, the article is right on and is very interesting.

I think it is hardly the case that everyone everywhere was destined to remember the 50s as a bleak era. Nostalgia often turns to the fun and positive. Look at any decade. Some people remember the worst and some people remember the best.

I also hardly think the beatnik was the iconic rebel only suplanted by the jd in the 70s. There are many songs about hoods or bikers or whatever in the 50s, such as leader of the pack or other bad boy songs. How many pop or rock songs were about beatniks, besides sugar shack.

I do think there is a bit of a myth about the bike riding high school rebel. Bikers were typically veterans who wee dissaffected and dislocated after ww II and maybe Korea and took to riding around the country in leather gear. How many high school kids could afford a leather jacket and a harley davidson or triumph motorcycle.

Great article though. I think they did invent a certain kind of 50s nostalgia and may have been instrumental in the different type of 50s revival that was the early rockabilly trend in the seventies. I don't really know.

 

[reetpleat]

A little on line time seems to suggest they are wrong about the greaser term. it may well have been used back then. For one, it was used as a derogatory term for italians, greaseball or greaser. apparently, the image of the 50s hood was pretty real on the east coast, with the culture going on into the late 70s until whites no longer congregated in the cities and felt the need to band into gangs. Apparently, they were no joke, often stabbing or beating and even shooting each other.

My one complaint about the new Indy Jones movie, by the way, was the cartoonish hood character of his son.

 

[MrBern]

The first episode of 'Happy Days' was an episode of 'Love American Style'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpSZuZz2LV0

I remember watching that as a kid! It was all about Richie getting a date in the 50s cuz he had a TV.
From what I've seen in interviews, it was a pilotshow that sat around, then the success of AmericanGrafitti put everything into motion.

Amusing that George Lucas helped spawn the spate of nostalgia.

Then there was the Sha-Na-Na variety show. Bowser's doing an infomercial recently.

 

[Bassman]

I saw Sha-Na-Na in 1970 opening for Frank Zappa at the Fillmore East. They were definately a band of New York style "greasers" that were plentiful then and still remain.
Their act of giving dirty looks and staring down the "hippies" in the audience (they never broke character), though tongue in cheek, was was pretty realistic and I experienced that many times myself from the local "greaseballs" in my Brooklyn neighborhood.
There always was that element of JD, motorhead, hitter, Doo-Wop tough-guy in my town.
I also remember outside in front of that concert hall that there was a young couple decked out in '30s attire. He was wearing knickers and an argyle vest and round wire rimmed eyeglasses and they were playing it up to the hilt...looking in amazement at the flashing lights of the marquee and the wierdos on line. They looked like time travelers. But so did Sha-Na-Na.

 

[resortes805]

It always struck me as odd that many of the old timers at car shows--guys who actually were teenagers in the 50's--do the whole satin jacket ,"Lost in the 50's" thing. Nostalgia for something that never was? I don't know.

Remember "The Rockabilly Rockers" in Green Bay? I still have a clip of them somewhere.

My mother was a fifties teenager -- class of 1957 -- but she couldn't stand rock 'n' roll, thought Elvis was awful, and her favorite entertainer was Liberace.

What a square.

 

[flat-top]

Remember "The Rockabilly Rockers" in Green Bay? I still have a clip of them somewhere.

Oh man, post that!

 

[Lincsong]

Yeah, American Graffitti really was representative of California in the 1950's. The cruising, the drive-ins, the greasers, the poodle skirts. Lucas did a great job on that. I miss the Fremont Dragstrip.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I grew up in the '50s and '60s in a small Indiana town(Fairmount..5-6000pop)(1965 grad). To me Sha Na Na was more a comic routine over-empasizing the '50s style and Doo-Whop music.
We had a mainstreet cafe called the Blue Ribbon..complete with soda fountain..grill for burgers and fries...rootbeer tables and chairs...and juke box. The hangout for poodle skirts&bobby socks...fuzzy sweaters...tee shirts(sleeves rolled)..Levis and skinney belts...Senior "Cords". '51 flatheads Fords...Chevys..Mercs...lowered...fenderskirts..."Darleen"..maybe "Patsy" painted in script on the back fender. Pat Boone...Four Preps...Everly Bros...Chuck Berry. "Groove it at the hop,Daddy-O". Heartbreak Hotel...Teddy Bear.."Put Your Head On My Shoulder"...the stroll. This was the atmosphere...Teenage and beyond lifestyle. Some post grads rode panheads...Indians...with fringe saddlebags and mudflaps....and,indeed the funny little leather sailing type caps ala Elvis. James Dean was our hometown resident turned hero.
The '60s still included that girls must wear skirts or dresses to school....but they began to get tighter and shorter. Hair in Beehives..then bangs. Pegged dark levis..hvy white cotton socks..and oxblood "penny loafers"...but still white Ts for the guys. In my view"American Graffitti" and Happy Days"came close to '60s reality. Hotter cars...spinner hubcaps...CandyApple red paint...the Four Seasons "Sherry"....Bobby Vinton "Blue Velvet..."Baby Baby..Where Did Our Love Go?". We even had a Fonzie. He bought a '62 Triumph our Sophmore year and rode to school(when he was there!). Wore the white "T"..and leather jacket. An Italian guy with combed back curly hair. Ladies man....but a HOOD. Then the Beatles came along and changed everything. During these eras the lifestyle seemed to be the same most everywhere..at least to a teenager to be cool. Of course Sha Na Na was more a silly redition of the'50s...along with movie comedy "Grease"...IMO. Who invented real deal..? Dunno...much of it seemed to eventually come from Philly with a bandstand.
HD