How the 50's became the 50's

[dhermann1]

Here's a very interesting article from today's NY Times. This couple practically invented the more casual lifestyle of the 1950's, that still represents how we live today.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/easier-living-by-design/?hp

 

[Bustercat]

They are great and we love the set of dishes we have.

 

[MisterCairo]

I never knew whom to blame until now!

 

[Chas]

If you're going to blame anything for anything, blame television.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think there's a bit too much credit being given here -- the "kitchenette" trend was well underway as far back as the twenties.

 

[Richard Warren]

As usual the NYTimes has the horse following the cart, over a cliff.

 

[Widebrim]

Consider this comment from a reader:

I raised my kids in a smallish (1400 sq ft) house with a "living room" (formal) and a "family room" (informal), both having the same ostensible purpose. But it was wonderful to have one room in the house that was always neat, orderly, attractive. If we could have afforded it, we would have had a formal dining room, too, as my parents did. (My kids' table manners and general behavior improved spectacularly when they were dressed up and in a formal surrounding. ) Eating with silver utensils on fine bone china also had a strong effect on the kids' behavior. And a different kind of enjoyment.

The kids (now middle-aged parents) still appreciate tradition and class, viewing formalized informality as something suspect, beneath the salt.

"[F]ormalized informality." Right on the mark.

And this, too:

The Wrights fit in neatly with the post-WW2 arrival of a whole new cohort in the Middle Class, a cohort unused to formality. The Wrights told them it was o.k. not to know how to set a table, much less how to serve. Commercially, they were spot on, and in synch with Levittown and the GI Bill, neither of which are to be disdained (nor is upward mobility). But it is fair to ask what has been lost. My grandparents (pre-Wright) were far from propsperous (he was a stationmaster in a small town in Missouri). Yet they had a dining room, and candles, and tablecloths, and sat down to dinner, a daily moment of quiet dignity, family gathering, and civilized conversation. Not the same as eating off your lap or from a folding table.

 

[Yeps]

Consider this comment from a reader:

I raised my kids in a smallish (1400 sq ft) house with a "living room" (formal) and a "family room" (informal), both having the same ostensible purpose. But it was wonderful to have one room in the house that was always neat, orderly, attractive. If we could have afforded it, we would have had a formal dining room, too, as my parents did. (My kids' table manners and general behavior improved spectacularly when they were dressed up and in a formal surrounding. ) Eating with silver utensils on fine bone china also had a strong effect on the kids' behavior. And a different kind of enjoyment.

I just got back from visiting my family in Italy, and this is still the case. They have a dining room that they never go in, except when guests are over, even if the guests are over for a few minutes and a glass of water. The kitchen, however, is generally where life takes place.

 

[jamespowers]

If you're going to blame anything for anything, blame television.

Maybe but when you codify it in a book that made it more acceptable at the time. Thank goodness my grandparents were from a time before that. I know how to set a table and we actually all eat dinner together---at a table.

 

[Widebrim]

Maybe but when you codify it in a book that made it more acceptable at the time. Thank goodness my grandparents were from a time before that. I know how to set a table and we actually all eat dinner together---at a table.

And your eldest boy has good manners, JP.

 

[jamespowers]

And your eldest boy has good manners, JP.

He knows the consequences for the alternative.

 

[Bustercat]

Unless you've got a waitstaff or a full time homemaker spouse, there's a place for formal, and there's a place for less formal.
The latter doesn't have to be take-out boxes and paper plates, though.
And none of the above preclude sitting down at the same table at the same time.

 

[jamespowers]

Unless you've got a waitstaff or a full time homemaker spouse, there's a place for formal, and there's a place for less formal.
The latter doesn't have to be take-out boxes and paper plates, though.
And none of the above preclude sitting down at the same table at the same time.

Full-time spouse of course.

 

[Lincsong]

In the United Airlines Terminal at SFO at the end of last year, there was a display of their works.