In 1950: the wave of WWII patriotism had not died down. It was not just possible, but normal, to love your country and what it stood for.

In 1950: the concept of a hero still had validity. TV, comics and juvenile series books provided genuine heroes, with no sneering or mockery. Heroes, whether Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers or Tom Corbett, Buzz Corry and Captain Video, not to mention Joe Friday, were humble, dedicated, educated and competent men who treated their fight for justice, truth and freedom as just an ordinary job. Who wouldn't want to be like them? Who wouldn't want to do his part in the same battle against intolerance, hatred and crime? Many old fans have told me they still vividly remember Captain Video's public service announcements, which effectively urged not just tolerance of, but cooperation with, social inclusion of, educated appreciation of, and sympathetic understanding of all races and ethnic groups.

In 1950: the establishment and the military were still the good guys. The Solar Alliance, or the United Planets, or the Office of Public Safety, had flaws, but these were the flaws of any democratic institution. The Solar Guard, or the Space Patrol, or the Video Rangers, could fight for the established government and be sure they were defending freedom, truth and justice. Instead of being a bunch of humorless monk-like pseudo-mystics, with a completely crazy California-cult religious agenda, like the Jedi Knights of George Lucas, the organizations our heros led or were part of were no-nonsense units with military discipline and straightforward tactics which always emphasized diplomacy rather than armed force.

In 1950: machines and vehicles were not featureless black boxes with no moving parts and no possibility of repair. Like 1940s radios, all equipment and space ships were robustly built, with huge valves, controls, conduits, switches, levers and dials. Anyone could take anything apart, repair it, and get it working again with few tools and nothing much else other than a few hours of backbreaking, tedious labor. It was obvious how things worked, by inspection, and every educated person could hope to repair anything if given time and--- in the worst case--- one or two replacement parts.

In 1950: every place in the solar system was pretty much like home. Venus was a jungle, Mars a desert, outer moons might be like the North or South pole, but people could survive on these extraterrestrial locations with not much more equipment than that needed to survive in similar locations on earth.

In 1950: humans were everywhere. The human race, far from putting all its eggs in one basket and polluting that basket, had spread colonies all over its home solar system, and into solar systems beyond.

In 1950: space travel was fun. Even criminals and private citizens had rockets that could reach Mars or the asteroids. Navigation was by the seat of the pants and by dead reckoning, with a bit of sextant work, or a bit of key-punching on what looked like a 1948 office comptometer. Takeoffs and landings were quick, and there were never problems with other traffic. Rockets were not much larger than three freight locomotives ganged together, and probably simpler to run. Communication was instantaneous, as if the speed of light were infinite. Rockets could reach their distant destinations in hours or days, not months or years.

In 1950, probably most important: childhood was a sanctuary. Kids after school, and in long summers, were left to their own devices and ingenuity. They had time to be kids. No sterile organized activities every day, as if the kids, left alone, would perish of boredom! Kids had generic toys and played self-invented games that were rich in creative fantasy with those toys. If they wanted to turn a large cardboard refrigerator box into the control deck of a space ship, or to construct marionettes or hand puppets and appropriate scaled sets from scratch, and put on a show, they just did it, with no parential supervision and the minimum of parential help with things like sewing puppet bodies. Kids were not forced to grow up overnight, not brainwashed to obsess prematurely on cars and the opposite sex. The giant industries that exist today to exploit every stage of a childhood whose every aspect is manipulated and artificial--- industries that survive by socially coercing kids to demand certain clothes, toys, activities and even popular "music"--- were undreamed of. In 1950 there was hardly any appreciation at all of children as conspicious consumers, except of breakfast cereal, candy and chocolate... all purchased by Mother at the corner grocery.

In 1950, there were no toy stores and surprisingly few toys available to kids and instead of being picked up a few times and then forgotten, toys were retained for years and sometimes all but worn out. Many a teenager marked the end of childhood forlornly by gathering up the toys that he had played with almost daily for the past five to ten years and consigning them lovingly to a closet box, where they lived in darkness until the coming of his second childhood five decades later--- unless empty-nest mothers or housebreaking thieves with an appreciation for nostalgia made away with them.

In 1950, childhood was protected by parents and society, and cherished by children. From about the ages of 7 to 16, nearly a decade of life, a child could get along with surprising independence and little supervision, yet was overwhelmingly unlikely to run into any of the temptations and social problems that he would run up against in later life. Drugs, alcohol, sex, gangs, delinquency--- these were things kids encountered only in the movies, and the movies only hinted, they didn't really ever show....

There is more I could say, but you guys who lived through it know it already.

Retro to 1950s Main Page