1950's America wasn't what you think

For one thing, there were a lot of pop songs about men crying. The song "Pretty Woman" for one, asks that the pretty woman in question not walk on by and not "make me cry". That's not a very good example. The one episode of Father Knows Best I half watched had Bud crying in his room because he was having trouble adjusting to high school. And, I don't know where I saw this, but I remember seeing pictures of high school boys---some of them big, tough-looking kids---crying as they got their polio shots.

Then there are the books. I was shopping at a Goodwill that was full of paperbacks selling for 10 cents each. I bought a copy of Mandingo (1957). I vaguely remembered the movie on HBO in junior high school, but it turned out the book was over 500 pages of pure sado-masochism. I didn't read all of it so maybe the second half was serious literature. But then I kept seeing other paperbacks that were sequels or were set in other time periods. One was about sado-masochism in the Roman era. The original author must have died and some other guy took over. I can't imagine they were using their real names.

Peyton Place, like Mandingo, was a huge bestseller. It was a big giant sex novel and was more perverse than you could ever imagine. The movie toned it way, way down. There was a scene in the film where Russ Tambyn's mother calls him to come inside. His girlfriend pleads with him not to go, but he must. You have to read the book to find out he was going in for his daily enema.

The husband of the author of Peyton Place was fired from his teaching job when the book was published. When I heard this, I thought it showed how repressed they were in the '50's, but now, hearing about the content of the book, I think it was probably a wise move.

I watch these couples on 1950's sit coms sitting primly in their twin beds with their books, and I wonder what kind of filth they're reading. They talk about how much people read back then, but that's not a point in their favor.

I used bring this up and a few people knew what I was talking about. There was an episode of I Love Lucy called "In a Rut" where Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel decide to have open marriages. Lucy and Ethel try to conceal the fact that they couldn't get dates and accidentally lock themselves out on the roof. Ricky and Fred use a hose to make them think it's raining.

Kavanaugh, the drunken, blubbing virgin rapist, made me contemplate this.