What Life Was REALLY Like in 1950s America (One Ordinary Day)

What was everyday life really like in 1950s America? Walk through one ordinary day, from the milkman's knock at dawn to the last flicker of the family television at night, using real film footage and photos from the 1950s. In 1950, only one American home in ten had a television. By 1960, nearly nine in ten did. In this documentary we look at how ordinary families lived in the post-war years: the new suburbs like Levittown, Dad's job and what a paycheck could buy, Mom's world of new kitchens and supermarkets, baby boomer childhood with duck-and-cover drills and the polio vaccine, Main Street, cars and drive-in movies, the night Elvis appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, Sunday drives and the opening of Disneyland. We also look honestly at the other side of the decade: segregation, poverty and Cold War fear. What a gallon of gas cost, what was on the dinner table, and why so many people still miss the 1950s. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and let's go home again. CHAPTERS 0:00 In 1950, only 1 home in 10 had a TV 1:59 Morning in the new suburbs (the milkman and Levittown) 4:37 Dad goes to work: jobs, money and 1950s prices 7:08 Mom's world: the kitchen, supermarkets and TV dinners 9:47 Growing up: school, duck and cover, and polio 12:30 Main Street, cars and drive-in movies 14:58 Evenings: the television arrives 17:25 Weekends: church, Sunday drives and Disneyland 19:18 The other side of the 1950s 21:10 Closing: what do you miss most? Did you grow up in the 1950s, or did your parents or grandparents tell you stories about it? Tell me in the comments. I read every one. Subscribe to Hometown Yesterdays for more trips back to the America you remember: forgotten jobs, old traditions, and what life was really like, decade by decade. Historical film footage courtesy of the Prelinger Archives. #1950s #nostalgia #americanhistory