Overheard in 1957

"I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries $20."

"Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before
$2000 will only buy a used one."

"If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous."

"Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?"

"If they raise the minimum wage to $1, nobody will be able to hire outside
help at the store."

"When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday
cost 29 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the
garage."

"Kids today are impossible. Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls."

"I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying 'damn' in 'Gone With The Wind,' it seems every new movie has either "hell" or "damn" in it.

"I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a
man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas."

"Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000
a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be
making more than the president."

"I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be
electric. They are even making electric typewriters now."

"It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet."

"It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone
to watch their kids so they can both work."

"Marriage doesn't mean a thing any more; those Hollywood stars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat."

"I'm just afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole
lot of foreign business."

"Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best
people to congress."

"The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously
doubt they will ever catch on."

"There is no sense going to Lincoln or Omaha anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $15 a night to stay in a hotel."

"No one can afford to be sick any more; $35 a day in the hospital is too rich for my blood."

"If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it."

Coolness!

OMG - that's the year that I was BORN!

lol....
sokemtimes i wish i lived back in the day!

And in the United States $1,500 to $2,000 is precisely the lowest you can get a used car for... in Puerto Rico its 2-3 thousand dollars.

My mom talks to me about when you could buy a coca cola for 10 cents, and how her first car costed two thousand dollars brand new with all optional components.

Let think about this. In 1957 if a woman entered the work force it was thought to be for spending money, not to suport the family. Why would we ever want to regress back to that period? I like the idea of getting an education for the sake of advancing myself, not just to find a husband. I like the fact that women can enter any field they so choose. Not limited to nursing and teaching. I like the fact women make up 51% of law school graduates today. I like the fact that women can have a family and a career, not one or the other. The 50's was a great time to be a man not to be a woman. My Grandmother tells me that I'm lucky to be a young woman today. I can be anything I want to be, and I don't have to get married after I graduate to be socially accepted. African Americans and other racial minorities were victums of segeration in every aspect of society. The romaniticized image of the 50's is great and all. But lets not forget how much better things are today.

What an excellent point, Brenda! Thank you for posting these. Wonder what we'll be saying in 2048?

Wow, thanks for sharing--makes us really think how far we've come. And, how far we still have to go...

I don't remember too much of 1957, I was only 2

I do know my mom had a lot of guts, getting divorced at that time was not a "no deal", and doing so while raising a child on her own could not have been easy.

I remember seeing (his name at the time) Cassius Clay in an interview, and wondering at the sheer force of his personality, I remember seeing I think it was the Glen Mack Talent Hour (?) and the winner of the competition was Sly and the Family Stone (and it was a great performance!), I also saw Karen Carpenter and her brother when they won, I believe this is what launched her career.

I remember when we lived in Florida and in school we had air raid drills where I had to get under my desk - this was the time of the Cuban Missle Crisis.

I remember sleeping in the closet with my mom during I think it was Hurricane Leo - the wind was so strong that just with the roll-open glass panels of the window (multiple bathroom shelf sized panels) open - the bed was moving around the bedroom!

I remember when hamburgers were 15 cents, and there was just one Burger King or that they were just in Miami, and their whopper cost 45 cents

I remember what it was like to be in school with no calculators, NO computers -

I remember growing up reading all the stories on racing cars and boxing in the little boys section of the library, and simply substituting "she" for he, and believing that a girl could do those things too, as that was how I was raised.

I remember the first stories on bra burning (scandalous in those days)

I remember coming to the strong belief that the simplest thing, that seems the hardest for folks to do, is to simply accept each person for who they are, regardless of sex, age, color, religion, wealth, education, political affiliation.

Originally Posted by katl8e

OMG - that's the year that I was BORN!

Click to expand...

I was, too. It's funny to think about what was modern back then, and what was considered impossible.

Thanks for sharing! I love reading things like that.

Another 1957 baby here!

When I started kindergarten my mom had just gone back to work to help support the family. Her dad didn't think she had to - and this was 1962!

Ahem! Well, I started driving when gas was 29 cents a gallon. A McDonald's hamburger when I was in college was 29 cents. My first year teaching back in 1962 my annual salary was $5000. And that was for ten months pay, as I had a special contract for an extra month, so most teachers made less. Shoot, I remember buying a brand new car for $1800 back in about 1968! Yes, times have changed!