http://hist380.ferrellhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/HIST-380-Project-3-2-Teenagers-in-Popular-Television.pdf
2 thoughts on “Teenagers in Popular Television in the 1950s”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Search
Father Knows Best was a popular radio program for almost five years beginning in 1949. (It then ran on television for six seasons.) Its premise was that the Andersons were a typical American family living in a typical American town. Jim Anderson was an insurance salesman (unlike some dads on 1950s television, Anderson always had a clear occupation).
Television episodes usually involved some crisis–at least in the eyes of the three children. Sometimes, however, the crisis involved the mother, Margaret, when she felt unappreciated as the stay-at-home bedrock of the family. Not surprisingly, by the end of episodes she returned to her husband, children, and home–but with acknowledgement that her family was taking advantage of her devotion to them. In effect, MOTHER knows best, not father.
Daughter Betty was, as one overview notes, a “drama queen.” “Oh, mother,” she lamented on virtually every episodes as her frustration grew with her seemingly out-of-tune-with-the-times parent.
A thought-provoking review upon the start of the radio program: “The pursuit of the typical American family has got way out of bounds in radio. It’s my guess that radio’s typical American families are the first thing the real typical American family will turn off, simply because there isn’t much in them they can’t duplicate with live actors in their own homes” (http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-Father-Knows-Best.html).
I enjoyed reading your post this week. It was an interesting topic, and a familiar one at that. I took a class last semester devoted solely to the 1960s and see a strong correlation of cultural divide in the age gap. After reading the Cohen essay it’s interesting to see how he depicts the 1950s and how it affected the cultural divide. Also interesting to see the culture of the time through the show Father Knows Best. Showcasing the wide arrange of characters and personalities that were prevalent of the time. The show as a leans to the past showing the differences in gender roles with the modernization and the urbanization of the American families. Also its interesting to see the enormous amount of importance the father role had in those times and is cool to look at in modern times to see where we have come as a society. (I pledge 150)