The 1950s were a curious cultural blend. On the one hand, the decade was the era of the organization man and conservative fashion, epitomized by the man in the gray flannel suit, as well as the era of the stay-at-home mom and pleasant if predictable suburban life of Donna Reed, Ozzie and Harriet, and Leave It to Beaver.
But the cars of that era, especially towards its exuberant climax, seemed to have been styled by people on drugs, all fins and wings and weird shapes. And chrome. Lots of chrome. They were powered by giant V-8 engines -- the Cadillac offered a 500cid and the Lincoln a 460cid -- that seem like they could have powered World War II fighter planes.
And the music; I mean the music adults listened to, not rock'n'roll -- that was pimple music for teens -- was also far from conservative, but hip and swinging, like the Kirbystone Four's version of "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," rendered in their "go sound" -- new for 1958! -- or Bobby Rydell's finger-snapping take on "Volare!" Somehow, it all fitted together: Bishop Fulton Sheen and Hugh Hefner, Bunny Yeager and Debbie Reynolds, Dwight Eisenhower and Jerry Lee Lewis, Edward Teller and Albert Schweitzer....
Well, maybe it did. Willoughby! Next stop Willoughby!
