Well, here goes..this is going to be long...remember now, I was a farm kid. Very naive`and uninformed. All of those things you mentioned, mostly pertained to "town" kids, we didn't put in with a lot of that silliness, and wasteful spending, you understand. Gunsmoke, Roy Rogers, and the Grand Ole Opry, on WLS Radio. My Mom would sing along, she had a beautiful voice. After they were done on Saturday night we had to go to bed, church in the morning. I learned to Polka watching Lawrence Welk at my Aunt's house, then my girl friend and I would demonstrate at school, so every body could learn it. Schottish, (loved that) walz, etc. Pedal pushers were good, but elastic-waisted plaid skirts with big wide elastic belts were "it". That was a couple years before the Poodle skirts. Saddle shoes were great, but they didn't hold up very well, so we usually got Buster Brown tie shoes from Sears' catalog. Haircuts - pixie-style, otherwise most of us had longer hair usually braided, with bangs, or else a ponytail. Our phone was a wall-phone, with a crank. Our ring was two shorts and two longs. We'd "rubber in" if somebody else on the line got a call. We had cats all over the place, only the Calico ones were ever let in the house, though. They were special, apparently, we also took in abandoned babies, sparrows that the nest blew down, a couple of Kill Deer babies one year, a ...., (we had to take her to the woods though, she was mean to my oldest sister's babies). Oh, and a fat flying squirrel named Quirky. He was five years old when he died, probably because we just fed him too much. That was awful. We had horses and a pony that scrubbed my little brother off under the cherry tree. I was the only one that could ride him (Sugar was his name.) We all had lots of chores to do, especially in summer.
Eight Tracks, only rich people had them in their '57's, especially the Buicks. Our car was a Nash Rambler. Of course it was light brown, un-assuming color. It had an AM radio, we listened to the market reports, mostly. News came on every 1/2 hour.
Boy friends were tolerated, but you had to stay in view of the front porch at all times, and they had to be gone before dark, cause they had to ride their bikes home on the gravel road. . By the time I got into high school, a couple of them had cars!! Fords. Wow. Still had to be in sight of the porch! In 1961 we got our first TV set, a used one. I was 14 then. Jack Benny, Laurel and Hardy. Three Stooges. "The Really Big Show" with Ed Sullivan. The only thing is I really didn't like Elvis very much. Couldn't stand to watch him but liked the music. Something about that little slack-sided mouth, I just don't know....Mom and Dad thought he was "slick", that word wasn't used again until Bill Clinton was elected. It was not complimentary. We were more into "Gunsmoke", Roy Rodgers, Gene Autry, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Doris Day, Art Linkletter, and Jerry Lewis. Best was Red Skelton. My Dad loved him. There was a dinner bell on the wood shed when Grampa bought the farm in 1903. I have it now.
My folks moved to town, we had to sell the farm when my Grandpa died in '63. We had a Princess phone, too. Really moved on up there! I went to work at a restaurant, week-end work. Bought all my own clothes and a $99 class ring in 1964, the first "real gold" thing I ever had! 10 karat! (I'm into 18 karat, now.) The "Twist" was HOT! Chubby Checker. Sweaters and Stretch Pants, the stirrup kind! And penny loafers. "Tight" skirts just above the knee and knee socks. And wool Bermuda shorts, plaid ones, with tights underneath, white tennis shoes, the canvas kind! Cool. And we "teased" our hair till it cried! I still wear wool Bermuda shorts and tights, they actually came back into Vogue if they ever left.
I graduated from high school in 1965, there were twenty-two in our class. That was the year my girl friend and I learned to smoke, inhaled and everything! . Was married in 1966. Seemed right at the time......I didn't get my driver's license til I was 20, didn't have a car to drive so that didn't matter too much. "Woolie Bullie" was my favorite song. Then came "Disco Dancing" sometime around in there..I never did get to buy a Mustang..My good old days.
Marykay - no she didn't slap me, but she blamed me for making her bigger. I told her it wasn't me, it was the beer. 
