Can you think of any?

[piece-itpete]

I was kinda watching an episode of 'Father Knows Best' the other other day when it occurred to me that most of the old shows, families with kids, have a professional as a father figure or perhaps like the Rifleman a guy who runs his own business / takes care of himself (like a ranch).

I thought that perhaps that helps explain how just about everyone goes to college now.

Anyone think of an old show (B&W?) that doesn't fit this?

Pete

[Boreas]

My recollection is that most of the fathers in these early shows wore a suit to work but that what they actually did was never mentioned. They just showed up at dinnertime, took off their hat, sat down to the dinner that awaited them and solved the day's domestic snafus. I think the lack of specificity was intended to make the "man of the house" sort of a blank slate professionally so that the male viewers could more easily paint their own lives into the picture.

An exception to this was "The Life of Riley" where the William Bendix character was an aircraft assembly line worker. Another exception was Ozzie of "Ozzie and Harriet" who didn't seem to work at all. Maybe, since Ozzie and family were all sorta playing themselves, we were just supposed to assume that he was a bandleader (like Desi Arnaz). Then there was "The Honeymooners" segment of the Jackie Gleason Show" where the two male characters were as blue collar as it gets, a bus driver ans a sewer woiker.

Later, of course, there was a slew of doctors but they were all dramatic series.

John

[piece-itpete]

I've never heard of Life of Riley

I thought of the honeymooners (one of my favorite shows) right away, but they didn't have kids. Life with Father, imdb says he was a 'financier', My Three Sons, wikis' got him as an aeronautical engineer, Make Room for Daddys' a performer, Andy Griffith is a Sheriff, Dick Van Dyke is a writer... outside of Life of Riley (which I'll have to watch sometime, thanks) I still can't think of one.

Pete

[ebacon]

The Brady Bunch dad was an architect.

Archie Bunker was the best. He was a loading dock supervisor.

http://youtu.be/7fqCS7Y_kME

[piece-itpete]

My wife mentioned Archie too. A little later, and he was usually - WRONG

A few more - Hazel, the dad was a lawyer, Dennis the Menace, engineer, Leave it to Beaver, wiki says '..successful, college-educated, middle-class professional with a steady but obscure office job..', .....

Pete

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

I've never heard of Life of Riley

I thought of the honeymooners (one of my favorite shows) right away, but they didn't have kids. Life with Father, imdb says he was a 'financier', My Three Sons, wikis' got him as an aeronautical engineer, Make Room for Daddys' a performer, Andy Griffith is a Sheriff, Dick Van Dyke is a writer... outside of Life of Riley (which I'll have to watch sometime, thanks) I still can't think of one.

Pete

"The Life of Riley" was very early. Like some other shows, "Gunsmoke", "The Great Gildersleeve", Amos & Andy, it started on radio.

I probably haven't seen "Riley" since its original airing but my recollection is that it was quite good. I remember the tag line whenever Riley got brought up short by life.

"What a revoltin' development this is!"

I'll probably be saying something very similar 2 weeks from today.

John

[piece-itpete]

Originally Posted by Boreas

"....

I'll probably be saying something very similar 2 weeks from today.

John

ROTFLMAO!!! One or the other of us John

Pete

[icenine]

Pete the America that was depicted on TV in the 50s was not the "true America" for everyone else at the same time. Not all families were the white, nuclear middle class Leave It To Beaver facsimile we saw on TV. Many of course were but not all.

I think the reason why everyone was able to go to college was the economic post-war boom of the consumer driven marketplace facilitated by big government (Montgomery G.I. Bill, Marshall Plan) and Big Business (Auto, Steel, Defense,etc). Mostly union by the way. This led to our great middle-class society.

I guess you may be younger than you sound since you seemed mystified by men in gray flannel suits. Either that or you are still recovering from having to take down those billboards this weekend

[piece-itpete]

Heck I wore a beautiful three piece Christian Dior grey flannel suit for work for a few years. Good thing I found it at the thrift store!

Life wasn't like TV in the 50s? Does Obama know about this??

My dad said nearly everyone wore a suit at one time, they cleaned it once a year with naptha. Summers on a crowded bus in Chicago it would stink to high heaven. "It was OK because everyone stunk" lol.

Interesting comments though. Perhaps because of the GI bill and the fact that many went to college with it after WW2 led to the depiction on the 50s shows?

Pete

PS - I'm clueless over the billboard comment.

[icenine]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

Heck I wore a beautiful three piece Christian Dior grey flannel suit for work for a few years. Good thing I found it at the thrift store!

Life wasn't like TV in the 50s? Does Obama know about this??

My dad said nearly everyone wore a suit at one time, they cleaned it once a year with naptha. Summers on a crowded bus in Chicago it would stink to high heaven. "It was OK because everyone stunk" lol.

Interesting comments though. Perhaps because of the GI bill and the fact that many went to college with it after WW2 led to the depiction on the 50s shows?

Pete

PS - I'm clueless over the billboard comment.

sorry never mind it was in poor taste...I was alluding to the big voter fraud billboards that were put up and then taken down...I thought it was in Cleveland

No I meant the GI Bill and the big economic boom of the 50s led to the increase in the average kid going to college and the resulting boom in post-secondary education at the university level. For example my dad worked at Ford and was able to send me to Kent State.