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Friday, February 6, 1981
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
WZO Sponsors
Bible Contest
Danny Raskin's
By FATHER TIME
Guest Columnist
Do you remember the
1950s?
Maybe it conjures up
memories of dancing
cheek-to-cheek at the Won-
der Bar or Statler Terrace
Room, still getting over the
jitters of World War H.
The H-bomb was tested in
the Marshall Islands of the
Pacific, obliterating an
entire island in a mushroom
cloud of radioactive dust.
Even as we danced, dooms-
day predictions grew
louder. Some said civiliza-
tion would end.
But even in the shadow of
that mushroom cloud and
the tapering off of the war
in Korea, life trudged on.
Americans began closing
their bomb shelters and set-
ting up barbeque pits. And
many cheered the 1952 elec-
tion of Dwight Eisenhower
who promised peace and
prosperity.
People settled down in
front of their TV .sets to
watch "Gunsmoke" in
which violence was more
tolerable than the fear of
war.
Detroit area couples
took dance lessons to the
popular beat of the Cha
Cha, the Mambo and
other Latin favorites.
They had a chance to
practice at places like
Elmwood Casino, the
Book Casino, the Gold
Cup Room and Frank
Gagen's.
James Dean was the idol
of teen-age boys and the
dream of teen-age girls.
"Rebel Without a Cause"
was a classic of non-
conformity. And when
Dean, the star of that movie,
was killed in a 1955 car ac-
cident, his spirit became the
focal point of teen-age rebel-
lion.
Do you remember when
the gold-plated world of TV
quiz shows came crashing
down after it was learned
that contestants on
"Twenty-One were primed
with answers until their
popularity began to wane?
At the Democratic Con-
vention in 1952, Gov. Adlai
Stevenson of Illinois was a
dark-horse candidate for
president and was consid-
ered an "egghead."
Marilyn Monroe was
the sex symbol of the de-
cade. And moviegoers
gawked through
Polaroid glasses at 3-D
flicks. Critics agreed the
scripts were awful but
the public loved the opti-
cal illusion of beasts and
roller-coasters which
seemed to leap right out
of the screen.
TV was generating fads
like the cult of Davy Croc-
kett for the younger view-
ers. And kids were spinning
$1.98 plastic rings called
Hula-Hoops.
The basic black dress
with pearls was still the
uniform of Detroit area
women who dined in now
bygone restaurants like Ted
Lipsitz, Cliff Bell's, the
Motor Bar in the Book
Cadillac Hotel and
Beauchamps. The poodle
cut was a popular hairdo in
the '50s.
Men were thinking and
wearing pink from their
shirts to ties and even hat-
bands. Executives wore
Bermuda shorts to the office
and they sported stringy
Colonial ties.
Kids were into slang
words and everything
was "cool," "real gone,"
the most," "way out,"
"far out," "the end," and
"groovy." The Beat Gen-
eration was in and par-
ents and all "squares"
over 30 were definitely
out.
The "outs" of Detroit were
still dancing at the Bowery,
Club Gay Haven, North-
wood Inn and Club Alamo.
But TV provided super
entertainment like the
Kefauver Senate Crime
Hearings which kept the
"squares" glued to their
easy chairs.
The heavy in the hearings
was Frank Costello, the re-
puted elder statesman of or-
ganized crime, who refused
to testify on the grounds it
might tend to incriminate
him.
In the summer of 1952,
the Republican and Demo-
cratic presidential conven-
tions, in Chicago for the
first time, brought the
hoopla of the delegates live
to fascinated TV watchers.
And who can forget the 1954
hearings in which Sen.
Joseph McCarthy was hunt-
ing for Communists behind
and in front of every movie
camera.
Babysitters charged 75
cents an hour but Mom
and Pop managed to
enjoy an evening out at
places like the Latin
Quarter, Club Royale,
Danny's Gin Mill, Club
Bali, Red Kemps and
Sak's Show Bar.
But with the new subur-
ban lifestyle, the production
of hot dogs, potato chips,
gin, vodka, aspirin, campers
and outboard motors
soared. More power mow-
ers, floor polishers and
automatic washing
machines were sold to do-
it-yourself suburbanites
who couldn't afford expen-
sive help. Suburbia's reason
for being was good schools,
community life and healthy
surroundings — all adding
up to more and more kids.
Bonds President
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Yitzhak Rager has been
elected president of the Is-
rael Bond Organization by
the board of directors.
Rager has been serving as
vice president since
January 1980.
NEW YORK — Some 25
countries are expected to
participate in the Fifth In-
ternational Bible Contest
sponsored by the depart-
ment of education and cul-
ture of the World Zionist
Organization.
The contest, open to those
18 years of age and older,
will be held in three stages:
a regional contest, national
competition in New York,
and the finals, to be held in
July in Jerusalem.
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