Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Growing up in the 50s

Cow pasture baseball. Use discretion when sliding.

My older brother had an artificial leg. When the neighborhood kids got together for a pasture football game, you didn't want to get tackled by him. He didn't tackle. He'd just stick out that leg and trip you. DANG that hurt. It was literally getting whacked on the shins by a club.

Best thing for you guys growing up in the 50s was you can say you remember when I was born later on in the decade.


Helluva an honor heh ? 🤔🤦🏼‍♂️

In 1951 admission to the local movie theater for those under 13 y/o was $0.13. Ten cents admission and 3 cents tax.

In the late 50's in Boise, the Saturday matinee was .25 for a double feature and cartoon. That got you in the door and they'd keep running the 2 movies over and over. You could stay all day and watch them both over and over if you wanted to.

You mean you guys didn't bring a shotgun to grade school and keep it in your unlocked locker so that you could go hunting after school? Didn't much care for the sixth grade, but school was closer to the railroad tracks with the rabbits and pheasants along the ditches.
The down side of growing up then was that you were like a piece of raw meat and prime age when the Viet Nam war hit. I was 1A or 2S and it wasn't a tough decision. The Tet Offensive or University of Wisconsin.

i would have to agree i was born in 53 also and living in the country, i remember mostly the 60`s early 70`s when me and my brother hunted ,target shot our guns , fished, rode dirt bikes,snowmobiles ,beer parties in fields cops didn`t say much, in most any place we wanted too,no one cared much. we raised alot of hell and people just said those boys will grow up and be just fine. we did still go to church every Sunday with mom or all hell was raised so hang-overs ,black eyes ,we were clean up , hair comb and quiet in church ,Mom ruled on Sunday A.M. . in church when everyone shook hands in peace , brother and i gave each other the peace sign only once and when we got in the car Mom was pissed and all hell was raised,Dad thought it was funny and he caught hell too. ya i remember 60`s and 70`s in todays world i would still be in jail ! man we had some fun booze ,women ,fast cars,motor bikes all for the sake of fun.

Our neighbor boy was born with no arms and legs so we always took him with us to play sandlot baseball . . . we used him as first base.

i was over in the corner in my version of that dance, being deathly afraid of girls at the time.
i do remember buying my first revolver and shotgun from a gun store at about age 11, and walking back home with them through the center of town. And the 70bucks my dad paid for that winchester 94 30.30.
and a 57 chevy was much better than a 58, if for no other reason that little lever to open the glove box in the center of the dash made an excellent beer bottle opener. I found that out in the 60's.
all adults were mr, mrs. etc, or you got the crap slapped out of you. adults took no disrespect.
I was relatively poor at the time, but didn't know it, as my mother having really been poor always made sure food on the table.
ran unsupervised all over not just the town, but the county on motor scooters. armed, too.
later, in 65 i lived in a real life american grafitti, drivein, the whole thing. it was a year later when the coffins started coming home. choice was either college or someplace called vietnam.
My world i think changed when that piece of caca lbj was elected.
and the 50's was pretty much before free love, nice girls just didn't do that. or at least i never knew any.
I remember walking my first girl friend in the snow to the movies. worked up enough courage to put my arm around her, didn't know what to do then. Damn arm nearly fell off.
I started working at about age 8, dad said i didn't need an allowance at that age.
I miss those days. But i still eat solid food.
and we have a annual luncheon for all those graduating from the local high school 50 years or more in the past.
probably over 500 people attend now, and you get to see all your old friends again from multiple years.

Mention has been made of '57 Chevys. I once read where there are a number of them running around that never saw the inside of a Chevy plant. It seems that some engineers from GM hated to see them die, so they made some up privately (on some frame from Chrysler, I think), forming the sheet metal on wooden forms, and selling them as low-milage used cars.

That was an old joke in the 50s...

Remember the Twist by Chubby Checker??

Yes it was. And do you remember the words to "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" from the 50s?"

yup, but not pc today. We substituted "tiger" but that didn't make much sense because they don't speak english.

Eeny, meeny, miney, moe,
Catch a n*gger by the toe,
If he hollers, let him go,
eeny, meeny, miney, moe.

Used to choose who was "it".

If the teacher was watching or within earshot we'd substitute monkey for what got caught by the toe.

Eney, meeny, miney, moe
Catch a n*gger by the toe
If he hollers, make him pay
Fifty dollars every day
My mommy told me
to chose the very best one
You dirty, dish rag you.

Hmm, that's a variation I hadn't heard. We did have the last set of lines but those were only added if you didn't like the person who got picked or didn't want them on your team. You could add a series of extra verses until they finally picked someone you wanted on your team.

Fifty dollars every day?! Good lord, that's a fortune...

Didn't grow up in the '50's. This is the version I remember:

Eney, meeny, miney, moe
Catch a monkey by his toe
If he hollers, make him pay
Fifty dollars every day
My momma told me pick this one