A TIME OF I N N O C E N C E

Peacetime brought new prosperity, ideas, music, morals-and censorship. Repression also came in the form of "blacklisting" of Communists and homosexuals.

After almost a whole decade of war, the 1950s allowed the world to recover and experience a time of innocence. In the US, the new baby boomer generation was young and growing up with fun around them-American Bandstand and rock 'n' roll music, hula hoops, Barbie dolls, poodle skirts and saddle shoes with bobby sox. Disney released Cinderella, the original animated film about the unloved stepsister who finds her Prince Charming. The I Love Lucy show debuted, starring comedienne Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz. In a misguided attempt at keeping the US innocent for as long as possible, censorship became rampant. Radio stations played most of the hip new rock 'n' roll, but banned Dottie O'Brien's "Four or Five Times" and Dean Martin's "Wham Bam, Thank You Ma'am" because they were considered too suggestive, as was "Wake Up, Little Susie" by the Everly Brothers, a song about two teens who fall asleep at a movie and miss curfew. Crooners at the beginning of the decade gave way to teen idols. Music lovers propelled Elvis Presley to the top of the charts with major hits such as "Don't Be Cruel" and "Jailhouse Rock." Other singing sensations included the Everly Brothers, Bobby Darin, and the Platters. "The Chipmunks" (Alvin!) capped off the decade with a continued spirit of fun. When Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, Sullivan was so disturbed by his raunchy hip thrusting that he instructed the crew not to shoot Elvis below the waist. Racy literature was treated with the same contempt-authorities banned the best selling Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger for sexual content and vulgarity, and 31 years after it was written, D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover (about a married woman and her gamekeeper lover) was banned from the US mails. More repression came in the form of "witch hunts" for alleged communists and homosexuals. The purge focused mainly on Hollywood, while the US government held congressional hearings that resulted in unjustified firings and "blacklistings." In Europe, boundaries were also being pushed. Britain was to be the first to transmit a live birth on television-until it had to be stopped when a Caesarean was carried out, to the relief of outraged viewers. In France, Christian Dior presented the short skirt, which fell just above the knees, creating a fashion revolution. Faced with criticism, Dior answered insouciantly, "Women don't wear what they like, they like what they wear." Although still following the TV "Donna Reed" housewife model for much of the decade, women also made some grand strides. Margaret Sanger started the International Planned Parenthood Federation to help women with birth control and abortions. French feminist Simone de Beauvoir won the Prix Goncourt- France's most prestigious literary award-for The Mandarins, about a woman torn between love and politics. Women demanded equal pay for equal work-and equality in the bedroom, too. Kinsey's Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female shook up middle-America with its survey results, indicating that one-half of American women were not virgins when they married and onefourth of married women had committed adultery by the age of 40.

THE SILVER SCREEN

Some classic films came out of the '50s: The African Queen, An American in Paris, A Place in the Sun, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Some Like It Hot, which helped to lower some taboos thanks to its references to homosexuality and seduction. In France, Louis Malle's Les Amants caused controversy over its long love scene.

BETWEEN THE PAGES

Best seller lists gave us many classic books too, including From Here to Eternity by James Jones, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier, Giant by Edna Ferber, and the Nobel Prize winning saga Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak.

PEOPLE

John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier, Marilyn Monroe married baseball great Joe Di Maggio, with the marriage only lasting nine months,