Fads+and+slang



Fads and Slang in the 1950’s

• Litterbug • Whirlybird- helicopter • Wumgush- nonsense • Urban legend • Bafflegab- unintelligent language used in government communications • American teens spend $25 million on Elvis merchandise in 1957



1950 → “Hopalong Cassidy” first appeared on New York television as early as 1945, than went national in 1949. This year, the silver-haired cowboy and his horse Topper draw as many as 300,000 fans at a personal appearance. Children clamor for black Hoppy hats, shirts, guns and holsters, and other merchandise.

1952 → This was the year that the game Scrabble became popular → Male students carry out daring panty raids on women’s dormitories in American colleges and universities. → Over 90 products promise freshness with the addition of green chlorophyll, including gum, cough drops, deodorants, socks, and toilet paper. The rage will die out late next year when scientists find nothing to support advertising claims.

1953 → Roy Rogers toy guns, hats, vests, pajamas, lunch boxes, and TV chairs. → Toy railroads; increasingly popular

1955 → Walt Disney televised three episodes of “Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.” By the time Disney rebroadcasts the programs in April, Crockett mania has engulfed America. → Merchandisers sell $100 million worth of 3,000 different items—coonskin hats, leather jackets, bicycles, bedspreads, lunch buckets, jigsaw puzzles

1956 → Young kids sport “Captain Midnight” decoder rings while teenage girls put their boyfriend's high school rings on a gold chain around their necks.

1957 → Pluto Platter an instant hit on college campuses, the idea likely originated with the Frisbee cookie and meat-pie tins used by Yale students in an earlier game of catch.

1958 → hula hoop was invented

1959 → The last in a decade of goofy stunts, telephone-booth stuffing spreads from South Africa to London, then skips across to the American Midwest and California

Jess M and Josh W