1950s American Fads, Fashions and Trends Quiz

Answer: Mary

According to the Social Security Administration, Mary continued to rank in the top 100 most poplular names for newborns through the 2000s. The other top 10 names in the 1950s were, in order: Linda, Patricia, Susan, Deborah, Barbara, Debra, Karen, Nancy and Donna. The most chosen names for boys were: James, Michael, Robert, John, David, William, Richard, Thomas, Mark and Charles.

Answer: Ducktail (or DA)

While the DA is forever associated with the 50s, more young men of the era sported a crewcut or flat-top. Older men continued to wear their hair much as they did in previous generations: short and neatly trimmed, parted on the side and slicked back.

Answer: Howard Hughes

An article that appeared on 4 November, 2009 in Britain's "Daily Mail" announced that sales of the "1950's pin-up girl pointy bust bra made famous by Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe" were on the rise. The conical shaped bras were experiencing a renaissance driven by the latest couturier collections of designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier, who had sparked a similar upturn in sales when his creations were made famous by Madonna in the 1980s.

Hughes utilized his talents at aircraft design to create the pointed bra that made the most of Ms. Russell's assets when he dabbled in film production in the 40s and 50s.

Answer: Sunglasses, beret, goatee

Legend has it that Jack Kerouac wrote his most famous novel, "On the Road" (a stream-of-consciousness tale of jazz, sex, and fast yet aimless driving on the open road) in a three-week writing marathon allegedly fueled by caffeine, nicotine and Benzadrine.

The 1957 book is often said to define the beat generation much as "The Sun Also Rises" by Hemingway did for the 1920s. Interestingly, photos of Kerouac from the time show him to be rather conventionally dressed with his hair worn short and parted on the side, and neither a beret nor a goatee.

Answer: Airlines

The first TV dinner was turkey with mashed potatoes and peas. The introduction of this product was made possible by the advent of the "quick freeze" process. When Swanson introduced a line of frozen breakfast meals in 1970, they were launched by none other than 'The French Chef' herself, Julia Child, on the rooftop of the St. Regis Hotel in New York.

Answer: Fess Parker

Contrary to popular belief, "Davy Crockett" was never its own TV series, but a five part segment on the series "Disneyland" which ran from December, 1954 through October, 1955. Bill Hayes, Tennessee Ernie Ford and Parker himself each recorded a version of the show's theme song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett." All were hits. The opening lyrics are:

"Born on a mountain top in Tennessee,
Greenest state in the land of the free.
Raised in the woods so's he knew every tree,
Killed him a bear when he was only three.
Davy, Davy Crockett King of the Wild Frontier."

Fess Parker went on to greater fame playing another frontiersman on the show "Daniel Boone."

Answer: 1946-1964

It's estimated that beginning in 2004 a Baby Boomer turned 50 every 8 seconds. Whew! More babies were born in the five year span of 1948-1953 than in the previous thirty years!

The next large birth bump, Generation X, is defined by "Education Week" magazine as those born between 1968 and 1979. I don't know what you would call the poor souls who entered the world from 1965-1967! Generation Y is generally more loosely defined as those born from the late-70s to late-90s.

Answer: South Korea

Also called The McCarren-Walter Act, this legislation, while eliminating many of the restrictions by race, nevertheless still imposed quotas. It was originally vetoed by President Harry Truman who lamented "the absurdity, the cruelty of carrying over into the post-war USA the isolationist limitations of a 1924 law. In no other realm of our national life are we so hampered and stultified by the dead hand of the past as we are in this field of immigration." Congress overrode Truman's veto and the Act was passed.

There was an exception, however: those married to or children of US citizens were exempt from the quota system, allowing more than 17,000 South Korean war brides and children to enter the US legally following the end of the Korean War. Racial restrictions, particularly for Asians, had long been a part of US immigration policy.

Answer: Coco Chanel

The now iconic "Chanel suit" became an international phenomenon when it was copied by large American department stores such as Macy's and Neiman-Marcus, thus becoming accessible to American women from Seattle to Sarasota. This fashion trend led the way for the rabid interest in the US for all things French when Jacqueline Kennedy became the American First Lady just a few years later.

Chanel, who also introduced the now famous "little black dress", has inspired generations of American designers such as Halston, Calvin Klein and Vera Wang who emulate her clean, elegant lines. Chanel famously disliked the corseted fashions of the New Look and is quoted as saying "Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury."

Answer: 1932 Ford Model B coupe

Car aficionados regard the 1932 Ford Model B as being the definitive hot rod. According to the website roadsters.com "there are currently more 1932 Fords on the road than there were when the car was new. In fact ...there are currently more 1932 Fords registered just in the state of California than Ford ever built." This is due to the fact the the "Little Deuce Coupe" immortalized in the song by the Beach Boys is one of the most re-built and 'built-from-a-kit' cars available.