Going to school in the 1950's and early 1960's, although idyllic compared to now, also had its drawbacks. If you recall the dresses the girls wore, then you also recall that there wasn't much there to provide visual appreciation; they were still wearing pretty much what their mothers wore before WWII. For a boy to get any idea about a girl's figure required an imagination. In fact, the girls of that day were quick to remind us that leaving things to the imagination was a virtue. Well, to tell the truth, most of us didn't buy into that philosophy.
We had a couple of opportunities to appraise the female figure each year; one, was at one of the local swimming pools in summer, or water skiing if you could get your hands on a boat, and another was when the Ft. Worth Fat Stock Show cranked up in February. During the stock show, girls would don blue jeans and other western-style costumes, most of which involved wearing closely fitti
ng jeans, and for a few glorious days the scenery was much improved.
There was the downtown Ft. Worth fat stock show parade and the stock show midway to visit. And the scenery in both venues was excellent. About the 10th grade (1959-60) one of our group got the bright idea that pea shooters might be fun on the day's outing...and he was right. Among other things, we discovered that we could get a charming reaction from a girl with an attractive figure if we bounced one of those peas off her backside!
I grinned today as I recalled this little vignette of mischief past. Of course, when she snapped around to see who done it, we always hid the fact that one of us was the culprit...but I couldn't help but wonder what the result might have been if we had smiled and winked at her. Probably would have gotten slapped...but maybe not by all of them.
July 2012, a few more thoughts. Girls' fashion began to change rapidly during the mid to late 1960s, mostly reflected by rising hemlines. Where the hemlines since WWII had ranged from a bit below the knees to those awful 1950s hems that went down to mid-shin, by the late sixties, when we came of age and Vietnam was raging, those hems headed north...way north. And we got the miniskirt.
The miniskirt...what a marvelous contribution to our youth culture. If a girl had the legs and figure for it, she could rule the room, the lobby, the sidewalks, the airport, campus, classes, restaurants, offices...well, let's just say that it was a breath of fresh-air. For everyone. And a great opportunity to flirt.
Je remercie le bon dieu de jolies filles
