Re:Survey shows people no longer believe working hard will l...
by JKCalhoun on Tuesday June 15, 2021 @10:31AM
(#27516045)
I don't think so.
I know I'm going to leap back decades but maybe there's still a thing worth considering here: old recordings of Groucho Marx's "Your Bet Your Life" have been oozing into my YouTube feed lately.
(Fascinating all that is out there that can innocently scroll past your gaze. Click on it just once! and expect a tidal wave of the same.)
At first I was drawn in by the truly off-color sexual innuendo of the host — something I was not expecting from television of the 1950's. (I fully expected the 1950's sexism on parade however.)
But what started to fascinate me more and more were the ordinary occupations and the lives of many of the guests on "Your Bet Your Life". To be sure there were wanna-B-film stars and other minor celebrities, but Groucho appears to have also had plenty of men (and women) "off the street".
What menial working class work they performed in the suburbs of Los Angeles County. One guy's job is to milk cows (with an electric milker). Another woman's husband drives a fertilizer truck. A guy sells vacuum cleaners door to door.... Like sitting in the DMV, you saw a strange cross section of working class America from the 1950's.
But the men had wives, children, homes. I'm not so sure the there was a lot of upward mobility for these (primarily) men bread winners. But when home, car, family were within reach of a modest, blue-collar existence, maybe they didn't care as much.
I know I'm going to leap back decades but maybe there's still a thing worth considering here: old recordings of Groucho Marx's "Your Bet Your Life" have been oozing into my YouTube feed lately.
(Fascinating all that is out there that can innocently scroll past your gaze. Click on it just once! and expect a tidal wave of the same.)
At first I was drawn in by the truly off-color sexual innuendo of the host — something I was not expecting from television of the 1950's. (I fully expected the 1950's sexism on parade however.)
But what started to fascinate me more and more were the ordinary occupations and the lives of many of the guests on "Your Bet Your Life". To be sure there were wanna-B-film stars and other minor celebrities, but Groucho appears to have also had plenty of men (and women) "off the street".
What menial working class work they performed in the suburbs of Los Angeles County. One guy's job is to milk cows (with an electric milker). Another woman's husband drives a fertilizer truck. A guy sells vacuum cleaners door to door.... Like sitting in the DMV, you saw a strange cross section of working class America from the 1950's.
But the men had wives, children, homes. I'm not so sure the there was a lot of upward mobility for these (primarily) men bread winners. But when home, car, family were within reach of a modest, blue-collar existence, maybe they didn't care as much.