by elizabeth evans
Member since:
January 6, 2006

Spontaneous Play - The Fifties Way

June 13, 2007 07:27 AM UTC
views: 0 | comments: 37

As I was rummaging around Mom's house I came upon this picture and I smiled.  Yes, those were the days...spontaneous summer days where the neighborhood children were allowed to be free and create their own activities to fill long hot, muggy days.  There were no "playdates" or "organized" sports...nor was there summer school or music lessons to attend....just wonderful free time to imagine, to dream.

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 I am the smallest little girl with bangs in the front row next to the dog.  My sister Anne is next to me ready to take a bite, my sister Fran is right behind Anne kneeling with the white dress smiling.  My cousin Shannon is in the riding outfit and my cousin Lynne is in the backrow, fifth over, holding up her Cinderella dress!  I am 61 and the youngest in this picture...so you can imagine how old these other girls are now!

 

Do you rember days like this when you were young?  Would that the children of today could engage in activities such as this! 

Comments: 37

flit . Jun 13, 2007, 7:43am UTC
Wonderful snippet ....and photo!

I remember spending days in the backyard coming up with elaborate plays - complete with costumes and scripts. Our porch made a wonderful stage!
elizabeth evans Jun 13, 2007, 7:45am UTC
flit...a stage is what we needed...all actresses in the making!
Debbie G. Jun 13, 2007, 7:51am UTC
What a treasure of a photo!
I remember similiar days with friends! Somewhere I have an old photo or two from early teen years where several of my friends and I dressed into costumes and rode our horses in a spontaneous play parade. :)
elizabeth evans Jun 13, 2007, 7:56am UTC
hey, Deb, your up early...how's Tonia fearing this morning...I'm sending her good energy from here to there! Alyssa has posted some trees that Tonia might enjoy!
Barb S. Jun 13, 2007, 8:31am UTC
I remember trying to do plays with my cousin Jimmy when he would spend a week with us during the summer. It was kind of hard with only 2 people but we sure had a lot of fun.
Pamela L. Jun 13, 2007, 8:36am UTC
We not only dressed in costume, but we would put on plays / musicals for all the parents. And our performances were extreeeeeeeemly corny. Lip-synking to whatever the radio was playing at the moment.
My very clear memory of these experiences confirms the pleasant torture our parents endured while sitting through our plays. Even so, my feelings are all great. Thanks for prompting those memories.
elizabeth evans Jun 13, 2007, 9:12am UTC
Wonderful summer days to be who you wanted to be, Amy!
elizabeth evans Jun 13, 2007, 9:16am UTC
You know Pam...I don't ever remember our parents ever watching what we were doing. Mom was always busy washing floors, laundry, what have you...she was just glad we were out of her hair. I think we just hung out with the older girls in the neighborhood...and entertained each other. As the youngest, I was always the baby, or the dog, or the kitty....never the princess!
Faith H. Jun 13, 2007, 9:22am UTC
My three younger sisters and I were always outside, always together, as we were very close in age, five and half years apart total. Our favorite inspiration was a big box of cast off "grown up" clothes that we loved to put on and play princesses or glamour gals. We'd round up other neighborhood children where ever we lived and have games, contests, fantasies of all sorts. And you are right, Bob, Mother was somewhere in the background but never hovering. It was a wonderful time.
amanda w. Jun 13, 2007, 9:26am UTC
Wonderful pic btw. And guess what? Most of us survived without having car seats until we were twenty? Loved the nostalgic article. I loved playing street football with the "guys" and of course spontaneous "doctor". Those were the days!
Vicky P. Jun 13, 2007, 11:11am UTC
That is so awesome. It's too bad we have let technology and structure take over our lives.
Diana Raabe Jun 13, 2007, 11:43am UTC
Oh my gosh! What a great photo! I was just talking about this the other day at my son's graduation party - how the activities are so different now. An Indian friend of mine said she thought it was a Middle Eastern thing, but I assured her it's more generational.

We used to "do plays" all the time - and dance - and write stories - and run races. Thanks for a great reminder.
Cecile V. Jun 13, 2007, 12:16pm UTC
Ah, shades of my youth as well! Actually, in my neighborhood children still do this. I have caught myself staring out my kitchen window for long minutes watching them play act. Just the other day I watched two mothers in the house across the street pause from their conversation while the kids donned hats and blankets and different stations in the yard presenting a play to them. I only wished I could hear what they were saying, but their actions were delightful! So perhaps all is not lost to this new generation after all!
Sonia M. Jun 13, 2007, 2:33pm UTC
Brought back lots of memories.... When I attended school in Georgia at the age of 12, our group of friends and cousins used to put on plays in the garage and sell tickets for a dime....!
Pamela L. Jun 13, 2007, 3:03pm UTC
You know what Corrine, your comment is absolutely fascinating. I'll bet you could write wonderful articles. I would love to read them.
Amy B. Jun 13, 2007, 3:34pm UTC
I was born in the 60s and I even remember those days before the internet and organized sports! We played dress-up and played with our Barbies and played board games and card games and road our bikes to the park to play on the swings and the slides. We had very active imaginations and were never bored. Kids today seem to get bored whenever they're not in front of a computer screen.
elizabeth evans Jun 13, 2007, 4:28pm UTC
Two people are better then one, Barb, for putting on plays.

Steph...they did go fast didn't they and yet at the time, summers seemed so long. I really thought we had a year of summer and then a year of school and then a year of summer...
elizabeth evans Jun 13, 2007, 4:33pm UTC
Faith, I think we had simialiar backrounds...there were three of us girls....and then of course all my cousins and then the neighborhood kids...all different ages...but all thrown in together...picking blueberries, putting on plays, having swimming and diving contests, playing King of the Raft....exploring woods and fields...adopting feral kitties...really quite free. Lunch was served under the weeping willow tree so we wouldn't track up the house.
elizabeth evans Jun 13, 2007, 4:38pm UTC
Corinne...I do like the "nicer" parts of your childhood in England...playing in the haystacks, pretending to be fairies in the woods and watching the blacksmith at his work...as for Guy Fawkes, this New Year's I got invited to my First Guy Fawks Party!
As for the less innocent parts, no child should have to endure such assaults on their forming minds. Sad that those things do happen.
elizabeth evans Jun 13, 2007, 4:45pm UTC
Oh Amanda I only played "Doctor" once and it was with my cousin Brian in his backhouse...and we really didn't play doctor, I just wanted to know how "that thing worked" and he showed me how he could stand on the backhouse seat and shoot down...I was impressed till my big cousin Terry came and gave us a lesson on things we could show and things we couldn't...and that was the end of that. Terry was like a God to us...and we LISTENED!
elizabeth evans Jun 13, 2007, 5:07pm UTC
Thanks Vicky and Diana for stopping by. Yes, I do think to a certain degree it is a generational thing...I don't think our parents were as involved with the minute by minute task of "keeping us busy"...instead, they like their parents before us, were busy with maintaining a house. Remember they didn't have all the gadgets we do...cooking and cleaning took far more time then....so no wonder they let us wander!
Ron B. Jun 13, 2007, 7:26pm UTC
Great article and photo.
elizabeth evans Jun 13, 2007, 7:34pm UTC
Cecile, that's wonderful that spontaneous play is alive and well in your neighborhood! It must of been fun watching from your window....

Sonia...ten cents to see a play...that's incredible that you could actually charge money and people would come!!!!

Your right Pam...Corrine's comment was intrigueing.
Aaron Lazar, mystery author Jun 13, 2007, 8:02pm UTC
I am with you 100%, Bob. When we were little, we just went outside and played. Pure and simple. No video games, no adults shouting rules, no props. We ran in the woods, imagined stories and playacted, climbed trees, sailed paper boats in puddles, rode horses (I was lucky), and went for long walks on hot pavement after rainstorms. I am trying to recreate this for my grandsons, we "play" outside all the time, with very little in the way of props. Today we picked peas, and shelled and ate them as we lay on the grass in the shade. It was divine. Thank you for this, a wonderful article that all parents should read!!!
elizabeth evans Jun 13, 2007, 8:17pm UTC
You know Aaron...when I just saw the brief comment in my inbox saying you had commented, I smiled and thought to myself, I know two little boys who will have a natural growing up time and in reply I will say this....then I bring up your actual comment and it mirrors my thoughts completely....amazing how we think! And yes, if I had grandbabies, I can just see them now....following me around the garden and building sculptures at the beach...just kickin' around.
Alyssa N. Jun 13, 2007, 11:28pm UTC
Haha my Grammie looks like she's going to eat Anne's head. She always was the crazy one wasn't she?
Jimmy _ Jun 14, 2007, 3:21am UTC
What a great picture!

Your right, those were the days... For me it was the 60s but the creativity of playing was still there.

Remember when the vacant lots always had kids playing baseball or football and we all knew every other kid in town? The favorite swimming hole that was used for ice skating in the winter..... A bottle of Coke for six cents and three peaces of candy for a penny. Building a tree house....

Thanks, you got me thinking about some wonderful times!
elizabeth evans Jun 14, 2007, 5:31am UTC
alyssa, despite the girlie-girlie dress your gram has on in the photo, she was a real tom-boy and throughout my childhood I looked up to her with the utmost respect. Playing marbles with the big boys, she walked away from the game with most of their cateyes. I remember how some of the neighborhood Moms would call Gramma Mag and complain, "Franny took advantage of little so and so......". As for climbing trees, she was the best...she was fearless in outdoor play. Indoors, our favorite game had something to do with the Sears catalog...it was a game called " I would choose this". We would go through the catalog and on each page we would point to the thing, if we had the money, we would choose. The rule was, you had to point at the same time. This game occupied us for years it seems. Your Gram is a gem!
Bob, I love pics like this of times gone by; and you commentary gives interesting context. Alas, my childhood is a bleak time better forgotten, lying left in the past.
elizabeth evans Jun 14, 2007, 7:03am UTC
So sad to hear that Mag...that is truly my one wish for the world...that all children could experience the "wonder of childhood"...but I know that is not realistic in this world today.
But, I keep hoping....
Laurie White Jun 16, 2007, 11:51pm UTC
I remember being outside from morning till late at night, going swimming in the lake, riding bikes, looking for frogs and salamanders, playing hide and seek, kick the can or just laying in the sun. My youngest is always outside hanging out with his friends but my middle one has to be forced out!
Tonia, who hugs trees G. Jun 17, 2007, 10:51am UTC
That is a lovely old photo - and yes, I also remember creating fantasy worlds in which to while away hours. Nature always provided great fodder for creating faerie kingdoms made from rocks and bits of moss.
elizabeth evans Jun 18, 2007, 7:47am UTC
Thanks Laurie and Tonia for stopping by.....
K S. Jun 18, 2007, 2:59pm UTC
It would be wonderful if things could have stayed the same .... with children being able to wander and play all day long without a care in the world ..... I remember those days when we didn't have to worry about the kids running around outside without direct adult supervision - every adult in the neighborhood knew each other and we all looked out for all of the kids .... then predators became the norm and not the exception and we had to safeguard our children from them and place them into scheduled activities and micro-manage thier time and activities and know where they were at all times ..... all in an attempt to keep them safe ..... I despise how the world has changed and how it has forced our children to change, as well ..... I guess I long for the times you reminded me of, Elizabeth ... more than I realized ......

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