From the Urban to the Suburban

1
From the Urban to the Suburban

• America in the 1950s
• Amy Staniforth, Dept. of English

2
Ben Franklin on Appearance vs. Reality

• "I took care not only to be in reality
  industrious and frugal, but to avoid all
  appearances of the contrary" (131).
• I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the
  reality of this virtue humility, but I had a
  good deal with regard to the appearance of it
  (155).

3
Urbanity or Sub-urbanity

• the American City, as it has been imagined and
  filmed, is very much a part of the American
  Tradition that emphasizes the importance of
  APPEARANCE, even when the real urban experience
  is sometimes quite different.
• the reality of the dominant Anglo majority was
  often more sub-urban, than urban.

4
The City in the Fifties Glamorous Starlets
versus Cold Masculinity of Film Noir

• Long tradition of the city as the glorious
  future
• Ford ad in 500 Years, p. 291-92
• Glamour and stars epitomize the "civilization"
  and centralization of culture and technology
• Also long history of criticism of the city e.g.
  Jacob Riis' photographs in 500 Years
• Film noir portrays the city as an urban jungle
  for lone masculine heroes.

5

• "We live in the age of great cities. Each
  successive year finds a stronger and more
  irresistible current sweeping in towards the
  centers of life
• --Reverend Samuel Lane Loomis (1887)
• 1000s of years of history create a handful of
  cities with over half a million people by 1900
  America has six! And three of those, New York,
  Chicago, and Philadelphia, have over one million!

6

• End of civil war 1/6 of Americans lived in
  cities of 8,000 people or more in 1900 it was
  1/3 by 1920 it was ½.
• 1885 Home Insurance Building in Chicago, First to
  use a metal frame structure.
• Architect Louis H. Sullivan a skyscraper "must
  be every inch a proud and soaring thing, rising
  in sheer exaltationfrom top to bottom"

7

• Elevators, streetcars, steel and glass, the
  automobile technology.
• Four cars in 1895 (??) and 5 Million by 1917.
• 1916 Federal Roads Act
• 1946, 8 shopping Malls in the entire country!

8
Reno Unique, and yet American

• Technology, train, mining, water, automobile, and
  NEON!
• Residency down to 3 months in 1927, to 6 weeks in
  1931
• Gambling 1931
• "Appearance" of Reno on film
• President Harry S. Truman's Reno

9
Suburbia Levittown the "Rabbit Hutch"

• Levittown conceived in 1947, by 1951 there were
  17,000 mass produced homes at 6,990 each
• 16ft picture windowsto see what?
• By 1960, 60 million people (1/3 of the nation)
  lived in suburban rings around citiesbaby boom!
• Who doesn't live in suburbia? Michael Harrington
  (500 Years 304)
• Betty Friedan (500 Years 306)