What do you like the most about The Golden Era?

avedwards said:

Whilst I very much like elements of the Golden Era (particularly clothing and film) it's best not to over-glamourise it. They may have had many things we admore but they also had racism, inequality, poverty and war among other things. Having read a text book on the English law I can only say how glad I am to live in the 21st century.

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I agree. For me it would be: Clothes, swing music, art deco advertising and fleischer cartoons.

I am rather unaware when it comes to architecture and cars. Well ok. It looks good. I just don't notice it most of the time.

Triple A's! Attitude, Architecture and Automobiles. Attitude: The self reliant "can do" attitude that came about after the depression. Architecture: Beautiful, solid, functional construction that was intended to last. Automobiles: Wonderfully flowing, graceful lines that had class and comfort. meant to please the eye and stand out, rather than the look-alike, bland designs we see today.

Popular arts, especially illustrations, magazines and cartoons. And some sense of connectedness with the real world that seems to be increasingly difficult with the prevalence of ever-more electronic media.

Also the fact that a person who was earnestly willing to work for a living could generally find a tolerable, decent-paying job without having to hold a college degree or whatever credentials will make a dent in a Director of Human Resources.

Viola said:

I like the way sweatsuits were not seen in the grocery store. That even casual occasions neccessitated getting at the very dang least OUT of your pajamas, into some underwear, and then the underwear would be entirely covered with your clothes, which don't have writing on them.

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Here, here Viola. Glad, I mean saddened, to see that this 'fad' isn't restricted to the borders of the continental US.

Mr Vim said:

The need for details to be important, by details I mean a man tying his tie properly, carrying handkerchiefs, cars having beautiful interiors to match the work of art exterior, wonderful moldings on buildings and just the art deco design in general.

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Yes Mr Vim, details had importance. Excellence in work product, personal reputation, financial responsibility, duty...

Silver Bird said:

Triple A's! Attitude, Architecture and Automobiles. Attitude: The self reliant "can do" attitude that came about after the depression. Architecture: Beautiful, solid, functional construction that was intended to last. Automobiles: Wonderfully flowing, graceful lines that had class and comfort. meant to please the eye and stand out, rather than the look-alike, bland designs we see today.

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Good alliteration Silver Bird, and exceptional observation. It's all about quality and pride in yourself and your work. Wish we would see more of that today.

M.

Steven180 said:

Here, here Viola. Glad, I mean saddened, to see that this 'fad' isn't restricted to the borders of the continental US.

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Not at all restricted. Gotta say, I don't know if its just this particular area, but the locals seems to take "dressing casually" VERY seriously. Like, compared to my American hometown even. Of course, there might be other, practical reasons you don't walk around barefoot in Philadelphia.

But hair/makeup doesn't seem to be as big a thing for the ladies, and swim trunks seem to be appropriate as pants all year round for the men - just make it weather-wise with an enormous hoodie. [huh]

I pretty much have the same opinion as most other loungers, clothes, cars, music, movies, etc. But another main thing about the Golden Era that hasn't been mentioned on this thread is animation. Animated cartoons were once also works of art, created by people with a vision for storytelling. The Fleischers, Disney, Tex Avery, Termite Terrace etc. had a passion for bringing wonderful entertainment to audiences. Of course budget and profit was important, but the main difference was in those days, people running the studios knew how animation worked. Today, most cartoon studios are run by buisnessmen who have no knowledge about animation, they just want to produce drivel so they can make a few extra bucks. For those who don't know, animation actually had a 2nd Golden Age during the 1990's, where after 3 decades of soley made for profit low budget cartoons, animators were given a chance to have the freedom to try new things and experiment. We've once again, unfortunately fallen into an animation rut, at least on TV. I cannot stand a lot of modern cartoon shows, or movies for that matter (why did they need to modernize The Smurfs and the Chipmunks?). As a traditional animator myself I strive to make cartoons with passion and love for the medium. I also feel that everyone makes CGI films for the wrong reason. They make CGI films to be "like" traditional cartoons, instead of using CGI to do things traditional animation can't do.

LizzieMaine said:

The food. Simple, nonpretentious food served without irony or attitude.

And you better eat every damn bit on your plate, because there's people starving in Poland.

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Where is this restaurant !?!?!? These are the best prices I've seen around. A buck for a filet mignon? Far out.:essen:lol

In all seriousness, my favorite thing about the Golden Era is that people did things with a certain style that you don't see much of today. For example, you had designs like Art Deco styling, people dressed a lot better in general and many things were made with more attention to detail and quality. I remember in the early 90's when I used to show a friend of mine the latest piece I got for my WWII USAAF collection, he would examine the piece and say "now this was made in the day when things were made with quality". People seemed to take more pride in what they did as if their work was a reflection of themselves. I tried to follow in the footsteps of that generation in all I did but was branded for years as a naive idealist, living in my own little world not knowing the way things were in the "real world". Believe me, I knew what the real world was like. I just chose not to do what everyone else was doing.

Silver Dollar said:

I remember in the early 90's when I used to show a friend of mine the latest piece I got for my WWII USAAF collection, he would examine the piece and say "now this was made in the day when things were made with quality". People seemed to take more pride in what they did as if their work was a reflection of themselves. I tried to follow in the footsteps of that generation in all I did but was branded for years as a naive idealist, living in my own little world not knowing the way things were in the "real world". Believe me, I knew what the real world was like. I just chose not to do what everyone else was doing.

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That choice was courage. Courage to do what is right, to put quality into your work, and to work hard for an honest day's wages...without trying to find a shortcut. If that was the real world we would all be far better off.

M.

Thanks M. It's good to see I'm not out there alone.

What I like most about the Golden Era is the look of it. Everything was much more detailed and thus more interesting to look at. The clothes, the art, the architecture, even mass-produced objects like telephones and hair combs were beautiful. Aesthetically, I prefer the styling of the Golden Era to anything the contemporary world has to offer.