Teenagers, Everyday Life and Popular Culture in 1950S Ireland
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Teenagers, Everyday Life and Popular Culture in 1950s Ireland Eleanor O’Leary, BA., MA. Submitted for qualification of PhD Supervised by Dr Stephanie Rains, Centre for Media Studies, National University of Ireland, Maynooth Head of Department: Dr Stephanie Rains Submitted October 2013 I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of PhD, is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed: ____________________________________ ID No. ____________________________________ Date: ____________________________________ Table of Contents List of Illustrations ...................................................................................................................................... 2 List of Tables ............................................................................................................................................... 4 Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ 5 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 8 Chapter 1 – Education and Opportunities............................................................................................ 20 Chapter 2 - Employment and Opportunity .......................................................................................... 48 Chapter 3 – International Youth Culture and the Irish Teenager ..................................................... 87 Chapter 4 – Closer to Home ................................................................................................................. 129 Chapter 5 – Visibility .............................................................................................................................. 171 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 203 Appendices ............................................................................................................................................... 212 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................. 225 1 List of Illustrations Figure 1: From Nine to Five - You’re New Here .................................................................................... 82 Figure 2: From Nine to Five – Remind me to Forget ............................................................................. 83 Figure 3: From Nine to Five – Can you say it’s lost? ............................................................................... 83 Figure 4: From Nine to Five – Opinions from my wife .......................................................................... 84 Figure 5: Bill Haley in Dublin ............................................................................................................... 109 Figure 6 The Kerry Quiff ..................................................................................................................... 111 Figure 7 Rock'n'Roll Dancers, Kerry .................................................................................................... 112 Figure 8 Rock'n'Roll Style at Teenage Dance, Kerry ............................................................................. 112 Figure 9 Teenage Magic Figure 10 Teenage Week Figure 11 Miss Twilfit ..................................... 120 Figure 12 Colgate ................................................................................................................................. 125 Figure 13 Give Cadburys Figure 14 Hair Removal .......................................................................... 126 Figure 15 Teenage Skin Boy Figure 16 Spots & Pimples Girl........................................................... 126 Figure 17 Rolo Keeps you Going Figure 18 Players ......................................................................... 127 Figure 19 Knights Castle Figure 20 Bac-Stick ............................................................................... 127 Figure 21 A Girl with a Date ................................................................................................................ 128 Figure 22 Rock’n’Roll Half-Hour ......................................................................................................... 136 Figure 23 Shannon Ballroom ................................................................................................................ 137 Figure 24 Scissors and Kay ................................................................................................................... 137 Figure 25 Catholic Social Welfare Bureau ............................................................................................. 143 Figure 26 My Teenage Daughter .......................................................................................................... 148 Figure 27 Skate-Out on Dope Street .................................................................................................... 148 Figure 28 Attention Teenagers! ............................................................................................................ 149 2 Figure 29 Dragstrip Girl ....................................................................................................................... 149 Figure 30 Make the Most of it Boys ...................................................................................................... 174 Figure 31 Moon Girl ........................................................................................................................... 186 3 List of Tables Table 1 Number of Pupils Promoted to a Higher Standard on 1st July, or during school year ................ 22 Table 2 Department of Education Figures for pupils in attendance in Secondary Schools between 1950 and 1960 including numbers of pupils enrolled for certificate examinations ........................................... 24 Table 3 Vocational Education Statistics .................................................................................................. 35 Table 4 Technical School Examinations 1958-1959 ................................................................................ 37 Table 5 Certificate Exams for Day Vocational Courses 1959 .................................................................. 38 Table 6 First time entrants to Irish universities 1953-1959 ...................................................................... 44 Table 7 Total number of students enrolled in full and part-time courses at Irish Universities from 1950- 1959 ....................................................................................................................................................... 44 Table 8 Comparison of male and female occupations from 1951 and 1961 census ................................. 52 Table 9 Number and distribution of wage earners in a pay week in October, classified according to rate of pay of weekly earnings, in each of the years 1953, 1954 and 1955 (All industries) ................................... 57 Table 10 Males engaged in farm work, 1950-1959 .................................................................................. 58 Table 11 Earnings and hours worked in all industries and services, 1952 and 1953 ................................. 73 Table 12 Average earnings of, and hours worked by, wage earners in a week in October 1949 and 1950; Clothing - Women and girls readymades (Wholesale factories) (number of establishments: 182 in 1950 and 157 in 1949) ..................................................................................................................................... 73 Table 13 Principal changes in rates of wages reported in the period October 1950 to April 1951............ 76 Table 14 Estimated numbers of admissions to cinema paying entertainments duty and the estimated amount of gross receipts, 1950-1959 ...................................................................................................... 92 Table 15 Garda sample of imported comics on sale in cities and larger provincial towns, January 1952 179 Table 16 Male and female offenders aged between 12 and 18 years, 1945-1957 .................................... 200 4 Teenagers, Everyday Life and Popular Culture in 1950s Ireland Eleanor O’Leary Abstract The aim of this thesis is to provide a social and cultural history of young people, their lives and their interactions with popular culture in 1950s Ireland. Popular culture is contextualised within the wider social discourses of the decade including emigration, unemployment, globalisation and the rise of mass culture. Understanding the social structures of young people’s lives provides a deeper context to their access to and interactions with popular culture. In this study, popular culture refers both to a wide range of texts, such as comics, magazines and films and to social spaces, such as youth clubs, dance halls and cinemas. Internationally the 1950s were particularly associated