The Law: Back to the Unfabulous '50s

The sounds, vaguely familiar, echo in the void: Patti Page and the Tennessee Waltz; Jo Stafford and Shrimp Boats; Rosemary Clooney and Come On-a My House. Elvis, Bobby Darin, Fabian with a slew of golden oldies. At the drive-ins, American Graffiti and The Lords of Flatbush re-create the oleaginous pompadours and switchblade rhetoric of the Shook-Up Epoch. In affluent circles there are Fabulous '50s parties: the debutantes rigged out in calf-length skirts and open-toed, high-heeled numbers, and their dates in narrow ties and pink shirts and trousers that bag at the ankle.

Nostalgia...

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