The list of things that are different between our boomer years and today’s youth is long and growing all the time. A case in point is that age-old rite of passage, the prom. It’s that season again, and it got Mister Boomer thinking about the contrasts between the generations.
For starters, more often than not, boomers drove themselves to the dance. Two or three couples would travel together. Either one of the guys had their own car by then, or a parental vehicle was procured. In a worst case scenario, the parent of one of the troupe would act as chauffeur. Today’s kids? While they still travel in groups, they prefer riding in limousines.
Our mode of dress also exhibited contrasts. For most of us, the prom was our introduction to formal wear. Boys wore tuxedos while the girls could either take a page out of the fashionably stylish looks of Peggy Sue Got Married or the traditional excess of Gone With the Wind. Today it seems practically anything goes. The ultra-casual manner of daily school dress is supplanted by “dressier” styles for the prom, but guys often wear suits instead of formal wear, with regular shirts and ties. In some ways, girls embrace the late sixties in that skin is in and practically no style is verboten, as long as it passes school rules.
Music was another category that illustrates our differences. Depending on how prohibitive the school district was in our respective region, the music played at our proms could be everything from “grown-up” orchestral arrangements to rock ‘n roll. No matter what it was, however, it would be played by a live band. Unlike sock-hops, though, proms were occasions when boys looked forward to the slow numbers, so they had a reason to dance close. Then it was time to break out the Twist, Pony or Frug. Today’s kids have DJs playing the stuff they listen to. Despite the fidelity advances of today’s sound systems, they are missing the experience of live music. And it is unclear to Mister B how boys and girls can dance to rap at all, let alone get close.
Marty Robbins had a hit with A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation in 1957.
Mister Boomer went to two proms: the first one he was asked to attend by a friend. (How’s that for the beginnings of Women’s Liberation?) The second was his own school’s prom. For both proms, Mister B borrowed his father’s car and drove with his date.
For prom number one, Mister B’s date told him about the yellow dress her mother was making for her, so suggested a brown color. He picked up a sporty double-breasted, dark chocolate tux and paired it with a ruffled yellow shirt and bow tie. The couple had an era-appropriate Polynesian dinner before the dance — complete with drinks in pineapples (non-alcoholic, of course), and all in all, shared a good evening.
A few weeks later, he attended his own prom. This time his date wore light blue, so Mister B opted for a white brocade tuxedo jacket with black lapels, black tux pants, a light blue ruffled shirt and black bow tie. Unfortunately, color rules dictated that he had to settle for a white carnation instead of pink.
What was your prom experience like, boomers? Did you make your children come back to your house with their respective dates so you could photograph them in their sartorial splendor? Have they seen your prom pictures?