This was the era of 'bodgie boys' and 'widgies' and motorcycle cowboys. In Napier city there were 'milkbar cowboys' and 'teddy boys' who gathered in the centre of Emerson Street, lounging around the street, disturbing the phony elegance and smug, self-satisfied image of the town.
Napier had something of a reputation as a milkbar cowboy town at that time and shared this notoriety with Lower Hutt, Gisborne and Wanganui. In defiance of businessmen and pedantic parents, these local louts would show off their weird oily haircuts and chromium-plated hot-rod motorcycles. They played loud rock'n'roll music, paraded in their 'stovepipe' trousers and 'winkle-picker', long, pointy shoes in broad daylight and full view of adult shoppers.
Winkle-picker shoes in all their pointy glory.
Such behaviour was judged a challenge to the establishment, a threat especially significant to local snobs and social climbers. The collective view was that the Palm Grove louts were arrogant and insolent, and to be totally opposed. These teenagers were older than my peer group by about five years.
They were fairly harmless and to my knowledge it was rare for anyone to carry a switchblade knife as did their American and English counterparts. Their heroes and role models were stars like
who had set the pace for teenager behaviour in a recent movie
Another hot teen idol with a surly manner and mumbling speech, like
was
. (Do you remember Brando in
Such Hollywood stars at that time were only recently out of their teens themselves.
The 'teddies' and 'bodgie boys' jazzed-up their boring English Austin A40 saloons and Morris Oxfords and other lacklustre cars of the day with high polish and imitation exhaust pipes and loud musical air horns.
At the A&P Show in 1958 Charlie W. (left), and I were 17 years old.
To put the finishing touch on a picture of the 1950s was the key Napier milkbar, The Palm Grove. Sited about the middle of Emerson Street, it was complete with a
jukebox and adorned with local 'dolls' or 'sheilas' as young women were called, who were in loud, excessive bad taste dress to match the guys.
In full regalia, the young women were the 'widgies', a female version of the 'bodgie' who gathered at The Palm Grove to strut their stuff and socialise. All were in real life as they were later portrayed in the film
by
and Olivia Newton-John.
A few of the 'milkbar cowboys' modified their cars and motorcycles for speed as well. It was said that late at night they had races from Clive Square to the T&G clock building at great speeds — reputed to be up to 100 miles per hour. 'Doing the ton' was a big challenge.
a movie starring Glenn Ford as an idealistic school teacher, had for its theme music a hit record called
by Bill Haley and the Comets. This black-and-white movie had entered the teen idol hall of fame-for-imitation just prior to the James Dean series of movies.
The music
became a standard symbol of defiance for the next 30 years and has only recently disappeared off the radio. From the
we learned with some astonishment about New York teen gang wars that had evolved from the enclave societies. Later, of course, this was all put to poetry in everybody's favourite musical
I remember the whole teenage dream came to an awful end when we woke up one morning to reports that a car full of teddy boys and dolls had smashed into one of the date palm trees in Kennedy Road and killed some of the occupants. Apparently the driver was at fault and speed was a factor. There was no denying it, the game had turned sour. There was talk of the driver going to jail for manslaughter. The childish games had delivered adult consequences. Perhaps our parents had been right. Perhaps we were headed for hell?
Sex, Beer and Rock'n'Roll
Personal innocence portrayed in the hit movie musical
is often discussed when speaking about this first era of rock'n'roll. That is because it was true to life and it was in total contrast to what was to follow. In Marewa in the 1950s I went to a Saturday night party every week from the time I was about 14 years old until I finished at high school at 17. These teenage parties were unsupervised, usually flowing with beer and cigarettes. They were mixed boy and girl events in contrast to school where we were completely segregated.
Sex separation of children and teens was enforced through the entire social structure including sport and at any occasion where youthful genders might meet. New Zealanders noticed how queer this was at the time. It was standard discussion to muse about how the boys gathered around the keg and the girls stood in the kitchen, and 'seldom the twain shall meet'.
At 16, myself, Paul W., and Des G., a.k.a. — Sluggah, Schultz, and Twinkle-Toes
In Marewa at that time there were sometimes massive gatherings of teenagers spilling out into the streets of Bedford Road and Kettle Crescent and Nuffield Avenue, etc. As I recall there were no drugs at all and no fights and no teen pregnancies. Parents kept away and we had a great time breaking out of the tradition of our enclave.
Marewa girls were so gorgeous as to make your mouth water but I couldn't get up courage enough to even speak to the girls. I suppose this was a consequence of the segregation of sexes. The practice had left us all socially incompetent. To balance this speechlessness, the boys would drive back to the sly-grog seller and purchase more beer to drown our inhibitions. Purchase price for grog after hours to under-age drinkers was something in the range of double the usual retail price.
Encore! 50 years later Porky, Schultz and Sluggah.
At parties we met new people and expanded out territory, we talked about the girls and who was going with who. We exchanged information and car parts and discussed our interests. At parties we crossed over all the barriers and broke all the rules, visible and social. Protestant and Catholic kids fraternised as their parents never had.
End of an Era
The social changes I experienced at Marewa in the 1950s were soon to be eclipsed by the rise and rise of the
and
less than 10 years later. The phenomenon was again about youth, style and values.
The new generation took our building blocks — the three-minute opera of Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis and the entire rock'n'roll era — repackaged it and developed it further. The most significant contribution this time was a repositioning of women in society and a softening of the macho male image. The fundamental changes had already been established when my generation reinvented post-war Western society. The world view we had challenged at that point in time was founded on ageless, secure European ways which had guided our ancestors for generations.
In the 1950s and early 1960s the enduring lifestyle and values of past generations were almost completely demolished by the rebellion of the baby boomers. For a few uncertain years the rock'n'roll revolution almost conquered the world.
Full-scale erosion of morals, values and the mores of the 'old days' took place soon after my generation became adults. These changes were again initiated by the new youth generation and quickly became an accepted standard that was never to be reversed.
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