Hello and thank you for being a DL contributor. We are changing the login scheme for contributors for simpler login and to better support using multiple devices. Please click here to update your account with a username and password.

Hello. Some features on this site require registration. Please click here to register for free.

Hello and thank you for registering. Please complete the process by verifying your email address. If you can't find the email you can resend it here.

Hello. Some features on this site require a subscription. Please click here to get full access and no ads for $1.99 or less per month.

DLEGs: Why did people in the 50s and 60s look so much older than people now?

Was looking over some family photos with my mother a few months back and was surprised that people I'd always assumed (from the photos) were in their 60s were actually mid-40s or so. Doesn't seem to just be related to my family either, lol, was reading that the actors who played Archie and Edith Bunker were in their 40s when the series started and that Ed Asner who played Lou Grant was also mid-40s when the series started.

Similarly, women in the photos I thought were in their 30s turned out to be 22 or 23, so not just older folks

Was it just the way people dressed back then--hairstyles and all--that made them seem older?

Or do people take better care of themselves now?

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 141August 23, 2019 4:00 AM

I always use All in the Family casting as a sign of how much better people look now. They were 45 and 46 at the series start.

Most actresses were washed up by early 40's or cast in matronly roles. It's diet, exercise, beauty products and botox/fillers.

It is amazing how good some people look in their 50's. My grandparents looked like they were in their 50's and 60's when they were in their early 40's.

by Anonymousreply 1August 16, 2019 3:52 AM

More people smoked and drank, and I don't think sunscreen was a big thing until fairly recently. My grandparents worked outside on a farm every day and they sure weren't putting on SPF. Very few people had a fitness regimen either although they tended to be skinnier due to eating less processed crap and moving more in general.

by Anonymousreply 2August 16, 2019 3:59 AM

Hair, makeup, casting, leaded gasoline.

by Anonymousreply 3August 16, 2019 5:57 AM

We've had many threads on this.

Mainly because people used to dress more formally. Adults dressed like...well, ADULTS as opposed to nowadays where everyone is very very casual and everyone wears jeans and sweats and athletic wear regardless of age.

Basically, adults now continue to dress like "kids" for the rest of their lives. It's all part of the infantilization of culture which is why everything gets dumber. Music, movies, books, and Broadway musicals are all geared towards the mentality of a 13 year old . Everything is based on comic books and YA novels. It's rather pathetic.

by Anonymousreply 4August 16, 2019 6:06 AM

I think with the explosion of selfies people are much more aware of how they look - and especially of how they photograph - and what they can do to diminish the appearance of aging.

by Anonymousreply 5August 16, 2019 6:25 AM

Here's George C. Scott at age 52, three years younger than me right now. He looks old enough to be my dad. I am not jowly, gray and world-weary looking.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 6August 16, 2019 6:45 AM

I was stroking my face today, enjoying how soft but tight it feels. I’m 57 and thank sunscreen, retin-a and exfoliation.

by Anonymousreply 7August 16, 2019 7:01 AM

I asked my grandmother this long ago. She was born in '28. She said to look older was the goal, meaning that maturity was considered desirable.

R1-R3 don't get it.

by Anonymousreply 8August 16, 2019 7:09 AM

It’s the Peter Pan Gays!

I call them Peter Pans. The 50 year olds who dress like “30 year olds who dress like 20 year olds”. And since Gays set the fashion trends for society, the straights followed.

You can’t really get away with that at 60, and there’s an undeniably and futility to it at 60.

Perhaps at 60, I’ll live long enough to see a fashion reversal whereby more formal and mature fashions return? Who’d have thought that hipster facial hair circa 1880 would return to style? I’d still like to see ties from that era return to fashion.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 9August 16, 2019 7:29 AM

My parents who graduated from high school in the 50's, my brothers and I used to look at their old yearbooks and laugh. The high school kids all looked like 30+ year olds.

by Anonymousreply 10August 16, 2019 7:49 AM

R10, that's because they dressed more formally, and the girls had elaborate and stiff hair styles, which today we associate with older women. The same is true for people in their 20s before 1970. Their skin wasn't already aging badly; they just dressed older.

Also, while middle-aged people did look older when AITF was on the air, Archie and Edith Bunker are not great examples. They were supposed to look old, tired and outdated. Edith's clothes were dowdy even by the standard of the time. That was on purpose. Their house was shabby, too.

by Anonymousreply 11August 16, 2019 8:11 AM

Nutrition, and the (overly) easy access to food. Our access to calories is easier than it has ever been in human history.

by Anonymousreply 12August 16, 2019 8:25 AM

On the flip side, all the working out and abusive exercise routines have yielded a spike on permanent injuries, herniated disks, spine issues, worn-out cartilages, osteoarthritis, myolepathies, pulled muscles, scar tissues, etc. Not to mention the incidences of cancers caused by the rise in chemical, dietary and cosmetic consumption.

Proper disciplined exercising and stretching prevents physical ailments, but most people don’t adhere to them, and even if they do, at the beginning of the fitness craze, the best facilities and technology (proper routines, weights, machines floors, etc) were not enforced or available. You had people doing hug impact stuff on concrete or metal floors, for instance.

Physical therapists, sports medicine specialists, physiatrists, orthopedics, spine surgeons, cosmetic surgeons and neurologists - plus pharmaceuticals- are the real beneficiaries of this fake fountain of youth movement.

by Anonymousreply 13August 16, 2019 8:54 AM

People look like a million dollars but feel like four cents.

by Anonymousreply 14August 16, 2019 8:56 AM

r14 Better to look good than to feel good!

by Anonymousreply 15August 16, 2019 9:09 AM

Most dlers don't look good or feel good.

by Anonymousreply 16August 16, 2019 10:38 AM

I often wondered that too. For women I think it was mostly hairstyle and clothes but it seems to me (and maybe I just pay more attention to men) that men back then aged prematurely in terms of wrinkling, sagging etc.. I remember as a child Bob Newhart was on the same night as AITF. Back them I thought Newhart was at least 60. He was a “funny old guy”. How is he still alive. Lol.

I also notice men had more “manly” features from a younger age but that was probably due to doing more manual labor than men today do. I always notice hands and if you watch old movies the 20 somethings all have big, thick working man’s hands. I work for a tech company now and the young guys have feminine, soft, slender hands. Everyone has a “guy” who does their lawn and DIY and a “lady” who cleans. If they aren’t gym bros these guys do absolutely nothing. I doubt they surpass 2,000 steps in a day. They’re either thin and weak or pudgy. Back in the day men were more likely to be out doing labor from 14, military service, no sunscreen, yard work, odd jobs.

When we were kids mowing old ladies’ lawns and shovelling their snow was a right of passage into manhood. I was always a little flamer but my father bless him said it was okay because I wasn’t like the Kelly’s boy- Straight but a lazy couch potato. That’s how important manual work and using your strength for the service of others was to how masculinity was perceived. It galls me to see young men sit in their seat on a plane/train, AirPods in staring at an elderly person trying to haul their bags into the bin and not offer to help. I see more middle aged women offering to help than men.

by Anonymousreply 17August 16, 2019 11:29 AM

All good points R17, though maybe the lawn guy/cleaning lady thing has more to do with a culture that expects people to work much longer hours than 9 to 5.

As for others, you all also make excellent points about hair and clothing styles and wanting to look older. People also had kids much younger back then (that's an actual fact--I recently read something about how the average age of a woman when she has her first child is way up from the 50s and 60s) and kids probably aged people too and then they were 45 and grandparents rather than being 45 and the parents of middle schoolers.

by Anonymousreply 18August 16, 2019 11:37 AM

[quote]My parents who graduated from high school in the 50's, my brothers and I used to look at their old yearbooks and laugh. The high school kids all looked like 30+ year olds.

Your parents rode the short bus and went to school with people who were left back 5 years in a row.

by Anonymousreply 19August 16, 2019 11:54 AM

R10, yet I continue to get ridiculed.

by Anonymousreply 20August 16, 2019 12:11 PM

Ted Knight was 47 when the Mary Tyler Moore show started. This is what 47 looked like in 1970!

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 21August 16, 2019 2:37 PM

1. We live healthier lives today. Smoking and alcohol consumption is less than it was. We do not lead sedentary lives. My parents were more active than their parents. My generation is more active than my parents' generation.

2. The eradication of certain diseases. Take a look at photos of FDR in 1944/45. He looks ancient. He was only 63, when he died. The ravages of polio had a very heavy toll on him

3. Dress..styles have changed. Yes, there are many today in their 40s and 50s who are dressing like they are still 22. But even age appropriate clothes are not as before. It changed after 1967.

4. Life's easier for many of us than it was for previous generations. But look around you...compare your socio-economic standing and educational level to someone not as fortunate. Chances are that person looks older.

5. Stay out of the sun, regular exercise, and a healthy diet (plus good genes)...they'll keep you young looking

by Anonymousreply 22August 16, 2019 3:40 PM

I think the preservatives, hormones and all the other shit that's in our food plays a role.

by Anonymousreply 23August 16, 2019 3:43 PM

I think older men back then looked far more attractive because of their age-appropriate dress sense. Nowadays, the normcore/slacker attire (in combination with trashy tattoos) makes them look drippy and sexless.

by Anonymousreply 24August 16, 2019 4:22 PM

R21. Right that night there was Ted Knight, Bob Newhart, Carroll O’Connor - all in their 40s and looking 20 years older. It’s no wonder 40 seemed so, so old to us. The big 4-0 was like a mini death.

by Anonymousreply 25August 16, 2019 4:26 PM

Turning 40 used to be such a big deal, "over the hill" and so forth. 40 is not like that anymore. Many people of my generation are just starting to have kids at 40!

by Anonymousreply 26August 16, 2019 4:29 PM

Age-appropriate dress sense seems to be really important to someone here. But if I look at a picture of Archie Bunker, and he looks 60, I don't think it's because of his shirt.

by Anonymousreply 27August 16, 2019 4:33 PM

I think that 18 yr old 'kids' looked older because of the amount of responsibility they had. Often that generation was leaving HS for the job they were working up to graduation, helping to support their family/parents/starting their own families.

Responsibility is a son of a bitch when it comes to aging.

by Anonymousreply 28August 16, 2019 5:17 PM

Carol Burnett at 27

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 29August 16, 2019 5:41 PM

Look at Ariana Grande. She's 26, a year younger than Carol Burnett in that pic. I have a niece like that, she's 25 but looks 13. And it's not her clothes.

Something's up.

by Anonymousreply 30August 16, 2019 5:52 PM

R29 Looks so much like my grandma at that age. Ariana Grande is maybe an exception but I do find it hard to distinguish between 18 year olds and 30 year old sometimes. Same clothes, hairstyles and the males I work with have awful teenage vocal fry voice that makes me want to scream. I keep waiting for them to end every sentence in duuuuude because every other word is Fridaaaaay letteeeer meeeemo.

by Anonymousreply 31August 16, 2019 5:57 PM

Two words:

by Anonymousreply 32August 16, 2019 6:06 PM

I decided to watch some of the 1980s tv series Inspector Morse and was shocked to find the lead actor was in his 40s. I did read later on that he was a heavy drinker and smoker. Still, I mean Pete Townshend & Roger Daltrey were major drinkers and they looked pretty good in their 40s.

by Anonymousreply 33August 16, 2019 6:14 PM

Janice looked rough

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 34August 16, 2019 6:18 PM

Sunscreen.

Use it, bitches!

by Anonymousreply 35August 16, 2019 6:47 PM

Janis Joplin never really looked young. Bullied and humiliated and treated like shit by her peers while growing up in the dreadful Port Arthur took a toll on her looks. She put on weight and had terrible acne during that time period, which didn't help matters any. She was an alcoholic and a hard core drug addict. She died at age 27 but photos of her frequently showed her looking closer to 50. In her case the circumstances of her life and her excesses resulted in her looking much older than her actual age.

by Anonymousreply 36August 16, 2019 8:38 PM

When I grew up in the 1960s, I learned that men did not fuss with their appearance. Well, right or wrong, that’s what I learned. I think I got this from my Dad’s generation that went through WWII. You couldn’t be too fussy in a foxhole or over weeks onboard an escort/destroyer. Of course, that’s changed so much that the men today are as fussy as any women. (Witness our hawt Disney prince, Tommy D.)

by Anonymousreply 37August 16, 2019 8:40 PM

26 and 50

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 38August 16, 2019 8:56 PM

^^It carried over into the ‘70s

by Anonymousreply 39August 16, 2019 8:57 PM

Thanks all, especially BPC at R22

Had no idea that FDR was only 63 when he died. And your point about class differences is well taken, especially with women. My mother is 63 and does not look like an old lady, nor do any of her friends.

I suspect contact lenses and more stylish eyeglasses played a role too--people back then wore big clunky eyeglasses, that ages you fast too

by Anonymousreply 40August 16, 2019 9:00 PM

Judy, dead at 47

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 41August 16, 2019 9:03 PM

What about me!?!?

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 42August 16, 2019 9:12 PM

People in their 60s used to seem so OLD. Literally all the people I know in their 60s today are very active and act like they're still in their 30s.

by Anonymousreply 43August 16, 2019 9:15 PM

70 is the new 30.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 44August 16, 2019 9:20 PM

Guys in their 50s who claim to look like they are in their 30s are basing it in what 50 year olds USED to look like.

by Anonymousreply 45August 16, 2019 9:29 PM

R38’s photo is not a good depiction of this phenomenon.

Redd Foxx actually looked too young for the part and they “olded him up” with gray hair and a gray beard.

by Anonymousreply 46August 16, 2019 9:58 PM

A good example is the movie MARTY (1955) Marty's mother and Aunt were both in their fifties but they both looked and acted like OLD LADIES.

by Anonymousreply 47August 16, 2019 10:30 PM

Redd Foxx already looked ancient.

He’s forty-eight in this one, two years before Sanford and Son:

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 48August 16, 2019 11:03 PM

When Ed Asner was telling Mary Tyler Moore "You've got spunk ... I HATE spunk," he was only 41 (born 1929, show debuted 1970).

41!!

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 49August 16, 2019 11:15 PM

Harder lives, life expectancy wasn't nearly as long. Also prudishness, people didn't bother trying to look sexy over a certain age, and just threw the towel in.

by Anonymousreply 50August 16, 2019 11:32 PM

People didn’t even think about making their holes presentable in those days.

by Anonymousreply 51August 16, 2019 11:36 PM

Also, every woman I know and some men all color their hair.

No gray heads among the older women I know, who if they didn’t color would be gray or white.

No shampoo sets. All free flowing hairstyles.

by Anonymousreply 52August 16, 2019 11:39 PM

Yes, Judy Garland looked like death many years before she died. Judy at 40 looked like she was 65! And yes, we all know about the pills and booze - but fuck! That wasn't ALL of it.

The only recent actor that fits this model is Kelsey Grammer, who was 38 when he started doing Frazier. 38!!! He looked like total shit - still does!

by Anonymousreply 53August 16, 2019 11:48 PM

More people smoked, even second-hand smoke ages your skin.

by Anonymousreply 54August 17, 2019 12:10 AM

R49 Ed Asner looks like an obese 41.

by Anonymousreply 55August 17, 2019 12:55 AM

If you go to rural/blue collar areas of the US, U.K or probably any Western country then people are still ageing much like the old days. The average 40 year old straight man isn’t that different to Ed Asner. I remember spending 3 months in Manhattan and then going to Little Rock and as soon as I got off the plane I was stuck by how old and fat everyone looked. 15 year old girls looked like 49 year old matrons. Every man over 30 looked 55.

by Anonymousreply 56August 17, 2019 1:00 AM

R30 I know several women like that. They can be dressed up in business suits, but they still look much younger than their ages.

by Anonymousreply 57August 17, 2019 1:22 AM

[quote]More people smoked and drank, and I don't think sunscreen was a big thing until fairly recently

This. The end.

by Anonymousreply 58August 17, 2019 1:27 AM

The women who are 50 today like Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Lopez look twenty years younger than someone like Judy Pills who died in her 40s.

by Anonymousreply 59August 17, 2019 1:33 AM

And yet everyone says women age like shit and men are young and beautiful forever. Seriously though a lot of 20 something men look like they raided dad’s closet when they wear a suit. We have 2 interns this summer who were bragging the other day that they don’t have any need to shave. One has never shaved, the other runs a razor over his face every few weeks. A few clients have mistaken them for school age kids and assumed they were just coming to world with mom or dad for the day which was embarrassing for all involved.

It’s counterintuitive though because don’t they also say that we are betting bigger and taller because of better nutrition and there’s always scare articles about puberty starting earlier and earlier. Yet, there’s never been as many 30 year olds, male and female, who genuinely look like teens.

by Anonymousreply 60August 17, 2019 1:34 AM

My great-grandmother was in a walker and permanent black or navy dress, hair in a bun, in her 70s. My grandmother, her daughter, wore a perm and kept active in pantsuits and trendy glasses at the same age. My mother is now in her 70s and basically dresses and keeps her hair (grey) the same as in her earlier decades, adjusting for fashion.

by Anonymousreply 61August 17, 2019 1:50 AM

I recently watched a World War II documentary and there were scenes of mothers welcoming their sons home from the war. The women looked like senior citizens, and they only could've been in their 40s or 50s.

by Anonymousreply 62August 17, 2019 2:00 AM

I love that movie R47!

And yes, you're right, I looked it up, Marty was supposed to have been 34 in the movie (same age as me!) and so his mother and aunt would probably be in their mid to late 50s.

[quote] Whatta you wanna do tonight?

[quote] I dunno Angie. Whatta you wanna do?

by Anonymousreply 63August 17, 2019 2:13 AM

Norma Desmond was a long-forgotten has-been at 50!

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 64August 17, 2019 3:19 AM

How old is Julia Roberts, now? She’s only given up the leading lady roles in the last 5 years or so, right?

by Anonymousreply 65August 17, 2019 3:27 AM

R65 She's 52.

by Anonymousreply 66August 17, 2019 3:38 AM

We've certainly established in this thread that people's skin and faces were significantly more aged that people of the same age today. Maybe there will be even better skin treatments in the future that will cause people to wonder why we look older compared to them.

by Anonymousreply 67August 17, 2019 3:42 AM

We’re Dataloungers, r67. We’ll never look old.

by Anonymousreply 68August 17, 2019 3:50 AM

I got a bad sunburn in my early 40s that effectively tattooed a suntan on my face. If my hairline ever recedes, I’ll look like I’m wearing a mask. I found professional skin lightening treatments to be ineffectual.

I’ve worn the same style of sandal in the sun for decades, and that, too, has caused the permanent outline of suntan, in reverse, on the tops of my feet. I haven’t been out in the sun since I was 44, as a result. Now 60, so it’s permanent.

by Anonymousreply 69August 17, 2019 3:59 AM

marry me r4.

by Anonymousreply 70August 17, 2019 4:10 AM

I'm 80 look 25.

by Anonymousreply 71August 17, 2019 4:24 AM

I don't think it was the smoking and drinking - I honestly think it is exercise, food, skin care and beauty products.

I'm drawing a blank on women (or men) who looked great in their later years. Paul Newman - but he drank a 6-12 pack of beer every day. Seriously.

I agree with the above poster - if you go to any non-urban areas of the US, you'll see people aging in the same manner. They look like shit and live in nowheresville - with no excitement, good jobs, or future. No wonder they're all pissed and vote Trump - imagine looking at TV or magazines at the people who live in the cities and you've got jack shit?

by Anonymousreply 72August 17, 2019 4:27 AM

It’s true. Look at these fraternal twins who just turned seventeen and can’t wait to cast their first vote for Trump in 2020.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 73August 17, 2019 4:39 AM

Wow look at all the empty seats behind the flag at r73.

by Anonymousreply 74August 17, 2019 7:28 AM

r74, it wouldn’t make sense to allow people to sit behind the large flag when they wouldn’t be able to see anything and so they closed the whole section.

by Anonymousreply 75August 17, 2019 7:36 AM

Bea Arthur, 50

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 76August 17, 2019 7:58 AM

OR, the flag is there so they have to worry about filling one thousand more seats with paid people or paid overtime union workers.

by Anonymousreply 77August 17, 2019 9:06 AM

OR, the flag is there so they have to worry about filling one thousand more seats with paid people or paid overtime union workers.

by Anonymousreply 78August 17, 2019 9:06 AM

So they DON’T have to worry

by Anonymousreply 79August 17, 2019 9:06 AM

Beatles manager Brian Epstein died in 1967 at age 32. The linked pic was taken several years before his death.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 80August 17, 2019 9:09 AM

Looking at old wedding pictures in my family, most of the men had major forehead wrinkles, crows feet and bags and all were married before their 30th birthday. Then they sort of froze and looked the same from 30-45 before going grey and looking elderly overnight.

by Anonymousreply 81August 17, 2019 11:24 AM

As someone upthread wrote, some young people sought to appear older to add gravitas for business purposes.

When I was a baby-faced Engineer at a submarine shipyard, and shaving only every two days, I made a point of mimicking my recollection of the Apollo Engineers - wearing a white shirt and tie every day. Conservative haircut. Safety glasses were required and I usually wore the retro-nerdy model. I didn’t mind looking like a nerd as I felt it gave me authority. It was my job to direct guys with 30 years’ experience doing welding or non-destructive testing, and so forth. One trick was to discreetly ask them what to do, then tell them to do so. Within reason, of course.

by Anonymousreply 82August 17, 2019 4:08 PM

I feel it is truly some evolutionary/hormonal thing as well-

I do feel that eventually people will live alot longer- that the planet is going through major vibrational shifts, ect--

And fuck, Sunscreen TRULY helps!

by Anonymousreply 83August 17, 2019 4:11 PM

I really think it was the smoking. Most people smoked a pack a day. Also most people didn't use moisturizers and sunscreen. That spells horror for white skin.

The heavy drinkers and functional junkies of yesteryear didn't actively maintain their skin with exfoliates and toners. Also bottled water didn't exist yet so your average party animal or showbiz person, drinking it up, was probably severely dehydrated.

by Anonymousreply 84August 17, 2019 4:23 PM

Posts like R4 are just "things were better back in my day" rants disguised as insight.

There is a wealth of sophisticated, adult literature to be had, as well as movies and television shows and even plays which are -- yes! -- in the legitimate theater. If you wanted it, you would have found it. If you sit around being lazy and complain all the time about movies based on the trailers you see when you watch something boring on network TV, well, that's on you.

People also dress in business or business casual on a regular basis. The younger ladies I know wear dresses far more regularly than the women in my generation ever did, except for a brief period in the 90s when jumper dresses were in. When out on the weekends I see quite a few younger men in khakis as well.

What you're complaining about are people doing casual things in casual clothing, but expensive and designer casual clothing has been in style since the 1970s. Actually, you could go back to the 1960s for that, with the mod minidresses which were casual in look but pricey.

The only times I see the "slovenly" look you older guys complain about is when I'm getting gas, grabbing groceries, or something where no one should care what anyone is wearing. And I haven't seen a pair of flip-flops in two summers, at least.

by Anonymousreply 85August 17, 2019 4:23 PM

The ironic thing is they ate a lot healthier with far more nutritious organic food.

by Anonymousreply 86August 17, 2019 4:24 PM

People didn't live as long at the time, and suffered from various ailments and diseases that were simply not treated or untreatable. That ages a face. Many actors who looked 65 when they were 40 didn't actually make it to 65. Looking older than your age (usually by 10 years or more) is a potential sign of health problems.

There's the sun exposure, smoking and drinking factors that others have brought up. Makeup makes a difference, too, but for some actors the makeup was so harsh it actually aged their skin, especially when there wasn't a lot of options for moisturizing or proper cleansing.

Joan Crawford had beautiful skin in part because she slathered on moisturizers and was obsessive about cleaning off her makeup in a way many weren't at the time. She also gave herself facial massages and used toners. I remember even as a kid in the 1980s people would bring these things up as though Crawford was a lunatic, but she was a lunatic who looked pretty good for her age, until she went bonkers with the lipstick and eyebrows.

by Anonymousreply 87August 17, 2019 4:33 PM

None of you are taking into account how much photography has changed in the ensuing decades.Nor are you taking into account filters,etc. I live in florida,and when you see people in real life most of them indeed look their ages.Yes,more older people look younger now because they work at it,but the average person who is 50 looks it.

by Anonymousreply 88August 17, 2019 4:35 PM

2 of my grandparents died from ailments that are easily cured today, high blood pressure, and syphilis. A third died of encephalitis lethargica, a disease that may have been secondary to the influenza pandemic of ~1917, and is not common today.

They all probably didn’t look so good at the end!

by Anonymousreply 89August 17, 2019 5:33 PM

R65-Julia Roberts today looks like a FUCKIN MONKEY.

by Anonymousreply 90August 17, 2019 5:49 PM

R11, I don't completely agree. At the university I went too, I saw a lot of pictures of the graduating classes from previous decades. All of them dressed much older than their age (i.e. maturely), but they also had much older looking faces.

by Anonymousreply 91August 17, 2019 6:19 PM

R30, it's those faces Ariana always makes and that giant ponytail. She's Snookie from the block. My friend describes her as "a real life Bratz doll".

by Anonymousreply 92August 17, 2019 6:22 PM

[quote]As someone upthread wrote, some young people sought to appear older to add gravitas for business purposes.

They got their wish, since faces and skin 50 years had such increased signs of aging compared to faces of today for people of comparable age.

by Anonymousreply 93August 17, 2019 11:30 PM

I still think all the preservatives and shit that's in our food plays a role.

by Anonymousreply 94August 17, 2019 11:38 PM

Here are pictures showing Ryan Philippe, 45, going on 29 (even by DL's delusive standards). Might the secret of his longevity be the antidepressants he's been on more or less since his teenage years?

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 95August 18, 2019 12:00 AM

William Talman, who played Hamilton Burger on Perry Mason, died in 1968 at the age of 53. That means when he started Perry Mason he was 42 years old.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 96August 18, 2019 12:03 AM

[quote] The heavy drinkers and functional junkies of yesteryear didn't actively maintain their skin with exfoliates and toners.

Other than certain women and certain gay men, does anyone actually do this?

In terms of actors-- do you think it was a casting thing too--that Hollywood looked for actors who looked old for 45 to play those roles rather than looking for Ryan Phillipe type 45 year olds because the cultural norm in those days was that men and women over 40 should look older, whereas today the cultural norm is that they should look younger?

by Anonymousreply 97August 18, 2019 12:55 AM

In Mike Leigh's 1977 TV play "Abigail's Party," all the main players look about a decade older. The woman in the opening scene, Alison Steadman, was 30/31 years old at the time. The woman in the glasses, Janine Duvitski, was just 25 but could easily have passed for 40.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 98August 18, 2019 1:26 AM

Another factor - I'm sure there are many, including the heavy smoking - is that so many images from before 1960 are in black and white. B&W is elegant but it makes almost everyone look older.

R96, Bill Talman had terrible skin, and not just from smoking. I love his character, but the tight closeups on PM are brutal. On the other hand, Raymond Burr was 40 when the show started and he looked ... 40. Barbara Hale was 35, and she looked like a woman in her mid-30s.

R97, that's a good point. There was a cultural expectation that, once you reached 40 or so, you were supposed to look older and more serious, especially men. Women have always wanted to look young, but for women it's very hard to look past the clothing, hairstyles and, on many women, the heavy makeup that used to be routine. Even women's figures used to look different because of the lift-and-point bras and the girdles that produce a distinctively firm, smooth outline.

by Anonymousreply 99August 18, 2019 6:32 AM

Sorry, R98, but I don’t see it. Alison Steadman looks like overly made-up 30ish woman in a matronly dress that would have been right at home on Golden Girls. Janine Duvitski doesn’t look anywhere near 40. She looks like a young woman in comically dowdy glasses and clothes. She’s also wearing very heavy, cake-like makeup.

by Anonymousreply 100August 18, 2019 6:43 AM

[quote]On the other hand, Raymond Burr was 40 when the show started and he looked ... 40. Barbara Hale was 35, and she looked like a woman in her mid-30s.

You mean they looked typical for a 40 or 35 year-old of that time period. Now, of course, they would seem older than they actually were since people now appear less aged at those ages.

by Anonymousreply 101August 18, 2019 11:29 AM

R101, no, actually. I meant that Burr looked 40 by today's standards as much as by those of 1957, and Barbara Hale in 1957 could certainly pass for a modern woman in her mid-30s with a current hairstyle and wardrobe.

by Anonymousreply 102August 19, 2019 9:18 AM

[quote]I meant that Burr looked 40 by today's standards

Do you live somewhere where you’re used to a lot of cigarette smoking and sun damage? It’s not clear why you would think Burr at 40 looks like someone 40 today.

by Anonymousreply 103August 19, 2019 9:58 AM

Though current food gets a lot of criticism for being processed. But It is in that process that food becomes more nutritious with added minerals and vitamins. Food use to be only local produce but now diets are more varied. A person could go to the supermarket and pick up produce from all over the world. I would think that would account more than clothing and hairstyles for people looking older back in the day than their current age counterparts

by Anonymousreply 104August 19, 2019 11:05 AM

I was reminded this weekend that there are still people today who are old and who look aged. They are people whose lives are still hard. They do not have the amenities or the funds to keep themselves healthy and youthful looking, whether through a healthy diet, regular exercise, an easy life...amenities we who are middle class in the West take for granted.

This is a picture of the 90 year old grandmother of Rep. Tlaib. Compare her to a photo of Jane Fonda who is in her early 80s.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 105August 19, 2019 2:16 PM

Who knows what Jane Fonda would look like if she hadn't had plastic surgery R105.

by Anonymousreply 106August 19, 2019 2:24 PM

Patrick Stewart played John Thorton in North and South in 1975 at the age of 35.

Richard Armitage played the same character in 2004 at the age of 34 (pic in next post)

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 107August 19, 2019 3:02 PM

Armitage in North and South

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 108August 19, 2019 3:04 PM

I think most 90 year olds look that old R105 unless, as R106 notes, they've had plastic surgery.

Interesting R107/R108, but again, I wonder if that's more a casting call--they wanted someone who looks like a young 34

by Anonymousreply 109August 19, 2019 3:13 PM

Even without plastic surgery, YMF, I would say that there are a quite a few 90 year olds who look younger than their age. Tlaib's grandmother has a very weather-beaten face. Culture too plays a part in the aging process.

by Anonymousreply 110August 19, 2019 4:15 PM

Factory and outside farm work aged people. Indoor, air conditioned offices keeps many out of the sun and away from chemical fumes from factory labor.

by Anonymousreply 111August 19, 2019 4:27 PM

Adam Brody turned 40 this year.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 112August 19, 2019 4:28 PM

I was watching Mindhunter season 2 last night, which is set in the early 80s, and this guy said he was 44. Which is hold old I am. This dude looks 56.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 113August 19, 2019 5:13 PM

Maybe we as a society got fatter and our skin in more stretched out now.

by Anonymousreply 114August 19, 2019 6:21 PM

Adam Brody looks 30 tops. If this were the 50's or 60's, he'd still look young enough to play a teenager.

by Anonymousreply 115August 19, 2019 6:30 PM

In those days ppl also did not stray from their heritage. Irish with Irish etc. The lack of diversity in genetics plays a role. Its different now.

by Anonymousreply 116August 19, 2019 6:33 PM

Two things: people stopped chain smoking and the advent of bottled water. Seriously, people did not hydrate like they do today. Also sunscreen wasn't really a thing either. Most men did not think to wash their face outside of daily showering.

by Anonymousreply 117August 20, 2019 2:18 AM

People today also spend much more time indoors.

by Anonymousreply 118August 20, 2019 2:21 AM

What is weird is that today plastic surgery actually does the opposite and ages people. Larry King's wife is 59 but to me she looks much older (just saw an article they are splitting)

by Anonymousreply 119August 21, 2019 7:47 AM

[quote]A third [grandparent] died of encephalitis lethargica, a disease that may have been secondary to the influenza pandemic of ~1917, and is not common today.

R89, how did one of your grandparent become a parent if they had encephalitis lethargica?

by Anonymousreply 120August 21, 2019 10:01 AM

[quote]William Talman, who played Hamilton Burger on Perry Mason...

Wait, his character was named Ham Burger? LOL!

by Anonymousreply 121August 21, 2019 10:03 AM

[quote]Most men did not think to wash their face outside of daily showering.

You think men used to *shower* *daily*? Yeah, neither of those things were common until like 2-3 decades ago. Even men who worked on a farm or in a coal mine often only had a full bath once every 2-7 days.

by Anonymousreply 122August 21, 2019 10:12 AM

Several posters have mentioned the factors of nutrition, less (or no) smoking, less drinking, and sunscreen, but nobody's mentioned [bold]sunglasses[/bold]!

by Anonymousreply 123August 21, 2019 10:15 AM

No sunscreen.

Sunscreen is EVERYTHING.

by Anonymousreply 124August 21, 2019 10:22 AM

Why wouldn’t they? They had:

—Poorer healthcare

—Poorer technologies

—More physical labor-intensive jobs, in general

—More children to provide for

—Less access to credit

—Therefore, less disposable incomes

—Poorer nutrition, even if a lot of American food is poison now

—A cosmetic industry that was more likely to use lead and arsenic than collagen-replenishing science-based products

And on and on and on. These things age people.

Go to middle America where people don’t have access to or means to pay for cosmetic dentists and cosmetic dermatologists and beauty products and gym memberships. You’ll see Archies and Ediths everywhere. What you’re seeing where you live is glamour—outside illusions of “youthfulness” that come from long-term investments in self-care and preservation of appearances.

Also, if you live in a cosmopolitan area, the “youthful looking” 45-plus-year-old people you’re seeing everywhere might actually look like total freaks—like the Bravo housewives—and you’ve only been trained to see them as young looking. Something shifted for me one day when I was watching a Housewives episode—Beverly Hills. I think it was either Taylor Armstrong or Adrienne Maloof. I was watching, and suddenly I realized she looks like an accident victim who has had corrective surgery. Then the camera cut to the other women and I realized almost all of them look like accident victims. Their faces are disfigured. I had seen them before as “well preserved,” and then from that point on, almost all the women look to me like they’ve been cut and pasted into creatures whose faces 50 years ago would have garnered sympathy and revulsion. I do see some still as “well preserved”—most of the NYC cast, Kyle Richards et al. But Lisa Vanderpump, for example, looked glamorous to me when she first appeared and now she looks almost as freakish to me as Michael Jackson did.

Youth is in the eye of the beholder, at least when it comes to surgical interventions.

We’d look deranged if we had surgery at 15 to make our faces look five years old, or at 25 to look 15. 55 year-olds are not supposed to look 25, either, and you may be trained to see freaky looking people as young and gorgeous. Archie and Edith might have recoiled in horror at the sight of any of the Beverly Hills housewives.

by Anonymousreply 125August 21, 2019 11:03 AM

People are using lots of artificial means to look young. As R125 said, many of them don't even look human.

by Anonymousreply 126August 21, 2019 2:10 PM

There's also a change in the definition of what maturity and youth are.

Dawson's Creek and the OC were the beginnings of really seeing young men and women as adults on TV. Conversely, the parents on those shows and on shows like Gossip Girl look like they are in maybe their late 30's. Way younger than Archie and Edith.

by Anonymousreply 127August 21, 2019 2:12 PM

And a lot of those "kids" on those teen shows were in their 20's or early 30s. I think we've forgotten what real teens look like due to movies and TV almost always using older people for the roles. It makes sense - they can work longer hours, their parents aren't around to say they can't do or say that line or that scene, and they bring with them more maturity and a little more experience.

I don't mind when people get work done to tighten up their necks, chins, or the bags under their eyes, but once they start putting in the fillers and getting the fish lips and chipmunk cheeks, I just assume they must be mentally ill. Who'd willingly get that done to themselves? Any idiot can see that it doesn't make you look younger or more refreshed. A traditional facelift can look good on a woman, but terrifying on a man. They can still freshen themselves up with some neck and under eye work, though, and look natural.

by Anonymousreply 128August 21, 2019 8:18 PM

“No wrinkles” does not mean “youthful.” Somehow the public has been trained to see this and think “OH MY GOD SHE LOOKS AGELESS!!”

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 129August 21, 2019 11:36 PM

She’d be horrified to look in the mirror and see an older woman looking back...how are women today so eternally youthful?

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 130August 21, 2019 11:38 PM

I don't know anyone that would say she looks good after her plastic surgery R129.

by Anonymousreply 131August 21, 2019 11:39 PM

Rumor has it Donatella Versace may be at least 40 years old—but you’d never know it with such smooth, sluglike skin!

How DO they do it?

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 132August 21, 2019 11:44 PM

[quote] Basically, adults now continue to dress like "kids" for the rest of their lives. It's all part of the infantilization of culture which is why everything gets dumber. Music, movies, books, and Broadway musicals are all geared towards the mentality of a 13 year old... It's rather pathetic.

^^ The 70-something, British contingent of DL. Should we all be dressed in the oppressive layers of 19th century clothes on a sweltering summer day?

by Anonymousreply 133August 21, 2019 11:54 PM

I do wonder why everyone stays youthful and gorgeous today. It’s really weird. Must be vitamins.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 134August 22, 2019 12:12 AM

The person can post images of bad cosmetic surgery until the cows come home. That doesn't change the fact that people without plastic surgery look younger at their age than people used to look at that age.

by Anonymousreply 135August 22, 2019 12:32 AM

The worst part is that the plastic surgeries that we used to label as Frankenstein disasters are now relatively normal and commonplace.

We no long mercilessly mock someone like Lisa Rinna's lips or Brandi's face.

I read an article that suggested that since it costs a lot of money and is so obvious, it will inevitably become a status symbol NOT to look natural. The "augmented" (and non-human) look will become the aspirational norm.

by Anonymousreply 136August 22, 2019 12:47 AM

Tell me about it

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 137August 22, 2019 1:30 AM

She looks pretty good for 94 years old R137.

by Anonymousreply 138August 22, 2019 1:50 AM

Even Donald Trump looks younger these days.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 139August 22, 2019 4:48 AM

Admit it, I look 17.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 140August 22, 2019 5:17 AM

I dog years, yes ^

by Anonymousreply 141August 23, 2019 4:00 AM
Loading
Need more help? Click Here.

Yes indeed, we too use "cookies." Take a look at our privacy/terms or if you just want to see the damn site without all this bureaucratic nonsense, click ACCEPT. Otherwise, you'll just have to find some other site for your pointless bitchery needs.

×

Become a contributor - post when you want with no ads!