The teddy boys – 1950s subculture

The teddy boys – 1950s

History

• The subculture began in London in the 1950s, and rapidly spread across the UK, and then became strongly

associated with rock and roll. • Originally known as Cosh Boys, the name Teddy Boy was

coined when a 1953 Daily Express newspaper headline shortened Edwardian to Teddy.

Teddy boy fashion & style• Teddy Boy clothing included jackets that were

reminiscent of 1940s American zoot suits worn by Italian-American, Chicano and African-American communities, usually in dark shades, sometimes with a velvet trim collar and pocket flaps, and high-waist "drainpipe" trousers, often exposing the socks.

• The outfit also included a high-necked loose-collared white shirt (known as a Mr. B. collar because it was often worn by jazz musician Billy Eckstine); a narrow "Slim Jim" tie or western "Maverick" tie, and a brocade waistcoat. The clothes were mostly tailor-made at great expense, and paid for through weekly instalments.

• Footwear included polished Oxfords, chunky brogues, and crepe-soled shoes, often suede.

• Preferred hairstyles included long, moulded greased hair with a quiff at the front and the side combed back. Another style was the "Boston", in which the hair was greased straight back and cut square across at the nape.

Musical preferences • Teddy Boys were associated with rock and

roll music, but prior to the advent of that genre,

Teddy Boys mainly listened to jazz and skiffle

music. A well-known dance that the Teddy

Boys adopted was The Creep, which was a slow

shuffle.

Media representation

• The Teddy boys was represented negatively by the media

• When teenager John Beckley was murdered by a Teddy Boy gang known as the Plough Boys in July 1953 after a fight that started on Clapham Common, the Daily Mirror's headline 'Flick Knives, Dance Music and

Edwardian Suits' linked criminality to clothes.

• "These 'Teddy Boy' gangs must be broken up" said one London Magistrate.

100 TEDDY BOYS FIGHT AT FAIRGROUND

The biggest Teddy Boy gang fight ever known in Leicester flared up at Saffron Lane Fairground in the second week in May of 1958. At the height of the battle, fairground workers joined in to protect their stalls and rides as many Police arrived on the

scene. According to the showpeople, there were more than 100 Teds mixed up in the fight, and estimates the number of Police involved ranged from a dozen to nearly 30 or 40. A veteran showman, Mr M. Harris, said this was the worst fight he

had seen since the Irish Gang Battle at Coventry some years ago

• Karel Reisz's We Are the Lambeth Boys (1959) film once again took a sympathetic approach to an aspect of working-class life largely neglected by commercial British cinema.

• Lambeth Boys attempted to deliver a positive portrait of the lives of ordinary teenagers, far from the usual violent 'Teddy Boy' stereotype.

• Lambeth Boys was shot over six weeks in the summer of 1958 in and around the Alford House, a youth club in the Oval area of South London. It follows a group of teenagers at work, at home and in their leisure time, giving them space to express their frustrations and aspirations

Contrasts to their representation in the media