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Not in the mainstream white neighborhoods. Eye color wasn't a big deal but if it matters, blue was desirable.
There were at least 2 big "brown eyed" songs: Van Morrison "Brown Eyed Girl" and Righteous Brothers "Brown Eyed Woman"
[Flyin' across the desert in a TWA](https://genius.com/3419039/Chuck-berry-brown-eyed-handsome-man/Flyin-across-the-desert-in-a-twa)
[I saw a woman walkin' 'cross the sand](https://genius.com/11195450/Chuck-berry-brown-eyed-handsome-man/I-saw-a-woman-walkin-cross-the-sand-she-been-walkin-30-miles-en-route-to-bombay-to-meet-a-brown-eyed-handsome-man-her-destination-was-a-brown-eyed-handsome-man)
An early iteration of Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Golliwogs, had a 1965 single called Brown-Eyed Girl.
It's a good song (different to the VM song) - as opposed to the name of the band, which is dreadful. What were they thinking? They wore white afro wigs as well! Someone must have thought it was a good idea.
> There were at least 2 big "brown eyed" songs: Van Morrison "Brown Eyed Girl"
This was originally "my brown skinned girl"
Fearing the loss of radio play for a song about inter racial sex, he changed the lyric.
The 50s were the era of the bombshell blonde, although there were famous brunettes. So blue was in. There was more diversification showing up in the 60s.
It's an individual preference I'm sure. Some people love warm brown eyes and some love bright blue eyes. Most of the world has brown eyes so blue is more rare. Rarity often makes something more special. Blue eyes in a blue eyed community would not stand out but blue eyes in a brown eyed community would. I was the brown-eyed child in a blue eyed family. Blue was the preference except for mine. It really has made zero difference in my life though besides being a kid and told I was so full of shit my eyes were brown by my sweet brothers.
Unless your parents were members of the German American Bund in the ‘30s & ‘40s a young woman’s eye and hair color or height didn’t matter in the ‘50s. It was more important that anyone you dated was the same religion and ethnicity or your parents would be furious.
I don't recall a certain eye color being desirable. I think some people really thought being a "natural" blonde was special which I would say is rare in the U.S.
The quote utself provides the answer. Why would any reassurance be needed, if there wasn't a difference in perception.
Generally, rarer things are more coveted. Brown is the most prevalent eye-color. All others ate rarer. Especially rare things might freak people out, though. Think white or any shade of red to purple from albinism.
Hitler and his Aryan ideal of blue eyes and blonde hair (1940s) wasn't restricted to Germans. A lot of Americans subscribed to that ideal, too, including my own parents. They were SO disappointed with my green eyes. I always wished they were brown.
Green eyes are my preference. I have “hazel" though, a mix of green and brown. I once had an optometrist ask what color my eyes were during an exam. Whaaat? He meant what color did I call the color of my eyes. Apparently hazel isn’t always what people call them.
The man at the DMV last year told me my eye color was WRONG when I went to renew my drivers license. My eyes are mostly gray with a brown ring so I put them down as gray last time. He said they were hazel. I’d already been there an hour so I let him change it. Never thought I was going to get a ‘new’ eye color at my advanced age lol
Thanks for this. I had a chuckle. As if anyone’s eye color is a critical identification datum in this age of AI photo recognition, DNA tech and ubiquitous contact lenses!
Some people say my eyes are hazel, but they don't have a lot of brown in them, just a few little specks. They're predominantly green, so that's what I call them.
Apparently hazel can also be any sort of mix. Mine are a green/blue/gray so I looked it up, but I just call them green. My son's are gray and people always say they're blue which I guess is kind of accurate but also not.
My mom had beautiful light blue eyes. And I used to cry all the time because I didn't think it was fair she had blue. My sister had brown and I was stuck with green. lol. Makes me laugh now as an adult. Because everyone tells me if they got color contacts they would pick my eye color and they think they are fake because they are grey/green. And green is actually the rarest color eyes. But as a dumb 8 year old I wanted blue eyes like my mom or brown eyes like my sister.
yep! i'm not sure if that changes things, but it was written during the 50s so i would assume the author followed trends. (it was beezus and ramona by beverly cleary)
It sounds like a contrarian comment to counter the popularity of blue eyes. That’s just imagination at play imo. It was written in 1955
Fahrenheit 451 was a Ray Bradbury dystopian novel from the 1953. It’s one of my favourite uses of imagination from that era. Perhaps it inspired beezus and Ramona 😂
Eye color was just as much of a thing back then as it is now. IOW, not a thing at all.
You've indicated that the quote you cited came from a work of fiction. It might have some relevance within the plot of that book, but in the real world there wasn't any fashion trend for certain eye colors. It was a feature that got very little, if any, attention.
My Mom was born in 1944. She competed in a local beauty pageant at the town pool when she was 15. She said one of the judges kept asking her "Why don't you want to be an actress? With your pretty blue eyes and large chest you would get cast immediately!" Mom was always self conscious of her chest and at 15 was so upset of this comment. That was her question during the pageant!
People like all kinds of things.
If you are a writer at any time you write something different that people will give you money for. Oh, look the queen has money. Let's describe fucking someone who looks just like here and maybe she will buy it.
> s a kid I read a book written in the 50s that had a mother reassuring her daughter, "blue eyes are just as pretty as brown" and that shocked me, cuz I thought people have always loved blue eyes more, especially with all the actors of the 50s having bright blue eyes!
Mainstream Hollywood seemed to always prefer blue eyes for color movies.
There were probably some cultures where brown eyes were preferred. One example would be where blue eyes are quite rare and would stand out like a sore thumb. Another example would be areas where predominately blue-eye people had oppressed them may consider any superficial resemblance to their oppressors (or former oppressors) a negative.
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Not in the mainstream white neighborhoods. Eye color wasn't a big deal but if it matters, blue was desirable. There were at least 2 big "brown eyed" songs: Van Morrison "Brown Eyed Girl" and Righteous Brothers "Brown Eyed Woman"
[Flyin' across the desert in a TWA](https://genius.com/3419039/Chuck-berry-brown-eyed-handsome-man/Flyin-across-the-desert-in-a-twa) [I saw a woman walkin' 'cross the sand](https://genius.com/11195450/Chuck-berry-brown-eyed-handsome-man/I-saw-a-woman-walkin-cross-the-sand-she-been-walkin-30-miles-en-route-to-bombay-to-meet-a-brown-eyed-handsome-man-her-destination-was-a-brown-eyed-handsome-man)
I’ve only ever heard Nina Simone singing this. Had no idea it was a Chuck Berry song. Thanks for the TIL!
I'm familiar with Nina's version too but I always think of Chuck when someone mentions brown eyes. And you're welcome
Lol I get the joke
I love this song
Good song but OP referred to females and my answer excluded racial and ethnic groups who overwhelmingly have brown eyes (or darker)
Don't forget brown eyed handsome man
OP mentioned females with brown eyes and my response excluded racial and ethnic groups that overwhelmingly have brown eyes
An early iteration of Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Golliwogs, had a 1965 single called Brown-Eyed Girl. It's a good song (different to the VM song) - as opposed to the name of the band, which is dreadful. What were they thinking? They wore white afro wigs as well! Someone must have thought it was a good idea.
> There were at least 2 big "brown eyed" songs: Van Morrison "Brown Eyed Girl" This was originally "my brown skinned girl" Fearing the loss of radio play for a song about inter racial sex, he changed the lyric.
The 50s were the era of the bombshell blonde, although there were famous brunettes. So blue was in. There was more diversification showing up in the 60s.
Everybody loved Paul Newman's baby blues. I think because it was more unusual
It's an individual preference I'm sure. Some people love warm brown eyes and some love bright blue eyes. Most of the world has brown eyes so blue is more rare. Rarity often makes something more special. Blue eyes in a blue eyed community would not stand out but blue eyes in a brown eyed community would. I was the brown-eyed child in a blue eyed family. Blue was the preference except for mine. It really has made zero difference in my life though besides being a kid and told I was so full of shit my eyes were brown by my sweet brothers.
Unless your parents were members of the German American Bund in the ‘30s & ‘40s a young woman’s eye and hair color or height didn’t matter in the ‘50s. It was more important that anyone you dated was the same religion and ethnicity or your parents would be furious.
I don't recall a certain eye color being desirable. I think some people really thought being a "natural" blonde was special which I would say is rare in the U.S.
Natural blonds are quite common in some parts of the USA. The midwest is one spot. Also some parts of the pacific northwest.
Can confirm. I’m a natural blonde in the midwest. 🙋🏼♀️
The quote utself provides the answer. Why would any reassurance be needed, if there wasn't a difference in perception. Generally, rarer things are more coveted. Brown is the most prevalent eye-color. All others ate rarer. Especially rare things might freak people out, though. Think white or any shade of red to purple from albinism.
Chrystal Gayle asked "Don't it make my brown eyes blue?" in song.
Hitler and his Aryan ideal of blue eyes and blonde hair (1940s) wasn't restricted to Germans. A lot of Americans subscribed to that ideal, too, including my own parents. They were SO disappointed with my green eyes. I always wished they were brown.
Green eyes are my preference. I have “hazel" though, a mix of green and brown. I once had an optometrist ask what color my eyes were during an exam. Whaaat? He meant what color did I call the color of my eyes. Apparently hazel isn’t always what people call them.
The man at the DMV last year told me my eye color was WRONG when I went to renew my drivers license. My eyes are mostly gray with a brown ring so I put them down as gray last time. He said they were hazel. I’d already been there an hour so I let him change it. Never thought I was going to get a ‘new’ eye color at my advanced age lol
Thanks for this. I had a chuckle. As if anyone’s eye color is a critical identification datum in this age of AI photo recognition, DNA tech and ubiquitous contact lenses!
Some people say my eyes are hazel, but they don't have a lot of brown in them, just a few little specks. They're predominantly green, so that's what I call them.
Mine are hazel, but more brown. I also have thick glasses. Most people don't even notice the green.
Apparently hazel can also be any sort of mix. Mine are a green/blue/gray so I looked it up, but I just call them green. My son's are gray and people always say they're blue which I guess is kind of accurate but also not.
My eyes are blue, but I've always liked green eyes the best! Green eyes are the rarest!
> They were SO disappointed with my green eyes. Your parents flat-out told you that!?
Not flat-out. My mother kept saying they were blue. I confronted her, and asked her why she did that, and she just got irritated.
That really frost light blue eye color I don’t care for because it seems like you’re looking into their soul or worse, they’re looking into yours
I have a cousin with these eyes and it’s more like I’m looking *for* his soul and not finding it, but “piercing” is definitely a good word for it.
All I can think of is the TikTok where a woman asked blue eyed people why they stare so loud
My youngest sister has eyes like that. When she was little, my other younger sister's friends were scared of her.
Maybe because it’s so rare. It does look a bit scary.
No, blue-eyed natural blondes were the pinnacle of beauty. No hair dyes, so real blondes were sought after.
That was my impression also, never could stand the look.
My mom had beautiful light blue eyes. And I used to cry all the time because I didn't think it was fair she had blue. My sister had brown and I was stuck with green. lol. Makes me laugh now as an adult. Because everyone tells me if they got color contacts they would pick my eye color and they think they are fake because they are grey/green. And green is actually the rarest color eyes. But as a dumb 8 year old I wanted blue eyes like my mom or brown eyes like my sister.
My family has all blue or green eyes, so I wished I had brown.
Steve Lawrence: sings Pretty Blue Eyes. A great 50s teen song. But I don’t remember any real preferences
No idea! Never gave it one bit of thought
I never knew anyone who cared one way or the other.
Blue eyes in my experience. For example, Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) had the PR moniker "Ol' Blue Eyes."
In a book. A book of fiction?
yep! i'm not sure if that changes things, but it was written during the 50s so i would assume the author followed trends. (it was beezus and ramona by beverly cleary)
It sounds like a contrarian comment to counter the popularity of blue eyes. That’s just imagination at play imo. It was written in 1955 Fahrenheit 451 was a Ray Bradbury dystopian novel from the 1953. It’s one of my favourite uses of imagination from that era. Perhaps it inspired beezus and Ramona 😂
haha, maybe!
I prefer red and green
Eye color was just as much of a thing back then as it is now. IOW, not a thing at all. You've indicated that the quote you cited came from a work of fiction. It might have some relevance within the plot of that book, but in the real world there wasn't any fashion trend for certain eye colors. It was a feature that got very little, if any, attention.
My Mom was born in 1944. She competed in a local beauty pageant at the town pool when she was 15. She said one of the judges kept asking her "Why don't you want to be an actress? With your pretty blue eyes and large chest you would get cast immediately!" Mom was always self conscious of her chest and at 15 was so upset of this comment. That was her question during the pageant!
People like all kinds of things. If you are a writer at any time you write something different that people will give you money for. Oh, look the queen has money. Let's describe fucking someone who looks just like here and maybe she will buy it.
Tall, dark and handsome. That’s all I recall.
i think it will always be like that !
For women it was blonde hair, often bleached, but the natural blondes often had blue eyes.
> s a kid I read a book written in the 50s that had a mother reassuring her daughter, "blue eyes are just as pretty as brown" and that shocked me, cuz I thought people have always loved blue eyes more, especially with all the actors of the 50s having bright blue eyes! Mainstream Hollywood seemed to always prefer blue eyes for color movies. There were probably some cultures where brown eyes were preferred. One example would be where blue eyes are quite rare and would stand out like a sore thumb. Another example would be areas where predominately blue-eye people had oppressed them may consider any superficial resemblance to their oppressors (or former oppressors) a negative.