Let's talk about this representation of the "house of tomorrow" --
Fred McNabb, c. 1956, http://www.plan59.com/av/av357.htm
Nothing here looks out of the ordinary -- we have these things in some fashion today (I know, personal helicraft are a stretching things a bit, but they do exist today) -- except......
WHY IS IT THAT SOME ARTISTS PORTRAY MEN OF THE FUTURE AS WEARING THOSE DORKY SHORTS??? I mean, come 'on, it works in Bermuda, maybe, but the ensemble there also includes a sport coat. Grandpop and El Numero Uno both are wearing shorts. With knee socks. The only ones who can pull that off, in my experience, from a sartorial stand-point, are the aforementioned Bermudans ('cause everyone is expected to dress that way) and naval officers in summer white short uniforms. I worked the summer of '76 in a downtown Dallas sporting goods warehouse and rode the bus from the University Park area to work. One swealtering day (already 82 at 8 AM; it topped at 105 that day, I think), a lieutenant and a lieutenant commander came aboard sportin' the white shorts, white knee socks, and white dress oxfords look. A lot of the businessmen in suits stared at the guys in their whites and it seemed they had a "sure wish I could go to the office like that look." Me? I was in a ratty t-shirt and jeans. But really. Would Ross Perot have dressed like that? T. Boone Pickins? I thought so. So this futurtastical dream is that.
To prove my point, here's another pic:
Spaceport of the Future c. 1957 | James R. Powers
Check out astro-boy on the left, next to his 1959-inspired car. Now, it seems that the surgeon general's report on cancer sticks didn't survive the coming world wars that later were replaced by a new golden age of space travel, replete with such swoopy rockets as the "Dream Clipper" being serviced. But what is worse - there is a helmet, AND shorts. I have always thought that they were mutually exclusive, not in a "no whites after Labor Day" sort of way, but, you know, like not having your blood boil out of you sort of way.
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