did teens in the 50's, 60's knife fight?

[patrick t. cakes]

teens, bikers etc... ?

did that happen or is it just myth, urban legend, hollywood stuff?

[Kali]

1. I remember a few in the 70's.

[david13]

2. They did. dc

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. Usually gangs just walked up to each other snapping their fingers ominously...

If absolutely necessary to protect their turf, they might break into a dance number.

[elleng]

8. Yup!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8R9GiLImSw

[Recovered Repug]

11. Then in the 80's

they replaced finger snapping with the electric guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym0hZG-zNOk

[gmoney]

14. and break dancing

[old mark]

4. I grew up in the '50's and '60's - knives were not the problem people think they were...

they were very commonly carried by most boys. I had a folding fishing knife with a 4" blade that I carried every day to school and everywhere else - even to church from the time I was around 12.
As for knife fighting, like gangs, rumbles and zip guns, there was some, but mostly it was in the movies and on TV. This did not stop the politicians from building up and playing on the public's fears and passing many different bills restricting the types of knives that people may legally carry-even legally OWN-in various states, counties of towns.

There are so many "knife control" laws that it is legally unwise to carry even a pocket knife with a blade longer than 2 1/2". Many police will "measure" a knife blade by placing it across their open palm - if it extends beyont their hand, they may arrest you for a concealed weapon, the theory being that any knife blade over 3" is a weapon...
The problem is that nearly EVERY STATE is different, and you will find that a knife that is judged perfectly legal in one town will get you in the shit 10 miles down the road.

Most of this is based on fiction and bad politics and worse legislation.

FWIW, it is illegal in PA to even OWN any type of switchblade or automatic opening knife, even just to keep it in your home in a collection...


mark

[backwoodsbob]

5. yep...have several *butterfly* knives

they are illegal here but never had a problem with local law over them.When my wifes ex had me arrested on some trumped up shit I had a butterfly knife in my pocket.Cops never said a word when I gave it to them and they gave it back when I was released.

[HopeHoops]

6. Haven't you ever seen "West Side Story"?

[Phentex]

10. my first thought

EXACTLY!

:)

[stray cat]

7. do kids fight?

I carried a knife to school for protection. Its like asking if kids ever use guns in fight or is that made up

[frogmarch]

9. Some girls fought with knives

in the 50s in my small hometown in western Nebraska. Maybe I should instead say they stabbed ach other with knives sometimes. I don't recall any actual knife fights.

My BFF (50 years later we still are) and I were buying red-hot cinnamon candy in the tiny Candy Snap shop in downtown Alliance, when a girl our age came in and gut-stabbed another girl in the abdomen several times. The stabber thought the other girl was after her boyfriend. The girl survived and fully recovered, but I'll never forget the incident. There was blood everywhere, and my BFF and I were splattered with it from head to toe. Every time I smell cinnamon oil, I remember it.

This was the only stabbing incident I witnessed, but I heard of a handful of other similar ones involving teenage girls stabbing each other in Alliance.

[Curmudgeoness]

12. Yes. The "bad crowd" all had switchblades. And yes, they really did.

Guns were not as common and knives were easier to hide. I don't remember that many stabbings though. I think that most of it was a bluff or a deterent. Most people did not mess with the kids who had the blades.

[mitchum]

13. Yes, but the more mechanically adept preferred zip guns