Those nifty '50s: Why the decade is still such a cultural hit By Lisa Heyamoto - Sacramento Bee Staff Writer Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, January 21, 2007 There's something about a malt shop that makes a person want to break out in song. At least, that would seem to be the case according to any musical production set in the 1950s. And, while we may never know what elusive force enables your average teenage hearthrob to express his or her love so lyrically, we do know that there's something about a musical production set in the '50s that makes an audience keep coming back for more. Take "Grease," "Bye Bye Birdie" or a newer musical such as "All Shook Up," which opens Wednesday in Sacramento. Chances are, you've seen at least one of them. Chances are, you might even know the words to their every song. But what is it exactly about them that keeps us so entertained half a century and a whole lot of irony later? Simple, says Gary West, creator of http://www.mrpopculture.com/. The '50s were a time of "simple social mores. It's comforting," he said. Working hard, respecting elders, going steady instead of going all the way -- the decade is fairly brimming with a sweetness not shared with the turbulent '60s, the politically disheartening '70s, the materialistic '80s, and every decade since. Plus, it was a time when you didn't take anything for granted. If you wanted a car, you didn't get a shiny new one from your parents, West points out. "You had a lot of that interaction going on without relying a lot on money," he says. "It was a humble time. It was good times and good feelings." And good fodder for a great plotline, says Joe DiPietro, who wrote "All Shook Up." "It's a very evocative time," DiPietro says. "It gives you, as a dramatist, a lot to play off of." For instance, set "in a square town in a square state," "All Shook Up" is a story of a place in desperate need of excitement. It gets it in the form of a leather-jacketed roustabout named Chad. He roars into town on -- what else? -- his motorcycle, is disapproved of by authority figures, inspires various love triangles, and generally shakes things up. DiPietro built "All Shook Up" around Elvis Presley's songs of that era. He also immersed himself in several of his biographies. "What stuck in my mind was that he kept saying, 'I just want to bring joy to people,'" DiPietro says. "I hope to try to do that, too." DiPietro was a child of the '70s who was turned on to the '50s during the first of its many waves of nostalgia. Think: "Grease," "Happy Days" and "American Graffiti." (He wore out his copy of the soundtrack.) "There was certainly something to the newness and rawness of that music," DiPietro says. "There has never been as big a shift of musical styles before or since. It really was a cultural phenomenon." "Grease" in particular is one of the most beloved combinations of 1950s music and culture -- so beloved, in fact, that NBC has created a reality show called "Grease: You're the One That I Want," set around casting the lead roles for an upcoming Broadway production. And despite only-OK ratings for the TV show, a whopping $1.3 million worth of tickets for the play were sold in the first two days they went on sale. "It's fun," says DiPietro of "Grease." "It harkens back to a time that probably never really existed, when teenage culture was just big. It doesn't have a thought in its head but to entertain." Admit it: You can sing along to "Summer Nights" with the best of them; you'd be hopelessly devoted to Danny Zuko, too, and you totally thought Cha Cha DiGregorio was a man-stealing hussy. The popular play debuted in Chicago in 1971 and became even more popular after the iconic 1978 movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Since then, it's become a staple of high school drama classes, a party soundtrack regular and a favorite rerun. Which is how Taylan Karaarslan discovered it. He was about 5 years old when he first watched the movie, and such was his love that he formed -- currently at 500 members strong -- one of the biggest "Grease" fan clubs via his popular Web site, http://www.greaseweb.com And such is "Grease's" reach, such is the universal draw of all things musical and '50s, that the man behind the fan club lives in Istanbul. "I felt like (I was) hypnotized by those songs and dance moves," writes Karaarslan of "Grease" in an e-mail. "It was so energetic, so catchy. Not a complicated plot, yet the greatest musical I've ever seen." The high school dances, the drive-ins, the rock 'n' roll -- Karaarslan loves the purity of it all. And so, apparently, do the rest of us. "I think basically that's who we really are," West says. "The only thing that changes is the technology."