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An aside, but watching old 40s and 50s programming (older silent movies as well) do expose you to a bit of how things were back then -iceboxes in people’s homes, the decor they used, lighting choices, modes of transport, undershirt habits, milkmen, ice blocks, all kinds of incidental things outside of the main thrust of a movie or TV programming.

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This is true but you may also encounter some anachronisms. For example, married couples sleeping in separate beds was not something that historically happened- it was just how TV producers dealt with censorship dictated by The Hays Code, the rules that governed what could be shown in television and film. If you tried to use programming from the 40s and 50s you might wonder why none of these people seem to have indoor toilets!

I know it happened in some cases. My paternal grandparents had separate beds in their house.

Grandmother is in her 90's now.

Mine did too, but grandpa was gay.

I guess you mean after he had kids?

Used to be quite common for gay people to have kids heterosexually; at one time it was more or less socially expected that everyone would marry and have children, particularly in the middle classes.

You can be gay and have sex with a woman. Societal pressure was a pretty big thing back then.

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