There were a couple of shows in the late 40s/early 50s where a married couple shared a bed (Mary Kay and Johnny and Ozzie and Harriet)
He was a photographer who worked nights? 
Better to have a tie on your Mustard than mustard on your tie.
Hardly unknown, but were considered “yard work clothes” by any white collar worker or above. Obviously the blue collars wore their jeans or overalls at home, they didnt change into a suit!
My Dad took off his tie and changed into army khaki pants.
And they same for me when i first started, i just took off my coat & tie.
Right, and my Mom wouldnt let me wear or buy me jeans until i got into college. her concession was Dickies green or khaki trousers.
No - he worked nights in a factory that made steel and aluminum cans. The room in the back was dark so he could sleep during the day. It was perfectly clear in my mind… 
Aha! Well, hit me on the side of the head and call me stupid! :smack:
Darkroom vs dark room.
Lots of photographers work at night. Sporting events, night clubs, astrophotography, etc…
Sometimes, I would be in the darkroom for so long that it was dark out when I came out. Odd sensation to go into the dark house rooms after being in the darkroom. Seemed wrong somehow.
I never saw my father wearing a pair of jeans. I did see him, on many summertime occasions, wearing plaid Bermuda shorts with black (over the calf) dress socks…
…and black dress shoes. Unless he was really kicking back, in which case he’d break out the Hush Puppies.
I think he did it just to mortify me…it worked.
He would also wear dress socks (no shoes) on the beach because he didn’t like the feel of sand. And the only times I saw him wear sandals: yup, black dress socks.
My grandmother in law always wore a nylon dress- like apron at home. She wore it over a collared shirt. It was a stiff, smooth nylon, usually in a pattern of stripes or flowers. Like this. http://www.google.nl/imgres?imgurl=http://www.kampsberoepskleding.nl/images/users/17106/4822-jasschort-v-hals-bont.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.kampsberoepskleding.nl/p/jasschort-v-hals-bont-134790&h=600&w=253&tbnid=CN6pSQQMVSPxuM:&docid=G-WlbAdyHLqkQM&hl=nl-nl&ei=sE9OVrC_HMfSUcXinPgO&tbm=isch&client=safari&ved=0CCQQMygEMARqFQoTCLDX2fvGnckCFUdpFAodRTEH7w
I was, uh, being facetious in “misinterpreting” “dark room.” But thanks for the input. 
My father-in-law was born in 1933 and was retired when I met him, but still ALWAYS wore a dress shirt and tie around the house, and would add a jacket when he left the house for any reason whatsoever. He was definitely a “square” even by the standards of his generation; I discovered a few years ago that he had never heard of Bob Dylan!
My own father is slightly younger, and I’ve seen him in a tie and jacket only at weddings and graduations (and Halloween sometimes). I vaguely remember seeing my mother wearing dresses when I was very young, but certainly not since the Carter administration.
IIRC only time Lucy & Ricky were actually shown in the same bed was in the episode on the way to Hollywood were they had to share that rundown cabin with the Mertzes. Up until Little Ricky came along they slept in twin beds pushed together, but still made up with 2 separate sets of bedding. Once the baby came along they tuck a nightstand between the beds.
“The Goldbergs”
Why bother? You can’t get romantic this way because the damned beds spread apart as soon as you get started. And the gap is mighty uncomfortable to begin with!
Better to just do it in a single and then retire to your own bed. 
Hell, I’ve seen old movies and TV shows that show winos and panhandlers wearing tattered jackets and ties.
My folks dressed up all the time, and slept in twin beds like the Petries. And went to a WASPY church and a WASPY bridge club and joined the WASPY tennis club.
it was somehow tied in with WW2 and the GI Bill and the Eisenhower Years and working hard to save America and why would you dress like a beatnick or a juvenile delinquent (or later, a hippie) that were “thumbing their noses at America”?
Oh, no, not Thumbing Their Noses!
Mostly incorrect. My dad and grandpa were both blue collar union workers. While they did not change into a suit upon coming home neither wore jeans or overalls at home. They came home everyday, changed out of their work cloths, took a shower and put on white shirts and black dress pants. My mom always wore a dress, her pearls, stockings and heels for dinner. Every damn night. We kids got a bath and were dressed for dinner every night too.
As I grew older I thought the parental and grandparental units were slightly unhinged. My grandmother who was a flapper in her previous life always wore spike heals from the moment she got up in the morning until she went to bed at night (in a twin bed in a separate room from grandpa). I don’t think she owned a pair of pants in her life. My mom started to wear pants in maybe the 80’s or 90’s.
Ricky and Lucy’s bed seemed to have two mattresses, but one frame. Maybe they didn’t spread apart as bad with a single frame?
My dad took off the tie and wore y-fronts at home. Later, jockettes 
But he didn’t have much social life. His dad would have worn a tie socially.
But what about scarfs and collars? I can’t quite picture the old cowboy/cavalry films, but wearing neck scarfs, surely they would have been collarless? English films always showed the working classes without collars – a tradition continued in Disneys “Mary Poppins”.
Did Americans start wearing collars sooner than the English?