# Did people just look older in the past? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 14, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029 "2012-11-14T21:08:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/41 "2012-11-15T17:37:22Z")
Anecdotal evidence only but I smoke, drink, am overweight, wear very little makeup, got a lot of sun when I was younger (still do) and I still look 10+ years younger than I am. Or so people tell me. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/42 "2012-11-15T17:40:25Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I started thinking about this a few years back when I realized I was the same age as Carrol O’Connor when “All in the Family” premiered. > > Now I’m as old as Carrol O’Connor when “All in the Family” was at its peak. Listen, there’s no way I look or act as old as my hero Archie Bunker! Holy shit. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/43 "2012-11-15T17:44:41Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I started thinking about this a few years back when I realized I was the same age as Carrol O’Connor when “All in the Family” premiered. > > Now I’m as old as Carrol O’Connor when “All in the Family” was at its peak. Listen, there’s no way I look or act as old as my hero Archie Bunker! I remember the episode where Archie Bunker turned 50. I’m past that age and still don’t think I look or act as old as he did. (Of course, I’ve not spent my life working on a Queens loading dock either.) ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/44 "2012-11-15T18:00:53Z")
I’m re-reading Ray Bradbury’s **Something Wicked This Way Comes** , first published in 1962, and it’s really jarring to hear Mr. Halloway endlessly moaning over how _old_ he is…at 54. He’s always going on about how his heart is slowing and his bones creak and he can’t run anymore, he’s close to death, he’s shamefully ancient next to his 13-year-old son (whom he must have had at the decrepit age of 40), much too old to be a father, etc. Funny when you think of men like Liam Neeson and Bruce Willis, aged 60 and 57, respectively, being very believable as action heroes in movies, when I think of my 63-year-old uncle who climbs mountains for a hobby, my own dad who is 69 and still works full-time and digs up trees in the garden by himself and barely has any wrinkles despite spending a life time in the sun. I work at a university that recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of its yearbook and I was one of the people who put up an exhibit of yearbooks across the decades. It seemed to me that the peak period of college-aged kids looking middle-aged was the 1970s-1980s, and a lot of that had to do with the men’s preference for wearing full beards and luxurious mustaches. That shit will age you by at least 10 years (I guess that was the idea for otherwise baby-faced young men). Here’s a random page of seniors from [1984](http://i.imgur.com/nZO4V.jpg) – look at those men on the bottom row and tell me you’d guess they were 21-22. The only people who look that young to me are the women in the top left and bottom right corners. Even these women from [1914](http://i.imgur.com/cRpRf.jpg) look younger. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/45 "2012-11-15T18:09:27Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > I’m re-reading Ray Bradbury’s **Something Wicked This Way Comes** , first published in 1962, and it’s really jarring to hear Mr. Halloway endlessly moaning over how _old_ he is…at 54. He’s always going on about how his heart is slowing and his bones creak and he can’t run anymore, he’s close to death, he’s shamefully ancient next to his 13-year-old son (whom he must have had at the decrepit age of 40), much too old to be a father, etc. Reminds me of a story my (now 85 year old) mother tells. She used to love playing tennis, but when she hit 30, her father-in-law said ‘aren’t you a bit old for that sort of thing’. Worse bit, she actually listened to him and never played again! ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/46 "2012-11-15T18:11:36Z")
^^^That’s awful! Forgot to add this page of men from [1911](http://i.imgur.com/lySg5.jpg). Dude on the left has an old face, but the dashing fellow on the right has what I would call a 21-22-year-old face. (Also, check out their adorable quotes and descriptions. “His life is, as his hair – upright.” We need to bring that tradition back.) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/47 "2012-11-15T18:16:11Z")
Maybe we’re not looking younger as we age. Maybe the Earth is spinning faster. I know I don’t have as much time as I used to. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/48 "2012-11-15T18:48:51Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Actually, Lindsay Lohan is kind of the flip-side of the phenomenon … I think she’s a very valid control point. Hard drinking, smoking, and over-tanning damage have aged her more akin to the old-timey people of this thread. Looking at pics of my father, he looked 50 by his late 20s in photographs. Heavy sun wrinkles, and 2-3 pack a day smoking will do that to you. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/49 "2012-11-15T19:05:12Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > ^^^That’s awful! > > Forgot to add this page of men from [1911](http://i.imgur.com/lySg5.jpg). Dude on the left has an old face, but the dashing fellow on the right has what I would call a 21-22-year-old face. > > (Also, check out their adorable quotes and descriptions. “His life is, as his hair – upright.” We need to bring that tradition back.) He has an elaborate 'do, too. “We do not know whether he will become an artist, scientist, or politician. Do any of these careers offer wide enough field for his ambition?” Perhaps [carpet and linoleum installer](http://articles.mcall.com/1985-10-20/news/2502709_1_hollenbach-peabody-court-installer) would do it. Actually, looking at the dates, that might not be him. He’d have been 16 in 1911. Was this a school or college yearbook? Edit: It must be him. How many Charles R. Hollenbachs are there in this corner of Pennsylvania? Died in Sellersville, not a mile from his hometown of Perkasie. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/50 "2012-11-15T19:25:38Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Holy shit. You too, huh? Meathead! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/51 "2012-11-15T19:41:02Z")
Dingbat! Get me a beer. ---
**Author:** ![jkirkman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@jkirkman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jkirkman)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/52 "2012-11-15T20:48:06Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > … > > [Babcock, Bernie - Encyclopedia of Arkansas](http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1097) > > This article has two photos of Bernie Babcock. In the first she’s in her mid-30s and in the second photo she’s in her mid-70s. How many people would have pegged her at 35+ in the first photo? Thanks. I got the first laugh all week when I looked at that page. I had to shut my office door. I misread your instructions, and compared the first photo with the **LAST** (third) photograph. I load up the page, and am looking and thinking “yes, she does look younger than mid-30’s in that first photo, and quite attractive as well. Now let’s look at the older one and AHHHHHHHHH! My eyes! Good dog what happened to her! Life must have been REALLY rough back then!” I eventually figured out my mistake, but, sadly for the ongoing discussion, I enjoyed the mistake a lot more than making the correct comparison 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/53 "2012-11-15T20:51:16Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Dingbat! > > Get me a beer. Let’s work on a song together: Boy the way Van Halen played, Songs that made the billboard grade, ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/54 "2012-11-15T21:24:26Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Let’s work on a song together: > Boy the way Van Halen played, > Songs that made the billboard grade, O Led Zeppelin we obeyed Those were the days ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/55 "2012-11-15T23:12:55Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Yes. People exercise more, eat better, and take better care of themselves generally so they look younger. I was having blood drawn yesterday. A couple came in, an elderly man and woman. the man was using a walker, I assumed he had an injury. I though he looked 60-65. When he spoke, he seems lucid, intelligent…even energetic. The nurse asked for his birth date. Dude was 82! I hope **I** look that good at 82! ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/56 "2012-11-15T23:52:20Z")
These are factors that factor into the appearance of aging, I’m sure there are tons more but these are the ones I know about. Good nutrition (ample macronutrients and micronutrients) Exposure to the sun Copious physical activity (a hard labor life ages you, whereas mild physical activity probably helps make you look younger) Smoking Alcohol consumption Plastic surgery Stress We do have better nutrition now, in a lot of ways. I know we are more obese, but kids enter puberty earlier so it is likely that we are getting more of the macronutrients and micronutrients we need. If anything, obesity is a sign that our bodies are getting ample nutrition and can afford to store some. A lot of jobs are indoor now. People aren’t working hard labor in factories our out in the sun in farms. So we aren’t aging from that. Something like 50% of people smoked 50+ years ago, now it is 25%. Those that do smoke are less likely to smoke around non-smokers than they were in the past. Plastic surgery can cover up aging (but evenso, a lot of people who don’t get plastic surgery do look younger today). So those are the reasons I can think of. There is also the fact that the media probably didn’t obsess over youth and staying perpetually young like we do now. I am in my 30s, I know some people who I went to high school with. Some look like they are early 20s, some look 40s. Nowadays, in todays media, only the ones who look like they are young would get acting parts. I’m assuming in the past they placed less emphasis on looks and aging. White people problems and all as Louis CK would say. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/57 "2012-11-16T03:14:17Z")
As for Lindsay Lohan, she had a guest shot on one episode of _Glee_ toward the end of season three, and she looked quite doable. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/58 "2012-11-16T03:35:26Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Let’s work on a song together: > Boy the way Van Halen played, > Songs that made the billboard grade, Hmmm … Leaf fan, apparently idolizes Archie Bunker … are you Don Cherry? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/59 "2012-11-16T12:06:00Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Hmmm … Leaf fan, apparently idolizes Archie Bunker … are you Don Cherry? Leaf fan! \I just got that!\ I always wondered what Le-aff-an meant. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029/60 "2012-11-16T12:49:31Z")
> [@jkirkman](#): > > I eventually figured out my mistake, but, sadly for the ongoing discussion, I enjoyed the mistake a lot more than making the correct comparison 🙂 Thanks. Just thinking that she turned into the third photo got me laughing out loud as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-people-just-look-older-in-the-past/641029.md?page=4)