If I somehow met up with someone, say in a pub or drawing room, who as it turns out is visiting from the late 19th Century, I’d imagine he would have a bit of a Stilted But Earnest Manner of Speaking and an (unreasonably) optimistic view of Science as the Solution to Mankind’s Problems. Also, needless to say, horribly racist but perhaps in a condescending way: White Man’s Burden, Half Devil and Half Child and all that.
Meeting somebody from the 1950s, I picture them (if American, and white) as wildly optimistic about the future, daddy-o, and speaking like Gilligan from Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis. Yet perhaps tinged with an undertone of seriousness and earnest belief in the American Way. Maybe they had an older brother who fought in WWII or Korea, so he knows there’s a limit to life’s frivolities. And who knows what that crazyman Kruschev is going to do. Meantime, though, put some Bill Haley on the box and let’s dance!
Meeting someone from the 1920s would be just madcap, the bees knees, the cat’s meow but you could tell her desperate wish for a good time was an equally desperate wish to escape from something she didn’t want to think too much about. Not much chance for serious conversation, unless it’s something (to us) distasteful like eugenics and the rise of the colored races or something like that. Not condescending like my XIXth century friend, but a tad fearful and angry.
So, step into our time traveller’s drawing room. What do you expect from your conversation partner?