I'm chiming in late with this, but I've worn a LOT of vintage, as well as made quite a bit from vintage patterns. I would agree that 50s and 60s in particular tend to be slightly long-waisted.
Post-WWII style, got long and lean and drapey. Although I'm 5'9", I'm slightly short-waisted, and those garments don't fit me all that well. Nor does the idealized early 50s silhouette. It calls for a long, conical torso that smooths directly into full hips. I've got the hips, but my torso is not conical. So I get some ease and blousiness at the waist that obscures the line. On a long-waisted woman it would fit better. If you actually watch June Cleaver, she is very very slender (I think an IT) and even her ordinary housedresses look very long in the waist.
I don't think the waist moved up any, until the "Empire" waist appeared in the mid/late 60s. Early 40s sewing patterns, however, fit me like a glove with no alterations. Some of my original garments from that decade, and especially the 1930s, are too short in the waist for me.
