Windows, Windows, Windows

A neat decorating idea for modern windows.

Tips from a 1956 issue of Town Journal; the Family Magazine of Home Town America

The Grapevine ~ 1956

 The  July 1956 edition of the Town Journal* advises it's readers on a multitude of issues. Here are some bits of advice I thought you might enjoy today.



1. Gardening;
   A warning about a lawn cover called "Mondo Grass" has been received from the National Better Business Bureau. The Bureau reports that this is not a "grass" and is not recommended for lawn use. It belongs to the lily family and is commonly known as "Snakes Beard".

2. Best Movies;
    Recommended for this month are "That Certain Feeling" with Bob Hope as a "ghost" for slipping cartoonist George Sanders ; "A Kiss Before Dying" from Ira Levin's best selling murder mystery; "Trapeze" , an unusual and exciting story of the Big Top with Gina Lollobrigida; "23 paces to Baker Street" , a suspensful melodrama; "Crowded Paradise" , "Away all Boats", "Star in the Dust" and "Foreign Intrique" .

3. Food Prices;
   They're inching upward after staying put for months. Pork is considerably higher priced now than last winter. Beef , especially the better grades, is due to go up soon. You can hold down expenses by eating plenty of broilers and friers this month-production will exceed last july's by 20% so prices should drop. Other likely bargains: ice cream in gallon cartons and summer vegetables.

4. Drycleaning tip;
    Be sure to tell the cleaner about any holes or rips, even tiny ones, in dresses or sports shirts made from blends of cotton and silk or cotton and synthetic fibers. The warp is such that damage may worsen in drycleaning. National Institute of Drycleaning advises.

5. Trend Shop.
   A new service at many Sears, Roebuck and Co. stores makes it possible for you to order furniture from decorator lines. You'll find illustrated books and sample fabrics from the collections of such well known houses as Drexel, Herman Miller, Lane and Valentine-Seaver.

ALL fashion begins with Girdles and Bras

My mother wore a girdle when I was a little girl. I'm not sure when exactly that stopped but it did. I recall her "special" drawer was full of different girdles and strange, stretchy things of that nature. I do remember trying one of them on at one point. I'm sure I was not a teenager yet but I was old enough to be intrigued by and drawn to the mechanics of beauty and womanly things. Weren't all little girls in my era? When, exactly, did that become a bad thing? What's wrong with teaching your daughter about beauty? About womanliness? About femininity?

My mom taught me that the most beautiful women are the ones that use their minds as well as their beauty.

Anyhow...in the 1950's, according to the January 1953 Good Housekeeping article;

Every woman needs more than one girdle and several bras.
These are the very foundations of your wardrobe,
they determine how all of your other clothes will look and fit.
Shop for them carefully and never buy without trying them on.

Please forgive the poor quality of the above photo. I don't get why the scan lines are such a problem with some of these. The scanner is new and I don't get how I can fix the issue as I've tried all the preference changes, etc. Anyone ?

What is Wrong with this picture?

Now this isn't exactly 50's but it is a wonderful set of neat "things for kids to do" that I loved as a child. It was in a set of childrens books that I grew up with only to lose over the years. I searched high and low for the set but could never find more than one or two of the books at a time and they were usually in horrid shape. Finally I found the entire set on ebay and purchased it. I spent a whole sunday going through the books and going back in time. How I love these books! Some of you might recognize these pages.

These are still great fun if you ask me for kids of a younger age. I wish I could find a whole group of these!

I hope you enjoy these. I have other neat vintage to do's for kids that I'll share along the way.

Why I love the 50s

First a word from...

I have loved the 1950s since I was a little girl. I remember being completely awed by what I felt were the prettiest women in the whole wide world every time I caught a glimpse of a pin up girl from that era...like the ladies on the dusty calendar pictures in my grandpas office or when I sat through a dreamy classic movie with my mom on lazy Sunday afternoons, starring Doris Day, Marilyn Monroe  Betty Davis, Joan Crawford...the list goes on and on. I was immidiately drawn by their beauty, their glamour. The way they wore their hair, the seamed stockings, the perfect heels, their red, velvet lipstick and wonderfully arched brows. The hairstyles, the hourglass figures, the perfectly manicured nails, the handbags, the jewelry...these were real women! Beautiful women! The kind of woman I wanted to be. No matter that they also wore aprons and pushed a vacuum cleaner around. at home, starched collars and darned socks. I fully understood that a woman consisted of many wonderful facets. I loved that they cooked and baked and did laundry. I loved that they were moms and wives too and beyond that, even breadwinners. Women could be anything they chose to be, womens lives could be what they decided to make them.
I have chosen to live my life today as if it were the 1950's. I make no claims that I can do this entirely as there are common things that I have grown up with and that have been such a complete part of my life that it would be extremely hard to dispense with them. I will do my very best to live simply and make changes where changes can and should be made. I've been sharing my love for the fifties with friends and family for some time now. My second to the youngest daughter is the one who actually suggested that I go further in my expression of love for the era..."Mom" she said, "Since you get off on the 50's so much, why don't you really get into it?"  I wasn't sure I knew what she meant but she suggested that I start my own movement.