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To Canoodle or Not to Canoodle; A valentines Day Dilemma
In Post-War America, love was in the air. Along with Valentines Day’s hearts and flowers, came big dates, big dances, and king sized expectations in high schools and colleges all around the country....
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Occupation: 1960 Housewife
The mid-century American Housewife was the most envied woman in the world…smart…yet easy-going with never-you-mind freedom; that was the new Mrs. America! “To be an American woman today,” Life...
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Marriage Equality
(L) Vintage Ad VIV Vivid Pink Lipstick 1956 (R) Marriage Equality Logo New Beginnings As spring begins, the window opens for the chance to be a June bride, that most coveted month for nuptials. This...
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An Atomic Fairy Tale
Atomic Fairy Tale (L) US Government booklet 1950 (R) Walt Disney’s Cinderella Random House 1974 1950 was Cinderella’s year. My mother Betty knew it was an omen. After 6 long years of waiting, Disney’s...
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Betty Drapers Diet Tips
There came a time in every Cold War housewife’s life when the safety of the containment policy offered by a good girdle simply wasn’t enough to keep those pesky curves in line. Comely Betty Draper the...
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Whitman’s and Mothers Day
My sweet Grandmother had a sweet tooth. Whether Bartons, Barricini, or Lofts, chocolate was the common currency of celebration. But Mothers Day meant only one thing- a Whitman’s Sampler. Through the...
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A Mothers Day Of Beauty
As a young child in the late 1950′s, I shadowed my mother everywhere she went. I was her Baba Looey to her Quick Draw McGraw, Boo Boo to her Yogi Bear, Tonto to her Lone Ranger.Within her sphere of...
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On the Front Lines With Coca Cola Pt. 1
Vintage Coca Cola Ads (1953) (R) WWII ad 1944 Coke in New Zealand During WWII the boys overseas were fighting for Mom, apple pie and a bottle of Coke. Coca Cola, as much a part of the American Dream...
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Cheerios and American Diversity
Feeling nostalgic for those pre-civil rights days? Cheerios is serving up some good old-fashioned controversy in it’s all American breakfast cereal, bringing to light some rather racist comments....
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Ding, Dong… Avon Calling Pt II
Avon may be a coveted account on AMC’s Mad Men, but for many mid-century housewives, Avon was a coveted career. By the early 1960s Dawn Logan our neighborhood Avon Lady, was living out the ring-a-ding...
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July 4th Hot Diggety Dog
Gathering for the Family Backyard Barbecue-Vintage illustration McCall’s Magazine 1955 A summer staple at my 1960′s family barbeques was the ritual hot dog competition not in competitive eating but...
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All American Beauty
Reflections on Beauty- Mirror, Mirror on the wall who’s the fairest of them all? Vintage ad Pepsodent 1948 Reflections on Beauty Who’s the fairest of them all? In the great cultural cauldron of 20th...
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Health Care Hysteria
Critical Care As the halls of Congress morph into a Critical Care Unit, the GOP’s prescription “to preserve our freedom” appears to be to pull the plug on Obamacare- STAT! Although Senator Ted Cruz’s...
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Voting-Democracy in Action
Vintage illustration from children’s school book “New Ways in the New World” 1960 Growing up our textbooks taught us that America was Democracy in action. Especially when it came to our cherished right...
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Happy Thanksgiving
“Thanksgiving” illustration by John Gannam 1948 #23 in a series “Home Life in America” Vintage ad Beer Belongs Wishing all who celebrate Thanksgiving a warm and happy holiday!
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Christmas- The True Festival of Lights
The coincidence of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving this year has set things off balance, and finally given the Jews an edge in the Festival of Lights. Normally, while Jews across the country begin...
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Remembrance of New Years Eve Past Pt II
New Years Eve Party The countdown to my parents 1959 New Years Eve party had begun. On the cusp of the space age my parents prepared for a new years Eve Party that would send them soaring into the...
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Predictions for 1975
(L) This 1955 ad by New Departures Ball Bearings looked into the future predicting a home laundry for the happy homemaker of 1965 that would wash, dry, iron and fold your laundry. We’re still holding...
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A Winter War Time Romance
WWII Vintage Illustration 1945 Pruett Carter Illustrator The winter of 1944 was a blustery one. ..but it would soon turn torrid. Christmas break, my 18-year-old college freshman mother Betty hopped on...
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A Vintage Valentines Day Dilemma -Do’s & Don’ts
To Canoodle or Not to Canoodle In Post-War America, love was in the air. Along with Valentines Day’s hearts and flowers, came big dates, big dances, and king sized expectations in high schools and...
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