So here’s how things go around here somedays. Yesterday I thought about doing an Easter post, and then got distracted by the lovely D.C. weather and went to the National Arboretum with some friends instead. Then I meant to do the post last night, but ended up watching the toe-tapping movie Easter Parade on TV […]
Tag: 1950s
Deciding on a Color Scheme (1956)
We’re about to embark on a bathroom renovation on Monday, so we’ve (well, let me clarify ~ I’ve ~ the hubby is tolerating all of this with good nature) have been obsessing about large tubs and tiles and fixtures for quite some time. I should be cleaning out the old bathroom right now, but instead […]
Tips from the S. S. United States Passenger List Booklet (1956)
My mom and stepdad are avid cruisers in their retirement years. As I type they are sailing the (reportedly rough) high seas along the coast of Australia, headed soon to New Zealand. So it was exciting for me to find a booklet in a local antiques shop from a cruise on the S.S. United States […]
The Most Dire Female Crimes in Looks and Dress (1959)
One of the books that fell off my shelf during the “The Big Mineral, Virginia, Earthquake of 2011” was a paperback titled McCall’s Guide to Teen-Age Beauty and Glamour, written by Betsy Keiffer. My version is from 1959 and claims to provide “the sure-fire way to become the most charming, poised and popular girl in […]
The Frighteningly Illustrated Encyclopedia of Sex (1950/1977)
I meant to post this earlier this week, but in the D.C. region we’ve been overcome in the last few days by earthquakes and impending hurricanes, so it’s been a bit hectic. As I reported over on my Facebook page, a few stacks of paperbacks fell off the tops of my bookshelves during the earthquake […]
Summer Icicles (1955)
What else is there do to do on a sweltering summer day but to stay inside and blog about it? Here are some summertime tips from a book called Teen-Age Glamor, written by Adah Broadbent in 1955. These could come in handy on a day like today: When the sun is at its zenith, and the […]
Causes of Divorce (1950)
It turns out that business advice isn’t terrible amusing, at least not enough to share on the blog. On Thursday, Joyce Dewitt, who is now starring in Miss Abigail’s Guide to Dating, Mating, and Marriage (the play), rang the NASDAQ closing bell. Finances and the stock exchange not being one of my normal interests, I thought […]
What Dr. Spock Didn’t Tell Us (1958)
With father’s day this weekend, it seems appropriate to share some advice for parents from a publication that came long before the pretty-darned-hilarious Go the F**k to Sleep that has been in the news and floating around Facebook recently. What Dr. Spock Didn’t Tell Us: Or, A Survival Kit for Parents, was written in 1958 […]
Recent Acquisition: The Answer Book on Naval Social Customs (1956)
Yesterday a package arrived at the door: a book titled The Answer Book on Naval Social Customs, sent by the mother of a friend who wrote a week or so ago asking if I’d like it for the collection. She said: “It is a first edition, Jan 1956, Military Service Publishing Company. What a kick! […]
CHARM – C = HARM
“Fidgeters begin at any early age to drive the people around them crazy,” reads advice from Secrets of Charm, which was written in 1954 by John Robert Powers and Mary Sue Miller. Let’s read on: “As children, they seem to wiggle everything, including their ears. A grown woman usually confines herself to twisting a handkerchief or […]