11 August 1956 “Nuclear Warheads, Vintage Food Packaging, Hats, and A Great Car”

This month in 1956, not far from where I live here on Cape Cod, a missile will be developed. The Polaris missile developed at the Woods Hole, Mass., Oceanographic Institute can be launched underwater from submarines and carry a nuclear warhead. The cold war marches on.
Just for fun, some vintage food stuffs. What I might see in the aisles of local grocer.
You will notice that we are not afraid of the word Sugar in our cereals. It is still in there today (when it is not corn syrup of course) but if we don’t write it on the box, I guess it doesn’t count? This advert offers miniature Grandma Moses prints. I need to do a post on Grandma Moses. I have a wonderful copy of House Beautiful with an article on her and a cover. She was quite the ‘it’ artist of the homemaker set and the middle class.
And though I would be suspect of cake mixes, I am sure by 56 I would use one in a pinch. Here is a fun commercial for Betty Crocker Cake Mix.

And I have to admit, when I buy bread at my grocer (I usually make it as well, but sometimes I need it in a pinch) I get Sunbeam. It is entirely because of the packaging. It is the same as it was in the 1950’s and there is something about unpacking that when I get home and putting it in my vintage bread box. Advertising really works, I suppose, but it doesn’t always have to be bad. In fact, in a pinch, it makes quick and yummy French toast or stuffing.

It was nice to see in this 1956 ad for Max Factor make up that her hat is very similar to the pattern for a hat I just purchased. It seems got very close to the head, almost like large headbands, and are now moving up a bit. This will eventually become the famous ‘pillbox’ of Jackie Kennedy in the early 60’s. Then hats will become larger versions of 1920’s cloche’s but worn atop the head rather than down over it such as this. 1965 vs. 1925. Then, of course by the late 60’s they will become big and floppy and then just, poof! Disappear. Such a sad shame hats are no longer des rigueur, as they can add so much style so quickly to even the last minute thrown together outfit. 
And to close, in a purely selfish, American consumer way, this would have to be my current dream car. A 1956 Mercury Monterey woody station wagon. Oh, gals, imagine the groceries I could haul and the tailgating and rambling down the old road with a lovely vintage chair in the back from the local antique store. A gal can be a little greedy sometimes, can’t she?
Until tomorrow, then, Happy Homemaking.