5 February 1933 “Fun Things for a Sunday”

“In 1933, Girl Scouts of Greater Philadelphia Council baked cookies and sold them in the city's gas and electric company windows. Just 23 cents per box of 44 cookies, or six boxes for $1.24 helped girls develop their marketing and business potential and raise funds for their local Girl Scout council program. In 1934, Greater Philadelphia became the first council to sell commercially baked cookies.”

Though hair dye had been around for quite some time, such as this 1840’s ad, it was not really considered something a lady or certainly a good middle class girl would have done. What is interesting in this old advert is the name, Circassian. This was a myth that the women of Circassian Mountains near the Black sea were the most purest Caucasians ever and that in the white slave trade sultans would pay the highest price.

The great marketing genius P.T. Barnum made the myth a ‘reality’ in the 1860’s when he had such a pure Caucasian beauty on display in his famous side-shows. It is interesting to note here that the ad informs one that light or red hair (not at all desirable at the time) could be transformed to lovely dark shades. Hair color, like all fashion, follows such trends. Though the popularity of the blonde seems ageless to us, as it has remained a beauty ideal for most of the last century, it was not always so.

This made me think of the wonderful scene in the movie adaptation of the Anne of Green Gables book when Anne, Played wonderfully by Megan Follows in 1985. Anne wishes to dye her unloved red hair (called ‘carrots’ by Gilbert Blythe)  to be like the raven black locks of her ‘bosom friend’, Dianna Barry. The resulting color, however, is green and she exclaims, “The peddler assured me it would turn my hair a beautiful raven black”.

But, by the 1930’s a new color was des rigueur. In 1930 Jean Harlow appeared in Hells Angels with her almost white platinum blonde hair and caused a stir. It was so popular that the following year, 1931, she appeared in a movie entitled Platinum Blonde. It’s original title had been Gallagher, but Howard Hughes convinced the the producers  to change the title to better support Harlow's career.

  And the rush was on for light and blonde hair.

These are the 1933 Gold even shoes that inspired me to get my own less expensive afternoon version in blue suede. The original gold lame shoes are for sale and are rather expensive. They and some other antique clothing can be found HERE. It is a fun site to look through as the few pieces they have for sale are all authentic antiques from Victorian onward. A fun site to ‘window shop’. If you scroll to the bottom you can choose the time period. Have fun there.

I hope all are having a lovely Sunday. Happy Homemaking.