14 June 1957 “Morgan Learns To Like Food: Children’s Eating Habits”

“Morgan sulks over his scrambled eggs, whines, drops food on floor. He loves pickles and Mother says he can have one after he’s eaten the eggs.”

Having no children of my own I would never deign to give parenting advice, but I do like the various bits of wisdom and knowledge I glean from my vintage magazines and books.

This particular article caught my eye the other day, as a friend and I were talking about eating habits and our likes and dislikes. I was finding it hard to list any foods I do not like. My friend, having been raised by parents who were not very, shall we say, attentive to dietary needs or even general good health and attention, used to allow her to literally eat a box of cereal or cheese crackers as a meal. If she did not want what was for dinner, usually somewhat devoid of vegetables anyway, she was allowed to eat fish sticks and that is it.

I think because of my own early food variety I had a greater palette and therefore find more foods good or interesting. I was always told I had to at least ‘try it and eat half’ before I decided I did or did not like it. However, there were no special orders for me at meal time. My mother prepared our meals and I ate what was prepared. She would, however, take requests as I began to find things I enjoyed more. Yet we always had a vegetable and usually a fruit at breakfast as well as starch and carbohydrates and of course we had a protein at each meal. I grew up with breakfasts of pancakes, waffles, with sausage or bacon and the like.

I recall once astonishing a friend because she was upset over their family having liver and onions. I said, “Mmm, I love liver and onions” and got the strangest look. Perhaps having older parents (who started their married life and parenting in the early 1950’s) I was simply exposed to a greater or different variety of foods early on than my 70/80’s contemporaries. To this day I love all offal and often will smile with glee when chicken livers, beef kidneys, and their like are on sale in my local grocery. Most often I found myself commiserating with my friends grannies over the loveliness of meals their grandkids wouldn’t touch, as they preferred boxed mac n cheese.

I even enjoy all shell fish including raw oysters and anything from the ocean, even kelp and seaweeds, as one gets at Japanese restaurants.

So, I was thinking how I would not alter our eating had we a child. If we had kidneys at breakfast as our child would eat them, well I would insist he try them. But, if from the time he was a child, I simply gave them to him, I suppose he would just eat them. I could of course be completely wrong. I know that now we have no cereal at breakfast since 1955 except good ole’ fashioned slow cooked steel cut oatmeal usually with fresh fruit and some molasses.

I had a friend who has a small son. We once went out to lunch together and she said, “Oh, he will only eat chicken fingers” and he literally ate just processed breaded chicken fingers for dinner, nary a vegetable touched his lips. But his mother also eats almost no vegetables and has very poor eating habits, so learned at home I would imagine.

I suppose those of you with children know best and having a child that is simply ‘picky’ might be more about personality than palette, I don’t know. But, let’s learn how in 1952 Morgan’s mother dealt with the issue of ‘not eating’ when

MORGAN LEARNS TO LIKE FOOD

• Morgan Hall when three and a half was a healthy normal boy- a bit on the thin side but wiry and active. The doctor pronounced him in good condition. But like many children his age, MO used to dawdle over his food. According to the mother he “ate practically nothing/” She worried a great deal about the balanced diet she was sure he wasn’t getting. Worry let to nagging and nagging to misery at mealtime.
• Then suddenly Mrs. Hall decided she must change her approach co0mpletely. “For how can anyone have a good appetite when he’s being nagged and pressured into eating?” she thought. First and foremost she discovered ways to lead Mo to some of the unexplored joys to be found in food. Then at mealtime she served his favorites and stopped watching. Now the balanced diet is always on hand but never forced on him. His parents realize that pleasure in food and happy mealtimes are the best foundation for a healthy appetite-and eventually will pay off.

  “Mo helps Mother shell peas while she scrapes carrots. They talk and laugh together. Now and then she pops a piece of carrot in her own mouth but never urges him to.

“Pancakes for Sunday Breakfast. Mother asks him to fetch eggs and the beater. At first he just watches, then wants to help. What child can resist the chance to use a beater and make a bowl of egg white come foaming up just like soapsuds?” “Now it’s Mo’s turn to use the fascinating scraper and make a nice heap of shavings. Later he bites a carrot halfheartedly, Mother pays no attention. “Mother readies the batter, invites Mo to spoon it onto the hot griddle and watch what happens-a messy but absorbing operation. “ ‘let’s count the little bubbles,’ says mother, ‘and see how many there are when it’s time to turn it.’ Mo loses track.” “The pancake’s done. Mrs. Hall dashes it onto a plate with butter and sirup. ‘That’s how Dad likes it,’ she says, then goes about her business while nature takes its course. See what’s happened! Dad will surely need another.” “ ‘Tisn’t manners but sirup’s good to the last drop; for a youngster, it’s even better when licked from the plate.” “Mother and Mo laugh because she couldn’t count the bubbles either.  ‘We’ll try again soon,’ she says.” “What a change! Instead of cross words and tears, Mo’s really a good table companion now.  Nobody makes him eat or looks cross if he can’t finish. Gradually he dawdles less, eats more than he used to. Everyone feels better. He still likes pickles.” “He loves to drink a ‘milk toast’. Thinks saying “Here’s mud in your eye!” is hilariously funny, wants it again and again. Parents humor him for a while but call quits if he starts getting silly.” “Mo isn’t a big eater yet and may not be for several years. But he eats what for him, at this age and stage of growth, is enough. Good-humored parents, good feeling at mealtime-these bring sure results.”

  

I wonder if Morgan turned into a good eater after all. My friend, who now eats more than cheez crackers, had to slowly train herself to like various foods and vegetables. There are still many things she doesn’t like and it makes it harder for her to enjoy eating out at certain places. I know I am glad that I like most foods (though I do need to like less of them and shed those extra pounds).

I also recall that I wasn’t allowed to wander around with food. I ate at the table or on special nights if we had a movie or something, snacks on the sofa. We always had dinner at the table and never with a TV on. I was surprised many of my friends mother’s had TV’s in their kitchens and often just ate wherever they felt like it. I suppose in many ways I always felt a bit ‘out of time’ due to my older parents home rules. But, were I to have a child, they were have to unfortunately feel as equally unconnected as there would be meals At table. There would be no wandering about with hands in cereal boxes or cracker boxes. It seems we have enough work to do as homemakers then to add more crumbs and mess to every room in the house, right?!

Do any of you have fussy or picky children? How do you deal with it? Did you eat everything as a child or were you let choose willy nilly? A very interesting topic, I think.

Happy Homemaking.

13 June 1957 “A Color Scheme of Blue and Green”

We talked recently about the fun color combination of Pink and Green. Today I thought I would show you the lovely pairing of Blue and Green. This is particularly effective in any style but especially in a Vintage room. When one uses Robin’s egg blue and a pistachio Green as we see the great result as evidenced in this very modern kitchen.

Using two colors in a room can be even easier than one. It allows you to set the stage for your decorating and then you can keep your eye on that dual color range when buying furniture, accessories, what have you.

Now, Dark green, almost a Fern Green was also popular in the 1950’s and we often see that paired with pale blues as well as in this bathroom makeover.

I have to say I almost prefer the before picture (there in the bottom left) but if you are going to do a Vintage look, go Bold! Make sure you are committed and go the whole nine yards. The detail in the linoleum on this floor is a masterpiece and the ceiling was included. I think if you wanted a vintage bathroom, mixing bits of soon to be dated modern 21st century pieces with the old to try and from some ‘balance’ might make the room feel disjointed or confused. Go for it, because the 1950’s style was very Bold and doesn’t do well when watered down, I think.

Also a simple room with say pink and black with tiled half walls, floors of white and black hex, vintage plastic shower curtain and vintage wire shelves and decoration (such as metal fish for the wall and a lady head on the lav tank) and a few colored towels in pink and white would still be bold and not as involved as our sample picture here. But, isn’t it fun to see the outlandish examples in the magazines of the time?

  I think the use of Blue and Green in this kitchen is adorable. It also goes to show you, why have your top and bottom cabinets match? Their colors meet half way in the floor of blue and green. It also seems to make the room feel more alive than just one solid wash of color. And look how lovely the copper molds and pans and terra cotta pots add warmth to the cool colors of the room. And what a fun fix for a kitchen that is stuck with a plain white range.

I have shown this picture before, I think, and you can definitely see the color is strong here. It is almost a blue-green shade combined.

Any way you slice it, blue and green look good together. If you don’t want to try it in a room, it looks fresh and lovely in Spring and Summer on your dresses and clothes.

Enjoy this Bell Telephone short which shows some fun color combinations to decorate your home (of course they coordinate with the new Bell Telephones in color)

Enjoy your day and Happy Homemaking. Maybe put some blue and green items together today and see how you feel about their pairing.

11 June 1957 “Dishwashing Fun with Cup Characters and Officer Joe Helps Teens with Soapbox Boat Racing”

These two ‘gossips’ are the handy work of Dr. Lehman Wendall, a Minnapolis, Minn., dentist. He, like many American Husbands, gets roped in…er I mean he Loves to help with the nightly chore of washing the dishes.

He added some entertainment to the chore by creating these interesting characters:

Officer Joe, pictured here with his eager and attentive ‘students’ has brought hard work and team work to the youths of Freeport Long Island, N.Y. They are having a wonderful time competing in Soapbox Water Derby, invented and aided by officer Joe.

  “In Freeport, Long Island, N.Y., and in several other nearby communities, youngsters these hot days are having the time of their lives competing in the nation’s only sopabox water derby. More important than that, they are racing boats of their own making and built with their own money. They owe it all to a 34-year-old Freeport cop, Joe Romeika, and an idea he had three years ago while covering his beat.

It seems that on that day officer Officer Joe chanced upon a group of teen-agers standing along the water front in Freeport, one of the country’s leading speedboat racing centers, watching some sportsman as they roared around the harbor tuning up their craft. Joe saw the look of longing in the kid’s faces. Each of these boys', in his mind, was in one of those boats, racing. And it was here that Joe had his great idea. “Whouldn’t you fellos like to have boats of your own?” he asked them. “A race of your own?””Sure!” they chorused. “But How?”

Joe gave them the blueprint” Build their own boats and have their own races. But Joe did more than talk. He helped them get odd jobs-working in boatyards, running errands, selling papers-to get money to build boats, which cost about $50 each. He got boat builders to supply simple designs and helped the boys buy secondhand outboard motors to be reconditioned. He also found them a shop in which to work. Today, over 40 youngsters, ranging in ages from 10 to 18, are in the Freeport group, and this summer are competing in 12 meets all over Long Island against teams in other towns, which have picked up Joe’s original idea.  The kids are tickled to death with theri new sport, but happiest of all is Joe. he has been a cop for 7 years, and in addition to the soapbox water derby, is director fo the Freeport Police Boys Club, with a membership of 640 youngsters. Joe had no particular experience with boats when he started the water derby, but he has learned along with the boys and now is quite an expert.

These news stories were brought to you from 1951. It is nice to see a story involving teens and police with a positive slant. To know that someone in authority was looking to youths as potential adults with abilities. I am not sure if such things occur today. Though I watch no current news and still read very little modern news, except in relation to a post, I cannot say. I do know that before 1955 when I did watch TV news (if you could call it that) was simply scare tactics and drama. Even a fluff piece would be more about how bad or horrible something was or what was going to happen if we didn’t do this or how this or that is someone else’s fault. Even the News wants to responsibility for its actions like many a modern citizen.

I seem to recall, back in the 80’s when I was younger, there would always be a cute fluff piece in the evening news. That was when news happened at a specific time each day for an hour or half an hour, no 24 hour news programs filled with ‘the latest scandal’. It seemed there was always a positive story about a local, or even someone getting a kitten out of a tree. We do need some perspective that we can trust and want to help our fellow man, don’t you think? Maybe I am wrong and this is still represented, as I said, I am still fairly unplugged from the modern world except when I research and that is more than enough for me each day.

I hope all of you have a lovely day. It is raining here and therefore will be busy indoors this weekend.

Happy Homemaking and I hope you get a little ‘silver lining’ fluff piece in your day, in case there is any dramatic ‘breaking news’ going on somewhere in the world.

9 June 1957 “Fashion: Ten Years Forward, Ten Years Back, 1947, 1957, 1967”

1947 introduced Dior’s “New Look”. It gave longer and fuller skirts. Nipped in waists and an overall 19th century femininity that had not been seen in ladies fashions since, well, the 19th century.

Though in 1947 most women were still wearing a more general war time 1940’s look.

Now, here in 1957 we have been rather used to the New Look for some time and the silhouette is the same, but the skirts are beginning to rise and we are getting closer to that early 1960’s “Mad Men” look. Though the everyday today is not much different from the New Look. Full skirts, waists accented, trim form fitting sleeves, skirts, jackets and so on.

Yet, in 10 years hence how the look shall change so drastically.
This split skirt or skort is new on the scene. And this lovely teal blue dress is adorable and wearable for any age.
This ad for teen knits seems very modern. The young man could easily walk about today and completely blend in.

We also have 1967 to thank for low rise trousers, or as they were then called “Hip Huggers”. I have to say, if you are Twiggy thin, these are adorable, or if you are a 12 year old girl straight as a pin. However, for the majority of women, this style is the worse. It gives today’s fashion ‘no no’ the “muffin top”. Yet consider, if you will, the joy of that same figure in a 1950’s curvaceous outfit, even a bathing suit.

We seem to have gone back to the 1967 body image today. Even twiggy’s odd angular clumsy child pose seems des rigueur today. Certainly her child-like ultra thin body seems the norm on Catwalks today.
Consider the 1947 New Look.

The model is thin, but with a woman’s body. She is grown up, mature, confident. No put on ‘childishness’ nor feigned innocence. I am not saying one is necessarily better than the other, but I am saying that the overall appearance and therefore ideal to be obtained has changed drastically from 57 to 67. Gone is the role of the mature strong woman, or even the motherly can do it all and we have, instead, the time of the Teen. The epitome of youth, which of course we know is an odd ideal as we are but such youths for a mere five years. Then, we are expected to be quirky innocent self obsessed posing vixens into our 50’s? Can you imagine a grandmother in this outfit, constantly modeling and hoping to be cool?

I have to say I love some of the 67 fashions. The more mainstream looks seem wearable yet quite adorable and certainly a granny or a teen would look lovely in this coat and hat, don’t you think?

Pierre Cardin was a big contributor to the Mod look of 1967. The fun and pop of brigth color and simple line. It has an almost comic book appeal. It is as if having been a part of TV and Pop culture now since the 1950’s, fashion and youth simply live in that colorful moment of TV and Magazine snap shots. Certainly 1967 is a closer to our modern day than 1957. That simply 10 year span could be hundreds of years apart. 1957 to those in 1957 might as well be 1867.

Here is what 1967 Mod fashion thinks we shall be wearing come the year 2000. We often hear talk of interplanetary living by 2000, as the space race lead us to the moon in 1969. However, such dreams seem as distant now as buggy rides in a surrey with a fringe on top.


Any way you slice it, fashion not only reflects societies views as a whole, but most likely helps to form the younger sets view and ideals of what is important. I won’t even begin to guess what these teen jeans pre-destroyed says about our current society or what we consider important.

Well, let’s close with this 1967 moment of Dusty Springfield and Tom Jones singing a duet.

8 June 1957 “Peril On Your Food Shelf: A 1951 Article and the FDA today”

This is an interesting article from one of my 1951 magazines. It is apparent here that such topics with actual facts found themselves even in ‘ladies magazines’. It is also apparent that we expected our government to be out to protect our interest and not just those of big business. The article is quite interesting.

Now, today the FDA is simply peopled with former employees of the large corporations in which they are meant to monitor. Monsanto, whom I have spoken of before, affects many aspects of food from the farm itself to the chemicals allowed to be put in. They set mandates for how farms in the US HAVE to be set up and run (and it is not for the benefit of the animal NOR the human who shall be eating it).

Some interesting facts concerning Monsanto (just one of the many involved in FDA):

This excerpt from a Monsanto newsletter lets us see we should be less concerned about rather we are Republican or Democrat, as it seems it matters little now. It is more about who is in the pocket of what company:

"Agricultural biotechnology will find a supporter occupying the White House next year, regardless of which candidate win the election in November"
- Monsanto Inhouse Newsletter, 2000

This was also from the mouths of Monsanto:

A Monsanto official told the New York Times that the corporation should not have to take responsibility for the safety of its food products. "Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food," said Phil Angell, Monsanto's director of corporate communications. "Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job."

However, the FDA is part of Monsanto and other such companies. For example:

The supreme court judge Clarence Thomas was previously Monsanto’s lawyer.

The once US secretary of Agriculture was on the  Board of Directors of Monsanto's Calgene Corporation.

The once Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld) was on the Board of Directors of Monsanto's Searle pharmaceuticals.

“In order for the FDA to determine if Monsanto's growth hormones were safe or not, Monsanto was required to submit a scientific report on that topic. Margaret Miller, one of Monsanto's researchers put the report together. Shortly before the report submission, Miller left Monsanto and was hired by the FDA. Her first job for the FDA was to determine whether or not to approve the report she wrote for Monsanto. In short, Monsanto approved its own report. Assisting Miller was another former Monsanto researcher, Susan Sechen. Deciding whether or not rBGH-derived milk should be labeled fell under the jurisdiction of another FDA official, Michael Taylor, who previously worked as a lawyer for Monsanto.”

I honestly worry about all of us. It matters little what political party we might support or what we think of various issues, but our health is utmost and important to all. I fear we are so distracted, intentionally so, in today’s world with ‘Entertainment’ and gadgets to keep us busy (the baby with the jangling keys while Doctor gives him his shot) to not pay attention to the real problems facing our country. I try not to be political, but when it concerns the home and that main staple of the home, the food we eat, it is best that we throw out party lines and silly squabbles and begin to pay attention to how our food is grown, who decides how we must grow it, and how it is processed and how it is made. What chemicals go into making it from the animal to the laboratory.

Here is a scary list of “natural” product companies associated with Monsanto:

Brand Name(s): Arrowhead Mills, Bearitos, Breadshop, Celestial Seasonings, Earth's Best Baby Food, Garden of Eatin, Health Valley, Imagine Foods, Terra Chips, Westbrae, Millina's, Mountain Sun, Shari Ann's, Walnut Acres Owned By: Hain Food Group Principle Stockholders: Bank of America, Entergy Nuclear, ExxonMobil, H.J. Heinz, Lockheed Martin, Merck, Monsanto, Pfizer, Philip Morris, Walmart, Waste Mangement Inc. Significantly Owned By: Citigroup

I think I will close with this excerpt from the funny 1981 movie starring Lily Tomlin, “The incredibly Shrinking Woman” who finds herself in peril due to all the chemicals in her daily life in the modern suburb.

6 June 1957 “A Can Of Fruit Cocktail”

I am always intrigued by the ‘made from can’ recipes I find in my various magazines. This one caught my eye both by the color and the variety of items made from a simple can of fruit cocktail.

Certainly the can of fruit cocktail is often overlooked by modern people at the local grocery store. Perhaps they still exist simply for the ‘older set’ but I think these recipes actually sound quite lovely, especially the ice cream and the pork skillet.

I have provided the recipe cards here for you to print out and put in your own recipe box or book. I even copied over the little colored images of the product onto the card, so if you refer to it later you will know what the heck a ‘fruit shrub’ is. I hope you enjoy them and let me know if any of you make them. I am going to be trying the shrub and the ice cream this summer as well as the pork skillet.

 

  

Happy Homemaking!

5 June 1957 “Comics and a Shirley Temple for a Sunday Afternoon”

I am busy this weekend with my yard sale and therefore have not had my usual allotted time for my posts. So, I thought I would let you have a 1950 afternoon. Though I believe the Shirley Temple movies were played on Television Saturday Mornings, this Sunday Afternoon you can enjoy one with your Sunday Comic.

Have a wonderful Day, and I shall check in periodically today if I can.

And enjoy Shirley Temple in Curly Top. I cannot embed it here but you can watch the entire movie HERE on ApronTv.

Happy Homemaking.