25 September 1956 “Curtains of Fiberglass, A New Pattern, and A 1956 Color TV”

I do apologize for not having posted yesterday. We were off to my MIL to celebrate my SIL birthday. Along with the festivities, I was also crating up three of my chickens: Roostie, my beloved Rooster, and two hens. My mother in law, who has had chickens before and has a darling little chicken house and run, has been without then for years. She spends winters in Florida, so hadn’t wanted the fuss of them over the season. My SIL has agreed to care for them from Christmas until she returns in Spring. However, for now, she gets to enjoy their antics and hear Roostie’s call. They live in a very private setting on a pond and so no really close neighbors to annoy with his crowing. They were happy and so was she. A good day was had by all.
I am sure many of you have seen Fiberglass curtains, but maybe were unaware that they were, indeed, fiberglass. Many may simply recall them as a sort of shiny frilly curtain at Grandma’s.
This add shows the style popular from the 1940’s through the late 50’s with the crossed frilled sheer curtain. You often see these in movies of the late 40’s in bedrooms as well as living rooms. There is something endearing about them to me now. While I may have thought them rather ‘icky’ their nostalgia value seems rather enticing to me now. I am certain these are easy enough to come by at local yard sales or Good Will. Do any of you have or recall such curtains?
The pricing is also interesting in this add as well as the celebrity endorsement of Arthur Godfrey. If we do the conversion from 1954 (when this ad is from) to today’s dollars, the curtains would be around. So the first price curtain at 1953 dollars of $4.98 would make it around $40.00 dollars today. I also find it interesting then when placing your order for these curtains, as you can do with the little cut out coupon, one could opt for COD (Cash on Delivery) I wonder if that ever exists today?
I just bought this lovely vintage pattern. It is actual vintage, not reprint, and is in really good condition. I am excited as it is a nice shirt dress. I like the flattened pleats in the front, the three sleeve options and the collar is adorable. I think making the color have a different color or a pattern with a solid dress and then making a matching belt would be very cute. It also looks like it would be a very comfortable working dress. I will, of course, post the results. I have not yet chosen a fabric or cut it out yet. The advantage to this being  an actual vintage pattern is some lovely lady in the past has already cut out the pattern for me.
In my last post I included pages from this text. A few of you asked what it was called. I have tried to find it on Amazon to put in my ‘corner store’ but no luck yet. There is much good information in it that I will share with you. A couple of you emailed me with the idea that as it is beyond its copyright date, I could scan it and sell it digitally. They said people do this now with older material and patterns. I have seen that done with older patterns. If anyone thought it was worth their while I could try and scan all of it and sell it for say $1 or so. It anyone is interested let me know and I will see how involved that would be, if not, then you can just enjoy the good stuff from it that I will share with you in the future.
This is just for fun, but here is a video of a 1956 color TV. Yes, color is now available, but rather expensive. This shot has Bonanza being shown, however Bonanza will not be created until 1959 (that’s three years away).

And to close today, a 1956 sign off from Columbus OH. Here in 1956 there is no 24 hour TV. You can’t wake up at 2 a.m. and expect to watch anything. At the end of a broadcast day, stations (which were local and part of your town and cities community) would sign off leaving only a test pattern. This is an interesting clip as you can hear and see what one would have seen at the end of a broadcast day here in 1956. So, with that, have a good Saturday.