31 January & 1 February 1955 "Actresses, Advertising, Art, Dinner, Dessert, and a New Baby!"

Here is the time magazine from 31 January 1955. Grace Kelly (not yet Princess Grace) graces the cover, if you forgive the pun.

There is an interesting article about her entitled "The Girl in White Gloves". It goes on to say how she is quite different from the garish flashy do-anything bottle blonde actresses of the day. That she comes from money (albeit new money) seems to help her play that role of being choosy with her choice of roles. She is an interesting creation and very American, I think.

Her father became rich through owning the largest brick works in Philidelphia. He was the son of a farmer and became a brick layer who segwayed into a large company. He went to Henly(england) to row in 1920 but was refused as he was "not a gentleman" as he had "worked with his hands". He later went on to beat the Henley winner at the olympics and he sent his sweaty rowing cap to King George as a sort of, "I told you so". His son, who went to Penn State, later righted that wrong winning at Henly in 1947.
They were an interesting family: The American Dream of coming up from nothing and then outdoing the upper classes. This was the formula that was needed to make a 'Grace Kelly'. From Farmer to Princess in Three Generations, now that is American Ingenuity!

There is another article in this issue rather interesting. Entitled: "Death of a Salesman?", it espouses the fall of the radio announcer to the new movement of television ads. It is interesting to see that in 1955 commercials did not just jarringly interrupt your show:

"Manhattan Adman Frank Egan explains that the new trend is simply an effort by sponsors to make commercials as painless as possible for viewers: "In radio you could use a musical bridge between the entertainment and the message so that the commercials didn't seem so abrupt and jarring. But on TV, if you interrupt audience attention to plunge into a commercial, viewers get resentful." For this reason nearly all TV hosts and masters of ceremonies are supposed to ease the way into the sales message".

On NBC's Oldsmobile Spectaculars, Actor Lee Bowman dresses up in evening clothes for the sole purpose of saying: "And now, ladies and gentlemen, here is Ed Herlihy with a message from our sponsor . . ."

Although they are doing it to make you buy products, it is nice that they started the idea of advertising on television with the consumers comfort in mind and to make sure that the audience was presented with someone well-dressed and groomed. In 2009 advertising on tv is having to evolve now that tivo exists. More product placement is required to grab the viewer. I wonder if the return to the 'sponsered' show is on it's way? We shall see.

On the Art scece, there is an interesting article on Ben Shan, an artist I am really just beginning to learn about. He became perhaps the best, and most depressing, painter of the Great Depression. Shahn was raised in a Brooklyn slum, where the local toughs forced him to portray favorite athletes on the pavement with chalk. His review seems to express that he has begun to mellow in his age, as evidence by this bit from the Time article:

"One of the nation's most admired artists last week showed what he had accomplished in his last 25 years of painting. The retrospective exhibition at Manhattan's Downtown Gallery proved that in the past quarter century the art of burly Ben Shahn has mellowed and broadened with the man. The bristling dark mustache of his fiery youth has faded to white, and now it screens more smiles than scowls. At 56, after many storms, Shahn seems to have entered a calm sea."

What I find interesting is this: Here is an image from his Depression heyday entitled, "scabbies are welcome" from 1937. You can see how dark and desolute the painting. The general air of quiet desolution is evidenced by none of the figures facing the viewer.

Next, you see this painting from Post war 1947 entitled: "Vanity". It's as if you can see one of the characters from the previous paintings, having survived the war and the Depression, getting ready for the new bright decade of promise; the colorful background, the smile on his face.

Now, in 1955 when this article is written, we see this image entitled: "Beautitudes" It seems more dark and disjuncted than his Depression work. There he was mirroring the present day, their sad desperation, but the figures had a quiet human dignity to them, they 'fit' into their dim landscape. Here, the figure not only seems to be unaware of his landscape, which is no more than a bare sky and stylizied wheat field, He does not look at the viewer, nor himself, but down and seems to be attacked by heavy thoughts not unlike Hitchcocks Birds (which won't come out until 1963)

I think it is intersting to see that an artist, who is often a mirror of society, is somewhat disillisoned by the present day. The hope he had after the war has slipped into a sort of melaise.

This photograph from January 22 1955 reveals a similar sentiment. The Pentagon announced a plan to develop ICBMs(intercontinental ballistic missiles) armed with nuclear weapons. The beginning of the Modern world is upon us.

Now, to the more particular problems and successes of the home.

Last night was Saturday's 1950 night. It was suppose to be at my vintage friends house this week, as we switch off on Saturdays, but she has company coming today and wanted to keep the house clean and ordered, so I did it again here.

The menu was Chicken-Fried Pork Chops. (I used a 3/4 cup cornmeal and 1/4 cup flour instead of the crackers and I added Dried Oregano, Rosemary, and Parsley to the mixture)

Scalloped tomatoes, which was a great use of some leftover toast from breakfast. And Greenbeans with pearl onions.

I am not making my 'sunday cake' today, as I made a pie yesterday for dinner. I wanted to try something I felt was very 'modern 1950's' This recipe with it's canned pears and prepared graham cracker crust seemed to fit the bill. I did use a fresh lemon for the peel and I also juiced the same lemon for the lemon juice. This was my first attempt at meringue and it turned out lovely and I was quite proud. I slipped a bit of almond extract into the egg whites when I was beating them and it added a nice warm mellow taste to the sharpness of the pear and lemon. It was funny, as I felt this was a 'cheating' dessert for me. Although it was definitely home-made, the fact that I used canned pears and a prepared crust, there was still alot of 'home-made' in it. It was a hit and it was lovely, if I do say so myself, and I DO!
I am quite proud of how this merigue looks. Don't be fooled by the pie tin, this is indeed a homemade pie, but the crust came premade in the tin.
Here is a shot of my one and only piece (part of my diet: one piece of my weekly cake/pie/dessert) with a cup of tea.

Now, on the home interiors front, I have to show off my new 'Baby'. It is far from finding it's home in my kitchen yet and is in fact now relegated to the shed until it can get cleaned and the door sanded and repainted. It is a 1950's Frigedaire Deluxe. I know I know, it uses alot of electricity. I have gone over and over again as to wether this is a bad decision for the bills. I think after it is installed we will just moniter the bill to see how much more it has added. I am willing to take an additional amount out of my food or entertainment budget each month to allow it to live in my kitchen. Perhaps I am going crazy with my need to surround myself with vintage things, but I do think it is a beautiful machine. I have heard they will last forever.
Look how pretty she is inside. Can't you just see my milk bottle and vintage juice jars in here? My vintage glass pyrex refridgerator dishes will also look a treat all tidily stacked and filled with leftovers and marinading awaiting dinners, right?
This is the door and it has alot of stoage. That top bit that says eggs folds down and safely holds quite a bit (we go through a LOT of eggs around here).

The freezer door is really pretty, too, I think and it's quilted pattern makes me think of a Chanel purse. There is even a real metal ice cube tray. It has that ingenious lever you pull to release the cubes. I am planning on doing a lot of daily shopping so I don't need a big freezer here, however, I may want to get the must have accesory for any 1950s housewife: the "DeepFreeze" as they were called. A large freezer. I am not sure if I need one, but we shall see.
Look how lovely the handle is and it makes such a wonderful noise when you open it. This bit pulls down to open the door. So much beauty amongst function.

So, do any of you think I am crazy or do you like the idea of more vintage items?

Well, I am going to enjoy the rest of my sunday. I did not have Gussie yesterday (had to serve myself and set table and prepare etc) but did have her this morning. So, as I was working away on this post my kitchen was being cleaned, dishes put away, clean swept and mopped floor and a nicely arranged bowl of fruit on the kitchen table. Ahhh to be middle class in 1955, sometimes it is sweet.

30 January 1955 "Poet, Pulp, and Patterns"

Although I know this is current news, but John Updike died on the 27th of January and I just now found out from my husband (again, no modern news and such for me except what hubby mentions.)
This is a picture of him in 1955, which I was lucky enough to find. Though I would not be too familiar with him this year, some of his poetry and short stories were about in magazines. His famous 'Rabbit' series wouldn't be started until 1960. He was a great poet and writer. This year has really brought me to face with my mortality. It is a good thing, I think, as so many of us just get up and schlub through our days as if they are never ending. Well, really we better do and enjoy what we can, they are not here always. I am glad for this project and know that what I gain this year in knowledge, fun, experience, and yes even the blues and sadness, are going to be important to me as I grow old.

This is from a poem Updike wrote last year (2008)

It came to me the other day:
Were I to die, no one would say,
'Oh, what a shame! So young, so full
Of promise - depths unplumbable!
Instead, a shrug and tearless eyes
Will greet my overdue demise;
The wide response will be, I know,
'I thought he died a while ago.'
For life's a shabby subterfuge,
And death is real, and dark, and huge.
The shock of it will register
Nowhere but where it will occur.

This is also a nice poem ( I hope you don't mind my putting these in) and although this Updike poem was not published until 1960 in the new yorker, it was in response to experiments done this year in 1955 by Clyde L. Cowan and Frederick Reines called the Neutrino Experiment. This experiment confirmed the existence of the antineutrino—a neutrally charged subatomic particle with very low mass

Cosmic Gall

Neutrinos they are very small.

They have no charge and have no mass

And do not interact at all.

The earth is just a silly ball

To them, through which they simply pass,

Like dustmaids down a drafty hall

Or photons through a sheet of glass.

They snub the most exquisite gas,

Ignore the most substantial wall,

Cold-shoulder steel and sounding brass,

Insult the stallion in his stall,

And, scorning barriers of class,

Infiltrate you and me! Like tall

And painless guillotines, they fall

Down through our heads into the grass.

At night, they enter at Nepal

And pierce the lover and his lass

From underneath the bed—you call

It wonderful; I call it crass.

R.I.P. John Updike.

It is funny and interesting how much of the modern world is being made here in 1955. The computer, medicine, tv, advertsing, grocery stores, premade foods, the list goes on. What is so very normal to all of us only began this short while ago.

Here is some interesting pulp, another modern ideal:

I guess this is the equivalent of Maxim magazine in my time. I LOVE that bathing suit however. I think if and when I return to 2010 there will NOT be a return to lowrise pants, skirts, bathing suit bottoms. I love never having to worry about bending over and wondering if my behind is sticking out. I also like displaying the fact that woman have waists!

It looks like if I wanted to read this little deadly, I'd have to keep it hidden. I can see me now, slipping into the pantry with a biscuit in my apron pocket and a cup of tea. I look around and casually saunter over to the tins of extra Flour. With a deft hand, this book slids out, slighty powdered from its hiding place. I lean against the counter, eyes glued to the dog-earred and well worn page, sliding the biscuit from my pocket to my lips. I nibble, wide-eyed, unwary of the abstract pattern the crumbs are making on my apron front.

"Mrs. -" calls out Gussie, "Do you want me to start on the Living room drapes...Mrs.-?"

"Cheese it! It's Gussie!", A quick jerk, spilling tepid tea and biscuit crumbs, my forbidden contraband plops down into the flour bin in an attempt to hide my guilty pleasure. Until another time, my steamy friend. Perhaps a sneek at you while the iron steams away and the washer hides my shame with its dull thud thud thud.

Or something along those lines, anyway! It does look a steamy book.

Speaking of Pulp, my husband (besides collecting vintage typewriters) collects vintage scifi pulp mags. This is intersting for me. He came into my sitting room the other day with these two little mags. One is from December 54 so only a month old and I think the other is from March. It is interesting, as I am sure my husband would have been reading these in 1955 as well as he has read them now. Only, of course, they would have been new.

I was really excited about the art. I am really getting into the modern art of the times, De Kooning, Pollack etc. It is an era of art that I have never bothered to really study other than what I was required to do at university (I studied art history). The contrast between pulp art/advertising art (which is rampant in 1955)/ and High art is quite striking. More future study for me! And more, hopefully not boring, discussions in the future for you. I hope you like art!

Here is breakfast this morning. As you can see, I am really into as much accuracy as I can manage. The milk bottle is authentic old milk bottle. It recieves my milk the second I get it home from the grocery store. It seems normal for me now to see it in the 'icebox' and to feel the weight of it as I am baking or pouring it out for hot cereals. I also love the oj glass container. I have two of these and one always has oj the other keeps tart pink lemonade for whiskey sours (our family version anyway) for cocktail hour with hubby, after work but before dinner. The gold star pattern on it is SO 1950's. I think I may need a vintage 'ice box' for these to live in, what do you think?

Yesterdays hateful errand of car repair (brake job) resulted in a fun day out with my vintage friend. We had a blast. Although she is not doing this project perse, she has been inspired to now dress vintage most of the time. You can often overhear us discussing the differing merits of an open-bottom girdle (which I prefer) to the more 'stay in place' power of a full legged affair (to much bother in the bathroom if u get my drift). It really helps having a kindred soul. It makes those times when I feel 'out of my time' less when I feel I have a fellow time travelor. It is making this project more fun and really chaning our realtionship as friends and coherts in vintage lifestyle.

After the afternoon of car repair we treated ourselves with a trip to Joanne fabrics as Vogue patterns were on sale for 3.99!! They are usually 27.50!! (that is .51 cents and 3.51 respectively in 1955 money) I love the way this pattern looks. It also has the evening gown pattern which could be a runner up for the April Opera Gown, but not sure yet.

Tomorrow I will start putting in bits and bobs of what I am learning from the interior design books of the times. I thought it might be a fun little excerpt every other day with pics and ideas an such. I know I LOVE looking at interiors and such. Do any of you?

Until tomorrow and thank you again for all your lovely comments on my 'blue day'.

Mini post to thank everyone!

This is just a quick note, I will do my post tonight and again tomorrow, but I just had to really thank everyone for their great comments and support.
What was funny, was my blue feeling left me not wanting to leave the project, but to literally go back to 1955. It is almost as if the more I do and experience about it (though I know it is from the standpoint of the present) it makes me long for it more.
I fell renewed and energized. I sort of want to even add a bit more to my blogs, as I really have been reading alot of vintage interior design books and think a section every day or everyother day about various styles and ideas for the home from my various books. I am also excited to start doing these things to my home and will want to do before and after pics.
Thank you so much. I had to go out and get my brakes done today and I spent the day with my most sympathetic vintage friend who dresses vintage everytime we are together. Her car would not start today, of all days, so she went with me to the garage and dropped off the car with me and then we walked a mile on slippery sidewalks in our flats and stockings and hats etc to the local cafe and played cribbage, dished, and talked about fashion and such. SO, it was a good day and I have come home to so many wonderful comments. Thank you again.
I just had to post this between my getting dinner prepared and setting the table.

28 January 1955 "Early Rise, The Blues, The War, and Wonderland"

January 28- The United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Formosa from the People's Republic of China.

The Formosa Resolution was a bill enacted by the U.S. Congres on January 28, 1955 that established an American commitment to defend Formosa (Taiwan). As a matter of American foreign policy, President Eisenhower promised to protect Taiwan against invasion by the People's Republic of China. The legislation provided the President with the power to intervene if the island was attacked.

The legislation was prompted, in part, by attacks on the islands of Kinmen and Matsu in the Taiwan Straits by the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1954. Both islands had been held by the Chinese Nationalists government of the Republic of China led by Chiang Kai-shek, which then also controlled the island of Taiwan. Kinmen Following the enactment of the Formosa Resolution, the People's Republic of China and the United States successfully negotiated an agreement to stop the bombing of the islands in the Taiwan Straits. This peaceful result ended the First Taiwan Strait Crisis.

I was feeling a little blue today.

A sort of melaise swept over me.

The day started out fine enough, though it started early. Hubby had to leave early to get to the city for some business and the impending snow storm in the city was enough to cause him an early leave. I started my day at 6:30 am. Everything went as normal. I made lunch while boiling oatmeal and making juice and toast. I set the table and put coffee and tea on. I fed the dogs and was at the dinning room table as usual. Maybe just having everything just a bit off threw me.

After clearing up the dinning room and doing my morning dishes, I thought, I am going to take a little morning break, as I would just be getting started. I sat down to watch a bit of some old 1950's home movies we had found on youtube and put on a disc. I really think that was it.

You know the type: Old super 8's of someones vacation or xmas set to music, often sappy. There was one some children had done for their parents showing the two of them in their respective home states preparing for their wedding, then the honeymoon, etc finally their three children at young ages. I found myself crying. I suddenly felt left behind or somthing.

It is odd, as I realize I am NOT living in 1955, but I am REALLY immersed in it. I know I am typing on a computer right now, but it might just as well be a typewriter. My fiction and magazines and decorating books, all from the 1950s. Heck, even my manuals to care for my new parakeet are from the 50s. My music and any tv and movies I watch all 1950s. It starts to become normal, second nature. The human animal quickly adapts. I just saw all these silent smiling faces in full skirts white gloves and hats and thought, "that's where I am suppose to be". I really felt as if I was Rip VanWinkle and had just awakened to find all my family old and the world changed.

I don't know, maybe this project really can get to you.

The resulting day left me staring out the window watching the snow turn to rain.

A friend stopped by around 4:00 and it perked me up. I thought, "I cannot just sit and mope I have things to do. I am still catching up on ironing, because let me tell you rolling up damp clothes in towels and then starching and ironing, is not a fast task. Maybe I will get better at it.

So, I checked my daily list. I had to do the bedroom today, vacuum and empty and organize my closet. Took down our shower curtains to bleach and wash. Straighten and vaccuum the living room. I got going.
After my friend had left and I had stopped from my flurry of late day 'catch up' I was playing, I realized there was a package on the kitchen table. My friend had got my mail for me and there was somthing. I tore it open and it was my 1944 House Beautiful I had ordered. I promised myself literature and study in the 1940s for more context to where I am mid 50's.
A pot of tea later and I am feeling better.

It is so interesting to see the ads for women joining the service.

Here is a Wamsutta (bedding) ad asking women to join to allow a man to go to the front.

Here we see a father leaving his son in a radio ad.

Even a bookshelf takes on the import of father's return.

These show how easily it must have been for women to set down the rivetor, take off the trousers and put on the crinolins and make a home. The concept of those we love suddenly gone and possibly in danger of their own life is inconcievable. It is an odd feeling. It brought me out of my funk. It not only made be 'buck up' and get 'back to it', it took some of my blues away.

I have always felt a little out of my present time. I think anyone who likes vintage feels that a bit, a sort of romantic fondness for 'what was' even if we weren't there. I wonder, though, if I have stepped through the looking glass with this project? Am I going to find myself even more out of step with my peers and really feel very like Alice: wondering why every five minutes we have to change places at the tea table, or how skewered the world around me seems.

I only wish there was a bit of mushroom or a bottle of somthing to drink to help me. The question is, which side of the looking glass would I want to wake up on?

Let me know, if you have the time, am I crazy doing this project? Does it have merit? Sometimes a gal needs to know.

27 January 1955 "Mixed Marriages, Youth worship, summer clothes, A Housewives Battle with Cornmeal, and Cake"

Here is a cover from today, 27 January 1955, about Pearl Baileys marriage. She married in 1952 Louie Bellson, an Italian-American Jazz Drummer. He was a well known jazz artist. ( I would love to know what gossip columnists don't know about their marriage, but we can assume it was a healthy happy one as

they

remained married until Baileys death in 1990) It is interesting to me that at this time in history you can see a high-profile mixed couple. Although, this is from JET, a '

negroe' magazine as they would have called it,

no most white housewives probably did not have a copy of this. However, they were both very well known artists, so there must have been talk of it. As the modern age is quickly moving us through the 20th century, the speed and innovation really allowed racism and womens rights to take the forefront. Things like Jazz, though originally an african-american thing, brought together all sorts of people after WWI. And WWII gave many women the opportunity and the experience to go into 'mens jobs', as they had to. Though we were all expected to return to the home, a spark had been ignited then burned in many women. I really find this decade as the definitive moment in the turn into what we now know as the modern world.

In this mix of changing times, we can even see the beginning of how we really view women today. In one sense women are beginning to feel the power of their sexuality that they had not enjoyed in the last century. Only prostitues were really viewed as 'sex objects'. Here we see a young lady who is a librarian and yet she needs to pose basically pantless in a fitted shirt and

sexy pose. This image harkens to what we now see today, I think. The role of woman as sex object existed before, as I said, but you would delegate it to the prostitute or those who were in the first nude victorian photos, here we have a respected member of a community, a librarian, and since she is young and pretty she is now viewed as a sex object. Maybe it is merely because I am getting older myself, but there is somthing a little frightening about this turn in the image of women. It definitely is starting during this time. The new concept of 'youth worship' is really beginning now.

Here is an interesting article on the worship of the 'youth culture'. It shows the same woman dressed as a 'teenager' as well as a woman her own age should.

I have scanned in the whole article so you can click on it and read it for yourself. There are some interesting bits, for example, "There is a strong current of feeling in our society that the world spins mainly for the teens and 20s, and that anyone over 30-especially the woman over 30-had better take a back seat." It is a very interesting piece and you should read it if you get a chance.

When I saw the woman dressed in the jeans my

first thought was, "well, she does look younger," than I stopped myself and thought,"why IS that important? Is this part of the evolution of youth being of utmost importance? "It has always been desireable to be young and beautiful, but today(2009) it is just normal to see all the magazine covers plastered either with really young girls or aging movie stars airbrushed and facelifted into young outfits. I see daughters and mothers dressed identical where the mother is in tight jeans stilleto boots hair extensions etc, where she is copying the daughters style. I think it used to be the other way round. Rather this is good or bad, who can say. I honestly don't know. I do know that when I have tried to dress modern I would often do it with the eye of is this sort of 'cool' looking. Now, when I dress to go out I dress more for myself, because I like the way I feel when I have a hat and gloves and my hair is in place etc. I think I am dressing more for myself. What do any of you think? Does it matter if we appear to worship youth? Do we appear to be doing so today? I am curious. Has it affected us negatively or positively? Does it even matter, let me know.

When we stopped saying clothes were important what other things did we throw away with the concept? Self-worth? Maturity status?

Now, speaking of clothes, it looks like I will be quite comfortable this summer. Obviously, when I am shopping or at a more formal gathering, I will wear hose and gloves and hat. However, we spend quite a bit of time on the water and in boats and on the beach in the summer, so these will be quite appropriate and comfortable.

I want to have some garden parties (hopefully trying some 1950's planting and landscaping schemes as well) so I should be quite comfy in these little numbers. I think the dress with the bag could be used for shopping but not sure if I would still wear hose, anyone know?

This sunday was our usual day of sleeping in and then a big breakfast.

There I was: adorned in apron, pets staring up expectant (they love the increase in bacon consumption) waiting for the bacon to cook as it sizzled away with the perk of the coffee.

I took out, with pride, my saved cornmeal mush from the 'icebox'. I had made it a few days earlier and thought, "I am saving this to fry up with Sundays breakfast". Opening the lid, it

seemed to have congealed, but it was only an inch think along the bottom of the pan.

As I perused my recipe retrived from my little recipe box, I felt confident in the next step until...I had set it wrong! It was meant to have been put in a loaf pan, presumably so it would resemble a loaf cake in size. The insturctions said to slice it 1/2" thick and to roll it in dry cornmeal and fry it, of course, in bacon fat. I had forgot to thoroughly read my directions.

I thought of my new acquistion of the household manual. I had just been reading it the night before on the subject of 'hired help'. It said in training a new girl to be sure to go through all the directions and mesaurments of recipes with her at first to make sure she understands. Now, here I was, suppose to be the lady of the house and I could not even follow simple directions. I looked about, making sure Gussie wasn't looming with her dissaproving stare, nope, just the dogs, me, and the bacon.

"Well," said I, to no one in particular, "I'll make do. I am industrious"

But, no matter how I cut it or rolled it or squeezed it, it merely fell to a new form of mush in the pan. It just sat there mocking me ( I swear it was mocking me) spreading out in its hot bath of fat.

"Try to contain me, will ya?" it seemed to say, sounding like a character from an old cartoon "wise guy, huh? Why I oughta..." it rang in my head as it relaxed further into a greasy blob.

Then, it dawned on me. When all else fails what does a 1950's housewife do with any leftovers? Why, she makes it into a patty of course! Salmon patties, creamed corn patties, heck Bacon patties, if I wanted.

So, I scooped out the wretched slop I had thus made, regretting the lost bacon grease (this stuff is gold, I tell you) and commenced to make patties. I took sections of the gelatinous cornmeal mush and shaped them into proximities of patty shapes. I squeezed them a bit with paper toweling, to sort of dry them out, toweling them off like a new baby.

Then, carefully now, not to harsh and don't rush...I slowly lower them into their dry corn meal dustbath. Gently powdering them with the stuff, as if I am lightly powdering a childs bum with talcum(yes the child metaphor really works here). Ever so gently now, lift it slowly, carefully, don't mind the spattering bacon fat leaping ever close to your hands; let it scaled and spit at you. Stare it down, You are HOUSEWIFE! You are strong and resiliant!

There you go now, my little corn meal baby, into the fat. Nice and sizzly now, brown, damn you BROWN!

I heaved a heavy sigh when I slid that spatula under the first little cornmeal patty and delicately flipped it over. A nice browned fatted patty. What more could I ask for?

They even looked quite pretty on the plate there, next to the eggs and bacon and little toast points.

Another victory for Housewife kind.

Housewife:1 Cornmeal mush : 0

I had a little problem with my sunday cake as well. I made my usual 7 minute frosting, adding chocolate and coconut. However, the coconut made it rather stiff and unweildy to icing the cake. So, I added milk to it: big mistake! It became too runny and slid down the sides of the cake. Gussie was still here at this point, as it was late in the evening, and she turned to me and said, "I would have just heated it on the stove to loosen it up". Great, foiled by the hired help! It would most likely have been the right solution. I just stuck it in the freezer until it stiffened a bit and then coated it in the toasted coconut I had made earlier for that purpose. So the resulting cake did not look very nice, but boy oh boy does it taste like seconds, as my husband

put it! I thought I would share the recipes.

Here is the cake recipe. I love this recipe. It is the second time I have made this type of chocolate cake and it is so moist yet dense and wonderful. It really is fudgey.

I made this recipe for the filling. I was going to originally use it for filling and frosting, but I did not have any evaporated milk (another item I have since added to my list to keep stocked in the growing baking section of my pantry) so I used cream. It made a wonderful buttery sweet filling, so I just used it between the layers of the cake. It made a scrumpcious combination and the toasted coconut on the top is sooo yummy. That was also the first time I have toasted coconut. It is amazing the amount of things I have learned in under a month! Sometimes I feel like I am at the University of the Home.

Well, until tomorrow then. I hope everyone has a good day.

Yesterday was my laundry day, so today is ironing and starch. Wish me luck!

25 January "Tragedy, Atomic Time, War, Hats, Food, Movies, and Realizations"

25 January 1955: The Remon-Eisenhower Treaty was signed today between the United States and Panama. Among other things the treaty granted the United States, with no cost or 'trick', the military base held in Rio Hato, and the Rio Hato beach as well, for a period of 15 years.( The base was given back on 22 August 1970, after the government of General Torrijos refused to renew US use.)
25 January 1955: In early 1955 Jill Kinmont, who was the reigning national champion in the slalom and a top prospect for a medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics, had a bad fall. While competing in the downhill at the Snow Cup in Alta, Utah, she suffered a near-fatal accident which resulted in paralysis from the neck down. It ironically occurred the same week that Kinmont, weeks shy of her 19th birthday, was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine. (She was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1967. She was also the subject of two movies: The Other Side of the Mountain in 1975, and The Other Side of the Mountain Part II 1977.) [I find it refreshing to see a woman on a cover of a magazine doing a high-profile sport. I think we can see that, though hardly a job open to any woman, this avenue of acceptance in an olympic profile sport must have made some girls feel empowered.]

Columbia U scientists, led by Louis Essen, develop an atomic clock accurate to within one second in 300 years. What are atomic clocks? They are radio controlled clocks that tune into the radio signal emitted by the U.S. AtomicClock located in Fort Collins, Colorado. They reset themselves multiple times every day to the exact hour, minute, and second and automatically change themselves for Daylight Savings Time. Now, international time is defined by atomic, not solar seconds. (Louis continued to work on his atomic clock and by 1964 he had managed to increase the accuracy of the atomic clock from one second in 300 years to one second every 2000 years! )

25 January 1955: Russia ends state of war with Germany.

Here is a poster for US troops in Germany after the war. I am sorry that it is so graphic. There are some interesting facts about the US soldiers in Germany after WWII. For example, "Between 1950 and 1955 the Allied High Commission for Germany prohibited "proceedings to establish paternity or liability for maintenance of children." Even after the lifting of the ban West German courts had little power over American soldiers.
The children of black American soldiers, commonly called "Negermischlinge" ("Negro half-breeds"), were particularly disadvantaged, since even in the cases where the soldier was willing to take responsibility he was prohibited from doing so by the U.S. Army which until 1948 prohibited interracial marriages.
In the earliest stages of the occupation, U.S. soldiers were not allowed to pay maintenance for a child they admitted having fathered, since to do so was considered as "aiding the enemy". Marriages between white U.S. soldiers and Austrian women were not permitted until January 1946, and with German women until December 1946.

(Despite the grants of general sovereignty to both German states in 1955, full and unrestricted sovereignty under international law was not enjoyed by any German government until after the reunification of Germany in October 1990.)

Now, on a lighter note:

Yesterday, Saturday, was our vintage hang out day. Three of my vintage friends and I headed to the shops (antique shops and a great weekend 'junk' sale). We had great fun.

It was the polar opposite of my encounter with the teens in the mall previously in the week. We all wore our vintage hats, shoes, coats, gloves etc. I wore my 'new' swing coat over my full crinolined black and white skirt. I love the way the full skirts fit over dresses when wearing a full crinolin. My friend and I were in one of the booths, trying on hats and oohing and ahhing over a 1950's tv, when an older gentleman came up to us and said, "Excuse me girls ( I love being called 'girl' it makes me feel so young) I just have to say that you look so wonderful. I am not just saying that, but I mean it from my heart", he went on, clamping his aged hand to his chest, "It makes me feel good to see you so nicely turned out". How wonderful! He seriously made me feel so good. It only increased my determination in the project.

We then proceeded to have THREE more compliments while at this 'junk' sale. The older man, who made the first comment, would see us again as we would pass by on another circuit of the sale, lest we have missed some hidden gem in a cardboard box somewhere, and you could see his face light up.

Next, we headed to our favorite antique store which has an entire back corner set up like a vintage clothing shop: shoes, hats and gloves, handbags, luggage, mink stoles etc. We have made the trip a few times, so when the proprietor sees us enter she gets a big smile on her face. This time, particularly, as we were all wearing pieces we had bought last time.

"I love to see people actually wear the vintage things," said she, smiling and coming to show us some new things she had got in. There were some nice things. We all got hats. My friend found three.

I found this lovely little gem. It is a nice soft silk and I love the ribbon and jewel work. I was so excited when the proprietress pulled this little number out. I think I may have even shrieked a bit, though in a dignified manner. It is so loverly and fits like a glove. It is a little sheer, or I would have a picture of me wearing it. I was quite excited as the color looks nice with a peignor I had won earlier in the week on ebay. There is a beautiful mink stole that is tres' 50's chic and I am determined to get it for the coming April opera sojourn.

It is nice to have a shop like this where one is surronded by vintage things and can really feel that you are in a different time. What a difference to that wretched mall. Hopefully our patronage on saturdays will encourage her to get more things and help her to stay open during these economic hard times.

Next we headed to our favorite diner. After we were all settled into our booth one of the waitresses came up to us and complimented us on our outfits and asked if we knew of the website Daddyos, which we said we did indeed. (Here is their website http://www.daddyos.com/. I personaly find them a little pricey and I really like to buy vintage or to handmake things, but they do have a nice website.) She seemed quite excited as if she was glad to know there were other people who were attracted to that era and style of dress.

This is a shot my friend took standing towards the mirror next to our booth (we seriously have a favorite booth). You can see how all the wonderful steel/aluminum/chorme on the ceilings and around the windows.

Here is a sample menu from a diner in 55 (though it is not from our diner, I think it is from a diner in Virgina or somewhere) but I was glad to see that the prices at our diner are still comparable by todays money. The breakfast on this menu for .90 cents would be equivalent to about $7.06 and actually you can get a similiar breakfast at our diner for less than that! Interesting. Of course food was probably still going down in price from the rationing and such that had happened during the war.

Later, when we stopped for coffe, a woman in her 50's came up to us and said, " I have to ask, our you with an organization or something?"

"No," we replied. "We just love to dress vintage"

"Well, you look lovely. I remember my mother wearing those darling hats, she is in her 90's, and she would get such a kick out of you"

It made us all agree that we wish we did belong to such an organization, whatever said organization would be, and that we wonder if we could start one. Who knows. Maybe another project for the back burner of this project year?

Then it was home to quickly stash away our new finds and to get ready for the evening. One of my friends had to get home to make her bread pudding to bring over for the nights meal. I had planned on making my 'Sunday Cake' a day early for the nights festivities, but had spent to long at the shops and had a huge meal to prepare before me.

Thank God for Gussie! We have decided that every other Saturday night is a definite Gussie night, as it is the night for vintage dinner at my house. While she began some of the cleaning of the dinning room and setting the table, I started on the meal. I had Gussie also help do things like shred the Romaine lettuce for the cesar salad, slice the bread for my homemade croutons. She made the lovely little 'bishop hats' as she calls them on the plates with my new set of linen napkins. She even served before turning into a guest. Also, when we needed or forgot things and needed dessert brought in, "poof" Gussie reappeared to do so. It made hostess duties much nicer.

Here is the table just before we sat down.

I did a pork roast with an orange-honey glaze. A white sauce for the asparagus tips/babycorn/mushroom bake. My shinning glory, for myself at least, was the homemade cesar salad. I did it all from scratch. The croutons made fresh from french bread and the dressing, which is so yummy, was fun. I will never buy cesar dressing again, as this was too good to forget. It gave me the opportunity to 'coddle' an egg for the first time. You boil it for 45 seconds before adding it to the other ingredients in the salad oil. Everyone raved about it, even one friend who doesn't really like salad dressings. One of my main reasons in choosing the cesar salad was it was prepared by Lucy in the movie we were to watch that night after dinner: The Long Long Trailer.

This is a great movie. We all laughed through it and it made me realize what a comic genius Lucy was. There are many episodes of tv shows I will occasionaly watch from this era and the humor seems quite dated, but she just had a sort of timelessness to her humor. I highly recommend it to anyone. Also, the dresses Lucy and her friends wear in the movie during the packing the trailor scene are to die for!

As I was writing this blog I thought maybe the contrast between that wretched poster to U.S. soldiers in Germany showing the atrocities of the war and then the fun I had with my friends shopping and eating wasn't respectful. Then I realized, this is a very 1950's moment. Here we have been faced with the horror of war. Many of us would have lost men (brothers, fathers, husbands, sons) to the war. The men who did return would carry with them the horrors of the war and both physical and emotional scars. But, the country and its people had to brush themselves off and say, "we have to go on. We have to make a better world." They had to still go shopping and laugh with friends in diners.

Despite the racism and unfair treatment of women in the 1950s, the more I study the context of the time in which these people lived, the more I can sympathize even empathize with them. I am becoming almost protective of this generation, not to make excuses, but to say, look at the world they did create for their children and grandchildren. It was done with hope and love. The prejudice was based on centuries of atitudes and also the fear of what 'outsiders' had done to their homes and men and way of life in the ravages of two world wars. And yet, the 1950's really was an accelerated movement to our modern times. It laid a groundwork for the equality we are still working for. It set the tone for the rights women wanted to face. Here they had a freedom never really felt before WWII and then said, " I will return to the home". For some it was wonderful, but for those who found it stifeling, had they not allowed themselves, as a whole, to feel the need to go into that role, I don't think the movement to the freedom women now have would have come about as quickly. It was a trial by fire and if it did not suit them, it allowed, if not them, at least their daughters to come into a world where birth control was available in 1960 and increased roles in the workplace and government were forming.

I do think it is sad that the career of housewife/mother had to be left on the wayside. It really is one of the most important roles a person can take on. To have the abilites and patience to make a home and create a life for others as well as to recieve the joy they get themselves out of such an act, takes courage and hard work. I think a lot of the atitiudes of 'youths' today is really from an unstructered homelife and I think we have all let commercialism and a skewered sense of 'liberation' make our economy such that it is not possible for us to have one parent at home or, even if no children, one spouse. I think it is a sad state of our human condition that many people are looking to change or wanting to find a way to change it.

I have just recieved my 1947 copy of "America's Housekeeping Book", which jitterbug had inspired me to get. The first sentence in chapter 2 states, "Housekeeping is a real job". That has really hit home with me. It has a seriousness about it. It is there in black and white, printed up in a book. The statement has a solidity to it, a sort of pride of purpose. Who knows it if will become my life long career, but it certiainly has taken on a pride of place in my concept of what Life really is. My values are quickly changing and here I am not even a month into my project.

Now, I am off to bake my sunday cake.

I hope everyone had a great Sunday.

22 & 23 January 1955 "Tragedy, New Government, Permanents, Ridicule, and Coffee Cake"

Here is the New Yorker Cover for 22 january 1955 and it feels about right in both 55 and 09, depending on where u live. Snow and mailboxes, that about says it. This same cover in 2009 might show snow piled up outside and someone huddled in front of their computer.

22 January: Norwegian government of Einar Gerhardsen forms

23 January, 1955: In the UK an express train travelling from York to Bristol derails and overturns at Sutton Coldfield station killing 14 and injuring many more.

Some lighter news:

In this article on hair from january 1955 it states that "the Italian Boy cut is out." (If you click on the pic it should open up large enough to read the whole article). It looks like my hair length now or maybe a little shorter will actually be more appropriate for the coming year. It is too bad, as I was hoping for summer time to get a good short cut that was easier to curl. I think as a fun project, though, I am actully considering perming the ends of my hair (as it recommends in the article). If it doesn't work out the permed ends were going to be cut off anyway. I always associate perms with the 1980s and have only had one perm in my life, and it was horrible and took for ever to grow out. However, it does seem to have true vintage hair you need a perm to help hold the curly styles required of the day. I think that is why sometimes when I have watched movies set in the 1950's the hair never seemed quite right. It seemed to bouncy and frizzy, and this was probably because they were just setting modern freshly cleaned hair not permed unwashed hair with setting lotion. I know that my hair holds a curl fairly well, but halfway through the day when I use the hot rollers on my 'hair washing day' it has gone all limp. I have also discovered that modern pump hairspray is a no go for vintage hair. It has to be areosal or it gets to damp and flat.

I am going to ask my vintage friend to help me with my 'Toni" as I do not want to make the curls uneven or not done properly. Here is a great article about women getting together to do each others permanents.

Speaking of trying to have accurate hair and clothes, I had my first negative reaction to my appearance the other day. It was in the mall, which is a place I try never to go. I had to walk thru it to get to the book store where I was meeting a friend. I was on an escalator going up, possibly primping and making sure my hat was properlly adjusted, when I heard snickering: a couple of teens. They were whispering, looking at my outfit, and smirking. It felt odd. My first response was to run my tongue discreetly along my teeth, one never knows when parsley or some such is waiting there to turn your smile into a toothless grin. No, and of course I was not smiling at them. I casually turned to make sure I wasn't streaming toilet paper along my heel, a recurring fear of mine when visiting public restrooms (another place, like the mall, that I try NOT to visit unless necesarry) Then it dawned on me: it was my outfit. It was an odd feeling. I have come to feel quite normal in what I wear now. This day I was wearing a vintage hat with a veil on, gloves and handbag, vintage swing coat, full skirt (with crinolin) seamed stockings and heels. I would think at the most I would just look like an old lady, but maybe that is what threw them. I mean I am not young in my book, but I guess 30's seemed to young to be 'all made up'. I then thought, "You know if I was wearing what I had on earlier when I was cleaning they would probably not have given me a second look." This, of course, was my dunagarees rolled up, flats, gingham collared shirt, hair pulled up in ponytail and no makeup (except for my lipstick, I alwasy put that on and as a wife of the 40's I think I would still have that thought of the 'red badge of courage' as it was called during the war. Women were encouraged to at least wear thier lipstick, I suppose it was for morale or to make any men returning home to see some femininity. But, I digress...). I would not, however, in my 1955 life go out into a public place to eat or shop dressed that way. Perhaps a quick run down to the store for a quart of milk, but even then in my middle class respectability you would never know who you would run into.

Now, being human, my next response was to look at what they were wearing. Probably some modicum of childhood playground politics swirled about the recesses of my brain, urging me to find somthing laughable about their outfits. It is not a pretty attitude, I know, but it was there, none the less. Here is what I found: To my current sense of style and what seems normal from what I see on 'tv' and in magazines, they looked like homeless people or vagrants. I am not saying this to heal my own hurt pride(ok maybe I am a little) but when I studied what they were wearing I could see how people must have reacted to the first hippies. The girls hair was basically a mess by 1955 standards. Long and cut in layers but disheveled and tossled all over. She had on jeans way too tight for her heavy thighs and grungy black tennis shoes. Her jacket was basically a hooded sweatshirt with skull design.Whatever could that mean? Was she in some sort of mourning? Had a relative died and if so, what a light hearted way she wore her sombre weeds. The boy was wearing pants 3 sizes too large, which were all but falling off. "You could see his underpants sticking out", said my shocked 55 fevered brain. His boots looked like workman boots or perhaps those belonging to a lumberjack and his pants puddled about them, as if he had come to own them cheaply and therefore did not care about the inconvienance or safety issue of wearing such large troussers. His hair stuck out at odd angles and was crayola red in parts." Had he been in a fight? Was it dried blood? Was there a Kool-aid accident at home that he had got caught in the middle of?" I let my 55 sensibilites wander and take hold of what I saw. His hooded sweatshirt must have been his father's or, like the large troussers, been found at such a bargain he did not need to care for fit. It was far too large for his small frame. His facial hair reminded me of my victorian grandparents portraits at home. It was all an odd affair and I found I needed to address my compact over my coffee while I waited for my friend, lest I should look anything like that unfortunate pair I had encountered on the escalator.

You get the picture. Obviously I used a little poetic license here and am well aware of this rather normal teenage couples standard mall outfits. However, you can see how through my eyes they should look thus? It is odd to place yourself so out of your time and then to jarringly pop back in. I mean at home of course I use the computer (though sparingly and only for research for this project) I am only using vintage items, seeing vintage tv and movies and magazines. My friends have been very good about what they wear when we are together. I end up in a very insular little 1955 world and because of that, day to day modern things have taken on a new reality to me.

Another example of this happened yesterday. I was busy cleaning away and in the downstairs bathroom there were bits of little soap segments left from the last bar of soap. I was picking them up to throw them out and replace them with a new bar. At that moment I thought, "you know during the war I would have saved these". It was an odd moment, not only because I was not alive during the 'war', but here I was in 2009, pretending it is 1955 and thinking within that timeframe of the 1940s where I would have had to ration. A time I had never been. Through my research I always try to put my perspective of what is now available in 1955 to what it would have been 10 years earlier. It was an interesting moment, because much like that wife in 55, I knew I could go and buy endless bars of soap relatively cheap and yet, here I was throwing out good bits that would have once been very important to me. It is these momentst when I really can see this experiment as an amalgamation of history and art. It sometimes has a performance art quality about it. There are moments too, like this, when I think, are we going to return to pre 50's ideals of plenty as we try to conserve and deal with the ongoing recession. I mean should I have saved the soap. It was still good, wasn't it. Why should I throw out somthing that is still viable? I know during the depression they would save up soap bits and put them in a bit of old unmendable stocking, then you could still use it in the stocking for washing and such. Sometimes my time machine goes in and out of decades so fast it makes my head spin!

I was also thinking of what Jitterbug had commented on my last blog that what I am now doing seems interesting due to the newness of it all. I totally agree. This is all new and exciting, but I guess could become drudgery. However, what I noticed is I am making a good attempt to still have social time and also my marketing time has been fun. I take breaks to go to local charity shops and anitque stores to buy up things for my increasing collection of vintage items. This is an exciting part of my day that might only be equal to a 1955 wives shopping to buy things for her home. This also brings to mind rather it is 55 or 09 someones social and financial situation. I am by no means rich, but I do have the luxery of being home and to have some time and a little money to buy a vintage thing here and there and overall this makes for a nice quitely fulfilling life thus far. Will it become tedious or more worklike? And yet, my housework, though somtimes enjoyable, does seem like work. Even my cooking and baking I take with the seriousness of a career now, which I think is how it would have been viewed.

I forget somtimes how much I do take my role as a career. For example, last night we were meeting up with friends for a birthday party at a restaurant. This gave me the whole day without a dinner prepared by me at the end of it. So, I sort of mismanaged my time and I thought, "Oh, I can tear about the dinning room and move this furniture and start this project" I ended up just being able to get thru half of my projects and get the house back to some semblance of neatness before taking time to set my hair and get ready. I had a maid night with 'Gussie' as I knew this party was coming on. She did all the floors for me and the front hall stairs and folded away some towels that didnt quite make it in Mondays wash, and pressed my skirt for me. Anyway, the whole point of this story is this left me no time to make a dessert for hubbys lunch for today (this weeks cake didn't make it to Friday for some reason). So, this morning I gasped," Oh heaven's to betsy, darling, I haven't a dessert for your lunch. Just let me whip something up fast". He laughed at me and then I stopped and realized. I was being very serious, as I needed a sweet for his packed lunch. Then I had to remember that a month ago I maybe would have made his lunch but most likely he would have just ordered in or picked somthing up in the city, and my baking was few and far between.

He said, "Don't worry about it. I am not going to die if I don't have a home made dessert in my lunch" (he's a sweetie by the way) And I think had it actually been 1955 this would have happened. As, hopefully, I would have married a sweet man then and he would have been less concerned about the outcome of my accomplisments in the kitchen if I happened to forget to make dessert. I did, however, throw together a coffee cake and it was done just before he left, so it went, warm and yummy, into his lunch. It is funny how the skills I am picking up make a simple thing like a homemade coffee cake really simple. Compared to my normal full on cakes it WAS easy. You take melted butter and brown sugar and flower and crumble it, reserving some for the top. Then just beat an egg with a cup of milk and throw that into the mixture, whip it up, pop it into a greased and floured 8" pan, sprinkle the reserve half cup on top and into the oven it goes for 30 min. That is fast baking for me nowadays.

I really do see this all as a career possiblity as well as a learning challenge, an art piece, an involved history paper and a great opportunity. I think when the end of the year arrives I will have learned alot about myself and the time and our country in general and how we have come to where we are now. I cannot honestly say rather or not I will go into 1956. I mean, when I started this I figured just normal modern life to return at the end, but I am not sure from where I am looking now. Many things will most likely stick around. I think alot of the fashions will hold on. We may never have regular tv again, which we are both fine with. It will be interesting to see.

Oh, as an aside, someone commented on my last blog why don't I write out my blogs and have someone else put them on the computer for me. If any early readers remember, I had originally planned to do this, but you had encouraged me not to bother. I would like to know how many of you think I should not have access to the computer? I do use it for research for the time and news as well, it would be hard to find out as much news unless I had an endless supply of papers, but I suppose local libraries have them on microfiche. So, let me know, should I not use the computer at all? Just curious what any of you think about it?

Until tomorrow, then. Have a great day!