9 March 1955 "Space, Beef Stew, McClosky's continued, and a Pheasant"

Tonight would air the Disney Feature "Man in Space" . It is worth a look. Below is the first part. All the episodes can be found on Youtube HERE.

I think I will definitely do a future post on science and concepts of space travel today (1955). It was becoming a much talked about topic and became the polar opposite of the other favorite childhood pastime, cowboys and indians.

It seems the new frontier of space held a certain level of hope and escapism much needed in post war 20th century. It was a possible new world untouched and unscathed by the horror of two world wars. It could hold promise of a clean slate; a brave new world where there were no wars and everything was shiny and new. The irony being, I think, that by the Reagan 1980s years of rising capitalism and greed, space was the place to consider war defense and spying. What had been a realm of hope and possiblity, merely reverted to the 'old ways' of the human animal. Protect your territory and try to increase it.

Today the space program gets little press. I am sure there are many activites going on now with NASA that would once have been feature news, but I feel with the increasing money worries and failures of the worlds banks and corporations, space is the last place we want to turn. It is not unthinkable to compare the past, our increasing view of nostalgia, as the 'New Space'. My hope for tomorrow seems to be in the past. Maybe they will begin making toys to allow your child to relive the glory days of the 1950s. Who can tell. I know I would rather travel back in time than out into space, and it is a more feasible 'everyman' position to try and relive or recapture a fond time period, than it would be to travel into space. I wonder what those who dreamed of space in 1955 think of our world now?

Now, into the kitchen:

I am sure my inexperienced petticoat is showing, when I say I have never made a beef stew before. I knew of beef stew and had certainly tasted them before, but have not ever attempted it. I know, I am sure there are some experienced homemakers out there shaking their head in disbelief. I had a very small range of dishes pre-1955. I do, however, think is says a little about the art of homemaking that one can really address the cookbook like some great learned tome. I have called this approach "The University of the Home" in previous blogs and I am sticking with that. It truly it. The fact that I can skim through a magazine or a cookbook, find, like some great wizard pouring over my book of enchantment, the ingredients needed to make my intoxicating concotion. It does bring to mind images of dry ice fog, long gnarled fingers and a cackle or two. Or, perhaps you enjoy the image of the intelligent lady-scientist. Prim and crisp in her white labcoat (ironed by her own little hand of course!) hair properly pinned up and bespectacled in horn-rimmed glasses. She moves about her laboratory (her kitchen) with determined movements adding a beaker of this a dram of that and ta-dah (Poof a cloud of smoke clears) a braised leg of lamb with homemade mint jelly! However you choose to view this person, she can be you. She is you, most likely.
Now, I know, stew...it doesn't sound exciting. But, for me, it was. There was the quite evening sat in front of the fire with hubby, he smoking his pipe, feet up and slippered, reading a book. I, next to him with my dogs around me, a cup of hot tea and a pile of vintage magazines. I tell you ladies, this is heaven. Then, as I casually flip the pages, there I see it. An ad for Hunt's Tomato Paste with a recipe for Beef stew. My finger slides down the recipe list in anticipation. Yes, I have that and Oh, I did buy a package of cut up beef that said "for stewing" on it. It is waiting patiently in the freezer. And, yes, I even have Tomato Paste (It happened to be Hunt's too, though not due to any faithful adherence to the brand, but it was probably on sale that day).
Now, for you who have made stew, you know it is fairly easy. I liked the process. The gathering of the ingredients. I think this is part of the allure of cooking for me. I check the pantry ( a growing collection I might add. Part of my hopeful kitchen enlargement will reslut in a larger area dedicated to this space)
"Yes, I have that. Oh, good, I bought a jar of bay leaves for that last recipe", and so on through the list of ingredients. This perusal through my recipe books and magazines also often preceeds any marketing I am about to do. It helps me to pick up future things I may need. Things I had never bought before, but now normally stock in my pantry. Things like condensed milk (which after an exhaustive search and finally asking I found at my grocery story it lives with the peanut butter, jelly and coffee. Why? I have no idea. I looked forever in the baking aisle!) Jar of pimentos. (have had them in olives, did not even know you could buy JUST the pimentos. You can and they used them ALOT in the 1950s) Cream of tartar. Shortening. Lard. Knox Gelatin (unflavored gelatin), Sure-Jel, and I am sure the list will expand as does my research. I find myself excited to find these items and to use them. As if I am a real time travelor allowed to test these ancient artifacts in their new state and to be amazed and the outcome of their combinations. Who knew a kitchen and pantry could be so much fun!

The above items will recieve in time my own personal labels or copies of vintage labels. I like they way they look and the effect they have on me. Speaking of which I was glad to get this image from one of my loyal readers/commentors/new friend. She was inspired by my post about making my own labels. Here she has followed suit with a label for her own 'homemade' cleaning solution of vinegar and water. Well done!

Now, back to stew. The recipe I used last night was a 'quick fix' recipe which would encourage you to use the Hunt's product. My hubby loved the result and he took the leftovers as well as the last two home-made biscuits with him for his lunch today. But, next time there is stew on my menu, I am going to attempt the more traditional recipe I found in my General Foods cookbook which includes dumplings. As I said, I had made hot biscuits, which were lovely with the stew, but the dumplings might be very nice and the presentation could be good.

I am going to attempt my own steak and kidney pie this week. I have a great recipe in my Betty Crocker. I will let you know how it turns out.

If you read my previous blogs, you'll know I am continuing on with the feature articles on the McClosky family in my 1953 Ladies Home Journal. The article is showing various aspects of the McClosky family to illustrate the young middle class American family. Here are some more pictures from that article:

What a darling little house. I really like Mrs. McClosky's haircut. I think this might be the cut I want as I can curl it tight and still wear a little ponytail for housecleaning.
In the article, she mentions how she makes dress shorts for her son out of an old wool skirt. Very industrious. (I have not forgot about my own sewing, either. I just have not done enough worth showing yet. I have cut out and begun a muslin version of the blue dress I showed in an earlier post. I learned my lesson and will make a mock up of any pattern I use now in muslin. If the muslin dress looks good, I am going to dye it with my vintage dye and can still use it as an outfit for cleaning at least.)

Here she is cutting her sons hair ( I love the expression on his face!) It says she does her own facials, manicures and permanents. This does show a young couple homemaker needing to do these things for herself. I do think, however, being an older homemaker and not having children, I most likely would pay for these items. And, in fact, I am NOT going to attempt my own hair or permanent and am taking your advice and having it done professionaly.

Though hardly my cup of tea, the McClosky dinette is rather darling. The walls are wall papered in white brick pattern. They second hand chairs were purchased from an ice cream parlor for $12.50 each. (That seems a bit high to me, as that in todays money would put them around $98.00 each. Maybe I am just used to the bargains I find at my local tag sales!) They painted a 'carpet' on the linoleum with floor paint because, "The wall to wall carpeting in our living room stops at the entrance to the niette and so dod our budget," said ANita McClosky.

While on the subject of decorating, I did a "Color Story" photo to help me design and decorate my hubbys new den. By gathering together these various objects I like, I can really get into the manliness I want of my hubbys Den. The stuffed pheasant is not somthing my husband shot, in fact he is not a hunter (though is a crack shot at a caly pigeon). It is one of my past Christmas gifts, which might

seem odd, but I like antique stuffed birds. He actually found this in the back of a great little antique shop in Beacon Hill (in Boston) on Christmas Eve. I definitely like how it has a very distinct manly study/den feeling. It has the color family I have chosen for the house, browns and reds and even a touch of blue.
Sometimes a closer view of my 'story' will help reveal a color way for my design. The one red key on this typewriter of my hubbies mixed with the blue/grey of the typewriter and warm wood tones really speaks to me. I am even considering doing one wall of wood 'paneling' which in fact would be individual wood boards stained or painted. I am not going to put up wood paneling. Though available in the 1950s it has too many 1970s connotations for me. If it were really 1955, I would not yet now of the orange shag rugs, harvest gold and pea green and wood paneling of the 1970s, but in fact, I do, so it is out.

Well, until tomorrow then, happy homemaking!

7 March 1955 "Peter Pan on TV, The Executive Homemaker, Liver, and a Scavenger Hunt"

On March 7, 1955, NBC presented Peter Pan live as part of Producers' Showcase (with the show's original cast) as the first full-length Broadway production on color TV. The show attracted a then-record audience of 65-million viewers.Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard had already won Tony Awards for their stage performances, and Martin won an Emmy Award for the television production. It was so well received that the musical was restaged live for television on January 9, 1956. Both of these broadcasts were produced live and in color, but only black-and-white kinescope recordings survive.

Peter Pan opened in New York on October 20, 1954 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York for a planned limited run of 152 performances. The show had been sold to NBC, which ensured that it was a financial success despite the limited run. It played its final performance on February 26, 1955. The show closed so that it could be broadcast on television, although box office continued to be strong throughout the Broadway run.

FROZEN ORANGE-JUICE prices will go up because of the recent cold snap in Florida and pessimism about next year's crop. Two big producers, Birds Eye and Libby, McNeill & Libby, have just boosted wholesale prices 5¢ per dozen six-oz. cans, and the rest of the industry may follow suit. Retailers are expected to pass on the increase.

Now, I want to continue on with this large article in a 1953 magazine a friend had given me. I have really just started to look at it and it is really a great and thourough piece. I am going to continue to cover it over the next week, as it is long and deals with The homemaker (Mrs. McClosky) on many levels, from the breakdown of her day, to her decorating, her realtionship with her husband and family, and how they entertain including recipes as well as how she spends on clothes. The recipe for the hamburger casserole is from this feature.

Today I am going to show the breakdown they have done representing what a homemaker would be earning over the year. They show a total over $200.00 a week if they paid someone to do the work she does in the home. This in todays money is $2,074.01. this would mean she would earn $12636.00 a year in 1953, in todays money that is $99,552.35 a year!

One of the costs I found interesting. It states that it would cost $354.53 a week for maid, which is about $17,000.00 a year. Now, I only have Gussie twice a week so that would be around $100.00 a week in 1955 dollars. As it so happens, I may be losing Gussie as she has some new responsibilites with the local theatre, so I am suddenly faced with that 1955 homemaker dillema: "I have lost my housekeeper, what can a gal do with rising prices and help so hard to find?"

The article goes on with some wonderful photos and lays out the various roles that Mrs. McClosky plays.

Here she is in the role of the plumber.

Here she is as bargain shopper and decorator. So, In the coming week I am going to eventually have the entire article and photos and recipes from this feature. There is a lot of information to cover and I don't want to just cram it all into one post.

I love this shot of Mrs. McClosky, as it proves my own theory of what a homemaker wore while cleaning. No June Cleaver pearls and heels here. I was actually taken aback a little, when I first read the article, as I really saw myself in this shot. I wear cuffed jeans socks and loafers or flats and a man-style shirt and often have my hair in a scarf rather in is set in curlers or just held back while I am cleaning. I love her old electrolux, as well. I really like that vacuum and may need to add this cannister to my cleaning closet. I could have one vacuum per floor, how is that for decadence?

Speaking of cleaning, yesterday morning I had a nice little suprise. I was doing my normal morning routine of straightening up the bedroom and making the bed. Part of my bed making includes a nicely folded pair of pajamas under our pillows. As I was gathering up the bedclothes to make the bed, I lifted my husbands pillows to find a neatly folded pair of his pajamas. He had done it, by habit, on his own! I couldn't believe it. Now, my husband is a neat man by habit anyway and before 1955 I would say his closest and clothes were often more organized and hung up than mine. However, here I had simply made this small habit a part of my routine and suddenly, without his thinking about it, he folded and put his pajamas in place as that was how he has become accostomed to finding them.

Also today, after breakfast, before I realzied it, he had emptied the dishwasher for me and picked up the breakfast things. Again, it is not that he has not helped me in the past, but my new 1955 routine often involves me so rapidly clearing away and cleaning up, that he never even really had the chance. But today (he is off weekends) he just did it, naturally. It was nice. Normally I have Gussie on weekends, but, she is getting involved in a local theatre production and may now have no free time to be Gussie. Luckily todays 1950's meal is at Vintage friends house, so I won't feel her absence as the dishes won't be piled at my house, nor will I need to have the kitchen in high-prodcution for a large meal for a group of people. However, last Saturday the meal was at my house and I had no Gussie. I really found myself scrambling to catch up on Saturday evening dishes. Thank god I had the dishwasher. That is sort of a very 1955 moment, as well, out with the help in with the automatic aides!

But, I digress...back to my original point. In my articles and books it says that by my example of tidyness and thoughtfulness around the house, the other family members will follow suit. And, as I am living the experiment, I got to see first hand it is true. I am glad I am getting into these habits, as if we were ever to have a child (a BIG if) I feel I would be a little more prepared for what type of home life I would want for a child. The structure and routine. I am sure all of you mother's just rolled your eyes and thought, "You just wait honey, your routine goes out the window when that baby gets home" which I am sure is true, but I would feel that once I wanted to regain that routine, I would be able to doso from having been in the routine at one point. I could revisit it, as I had already learned and lived it. This project would either not exist or be much different had I a little child running about. Would I still try it? Well, considering how crazy I am and my desire to challenge myself, yes I probably would. To much more hilarous and frustrating results for all of you, of course!

Now, onto food and recipes:

I learned last night that hubby is not a fan of Liver. I have always loved liver, but rarely can find it in the store, and up until 1955, never really thought of preparing it. The last time we were at our favorite diner I say they had liver and onions on the menu. I believe this is a very 1950s meal. Although, not everyone loves liver. I happen to adore it and was so excited to see it while marketing. It is so cheap. SO, here are the ways my cookbook tells me to cook it.

I pan fried it. I started with bacon (of course!) and made enough to crumble the bacon on our salad and to leave a piece each to place on top of the liver when served. Next, I pan fried thinly sliced onions in the bacon fat until lovely and brownish yellow. Next, I dipped the liver in a mixture of cornmeal and flour mixed with seasonings. This went into the bacon fat. The result was wodnerful. Like I said, my hubby did not like it, but like a trooper he ate most of it. Though, the way I prepared it was lovely, as a liver eater I really enjoyed it and the onions in the bacon fat were heavenly. At least my hubby had room for dessert which was this:

The presentation was not quite what I had wanted with this, as my egg whites did not stiffen. I think there was water in the bowl I used and I learned water in eggwhites will keep it from stiffening. However, the taste was not affected and I really liked the result as did hubby.

It was a cross between a rich homemade pudding and a mousse. The changes I made to the recipes involved me dividing the milk quantity between milk and whipping cream (in its liquid form of course I would NEVER use prepared whip cream, although I know it was available then.) I think next time I will toast the coconut before I use it or toast some to sprinkle on the whipped cream on top. I love cooking with a double boiler and a whisk, as it makes me feel like a chef. I imagine a crew of helpers lined up about me as I make the important finishing touches on my grand meal! A homemaker has a rich imagination. I think it is one of the most important elements to homemaking, as it gives you all the ideas to make do with what you have.

So, one of the reasons I did not get to my blog yesterday was that I was out on one of my Homemaker Scavenger hunts. I am lucky in that we have many little antique shops and a local church has a year round 'rummage sale' where a gal can get a very good deal. So, here are some of yesterdays treasures:

I was excited when I saw this hamper, as I often see this ad in some of my vintage magazines. I love that Groucho Marx somehow seems to be the appropriate person to sell a hamper, I don't get the logic, but I love it anyway.

The ad says these hampers start at 8.95 and I bought my hamper at $8.00. Of course in 1955 money that would only be around .60 cents while really these cost close to $60.00 new (that is in 2009 money by the way) I love that it is still around. I also know it is vintage as I found some scraps of old newspaper with the date of 1953 and an old tinker toy inside. I wondered how long this had been sitting in an attic waiting to come home with me. One day little Johnny was playing around with his mothers hamper and lost his toy piece. Then, when grandmother was old and ready for the home, daughter put this horrid thing away in the attic, hoping to deal with it later. There it sat, its little tell-tale scrap of newspaper and tinker toy, aging and yellowing with the passing Cape Cod summers and winters heating and cooling it. Now, once again, it will hold clothes waiting for monday washdays.

I love the lid and the detailing as it is a heavy plastic that is marbelized. The detailing on the top are like two fins on an american car from the 1950's. I guess they really DON'T make them like they used to.

I have been hunting for some matching side tables for our bedroom. I found these yesterday for $10.00 for the pair. They are so 1950's 'Early American' and they fit the bill perfectly. I love the side detailing and the botton shelf is perfect for a collection of magazines or books to keep at the bedside table without cluttering up the top. Also, the built in lamps have a swing arm to may reading in bed easier, and though the shades are not wonderful, they are easily remedied with covering of new fabric or just purchasing a shade I do like and replacing them. They are nice solid wood, and I think maple. Very well made and I love the styling.

This is a large heavy maple hutch top. It was only the top and it is definitley 1950s "early american/colonial". It is SO heavey and well made. Even the back slats of wood are individual pieces of maple. This was a steal and will end up either in the new dinning room or the breakfast room. It will most likely recieve a coat of paint to go with the room and will set atop perhaps a nice dresser to serve as extra china storage. I have a collection of vintage milk glass dishes that might look lovely displayed in this in the breakfast room, in which case I might paint it a pretty butter yellow with the inside robins egg blue. I would try it first in its natural wood tone, as well, to see if I like it that way.
Now, you can never have enough trays, I think. I found this lovely vintage set of metal painted trays for .50 cents for all five! The colors are much nicer than this image is showing. They have a lovely faux bois (fake wood design) background. They are small enough to make for easy carrying, but large enought to bring out supplies for the barbeque or to serve the ladies iced teas on the verandah.

6 March 1955 "Housewife or Executive?"

I have been unexpectedly busy today and feel bad that I did not get to my blog. So, I am going to post this article that is part of a larger piece I want to discuss in my next blog. I think it is really fitting concerning the idea of the homemaker as a real career woman. It is interesting to see that it was even an issue in 1955. Perhaps those woman who did choose to go 'back to the home' were actually chastised even then by their fellow WWII Rosy the Rivetor compatriots that wondered why they would do it. Obviously, by what the article demonstrates, many men did not view it as a career either. I found it odd, actually, as I believe many people today would think that in the 1950s it would have been considered a real job, but it appears that was not always the view. So, here is the piece that is part of the larger article. Read it if you have a chance and comment on it and then tomorrow I will be adding more info from the piece.

5 March 1955 "Tupperware, Decorating, and Casseroles"

Tupperware debuted in 1946. I think it is one of those quintessential american 1950s icons. It is also very practical and much used to this day.

Tupperware was developed in 1946 by Earl Silas Tupper(1907-1983) in the USA. He developed plastic containers used in households to contain food and keep it airtight. The formerly patented "burping seal" is a famous aspect of Tupperware, which distinguished it from competitors.

"During the early 1950s, Tupperware's sales and popularity exploded, thanks in large part to influence among women who sold Tupperware, and some of the famous "jubilees" celebrating the success of Tupperware ladies at lavish and outlandishly themed parties. Tupperware was known -- at a time when women came back from working during World War II only to be told to "go back to the kitchen" -- as a method of empowering women, and giving them a toehold in the post-war business world. The tradition of Tupperware's "Jubilee" style events continues to this day, with rallies being held in major cities to recognize and reward top-selling demonstrators, managers and distributorships."

Tupperware spread to Europe in 1960 when Mila Pond hosted a Tupperware party in Weybridge, England, and subsequently around the world.

I have a few vintage pieces in my soft sky blue that I love. It is a hard color to come by. I am always on the lookout for it. If any of you ladies have any in that color that you aren't using, let's make a deal. A gal can never have enough tupperware.

My vintage friend and I would totally do a great job if we were to throw a tupperware party. Maybe I should make it one of my summer things as part of this project. How fun, all we ladies in the yard in sun dresses, hats and gloves, oohing and ahhing over the burp of the tupperware lid! Lemonade, finger sandwiches. Sounds like fun to me!

Now onto Decorating:
I am reading (over and over again I might add) Dorothy Drapers Book, "Decorating is fun". I am not sure who has this book or who has seen it. I luckily found it due to a comment by a very nice person early on in my blogs. I immediately ordered it and have not regretted it.

There are only a few photos (black and white) and some random drawings, done by Draper herself, I believe, which do help illustrate her point. This is not a coffee table book of casual perusing while you sip your tea. The images have to be drummed up in your mind and her almost militant approach to her ideals is rather refreshing. I thought I might give little snippets of advice here and then from the book every so often. I hope you will like it.

In chapter 3 COLOR, she tells us this:

"It is the rock on which your house is built. Without a keen sense of color, without the ability to get real enjoyment and exitement out of lovely colors, we might as well quite right now. I firmly believe that nothing contributes so much to the beauty of this world as color. And, happily enough, I bleieve with equal convition that every man, woman and child alove has within him a true instinct for color"

Well, that sounds promising anyway. I also believe color is so improtant not only in the world but in your home. It is funny how it honestly affects your moods. I love my vintage dishes as they have one of my favorite colors (robins egg blue) throughout them. Once this project started and I began our breakfasts all laid out on a pretty blue linen table cloth with my dishes and everything soothing, what a difference to the start of the day. Honestly, my husband now leaves often more rested and with more time to relax with me in the morning before he is off to work. Before 1955, it was just shamble out of bed when you could, throw some cereal in the first bowl you grapped, eat at the kitchen table amongst, perhaps, yesterdays mail or some random things that always seem to collect up on the kitchen table. There was always a scramble for a lost coat or keys, ets. I cannot tell you how nice it is to pull up to a nicely laid table with lovely dishes and a full hot breakfast and actually talk with my hubby before he leaves for work. Even though it means my getting up earlier and making it all possible, it would be a lie to say I do not enjoy it as much as he does.

This morning, the sun was streaming in the dinning room, the hot coffee tasted so nice and it was actually cheery and warm. I almost felt as if I had hopped, Mary Poppins style, into one of the old photos in my magazines I have often coveted. It isn't just a sham. It is real, or it can be. And it isn't pretense, but really living. It was like the joy you got as a child playing house, but with a feeling of maturity I have never really felt. I know that sounds silly, but I almost feel like an actual grown up now, with my homemaking duties.

It seems my generation, and those after mine, often have that feeling of never quite knowing when to grow up or what it means. Now, I am not saying I know what it means, but it does seem to come along with the responsibility of your dailiy living. Making chocies that affect the happiness and comfort of your home and your future seems very mature. And, surprise surprise, it isn't a bad thing!And, I don't feel I have lost any of my childlike joy of the world. I merely feel more a part of the world, as if I would like to contribute to it...as if I have SOMTHING to contribute to it, even if that is just making a happy home and becoming a memeber of my community. I just wonder how many people who flounder about trying for some vast unrealistic greatness, miss out on the joy of simply living. I feel I may have up until now. This playing house and being a grownup it is almost as if it is some secret to happiness. As if it was some guarded talisman of the older generations. Only, they probably wanted to pass it on, but the generations before us seemed to have mislaid it.

Well, I have gone a little off topic...

So, back to color:

I totally agree with this passage about the harmony of a color theme throughout your house:

"Just as the main theme appears and reappears throughout a symphony, so you can carry one note of color through your whole house to beautiful effect. I don't mean that the color scheme in each room should be just alike-anything but. You just bind the whole thing together by light touches of the same shade.

For instance, if you have red curtains in your living room, you might have white walls in the hall with a red design stenciled on them. Then in your dining room you mihgt place a rug of the same color. In your bedroom you would just strike the note lightly-put a red quilt, folded, on the end of the bed. Just for fun you could even paint the ceallar stairs of the inside of your kitchen closets that same red.

In this way you can create a sort of intelligent 'color continuity' that is very satisfying, and smart to boot."

I, myself, like to even go one step further and really make a 'color story' for the house. As I have been mentioning, I am planning as part of my project to slowly make over the whole of my house and garden. I have been gathering things together that I love, objects and things with the color I love, in my house and taking 'color shots'.

I think this 1950 painting by Edware Hopper "Cape Cod Morning" is in, itself, a great color story. It really tells my combination I am drawn too, the shots of red/pink and yellow and green with a base of soft blues and held in balance with crisp white and shots of black.

My love of red and blue and warm shades of yellow and brown with stark couterpoints of crisp summer sail white and black really are going to tell that story. Each room will have it's own interpretation of that story, but I think it really allows you to address the entire house (even if you are going to spread your decorating over years) as a single project and it really helps to curb any decorating fear you might have. I think just gathering together some things you love and really looking at them pretty much tells you what colors you love and what 'style' you feel comfortable with. I hate the idea of trying to copy a look out of a magazine, I mean be inspired, but make it your own house, right?

I love, too, that she goes on to give examples of color combinations for different rooms and then states, "These are just suggestions-not ironclad formulas." And she openly invites you to break her rules, but really she is giving you a good solid base in which to create your own rules.

I think I will post some 'color story' photos tomorrow to get your opinions.

On my own decorating front, my living/drawing room cum library, is now going to stay just a drawing/living room. I have rethought my houseplan and our large finished room in our basement is going to get the first facelift by being turned into our library and my husbands study. His current study on the first floor will become our dining room, making room for an eventual redo I am planning that will give me a bigger kitchen with a breakfast/morning room. I will include you in all the mayhem that I am certain will follow with all that, as well as the success.

I belive I post this recipe before, but I just made some lovely doughnuts yesterday morning and wanted to post about it. Obviously I do not have any Swifting's, but I think it is just basic shortening. That is what I used, though next time I am going to use lard and I think I am going to get a vintage deep fat fryer for my kitchen. There are many things that could be cooked properly in it, and I think if I don't overdo it we should be able to stay away from hard attacks! They were so yummy and even cold the next day, they were not heavy nor greasy at all! Next time I will make icing and top them with coconut and jimmies (sprinkles for you non New Englanders).

My husband actually prefers them plain. But, of course, I adore them dredged through the sugar until they are almost white!

Sometimes the most simple things recieve the most lauded reviews. I had wanted to try this simple little casserole for some time. I was drawn in by the article, detailing a couple and their social life. This image and recipe just looked very middle class american 1950s. Before this project I had never ever made a casserole in my life. Actually the word drummed up horrid images of marshmallow covered meat and veg or overcooked hamburger and overdone noodles. I am a convert.

As far as having time in your busy schedule, the casserole is a homemakers salvation on busy days. We had an impromptu plan yesterday to go with some friends to have a fun evening of cards at my vintage friends house. I had these ingredients in my house and thought, "I'll throw together that casserole and bring it along for our dinner there" It was so easy to make and it was so good.

My husband took the rest with him to work today and even said again this morning, "That was so good". My vintage friends fiance' even commented twice and I think would love to see it show up on their table. I do highly reccomend it, even if you are like me and think casserole is a four-letter word.

Until tomorrow, then, happy homemaking!

4 March 1955 "Propaganda and My Battle Cry"

STOCK GAINS in the next two years may push the Dow-Jones industrial average as high as 500, nearly a 25% rise, predicts FORTUNE. Barring war and no recession worse than the 1953-54 slump, stock dividends will jump 48% by 1957, and 65% (to a total of $16.5 billion) by 1959. Gross national product will soar an estimated 16% to $440 billion in the next four years. [ today in 2009 the Dow is at 6836.63 while in 2007 it was at 14,000! That is less than half what it was.)

AIRPORT PLAN for New York's International Airport at Idlewild will turn it into the world's most modern terminal, capable of handling 140 airliners at one time. To cost $60 million, the project calls for a 655-acre "Terminal City" with an eleven-block-long arrival building, two adjacent wing buildings, seven individual airline terminal buildings, plus a maze of taxiways and aprons. First buildings will be ready for their first passengers early in 1957.

(The airport was originally known as Idlewild Airport and it was later renamed "Major General Alexander E. Anderson Airport." General Anderson was a Queens resident who had commanded a Federalized National Guard unit in the southern United States and who had died in late 1942. In 1948, the airport was renamed New York International Airport, though the original name remained in common use. The airport was renamed in 1963 in memory of the late President John F. Kennedy. It is colloquially referred to simply as "Kennedy" or "JFK.")

Today I feel like giving my two cents (well a buck fifty's worth really), so hold on:

Sometimes propaganda can be good. It gets its point across.





Sometimes I feel it is bad in a very subtle way:

How has being a housewife become compared to being Hitler. Well, maybe that is a little strong, but this sort of image now gets my dander up. It used to amuse me somewhat and I could think, "Oh, those silly women back then. Slaves to their husbands and their house, haha, not free and alive like we modern women."

Yes, I used to laugh at this sort of thing, but now I am beginning to think that these images are actually anti-housewife propaganda. I may just be touting conspiracy therom, but honestly, is this some subtle coporate propaganda that pokes fun at a housewife? Does this make the idea of staying home and caring for you home similiar to that of a dictator? IF a woman isnt home and caring about her house, then she cannot realize how easily it is to clean with a few items, instead of the vast amount on the market. Why, she can't even stay home at all, as the need to buy and pay for everthing we have to make our not staying home easier after working all day. That means both husband and wife have to work. Now you are at work, so you need to get the housework done quickly, both because your busy and also you don't want to be a 'homemaker' (ck that is so 50's!) So, you buy swiffers and other throw away cleaning products. Who has time to do laundry so you buy too many clothes that you don't need and cheap things (think WalMart and Old Navy) to replace any tears or rips that you don't have the time nor skill to mend and toss those old ones in the junk heap. Now, with your busy schedule and your hatred for the bondage of the kitchen you don't have the time nor inclination to make meals, so prepared foods are your answer, all the while creating more and more garbage for landfills. Who has time to make a PBJ, just buy them pre-packaged and toss away what you don't need. And forget about setting a nice table for everyone to sit around and eat that prepared food, no way! Now the concept of the family meal is completley out of the picture. I know, I know, it does sound extreme, but don't you think there is a grain of truth in it? The removal of the woman from the home leads to more spending. The less time families spend together the more all members can go out and spend more. They need more money to buy all the things they 'need', so they have to make more money and then they have more money and they spend it. It is like a mobius strip of consumerism.

Isn't it funny how one little poster could bring all this up in me? However, that is the main point, really: A picture IS worth a thousand words.

You see an image and it slips into your subconscious and you file it away. "I hate these people, buy this product, this is the best of its kind." It just gets in there. I wonder what way we could use the propaganda to return the lost glory to the homemaker? Maybe a poster of Martha stewart standing in a spotless room with a broom and a mop in her hand and behind her piles of cash and gold and jewels with the caption "She did it, why don't you?" This would give the double draw of celebrity and money which often makes the most mundane thing seem extraordniary. Just a thought. A promise of whiter teeth, use this toothpaste, A happier more fulfilling life, clean and cook.

There is a line in one of my favorite movies "Mr. Blandings Builds a Dream House" where the daughter tells her father that his profession of Advertising is basically a 'parasitic profession'.

Says she, "It makes people buy things they don't want with money they haven't got", taught her by the teacher in her high-priced private school.

The father (played by wonderful Carey Grant) retorts,"Well, that basically parasitic profession pays for your expensive schools and puts the braces on your back teeth!"

It is an interesting and poignant relfection of the coming world. The movie is from 1948 so it is just the beginning of what the 1950s are to become. Thus we begin to walk that line of what we can do to make ourselves feel better, prettier, more comfortable and more popular. We soon learn to swallow propaganda as if it is gulps of oxygen, feeding us through our modern lives.

Even images like this irk me somewhat. First off, it isn't true. Marie Curie? Eleanor Roosevelt? They weren't some bad asses riding in on their motorcylces spitting in the eye of THE MAN. This concept that you have to be a rebel and throw over every current norm is a very modern idea. And why are you only a valid member of society if you DO make history? All the great people we do hear about did have mothers or nannies, people who cared for then, fed them, hugged them. Why is that not valid? Maybe I am being extreme, but I honestly feel these sorts of things make little jabs at wanting to be a homemaker or mother or just happily working and living a quiet life, wrong! It might even confuse things. I think the generations now have this horrible stress to be great: Be a star! Be Paris Hilton or a famous Basketball player etc. Maybe if they televised housework in an exciting way and made million dollar contracts for wives this wouldn't be the case.

What happened to trying to do the best job with what you are doing while you are doing it? I really feel tv and other media just show that you need to be like a few very wealthy spoiled population who always get in the papers! But, who can ever afford or hope to get to their status and if you did, why use your power and money the way they do? They are an annoying minority. There are scads of very wealthy people living normal lives, tipping waiters, being kind to their help, loving their families, but they don't make it in the paper because it isn't shocking or cool. It is funny how we have come to the culture of cool. I don't know, maybe James Dean started it, but things that are important to teenagers, like what is cool or 'in your face', seem to be the gauge we use for what is important in 'grown up' society. When did this exactly happen? I think it has really just been slowly coming on since the 1950s. Now we now seem to disdain things which are reachable goals and quiet happy lives for some 'ideal of celebrity' that many young people aspire to. They need to have the labels and the cars and the image, but it is all hollow and empty. Maybe that is why the teenager working at the local store is so rude, she figures she is gonna be a star or somthing 'better' someday so why should she put up wiht you? And why isn't a homemaker a viable option any longer? Why isn't it talked about in schools as an actual occupation and goal for a person (woman or man)?

It seems to me that the more I get into my project, the more I uncover both the myth and the reality of this small window in modern american history, the more I respect it. I am sure that a large portion of what we think of as "the 1950's" is our interpretation of the propaganda of the time. I am certain that many things we mock may or may not have even been true then. But, and here is the rub, the more I consider it and contemplate it, the more I want it to be true. And not just some truth in the past but an honest and real truth now.

Some day I won't be living in 1955, just as those who really did live it had to let go and move forward: 1956 showed up, then the turbulent 60's. The 1970's with its drugs and rising prices and increasing worries of foreign affairs. The 1980s taught us all to love greed and that it wasn't a bad thing to chase the mighty dollar. The 1990's tried, after the 1980's, to 'Grunge' it's way to a more homespun reality, only to be followed by more pop iconography and materialism at its end fueled by the sham of endless wealth and technology. Then the new millenium rolled in with all its promise of wealth built on sham foundations which have since broken down leaving the world wondering, "what just happened?". We seem to have been on some rollercoaster ride which started off well enough just after WWII and has ended at some odd destination.

Perhaps part of my project was to hide away in some forgotton decade, to turn my back on the real problems of my own time. The thing is, however, that now I don't want to turn away. I want to fix the mistake that we always seem to make as the human animal: The inability to look back in order to go forward. I can never know truly what 1955 was like for those who were there, but I know many of the things I am discovering are things that increasingly becoming important to me. Home, Family, Community, Self-Sustainability. I don't want to let go of these. And considering the technology we now have, we really can build a new world. I want to further those 'old-fashioned' ideals. I want to make the things we now see as silly or wasteful as valid and worthy. I want to wear my homemaking badge with honor! I will stare down any funny looks square in the eye when I am wearing my outfit of hat and white gloves in the heat of July like a soldier in uniform.

I would like to think I can make my only little bit of my world however I like it. And, 1955, I really like you. I know I cannot ever truly understand you nor honestly visit you, but in paying you respect and honor, I might make a better future for myself and hopefully for those around me. I can learn from your mistakes and fix them, but also learn from your success and adapt them to the 21st. century.

Who ever thought an idea for a fun project on a blog could be so life changing?

Who would ever have thought putting on a hat, gloves, petticoat and organizing my house and cooking meals could make me feel more powerful and more proud of being a woman than any modern concept of equality ever could?

I don't think I will ever really leave 1955 entirely. I think, like Dorothy, I may return to the black and white reality of the modern world, but I will hold all OZ has taught me in my heart. I am not quite ready to click my heals just yet.

You know, Dorothy, I am not yet ready to go home.

Maybe we can take this propaganda and put it to our cause: We can do it, we women. We can have the courage to make our homes and, even if we can afford new, sew and mend our own clothes. We can grow our food and make and bake it, we can clean our homes top to bottom with minimal products and plenty of elbow grease. We can hold up and support our families and husbands through clean homes, pretty smiles and the strength of all womankind behind us. WE do it for ourselves as well as for others. Goodbye ME generation hello WE generation.

Yes We Can.

3 March 1955 "Bombs, Sewing Failures, Pie, and Hope"

Waterproof Shoes. The Dow Corning Corp., jointly owned by Dow Chemical and Corning Glass, has developed a silicone product that will make leather virtually waterproof. First use of the chemical (trade name: Sylflex) will be for shoes. The Charles A. Eaton Co. will use it on golf shoes; Endicott Johnson Shoe Corp. will try it on a combination work-and-sports boot. Treated shoes will shed water, still allow air to come through to cool the foot.

Do-lt-Yourself Sink. For do-it-yourself hobbyists, American Kitchens of Connersville, Ind. put on sale a knockdown kitchen sink. Made of steel, baked enamel and porcelain, the sink can be assembled by one man using only a screwdriver and pliers. Each unit contains a regular 42-in. single-bowl, single-drainboard sinktop, a complete faucet and hardware kit, and all the parts for an undersink cabinet. Price: $59-95 [$464.00-748.45] (I guess this is what was available before IKEA and HOME DEPOT! It is amazing that cost, however, as I am sure you could get somthing for under $100.00 modern money at either place.)

This article in a March 1955 Time Magazine gave me chills:

"All week long a cold wind hurled grey clouds out of the Northwest and across the bleak Atomic Proving Grounds in Nevada. The Atomic Energy Commission, well aware of public concern about radioactive fallout, kept on postponing the big blast. But at 5:45 one morning, it touched off a small one.

Newsmen huddled on cold (10°), windy (40 m.p.h.) Mt. Charleston, nearly 50 miles away, muttered with frustration. The blast was a disappointment: the sky lit up with a dull red glow for a second; the mushroom cloud was hidden in the dark overcast; the sound bounced over Mt. Charleston completely.

But for less jaded observers the explosion had authority. Small though it was, the blast lit up predawn Los Angeles 250 air miles away. It rattled through Las Vegas, Nev. 75 miles away, rumbled on through St. George, Utah 135 miles to the East, and sounded like distant war drums in Cedar City, Utah 175 miles from the blast. Some in Los Angeles claimed to hear the distant drums 20 minutes after the flash."

The beginning of the spread and danger of large scale bombs. The fact that such tests were done while people were in 50 miles to report it, is frightening. We were and are children playing wiht fire. Nearby towns must have been affected. I wonder how much cancer and other horrors came about from such testing. Even though we have gone through two World Wars (or rather BECAUSE we have) I am really beginning to see the loss of the innocence of the world. Of course man has always been a terror to one another and there has always been war and bloodshed, but now is the beginning of fear on a new level. No wonder then, and I really think now as well, people are trying to return to a simple or more family/community centered life. We should enjoy and appreciate what we have together before those in power blow it all away!

Now to the Home:

I am rather frustrated with one of my patterns. It was the one for the wrap dress. I tried it last night and I was rather unimpressed. I unfortunately used up the pretty light blue printed fabric I showed yesterday with the pink cotton. It was such lovely fabric and I am so unhappy with the dress. I have decided to take my lemons and make lemonade. I am going to cut off the bodice and reconfigure what I can with the left over pink cotton and try to salvage it as a skirt. I will post a picture of the result.

This has made me more determined to try more of the patterns today, so I think this will be a short post today, so I can get through my ironing, and get to sewing. I feel challanged now and need to make something nice before I get too frustrated. It is just when I put the darn thing on I looked like a stuffed sausage. It did nothing for my self esteem, I can tell you that much, but I am determined. I did have to laugh, however, as I had posted that that scene from 'I Love Lucy' and certainly the dress did not look as bad as that, but it did not look good. I think this has definitely helped me decide NO to home perm. When the time comes I will take the trip to the city and go to a professional.

Here are some photos from this past Saturdays 1950's dinner. It was at my house this past week. I made Roast pork with a mango glaze. Roast potatos and asparagus with Hollandaise and for dessert a Magic Cream Pie. As I had been busy and thought, I wonder what I could do in 1955 to make my home cooked meal easier for me. So, I bought a frozen pie crust (as I didn't have any of my own in the freezer at the time) and chose the pie recipe for its simplicity. I also made dinner rolls from the pillsbury tube, as I saw they were invented and there are many 1950's recipes involving them. I also used this recipe for Mock Hollandaise to make it easier. (I included the recipe for actual Hollandaise as well, as it is soo yummy.)

Now, these are the changes I made to the pie. First off, the Pie called for Lemon juice but I was out of fresh lemons (as I like to squeeze them with my vintage juicer) so I raided the bar and found some lime juice. I think I liked it better as it was more tart. The recipe calls for no sugar, but I found it rather to tart so added 1/4 cup when mixing it. The whipping cream I added almond extract too, as I liked the combined taste with the tart lime. This was suppose to be a pie that would just set, but I am not sure why it did not, it could be due to my adding sugar. What I did instead, was to freeze it and it became a wonderful frozen pie. It was like a creamy tart icecream and the bananas, as they were frozen, were like little candies inside. I would make it again, maybe next time Chocolate and banana!

Here is the table set. The napkins were not on, as of yet, when I took this. You can see how busy I was, as I nor Gussie had time to iron my new tablecloth, those lines drive me crazy when I see the photo. Of course, no one noticed and as you all know I am working on my tablecloth therapy. "let it go," I must say to myslef.

The roast was nice and tender. I like to sort of do the opposite of what my books tell me in cooking a standing pork roast. I cook it first for about an hour covered and then cook it uncovered at the last to crisp up the fat on top and to give the potatos a nice crisp brown edge.

This is a great shot of my vintage friend as she arrived, removing her gloves. She told me she had used my blogs advice on whether to keep her hat on. I had posted before from my Amy Vanderbilt book of etiquette, that if the hostess is hatless and gloveless (which I was) you may do so youself.

You can see one of my dogs, Sophie, watiting patiently for the impending dinner in the background.

Of course, I forgot to get a picture of myself, but here is a great shot of my vintage friend and I that I cropped turned black and white and framed in white to look like an old photo. I think it really looks like a vintage shot, don't you? I love being a be-furred, hatted and gloved lady who lunches. Wouldn't you?

Well, I am sorry this is such a short post, but I must get back to my sewing. The challenge awaits! Hopefully this will be me today and into the future.