23 July 1956 “The American Dream Home”

I think what a 21st century visitor would notice at first about middle class life here in 1956 is the size of the homes. They are diminutive by today’s standards and are not all full of brand new plastic Eames chairs as we might see in the magazines of the time. There would be much ‘recycling’ of items handed down, borrowed etc. The  middle class homemaker would look at you oddly if you said ‘recycling’, for you see being Green here simply  means being smart and frugal. Thrift, it seems, is even taught in high schools and at home. A ‘consumer economy’ has not yet set itself into the psyche of the American public.
There was an increase need for homes after the war. Returning soldiers were already husbands or soon to be and they were getting ready to feather the nest. Many had GI bill aspirations to college and all facets of the middle class (even the lower rungs) were beginning to have a taste of a life they may not have considered before the war: college, their own home, a sense of economic growth. All of these things were held like shiny apples before the donkey cart to the new American middle class families at this time. Yet, these families came to them with the inante thrift and frugality of Depression Children and War Time Ration still fresh in their minds. They also felt their country was now set upon the eve of a Brave New World and all in it would now be done for the good of all.
What is interesting to me is that many things today such as food and clothing are dirt cheap comparative to 1956 yet housing is the opposite. The above kit ranch house of 1200 sq. feet cost $6030 at the time. That is comparative to around $35,000 today. (the image came from a nice Flickr site HERE, they have other houses and prices listed) I can’t even imagine a piece of land that cheap today.
In my research for this post I read a modern article about recent home sizes. I thought this an interesting quote from a real estate agent on L.I. in New York from a modern newspaper, "You know, we are very tenuous," says local architect Ann Surchin. "No one knows when the next 9/11 will happen. And these houses represent safety — and the bigger the house, the bigger the fortress."
I had to laugh at that. 9/11? I mean come on. I am certainly not belittling what happened, but here in 1956 people not only remember a world war that has maimed and killed friends and family, people are still living daily with a very real fear that at any moment the Atomic bomb could come crashing down on them. And yet they have no problem having one bathroom for a family of five or having older children (even teens) share a bedroom. Rather than seclude themselves in fortresses they cannot afford, they open up their new little modern homes with ‘window walls’ and patios to Barbeque with neighbors. Even wealthier individuals who summer here on Cape Cod do not all have mansions. But, their quaint little cottages are going to be decimated with Mc-mansions in 60 years.
So why such a great divide between houses then and now? I think the real answer, again, is the media. What do we watch? What do we see on tv/computer: Perceived wealth; shows like Cribs and many design shows portray homes very large and beyond many peoples means. We don’t even realize anymore that half of the shows being presented are just really highly advanced 30-60 minute ads. Because we find ourselves wanting to emulate the show and buy and have the things the characters have, this really is effective advertising. We are unable to distinguish the reality from the fantasy. We are SO plugged into the digital/media/ad/entertainment world, that our brains have trouble distinguishing the difference. When you consider we mostly give our mind these false images,  it follows we then succumb to wanting what they have. There is a realness to it: I see all that wealth and stuff, they have it, it seems real, I have this card, so now I want it and have it.  The advertising of today is so genius and smart and sophisticated, even what you look up online is collected and fed back to us in adverts that sell to our own demographic. The level of marketing is more advanced than the intelligence we had access to when in WWII. Advertising here, in 1956, is still a young art/ad man drawing out images and coloring them in to be placed in magazines. There is an innocence that still exists not only in the ads themselves, but in the very nature of the people. In some ways we are so removed from them by how we think, it is as if we are a different species, breed to buy.
I shudder now, when I think of the design shows I used to watch when they would just gut and tear out any kitchen and replace it with the latest style. The idea of using what we have or making do and making it pretty seems completely gone. Which is odd to me when I think the average homemaker or wife today has SO much at her fingertips as far as design inspiration and lessons on how to do it all, but it seems it has just become another form of entertainment to watch OTHERS do it and then hire someone to rip out and replace.
A homemaker in 1956 would not even have access to the money we see today and yet would use what she had to make her home lovely. A woman who was a homemaker in her 20's in the 50's told me she wanted to redo her bedroom and wanted valances. She couldn't afford wood, so she saved up heavy cardboard from boxes, bought fabric and glued and made valances and matching pillows and bed skirts. You couldn't tell the difference, she told me and I believe her. Especially when I think of what house wares today ARE made of and where they are thrown together.
I don't always want to end up seeming to be playing the 'its better back here' game, but some how it always happens. I think really it is more, “Oh, they did that, then why can’t we do that AND still move forward”.Even if you think of me, "Well, your not really there, so of course it seems better” There still seems to be lessons here in frugality, creativity, and action. That means even if you are not a  time traveling homemaker like me, you can be a thoroughly modern Millie and start taking advantage of what our 50's sisters did with the power and ease of today! Why spend what we perceive of as less at a big box store for particle board, when you can use scrap wood you might have, a jigsaw, some paint, and fabric and make a custom item fit for you, for less!
Here is another quote from that same modern article on house size. The man has built a large house and says, "I always wanted a house big enough that my kids could be in their room screaming, and my wife could be in a room screaming, and I could be somewhere else and not hear any of them," he says. "And I think I have accomplished this with this house, because this house is so big that everyone has their own space."
I think it is odd that this man should not mind that his children or his wife ARE screaming, as long as he does not have to hear it. I think that says so much about modern family and community dynamics. We don't care what happens to people as long as we don't see it. Who cares that our cheap products are made by children in china, as long as I don't have to make it or see it. It all makes sense. Yet a father in 1956 would not allow a child TO scream in his room for it would firstly upset the family and secondly he would, hopefully, want to know why they are screaming. Because if it is for fun then you have to learn that you cannot just scream when you want just because you are in a big place. How does any of this prepare us for the real world. Does that mean if you go to a large library or the airport, which is also large, you can scream at the top of your lungs? This bigger house size merely adds to the unrealistic atitude we have and give to children who then have to go out into the real world. It also shows our own increasing inability to accept a new reality here in our country. Bigger and more is not better and it is not only leading us down a bad path, but really not the unique original American ideal.
The lead me to consider that increased house size actually affects our overall attitudes. No wonder people are so rude to one another and staff at restaurants and stores. When you have your own bedroom and bath and rarely see your siblings and family members (even to eat) there is no need for compromise. There is no working it out with your siblings to get to the bathroom, so you get what you want, when you want it. Now add that to the instantaneousness of our world. Tv, computers, phone , texting, microwave food, drive-thrus, its all there cheap and ready in a second and if it is a moment late, look out we will shout at you! We want it and we want it NOW and we want it BIG! (Would you like to Super size that? It’s only 20 cents extra for a Venti)
I also find it interesting that the 50’s woman will have to spend much more time IN her home than the modern woman, yet has so much less space. But, to a person whose job it is to maintain the home, decorate it, feed a family and have time for her extra curricular such as reading, sewing, knitting, art and so on, a small house is a boon! It is odd that as the decrease in home food prep goes down the kitchen size and cost goes up. If you were to see this on a graph it would be two lines diverging drastically. And the increase in money spent on rooms where little happens save microwave use and heating up prepared food, we could really have 5 x 5 kitchens with a  microwave a few burners and a small stove. But, of course, a bank of freezers and ice boxes would be needed.
I have felt this need to enlarge and live big in my own home often. Before 1955, I always was planning a large home. My ideas and dreams often had endless rooms. But, as I have become a homemaker, the appreciation of smaller space has actually begun to really shine through. At the end of last year (1955) we moved out of our house that was twice the size of our current old antique cottage so we could rent it out. We now literally have 1/2 the size as when I started my project and probably have closer to what an average homemaker would have had at the time. Initially it required me to really downsize and many of those things are still boxed in our out building/barn waiting for a yard sale. Many of the things I had originally intended on keeping but lately I have really begun to see that I have been living without them for the past 7 months and have not noticed, except that there is less to dust and organize. Smaller really is a part of a proper vintage life. Even if we consider the size of 1950’s car, it was large, but not like the monstrous 6000 lb vehicles we have today with tv panels in each seat and ipod docking stations. Our cars are more advanced than the home of 1956, but are we happier, more organized or smarter? I don’t know, I think not.
  This house size also got me thinking about kitchen size. Many of the kitchens in my 50’s magazines, though they are ‘redone’ modern versions are still very small in square footage compared to today. When we first moved back to this house, I kept redesigning my kitchen over and over. I started with additions and breaking down a wall into another room (all on paper of course) and pouring over my vintage magazines for ideas and Craigslist for vintage appliances. I had slowly lessened my plan to no additions and just removing a wall that separates my little sitting room from the kitchen to enlarge the space inside. Since our Holiday at Home and my increases desire to sew more and do more art with my non homemaking time, I am really rethinking the entire idea. I do still need a better vintage stove and I have an old 50’s icebox (refrigerator) in storage waiting to be redone, but do I really need more space? The kitchen we now have was added on in the 1900’s and redone in the 1950’s but I stupidly removed the old vinyl (this was years ago) and the original handles to the cabinets. There is very little space in there, yet I have really had no trouble preparing meals, baking a cake and getting hubby’s lunch together all at one time. As it is mainly just me in there, there is no issue of a crowd.
Our Staycation really has had me look at our home in such a new light. The small house became the quaint sea cottage through the perception of our Holiday at Home and now, though I again view it as our main home, have begun to appreciate it’s size. Luckily I added a barn type building a few years ago that I can turn into my sewing/craft/art/50’s club location, so really there is no need to add to this house.
So, if any of you are on the track to redoing any of your home, I ask you to sit down and think about how you really use it. Think about what you do in the kitchen and what would help it out. When you are on a holiday or in a holiday cottage or camping or something such as that, do you enjoy the simplicity of that? If so, then your home can reflect that ease and comfort. You don’t need dirt floors, but you could possibly pare down the amount of dishes you have (make them be a collection you love so each time you drink or give a guest a drink, it is from something you have chosen. It has meaning and artful purpose). I think we just have so much STUFF today, that we don’t really even see it clogging up our lives. It fills every nook and cranny and we give over our lives our contentment and happiness to all this stuff.
I know for me it has been a gradual process over the past year and a half to really come to terms with the STUFF and see it for what it is. And if we are to have stuff around us, let it me things we feel connected to and have personally chosen. The positive aspect for we vintage women, is many 1950’s items are still fairly inexpensive (as the fad grows, this will become less so of course) so sell off 10 items you don’t care about at a yard sale and take that money and buy one dear thing you cherish and put the change in your pin money. It can be very liberating.
Now, from a simply esthetics standpoint, many of the modern huge houses are just ugly. They have no proportion or beauty. They almost feel like an aniseptic office building.The first house here has no trim or ornamentation, nothing to break up the endless expanse of brick and office building windows. I would not want to pay the ac/heating bill for this.
Yet, consider these little 1950’s homes. Consider their charm and position in the landscape. When one has less to build more can be done to it to make it special and livable. (this image from RetroRenovation.com check it out to see more on prefab 50’s homes.)
Here are some house plans from my magazines. (click to enlarge) and you can see how small the rooms actually are.
Even consider something as simple as the outdoor room. Here we see a darling 1950’s version.There is small space, but it is used wisely and you can see it is also practical. There is a place to eat, barbeque, prepare food, but also lawn and garden tools are neatly stored and easily reached. Inexpensive items such as peg board is used with style.
Though this is a lovely modern outdoor room, it almost has a cold feeling to it.  I wonder how often that huge grill gets used and that great expanse of space for dinning, where is the intimacy? I am not saying large is bad, when done right and one can have an architect and many friends, but for the intimate needs of a small family on a fixed income, this would be shown as their ideal today. There would be no ‘cute and clever’ solution for them. But, then again, why bother, we can just charge it all, right? And then go off and work more hours to pay it off while not using it and the kids are inside on the computer or texting anyway.
So, house size may seem a simple thing, but once we really start to break down all the factors of cost and emotional connections we have in small as opposed to larger spaces, I feel it is just another layer of the modern dilemma. This is one more point where we have been lead astray from the 1950’s to today that does not, in my opinion, make for an easier or better life. So, next time you are planning a room or house or even apartment, really consider our 50’s sisters and what they had to work with. They were clever ladies from which we can learn a lot.
If you would like to read the article where I took the two modern quotes HERE it is.
Have a great day and Happy Homemaking.

22 July 1956 “Give Me a ‘T’, Give me an ‘I’ Give me a…well you get the picture.”

The one thing I always hear again and again about the 1950’s is the oppression of women. That their roles were overtly characterized and their options slim. Though, it might be true that much of what a young girl in 1956 saw was geared toward homemaking over other careers, there was no true obstacle in their path to becoming a doctor or politician.
Yet, today we think we have reached some zenith of equality. That our ‘freedom to be sexy’ is some how more liberating than the corset. I wonder, sometimes, if our modern view of the female is not in many ways more damaging.
Today’s post is short and sweet.
Here are cheerleaders from 1956, you will notice both men and women. The girls skirts are long and they are as covered as the men, so in my assumption, they are there to cheer the team and garner ‘team spirit’ and crowd support.
Here are modern cheerleaders, what do you think it is they are meant to garner? And what message does this send to modern girls? I think we need to stop the idea that the past was only bad and full of bad ideas, the good is perfect. I am amazed since my 1950’s journey how we actually are silently ‘training’ our future women.
And as a similiar comparison how about teen stars in which to aspire to as role models. 1956 Debbie Reynolds Natalie Wood and Today

20 July 1956 “What I Did On My Summer Vacation”

Though this lovely Patti Page song will not be released until next year (1957) I thought I would share it with you.

Even though our ‘Staycation’ on the Cape is officially over, I suppose I know feel the need to do my ‘report’ on ‘my summer vacation’. I think it was a great rest and probably the best holiday we have had in some time. The travel was easy and cheap, the accommodations lovely, and the cost quite frugal.
When hubby and I decided to take our Staycation or Holiday at Home, we figured we would mostly rest and relax and that we did do. Yet, the first two days of our break together had us working on projects in the yard. A trip to the dump ( we are still clearing and organizing from our move here last summer and the condensing of two houses and a city apartment can leave quite a bit of work). But, it was joyful work. We felt as if we were coming here and ‘opening the cottage for the summer’. Therefore the work had fun to it.
It seems work away from home always feels different. Dishes in the cabin in the woods feels different than the sameness of those at home. But, we were still here at home, but our perception had changed. That seems to be an important factor, one’s perception. This is a real skill I have been developing ever since beginning this project. Though it was never officially on the list of ‘to-doing’, it had to happen. I am in 1955, a change of perception. It is normal to wear a girdle and hose and sew my own clothes, perception. We are off to a summer holiday, yet in the same place; Perception. It is a tool, an aide, much like imgaination that possibly doesnt’ get as much use as it once did. True, though, that one has to use a change of perception to live in our virtual digital world: we are not truly chatting in a room, yet we are communicating with others, so that is a sort of perception, I suppose.
It got me thinking how something as simple as a change of perception can really be a boon to our modern life. If we are frustrated with our jobs or traffic or noise, we can try to shift the perception of the moment. Stuck at work again, well, plan out a week of ‘after work fun’ and when you get home:half day holidays at your favorite place. Maybe pick a theme, shop for the food appropriate to it, Margaritas and Mexican Food, Cajun and Cocktails and French Accordion music. Get your friends or family involved and say good bye to the daily stress and enjoy your little mini staycation; Perception.
Part of my own relaxing that took place this week was my lessening of my chores. My homemaker duties are indeed my job, so to take a break from them just took a little basic planning. I decided an amount for dining out, bought extra easy to prepare treats, such as s’mores and ice cream cones, and ta-dah: Fun and relaxation! Letting the floors get a little dustier, not baking or doing too many chores, one is more forgiving of ones environment in their ‘beach cottage’. Sand on the floor here, its character and charm. Flip flops and wet bathing suits are simply atmosphere to the moment.
This made me realize, though I thoroughly enjoyed my break from these things (and I did have a quite little fear that I would undo a year and a half of work to get where I am with housework) I found today, as I kissed hubby off to work with his lunch, that I saw it was also time for me to get back to work. In a way, it made me feel, ever more so, that this is truly a job. And one that I enjoy enough that though my break from it was relaxing and heavenly, my return to it was not dreaded.
In fact, today sweeping, vacuuming, scrubbing, putting away, organizing, even cleaning the ice box, it all was part of the perception twist. We had returned from a lovely 11 day stint in our little beach house back to our home and I needed to get it to rights. I have some fun sewing projects lined up that I dreamed of and chatted about with friends. I truly feel re-charged to get back to my ‘work a day’ life. Though I even imagined while on our ‘staycation’ that I would come to see sweeping or dishes as a dreaded chore, but I found the lesson I have learned thus far to still be true. Make your list, treat it as a job, plan a ‘break’ from it and get to it. Nothing gets done without or just knuckling down and doing it.
That is probably the best lesson learned from my project and new life: No excuses and MORE work! The more you do daily as a part of your life the more you can accomplish and pile on and then you will be surprised with what you are doing in months. All the things you want to do, sew, paint that picture, learn to knit, skydive, learn a language, all of it will find a place, it will slip into the slots of your day as soon as you fill them with work and fun and ambition and leave entertainment and tv as a reward, but a small part of those days.
Our days our finite, that is a constant truth no matter what you believe, so don’t waste them.  As a good 50’s mother might say, “Don’t waste that food, there are starving people in the world” well, count your time off our your free time important and realize many people in the world do not have as much as we sometimes do, so don’t waste it. Clean the plate of your day with chores and projects and you will grow big and strong in confidence, skill, and a real sense of purpose and joy in your life. We need to lose the modern idea of the carrot before the horse always struggling and hoping ‘one day’ when that day is here right now, so get to filling it and enjoying it! And fun and accomplishment does not have to be expensive.
I think the frugality of the holiday really surprised me. We spent for the week (even with two breakfasts out and two dinners and a lunch) probably what we would have spent just on gas or 1/2 a plane ticket. There were no bags to check, no suitcases to pack, unpack and pack again, and it really made for a relaxing time. So, if any of you find your pennies a little short, don’t give up on the holiday or try to ‘reach beyond your means’ for a week, only to pay for it later in debt, try a stay at home vacation and see how much you really enjoy yourself and feel relaxed when you return to work. And, try a switch of perception in your day to find joy in it where you might sometimes find frustration or pain. Why shout alone in your car at the ‘idiot’ who cut you off, your only adding anger and shouting to your own life, they don’t care. Instead, imagine yourself in a foreign country and you don’t understand the ways of the road, smile and think of how you might carry that perception switch home with you. Now your home is a hotel, a hostel in a foreign country so cook up some new exotic food, put on some world music and watch the birds sing.
Maybe it is just the ‘50’s in me, but now I often find that I try to find the moral or resolution to the story of my day. I think checking off my accomplishments and simply moving any ‘failures’ to be the ‘lessons and to-doing of tomorrow’ such an emotionally healthy way to live. And, besides, if it gets to be too much one day, I’ll just use my Perception shift to take an hour trip to a tropical island.
Well, that is enough for me today. I will return tomorrow and shall try to continue my daily posting. Thank you for giving me the week off.
I think I will close with this fun home movie from 1950’s of Dennis here on the Cape. As we have no home movies of our trip this year, this can suffice for the fun. I am considering getting an old super 8 and starting to document our lives with it. It is not as easy as digital video but I fell compelled, so if any of you know anything of it or where to get a good camera and projector let me know.
Happy Homemaking.

18 July 1956 "BBQ and a swim"

I just wanted to pop in and say I will be back come Tuesday and shall try to post daily. We are off to my MIL today for a BBQ and a swim (She lives on the water) and general fun. I hope all are having a good week.

Happy Homemaking

14 July 1956 “Staycation, All I Ever Wanted…”

Well, it’s a rainy day here in 1956 and I thought I would post a quick ‘look in’ to say hello. We are enjoying our Staycation or Holiday at Home, or whatever you should like to term it. It does help, I suppose, to already live at a Summer Resort Destination, but it is rather fun to play “Tourist in your own Backyard”.
I am sure no matter where you live such a break can be fun. And, homemakers, fear not if you think you shall be stuck cooking and cleaning as usual, simply do what I did. I imagined we were simply coming here for the week and treated my marketing that way. I figure, ‘We are going to the little cottage this week’ in my head and bought things easy to prepare and fun ‘pre-made’ things we might not normally have. Drumstick ice cream cones were invented in 1928. So, these would have been available. Though we have many wonderful ice-cream shops around us (one of my favorites is practically walking distance) where they make good homemade ice cream, sometimes a quick little frozen cone is fun on a hot sticky day.Other such confections are easily available for the 50’s homemaker
Here is something one might see on tv or at the movies

Thrill to the ‘ice cream taste’. I wonder why body-less heads were used so often in 50’s advertising? Maybe it had an ‘everyman’ quality to it.
And, yes, even Pizza is availabe here in the 1950’s. Notice how small the size is and it is available at the ‘refreshment center’. We do have a vintage drive in here on cape. It is about 45 minutes away in Wellfleet and that might be on the list of ‘to-doing’ this week of Home Holiday. And, as they say here, “mom, why fuss and fight about dinner, eat here at the movies” I am a little worried about the ‘scientifically grown’ popcorn, however.

Another vacation activity we might enjoy, that we never do in our normal life, is tv. We have no actual tv hookup, but we do have access to old shows. I found this site interesting HERE. It explains a phenomena started in the 1950’s where in the summer, to replace the normal regularly scheduled shows, they would air un-sold pilots! I guess this summer, of 56, was a big year for that. How odd, that you would just see one or two episodes of a show that would never be seen again. Maybe it is beginning to show that the tv consumer doesn’t care and just wants ‘something to watch’.
Besides traditional golf here on cape cod, of course we also have mini golf, another summertime favorite of the past still readily available. (This image came from Gorillasdon’tblog.) There is an old mini golf course up the road on 6A that we are going to visit this week. Hubby recalls playing there as a child. It shall be fun.
So far we have made good use of our holiday. We spent our first day puttering around the yard, hubby getting out the chain  saw and getting to that cut down tree we had been meaning to attend to. He enjoyed it and was happily cutting even sized sections and making piles of various logs and kindling while I shingled the front of my chicken house. To us, this had that, “We are here to open the cottage for the summer, lets do some preliminary work” feel to it. We rather enjoyed it and rewarded ourselves with fresh brewed iced tea and a swim.
We have biked to the ocean already and laid about like tourists. I love our little beach here along the canal. At high tide it is rather like a great saltwater swimming pool, as the sandy bottom gets very deep quickly and the water is clear and cool. We spent a good hour diving for rocks and sharing various sizes and shapes. In the end we decided none of us wanted to tote them home on our bikes. Yet, on our return, hubby drew from his pocket with a ‘ta-dah’ a favorite stone, the size of a softball, he had secreted away in his pocket. It took the place of honor on our dining room mantle next another odd rock he picked up last fall while strolling through the woods near by.
There have been evening fires with friends, wine and cocktails on the terrace, s’mores and sausage over the fire. Over all, thus far, we are enjoying ourselves, but I did not want any of you to think I had forgot you.
Still to come is some sailing, a trip to P-town, some 6A antiquing and of course more swimming. We have a fish and seafood monger biking distance from us to get food to cook at home as well as our great ‘fried seafood restaurant’. We figure if we bike there, some of the calories and fat will slide away on the bike ride home. So, overall, we are enjoying ourselves and at the end of it, no packing up, plane or train rides or hours of traffic.
Another fun trip we made recently, though it might sound odd, was to our local dump. We have a wonderful ‘swap shop’ there where people drop off anything working and in good repair for free. Hubby likes to dig about the electronics and find computer parts. I believe he is intent on using old parts and building his own for as long as he can hold on doing that. We are not very good consummers on this holiday, except for local food, produce and possibly some local made items.
So, I strolled into our little swap shop and saw it was fairly picked over and then, in the corner, behind an old treadmill, there it was. I saw its distinctive dome shape and caught my breath, “Could it be?” I wondered? I had dreamed of these and even tried buying one (rather expensive on eBay when I could find them). There she was in all her glory, The Lady Schick Capri Consolette. You must understand how this odd space age shape trimmed in my favorite pale blue makes a 50’s gal’s heart go pitter pat. This little gem is a life saver for a gal who sets her hair. It folds out and locks like this. Then you sit comfortably, with a magazine and cup of tea waiting for your pin curls or what have you, set. It is the epitome of luxury in an easy to carry and store case.It has all these settings (which all work) and it really feels like when you are at the hair dressers. I have to show the interior label, I adore the font and color (and the color is much more brilliant in person)This is the top of the hairdryer and this the inside label   This little darling will not even be hidden away, but will have a place of honor on the top of the built-in next my dressing table, where my extra jewelry boxes sit.
So, I am off to enjoy more of our holiday and I hope all of you are enjoying the summer in your hemisphere or the winter in the other.
Happy Homemaking.

10 July 1956 “Holidays at Home”

My posting may be a bit spotty this week. Hubby has the next 10 days off and we are having a “Holiday at Home”. We felt the stress and cost of travel etc could be left aside if we stayed here at home. We love our little house, we can ride our bikes to the beach and people stream onto the Cape all summer, so why not be Tourists in our own Town? We can visit other towns, eat at fun local restaurants and still spend much less than if we were to go away some where. I hate airports nowadays and most traveling often leaves me  more exhausted.
So, so far on her first day of vacation we have enjoyed the yard, drank iced tea and had a good walk. So, don’t worry if I am not posting much this week.
Here, from WWII Britain is the suggestion of Holidays at Home. Though then it was suggested to save the transport for the war effort, couldn’t we today say it is to save on fuel and the planet and our wallets.
(When you click on the below image it will open the movie and you need to press play then, enjoy it!)

HOLIDAYS AT HOME THIS YEAR

I often feel bad for the WWII generation and thought you might like to read this Daily mail article about that generation today. It is to be found  HERE.
So, I shall check in but most likely not every day this holiday week. Have fun all and remember, Happy Homemaking.

9 July 1956 “Eleanor Roosevelt’s My Day”

Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day" was a syndicated newspaper column published from 1935 to 1962. During those years, Eleanor wrote the column consistently six days a week, the only interruption being when her husband died, and even then she missed only four days.
So, today, I will let her speak. You can read what I might have read today in her column.
HYDE PARK—The recent airplane tragedy over the Grand Canyon dramatically points up the fact that human failure and coincidence rarely can be accounted for.
We probably should have realized long ago that, with increased air travel, we should make a more careful study of the coordination of aircraft controls if it is true, as I read in the newspapers, that in this air accident one plane was flying in its allotted lane and the other plane's pilot was told he could fly 1,000 feet above the storm, bringing it into the same lane.
If this was what happened, then there should be some way of communicating changes of orders which are given to the pilots. But there still is the coincidence factor, which must have amounted to a matter of seconds in bringing these two planes together at the same spot at the same time.
How such things can be prevented, I don't know. But we must try to develop the best possible safeguards in aircraft control, and this problem is going to become increasingly difficult to solve as air traffic grows.
Someone pointed out the other day that the loss of lives in this tragic accident would not equal the number of lives lost over the Fourth of July holiday (128 persons perished in the double air crash and Fourth of July traffic accidents killed 138 in the nation), yet we continue to use automobiles just as we continue to fly airplanes.
There probably is something that also could be done to make motoring less dangerous, if everyone observed all the traffic rules and automobiles were not geared to ever-increasing speed, which seems to be the objective of every automobile maker.
So many more persons are involved in operation of cars every day that the education of all drivers is becoming increasingly more important. I am glad that some schools are beginning to teach young people, even before they are eligible to drive a car, that good judgment is necessary and probably only comes with age.
Perhaps with good training we may lessen the recklessness of young people, who have been responsible for a great many accidents. They are often so much quicker in their reactions that they become overconfident and, at some point, this overconfidence betrays them.
However, there are more fatal accidents involving drivers over 50 years old than those where the drivers are under 20. That is probably because the older people react more slowly in an emergency and, while they generally drive more carefully, they are not as apt to be as alert to what others will do. Therefore, when they are involved in an accident, it is likely to be a serious one.
All we older people can do so as not to endanger ourselves or others is to try to keep our minds constantly on the road when we are driving and not be distracted by anything that makes us less alert to the things that are happening along our line of travel.

8 July 1956 “Children’s Rooms”

I had visitors all day, so I apologize for the late posting, but I do want to stay up to my one post a day schedule.
So, to keep it short and sweet, I thought I would scan and share these two images from a Home improvement magazine from 1954. The article (if you click on them you can read them) is about expanding into the attic. What I find so interesting is the bravery and single minded focus of such interior design. There is no wishy washy attitude here. There is a theme, a color palette and they go all out.
As I have mentioned before, the more I am exposed to vintage images and magazines, the more my own esthetic has changed. I know view these vinyl or linoleum floors in a new light. They allow endless design possibilities and must be a treat to vacuum and mop.
I might actually steal the idea from the little boys room for the aquarium build in. I love vintage aquariums (though they are hard to come by and are quite expensive) and look how clever this one is built in. Especially for goldfish, as you can enjoy them head on in a traditional aquarium manner, or from the top, such as you would a koi pond. Though, such a setup would not be good if you have cats.
I hope this little article provides a fun diversion for a small and late post today. Happy Homemaking to all.

7 July 1956 “Sewing Dresses and Drawing”

I realize I have not discussed my sewing in awhile. I just finished my July dress. I wanted a vintage look like this.  This pattern has a similar look on the top. Something along these lines. Only, I couldn’t find a vintage pattern, but I did find this. Simplicity 3823. Now, this pattern has a full gathered skirt, which would look great with a petticoat. Only, I had wanted to use this fabric for my summer dress.I am not sure you can really tell the color, but it is lovely summery pink, yellow and brown on a white ground. I thought it very vintage and fun. Since I did not have enough to do a full gored skirt, I cut out the top and then used the remainder of the fabric and pleated the skirt around. I am quite happy with the result. Hubby snapped this shot of me quick before he went off to work.You can see it needs to be pressed and I wanted to show how it looked without my petticoat. But as I was home alone, I had to snap the shot of it with the petticoat myself with the timer and only got the skirt, but you get the idea.You can see it will not puff out like a circle or gored skirt, but still has a nice swing. I also left a very large hem, as it seems vintage clothes in person and photos always have a very generous hem. I wondered about that and thought, I am sure when your profit margin depends on pennies (as the mass produced chinese clothes that are sold at Gap, Walmart, Old navy heck most places) every little bit of fabric counts. So we are just used to really small hems or no hems on jersey or blanket stitching. I noticed, with a full hem (this fabric is even doubled under there and then hemmed at about 6 inches) it adds a nice weight to the skirt.
I think this vintage vogue pattern is a great way for me to ‘alter’ this pattern as well.Don’t you love the little Peter Pan collar on the top! I will make one like that I think.
My June dress was for the 4th of July. I altered my other dress pattern that I had made with the rolled collar, remember my March Dress I used that pattern but did a Peter Pan collar instead. I will share it later, as I have no pictures of it. It is,of course, red, white and blue.
I am so bad at getting pictures of myself. I also am not sure I really want to plaster pictures of myself up here all the time. There is something very MySpace about it. I don’t know. Maybe if I treat it like art photography. For example, I like taking the dress photo and making it black and white to look vintage.I was also inspired to do a silly up close photo of myself (again hard to do, not sure how teens do it all the time)I was inspired by the model Jean Patchetts beauty mark and so did this shot with my ‘painted on’ mark and wearing one of my hats. The flash sort of went off in my face.
I am not sure why I am not 100% comfortable about many pictures of myself here. I should really think about why that is.
Well, besides not sharing my dresses lately, I have also not been sharing my drawings/comics. I feel my cartoon style has been evolving and feeling more vintage. Here is one I did yesterday.You can click on it to see it larger. I have not felt yet ready to show any of my paintings, but I have been so busy with the yard and my chicken house project (that post is coming, I promise, in all it’s detailed boring glory).
Well, simple daily posts so I am off. I hope all have a lovely day and Happy Homemaking.

6 July 1956 “1950’s Models and Our Body Image”

This image of one of the famous models of the 50’s, Jean Patchett, is quite intriguing to me. First off, I adore that suit and cannot see how a body hugging outfit that also stays in place when you move, is not considered sexy today. Or at least, that is what I assume, since modern bathing suits seem to be less fabric than a handkerchief and held up by the grace of God.
Jean Patchett was one of the five or six main models of the 1950’s (their version of supermodel, only better dressed off camera). So, the second thing I find interesting about this image are her legs. In many photos of Jean in dresses, you can see her very thin frame, yet here, in a bathing suit with no girdle and her thighs showing, you can see she has a ‘natural’ thigh. And by ‘natural’ I mean it is not so overtly muscled that one needs to constantly be pounding energy drinks and doing 800 reps on the stair master. The ability to maintain this sort of basically male musculature would be all consuming. And I have to say, when I saw the thighs on Jean in that bathing photo, I suddenly felt better about my own legs. That tells me the POWER of media, even here in 1956. To see someone in the high fashion world suddenly have what we would consider in 2010 as ‘thick thighs’ does wonders for a gal.
Jean came onto the scene at the very beginning of the 1950’s in Vogues quintessential 1 January 1950 cover. Her face, with her natural beauty mark, set a tone for make up and the look of the coming decade.
The other main models of the decade were Dovima , Dorian Leigh , Suzy Parker , Evelyn Tripp and Lisa Fonssagrives
Now, it is clear to see that all these models are certainly thinner than your average housewife, but they have a real body. You can see in Evelyn Tripp’s photo with the cat, her arms are shapely not skeletal. I am sure the sad bit of these women is cigarettes probably paid a major role in their weight and I know Jean Patchet dies in 2002 of emphysema. That is one lie I wish I could tell the ladies here in 1950’s, about the tobacco companies. And, oddly enough, if they simply made a cigarette with tobacco and no tar and added chemicals and bits of minute broken glass so one’s lips receive tiny slits to therefore become addicted quicker, perhaps cigarettes would have taken another turn. The greed and insatiable demand to want more and more money and not be happy with a good income making a trustworthy product has been taking over the American conscious since the turn of the 20th century. The new man, the Industrialist, wanted it all and at any cost. I wish, in any time, we could learn to curb that human trait. But, I suppose, really we are simply using our animal instinct to take and take to survive, but we are meant to be civilized, which means to think and consider.
Well, I am not sure how a photo of a bathing suit made me think of all that. Yet, there it is. I suppose my only point was, then I saw that image of that famous and thin model and saw her legs, even a hint of what we would call cellulite today, I suddenly felt a little better about myself. Sometimes 1956 can be very forgiving and uplifting to a gal. Even here, we can see she is very thin, yet see the softness in her leg. There is a spot where here bathing suit cuts into her leg and has a bulge. This, I think, is natural. The leg is not meant to be a stone pillar. It can have a beauty in its softness. That doesn’t mean be unhealthy, but I wonder, is it healthy for your mind to worry about what ‘squishes out’? And, 2010 fashions, with their low rise and where they hit the body, is just asking to make folds and ‘squishes’, it is a scary cycle of impossible body shape, unflattering fashion, and photo shopped photos on magazine covers.
When Gussie and I were at the 4th of July parade, we made note of many fuller frames that would have looked so good in a simple cotton dress hitting the waist and a fuller skirt to cover the ‘bulges’ and turn them into the lovely soft female silhouette. Yet, these frames, really the average frame, looks like a tree trunk as there is no shape to the tops and the shorts hit below the waist, forming, basically, a large lump with a head. Now, I know it is not everyone’s responsibility to look nice for me, far from it, but I wonder how much better they would feel about themselves. Even without losing weight, that modern game “Oh, I will get that or wear that once I lose this many pounds” would be a weight less wretched with a 50’s silhouette. Why wait? You can always bring in the dress. But, the boon to your self esteem, the way it makes you feel is worth it. And the 50’s shape does not have to be done all out vintage, if you wear a 1950’s full skirted dress without a petticoat, no  gloves or hat and simple sandals, you will not look old fashioned and you WILL look better shaped.
Well, just for fun, here are more fashion shots of Jean to enjoy. Yes, she is model thin, but many of these outfits would do wonders for a fuller figure.

Happy Homemaking and Dressmaking!