25 January 1956 “Movie on a Saturday: Man in the Grey Flannel Suit”

This film made in 1956 starring Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones was based on the best selling novel of 1955 of the same name. I really fell in love with this movie in my own 1955. It touches on the growing reality of the commercialism, TV culture and Business based new post war world. The feeling of the man, returned from the terrors of war to face a world he fought to save that seems almost sad and bleak in its own way.

There are also just great moments of vintage life: The kitchen scene at the beginning. The look of the lovely old house that is just a White Elephant in the 1950’s as taxes and general costs couldn’t allow someone in the same family to ever build or run a house like that again.( These type of homes were often sold off, torn down and all their beautiful grounds turned into subdivisions for the growing post war families. )

The moments when we see the father trying to pry his children from the TV who seem to always be watching an endless Western where people are getting shot. Their passive attitude at the deaths they see in the Westerns Juxtaposed with the flashbacks of War time when one is often pushed to the ultimate human cruelty simply to get a warm coat to survive.

It is just a good all round film and the perfect thing for a Saturday afternoon. Or better yet, get up  a light buffet style supper, have friends round, dress vintage and watch this together like a Saturday night date. You won’t be disappointed.

24 January “Other’s who Choose the Past: Sometimes it is just a nice place to visit, You may even choose to Live there.”

I am finding, thanks to the modern invention of the computer and internet, that there are more and more people choosing to live a vintage life.

These two short films show a few examples of people willing to take the step back full time. Even those with children seem to find it a doable life. I often find these are people who live overseas. For some reason those I find in the USA haven’t got past the simple decorative lifestyle. I call it the “Film Set” lifestyle. It is about setting up a sort of stage of items, old boxes of dish soap, antique makeup etc, but they are not used. They are set down upon shelves to be looked at.

I admit when I first began my project I had somewhat of that obsession to buy and buy more things to get the ‘look’. But, as my project required me to use as much as I could, I had to dig in and take that item down and use it. And when I couldn’t get old soap flakes, I had to see how they made their own. This last step of not just wanting another decorating style but to actually change your life seems the final magic element that is life changing.

This past year I have tried to be more modern. To simply slip back into the modern ways, but I see it is not so easy. I am like the depressed traveler back to work, dreaming of the sun soaked beaches of that lovely holiday only to be burdened by the endless drone of my working day. But, for me, the holiday was the past and the working day the modern world.

I certainly would like anyone to prove me wrong that it seems there are more clubs and groups of people living the lifestyle overseas than the USA.  It would be great to know there are more people in this country who aren’t just in it to decorate their homes. When you peel back the glamour of simply changing your decor by having the ‘look’ of that vintage magazine on your coffee table,  but you actually start reading it you begin to think differently; to evaluate the modern world and what is imporant in it and what is a load of stuff and nonsense, When you begin to immerse yourself in old radio and music and the shows and the books do you begin to feel the reality of it. You start to think things like,

“I had better save that last bit of soap. How can I make that weekly meal plan more economical?  What is a better way to run my home. How can I save ?”( a very outdated idea to the modern average person)? How can I help myself and others in ways that does not involve just using a credit card? What is a better way to even get around.”

Really when it comes right down to it, what that last step into the past does do is it simply makes you THINK. Sometimes I feel like the modern world is so fast and so many things are just being shown to you all the time that we don’t think. We buy what is shown to us in between the shows we have to watch and are too busy to do more for ourselves or to even consider our budgets to notice the debt we are all in. A 20 year old boy in 1955 earning the then minimum wage of $1 an hour (now over $8 an hour when you adjust for inflation) wouldn’t have thought, “Buying a phone that costs two weeks wages? and then paying a service plan for it that costs two weeks wages each month? Sure that sounds like a great idea!”

I have many vintage things now. I was lucky enough last year to finally get a really good running 1953 GE refrigerator. Many people thought I was crazy and said, “Oh, they are not cost effective,. they waste energy” But somehow that didn't’ seem like it could be true.I had a good think about it.

It was better made. It had been running non stop without repair since it was purchased new. It has a single door on the outside that clamps tight with the old handle so the seal on the door is so tight. We have found that it uses less energy, as it rarely needs to turn on. It does not have a frostless freezer, as do modern versions. But, we found with this that it does not dry out food. This we discovered because it isn’t running the defrosting mechanism which takes more energy and is always sucking out air when it drains out the frozen vapors that are required to have a frostless freezer. I also have never bought a new refrigerator that didn’t die after a few years and this one has never stopped running since 1953!.

I found out that modern fridges are mostly foam in the doors and walls covered with metal laminate. This old version is basically built like an old car from the 1950’s using steel and air to better conserve the cold inside. IT was built when quality and longevity was important. This is good for the look of the thing as well, but the reality of it is it really is a better product cheaper to run and cheaper to buy. And there is a certain satisfaction when I hear that door hinge open and close or when I pull out that metal enameled crisper drawer with its shiny chrome. It has a weight and gravitas that a cheap plastic drawer in a modern fridge could never mimic.

I think my next big move towards better past living will be my car. I intend to keep moving back in time with that. I currently have a Volvo station wagon from 1997. Last year we considered trading it in on a newer used version of the car from the mid 2000’s. After hubby and I test drove it we couldn’t get over how the newer versions did not feel as solid as our older model. And the more rounded bigger shaped interior took away more leg room and made visibility less good. We decided to keep her and instead just do more repairs as needed. But, a car of this decade still has computer chips. My goal is to get to a car that does not.

I would love something from the 1950’s or earlier but they are rather dear and first and foremost we must consider our pocketbooks. So, I wish to get something maybe from the 1970’s learn a bit about basic maintenance and what we can do and what our mechanic can handle and then as we learn, moving back to an earlier version car will make sense for us. With the ultimate goal to be a car from the early 1950s or even to the early 1930’s and simply keep it forever with proper maintenance and care.

Well, that was all a bit of a ramble wasn’t it? But, you can get my overall gist of the thing: Learning to look to the past for the good. Then you find yourself wanting to emulate it for its interest and beauty and then diving in deeper to find more joy and reality in the past then one sometimes gets in the future.  It is hard sometimes to walk this tightrope between past and present and it would be such a dream to find a town somewhere that simply wanted to rebuild to the past. Who knows, if the economy continues to decline and we find ourselves at the tail end of another housing bubble, maybe a town will be available cheap. I can see the advert now:

FOR SALE: One town. Small business lost to malls and big box stores. Production converted to overpriced lofts and Retail. Failed Retail moving to Internet Sales. Completely abandoned now ready for enterprising time travelers to rebuild. Good arable land. Plenty of space to grow. $1

I hope all have a lovely day and enjoy the shorts:

23 January 1915 “The New Electric Home”

I found this interesting newsreel from 1915 America. World War I has started but the U.S. is not yet involved. In fact it is now called the “European War” as things are happening over there. It is interesting to see the new ideas for the home as far back as 1915 and with the bright promise electricity held. A very interesting thing to note is that the car they first arrive in is indeed electric.

At this point in time there are more electric cars on the road than gasoline. And the gas fired engines were considered more dangerous and called ‘gasoline explosive cars’. Even Henry Ford’ wife, Clara, refused to drive a gas car and instead had an electric one. She drove the 1914 model 47 You can see that the electric cars held more of the antique look of a horsed carriage as it didn’t need all the room in the front for a large engine and all the moving parts that are required for the internal combustion engine. I wouldn’t mind one of these for a nip about town or to do my marketing.

Also notice in the film reel that servants are still prevalent at a modest Middle Class home. It wont be until post WWI that the servant begins to dwindle. The increased amount of new taxation created for the War effort remains and effects the middle class. Many could no longer afford the cost of servants with added taxes and these ladies moved into factory production instead.

Have a lovely day and think of how much we take electricity for granted today. And I wonder if we are ever to have electric cars again if we could have some new model shapes that won’t have to copy the look of the internal combustion engine so we might, if we chose, have a more vintage or antique looking vehicle more equipped for day trips and to do our shopping in?

22 January 1954 “Spanx? No Thanks! Beautifully Housed Media? Yes Please! What’s old and cherished might be new again.

Many of we modern women know what spanx are. And quiet literally they are simply girdles. But, why are they so flat and ugly? Why are they not as pretty as these undergarments? Though many a lady kept her Lingerie catalogue tucked away from curious little eyes, today these images are quite tame compared to what little Johnny might see on TV, Computer, or really walking down the street or through the mall. Enjoy them today, however, without any need to tuck them away on the china cabinet top shelf behind Grandmother’s silver. They can be found at My Vintage Vogue.

It is also of interest that in the past while ones undergarments were also prettily decorated, so too was the entertainment gadgets. While today we may see endless ‘upgrades’ to the actual viewing, then technology added maybe then promise of better sound or clearer picture. Of equal importance was how this was to be housed. The way in which it was to be used in the decor of you home. This also blatantly points out that one was investing in a TV, Radio, HiFi for the long haul. The price was high (very little credit about) and one expected to keep it for their lifetime. The history of items had told consumers then that one could buy a thing and keep it for future generations. But, now the increase in technology and ever advancing need to sell more was brushing up against these old ideals. That is why the 1950’s is such an example of the crest of that wave of old ideals of longevity and quality with the impending movement towards ever changing and throw away.

I don’t need to go into a long tirade on the throw away consumer culture in which we all dwell. WE all now well and good how we live in a society that buys buys buys and then tosses away. Thus,  I suppose it makes sense that one’s firming undergarments snag easily and are tossed, Why bother making them pretty? Its not as if they will be lovingly washed, bows ironed and then placed in a sweet smelling lingerie drawer lined with scented papers.Found decades later in antique shops and thrift shops by new generations of girls who think, “Wow these are great’. Nor are we to expect to keep whatever TV or Computer we buy for longer than 6 months to a year. So lets just incase it all in ugly plastic and toss it on the pile when we are done. What will fill our Thrift shops and Antique stores in 100 years? I honestly don’t know.

There is a definite loss of general beauty to today. Some may find the idea of a large cabinet with your TV and HiFi in too much like Grandma. but I say, we would care more for things, spend less and have more money in the bank (though we get no interest today on our savings like they did in the 1950s) if we were a bit more like Granny. Of course today many readers may have a Granny who was simply a child in the 1950’s. I won’t disparage the baby boomers, but I must admit when I look about today and see the ‘new’ old people are the Baby Boomers, I long for the sensibility, control of purse strings, strength of character of the ‘old people’ when I was younger. A time when one could look at Granny and think, “Wow, she made it through the Depression” Or “She valiantly stood the hardships of war while her hubby/brother/son/father was off to war (when we spoke about the wars we were involved in.)

It’s odd that I often feel older than the ‘older generations’ today. The sensibilities that came to me over my project make me not only sometimes seem the oddball to my own generation but the Baby Boomers with their ‘cool James Dean’ ways and ME attitude can be a bit scary. But, I digress, and I should not lump an entire generation into one view.

Back to the beauty of the past. I like the looks of these old TV/Media cabinets. They were designed to go with your old furniture which you got from your Granny and lovingly rubbed lemon oil and beeswax into.

If you love the look of these wonderful cabinets and the beauty of old TV then check out the TV History Page for more wonderful views.

There is a lovely movement however to house computers in wonderfully wooden Victorian style cabinetry. This is a modern computer in all this lovely wood with the typewriter as keyboard. You can view more of these lovely wooden dream computers HERE.

Or a more modern use keyboard made with wood and typewriter keys such as these: Or if one cares to have a more 1950’s look simply the screen as paper in your vintage typewriter: This can be bought Here.

I try to hold onto things as long as possible but sometimes with things like computers they simply won’t work any longer. Though the computer I am using for this post is over 6 years old.

There has to be a way for we modern people to add more lasting beauty to the fleeting reality of our modern lives? Have you any suggestions?

January 19-22 “Lucy has a baby and Dwight D. Eisenhower wins”

I have missed the blog. It is a new year and a new start. I aim to post daily of the past. They will sometimes be simple posts of a few things of interest. There may also be posts in-depth as in the old days. But, this year is about looking at the past and Vintage living in a new light. A way to allow the past to touch our daily lives in a light spirited and happy way.

On 19 January 1953 71% of all Televisions were tuned in to see Lucy give birth. It gives one pause to think how long the TV has been apart of our lives. There are now generations that are passing to which the TV was part of their life, albeit later in their life. But, today, we look around and see most people even those we call ‘old’ having grown up with this media. Here is a great clip from that episode. Classic scripted comedies seem to be sadly a thing of the past.

Dwight D. Eisenhower wins today! He was a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. Many feel the Eisenhower years were a time when the powers that be and the common man were closer than ever. The middle class will grow this decade and the disparagement between the salary of the head of a corp. and the man on the line was closer than ever. Today, we find this division closer to the Edwardian Age of the late 1890’s-1900s.

Here we can enjoy Eisenhower’s inaugural address in full. I think it is important to hear it if one is an American.

 

And lets end this little post with a top song from 1953 with the lovely Teresa Brewer. Happy Vintage Living.

17 October 1945 “Cake Baking, Eddy Dukkers, LIttle Audrey, In The Studio and CrabCakes”

I recently did a few images for an art customer playing on such terms as Lobster Pot and Crab Cake” So, I thought I’d share the Crab Cake version. It was made for a greeting/event card and subsequently will be a shirt and bag. The inspiration, per my yearly project, was the past, 1950’s of course.

But first, as we are talking “Cake”, well sort of, I thought I’d share this video from 1945. It was put out by Betty Crocker and was to espouse their new one bowl easier method to cake baking. I have to admit that I was spurred onto simply making one of my favorite cake recipes in one bowl and found the result just as nice. And certainly the clean up was far easier. The film is entitled, “How to Bake a Cake:400 years in 4 minutes”. Their idealized version of the Past’s Cake baking is cute and very early Post War Quaint, I would call it. Though the modern version of the cake making is quite good and helpful.

Now, I won’t bother going into any sort of silly long apologies or excuses for my absence again. It is simply that with the added responsibility of my new Art plan for the coming year, I must find better ways to divide my time. When I was a full time homemaker, I had to learn to break up all the hats one must wear in that position and I believe I did it. Though it did take me some time and effort, but the result will always be dependent upon the hard work and diligence put into it. Just as I had to learn how to work Laundry and Marketing and Cleaning and Cooking/Baking and the list goes on, into a 7 day week while still having time for tea and magazines in the afternoon and sherry with the hubby after dinner for a wind down of my day, I too must now get a grip, as it were, on the wheel of this new vehicle I am trying to drive: Artist and Homemaker.

I am finding my training in scheduling and list making a great boon into reaching my art goals. To want to do something or to hope to create is only a small portion of the thing. The actual act of creation takes planning, organization and of course Doing. I am finding that many ‘creative’ types often feel that disarray and disorganization is meant to be part of the process. I, however, am finding that it is better to be a Homemaker in the Studio as well as in the house. There is no room for slovenly or lazy ways in either place. Now, that not is to say I don’t make a mess in the studio when I am in the actual ACT of creating, but it does mean that I have to write down and organize my thoughts and plans for the day. When I have an assignment rather for a customer or for myself (for hopefully future customers) I need to clearly put down the final goal and then flush out the steps I need to get there. And then I break that down into the days needed and here is the trick, ADD A DAY. That extra, its going to be done but this day is a ‘play day’ to make any changes or to improve on it. Then if you have it done before that day u can improve upon it. Or if you need, as I do and I think we all do sometimes, a moment of lazy or contemplative procrastination, better to do it then because at the end of the day you will know that you still have at least done the thing.

Today’s lil art project was for a customer who wanted me to make a vintage inspired image for a card bag and possibly shirt. I had done some other tongue in cheek images of things such as a Lobster Pot which was a lobster at a tea party holding a teapot…get it? Yes, obvious I know but people seemed to like it.

This image was to be Crab Cakes. I was inspired by the illustrations of a wonderful Dutch illustrator Eddy Dukkas. It is almost impossible to find any translated works that he has illustrated, but for my crab cakes I used a literal impression of this work of his here:

I love the almost tribal look of early 50’s children’s illustrations. The face has the interpretive quality of Picassos own take on Tribal African Masks.

And I love the color palette, which is as much dictated by the limited ability of printing at the time. It is similar to the early 40’s cartoons I grew up with such as old Tom and Jerry and Little Audrey.  In fact I used to walk about and sing the little Audrey song to myself all the time!

Even as I child I always loved the colors in those more than the modern cartoons of my day like Speed Racer etc. The colors always seemed so garish and loud. The muted almost brown color palettes of those early cartoons was simply due to what could be possible in the technology they had, but to me I much prefer those hues.

Here is a wonderful look at more of Dukkers work. Here are some pages of a book Karel and Mienet. A story of a boy and his cat and the adventures they have. I don’t speak Dutch but I do love the illustrations. These are from the early 1950’s.

So my version is this:

I took liberties and used the color palette. I wanted that sharp almost tribal flatness mixed with a cookbook illustration of a cake. This is the preliminary work. It will get separated and turned into screens to print onto paper and fabric. I think it will made an adorable card and will look really spiffing on a bag.

I hope all are having a lovely day and Happy Homemaking and Happy Arting.

24 September 1959 “Kraft Music Hall with Milton Berle in Color, Clam Dip and Today’s Art”

My first installation here on this year’s Vintage art project comes from this great graphic from a 1958 cookbook. I found this image, as I found many graphic arts of the time, intriguing in its simple line and use of color. It expresses so much with a line drawing and some splotches of color. I deduced to do my first piece using the woman and playing on her location a bit. I’ll reveal that at the end of the post.
Now, Kraft Music Hall was a show that began on radio and ran quite a long time. It started on Radio on NBC in 1933 and continued onto Television until 1971. Always featuring music. Many well known singers and celebrities were seen on this program which was, of course, brought to you by Kraft. So the commercials were often recipe ideas using, of course, Kraft brand products.
Here is the show in its radio days from 1942 with Bing Crosby. Enjoy the entire show if you like.

And by today, 1959, we see one of the first color recordings of the show, now hosted by Milton Berle.

Now, the original image was for Lobster dip and I think lobster is not as easy come by for many of you> I have the benefit of living on Cape Cod where they are not only easy to come by, but are caught quite close to my home. But, I think we all could follow this simple Clam Dip recipe. And what better snack to serve at your next cocktail party or bridge with the gals?

Here is how mine turned out, though I have to admit to using fresh clams, again easily got down the road at our local fishmonger.

Now,, for my art inspired by the original piece. I had fun with this idea of taking off on an image. It wont always contain a portion of the original image either, sometimes it might just be a feeling or a pattern. But, as a first go I like the result. I think this would also make wonderful wallpaper or fabric.

I hope all have a lovely day and Happy Homemaking and Happy Arting.

Coming Tomorrow

Had to finish something in studio today, so first official post/art/vintage project to be done and posted tomorrow afternoon. Apologies, but once I get going I shall be consistent.

I hope all are having a lovely day.

50sgal.

16 September “Plans Revealed”

Well, my show was a success. I sold a few things, made wonderful connections and had a chance to dress up and eat finger sandwiches with friends old and new and other artists. My life is opening in a new direction and I feel my time travel is my strength I carry into this new endeavor.

Well, having spent days literally absorbed in creating and the process of my art, I couldn’t help but formulate a new way to tie my ‘past’ (pun INTENDED) with a hopeful new future. Part of my work requires me to spend hours sorting through and dreaming upon old photos and images. Obviously the past plays a large role in my life and thus my art can only reflect that. And it is a joy, I might add, to day dream an afternoon away looking back at our sisters of the past peering happily from picnics, seashores, boats, porches, and drawing rooms. Sometimes skirts sweeping the floor other times smiling like Jean Harlow posed in a glamorous suit hamming it up to the person behind the lens. Wishing, often, to be able to hope through the image like Mary Poppins through a chalk drawing to reach those long gone faces doesn’t make me forlorn but rather reverent of their past. The wish to document their days in my own stylistic way is a pleasure and an honor.

Thus, while steeped in this lovely part of my work ( the longing and joy of old images and magazines and posters of the past strewn about me like so much detritus from a crash landing in my Time Travel ship) I hit upon the Plan the “Project” for the coming year:

I will take three days a week Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday to post my experiment (more days will hopefully come by Jan 1, but I gal wants to set a realistic goal to get her steam up!). My Project will entail me taking a page from one of my cookbooks, homemaking manuals, magazines, old ephemera that I have used in the past posts or some that I have never touched upon and apply it to my day and subsequently document it in a piece of art.

This really hit home to me as a great way to continue my homemaking skills and study and also interpreting it into a tangible piece of artwork. Say, a recipe from a magazine with lovely advertising catches my fancy, then I try out that recipe, discuss why and wherefore such advertising is used, the stylistic art and the general joy of finding such gems to the Homemaker of the past and in the end I also have a created piece of artwork in my style of printmaking.

I think this will be such fun. And if any of you really get involved you can even suggest or send me a page (digital or old fashioned) to interpret or try out. I am so looking forward to it and also to getting back into specific days chores gleaned from the pages of our past and brought to life in my home and in my artwork.

So, today I am my studio. I will share some photos of my work and the show this week. This week will be the preparation of my project and I will try to change the face of the site a bit to reflect it, as I love to do.

Then starting next week, 23 Sept, Monday, look for my first day of this new endeavor. And my hope will be stick with my three day a week schedule with the aim that come 1 Jan 2014 I will be prepared to go back to a five day a week schedule of homemaking/art interpretation. It is never to early to plan those New Years resolutions guys and gals.

And I have missed all of you so much and look forward to starting to build up some new friends and followers as well. I thing we may even find some gals who would never consider Homemaking of interest until they are drawn in by the artistic lure of it all. And we may find some new people out there in the blogosphere that suddenly find their artistic prowess has been hidden inside and can now be expressed through a wonderful new skill of baking/cooking or even the joy of fresh pressed linen sheets of a morning, the smell of coffee and crisp white linen being more Zen than hours of Yoga or Zoloft could ever give them!

Have a lovely day all and Happy Homemaking and Happy Arting.

Painting the Past

Well, I am one week before my show. I am working like crazy this week to get enough paintings/prints images ready for it. I have worked out a new schedule at my studio/gallery for my working days which will be Mon Fri and Sat. So, my blog schedule, Which will be off next week as I preapare for my show, will Now be Tues, Thurs, and Sunday.

I realized today that the real focus of my project and this year of my life is painting the past. I have lived in the past so long that its environment has become like a friend to me. It is walking in the past that feels most like coming home. 

This coming year will combine my continual obsession and research in to all things past and then my subsequent need to manifest it into something. This has been my writing and well, my living, up to now. But as the opportunity is here to be in a studio it seems the right timing.

Honestly I sort of feel as if I am back here again, like i was 1 January 1955, calling out my small little voice to no one. But, you know, eventually they all came and we had a wonderful community. My problem was I was not willing to 'brand myself' and make it into more of a business so it could sustain all the work I put into it .Now, I feel, I can write about and enjoy a part of something that I can sell small things here and there and that will give me the monetary impetus to move forward. 

So, to anyone out there I am still here. And to any new friends who stumble along, I hope you come along for the ride.

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​Solar Etching with Color Wash “The Twins”