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Remembrance of New Years Eve Past Pt III
The final countdown to New Years Eve 1960 had begun. It was a few minutes to midnight and that marvelous World of Tomorrow was nearly here. While my parents New Years Eve party was in full swing, I...
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Back to The Future Pt.III Retro Tech for the Suburbs
Leisure in the Suburbs The future suburbanite as envisioned by mid-century ad men would have a life of unparalleled ease. The future of the past was populated with robotic like contractions that...
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Memories of the Mid-Century Flu Outbreak: PT II
In the cold winter of 1957, my Mother came down with a nasty case of the Asiatic flu that was spreading through the country. Just like today, the flu was on the march and health authorities everywhere...
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The Jet Age Hits Suburbia
Morning Lift Off Intruding upon on our leisurely Sunday morning breakfast in the winter of 1958, the rude roar of the airplane passing overhead totally obliterated the happy snap, crackle and pop...
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Occupation: 1960 Housewife
The mid-century American Housewife was the most envied woman in the world…smart…yet easy-going with never-you-mind freedom; that was the new Mrs. America! “To be an American woman today,” Life...
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The Real Housewives of the Cold War
Like most women growing up in the 1950s and 1960s I was fed a generous serving of sugar-coated media stereotypes of happy homemakers who were as frozen and neatly packaged as the processed foods they...
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Mom’s Suburban Supermarket Adventures
One day while flipping through a 3 year old, dog-eared magazine while waiting for her hair to dry at the Glam-A- Rama Beauty Parlor, my mid-century Mom happened upon an article in the May 1955 issue...
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Supermarket Adventures Pt II: The Case of The Supermarket Sleuth
One day while flipping through a 3-year-old, dog-eared magazine while waiting for her hair to dry at the Glam-A- Rama Beauty Parlor, my mid-century Mom happened upon an article in the May 1955 issue...
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Supermarkets, Strollers and Suburbia
In this day and age when you have to maneuver yourself through a flotilla of McClaren strollers manned by an army of nannies and stay-at-home-moms just to place an order at the supermarket deli...
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On the Front Lines With Coca Cola Pt. 1
Vintage Coca Cola Ads (1953) (R) WWII ad 1944 Coke in New Zealand During WWII the boys overseas were fighting for Mom, apple pie and a bottle of Coke. Coca Cola, as much a part of the American Dream...
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July 4th Hot Diggety Dog
Gathering for the Family Backyard Barbecue-Vintage illustration McCall’s Magazine 1955 A summer staple at my 1960′s family barbeques was the ritual hot dog competition not in competitive eating but...
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Remembrance of July 4th Parades Past
With the acrid smell of firecrackers lingering in the hot summer air, mid-century memories of July 4th Parades past return. The 1950s American Dream made manifest, the annual Independence day parade...
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Suburban Lawn Doctor
Vintage Beer Ad 1952 Beer Belongs Campaign- Home life in America Series #69 “Saturday Afternoon at the lake front illustrator: Douglass Crockwell Images of a green, velvety carpet of grass remain...
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Christmas- The True Festival of Lights
The coincidence of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving this year has set things off balance, and finally given the Jews an edge in the Festival of Lights. Normally, while Jews across the country begin...
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A Post-War Primer on Mother Nature
(L) Vintage illustration Little Golden Book “We Help Daddy” 1962 illustration by Eloise Wilkin (R) Vintage ad for Pesticides for garden pests Birds and the Bees First day of spring conjures up a...
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Decorating With DDT
Just as mid-century garden nurseries were busy preparing for spring, filling their shelves with packets of seeds and cans of DDT, so American parents were diligently decorating their baby nurseries...
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The Occidental Oriental
Vintage Ad Chun King American Chinese Food 1957 My Mom was one smart cookie…fortune cookie that is. When my mid-century Mom wanted to go exotic..she’d go Oriental and thanks to Chun King canned chow...
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Post War Pesticides on Parade
1954 advertisement Breathe Easier Mid Century America was the golden age of pesticides and it was love at first sight. Any thoughts about Earth Day and the environment lay far in the future. Thousands...
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Selling the Nuclear Family
Has the selling of the 1950’s nuclear family finally reached it’s expiration date? In a consumer culture of unlimited choices, Madison Avenue has long sold only one brand of the American family…and it...
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All American Barbecue
The Smell of Democracy in the Air Every July 4th our split level development would be shrouded by the smoke of burning charcoal, the sizzling smell of democracy was in the air. Besides a parade,...
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