December 1958 Good Housekeeping Magazine

Here is the Good Housekeeping magazine from December 1958, part of my collection of vintage magazines. 

The Year's End review article was very interesting. Movies included Tom Thumb and Amahl and the Night Visitors was showing on television. The Purple People Eater "harassed the eardrums," Volare was all over the airwaves, and Elvis Presley got married and was in the service. Sputnik II and Explorer were orbiting the Earth, Hillary and his dog team reached the South Pole while the atomic sub Nautilus cruised under the North Pole. The Bridge Over the River Kwai won six Academy Awards and Sunrise at Campobello won a drama award. Anatomy of a Murder and Peyton Place were published. The Yankees won the pennant. "Trouble bubbled in Little Rock, and a few South American neighbors threw a few rocks." "King Faisal of Iraq was murdered in a coup and the U.S. Marines landed in Lebanon." Hula hoops were the new fad and Alaska was granted statehood.

I had several Hula hoops and was quite adept. I never forgot when I visited my mom's cousins Linda and Patty and they played The Purple People Eater for me. I actually recall seeing the Bridge Over the River Kwai, although my today's standards I was too young for it. And Volare was all over the airwaves. 

I was a huge Roy Rogers and Gene Autry fan! I watched the old movies on television as did all my friends. We would argue over who got to play Gene or Roy and who was 'stuck' with Dale Evans.  Roy had the coolest horse, but Gene got to sing. So it is no wonder Roy Rogers was a celebrity spokesperson for children's toys. But an antique phone and 'Western' dinner set? 

Roy Roger- Dale Evans Western Dinner Set. 

 Joe Palooka Bop Bag had Ham Fisher artwork.

I loved the Shirley Temple Storybook television show. Mom had a Shirley Temple doll when a girl. i had the Miss Revlon.

What a lucky girl to receive a Russell Wright American Modern Tea Set for children in plastic with aluminum flatware!

Children's fashions were adorable. The child below modeled a raincoat in Arnel sharkskin that sold for $11.

 Below is a red cotton jumper with leotard tights from Kate Greenway which sold for $4.

Formal fashions were also shown in the magazine. For $9 you could buy this (see photo below)  Helen Lee of Alyssa cotton-sateen dress with organdy lining and petticoat. The child is elegantly poised and wears white gloves as well.

Below left is an embroidered cotton-sateen dress with sash from Kate Greenway, selling for $8, and a cotton-sateen dress with Empire belt and lined in Dacron mesh, $8 from Muppets.

What an adorable ad!

 When not attending a formal affair, what did these munchkins eat? Tang and bozed pizza!

Of course there were recipes throughout the magazine.

Which Mom baked in her new Caloric gas range.

For more elegant meals, Mom would have used her Pyrex casseroles.

My mom loved her Sunbeam frypan. I wish I had it now.

Mom used her hand mixer when making pancakes to cook in the frypan. (Ours was turquoise.)

We had Melmac dishes in our family. But here is Idealware refrigerator-to-tableware in Mamie pink. 

Paper plates, napkins, and cups have been around a long time!

When mom cleaned up the kitchen she tossed the laundry in her new gas dryer from Norge.

Tammis Keefe is one of my favorite Mid-century fabric designers. I have a nice collection of her handkerchiefs. She also designed towels, cocktail napkins, and more. 

 A few years ago the towel below was reproduced and I bought several panels!

 The Keefe towels were linen,, but terrycloth was also sold.

When Mom's work was done it was time to party. Skirts were full, fuller, and fullest. The skirts below were made with ten yards of tulle and decorated with velvet ribbon and other trims.

Here are the instructions for making the fabric roses.

 For the home sewer, the Simplicity dress pattern below features a 'harem skirt' in red cotton sateen.

A quick and simple party top could be made in a morning from two squares of wool and several yards of trim. 

The stole pictured below was another DIY project.

 It is hard to imagine a slipper with a heel as high as on the Daniel Green below!

Those fancy dresses required sturdy under garments like a Warner's girdle and maidenform bra.

 Checks were on trend, suitable for all ages, male and female.

I get a kick out of this Royal vacuum cleaner ad. It looks just like the one I bought in 1991 and still use.

This issue also included several short stories with marvelous art and was loaded with poetry.

This is just a glance into the 200+ page magazine! I hope you enjoyed this look back in time. 

Fifty One Years Ago: June 1963 Trends, Fashion, Decor and The Kennedys

In June of 1963 I was ten years old and we were moving to Michigan from New York State in 1963. 

I am fifty years older now, and moving again!

Did you ever wear swim caps covered with big rubber flowers? Mom's was in turquoise and aqua. I used to borrow it when I was in swimming class in high school. It must have looked pretty dorky by 1966! Then, I was also wearing Mom's old Jantzen swim suit, a one-piece built like an exoskeleton, until she bought me a new one when I was 15.

We want to remodel the 1969 kitchen and are replacing the 1980s appliances.What kind of kitchen was modern in 1963? Colonial decorating was still in.

 We never had a dishwasher, and Mom died in 1990 without ever having owned one. I did not know that bottom drawer refrigerators were around back then either.

What foods were in the kitchen? Spam, Tang, and Bosco!

We ate on Melmac dishes.

 Everything was being made of plastic. It was new.

 We bought vacuums that had not changed much over the years.

 But the luggage was no longer cardboard or fabric, it was plastic and streamlined....and "fashionable."

Mom still collected Green Stamps and turned them in for cool things, like metal coolers in red and tan plaid.

Swimsuits were modest.

 Little girls wore cute sun sets.

The following year Skipper from Mattel came out, wearing a cute sun set.

Simplicity Patterns offered patterns for simple shifts. It looks so formless to me now.

Platinum Blonde Bombshells were considered beautiful. This Breck ad advertised products for tinted, toned or bleached hair. And suggested watching Gene Kelley in "Going My Way" to be aired on ABC-TV on Wednesday at 8:30 E.D.T.

From Bombshell to innocence, gingham for Mom and Daughter, complete with embroidery ideas.

Magazines always had a few short stories. 

We were obsessed by President Kennedy and Jackie.

It is hard to believe, but a poll conducted by Good Housekeeping found that the majority of American women were not impressed by Jacklyn Kennedy! She was not considered beautiful, women were not impressed with her television persona, and most thought too much attention was given to Jackie. And yet they also thought she was the best First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt! People liked Jackie's intelligence, her renovation of the White House, and proficiency in foreign languages. They did not like the extensive press publicity of the Kennedy family, and 15% did not like Jackie's speech and her hair style. The women also thought she spent too much time away from her children and they wanted her to wear a hat to church.

The woman who popularized the pill box hat, which I had to wear to church age age 11, was criticized for not wearing a hat to church? 

As for President Kennedy, people did not like the Kennedy Dynasty and his big family! Was that a cloaked Anti-Catholic sentiment? They thought he was too wealthy to understand Middle America. 

Most of the panelists felt that the Kennedy's marriage was off-limits and nobody's business.

Kennedy came out ahead in mock contests against Romney and Goldwater. But the panel also gave no evidence that there were "permanently committed" to voting for Kennedy. A large majority were "uneasy about the President's propensity for accelerating the political progress of his relatives." 

The President was assassinated five months later. America quickly idolized Jackie. She is today one of the most admired First Ladies.