1957 Modern Screen: The Ads

The May 1957 Modern Screen is full of ads that give us a glimpse into the fashions of the time. Max Factor's Roman Pink lipstick ad had a real life 'Barbie doll' gal. Look at those heavily made up eyes in a side long glance, the dark arched brows, the bright lips. She is such a "doll" that it brought back to life an ancient Roman sculpture. His eyes are pretty creepy though.

 

'Modern Screen Beauty' suggests trying a new hair color, like Arlene Dahl's. Every one's doing it after all. "When you've bleached your hair to a completely pale blond shade you can test your secret yearning to be a redhead by using a temporary color."

Then you had to keep that hair clean and in place.

I remember Mom putting her hair up in pin curls.

Solitair "moisture makeup" contained "Vita-Lite" to restore moisture. Use it and look like those co-eds.

 

Those 'detergent hands' were a dead giveaway that you were a working gal. Working in the home that is. 

To be attractive you also had to smell good. 

 

 Hope chests to store up all those things you needed at marriage...

 Movies out included 12 Angry Men with Peter Fonda. A classic.

 

"Summer wardrobe" necessities--slips and girdles and granny pants.

The magazine includes an ad for the novel Raintree County by Ross Lockridge. The only reason for this ad was that the movie based on the book was released in 1957. 

I have read the book. I really liked the book. But I doubt many 1957 housewives would have been able to get through the book. It is over a thousand pages long. It is told in a series of flashbacks. The language is gorgeous in the style of Thomas Wolfe, but more stream-of-consciousness. It draws from mythology and is full of symbolism. 

The movie version of Raintree County starred Elizabeth Taylor.

It isn't just the American myth that Mr. Lockridge sets out to re-create; it's the myth that governs Life itself. Raintree County isn't simply the secret source of American life; it is also the Garden of Eden, and the raintree is the Tree of Knowledge whose golden boughs shed fertilizing blossoms on the land. Raintree County is nothing short of a primer of human Kultur: it refurbishes the Bible legends and the ancient myths, popularizes Freud's Totem and Taboo and Frazer's Golden Bough, delves into literature, history, ethics, psychiatry, religion. Every character, every event, is loaded with a portentous symbolism. 

Read the full 1948 Atlantic Magazine review at: http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/classrev/raintree.htm

http://www.raintreecounty.com

http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/classrev/raintree.htm

http://www.collectorsworldonline.com/raintree-county.html