Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

As a child I was fascinated by this mid-1950's Christmas card. The sky is made of shiny threads and I thought it was breathtaking.

Christmas 1949 - 1952

I remember looking at photos of my mom when she was a child and thinking, "Wow! That was a long time ago!" Now the same can be said of the black and white pictures that my dad lovingly placed in an album that he created to chronicle my childhood. That was a long time ago.

I've selected Christmas photos that show vintage toys and games from the late 1940's and early 1950's.

1949, Salinas, California. Yep. Long time ago. 

How did we survive the obvious dangers of toys like this one? Oh the horror!

   

In 1951 we moved to the east coast. Snow! These were taken Christmas Day in Newport, RI. 

This trio of pictures are minuscule and difficult to align on the scanner. There was a particular camera that took tiny pictures and the best were selected to be enlarged. Weird. 

In 1952 we were still living in Newport. On Christmas morning I was recovering from chicken pox and had to unwrap my presents in bed. My mom used a wringer washer just like the toy in the picture. Only bigger. I still have the Sweet Sue doll.

Taking official Christmas pictures to send to relatives had to be delayed. I don't know how much later this was but my spots were gone, the tree was still up and all the presents had been magically transported downstairs.

On the left: my mom and me.

Daddy and me.

The hemp rug was eventually stored in the garage, got wet and sprouted. 

                   My grandmother Mimi made this outfit from orange quilted material.   

It was memorably uncomfortable.  
     

My dad tried to take "professional" photos. I hated the bright spotlights and didn't cooperate. 

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These pictures raise a very important question:

What in the world happened to my bangs?

Mom's family

Every time I search through family photos I rediscover an old favorite. This is a photographic portrait of my mother's family in the late 1800's.
There's so much to love about this picture. The typical Victorian parlor. The men's mustaches and women's hairstyles. The unmarried ladies dressed in white.
The middle woman-in-white is my grandmother, Mimi. I inherited the amethyst brooch that she's wearing.  

Ack!

While working on a nostalgic Christmas post I discovered that the last time I had published anything to my blog was over a month ago. It must be the time of the year... I've noticed that some of my favorite bloggers have been unusually quiet. My excuse: writing is enjoyable but the same can't be said for scanning/uploading/saving pictures. So I've been procrastinating. Yeah, that's it.

The next entry will be done by Christmas. I ran across some pics taken in the early '50's that show me opening gifts from Santa while confined to bed. Merry Christmas and Happy Chicken Pox!

Hoover model 27 instruction booklet

Dealing with life's little annoyances has kept me from blogging. The following is an entry I had been working on a couple of weeks ago and only lacks a picture of the Hoover model 27 that lives in my basement.

In the late 1940's my parents bought a Hoover Model 27 vacuum. I was only going to show pages from the instruction manual depicting happy '40's housewives and did a little research about this particular vacuum. I wasn't able to find a complete Model 27 manual online and am including the whole thing as a reference for others.

 

The photos are amazing and amusing. So is the advice to vacuum every carpet every day.

The tools were >>>LOST BY MAYFLOWER VAN LINES<<< when we moved here.

 

I remember what a hassle it was for my mother to empty the dust bag.

The versatile, indestructible Mixmaster

Sunbeam's Mixmaster was almost indestructible. How many of us have the same sturdy old mixer used by our parents and grandparents? With proper maintenance this wonderful little machine will last for decades.

My parents used a Model 9 Mixmaster, produced in 1948. I couldn't pronounce the name correctly and instead called it a Mah-coo. Yes, I heard that story for years and years. The Mah-coo sits on my kitchen counter and still works.

In the early '50's my dad bought two optional attachments and I remember watching in the kitchen as he experimented with his new toys. When Dad tried the meat grinder- food chopper for the first time he used boiled potatoes instead of meat. I was more interested in trying to grab and eat the resulting potato-spaghetti. He also bought the drink mixer and made milkshakes with chocolate ice cream.

Other attachments shown in the instruction book provide insight into the evolution of the modern kitchen. For example, we take an electric can opener for granted but 60 years ago it was a marvelous innovation and was described with over-the-top enthusiasm. The description is also amusingly sexist, stating that women hate to open cans and have to rely on someone else to do this difficult task. Click on a picture to enlarge it.

Especially for my friend Thea... Because the instruction book generally disappears before the mixer wears out I've scanned a couple of pages related to care and maintenance.
The machine has to be oiled and greased from time to time. I've used products from the Singer Sewing Machine company to do both.

Additional information: Mixmaster collector, repairman and seller DecoDan has photos of his exceptional collection at http://www.decodan.com/Attachments .

Attic treasures #1- USS Yosemite 1956

This afternoon I ventured up to the attic for the first time in at least ten years. Spiderwebs were everywhere and I managed to remove most of them with my body. Blech!

While looking inside forgotten boxes I had a Eureka! moment. I'd been looking for these pictures for a very long time. I thought there were more than three but my old memory isn't what it used to be. :)

When my dad was the commander of the destroyer tender USS Yosemite he arranged to have a car show on her home dock in Newport, RI. It was 1956. And the cars were antiques.

Dad sitting in the car with Yosemite in the background.

Dad in front seat.

Card on window says 1917.

Aprons and appliances

My father kept a thick file of household manuals and instruction booklets for everything from flashlights to major appliances. I flipped through them looking at illustrations to see if there was anything worth writing about. Oh yeah. It became a game of Find the Apron.

During the 1950's and '60's women wore dresses with very full skirts and half-aprons to do housework. They had perfectly styled hair and freshly applied lipstick. And they always smiled.

Mother-daughter aprons.

Behold the sparkle!

Is that a foot pedal on the dryer?

Years ago refrigerators had tiny freezer compartments. My parents kept a well stocked upright freezer in the basement. The aprons here look like they were drawn as an afterthought.

My dad loved to cook. And he had a apron. It was the sort that butchers wear- plain, practical and indestructible. When I was a child Dad bought a new Mixmaster and I remember watching as he tried all the spiffy new attachments.
The instruction book seems to lack aprons, possibly because this wasn't strictly a woman's appliance.

  Aha! Found one above a ridiculously complicated recipe for mashed potatoes.

Added for my friend Thea. :) Basic parts for a Mixmaster.

No aprons but a nice example of a vintage kitchen with metal cabinets. The linoleum flooring pattern is unlike anything I've seen before- a giant eagle? phoenix? goose? surrounded by stars which also appear above the cabinets. How... um... novel.

1950's doll trunks- part 3

Three dolls remain to be rescued from the chaos of trunk #3.

Trunk #3

 
The three are very similar. They are all the same size, can wear the same clothes, and are walkers.

The hard plastic Ginny was introduced in the '50's by Vogue Dolls, Inc. Her popularity led to other companies producing similar dolls like Muffie and Ginger. Ginny was sold undressed and her clothing and accessories were sold separately.

This is my Ginny standing on the box she came in. Her dress and capri set both have a Vogue Dolls, Inc. label. From online research I found that because she has molded eyelashes and straight legs without jointed knees she was made in 1955-56. My mother was furious when one of my little friends "restyled" the doll's hair and it's never been the same. (I was extremely careful after that incident and some of my later '50's dolls, like Ginger shown further down the page, still have their original hairstyles.)

Ginny

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I adore Nancy Ann Storybook dolls. They have the most precious faces and beautiful clothing. The company's clone of Ginny was Muffie and I assumed that she was the doll stored in this box. Wrong. For some reason Ginger had been placed in the box. The mix-up was correctly when I looked for markings on each doll's back.This is the real Muffie who was part of the hodgepodge of unboxed dolls in the trunk and had lost her arms. I've restrung them and put her in a pretty Vogue Dolls dress.

Muffie

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Ginger, who was stored in the Muffie box, is a Cosmopolitan doll. She's wearing one of two outfits that have no labels: a roller skating set with faux leather jacket and a lounging set with blue velvet pants and gold shoes.

Ginger

My Ginger came dressed as a Brownie Scout. Her dress shown on the left has a Terri Lee label and I always assumed they also manufactured the doll. While looking for more information I found that the Terri Lee company used unmarked Cosmopolitan dolls to dress and sell as Brownie and Girl Scouts. 



Finally, an insert from the Ginny box. It sounds to me like Vogue was concerned about losing sales to competing companies and tried to explain why Ginny was better. 

1950's Doll Trunks Part 2

Part 1 showed an unedited view of what happens when dolls are stored incorrectly. Trunk #1 wasn't bad but the other two... yikes! Let's take a closer look at what was in the remaining trunks.

 Trunk #2. Marie Antoinette and Blondie.

Thankfully the clothes are in far better condition than the unexpected decapitated doll. There are five outfits: shepherdess including a pipe-cleaner sheep, garden party, winter ensemble, ice skating outfit and wedding gown.

The rigid plastic dolls have no markings and I suspect they may have been designed for home crafting. Each has sleep eyes and painted lashes and a wig attached with glue. Only the head and arms move.

My cousin Barbara gave me handmade Christmas gifts every year and this was one of her creations. The quality and craftsmanship of the clothing and accessories are incredible.

Trunk #3. Attack of the poltergeist.

Inside, a nifty surprise. In the 1950's cloth handkerchiefs for children were often designed with appealing graphics. The Saturday hankie on the right was part of a Days of the Week set. The duck and frog are by Tom Lamb, an illustrator of children's books.

A hand towel for the beginner embroiderer.

The dolls that weren't in individual boxes...

The red-head is an inexpensive doll that my mom bought for me when we were grocery shopping. She's so cheaply made that the hair is rooted in a halo pattern and pulled back in a ponytail to cover her bald head. The only mark: "Japan".

The doll in pink- I vaguely remember my dad giving her to me after he returned home from a trip. She has movable arms and head, sleep eyes, painted lashes and odd wiry hair. Impressed on her back: "Duchess Doll Corp. Design copyright 1948."
 
The next doll and clothes were part of a set that was cleverly packaged as a clothing store. I took it to school for show-and-tell in 3rd grade. Big mistake. A couple of brats tore the whole thing apart when no one was looking. I believe there was a taller doll in the set. Perhaps that's her leg? The survivor has the same characteristics as the Duchess doll but her hair is finer and straight. On her back: " Plastic Molded Arts Corp. LLC. New York."

Part 3, coming very soon- The dolls in the boxes: Ginny and her clones.