Vintage Illustration 1951

Americans seem to love the opportunity to embarrass themselves…almost as much as we love to watch ‘em.

And if there is money involved so much the better.

Between the internet and reality TV the possibilities for voluntary public humiliation are endless, satisfying an insatiable audience salivating for some slip up.

But long before the existence of these platforms for disgrace, the mid-century masochist longing for public mortification had ample opportunity to air their shortcomings to the world.

Thanks to the mad men of Madison Avenue there were no shortages of cringe-worthy, shame based ads.

Social Slip Up

One need look no further than a series of true confessional ads run by Mary Barron Slips in the late 1940’s and early 1950′s entitled “When a slip becomes a social error.”

You could make a fool of yourself and win 50 bucks to boot just by submitting your most embarrassing “slip” moment to the lingerie company.

The lucky winner would have her cringe-worthy story printed in one of its ads so that everyone could chuckle at her major gaffe.

Vintage Illustration Coby Whitmore Ivory Snow ad 1946

Once upon a time nothing mortified a lady more than hearing those 4 dreaded words: “Your slip is showing.” Like a slap in the face, it was enough to make you want to hide your head in shame.

The Mary Barron ads were cautionary tales from regular gals from all across the country and there was no shortage of woeful stories recounting embarrassing moments.

Ominous headlines such as “Don’t Risk Slip Skid,” told the tale of a tragic young lady whose social faux pas made her the laughing-stock of a party. The humiliated miss from Harrisburg Pa. learned the hard way that an exposed slip “could take you from belle to burlesque in one uneasy moment.” That is until she wised up and bought a Mary Barron slip which would keep her safe from undergarment  twists and slips.

Danger Lurks

Apparently without the proper fitting slip the world was a dangerous place full of potential cringe-worthy slip ups. Innocently exiting a bus, seated at a lunch counter, even posing for a snapshot were fraught with potential awkwardness for the unsuspecting gal.

There was the  goof  shared by a girl from Gary having her photo taken when “W-w-h-h-h-sh –came the breeze…c-l-i-c-k went the shutter- up went eyebrows ( and our pretty model’s color) for a too revealing photograph. Now she knows about and wears a Mary Barron biastraigt slip guaranteed to stay in place.”

Vintage Ad Mary Barron Slips 1948

This ad from 1948 was based on the embarrassing episode submitted by one pitiful Miss Jean Williams. The perky coed from Lambert Mississippi shares her tale of woe- how the glory of being crowned Home coming Queen could be totally ruined when she experienced the slip up of a lifetime.

The cautionary tale of her social error goes like this:

“The jeering section saw the slip up. So did the captain and the student body. Not even the Queens crown could offset poor jeans embarrassment. As she knelt, her slip climbed above her knees.”

Impossible we learn, if she were only wearing a Mary Barron slip!

Image from Vintage ad Old Dutch Cleanser

Hopefully with her $50 prize money red-faced Miss Williams will dash out immediately to her local dress shop and purchase a new Mary Barron slip

Made from that new combination miracle fabric Nylon Rayon Radium…it was the perfect material for any Atomic Age Miss.

It seems sharing a humiliating story for money is timeless…I guess there’s no shame in that!

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Mad Men’s Peggy Olson Big Time Career Girl (R) Vintage DC Comics
“This is the big chance I’ve been waiting for! I mustn’t fail this time! Not love or anything else is going to keep me from success!”

We have watched with pride as Mad Men’s Peggy Olson has risen from the ranks of treading water in the secretarial pool to swimming with the big fishes on Madison Avenue.

As the Mad Men at Sterling Cooper & Partners implode all around her, Peggy’s star is rising.  Last seen in season 6 sitting behind Don Draper’s vacant desk, one wonders, who’s wearing the polyester pant suit now?

You’ve come a long way, Peggy Olson, from Miss Deaver’s Secretarial School to  head copywriter at  SP & Partners. and now with Don’s absence poised to become Creative Director.

You’ve Come A Long Way Baby?

In season 5 when Peggy became the new chief copywriter at a rival Madison Avenue agency after leaving Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce in the dust, she was handed Phillip Morris’s latest offering to the world of smoking -a cigarette especially for  m’lady.

It was a top, secret as yet unnamed women’s cigarette which of course we all know would be  the Virginia Slims Cigarette account. These new cigarettes were slimmer than the fat cigarettes men smoke, and were tailored slim to fit a lady’s hand, her lips, and her purse.

This Nov 1968 ad for Virginia Slims with its picture of a turn of the century woman sneaking a smoke, presents the following scenario; “In 1915, Mrs. Cynthia Robinson was caught smoking in the cellar behind the preserves. Although she was 34, her husband sent her straight to her room.”

This was the beginning of Madison Avenue attempt to pander to the “New Woman.”

Mirroring the burgeoning women’s liberation movement , the early campaign themes of feminism and women’s lib carried the slogan “You’ve come a long way baby.”

This September 1968 vintage advertisement for Virginia Slims explains just what this extra long cigarette for women is. The text for the vintage photo of early 20th century women is as follows: “1. Mrs Violet Anderson claims to have smoked her first cigarette on May 19, 1910…in the attic of her grandfathers farmhouse. 2.Cynthia Irene Bell smoked her first cigarette behind the old barn out back on Jan. 4, 1912. It was cold. 3. Myrna F. Phillips confesses she smoked March 4 or 5, 1911 out in the country where only a squirrel and a bird could see her. The others offered ‘no comment.’ You’ve come a long way.”

The formulaic ads followed the same theme-bold images of a glamorous, fashionably dressed liberated woman contrasting with pictures of early 20^th century women being reprimanded for being caught smoking by their husband or some other men.

Since it was marketed for the young professional gal, who better to manage this up and coming account than up and comer young professional Peggy Olson, who being single would be willing to work weekends, evenings and holidays.

Vixen by Night

Peggy’s In the Drivers Seat! (R) Vintage ad Body Bu Fisher 1968

But it wasn’t all work for single career girls like Peggy.

Making the scene in groovy go-togethers, her eyes smudged as if with crayolas in iridescent jewel tones of turquoise and sea green, her Yardley slickered lips wet and wild, we got a glimpse this season of Peggy Olson as Vixen by Night. It was clear she was ready to get uninhibited, get liberated and go –go completely Mad!

Coming Attractions 1969

“My place, or yours? Or right here?”
Playboy Magazine Cartoon by John Dempsy

Fast forward to the final season of Mad Men.

It will be 1969 and the sexual revolution was about to get into full swing. Romance and motherhood would become so so passé. You’ve come a long way baby…and babies were definitely not in the picture.

Wake up sister, there was a whole new world out there.

Suddenly it was a liberated world of New Freedom and Peggy would be ready to dive right in to the swinging world of singles. Busting out of her cocoon, and swinging in a butterfly sleeved-A lined mini skirt, Peggy would have her pick from the plethora of dimly lit, Tiffany lamped, singles bars that lined Second and First Avenue on the Upper East side of NY,  foregoing the watering holes of the  wild, wild west of her own Upper West Side neighborhood.

You’ve come a long way from Bay Ridge Brooklyn, Peggy.

Liberated Ladies

Vintage DC Romance Comics

These new liberated ladies were shedding their inhibitions as quickly as they shed their polyester clothes.

There was no place for  squares- virginal Sleeping Beauties were a thing of the past. Gone was the bad girl the one who went all the way and wrecked her whole life. Suddenly it seemed it was a Cold War world of Cosmo girls ready to shake your world, a strange new world of pills and panaceas, of living together, of vibrations and of sexual openness.

(L) Cover Cosmopolitan Magazine model Samantha Jones shot by Francesco Scavullo Dec. 1968 (R) Book- The Sensuous New Yorker by Bernhardt Hurwood Award Books

Uninhibited, stepping out in a leggy little Mary Quant slick and shiny vinyl miniskirts these chicks were girdle-free-garter-free-free-to be you-and-me: they were part of the new freedom generation, a beltless, pinless, fussless generation.

Puffing on her pretty as a picture New Eve cigarettes ( like Virginia Slims, cancer made especially for the ladies) the liberated lady lit her own cigarettes and opened her own doors.

On the go, these sensuous women had no time for pregnancy and no time for cramps. With their birth control pills in one hand, their Midol in the other, these grooving chicks in eye-catching EZ care Quiana polyester in get-him-and-keep-him colors were ready for anything in their quest looking for Mr Goodbar in any of the dozens of crowded single bars that sprouted up in cities everywhere

 Women’s New Freedom

Women’s Liberation (L) Cover Newsweek Magazine March 1970 “Women in Revolt”
(R) Vintage ad for Massengil Feminine Deodorant Spray “Freedom Now! The ad claimed their product was the better way to be free to enjoy being a woman.” You like freedom don’t you?” they asked.

It didn’t take long before companies began creating products and marketing strategies that exploited the idea of the liberated “new woman.”

A seasoned copywriter and smart cookie like Peggy would likely snag onto the hottest new products being marketed to the liberated lady in 1969.  Feminine Hygiene Products. The newly liberated Cosmo Girl could come on strong.

Sexual freedom came at a price.

The drug and cosmetic industry expanded from the underarm deodorant to a more private part of the body. The most “girl part” as they described it. The problem that had no name only 5 years earlier now had a slew on products to help a liberated gal feel confident and feminine.

Feminism and Femininity

(L) Vintage ad for FDS 1969 “This new product will be as essential to you as your toothbrush” (R) DC Romance Comics

By 1969 being confidently close was never nicer. “It’s a freer, more natural, more out in the open world and we’re on you’re side,” the makers of new Feminine Hygiene sprays assured women.

In the body to body environment of the singles scene, competition was fierce.”We know it’s a rough race. And we want you to win!” promised another Feminine spray ad. “Lets face up to the problem like it is. The days of hush-hush are over. Today single and married women have been liberated-in their attire…in their attitudes…in their relationships”

(L) New answer for the intimate embarrassing problems married women face- Vintage 1966 ad for Norforms tiny germicidal suppositories to keep the Mrs. fresh as a daisy

The age-old problem of “intimate embarrassing odor problems” once faced only by married women whose husbands wanted their wife to be feminine…in every sense of the word, was now the sexually active liberated ladies dilemma too.

This was the dawning of the age of FDS.

A welcome new addition to the world of feminine freshness, was this personal deodorant for the ultimate social security. It was, manufacturers were hoping, to become as essential to the new woman’s daily life as a bath and shower.

“Today’s young woman…committed to total femininity is entitled to total confidence,” the ads stated boldly. “With the creation of FDS a whole new era of feminine confidence begins”

Why take a chance Make this your passport to popularity…and to your peace of mind about being a girl. An attractive, nice-to- be- with girl.”

(L) Vintage Ad 1969 Feminique Feminine Hygiene Spray (R) Vintage ad White Horse 1968

Making the scene with FDS was Feminique. Their full-page ad announced provocatively: “ Five years ago most women would have been too embarrassed to read this page”.

“This is a page that will tell you about an external vaginal deodorant spray. A product that would have made your grandmother faint and your mother blush. All it should do to you is make you happy. Very happy.”

“Because now that ‘The Pill’ has freed you from worry, The Spray will help make all that freedom worthwhile.”

“The spray is called Feminique. The name is feminine which is precisely what this product will make you. Feminine in every sense of the word.”

Woman’s New Freedom-Pristeen Is Part Of It

Vintage Pristeen Ads 1969

No one marketed Feminine Hygiene Sprays more aggressively than Pristeen made by Warner Lambert pharmaceuticals.

In 1969 they ran a series of bold ads for the little lady with the headline “Unfortunately the trickiest problem a girl has isn’t under her pretty little arms”.

The text continues: “That was solved a long time ago. The real problem, as you may very well know, is how to keep the most girl part of you- the vaginal area- fresh and free of any worry-making odors.”

“Now finally there is a way. It’s called Pristeen. A brand new vaginal spray deodorant that’s been especially developed to cope with the problem. “(Or create a problem when none really existed)

Vintage Pristeen Ads 1970 Judith Crist talks about woman’s new freedom

The following year in 1970 Pristeen enlisted highly respected movie critic Judith Crist  to talk about “woman’s new freedom” and naturally Pristeen is a part of it. As Ms. Crist espouses on the portrayal of the new woman in films, the ad somehow manages to fit Pristeen into the picture with a starring role. “Now that women have the ‘courage’  to look a little different” to behave a bit more honestly”, they want products to do just that…products that didn’t exist even 5 years ago”

By 1970 there were 30 brands of feminine deodorant sprays on the market and Americans were spending well over $67 million annually in an attempt to be more “feminine”.

Copyright (©) 20014 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

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Photo by Michael Varish/AMC

As Mad Men finishes its bumpy ride through the tumultuous decade of the 1960s it makes an anything but a soft landing in 1969, splashing down in laid back do your own thing California.

Riding the wave of advertising’s creative revolution has been as tempestuous for Don Draper as the decade itself.

Then And Now (L) Vintage ad Men’s hats (R) Psychedelic Photo Playboy 1968

The real mad men of Madison Avenue responded and evolved with the changing times.

Youth culture drove much of the creativity when nearly 50% of US population was under the age of 25. In 1960 when we first joined Mad Men, there were 27 million Americans between ages of 14 and 24. In 1969 there were 40 million of them.

Do Your Own Thing

What’s a Happening Baby? Clarks Candy Gum ad 1968

Hoping to capitalize on the youthquake “the happeningest generation ever” Madison Avenue got its groove on and started swinging to a different beat

On the cusp of a women’s movement , manufacturers celebrated women’s new-found freedom.

Women were not totally liberated in 1969 and  had yet to discard their bras, so  Maidenform could still help them achieve their fantasies.

“I dreamed I swung to new beat in my Maidenform confections,” begins this 1969 ad following in the successful tradition of  the “dream” oriented bra ads that Maidenform ran throughout the decade.

“My new Confection collection really turns me on! The prettiest pantie girdle and bra. In vibrant go go colors.”

Now and Then  (L) Vintage Tampax ad 1969 (R) Vintage Tampax ad 1960

Tampax could really turn on a girl on the go-go!

Now and Then – Frigidaire Refrigerator Ads 1960-1969 (L) Frigidaire Space Age Refrigerator 1 Ad 1968 Frigidaire announces Space Age Refrigeration with the power capsule revolutionary space age successor to the old-fashioned compressor..new frost proof refrigerators (R) Frigidare Refrigerator Ad 1960

Space Age themes were popular for the space age families. The long voyage to the moon begun by JFK at the start of the decade came to fruition by 1969.

The 1960 housewife the Queen of the Kitchen was ready for take off by the end of the decade.

Social issues penetrated advertising and ads showed more African-Americans. (L) !969 Ad Pall Mall (R) 1969 Kotex Ad

Vintage Neutrogena Soap ad 1969

The Age of Aquarius had dawned and thanks to advertising we were ready to let the sun shine in!

Up The Establishment

Coloring Outside the Lines (L) Vintage Men’s Fashion ad (R) Peter Max cover Life Magazine 1969 Peter Max was the perfect blending of counterculture and consumerism and product merchandising merging art with Madison Avenue.

By the end of the decade a new figure appeared in Madison avenue the countercultural ad man -those “creative types” who affected the mannerism of youth in their hair styles and dress.

The buttoned down grey flannel suit was Out, psychedelics, groovy get-ups and drugs were In.

Now the art directors and copywriters took on more importance and their hip appearance were integral in convincing certain clients that their ad agency was tapping into the cultural zeitgeist.

Generation Gap

Vintage Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Ad 1969 Parents fight back with these neat posters 1. First Poster in the form of an eye chart exam reads: ” Keep America Beautiful Clean Up Your Room” 2. featuring a large dime this poster states: “When You’re Late Call ( the dime will be refunded) 3. The Big Question the third poster asks: “How would You Like to Have You For a Child? 4. “Mom Wants You to Hang Up Your Clothes!”

By 1969 advertisers  drew on contemporary culture as never before, working to incorporate pop culture references into their ads

Between campus riots and rebellious kids the generation gap was wider than ever. The 1960 notion of family togetherness never seemed more dated than in 1969.

With Dr Spock under arrest, Chef Boy-Ar-Dee came to the rescue of beleaguered families offering his own solution.

Capitalizing on the generational gap, Chef Boy-Ar-Dee chimed in with this 1969 ad aimed at parents struggling with protesting, rebellious kids.

Their advise: Fight back!

Vintage poster from Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Ad for Parent Protest Posters Posters 1969

“Shock ‘em. Turn the tables on your kids and protest,” Chef Boy-Ar-Dee declares in the ad. “ Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Frozen Pizza will get you started with a set of voice savers called Parent Protest Posters.”

“The set includes 4 posters in full color measuring 12 ½ x 19 inches.

“You can picket for a cleaner room Hang one on a hanger where a coat should have been. Or use one as a reminder to call home so you can call off the search party.”

Chef Suggests

Just in case the posters don’t work miracles, Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Frozen Pizza offered a last resort.

“It’s a little bit of a cop-out named Parent Escape Contest. Two sets of winning parents get all expense paid trips to St Thomas Seven days 6 nights plus luggage new wardrobe and a n Agfamatic camera. Some escape.”

“Tell as many fellow parents about the movement as you can get. Speed is important. This ad can only run once before the kids find out.”

Anti Establishment

Vintage Yellow pages Ad

Advertisers  had to win over young consumers who were distrustful of corporate messages and big business. Though the Madison Avenue was part of the establishment they tried to swing with the times.

Who was more establishment than Bell Telephone and their stuffy yellow pages.  Ma Bell gets groovy with this ad.

“Wear the Yellow Pages out for $1 ” announces this ad. “Whats black and yellow and read all over? The Yellow Pages Dress! Its wacky wild and wonderful. A flashy paper put-on that’s just plain fun to wear.”

“We’ll send your yellow Pages Dress to you just about long enough to cover your knees-then with a pair of scissors you can cut it to any length you like.”

“See if it isn’t just as much fun to wear the yellow pages out as it is to wear out the Yellow Pages”

Campbell’s M’m’m’m’ Groovy

Vintage Campbell’s Soup Ad “The Souper Dress” 1968

Moms casserole favorite  good ol’ Campbell’s  got hip with their own boss fashion statement.

Don’t feel like dressing like the Yellow Pages. For a buck you could sport a Campbell’s soup can with their Souper Dress!

“It’s a pretty groovy deal just for enjoying Campbell’s Vegetable Soup.”

“Now’ your chance to get the one, the only Souper Dress…a smashing paper put-on that could only come from Campbell’s. Its got eye poppin’ Campbell’s cans coming and going!”

“On you it’ll look good! M’-m-m-m-groovy!”

 Come on Baby Light My Fire

.Joining the Pepsi generation, Advertisers actively pandered to the youth who prided themselves on being anti consumer but that attitude was more wishful thinking than reality.

Philco zeroed in on the hip youth market with this  groovy gizmo.

“Now You Can carry your Hip Pocket Records on your ear! Grooviest earrings ever.” offered Philco in this 1969 ad

“Holds up to 20 Hip Pocket Records. Just 50 cents at dealer when you buy 2 HPs. ( A top hit on each side; mini priced; the most scratch proof records of all)”

“Of course if you want to wear the earnings alone you can always carry your Hip Pocket Records in your purse.”

But who wouldn’t want to groove with Vinyl dangling from your ears!

Go West Young Man

The buttoned down world of 1960 NY stands in sharp contrast to California dreaming of 1969 (L) Vintage Fashion photo 1960 NYC (R) Max Factor Ad 1969 California Sun Glosses

Nothing demonstrated the changes of the decade than the rise of sunny California in the late 1960’s and the decline of increasingly dangerous NYC.

The Mad Men New York City of 1960 was the epitome of sophistication and glamor. But by 1969 that excitement had moved west to California.

Laid back California was the very antithesis of NY.

When  a casually dressed Pete sporting full on sideburns greets a suited up Don in LA in this seasons opening episode, a taken aback Don tells the formally buttoned up Pete “You not only look like a hippie you talk like one.”

Can Don Draper -nee Dick Whitman – once again remake himself  in California, the perfect place for reinvention and experimentation?

Retro Reinvention – New and Improved?

For sheer inspiration  Don need look only to that quintessential Californian Richard Nixon.

Dick Whitman wasn’t the only one to transform himself. Dick Nixon started the decade in bitter defeat, only to end it in triumph as President of the United States.

The question is will Don do his own thing or can papa get a brand new bag?

Copyright (©) 20014 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

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“Reach for Your Sombrero…and go to your grocers pronto for this gay and colorful treat “Manana just isn’t soon enough. Surprise your family with this corn with the Latin touch tonight.” Vintage Green Giant Mexicorn Ad 1952

Toss on your suburban sombrero, gather your mariachis and lets celebrate Cinco De Mayo mid-century style.

Tequila, salsa, tamales, mole, No importa! For a real south of the border taste treat you couldn’t beat a can of Green Giant Mexicorn.

Ho Ho Ho!

With festive red and green peppers tossed in with the familiar Jolly Green Giant sunshine yellow niblets, it was easy to imagine yourself down Mexico way.

Senor Pancho

In our 1960’s East Coast neighborhood the closest we got to anything authentically Mexican was the cement lawn ornament we had on our front lawn. (The same lawn that ironically would be expertly mowed by Mexican landscapers some 40 years later)

No black lawn jockey for my liberal suburban family, por favor! No sireee, this was the era of the burgeoning civil rights movement, and we had our ear to the ground.

For our ranch style hacienda we tastefully installed a decorative stone statue of a Mexican hombre complete with a sombrero and a colorful sarape whom we affectionately called Senor Pancho.

Ay Carambe !

We didn’t need Cinco de Mayo to celebrate Mexican culture, because frankly the holiday was never even discussed in any of our classrooms. Nibbling on some Fritos or popping on a sombrero and chowing down on some Mexicorn was all a good suburban family would need to add a little bit of Mexican spice to their lives.

No Comprende

This is a much gay day for corn –the day when your grocer unveils the new pack of Niblets Brand Mexicorn. Never were the golden kernels so tender. Reach for the cans that show him wearing his Mexican hat.” Vintage Green Giant Niblets Mexicorn ad 1951

As with most mid-century suburban adventures into foreign cooking any relation to the country of origin was no importa!

Just as adding a few slices of Dole pineapple to a dish made it Polynesian, or a dash of soy sauce turned a humdrum recipe into something oriental so the with the help of the Jolly Green Giant and his Mexicorn, even a ho-hum meatloaf transformed into a Mexican fiesta.

Mexicorn was as authentically a Mexican dish as Chicken chow mein was Chinese food, Americans were content to eat have their ethnicity watered down, suited to their tastes. The great American melting pot had yet to be fully stirred.

AYE! AYE! AYE!

“If your grocer has his Mexican hat on today don’t be surprised. It’s a big fiesta day when the new pack of Niblets Brand Mexicorn hits towns. Straight from the hacienda of the jolly Green Giant – tender Niblets Brand corn mixed with sweet red and green pepper. Gay surprise eating tonight!” Vintage Green Giant Mexicorn Ad 1951

Crossing the border of good taste,  in the 1950′s, Green Giant ran a series of  corny ads featuring all American icon the Jolly Green Giant decked out in a traditional sombrero hawking Niblets Mexicorn.

“El Cameon-The Champ” Vintage Green Giant Niblets Mexicorn Ad 1952

Women appeared in national costumes this 1952 ad that had the Jolly Green Giant posed as a bullfighter -El Cameon ( The Champ)  while three  adoring women in traditional dresses looking on.

“Don’t let the bullfighter get-up fool you,” the company assured the women.  “It’s your old friend the Jolly Green Giant reminding you that for a gay surprise in fine eating nothing can match this Niblets Brand Mexicorn. Everybody loves this so will you. Muy Mucho.”

In the Valley of the  Green Giant

Green Giant was the king of corn. In 1929 they invented a new process for canning vacuum packed corn. Called Niblets this brand would become the best-selling canned corn in the country.

The Minnesota Valley Canning Company developed the Giant as a product trademark in 1928. This American icon became so popular that the company eventually changed its name to Green Giant in 1950.

The original giant wasn’t green or jolly and they quickly changed his skin color from white to green adding foliage to the outfit. In 1935 ad executive Leo Burnett decided to rename him the Jolly Green Giant.

The Green Giant would soon become as beloved and trusted as Betty Crocker.

“A fiesta dish for every day a colorful new version of your fine friend Niblets Brand kernel corn” Vintage Niblets Mexicorn Ad 1947

In 1947 the Green Giant Company still called the Minnesota Valley Canning Company was one of the first companies to advertise nationally with a Mexican theme.

Introducing middle Americans to Niblets Mexicorn its ads featured the familiar Green Giant strumming his guitar, singing a Spanish song and wearing a sombrero and a colorful serape over his shoulders.

The trusty green giant pictured on the label assured Mrs. America that the product remained good and trustworthy, and that just like the Giant, the all American corn had just been dressed up for the occasion for variety.

Vintage Green Giant ad 1953

And not to worry, not only was there  nary a hint of exotic cilantro or chile peppers in this  colorful fiesta of sweet red and green peppers nestled with those famous golden kernels  that might give it a whiff of authenticity, the corn came straight from the hacienda of the Jolly Green Giant.

Packed at the fleeting moment of perfect flavor,  American homemakers could rest assured no Mexican migrant hands touched the product grown in the safety of sanitary Minnesota.

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Mid century mothers and daughters were clearly tied together not only by their apron strings but the same set of cultural expectations.  Not only did they share darling matching outfits but the same sunny enthusiasm for household chores.

And why not?

If Mom was queen, sis was certainly the princess! Vintage Frigidaire Refrigerator Ad 1960

The post war homemaker’s life was a breeze full of carefree living, going about her household tasks smiling as if she hadn’t a care in the world. It was a life of self polishing ease, a wash n wear world of no scrubbing no stooping no bending and absolutely …..no complaining.

Vintage Ad GE Washer 1962

With everything so automatic, it was automatically assumed that like mother like daughter she’d seamlessly follow in moms domestic high-heeled footsteps.

Ladies Be Seated

Life was a breeze, sitting while ironing . Rhythmic restful automatic ironing. Now ends homes last drudgery. Forget the hand ironing Fold up your ironing board ladies and push it out of sight forever. The sensational automatic ironing, a wonderful willing servant irons everything while your seated! Half the time and effort” Vintage ad US Steel 1947

The message was clear- Girls would be cut from the same cloth as their Mothers

The Pattern is Set

From McCall’s 1949. “A pair of pinafores with fly away shoulders is an inspired gift. These look a likes for mother and small daughter are pretty in pastel chambray.”

Department stores featured Mother Daughter clothing departments but the handy housewife could whip up a new outfit for Mom and sis on her singer sewing machine in a jiff .

Simplicity Patterns Mother Daughter Aprons

Simplicity began to issue many Mother daughter patterns beginning in the 1940’s, and women’s magazines regularly  ran features for sewing patterns.

A pattern for Mother Daughter play dress in Good Housekeeping Magazine 1948. The Simplicity pattern cost 15 cents

l

Vintage Ad Mother Daughter Dresses 1952 Westway Sportswear

 “Prissy Missy-an irresistible picture….Mother and daughter dress alike in our Prissy Missy by Westway in fine wale piques…little waists and full skirts. So practical to launder!”

These images were indeed cut on the bias

Mothers Little Helpmate

These sugar-coated stereotypes of contented mothers and their copy-cat domesticated daughters seem as frozen and neatly packaged by Madison Avenue as the processed foods these happy homemakers served their families.

Vintage Ad Campbell’s Tomato Juice 1942

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Vintage Ad US Steel 1946

Vintage Rinso Ad 1948

Vintage Rinso Ad 1949

l

Vintage Rinso Ad 1950

In these images filled with matching frilly aprons and starched shirtwaist dresses it was clear who would wear the pants in the family…not the girls!

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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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 is now a bit shopworn.

Never was the notion of the idealized nuclear family more potent or more seductive than in mid-century America. The much cherished, deeply engrained ideal of Mom, Dad, Sis and Jr. was solidified into our shared iconography in the post-war years when America went on a binge of family life.

Family Construct

“Dads like a kid again when Bill and Bobby bring out their construction set. And Mom and Betty can’t resist a little “experting” on the sidelines. At all family affairs 7 up is a welcome part of everybody’s fun. 7-Up the all family drink-is a good friend of youngest and oldest alike. Be a fresh family…every member can be a 7 Up steady.” Vintage 7-Up advertisement 1949

The Mad Men of mid-century Madison Avenue cleverly created advertising campaigns calculated to sell the perfect family along with the American dream.

Images of the nuclear family exploded in advertising, scattering its potent assumptions of family deep into our collective psyches. And like a toxic overspill, remnants remain in each of us today.

Hawking the romanticized family as much as they sold brand loyalty to beer, cameras, or soft drinks, the ads both reinforced and reflected the fairy tale suburban life, offering a blueprint to the newly minted post-war middle class, living out the American dream.

The Nuclear Family Takes Off

The Nuclear Family Takes Off! Vintage 7-Up ad 1948

One popular ad campaign was a series of advertisements from 7 Up that created the picture perfect expression of the nuclear family who were as wholesome, bubbly and saccharine sweet as the soda pop itself.

Long before 7 Up was the “wet and wild” happening beverage for the “now generation” it was “The All Family Drink,” the perfect beverage for the perfect suburban family.

The ads which ran from the late 1940′s to the late 1950′s served up an idealized mid-century America enjoying their post-war promises of prosperity, while engaged in happy family living.

Share the Family Fun

7-Up the wholesome drink for wholesome families! The ads offered Kodacolor snapshots of the American dream made better with 7- Up Vintage 7-Up advertisement 1951

The idyllic snapshots of the American dream family that 7-Up used in the ads all portrayed an eerily homogenous landscape of spacious suburban homes and smiling, prosperous, cheerful, Anglo-Saxon families enjoying fun times together in their suburban rumpus rooms and backyards.

Naturally 7-Up was a regular part of family fun.

This “Happy Family Living” was the image that most advertising and entertainment seemed determined to project and one which served as a template for the idea of family.

“In Tune with Family Fun! It’s fun when the whole family gathers around Mom at the piano singing and playing their favorite tunes. And cheerful crystal clear 7-Up joins right in because its lively sparkle and clean taste appeal to all ages. It’s a regular part of happy family living in millions of homes. ” Vintage 7-Up Ad 1950

TV’s June and Ward Cleaver or Jim and Margaret Anderson-no slouches when it came to the nuclear family- would have fit right at home in any of these dozens of tableau’s of the American dream.

“Scores With all the Family- Young Bill may be the best bowler, but its pretty evident there’s another top scorer with the whole family. 7-Up lends its own good cheer to every family activity.” Vintage 7-Up ad 1950

All in the Family Drink

They really meant it when they suggested that sparkling clear 7-Up was the “All Family drink.” Several ads were directed at the playpen set.  Because 7-Up was  so pure, so good..so wholesome “…folks of all ages including little tots can “fresh up” with as much 7 -Up as they want, and as often as they want.”

“Really got a grip on that 7 Up haven’t you big boy? asks this 1953 Seven Up ad. “Go right ahead “fresh up to your heart’s content! Mom knows sparkling crystal clear 7 up is so pure so good so wholesome that folks of all ages even little guys like you can enjoy it often.” Babyboomers could get hooked for life.

“Pint size players can have big league thirsts and these little sand lot sultans of swat really know whats good for ‘em- and good to ‘em!” Vintage 7-Up ad 1953

Enjoy Good Times and Togetherness

“Bright and lively 7-Up is right down your alley whether you’re out bowling with the family or having your family at home!” Vintage 7-Up ad 1953

Funs a Poppin’ With  7-Up

Home Hearth and Kids. “Here’s a plot for happy autumn evenings…the fire glowing on the hearth the corn’s a popping and plenty of sparkling crystal clear 7-Up” Vintage 7 Up ad 1953

Pow Wow With 7-Up

Perfect for any suburban family pow wow. Seven Up is “one of the family” whether you’re working or playing. For friendly cheerful 7 Up adds its own lively sparkle to any occasion.” Honest Injun! Vintage 7-Up ad 1951

End Note

The advertising of those years have done so much to shape our impression of the era.

In the process, they came to crystallize some of the great American self delusions of the 1950s. By 1969 even Mad Men’s Peggy Olson wondered “Do family’s like this really exist anymore? Are there people who eat dinner and smile at each other instead of watching TV?”

Today as the very definition of family has gone through transformation allowing for more diversity, some still cling to the dusty and outmoded notions of the nuclear family that are as outdated as these vintage images.

 © Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

When it comes to misogyny in advertising,  1947′s Pitney Bowes Postage Meter ad easily ranks in the top ten.

And that’s saying a lot in a culture that was prolific in sexist advertising.

In the ad we learn Pete Jones, has spent 6 months convincing the home office to finally purchase a Pitney Bowes Postage Meter for the office. But he hits a wall when the only stenographer he has, a redhead named Miss Morissey balks at using it. Pete tells his story:

“‘I’ve no mechanical aptitude. Machines mix me up, kind of,” she says. “As if we asked her to fly a P-80. I almost blow my top,” he recalls, clearly in need of anger management training.

He attempts to explain this modern efficient machine to the ditzy dame, explaining that  “it’s practically heaven’s gift to the working girl…and so on. But with the Morissey, no soap.”

Mr. Jones continues his story:

“I try diplomacy. ‘Miss Morissey, I want you to personally try it for two weeks. If you don’t like it then-back it goes to the factory! Okay?’…She acts like an early Christian about to be lunch for a lion, but gives in.”

“So help me- two weeks later she has a big pink bow on the handle of the postage meter-like it was an orchid or something. I give it the gape.”

“‘Kinda cute, ain’t it,” says Miss Morissey. ‘But a very efficient machine, Mr Jones. Now the mail is out early enough so I get to the girl’s room in time to hear all of the dirt’.”

Exasperated Pete wonders finally :”Is it always illegal to kill a woman!”

Audacity

Vintage 1949 Ad Van Heusen Shirts

These ads may cause a snicker but they are powerful enforcers of suffocating stereotypes and underlying assumptions of a culture that continues to reinforce traditional alpha masculinity and submissive femininity.

Truth or Consequences

What do these ads tell us about the culture that produced them and the people that consumed them. Vintage ad 1946

The vile misogynist manifesto written by the madmen who killed 6 innocent people in California has inspired the #YesAllWomen twitter movement to draw attention against violence to women at the hands of men.

Elliot Rodger’s rants may seem as antiquated as these sexist vintage ads but his attitudes continue to permeate our culture in subtle ways with devastating consequences.

Copyright (©) 20014 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

“The Story Begins in the Middle” Vintage 1955 ad Warner’s

I figured out very early on that every female had a figure flaw.

But luckily when it came to figure problems a slew of manufacturers had it all figured out.

A good girdle was a must have for every mid-century gal no matter the season.

So despite the fact that the spring of 1959 was a real scorcher, I learned –at the tender age of 4- that sweltering weather was no excuse for a lady to let her figure flaws show.

For everyday wear, Mom’s summer time favorite girdles. “Enjoy a cool cool summer in Coolaire – Flexess new “air conditioned” fabrics- fashioned into figure flattering girdles” (R) Vintage ad Coolaire Girdles by Flexees 1952 (R) Vintage ad Gossard girdles for Summer 1955

Summer Silhouettes

Memorial Day had come and gone and along with the seasons first appearance of white shoes and wicker bags, revealing swimsuits and little summer dresses made their debuts.

Meaning, m’lady’s silhouette came under severe scrutiny.

Did the fear of midriff bulge cause panic in my mid-century Mother?

No sireee!

While some women panicked, nibbling on celery sticks and cottage cheese, subjecting themselves to the pummeling paws of a Russian masseuse at a fancy milk farm in order to shed winter weight and attain a svelte figure, Mom knew there were more effective ways to whittle your waist.

A well made girdle was all a gal needed to fit in.

Mom had recently purchased a new dress at Orbachs-a Molly Parnis knock off that was as easy on they eye as it was on the purse.

It was perfect for the big June Jamboree Dinner Dance at the El Patio Beach Cub. Despite the endless buffet and Viennese table served at the dinner, fitting into her new figure flattering number would be no problem.

Smart Cookies

American abundance- More of Everything you want (L) Vintage ad Admiral Refrigerator 1954 “Holds more than 120 pounds of frozen food.” (R) Vintage Warners Le Gant  Girdle ad 1955

In mid-century America you could have your cake and eat it too…literally. Why deprive yourself of that groaning board of American goodies.

Clever ladies knew that with the right girdle you could take command of your beauty and enjoy a wonderful new kind of figure that never existed before.

Ever wish there were two  of you? Warner’s asked provocatively in the  1955 ad for their le gant girdle shown in the ad above.

”One to splurge on shortcake- one to be a fashion plate! Seems like such a shame to choose- but here’s good news: with the Warner’s Le Gant no girl really has to. We’ve styled it in new persuasive elastic for the girl who munches and bunches in just that order.”

Go Figure circa 1959

Vintage illustrations from Formfit Life girdle ads (L) 1951 (R) 1950

Saturday night of the big dance I watched eagerly as Mom got herself ready.

Wandering into my parents bedroom, I sprawled out on the fancy quilted satin bedspread, the sounds of “Make Believe Ballroom” on WNEW playing on the GE clock radio, mesmerized as my Mother went through her metamorphosis .

The noisy oscillating fan in the bedroom only seemed to move the muggy air around the bedroom offering little relief as Mom prepared for the evening. Putting her face on would be no easy task as beads of perspiration kept a perpetual shine that no amount of Angel Face powder would subdue.

Mom emerged out of the bathroom shower in a great gust of steam, her fresh from the beauty parlor coif carefully encased in a polka dot plastic shower cap, a light dusting of Cashmere Bouquet on her damp body brought a veil of fragrance scenting the room.

“Curbs your Curves from waist to hip! Made of flexible airy nylon, this is a girdle to control your pounds, extoll your curves. Giving your hips a hooray! All at a purse easy price with money over for the matching bra.” Vintage 1952 ad Bestform

I watched in sheer wonderment as she wiggled into her latex girdle.

With the skill of contortionist or an enterologist at the circus, the fact that she could deftly squeeze her body into such a small rubberized container never ceased to amaze me.

Of course in the hot weather girdle wrestling could make her a raving beauty but she would end that eternal tug of war with a generous dusting of  talcum powder, that promised to allow your girdle to slide on smooth as silk.

Girdles from Spiegel Catalog 1959

Savvy Mom knew figure flattery, glamor and comfort began with the perfect fit in a girdle and like most gals had quite a selection to choose from.

Hip Hip Hooray!

“How Incredibly young and comfy you’ll feel in these weigh- nothing, do everything girdles! Sheer magic!” Vintage girdle ad 1950

For tonight, Mom’s new Perfect-O girdle, a high performance job that put an end to tummy bulges, was so lightweight that it made her just adore being “taken in.”  The ads were true-“The wonderful supple design, a neat play of satiny panels to snip off inches where every girl needs it most. Yes, inches. You can tell by the tape-and you’d better because you’ll never feel it.”

Looking in the mirror she thought this was the most flattering girdle she’d ever owned. How heavenly to discover-suddenly that you have the figure you’ve always dreamed about! Such flattering, flattening social security in something so delectably pretty to wear.

Mom could happily indulge in all the duck a la orange and Baked Alaska she wanted, confident of the containment provided by the girdle.

Vintage ad 1954 Life Girdles by Formfit

“What you put on first makes all the difference,” she instructed me. “Full skirt or slim skirt, shirtwaist or strapless gown…what you put on first adds the finishing touch. That’s why it’s so important to wear a girdle keyed to every outfit. The girdle that’s so wonderful with your tweeds wont have the same talent for silks!”

As usual she would quote from my great Uncle Bernie: “A girdle frees your step while it sleeks your figure.”

His considerable girth notwithstanding, when it came to girdles Great Uncle Bernie was an expert.

My corpulent Uncle Bernie Posner was the president of Perfect-O-Figure Foundations founded by his father my Great, Great Uncle Max.

Even with his drooping eyes clouded over with cataracts, Bernie had an eye for the ladies and their figures and never hesitated to pass his wisdom gleaned from over 40 years in the ladies undergarment business.

Smoke and Mirrors

Vintage Formfit girdle ad 1954

Whatever the occasion, Uncle Bernie couldn’t resist the opportunity to proselytize the gospel of the girdle.

Even at family backyard barbecues, while other uncles busily debated baseball , Uncle Bernie, now in his dotage, could rhapsodize poetic about ladies foundations. regalinged whoever was willing to listen.

I was always an eager ear.

His pink fleshy face flushed with enthusiasm, Uncle Bernie would impress me with the importance of a good foundation in life…at least as far as a girdle was concerned.

Sitting on his lap, he would explain to me  – always while nibbling on a fistful of Veri-Thin pretzels that -“Every woman needs to be Fit!”

Of course he wasn’t talking about fitness regimes, but instead the importance of the proper fit of a foundation garment. “Figure glamor begins with a perfect fit in a girdle” was his mantra.

Nodding in the direction of my perpetually slim Aunt Lois who was known to hoist a can or 2 of Metrecal from time to time, he continued.

“You need not diet or deny yourself the good things in life,” he said authoritatively, a stinky pre-Castro cigar clenched between his yellowing chicklet teeth. “You need take no dangerous drugs or tiring exercise. You are absolutely safe when you wear a good rubber girdle. You appear smaller the minute you step into a perfect-o-girdle.”

Wide eyed even as a 4-year-old I was tantalized.

Wagging his swollen sausage like fingers at me he warned: “If you are over twenty, you are in danger of ptosis (sagging) of the abdominal muscles. This causes a bulging abdomen and the hips appear too large. You need a good girdle to give you uplift and support!”

He paused long enough for the point to stick, jabbing his wet cigar butt into than ashtray.

Taking It All In

Vintage Illustration Formfit Girdles Ad 1949

I absorbed this information, storing it away for a future destined to be filled with girdles and garters, just as a previous generations of women in my family had done.

Our family was intrinsically bound up in the world of girdles, a business built on the bulging bellies and swelled hips of women and the ever-expanding cultural expectations and changing fashions.

Bernie’s retelling of his father business was legend in our family and he had a captive audience in me. His watery eye lit up in delight at the telling and I never tired of listening to him, greeting his familiar stories with the same enthusiasm as hearing a favorite fairy tale.

Foundations

My mothers Great Uncle, Max Posner had been a tailor back in Russia so when he came to NY by way of London in 1883 where he had established a reputation as a skilled corsetier , he quickly found work in the ladies flourishing corset business.

“When Pop first started working here, everyone wanted to look like statuesque Lillian Russell.” Bernie explained describing the popular, amply bosomed, massive-hipped woman.

Plumping Up not Pumping Up

Vintage Corsets Illustration

By 1900 plumpness was still fashionable. The Ziegfeld Girls and the Floridora girls, the chorus girls of the smash musical were held up as beauty’s ideal with their full breasts and rears, plump thighs and arms and soft bellies.

“Women may have wanted smaller waists,” he remarked, happily tapping his toes in his gleaming white leather Italian slip-ons, “but you can bet your sweet life they wanted lush curves, 40 inch busts and thighs that could measure 53 inches all around .”

It All Adds Up

“No one wanted to be a Toothpick Tessie,” Uncle Bernie would exclaim. “Underweight girls would cry themselves to sleep, hopeless that they were doomed to a lifetime of skinniness.”

What was a gal to do if she didn’t have the luscious eye-catching curves required to fill out a turn of the century dress?

A clever tailor, Uncle Max knew he could help women transform their appearance .

“Posner’s Scientific Perfect Physique Foundations,” Uncle Bernie explained referring to the companies original name, “promised healthfully and scientifically to help round out the entire form until a woman was fully developed.”

“Skinny Minnies,”  Bernie continued impaling a deviled egg on a toothpick as he spoke,“could fill out their scrawny bony figures with a number of devises that Pop supplied.” False breasts, thighs and calves were available in addition to rubber backs and hips that had “natural” dimples designed into them.

Vintage Fashion Catalog Corsets Sears Roebuck 1903

“And individually constructed corsets took care of a lot, yes indeedy,” he’d say with a satisfied smile.

My great Uncle Max was in great demand.

The New Woman

By about 1908 the voluptuous hourglass figure started to slowly fall out of favor, as the Gibson Girl with her comparatively  more slender, youthful figure burst on the scene, becoming the new standard of beauty.

The New Woman was still bent in an exaggerated S Curve and still possessed the voluptuous bust and rear that the times favored requiring heavy corsets. Vintage corset Sears Roebuck 1908

A true gal on the go, this New Woman was as comfortable with a tennis racket as she was setting the table.A well fitting corset was more important than ever.

Vintage Corsets 1915 Sears Roebuck Catalog

Stout Women needed slimming Vintage corset ad

With Max’s trained hands any bothersome bulges were slimmed down by his stylish garments. His patented armor-lastic stretch corsets were flying off the shelves.

“With the end of WWI,” Bernie continued, “things were changing with the speed of lightning!”

Vintage Corset and Corselettes

The flapper was just around the corner.

Ain’t we Got fun

The Flapper with her stylish boyish figure required, garments to securely bind her flesh, flatten her bosom, slim her hips and flatten buttocks

Vintage Fashion Catalog Corsets, Brassiers 1927 Eatons

As flaming youth roared, Uncle Max began to slow down. Eager beaver Bernie took over the business, quickly changing the name to a snappy Perfect-o-Foundations, more fitting with the roaring twenties.

1926 Corsetlette Girdle -Sears Roebuck Catalog

When the flapper burst on the scene with her new boyish silhouette of slim hips and flattened buttocks , Perfect O-Foundations and other lingerie manufacturers were forced to change tactics to modernize for women who might forgo the old-fashioned corset altogether.

No nudnik, Bernie knew this was no passing trend and jumped on the bandwagon expanding the corset business to include girdles.

What with the popularity of the flapper and her streamlined look, the girdle business boomed. After all you couldn’t Charleston without one!

The die was cast.

Girdles For Betty Co-ed 1929 Co-ed Corsetry Sears Roebuck Catalog

Girdlelicious

The 1930s signaled the return to a more womanly shape and his girdles promised slimming flattering figure loveliness thanks to the miracle of latex.

Before and After 1933

“The Modern Miss could say goodbye to old-fashioned corset bones and stays.-miracle latex used in all the latest girdles was as easy as putting on a pair of gloves,” he said fairly swooning.

Vintage Ads Life by Formfit Girdles (L) 1948 (R) 1951

Modern girdles, he explained, made of tree grown liquid latex were designed without a pesky seam stitch or bone yet these new girdles would mould you smoothly allowing complete freedom of action, and controls your figure for your busy active life.

“Slimming loveliness can  be all yours!” he promised me, hungrily ravaging his right-off-the-grill burger.  I watched in fascination as the rivulets of grease dribbled down the precipice of his double chins leaving an oil slick in its. wake.

“It doesn’t take a lot of money to get the figure you want,” he concluded with  big smile. “All it takes is a head on those pretty shoulders.”

Sheer Magic

The Miracle of Lycra Spandex- Fairy Godmother to Women Everywhere.  Invented in 1959 it wasn’t until  1962 until  the full scale manufacturer of Lycra went on the market , expanding possibilities for women everywhere.  Girdles were no longer only peach, ivory, and black instead bright pastels and patterns became the rage. (L) Vintage ad 1962 Hollywood Vassarette Girdle and Bra (R) Fairy Godmother Cinderella Walt Disney

“But the best was yet to come,” he whispered to me. A new miracle fabric had been created, one that was very hush hush.

Even as Bernie spoke, chemists at DuPont were hard at work developing  the century’s greatest miracle…one that would change the business forever.

Like all fairy tales, this story had a happy ending.

Just as  the beautiful princess rode off into the sunset saved by her prince, so helpless women world wide in need of figure control would be rescued with the arrival of that years greatest miracle- Lycra Spandex .

A match made in heaven, they would live happily ever after!

 © Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Back to School. Vintage ad Sears Back to School Clothes 1957

It was the day before Labor Day 1957 and the countdown had begun for the end of summer and the new school term.

From Long Island to Little Rock, crisp black and white marbled composition notebooks were hastily purchased, and last-minute yellow Dixon number 2 lead pencils skillfully sharpened.

I need shoes, she needs shoes all children need shoes.

To prepare for the big school launch, a visit to the shoe store was in order, as summers canvas Keds, were sorrowfully replaced with sturdy, sensible school shoes.

Getting my brother Andy to trade in his shoe of champions  for a pair of Kindergarten approved Oxfords was no easy feat.

I too would trade in my knitted booties for my very first shoes.

Getting that extra care to start tots toddling  was oh-so-important. It was none too soon for my feet to start getting the protection they would need.

And lucky for me our local shoe store no longer had to rely on the old-fashioned 6 point fitting plan, but could take advantage of the miracle of the x-ray fluoroscope.

That’s Shoe Biz

(L) Vintage ad Poll Parrot Shoes for children (R) Vintage ad Red Goose Children’s shoes 1950s

All week-long radio commercials were competing for attention on the airwaves as all the shoe stores were offering pre Labor Day sales and new school term incentives.

Because the number  of US small fry kept rocketing upward at a phenomenal clip it was a business bonanza with shoe dealers competing for the right to dress your youngsters feet. From rockabye babies to cookie jar raiders to little ladies in pig tails, each company promised  form-pampering shoes for your child that would outperform any other.

Vintage ads Childrens Shoes (L) Poll Parrot (R) Weather -Bird Shoes

Vintage ads Children’s shoes (L) Jumping Jacks 1957 (R) Robin Hood 1958

Pol Parrot Shoes squawked  “Pol Parrot the name you ought to buy to make your feet run faster, as fast as I can fly,” while Weather-Bird Shoes promised that only their shoe “would keep kiddies feet protected in any weather.”

Red Goose Shoes claimed they were built for action fun and looks, while Jumping Jack Shoes  targeted  Mothers pocket books  assuring that their  shoes would “keep your moppets well shod and still keep you solvent.”

Buster Brown Fun

 But only Buster Brown at Henleys Shoe Store could boast of that futuristic apparatus -the fluoroscope, to x-ray your feet.

The radio announcement  blaring between WNEW’s Klavin and Finch was all the incentive Mom needed:

 “Every parent will want to hear this important news!

“Now at last you can be certain that your child’s foot health is not being jeopardized by improperly fitting shoes.”

“Henleys Shoe store on Hempstead Turnpike  in Franklin Square is now featuring the new ADRIAN Special Fluoroscopic Show Fitting machine that gives you visual proof in  a second that your children’s shoes fit. The ADRIAN Special shoe fitting machine has been awarded the famous Parents Magazine Seal of Commendation…a symbol of safety and quality to millions of parents all over America.”

“If your children need new shoes, don’t buy their shoes blindly. “

“Come in today, let us show you the new, scientific method of shoe fitting that careful parents prefer.”

“Henley’s Shoe Store invites all of you to visit us today for an interesting demonstration. We know that once you buy shoes that are scientifically fitted you will shop at Henley’s s all of the time.”

Fit Right In

Staring at the big plastic Buster Brown lighted dealers sign we stepped in to the crowded, stuffy store.

Once in the store, crowds oohed and ahhed as children of all ages toddled and walked down the blue carpeted runway with its picture of a winking Buster Brown and Tige, in new sporty saddles, hard-working Oxfords and the hands down beauty-shiny mary janes.

Vintage Schoolbook illustration “Stories About Linda and Lee” 1959

While the shoe salesman measured my feet, my trigger-happy, have-gun-will -travel brother  Andy was off shooting down a rogue pair of Oxfords  with his cosmic atomic ray gun. The plastic gun shot powerful electronic colors beams on the tall wall of floor to ceiling shoe boxes.

I jiggled up and down on Moms lap and curled my toes when the shoe salesman measured my feet. His pudgy fingers with thickened yellow nails had nicotine stains between the first and second fingers of his left hand, as he placed my foot in the classic Braverman metal shoe measuring device.

Vintage Shoe Fitting Card

Even this once scientific breakthrough 25 years earlier was now old-fashioned.

The salesman looked and sounded remarkably like Andy Devine, the gentle giant, a rotund, high-pitched gravelly voice host, who coincidently hosted a show sponsored by who else…. Buster Brown.

I half expected him to utter the words “Froggy plunk your magic twanger” and green Froggy would appear in a puff of smoke interrupting the sales pitch with his trademark “Hiya kids Hiya Hiya”  in a low raspy voice sinister croak

Ready For My Close up

The importance of the proper fit

Gently, he placed my foot in the fluoroscope- x-ray machine, a big box that looked like an old radio floor model. My tootsies were ready to have their  picture taken.

His well-practiced “Here’s looking at you kid” guaranteed to elicit a giggle from Mom. With the seriousness of a doctor and the expertise of a scientist his foot side manner created just the right blend of scientific know how and showmanship.

Naturally my brother Andy was fascinated by the fluoroscope- it was not unlike something that Captain Video that technological genius had invented like the Opticon Scillometer a long-range x-ray machine to see through walls.

Placing my foot inside the box I could see all the bones of my foot glowing white in a hazy green foot.

My future in footwear captured forever.

Copyright (©) 2014 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

Screen Envy

Happy days are here again… the new iPhone is out!

An uncharacteristic hush descended on my local Starbucks today as a wave of envy swept through the coffee-house.

As if in unison, covetous coffee drinkers looked up from their Pumpkin Spice Lattes to cast a green eye in the direction of scruffy looking dude as he sauntered into Starbucks sporting a new iPhone 6 plus.

Fresh from the front lines of the Apple store he was no ordinary dude-he was a seasoned veteran of the grueling wait. Eight solid hours surrounded by Task Rabbiters and hi fiving homeless men paid to stand in line at the chance a new iPhone.

Mission accomplished, he now waited on line at Starbucks, smiling like a cat who had swallowed a canary as he proudly took a selfie with his bigger, better, newer 5.5 inch screen.

Suddenly glancing down at my measly, now oh-so-obsolete 4 inch iPhone 5, I felt that wave of all-American envy wash over me.

Keeping Up With the Jones

Despite job reductions, massive layoffs and the fact that unemployment lines rival the long lines snaking outside Apple stores across the nation, millions are lining up to be the first of their friends to get that newest iPhone and be the envy of others.

The American dream promise of upward mobility may now seem unattainable, but a quick fix of envy is not in short supply.

Envy has long fueled the economy and is one of the oldest tricks in advertising.

Vintage Packard Automobile Ads (L) 1940 (R) 1937

Used to great effect in the 1930s ( another period of marked income inequality) Packard Automobiles ran a series of ads that played on these desires.

We love being envied and having the trappings, appearances and prestige of wealth without being actually being so.

Long associated with wealth and prestige, Packard had established itself as the countries leading luxury car manufacturer.

However by  the 1930s, Cadillac surpassed Packard as the premium luxury car in America, and Packard decided to diversify by producing a more affordable model- the One Twenty which increased their sales. Thus they could attract “value seekers” who wanted the prestige of driving a luxury car.

Here We Are Envying

In this  1937  ad for Packard, we meet the Dillers. Down in the dumps, Mr. Diller explains to the reader : “Did we envy the Dexters in their new Packard? The honest answer is …yes! Emphatically, yes!”

We had always wanted a Packard. We felt we’d almost give our good right arms to be sitting there like the Dexters, heads in the clouds with people saying ‘Hmm. They sure must be making good.’

“Then we got to thinking,” Mr Diller explains. “I made as much as Ed Dexter. If he could afford a Packard, why couldn’t I? Well, why couldn’t I? …So we marched down to the Packard showroom to look at the new Packard 120.”

Here we are Being Envied

“And as a result, we ‘re no longer on the outside envying. We’re on the inside being envied,” Mr Diller announces proudly.

“We found out the new Packard was ours for only $35 a month. You can’t imagine the kick we’re getting out of owning and driving a Packard.”

“We’re as thrilled as a couple of kids. And we’re telling our friends to get wise…to learn how easy it is now the be the man who owns one.”

A Second-Best Life

Vintage Packard Car Ad 1937

Another Packard ad in this series introduces us to Tom and Jane Lambston who laments her lost dreams and their second best life.

“The whole thing started when we were celebrating. our wedding anniversary,” Jane explains to the reader.  ‘By the way, young man,’ she says to her husband, ‘what ever happened to all our dreams, and hopes and ambitions? Where are all the fine things we were going to have? Can it be true that we’ve become content with second bests’? ” Jane lets out a deep sigh.

“Shortly, our little party at an end, we went out to our car to drive home.”

“Looking at our car,” Jane continues wistfully, “we were reminded of what we had said when we were married; ‘And some day…we’ll own a Packard !’ “Our car was a take-you-there-and-bring-you-back kind of car,” Jane shrugs.”But it was no Packard!”

Vintage Packard Car Ad 1937

“Yes, we remembered our wedding day hopes,” Jane explains to the reader.  “We decided it was not good for young couple to become content with the second best things in life. And we made up our minds right then that by golly, we would have our Packard! “

“Next day we marched down to Packard showroom!”

Vintage Packard Car Ad 1937

“So today- we own our Packard!”she exclaims proudly.

“And life is fuller and richer because of that Packard.”

“Imagination? she asks. “Perhaps. Psychological? Maybe.”

“But our pride in our Packard is deeper than the usual new-car pride.”

“We like to be seen in it!” she says honestly.” And because driving is a thrill again we’re out more, enlarging our world and our horizons, having fun again.”

“Yes we have our Packard –our dreams has come true.”

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Vintage Advertisement Hoover Vacuum Cleaner 1953

Happy days are here again… sexism is not in jeopardy!

Once upon a time when patriarchy ruled, the American housewife was perceived as the most envied gal in the world and a new vacuum cleaner was enough to send her over the moon.

Apparently it still does

When a category on a recent episode of Jeopardy asked “What Women Want” the answers were disturbingly retro.

Instead of things women really want like, oh say equal pay or paid maternity leave, the correct responses were herbal tea, good fitting Levis and a vacuum cleaner!

These notions are as antiquated as these vintage ads.

Happy Homemakers

“You’ll Be Happier With a Hoover” Vintage ad 1948

Smart husbands have long known a vacuum cleaner that beats as it sweeps was sure to make their better half’s heart skip a beat with excitement. After all what red-blooded American man doesn’t want to get their wife in a Hoovering Mood.

Vintage ad Hoover Vacuum Cleaner 1946

Isn’t this about what a husband really says at Christmas time when he gives a Hoover Cleaner to a wife?  asks this Hoover ad from 1946.

“I want you to work less. I want you have more leisure. I want you to save your strength. I want to make it easier for you to keep the home we’- re so proud of. I want you to have a cleaner to help you- and I want you to have a cleaner the world says is the finest.

And she wants you to help!

Eureka!

First Steps in Happy Homemaking -Vintage ad Eureka Vacuum 1953

Nothing stars a new home and new romance like a vacuum cleaner.

But hubby be careful what you want. Your wife’s affections may soon be displaced by her love of her  vacuum cleaner.

“Pete is my husband-but my new Eureka Roto-Matic is my honey. It’s the most wonderful thing that’s happened in homemaking in years!” Vintage ad Eureka Vacuum 1953

Like a stubborn stain that won’t come out, sexism still lingers.

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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A typewriter and Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer- the choice of retro secretaries and ironic bearded Brooklyn hipsters. Vintage ad 1945 Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer

Who would have guessed Pabst Blue Ribbon that iconic working class beer ironically embraced by hipsters has a pedigree more blue blood than blue-collar.

75 years ago Pabst positioned itself to appeal to the “gay, smart modern set” hoping members of Café Society would pass on that glass of champagne favoring a bottle of the Milwaukee brew instead.

“On the Normandie Pabst gets the call. Luxury flagship for the French lie the worlds most sumptuous “hotel-a float.” Where genius in décor and cuisine meet genius in brewing- Pabst Blue Ribbon world favorite of world travelers.” Vintage ad Pabst Blue Ribbon 1939

In an ad campaign from 1939 featuring swells more Wall Street than Williamsburg, the ads pictured sophisticated men-about-town in elegant tuxedos and glamor girls decked out in Elsa Schiaparelli gowns living the high life frequenting exclusive haunts from The Stork Club to The Coconut Grove.

The ads would have you believe these scions of hi society eschewed their jack Rose Cocktails while supping at the Waldorf Astoria in favor of a bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

A far cry from the 70’s themed dive bars that currently dot hipster meccas from Portland to Bushwick where skinny jeaned hipsters with thick framed glasses sport Pink Floyd T-shirts, carry Freitag courier bags filled with vinyl LP, and ironically hoist cans of red white and blue PBR.

Where the Smart World Sets the Pace- Pabst Gets the Call

Embraced today because of its low-key, non marketing marketing, in 1939 Pabst aggressively sought out the cream of society attempting to raise the profile on their beer. Vintage ad 1939

“From the dazzling sands of the beach at Waikiki to the swank Miami shoreline- From the gay social whirl of Westchester to the brightly shining stars of Hollywood- Pabst gets the smart worlds call.

“Because –its brisk bodied for keener refreshment…streamlined for a quicker more sparkling lift in every delicious drop. Nothing heavy or syrupy to slow its invigorating action.

“Just pale golden goodness you never tire of. Pabst is thoroughly aged…to precisely that peak point of soul satisfying, thirst –quenching tang you find in rare old champagne. No wonder Pabst Blue Ribbon is the Smart Worlds password to keener zestier living…the class of all beers in a class by itself!”

“Pass the word..you want Pabst Blue Ribbon”

Waldorf Astoria

Vintage ad Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer 1939

“At the Waldorf-Astoria Past gets the call…as seen in the famous Tony Sarg Pasis, one of N.Y.’s smartest meeting places. Here as in the other swank restaurants of the Waldorf, the fashionable world relaxes refreshes with delicious Pabst Blue Ribbon.”

While urban hipsters might arrive in their fixed gear bicycles no doubt these swells drove in their Packard’s to imbibe in Pabst in the  Waldorf splendor.

Coconut Grove

Vintage ad Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer 1939

“At the Cocoanut Grove Pabst gets the call. Acknowledged center of Hollywood smartness, Hotel Ambassador plays host to the brightest stars from every walk of life. Here keen living reigns supreme- and Pabst Blue Ribbon is the password to keener enjoyment of every golden moment.”

Today the password among Hipsters is derived from another Hollywood legend- David Lynche’s movie Blue Velvet: “Heineken! Fuck that shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon!”

 Santa Anita

Vintage ad Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer 1939

“At Santa Anita Pabst gets the call. Never has the sports of Kings enjoyed a more glorious setting. Its southern California’s paradise of thoroughbreds and fashion. And everywhere-for relaxing refreshment at the Club House and thirst quenching goodness in the Grandstand- the winner is Pabst Blue Ribbon”

Royal Hawaiian Hotel

Vintage ad Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer 1939

At the Royal Hawaiian Blue Ribbon is the smart worlds choice at this Pacific Paradise. Once the playground of Hawaiian kings..a hotel of indescribable beauty, fronting the world-famous surf and sand of Waikiki Beach

Pabst was down on its heels, before Portland another west coast Paradise co-opted PBR as their own.

The Stork Club

Vintage ad Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer 1939

“At The Stork Club Here N.Y. society mingles with the worlds celebrities of stage radio, screen and press. Gay, sophisticated, elegant. And their choice for keener refreshment is Pabst Blue Ribbon.”

Today, Tattooed bearded Brooklynites in fitted hoodies mingle with alt band musicians in a sea of gingham, plaid and checks.

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

In a time of heightened sensitivity over stereotypes, years of ethnic and racial labeling have fortunately largely been erased from advertising. Vintage White Rock Beverage Ad 1946

Being offended doesn’t mean going on the offensive.

In the same breath, publishing a controversial cartoon is not an offense.

The devastating, bloody massacre at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris is offensive to those who cherish freedom of expression.

Staffers were killed in what seemed retaliation for their mocking of Islam

Their only weapon was biting humor.

Charlie Hebdo is no stranger to controversy; indeed no person or institution no matter how revered was safe from being targeted by the magazine’s blistering satire.

It has a history of drawing outrage across the Muslim world with cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, believing that humor was the best weapon against extremism.

In a less enlightened time, ads featuring  racial and ethnic portrayals in questionable taste, caused nary a stir.

The Risk Of Offending

During the post-war years when it seemed the only risk of offending others was if we suffered the unforgivable shame of halitosis, a series of ads ran that would not only raise a politically correct eyebrow today, its offensive nature could very well spark angry, violent protestations….or worse.

(L) Vintage 1951 Listerine Ad. For many years Listerine ran a popular ad campaign of advertisements creating scenarios where romance or a good paying job could be yours for the asking, but for bad breath. The ads came with a strict warning: “Never risk offending others needlessly.” (R) The cartoon from a Vintage White Rock Ad 1951 certainly didn’t worry about the risk of offending: “This friendly chief gave me a wife/ If I said no, he’d end my life/ So I got going on my Safari/ To White Rock Land, by gosh, begorri!”

Victorious after WWII America saw itself as the model for the world, and American dreams were to become global ones.

With our sparkling minty fresh smiles and anti bacterial clean handshakes we would help underdeveloped countries improve their lives and know the real joy of good living by exporting American consumer goods.

With the conviction of a car salesmen selling a wouldn’t you really rather have a Cadillac we were convinced that America was the standard by which the worlds other countries were to be judged.

Among Friends

illustration Vintage White Rock Beverage Ad 1946

Naturally we would never risk offending others needlessly with unpleasant breath, since every American knew halitosis was the one unpardonable social fault.

But offending others through racial and ethnic stereotypes…no problem.

White Rock carbonated beverages, innocently ran a series of ads that were of questionable taste. In one ad, we are offered a portrayal of an Arab named Prince Ali who is being tempted by the American way.

The Arab Sheik, who is being interviewed by the American press, turns his head as his   eyes bulge out leeringly at the sight of shapely scantily clad Psyche, White Rocks trademark.

“By the beard of the Prophet,” he asks, “who’s SHE?”

illustration Vintage White Rock Beverage Ad 1946

The dialogue continues”

“Prince Ali: Ah, a wonderful country! Never did I imagine the American girls like this!”

The snappy newsman retorts:

“Reporter: Keep your nightshirt on, Prince-I’ll introduce you to Psyche! But first I want a statement on the international situation…..

Ali: Not now, brother of a donkey! This lovely lady, this Psyche who is she?”

As the reporter explains how this luscious creature is the symbol of White Rock sparkling water, Psyche provides the headline for the newsman’s story “Prince Ali discovers White Rock Americas finest mixer.”

illustration Vintage White Rock Beverage Ad 1946

The next morning ( wink, wink ) we catch the Prince and Psyche sharing a ride on a double decker bus going down Fifth Avenue

“Ali( the next morning) You spoke truly! We are how you say “riding high” after our gala evening, yes? Tell me, moon of delight will you share my throne?”

Psyche demurely declines this generous offer “You are too kind, Prince Ali! But until every American discovers White Rock , my place is on the White Rock label!”

With Friends Like These…

Vintage White Rock Beverage Ad 1951

Another ad entitled How to tell if you’re Among Friends, seems to offend every third world country from the Middle East to Africa with its simplistic, stereotypic caricatures.

Illustration from Vintage White Rock Ad 1951
Copy reads:” These son’s o’ Prophets welcome me/ Urged me to stop indefinitely/ But with no White Rock Ginger Ale/ The desert was a thirsty trail”

Loss Of Innocence

In today’s  politically charged climate  when a novel,  or a 14 minute  offensive video, “The Innocence of Muslims”, a film denigrating the Prophet Muhammad posted on You Tube,  sparked angry protests in the Muslim world and a cartoon caused  the killing of 12 individuals, these vintage ads were clearly not on the radar of  innocent mid-century Americans except to provide a good chuckle.

Sensitivity training would be decades to come…so would sadly,  the violence.

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Man Pleasin’ Meals – The Shortest Route to Your Man’s Heart-Heinz Ketchup 1940 ad

With Valentines day fast approaching, the media is running  rampant with  romance tips.   Forget everything else you’ve read – think Heinz. Who knew a simple condiment in your kitchen could come to your romance rescue?

During the dark days of the Depression, Babs Johnson learned how to keep her hubby happy and add some spice to her sagging marriage.

Ketchup.

For a Valentines treat that’s out of this world look no further than your Kitchen shelf. Heinz’s Tom Tomato Circles the World

No mystery here.  “Masculine hearts skip a beat when a lucky lady serves Heinz ketchup, the racy and rosy condiment!”

Life might not have been a bowl of cherries in Depression era America, but with a bottle of ketchup everything would seem like they were coming up roses. At least according to the ads Heinz ran in the 1930s.

“Heinz ketchup beckons a man!” one ad copy proclaimed. “It cultivates the habit of coming home to eat.” What man could possibly stray when that pert and perky condiment, that come hither Heinz ketchup bottle, beckoned?

You’ll understand why if you listen to this mouth-watering story:

Marriage Woes

Poor Babs learned the hard way.

Like the country’s economy her marriage to Dan was in the slumps. Romance had taken a holiday in her year old marriage. The honeymoon was barely over when Dan started burying his nose in the newspapers, barely touching his dinner, taking his meals at the local lunch counter.

It was a particularly nasty row over dinner one evening that sent this newlywed into tears.

Babs: “It’s the same hash you raved about at Ann’s Sunday night supper. You were so keen on it, I made her give me the recipe.”

Dan: “Then one of us is crazy. Why, I wouldn’t eat this for love or money”

“I’ll get a bite downtown,” Dan fumed storming out leaving Babs bothered and bewildered.

She had yet to learn that no gal can trust a plain meal to satisfy a man. This new bride was in need of a menu check up.

What That Man Of Yours Really Wants

Don’t take your man for granted! Keep a bottle of Heinz Ketchup always handy. You’ll find it an investment in happiness!

It took the wise counsel of her more experienced gal-pals to set this young bride on the path to matrimonial happiness.

Pointing to a Heinz ketchup advertisement in the latest issue of Woman’s Home Companion, Babs eyes lit up: “Looking for something to make a husband sit up and take notice at the table?” she read with great interest. “Something he’ll give you a kiss and a compliment for? Then make sure you serve a bottle of ketchup with every meal.”

“The man isn’t born who doesn’t love ketchup”said her pal Madge getting right to the point. “Still the shortest route to your man’s heart! That extra little dash makes the meal. A juicy steak and Heinz rich tomato ketchup are a winning combination all men go for!”

Between sips of her Chase and Sanborn coffee, her neighbor Doris offered this tip, “He loves corned beef hash doesn’t he? Well, here’s a quick simple table trick, straight from Heinz themselves, that gives this favorite dish an extra appeal. Put Heinz Ketchup on the table - handily where he can reach it and pour it readily…And that goes for his omelet, his steaks – all his pet dishes!”

Goes Over Big

Vintage Heinz Ketchup Ad 1939

“Keep a bottle of the worlds largest selling ketchup on the table-the way good restaurants do- another in the kitchen, and one near the stove,” suggested Heinz in their ad. “ See how easily and economically you can give your meals those intriguing little touches your family loves! Give your cooking the worlds favorite flavor. Remember Heinz ketchup is no bugbear to budgeteers for it’s so rich a little goes a long way.”

“And every cook knows it transforms leftovers into snappy culinary triumphs! chirped in Helen. “Men have a yen for this sauce. He’ll be smacking his lips!”

Happy Days Are Here Again

Vintage Heinz Ketchup Ad 1930s

Babs couldn’t wait to try it out.

“Come on home for supper, Darling! Corned Beef Hash, poached eggs and a new bottle of Heinz ketchup,” Babs cooed provocatively into the phone.

Dan could barely contain his excitement, “Coming soon, angel! That bright fresh ketchup flavor has my mouth-watering already!”

No more wandering eye at lunch counters.

No more whispers that Bab’s marriage was on the rocks. No more lonesome unhappy hours. For now, her hubby’s rushing home after work. Lucky Babs learned the secret to keeping a man satisfied.

“This dumb bunny’s never fooled again,” Babs said firmly.

She’d learned the first principle of culinary witchery  – keep a bottle of that lusty condiment Heinz Tomato Ketchup handy in the kitchen!

Something any gal today might want to keep in mind to keep her hubby from straying.

Copyright (©) 2015 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

And the Oscar for the most celebrity endorsements goes to…Chesterfield Cigarettes. Tobacco companies paid Hollywood Oscar contenders of the 1940’s and 50’s millions of dollars in today’s money to endorse their brand of cigarette. Just a sampling of top box office stars who appeared in Chesterfield ads alone were (Top L-R) Rita Hayworth starring in “Down to Earth” 1947, Ann Baxter in “Follow the Sun” 1951, Kirk Douglas starring in “Young Man With a Horn” 1950, (Bottom L-R) Bing Crosby, “Riding High” 1949, Tyrone Power in “Luck of the Irish” 1948, and Claudette Colbert starring in “Sleep My Love” 1948

Hollywood and Madison Avenue were a marriage made in commerce heaven.

Nothing sells like celebrity, so in honor of “Oscar” a sampling of some former Academy Award  winners and their winning endorsements.

The Oscar for the Best Celebrity Endorsement goes to…

Claudette Colbert

Vintage Royal Crown Cola ad 1942
RC Cola featured Miss Colbert in this 1942 ad, one of dozens of Hollywood actresses the cola used in its long running ad campaign.
“One Cola Does Taste Best” says Claudette Colbert now starring in “Palm Beach Story”

With her impeccable make up, trademark bangs and “show-girl gams,” the French-born American actress Claudette Colbert was one of the brightest film stars, voted  the 12^th greatest Female American Screen Legend in cinema by the The American Film Institute in 1999.

Scoring an Oscar for  best actress in 1934’s It Happened One Night. This classic screwball comedy with Clark Gable swept the Oscars. The film was nominated for 5 Academy Awards and won in all categories for best picture, best actor, actress, director, and best writing adaptation, a feat not repeated until 1975’s One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest.

After that blockbuster, Colbert received an Academy Award nominations for 1935’s Private World and another nomination the following year for 1944’s Since You Went Away.

Vintage Ad Double Mint Gum Featuring Claudette Colbert 1938
Promoting her next big Paramount picture a romantic comedy called “Midnight,” would do wonders for her career too!

By 1938 the much in demand  Colbert was highly marketable appearing in numerous advertisements.

Hawking “Healthful Double Mint Gum,” we learn “Hollywood’s beautiful and fascinating star Claudette Colbert’s knows Double Mint does wonders for her smile.”

Being America’s highest paid movie star probably helped her smile as well.

Vintage ad for Lucky Strike cigarettes featuring Claudette Colbert 1938

When she wasn’t chewing gum, Miss Colbert enjoyed a cigarette or two. That same year the accomplished actress vouched for Lucky Strike cigarette’s  gentleness to her delicate throat.

In this 1938 ad Academy Award winner Claudette Colbert (now co-starring with Gary Cooper in Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife) explains to the reader how the strain of emotional acting led her to Luckies.

“Emoting to order is certainly  a real strain on the throat,” Claudette explains “That’s why an actress thinks twice about choosing a cigarette. After experimenting I’m convinced that my throat is safest with Luckies.”

Vintage ad for Chesterfield Cigarettes featuring Hollywood legend Claudette Colbert now starring in Sleep My Love 1948

Ten years late in 1948 the Oscar-winning actress switched her allegiance to Chesterfield: “I’ve tried them all, ” she claims, “Chesterfield is my favorite.”

1947 Vintage ad for Max Factor Pan Cake Make-Up featuring Claudette Colbert

Max Factor  famously featured a bevy of Hollywood beauties for their Pan Cake Make-Up ad campaign, claiming every girl could look like a movie star using his makeup.  In 1947 “The make-up for the stars and you” featured the impeccably made up Claudette Colbert.

Starring  in the romantic comedy The Egg and I the very glamorous Colbert plays a reluctant chicken farmer’s wife  in the same vein as TVs Green Acres.

“Max factor was the make-up that creates that smooth young look for glamorous beauty,” proved it would make even a chicken farmers wife look downright gorgeous.

Humphrey Bogart

1951 Vintage ad for Eversharp Pen featuring Hollywood Icon Humphrey Bogart who in 1999 The American Film Institute ranked the epitome of class, tough, cool and sophisticated, as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema.

It’s hard to believe that this cultural icon often called the number one movie legend of all time won only one Oscar in his illustrious career.

Humphrey Bogart  was  nominated for Best Actor in 1943 for Casablanca (which picked up 3 academy awards) and in 1954 for The Caine Mutiny, but it would be his role as Charlie the  rough and ready boat captain in 1951’s African Queen that would be his only Oscar win.

While starring in 1948’s film noir classic Key Largo, the film in which Bogie and Bacall appear on the screen for the final time together, the star took time out to appear in an Eversharp advertisement for their “Kimberly Pockette.”  A conveniently small pen “not much larger than a cigarette” it miraculously opened up to a full size model.

“A new writing wonder,” Bogart says with amazement. “I carry my Kimberly with me at all times. You can’t beat it for instant smooth writing!”

One wonders if the screen legend  used it to pen any postcards from the Hotel Largo.

Joan Crawford

Vintage ad 1946 Joan Crawford for Maybelline Cosmetics
“The eye makeup I would never be without!”

A true movie star, this glamorous Oscar winner was melodrama incarnate.

Joan Crawford won an academy award for best actress in 1945 for her over the top performance in the title role of   Mildred Pierce a critical and commercial success. A second Oscar nomination  followed in  1947  for  Best Actress for her portrayal of  an unstable woman possessed with her ex- lover in Possessed.

In the early 1930’s Crawford’s  sex appeal made her  among Hollywood’s top grossing performers appearing opposite some of the industry’s top male stars.

But by 1937 her popularity with the public was beginning to wane, and her luck was running out.

It’s no wonder Joan began smoking Lucky Strikes.

1937 Christmas ad for Lucky Strikes featuring Joan Crawford

”Joan takes time out from her part in MGM’s Mannequin  to play the part of Mrs Santa Claus.” the copy reads in this 1937 Lucky Strike ad. “Joan has smoked Luckies for 8 years, has been kind enough to tell us: ‘They always stay on good terms with my throat.”

She apparently did not stay on good terms with the movie going public.

After the failure of films like 1938’s Mannequin, Crawford’s  name appeared in an infamous full-page Hollywood Reporter advertisement which listed actors deemed “glamorous stars detested by the public.”

However portraying the spiteful Crystal in George Cukor’s 1939 smash The Women restored some of her luster and marketability

Vintage Max Factor ad from 1941 featuring Joan Crawford

Cukor directed her again in 1941’s A Woman’s Face helping her in her comeback. In the film the legendary “glamor puss”  plays a disfigured woman and was universally praised for her radical departure away from the usual screen glamor girl.

Is it any wonder  she rushed to do this glamor ad for Max Factor Pan Cake Make-Up?

Max Factor always featured the most alluring stars to do their ads. Pan Cake Make-Up was the fastest selling makeup in history. Originally created for movie stars, its famous ads featured a who’s who of Hollywood beauties including Joan Crawford in 1941.

The Comeback Kid

Vintage ad for RC Cola with Joan Crawford 1944

Despite the successes,  Joan Crawford  was box office poison.

Leaving MGM she signed with Warners for a third of her salary,  appearing in 1944’s Hollywood Canteen as herself.  Like Claudette Colbert, Crawford preferred  RC Cola which apparently was all they served at the Hollywood Canteen.

Just as her career seemed in decline, and against rumors that she was to be dropped by Warners, the tenacious actress  fought hard for the lead role in 1945’s Mildred Pierce where she triumphantly took home the Oscar for Best Actress.

Vintage 1951 Camels Cigarette ad featuring movie star Joan Crawford

By 1951 with an Academy Award under her belt the Oscar winner switched to Camels.

“Be Lux Lovely” says Joan Crawford in a 1951 ad for Lux Soap

Portraying a Congresswoman in Goodbye My Fancy a more mature Crawford was still a Lux Girl joining the 9 out of 10 screen stars who claimed to use Lux Soap. Lux launched a print campaign using  older stars  the “I am over 31″  series that had stars talking about preserving youthful skin.

Gary Cooper

Vintage ad for De Soto featuring screen legend Gary Cooper 1936

The stoic, understated actor received 5 academy award nominations for best actor winning twice.

Starring in Mr Deeds Goes to Town in 1936 he received his first Academy Award nomination for this classic Capra film.

Capitalizing on his success he was picked  along with other Hollywood screen stars to help sell De Soto Automobiles.

“Yes its actually Gary Cooper stepping out of a smart new De Soto!”  announced this 1936 ad. “Hollywood ! Paramount Studios! Stage 3…swarming with extras prop men, camera men, stars. Suddenly a gong. Silence! The blinding flash of batteries of Klieg lights. Call-boys singing out “Mr Cooper-ready for you Mr Cooper.”

“Out of a new De Soto steps the unforgettable star of Mr Deeds Goes to Town…and another great picture “Souls at Sea” is on its way.”

In 1940 he appeared in an ad Emerson radio while starring in The Westerner. years later Gary Cooper received an Honorary Award in 1961 from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The following year Cooper  began a series of roles tackling real life dramas.  In  1941’s Sargent York  he played WWI hero and sharpshooter Alvin York and won his first Oscar for the role. The next year in 1942  he played baseball great Lou Gehrig in Pride of the Yankees where he received his third Academy Award  nomination.

It would be Gary Cooper’s signature role as Will Kane in High Noon that would earn him his second Oscar for Best  Actor, and garner four academy awards for the film.

Ginger Rogers

The actress, dancer and singer the epitome of the Sophisticated Lady, appeared in this 1936 ad for Dodge, a lower priced automobile.

During her long career this delightful Oscar winner danced into our Depression weary hearts. Best remembered  as collaborating with Fred Astaire as a romantic lead,  “she  could,” as the saying went, “do everything that Fred Astaire her famous dancing partner did but did it backwards and in heels.”

Her determination to take on serious roles payed off big time winning  the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance of a headstrong girl determined to find happiness in  1940’s Kitty Foyle.

The following year Time Magazine pronounced Ginger Rogers  “the fresh and blood symbol of the United States  working girl.” This “working girl” went on to  star in several other films becoming the highest paid woman in America.

Showing her practical side, the popular screen star added her prestige to Dodge a lower priced automobile,

“Why should I buy an expensive car?” asks Ginger Rogers in the ad.

Appealing to a Depression era audience the ad explains:“Like many another who could afford a more expensive car the combination of beauty and economy won Miss Rogers to the new big Dodge.”

Why should she do this ad…a brand new movie to plug  of course. “Ginger Rogers who skyrocketed to new popularity in such films as Gay Divorcee and Top Hat is appearing with Fred Astaire in “Follow the Fleet” the new RKO film now being shown at your neighborhood theater” the ad informs us.

Barbara Stanwyck

Vintage Ad Lucky Strike 1937 Barbara Stanwyck

A hard-working, much sought after  pro who played strong tough women, Barbara Stanwyck  got an Oscar nod  four times. In 1938 she was nominated for Best Actress in Stella Dallas, in 1942 for Ball of Fire, in 1945 for Double Indemnity and again in 1949 for Sorry Wrong Number.

Acknowledging her long illustrious career, she was the recipient of an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1981.

While starring in Stella Dallas for which she received her first Academy Award nomination, she posed for a Lucky Strikes ad. in 1937

The future Academy Award Nominee tells the reader how she found Luckies gentlest on her throat:

“When the talkies came to Hollywood,” says Barbara Stanwyck, “my previous stage experience on Broadway gave me my chance in pictures.” Taking care of my throat became serious business with me. I decided I had to treat my throat well, so I changed to Luckies, a light smoke. They made a big hit with me.”

Elizabeth Taylor

When appearing in the 1956 classic Giant with James Dean they featured her breathtaking beauty in an ad for Lux You’re just as lovely as a movie star.

Some consider  2 time Academy Award winning actress  Elizabeth Taylor the queen of American movie stardom from the golden age of Hollywood.

Dazzling a generation of movie goers with her stunning beauty her very name synonymous with Hollywood glamor.

Glamorous and beautiful this 2 time Oscar winner for Best Actress was nominated 3 times in a row before her Oscar drought ended in 1960 for her role in Butterfield 8.

The legendary actress famed for her breathtaking beauty was a natural for beauty product ads.

I’m a Lux Girl

Lux was Hollywood’s beauty soap claiming 9 out of 10 screen stars use Lux Toilet Soap
Vintage ad 1950 Elizabeth Taylor Lux Soap

With her fair, glowing skin,  Taylor  joined the legion of legendary lovely Lux girls.

Lux concentrated on building its brand with movie stars early on in 1929 which created a huge impact among movie loving audiences. Billing itself as Hollywood’s one beauty soap, they claimed “9 out of 10 screen stars use Lux Soap.”

Miss Taylor  first appeared as a Lux girl while starring in Father of the Bride. “A bride of dreamlike loveliness that’s Elizabeth Taylor in her latest picture.  Notice the radiant beauty of her complexion – its Lux complexion.”

You’re as Lovely as a Movie Star

“I’d love to look like Elizabeth Taylor,” says the girl longingly  in the 1956  Lux ad. Tactfully, her beau responds: “Well you look wonderful to me just as you are.”

“To him you’re as lovely as a movie star,” the copy reads.” There’s no doubt in his mind you’re very lovely. And there’s no doubt that your complexion deserves the same good care as Elizabeth Taylor gives her. Like 9 out of 10 Hollywood Stars she keeps her skin lovely with Lux.”

The Most Beautiful Hair in the World

“Lustre Crème presents Elizabeth Taylor -one of the top 12 voted by Model Hair and a jury of famed hair stylists as having the worlds loveliest hair.

As famous for her raven hair as her violet eyes she soon she joined  the legion of Hollywood’s most bewitching stars who claimed  they washed their famous locks in Lustre Crème shampoo.

Naturally, the shampoo emphasizes how “hair is vital to her on-screen presence.”

Yes, Elizabeth Taylor uses Lustre Crème shampoo to keep her hair always alluring. The care of her beautiful hair is vital to her glamor appeal. You too like Elizabeth Taylor will notice  a glorious difference in your hair once you know the magic of Lustre Crème shampoo.”

Ironically it would be her role as the loudmouthed, shrewish, unkempt Martha  in 1966’s Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf? that won the gorgeous Elizabeth Taylor  her second Oscar.

Copyright (©) 2015 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

Advertisers sang Rosies praise, proudly applauding the “resourcefulness and ingenuity of American Women.”

Once upon a time, women workers were not only highly sought after they were lavished with praise in the media.

During WWII when Uncle Sam came calling, American women didn’t just “lean in,” they manned up!

Uncle Sam had enlisted the real Mad Men of Madison Avenue to conduct a massive campaign to recruit women into the work force.

The advertising campaign – as fierce as any battle on the front lines-was set in motion immediately after Pearl Harbor to not only mobilize women on the home front and get them into the work force  but to help shape cultural attitudes.

Operation: Rosie the Riveter

Homemaker to Parachute Maker (R) Vintage ad Wheat Sparkies Cereal 1942 “Eat Breakfast the Victory Way like thousands of new production champions, like Mary Purdue valued worker at one of our largest parachute plants.”

Seemingly overnight, a plethora of ads appeared in all the major magazines glorifying the working woman.

A public more accustomed to seeing their women depicted in dainty dresses while luxing the family dishes, were now being bombarded with images of g0-getter gals dressed in cunning coveralls and bright bandanas lending their visage to hawk everything from soda pop to cigarettes.

Vintage 7-Up ad 1944

Rosie writes her beau in the service on her lunch break at the defense plant Vintage WWII ad Quink Ink 1943

Vintage WWII ad Camels Cigarettes 1943 ” Betty Boeing and Hal Ecker have several things in common. The both work on M-4 tanks at the Army Ordinance proving ground in Md. Both know a chap named Joe who drives an M-4 and both smoke Camels”

Patriotic Rosie carpools to the plant. Vintage WWII ad Kelly Tires 1945

Whether working the swing swift or regular shift, war work requires extra energy. Get a lift from coffee or sugary drink. (L) Vintage ad 1944 Coffee Institute (R) Vintage WWII ad Orange Crush Soda 1943

With the speed of a blitzkrieg old notions about women’s proper place were swiftly decimated as women took to manning jobs in record numbers.

You’re a Good Soldier Mrs America

Rosie the Riveter rides the Bus. “Trips by Greyhound this summer?” this vintage Greyhound Bus ad begins. “The majority of Greyhound passengers today are war workers in uniform.”

During the war hundreds of men were leaving civilian jobs everyday to join the armed forces.

In their place marched in women, who were “carrying on,” performing work that had to be done to keep America’s war program going at top speed.

Replacing men in hundreds of jobs never previously open to them, these “gals were soldiers too,” helping us win the war and maintaining the American Way of Life.

Who Says This is a Mans War?

Vintage ad General Electric 1942

With great gumption these women took on tasks once considered unladylike, such as tending blast furnaces in steel mills, welding hulls in shipyards, running forklifts and working overtime on the riveting machine.

In the 1942 ad above, General Electric proudly exclaims: “There is no ‘Male Help Only ‘ sign in this war! Never before in American history have so many women been called upon to give so much of their time  and energy to war effort.”

Uncle Sam Wants You

Vintage ad 1943

No effort was spared to get those ladies out of their flowered aprons and onto the assembly line.

In a 1943 ad prepared in cooperation with the War Advertising Council housewives were scolded: leave your afternoon bridge games and get out and get a job to help the war effort:

Must bullets whine and sirens shriek before all American women realize that the time is here. The time for them to get out and drive a truck, load a freight car, carry a waitress tray, work in a day nursery, operate an elevator?

It goes on to explain

It isn’t pleasant, no! But neither is war. And the war won’t be won unless our men abroad fighting are backed up by our women at home, working.

Sister Can You Spare an Hour?

Almost every girl is a working girl now

“Read the want ads in your home paper to see what war jobs there are for women in your area, then register at your local U.S. Employment Service. There are paying jobs in many areas with training for the inexperienced. Get out and work, 4 hours, 8 hours, 10 hours if you can…but work…and stick to it till the war is won.”

It ends on a somber note:

The idle woman will be a very lonely soul this year!

The More Women at Work – the More We’ll Win

We know the score we women….Vintage ad Eureka

Some advertisements were designed specifically to attract women to war work. Many companies that advertised no longer produced consumer goods due to war production demands so ads also served as a way to keep their name in public eye.

1944 Vintage ad Kleenex The More Women at Work- the More We’ll Win

Due to the paper shortage for example, Kleenex found itself with little wares to sell to the public, freeing them up to play a major part in the “Women at War Campaign.

Their series of ads went a long way towards convincing the public that a woman’s contribution was vital and nothing to sneeze at!

 Girl Power

Initially the question was not “should women work?” but rather a series of questions: What sort of work should women do? Would they require special pampering and frills, should they get paid as much as men; would they become “mannish or or worse…create  a distraction for men in the factories?

When Man Power Goes to War

Before our sailor ships off he offers some advise about the mimeograph machine : “Treat her right little girl- can’t get new ones as easy as we used to.” Vintage ad Mimeograph Duplicators 1942

Most thought women could do anything, that is as long as it didn’t require too much physical effort or too heavy or highly skilled operations.

Imagine that! Girls were now operating mimeograph machines! a surprised public learns in this ad.

In offices women left their typewriters and tackled the less feminine mimeograph machine, apparently something above her normal skill set.

“Were telling a lot of the boys goodby these days,” begins this ad from 1942. “Women and girls are taking over in offices with a march song on their lips courage in their heats ability in their hands.”

You Go Girl

The surprise was not that women could do such jobs, but the fact that anyone was surprised they could perform so well. By the fall of 1943, 17 million women workers made up 1/3 of the total US workforce

But in fact, there was little women didn’t or couldn’t do.

Rosie the Riveter was joined by Winnie the Welder, Sheila the shell loader, Carol the Crane operator, Bessie the Bus driver and Flossie the filling station jockey, to name just a few.

Women Keep em’ Rolling

A Mans Calling. Vintage ad Pennsylvania Railroad 1944

The ads all made drove home the point that women they were essential in keeping the American way of life.

By joining the ranks of fighting men, working shoulder to shoulder with men, these ads cast women in the long tradition of heroines who helped men in wartime and “helped build the kind of America we are fighting for today.”

In this 1944 vintage ad from Pennsylvania Railroad, women are applauded for serving a varied and  vital role on the rails.

Railroading has always been regarded as a mans calling. But when war reached deeply into railroad ranks – taking from the Pennsylvania Railroad alone more than 41,000 skilled and experienced workers for the Armed Forces- women were employed to keep trains rolling.

Today approximately 22,000 women are serving in a wide variety of occupations- four of which are shown in the ad.

Young women proved they could  fill those roles most capably.

Positions such as trainmen, ticket sellers, train passengers representatives, ushers, information and reservation personnel call for intelligence, courtesy and a high degree of efficiency.

So we’re glad to have their help in the greatest job railroads have ever been called to do, moving men and material to victory!

Rosie the Pioneer

This modern girl with millions of her sisters is meeting this wars emergencies with the same pluck as the pioneer gals. “Although she may not put it into words she knows what she’s fighting for. The right to see a movie or read a newspaper that isn’t propaganda. The right to vote as she pleases. The freedom to choose. Vintage ad ARMCO 1944

An ARMCO  ad channeled the pioneer spirit referring to a female truck driver as a “covered wagon girl:”

“I’ve got a job driving a truck when Paul went across. I’m hauling the stuff they fight with’…Her’s is the spirit of the women who reloaded the long rifles as their men fought off the Indians…the courage that helped build the kind of America we have today.”

Of course this progressive idea that women could perform all kinds of work had less to do with feminism and everything to do with patriotism.

Femininity on the Front Line 

From grimy to gorgeous. Vintage ad Cannon Towels 1943

Of course some worrywarts were concerned  that femininity would be a casualty of war.

Even as Rosie manned up she didn’t want to lose her feminine appeal. Keeping herself attractive was her patriotic duty. As Uncle Sam put it “Beauty is Miss Americas Badge of Courage.”

Rosie needed to remain pretty and feminine for the boys to boost their morale and give em’  something to fight for, preserving herself exactly as he remembered it.

For hands he loves to touch. “Sure I’m a factory worker- jeep suit and all. But with Hinds my hands are as pretty as you please.” Vintage ad Hinds Hand Cream 1942

I Enjoy Being a Girl

No woman wanted to risk losing her femininity by taking on manly jobs so reassuring ads appeared to alleviate that fear.

These ads not only promoted confidence in woman’s ability to do a man-sized job but emphasized that femininity was not incompatible with hard, high pressure work a theme that also assured the public that inhabiting masculine roles did not destroy her womanliness.

Vintage Ad North American Aviation 1942

In a 1943 ad, North America Aviation  introduced us to lovely Jackie Maul a former model whose job reading blueprints clearly didn’t destroy her sex appeal or womanliness. The reader is reassured: “She still loves flowers hats veils, smooth orchestras and being kissed by a boy who’s now in North Africa.”

“What ! An artist’s model building a bomber,” the headline for this ad asks  incredulously.

“Sounds unlikely doesn’t it? But if you walked through the big North American plants you’d be thrilled at the way hundreds of women like those pictured here are handling big important parts of the job of making airplanes.”

“The lovely girl at the drawing board is Jackie Maul onetime model for John Powers. She is one of many career women- former secretaries singers milliners and others- whose new careers at North American. Other women are housewives-and good ones too.”

Working shoulder to shoulder. North American Aviation vintage ad 1943

“Here you will find wives, sisters, sweethearts ( and a few widows) of men fighting for freedom.

“Today every woman can be proud of her own contribution to the winning of the war”

Rosie the Riveter Dresses For Success

The copy for this vintage 1942 Realsilk ad reads: “To have confidence, courage high personal morale to inspire morale in others, you need to have confidence in yourself the assurance that you look your best that your clothes are right. Created by famous NY designers in ‘accordance with governments new regulations for women’s apparel.”

A frilly frock or peek a boo hairdo had no place in the factory floor, natch. Sweater set wearing sisters were promptly sent home from the plant because curve hugging sweaters were forbidden on “moral grounds” i.e. too distracting.

Even more  of a work hazard was the long peekaboo hairstyle popularized by Veronica Lake. The long tresses could easily be ensnared in machines so as a result hair was ordered tied up in turbans or bandanas. As a patriotic gesture and in solidarity to her working sisters, Miss Lake switched to an upswept due for the duration.

So Angora sweaters and silk undies were put in mothballs for the war in exchange for more utilitarian work uniform as practical and hard-working as they were.

Real Silk, a shop at home service made famous for their luxurious pre war silk stockings switched gears and offered work clothes designed for action…just not the sexual kind!. These were clothes designed to inspire morale in others.”

Underneath it All, You’re all Woman

“There’s a new woman today,” Munsingwear Underwear proudly announced in a series of ads, doing a mans job so that he may fight and help finish the war sooner. With that in mind they created a new Line of Action undies called “Fighting Trims”just for working women

“Designed for every woman working towards victory by women who work so men may fight. Meeting all the requirements of strenuous jobs with still enough heart warming glamor.” Part time or full-time women will do it better with functional clothes. But still soft and feminine.” Vintage ad Munsingwear 1943

Equal Pay For Equal Work

Vintage WWII ad Black &Decker 1942

If the work demanded women do men’s work it only made sense that women should receive equal pay for equal work. It was as simple as black and white

Despite the fact that this became national policy in November  1942 when the War Labor Board issued an order allowing employees to voluntarily raise women’s wages as much as necessary to bring them in line with mens, the order never trickled down to many smaller companies and the average female production worker still made about 40% less per week than did her male counterparts.

Rosie the Riveter 1943

Of course there were some things a clever girl could do to get extra dough.

According to career advice offered in ads by Sal Hepatica manufacturer of Laxatives a gal would be wise to keep regular if she wanted to stay on the ball and get a raise.

In one 1943 ad we are introduced to 2 assembly line workers – Out of Luck Lucy whose constipation woes caused our sluggish missy to miss out on a raise, and smart Polly who takes a laxative and  takes home a trophy and a juicy bonus.

Vintage Sal Hepatica ad 1943

Vintage Sal Hepatica ad 1943

Double Duty

These ads encouraged women to stick to their jobs despite the demands of a 2 job life style. Vintage ad Heinz 1942

Like today, a working woman had to do double duty…building a plane and running a home.

The age-old question of whether a woman could truly balance a job and home was answered during the war with a resounding yes!

You betcha she could, the media crowed.

Even if she was lucky to have a husband at home women ended up carrying nearly all the care-giving responsibility. When Rosie returned each day from the great army of women soldiers of production she became a soldier of the kitchen. Vintage ad Spam 1943

Ads regularly reassured a doubting public that pulling women out of the home to join the work force would not damage family life, congratulating the homemaker for fulfilling obligations at home and on the job. Children and hubby would still be well take care of.

“Practically every woman in America is working 2 shifts,” explains the 1943 ad for Swifts. “Lots of us in addition to our war work still have our old job at home and what a job that is! ‘Last years problems in homemaking and meal planning seem like child’s play,’ says Mary Hoffman Miss Victory. Swifts franfurts come to her rescue save many a minute in trying job of wartime meal planning”

These ads helped to sweep aside old prejudices gently stowing them away for the duration, only to be taken back out of mothballs at war’s end.

Next: Operation June Cleaver
With victory in sight Rosie The Riveter would be unceremoniously handed her pink slip pushed out of the work force

Copyright (©) 2015 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

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Occupation: 1960 Housewife

Like many parents in 1970, the gulf between Mad Men’s rebellious Sally Draper and her uptight and out of touch parents has grown as wide as the Grand Canyon, that great natural chasm  that Sally might visit on her summer teen tour.

At the same time, the real Mad Men of Madison Avenue were working overtime to close that generation gap by producing ads that appeared “relevant,” distancing themselves from the cop-out generation that produced war, prejudice and greed.

If the free-thinking generation of anti establishment kids didn’t dig uptight Madison Avenue, then Madison Avenue had to show them they could get down and “tell it like it is.”

No more coloring in the lines. By 1970 the grey flannel suit gave way to the powder blue leisure suit, as advertising itself was swinging to a different beat .

By 1970 Madison Avenue went on a teen tour of its own to attract the youth market.

By donning their colorful silk neckerchiefs and groovy bell bottoms the creative ad men assured their clients that their agency was tapping into the cultural zeitgeist, keeping it real by shifting their focus to the groovy, individualistic now generation of consumers.

Sportcasters Shoes sent out an SOS to the reader to help them through their “identity crisis” by offering a name for their new line of fabulous fall shoes. 1970 ad

At times it seemed the manufacturers were having their own identity crisis.

Trying desperately to bridge the generation gap, these middle-aged men sporting mutton chops and Fu-Manchu mustaches in order to appear hip, shamelessly sought out the youth market with sometimes laughable results as they attempting to make their establishment products hip to the very anti establishment, anti materialistic teenagers committed to doing their own thing.

Marketing in the Age of Aquarius provided some astronomical profits in return.

April 1970 issue of Seventeen, featuring out of this world fashion by Peter Max the high priest of consumerism and counter-culture

Where better to target teens than in Seventeen magazine a publication devoted to their very needs and desires. The inch thick wish book of teen fashion, style and beauty was the undisputed authority, sanctioning looks and desires for the sassy non-conformist 1970 teen.

Encouraging teens to “Be an Individualistic! Go where the experience awaits you !”the magazine was a kaleidoscope of psychedelic colors and catchphrases, filled with ads hawking the same products they had for decades only now catering to the readers individuality, rebelliousness and hedonism, while incorporating relevant trends like women’s lib, Vietnam and ecology.

Our own tour through the April 1970 issue of that teen bible features a first ever fashion layout by Peter Max described as “the pied piper of effervescent young ideas.”

What’s Your $ign

L) Peter Max Electric Clocks from General Electric “The absolutely wild, wonderful way to tell time.” (R) Peter Max for Right Guard Funbrella “You’ll be swingin in the rain with this original Peter Max Funbrella designed exclusively for Right Guard. Wild colors, groovy designs only $3.95 and proof of purchase.’ 1970 ad Seventeen

No one combined peace, love and commerce better than Peter Max. The former Madison Avenue wiz kid was a wizard of marketing, . His ubiquitous designs of heavenly influences could be found everywhere from clocks to clothes, all espousing harmony love and Max-imum good vibrations.

No doubt his horoscope predicted major profits.

 Fashion to the Max

Cosmic Tricks- Peter Max goes astronomical with his head in the clouds and heavenly angel wear etched on his mind. A 2 part knit with double-faced portrait ( it’s Peter- see the mustache?) in profile on skirt. Fashion from Seventeen Magazine 1970

Peter Max was a one man design explosion with his interplanetary, hearts and stars and whimsical flourishes, all marked with merry Max-isms. “His creativity burst into fashion ( for the first time)  in the pages of Seventeen,” the article gushes “and practically paints the whole issue in the warming colors of peace and love.”

A Galaxy of  Mod Max Fashion

“Love is in the stars, blinking pinks on a knit harmony happiness and balance.” Peter Max fashion Seventeen Magazine 1970

 “Multiplex minis by Max! Zap! Here’s Peter Max splashy phantasma graphics on little knit cut-ups.”

(L) Hop to in a skippy scrambled legs petaled pantyhose pace in a myriad of colors

 “There are no gloomies in Peter Max land-just twirl the cheeriest umbrella this side of cloud 9 and see the smiles Inner Peace is achieved by stretching deep into the environment we feel Max-imum vibrations beneath the surface as Peter puts his stamp on weightless body stocking. The cling-a-ling all in one zings with colorworks.

“Colors play a game in mixed Max media. All you need is love for a spectrum of sweatshirts.” Peter Max Fashion and accessories Seventeen Magazine 1970

All you need is Love

 Color Me Groovy

Lady Esquire Shoe Coloring offered a “Change the World Contest” Submit your grooviest design ideas and win a $3,000 Pierre Cardin wardrobe. Vintage ad 1970 Seventeen Magazine

Trying to attract a younger audience for their shoe polish ( now rebranded shoe coloring) Esquire was no longer just for your establishment Dad’s corporate wing tips or your Moms died to match satin pumps.

With Lady Esquire Instant Shoe Coloring – you could be creative and make your whole world a coloring book in groovy colors like Cop-Out Copper, Butter Up Yellow and Groovin Green.

“So you’re out to change the world,” the ad begins. “We can do it together. Turn the world Mad Magenta, color your shoes, go onto boots, belts, bags buttons.”

Do Your own Thing.

Vintage Rit Fabric Dye ad 1950s

Rejecting tradition, these teens would rather die than end up like their uptight cookie cutter parents.

Old reliable Rit fabric dye found a whole new generation of consumers.

No longer just for Mom’s organza curtains, or that new shirtwaist dresses, with a bottle of familiar Rit fabric dye you could create a total tie-dyed world.

1970 Rit Ad features simplicity patterns for some groovy threats as shown on model Cheryl Tiegs.

A fad was born.

For the ultimate do your own thing kind of chick there was Rit’s “Splash and Dash” a companion to tie dye. No matter what you do, the ad promised, “ it’s exciting, it’s unique …it’s you. A real original original.”

The ad featured some far-out fashions from Simplicity Patterns suggesting “You not only sew the dress…you print the fabric too! Splash dyeing with Rit is the fun fad of the year…..yet no 2 are alike.”

Unleashing your inner Jackson Pollack was never so easy.

“Take a small paint brush and dip it in Rit. Then let it drip on the fabric. You can flick your wrist sprinkle freely or move it in a patterned movement or paint with brush on long free form strokes or use a squeeze bottle to squirt the Rit.”

 A Charmed Life

Vintage Monet Ad – 1970 Seventeen Magazine

Hoping to charm a new generation of consumers. Monet jewelry went out to prove that even a non materialistic hippy chick could still dig that 1950’s charm bracelet.

A frequent advertising device was to simply slap on a leather headband on a pretty model and instant hippy.

This Woodstock wannabe is incongruously still sporting a charm bracelet, an oh so feminine piece of jewelry, dangling with the decorative pendants and trinkets that chronicle the small moments in a life. Unless Monet intended to create trinkets marking a first acid trip, Grateful Dead concert or a miniature gold protest sign, its success seems doubtful.

Free To Be Me

From Carefree to Free To Be You and Me. (L) The New Look of Confidence- Kotex ad 1960 (R) The Fussless Generation by Kotex vintage ad 1970

On the cusp of women lib, girls wanted liberation too and Madison Ave was happy to oblige offering 2 New Freedoms – “better ways to be free to enjoy being a woman.”

Kotex sanitary napkins beckoned the liberated teen to catch up and become part of the hassle free generation. This was the new, newer look of confidence.
Getting your period was a hassle, man. But now with Kotexs New Freedom there was no hassle . Out went the old-fashioned sanitary belt.
Beltless, pinless and fussless, Kotex offered these revolutionary self adhesive napkins, No compromising and no bulging, no embarrassing…just flush it and forget it. (though the environment might not be so forgetful)

Free Love

The Freedom Spray from Massengil! “New Freedom. It’s a better way to be free to enjoy being a woman.” Vintage ad 1970 Seventeen

Freedom was all around these girls; raising their consciousness, they were free to love and free to be you and me. Young women were shucking their inhibitions along with their bras. It may have been the dawning of the age of Aquarius but it was also the dawning of the age of FDS.”Being a girl was never nicer…than now…in the age of FDS. ”

Feminine hygiene spray was no longer just for married ladies; it was the now experience to show the world you’re with it!

Let it All Hang Out

Counselor scales in 12 op art designs in bold vibrant, Now colors! Vintage ad Seventeen Magazine 1970

The way out weighs in! Exercise your option to lose weight even if being slender wasn’t really optional…fatso!

Keepin’ It Real

This was the age of peace, love and polyester

Madison Avenue knew it was important to harmonize with the world and keep in tempo with whats real. Nothing said  back to the earth authenticity like a non biodegradable polyester/ peasant blouse made from petro chemicals. They may have been wearing polyester but they were down to earth in their hearts.

The Now Generation Makes clothes for the Now Generation

Groove through the looking glasses for 2 eye-catching knits of EZ care Quintess polyester. In get-him-and-keep—him-colors. Vintage ad 1970

Environment Clothes for the Environment Hassle Free Polyester

Vintage ad 1970 Seventeen Magazine

The environment was on everyone’s mind.

In April of 1970 millions took to the streets, auditorium to demonstrate for a healthy sustainable environment in. What better way to celebrate the first Earth day than protesting at a rally in crinkly polyurethane coat

Organically Beautiful

“ Cornsilk is the makeup that contains formerly living organic materials from the earth. We think Corn Silk goes so well with other organic things. Like Women.”

Even back to nature chicks needed to powder their meaningful teenage noses. Corn silk brand makeup came to their rescue. When corn wasn’t being used for high fructose corn syrup it was pressed into service as face powder.

Tellin It Like It Is

A really cool medium to communicate major truths beautiful thoughts and the stuff of dreams.

Write On!

Hallmark got hip with their stationary making it easier to get down and tell it like it is!  “The great new writing paper that’s half the message. Extrasensory colors in madly relevant designs.

Flower Power

“Send a sample to the different drummer with a gift card signed: From the girl who plays along.” Vintage ad Bravura Cologne 1970 Seventeen

With war protests spreading across campuses, Bravura Cologne made this offer “If your guy has a mind of his own then he’s a man who hears a different drummer and deserves a mini bottle of Bravura, the different cologne. ”

This ad appeared one month before the tragic protests at Kent State  when Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd killing 4 and wounding 9  students. Sadly, there was not a “different drummer” among the soldiers that day.

Copyright (©) 2015 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

The sexist suburban landscape. With names like Dandy Boy, The Lawn Boy and Lazy Boy, lawn mowing was clearly male turf. Vintage Illustrations (L) Saturday Evening Post Cover 1955 illustration: Dick Sargent (R) Vintage Ad 1955 Beer Belongs Home life in America Series “Showing Off The New Power Mower” illustration by Fred Siebel

The silent spring morning of my mid-century suburban childhood were broken by the sounds not of birds chirping but of a symphony of puttering gas lawn mowers synchronized all over the neighborhood.

The air would permeate of fresh-cut grass, gasoline and a heavy dose of testosterone

While ladies might putter in the garden, the lawn was strictly male turf.

But there was one fearless housewife in our neighborhood who broke the grass ceiling, venturing boldly and brazenly into that vast male prerogative known  as mowing the front lawn.

Better Homes and Garden

Most afternoons the Kaffee Klatch of new young mothers from our new development would congregate in one anothers fully loaded Kelvinator kitchen. These recently built ranch houses were  part of a bumper crop of housing that were sprouting up with record speed, and now stood in the  fields where only a year before Farmer Gutsky planted Long Island potatoes.

The newly minted suburbanites  would gather  exchanging hints on such vital information as which was the best diaper service, the most reliable milkman, which Jackson Perkins roses were the best to plant in the rocky Long Island soil and how to keep hubby off the links and onto their front lawns with their power mowers.

Do It Your-selfie

Who’s the Boss now? Vintage illustration from County Gentleman Magazine 1954

One neighbor who regularly was absent from the Kaffee Klatch was Martha Mc Guinness, the neighborhood’s reigning do- do-it-yourselfer Queen.

As much as my mom raced about like a whirling dervish, she was no match for Martha who more often than not missed out on the Kaffee Klatches for some do it yourself project like installing some new asbestos Kentile floor covering in the baby’s room.

Be Modern…go Lawn Boy! Not just for boys anymore. Vintage Lawn Boy ad 1955

All the girls marveled at Martha.

 A freckled face 22-year-old mother of three she didn’t let pregnancy or a household of toddlers get in her way. After all, there’s so much to do to get ready for that little bundle of joy.

The Lady and the Lawnmower

 Even with a “bun in the oven” Martha was a real force of nature.

 If she wasn’t busy chemically stripping and painting an heirloom crib in it-never-flakes-lead paint, she’s off gardening making sure to spray plenty of insecticides to get rid of those pesky old flies, grateful for the new insecticide bomb that contained both DDT and Pyrethrum!

Vintage ad Lawn Boy Mowers 1955

 She was also the only gal in the neighborhood who could be found every Saturday morning marching up and down the lawn with her Lawn Boy, leaving in its wake a lawn as smooth as velvet.

 While advertisements for power motors often showed scantily clad young women in short shorts and dresses to attract the attention of the male reader, Martha chose sensible poplin peddle pushers, foregoing the pumps for a pair of good ol’ Keds.

 Ladies and Lawns

(L) The Household Magazine 1940 cover illustration John Holmgren (R) Vintage ad Lucky Strike Cigarettes 1951

Of course like all homeowners, the gals were concerned about the appearance of a perfect lawn, the very symbol of the American Dream and suburban success.

Women’s magazines were chock full of  “Advise to the Ladies” articles on achieving the exemplary deep green  lawn. But they did not assume women did the work themselves.

No sir.

 Women who wanted model lawns got men to work on them.

Vintage illustration Jon Whitcomb

A smart cookie could cleverly  manipulate her husband to achieve a beautifully landscaped home, guiding them  for example, into buying proper lawn food or fertilizer.

One Power Mower ad promised: “Easier mowing makes husbands easier to get along with!”

Some ads acknowledged that in the modern marriage, wives were often part of the decision-making process for the purchase of power equipment even though men were actually the ones to use the mowers.

Suburban Family Fun! Eclipse Lawn Mowers ran fun-filled “try out parties” in suburban communities to test run one of their mowers, promising the party “was fun for the whole family.”

The Goodall Manufacturing Corp addressed the ladies directly: “Mowing is a mans job…but here’s a tip for wives whose husbands are about to buy a mower. Unless your lawn is the kind that obligingly stops growing when hubby ‘just cant find the time to  mow it’…you’d better slip your arm through his and join him when he goes lawn mower shopping. If you’re going to end up chauffeuring a power-driven grass cutter- make sure its one you can handle!”

Look Lady We Designed This Big Mower Just for You!

Dressed for success. Vintage ads (L) Hoover Floor Polisher 1958 (R) Moto Mower 1953

As the suburbs continued booming, clever ad men began to see the opportunity to include women in an expanding lawn care market. Advertisements for power mowers began appealing to women by making it sound as easy as housework.

Splendor  in the Grass

Vintage illustrations (L) “The Happy Family” Little Golden Books 1955 (R) Lawnmower ad 1958

In 1952 House and Gardens magazine published  “The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Power Mowers.”

The article assured m’lady that : “You don’t have to be mechanically minded in order to operate a power lawn mower. It’s no more difficult than running your vacuum cleaner or learning to drive the family car.”

Other lawn mowers  promised that the mower “pushes easy as a baby buggy.”

Whether a waxer or a mower Mother loves its streamlined beauty! Vintage ads (L) Bruce Floor Products 1948 (R) Mowa -Matic Lawn Mower 1953

Lawn mowing could be downright fun.

“Everybody loves to use the Worchester Lawn Mower,” exclaimed onw ad.  “Kids and grown ups- male and female- they all get a thrill out of the Worchester power mower.”

The Eclipse Lawn Mower targeted the lady of the house in one ad : “Mrs. Home Owner will appreciate the easy handling, free rolling and distinctive styling of your new Eclipse as much as the man in the family goes for it  its exclusive mechanical features and trouble-free maintenance.”

1954 Vintage as Johnston Lawn Mower Company

“Lovely Conover Girl Joan Tuby”  coyly appealed to the ladies that choosing a lawn mower was “Like picking a Husband.” Wearing short shorts and a halter top,  the vivacious model also appealed to the gents.

Despite the best efforts of ad men, men dug their heels into their turf and  lawn mowing remained a male domain, then as now.

Copyright (©) 2015 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

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The Great American Mow Down

Suburban Lawn Doctor

The debate about Mad Men’s ending may continue for years, but no one can debate the fact that Coca Cola has succeeded in getting the world to buy a Coke.

With the final image of Don Draper meditating on a hillside in an Esalen-like retreat, Mad Men ended its amazing 7 year run with the playing of the 1971 “Hillside” Coca Cola commercial.

As the sun rises behind them, the harmonizing group of smiling, multicultural teenagers dripping with saccharine sincerity and inner peace, “hope to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony” by drinking a bottle of Coke.

The imaginary home filled with good vibrations that these peace-niks sang about, the apple tree-shaded one they wished to “buy the world and furnish with love,” would also (if Coke had their way) be furnished with an avocado green fridge filled with icy bottles of Coca Cola.

It’s the Real Thing

Unabashedly and unironically appropriating the hippie culture ethos, this chorus of pure capitalism selling “The Real Thing” represents the ultimate merchandising of the 1960’s.

Buy The World

Changes (L) Vintage Coke ad 1962

Gone were the wholesome all American teens  we came to expect from Coke fun-filled ads.

Now dressed in culturally appropriate color-blocked dashikis, peasant blouses, and silky kimonos, each wholesome multicultural teen holds the iconic green glass bottle of this magic brown elixir ( each branded in its native tongue) that they hope will help bring peace and harmony to the troubled world…. it is after all “What the world wants today!”

The wildly successful commercial (the ad campaign code name was aptly named “Buy The World”) was in perfect harmony with Coke’s marketing strategy and the way Coca Cola had been extending itself globally for decades.

What the World Wants Today

Vintage ad Coca Cola Admirality Isles, Bikini 1945

Whether hawking peace, love and human connection or freedom, democracy and camaraderie, that corporate colossus has accomplished the coca-colonization of the world which began long before the “Hillside” ad ran in the summer of 1971.

Coke had long advertised itself as offering a bit of commonality across the globe.

Nearly thirty years earlier during WWII Coke presented itself as an international sign of friendliness.

“Coke has become the high sign between kindly minded strangers the symbol of a friendly way of being,” they explained in one 1944 ad. “Have a Coke’ says he to a stranger and in one simple gesture he has made a friend. In 3 words he has said “You and I understand each other. ”

WWII Advertising: A Global Blitzkrieg

Vintage Coke ad 1942

With the precision used to plan a bombing mission in the South Pacific, Coca Cola calculated their advertising campaign during the War to make sure Coke was seen as vital to wartime morale and essential to Americans and their fighting men.

While the Coca Cola Company was busy boosting the morale of G.I. Joe, they were simultaneously laying the groundwork for becoming an international symbol of refreshment and solidarity.

The Global High Sign… I’d like to Buy the World a Coke

“How Americans Make Friends in Ireland” Vintage Coke ad 1944

Coke was our secret weapon for world peace

Rather than show war-weary soldiers enjoying their product, Coca Cola focused on Cokes ability to bring people and nations together. The ads carried the catchphrases “The global high sign” and introduced American readers to a few foreign phrases.

Set in exotic locals such as Russia, Newfoundland, and New Zealand the ads portrayed grinning GIs mixing it up and laughing over Cokes with British, Polish, Soviet and other Allies always with a caption along the lines “Have a Coke- a way of saying we’re with you.”

The ad men continually touted the drinks status as an American icon. “Yes around the globe, Coca Cola stands for the pause that refreshes- it has become a symbol of our way of living.”

But it wasn’t just G.I.’s for whom Coke was a symbol of the American way. It was a symbol for the native population as well.

The presence of Coke did more than lift the morale of the troops .

It gave the local people in the different countries their first taste of Coca Cola and paved the way for unprecedented worldwide growth after the war.

Have a Coke – Sealing Friendship in New Zealand

Vintage WWII ad Coke in New Zealand 1944

Kia Ora, says the New Zealander when he wants to give you his best wishes. It’s a down under way of telling you that you’re a pal and that your welfare is a matter of mutual interest. The American soldier says it another way.

Have a Coke, says he, and in three words he has made a friend.

It’s a custom that has followed the flag from the tropics to the polar regions. It’s a phrase that says Welcome, neighbor from Auckland to Albuquerque from New Zealand to New Mexico.

Round the globe, Coca Cola stands for the pause that refreshes – has become the high sign between friendly minded people.

Have a Coca Cola…How to Break the Ice in Iceland

Vintage ad Coke in Iceland 1943

Come be blessed and be happy says the hospitable Icelander when he meets a stranger. That’s a warm way of putting it but no more friendly than the way American soldiers say it. ‘Have a Coke,’ says the dough-boy and it works in Reykjavik as it does in Rochester. The pause that refreshes is the friendly way to say Hi Pal in any language.

Coca Cola has become the gracious ice breaker between kindly minded strangers.

Have a Coke –  How Friends Are Made in the RAF

Vintage Coke ad 1944

Have a Coke is a friendly greeting among RAF flyers back at early dawn from a night mission. It’s a salute among comrades in arms that seals the bonds of friendship in Plymouth England or Plymouth Mass. It’s an offer as welcome on an English airfield as it is in your own living room.

Our fighting men meet up with Coca Cola many places overseas where its bottled on the spot. Coca Cola has been a globe-trotter “since way back when.”

Making Pals in Panama

Vintage Coca Cola ad 1944 “Making Pals in Panama”

Being Friendly in Newfoundland

Vintage ad Coca Cola in Newfoundland 1944

There is an American way to make new friends in Newfoundland. It’s the cheery invitation Have a Coke an old U.S. custom that is reaching ‘round the world. It says let’s be friends, reminds Yanks of home.

In many lands around the globe, Coke has become the symbol of our friendly home ways.

Have a Coke – You’re My Kind

Vintage WWII ad 1944 Coca Cola

There’s a friendly phrase that speaks the allied language. It’s “Have a Coke.”

Friendliness enters the picture when ice-cold Coke appears. Over tinkling glasses of ice-cold Coke minds meet and hearts are closer together.

Coke has become an everyday high sign of friendliness among people of good will.

Liberators

G.I.’s liberating towns throughout Europe or working side by side with locals in the Philippines felt pride in sharing their favorite drink with their new-found friends.

Vintage Coke ad 1945

One of the interesting things that impresses people overseas about the American fighting man is his friendliness among his fellows. Everywhere they see Americans bringing with them their customs and home-ways-their own brand of open heartedness.

Have a Coke, foreigners hear the G.I.’s say when he wants to be friendly, and they begin to understand what America means. For in this simple gesture is some of the essence of Main Street and the family fireside.

Yes, the custom of the pause that refreshes with ice-cold Coca Cola helps show the world the friendliness of American Ways.

 

 Yank Friendliness Comes back to Leyte Phillipines

Vintage WWII ad Coke 1945 Philippines

Naturally Filipinos thrilled when their Yankee comrades-in-arms came back to the Philippines. Freedom came back with them. Fair play took the place of fear. But also they brought back the old sense of friendliness that America stands for. You find it quickly expressed in the simple phrase Have a Coke.

There’s no easier or warmer way to say Relax and be yourself. Everywhere the pause that refreshes with ice-cold Coca Cola has become a symbol of good will – an everyday example of how Yankee friendliness follows the flag around the globe

Winning Minds in Nazi Germany

Despite all American coca cola’s claim that it was the high sign between like-minded strangers the very symbol of patriotism, democracy and freedom, no mention was ever made to the fact that Coca Cola was doing business in Nazi Germany.

In the midst of their global advertising blitzkrieg, patriotic Coca Cola appeared at Hitler youth rallies as Coca Cola trucks accompanied the marchers hoping to capture the next generation.

“Mach Doch mal Pauss (Come on Take A Break) …Have a Coke – or winning minds in Nazi Germany” was one ad that we would never see.

Coca-Colonization Post War

Vintage ad Coca Cola in Alaska

WWII did more than perpetuate an image – it also led to Coke’s dominance abroad.

They created an enormous consumer base throughout the world that would not have been possible without General Eisenhower and the Coca Cola Company’s cooperation working towards bettering the morale of the American fighting man.

After gulping down more than a billion servings of Coke, 11 million veterans returned with a lifelong attachment to the soft drink. But it wasn’t only Americans who got hooked on the sweet elixir.

Many of the bottling plants established overseas during the war continued to operate as non military factories after the war. When the war ended, the coca cola company had 63 overseas bottling plants in operation in venues as far-flung as Egypt, Iceland, Iran, West Africa and New Guinea.

The idyllic post war world of Coca Cola fit in perfectly with the “Hilltop” commercial images “Grow apple trees and honeybees and snow white turtle doves.” Vintage Coca Cola ad 1946

During the war drinking Coke became  synonymous with fighting the enemies of freedom and democracy .

Now post war Americans would help underdeveloped countries improve their lives and know the real joy of good living by exporting American consumer goods helping them to better resist Communist pressures.

With our sparkling pepsodent smiles, Americans would meet our obligation to the free world-spreading democracy and offering a helping hand to people all around the globe-a coke in every Frigidaire and a Chevy in every garage. The path to the future would be bright and profitable

Globe Trotting With Coke

“In exotic Acapulco- Here too you find the pause that refreshes with ice cold coca cola. Because good taste itself is universal enjoyment of Coca Cola has become a welcomed social custom in over 100 countries. The best loved drink in all the world. Artist Robert Fawcett captures a moment of companionship in Mexico’s famous Acapulco. Vintage Coke ad 1957

Thanks to the dawning of the jet age, mid-century Americans were traveling out into the cold war world as never before and they knew coke would help them find new friends in this new global community linked by Coca Cola-“A recognized symbol recognition of friendliness and good taste.”

In 1956 Coke took their advertising business to McCann Erikson who produced these series of ads ads directed at this new international set, many illustrated by Jack Potter.

India …Coca Cola -Favorite of the World

“From a Maharajas Palace in far off India comes another interpretation from the brush of young Jack Potter.” Vintage Coke ad 1957. I was fortunate to have taken a class “Drawing and Thinking” with Jack Potter, the innovative illustrator who taught drawing and conceptual thinking at School of Visual Arts, after a highly successful career as an illustrator.

In ever widening circles. the uniquely pleasant taste of Coca Cola wins fresh appreciation and new friends.

Through more than 100 countries more than 58 million times a day someone enjoys the special flavor the welcome little lift of Coke. This remarkable endorsement has won for Coca Cola a gracious badge of good taste that’s all its own…recognized everywhere.

The best loved drink in the world.

Spring Time Paris…Goes Better With a Coke

“Enjoyment of the world famous pause is captured for you in Paris by artist Jack Potter.” Vintage Coke ad 1957

 Come to Paris in the spring…and here too Coca Cola waits for you….so good in taste in such good taste that the invitation Have a Coke has become a gracious custom in more than 100 countries of the world today.

Hawaii Holidays

Hawaii was still a territory when this 1957 ad ran. Illustrated by Jack Potter

 When you come to Hawaii…here too you’ll find the enjoyment of Coca cola is a welcomed social custom just as it is in over 100 different countries.

Venice…Ciao Coca Cola

Vintage Coke ad 1957 “Venice” Illustration by Jack Potter

In Venice too…sign of good taste…the art of living cheerfully speaks many lamnguages. And almost every language today knows the invitation Have a Coke.

Romance in Rio

 In Romantic Rio, too…sign of good taste…the taste of Coca Cola is so distinctive and so popular that the serving and enjoyment of Coke is a cheerful symbol of good taste in living everywhere.

Through more than 100 countries…More than 58 million times each day …the invitation Have a Coke has a welcoming meaning and acceptance all its own.

Canada and Coke

A famous Canadian resort inspires another interpretation from the talented brush of jack Potter

At Lake Louise, too…Sign of Good Taste…the instinct for pleasant living goes wherever pleasant people go…and take the custom of enjoying Coca Cola with it. So good in taste in such good taste …in more than 100 countries today, the invitation Have a Coke is the recognized signal for one of life’s unique pleasures

Better in Belgium

1958 vintage Coke ad Brussels World Fair

 Visit the Brussell’s Worlds Fair where you’ll find a ready welcome at coca cola pavilion

Why have people in more than 100 countries made coke cola the best loved sparkling drink on earth?

If Coca Colas mission was to offer Coke to “whoever you are, whatever you do, wherever you may be, when you think of refreshment think of an ice cold Coca Cola”, then “mission accomplished.”

Postscript: How Blue Jeans Could Spread World Peace

Vintage Wrangler Jean ad 1970. Contest to go to Europe as a Young Ambassador to spread peace and harmony

Note:Coke wasn’t the only company to use an utilize a multicultural  approach in 1971. A year earlier all American Wrangler Jeans offered a trip to teens to be “Wrangler Young Ambassadors”. Any boy or girl between the ages of 16 and 22 could enter their contest to win a prize “traveling throughout Europe meeting people exchanging views,” in the hopes of spreading peace and harmony.

Copyright (©) 2015 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

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The Mad Men Of Madison Avenue Get Real

This once enviably svelte housewife now found herself among the masses of women who realized they needed to whittle their waists.

For decades, Memorial Day has long been a solemn occasion.

Besides reflecting on those brave souls whose lives were lost in service to their country, the holiday has also signaled the beginning of swimsuit season and with it the sobering reflection of the state of ones body as winter weary thighs and middle-aged spreads come out of hibernation.

In 1965 Winnie Roberts had one such sobering experience, bravely confronting herself in the harshly lit confines of a department store dressing room.

One glance in the triple view mirror and poor Winnie did a double take. The new slim fashions were not for her. Crestfallen, she knew in her heart that “her size” just wasn’t “her size” any more. Suddenly for the formerly winsome Winnie, dressing up wasn’t as exciting as it used to be.

Hangers filled with this seasons must-have figure flattering swimsuits in stripes , ruffles and pleats beckoned forlornly.

As she struggled unsuccessfully to wiggle into a new Rose Marie Reid swimsuit in unforgiving Banlon, her reflection in the dressing room mirror confirmed what she already suspected.

It was time for Winnie to whittle her waist.

Vintage illustration by Dick Sargent for Post Grape Nuts Cereal Ad 1958

There came a time in every cold war housewife’s life when the safety of the containment policy offered by a good girdle simply wasn’t enough to keep those pesky curves in line.

That time had come for Winnie.

Now that she was nearly 38 and officially middle-aged, the pounds didn’t come off so easily. If she wanted to compete with the Pepsi Generation, she had to do more than get with the now taste of Tab !

Is This the Day You finally Do Something About Your Weight?

Vintage Weight Loss Ads (L) Sego 1964 (R) Metrecal 1963

Back home as she carefully dusted the Kimball upright piano, dousing the pecan wood with aerosol Pledge, Winnie’s eyes fell on the array of framed family photos that adorned the top of the piano.

Glancing at a photo from a trip to a ski weekend at Hunter Mountain with her husband Jack from several winters ago, she marveled at how slender she was in the glow of the fire. Her face darkened musing “Would he think so now?…..”

That settled it. It was  time to do something about her weight. She pledged to go on a diet.

Hunger Pangs

But true dieting takes will power. Those temptation hours between meals when hunger sets in, are the undoing of so many wishful weight watchers.

And all those calories to count could make a gal dizzy.

Like millions, Winnie had read Dr.Herman Taller’s hugely successful  1961 bestseller Calories Don’t Count.

But even if she didn’t have a head for figures ( as her hubby always pointed out), she figured the good doctor was dead wrong. Calories did count.

Lucky for her there was no shortage of new diet products to help m’ lady in her battle of the bulge.

Best of all, she could leave the counting to someone else.

By 1965 over 5 million had been helped with that mid-century miracle – Metrecal.

Metrecal came in a variety of delicious flavors including eggnog and tantalizing raspberry. They also offered wafers and soups as alternatives. Vintage Metrecal ads

It was while flipping through her latest issue of Ladies Home Journal that help came to Winnie. There nestled between tempting recipes for gay, festive cakes and hot day casseroles was a double page ad for Metrecal.

“Is this the day You do something about your weight?” the ad’s headline asked the reader.

“If you are overweight, if your clothes don’t fit right, if you don’t even feel as attractive as you should, isn’t it time you considered Metrecal? ” The copy seemed to speak directly to her.

Like most savvy gals, Winnie had heard about Metrecal. Since it was introduced in 1959, Metrecal had changed the dieting habits of the nation. The 225 calorie meal replacement drink taken 3 times a day melted the pounds in a jiff.

As the ad explained: ” Of all the ways people have tried to lose weight nothing approaches the record success of Metrecal dietary. Gave Americans a new solution to the dilemma of having to choose between embarrassment and danger of overweight on the one hand, and the hunger monotony and uncertainties of dieting on another.”

Winnie was ready to turn her  back on Lobster Newburgh for her figures sake and join the Metrecal for Lunch Bunch,  sipping her way back to her former slenderella self.

 Sip Yourself to Slenderness

Mead Johnson & Co. makers of Pablum, eventually morphed into the diet business with Metrecal. (L) vintage ad for Pablum 1958 (R) Ad for Metrecal 1961

By the early 1960’s several liquid diet meal replacements appeared to help sip your way to slenderness.

But the granddaddy of them all was Metrecal, a product of pharmaceutical company Mead Johnson & Co.

Along with a generation of busy mothers, housewives like Winnie Roberts had long counted on Mead Johnson & Co, makers of Pablum and Dextri Maltose, to feed her babies.

Purchased at the recommendation of their family doctor these ready mixes were quite useful in plumping up baby. offering “an adventure for baby’s first solid food.”

By the fall of 1960, these same mothers were buying a new Mead Johnson product, a powder called Metrecal, which promised just the opposite-to take those unwanted pounds off mama!

Now women could confidently begin their own adventure with the same peace of mind inspired in millions by the name Mead Johnson & Company.

Metrecal- A Marketing Miracle

For Mead Johnson & Company founded in 1900, Metrecal was just a new trick coaxed out of an old product.

In the great American marketing tradition, Metrecal was really an old product re-marketed to the newly diet conscious population.

Mead Johnson & Company was best known for inventing Pablum in 1931, a nutritional powder that could be mixed with water or milk and spoon fed to young babies. For decades the cereal had long been prescribed for millions of babies by thousands of doctors

But nearly 25 years later, concerned that the company was almost exclusively identified with baby products, they set up a research department to develop a diverse  line of products.

Savvy researchers at Mead Johnson stumbled across an invalid’s food called Sustagen. A mix of skim milk powder, soybean  flour, corn oil, minerals and vitamins, Sustagen- a precursor to today’s Boost- was designed for hospital patients unable to eat solid foods.

It worked so well at giving patients the feeling of having eaten a solid meal and diminishing between meal hunger pangs, that Mead Johnson decided to rename it  Metrecal and market it as a weight-reducing food. The only change was to recommend a limit of 900 calories of Metrecal a day.

Naturally as a drug company, Mead Johnson wanted to keep the good will of doctors who prescribed most of their other products, so they wisely started advertising Metrecal in the American Medical Association Journal, eventually branching out into general markets. Wisely ending  each advertisement with a plug to “see your physician” about weight problems,  gave Metrecal that all important AMA stamp of respectability that most other diet concoctions lacked.

Sales soared.

Your Doctor Knows Best

Like most homemakers, Winnie would never dream of starting any slimming regime without the advise of her trusted family doctor.

Once she could eliminate any glandular problem as the cause for her excess weight she was free to enjoy imbibing on the 900 calorie, full-bodied goodness of Metrecal with her doctors blessing.

Like most physicians, her doctor was very boosterish on the canned beverage as an aid to slimming down. Smiling paternally, he patted Winnie’s hand advising her to “take a can, and take it easy!”

Sternly he also instructed her to avoid undue exercise  as part of her slenderizing program as it was counterproductive.

Like many doctors, he felt it was of very little value since it was believed that exercise spurred ones appetite. So Winnie would leave Jack La Lanne and his jumping jacks and the good vibrations of a slimming belt at Vic Tannys to others.

As Metrecal confirmed “Your physician is the best source of counsel and guidance in problems of weight loss and control.”

 Metrecal or Martinis

Adverting began targeting men and weight loss too. (R) In a vintage Borden’s Skimmed milk ad from 1955, Elsie the Cow’s husband Elmo goes on a diet. “But dear you don’t have to starve while dieting,” Elsie suggests sweetly to her husband. To which Elmo replies in a blustery tone” “And what’s wrong with my shape?” (L) The Metrecal ad from 1961 is targetting the businessman.

Women weren’t the only ones watching their waistlines.

If Winnie’s husband jack wanted to cut a fine figure in his cabana set, he might have to do a bit of dieting himself and Metrecal was there to help him too.

Tapping into the manly world of 3 martini lunches, it wasn’t long before Mead Johnson started targeting men too, expanding their market as quickly as American waistlines grew.

Metrecal was originally introduced as a powder, mixed by hopeful dieters with water or skim milk. Soon it was available as canned Metrecal which was marketed for the bloated businessman. A 1965 print ad stated “Not one of the top 50 US Corporations has a fat president!”

Who needs a BBQ? For the beef lovin’ American man, Metrecal promised their tasty can of Metrecal had all the nutrition of a steak and potatoes dinner.

If  Jack started to develop a bit of a paunch, Mead Johnson suggested he keep those canned Metrecals refrigerated in a desk drawer for his noonday  meal joining the Metrecal for lunch bunch.

And if he took clients to lunch, he could rest assured, Metrecal was served up the finest establishments. While clients could imbibe on a Blue Hawaii at Trader Vics, the tiki themed restaurant also offered a 325 calorie lunch which was 1.5 ounces of rum mixed with nutmeg and Metrecal.

A Deluge of Diet Drinks

Vintage ads Borden’s Ready Diet

Metrecal was so successful it spawned nearly 40 imitators from other large companies: Sears Roebuck brought out  Bal-Cal, Quaker Oat’s  pitched Quota, Jewel Tea Company had Diet-Cal; even deep discounter Korvette’s hawked Kor-Val. to name just a few.

Winnie’s head was swimming from the choices.

If reliable Elsie the Cow who was apparently watching her waistline too,  claimed her product “Ready Diet” was “the happiest tasting drink,” maybe  she should try Borden’s rich and creamy elixir. Their scientific blend of 900 full-bodied calories was ready to drink from the gold carton with no measuring, mixing, dissolving or diluting.

Focusing on the women’s market, Pet Milk’s popular Sego stuffed more protein and 2 more ounces into the same 900 calories featured by Metrecal.

Vintage Diet Ads (L) Sego Liquid Diet Food (R) Sego Liquid Diet Food 1965

“Those temptation hours between meals when hunger sets in are the undoing of many a wishful weight watcher. Now new Sego diet food promised it had built-in help for nibblers. Its secret came from added protein: “10%  more than other 900 calorie diet foods.   Because protein is consumed at a slower rate,” they claimed, “ it stays with you longer, helping to delay hunger.”

Sego promised you would forget you were dieting with their 9 delicious flavors. “This is hardship?” they asked the reader. “These rich flavored drinks tasted right out of a soda fountain.”

Copyright (©) 2015 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved