Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Lane Cedar Hope Chest Valentines (1939-1945)

Good morning!

And thanks for all the well wishes on yesterday's save the date cards-- I am now fully pumped and hyped up about planning out the aesthetic (doodly) parts of the wedding! I thought I would pay you guys back for all your kind comments with the very last word in what you should be getting for your sweetheart upon tomorrow's holiday, which is Valentine's Day. Ladies and gentleman, there is no gift so appropriate in the world to show your loved one that you care than....you guessed it....a Lane Cedar hope chest.


Being an estate sale junkie and old furniture hound, I was well aware of the existence of Lane Cedar hope chests; however, I had no idea of their romantic and almost magical properties. I was searching "Valentine's Day" on Google books, with a date range of 1939-1948 (my favorite years, natch), and surprisingly, result after result was about one of two things. The first was FTD florists, reminding you that that firm's agents are as fleet of foot in delivering last minute floral arrangements as they are reasonable on the prices of said floral arrangements; the second was Lane Cedar hope chests. People! This is an aggressive ad campaign! I feel like every spread comes with the byline: "NO. SERIOUSLY. LANE CEDAR HOPE CHESTS."


The colors, the floating cherubs, the doily Valentine heart....the blonde-as-a-blonde-on-a-bag-of-Sunbeam-Bread woman and her GI beau...the "this valentine makes two hearts beat as one!" byline...what is not to like about this?  The text goes on to read: "Happiness ahead? That is what this romantic Lane Valentine gift promises. For it starts tomorrow's home where love and joy will be everlasting." Now, I know that's spreading the treacle a little thick, but think about it in terms of a wartime enfianced young woman, whose significant other is "somewhere in Europe". Her suddenly semi-flush with army pay young man can send one home as a furniture based promissory note of the housekeeping they're to set up when he returns. How sweet is that? There's a specific byline that says "To Men in Service: Write factory if name of Lane dealer where chest is to be delivered is not known" in this one, and another in the below ad that adds "It will be delivered in accordance with your wishes". Lane wants to make sure your Suzy Sweetheart gets her cedar chest!


I love that the first thing I saw in this advertisement was not Shirley Temple (whose hair looks perfect, btw), but the line "A Million Maidens Yearn for this Romantic Love Gift". I. LOVE. HYPERBOLE. And alliteration. This line has all those other lines BEAT. I've never read her autobiography (mistake #1), but I do wonder why Temple didn't continue on with movies. In the one non-juvenile role I've seen her in, with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy in The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer, she's cute as a button, even grown up! Do you prefer the waterfall with inlay model (center) , or the more traditional looking, tiny colonial legged version at the right?


This one may be my favorite. Look at the pretty future homemaker stowing away her trousseau linens and cute fitted sweaters in her "show her you care!" Lane cedar chest! Look at the guy on the right in his pilot's outfit, saying "That's what I'm fighting for!" My sentimental little heart is melting like a SnoCone. The text has more about how the cedar "destroys moths" (harsh language!) and how service people should order with confidence. So sweet. 

Writing this post makes me remember that I have actually seen a WWII ( maybe even Valentine's day!) gift of one of these out in the field. At an estate sale in a tiny house out in Woodbine, four or five years ago, the entire bedroom suite was cedar, and in a place of prominence in the neat-as-a-pin master suite, was a cedar chest a lot like the one in the above advertisements, all burled-wood and high gloss. Looked as new as if it were just purchased. And in the inside? A handwritten tag with "To [woman's name], From [man's name]",  and a 1945 date. Ugh! It would in no way fit in my house at the time, but I'm kind of sad now I didn't buy it. I hope it found a (new) good home.

What do you think? Will you be peeved as peeved can be tomorrow if there's not a hope chest waiting at the foot of the stairs for you with a love-red ribbon tied around it? Do you have a chest like this in your house? What kinds of things do you store in it (or do you just keep it around to destroy moths)? Let me know!

That's all for today....see you guys back here tomorrow!


24 comments:

  1. Those are all so lovely. I always wanted a hope chest but I have never run across one I truly like it.

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    1. And it pays to wait for the one you want! I'm so bad about "I'll buy it now, because I'll never see another one like it!" and the NEXT one I see is the true dreamboat one I needed, but now where can I put it?

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  2. Love these!!! I have a cedar chest in the basement that needs a itty bitty repair and another good cleaning and disinfecting (from all the mildew and mold that was in the basement before I moved in, YUCK!) that belonged to my grandparents. It's not as burled and lacquered as these beauties, but it's deco to the hilt! When we cleaned it out, it held LOADS of 1940's-early '60s paper ephemera from Christmas/get well/ birthday cards, to my grandparents' marriage certificate form 1941, to a big, almost life-size 'poster' of one of my grandfather's basic training photos from just before he shipped off for D-Day. Also found were some 1940's 'US Army' pillow covers with 'to my wife, etc. on them...one of which is currently residing on my sofa! What fun!

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    1. That's so sweet that the one you have is your own grandparents', and that it came filled with a 1940's treasure trove fit for Ali Baba! Jealousy!

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  3. I have one of these! I got it from my grandma, who said that her grandmother purchased it at a department store in/near Washington, DC during World War II. My grandma, her sister, her mother, and her grandmother were sharing a one-bedroom apartment at the time, so the extra storage space was probably very useful.

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    1. That's a real heirloom! Isn't it neat to think about inherited furniture like that coming home from the dept. store showroom all those years ago, and what a fuss everyone must've made over it ("NOW we'll finally have SOMEWHERE to put all my sweaters!", etc, etc).

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  4. My grandparents still have one at the end of their bed. With eight kids, and one million grandkids, I don't think I'm in the running should it ever become available, but it sure is pretty!!!

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    1. You never know, though! Some of the neatest stuff I have has been the result of my being at my grandparents' and going "Oh, man, this is neat!" and one or the other of them going "If you want that old thing, TAKE IT!" and doing the little "No, I don't want to take your stuff", "No, if you want it, seriously! I've been trying to get rid of that thing for forty years!" dance until it comes home with me, haha. Eight kids and one million grandkids...now that's something to aspire towards, wow!

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  5. I'd LOVE a cedar chest! We have cedar lined closets and no wall space so that might just have to do. My grandparents had their hope chest when they got married and later filled it with blankets. My Dad has it now and unfortunately, he smokes right next to it! I'm completely crestfallen over the whole thing!

    When I was in high school, I had a hope chest and I'd fill it full of household goods that I wanted to set up my first home with. It was kind of awesome. And yes, I've always been a homemaker. I love that tradition though - this "hope" chest that you fill full of items that you hope to use one day in your home of wedded bliss.

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    1. Cedar lined closets! Luxury! SO COOL!

      I totally love the idea of a hope chest, that is so sweet you kept one in high school. My mom did the same thing so that when she actually met my dad, there was practically NOTHING for her to get as a wedding present-- she had a whole trunkful of Mikasa and Revereware and all these things she had already chosen for her married life WAAAY before she got married. Some people plan ahead!

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  6. this ads make me shiver.....not in a good way. don´t know why.

    i have a much older cedar chest in my house, more rural origin. since I was 15 until my first own apartment the household linens which I got for every birthday was collected in it.
    now I keep my eiderdown in it.

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    1. I bet that cedar chest is really cool looking! Writing this post has made me want one!

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  7. Cedar chests are awesome. I f***ing HATE moths and I most definitely employ a cedar chest as part of my "no-holes-in-clothes" arsenal. I once had a moth eat right through a knitting project I was working on--it pissed me off soooo much.

    Shirley Temple was such a cute teenager. I get really annoyed by the movies she made as a little kid, but I love The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer.

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    1. I don't think I've ever had any trouble with moths (knock wood) except what they'd already done to OTHER people's stuff before I was going to buy it. I've been so crestfallen at estate sale after estate sale to find, say, a pair of WWII uniform pants in perfect condition, dirt cheap, *except* that there's fifteen freakin' moth holes in it. Same with lovely forties' coats, wool dresses, etc. Moths are a menace!

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  8. I have a Lane cedar chest that was my grandmother's that looks EXACTLY like the one in picture #2, except a lot more banged up. :) It has been through everything, including the flood. It used to be at the end of our bed, but now it's in the attic and holds quilts.

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    1. I bet it's still gorgeous! I love that it lived through the flood. The wardrobe that I have in my bedroom right now is one that was my grandmother's that I can specifically *rememeber* having whacked with a spoon, chipped the veneer off of on accident, etc, etc when I was little and staying over at her house. I hate that of all the agents of chaos it could have suffered in 80 years on this earth, I was the worst, and I'm the only one to suffer for it now, haha!

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  9. I have my Gran's Lane Cedar hope chest. It's a swell mid-century version. Thanks for reminding me of how much I like it. :)

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    1. I feel like I've convinced myself into needing one now! :)

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  10. I love a cedar chest. My mom has one that she keeps all her old stuff in (wedding dress, photos, letters etc) and when we were little- each of us got our own chest to keep our valuables in. Such a cool thing. I wish men were still giving these to their ladies as gifts instead of Bath and Body gift sets or stuffed tweety birds!

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  11. The wood patterns on those chests are incredible! I had no idea they were such a popular romantic gift. Nice post!

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    1. I know! That last one in particular is my favorite. Let's be on the lookout!

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  12. I have never given much thought to hope chests but i looooooove these ads! so many cute ads and those romantic couples! I have been wanting a neat chest for a while now so I'm going to keep an eye out for one of these beautiful things!

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    1. The last one with the SUPER WWII images is killing me. So pretty!

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