Photo Friday: Before I was Born Edition

Good morning! It's Friday, and that can mean but one thing-- time to rustle through other people's family photos! Super quick post today as I'm out the door to do a couple things...but while we can... come take a look!

The user set "Before I was Born" features a set of photos taken between 1968-1969, when the user's parents were dating but not yet married and responsible for (OH MY GOD, UNBELIVEABLY ADORABLE) children. What I love about these photos is how "off the cuff" all the pictures look. Someone (the dad? the grandad?) must have been quite the shutterbug, because there are photos and photos of what seems to be the same two-month period!

Here's the mom, who is adorably coiffed and dressed in this casual, late sixties' things-I-want-to-wear. While not as dressy as our late forties' and fifties' women, these outfits STILL look like "you're getting ready to go somewhere" compared to today's denim-casual. How about that coat hanging on the back of the door?

This is the kitchen at the dad's mother and father's house. Are they just about to say grace? Note the anniversary plate on the far wall, the 1920's china cabinet, and the green rug over the linoleum. All the details!

Here's a non-blurry picture of the mom, who looks a lot like Natalie Wood! The drapes behind her are the same material as the upholstery of the couch-- that's dedication to carrying out a fabric theme!

The couple snuggled up in an arm chair. Did you notice everyone's wearing slippers or socks inside the house? If I ever get carpet in the house, I am instituting this rule but quick! My grandma had one from that same genre of "old covered bridge" paintings you see here in her living room when I was a kid.

Scrabble is a big game in this house, as they're seen playing it on more than one occasion in this set! Isn't the mom just adorable? A game of Scrabble when my parents were dating in the late seventies' at my grandparents' house almost ended their marriage before it started. My dad played the word "J-O-K-E-R", with a triple letter score on J (24 pts, plus 8 for the rest of the word) and triple word score overall  (NINETY SIX POINTS). My mom's family is SUPER competitive on these kind of games (in a healthy but bordering on unhealthy way?) so he's lucky he left with his young life that night. Just thinking about the win on that word makes me want to play the game right now!

Aren't they just CUTE together? I love the guy's simple fraternity shirt and the pullapart record player with speakers there on the ground. I'm glad they ended up starting a family together!

There's way more photos on the son's flickr page, all the way up through this month! So check it out if you get a chance, they're incredibly photogenic people. :)

Do you have any stories of your parents dating that are particularly hilarious? Photos of your mom and dad in courtship at one or the other's house? Which one of these pictures of the couple do you think is the best? Do tell!

I gotta scat, kids! Have a great weekend though, and I'll see you on the other side. Til then!

Dan River Fabrics Families (1959-1960)

Good morning!

Well, I'm pleased to say that it was finally fine enough weather yesterday for me to step out of the house in the yellow plaid dress I got at the flea market month-before-last. As much as I love my wardrobe staple of black tights, it can limit the kind of outfits you can wear without looking like a dancer from a Belle Epoque can-can chorus (sometimes a desirable comparison...sometimes not). Also, static cling is the bane of my living existence, so I'm happy to let loose with my bare little shins and enjoy the temperate climate!

With bright colors and pretty plaids in mind, I was pleased as punch to see these family groupings from Dan River Fabrics. Now, normally, the ads I've seen for the Virginia-based textile manufacturer have been for cotton sheets in the early fifties', a raven-haired fashion model draped across fresh linens. However! Towards the end of the decade, Dan River highlighted the bright, popping plaids and color-ific fabrics in clothing choices, especially in well-dressed family settings. Let's take a look!

Here, a dead ringer for Andy Griffith stands as the pater familias of this mid century clan. How about his lipstick red loafers? They match the outfit beautifully, but would the average, non-frat dad member of today's society make a similar shoe choice? I think not. Ditto on the long-legged son to the right... shorts so short! Still, I applaud the tiny jabs at variety the clothing designers made within the framework of very traditional clothes-- example, the seated boy's red highlights at collar, pocket, and sleeve cuffs, against the plaid background. Alternately, how about the short-short kid's plaid highlights against a white background? Also, please let me have that pool. It is spring, soon to be summer! I need a pool!

This picture looked boring at first but then I realized the wife's ensemble is a jumpsuit. A JUMPSUIT. In 1959! I wonder how revolutionary or not this was at the time, if it's just weird to my eyes because I associate the garment with Studio 57 and polyester. I am stone cold in love with the ruffles at the fitted bodice, the green ribbon of a belt, the pockets, and those wide legged pants! I guess it could be two parts, blouse and pants, but I'm thinking it's probably one. Also! I have never found one not ONE jumpsuit made with proportional provisions tall people. I know I probably have no business wearing one in the first place, but seriously, they should not be one length/size fits all! I hate to be left out.

Also, here's some antebellum homeowner's chicness in the next panel (ye GODS I wish I lived in a haunted old house that looked like something out of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, just saying): 

Also, let's take a look at the woman of the house's gorgeous, GORGEOUS ensemble. Gingham, just like I like! Random black bows! Matching cape/opera coat? Black necklace tied into a sort of bolero with pearls? I'm going to need to get all Google zoom on this so I can properly examine the composition there, but let me say that I LOVE that.

Here's the copy from this first trio of advertisements:

Do you love the little special fonts for "winkl-shed" and "dri-don"? You should.

LOOK. AT THE CAMERAS. Plaid Pappy is carrying a Kodak movie camera, and little Plaid Son a plain film camera, and I am just jealous all over. This kid, compared to poor Short Shorts, looks TOTALLY like a tiny man in an almost identical ensemble to his dad's. How about the little girl's matching red knee socks and the mom's white gloves? This is, by the way, the only  photo that actually includes a location.

This family may the best from just an MCM standpoint. Look at the dad's Mondrian style windbreaker, and the little girl's black tights and beret! Oh, we just the love the whole thing. I wish capes would make half the comeback they deserve.

Last but not least, even though they don't say where this family is, I'm guessing the United Nations? I only ever think of this place in the context of the movie North by Northwest, which was actually shot that same year! I remember something about Hitchcock and his crew not being able to take footage of the front of the building (it was during the Cold War, after all) and secreting a camera in a parked van across the street. Slick, Hitch! I wonder if Dan River used similarly sly techniques to get this winning photograph. Do you see the Western Wear style detail on the man's coat? The woman's lined jacket and leather gloves, the little boy's almost tuxedo-like coat, and the little gal's whole outfit. SO CUTE!

Well, that's all the new for today. What summer-ish clothes have you broken out for the good weather? Are you a big fan of bold prints and colors, or do you prefer a slightly more laid back color palette in your day to day dress? Which of these ensembles would you like to recreate?

Have a great Thursday, and I'll see you tomorrow for Photo Friday!

Miracle of the Sea (1953 Sea Life Illustrations by James Lewicki)

Good morning!

Well, today's clippings are a little different-- from midcentury home interiors to midcentury sea-floor illustrations! As I mentioned in my vlog tour of the den a couple months ago, I am batty about scientific illustrations from the fifties' and sixties'. The hold ye olde Childcraft illustrations still have on me from summer afternoons spent at my grandmother's, leafing through the dusty volumes, is strong, people! I will stop in my tracks for an artist's rendering, circa 1960, of what the surface of Mars may look like, or what an eagle's nest is made of. 

So you could imagine, using the search term "bubble gum" for an entirely unrelated purpose, how excited I was to see this gorgeous view of the ocean's floor on the cover of a 1953 Life magazine. The colors! The vibrant texture of the painted image! The eels! What is not to like here? The vision of undersea adventure here is SO MUCH MORE EXCITING than those murky, two-mile deep photographs I used to see in National Geographic as a kid. Do you know the kind I'm talking about? Fish the color of an upturned eyeball nosing in the silt, in total darkness and total ugliness at the seafloor is SO DIFFERENT from the technicolor party that is going on in this illustration. And hang scientific accuracy, I just like to dream on the picture itself! Elevator? Go-o-o-o-oing down:

"Jellyfish, viperfish, sea devils, sea cucumbers, [and] quill worms" are some of the creatures in this tableau. I'm looking directly into the souless eye of whatever those skull-fish looking things are, and I am still loving it. Do you see the sunken ship in the background? Again, probably not all on-board with the accuracy, but how thrilling! I was showing these pictures to my coworkers and going on about how I'd probably take months of deep sea diving classes, finally get into my tank-like suit, like the little aquarium decorations people used to get, and be totally disappointed that the bottom of the sea looks more like something underneath a rock than the Party City these pictures have me imagining. Ah, well. Maybe I could at least get a job at that restaurant at Opry Mills with my new-found proficiencies in air regulators.

Things you're seeing two miles beneath the ocean's surface? "Squids, prawns, sea spiders, ribbon worms, [and] glass sponges," according to the caption. Doesn't that just read like a poem. Sea spiders! Glass sponges! O ribbon worm, my ribbon worm. That sea spider might be more than I can handle, and how about the weird, stick thin arms on that lobster? And those Super NES looking villain fish in the background, all chomp and no nice? Still, the luscious colors call to me.

I think Lewicki must have worked in science fiction illustrations, because this image keeps coming up again and again when I google image search him, his depiction of C.S. Lewis's vision of the planet Venus, according to the blog on which it was posted. He also did some absolutely terrifying illustrations for a compendium of American folktales put out by Life publications, which you can see more of here. I'm particularly fond of the witch with the living circulatory system lit up in her body (you know you want to click through to see). Doesn't that shed light on how dreamy his undersea interpretations are? Look at the ribbon fish in the next picture, and the sea-flora that look like cotton candy maple trees to me!

This may be my favorite of the bunch. Look at those prawns!

The guy in the middle is called a ratfish, which is adorable. See the far off sea butte? See the dolphins and more crabs and pretty coral pieces? Again, I'm thinking about printing off a set of these, throwing them in a frame, and using them somewhere in the living room. LOVE. THEM.

What do you think about Lewicki's undersea adventures? Were you a little natural sciences nerd as a kid, or do you have any memories of Childcraft or similar kid-oriented vintage materials? Which little sea creature is the most interesting looking or the least appealing to wake up to one brine-encrusted morn? Let a gal know!

You can see the whole issue here if you're interested in the actual facts of the seafloor, but I'm content to see the sea fantasy! :)

That's all for today, folks! Have a happy Wednesday, and I'll see you back here tomorrow. 

Fiberglas Midcentury Interiors! (No, Seriously, only one S, 1957-1958)

Good morning!

Boy, have I got some goodies today, kids. Last week, while doing my magazine rounds, I found this first ad for Fiberglas Screening and Paneling in a 1957 issue of Life magazine. Who knew Fiberglas, which for some reason persists in spelling its company name in these advertisements with a single "s", could be so glamorous? I managed to track down three more Fiberglas spots from the same time period and thought I would share with you some of THE BEST mid-century interiors I think I've ever drooled over in my life. Because of the weird size of the two-page spreads, I've just put the composite smaller image, and then closeups of each page, but you're welcome to click on any of the small-twofers to open up a much larger version of them. 

On with the show!

1) The Screened-In Porch of your Living Dreams:

This was the first of the four I laid eyes on. As you can see, there's a lot to love here. THE CHAIRS? Are you seeing the chairs? Each different types of Eamesian bucket seats, each AMAZING. One of the things I find really hard to do in my own decorating life is matching up which disparate pieces of furniture will go with which. I don't like matchy-matchy at all, but I always feel apprehension just before pulling the trigger on something I'm not sure is the EXACT thing I want. The yellow-gold seated, bamboo club chair in my living room was a nailbiter the whole way home from Goodwill, as I was positive I had just spent twenty bucks on something I was going to have to put in the attic. However, my intuition is often better than I give it credit for,  and it worked out splendidly. Do you ever have this nagging uncertainty post-buy, pre-installation when furnishing your own home?

Let's get a look at the closeups:

Three words: WIRE. FIGURAL. LLAMA. I can't even look at it. Tears of joy are stinging my eyes. The tension lamp, tenuously placed under one of the porch structural beams, isn't too shabby, either.

On this side, we can see the low-lying coffee table and chair #3, which may or may not be my favorite chair. See mom cooking a side dish in the kitchen! See dad grilling! I wonder if the large thing on ledge there is a pressure cooker. I still don't understand how those work/what they are, but I see them a lot at estate sales. I forgot to mention how calm the pale yellow looks with the natural wood of the beam support, and how much I just want to curl up with a paloma and a book on this patio. Total success, Fiberglas. Keep it comin'!

2) My Kingdom for a Built-in Wall Unit:

Now, if you liked the yellow in the last ad, oh my GOODNESS do you see the yellow in this one? Matched with the white, the turquoise, and the red of that sofa and chair, no less. My Eames chair from the last panel makes a comeback in this photo. It's funny when I think of the sales I've been to in the tonier parts of town, like West Meade or Forest Hills, and how sometimes the same mid-century interiors you'd see in Donelson or Hermitage are in place, just on a GRAND scale. I'm always impressed by these wall-unit type structures, but if you put one in my little house, it would take up too much of the room to even be practical! Let's see what kinds of things this homemaker has seen fit to put on her GORGEOUS built-in shelves:

I think the little horn may be my favorite. What would you put in the little storage drawers there at the end? I shudder to think of the misuse these would serve in my house-- there are only five drawers in my kitchen, and they are SO full of paper clips, electrical tape, and odds and ends that I'd be ashamed to open them in front of anybody. Do you see the MATCHING turquoise portable tv hiding in the corner there?

I also love that these kids have movie-quality Indian and frontier costumes, and are shooting at a balloon. What did that balloon ever do to you, child? Still, I want that headdress for my own.

3) The Kind of Den You Dream About:

Now! Here's a good case for browns and blues and whites on your color palette. This is a far more complicated scheme than I could dream up, but look at how well it plays in this den!

The wooden cactus statuette on that built in side board, the modular little side sofa, and the CURTAINS, OH, THE CURTAINS in this. Something about the windows and the white panels there has a faint Japanese ring to it, and I LOVE that when mixed in with the staunchly atomic vibe of the rest of the room. It's like a more nature-oriented, calm atomic, though.

Check out the arrangement of the furniture, too-- the pieces, unlike the color schemes, seem almost random, but then they serve the flow and use of the room!  I am actually experiencing death throes over how much I love that faux-marble black tiling. Doesn't it look like the eating area is floating on water? I AM DYING.

4) Oh Kitchen, My Kitchen:

What I said about Forest Hills and West Meade houses having blown-up-by-four-times, out-sized rooms? HERE YOU GO. Oh my damn. What would you even do with that much space in the kitchen. Where to begin! The built in refrigerator! The mile long counter with a long window to match and those cute little cafe curtains all the way alongside! The built-in stove with range top on the island (your stove is in two places! How is this even possible!)! The screened in sun room there just outside!

Ugh, this is the living end of modern comforts. Just look at it.

Do you think that's a dryer under the tv, built into the counter there? I figured the piece to the left was a dishwasher, but where's the clothes washer  in this set up? See the tiny little melamine pots under the island there? I can't bear my own jealousy over this house. It's so cool!

Now that you've gotten a look at these four flawless interior setups, which one do you want to copy wholesale for your own home? Have you ever seen a kitchen or a den this swank or set up similarly? Which color scheme gets your vote for most desirable? Spoiler alert: I LOVE ALL OF THEM. Let's talk!

That's all for today. See you guys back here tomorrow with more vintage tips and quips. Til then!

1950's Pelham Puppet Skeleton (Meet Smiley!)

Good morning!

I thought I would start out the week with my number one find from this weekend. I've been so, so good at not picking up every knickknack in the living world, but when I saw this guy at a Patterson Estate sale in the River Plantation Clubhouse, how in the heck was I supposed to NOT get him?

 Folks, meet Smiley. Yes, I named him Smiley. Look at that face!!

 This charming little so-and-so was sitting in one convoluted heap on a card table next to some fabric scraps and 1950's baby clothes. I had somehow managed to convince myself out of a knit sweater with a dozen white sheep, the center of which was black (it was too big, but I should have got it anyway!) and two or three black nylon half slips (I have too many) and was about to get out scot-free when the what-is-that-over-there feeling struck seeing a tiny femur sticking out from the detritus as if at a crime scene.

Dance, man!

DANCE!

Does anyone know how to work this thing?

As is often my fashion, it took the moment I'd actually tracked down one of the people running the sale and the words "Do you know how much you all wanted for this?" to have left my mouth before I suddenly saw a price tag stickered to the wooden controller (or "airplane" as it's called by those in the know...certainly not me!). Fifteen bucks! I was smitten, so I took one last cursory look around the sale and then headed up to the checkout table. "You're not gonna untangle all those strings by yourself, are you?" the older woman asked, holding the hogtied Smiley in both hands as she examined the price tag. "I'm gonna try!" I chirped, and beamed all the way back to my car with the strange bundle in tow.

After a quick googling of "Pelham Puppet Skeleton" (there's a wooden tag that reminds us of his origins), I found this site, celebrating the history of the company. From the website:


Bob Pelham began making puppets in 1947 after he obtained some help from Jan Bussell and Ann Hogarth (who used to operate Muffin the Mule on TV) with designing puppets that would be simple enough for young children to use.

All the early puppets were made from recycled materials and Bob told how he used to rummage through his father's home and how he persuaded his friends and employees to do the same, searching out all sorts of bits and pieces would be useful for making puppets. The local scrap-yards received many visits from this tall, blonde rather loose limbed figure, who, at times seemed to look like one of his own creations.

Isn't that adorable? Pelham went on to enjoy success as a puppet manufacturer, with his models in production until the mid-eighties'. There's currently a new, revival line of Pelham Puppets, but the originals are apparently pretty collectible. How collectible, you ask? I did some ebay browsing, and past auctions of this same guy have sold, with and without his accompanying box, for between $30-$100. The only two active listings right now are for $80 and up! So I feel like I didn't get snookered on the price, which is nice when it's something you absolutely couldn't live without.

Matthew spent about three hours totally nimbly surgeoning this guy's strings back from the knotted mass the bones were cocooned in to begin with-- I spent about thirty minutes before he got home, and then got too disgusted with my lack of progress to continue. So way to go Matthew for sticking it out! Recreation of the process from Sunday afternoon:

Matthew [from kitchen table]: Hey, can I untie this guy's foot?
Me [from sofa, reading House of Mystery Vol 1]: No! Don't untie anything! We won't know how to tie it back!
Matthew: I just need to untie this one string and the leg will go through. Then I can untie this crazy knot in the middle.
Me: [suspciously, coming to look over his shoulder] Which foot is it?

And so on. But look! Smiley looks like a million bucks now!

We were so excited with our find that yes, we even took the most amateur marionette video you have ever seen in your living life. The humming is me doing "Keep Your Sunny Side Up" from the Paper Moon soundtrack, which was just the first thing I could think of. Aren't marionettes NEAT? Look at, even in our hopelessly unschooled hands, how his body moves!

Well, I'm off to the races, but what do you think? Do you have any neat, weird, awesome marionettes in your collection? Find anything crazy cool this past week? Had any frustrating brushes with trying to restore something that is above your skill set (knots, why do you torment me!)? Let a girl know!

Hope you had a good weekend, and I'll see you guys back here tomorrow! Til then.

Photo Friday: Scots Visit Nashville, 1967 Edition

Good morning!

I was about at the end of my rope this morning with hunting for a fine photo Friday find when I stumbled across this set of scanned slides on Flickr. "Oh sure," I said to myself, referencing the label "USA 1967", "It's gonna be a bunch of slides of places nobody even cares about-- wait, is that the RYMAN?!" It was folks! It was!

Hi-ya, Ryman! Good to see you!

While there are photos from New York's Time Square and Rockefeller Center, the lion's share of these slides center around a trip to our own beloved downtown Nashville. The user's parents are Scottish nationals, visiting America on vacation, and would you believe big enough country fans that their biggest stop on a transatlantic vacation was the mother church of country music itself, the Ryman Auditorium, to see the Grand Ole Opry? I'm glad they did, because we get to look at the photos to prove it!!

Here's Skeeter Davis in a very red shift dress and matching...kneesocks? Boots? Not knowing is killing me! And below, Grandpa Jones. When I was in Mrs. Gough's fourth grade class back at Gra-Mar, we took a field trip to see the Grand Ole Opry (I guess after-school? Isn't the Grand Ole Opry usually at night?). It was at the Grand Ole Opryhouse facility on the Opryland Theme Park grounds...and doesn't it just ache at my heart that Opryland was still up and running at the time! I have no beef with Opry Mills, but I sure wish I could ride the Screamin' Delta Demon or the Hangman again. At any rate, the only two performers I remember from that night were Grandpa Jones and Porter Wagoner (because of the suit, natch). I should still have a picture of the performance we saw somewhere! My teacher took tons and then sold us prints at a quarter a copy.

What's interesting to me is how run down the Ryman looks from this simple, man-in-the-audience view in 1967. Do you see the paint peeling on the gunmetal gray radiator in front of the stage? My seven-year old dad went once around this time period, and he said it was hotter than Hades in the summer, and not air conditioned, which is why they gave out all those iconic advertising fans!

Speaking of Porter Wagoner:

A PINK NUDIE SUIT. My heart just skipped a beat.

 I think one of the coolest things about country music back in the day was how accessible the musicians made themselves to their fans. Between backstage at the Opry, and later Fan Fair, it's amazing how you could be totally into someone's record, and then just drop by and meet them in person! My dad, world's biggest Barbara Mandrell fan circa 1980 (and probably circa 2013), has told me about the "fan club brunch" the Mandrells put on every Fan Fair, where you'd go and eat and listen to the sisters talk about their upcoming records and maybe get to hear the new single before it was on the radio. That must have been such a thrill, to see the living, breathing figure of someone you have tacked up on your bedroom wall at home and in constant rotation on your turntable! Imagine how excited these Scottish tourists were to see their country music favorites right up close and personal.

Here's Lester Flatt of Flatt and Scruggs (non-country-fans, remember the Beverly Hillbillies theme song? Black gold, Texas tea? That's them), look s-h-a-r-p in a string tie.

Weirdly enough, this was my favorite one, because it's that same pretty Scottish tourist and MARTY ROBBINS.  Dig that jacket with its leather accents and buckles. "Singing the Blues" is one of my all time favorite country songs. I do not know why. At least once a month or so it gets stuck in my head and I just have to play it on repeat a couple times. Here, now it can be stuck in YOUR head:

Roy Acuff!

George Morgan:

 Here's a photo of the Ernest Tubb record shop in 1967. This whole strip of buildings is still standing, though that rockin' "Sterchi's Furniture" sign is gone. I remember in Knoxville the brand-new hot condominium in downtown the year I graduated (2007) was Sterchi Lofts, which I am only now connecting to this arm of its furniture dealerships. I can't know everything!

The black marble of the front of the building is so pretty. This is about four blocks from where I'm sitting right now at work typing this, by the way. Crazy!

The Scottish tourists then went to the observation deck on the L & C Tower, a thirty story life insurance skyscraper that was the tallest building in downtown Nashville at the time. I recognize a couple things in these photos but it's so weird how much has changed.

Last but not least, the couple stopped in Cave City, Kentucky to "eat and sleep in a wigwam" on  the way home! These concrete wigwams are still standing-- we actually took a trip up there circa 2009 and stayed in one! That was in the pre-blog days (there WAS such a thing?) for me. I'll have to dig up some pictures and show you all sometime (or better yet, go back!)

There are plenty more pictures on this user's flickr, so check them out! I'm so glad these parents stopped in my fair city so I could get a gander at what it looked like almost fifty years ago!

So! Do you have any country-music-pilgrimage stories? Are you a big old time country fan? Have you ever been to the Opry or (for those out of Nashville readers) visited sunny Tennessee? Let's talk!

Hope you all have a WONDERFUL weekend, and I'll see you on the other side!