Tuesday, May 6, 2014

American Home May 1968

This month's edition of American Home has arrived.



In this month's issue:


Dennison's was known for their Party Planning books and particularly remembered for their Halloween Bogie Books.


This ad starts out fairly tame, but I don't know what kind of shenanigans are going on by the end.

This is a Chicago area code and exchange.  I dare someone to call Linda. 


I used to love this stuff when I was a kid.




When I first looked at this ad, I was struck how it could easily be a modern ad.  Then I noticed something that placed it firmly 40 years ago.  See it?  I'll wait while you look some more.  Okay, give up?  It's the smallpox vaccine on her arm.  I still remember getting mine and the size of the gun that administered it.  Most smallpox vaccinations were halted in the United States by 1971.  These days it would have been photoshopped out of the ad.

The message in this ad?  Whirlpool refrigerators will make you fat.  Not sure that's how you sell a refrigerator.  Whenever I left our refrigerator open like that, my dad would yell, "You're letting all the cold out!"  Now I yell that at my kids.

I've commented before how it seems like more thought went into appliances in the past.  This is another example. 

And so is this.  


This reminds me of cookies at grandma's house.  Seems like she always had these types of cookies, particularly those sugar wafer cookies and the Vienna Fingers.  We also ate Hydrox cookies in our house as opposed to Oreos.  They must have been cheaper.  I recall my sister and I made our own mock "Wacky Package" of them called "Hard Rocks".


When you want to bring the Brady's yard indoors.
Panel Love

Carpet Love


Seriously, what was with our paneling obsession in the 60's and 70's?  What was the appeal?  I guess it's the same thing that made us love popcorn ceilings in the '80's.  What do we do to our homes today that we'll hate in 30 years?


I've never heard of Alpine cigarettes, of course I never smoked. They're made by Pall Mall and apparently can still be bought.  And now, a word from Roy Scheider on Alpine cigarettes and their Swift-Gift coupon program.


You should see what happens on Stove Top Stuffing night.






The Shangle.  Say it.  It's fun to say.



My sister and I used to throw a blanket over our ping pong table and pretend it was a house.  One time we thought it would be cool to bring a candle in there.  We ended up setting the area rug on fire.  True story.



Who knew Kodak made carpet?



Mexican "Marriage" Hammock, eh?  I think we know what's implied here.

5 comments:

  1. let's see...

    i was really hoping this next post would be may 1967, since then it would be the issue that came out the month i was born. ah well.

    i'm surprised you didn't show page 137: "Tape Recording's New Look: The Cassette"!

    i just tried calling Linda. that number is no longer in service. : (

    this month's entry has made me realize how TERRIBLE the products were named back then. Micrin? Royalcote? Filon-Stripes? Olean? THE SHANGLE?? ugh, so bad.

    i'm suprised how modern that ad looks, too. i didn't realize they stopped vaccinating for smallpox. i'm not even sure i have a mark for one. if i do, it didn't scar me.

    i'm not sure if more thought went into appliances in the past, or if they just realized that they could make more money selling two separate appliaces rather than just one that did two things.

    also, you should know that Hydrox was (is) considered the better cookie. Oreos were the latecomer, and took Hydrox's look and everything, eventually forcing them out of the market with a bigger ad budget. i miss Hydrox!

    i'm not sure what we do to our homes now that we'll hate in 30 years. i certainly dread the recent resurgence of wallpaper in popularity. anyone who's had to take wallpaper OFF knows what a horrible thing it is. at least you could rip paneling down fairly easily!

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    1. >i was really hoping this next post would be may 1967, since then it would be the issue >that came out the month i was born.

      There's still time! I'll have to look for that issue. No promises.

      >i just tried calling Linda. that number is no longer in service

      I suspected as much. I wonder if Lark bought the number in perpetuity.

      >i'm not even sure i have a mark for one.

      They fade, but they don't go away, so if you see no trace, you somehow managed to escape the wrath of the needle gun. Supposedly, smallpox has been eradicated in civilized countries, however, some samples still exist in labs...waiting...

      >also, you should know that Hydrox was (is) considered the better cookie.

      Maybe it was all the ads and cookie twisting that made me think Oreo was the superior cookie. Either way, I'm not a fan of sandwich cookies so I'd be a poor judge today.

      >i certainly dread the recent resurgence of wallpaper in popularity.

      Couldn't agree more on that. My entire house was wallpapered. I had to tear it down one miserable sheet at a time. Then I had to primer over the shiny adhesive.

      >at least you could rip paneling down fairly easily!

      Well, that depends. My dad "Liquid Nail"'ed it to the walls of our home. Pulling it down means pulling off portions of the plaster or drywall, depending on what it's mounted on.

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  2. > There's still time! I'll have to look for that issue. No promises.

    whoohoo!


    > I suspected as much. I wonder if Lark bought the number in perpetuity.

    you can do that?? O_O


    > Maybe it was all the ads and cookie twisting that made me think Oreo was the superior cookie. Either way, I'm not a fan of sandwich cookies so I'd be a poor judge today.

    oh man, twisting is what sandwich cookie haters *do* to work around the sandwich cookie concept! i love me some twisted cookies, yo. even though i lament the loss of Hydrox, i have to say that Oreos are mighty tasty.


    > Couldn't agree more on that. My entire house was wallpapered. I had to tear it down one miserable sheet at a time. Then I had to primer over the shiny adhesive.

    same here. try century-old wallpaper! i have no idea what they used to put wallpaper up back then (wheat paste?) but man, does it not want to come off.


    > Well, that depends. My dad "Liquid Nail"'ed it to the walls of our home. Pulling it down means pulling off portions of the plaster or drywall, depending on what it's mounted on.

    that must be standard practice -- we had it like that, too. still, with a good scraping tool you can wedge down in between the board and the wall and separate the two. then it all about sanding, sanding, sanding. sigh.

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    1. I looked through my issues and alas no May of '67. You'll have to settle for June of '67 issue.

      Delete
  3. boooo. thanks for looking, though. weird that they kept april and june of '67, but may is missing. WHAT WAS IN THAT ISSUE??? @_@

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