Unlike the last Good Housekeeping I posted, this issue from 1954 doesn't spark any memories for me, being a good 13 years before I was around, but the contents pretty much sum up everything I love about the 1950's. Enjoy!
I had one of these in the past few years and I loved it. Unfortunately, the automatic pop-up stopped popping up automatically.
My grandfather always made waffles in one of these when we kids spent the night. I'm not sure what the trick was, but his never stuck. I've had one of these in recent years and couldn't make a decent waffle in it.
I love Luise's glasses. I don't believe I've ever heard of a woman being referred to as a "Jr." Luise authored a few children's books, but there isn't much information about her on the internet.
Welp, Santa drank too much spiked eggnog again.
True story: I was visiting a neighbor when I was about 8 years old and she told me she was making chocolate pudding. Now, I loved chocolate pudding, especially that skin that forms on the top after it cools. She was still cooking it on the stove, so I'm thinking, there's no way I'm seeing any of this pudding. In a few minutes, she turned the stove off and proceeded to eat the pudding hot. I wasn't one to turn down pudding, hot or cold, but I was thinking, "Am I in the Twilight Zone?!"
Before you tell anything about the 1955 Chevrolet to your husband, you might want to mention your ability to shoot jets out of your nose.
I wonder how long the idea of giving appliances as gifts lasted before some wife said, "Wait a minute..."
My grandfather always used "Cremora" or "Coffee-Mate". He just called it "whitener".
The two women in the background look aghast as the hobo looks in the department store window. The "Volunteers of Costa Rica" bell ringer just stares in confusion wondering why the clapper has stopped working. The postman says, "I see nothing."
"Little LuLu" was created by Marjorie Henderson Buell (Marge) as a panel-gag for The Saturday Evening Post in 1935. She appeared in animated shorts and even had a couple live action television specials as part of the 1970's Saturday morning show "The ABC Weekend Special".
That's the way to ingrain it, Mom. Keep ironing, Sally. Just keep ironing.
Hebrew National. Frankfurters, Salami, Bologna, Corned Beef, Pastrami, and don't forget the Tongue!
Dad can't believe he got away with it. She actually liked it!
Listen, young lady, we have all the hot water we want now, so get in there and get your bath or I'll drag you by your ear!
We had a Swing-A-Way can opener mounted on a door jamb when I was a kid. It was the source of endless fasciantion. Okay, I was easily amused.
Is it pronounced "Health Oh Meter" or "Health Ah Met Her"? Either way, this child is horrified at the pounds she packed on this Christmas season.
Appian Way was the first pizza my parents ever ate. It was sold in grocery stores similar to the Chef Boyardee pizza kits. They came with a free pizza pan. My mom still has some.
I can still feel the quilted cover of these pink monstrosities.
Eat your Cream of Rice or you can't have your Dubble Bubble.
I found a light up Santa this year similar to the one advertised above. He's in poor shape, but I still like him.
Another appliance gift. I have to admit, I bought a KitchenAid mixer for my wife one Christmas. Hey, she asked for it. Really.
Merry Christmas, from Gravy Master.
"...and my hands have been laughing at me!"
Who needs that much scarf?!
"Holiday-Right" and apparently, Reindeer-lickin' Good!
These plastic shoe covers don't look too safe. Another true story: when I was a kid, my parents wouldn't buy boots for me because they said I would grow out of them too quick, so I wore bread bags over my regular shoes when it snowed. I have no idea how I turned out as normal as I did.
"Evening in Paris" was the go-to perfume for young children when buying a Christmas present for their mom's. It was discontinued in the 1960's.
If you're selling a product intended to be eaten, I would think "It's Digestible" would be a given.
Jell-O Pudding — served HOT? gee, i wonder why THAT never caught on…
ReplyDeletethat whole “giving appliances” thing is kind of how i feel about the “gift subscription” thing… sure, it may be a magazine or service they like, but it’s like saying, “i’m giving you the gift of annual fees and junk mail!”
that anchovy-celery dip actually sounds tasty to me.
i’m really liking the font on the header for that hobo story… and the one for “The Nightgown” story, too.
true story: i was planning on baking a traditional stollen this year, but then i found a recipe from 1788 for a Twelfth Night cake instead.
what year did they start using the santa/coca cola marketing? was it the 1950s? or earlier?
catsup on beans? wtf
haha, that ad for Fleischmann’s yeast: what a scam… i think if you do the math, ounce for ounce the little envelopes are more convenient, but MUCH more expensive than buying a larger bottle.
Swing-A-Way is a classic. we had one too. love that ice crusher!
that kid on the scale is making the same face that *i* make when i look at the scale.
i had forgotten all about Appian Way pizza. i wonder if you can still get it?
those musical built-ins are cool, daddy-o.
i have a kitchen-aid mixer. i don’t blame her for asking for one — they are awesome. i resisted getting one, thinking it would take up too much space and make me lazy, but in fact it’s fantastic. i still knead bread by hand, but for other things, man, do i love it. AND, the design is part of the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection. so there.
Doctor Who needs that much scarf, in his Tom Baker incarnation. : )
“Give swank for Christmas” sounds so… contemporary.
>Jell-O Pudding — served HOT? gee, i wonder why THAT never caught on…
DeleteYou know, I meant to tell a story about that. I'll have to edit my post.
> i found a recipe from 1788 for a Twelfth Night cake instead.
Hmmm. I've never heard of that.
>what year did they start using the santa/coca cola marketing? was it
>the 1950s? or earlier?
Apparently, Santa has been drinking Coke since the 1920's. Haddon Sundblom popularized it from the '30's through the '70's.
>catsup on beans? wtf
I know Lenny from "Of Mice and Men" liked catsup on his beans.
>i had forgotten all about Appian Way pizza. i wonder if you can still
>get it?
But of course: https://www.amazon.com/Appian-Way-Pizza-Crust-Pack/dp/B001682QMA
>“Give swank for Christmas” sounds so… contemporary.
You know, I almost went into the origins of that word because for a moment, I thought maybe it was coined by the company, but apparently it dates back to the 1500's!
a Twelfth Night cake is an old tradition celebrating the day the wise men arrived. (you know the 12 days of xmas? it celebrates the same period -- the 12th days from dec. 25th to the epiphany.) anyway, tradition would have people making a big cake and tucking a coin or a bean inside it when baking it, and the person who got the slice with the object would be the "king" for the day. i was excited to find such an old recipe adapted for modern baking -- and, in a historical zinger, it was from 1788, the same year the alexander hamilton published the Federalist Papers on the Electoral College. what a way to mark this year...
Deletei'm simultaneously dying to and afraid to try appian way crust...
All that goodness and I can not get warm pudding out of my head!!
ReplyDeleteWarm pudding. The gift that keeps on giving.
DeleteWow - Quite the post! Christmas time travel. Love the ads, and if it wasn't for the figs, I might actually attempt the figgy pudding recipe.
ReplyDeleteLove the Santa, too.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Merry Christmas to you, Joe!
DeleteMy mom had that very Eureka vacuum cleaner in beige and avocado green. To this day she's never had a better vacuum. It was a workhorse and she used it until it finally died. My dad bought her a number of machines after that but we always ended up trying to have that one repaired.
ReplyDeleteI remember my folks using a Westclox Travalarm clock on our family trips. I still have it and it still works.
I got a KitchenAid mixer for Christmas one year. It was what I asked for and yes, it's freaking amazing. True story: Couple years ago I gave my then-girlfriend a KitchenAid for her birthday, which is something she'd wanted. She broke up with me out of the blue a week later. Among the things she returned to me was an envelope stuffed with cash - she had looked up what I paid for the mixer on Amazon and gave me the cash value.
That title for THE NIGHTGOWN cracked me up. It's like the proofer was bored and started doodling in the letters.
Awesome post. Merry (belated) Christmas!
Yeah, you can't beat those old appliances for sheer durability. We had a Travelarm that always went with us on trips including camping.
DeleteI have one I take with us, but I rarely set it. It's a little jarring to wake to.
At least you got your money back on the KitchenAid, but funny she liked it enough to keep it.
Yes, doodles on The Nightgown do look like something you'd draw while talking on the phone.
Belated Merry Christmas to you as well, Brother Herbert. Thanks for stopping by!
Can you tell me if the poem "Gift of the Bee" by Margaret Tynes Fairley is in this copy? My boss's mother wrote it and it was in either the December 28, 1954 or 1959 copy. Thank you for any assistance!!! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Mares. I'll have to dig out this magazine. It's put away at the moment. When I come across it, I will look it up and get back to you.
Delete