The Week In Retro

Here are some fun links i thought that you might like:

Janet Redding in Gaston, North Carolina makes a mean Retro Cherry Poundcake.

Rochelle presents a Betty Crocker classic perfect for the Time of the Season, Strawberry Mousse

Very cool retro designs and a superb 1950s ice cream ad, among others, at Smashing Magazine.

Over at PopSugar they know all about women employees in 1943. I especially like tip #8, I like to take lots of refreshing coffee breaks!

Opal Fruits have made a triumphant return to England - retro candy mavens of the world rejoice! On the same page, check out the video link (upper right) - women needed for study, must eat one chocolate bar per day! (Hey, maybe they need some North Americans as a control group…)

The terror of the Jell-O salad, one kitschy Fifties advertisement at a time, at Do What Now?

Pistachio Marble Cake  at the Toronto Star, a very good sort of retro recipe.

Amy shows us why proofreading is important, even in the restaurant business. Especially in the restaurant business.

More links next Sunday, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise! I couldn’t get to all the great stuff I read this week, this is just a little amuse-bouche. Or something.

Image of chains, um, with links, from NYPL Digital Gallery.

What Do Women Want? Magazine Ads in 1945 Answer!

If only Freud had been reading women’s magazines. He wouldn’t have had to ask, would he?  Because apparently they want hearing aids, knit underwear, name tapes, bobby pins, library paste and a job selling greeting cards.

What an entrancing picture this column of little ads, from a 1945 Ladies’ Home Journal, conjures up! What were they thinking, putting in ads for this stuff?

I particularly like the name of the “bob pins” - Scoldy Lox. Why Scoldy Lox? Are the pins going to castigate you - ‘boy, are you having a bad hair day or what? I’d start over again if I were you!’ Guess you’ll hear them loud and clear with your Maico hearing aid.

Then we have your name sewn in everything with York Process name tapes. They have a special process for this? It’s just a little piece of fabric with your name on it.

And “undistorted” knit underwear (with York process name tag!) will be very elegant I am sure. That’ll go with the hearing aid, the bobby pins, and the - library paste. I remember using library paste at school about 1969. It was not anything like the ad promises - it was messy, hard to spread, and lumpy. Perhaps Phyllis had a hand in this product.

And as for the greeting cards - “big profit for you, up to 50 cents!” Well, sign me up. Then I can go splurge on library paste and knit underwear!