No, these women aren’t sick; they’re aspiring “counter girls.” You know, the ones at department stores, trying to sell you overpriced cosmetics. These ladies are just a few of the 2,500 women that took Helena Rubinstein’s 1941 one-week “epidermal consultant” training course. Here, they are learning the art of dabbing a powder puff.
“Dandified first mate” are the words printed in the magazine, and you can see why. He’s getting the full diva treatment. Stephen Johnson receives a shave by Louise Stewart, and gets his nails done by Meg Young. Arthur Johnson (far right) turned 12 that day, and faced a rather odd visual of impending manhood.
Aboard the same Brigantine Yankee‘s deck, more grooming takes place, as Miss Booth gives Alan Pierce a haircut out in the fresh sunshine.
Meanwhile, Miss Stewart knits, and Mrs. Johnson eats her banana.
Or should I say “triplet-ies”?
Bert Nelson, Ramona Larson, and Rosella Lillehaug enjoyed a typical high school day in Hettinger, North Dakota in 1953, although methinks they’re dressed for bowling league night. Pedal pushers, saddle shoes, and white button-downs–could they be any cuter?
Summer 1953, Cates, Indiana. Sherrie and brother Danny Barkley eating watermelon with their limber aunt Rosie, while the grandparents look on.
Summer 1961. Ventura, California. Cousins cooling off with Popsicles before a dip in the plastic pool.
And if you’re not into so much sugar, you might prefer fresh fruit, like the melons shown below.
1936. Rosedale Park, Detroit, Michigan. Rosedale Fenkell Market. Brunette sisters.
With so many men overseas during WWII, women filled the vacancies in a number of jobs, including painting power poles for Florida Power and Light. In Reminisce: Pictures from the Past, the husband of Virginia Kompe (right) explains how Virginia and her sister, Shirley, spent the winter of late ’44 into early ’45 “raising ladders and hoisting the housings for the bases of the poles. They also served as grunts for the linemen.”
