1950s – Page 22 – I Don't Get It

Still Going At 99

The lady in black is Zsa Zsa Gabor (with husband #3 of 9 George Sanders schlepping the bags) chatting up Earl Blackwell at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.

Yes, nine husbands. “I am a marvelous housekeeper: Every time I leave a man I keep his house.”

Yes, she is 99 years old, just like the 1980 Toto song by the same name.

While none of us was alive when she was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936, most of our parents weren’t even born when she came into this world in 1917. A stamp cost two cents, women couldn’t vote, Buffalo Bill Cody was in his last year, Chaplin starred in silent films, and the “I Want You” poster, featuring Uncle Sam, attracted thousands of U.S. recruits to WWI duty.

Here she was on her 94th birthday with husband #9.

He plans to throw her a big party this summer to celebrate her 100th birthday (prematurely) and then return to Budapest, her original home, to spend the rest of her life.

I Pledge Allegiance…Or Do I?

Perhaps it was a spontaneous self-exam? Or halfway to a clutch-the-pearls moment? Was it smugness or disdain?

Place: Monte Carlo, 1959, Red Cross Gala

People: Peter Ustinov, Italian Baroness Afdera Franchetti, Elsa Maxwell, and Henry Fonda

In the late 1950s, when Jane Fonda asked her father how he prepared before going on stage, she was baffled by his answer, “I don’t know, I stand there, I think about my wife, Afdera, I don’t know.” Jane, a proponent of Method Acting, could not understand how effortlessly her father prepared for a role. (wikipedia)

He must not have thought about his fourth wife for long, however, as he divorced her in 1961 and moved on to wife #5.

No wonder Barbara Stanwyck gave him the look.

Cards At The Esquivel Home

I purchased a yearbook this weekend at an estate sale and discovered that the owner had written words all over the images.

For example, this junior student was not only ugly, but “Granny Ugly.” Several girls held that distinguished title.

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This boy with glasses was labeled blind, as were about a half dozen other boys.

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Blind to what, I wonder? Her charms?

It may not be an insult today, but this gal was “Skinny Bones.”

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But lest you think she had no kind words to ink her page, she did find Judy the pretty one here.

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Or maybe it was Judy’s yearbook?

Well, I Can’t Make That My Title

The Republican Party--Smith — The Republican Party–Smith

Dick Nixon did much of the 1956 campaigning for the Eisenhower-Nixon ticket. Here he and wife Pat ride through a snowy Evanston, Illinois.

Eisenhower defeated Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson II (there are actually four) in both the 1952 and 1956 elections, due to attitudes like this.

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And snappy hats such as this.

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Take One Down, Pass It Around

These young men may have been in the Lone Star State, but they were swilling brown bottles of the beer that made Milwaukee famous.

Schlitz may not be your first choice for ale, but they had some great ads back in the day.

The women above look surprised, but this gal looks downright mischievous.

And this one is great as an indicator of the era.

Mid-Century Must-Haves

The good Catholic boys of Corpus Christi College-Academy in 1950 listed their prize possessions for their yearbook senior portraits. You will find nothing technology-related. It was a simpler time. Take John Carew, for example:

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He cherished his bag of marbles and yo-yo. And if he reached his ambition, just think how many more marbles he could buy!

Some boys prized their own good looks, like Mr. Anderson.

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Honestly, would you have even known it was red?

Still others prized life at the academy itself, like the redundantly-named Brian O’Brien.

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These two favored material objects.

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And while no graduating 2016 senior would put a portable radio at the top of his list, some things never change. Men love cars.

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Here’s hoping Rob Klepac is still burning gas 66 years later.

The Mass That Matters

Billy Joel sang that “Catholic girls start much too late,” but what did he know? Jeanne didn’t start bleaching her hair too late. I think these ladies were right on time. Studying Shakespeare, enjoying vending machine coffee and Clark bars–these are the stuff of life.

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