A young man in Miss McFarland’s homemaking class (spared the apron) incites suspicion as he reaches for the pressure cooker. Perhaps he will fare better in the canning process.
Pressure Cookers Indeed
Category: Nostalgia
Cherry Creek Campfire
Trust In Me
In keeping with yesterday’s eyeglasses post, we continue with the theme.
Is it me, or does Mr. Gibson have Jungle Book snake eyes?
He’s like one of those cats with two colors of eyes.
And check out Mr. Curry down below. While Richard’s pipe and Donald’s head of nails are interesting features, Paul has the intoxicating eyes. You can’t turn away.
Maybe it was something in the water. Even some of the professors at Western New Mexico University had crazy eyes.
Professor Morton looks like he just hid the body and is biting his tongue to keep quiet.
I almost cropped Professor Habeeb out of this image but I did not want to deny you his amazing salt ‘n’ pepper hair, valiantly defying gravity as it swirls about his skull like a kudzu vine.
So That’s What They Mean By Coke Bottle Glasses
Poor Billy. If only he could have used James’s frames for the portrait. Any of the Jameses would have done.
Well, I Can’t Make That My Title
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.
And snappy hats such as this.
Dude, Where’s My Car?
The beach at Nantasket, Massachusetts was brimming with Ford motorcars on The 4th of July 1925. After a dip in the ocean, how would you find your way back to your car? With such lack of variety in models, how would a 50-year-old man buy a “crisis car”? Could you steal another’s spare tire and afix it to your own vehicle? When did they start marking parking spaces with white paint? Didn’t the black absorb the summer sun?
Fifteen more years would pass before the 1940 Packard offered factory-installed air-conditioning. But even by 1969, only half of all new cars had it. We never had it in our cars in the ’70s. That metal lapbelt clasp would scald the bejeesus out of my skin. Remember how it felt when the vinyl seat ripped the top layer of your thigh skin off?
P.S., where can I get a brassiere like this? This defies gravity.
I Kissed Seven Girls And I Liked It
Here’s some morale for the troops! LIFE asked Ginger Rogers (not shown here) to give a dream party to a GI, and the lucky recipient was the lipstick-covered Private John Farnsworth. The 22-year-old Farnsworth had served three years in the Pacific during WWII and returned home in 1944 to recover from malaria. After lunch, dancing, and games, the women sent him on his way–with a story to tell his buddies.
Women shown above include: Barbara Hale, Lynne Baggett, Gloria DeHaven, Lynn Bari, Jinx Falkenburg, Dolores Moran, and Chili Williams.
Talk about your day in the sun!
Church As Makeshift Hospital, Philippines WWII
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.
What I Wanted Out Of Life
Oh, well. At least I’m not kneeling on concrete.
Lieberman Center Afternoon Social
90-year-old Illinois resident Celia Goldie belts out a rendition of “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” in 1988.
Two things I notice right off the bat:
- Old peeps are always cold and keep the cardigan market in business.
- Men die first.
Just look how even the gender population is at age 64. But by 85, the men are barely represented.
If you’re interested in moving in, the Lieberman Center serves kosher food, and the current daily rate for a room is $278. Wow–that’s more than double our daily household income! But keep in mind that most of that is covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
For her part, Mrs. Goldie was quoted as saying, “I hope I drop dead before I’m here one year.” She was profiled in an October 1988 People article as such:
Nearby, a nurse spoon-feeds ice cream to a man strapped into a wheelchair. Beside him, a woman dozes, her head against her walker.
“Look at them—half of them are dead,” Celia says, waving her hand. “I’m alive. I guess I have to make the best of a bad bargain. What can I do? I can’t go back. So I have to like it here. You look around you, and you realize how grateful you are.”
Per articles.chicagotribune.com, she died in September of 1989 at Rush North Shore Medical Center in Skokie. She had been a resident of the Lieberman Geriatric Center for 13 1/2 months.
For more on Celia’s story, visit: http://www.people.com/.
Fingernail Check 1920
In the 1920s, school concerned not only academics, but deportment and grooming as well.
I Don't Get It 