The last little things from the American Home magazines that amuse me are the little ads in the back that advertise everything from soup to nuts (so to speak). There were a lot of these in the December issue, understandably, since that issue would have gone out in November — prime Christmas shopping season. And yes, most of the gifts are very tasteful and sometimes kitschy. Some, however, are just . . . plain . . . scary.
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The kitchen of tomorrow
One of the most gratifying reading from the 1955 American Home magazines comes from the futuristic ideas that always seemed to exist in magazines of that time. So much had happened in the previous fifty years to bring peace and happiness and an easier life overall to the American housewife. It seemed that the majority of the drudgery could be eliminated by machine: washing machines, dishwashers, push-button stoves . . . one could only dream about what other inventions would come along in future years. It’s no surprise, then, that in 1955 people were dreaming about “The Kitchen of Tomorrow.”
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A return from the land of pork
The title might suggest that I took a trip to Washington, D.C. However, I was actually a little closer to home. In fact, I didn’t even leave my state; I just traveled to one edge of it — the edge that happens to be right across the river from where I grew up. I packed the kids up and went back to my old stompin’ grounds in order to take the kids to a threshing bee. It’s usually something we go to every year, partially because the threshing bee is something the kids’ grandparents are sort of involved with (as helpers and supporters), and also because the town where the threshing bee is located is one where some of my relatives put down roots back in the day. The town is gone now — not a single building remains. That always intrigues me, because I don’t understand how every single building could just go *poof*! Didn’t any of them survive? Did anyone cart off the buildings to adorn a farm after the town closed up? Did they all burn down? Did a gigantic tornado come and carry everything off, hastening the town’s demise? I’m pretty sure the options don’t involve the latter, but it’s still curious that a town that once housed a stockyards, bank, depot, telephone office, and various other buildings has absolutely nothing left to show for itself.
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Headin’ out for some Midwestern fun
I’m packing up the kids and heading out to my parents’ house this weekend so that we can enjoy a weekend at a threshing bee. What’s a threshing bee, you ask? Well, to anyone who wasn’t born in the Midwest, it might look like a bunch of farmers who get together, reminisce about the old days, and participate in demonstrations of ancient farm equipment. Truthfully, there is a little more to it than that, although the event does center around tractors and farm equipment. The boys enjoy going, of course, because they are able to spend some money at the vendors who gather there — particularly the vendor who sells toy tractors and cars. What more does a boy need in life? Not much.
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An unexpected treasure hunt
We happen to have a narrow little air-return vent under our kitchen cabinets that I had never given much thought to until a few days ago, when I thought I lost yet another kitchen gadget down its depths. At one point in time, we had a wooden grate that fit over it; however, after remodeling the kitchen with yet another layer of flooring, the grate somehow disappeared, leaving a little gap under our cabinets. Because this hole is right where we do most of the food prep, etc. in the kitchen, it’s very easy to accidentally kick things into the hole.
Exasperated after kicking yet another item into that vent (I lost a food thermometer two months ago), I needed to get into the vent and get out the stuff I had lost. I was also mildly curious to see what else was down there. After all — if I had lost two items in just a few months, imagine how many other things had made their way down there in the last 56 years!
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Toys as I found them
This post might be evidence that the summer is starting to rot my brain. Then again, maybe it just represents the fact that if you look at something long enough, you will begin to see it from multiple possible angles — literally and figuratively. Today, as I was watching my boys collecting baby toads in the yard (a never-ending quest for boys, it seems), and I noticed some of their toys that they had left in mid-action that struck me as funny.
Some of these toy combinations can induce great sadness. The accidents that happen at the hands of two young boys are never pretty, especially for the figures of plastic that are at the mercy of my boys’ whims. How are the boys to understand the aftermath? What happens after they walk away?
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1955 inventions that never caught on
This continues my perusal of the 1955 American Home magazines. I have been delighted by some of the finds, aghast at some of the decorating ideas, and plain ol’ astounded by some of the products.
I have always marveled at the need for hiding our basic entertainment components. I grew up in a house with this feature; one did not see a TV in any room but the basement, which usually wasn’t occupied by guests. No TVs existed in bedrooms, either. TVs were essentially out of sight, and possibly out of mind. I always found it a curious habit, as if families were content to live in denial: nooooooo, they didn’t watch TV! How preposterous that you might think so!
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The good, bad, and ugly of 1955 decorating ideas
The American Home magazine collection from 1955 has been a hoot so far. First there was the bad soup collection, then the green ruin they actually presented as a good idea, and now I have a smattering of miscellany that I’ve found in the bound collection. Not everything presented in the magazine is a bad idea. There are some pictures of kitchens that make me yearn with desire — a sort of “wow-I-love-that-kitchen-and-would-do-just-about-anything-to-have-one-like-it-today” sort of desire.
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Not so green with envy . . .
I promised I’d post some pictures from the 1955 American Home magazines that I received a few weeks ago. What fun it has been leafing through them! If you missed my recent post on bad soup ideas from Campbell’s, you must go back and see it. There are some things that are better left in history, and that’s one of them.
There are some other things that history buried, and we should be forever thankful. Certain decorating ideas, for example. Sometimes I stare at rooms bedecked in vivid colors and myriad patterns and wonder what it would have been like to actually live in a room like that. Did the occupants suffer from dizziness or chronic gastric complaints? Did those ailments suddenly stop after moving? Once you see these pictures, I believe you’ll feel the same.
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A great find!
A friend and I visited a local consignment shop the other day. Despite it being local (ok, ok, it’s a few miles out of town, but I still consider it local), it was the first time I had been the first time I had been in there. To tell the truth, when I stepped into the store, I felt a little let down, because I had hoped for fewer clothes and more piles o’ stuff where I’d have a good chance of scoring something retro.
Imagine my surprise when I started lifting up dishes in a stack and found this gem:
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