The Vintage Site

This ad from August of 1950, which appeared in that month’s Ladies’ Home Journal, introduces to the reader the new “Frigidaire Imperial Refrigerator”. The article boasts that “it’s a refrigerator and food freezer combined – the No. 1 model of America’s No. 1 Refrigerator!”

The refrigerator’s styling is by Raymond Loewy (an influential industrial designer) and features sleek lines and smart colors. If you look in the yellow section of the ad, which contains 18 facts about the appliance, you can see that it comes in Lustrous Ice-Blue, Gold, and White Beauty as color choices.

At this point, as the ad states, Frigidaire had 30 years of experience in building more than 12 million refrigerating units.

“This coiffure requires no frisettes, and is both simple and elegant.”

This pretty Victorian hairstyle was pictured in the May 1866 issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book. This little magazine with its fragile pages contains lots of household tips, love stories, sheet music, and of course fashion. To be honest, when I read this brief set of instructions for the hair style, I did know know what the word “frisettes” meant. I looked it up to find that it is referring to a fringe of curled or frizzed hair that women wore on their foreheads, and which was often artificial. As you can see, there is indeed no such fringe here.

The text on the magazine page is a little hard to read, so I am including the instructions below just in case you would like to give this one a try.

The back hair is tied rather high, and as tightly as possible; it is then divided into two equal portions, which are both plaited. The first is arranged into two loops; the second forms the third loop, and is then twisted round the chignon and fastened underneath. The front hair is disposed in waved bandeaux; if the hair is not sufficiently long and thick to form the plaited coronet with the end of the bandeaux, a false plait is added and fastened on under the chignon.

I came across this interesting ad in a copy of the October 1916 issue of Vogue magazine:

I love this little ad, from the picture of the vintage car driving down the road, to the close-up of the women’s shoe demonstrating how the heel protector works. However, the ad didn’t go into much detail about how exactly these were to be used, although it’s probably simple enough. But various newspapers and advertising booklets of the time were more explicit in their description.

From
“Automobile Topics, Volume 45. E.E. Schwarzkopf, 1917″ comes this explanation:

“It is to eliminate such damage and to permit ladies who drive their own cars to wear any shoes they please in driving that the C.H. Wolfelt Co., Los Angeles, Cal., has offered Johnson’s heel protector, which consists of a patent leather shield slipped over the heel. It is shaped to fit snugly and is held in place by an elastic band that slips over the heel of the shoe and an adjustable band, partly of patent leather and partly of elastic, which goes over the instep and fastens with a metal clasp. The guard is lined with cream-colored kid.”

And the company’s public relation person was apparently successful in getting the launch of this product into newspapers across the county. I was able to locate articles in both The Pittsburgh Press and the Richmond Times-Dispatch on September 10, 1916 introducing the heel protector to their readers. The “punny” article read in part:

“Superficial thinkers would be apt to assume that the woman who drives her own car must be “well heeled,” but driving a car has been found to be very hard on a woman’s shoes, and the reverse has heretofore been the case. The constant changing of the position of the feet resulting in scuffing the heel and counter.
However, thanks to the ingenuity of a Los Angeles institution, it is now possible for the woman who drives to be ‘well heeled’ sartorially as well as financially.”

I don’t know how long this product was actually on the market, but I’m curious to know if it ever becaume a success with women drivers!

“Mourning, if worn at all, should be correct in every detail, but should never be ostentatious.”

There were strict rules to follow, in Victorian and Edwardian days, if one was to mourn in the correct fashion. What you wore most definitely mattered, right down to the fabric you used for your gown. I wrote about mourning fashions as described in 1901 here in this earlier entry; now, six years later in February 1907, the Delineator magazine concentrates solely on mourning styles for hats.

The article begins with a brief, three-sentence explanation of acceptable mourning dress in general.

“The materials for mourning are crape and all lusterless black materials, silk, chiffon, straw, fur, felt, flowers, dull jet, etc. These materials are giving way, however, to silk having a luster, shiny jet ornaments, and a touch of white, purple, lavender or gray sometimes appears. An all-white costume also is now considered correct.”

Then we proceed to head coverings. At the funeral, it was normal for women to wear a veil.

“For wear at the funeral a black crape veil from two and one-half to three yards long, depending upon the height of the wearer, is thus draped:

1. It may be adjusted by small side plaits (as demonstrated in the image to the right); or

2. A veil draped on a close toque (which can be seen in the image directly above left)

The article presents us with four additional styles of millinery for mourning, including a simple sailor shape. Two of these styles are at the very top of this blog post, and here are the two remaining ones. (For details about all of these styles, plus instructions for making a wire frame to support all of these hats designs, be sure to read the entire short article which is scanned in at the end of this entry.)

And the full article:

I tend to be curious about normal, every day items from the past.

That’s why this ad for a vintage lawn mower, from 1909, struck me when I saw it in one of my copies of American Home magazine. The photograph shows an old-fashioned, riding lawn mower from the Edwardian era. According to the text,

Coldwell Lawn Mowers – Hand, Horse and Motor Power – are used by the New York City Park Department, the Capitol at Washington, and by many leading golf and country clubs and large estates of America exclusively.

The ad also states that you could send for a catalogue, so I’d imagine it would have been full of other models to choose from too. If only I could flip through those pages…

(A.Q.* = Automobile Quotient)

This is one of those ads that makes you realize how different things were not all that long ago.

I found this ad for Mercury Cars in the August 1950 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal, and immediately had to do a double-take. This is an ad that is addressed to the woman reader of the magazine, and attempts to convince her that a Mercury is the car for her. So how does the ad do this? Well, by presenting her with solutions to the serious concerns a person has when considering a car purchase. You know, like messy hair after rolling down a window…

“A mussed hair-do and ruffled temper… or stuffy air and stony silence? It’s a battle nobody wins… as every woman knows.
It’s a battle that never begins… if you own a Mercury. Because Mercury’s ventilating system gives you a complete change of air in a matter of seconds… with no annoying drafts.”

Apparently, this “ventilating system” is only one of the reasons more and more smart “happily-marrieds” are making this their car. But to learn about the other great benefits to this car, women are invited to take the quiz below:

It seems that concerns like, “Do you wonder if your husband still thinks you’re pretty?” and “Does he make fun of your driving?” are the issues that the advertiser needs to address in order to convince women that this is the right car for them. (If they got less than a perfect 40 on the quiz, they were instructed to hurry to their nearest Mercury dealer!)

I can’t imagine an ad like this being presented today, other than as a parody. Although the “battle of the open window” will I’m sure go on until the end of time, thankfully these kinds of ads probably won’t.

“Thirty days hath September” – only too short a time in which to study the latest style news from Paris and carefully digest its emphasis before compiling our own wardrobe for the fall.

Here are two pages taken directly from the September 1927 issue of the women’s magazine The Ladies’ Home Journal. They illustrate the latest fashions from the vintage design houses of Bernard, Cheruit, Groult, Chanel, Doeuillet, and Renee. These fashions are what the readers of such typical women’s magazines of the day were being told were Paris’ latest styles.

From the page above:

“Still simple in effect, but of intricate line and cut, are Paris’ favorite frocks for evening, whether of the bouffant type like those at right and second from left, above, or on the straight, slim order affected by the slender gown in center. As for wraps, both coats and capes are emphasized, as witness the two varieties seen at upper left.”

Here is a page that contains some less formal, daytime fashion:

“With the engaging trotteur suit by Bernard, at extreme left, is one of the new fancies adopted by Paris – the cravat of fur, striped and tied in true Ascot manner. The suit itself, with its short double-breasted jacket and front-plaited skirt, is of brown and beige tweed, with a brown velvet collar. The seaming and four-button effect at front of jacket are repeated in back.”

These pages both spell out more specific details about each outfit, so be sure to read through them if you are interested in fashion from the 1920′s.

“Have you heard about Muffets? Not to know them is to miss the most delectable, the most versatile, the most nutritious of cereal foods.”

Ok, I admit it. I had never even heard of Muffets cereal. But this ad had me so curious that I found myself searching around the internet to see if I could find out more information about it. Sure enough, I did, but most of the information came from people in Canada – it seems that Muffets cereal is still sold there! It looks like the cereal comes in circular rounds of whole wheat, and that a serving size is 2 of them, which makes it clear these are not the small little pieces of cereal we’re accustomed to.

Speaking of the ad, here it is – I found it as I was flipping through the pages of my September 1927 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal.

From the text of the ad:

“Muffets are wheat – WHOLE wheat. Nothing is added; nothing is taken away. The full-flavored, sun-ripened grain is cooked, crushed, rolled out into ribbons, wound into Muffets, and toasted. What a delightful new taste to round out your menus for every meal!”

And be sure to look at the recipe suggestions – including Muffets with Creamed Vegetables, and Muffets for Luncheon (which actually calls for the addition of pimientos, onions, and mayonnaise). In fact, the ad claims that “There’s a different way to serve Muffets for every day of the week; for every member of the family!”

One of my favorite old articles I’ve come across so far has to be “How to Order in a Restaurant” from the February 1907 issue of the Delineator magazine. As if the charming illustrations of various well-dressed waiters weren’t enough, the article goes into fascinating detail about what it was like to go to a nice restaurant over 100 years ago.

I am going to include the entire article at the end of this post, but first I will share with you some of what I consider the highlights.

The author of this article was named Elizabeth M. Rhodes, and as she writes she shares with the readers enough helpful tips to allow them to eat in a nice place without humiliating themselves.

“Probably we have all known embarrassment in a restaurant. There are any number of well-bred people, accustomed to the refinements of a home table, who have not dined in public often enough to know the correct order of procedure… Remembering with fatal vividness the embarrassment of my own ignorance as an inexperienced schoolgirl, I present these suggestions.”

So, here are her suggestions:

1. Unless your restaurant is a very cheap one, a waiter near the door will take you under his protection at once and lead the way to a table.

You may take any other table you like better that is not already engaged; but unless there is good reason, do not balk the waiter in his friendly desire to make you feel at home.

2. As soon as you are seated, the waiter will present the printed menu. If he fails to do so, ask him for it.

Menu, by the way, is properly accented on the second syllable, with the e of the first syllable short. But as nearly everyone in this country pronounces it incorrectly, you will be inconspicuous if you follow the fashion and say may-nu.

 3. Perhaps the most confusing factor in giving an order is the difference between ordering a table d’hote dinner and ordering a la carte.

In ordering a la carte, that is, according to the card, or printed list, one has full and free choice of all dishes, from a ham sandwich to a formal course luncheon. The price of each article is printed on the card, and the total of the bill varies according to what you order.

A table d’hote dinner is a course dinner, with the dishes assigned by the restaurant… The table d’hote list is often printed, too; but you can distinguish it because the a la carte list has the price given after each dish, while the table d’hote list has it above.

4. When you have finished, say to the waiter, “Will you bring my check, please?”

…and Henry [the waiter] will bring it with a slight increase in his devotion of manner, which always grows more marked as the time for the tip approaches. Give him the money for the bill. Do not pay at the desk on the way out, except at a low-priced restaurant where the busy waitress punches a printed check for you and passes on to the next customer.

5. When Henry comes back, with the change due you on a silver salver, return a reasonable amount of change to the tray as a tip.

The tip varies according to your expenditure, ten percent of your bill being considered a fair fee. In this country it is not customary to give less than ten cents as a tip. Don’t grudge the tip, and don’t withhold it. Count in your tip as a legitimate part of the dinner expenses; and if you resent the tipping custom, write to the papers about it, or patronize the pay-at-the-desk restaurant, but don’t take it out on the waiter.

6. Leave your napkin unfolded on the table; leave your chair where you pushed it as you arose.

Let the waiter help you with your coat and hand you your furs. He takes pride in doing the correct thing and earning his tip. And don’t, pray, help yourself to a toothpick at the table and use it as you leave the place.

If you would like to read the entire article, which also includes more details on what food was typically offered and how it was served, just click on the thumbnails below.

Ms. Rhodes leaves her readers with one final thought, meant to put their mind at ease if they do make some blunders during their dinner out:

“You may have shown more of homespun and less of social experience than your restaurant neighbors; but, after all, you can probably give them points on something much more important than the proper way of ordering a dinner.”