Last minute GIFTS!

Still have a few people to buy for? Can't come up with the perfect gift? Well...I like to be useful, sooooooo...put the kids to work making stuff from cornstarch and food coloring. Let their imaginations run wild. Then wrap up whatever they are and hand them out as people stop by to visit. I promise they won't come back next year.

CHRISTMESS GIFT No. 14...

I didn't want you fretting over getting the plastic bag poodle, so I'm giving you other options. All of these come from the Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Ideas 1974 magazine. There's some mighty fine ummmm...well...junk to choose from.

Who wouldn't want to crack alligator nuts?



Yeah, scare the heck out of your favorite kid by sticking Jimy-Jim on their wall. I wonder if it glowed in the dark. Now that would be cool!



This item might have actually worked, but I included it because, well, it's just so doggone odd looking. It takes industrial design to a new level.



I remember these little figures. I hated these little figures. I STILL hate these little annoying figures. And don't get me started on "Love is...."



Pity the home that has one of these.



And just why? WHY? WHY would you send this to anyone?



And simply...a classic.

CHRISTMESS GIFT IDEA No. 13

Still racking your brain for that PERFECT gift? You've come to the right place. Seriously, I doubt there is another place online that gives you three cookie recipes AND PIERRE THE POODLE made from plastic bags. As usual, you get your money's worth here. I will however tell you that I have not made any of these items. I know, you're stunned to think I'd offer up something without first doing extensive testing. You're on your own!

(SOURCE: Beter Homes & Gardens Christmas Ideas for 1963)

CHRISTMESS GIFT IDEA No. 12

Want to wow that youngster anxiously waiting by the tree? Give them something they'll never forget! Their own transistor radio! Yes, this will keep the little critter's fingers poppin' while they spin the dial listening to all the crazy hits from the top 40! Good times! Good times!

Okay, so the kid would actually give you a look of disgust if they even looked at you at all. They want an iPod or an iPhone. They don't want to listen to random radio stations. They want something they can program themselves so they only listen to the music they want to hear, not programming put together by some corporate media gorilla in a far off city that's actually into some serious payola. Still...

I have fond memories of my various transistor radios and still have one I keep on the nightstand. For years, especially during the British invasion, my folks used to say I would need to have it surgically removed from my head. If one channel wasn't playing what I wanted to hear I'd quickly tune to the other. In my day in the San Francisco Bay Area it was KEWB and KYA. It would be several years before I needed a radio that picked up FM so I could hear KMPX or KSAN thanks to radio legend Tom Donahue. Yeah, good times. Good times.

Oh well, I still like the look of these old radios.


Click on image to see it larger. (SOURCE: Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Ideas, 1957)

CHRISTMESS GIFT IDEAS No. 4...5...6...

Looking for stocking stuffers? Made a list? Checking it twice? Still not finding the perfect gifts for those relatives you only have to see once or twice a year?

Are you looking for something to give that nasty little nephew who purposely broke your Fiestaware pitcher at the summer BBQ? How about giving him pencils with his name misspelled. Just an idea.

Or how about something for that cranky old uncle who never has a nice thing to say to you, but goes on and on about how great his grandchildren are. When he's not looking give his sweet little babyboo a Talented Toy Dog, but make sure the thing never turns off.

And for the sister-in-law who thinks she knows everything there is to know about decorating because she once subscribed to "Table Runners Around the World"...the Last Supper Plaque.

And for your favorite brother...how about a bottle of whiskey hidden in the Scotch-Oven?

All of these items are readily available, providing you have a time machine to 1957.

(SOURCE: Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Ideas, 1957)

Gettin' a Little CHRISTMAS CRAFTY!

Okay Christmas crafters, I'm rollin' out the big guns now! Are you crafty enough to handle it? We're talkin' BH&G in 1957!! Read 'em and weep!!!

I could go on, but I'm gettin' tired of typin' exclamation points!!!!





Fifty 4" foil plates? Uhhhh...no.


(SOURCE: Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Ideas, 1957)

Trying to REMEMBER CHRISTMAS

I'll admit that Christmas is very difficult for me. For a very long time it was my favorite time of year, but  when my mother died two days before Christmas it changed everything forever. Now I have to try a little harder to find Christmas.

Looking through an old magazine my mother owned can slowly take me a few steps back in time. The following vintage magazine ad is from the 1957 Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Ideas magazine. I have several years of Christmas craft magazines that my mother kept and throughout each year as a child I used to enjoy looking through them, anticipating the Christmas to come.

A View-Master is no longer a toy kids long for. I still have my View-Master and a box of reels. I still get a kick out of looking at them, but then I can be easily pleased. With a View-Master you step into a quiet little world that only you can see; you don't need to share it with anybody else. And surprise, no batteries needed.

I think I might just need to get out my Santa's Village reels and take a trip back in time.

Do you have memories of a View-Master?


Click on image to see it larger.

Wouldn't you like to MODERNIZE YOUR KITCHEN?

Just in case the two stoves shown yesterday weren't to your liking I have a few more for you to peruse. Think of this places as the catalogue shopping source for 1937.

All ads from the May 1937 Better Homes & Gardens.

So in alphabetical order I present the latest in cooking convenience.


No longer in business.



Hotpoint is still in business. Click on image to see it larger.



The brief Wikipedia history of Magic Chef. Click on image to see it larger.


A division of Whirlpool.

Wouldn't you like to MODERNIZE YOUR KITCHEN?

I'm in a stove sort of mood. I have no idea what that means.

These ads are both from the May 1937 Better Homes & Gardens magazine.

I've never seen a stove like this one from the Perfection Stove Company. In fact, until now I'd never even heard of the Perfection Stove Company. But let us not impeded our need for information. I found some historic information here.

In 1888, Henry Parsons Crowell was approached by Frank Drury to build, and market, a 'lamp stove'. The two men discussed the practicability of such an item. A patent was applied for; the Cleveland Foundry Company began building and then selling the stove. The 'Perfection Stove Company' was born.

In 1888 the Cleveland Foundry Company was formed. They manufactured a line of oil lamp stoves, along with many lamp companies such as Bradley & Hubbard and Miller. In 1894, the plant started producing portable heaters.  These heaters used the "store lamp" wick that had been standardized by Rochester in 1884. In 1901 Francis Drury approached John D. Rockefeller of Cleveland owner of Standard Oil Company. At the time Standard Oil was delivering kerosene to homes and businesses for use in kerosene lamps. Rockefeller knew that with use of the Drury Stove the demand for this kerosene would increase substantially and it did. Rockerfeller selected the company to design, develop and manufacture for it a complete line of stoves which were to be sold under the name "Perfection" to dealers by a group of 300 Standard Oil salesmen. This arrangement was continued by other oil companies.

The Perfection product lineup was extremely important to the growth of American civilization.  By 1918, over 5,000,000 heaters were in use.  By 1922, over 3,000,000 Perfection kitchen stoves and ranges were in use in American homes!  A sizeable percentage of households used a Perfection product on a daily basis. (SOURCE: Miles Stair's Wick Shop)

Now the Coleman Company I'm familiar with, but only as a company making stoves and lights for camping. I still have an old Coleman camp stove and a couple old Coleman lamps. I can still hear the sound of the lamp lighting and the bright glow at the campsite. But kitchen stoves? I've never seen one.



According to this newspaper column from the June 3, 1937 Lodi News-Sentinel it was a pretty doggone good stove to have out in rural areas.

 

Here's an ad in the same paper a few pages away. Coleman was certainly getting their money's worth.

To see some even older stoves and the men who sold them click here to see my post at Sepia Saturday of a Tappan store in 1927.

WHIP YOURSELF into a miracle

Again, from the 1937 Better Homes and Gardens.

It really is funny to look at vintage women's magazines. Rarely are women identified as anything other than their husband's name. We don't know their first name, just his. It's like a stamp of ownership. Complete loss of identity. 

Anyway...Mrs. Fred Wolff seems to be putting together a buffet luncheon for her friends, hoping for compliments. So while she puts salad in the mouths of her guests Kraft-Phenix Cheese Corporation put "It's this dressing," says Ms. Wolff, "that gives vegetable salad the right dash!" into Mrs. Wolff's mouth. 

No information is given as to who Mrs. Wolff is or why they chose her for the ad. Was she important in society? Did she win a contest to be in the ad? Did they just grab the wife of one of the ad guys at the agency because she looked "normal" and comforting to the readers? Unless there are relatives who see this and rush to respond I guess we'll never know. Mrs. Fred Wolff, here's to you and Miracle Whip.

What really attracted  me to the ad is the illustration. It's lovely. Not what you often get in vintage magazines, 4 color photos of food that look like they've long since been forgotten in the back of the fridge. This is a really nice watercolor. No information is given about the illustrator, which is a shame. It's really lovely.

And I guess we can now pencil in Thursdays on NBC for the Kraft Music Hall Program. So that's Thursdays with Kraft on NBC and Saturday night's Alka-Seltzer Barn Dance on NBC. I'll keep looking through this magazine to see how we can fill out the rest of our week.

And speaking of hideous looking food in 4 color, I'd highly recommend the very funny book The Gallery of Regrettable Food by James Lileks. He has captured all the stomach churning photos that were common in women's magazines and recipe books from long ago. Okay, not that long because I remember some of these from my childhood. People call it retro, we called it dinner. I've put a link to this book on the left side of the page.

RECYCLING made merry

"Recycle" might be the buzz word now, but way back when people were trying to find ways to be creative with trash. For example:

From Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Ideas for 1963 I give you "Baubles by Frances Callahan" made from plastic berry baskets. Aren't you kicking yourself for throwing all of those out? I've included the instructions in case there is someone out there with a stack of these things in the garage that they've been moving around for months. Here's your solution as to how to get rid of them! Let me know if it works.

And from Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Ideas 1967 I give you the pop-art hip 60s version of recycling those dastardly-dangerous-cut-your-foot-at-the-beach pop-tops. Look down at the ground long enough and I'm sure you'll still find them in the floatsam and jetsam. However, since it's unlikely you'll find enough to actually make any of these ornaments I've left the instructions small. If there's someone out there who would like to see the instructions larger just drop me an email.

Nobody ever said "ephemera is always pretty." Well actually I just did, but I think you get what I mean.

FAUX CHRISTMAS TREE, no candles allowed

This tree, from the 1960 Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Ideas magazine, always fascinated me. It was designed by Gerry Rosentsweig. Tissue paper on chicken wire with a flower pot base painted black. It stands 5 feet tall! Now, if you wanted to make this these days with the time constraints most of us face I'd recommend finding a kindergarten class that loves tissue paper and is adept at using scissors. Otherwise, scale it down! 

I've included the instructions for those thinking of what decorations they want in 2012 because you're going to need to start rolling those roses now! And if the instructions are simply too small for you to read let me know and I'll email you a copy. Unfortunately they did not include how to put the chicken wire together. I guess they figured the husbands would do it on the weekend.

Oh, and just in case for legal purposes this needs to be stated...no candles on the tree! And most likely if you get this thing wet it will stain your carpet.

But it's still fun! For people who love Christmas crafts this might be a nice retro challenge. For me...I'll stick with the picture and my imagination.