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Can Betty Draper Tune in to the Now Generation?
(L) Vintage Life Magazine- Generation Gap Issue 5/17/68 (R) Vintage ad Cascade 1955 Like my own mother Betty, Mad Men’s Betty Draper woke one morning in the late 1960s to the realization she was a...
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Whitman’s and Mothers Day
My sweet Grandmother had a sweet tooth. Whether Bartons, Barricini, or Lofts, chocolate was the common currency of celebration. But Mothers Day meant only one thing- a Whitman’s Sampler. Through the...
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A Mothers Day Of Beauty
As a young child in the late 1950′s, I shadowed my mother everywhere she went. I was her Baba Looey to her Quick Draw McGraw, Boo Boo to her Yogi Bear, Tonto to her Lone Ranger.Within her sphere of...
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Robert Kennedy Remembered
The author and her friend Karen campaign for Bobby Kennedy in 1968 In the tumultuous spring of 1968 Bobby Kennedy beckoned the youth of America to join him in his presidential campaign fight. “These...
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Robert Kennedy Remembered Pt II
Bidding Bobby Goodbye I never met Robert Kennedy but I was always grateful I was able to bid Bobby a final goodbye. On a sweltering Friday in June of 1968, I joined the hundreds of thousands who lined...
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Liberace: In the Candelabra lit Closet
In Your Dreams Next to Rock Hudson, Liberace was Sue Ellen Wolinski’s absolute dream date. Liberace was just so fabulously different from any other fellows she had ever met. A wonderful pianist, yes....
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On the Front Lines With Coca Cola Pt. 1
Vintage Coca Cola Ads (1953) (R) WWII ad 1944 Coke in New Zealand During WWII the boys overseas were fighting for Mom, apple pie and a bottle of Coke. Coca Cola, as much a part of the American Dream...
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Ding Dong…Avon Calling
The lyrical sound of Ding Dong… Avon Calling was music to my mid-century mother’s ears. My father may have said he wanted to be a hands on kinda Dad but it was my Mother who had her hands filled...
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Oh! Jackie! Oh!
Disappearing Fairy Tales collage by Sally Edelstein Collage by Sally Edelstein Mad Men’s Don and Megan Draper may have been nonplussed about the marriage of Jackie Kennedy to Aristotle Onassis that...
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The Gay Bachelor And The Bride
Vintage men’s fashion Ad Hart Shaffner & Marx 1948 Next to the waiter passing the champagne, my confirmed bachelor Great Uncle Harry was the most sought after man at a mid-century wedding....
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July 4th Hot Diggety Dog
Gathering for the Family Backyard Barbecue-Vintage illustration McCall’s Magazine 1955 A summer staple at my 1960′s family barbeques was the ritual hot dog competition not in competitive eating but...
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Remembrance of July 4th Parades Past
With the acrid smell of firecrackers lingering in the hot summer air, mid-century memories of July 4th Parades past return. The 1950s American Dream made manifest, the annual Independence day parade...
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July 4th Celebration Cold War Style
Vintage American Legion magazine 1948 Truthfully, I would always remember my first July 4th. It was 1956. The cold war was frozen solid. Never were American dreams more potent or more seductive than in...
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Sizzling in the Sixties Suburban Sun
Nothing gave off the glow of good All American health than a deep dark tan, and mid-century teens competed for the fastest tan in the west. After all, our handsome, vigorous young President sported a...
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Rosie The Riveter’s Swimsuit Romance
Vintage Ad WWII Jantzen Swim Wear 1943 It was a sweltering summer in 1943 and along with most war-weary Americans, Rosie the Riveter needed a day off. In the heat and stickiness of summer everybody was...
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Man, What a Heat Wave
Vintage Illustration “The Story of Man The Panorama of Human Life and Works” 1960 Illustration by Pierre Leroy The Temperatures Rising… It Isn’t Surprising… Poor mankind! His triumphant march towards...
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American History Amusement Park
Freedomland Fun Foiled From Coney Island to Six Flags, amusement parks have long been part of the Great American Summer. And none was more American than Freedomland. Besides my many visits to El...
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Bringing Baby Home
May I make the Introduction, Mother? Vintage ad Anscochrome Film 1959 Here’s Your Hat…Whats Your Hurry? While the Duchess of Cambridge, like most new Moms today, will get a very un royal speedy exit...
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First Born Boy With Benefits
A Royal Welcome (L) Vintage children’s book illustration “Bedtime Stories Omnibus” Brimax Books 1979 (R) Vintage ad- Carnation Evaporated Milk for babies 1947 By George, it’s a Boy! Many in the media...
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Do You Dream in Kodacolor?
The beleaguered middle class seems to be fading away like a once cherished Kodak snapshot. The red white and blue American Dream once sparkled in Kodacolor. Kodak and the American Dream were made for...
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