Grandma Dot Posts: What Was It Really Like?

There were morning and afternoon papers in the 50s and the ‘social pages’ were a great source of entertainment for us ordinary girls as we dreamt of wearing the glamorous outfits of movie stars.

I liked to wear ‘New Look’ dresses with long full skirts and nipped in waists. ‘Rope petticoats’ were in fashion to make skirts look fuller. We used to starch them to make them go stiff. They were nice to wear but took forever and a day to iron.

Ladies shopped at big department stores like David Jones and wore stockings held up by suspenders rather than pantyhose. ‘Step-Ins’ were worn by lots of women and were elastic garments you wore under your clothes to pull your tummy in and make you look slimmer. Torture!!!!

‘Slacks’ or long pants were coming into fashion but lots of people thought they were ‘un-ladylike’. Millinery or hat making was a strong industry as most occasions required ladies to wear hats and gloves. A lot of my friends worked as hat makers.

All dressed up- 1952.

Bras were heavily boned and were long to the waist- they were horrid things! There were no bikini pants either and instead women wore cotton knickers with bands around the legs. Satin was reserved for your ‘sexy undies’.

There were many awful trends such as mink coats ( which most women couldn’t afford) and crocodile skin handbags and shoes.

Two piece swimwear was not allowed at the beach until the late 50s. If you wore a two piece the ‘beach inspector’ would ask you to leave! Every woman had a ‘beach robe’ made of towelling to cover up when she left the water. You didn’t wear thongs, only lace up canvas ‘sand shoes’.

The beauty regime of the fifties was simple as shampoo and conditioner were not yet available. Instead we used plain soap and rinsed with vinegar diluted in water to make hair shine. You used a mixture of sugar and water to keep your hair in place because there wasn’t any hairspray.

Most ladies used face powder, though ‘cake’ foundation was just beginning to appear. You wore ‘rouge’ (cream on your cheeks) and lined eyes with kohl eyeliner.

It was a woman’s weekly job to polish the family’s shoes to preserve their leather. For evening wear women wore ‘ball gowns’ of rich velvet or delicate lace with elbow gloves.

I think the styles in the 50s were more elegant and ‘dressed up’ than they are today.

Say It With Style: Fashion in the 50s.

The fashion of the 1950s was heavily influenced by Christian Dior's 'New Look' style: nipped in waists, full skirts and an emphasis on the feminine silhouette. After the rations of the war, many women embraced this pretty, lavish style. Have a look at some of the 'New Look' inspired fashions below.

Skirts and blouses were also in fashion but pants were still considered most unlady-like.

Popular accessories included rhinestone-embellished glasses, Bakelite purses, novelty brooches and umbrellas. On formal occasions women were expected to wear hats and gloves.

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The 'Bullet Bra' was a popular undergarment, adding to the feminine shape favoured at the time. The 50s mantra was 'I must I must increase my bust' and it is rumoured that Marilyn Monroe wore her Bullet Bra to bed every night until the day she died to stop her breasts from sagging!

Pantyhose wasn't available in the 1950s so women wore stockings held up by suspenders. Stilettos, kitten heels and Cuban heel shoes were fashionable, as were fur stoles ( only affordable for the rich).

In the 1950s, colour films made an enormous impact on cosmetics. The huge cinema screens illuminated the unblemished appearance of stars and led the make up artist Max Factor to invent an everyday version of the foundation he used called Pan Cake, a makeup to gloss over skin's imperfections. He also brought out a range of eye shadows and lipsticks. Later in the 50s titanium was added to tone down the brightness of products and this resulted in lips with a pale, shimmering gleam. The idea was extended to create frosted nail varnishes of pink, silver and a host of other colours.

In the early 50s the ponytail was a popular youthful hairstyle and it matured into the French Pleat. For the more sophisticated, a permanent wave in the styles then favoured by Elizabeth Taylor and the young Queen Elizabeth II were universally worn.

As products such as hair lacquer sprays came into general use, it was easily possible for ordinary women to create more and more complex hairstyles of height. By the late 50s,outrageous backcombed bouffants, beehives, and French Pleats led the way for the intricate coiled hairstyles of the 1960s.

Have a look at the great tutorials for vintage hair and makeup from Super Kawaii Mama. The blog is a great example of the ways in which 1950s fashion is still admired my today's young women and features some great retro-inspired style ideas from model Candice DeVille. Below is a tutorial on the popular 50s pin curl style.

Challenge 1: The Apple of My Eye.

I am the most hopeless cook in the world: I burn meat, create cupcakes that resemble boulders and can't use a rolling pin to save my life! With this in mind, I chose to bake a 1950s favourite: Apple Pie, for my housework challenge.

Here is the recipe I was given by Grandma:

INGREDIENTS:
2 quantities of pie dough.
150g unsalted butter.
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon.
1.5kg cored and peeled green apples.
200g caster sugar.
1 egg mixed with a little milk.

a 23 cm pie dish- greased.

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2. Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll on quantity of dough. Line the pie dish, trimming the edges.
3. Melt butter and cinnamon in a large saucepan.
4. Add apples and stir until well coated in butter.
5. Add the sugar and mix until apples are softened but not completely cooked. Cool mixture completely.
6. Pour mixture into pie dish, covering with rolled dough. Put three slits through pie lid.
7. Make decorative leaf shapes from pastry trimming and decorate pie. Brush with egg and milk wash and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

Doesn't sound too difficult does it? Watch me attempting the challenge below:

THE FINISHED PRODUCT:

Overall, I was pretty impressed with my pie making skills. This was definitely one of my most successful cooking attempts- and I only set the smoke alarm off twice!

Video: Housework in the 50s.

Watch as Grandma Dot tells me about the cleaning, cooking and domestic responsibilities of 1950s housewives.

Grandma Dot Posts: What Was It Really Like?

When I compare my life in the 50s to the lives of young people today, the two are very different. For my generation there were more restrictions, less entertainment and travel and more ‘do it yourself’ type fun than there is today.

Almost all girls left school around 15 or 16 and were married between 20 and 23 years of age. You stayed at home until you were married and then went on to look after your husband and children (though women were just starting to re-enter the workforce as secretaries and factory workers).

I began a checkout job in Woolworths when I was 15 for the school holidays and eventually worked my way up to working in their offices ( where I met my husband). We started going out and I was so besotted with him I never went back to school ( which my father was furious about) and got married at 21. I look back at it now and think how bloody stupid I was, but that was just how things were back then.

My grandparent's wedding- 1951.

Not many families had cars in the 50s, so young people either walked,rode bicycles or relied on public transport. There were no traffic jams like there are today . I remember there was no public transport on Sundays and the shops would close on Saturday at 12 noon and stay that way until Monday morning.

Shopping was so different back then! Rather than big centres- each city had a main shopping street. You couldn’t go to a food store and serve yourself- all the items were displayed and an assistant behind the counter got the items for you. You had to trudge from the butchers to the bakers to the deli to the fruit shop.... there were no supermarkets like today.

The only takeaway around was the local fish and chip shop.

For housewives like myself life was much less hectic but more labour intensive than it is today. Things were certainly very different!

Grandma Dot and her work friends.

Talking Dirty: Housework 50s Style.

The common belief during the 1950s was that if a woman loved her husband and children she had only one way to show it : housework!

A woman's daily routine in the 1950s would look something like this:

1. Wake up around 6am to get dressed and apply make-up before your husband awakes.

2. Go to the kitchen and prepare a hot breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and orange juice for the family.

3. Say goodbye to your husband and get the kids ready for school before starting on the night's dinner.

4.When dinner is prepared, run errands and tidy the house from top to bottom ( fluffing pillows, cleaning sinks and toilets, washing clothes etc).

5. Go to the bedroom and change again, freshening up your makeup for your darling husband. Tidy the children up and wait at the door for his arrival.

6. Offer your husband a drink and ask about his day ( never EVER mentioning any problems of your own).

7. Light a fire for him to sit by, keeping the children quiet until you all enjoy dinner.

8. After dinner, let hubby relax while you clean up.

9. Prepare yourself for bed, leaving your makeup on. Read while he relaxes and when he is ready for some fun always oblige. Re-apply your makeup just in case he wakes to see you in the middle of the night!

And guess what? - they were up and ready to do it all again the next day ( and the next day, and the next day...) !!!!

Take a look at The Sunday Times' Rosie Millard's attempt to live a day in the life of a 50s woman. A great read!!!!

There was a huge demand for 'pre-packaged' foods such as condensed soup, cake mixes and frozen foods during the 1950s.

In the 1950s, take-away foods became more popular but there was still only a limited choice: fish and chips or Chinese food. For many people the only fish they ate was wrapped in newspaper from a fish and chip shop. Many Chinese migrated to Australia in the gold rush days of the 1850s but because of racial suspicion their foods were not widely tried for nearly a century. Even in the 1950s, when Chinese restaurants were springing up, traditional foods like baked beans and chips appeared on the menu.

By the late 1950s there were 1,700 self-service food stores in Australia and about 7% of grocers were supermarkets, which accounted for 20% of sales. A decade later a third of grocery sales were from supermarkets.

Popular family dishes included Pigs in Blankets ( sausages wrapped in bacon), apple pie, brownies, meat and three veg, jelly, pot pie, lamp chops, roasts, Devil's Food cake, macaroni and cheese and roast beef.

ALL cleaning and food products in the 1950s were advertised to women. Most advertisements worked on guilt to make women believe that they could only be 'good wives' if they purchased the product. Check out some of these ads for 50s cleaning products and foods.

Now where can I find me a Mr Clean???? :)

Silly mother!!! Albert 'laps up' yummy Vegemite milk!... deeeeelish!

"Poor Marge, she'll never hold down a man until she does something about her breath!" .....

Statistics:
http://www.kraft.com.au/Products/KRAFTHistory/DecadesOfHistory/1950d.htm

A Comfortable Concentration Camp?

When I think about the 50’s I think about Elvis, diners and those fluffy poodle skirts. If I was to imagine being alive then I envision myself in a floral swing dress, high-heels and red lipstick, dancing to Rock’n Roll by a jukebox, sipping a malt milkshake, saying things like ‘swell’ and ‘golly’- all with the wide-eyed expressions and cutesy pout of Bettie Page.

It’s a fantasy world of cotton candy, drive-ins and sun-dappled fun. However, the real women of the 1950s lived no such life, spending their days raising children, baking cakes, cleaning sinks and toilets and grooming themselves for their ‘hard working’ husbands. Their homes were, as feminist Betty Friedan describes in her essay ‘The Feminine Mystique’, “comfortable concentration camps”.



After working in factories and stores during the war, women were forced back into the home upon the return of veterans. Many men felt disturbed by the increased female presence in the workplace and fierce propaganda and advertising campaigns worked to persuade women to return to domestic duties as a way of showing gratitude to the brave men who risked their lives for the nation’s freedom.

Getting married straight out of high school became the norm for young women, with the average age of first marriage being 20. Only 16.5% of the female population were still single by 25 and the women who were brave enough to study at university were expected to stay there only until they found themselves a man and achieved what was joked about as a 'MRS Degree'.

It was expected that young women remained virgins until marriage, but in reality many were engaging in pre-marital sex. Those who became pregnant were considered ‘bad girls’ and were often sent away to live with relatives or taken to homes for wayward women. Check out this video gem I found which aimed to encourage hormone-crazy young lovers to save ‘going all the way’ until marriage.

Also looked down upon were divorced women, which explains why only 23% of all 1950s marriages ended in divorce compared to today’s 43%. A tiny 9% of all homes had a single occupant whereas today over a quarter of Australian adults live alone. The only jobs available to females were ‘women’s jobs’ like nursing, teaching and secretarial work. This led to many females feeling the need to stay married for financial security.

Married women’s lives revolved around their husbands and children (women generally became pregnant within seven months of marriage). Their days consisted of organising kids for school, cleaning their homes, creating a calm environment for their husbands and running many errands- all while looking immaculate in high-heeled shoes and pin curls!!!!!



Below are the tips for maintaining a happy home provided by the ‘Good Wife’s Guide’, published in the May 1955 issue of ‘Housekeeping Monthly’.

• Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have be thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they get home and the prospect of a good meal is part of the warm welcome needed.

• Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.

• Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

• Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives. Run a dust cloth over the tables.

• During the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering to his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

• Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Encourage the children to be quiet

• Be happy to see him.

• Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

• Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

• Don't greet him with complaints and problems.

• Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through at work.

• Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or lie him down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.

• Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

• Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.

LASTLY: A GOOD WIFE ALWAYS KNOWS HER PLACE!!!!

Don’t think the poor girls had much time to check out the ‘swell flicks’ at the drive-in...


Statistics:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/p_mrs.html
http://www.learnhistory.org.uk/usa/women1950s.htm
http://www.skwirk.com.au/p-t_s-14_u-189_t-506/social-and-cultural-features-of-the-1950s/nsw/history/australia%27s-social-and-cultural-history-in-the-post-war-period