august 1957 in ads

So last month I covered 1964 in ads, and it was so much fun (for me, anyway) that I had to do it again.  I chose August 1957.  The ads are from Life magazines, which are available online, and there were so many good ones that I had to split it up into two parts.  The first part focused on back to school ads, and you can see that post here.  This one...well, let's just say there are an awful lot of beer ads.

Enjoy.  (I did!)

(You might notice I've re-done the blog banner again.  I think the other was too vertically challenging.  I'll probably change it up six more times.)

Bedroom eyes and haystacks.  I get what you're trying to do here, Du Pont.  (And I like that scarf collar cardigan!)

I always love seeing ads for things I've sold in the shop.  I've sold a few pairs of Williams brand flats.  They're always really cute...and isn't her skirt great?

Yeah, sister.  If he's happy, you're happy, so if you know what's good for you, you'll let him smoke that nasty thing.

Like Oktoberfest.  Only really schlitzy.

I have to say, this does look really appealing.  I can't find anything to snark about here.

What's with the songs and these beer ads?  I bet Red Cap wasn't all that unusual, either, no matter what the song says.  I bet it tasted just like Hamm's and Schlitz.  What I do find unusual is the guy with the accordion.  Was that a thing at cookouts in the 1950s?  If so...awesome.  I do love the Red Cap label.

Hey, neat!  A beer ad directed at women.  Unless it's directed at dudes who like ladies in swim caps.  Whatever.  The ad copy is about quenching your thirst, and she's obviously had a workout.  Or is already a little bit drunk, maybe.

Cute shoes!  But the ad is confusing me.  (What's new.)  Why wouldn't a mother and daughter wear the same style shoe?  I mean, I've seen those Real Housewives shows.  Stripper heels know no age.  Why would the cute flats of the 1950s be different?

Yum.  I love burgers.  And A1 Sauce.  Also love the hookup of PBR and A1 in this ad.  Beer and food go together, might as well advertise together.  Oh wait--what's that copy say?  "When it's a meal mainly for men"--oh--"here's a top notcher combination."  Crap.  Guess I'll take my lame low notcher lady ass over to Eva Longoria's steakhouse for women, which appeals to my femaleness with such obviously lady-centric things as "smaller plates and portions," "a runway for fashion shows," "Cirque du Soleil-type performers," and most of all "cryogenic fog and rain curtains."  Gosh, I hope the rain is pink.  Actually, since I'm a lady and it's 1957 I'll just have a leaf of iceberg lettuce with some cottage cheese and a pineapple slice.  Thank you.

"WONDERFULLY...your gin drinks COME TO LIFE", grow to the size of water towers and take over the universe!  Why aren't these guys running and screaming?  Dudes.  There's a GIANT bottle of Seagram's and two mega cocktails right behind you.  And they're ALIVE!

Salem menthols.  Like a fresh mountain breeze.  During a forest fire.  Near a tar pit.  That they're attempting to put out with Listerine.

Can't say nothing bad about HoJo's.  And I'll just say here that I really enjoyed the Mad Men episode set there.

Oh, cute!  It's nice they're letting her drink some beer.  Although, really, she's just holding it aloft.  And it seems like he's kind of more into his beer than her.  Maybe things aren't so perfect under the surface.  Maybe she's handing that beer off to someone else.  Maybe she's about to pour it over his big dumb head.

I really like that lamp hanging over the dresser.  (Sorry to be all Brick Tamland "I love lamp"; I don't have anything else to say about this.  I only left it in because it was the only furniture ad that grabbed my eye, which is sad, because it is, like, 1957, right?)

Not as odd as the noir-ish Dan River Fabrics ad from this post...the ladies clothing shown here is great.  I especially love that wacky striped pants/hoodie number.

It's bean-time.  End.  Of.  Story.

Hey look!  It's the original nerd-spectacled, vinyl-loving hipsters!  (Oh, and also another disinterested boy.)

More.  Giant.  Booze.  I think all the sad ladies of the 1950s are swimming around in these huge dranky-dranks.

Geez.  Black Label is so low rent they can't even come up with a song.  Just a lousy four-word rhyme.

xo

K

back to school, august 1957

This time of year always feels like something new is starting.  You may not be going back to school, or helping someone else get ready to go back.  But you can still sense and enjoy the change of season; you might buy new clothes or redecorate your home.  (Though buying new clothes was never a big thrill when I was young, getting new school supplies was, for some reason.)  These ads (all from August 1957 issues of Life magazine, which you can peruse in full here, here, here and here) are full of that back to school excitement, advertising all things required, from plaid and wool to...asphalt roads?

Ivy League stripes for "real boys."

This whole ad is awesome.  I showed it to Andy and said he should build a wardrobe on this.  Especially loving the duffle coats and the desert boots on the fella in the left corner.

I like how Sears covers both the men's and women's looks in this ad, and the added pieces and accessories shown on the right.  (The color for autumn 1957 is "Amber Haze"!)  Her skirt is fantastic.  And look at the men's accessories, etc. on the right--desert boots again!  They must have been a hot item that season.

Cutest graphic!

Well, it won't be tough to guess--that plaid dress is calling to me.  Mom--make it for me, pleeeeease?  Just kidding.

How cute is the little coed lamb logo?

I guess asphalt was kind of a new thing in 1957.  The kids in the back of the bus have kind of a desperate look about them...like they want to escape.

This "chubby lass" isn't really fond of the moniker "Chubbettes"...but it's a cute dress!

Cute wool fashions, cute lambs, and cute lamb logo again--this time in a back-to-school beret and scarf!

Lots of summer into fall transition looks from Blue Bell.  Loving the shorts and blouse on the girl in the forefront, and the contrasting plaid cuffs on pants on the right.  (I have a pair of deadstock Blue Bell jeans in the shop right now, by the by!)

xo

k

1964 in ads

Ads are so annoying, aren't they?  Yet, when done well, they can be works of art in their own right--entertaining, even!  And when I page through a vintage women's magazine, I actually usually find the ads more intriguing than the non-ad content.  Maybe it's the influence of Mad Men, but when I was looking through this May 1964 issue of McCall's (the "First Magazine for Women"), it was the ads that caught my eye.  There's a lot of color, a love of all things French (and Hawaiian!), and a focus on convenience--particularly when it comes to food and cooking.  (Click here for my previous post featuring fabric ads from this same issue)

I love everything about this, from her headpiece/hat to the shades of pink (I'd love that lipstick she's wearing) to the awesomely groovy typeface they used!

I'll try the Rose Geranium splash.

"Just wear a smile and a Jantzen" gals, and "you'll never ride alone"--!!!  The ad copy calls the blouse on the lefthand woman a "prissy print."

Tampax makes your ladytime so Untroubled that you can rock your all-white outfits, even in the great outdoors.

Hunt's uses not just any tomatoes for its catsup--it uses the big ones.

So this is insane.  Nothing showcases canned fruit better than a gelatinous shroud of lime Jell-O--even better when you can whip it up right in the can!  I'm really disturbed by the lettuce and what appears to be a dollop of Miracle Whip on the plate.

The National Steel Corporation wants you to believe that canned meat is the best thing ever.  I just want to know wtf that ham-like thing encased in pastry is, and how any part of it came out of a can.

Capture the romantic feeling of the French Riviera with a table full of elegant Lenox china, displayed on a table under a lovely damask tent.  Inside your house.

European women stay younger looking by using Palmolive soap.  But do the women of Vienna really dress like sheepherders for nights on the town?

I'm loving all the colors and color combining ideas in this Cannon ad.  My mom used to keep lidded apothecary jars of sea shells in our bathrooms, too (like the one on top of that stack of towels).

This Aileen ad looks so modern to me.  Maybe it's all the white space, or the strips of photos on the left side.  I love the blouse the model is wearing.  I'm slightly confused by the "smog" aspect of this ad, but I do like how it sort of accepts the smog and talks about it, rather than trying to present some smog-free paradise (in which we romp in all-white outfits during our ladytime.  Yes, I'm talking to you, Tampax.)

More Francophilia.  This Drexel bedroom set is inspired by Louis XIV and "the age of courtly elegance and romance."  It "whispers of court intrigue."  Or perhaps key parties and divorce.

"Shocking" looks just a little bit drunk.

Has Stouffer's changed its packaging at all?  I think it still looks pretty much just like this, which I kind of love.  (I do enjoy the very occasional Stouffer's French Bread pizza.  It's a nostalgia thing.)  I think I'm a little bit in love with the cheese award-toting Viking potato guy.

Love the artwork on this ad!  Apollo 11 won't happen for five more years, but the Soviet Union and the US had unmanned moon landings in 1959 and 1962.  Though this ad has more of an astrology/tarot card feeling than a space age NASA one.

Ladies use pink toilet paper.  Tell your friends.

No, don't thank me.  I do believe that's a vinyl floor.  Because I crawled around on one through my toddlerhood.

Back to the Hawaiian food in cans.  Canned ham, "magnificently" decorated with pineapples and cherries.

How flipping cute are these Ship 'n Shore girls' blouses--especially that whale print!

xo

K

futuristic fabric

This post was originally going to be about magazine ads of 1964.  (I'm still going to do that post.)  But as I was going through my May 1964 issue of McCall's, I noticed a large number of fashion ads that were not for the garment itself, but its fabric.  I don't think this is something we'd see much of in today's women's magazines.  Why would the women of 1964 care about whether their dress was made from Dacron, Orlon, Fortrel, or treated cotton?  Nylon and polyester fabrics had been in use in fashion for some time, but in the 1960s, we became obsessed with all things modern and convenient.  The fashions shown in this 1964 magazine aren't quite the futuristic vinyl/PVC mod looks of the Youthquake, but the ads do still focus on the modern aspects of the fabrics.  The ads tell us that Dacron and Fortrel are flattering, easy to care for (requiring little to no ironing), that they "stay fresh" and keep their shape.  (Note all the DuPont logos you see in these ads!)

An R&K Originals dress made of a Dacron polyester and cotton blend that "keeps its head on the hottest day," and retails for $20.00.

Several styles made of "Lovely to live in, non-stop neat" Dacron from manufacturers Jantzen, Ship 'n Shore, Sue Brett, McGregor, and Koret of California.

This Gay Gibson gingham set is particularly cute!

A striped $13.00 Orlon beach shift, by Boepple.

This ad is so weird, but I kind of love it.  It's like happy desert noir.  And that guy's hat!  Anyway, this Dan River Fabrics ad points out that even good old 100% cotton can be modern and convenient...when it's treated with "Wrinkl-Shed with Dri-Don."

A lovely $20.00 Leslie Fay dress, made of printed voile that's a blend of Fortrel polyester and cotton.

And don't worry--the cotton people were on top of things, too!  100% cotton is the best fabric in the heat, and it "never clings.  It's never clammy."  Also, you can iron it and it won't melt!  (Hm, not sure that's the best selling point...)

xo

K