Photo by Michael Varish/AMC

As Mad Men finishes its bumpy ride through the tumultuous decade of the 1960s it makes an anything but a soft landing in 1969, splashing down in laid back do your own thing California.

Riding the wave of advertising’s creative revolution has been as tempestuous for Don Draper as the decade itself.

Then And Now (L) Vintage ad Men’s hats (R) Psychedelic Photo Playboy 1968

The real mad men of Madison Avenue responded and evolved with the changing times.

Youth culture drove much of the creativity when nearly 50% of US population was under the age of 25. In 1960 when we first joined Mad Men, there were 27 million Americans between ages of 14 and 24. In 1969 there were 40 million of them.

Do Your Own Thing

What’s a Happening Baby? Clarks Candy Gum ad 1968

Hoping to capitalize on the youthquake “the happeningest generation ever” Madison Avenue got its groove on and started swinging to a different beat

On the cusp of a women’s movement , manufacturers celebrated women’s new-found freedom.

Women were not totally liberated in 1969 and  had yet to discard their bras, so  Maidenform could still help them achieve their fantasies.

“I dreamed I swung to new beat in my Maidenform confections,” begins this 1969 ad following in the successful tradition of  the “dream” oriented bra ads that Maidenform ran throughout the decade.

“My new Confection collection really turns me on! The prettiest pantie girdle and bra. In vibrant go go colors.”

Now and Then  (L) Vintage Tampax ad 1969 (R) Vintage Tampax ad 1960

Tampax could really turn on a girl on the go-go!

Now and Then – Frigidaire Refrigerator Ads 1960-1969 (L) Frigidaire Space Age Refrigerator 1 Ad 1968 Frigidaire announces Space Age Refrigeration with the power capsule revolutionary space age successor to the old-fashioned compressor..new frost proof refrigerators (R) Frigidare Refrigerator Ad 1960

Space Age themes were popular for the space age families. The long voyage to the moon begun by JFK at the start of the decade came to fruition by 1969.

The 1960 housewife the Queen of the Kitchen was ready for take off by the end of the decade.

Social issues penetrated advertising and ads showed more African-Americans. (L) !969 Ad Pall Mall (R) 1969 Kotex Ad

Vintage Neutrogena Soap ad 1969

The Age of Aquarius had dawned and thanks to advertising we were ready to let the sun shine in!

Up The Establishment

Coloring Outside the Lines (L) Vintage Men’s Fashion ad (R) Peter Max cover Life Magazine 1969 Peter Max was the perfect blending of counterculture and consumerism and product merchandising merging art with Madison Avenue.

By the end of the decade a new figure appeared in Madison avenue the countercultural ad man -those “creative types” who affected the mannerism of youth in their hair styles and dress.

The buttoned down grey flannel suit was Out, psychedelics, groovy get-ups and drugs were In.

Now the art directors and copywriters took on more importance and their hip appearance were integral in convincing certain clients that their ad agency was tapping into the cultural zeitgeist.

Generation Gap

Vintage Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Ad 1969 Parents fight back with these neat posters 1. First Poster in the form of an eye chart exam reads: ” Keep America Beautiful Clean Up Your Room” 2. featuring a large dime this poster states: “When You’re Late Call ( the dime will be refunded) 3. The Big Question the third poster asks: “How would You Like to Have You For a Child? 4. “Mom Wants You to Hang Up Your Clothes!”

By 1969 advertisers  drew on contemporary culture as never before, working to incorporate pop culture references into their ads

Between campus riots and rebellious kids the generation gap was wider than ever. The 1960 notion of family togetherness never seemed more dated than in 1969.

With Dr Spock under arrest, Chef Boy-Ar-Dee came to the rescue of beleaguered families offering his own solution.

Capitalizing on the generational gap, Chef Boy-Ar-Dee chimed in with this 1969 ad aimed at parents struggling with protesting, rebellious kids.

Their advise: Fight back!

Vintage poster from Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Ad for Parent Protest Posters Posters 1969

“Shock ‘em. Turn the tables on your kids and protest,” Chef Boy-Ar-Dee declares in the ad. “ Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Frozen Pizza will get you started with a set of voice savers called Parent Protest Posters.”

“The set includes 4 posters in full color measuring 12 ½ x 19 inches.

“You can picket for a cleaner room Hang one on a hanger where a coat should have been. Or use one as a reminder to call home so you can call off the search party.”

Chef Suggests

Just in case the posters don’t work miracles, Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Frozen Pizza offered a last resort.

“It’s a little bit of a cop-out named Parent Escape Contest. Two sets of winning parents get all expense paid trips to St Thomas Seven days 6 nights plus luggage new wardrobe and a n Agfamatic camera. Some escape.”

“Tell as many fellow parents about the movement as you can get. Speed is important. This ad can only run once before the kids find out.”

Anti Establishment

Vintage Yellow pages Ad

Advertisers  had to win over young consumers who were distrustful of corporate messages and big business. Though the Madison Avenue was part of the establishment they tried to swing with the times.

Who was more establishment than Bell Telephone and their stuffy yellow pages.  Ma Bell gets groovy with this ad.

“Wear the Yellow Pages out for $1 ” announces this ad. “Whats black and yellow and read all over? The Yellow Pages Dress! Its wacky wild and wonderful. A flashy paper put-on that’s just plain fun to wear.”

“We’ll send your yellow Pages Dress to you just about long enough to cover your knees-then with a pair of scissors you can cut it to any length you like.”

“See if it isn’t just as much fun to wear the yellow pages out as it is to wear out the Yellow Pages”

Campbell’s M’m’m’m’ Groovy

Vintage Campbell’s Soup Ad “The Souper Dress” 1968

Moms casserole favorite  good ol’ Campbell’s  got hip with their own boss fashion statement.

Don’t feel like dressing like the Yellow Pages. For a buck you could sport a Campbell’s soup can with their Souper Dress!

“It’s a pretty groovy deal just for enjoying Campbell’s Vegetable Soup.”

“Now’ your chance to get the one, the only Souper Dress…a smashing paper put-on that could only come from Campbell’s. Its got eye poppin’ Campbell’s cans coming and going!”

“On you it’ll look good! M’-m-m-m-groovy!”

 Come on Baby Light My Fire

.Joining the Pepsi generation, Advertisers actively pandered to the youth who prided themselves on being anti consumer but that attitude was more wishful thinking than reality.

Philco zeroed in on the hip youth market with this  groovy gizmo.

“Now You Can carry your Hip Pocket Records on your ear! Grooviest earrings ever.” offered Philco in this 1969 ad

“Holds up to 20 Hip Pocket Records. Just 50 cents at dealer when you buy 2 HPs. ( A top hit on each side; mini priced; the most scratch proof records of all)”

“Of course if you want to wear the earnings alone you can always carry your Hip Pocket Records in your purse.”

But who wouldn’t want to groove with Vinyl dangling from your ears!

Go West Young Man

The buttoned down world of 1960 NY stands in sharp contrast to California dreaming of 1969 (L) Vintage Fashion photo 1960 NYC (R) Max Factor Ad 1969 California Sun Glosses

Nothing demonstrated the changes of the decade than the rise of sunny California in the late 1960’s and the decline of increasingly dangerous NYC.

The Mad Men New York City of 1960 was the epitome of sophistication and glamor. But by 1969 that excitement had moved west to California.

Laid back California was the very antithesis of NY.

When  a casually dressed Pete sporting full on sideburns greets a suited up Don in LA in this seasons opening episode, a taken aback Don tells the formally buttoned up Pete “You not only look like a hippie you talk like one.”

Can Don Draper -nee Dick Whitman – once again remake himself  in California, the perfect place for reinvention and experimentation?

Retro Reinvention – New and Improved?

For sheer inspiration  Don need look only to that quintessential Californian Richard Nixon.

Dick Whitman wasn’t the only one to transform himself. Dick Nixon started the decade in bitter defeat, only to end it in triumph as President of the United States.

The question is will Don do his own thing or can papa get a brand new bag?

Copyright (©) 20014 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

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The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

If the NY Worlds Fair of 1939/40 was like stepping into the land of Oz, the 1964/ 65 Worlds Fair was like striding into the future of the Jetsons and stepping back to prehistoric Bedrock.

Mid Century Mashup
So in a classic display of mid-century 1960’s pop surrealism, what would be more logical than creating a comic book where on the very same day characters from wildly different centuries happen to visit that showcase of mid 20th century American consumerism and technology – the NY Worlds Fair.

The 12 story high stainless steel Unisphere was built bt US Steel. Nothing like it had ever been built before.

This modern wonderland that opened April 22 1964 would eventually welcome over 51 million viewers from all over the world and obviously all different centuries

A Day at The Fair

Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

Yabba Dabba Doo…Fred Flintstone and George Jetson share a Belgian Waffle at the Flushing Meadow Park 1965!

Of course it helped that these 2 characters were the creation of the same 20th century genius Hanna- Barbera who teamed up with The NY Worlds Fair 1964-1965 Corporation  to create this official souvenir where the pavilions and exhibits of the fair were as much a star as the cartoon characters.

 A Peep into the  Future

Johnson’s Wax Pavilion NY Worlds Fair 1964/65

Entering the fair, George Jetson would feel right at home with the modernistic pavilions built in that futuristic architectural style influenced by the jet age, the space age, and the Atomic Age. The free form styles were made possible by modern building materials such as reinforced concrete, fiberglass tempered glass and stainless steel.

A Peep into the Past

Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

The dinosaurs at the Sinclair Pavilion might make Fred and Barney homesick for Bedrock but they were only a part of the prehistoric pageant at the fair.

Dinosaur Sinclair Dinoland NY Worlds Fair 1964-1965

In the Ford Pavilion Fred could take a fun-filled ride on the “Magic Skyway” in  a new Mustang convertible as he zoomed through the Time Tunnel where a life-like Disney-created caveman waved as he battles a bear and a 2 story Tyrannosaurus Rex roam the land.

At Travelers Insurance, a prehistoric man discovers fire, while the Lebanon Pavilion exhibits fossils 80 million years old.

 Getting to the Fair

Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

While some opted to take the Worlds Fair Special subways for 15 cents , others  traveled to the fairgrounds by car, train,  bus, taxi  or even by boat to the  marina.

There were also regular flights by helicopter  that cost about $8 per person. While most arrived to the Port Authority Heliport at the fair from Wall Street Heliport , Newark and Kennedy  Airports , our Stone Age friends from Bedrock are having a tougher time landing.

The Fair was divided into Five areas Industrial, International, Federal and State, transportation and lake Amusement

Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

The Giant US Rubber Tire Wheel clearly wowed Barney.

Combining fun fair entertainment with Pop art aesthetics, visitors rode along the rim of a giant white-wall tire soaring 80 feet into the air for a spectacular view of the fairground.

US Royal Tires Wheel at the NY Worlds Fair 964

 Meet The Jetsons

Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

George Jetson offers  some neighborly parking advise . Plenty of parking at the fair enough for 20,000 cars, prehistoric  flying devices might be more limited.

General Motors Look into the Future

Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

No wonder Barney is so anxious to visit GM.  Just as in 1939 The World of Tomorrow awaited s you at the GM Futurama

General Motors Pavilion NY Worlds Fair 1964 postcard

The most popular exhibit at the fair, Fred and Barney would have to wait several hour to get a glimpse of the future.

GMs Futurama looked forward to a future of giant skyscrapers, elevated multi lane highways, underwater metropolises, and  best of all holiday resorts would soon be opening on the moon.

Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

NY World’s Fair -GM’s Futurama Ad 1964 -1965

Lost at the Fair

Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

The Fairs theme was “Peace Through Understanding,” dedicated to “Mans Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe., symbolized by the  12 story high stainless steel model of the earth- The Unisphere.

Distracted by all the excitement, Bamm Bamm, Pebbles and their pet Dino wander off in the expansive  fairgrounds.

Feeling anything but peaceful, the prehistoric couples panic and begin combing the fair in search of their children. Convinced they must be riding the merry-go-round at the Festival of Gas, Fred and Barney  head in that direction, oblivious to the fact that s the children and Dino  are dining  across the way at the 7 Up Garden Pavilion.

Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

Pebbles, Bamm Bamm and Dino join the other fairgoers  who could enjoy sampling sandwiches from around the world at the 7 Up Garden Pavilion which featured innovative fiberglass Seven Up Towers and unlimited 7 UP!

Festival of Gas Pavilion NY Worlds Fair 1965-1965

The Festival of Gas Pavilion designed by Walter Dorwin Teague Associates. A fun exhibit for the whole family where famous chefs gave their secrets of cooking with gas.

Wilma should enjoy “The Kitchen of the Future” where for example you’ll watch dramatically new gas appliance automatically emerge from bare walls floors ceilings as they are needed by the housewife and disappear when no longer in use. Clearly Jane Jetson would be bored.

With the IBM Pavilion pictured behind them, our hapless heroes miss Dino and the kids hopping Huck’s tram. Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

Naturally the fair was populated with an assortment of other Hanna-Barbera characters like Huckleberry Hound who ran the tram that scooted fair goers around the fair.

IBM Pavilion NY Worlds Fair. Its egg shaped dome carved with the letters IBM were repeated 1,000 times. This was for many their first interaction with a computer

 Triumph of Man

Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

With its distinctive Red umbrella dome the Travelers Building offered a dramatic exhibit of man survival thru the ages.

“You’ll experience the colorful “Triumph of man” in a wonderland of panoramic you are there settings Follow man from the dawn of time to the dawn of tomorrow!” Vintage ad Travelers Insurance Exhibit NY Worlds Fair 1964-65

Big Business

Fred and Barneys frantic search for the kids in the Industrial Area, leaves little time to enjoy The Johnsons Wax Pavilion, Kodak or General Cigar. Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

Like the 1939 fair the fusion of hucksterism and patriotism was pronounced among Corporate exhibitors.

Whatever the technology, the message of these corporate exhibits was the same: Big Business was building a brighter and better American future.

Pavilion after pavilion, big business predicted that the achievements of the present would soon be surpassed by the triumphs of tomorrow. Each structure flamboyantly beckoned and competed for the attention of the fairgoers.

Johnson’s Wax Pavilion NY Worlds Fair 1964-965 postcard

Johnson Wax Pavilion’s great gold disk which seem to float 24 feet above the ground and  offered electronic computers answer household questions.

Vintage ad General Cigar “Hall of Magic” NY Worlds Fair 1964-1965

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The Hall of Magic at the General Cigar Exhibit was the big draw as  a machine blows 12 foot smoke rings 150 feet into the air every 20 seconds.

Kodak Pavilion NY Worlds Fair 1964-1965 postcard

Kodak offered  the world largest outdoor color prints a top  the Kodak Picture Tower!  The Kodak Pavilion offered demonstrations of the new Instamatic Cameras.

New York State Pavilion

Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

Running into 2 other Hanna-Barbera character’s Lippy and Hardy,  they pass the NY State Pavilion.

Designed by Phillip Johnson, it’s open air pavilion was called Tent of Tomorrow

NY State Pavilion NY Worlds fair 1964-1965

The pavilions main floor used for local art and industry comprised a terrazzo replica of the office Texaco highway map of NY State displaying the maps cities towns routes and Texaco gas stations in 567 mosaic panels

Sinclair’s Stone Age  Dinoland

Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair” 1964-65 Comic Book

Dramatic life-size replicas of different types of dinosaurs were  shown in the exhibit located in the Transportation section of the Fair.

A reenactment of life on earth as it was some 60 to 180 million years ago the Sinclair exhibit was  as life-like and authentic as modern science and research could  make them- no wonder Dino fell in live!

Sinclair Dinoland Ad NY Worlds fair 1964

 Back to the Future

Vintage comics “The Flintstones at the NY Worlds Fair 1964-65″

Looks like George Jetson may have a tough time getting back to the future!

Next: The Flintstones at NY Worlds Fair Pt II

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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The World of Tomorrow  1939 Worlds fair

Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

The NY Worlds Fair in 1964/65 attracted a boatload of luminaries, but none more incredible than Fred Flintstone.

Traveling all the way from prehistoric Bedrock, Fred and Wilma, Barney and Betty couldn’t wait to see that showcase of mid 20th century American consumerism.

Hanna- Barbera the creator of the Flintstones  teamed up with The NY Worlds Fair 1964-1965 Corporation  to create this official souvenir where the pavilions and exhibits of the fair were as much a star as the cartoon characters.

Yabba Dabba Doo It’s the Worlds Fair

Comic from “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair 1965 “Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

Lets continue where we last left off with Fred and Barneys  Adventure at the Fair

When Fred runs into some money problems he goes in search of a job at where else…the Worlds Fair!

Wilma was right- The House of Good Taste was not a restaurant but instead an exhibition of 3 houses-traditional contemporary and modern fully furnished on exhibit in this homemakers center. The modern house by architect Edward Durell Stone was termed the “inward looking house” essentially shutting out neighbors with his high concrete walls.

 Money Troubles

Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

True to form Fed acts just like the caveman he is when it comes to sexist comments, proving who wear the toga in his family!

Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

 Boys Will Be Boys

Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

Can Fred Work it Out?

Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

Panicking, Fred decides he needs a job pronto and goes from pavilion to pavilion in search of work.    Spotting the Kodak Pavilion, our stone age  tourists head in that direction.

Kodak Pavilion

Kodak Pavilion NY Worlds Fair 1964 Vintage Postcard

Kodak offered  the world largest outdoor color prints a top  the Kodak Picture Tower.  The Kodak Pavilion offered demonstrations of the new Instamatic Cameras, perhaps a job right up Fred’s alley.

Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

General Cigar Hall of Magic

The Hall of Magic was the big draw at the General Cigar Exhibit. A machine blows 12 foot smoke rings 150 feet into the air every 20 seconds. “See famous magicians perform incredible feats of magic before your eyes. It’s the magic of the future waiting for you.”

Clearly no shutterbug, Fred tries his hand at magic at the popular Hall of Magic at the General Cigar Pavilion.

Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

Johnson’s House of Wax

Johnson’s House of Wax NY Worlds Fair 1964

Next stop on the job search is Johnson House of Wax.

Everybody who wears shoes, including Huckleberry Hound, can get a free shoe shine in their automated shoe shine parlor

Festival Of Gas

The Festival of Gas Pavilion designed by Walter Dorwin Teague Associates was  fun exhibit for the whole family where famous chefs gave their secrets of cooking with gas, including Fred Flintstone!

Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

Fred at the Festival of Gas. Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

 New York State Pavilion

Fired once more, Fred’s prospects seem to be looking up at the NY State Pavilion.

Visitors rode up 200 feet in the air in the glass “Sky Streak” elevators to the observation deck of the 226 foot tower- the highest point in the fair.   The view of the entire Fair below them was spectacular.

That’s one cool Top Cat playing the ukulele. Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna-Barbera

Aloha Fred!  Rushing down to the Lake Amusement Area Fred next tries his  hand at Hula dancing at the Hawaiian Pavilion. “Drum guitar and ukulele music sets hula skirts swishing in the Spirit of Aloha exhibit!”

Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

Worlds Fair  Director – Fred Moses-stone

If all else failed, Fred imagines himself running the Fair. What if the organizers of the NY Worlds Fair had  hired Fred Flintstone instead of Robert Moses  to head the corporation established to run the fair?

Another Hanna- Barbera cartoon character makes an appearance Wally Gator blowing trumpet. Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

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Often considered imperious, the fair left Moses -the uber builder who had  built the World of Tomorrow - with a tarnished image of a greedy pompous man who used the Fair to promote his self interests.

Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

 Monorail

Vintage Comic Book “The Flintstones at the New York Worlds Fair” 1965 Official Souvenir copyrighted 1964 Hanna -Barbera

A perfect ending for their magical day at the fair,  a night-time ride on the Monorail watching the extravaganza of fire, light, water, sound and fireworks. The Monorail was to be the train of the future, but like so many things at the Fair  we’ll have to wait for the Jetsons for it to truly come to pass.

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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“Women of the Future will make the Moon a cleaner place to live” Vintage Lestoil Household Cleaner Advertisement 1960s

The dawning of the Space Age may have caused some business men to ponder their obsolescence but homemakers needn’t worry- their jobs were secure.

With Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey looming over Mad Men, it would be no surprise if Betty Francis got in the Space Age swing of it too. Looking for a way out of her humdrum housewife existence, the former Betty Draper might have set her sights on the moon.

Betty Francis’s Space Odyssey

Like many housewives in the late 1960’s her own suburban odyssey seems to have stalled for poor Betty.

Increasingly bored and  frustrated, she is  stifled by overbearing men like Don and Henry  and at odds with her children. That is until one day when she accidentally stumbled upon a solution that seemed out of this world. Absent-mindedly eyeing a new shade of Revlon’s Moon Drops dewy lipstick while flipping through McCall’s Magazine,  she took noticed of an unusual sweepstake.

This was no ordinary soap suds- jingle-25 word or less-win-a-new -Frigidaire kind of contest.

An alternative grand prize was offered in McCall’s 2001 Sweepstakes if the moon wasn’t available. “Win your tomorrows dream holiday today- visit the namesakes of the planets here on earth. 3  week all expense fabulous discovery holiday for 2 visiting…”Venus”- Paris, France, “Mars”- London, England, “Jupiter” – Rome, Italy, “Mercury”- Florence, Italy and “Neptune”- Venice, Italy. Other prizes included luxurious mink stoles, an RCA portable color TV and record album featuring the original soundtrack from “2001 A Space Odyssey”

In her own nod to Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey , Betty decided to enter McCall’s fabulous “2001 Sweepstakes” that promised to take her straight from the suburbs to the solar system.

In an issue devoted to the futuristic year 2001, the woman’s magazine offered the opportunity of a lifetime…a trip to the moon.

Girls, leave your grime, girdles and the generation gap behind and hop on a rocket.

“Offering 2001 fabulous prizes the grand prize was…..

“Everybody’s exciting dream…an all expense paid fantastic voyage to the Moon ( if available by commercial transportation and tourist hotel accommodations at the time of the winner selection)

Over the Moon

Of course who ever won the contest would be in for a rude awakening.

Not counting the fact that we would have to wait for Neil Armstrong to actually take the first step on the moon, it turns out the moon was not all to was cracked up to be.

According to a Lestoil advertisement  that ran in the same issue of the magazine,” if we did make it to the moon, it would be women who cleaned it.”

Clearly the space age wouldn’t make the housewife obsolete.

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014.

Detail of Collage by Sally Edelstein “And They Lived Happily Ever After” Appropriated vintage images. The end of Camelot saw our own fantasy’s begin to crack

The nuclear family was once as American as the nuclear bomb. But by the end of the 1960′s the nuclear family detonated along with our notion of marriage and motherhood.

Parenting and partnering were not a priority for the newly liberated lady…..just ask Mad Men’s Peggy Olson.

And They Lived Happily Ever After…

As the decade drew to a close, the New Frontier years of Camelot came to a crashing halt and turned out to be just one more fairy tale.

It wasn’t long before the spell was broken and we realized not everyone would live happily ever after like Cinderella.

The only shining white knight coming to the housewives rescue would be the Ajax White Knight galloping into her suburban neighborhood destroying dirt in his path with his magic lance.

Love and Marriage

Only 10 years earlier, the family’s outlook had never been brighter.

McCall’s Magazine even created a term for this Togetherness.

Along with the rest of the media, the real mad men of Madison Avenue painted the same glowing picture of the American family emphatic in their belief that the family was the center of your living and if it wasn’t you’ve gone astray… or you’re a communist!

Some magazine articles even went so far as to imply that a woman’s failure to bear children was a quasi perversion and just plain unnatural. Nothing was more patriotic than having children and like the steel industry, mothering was running at close to 100% capacity.

Waxy Yellow Build Up

Detail of Collage by Sally Edelstein “White Wash” Appropriated vintage illustrations of American Housewives from the 1950s and 1960s

With their gleaming Ipana smiles, happy homemakers asked nothing more of others than to refrain from scuffing up the shine on her freshly Glo coated floor.

In a world rampant with wars , rioting and male entitlement, these happy housewives may have been smiling but more than likely they were numb from Miltown or Valium.

Like underground nuclear testing anger was to be buried beneath the surface, but the fall out would soon appear. Before the decade was out women would become as agitated as their miracle 2 agitator washers.

But by the late 1960’s happy housewives with their smiling faces  dressed in harmonized shades  to match their carefree kitchen appliances, were, like those same retro appliances replaced for a newer model.

Nuclear Family Meltdown

Detail of collage by Sally Edelstein “Always Ask a Man” An amalgam of mass media stereotypes of women from the 1950′s and 60′s . A reshuffling of clichés about popular cultures representation of female choices.

With the bewitching speed and ease of Samantha Stevens twitching her nose the job a generation of women had trained for was suddenly obsolete by 1970. Along with their bras, women libbers threw out the American housewife and June Cleaver got kicked to the curb.

The single gal exploded on the scene knocking the married lady off her pedestal. Ads proclaimed: “It’s your time to shine baby and we don’t mean pots and pans!”

As if hit by a strong dose of radiation, the familiar 1950’s nuclear family in the media had mutated into monstrous families as June and Ward Cleaver were replaced by Lilli and Herman Munster.

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Fit For a King

Once upon a time, but not too long ago, all Dads were king.

Not only for a measly third Sunday in June, but to believe the mid-century American advertiser, the head of the household was the sovereign ruler of his suburban dominion the year round.

But it was on that special date proclaimed Fathers Day, a day filled with pageantry and celebration, that all his subjects paid homage bearing royal gifts worthy of his majesty.

When I was growing up in the 1950′s and 60′s, Father’s Day was a day of protocol, precedent and custom.

Truth be told, in our house my father was known more as the Queen’s Husband than as Sovereign ruler, not unlike England’s Prince Phillip.

But not on Fathers Day, when his throne was never more secure nor its occupant more firmly rooted in his subjects affections.

A Suburban Fathers Day

While Mom was busy washing the dishes from the royal breakfast feast, our King for a day, his most excellent majesty, Marvin, sat in regal isolation in his Naughahyde  Barca-Lounger throne.

With a Kaywoodie briar pipe as his scepter, resplendent in his Dacron wash ‘n wear pajamas, he wore a crudely constructed cardboard crown given as a promotion from Big Al’s Appliance Store atop his prematurely balding head.

Contently he basked in the glow of the day as presents were offered on bended knee, displayed before him for his approval.

Nothing said “Thanks, Pop” like a splendid no-wrinkle Acrylan mu-mu sport shirt with authentic south sea prints. Who said  a ruler couldn’t be a snappy pappy?

What was more worthy of a king than a distinguished pair of fairway themed cotton boxers with golf balls and nine irons cleverly printed across the fabric?

Every imperial leader needed a touch of bracing after-shave now and again, the woodsy aroma the very finest in masculinity, whose daily use helped give the royal face a clean magnetic masculine air.

Vintage Fathers Day ads for McGregor Men’s Sportswear 1950′s

(L) Vintage ad 1948 Textron Menswear “Let the King Have His Fling in Textron Menswear” (R) “When Dad is King For a Day” Vintage 1948 ad Reis Underwear

(l) Vintage Fathers Day ad Seaforth Men’s Grooming Products 1946  (r) Vintage ad Fathers Day Spiedel watch bands 1946

Vintage ad Schick Electric Shaver1953 (r) Vintage ad Schick Electric Shaver For Dad or Grad 1953

A Pipe and Slippers Fit for a King (L) Vintage Fathers Day ad Evans Slippers  1951 (R) Vintage ad Zippo Lighters For Fathers Day

But for my Dad no princely ban-lon shirt, crush resistant slacks, tiki print tie, no, not even an out of this world, newer-than-tomorrow electric razor could light up his countenance the way something truly fit  for a Royal did -a 1 pound canister of Prince Albert tobacco- “the national joy smoke.”

The way to my Dads heart was through tobacco.

A Pipe Line to His heart

L

Like Old King Cole  Dad was never merrier than when smoking his briar wood pipe, packing it tight with his Prince Albert tobacco.

“More than you know, perhaps…you do wonderful things for Dad by giving him a Kaywoodie pipe.” the ads promised. “You give far more in fact than the countless sweet hours of relaxation this luxury pipe brings to a man.”

Of course governing can be a stressful job so when he wasn’t puffing on a pipe, Dad could be found relaxing with a soothing cigarette.

Lucky for us, mid-century tobacco manufacturers were more than happy to lend a hand on Fathers Day coming out with a  line of special gift-wrapped  Father Day cartons and canisters fit for a king.

Vintage ads Camel, Cavalier Cigarettes and Prince Albert Tobacco for Fathers Day 1953

RJ Reynolds Tobacco company reassured its readers that our choice was a wise one and truly fit for a beloved monarch:

“Nearest and dearest to Dad- next to you- are his favorite cigarette or his faithful pipe. One of the things closest to your father are his smokes-his cigarette or his pipe. He carries them with him wherever he goes…they’re always part of the picture when he relaxes.”

“When it’s a gift from loved ones it’s doubly precious”

Vintage ad for Fathers Day Kaywoodie Pipes 1954

Of course not as precious as all those years lost from developing emphysema. And that pipe line to his heart eventually found its way there with a heart attack at age 60.

God save the King!

Copyright (©) 20014 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

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A Hands On Dad

Long before Crew Cuts was the name of J. Crews adorable line of clothing for boys and girls, it was mid- century summers must have hair cut for boys of all ages.

Also known affectionately as a butch cut, a buzz cut and a flat top, it was, along with baseball, camping, and Good Humor, an essential part of summer’s ritual. Getting your hair shorn was a rite of passage for the boys of summer.

Although it appeared to be a care-free- no-fuss-no-muss hairstyle, keeping it up or keeping it down required maintenance with a mid-century product called Butch Wax. One manufacturer of the paste-like substance promised to help keep your hair as evenly “as the bristles of a new brush”.

There was not just one size fits all crew cuts…the variations were exacting and numerous according to these Max Factor vintage ads from 1961.

The Standard Crew Cut

This was the most popular of all short-hair cuts. “It is trained to stand upright in front and on top, with the sides cut close to the shape of the head. It’s length is about an inch and a half at front to an inch at the crown and !/2 inch at back.

The Short Pomp

“This haircut looks like the regular crew cut in shape but it is slightly longer in length so that the hair begins to lie down a bit and cover the scalp when combed back. The top front length is about 2 inches, an inch and a half at crown and an inch at the back.”

The Flat-Top-Boogie

This haircut is getting more and more popular, The flat-topboogie has long sides which must be kept carefully trained to look neat. The sides are combed back and upward, pulling the longer strands around the back of the head in a semi ducktail.

The West Pointer

This is the official haircut of the US Military Academy. All hair on sides and back is kept clipped down to the skin. hair above forehead is rounded to shape of the skull with a maximum length of an eight of an inch for plebes and 1 inch for upper classmen.

Copyright (©) 20014 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

Life was a colorful, carefree wash n’ wear world

Summertime and the living was easy especially in the post war world of wash n’ wear clothing.

Summer and synthetics was a match made in chemical lab heaven.

The easy care revolution in textiles was always in full display at my suburban summertime family barbecues.

The World is Yours….especially in these Arnel Triacetate separates just right for the perfect couple. What says down home gingham better then ahhhh…..Arnel!

It was always fun to see my usually serious relatives suddenly seasonally transformed, parading around in their color-fast, color-fun, wash n’ wear summertime attire.

It was nothing short of a tribute to post-war possibilities in polyester.

“Dress Right You Can’t Afford Not To. The good old summer is time for all kinds of weekend fun…including the fun of dressing right for whatever under the sun you’re doing,” begins this 1957 ad. “When you look good, you feel good- sure of yourself.” And in mid century America nothing gave you the smart self confidence like an outfit in smart, wash n’ wear polyester.

As the humidity mounted on the sticky city streets, my small contingency of hot-town-summer-in-the-city relatives was always delighted to be out in the country for their dose of fresh air.

It was the perfect tonic for the exhaust fumes, grit and grime of 1960’s NYC.

Breathing in the fresh suburban air, laced with the fumes from the chemically laden charcoal briquettes emanating from all the other grills of ex-urbanite- neighbors up and down the block, stimulated a suburban sized appetite

Go casual or dress up in carefree colorful wash n wear Dacron

Two’s Company in wrinkle-shy smart woven cotton Dacron

In the summer of 1961 despite the Berlin crisis looming in the air and the possible threat of thermonuclear war, folks demeanor at my big family barbecue were as trouble-free as their Dacron separates.

No longer weighed down with winter’s worries, uncles aunts and cousins appeared buoyant in a way I never saw all winter.

It was if by shucking their winter wools and gabardines for the, wrinkle free ease of 100% Acrilan, they were ridding themselves of a seasons worth of heavy burdens.

In fact the only wrinkles present at these gatherings were on the heavily lined faces of my sun worshiping relatives.

Cool Daddy-O-in Drip Dry Dacron

Bermuda shorts in racy Rayon -Dacron texture you’d swear was linen! Frosty Cool, they wont crush or muss!

First sightings of our Uncles hairy legs and knobby knees poking out from baggy Bermuda shorts, brought on uncontrollable giggles for my brother and me.

Drip dry dashing in their 100% Acrilan sports shirts, they were a kaleidoscope of colors and patterns in the easy care, luxury  acrylic fabric.

Men’s winter bellies that had been neatly contained by worsted wool suit jackets were now bursting free in their clingy Ban-Lon shirts

Figure flattering Ban-Lon was the wonder material favored by  folks everywhere. The figure revealing fabric was a type of NyLON developed and patented by the laboratories of Joseph BANcraft & Sons.

Acrilan was was an acrylic fibre developed by Chemstrand. “Luxury’s yours in wash n’ wear shirts of 100% Acrilan.The texture must be touched to believe. “They’re soft and warm as a harem girls kiss” exclaims the copy in the 1956 ad on the right. Wear ‘em, wash ‘em, they don’t stretch or shrink. “Best of all they completely frustrate moths and mildew- completely satisfy men.” Vintage Acrilan Ads 1956

Ban Lon- He’ll love you for it…give him one of these exciting Ban-Lon beauties. “Believe us he’ll be your baby in Ban-Lon, claims the copy in this 1960 (R) ad. “Despite its luxurious look, it can well stand up to his manhandling! It’s shrink-proof. mildew-proof, and moth proof!”

 Cool, Colorful  and Carefree

Live easy…look breezy in cool carefree uncrushable Dacron in these patio perfect 1961 dresses

Polyesters you’ll love to live in! Bared and beautiful, Bouffant beats the heat with little straps that expose you to enjoy balmy suburban breeze. Fashioned in lustrous wash n’ wear Dacron . Vintage women’s fashion 1961 Sears catalog

Women’s winter weary bosoms, revealed in sporty little perma-prest sundresses seemed to be coming out of hibernation in an exuberant display of deeply tanned decolletage.

Perfect for the patio- these Ship ‘n Shore separates are wild about color. “Cool as as a breeze. And they go to any lengths to please!” Kinda like most mid century women!

The gals were comfortably fun-loving casual in their Ship n Shore drip dry patio pants, peddle pushers and capris.

Their color-happy, easy-wear Celanese separates were vibrant in sun coral, refreshing in turquoise and electric in jubilee orange, colors that seemed to match their enticing fruit colors-for-warm-weather-wear lips.

Celanese Fortrel makes the scene (L) Vintage Catalina sportswear ad 1962 (R) Vintage Sears catalog 1961

Patios and polyester were made for one another in vibrant refreshing colors Vintage catalog ads Sears 1961

Whether Antron, Acrylon or Dacron it was a veritable sea of drip dry, and wrinkle free, a wash n’ wear tribute to post-war man’s progress over nature, a cornucopia of the space age convenience of miracle man-made fabrics.

The real miracle was that there wasn’t a natural fabric among them. What a tribute to the great outdoors.

Because these new miracle man-made fibers were totally synthesized from chemicals found in the oil industry, there was enough petroleum in the clothes to ignite barbeques up and down the block.

Poke up a fire and relax while supper grills to a turn. Just don’t stand too close to the fire; nothing acts as an accelerant better than polyester.

These Dacron shirts make a man feel debonair. They’re designed to lounge in whether your brand of relaxation is a soft EZ chair or a turn on the golf links. Casual when it comes to taking care of, Dacron takes care of itself. Mens Dacron Sportshirts 1961 Sears Catalog

While the men huddled ‘round the smoky Weber grill, hotly debating whether Roger Maris would break Babe Ruth’s Home runs this season, the wives held their own smoky gab fest.

Engulfed in a plume of hazy blue cigarette smoke the normally harried housewives were as relaxed as their free and easy care fabrics.

More time to Play in Polyester

You look your best…work much less in Dacron and cotton for automatic wash n’ wear. Before this revolution in textiles a homemaker might spend up to 20 hours a weeks ironing clothes, tablecloths and bed linens made of natural fibers.

Thanks to the magic of modern chemistry we were into the new wonderful world of synthetic fabrics and the American housewife was the happy recipient of these new discoveries

In the easy does it, no fuss no muss, new and improved push button post war world, the miracle that could only happen in the wonderful world of wash n wear was a godsend to the housewife. No more long hot summer hours spent ironing out wrinkled linens or creased cottons. Here were clothes that practically care for themselves.

Yes there was a new way to live…and it was easy.

Better Living Through Chemistry

Vintage advertisement Union Carbide 1949

For years the wizards of chemistry had been working tirelessly in their labs concocting chemically made fibers that challenged natures best in wear and appearance

Far from being scorned as they are now, chemically made fibers were considered a key to better living.

How Can You Resist

Vintage ad Vicara Fiber Division Virginia-Carolina Chemical Corp. 1954 “Perfect for springtime sweaters”

Contemporary fabrics like Celanese Acetate were perfect for the new busy mid-century American Housewife. “She needed a special kind of clothes for her busy, rewarding life,” readers were told in one ad touting the fabric. “Whether as den mother, eagle eye supermarket shopper or decorating wiz it was a fast paced life.”

Polyester made good on its promise to lighten Moms load.

A New Way To Live

“There’s a new way to look …a new way to live in Dacron! There’s a new way to live…and its easy! It begins with your discovery of Dacron for modern living clothes that practically care for themselves. You’ll find wrinkle-shedding Dacron alone or blended with other fibers) lets you forget your ironing board…saves you cleaning upkeep ,helps your clothes wear and wear, stay fresh no matter the weather. Look to your stores for a whole new way of fashion a whirl of exciting colors and textures Dacron polyester fiber for you to live in and love. Dacron one of Du Ponts modern living fabrics” Vintage ad 1953

It all began with DuPont’s discovery of Dacron. By 1961, Dacron, the granddaddy of polyester was already a decade old

Dacron was made for modern living. It was the biggest thing to hit the clothing industry since nylon.

It Started with Stockings

Vintage ad DuPonts Nylon

Dupont started the EZ care revolution with the introduction of nylon in 1939, the first fiber synthesized entirely by chemicals. A replacement for silk, it was wildly popular as nylon stocking and women gobbled them up.

But duty called and nylon was soon drafted by Uncle Sam. Off to war, it was essential for parachutes , tents and airplane tires .

With the war over, the test tube boys knuckled down and got back to work fulfilling their post war promises of a better tomorrow.

In the spring of 1951 DuPont debuted Dacron (polyethylene terephthalate).

 The Dawning of Dacron

Vintage ad Dacron Suits 1957

No one was more a devotee of DuPonts miracle man-made fabric than my Dad. He could say so long to seersucker, and summer-weight woolens. When it came to summer suits, Dacron blew them out of the water.

Not only were Dacron Suits cooler,  the pants would keep their creases unless you deliberately removed it with a hot iron.Washed by hand or machine and drip dried, these suits were ready to wear!

Derided as tacky today, polyesters like Dacron were miracle space age wonder.

Nothing announced to the world that you were a man of discerning taste the way a garment of 100% Dacron did.

Synthetics were far from the cheap inexpensive items we associate with them now. In fact the only wrinkle was that the very first Dacron suits were a whopping $95, out of reach for the average Joe.

Wash and Wear to Go Go

This remarkable suit made with Dacron” polyester fiber can be machine washed machine dried and worn immediately. It was the worlds first Automatic Wash n Wear.This modern living innovation, DuPont explained, is made possible by new tailoring techniques, properly made fabrics, and modern home driers.

But in that fast paced, rat race world of mid-century America what business man on the go-go had time to wait for a suit to drip dry?

It wasn’t long before the world’s first Automatic Wash n’ Wear suit debuted.

The benefit of this new wonder was it wasn’t just wash n wear. This suit could be dried and “pressed” ( wrinkles out, crease still in) in your automatic dryer too! The automatic dryer which had only a few years earlier been a luxury was by the mid 1950s a necessity in the suburban home.

In the future, DuPont promised the consumer , you will be able to buy “Automatic Wash n Wear convenience in many other type of clothing.”

The Power of Polyester Unleashed

In another decade the possibilities of polyester would know no bounds. By the 1970s the postwar promises of polyester would be fully realized.

The Evolution of Polyester 1956-1971

Polyester was in full swing by the 1970s. Sears catalog 1971

Copyright (©) 2014 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

Be the first in your neighborhood to start a collection- you can have your picture with your choice of 200 players!  Vintage ad 1963

What mid-century boy wouldn’t love having his photo hanging in an all-star’s locker?

“Kids! Get your photo with your favorite Big League Star” grinning Yankees catcher Yogi Berra beckons in this 1963 ad. “Imagine a photo of your favorite Big League star hanging your picture in his locker” the ad entices.

No, you didn’t get to fly to NY to have your picture taken with Roger Maris or to Milwaukee to pose with Hank Aaron or even Los Angeles for a shutterbug session with Sandy Koufax

Sponsored by Acme Markets and a company called Picture Pal, your dream could come true just by sending your snapshot with a special label from any Acme Supreme bread and $1.

Boys from Bayonne to Bayshore smiled eagerly for their Dads Brownie and made sure to ask Mom to get Acme Bread…top taste in every bite!

Way before Photoshop when you could create the same image in your very own home, this magic was achieved through old-fashioned cut and paste.

With a dollop of rubber cement, your Kodak snapshot could be plastered on an 8″ x 10″ glossy made to look like you were hanging in your favorite big league baseball stars very own locker!

What’s Wrong with this Picture

Today in the post Penn State scandal era, some eyebrows might be raised, but in those more innocent times, what could possibly be wrong for  a towel clad,  beefy ball player hanging a picture of a gap toothed ten-year old boy in his locker?

As an aside, this full page ad ran in none other than Boys Life the official magazine for homophobic Boy Scouts.

You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream!

Growing up in mid-century Long Island, no  sound was more welcome than the suburban siren call of summer – the seductive jingling  bells of the Good Humor truck.

Normally at the first ring of that irresistible ding-a-ling-ling, slippery tots would jump out of vinyl sided pools, Stan Muesial baseball mitts were tossed unceremoniously to the ground, and gun slinging cowpokes shifted their attention to the thought of a toasted almond or a chocolate éclair bar, as a  blur of pigtails, baseball caps and scraped knees would appear.

Salivating like Pavlovian dogs, they would go running to the nearest parent, their tiny hands thrust out impatiently for a coin.

But discerning ears knew that not all chimes were created equal.

Bungalow Bar in the Burbs

Vintage ad Dixie Cups 1946

On certain afternoons the jingling of bells brought no buyers, the streets remained remarkably empty of Dixie cup craving children.

This was because the chimes belonged to the Bungalow Bar truck, that trespasser from the city Boroughs. A stranger to the burbs, the truck roamed the streets like an unwelcome tourist in a foreign location which in fact it was.

I’m sure the Bungalow Bar man was as friendly as Nick our Good Humor man, always impeccably dressed in his blindingly white uniform, just as I’m sure he was equally skilled at reaching into the ice cream compartment steamy with condensation and able to pull out exactly the item you wanted without even seeming to look.

No doubt he was just as adept at working the silver metal coin organizer that he wore on his belt quickly clicking the little lever that would eject a coin at the bottom for your change.

But he was never even given a chance.

At the appearance of the truck I would join the rest of the kids chanting at the top of our lungs a mean-spirited ditty that was mysteriously passed from neighborhood to neighborhood, without any real foundation to it: “Bungalow bar/tastes like tar/ the more you eat/ the sicker you are.”

The truck itself was quaint, its white rounded corners reminiscent of an old-fashioned Frigidaire the kind found in a Grandmothers apartment.

It was  designed to look like a small bungalow  complete with a white picket fence instead of a door, topped with a dark russet-brown shingle roof and a fake chimney, which if it were real would probably belch out black smoke from its coal furnace.

In the shiny new suburbs where everything you saw and touched was not just new but never before new, it looked plain old-fashioned, and woefully out of place.

Suburban Interloper

Their only customers were the occasional family nostalgic for the old neighborhood, families like my neighbors the Moskowitz’s, who would often sit on lawn chairs set up on their stark concrete driveway as if they were still sitting on the stoop of their Bensonhoist Brooklyn apartment watching the nonexistent foot traffic go by.

Like a doddering old Dinosaur, this interloper that had originated in Brooklyn and Queens had stumbled across the Nassau County  border hoping to join the stampede pouring out to the suburbs of Lon gIsland.

Maybe for those crowded, apartment dwellers who escaped the heat each summer to the fresh air of the Mountains renting tiny, 2 room, asbestos shingled, gable roofed bungalows in the Borscht Belt, the sight of that  Bungalow on wheels brought back bucolic  memories  of pine scented air,and screened porches.

Perhaps in Bushwick or Bensonhurst, Flatbush or Forest Hills, a world of two family attached houses, broad stoops with great balustrades in lieu of backyards, narrow concrete alleyways where little boys rode bicycles and little girls played Double Dutch, Bungalow Bars may have ruled unchallenged but in the modern suburbs of swing sets and split levels  Good Humor was king.

Suburban Paradise

Suburbia so Modern…so Up to Date

This was the land of Exodus where so many seemed to have found the Promised Land, and Bungalow Bars were a remnant of a former life, a reminder of a past left behind.

The boroughs were the Old World and for some, Brooklyn and the Bronx were as far removed from this first generation of suburbanites as Minsk was from my first generation American grandparents.

The Cadillac of Ice Cream

So we would wait for the big spanking white porcelain truck with the modern clean square edges, its familiar logo with the picture of the chocolate covered bar with a bite taken out of it, baked into the tiny freezer door.

Yes, we were willing to pay an extra nickel more for the privilege of eating a frozen treat from  Good Humor the Cadillac of ice cream trucks, the standard by which other ice cream trucks were judged.

As eyebrows are raised as Russia tests a new ground launched cruise missile, my thoughts drifted to those pre-test treaty times when the sight of a truck toting  a missile was just part of Cold war summer fun.

Summer beach traffic during the Cold War had its own special flare.

The huge-wrap around picture window in the rear of my Grandmothers Cadillac  offered unexcelled visibility to see and be seen, allowing uninterrupted lavish vistas of Long Beach Road, as we drove to her beach club El Patio to spend the day.

Along with the flashy Ford Fairlaine convertibles filled with wind-swept teenagers blasting their radios… “Mr Sandman, build me a dream”  a common sight on those mid-century  roads was the military convoy of trucks loaded with soldiers followed by long trailers carting not-so-secret-missiles clumsily covered with olive drab-colored tarps on their way to the Missile base in sunny Lido Beach.

Along with the construction of the snazzy beach clubs up and down the narrow strip of land, the government  had built for M’Lady’s and Gents protection, a Nike installation.

Kept in cold storage were 60 Nike Ajax guided surface to air Missiles deep in concrete bunkers buried in the sand…”Mr Sandman Please turn on  your magic beams, Mr. Sandman bring me a dream!”

Building Sandcastle Missiles in the Sand

Sometimes, while driving past the chain linked enclosed Missile base, standing in the shadow of  the Grand Lido Beach Hotel, that Jazz age bubblegum colored sand castle in the sky, I might catch a glimpse of  those Mighty Birds  from the road as the soldiers put them up on their launches.

One week out of every month the base was placed on alert so some very lucky guests at the hotel, Long Islands answer to The Riviera, were treated, at no extra cost, to an extra thrill.

Whether you were dining at the elegant restaurant with its retractable roof for feasting under the stars or being entertained by flashy stars like Connie Francis, Edyie Gorme and Sammy Davis Junior, at the ritzy circular nightclub, you might get an extra floor show feasting your eyes at the sight of 40 foot long beckoning to behold Nike Aircraft Missiles aimed at the sky ready to shoot down any enemy bombers.

It was a real showstopper!

Gazing out the back of the Caddies large panoramic rear window the lingering image of the powerful Missiles thrusting into the deep blue summer sky would slowly diminish, resembling the tiny dioramas of model missiles preparing for launch displayed in the store window of Moe’s Hobby World.

Just as the image faded, we would arrive at the Beach Club.

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

For some, the suburbs were a splendid split level paradise

The suburbs of postwar Long Island silently simmered in a preordained sameness, no more so than in the summer.

Summer days were metered out in predictable beats.

Smoky backyard barbecues were a ho-hum summer staple of mid-century suburban life, but our annual king-sized barbecue for my mother’s birthday had a rhythm and tempo of its own.

It was always clear that the magnitude of this annual summer party ranked somewhere between a large Passover Seder, but not as big as a small Bar Mitzvah.

Vintage ad Cruising forward in your Plymouth 1957

This was a big operation requiring logistics and tactical maneuvering in order to mobilize the family who were traveling from near and far. The fact that our many guests traveled across great bodies of water, through tunnels and over bridges just to come to Mom’s birthday party heightened the excitement for me.

Unlike our standing Sunday family get-togethers, the genealogy net was cast wider than our immediate family to include “special occasion relatives.”

Not unlike those special little soaps that Mom would put out just for special company that were never to be touched by us ( or anyone else for that matter) so it was these relatives were purely decorative, never functioning in the nitty gritty of day to day family matters.

Family Relations

A king size barbecue Vintage Ad Phillip Morris Cigarettes 1958

The birthday barbecue in 1961 would be the biggest blow out of all.

Not only was Mom turning 35 officially making her middle aged, she would be meeting her future sister in law for the first time.

Dad remarked that the whole affair had taken on the feeling of a UN general assembly.

That summer a new member of the family was being vetted, requiring a high state of diplomacy.
Making her first appearance at a big family function was my Uncle Jay’s fiancé Evelyn.

The Beatnick and the Barbecue

A Bright Future? (R) Vintage advertisement calling for the end of Nuclear Bomb testing

The family’s curiosity was peaked.

Mom knew the basics- the couple had locked eyes while singing along to “Matilda” at a SANE (The Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy) rally held at Madison Square Garden, to hear Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry Belafonte call for an end to the arms race. Dad supposed she was one of those bone fide peace-nicks

But the family knew scarcely little about this daring career girl with her own bachelorette apartment in New York City, who had been dating Mom’s younger brother for nearly a year.

(L) Hats Off to the Suburbs (R) Birth of the Cool Album Cover Miles Davis 1956 Capitol Records

Her self-described bohemian proclivities made her especially repelled by banality and therefore shunned the suburbs; as if bourgeoisie were a communicable disease, she avoided it like the plague.

However her very practical job as a nurse working the wards of Bellevue precluded her from ever attaining bone-fide beatnik status. Although she professed to be more Simon De Beauvoir than Jacqueline Bouvier it came as a surprise when it was announced that the wedding reception in September would be held at the anything but Bohemian Hotel Carlyle on Manhattans tony upper east side

Family Relations

Behind closed doors the burning question that summer among the core coalition of family was whether this newcomer would disrupt the delicate balance of family relations.

Bronx born and bred she would bear the distinction of being the sole representative of that most unfamiliar borough. As if this distant northern borough were a third world country there was cause for concern within the family but my brother and I were thrilled at the seemingly exotic locale. She could be our ticket to unlimited Yankee games and visits to Freedomland.

Because Mom firmly believed in peaceful co-existence, in the spirit of family togetherness, differences were always left at the front door like a pair of muddy shoes and there was no reason that day should be any different.

The beat goes on

The Siren Call of Suburbia

While some beat a path to the Suburbs, others beat a hasty retreat (L) Cover “On the Road” Jack Kerouac

Although invitations to meet us had been proffered previously, this was the first one to be accepted.

Feeling a bit snubbed, rumors were rampant among the family that this soon to be new aunt of mine shunned the sub-division world of the suburbs, as if they were Kryptonite and would sap this die-hard urbanite of her vital life force.

For some the suburbs were the Exodus to the promised land; for others it was an exile.

Now under the hot glare of the summer sun my uncle jays fiancé had ventured in to the cold war world of carpools, cook outs and cream of mushroom casseroles and she was not so sure how friendly these suburban skies really were.

Post War Parade of Prosperity

Smile

On the day of the big barbecue my brother Andy and I set up surveillance on the front lawn sitting on either side of Pancho, our sombrero wearing Mexican stone lawn ornament, in anticipation of the parade of cars carrying our company that would soon be rolling up our block.

Pancho acted as a buffer. Like Stalin and Truman eyeing each other suspiciously at Potsdam, my bickering brother and I were reluctant allies, but committed to a bigger cause of the big family barbecue.

Like clockwork, the convoy of cars appeared at the top of the block, a gleaming collection of come hither chrome protuberances and sleek tail-fins soaring from fenders, their bomb like tailgates coquettishly beckoning.

It resembled nothing short of the Great White Fleet, a pulse quickening, punctual pageant of Post War prosperity, each family in his own boat-like car, no two cars alike, no car over two years old.

To amuse ourselves Andy and I would vote on our favorite automobiles and like contestants in a Beauty Contest  each car was shinier, more voluptuous than the next, each begging to be looked at, admired and envied.

(L) Vintage Oldsmobiles 1959 (R) Vintage Mercury Ad 1957

First to catch our eye was the sporty 2 toned turquoise Chevy Bel Aire followed by a bulky midnight blue Buick Road Master. Always a crowd pleaser, heads turned when Uncle Jack pulled up in his jaunty heart-throb drive of the year Thunderbird.

Representing New Rochelle were the Rob and Laura Petrie look-a likes my Uncle Sandy and Aunt Lois coolly driving the copper-colored Oldsmobile Cutlass. With its fetching grill work it drew our attention away from that tried and true dinosaur soon approaching its demise the old dependable DeSoto.

But the burning question was whether last years run-away–hands- down favorite, the ever popular Cadillac De Ville, the one with tail fins that wouldn’t stop, the standard by which the worlds motor cars should be judged, driven by our own Nana Sadie, would be bested by the brash newcomer a ‘62 Chrysler.

Chrysler Imperial Prestige 1962 vintage ad

All the way from Forest Hills, Queens the hot-out-of-the-showroom-too-new-to-be-believed ’62 Chrysler Imperial-the car of choice for the discerning imperialist – handled by Irv Shapiro a car salesman extraordinaire-pulled into our humble driveway.

It was just as the ads said

It was true.

Getting together was even more exciting when you get there in a new car.

With the timing and precision of a well orchestrated symphony the percussive sound of multiple car doors slamming in unison reverberated up and down the street as shopping bag schlepping relatives from near and far made their way up our walkway.

Turn The Beat Around

(L) Vintage Volkswagen ad 161

Suddenly heads turned to watch as a tiny, queer-shaped automobile maneuvered with remarkable ease into an impossibly small space between two parked Oldsmobiles.

As if on cue, a collective gasp shot through the group as my Uncle Jay and his fiancé exited from this odd, bug shaped, unadorned, and decidedly un-American vehicle.

But it was not just any foreign car, it was a German car, a chrome-less, austere relic of the Nazi nightmare a car built for the likes of the Autobahn not the bucolic happy-motoring  parkways of Robert Moses.

As Evelyn disembarked from the red Volkswagen Beetle, she looked about warily, like the tourist in a foreign location that she was, acutely aware of the disapproving gaze of her future family.

Behind everyone’s fashionable Foster Grant Sunglasses all eyes were on Evelyn. Her close-cropped Jean Seberg inspired pixie cut contrasted with the sea of beehives and bouffant like a smooth buoy bobbing in a sea of teased waves

For years to come, my dear Aunt would never be convinced that the raised eyebrows and collective tongue clucking was in fact not directed at her, but at the fact that they were driving a Volkswagen, Hitlers very own Wagen Fur das Volk, that most forbidden of all cars, so taboo it was practically traif.(unkosher)

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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July Fourth Hot Diggety Dog

Vintage ad Kodak Brownie Movie Camera 1957

Bidding the Beach Club Goodbye

Labor Day signaled the last call at my Grandmothers Long Island beach club.

Just as white shoes would make their final appearance of the season, so it was time to bid the sandy white beach goodbye as the summer of 1961 came to a close.

End of a Mid-Century Summer

By late afternoon on Labor Day, the wind at the beach club had picked up and the whipping sound of the flags snapping in the wind grew louder as the choppy surf grew rougher, spraying salty mist in the air.

Like a sailor lured by the siren call of the sea, the late afternoon beach beckoned.

The tide had gone out making it ideal conditions for serious sandcastle building and I couldn’t wait to get my hands into some wet sand, patting and pummeling it into submission.

Kodak Moments To Remember

Vintage Kodak Camera Advertisiement 1951

These would be moments to remember and Mom grabbed her Brownie Starflex camera, frowning in annoyance that Dad had left it without film.

After being out in the bright sunshine it took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the darkness as I followed Mom into the dim changing room of the beach club cabana with its floor gritty with sand and powder, to load the camera with film.

Once she was done threading and winding the metal spool and had snapped the lid shut ensuring not a ray of light would strike the Kodak 127 film and ruin any of the 12 black and white shots, she let me turn the cranking knob winding the film until the start appeared in the ruby-red window.

With her flowered plastic lined beach bag packed with some fluffy freshly laundered towels, a change of suits for me and enough cracker jacks to see me through some serious construction, Mom slipped on her matching beach jacket and thongs and I clutched my colorful metal sand pail and  we headed for the beach skipping with great care  over the mollusk shells dropped by the seagulls on the brick walkway.

Vintage illustration from A Little Golden Book “The Happy Family” 1955 pictures by Corinne Malvern

Scavenger Hunt

The end of the day belonged to the scavengers .

There was Ned Brodie who  broke the tedium of the day combing the perimeter of the beach with a Geiger counter in one hand and a metal detector in the other, hoping to hit the ultimate jackpot of a radioactive coin.

Then there was the daily parade of brazen sun worshiping seagulls.

The birds would be teetering and tottering on their skinny pinkish legs, bottle caps glittering greedily in their hooked yellow bills, those brazen gulls  conducting surveillance, holding summits,  squabbling over territory, leaving a paper trail in their wake.

The end of the day beach maintenance men followed  these white-headed interlopers and their colorful trail of green spearmint, yellow peppermint and  teaberry pink gum wrappers scooping them up along with the Dixie cup lids, bottle caps and popsicle sticks, that the scavenger gulls pulled out of trash cans littering the beach.

No See-Ums

But the late afternoon belonged to the no see-ums, those imperceptible biting sand flies that were the bane of my mothers existence.

These went beyond merely a simple brush off; they required an entire swat team to rid the beach of these pesky bugs.

At the end of the day as umbrellas were lowered, bathing suits rinsed, sands shaken out of shoes, and bets settled up for the day, the no see-ums nipped at your ankles.

By days end the medicinal mentholated smell of Solarcaine filled the summer air, as mothers gently rubbed the thick, soothing lotion into their children’s flaming sun-scorched bodies relieving their agonizing suffering.

Too much fun n’ sun? No need to worry.  The searing pain of sunburn had no place in modern life.

We would have to wait a full year to do it all over again.

Goodbye to Summer -Vintage illustration children’s book “The Happy Family” 1955 Little Golden Books

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

When it comes to remembering Joan Rivers, forget about plastic surgery. Long before she went under the knife, she was a real cut-up on vinyl. “The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album” 1969 Live from Upstairs at the Downstairs” NYC

The first week of school at Syracuse University was overwhelming.

Nerves and insecurities were kicking into high gear as we unpacked our familiar belongings in this new unfamiliar place. As Pioneer stereos systems were being set up in dorm rooms, the recognizable sounds of “Smoke on the Water” and “Shambala” could be heard blaring through the dorm halls day and night, bonding the students.

My new roommate poked through my meager record collection disappointed at not finding at least one Allman Brothers album.

While other kids my age were unpacking their albums that invariably included Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Deep Purple’s Who Do We Think We Are, my collection of vinyl consisted of Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall, The Best of Barbara Streisand and a comedy album of Joan Rivers entitled The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album.

My roommate eyed me warily. ( Was she rooming with a gay man?)

A Cut-Up on Vinyl

As other kids grooved to Grand Funk Rail Road, I cracked up to the biting wit of that brassy, raspy-voiced quintessential NY dame, Joan Rivers. Alice Cooper may have claimed “No more Mr. Nice Guy,” but no one was safe from Joan Rivers acerbic tongue.

Least of all herself.

Never shy about mining her own insecurities for a laugh, her sharp brand of self-deprecating humor inspired me, resonating with my own self doubts.

Defying the status qua she fearlessly critiqued our culture, thumbing her well turned nose at cultural expectations for women. Joan continually mocked her looks which in turn mocked the cultural expectations and pressures that drove women to worry about their looks and sex appeal in the first place.

Feminism made funny.

 The Upstairs at the Downstairs

The back cover of the Album reads like a who’s who of late 1960’s popular culture

The well-played, well-worn album in question was a live recording from 1969 at the chic Upstairs at the Downstairs supper club in mid-town Manhattan.

Though Joan Rivers had her comedy roots in Greenwich village clubs like The Duplex, by 1969 after being a hit on the Tonight Show she had moved uptown to this club on West 56th Street.

Joan Rivers and the Big Apple

Sitting in my upstate NY college dorm room listening to River’s riffs, I would mentally transport myself to the cabaret scene of late 1960’s New York City far away from the freezing, fraternity antics of college.

My Huckapoo shirt and Landlubber bell bottoms  would miraculously transform into some sophisticated Halston ultrasuede number.

Suddenly it would become  New York at night. Despite the continual strikes and riots that plagued NYC that year, NY was still “Fun City”, swirling in excitement and adventure.

As my big checkered taxi would wind  perilously in and out of traffic along noisy Sixth Avenue,  until it turned  up an attractive quiet side street lined with shops in remodeled town houses stopping in front number of 37 West 56th Street with the canopied entrance announcing “ The Upstairs at the Downstairs.”

A smiling uniformed doorman would graciously greet me, along with other couples arriving from Broadway shows or late dinners at Qua Vadis to be ushered   inside to join the crowd waiting to ascend the circular marble staircase leading to the upstairs room where the show was about to begin

The upstairs room, formerly the sitting room of the mansion was lined with rich red fabric and softly lighted by glowing globes from the past century. Seated at a little tables, the would lights go down and the room would be taken over by a sheer force of comic energy as Joan Rivers appeared.

Yes, while others my age went to the dark side of the moon with Pink Floyd, I was happy to be sitting in the darkened room lit up with the light that was Joan Rivers.

Copyright (©) 2014 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

The NY Spectacle Began at the World Trade Center (R) Vintage ad 1988 World Trade Center highlighting the 107 floor viewing platform

News of the 9/11 tragedy found its way to me through the antiquated airwaves of a vintage Bakelite radio.

Only days before, I had moved from the New York I loved to one of its  leafy suburbs. Without cable or satellite hooked up there was no television service, so was dependent on this Zenith radio to keep me in touch with the outside world..

There was however a deep poignancy to the manner in which I learned that sad news. The radio, you see had belonged to my cousin Max.

 Radio Row

Vintage radio advertisements (L) General Electric portables 1948 (R) Crosley Radios 1951

Long ago, the very land that the twin towers stood on had once been the site of  Radio Row, that part of lower Manhattan that contained congested block after block  of radio  and electronic stores, the largest such collection in the world.

Cousin Max had owned such a store on Cortland Street since the late thirties when radio was as booming as his business. A mecca for the do it yourselfer, even the NY Times called Radio Row “ a paradise for electronic tinkerers.”

Visiting that dark, grimy store filled from dusty linoleum floor to ceiling with vacuum tubes , transistors, antennae kits, high-tech tchokes of every shape and size was always an adventure for me as a child, transporting me into a mysterious world of electronics.

There were over 300 identically jammed  street level stores and over 3 times as many on floors above them reached through creaky stair or equally creaky antiquated elevators

But by the 1960s, the death knell for these mom and Pop shops was about to sound and it wasn’t because of changing technology.

 World Trade Center

Plans for a World Trade Center located in lower Manhattan had been in the work for years.

In 1946 NY legislators authorized a “World Trade Corporation” to develop the proposed World Trade Center and appointed Winthrop Aldrich chairman of Chase bank ( and uncle to David and Nelson Rockefeller) to explore the feasibility of the project.

Plans began in earnest by 1960 as the Port Authority took charge, and began planning for  the project to develop along the East River. Objections from NJ changed the site to a 16 acre parcel of land along the Hudson River, which included Radio Row.

The die was cast. Many neighborhood businesses would go bust.

Protest

In June of 1962 Max along with hundreds of other commercial tenants, property owners and residents protested the eviction notices, filing an injunction challenging the Port Authority’s power of “eminent domain”.

Court battles ensued until finally in April 1963 the NY Court of Appeals upheld the Port Authority’s right of “eminent domain” saying the project had a “public purpose.”

Construction

The World Trade Center Site Plan 1971. The World Trade Center scheduled for completion in 1973 will have the worlds tallest buildings, 2 110 story towers surrounded by 4 low-lying plaza buildings

By March 1966 demolition of existing structures on the site had begun  and most of the stores on Radio Row became condemned.

In August  of that year, workmen turned the first spadefuls of earth marking the beginning of construction.

The World Trade Center was on its way.

Hardly a day passed without the machine gun staccato sound of jack hammers, the bone chilling blasting of dynamite and the constant thud of huge swinging wrecking balls followed by the crash of crumbling walls.

Whole blocks were being vaporized, toppled with the abandon and swiftness of a child dismantling his wooden blocks. In place of century old buildings,  and grand old granite office buildings would rise new modern structures. The centerpiece- 2 soaring towers would rise majestically from the rubble.

Sky High Hopes

Vintage Ad Tishman Realty & Construction Co. 1971
Tishman was the nations No. 1 builder of high rises office buildings, but the copy in the ads says “we took a deep corporate breath when we were selected as general contractor for the World Trade Center in NY.. Nobody ever built anything like it before. It is the most complex building project ever undertaken.”

Vintage Ads for the World Trade Center 1971. All who had a hand in the construction of the Twin Towers proudly pointed out their contribution to this great project. (L) York Air Conditioning. “NY Port Authority selects York to air condition the tallest buildings in the world. To cool the World Trade Center complex of buildings that will cover 16 acres requires the largest water chilling system ever built for air conditioning. 49,000 tons of cooling power!” (R) Con Edison “Salutes the World Trade Center!”

I often traveled to lower Manhattan with my family to watch along with heartbroken Max as excavation and construction began.

The wail of sirens and the cacophony of street noises did nothing to distract from the deafening shake rattle and roll of construction that was ever-present, echoing off the gaping crater where once had stood crowded commerce. Besides the noise, a continual fine mist of dust filled the stagnant air settling into every nook and cranny.

Worse still, you could feel the tremors blocks away, as much from the construction as from the outraged protest of hundreds of New Yorker’s still vehemently opposed to the demolition.

Privately my father’s heart swelled with a sense of joy, and vigor looking out at the vast horizons of mans great progress. Just as out of the unsightly ash dump of Flushing Meadow rose the World of Tomorrow as envisioned by Robert Moses, so out of these still smoldering ashes would rise 2 grand structure worthy of it’s name-The World Trade Center. It was to be a feat of engineering a beacon and symbol of American Economic strength

It was a fitting name he pontificated, for a mighty country.

Advertisement Feb 28, 1971 NY Times Supplement
model of the 16 acre World trade center under construction in lower Manhattan by the Port Authority, as it would appear when completed in 1973

Editors Note: this post was originally published on Sept. 12. 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness

Native American Graphic by Milton Glaser Cover Life Magazine December 1, 1967 Return of the Red Man

Many are on the warpath over the use of the offensive name Redskins.

The debate over the Washington football team Redskins name made national television this past week. Not only did South Park dedicate its season premier to skewering the name, but John Stewart aired a controversial segment pitting Redskin fans against Native Americans.

Those hoping for a powwow of sorts were disappointed when the Daily Show’s segment quickly turned into a tense situation.

Pale-Face Profits

When it comes to heap-big offensive names the NFL franchise isn’t the first franchising organization to utilize questionable Native American imagery in its merchandise.

Many moons ago, a company called Franchise International offered mid-century American go-getters  the opportunity to own a fast food restaurant of their own with the dubious name Heap Big Beef.

Return Of The Red Man

“Hippies have re-discovered the Indian,” explains Life Magazine in this December 1. 1967 issue.” Viewing the dispossessed Indian as America’s original ‘dropout’ and convinced he has deeper spiritual values than the rest of society, hippies have taken to wearing his costume and honing in on his customs….Some claim to have found a precedent for the “be-in” in the Indian powwow. ..The hippies infatuation with the old ways of braves and squaws has not gone unappreciated by real Indians.”

In 1967  businessman William “Buffalo Bill” Brody had an eagle eye for opportunity.

According to Life Magazine,  the Red Man was red-hot.

At the same time that Native Americans were discovering their cultural history and  questioning their long heritage of violence, social disruption and neglect, Americans  fell in love with the noble Redskin.

Not only were headband-wearing, feather-donning, peace pipe smoking hippies re-discovering Indians – sporting a feather was believed to provide “good vibrations” during an LSD trip according to Life,- fashion designers were on the warpath producing all sorts of Indian garb for both braves and squaws.

Back to school musts – Pocahontas head bands were in as were fringe benefits from leather. Vintage ad Fashion Under 21, 1968

“The hippies involvement with Indian ways has infected the non hippie world,” Life announced.

Heap Big Profits

So when an ad appeared in the magazine  offering the chance to own your own Indian themed restaurant, Bill  knew a heap big business opportunity when he saw it.

In 1967 Franchise International ran an ad for the franchising opportunity to own a Heap Big Fast Food the coast to coast chain of roast beef restaurants of your own. No tipping, no deciding ( kind of like how we treated the Indians) No waiting. Heap Big Beefs swift and courteous service make your dining stop a relaxing refresher for the entire family. And for mighty little wampum!

“He man profits can be yours – make plenty of wampum with the ownership of your own Heap Big Beef Restaurant.”

Like any red-blooded American, who could pass on the chance to be their own chief and make heap big wampum?

Not this pale-face!

The offer to own your own franchise was irresistible.

Happy Trails

From coast to coast all along Americas best trafficked trails,tepee-dwelling  suburbanite were flocking to this latest food franchise. Guaranteed to satisfy a savage appetite, folks were happy to shell out 59 cents for an Honest Injun taste of the old west “sliced hot right before your eyes.” The mouth-watering meal  washed down with a wholesome Shawness shake or genuine Indianaid could be enjoyed amidst “sparkling Indian décor. “

The Indian themed restaurant didn’t offer Bison burgers but the heaping he-man sized roast beef sandwiches spelled he-man profits .

So chief, pack your squaw and her papoose in your Pontiac and head on over to Heap Big Beef !

Big Taste….  even bigger tastelessness.

All for little wampum!”

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Burning Leaves- Hokey Smokey!

The smell of burning leaves is forever seared in my mind.

As memorable as the blazing orange and red colors of the fall leaves of my childhood were , it was the vibrant warmth of the fall leaves burning that remains.

The first real nippy day in November , when early morning frost would sit on the grass like a frosting of sugar on cereal flakes, neighbors would be out raking their fallen  leaves- as they crunched  and crackled underfoot- into neat little piles of reds and scarlet, oranges and yellow.

A light breeze and suddenly leaves would take off from yard to yard, so that we might be raking up a Maple leaf from some other neighborhood amongst our oaks. It was if the trees were shutting down for the winter, not unlike the frozen custard stands that dotted the boardwalk at Long Beach, all boarded up, a sign posting “closed for winter- see you in the spring.”

We All Fall Down

Jumping in the pile of crunchy dead leaves, hurling them into the air like confetti, was a fall ritual for mid-century kids .

For Dads, burning leaves was a fall ritual to replace the Weber grills that they had put away for the season giving them one more opportunity to indulge in this primordial behavior. Fire making and maintaining it was a man’s job; they merely exchanged their Hawaiian shirts for plaid flannel ones.

Leaf burning was a communal event. Loaded down with a bushel basket of leaves, Dad dumped them into the burn barrel, as  all the neighbors  gathered around having conversations as their leaf piles slowly smoldered.

After discussing the big 10 football games, conversations could be as heated and full of sparks as the burning barrels containing leaves.

By the late 1950’s, early 60’s  one topic more than any other sparked controversy.

Mid-Century Fallout

Vintage children’s school book illustration “All Around Us” 1946

 The hot topic was the danger of radioactive fallout and some folks had begun questioning the safety of nuclear testing. The explosion of nuclear weapons produced radioactive debris which was carried in the wind along with fall’s foliage to all parts of the world.

Fall was the perfect name; apples and acorns were falling, leaves were falling and now there was fallout.

The mood of the world darkened at the thought.

Suddenly fallout contamination was no longer a vague phrase but real dust settling into every home.

Now it wasn’t just Chicken Little who thought the sky was falling. All anyone could talk about was the danger of radioactive fallout, something dangerous, scary, unseen, up in the sky that could cause great harm.

Harm that neither Superman nor a dose of penicillin could fix. The universe was already a dangerous place. Stars could explode, aliens attack, galaxies collide, and comets could crash into planets.

Revulsion against radioactivity, like the fallout itself, was settling invisibly into every home including mine. Nature’s most perfect food, milk, that miracle elixir, was now laced with radioactive  Strontium 90, released in above ground tests that traveled invisibly thousands of miles to land on grass American cows ate.

Inhaling deeply of the rich sweet aroma of falls burning leaves I would watch with curiosity as the sacrificial smoke wended its way heavenward filling the Autumn sky. I wondered if the dense smoke would interfere in the flight pattern of the flocks of birds migrating south, or clogging the airways for Superman, and Mighty Mouse in their missions to save the weak and helpless.

I now had a personal stake in air traffic. Would the Tooth Fairy from whom I hoped to be expecting a visit, get lost in this mess? Would she collide with a flying saucer, or a weather satellite and even if she could make it through this tangle, this traffic jam, would she be brushing off fallout instead of sprinkling pixie dust?

Tomorrow  Vintage Fall Follies- Fallout II

Copyright (©) 2014 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

When it came to imagining career goals for this generation of girls, Barbie was supposed to be breaking through the plastic ceiling, but a recent sexist Barbie career book “I Can be a Computer Engineer” is a throwback to an earlier time.

Apparently Barbie is in way over her pretty blonde head when it comes to computer science and needs the help of 2 tech savvy boys to navigate the world of computers.

“I’m only creating the design ideas,” Barbie says laughing. “I’ll need Steven’s and Brian’s help to turn it into a real game.” Due to the backlash against the negative stereotypes presented in the book Mattel and Random House have pulled it off the shelves. Game over.

Perhaps Barbie best stick to teaching, nursing, or being a stewardess.

This retro advise that women must rely on men to get a job done is one girls have heard for years.

To those of us who were the first generation of Barbie buddies, the story line it is eerily familiar harking back to a time when options presented to a real girl in the 1960’s were less than thrilling.

What Shall I Be?

By the time I was 11 years old, I  had bid my EZ bake oven goodbye   and tucked my Tiny Tears doll into her rock-bye crib for the last time. Like most other pre pubescent  girls in the mid 1960’s I was  ready to target more weighty matters- like what  I wanted to  be when I grew up.

We were, our Weekly Readers told us, a new generation of girls, fueled first by the New Frontier challenges of JFK, now primed and ready to join LBJ’s Great Society.

To assist us on our journey was a brand new board game  called “What Shall I Be? The Exciting Game of Career Girls.” Debuting in 1966 it was made by Selchow & Righter Company makers of the popular game of Parcheesi.

What Shall I Be? The Exciting Game of Career Girls 1966 Board Game. Players learn what it takes to become a teacher, ballerina, nurse, model, actress and airline stewardess. For girls 8 to 13

Along with “Miss Popularity” and “Mystery Date”, “What Shall I Be?”  formed the  holy grail   of board games designed to  prepare  a young girl with the essential skills needed for  the exciting game of life of which she apparently hadn’t a clue.

The object of the game was to be the first player to become a Career Girl, achieved by collecting school, subject and personality cards for specific careers. With the roll of the dice the thrilling world of career options awaited me.

But the cards were stacked against the girls of the 1960s.

Mad Men’s Peggy Olsen may have scored a corner office in a big Madison Avenue office , but the options presented to a real life girl in 1966 were less than thrilling.

The 6 exciting career options offered in this game just for girls included  nursing school to become a nurse, drama school to become an actress, college to become a teacher, ballet school to become a ballet dancer, airline training school to become an airline stewardess or everyone’s favorite, sashaying off to charm school to become a model.

Charm school would clearly serve you well in securing a job in all the other fields which also seemed to  require the oh-so important arts of visual poise, grace and charm, voice and diction, grooming essentials, figure control make up and hair styling and other social skills that would help you attain your goals more quickly and readily.

In the dog eat dog game world of high stake careers, girls competed by being the first to collect school, personality, and subject cards for specific careers.

Subject Cards For What Shall I Be? Board Game . Other cards included, You don’t speak clearly, you have poor posture, Hair styling is good, Good fashion

The games consisted of 30 School Cards, 16 round subject cards and 16 heart-shaped personality cards

Personality cards for the came What Shall I Be? Cards were collected when you landed on a spot “Take heart card” Other cards included “You are Pretty,” “You are Clumsy”, “You are not Considerate,” and “You Have Patience”

The game ended when one lucky player had collected 4 school cards of one profession and 2 subject cards and two personality cards that were good for that profession.  After that, the sky’s the limit!

There was a version of what Shall I be  for boys the exciting career game for boys. Options for boys included going to law school to become a statesman, graduate school to become a scientist,medical school to become a doctor, college to become an athlete, technical school to become an engineer or flight school to become an astronaut.

Exciting Careers

The board game merely reflected what we viewed in the media at large. Flipping through Seventeen Magazine were the real life ads for exciting careers.

In a few short years girls would rebel against the cards we were dealt. The woman’s movement would be the wild card in the future.

Copyright (©) 2014 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved

 Normally, while Jews across the country begin celebrating Hanukkah, the festival of lights, Christians have had a good 2 week start on them with their own festival of lights- the installation of Xmas lights.

Along with Black Friday the official kick off for the display of Xmas lights seems to happen as soon as the last piece of pumpkin pie is eaten on Thanksgiving.

Like clockwork, hundreds of tiny electric lights of all colors magically appear on storefronts and homes, trees and shrubs across the land. One can hardly find a street in America during the month of December where the majority of houses are not lit up in a dazzling display of lights.

Eight skinny, little Hanukkah candles can’t even begin to compete with vibrating LED lights pulsating in sequence to the tune of  gangnamstyle.

It’s Beginning to L00k a Lot Like Christmas

When I was growing up, a favorite family activity -a true example of 1950’s  togetherness- was driving around my suburban neighborhood admiring the dazzling display of Xmas lights.

Looking at Christmas decorations was as much a holiday ritual for me as playing spin the dreidel.

No sooner would we finish lighting our Hanukkah candles on our silver-plated menorah than we’d load up in the car to drive around the neighborhood in pursuit of this most American display of merriment – a  twinkling winter embodiment of the American dream. Suddenly plain, lack luster split levels were dressed up in their holiday best, each competing with the other for the most dramatic and colorful display of electric Christmas lights.

By the time we returned home, our own little holiday candles dripping and drooping in a pool of wax,  had forlornly reached the end of their illumination. The flickering reflection of a distant neighbors colorful Xmas lights reflected in our darkened home.

We may have had 8 days of Hanukkah but they had nearly 6 weeks of illuminated glory. That glittering part of the American dream winking at us seductively from neighbors homes was always just outside my grasp.

Let There Be Light

In the winter of 1961, I was actually invited into the inner sanctum of one of those illuminated homes by my first grade classmate Linda Harris. As my Mom dropped me off at her house I stood outside in my Snowster Gaytee rubber boots in the snow and stared at the glittering house.

An illuminated, translucent plastic Santa mask beamed at me merrily from their large picture window. His glowing, jolly face intending to radiate good cheer was in fact a bit frightening. The door was gaily decorated with bright red vinyl plastic streamers with 8 tinkling bells in graduated sizes, the jingling of bells announcing my arrival.

Once inside the exotic smell of balsam and baking holiday ham filled my virgin nostrils.

If it were true that GE brings good things to life it was certainly true in my friend’s home where every corner of her living room was magically a glow, thanks to the wizards at General Electric, Westinghouse and Sylvania.

There in front of me stood their tree majestically filling the room. The big gleaming globes of glass ornaments that had been taken down from their  attic now hung on the branches of the Douglas Fir.  The ornament’s lustrous colors with silk screened designs of Santa and reindeer, holly and jingle bells shimmered, reflecting the twinkling string of electric lights.

The tiny tree lights twinkled independently and the effect was mesmerizing.

The twinkling lamps called fairy lights made merry little pinging sounds as each flashed on and off. However to the family’s great consternation, their Philco TV  was constantly on the fritz with the twinkling of lights. The winking lights caused severe electrical interference on both television and radio, causing snow to appear on the TV screen as often as it did outside.

Bubble-Liscious

Vintage advertisement NOMA Bubble Lites1949

But nothing was more magical than the electric bubble lights nestled on the tree.  Bubble Lights were all the rage and the Harris family were not short of supply

Bubble lights were tiny glass tubes styled like miniature candles and their holders, filled with a colored liquid that bubbled rhythmically as the bulb inside heated up the liquid creating merry little bubbles The sparkle of tiny bubbles in motion added to their cheery glow as they  flickered like the candle it was supposed to replace.

When all was said and done,  it all came back to  candles even if their electric candles were  filled with  the chemical methelyne chloride to create that intoxicating holiday glow.

The Candles Are Burning Low

Vintage illustration -Ad Xmas Watches 1947

Once upon a time the only way to light a tree before electricity was with candles.

Though a tree lit with candles was a charming sight, it was to say the least  quite dangerous. Originally the candles were just attached to the tree by dripping hot wax on the branch and pressing the base of the candle on it. Eventually candle holders were designed just for this purpose came on the market.

The open flames coming in contact with pine needles especially on dried out trees could generate a fire. Cautiously, most homeowners kept a bucket of water or sand near the tree for such emergencies.

Despite their danger, the use of small candles remained the popular method of illuminating Xmas trees well into the 20^th century.

GE Comes to the Rescue

Vintage Ad GE Mazda Xmas Light Bulbs 1940

General Electric was the first to market a Xmas light set in 1903.

Referred to as “Festoons” the 24 bulb set was priced at a hefty $12. While this may not seem too expensive today, the cost was out of the reach of most people The average wage for the time was 22 cents per hour which equaled a weekly paycheck of about $13.20. Electric Xmas lights were for basically for the wealthy 1%

These early sets did not plug into a wall socket like today. Houses in those days were wired only for lighting so the end of the string had to be in the shape of a screw in light bulb base so that it could connect into an existing wall lamp or ceiling socket.

By the 1920s demand went up and prices went down. As household electricity became more available  and “electric servants” became more a part of daily life, strings of electric bulbs became increasingly common on Xmas trees. By the 1930s electric Xmas lights had become a standard of holiday decorating

“Twas the night before Xmas when all through the house, you could hear poor papa yelling “Our Xmas tree lamps won’t light again.”

So begins this 1940 ad for GE Mazda lamps for Christmas. Nothing was more frustrating than a burned out bulb and with GE’s new multiple light strings you could avoid the frustrating holiday hunting of burned out bulbs. When one lamp goes out, others continued to sparkle.  “There would be,” they promised no “blackout of holiday joy.”

WWII

Vintage ad 1942 Christmas WWII was a practical holiday. Buy War Bonds

1940 would turn out to be the last good Xmas season for a while.

With the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, war was declared. Needless to say Americans holiday spirits were severely dampened. The Xmas 1941 selling season was a dismal one for the lighting manufacturers and that would only be the beginning.

The manufacture of Xmas lights virtually stopped during WWII as the materials were needed for war effort instead. Old string lights that were in warehouses before the war were sold as long as the stock lasted, and then Americans had to make do with their old sets.

A Bright Post War

Vintage ads for Xmas Lights 1947

A t the end of  WWII,  pent-up post war enthusiasm for Xmas lighting returned with a vengeance.

War-weary folks were eager to light up their new sub division homes and marketers were happy to oblige. Lighting companies took a full year to recover but by 1946 were able to offer an amazing number of innovative lighting outfits.

Some new types of lamps appeared including the bubble light introduced by NOMA which soon became the worlds best-selling Christmas light set. Bubble Lights were actually invented in the 1930s but NOMA the purchaser of the patents on the lights had to wait till the war was over before they could be manufactured.

Consisting of a colorful candle shaped glass tube filled with a chemical called methylene chloride and a plastic base that holds a light bulb in close contact with the bulb, the units bubble whenever heated. The chemical had such a low boiling point that it would even bubble from the heat of your hand or the sunlight entering the room through a window. The liquid came tinted in several colors

Heavily advertised in 1946 NOMA’s Bubble Lights were the thing to have for a properly decorated Post-War tree.

Let It Snow Let it Snow

The next great step forward was the introduction of Permacote finish for Christmas bulbs, which let you use the same bulb indoors or outdoors. An exclusive Westinghouse development the color was provided by colored glass, fused to the bulb itself.

“Yes,” explains this 1951 ad by Westinghouse “Let it rain snow, blow or blizzard…these new Westinghouse Permacote Christmas bulbs will burn steadily with sparkling jewel like brilliance throughout the holiday seasons Their colors can’t chip or peel! It’s not paint! You’ll be smart to insist on Permacote when you buy new tree lights”

With increased hostility to the police from alienated minorities and the poor, the New York Police Department in the late 60’s had to improve relations between them and the communities they served.

How do we move forward when we’re stuck in reverse?

We are now living in the future we looked forward to in 1968, a time when racial tensions blew up into riots expressing long simmering injustices,  a time of deep division between the people and those who had taken an oath to protect and serve them, a time when we thought we had finally addressed America’s race and police problem.

The findings of the Kerner Commission Report (formed by LBJ in 1968 to explain the riots that had erupted in our cities each summer since 1964)   were meant to strengthen the relationship between minorities and police and made recommendations to improve the situation for the future.

Cool It

When it came to injustice we were supposed to Cool It.

Like a vintage re-run on Hulu we’ve viewed too many times, the story playing out before us today is painfully familiar.

A New York City is torn by racial strife and angry protests, a public gripped by fear, anger and frayed nerves as the gulf between cops and African-Americans grow wider and a mayor who is the subject of police animosity.

It feels like it’s 1968 all over again.

Back then when cops were “pigs,” cities burned, protesters demanded change in policing as we knew it, while  a bitter debate about how American police forces treated non white citizens was escalating.

NYPD Blue

During that tumultuous time, the NYPD faced unprecedented tension and political battles.

They had a major public relations crisis.

Your Friend The Policeman

As the current NYPD relationship with their community frays, they might want to take a page from this promotional comic book published in 1968 in an attempt to building community relations and improve their image.

Reacting to public outcry that too many minorities were not being treated by cops in a fair way and hoping to repair their tarnished image, the NYPD began a publicity campaign to  strengthen the relationship between minorities and police which included publishing a sugar-coated promotional comic book called “Your Friend the Policeman.”

Since kids have long looked to comic book superheroes for a sense of justice and order, why not paint the troubled NYPD with the patina of a superhero,  champions of the oppressed with an unwavering commitment to truth justice and the American Way!

Distrust could be replaced by respect and awe as we came to believe in these men in blue as they  battle evil, fight thugs, save lives, and protect the modern metropolis of N.Y.C.

New York Gotham  City 1968

Following the adventures of 3 racially and ethnically mixed NYC kids, the comic book illustrates how much the police  helps the residents of NYC, demonstrating all the ways in which the benevolent police department  goes all out to make N.Y. a better, safer city for everyone.

“Your Friend the Policeman” was distributed by NYPD to introduce the policeman to kids and recruit teenagers in 1968 . The Kerner Report released that year confirmed that too many minorities were not being treated by cops in a fair way and called for more racial diversity especially in the police forces. The comic book is notable for inclusion of African Americans as police officers.

Naturally  “Your Friend the Policeman”   adheres strictly to the comic book code enacted by the Comics Code Authority in 1954:

“In every instance good shall triumph over evil and the criminal punished for his misdeeds. Crime shall never be presented in such a way as to promote  distrust in the forces of law and justice. “

Vintage Comic Book “Your Friend the Policeman” produced by the New York Police Department 1968

The Kerner Report challenged the longstanding impediments to blacks and Latinos in police work and confirmed what many already knew “For Negroes, police have come to symbolize white power and white oppression.”  Furthermore a housing department survey found that police bias was the single biggest obstacle to a healthy relationship between blacks and city authorities. Mayor Lindsay was selected by LBJ to be Vice Chairman of the Kerner Commission and he had a profound impact on its policy recommendations.

As Champions of the oppressed, it was important to show the NYPD  were reaching out and recruiting minorities, proving the policeman really is your friend.

A Better Relationship

Vintage Comic Book “Your Friend the Policeman” produced by the New York Police Department 1968

A good friend, the policeman was there to listen to you.

Like superheroes the NYPD  serve the powerless and fight to maintain order in his city.

But the powerless felt powerless to be heard.

Mayor John  Lindsay strongly believed police cannot be policed by those they work with everyday and introduced bold initiatives in police practice such as the appointment of a Civilian Complaint Review Board.

In order to instill public confidence that investigations of civilian complaints were handled fairly it made sense that the board itself should have civilian representation.

The first steps in creating the Civilian Complaint Review Board had been taken in 1950 when a coalition of 18 organizations lobbied the city to deal with police misconduct in general and “police misconduct in their relations with Puerto Ricans and Negroes specifically.”

In response to their demands the NYPD established the “Civilian Complaints Review Board” in 1953 as a committee of 3 deputy police commissioner to investigate civilian complaints. No civilians sat on the board.

Vintage Comic Book “Your Friend the Policeman” produced by the New York Police Department 1968

In 1966 with complaints of increasing police brutality against minorities increased, Lindsay proposed a civilian review board.

Like Mayor Bill De Blasio, who has come under a barrage of criticism with police officials blasting him for what they believe is an “anti-police state” Mayor John  Lindsay came under blistering attack by the police unions, demanding to “Dump Lindsay.”

John Cassese the president of the Police Benevolence Association at the time, was anything but benevolent to Lindsay and  vehemently opposed a civilian on the board famously saying “I’m sick and tired of giving in to minority groups with their whims and their gripes and shouting.”

Despite that, the mayor appointed 4 candidates and for the first time in the city’s history, people outside the department oversaw the investigation of complaints against public officers.

The Police staged protests, firmly opposing the possibility of outside scrutiny into the way officers conduct business.
Resorting to fear mongering, the police unions conducted a huge public relations campaign that eventually defeated the review board in a referendum that year.

With the board voted down, it returned to its previous all police make up.

It would take until 1987 for the city council to create a board with one private citizen. In 1993 after extensive debate and public comment, Mayor David Dinkins created the Civilian Complaint Review Board in its current all civilian form.

Vintage Comic Book “Your Friend the Policeman” produced by the New York Police Department 1968

Despite profound changes in the dept over the past 2 decades including legal victories on behalf of blacks and Latino officers and a series of publicity campaigns to recruit racial minorities the NYPD continues to be divided by politics of race and class.

Vintage Comic Book “Your Friend the Policeman” produced by the New York Police Department 1968

Vintage Comic Book “Your Friend the Policeman” produced by the New York Police Department 1968

Vintage Comic Book “Your Friend the Policeman” produced by the New York Police Department 1968

l

Vintage Comic Book “Your Friend the Policeman” produced by the New York Police Department 1968

Vintage Comic Book “Your Friend the Policeman” produced by the New York Police Department 1968

Vintage Comic Book “Your Friend the Policeman” produced by the New York Police Department 1968

Vintage Comic Book “Your Friend the Policeman” produced by the New York Police Department 1968

Vintage Comic Book “Your Friend the Policeman” produced by the New York Police Department 1968

.

So we learn that just  like Superman  the NY Police officer  is a powerful force for good  vowing to spend his day fighting crime and injustice and helping those in need.

Postscript

But what has happened to the commitment to truth, justice and the American Way?

(Top clockwise) An unarmed Sean Bell was shot 50 times by police, 1999 slaying of unarmed Amadou Diallo in a hail of 41 bullets in the Bronx, 1997 Police officers brutalized Abner Louima on the bathroom of a Brooklyn Station House, 2014 Police chokehold leads to the death of Eric Garner.

The 1960s were to have served as a wake up call to many Americans concerning police and race. Somehow we fell back to sleep.

© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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