Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates

Playing around with the templates to my blogger blogs and I ran across this gift from this blogger, some fresh new 3 column templates to use.  I liked what I saw and immediately began changing the templates on several of my blogs.   You can play around with your templates too --- visit her site .   Oh and a little bonus, she has added many holiday templates

Lileks.com

I just love this site...the owner clearly says it is sprawling and a mess, but the travel back to the day as you wander through the site is nostalgic bliss.

LILEKS (James) Welcome!

Brian's Drive-In Theater

The Drive-In has thousands of photos and lots of information about your favorite 'B' movie actors and actresses from the 1930s through the 1980s. Be sure to see the entire site.


Brian's Drive-In Theater

Reflections in 1951, sounds like it could be today!

At no time this century, apart from the years of the last two full-scale wars, has the world seemed so troubled. After twelve months of campaigning in Korea, the anniversary of the outbreak of hostilities finds the opposing armies in positions similar to the ones held at the outset.

Only a demonstration of force by the United Nations against aggression has been achieved by the tragic casualties there. Negotiations recently suggested could have taken place a year ago without a shot being fired. As well, there is fighting or danger of fighting in almost every quarter of the globe.


The Persian Government's decision to arbitrarily nationalize the oil industry of that country has provided a first-class tinderbox in the Middle East. In Indo-China and Malaya terrorist action continues. The Italian-Yugoslav dispute over Trieste is still unsettled.

Six years after the Germans in Europe and the Japanese in the East surrendered to Allied Forces peace treaties have not been signed.

The dragging-on of all these hostilities and disputes proves, if proof were needed, the futility of resorting to arms. Scientific, engineering, and medical brains of all countries have within the century given the world the means to build the greatest civilization of all time. But the will to use those means for better understanding and neighborliness is thwarted on all sides.

To the bewildered eyes of ordinary folk they are being used mainly to forge arms for another global war. And ordinary folk who wish to survive must take up those arms in self-defense.

Australian Women's Weekly, 1951

Tack-O-Rama - Media - Bits and Pieces

1951 Duck and Cover film clip..stay safe in nuclear attack.

1951 Duck and Cover film clip..stay safe in nuclear attack.

"Duck and Cover," the 1951 landmark civil defense film seen by millions of schoolchildren in the 1950s that advised children to duck beneath a table or desk and cover their heads in the case of an atomic attack has been added to the National Film Registry. Films added are chosen because they have "cultural, historical or aesthetic significance."

http://www.archive.org/stream/DuckandC1951/DuckandC1951_64kb.rm


http://www.notthistimegeorge.org/framer.cfm?liid=977

Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby

THE WONDERFUL TAR BABY STORY

"Didn't the fox never catch the rabbit, Uncle Remus?" asked the little boy the next evening.

"He come mighty nigh it, honey, sho's you born--Brer Fox did. One day atter Brer Rabbit fool 'im wid dat calamus root, Brer Fox went ter wuk en got 'im some tar, en mix it wid some turkentime, en fix up a contrapshun w'at he call a Tar-Baby, en he tuck dish yer Tar-Baby en he sot 'er in de big road, en den he lay off in de bushes fer to see what de news wuz gwine ter be. En he didn't hatter wait long, nudder, kaze bimeby here come Brer Rabbit pacin' down de road--lippity-clippity, clippity -lippity--dez ez sassy ez a jay-bird. Brer Fox, he lay low. Brer Rabbit come prancin' 'long twel he spy de Tar-Baby, en den he fotch up on his behime legs like he wuz 'stonished. De Tar Baby, she sot dar, she did, en Brer Fox, he lay low.

"`Mawnin'!' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee - `nice wedder dis mawnin',' sezee.

"Tar-Baby ain't sayin' nuthin', en Brer Fox he lay low.

"`How duz yo' sym'tums seem ter segashuate?' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee.

"Brer Fox, he wink his eye slow, en lay low, en de Tar-Baby, she ain't sayin' nuthin'.

"'How you come on, den? Is you deaf?' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee. 'Kaze if you is, I kin holler louder,' sezee.

"Tar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.

"'You er stuck up, dat's w'at you is,' says Brer Rabbit, sezee, 'en I;m gwine ter kyore you, dat's w'at I'm a gwine ter do,' sezee.

"Brer Fox, he sorter chuckle in his stummick, he did, but Tar-Baby ain't sayin' nothin'.

"'I'm gwine ter larn you how ter talk ter 'spectubble folks ef hit's de las' ack,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee. 'Ef you don't take off dat hat en tell me howdy, I'm gwine ter bus' you wide open,' sezee.

"Tar-Baby stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.

"Brer Rabbit keep on axin' 'im, en de Tar-Baby, she keep on sayin' nothin', twel present'y Brer Rabbit draw back wid his fis', he did, en blip he tuck 'er side er de head. Right dar's whar he broke his merlasses jug. His fis' stuck, en he can't pull loose. De tar hilt 'im. But Tar-Baby, she stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.

"`Ef you don't lemme loose, I'll knock you agin,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, en wid dat he fotch 'er a wipe wid de udder han', en dat stuck. Tar-Baby, she ain'y sayin' nuthin', en Brer Fox, he lay low.

"`Tu'n me loose, fo' I kick de natal stuffin' outen you,' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, but de Tar-Baby, she ain't sayin' nuthin'. She des hilt on, en de Brer Rabbit lose de use er his feet in de same way. Brer Fox, he lay low. Den Brer Rabbit squall out dat ef de Tar-Baby don't tu'n 'im loose he butt 'er cranksided. En den he butted, en his head got stuck. Den Brer Fox, he sa'ntered fort', lookin' dez ez innercent ez wunner yo' mammy's mockin'-birds.

"`Howdy, Brer Rabbit,' sez Brer Fox, sezee. `You look sorter stuck up dis mawnin',' sezee, en den he rolled on de groun', en laft en laft twel he couldn't laff no mo'. `I speck you'll take dinner wid me dis time, Brer Rabbit. I done laid in some calamus root, en I ain't gwineter take no skuse,' sez Brer Fox, sezee."

Here Uncle Remus paused, and drew a two-pound yam out of the ashes.

"Did the fox eat the rabbit?" asked the little boy to whom the story had been told.

"Dat's all de fur de tale goes," replied the old man. "He mout, an den agin he moutent. Some say Judge B'ar come 'long en loosed 'im - some say he didn't. I hear Miss Sally callin'. You better run 'long."

Brer Rabbit and Tar Baby, tales of Uncle Remus. While not 1950's era (way, way earlier), the Brer stories factored into my young years heavily, so I will include a few in this blog. sticky tar doll, the central figure in black American folktales popularized in written literature by the American author Joel Chandler Harris. Harris' "Tar-Baby" (1879), one of the animal tales told by the character Uncle Remus, is but one example of numerous African-derived tales featuring the use of a wax, gum, or rubber figure to trap a rascal.

In Harris' version, the doll is made by Brer Fox and placed in the roadside to even a score with his archenemy Brer Rabbit. Brer Rabbit speaks to the Tar-Baby, gets angry when it does not answer him, strikes it, and gets stuck. The more he strikes and kicks the figure, the more hopelessly he becomes attached.

The sticky-figure motif is also common in American Indian tales. 

Kewpie Pie, now wasn't that special? And the kewpie dolls that followed?  

Elegance, an evening dress and fur wrap, elbow length gloves, and a shiny new car. An evening out in style. Check out the interior upholstery in that car.  

You gotta love how a woman kept her man in the 1950s; training was specific for girls on how to grow up to become "good wives" as if that was the only destiny they could possibly have...and I got most of that training. At the same time, I got the training to crawl under my school desk in preparation for atomic attack, Right! Radiation doesn't know how to find you under a school desk. I loved those layered cakes, was always a fun thing to come home to and later make for my own kids. Did you know that when boxes of cake mix were introduced, women didn't take to them as it wasn't "homemade", so to overcome that, the companies arranged to change the packaging. Adding eggs, water, oil, margarine or butter, then it seemed like homemade and the market for packaged cake mixes took off.  

And back when a record was the only "disc" we knew about. The 45's, the LP (long play)...ahhhh, everyone had a record collection.  

Did you wear a hat and gloves when you went out in public? My mother did, and so did I when I was old enough, but that didn't last long, then it was the 60s...end of hats and gloves.  

Whatever happened to the milk man? I remember having dairy delivered, milk in bottles set in a metal crate at the doorstep. Returning the empty bottles by putting them in the crate to be picked up by the milk man when he delivered the new batch.  

How about those hair dryers, fashionable at beauty salons everywhere! Did you sit under one?  

Ah yes, we really were influenced by media to believe cigarette smoking was the smart, cool, adult thing to do...even doctors smoked, and no one knew a thing about second-hand smoke except the few who spoke up to say they were "allergic" to cigarette smoke. Man, what a lie, one that lasted for decades! Watch out for media folks!  

Carlsbad Caverns Natl Park, NM. . see more photos at http://www.nationalparksgallery.com/parks/Carlsbad-Caverns-National-Park 

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico. link: http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/C/Carlsbad-Caverns-National-Park.htm 

Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park. 1950's era photo.  

Old Faithful Inn; Built during the frigid winter of 1903-1904, the Old Faithful Inn has survived the 1959 Yellowstone earthquake and the inferno that burned most of the park in 1988. 

How Calico (ghost town) looked in 1951, when Knott bought the place for $13,500 -- note, only 5-6 buildings. the town was converted fro a real, dying town into a tourist paradise in the 1950s by Walter Knott, of Knott's Berry Farm fame, only to be turned over to the San Bernardino County Park district in 1966... likely after he found it wasn't going to be a thriving success 

We stopped by a few "ghost towns" on the roadtrip. I'm not sure this is one of them, but borrowed the photo to note the fascination of ghost towns.  

This is kind of typical of a place on the road to stop and eat. This particular one is 1950s postcard from the Solemint Store, located at Solemint Junction (the intersection of Sierra Highway and Soledad Canyon Road) in present-day Canyon Country (known at the time as part of Saugus). 

I know we have been on this road, but I was a kid then, and know we travelled mostly along the coastlines, with the Redwoods being one of our stops, so I assume we took this highway.  

Giant Rock in the 1950s.

Giant Rock is a large freestanding boulder in the Mojave Desert near Landers, California. In the 1950s, it was a popular gathering point for UFO believers. The Integratron is a dome shaped building nearby. It was designed by 1950's contactee George Van Tassel to channel energy in some life-rejevenating manner.  

Gas stations, diners, cars, road trips..all part of the scenery in the 1950s. When we returned stateside having been stationed overseas, we took a long road-trip from California, north to Washington and then back down to the Southern coastline. We stopped so many places along the way to see all the wonders and any photos are long since lost. I'd like to do a chronicle sometimes of that memorable road-trip. Maybe I can do that in part here at this blog.  

How about one of these, Transistor Radio...long before boom boxes, I-Pods, back in the day, we thought we were really hot stuff if we had a transistor radio to carry around!  

Did you have one of these great old kitchen stoves? Roomy, compartments and you know what, I kinda miss those old stoves.  

While I haven't done the decor in my home in 1950's, I have acquired some 1950's authentic pieces, and this sweet pink mixmaster is most recent acquisition. Given to me as gift on my birthday by sister-in-law to go with my pink formica chrome and copper kitchen dinette set; beautyware pink cake-taker and beautyware pink and copper bread keeper.  

The famous Pink in kitchens in 1950s.  

A day at the beach, 1950's style! 

I love the way advertising portrayed kids in the 1950s. While I never had this brand, we did have Spam and potted meat....yuck! Took many a lunch to school that had sandwich made with potted meat or spam. And unlike these happy little children in the ad, I didn't like or look forward to my sandwich.