The glamourous 40s.

This may seem odd, given that the first half of the 40s meant hardship, rationing, and uncertainty throughout the world.

My apologies for this being so long. Lots of memories to deal with.

But let’s start with Margaret O’Brien. I was too young to remember much of the early 40s, but I do remember Margaret. And she’s still around—born 3 months after my older sister. Anyone else remember her?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_O%27Brien

In the summer of 1945 we went on our first summer vacation. Not sure if WWII had ended yet. We went to Yellowstone Park, and I do remember this trip. We stayed in a cabin, went fishing, saw the bears, and watched a movie being made. I looked it up and it must have been Bad Bascomb, with Wallace Beery in 1946. A popular young screen actress, she played Beth in the 1949 version of Little Women, which I saw.

Here’s Margaret at Yellowstone taken by my Dad with his old Kodak camera. The movie was a western and we were able to watch some of the filming. ## 1-2

Despite the hard times, we were able to go to the movies, which gave a little girl a chance to see glamourous women in action.

My 4- & 5-year-old great granddaughters love dressing up in their Elsa and other Disney princess outfits. We read Little Golden Books about the fairy tales Disney was creating. We also read comic books with his characters, Looney Toons and Little Lulu.

Every year, in addition to my regular doll (Toni Twin, drum majorette, ice skater) I got a story book doll for Christmas. And paper dolls! How I loved paper dolls.

My Mom had a treadle Singer sewing machine kept in the basement. She made most of our clothes and most of her own. It was a big day when she got a Necchi, kept in a hardwood cabinet in her bedroom. She let me have leftover scraps and I sewed clothes for my dolls by hand. Not only did I cut out paper dolls and their clothes, I designed clothes for them myself, colored and cut them out. Later I drew my own paper dolls. My models were young teenage girls.

We wore hand me downs. My big sister got most of the new clothes, then they came to me, then to my sister. My aunts also gave us the clothes they didn’t want. My Mom often remodeled them to fit us.

I loved to play dress up. My Mom had a shoe rack filled with high heeled shoes—seems like every color and leather. I had one pair of oxford school shoes and a pair of white strap Sunday shoes. I was too young to understand that my mother’s feet weren’t still growing and that this shoe rack represented years of accumulating and taking care of shoes. The same with her closet, filled with clothes she’d had for years. I did like to put on her shoes and walk around the house in them while wearing an old piece of her clothing or my grandmothers’ slips. I thought they were silk, but they were probably rayon. Their old clothes were also given to us to play dress up.

I also designed some of my own clothes: I made crepe paper princess dresses and foil paper crowns. One year I asked my Mom to make a white nylon dress for me for Easter. She was puzzled and said it wouldn’t look very good and found a pretty lavender print fabric for me. Now I realize what I wanted was a white fluffy organdy dress with ruffles. I just didn’t know the word for organdy.

When she left the house Mom dressed like a lady. Hat, gloves, heels, very proper.

Ah, the movies! Often there were double features. In one of my pretend plays, the front porch was a saloon where cowboys came. I was a Miss Kitty type in a red dress with sequins and feathers. Must have been inspired by Gunsmoke, which we listened to on the radio. It was innocent—no idea what a saloon really was. I did buy a red sequin dress to wear at parties in late1990.

Because children who’d had rheumatic fever sometimes had weak joints, I had to wear special shoes: Dr. Mason’s Orthopedic Shoes for children. I hated them. The other girls wore cute buckle shoes, I wore ugly lace ups. I had to wear leggings, long stockings, and knee socks much later into spring than the other girls. Leggings back then were thick flannel trousers, lined for warmth. So I had a strategy. Once out of sight of the house pulled off the leggings and carried them to school and hung them up with my coat—in case it snowed later. I rolled or folded down my knee socks. On the way home, up they came. I doubt I ever fooled anybody.

My friend reminded me that shoe stores used to have X-ray machines. You’d try on shoes, put your feet in a slot under a big machine, and a screen would show you how well the shoes fit. Big enough? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.....luoroscope I wonder if theire have been studies of damaged feet because of this.

I was learning fashion lessons. It was important to fit in with the other girls. It was important to look good, or at least look a certain way. And it was very important not to let my Mom know what I was up to.

We had to wear dresses or skirts to school. Unquestioned, even on the coldest days. In the summer we could wear jeans for play. Same rules all the way through school, although there was one day in the late spring when we were allowed to wear pants (Field Day) and then Bermuda shorts.

By the way, I was Beth in Little Women. I cried when she died, both in the movie and in the book. Later I turned into Jo.

 This section ends with another celebrity: Barbara Ann Scott, first Canadian Olympic gold medal winner (1948) figure skating champion, multi-European and World Skating Champion. One day I brought home her autobiography Skate With Me. I checked the book out of the library several times. I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Ann_Scott

This fashion review is taking much longer than I planned. Indulge me. I’m staying home to rest while healing my tooth extraction
And where is my original crepe paper dress? I'll find it and be back.

#3 is me at 14 months.

## 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, & 14 I believe are Easter photos over the years. #5 it looks like Mom and Sis are wearing jackets made from same fabric. Youngest in #14 is my cousin.

# 6 I'm not sure is me. But you can see how little kids dressed.

#7 is the complete Victory Garden shot with my MsMaven designed necklaces.

#13 is my first day of school. Typical practical kindergarten outfits. I'm on the right, the middle is my friend Geri.

# 15 is another first day, I'm hiding in back, little Sis in front of me.

## 16 through 20. Family hike. My Mom rarely wore pants except for picnics and hikes. The last three are assorted outfits I can't explain.

#21 moving into the '50s. Victoria in Canada, I think. I'm 9.

#22: The Singer Treadle Sewing Machine!