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We’re talking about a toy gun, to be sure. But compared to our current world, where guns and what to do with them have become a flashpoint of fevered opinions and arguments, it’s breathtaking to behold how different things were 60 years ago. Continue reading Give your kid a gun for Christmas
Twixteen: a nice portmanteau which has utterly vanished from everyday language. In both photos and the illustrations, these are charming mid-century debs and twixteens, seemingly straight out of black and white television sitcoms… Continue reading For Young Debs and Twixteens
Spencer Gifts! Mainstay of malls. After 70 years, Spencer’s still offers the frivolous and the faddish, whereever shopping malls still draw visitors. God, how I loved Spencer Gifts stores and catalogs when I was a certain age. The Mood Rings! The Day-Glow Posters! The Black Lights… Continue reading S-l-o-w-l-y a Pale Hand Emerges
Kids today play different than they used to. There was a time when boys would be expected to build scale models. Back then every neighborhood seemed to have a local hobby show, a quality scale model plane could be bought for $4.95, and you could ask your Father to help … Continue reading Flown clear out of sight
Mid-century modern is not as common in mid-century catalogs as you might expect. This 1952 Glidden catalog is designed to help the housewife with solid ideas on how how to paint her home in Niagara Green ceilings and Diamond-colored walls… Continue reading Mid-Century Modern design creeps into your paint
Watch this space. A collection of Christmas gift timepieces for him or her. $1 a week would buy you the the Bulova Goddess of Time model, and $2 weekly would pay for a Hamilton Pacer, a seriously space-age design… Continue reading Become a Goddess of Time for $35.95
Once upon a time, Allstate wouldn’t just sell you car insurance coverage, they would sell you car seat covers. Such a thing barely exists nowadays, and certainly not looking like these examples… Continue reading Beauty that gives you that “New Car” thrill all over again…from Allstate
Nowadays, from our 21st-century vantage point, it’s virtually impossible to grasp the imagination and excitement that trains once sparked in American lives. This Lionel catalog was profusely illustrated on every page. And the operative word IS illustrated – no boy’s train set ever looked this good. Continue reading A Train…of Thought
This woman seems to be in touch with an alien spacecraft from the 1950s, unless… Continue reading Mars Needs Women?
Johnson-Smith Novelty Company, ca. 1950 / The “Magic Walking Coil” is one of 14 products crammed on one page. What kid could resist the Life-Like Glove Monkey or maybe the Luminous Plastic Pin-Up Girls? Continue reading It Walks!
