A Sip of Sarsaparilla: the 30's

Showing posts with label the 30's. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Sears Roebuck 1938 Catalog...Glorious Colors "Good Enough To Eat"

Last week I promised you that my next post would bring you some SPRING - and I am a woman of my word!

The Sears Roebuck 1938 Spring & Summer Catalog is bursting with glorious colors, prints and springtime fashions.

Silk Print fabrics are featured above...and a variety of Rayon textures & weaves are pictured below...

Look at all of the varieties of "Celanese Rayon": Sharkella, Sharkskin, Faconne, Pebble Crepe, Crepe Romaine, Satin Crepe...and "Sweet As Sugar"! Wouldn't it be fun to have a few samples of each - so that when you came across a vintage dress you could say with confidence, "Aha! This must be Sharkella!"

Have any of you started a collection of vintage fabric samples? Finding different samples would be challenge enough - but I would think that figuring out exactly what it is that you've got would be much trickier!

Another fun research project: identifying what colors & color names were popular, year by year...

These two "Ice Cream Color" dresses were photographed in black & white...

...but they came in four ice cream shades: "Pistache" (Lido Aqua 901); "Strawberry" (Pink 525); "Vanilla" (White); and "Lemon Ice" (Maize 705)

Isn't that long zipper in the second dress fun? It begins at the neckline and goes all the way down to the hemline!

The first dress not only comes in four ice cream shades, but also two choices of fabric: Celanese Rayon Sharkella and "Star-Shan," a shantung effect spun rayon.

That year - 1938 - Sears included a Color Chart in the back of the book - so that a potential buyer would know what the clothing color names looked like:

These six "Mediterranean" colors highlighted in the corner of the chart were hot that year...

And these are the four "ice cream" colors available in the dresses above:

basic "Vanilla" (white), and...

"Pistache" (Lido Aqua 901)

"Strawberry" (Pink 525)

...and "Lemon Ice" (Maize 705)

I'm not sure I'd find a bowl of ice cream in those colors all that appealing - but the fashions are certainly yummy!

Here are four more dresses in the Sears 1938 Spring/Summer Catalog - and these were photographed in Glorious Color!

I've said this before... I enjoy the colorful "vintage" language used in the catalog descriptions just as much as the vintage fashions.

The dress above is shown in one of the ice cream colors - Lemon Ice (Maize 705). Can you imagine this two-piece dress for just $2.98! And it came with a scarf too!

Buttons & Bows, Flowers & Lace, all in one perky dress! It makes me smile...

More bows and buttons in this "corselet" dress! I like the Wine and Aqua color contrast.

The first dress in the black & white "ice cream" photo above was available in "Star-Shan." Well, this dress fabric is called "Sun-Shan"! I love the names they gave to fabrics back then...

Here's a full length illustration of each of the four dresses modeled above - plus another view of the hats. Which dress do you like best?

I'm partial to the first one in Lemon Ice. And I want the whole outfit - 2-piece dress, scarf, striped purse & hat! I'm going to fill out that Sears order form right now...

Isn't it fun to dream?

Thursday, November 4, 2010

1920's-1930's Composition Dolls: Ain't They Sweet!

There she is! There she is!
There's what keeps me up at night
Oh, gee whiz! Oh, gee whiz!
That's why I can't eat a bite

Those flaming eyes! That flaming youth!
Oh, mister
Oh, sister
Tell me the truth...

Ain't she sweet?
See her walking down the street.
Now I ask you very confidentially
Ain't she sweet?

Ain't she nice
Look her over once or twice.
Now I ask you very confidentially
Ain't she nice?

Just cast an eye in her direction
Oh me, oh my, ain't that perfection

I repeat
Don't you think she's kind of neat
Now I ask you very confidentially
Ain't she sweet?

Tell me where, tell me where
Have you seen one just like that.
I declare, I declare
That sure is worth looking at.

Oh, boy! how sweet
Those lips must be.
Gaze on it, doggonit!
Now answer me...

Ain't she sweet?
See her coming down the street.
Now I ask you very confidentially
Ain't she sweet?

Ain't she nice?
Look her over once or twice

Now I ask you very confidentially
Ain't she nice?

Just cast an eye in her direction
Oh me, oh my, ain't that perfection

I repeat -
Don't you think that's kind of neat.
Now I ask you very confidentially
Ain't she sweet?

-- "Ain't She Sweet" by Milton Ager (music) and Jack Yellen (lyrics). Published in 1927 by Edwin H. Morris & Co., Inc./Warner Bros., Inc.

15" comp. head Bye-Lo doll, marked "Grace Storey Putnam". 19" unmarked comp doll. 14" Effanbee "Patsy" all-composition doll, poseable head/arms/legs. 21" Horsman Doll, mohair wig, marked E.I.H.Co. Inc.

13" Mama Doll, comp. head/arms, cloth body/legs, marked "Ideal Doll, Made in USA". Large 25" comp. doll, open mouth/teeth, unmarked.

Video courtesy of RReady555

This charming early version of "Ain't She Sweet" was recorded in 1927 by Gene Austin (1900 - 1972). Austin is often proclaimed the singer who gave birth to the singing form "crooning"

Hope you enjoyed the song...
...and my humble
but definitely sweet!
collection of dolls.

If you'd like to see another fun and eclectic collection of "little friends" from the same era - take a peek at Mitzi's Collectibles latest blog post.

I fell in love with her adorable Kewpie (below) and her sweet handmade flapper girl figurines!

courtesy of Mitzi's Collectibles: Vintage and Handmade Treasures from the Midwest.

Mitzi feels that "every room should have something with a face in it."
I most definitely agree.

Hugs,
"Sarsaparilla" Susan

Thursday, October 7, 2010

O hushed October...

This morning I found myself in Vogue UK's website, perusing the magazine archives from the 1920's and 1930's, and came across this wonderful Vogue cover from October 1924.

Vogue - October 1924

The poet Robert Frost was a master at capturing the imagery of the four seasons - and the 1924 Vogue cover above reminded me of his wonderful "October" poem included in his 1915 collection of poetry, A Boy's Will. I had this poem printed on the back of the church program that was handed out to family and friends on my wedding day many Octobers ago - so it's a sentimental favorite of mine.

OCTOBER

O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

To-morrow’s wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

To-morrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow,

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know;

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away;

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—

For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

Robert Frost (1874–1963). A Boy’s Will. 1915. 30. October

I love the colors of autumn, don't you? Gold, crimson, amethyst, burgundy, wine, auburn, brown, mocha, dove grey, sienna, rust, ochre, plum, pumpkin, goldenrod, copper...

All those lovely colors can be found in the Fall issues of fashion magazines from the 1920's and 30's. Here's a collection of scans from the covers of Delineator, Eu Sei Tudo, Harper's Bazaar, Photoplay and Vogue that capture the warmth of autumn and the spirit of the Art Deco era. Enjoy!