Poultry make me happy, I love chooks and ducks...well all birdies really. If you're not at all interested in vintage chook loving, best look away now. So today's Vintage Thursday Thingy is a copy of the Poultry Tribune magazine from 1934, that's been kicking around my office at work. It's not a very stimulating read, all dry stuff about raising the best chickens for your dollar, and given this was depression era America, I suppose that's logical. Win money- $1500 in Cash! growing "those fluffy balls of down"... that would have been a pretty good prize at the time.
For example, the article on page six is titled "Chickens Pay!" and starts:
"I wanted to go to college and I wished to study music," Lillian Becker, 21 year old Cass county, North Dakota, poultry and egg producer, said as she laid down her chicken house cleaning tools. That is the reason why I launched into the poultry and egg business...And here I am still in the business which has proven profitable the past two years in spite of 'slow times'."
Here's Lillian (a girl after my own heart) cuddling one of her chickens:
I like the advertisements, they're all rather charming...bring those eggs out! Make them pay! Actually it sounds rather painful really. Run little hen!
And of course to keep the lady of the house happy, there's the requisite pattern service, a stern toned article on "Homemaking!" (this magazine! likes! exclamation! marks!) and even the odd bit o' humour:
"Was your garden a success this year, Mr Wiggins?"
"I'll say so! My neighbor's chickens won three prizes at the State Fair." Boom boom!
More Vintage Thingy Thursdays of a less paltry nature here.
I wonder, will people in 50 years time look back at the pakaging of our everyday objects with fondness and longing, like we do with vintage thingys now? Is it a matter of nostalgia or taste? Can anyone explain the appeal? All I know is that I love anything from about 1920 - 1955.
This ad is from the 'Australian Woman's Mirror' from 1955. Apparently fat people are "more prone to accidents" and are "not popular because they take up so much room". Not sure how this explains my lack of accidents and many friends, as I possess various fatty bits. Ahem.
Just some proof that not everything vintage is fabulous...hahah!
Check out more Vintage Thursday Thingys on The Apron Queen's blog.
Still a lot of work to do in making my workroom workable once again. So far I've got my new shelves in, put all my books in the bookcase section, and packed away tidily my vintage embroidery stuff (priorities). Next step is to sort out my fabric stash, which is not large, but very disorganised and scattered. Wish me luck.
More Thingys via the Apron Queen.
I've not read the story, so the Lower School secret will have to remain one. Those two boys do look a bit 'Brideshead Revisted' though...
I'm thinking these lovely knot drawings would look good framed.
I've left some of the story on this one so that you can experience the quality writing and stereotyping...naturally the "pale, bespectacled bookworm" was a clever clogs, but he "loathed cricket." Of course, clever people can't be athletic as well can they? And "his innings was always the signal for general slackness." Goodness me. Amazingly Tracey manages to connect the bat with the ball and the next thing we know he's hit Dane, the captain of the first Eleven, in the head with his ball (!) Tracey "dropped on his knees by the captain whom he had secretly worshipped ever since that hero had rescued him...from a group of bullies." " "Oh I say Dane!" he ejaculated, "I'm most frightfully sorry." " Luckily by the end of the story, Tracey turns out to be a hero and Dane doesn't die from concussion. Phew.
And here's Winckles (I'm thinking everyone gets called by their surname.) He sounds so adorable, I want to adopt him. Of course, he was a wag in the history and language classes, but "at mechanical science, chemistry, and laboratory experiments, Winckles was both ingenious and original." This story results in Winckles getting punished for "the most glorious rag of the term"... something involving Winckles switching his home made battery "into action, giving the invaders intermittent galvanic shocks, which produced the most indescribable effects." "The fire bell was rung for an immediate assembly and roll-call, for the potent odour of suphuretted hydrogen, which, in the confusion had been released in the corridor, had filled [the Head's] mind with a new foreboding." Oh, that Winckles! What a loveable scamp!
This last drawing somewhat explains where some of those Monty Python S&M-ish sketches came from.
"It was a cruel but well merited punishment."For more Vintage thingys on a Thursday, check out here.
