Wives with Beehives

[Becket70]

Isn't there a saying in the South "The higher the hair, the closer to God"?

[GeoBQn]

This show reminded me of the Daria episode where Jane dates a guy who is way into the vintage scene. She ends up dumping him after he yells at her for wearing 1960's shoes with a 1940's dress.

I couldn't believe the one woman who says that when you look at photographs of people in the 1950's, everybody looks so happy. No shit. Most families don't take pictures when they are sad, and she is clearly avoiding news photos of the period.

[Hane]

Dear God - I just had a flashback to gym class in 1962 and having to wear one of these:

http://www.loti.com/then_now/Gym_Unifor ... nd_60s.htm

I had to wear them until around 1969 when a black gymnastic leotard became an acceptable substitute.

Can you imagine having to do field hockey where the boys could watch wearing those awful blue jumpers? ARGH!

Yup--we had the same: aqua ones for junior high and dark blue ones for high school. They were 100% cotton and a bitch to iron.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Dear God - I just had a flashback to gym class in 1962 and having to wear one of these:

http://www.loti.com/then_now/Gym_Unifor ... nd_60s.htm

I had to wear them until around 1969 when a black gymnastic leotard became an acceptable substitute.

Can you imagine having to do field hockey where the boys could watch wearing those awful blue jumpers? ARGH!

Interesting. We had what were called "bloomers" in Japanese in the 70's and 80's, but they were horrible horrible (just in a different way!) tight little volleyball shorts, which are basically thick woolen undies that do not look good on any mortal person. Schools now let kids wear long shorts, or at least some marriage of long shorts and bloomers that are more like bike pants. These are paired with a thick white shirt with your name on it in huge letters.

Aside from that I was reading through some 1970 newspapers from my current town, about some completely unrelated topic, and found an article about a scandal (scandal!!!) that some women teachers at the elementary school down the street from my current house dared to come to school in PANTS, oh the horror.

Exercising on my own now, I usually wear non-tight yoga pants and t-shirt (in summer) or very loose-fitting sweats (in winter). At home I wear the same around the house, if I'm not going out.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I will say too though that another immense benefit of living in modern times is modern shall we say "feminine hygiene products." Adhesive technology has come a long way baby, and I am NOT complaining.

SNL had a nice sendup with "Kotex Classic" - you can watch it on IMDB here: http://uk.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi4088045081/

[PennySycamore]

Yup--we had the same: aqua ones for junior high and dark blue ones for high school. They were 100% cotton and a bitch to iron.

Where did they find my old gym suit? I, too, has one just like that. I remember that they changed the style a little to make even more unflattering that it already was. Fortunately, I was able to wear my older sister's which was slightly less hideous. IIRC, one of my best friends was able to do the same.

By the time I was I'm high school, they changed the uniform to blue and white striped t-shirt and blue shorts. It was a bit less awful.

[Hane]

Where did they find my old gym suit? I, too, has one just like that. I remember that they changed the style a little to make even more unflattering that it already was. Fortunately, I was able to wear my older sister's which was slightly less hideous. IIRC, one of my best friends was able to do the same.

By the time I was I'm high school, they changed the uniform to blue and white striped t-shirt and blue shorts. It was a bit less awful.

PennySycamore, did you grow up in my town? That sound like what my younger sister had to wear, but the t-shirt and shorts were joined together into a jumpsuit.

[NerdyHil]

I highly recommend it. It is a fascinating read. Just the other night, one of my friends said, "Wouldn't it have been cool to live in the 50's?" After reading this book, I felt it was my obligation to let her know that the 50's would not have been a nice time for us to live at all. And I had facts to back up my claim!

I lent my copy of this book to a friend almost two years ago which was a mistake! She has moved twice since "borrowing" it and hasn't mentioned that she still has my book so I guess I lost my copy. I will eventually buy another one though.

I also thought the title of the show was a little off since no one on it was sporting a beehive. But I would love to learn how to style hair the way they do.

I learned how to do my hair like these women from some YouTube tutorials.

[Dinorah]

It's a takeoff of a show previously done in the UK.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1042702/Time-Warp-Wives-Meet-women-really-live-past.html

And yeah, they're just living a fantasy. Life wasn't idyllic, duh, or no one would have desired change. I think Mad Men does a much better job of illustrating what was happening in the early 60's. The thing was, now we know immediately what happens all over the world. Back then, information moved much slower. While you waited, you baked buns and made jam. :lol:

Let me know if you find a link to the show online. I'd love to watch it when my kid is napping, while the Roomba does the vacuuming. ;)

I don't get the women doing the 30s and 40s. I love those decades, but they weren't really a time of "well-defined gender roles", etc. Especially the 40s. How can you miss the part that half the decade was a massive war, with women often working, and in traditional male occupations to boot?

I don't get either the '50s woman saying she and her husband don't drink. If anything, I have the impression back then people drank more than they do now.

[longskirtlotsakids]

It is on kindle! I just purchased a copy I promise..

[MrsYoungie]

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6da7f5 ... ex-classic

the Kotex SNL commercial viewable for fellow Canadians.

[IrishRose]

My mom was a single mom in the 60's (my brother, I came along in the 70's). She worked as a waitress. Back then if you changed your hairstyle you had to get approval from your boss. She had to dress up to go to work including skirts and hose & then change into uniform there. The uniform was white!

I remember that Daria episode well!

Going out to supper clubs & drinking was very common in the 50's. So I don't know why they thought people drank less then...I thought it was a lot more common, plus smoking was acceptable.

The chickies on this show are living in a dream world.

[tropaka]

I caught this last night and had to turn it off. These women are in love with the 50's as they appeared on tv.

Beehives were 60's so I don't know which genius at TLC named it.

[Hane]

You know, even when I was a little kid back in the '50s, I didn't really like the '50s. In real life, they felt constraining. I used to watch TV shows like "Leave It to Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" and think, "That doesn't look real. Nobody I knows has a big fancy house like that. None of the mothers I know dresses like that. None of the fathers I know works in a fancy office and carries a briefcase to work." I grew up in a nice-enough neighborhood of little post-WWII 4- and 5-room tract houses, and the dads, for the most part, worked in factories. A handful of the moms worked outside the home: one part-time, one full-time (her husband was a slacker), and one who decided to go to college and become a teacher once her kids were in school fulltime.

Life seemed to become a lot more interesting and mentally stimulating once the '60s and the Kennedy administration came.

[tropaka]

My mom spent the first half of the 50's in university and the rest working and in grad school.

These women don't seem to realize that women in the 50s didn't spend their days dressing up in gloves and rolling their hair etc....the 50's was also the era of the housedress, Campbell's soup casseroles and aspic creations. There's nothing wrong with being in love with the fashion of the 50's, but let's not pretend it was really this mythical time where everyone was happy and perfectly coiffed. I guess it's like some of the fundies and the victorian or antebellup era - all fine and dandy if you were a member of the middle/ruling class.

[miffy]

Dear God - I just had a flashback to gym class in 1962 and having to wear one of these:

http://www.loti.com/then_now/Gym_Unifor ... nd_60s.htm

I had to wear them until around 1969 when a black gymnastic leotard became an acceptable substitute.

Can you imagine having to do field hockey where the boys could watch wearing those awful blue jumpers? ARGH!

When I started school (early 90s) our summer sports uniform was a netball skirt & bloomers. It was so uncomfortable & annoying!

[keeks21]

As others have said this idealisation of how magical the 50's was, is bullshit.

I love and collect vintage homewares and clothing from the 40's,50's and 60's but I'm under no delusion that life was "perfect" back then nor do I want to be a perfect housewife dressed in a pinny and cleaning my house for my husband.

My maternal grandmother was born in england and lived during the war. She left school at 14 to work in a dress shop and then her family moved to Australia under the 10pound pom scheme when she was 18. She had 3 husbands and with children to each of them and one child was born out of wedlock. She worked full time and her husbands worked full time on the railway, at a coal mine or at a factory. The children were left to care for themselves without a babysitter or an older person to look out for them the just had the threat of a hiding if they mucked up.

My paternal grandmother had a baby out of wedlock (my dad) she left him at a neighbours doorstep and 4 years later came back to collect him married and pregnant with my aunt. Her husband was a sheep shearer and they had a hard life moving from town to town in search of work.

ETA: Both of them used to keep the house clean and cook as well as work full time hours. My mum and aunt when they were old enough helped out as well.

[Avalondaughter]

It's a takeoff of a show previously done in the UK.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1042702/Time-Warp-Wives-Meet-women-really-live-past.html

And yeah, they're just living a fantasy. Life wasn't idyllic, duh, or no one would have desired change. I think Mad Men does a much better job of illustrating what was happening in the early 60's. The thing was, now we know immediately what happens all over the world. Back then, information moved much slower. While you waited, you baked buns and made jam. :lol:

Let me know if you find a link to the show online. I'd love to watch it when my kid is napping, while the Roomba does the vacuuming. ;)

I find it hilarious in that article that 50s lady is adamant about not having children. Reliable birth control was not so easy to obtain in the 50s.

[clarinetpower]

I find it hilarious in that article that 50s lady is adamant about not having children. Reliable birth control was not so easy to obtain in the 50s.

Yeah, but better she doesn't. She might just have to confront reality if she had a child.

[keeks21]

Here's the UK version

It's funny that they talk about the husband making things for her and picking up the tools. The vintage housekeeping books I have from the 40's and 50's actually have tips for the housewife in using tools and building furniture and promote the housewife do the home repairs herself.

The woman seem kind of scared of the real world and trying to live a vintage life is their way of making everything perfect.

[lilith]

There is a Kindle version, at least in the U.S. - I have "The Way We Never Were" and "The Way We Really Are" on my Kindle.

I hate Australia's strange e publishing rules and restricted kindle store.

[Claddagh]

When asked about "The good ol' days" both my grandmothers will say "I'm glad they're gone!"

[BlondeAgent007]

People didn't drink in the 50's? Those were the days before drinking and driving laws. A cop would just follow the drunky home.

Alcohol if anything was consumed more often. There probably wasn't as much massive binge drinking as there is now. However alcohol was consumed more frequently daily, or throughout the day.

You could also smoke a cigarette anywhere you damn well pleased. Tons and tons of people smoked, too. Did those women pick that up as well?

[GeoBQn]

Here's Dollie's response to the episode on her blog. According to her, pretty much everything about the show was fabricated.

missdolliedeville.blogspot.com/2012/12/follow-up-to-wives-with-beehives.html

[tropaka]

Well, she's probably screwed herself with TLC but I don't have any reason to doubt her.