So without further ado, here is a little lengthy Christmas post for 2018. It has some history, some memories of our past and a few other tidbits of interest. I hope you enjoy it.
The first item of interest is my tongue in cheek "fake news" Hot Rods and Jalopies magazine cover for this year. This is my 11th cover and if you want to see all the others, I posted the 10 together last year. Here is the link, and don't forget to come back - https://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.com/2017/12/my-annual-fake-news-and-fake-magazine.html
As you can see, my concentration is on Laurel and Hardy.....the two comics who started when there was no sound at the movies, just sub-titles as its called today. They have been known world-wide for over a century, and people still can't get enough of them. There are annual world-wide conventions for their fan club which still exists.
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| You can't beat Stan and Ollie for best comedy.... |
Considering Stan and Ollie literally destroyed copious amounts of Model T Fords in their films and even had some custom built for some of their films, I thought it nice to make up a little card showing some Christmas Winter Scenes. Kudos to the fabulous artists who created these impressive images.
Moving along here and obviously on a Christmas theme, this is an advertisement from a mid 1950's magazine, I believe Post. Reynold's Aluminum company didn't only make tin foil (I don't have a clue why people call it that because it's not tin at all.) Reynold's also sold as shown here, 7-foot Aluminum Christmas trees, which of course you could never run a string of electric Christmas lights upon, as they would likely short out or electrocute you.....It's interesting to see how they were lighted.
Here is the Color or as we say in Canada Colour Wheel. It would be illuminated by a mere flood light and the light circle would turn changing the colours on the aluminum tree. You could decorate it as you like but again NEVER any electric light sets. Here's a close-up of the light wheel...then scroll down to see how the wheel would change the tree colours. I actually miss these trees, but are pretty difficult to get one let alone picking up the colour wheel.
Us car show guys in the 1960's would abscond with our father's colour wheels and use them with our car show displays. We would put angel hair on our show cars and have the colour wheel give it a psychedelic look.
We will talk about Christmas drink mixers next.
Coca Cola versus Pepsi Cola. For well over 120 years, the rivalry continues for these two companies....to the point where Coke actually changed the look the typical Santa Claus had in the 1800's to what children presently comprehend.
Pepsi continued with the Santa challenge as well. So here they both are.....and in my mind, and I even thought this when I was a kid. All these Santa's were depicted as rosy cheeked drunks. They all look like they added a few shots of rum to their bottles let alone the "coke in coca cola".....but if they make the kids happy, well what the hay.
Santa is Santa no matter what, and if you don't believe in a little magic at Christmas, you may as well crawl into your cellar and sleep 'til the end of the season.
All in all, I love these advertisements and have collected them for years......other Christmas mixers next.
Oh...sorry, one more Pepsi Cola tidbit here. Here's a cute little card that you may have found in your 6 pack of Pepsi in the 1940s. The bottles actually had paper labels and if you own one today....it's considered a premium find as a bottle collector. When Pepsi went from a 7 oz bottle to a 12 oz bottle...Coke did the same, but Pepsi had the best jingle to add to their Radio Commercials. Think about it and see if you can remember the jingle or any part of it before you scroll past the card below. The complete Jingle will be there.
"Pepsi Cola hits the spot
12 full ounces that's a lot
twice as much for a nickle too
Pepsi Cola is the drink for you."
Now 7-up (a clear lemon-lime beverage) and Canada Dry (the king of ginger ales).
7-UP's advertising was incredible. they were very elaborate and during the Christmas Holidays would spend millions of dollars on extra fancy ads like the one here, sometimes taking up the whole center section of a Post or Life Magazine.
This was a December 1954 Life Magazine ad.
A Christmas Canada Dry Ginger Ale advertisement is almost as elaborate as the 7UP one and is from a December 1952 LOOK Magazine.
We always needed 7-UP and Ginger Ale for a great mixer for our Rye Whisky, and Coke and Pepsi for our Rum beverages.
Finally, the last beverage is basically for the kids....some people might use it for a mixer, and some of the coolers today even mimic the soft drinks from our childhood.
Sun Crest orange as well as Orange Crush was always a staple drink for us kids in the day. This is a nice little Christmas ad for Sun Crest.
I've noticed on Face book.....there's been a lot of talk this year over icicles or tinsel as we called it. As a kid my father, his brothers and all my uncles on the mom's side always did the Christmas Tree tinsel. I had an uncle that was so into it that he actually ironed each strand and meticulously layered and folded them onto the tree, and once Christmas was over, gently removed them all for the next year. That was fine with lead tinsel but as years progressed and lead tinsel was removed from the market in 1972 due to lead poisoning scares. I was told that some are still available today from the black market or on line from people who bought and never used them over the years. I did a search and saw prices at about $100. for a package....YIKES.
I don't even know if the plastic type which came our after 1972 are even available today. They were so full of static electricity that if you, your cat or your dog would walk within 1 foot of your Christmas tree, that it would miraculously jump off the tree and onto you. LOL
So...the next two photos are of a box of icicles(tinsel) from that era and also a picture of yours truly in about 1950 in our newer home with our carefully decorated and lead tinseled Christmas Tree. With all pictures on this post you can click on them to view them larger.
This next group of photos is not so much Christmas, but the bitter cold we experience and will experience for the next few months brought to mind a wonderful memory of my childhood days which I believe at least anyone my age or near my age will remember.
With only one income in the late 1940s and 1950's and the fact that clothes dryers then were only affordable by the rich, our parents would hang our clothing on the outside clothesline, down the basement or in the porch.
My father wore those one piece thermal underwear with buttoned openings or flaps where you could access important body parts. My mother found that they would dry much quicker even in the winter months if you hung them outside.....something to do with sublimation or something like that. When it was time to bring them in they would be as rigid as a cardboard box, then slowly sag to the floor like a dead body...LOL This photo is the closest I have to show you what this looked like.....and the following photos would just add a Christmas tone to it all. Next..My mother's best Christmas gift ever. Scroll down.
Shortly after I was born and actually I had remembered it when I was about 4 0r 5, my mother had a used Maytag gas engine washing machine....I think if she had an all year accessible river nearby she would have actually beaten the clothing with a rock to clean them rather than using her Maytag. With one kick it would start up in the porch, and while running would dance back and forth across the porch until done...then use a hand powered ringer to get most of the water out.
In about 1952 and from Santa Claus Jonnie, she got her Beatty Electric ringer washer....this is the actual photo with the red bow I coloured up for this post. She loved this machine with all her heart and was actually sad when she had to part with it years later when she finally got her first spin dry washer and electric dryer.....I know she's up there laughing her head off as I tell this story. 
Here is a couple of Christmas time advertisements that I recall from my Childhood days. I remember in about 1955 getting our first Dumont black and white television set which looked pretty much like the one in the photo, but had a decent picture quality. When the test pattern came one, my father would play and play with the settings to get it the best he could.
The Quaker State snowman advertisement was very typical of advertising winter products in the day.
I believe this was a Christmas Postcard from Germany in the day, but I re posted it and added new wording.....but still it's showing kids drinking booze, a baby holding a bottle and the brother pulling his sister back from drinking it. This is truly weird stuff for the early 1900's
DAVE AND HIS ENTIRE FAMILY.....STAY SAFE OVER THE
HOLIDAYS.
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