13 Fascinating Clippings From 1957

I really do spend my weekends reading old magazines. It’s not just to rationalize yet another auction or thrift store purchase, or even to mock (though that’s certainly a plus!); but rather there’s all sorts of neat-o info in old magazines. Here are some examples.

Thirteen Things You Can Learn From Good Housekeeping, November 1957

(Typos and all.)

#1 In a feature called May We Present, we learn of the miracle of dog obedience via Blanche Saunders (featured with her poodles).

“Miss Saunders’s talents are now so much in demand that getting your dog into one of her classes is roughly comparable to getting your son into Harvard.”

Well, at least it was easier than getting your daughter in.

#2 Also in that feature, Samuel Davenport is presented.

Billed as the Answer Man of Capitol Hill, “Sam” was the go-to-guy for congressmen. His official title was Co-ordinator of Information. Sadly (ironically) there is no information on the web about Davenport. Or maybe I just need a new Answer Man to help me find it…

#3 Another person presented was J. Arthur Rank.

Rank also had rank; his title was Baron Rank of Sutton Scotney, member of the British House of Lords. He was a movie-mogul and the founder of the Rank Organization — and we were all to be surprised to learn that the ‘J’ in his name stood for Joseph.

#4 The last person presented in this feature was French-born Amanda Benik Smith, the first woman mayor of Olympia, Washington — and “the only woman mayor of a state capital”.

No one has, as of yet, dedicated an online shrine to her either. :sigh:

#5 What’s a woman’s magazine without the beauty advertisements?

A lot slimmer. *wink*

I selected this one for viewing for the fabulous Rita Hayworth, shown here promoting both Pal Joey and Lux soap with the tag line, “Color does something for you… and so does a lovely complexion!”

#6 Apparently color did nothing for Marlon Brando.

His full-page ad for Sayonara, with “an exquisite new Japanese star”, is in black & white. (At the very bottom the exquisite star is named with a small box which reads, “And Introducing Miiko Taka.”)

#7 One can safely assume that then, as now, a prominent front ad will garner you some free press too.

The one page “Assignment in Hollywood” by Ruth Harbert, Hollywood Editor, features Brando and Miiko — with a bit of spot-color. (Perhaps if the studio had sprung for a color ad…)

#8 What was the medical news in ‘57? Here’s a blurb about treatment for “Cancer of the Womb”, a phrase not heard oft today. Neither is the term “Lying-in Hospital”.

#9 Being a vintage magazine about domesticity, it’s only natural that we find ads for Betty Crocker. This is a two-page ad spread, in color, featuring “Crazy Mixed-up Cakes!”

I must point out that of all the visuals presented in full-Lux-soap-color-scope, number 5, the “Inside-Out” cake, is the most nauseating.

Two slices of white loaf-cake (1957 was a great year for the hyphen) with frosting smeared between it — like a sammich.

That’s. Just. Wrong.

#10 Here’s an article that might be interesting and even useful to typewriter collectors: The Latest Word on Buying Typewriters.

#11 & 12 On Our List was a “monthly report on what the intelligent American may want to read, see, hear and talk about” by Mary Ellin and Marvin Barrett.

I’ve selected the picks and pans on books for you today…

Francoise Sagan, poor dear, had two of her three books panned. Thus she is the “petty” in the Petty and Grand.

But Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged was “grand”.

She even had her photo included in the feature.

#13 While “9 out of 10 Hollywood stars depend on Lux”, what do stars use on their hair in 1957?

“For the most beautiful hair in the world 4 out of 5 Top Movie Stars use Lustre-Creme Shampo” coos Joan Collins.

Say what you will about the silly superficialness of this magazine, but what’s really telling is who & what we collectively remember…

There are shrines to Joan Collins, Brando & Hayworth; but nothing for Davenport and Smith. Even the dog trainer is more well remembered than they.

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