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Vintage Sawdust Stuffed Tigers

From the, “I know I’m old because…” files, I will now reminisce about how back in the day, kids slept and played with animal pals stuffed with sawdust, straw and even wood chips. And neither we nor our patents thought a thing about it.

Dolls and toys have long been stuffed with previously used materials, such as sawdust, newsprint, and rags. At the time, this wasn’t simply a matter of not having poly fillers, but an economic matter of cheap and available materials. Whether toys were handmade by individuals to give to their own children (or made for sale in the multitude of cottage industries) or manufactured en masse by big companies, cheap was important. It’s still important today, but a few funny things happened on way back to our homes after WWII.

In a post-war world, progress period saw the introduction of man-made fabrics, such as nylon and polyester. And in our search for a more idyllic world, more attention was given to safety, hygiene, and a consumerism based on making such practices more convenient. Combined, this would bring us the world they spoke of in one word in The Graduate — and that word was “plastics.”

Straw Peeping Through Fur Of My Old Black Bear

Such natural and previously employed materials do break down with play and over time, degrading the inside and marking or tearing the plush fur. Plastics and the related man-made materials of poly fibers meant that not only would I be happier and healthier cuddling up with a tiger stuffed with some soft mass of poly fiber, but those fibers would be easier for mom to wash — and she would be a good mom if she washed my toys. Often.

And so, slowly over time, we moved from all-new materials all the time.

Red Retro Miss Flirty Lips Sawdust Stuffed Octopus

But collectors should note that not all toys stuffed with straw, sawdust, rags etc. are vintage stuffed toys. Now, with the emphasis on being green by recycling and the resurgence of the handcrafted movement, you’ll find more stuffed toys and dolls stuffed with previously used materials, including sawdust.

Tip: To care for your vintage and new toys made with such fragile guts, try placing him or her in a lingerie bag or beneath some fine mesh screen and vacuum with the soft brush attachment. The material should protect the plush while allowing the vacuum to suck up the dust.

I love museums and history, so I was thrilled to be contacted by Sean Hooley a few weeks ago.

Hooley is part of a team working on The Launch at the historic Hingham Shipyard. The shipyard, located in Hingham, Massachusetts, once played a large role in World War Two and the Allied victory. The story begins on December 7, 1941, when Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor. At that time all other shipyards were already working at full capacity so it was clear that a new shipyard would have to be created and within weeks the small town of Hingham was selected. One hundred and fifty acres were cleared and one of the largest shipbuilding centers in the entire country was built, with over 2500 women working to put out over six ships each month — in less than two years.

The shipyard has been largely unused since it was shut down after the end of the war. Now it’s being redeveloped — but the town wanted the story about the shipyard and what happened there to be told. So the development project includes an educational exhibit commemorating the history of the shipyard.

The Hingham Shipyard Historical Exhibit will be a series of panels located along pedestrian walkways and parks on the site, creating a walking tour. During his quest for images for the panels, Hooley had come upon my blog post on life on the home front during World War Two, and this image of “How Your Discarded Stockings Go To War” (from Volume 12, Number 2, 1943, Modern Woman Magazine, George M. Wessells, Publisher) seemed perfect for the historic project.

Naturally I was thrilled to play a part — no matter how small — in the project. It’s history for Pete’s sake! But first, we had to be clear on a few things, such as the fact that as a collector I had scanned and posted the image for informational purposes but I do not own the rights to it. Once we were rather certain of the intellectual property issues, it was a matter of me sending him a good scan.

Now I just sit and wait while Hooley and his cohorts add the image (along with an image of a woman having fake stocking seams painted on) to one of the panels. The images are to appear on a panel called “Home Front Sacrifices”, which will cover such things as victory gardens, conservation, and rationing — including the story of nylon stockings in the war effort.

Once it’s open, I’ll have to make plans to travel to Massachusetts to take the walking tour of the Hingham Shipyard Historical Exhibit. I’d love to see the exhibit I’ve been a small part of.

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I also wanted to mention that I’ll be at the joint “Meeting In The Middle” 2008 annual conference for both the Mountain-Plains Museums Association & the Association of Midwest Museums this week; I’m part of the panel discussion on Wednesday, October 22, Session C2 titled Museums & Web 2.0. Maybe I’ll see some of you there?

“In just a handful of years, vintage nylons will completely disappear from the face of the earth,” says vintage stocking collector Steve, who also runs Stocking Showcase. And that’s enough motivation for him and others like him.

But aside from the stockings themselves, and perhaps pinups, what is there for collectors to covet in the realm of vintage stockings?

Vintage nylon stockings have a history as long and lovely as their back seams, for it took twelve years and $27 million to create, refine and develop the industrial processes for nylon.

This naturally leaves a paper trail for collectors who desire to document the birth of nylon.

Du Pont chemist Wallace Hume Carothers invented Fiber 66 — or nylon as we now call it — and it made its debut on the lovely legs of Miss Chemistry at the World’s Fair in 1939.

Miss Chemistry emerged from a test tube, a testament to modern science. (She may not have been a test tube baby, but she was a test tube babe!)

This same exhibit of Miss Chemistry and her test tube was shown again at the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco, and the theme was often repeated in advertising as well.

Collectors desire such early photographs and items showing Miss Chemistry, such as the Du Pont publication shown below. Some collectors have even started collecting World’s Fair memorabilia for its connections to nylon’s debut.

Nylons went on sale to the general public in May 15, 1940, aka N-day. In that first year, DuPont sold 64 million pairs of stockings. That year much nylon was used to create the tornado in the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” (I’m sure many a vintage nylon stocking collector would love to get their hands on that tornado!)

Not long after N-Day, “Nylon Mania” ensued. In part because Du Pont spared little expense in promoting nylon, but also because nylon was a thrilling ‘modern marvel’, the product of science. Ads from this time period are plentiful, and pretty to display.

Of course, World War II meant Du Pont would cease its nylon stocking production to meet wartime needs. They produced parachutes, airplane tire cords, and glider tow ropes for the military, and some collectors also seek these items to preserve the integrity of this time period. The nylon stocking shortage created such a demand in the US that women began paying as much as $20 on the black market for stockings which had previously cost just over one dollar. This time is referred to as “Stocking Panic”.

Stocking Panic was so intense that nylon stockings made the new. For example, police in Chicago ruled out robbery as a motive in a murder case just because six pair of nylon stockings (that would be $120 worth of valuable property) had been left at the scene of the crime. Collectors love to get such news clippings.

In August of 1945, a mere eight days after Japan’s surrender, Du Pont announced that it would immediately return to producing nylon stockings. Thus ends “Stocking Panic” — and begins “Nylon Riots”.

The riots began because Du Pont could not make the wartime conversions fast enough to keep up with consumer demands. Nylons once again made newspaper headlines as women, who had been standing in line for hours were turned away without even seeing the stockings, began to fight and riot. Collectors love the headlines, sure, but the photographs are most sought after.

It took until March of 1946 for Du Pont to meet consumer demand and end the “Nylon Riots.” But by then, Du Pont wasn’t using nylon only for fashion hosiery. Now Du Pont’s advertising featured a woman in a nylon dress, and nylon was adopted for use in lingerie and foundation garments. Many vintage nylon stocking collectors willingly accept these ads, and even the garments themselves, into their collections. And why not? Just as stockings do not make the whole outfit, neither are they the entire story.

All black and white photographs courtesy of the Hagley Museum and Library.

On June 26, 1498, the bristle toothbrush, was invented in China. While most of us think of toothbrush and dental collectibles as limited to antique toothpick holders, novelty toothbrush holders, quack medical items, and forboding dental instruments, there’s a fascinating history to the common toothbrush.

Before the Chinese bristle toothbrush, there had previously been other methods and tools for cleaning teeth. There was the “chew stick” which was actually just a small stick pulled off a branch, and one frayed end is rubbed on teeth to scrape off any food particles. There were rags or sponges dipped in sulfur oil, or a salt solution, and used to rub teeth clean. Rubbing baking soda or chalk against the teeth was also common practice. Slightly more ‘civilized’ and in use at the time, were brass or silver toothpicks.

While European traders who visited China saw the new Chinese bristle toothbrushes and even took them home with them, they continued to use their toothpicks or rags, seemingly believing that the old Roman customs were more refined.

It wasn’t until the French bacteriologist, Louis Pasteur, introduced Europeans to the idea of germs, that people took any notice of really cleaning their mouths. Then they began to use the Chinese bristle toothbrushes. The bristles, attached to handles made of bone or bamboo, were actually the stiff hairs taken from the back of a boar’s neck.

In 1770, William Addis of Clerkenwall, England, was incarcerated in a cell of England’s Newgate Prison for provoking a riot. He had little to do but eat, sleep, think, and with most resources allowing for the latter, he thought a good deal about a new means of making a living once his sentence was served. As the story goes, one morning, after washing his face, he began to clean his teeth. Using the rag-rub method, Addis considered it not very effective. By the following day, he had an idea. He saved a small bone from the meat he’d been served, and bored tiny holes in it. Next he “acquired some hard bristles through his prison guard”, and cut them down, then tied them into tufts, glued them on the ends, and wedged them into the holes in the bone. Voila!

The first modern, aka the first mass-produced toothbrush was born. In 1780, Addis’s company attached hairs from the tail of a cow to the end of a whittled thighbone of a cow, or pig, which was reportedly the only bone strong enough to survive the bristle-attachment procedure and still maintain its strength when wet. Eventually, Addis too opted for boar hairs. (Descendants of William Addis still manufacture toothbrushes at a factory in England.)

By the early 1800s the bristled brushes were in general use in Europe and Japan. In 1857, H. N. Wadsworth was credited as the first American to receive a toothbrush patent as America entered the growing toothbrush market. In 1844, the first toothbrush was manufactured by hand and patented as a 3-row brush of serrated bristles with larger tufts by Dr. Meyer L. Rhein. In 1885, the Florence Manufacturing Company of Massachusetts, in association with Dr.Rhein, began producing the Pro-phy-lac-tic brush for mass marketing in the United States.

These boar bristles were used until 1938, when nylon bristles were introduced with the first nylon toothbrush called Doctor West’s Miracle Tuft Toothbrush, made by Dupont de Nemours. Unfortunately, the “miracle tuft” nylon is so stiff that is sometimes damages gums, and dentists do not recommend it. So, prior to World War II, the Chinese boar hairs remained the favored bristles.

But during the war, a roadblock out of Chung-King impeded the export of the hairs. Nylon filament, having been developed in 1938, was an ideal replacement.
Now the nylon bristles had several advantages. Along with a low production cost and the ability to control bristle texture, manufacturers could also shape the filament tip and vary its diameter for improved performance. Boar hair, also had a problem with falling out, did not dry well, and was prone to bacterial growth. The advantages, coupled with American’s sudden concern for dental hygiene (like the Europeans before them, Americans were not very concerned with their teeth — it wasn’t until returning WWII soldiers brought the Army’s enforced habit back home that most Americans brush their teeth), now made nylon the most popular toothbrush bristle. (However, the boar bristle brushes are still made and used today.)

But in the 60’s, people wanted modern, electric appliances. So in 1961, the Squibb Company introduced the Broxodent.

The Broxodent was the first rotating electric toothbrush — the first electric toothbrush was made by Dr. Scott (shown here). This brush claimed to be “permanently charged with electromagnetic current,” however, it wasn’t intil 1939 that the first real electric toothbrush is produced. It was also made by Squibb and marketed in Switzerland shortly after World War II.

Fans of dental collectibles may also enjoy visiting DentalCollectibles.com, Saruya for toothpicks, and Steve’s Dental Collectibles.

When someone says “1950’s slips” do images of vintage crinolines spring to mind?

While those stiff netted petticoats were popular in the 50s’s (and often desired due to the fragile state of netting), for many vintage lingerie collectors, the 50’s slip is far more a tactile, sensual treat…

In the 50’s to 60’s era, Dupont nylon was introduced and became widely used in most lingerie and undergarments. Designers started blending nylon with fine rayon and satin and this is an era when so many incredible silky slips were produced. You also see a lot of fancy lacework, flouncey hemlines, chiffon, imported laceworks, etc.

In the 1950-60s era, there is a ‘wedding lace’ slip which consisted of the incredibly beautiful micro-pleated chiffon and imported lacework.

Slips give an nod to an era of beauty & glamour icons (Who can forget Elizabeth Taylor or Marilyn Monroe in their slips?), yet they continue to beckon today. Physically, slips are intimate items; seen by few, yet they are demur by today’s lingerie standards. Like the glamorous and romantic details of the garments themselves, slips speak of elements which often seem missing from our in-your-face culture.

You might say slips are some of the most flirtatious collectibles around.

All images © Glamour Gurlz