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Bidding Betty Goodbye- The Happy Homemaker R.I.P.
Bye Bye Birdie – Mad Men’s Betty Draper Like another Sally Beth, I too had to eventually bid my own Betty goodbye. Though thankfully my own mother would live decades longer than Mad Men’s poor Betty...
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Memorial Day BBQ
The Smell of Democracy in the Air Making their season debut, white shoes and Weber grills come out of hibernation as Memorial Day kicks off the beginning of summer. What better way to remember those...
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I Love a July Fourth Parade
July 4th was a candy coated Kodachrome explosion of Kool Aid colored patriotism With the acrid smell of firecrackers lingering in the hot summer air, mid-century memories of July 4th parades past...
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This Is Your Life- The Atomic Age
Conceived as I was in the warm afterglow of the Hydrogen bomb it was also in the dark shadow cast by Godzilla that radioactive mutated monster of mass destruction. Together they would send a collective...
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This is Your Life- The Atomic Age PtII
In that great American tradition of forgive and forget, in May of 1955, only 10 years after we dropped the Atom Bomb on Japan, television audiences watching the popular TV program “This is Your Life”...
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Beach Club Preening
L) Vintage Ray Ban Sunglasses Ad 1960 (R) Vintage Jantzen Swimsuit Ad 1950s, illustration by Pete Hawley How To Enjoy The Sun In Style In the summer of 1960 the glitter and glamor of my Grandmothers...
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Greetings – Wish You Were Here!
Sally Edelstein in the Pool photo by Peter D. Brown Photography
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Say it Ain’t So….So Long Summer
Vintage ad Kodak Brownie Movie Camera 1957 Bidding the Beach Club Goodbye Labor Day signaled the last call at my Grandmothers Long Island beach club. Just as white shoes would make their final...
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Cold War Halloween
On most mid-century days, the suburban streets of my childhood were filled by a legion of door to door salesmen trafficking in fantasy. The pavement belonged to this endless parade of post war...
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Where’s the Beef?
When it comes to American exceptionalism, we Americans have long had an exceptionally voracious appetite for red meat, making us the proud leader of the free, meat-eatin’ world. In this land of...
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Drawn to Paris
#JeSuisEnTerrasse One of Paris iconic outdoor cafe – Le Dome in Montparnasse 1950s Photo by Ervin Martin I was a Francophile by the time I was five. Even as a toddler I was drawn to Paris. Literally....
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The Telephone and the Housewife
It’s a very mobile Christmas. Imagine the old days of being tied to a desktop computer to do shopping. It’s so 2006. As we swipe our ways through the holidays on our smart phones, it’s hard to...
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Was the Grand Old Party Once Really Grand?
Fact or Fiction It may sound like a fairy tale but once upon a time the GOP really were…well, pretty Grand! Today when the phrase “moderate Republican” is fast becoming an oxymoron, it seems like...
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The Fading Middle Class
The Middle Class Fades Away America’s middle class is vanishing before our eyes, fading away like a once cherished Kodacolor snapshot. Today the possibility of obtaining the American Dream feels as...
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Housework and the Happy Homemaker
Is housework the final feminist frontier? This collage about the Happy Homemaker and Housework is part of a collection called Media Made Women which chronicles popular culture’s vision of women from...
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America at Steak
Where’s the Beef Mr. Trump? More Sizzle Than Steak Donald Trump can boast about his juicy steaks all he wants but when it comes to substance and policy…where’s the beef? The Republican front runner is...
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Hiroshima Hits Home – A Blast From the Past
In that great American tradition of forgive and forget, in May of 1955, only 10 years after we dropped the Atom Bomb on Japan, television audiences watching the popular TV program “This is Your Life”...
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Hot Dogs Cold War
A hot dog can make you lose control Hot dogs, that very symbol of culinary democracy took on a special meaning during the cold war, especially in the summer of 1961. The fate of Nathans Hot Dogs hung...
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Black Lives Matter and the Facts of Life
At what age does an African-American learn that “my life doesn’t matter?” These children will grow up to be the most feared, stereotyped and misunderstood in society. At what age does a black boy learn...
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Democratic Convention 1960 – JFK’s New Frontier
Exactly 56 years ago a fresh faced democratic Senator won his party’s nomination for president and beckoned us into the New Frontier. The 1960 Democratic Convention was a high-steppin, wild west of a...
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