Whipping Whimseys

New Notions!

Have you ever?...

Made earrings and lapel pins from feathery fishing lures?

Considered keeping Cleo (your goldfish) in a hanging fishbowl over your bed?

Adorned your wedge heels with colorful tacks?

Why not?...

The results will wow you speechless!

[Drawings by Jay Warmuth for Woman's Home Companion, May 1947]


Do you ever...?

Let your woo-woo gams run your life? If so, let this 3 cent pamphlet advise you how to reassert your independence!

...I'm not even sure what the last pamphlet is about! It's either golf or something that can only be hinted at...

[Offer from Woman's Home Companion, June 1947]

You'll never get away with it, Lady!

No matter that his Ken doll hair looks like a can of cake icing! X, her man with X-ray Eyes, is clearly nauseated by a smattering of microbes that can't be seen by a normal human's naked eye in this detail from a Listerine advertisement from October 1947 (seen in the newstand favorite Woman's Home Companion). My theory is that his eye balls bulge not at the sight of the creepy crawlies on his lovely partner's shoulder but because of the constriction with which his bowtie has affixed his head to his shoulders. His girlfriend doesn't need Listerine; she needs a new dancing partner!

This would have made a great premise for a film noir: Gloria Grahame is the mysterious and be-cootied Lady With The White Gardenia and William Bendix is her crazy-eyed lover who is driven to murder by his jealousy and overwhelming hypochondria. [Also posted at Flickr with alternate commentary]

Holiday Hoedown

Father Christmas, give us some money! Don't mess around with those silly toys! TCM's Movie Morlocks blog puts the M in merry with a holiday post about Peter Lorre. Sure, Peter Lorre is probably not the first actor you think of when you think of wintery movies, but there are some nice seasonal morsels, including a picture of his personal 1937 Christmas card!


And, here is my personal 2010 holiday card to all my friends and readers. Photo is from Things To Make For Christmas (Fawcett Publications, 1965), which I have been highlighting this month at Curly Wurly and has been expertly handcolored by your humble author (and, clearly, design guru). The recipe can be found at the original post, and I want to be contacted immediately if anyone ever recreates this beauty!