1930s magazine topics

Is it American? I ask because of the use of ‘homely’ - which is American for ‘plain’.

The woman looks very odd , something wrong with her (lack of ) hips

Homely is a word we tended to use here. Not necessarily just American. I note it cost 1/6p so obviously a UK publication.
Why do we get fat btw? I wonder what their suggestions for homely women were apart from those over 30 of course!

aggie

The woman looks very odd , something wrong with her (lack of ) hips

I hate to say it......maybe she's transgender? 😁

I presume everyone has seen this one? It's very famous.

Sorry, that doesn't show up very clearly. Try this one.

It looks like a spoof! It’s impossible to rotate your hip like that and she’ll be freezing dressed like that for ice skating.

How times have changed! I remember my Mum always putting on fresh lipstick before Dad came home from work. He wasn't allowed near the kitchen and never washed dishes. Mum said he was too clumsy and she didn't want him in there getting on her nerves. Have to say when she went up to Yorkshire to see her family it was very relaxing because Dad only cooked fried eggs and bacon and he never told me off.

When she brings that leg down it will be much longer than her other one.

Obviously I adhere to the 'Good wives guide'
My mum was the same. Dad did nothing in the house. Looking after him was her job.

Did anyone do housework in a frilly apron and high heels, even back in the 50’s?

My mum would have been wearing a pinny and slippers.

And dad had been working on the farm, so didn’t come in wearing a suit with a briefcase under his arm.

And my sister and I might have been squabbling over some minor issue, so the meal would have started with cross words and sulking.

Happy days!

That must have been written by a man!

Calendargirl

Did anyone do housework in a frilly apron and high heels, even back in the 50’s?

My mum would have been wearing a pinny and slippers.

And dad had been working on the farm, so didn’t come in wearing a suit with a briefcase under his arm.

And my sister and I might have been squabbling over some minor issue, so the meal would have started with cross words and sulking.

Happy days!

My parents were the same, mum didn't own high heels and she wore a pinny every day. She never had a job - she looked after Dad and us kids. Dad came home in overalls , his only suit was for weddings and funerals. .

Yes, my mum’s job was to look after everyone. She helped Dad out on the farm, but it was she who had got a good fire going first thing in the morning, in the depths of winter, so that we would be warm whilst getting dressed. (No central heating of course).

She cooked all the meals, washed up, did all the housework, washing and ironing.

Dad worked hard outdoors, but didn’t lift a finger in the house. Mum did everything for him, she probably stirred his tea before he drank it!

How times change. It’s better that the workload is more even, but part of me thinks back then, you knew more what your role in life was.

🤔

wp.oldmagazinearticles.com/category/journals/physical-culture-magazine/

I remember reading an article in a British magazine in the 60s which suggested that you should set your alarm for an hour before your husband was due to get up, so that you could set you hair on big rollers and have a hot steamy bath. When you had finished you would be able to do your make up and get ready for your day whilst you hair dried ( from the steam presumably) and still be downstairs in the kitchen preparing a delicious breakfast for him by the time he got up. It all sounded rather exhausting.

People did take it seriously though, I remember a girl I knew who was thrilled one day to have filled “a pretty box with interesting pieces of string, together with sellotape and labels. This was the final item she needed to have to hand to complete the “Are you the perfect housewife challenge” in a magazine which she had been steadily working through. This image was rather spoiled for me, however, when she confided that she was replacing all her underwear with black items. I was surprised that the magazine suggested anything so racey, but she replied that it was nothing to do with the magazine, but because they didn’t have a washing machine, and she didn’t think she could keep her white undies white washing them by hand! As she moved after getting married I have no idea how the marriage progressed, or whether she kept up with all the requirements the magazine demanded

The question you need to ask yourself is whether the Good Wife's Guide is a real article or a spoof. I will reveal the answer later.

My father in the 1950s cleaned the family shoes and made the coal fires. He did all the gardening and driving (my mother didn’t drive.). I don’t think he washed up. He didn’t cook at all until my mother became disabled when they were in their eighties. He learnt pretty quickly.

Stepford Wives. My ex would have loved to have one of those.

dotpocka eek!!

Ha, I suspect the article is a spoof, but based around certain expectations of the time it was meant to represent. However, I believe that housewives were expected to have dinner on the table and everything tidied neatly away before dear husband got home according to some magazines of the 1930’s to 60’s (generally focussed on good middle class values of the time, of course). Quite staggering looking at it through a 21st century lens, isn’t it? 😅

Thanks for that link dotpocka because it has all sorts of old magazine articles to browse. It's great!

The concept of the man having a job and the woman doing everything around the house is not dead at all. I know a 40 something couple who live like that because the man has a very high powered job which can see him working very long days and going away. He has neither the time or the energy to do anything around the house, so his wife has no choice but to do it all.

Grandma70s

My father in the 1950s cleaned the family shoes and made the coal fires. He did all the gardening and driving (my mother didn’t drive.). I don’t think he washed up. He didn’t cook at all until my mother became disabled when they were in their eighties. He learnt pretty quickly.

I was most surprised when I got married to discover that not all men cleaned your shoes if you left them by the shoe cupboard and didn't clean the oven either.
He used to fill me a hot water bottle in the winter too.
He could cook if the need arose.

My Dad even permed my hair once - he had a lot of patience.