pigtails fad (1940s)

Judy Canova- read more about her on the always fascinating I'm Learning to Share

Pigtails on Shirley Slade, pilot trainee (1943)

Co-ed Lenore Tingle from Life Magazine archives.

Pigtails on a felt bonnet on a comely young lass.

Actress Joan Fontaine (1942) meooowrrr- how natural and cute is her smile? And the perfect amount of sun-kissed freckles!

Co-ed Ann Teal Smith (1941) Hubba hubba!

This last dame? Some skirt named Norma Jean Baker.

I stumbled upon the pigtails trend whilst wasting hours on the Life Magazine image archives on Google. It seems that country singer Judy Canova was the originator of the trend. Her "country" look clearly influence the look of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz (1939)
It seems odd that such a cute and practical look inspired such a trend, but considering the complicated hair-dos of the late Thirties and Forties, pigtails must have seemed like a godsend. I've always had a thing for pigtails.

handprinted "Kilroy was here" t-shirt (1947)

"Coney Island, 1947" photo by Sid Grossman (look him up, awesome photographer!)

I was just checking out my buddy Jimmy's blog over at defunk'd which features an incredible ebay find you must see- go ahead and check it out, i'll wait- but it got me thinking about the utilitarian beauty of the handprinted t-shirt. I remembered this photo by Sid Grossman that I saw a few weeks ago. It stopped me in my tracks because I thought that handprinted t-shirts were an outgrowth of punk rather than at the very roots of nascent American teenage culture. I shall look deeper into this.

How perfect is it that this young lady took to adding the legendary post-WWII graffiti "Kilroy was here" to her t-shirt? The famous slogan is shrouded in mystery, but it somehow caught the imagination of a generation. "Kilroy was here" is akin to the modern practice of idiotically commenting "first!" to a blog entry or news story on the internet- there's no point but there's a certain thrill to getting there first and having everyone else who follows see that you have already staked claim to this turf. Supposedly, James Kilroy was a shipyard inspector in Quincy, MA, during World War II and would chalk "Kilroy was here" on every bulkhead he inspected. GIs were baffled by this ubiquitous slogan, but took to spreading this simple and mysterious image throughout the world. The joke is not so much what the phrase says, but where it would turn up. A perhaps apocryphal story claims that an outhouse was specially constructed for only the world leaders at Pottsdam. As Stalin emerged from christening the outhouse, he supposedly queried an aide, "Who is Kilroy?"

Not to be confused with:

Girl in a glass house (1942)

"This girl in a glass house is putting finishing touches on the bombardier nose section of a B-17F navy bomber, Long Beach, Calif. She's one of many capable women workers in the Douglas Aircraft Company plant. Better known as the "Flying Fortress," the B-17F is a later model of the B-17 which distinguished itself in action in the South Pacific, over Germany and elsewhere. It is a long range, high altitude heavy bomber, with a crew of seven to nine men, and with armament sufficient to defend itself on daylight missions"

photos by Alfred T. Palmer.


I absolutely LOVE the style of all of the Rosie the Riveters. This particular photographer, Alfred T. Palmer, was especially gifted at capturing their hardworking femininity. I love how women of that era managed to be stylish and feminine while keeping the world safe for Democracy.

previous posts: Save vs Death (my other blog) "the many faces of Rosie the Riveter"
and
Carpenter at work on Douglas Dam, Tennessee (1942)

Carpenter at work on Douglas Dam, Tennessee (1942)

Carpenter at work on Douglas Dam, Tennessee (TVA) (LOC)
Originally uploaded by The Library of Congress

Classic American propaganda and classic American vintage workwear style. This is the real deal!

Reminds me of a Woody Guthrie song- Pastures of Plenty:

Green pastures of plenty from dry desert ground
From the Grand Coulee Dam where the waters run down
Every state in the Union us migrants have been
We'll work in this fight and we'll fight till we win

It's always we rambled, that river and I
All along your green valley, I will work till I die
My land I'll defend with my life if it be
Cause my pastures of plenty must always be free

Mrs. Irma Lee McElroy does her part for vintage clothing fanatics (1942)

click for righteous embiggenmentry.

From the Library of Congress's Flickr collection.

"Hollem, Howard R.,, photographer.Painting the American insignia on airplane
wings is a job that Mrs. Irma Lee McElroy, a former office worker, does with
precision and patriotic zeal. Mrs. McElroy is a civil service employee at the
Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas. Her husband is a flight
instructor-1942 August"

(photo details by Industrial Artifacts Review- very cool stuff there as well! )

This is as right-on as American Vintage Clothing gets! Might need to steal that "Keep Them Flying" logo for something to honor the memory of Irma and the rest of the real American dames who did their part to smash the Axis. It seems that a patch reprint is in order- if only I had unlimited resources. There are a few more photos of her, but none are nearly as charming as this one!

vintage Chicago White Sox varsity jacket

From ForAllToEnvy.

"Just came across this eBay auction for a vintage Chicago White Sox baseball Jacket from 30s-40s. The jacket is classic varsity jacket with wool body/leather sleeves and made by Von Lengerke & Antoine. The seller states the jacket was given to a relative of the owner during his childhood. As a boy, he had the privilege of attending a White Sox practice, and the team manager was so impressed by his enthusiasm that he took the jacket off of a player's back and gave it to him as a memento. The jacket had a buy it now of $2,500 and ended with a best offer of $1,650!!! In a way this jacket is priceless and Im not sure how many if any are floating around, this kind of memorabilia belongs in Cooperstown IMO. I love seeing stuff like this pop up on eBay and hearing the story (if there is one) behind the item!!! "

wow, my jaw hit the floor on this one! A M A Z I N G! I would KILL to own this bad larry, but it would be very tempting to get "Appling" embroidered on the chest.

This tater is right in the wheelhouse of many of my tags.

Victory over Wear and Waste! Carhartt advertisement (1944)

Ad copy reads:

"Carhartt's famous Master Cloth work clothes meet war time needs with the same high quality and comfort fit that have spelled extra value for America's workers for over a half century. There's victory, too, in every Carhartt work front uniform- victory over wear and waste! You can always work in extra comfort when you work in Carhartt's. They're built roomier and really fit - backed by three generations of the Carhartt family ... a family that has stood squarely behind American labor for over 50 years."

Found in Popular Science Magazine, June, 1944.

Maria Grygier photographed by Charles Cushman (1949)

From the Charles M. Cushman photograph collection.

I love the absolutely classic beauty and style of Ms. Grygier. Note the appendectomy (?) scar in the middle image. More girls should rock a turban with their swimwear.

Wrangler jeans tag books

Wrangler placed these little books on their tags in the Forties and Fifties. I need these!

the varsity jacket: Atlanta (1947)

Teenage girl tying a scarf around the neck of her boyfriend as a fad.
Location: Atlanta, GA, US
Date taken: October 1947
Photographer: Ed Clark

Red Flannel - Cedar Springs, Michigan (1949)

from the Red Flannel Festival site:
History of the Red Flannel Festival
It all began in 1936 in the midst of "the worst winter in years." The whole country suffered in the grip of heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures. A New York feature writer bemoaned the "fact" that, "Here we are in the midst of an old- fashioned winter and there are no red flannels in the USA to go with it."

The local newspaper, The Cedar Springs Clipper, owned and edited by "The Clipper Gals" Nina Babcock and Grace Hamilton answered the writer with a RED HOT editorial stating: "Just because Sak's Fifth Avenue does not carry red flannels, it doesn't follow that no one in the country does. CEDAR SPRINGS' merchants have red flannels!"

The story was picked up by The Associated Press and orders began pouring in from all over the USA. Seeing the possibility of at least a few years of publicity because of our famous “drop seaters" and lumbering history, a "RED FLANNEL DAY" was planned for the fall of 1939. After the closure of the Red Flannel Factory in 1994, the citizens became concerned as to the fate of their beloved Red Flannels and of the Red Flannel Festival. However, due to the love of their community legacy, volunteers rallied to keep the Red Flannel Festival tradition alive. It has continued to be an annual event, held the last weekend in September and the first weekend in October. The production of Red Flannel garments was reestablished and they are available to purchase in Cedar Springs."

The photos are from the Life Magazine image archives on Google, and yes, I have another crush on a girl who is either a senior citizen now or has croaked. The Life archives erroneously lists these photos as taken in "Cellar Springs, Utah" but they are from Cedar Springs, Michigan.

"When financial difficulties forced the factory to close in 1994, Karen Williams, proprietor of Cedar Sweets and Specialty Shoppe, stepped in to keep the town’s legacy alive. Not being a seamstress herself, she enlisted the help of several women who were.
“It was a stop-gap to get us through,” recalls Williams. “That year, there was never anything on the shelves because it was bought up as soon as it was made. People ordered and came back a week later to pick them up.”
Today, a dozen local women stitch a wide variety of red clothing in their homes. The traditional red flannels now are made of a stretch cotton/polyester blend so when wearers bend over they, don’t pop their buttons. Other products such as boxer shorts, shirts, and nightgowns still are made of red and plaid flannel."

I'm now on a mission to find this issue of Life and to visit Cedar Springs to get me some lumberjack drawers.

the letterman sweater: Des Moines (1945)

"Letter sweaters (for various sports) are desired by all teen-age boys.
Location: Des Moines, IA, US, Date taken: June 1945, Photographer:Nina Leen"

from the Life Magazine archives.

Hollywood Stars uniform shorts (1950)

Manager Fred Haney models the correct uniform worn by the Hollywood Stars in 1950. The Pacific Coast League's Hollywood Stars "innovated" the wearing of shorts as part of their on-field uniforms, long before the much maligned experiment of my beloved White Sox in 1976. As both the Stars and Sox discovered, shorts while lighterweight and more comfortable and damn sexy, were not ideally designed to slide into third base in. The shorts for both teams were folded in short order.

Indian Motorcycles racing jersey (1948)

Floyd Emde models a great Indian motorcycle racing jersey after winning the 200 mile race at Daytona Beach Motorcycle races. (1948)



and an awesome home movie from one year later.

style study: Motorcycle Girls of Laconia, NH, 1947

"Woman and her daughter sharing interest in motorcycle racing." Their hats say "Motor Maid Betty (L) and Motor Maid Dot! Hell yes!
According to this site: "Dot was a woman before her time. In 1939, following up on the idea formulated by Linda Dugeau, Dot rode all over the United States looking for women who owned and rode their own motorcycles. She found 51 ladies who became the charter members of the Motor Maids of America, now known as the Motor Maids, Inc"
Argyle, giant handmade belt, drinking = a winning combination! The driver is also wearing matching argyle. Looks like a sweater vest with a work shirt underneath.

hubba la hubba la boomski! This is my kind of dame! The goggles tie the whole thing together.

Dee's wayfarers and leather jacket across her lap scream American badass. AMERICAN BADASS!

Babs is the sophisticated lady of this bunch. Her cartridge belt/purse says, "I'm a lady, but I might be packing a side arm".

American servicemen and women returning from WWII established the template for iconic rebellious style. Brando's later portrayal of Johnny in the Wild One certainly aped the pure style established by real rebels like the ones pictured above. Not sure what is going on with those crazy wide belts, but, oh boy, I'm digging them. I especially dig the one with turn signal arrows! From Life Magazine image archives dating to July 1947.