If You're Not Slender...

                                               
So, I just started a new part-time job at Lane Bryant. It's a nice store, and the history nerd in me loves the idea of working for a company that has been around since the early 1900's. Not many companies last that long. Even Sears is on the decline now.

I've always been a big girl, and the term "plus-size" has been in my shopping dictionary, but I'm guessing that  the euphemism hasn't been around that long. According to the 1923 ad above, "stout" was used to market to us big and beautiful ladies. I honestly like the word. It might not be so feminine, but it gives off an air of power and confidence. "Plus-size" sounds like you are calling people abnormal. "There are normal sizes, and then there are plus-sizes."

At least it's better than chubby! I lol'ed at the ad on the bottom. Chubbies? Really? Who thought that was a good idea? Now that's just insulting! Hahaha.! Not sure on the date, but it looks around 1950-early1960-ish.

From Calogero to Charles

America is a country of immigrants, and unless your people are 100 percent aboriginal to North America, at least one of your ascendants are from elsewhere.  I've always been fascinated with my family's ties to the old country. One set of great-grandparents is from Italy, or Sicily to be more exact. They went through the whole Ellis Island thing and eventually lived in Little Italy for a little while. When I see the parts of The Godfather: Part II  when Don Vito came as a little boy to America through Ellis Island from Sicily, I just can't help but think that is what my great-grandparents experienced. 

Above is the naturalization papers form my great-grandpa Charlie in 1922. 

I wonder if they still use "in the year of our Lord..." in new docs?

Mo' Wheh Dis Comed Fum. Yas Sah!

1927

Ingredients: chocolate, eggs, milk, sugar, and racism.

I love (to the Nth degree) vintage ads. You can tell a lot about a society through its ads. And going by that logic, America was a racist bastard. I guess I'm so used to an American culture that is very PC (politically correct), that it is shocking to see ads like the one above. It makes me so glad I was born in this generation.

So these were the good ol'days grandma and grandpa?

1907

I got all these ads from a blog called Vintage Ads

She has "it"

In my last post I wrote about Clara Bow being the original "sex symbol" or "it girl". Well, I thought it would be nice if you saw the movie that made her "it". You can see it all on Youtube (unfortunately I can't embed it here ), but follow the link below, and watch all nine wonderful parts. It is a silent movie, but it is so cute and interesting that you won't mind.

"It" 1927

Shebas

I love, love, love anything involving the 1920's. It was especially a great time for women's rights. We got to vote thanks to the Nineteenth Amendment passed in 1920. Women took the workforce by storm, even after their men came home from the Great War. Women were also shaking off the old shackles of Victorian propriety, and started the processes of becoming men's social and even sexual equals. The 1920's brought about America's (if not the world's) love affair with moving pictures, and thus was born the "sex symbol," or as the would have said back then "It Girls." The original It Girl, Clara Bow, has to be one of my favorite figures in the Jazz Age. If anyone is interested in the subject of women in the 1920's, I would recommend "Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern" by Joshua Zeitz.

This video was part of a recent post in Glamour Daze (one of my fav blogs), and I just had to share---it was so fabulous! It highlights both Clara Bow and Louise Brooks, the grand shebas of the 1920's. Enjoy! :)

1920's Babes in 3D!!

Found this on Youtube. It's so interesting to see what was considered really racy back then. Where are my dang 3D glasses when I need them? There are some really cool stereoscope pictures at StereoscopeTheatre.com

Uncle Jack (Gioacchino) (repost)

Ok, so this is a repost of my "Uncle Jack" post I put up last month. Apparently I received the wrong information. I finally found the truth (or at least what I'm told is the truth.... and if not, oh well, I'm sticking to this one) about my grandmother's Uncle Jack.

He was in the Italian army during World War I. He was captured by the Germans, and kept as a POW for nine months, during which he ate mostly potatoes. After he came back from the war he would never eat a potato again. He also spent some time in Ethiopia, when Italy was in control of the country.

The photo was probably taken sometime during the 1920s.

Special thanks to Megan, who cleaned and restored this photo for me. Thank you!

It Had to Be You

As promised, here is one of the wedding photos from my great-grandparents' wedding in 1924.

The photo is a little discolored and faded from being under a futon for the last 50 years. I played around with the contrast and saturation to bring out as much detail as I could. I wish I could have scanned it. There are a lot of little details that aren't clear in this digital camera pic.

The men look so handsome in their tuxedos. I love the maid of honor's dress! It looks very '20s!

I imagined that this song was played at their wedding.........

The Little Gentleman

How adorable is this picture? I don't know who this little boy is, but he has to be one of my grandmother's older cousins. I say this because he is in my great-grandmother's wedding photo. I think he is even wearing the same tuxedo. Maybe this was taken at the same time the wedding photos were taken. My great-grandparents were married in 1924, so I'm dating this photo the same year.

My favorite part about this picture is his hair: parted down the middle. It's such a 1910s/1920s hair style. It would look so strange if a boy did his hair like that now.

I noticed that many of the photos I have from the 1920s/30s are printed on the back of postcards, including this photo. I've read that there was this postcard craze in the beginning of the twentieth century. Maybe that is why I'm finding so many. Half of the ones I have are in Italian, and the other half is in English. This one was in English, which makes sense because my great-grandparents were married in America.

I'm dying to post the photos I have from my great-grandparent's wedding. They are amazing. They are just way to big to scan. I've been trying to take a picture of them using my digital camera, but they weren't coming out good. I'll keep trying....... Hopefully soon.

Rosie and Friend

Another great rooftop photo from the '20s. The woman on the left is my great-grandmother Rosie (or as my family likes to call her Nanie Rosie). The other is the same woman from my earlier post La Bellissima Regina .

They're wearing the same dress! Was this planned or was it a coincidence? Maybe the store had a sale.

Calogero e Rosa

Introducing my great-grandparents, known in America as Charles and Rose, but I call them Nanie Rosie and Grandpa Charlie. They both immigrated to America from Sicily in the middle of Ellis Island's peak immigration period.

I'm guessing the photo was taken in the late 1920's. I'm not sure on the date, but it does explain Nanie Rosie's fabulous Louise Brooks hair style. :) (The woman in the background is great as well!) Isn't just adorable how they are holding hands?

When did men's hats go out of style? I think they're great. I love when you look at an old photo of a crowd of men, especially in the city, all you can see is an ocean of hats. I think they should come back into style!

I actually have their wedding photo that I'm dying to put up, but it's huge. It's too big to scan, so I need to get my camera working to take a picture of it. Hopefully soon! :)

La Bellissima Regina

I was going to post this photo later after I introduced my great-grandmother, but I couldn't help it. I'm in love with this picture. I found this photo with others of my great-grandmother from 1920s. This woman is in other pics with my great-grandmother, so she is probably one of her friends or family members. My great-grandparents lived in Little Italy, NY on Broome Street in the 1920s. That is probably where this picture was taken.

I think this photo is gorgeous! There are so many things to love about it. I especially love the juxtaposition of this elegantly dressed woman set against the dilapidated, urban background. It looks like she is a queen sitting on her throne.

I wonder how much thought was put into it. The composition is just beautiful...the levels and the textures... G'ah! It makes the art geek inside me happy. lol

Rascals, Scamps, and Urchins

Here is another photo I know little about. I found it with other pictures of my great-grandmother during the 1920's, so I am assuming it was taken around the same time. Judging from the kid's clothes the 1920's seems about right.

Their clothes are fantastic! It reminds me of when my mom would dress me and my sister in the same outfits. My favorite parts are their shoes and stockings. I love old fashioned shoes. When I went to the St. James General Store here on Long Island, they had old shoes displayed behind the counter that I wanted to touch and examine so badly! I love any old household items. Forget the copy of the Gettysburg Address, I want to see Lincoln's toothbrush!

That's why the St. James General Store is so great. They have old boxes, signs, clothes, and

things of that nature on display. It's just a little torturous if you're like me and want to touch

everything. It is supposed to be the oldest continuously operated general store in the country. It's small, creaky, and uneven, but that only adds to its charms. They have a whole bunch of knick-knacks for sale, but the best is the candy!

Here is a site for more info if you want it : Link

I digressed a bit, sorry :)

Beach Babes

I love old beach photos! The progression of bathing-suit styles fascinate me. Not many men would be caught dead wearing a one-piece now.

My grandma is the little girl to the far left. The boy in the middle is her brother Joseph. I'm not sure of the exact year in which this was taken. My grandma was born in 1926 and in the photo she looks about 3 or 4 years old.... so possible late 1920s to early 1930s.