Halloween simply would not be the same for me without at least one viewing of the timelessly wonderful 1966 television cartoon It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. For as long as I have memories stretching back of All Hallows Eve, I can call to mind recollections of watching this beloved Peanuts special annually in the days leading up to the 31st.
From the instantly recognizable background score that opens the first scene to Linus’ sweet and steadfast belief that the Great Pumpkin (a Halloween character akin to Santa) really will appear to him in the pumpkin patch, I adore everything about this classic cartoon.
I’ve rounded up a copy (split between three parts) of "The Great Pumpkin" below, which I hope you’ll all enjoy. Whether you’ve only seen it once, fifty times, or never before, you’re in for a heart warming treat if you set aside a few minutes (a little under half an hour) to watch this marvelous Charlie Brown tail of Halloween mischief and fun before – or on – this coming Saturday!
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
{Part 1}
{Part 2}
{Part 3}
Is this delightful Peanuts cartoon a treasured tradition for you, too? What are some other Halloween cartoons (or movies) that you love watching year after year?
A happy and playfully spooky countdown to Halloween, everyone! I hope the Great Pumpkin appears to you all this weekend! :)
Happy Saturday greetings, my sweet dears! How are you each on this sizzling August weekend? Things are pretty much peachy-keen on this end. The fuse box woes I’d mentioned last weekend have been fixed, the weather hasn’t been too cruel this week, and I’m still bubbling with celebratory feelings from my husband’s birthday on Thursday.
While sweet hubby’s foot isn’t quite up to a night out, he treated himself to some take-away sushi on his birthday and last night I set the weekend off on the right foot with homemade thin crust pizza (zucchini, orange bell pepper, and sweet onion for me, prosciutto for the Mr.), which got me thinking about the fact that pizza, one of the absolute most widely available foods these days, was an absolute novelty (outside of Italy, that is!) to most people before the 1940s.
Reflecting about the fact that pizza soared to popularity so quickly has got me itching to ask both of my grandmothers how old they were when they first remember trying pizza, and when, in their respective opinions, it become a commonplace culinary staple.
{Click on the image to see a larger version and get the 1959 recipes for “baby pizza” and “American style pizza pie”. Vintage cookbook page from Eudaemonius’ Flickr stream.}
Just as pizza is a true modern day classic, so too are great blogs, and this week’s gathering of links is teaming with fantastic stories from some of the coolest vintage sites around. With posts spanning topics from lovely black and white photos of people relaxing at the beach to a handy tutorial for refilling a vintage powder compact, there’s plenty of yummy old school goodness for everyone to enjoy!
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* Vintage Life Magazine: The lovely MaryDeluxe brings breaking news for vintage fans everywhere in this recent Deluxeville post. Turns out that a new magazine devoted to the vintage lifestyle in on the cusp of releasing its first edition (scheduled for October ’09). “Vintage Life” as the publication is known, is a UK based glossy spanning the decades of the 1920s through to the 80s, that will be published six times a year. Subscriptions can already be placed and are available to people worldwide. Here’s wishing this fledgling magazine tons of success!
* Hosiery History – 1940s Fashion: A thoroughly pretty array of vintage ads (some colour, some black and white) for ladies hosiery fill this post from Glamour Daze.
* 40s hair accessories: This week Casey highlights an interesting topic that appeals to me a lot: what beyond flowers, were used as hair accessories during the 1940s. Full of beautiful images and inspiration, this post is a must read for anyone who loves to adorn their locks.
* Pretty Dress and Thoughts on Vintage and Retro Fashion: Blogger Angel shares a pretty dress she’s recently acquired and writes about some of her thoughts on what drives her love of wearing vintage styles (many of which I’m sure the majority of us echo as our own reasons).
* How to refill a vintage powder compact: If you yearn for the days when I lady was often heard to say “I just need to powder my nose”, than you may be a fan of old school powder compacts. Fortunately for vintage fans these charming containers can still be found from a myriad of sources (online sites, estate sales, vintage shops, etc). If you’d like to refill one that you’ve unearthed with fresh powder, follow the five easy steps in this post to ensure your powder compact functions as well today as the first day it was ever used. (*1:30AM, August 9th. Please note, by sheer coincidence I just happened to discover that a very similar post to this one that appeared in November of last year on Vixen Vintage, and thus I feel that Solanah deserves to be mentioned here as well.*)
* Tom Sawyer Champs: A series of absolutely adorable, well taken photos of some of The Snail and The Cyclops’ blogger’s favourite vintage toy finds. From an abacus to a precious brown teddy bear, there is certainly something to make everyone nostalgic for their own childhood playthings in this post.
* Let’s go to the beach: With temperatures breaking record highs in some parts of the world this past week (such as Washington State), it’s clear that autumn is still just a distant dream for most, which is all the more reason to head to the beach for some respite from the heat. If that’s not possible for you however (goodness knows I won’t be able to dig my toes into the sand this year), you can still imagine visiting the beach with the help of these wonderful vintage photos from Life magazine.
* 50s Italian Summer: This week The Cupcake Diary channels the crisp, clean looks of late 1950s Italian tourists and locals alike through images from movie The Talented Mr. Ripley.
* Golden Hollywood Glam | Jeremiah Goodman: Some of the absolute most gorgeous watercolour paintings of 1940s home interiors I’ve ever seen are posted in this beauty-filled entry from the terrific blog, Nest Party. I wish I could have prints of these glamorous rooms to put on my walls for endless daydreaming inspiration.
Vanity Fair’s “Ain’t we got style”: Karen highlights pages straight from the August issue of Vanity Fair in which modern day stars replicate looks from classic movies such as It Happened One Night and My Man Godfrey. These spreads have been expertly styled and shot, and really do a marvelous job of paying homage some of Hollywood’s most timeless films – and actors.
Unparalleled elegance flows through this week’s Youtube feature, a true gem of a compilation video with clips from various 1950s fashion shows, magazine photo shoots, and Hollywood movies. Not only are the women and the gorgeous looks they spot breath-taking, but the video’s poster has done a superb job of pairing background music with these images to create a soulful film-like atmosphere that further adds to the undeniable allure of 1950s ladies wear feaatured within.
I always love putting together the weekly link list. It’s a way to share with you some of my favourite recent blog posts and also for me to draw inspiration a second time around the things that are catching the eyes of my fellow vintage lovers this week. I hope that the links above captivate you, too! Please feel free to share any articles or images that have filling your heart with bliss or your mind with inspiration lately with me, too.
Wishing you each a joyful, serene, beautiful weekend!
In an era of gift wrapping rooms, designer shopping bags, and Ikea-meets-Mac box streamlined packaging, it might seem that we’re spoiled for riches when it comes to the decor that surrounds the goods we purchase, give, receive and pine for. On one hand there is an element of truth to this, yet there is little denying the by-and-large, the artistic style (fonts, images, slogans, etc) that comprise the wrappings on modern items is far cry different from that of the past.
As an avid fan of vintage and antique design, I’ve decided to start a series of posts (that will sprout up from time-to-time) about some of my favourite types of vintage packaging and the products they were created to showcase.
For this introductory “Packaging Makes perfect” post, I’ve opted to highlight the exceedingly pretty paper cards on which bobby pins were sold during the mid-twentieth century.
While bobby pins (or hair grips, as they are sometimes known outside of North America) are can readily be found at most any drug store or shop that sells hair accessories, their use nowadays is not as common as it once was. In order to achieve a majority of the hairstyles – from simple to highly intricate – of the 1920s through to the 1960s, bobby pins were called into play. Interestingly, these simple metal hair grips took their name from the fact that they were used to help ladies of the twenties keep their “bobbed” hairstyles in place.
Fundamental to achieving many vintage hairstyles, bobby pins were used prolifically through the middle of the last century (in the days before the myriad of styling products we have today were available) and are subsequently often utilized today to achieve many vintage up-dos, rolls, curls and other lovely looks. Though WW2 metal rations sometimes made bobby pins harder to come by during the war years, even then most women were able to find some of these humble little hair grips.
While they were sometimes sold in metal tins, just as with modern day versions, vintage bobby pins frequently came on a paper card. Though it’s not uncommon to find bobby pins in packs of fifty or more today, in the past they were often sold in lots of ten to thirty.
The paper card backs upon which the pins were tucked featured an array of lovely designs. Some used illustrations, others photos of women wearing stylish hairdos. Some were elaborately shaped so as to be cut like the shape of a part, or all, of the picture they depicted, whereas others came in more common shapes like circles, half-moons, or rectangles.
The following are a selection of vintage bobby pin packages from Flickr, all of which I think are absolutely beautiful. They’re like miniature works of art that depict so many elements of style from the 30s, 40s and 50s.
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{Sta-Rite brand bobby pins featuring pretty Ginny and Lou. Were these gals made up or were they real women?}
{Wearing one heck of a wiggle dress (and bullet bra!), the cute girl on this Bobbie Smith brand package is certainly ready for a night out on the town!}
{The doe-eyed, blonde beauty on this card for Flamingo brand hair grips looks like she just stepped out of Hollywood.}
{Sporting the slogan “Fits any purse”, this font and image style on this card of Victory brand bobby clips would indicate (to me at least) that it was from the 1930s or early 40s.}
{While I’m not sure I’d be swayed by the brand’s name, “Scoldy Lox”, the dainty pink rose and Good House Keeping seal of approval on this bobby pin card might win me over.}
{Simple and sweet in shades of royal blue and peachy-pink, this card from DeLong appears to have held up even better than the pins it still houses.}
{With eyebrows to match the height of the rolls in her golden blonde hair, the lovely lady on this card for Campus brand bobby pins embodies the red lipped woman of the 40s and 50s to an absolute tee.}
{Defined on this card from Curly Lox as being “hair snaps” these cleverly designed pins appear to have encircled a roll of hair to hold in neatly in place. I for one this is a splendid idea and wish that I could find hair snaps like this stores today!}
{As this photo illustrated card from 1952 for Flamingo brand bobby pins shows, it wasn’t just the front of the package that looked pretty!}
{All images above are from Flickr. Please click on an image to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}
Given the very delicate nature of paper, it’s such a joy that numerous examples of vintage bobby pin cards have survived to this day.
If you’re interested in picking up a sample or two of this delightful type of package (or to use the pins they come with – though to be honest, I would want to preserve them exactly as they are, pins and all), both etsy and eBay seem to stock a steady supply of vintage bobby pins at surprisingly reasonable prices (generally between $3 and $15 dollars). The following selection of vintage bobby pin packs are currently available on etsy.
{Rubber tipped hair grips produced by Solo. $3.95 (US) from etsy seller Regina’s Studio.}
{These pins appear to be very straight and simplistic in design, but no less lovely thanks to the colourful red and yellow card back they come on. $4.00 (US) from esty seller Boomerville.}
{An adorable pair of kittens grace this pack of First Prize brand bobby pins. $5.00 (US) from etsy seller Innocent Painting.}
{These hand painted bobby pins hail from the late 50s or early 60s and would be used for more ornamental purposes than their plain metal counterparts. $2.75 from etsy seller The Automat.}
The packaging on vintage bobby is a delight to behold. Full of style and whimsy, it speaks to an age of womanly beauty that many of us now strive to recreate with our own hair and wardrobe styles. Whether you want to use the actual grips themselves or not, old school bobby pin packages are an affordable way to bring a cheerful dose of vintage design art into your home.
*PS*
A terrific and inexpensive way to keep track of bobby pins and other small metal hair accessories is to store them in magnetic paper clip dispenser.
Over the last few weeks of spring I’ve probably watched more YouTube videos than I did in the past year combined. What spurred on my clip viewing frenzy, you might ask? A desire to better hone my vintage hair and make-up abilities. While I don’t feel like the novice that I did as the lone vintage wearing teenager in my high school, I have no problem admitting that I have more confidence in my “modern look” make-up and hair skills than my forties and fifties ones.
While I’m not sure if I’ll ever reach the level of mastery that some of the deeply talented ladies on YouTube (and within the vintage community as a whole) have, I definitely feel that through watching clips from the five channels below, I’ve both learned a lot and improved some of my skills.
I’ve highlighted one video from each stream and also linked to the video creators’ respective channels. Should, like myself, you be looking to improve, brush or beginning learn from scratch the secrets, tips and techniques of gorgeous vintage make-up and hair experts, I can’t recommend these channels highly enough!
{The vintage hair and make-up looks Casey produces in her extremely easy to follow, detailed videos are every inch as lovely as her vintage blog – which I also recommend you rush over and check out!}
{Sweet as a button and wonderfully skilled at reproducing classic hairstyles (and make-up looks) from everyday life and movies alike, Aya of Strawberry Koi is a huge vintage inspiration of mine.}
{A whiz at forties and fifties hairstyles, Ashley’s video stream (LisaFreemontStreet) is a treasure trove full of fantastic vintage hair styling tutorials.}
{With her beautiful voice and excellent instruction giving ability, Super Kawaii Momma is a joy to watch. Not only is she a masterful vintage blogger and dresser, but she’s an expert on achieving old school hairstyles.}
{Iris of the romantically titled ilovegerardo channel knows more than a little about hairstyles of kinds, but it’s her stellar series of Pinup tutorials that really have me hooked on her helpful videos!}
I want to take a moment and extend my heartfelt thanks to each of these five amazing women. You’ve each helped to boast my confidence on the beauty front and provided me with oodles of inspiration. I hope, dear readers, that they’ll be able to do the same thing for you!
