Hello Dear Readers. Today is hump day. Don’t you hate the word hump day? It’s just ugly and stupid. I’m never going to use it again. Okay just one more time, hump day. Okay, that’s it. It will never appear here again.
So in honor of the most notoriously ho-hum day of the week, (you-know-what day), I will not be using any exclamation points in today’s post. In fact, I won’t be writing anything at all. I’m just going to take the day off to thumb though this 1975 Better Homes and Gardens. Grab your coffee and join me, won’t you?
Back in 1975, when there wasn’t much to do, women could often be found sitting on the floor sewing carpet pieces together. Of course, this was before Women’s Lib really took hold. After that, women gave up sewing carpets pieces together at home, and went and got careers at carpet factories where they got paid $1.60 an hour to sew carpet pieces together for other women who didn’t know about women’s lib yet..
Here’s something not very interesting
Here’s Peter Ustinov. In 1975, Peter Ustinov was a Public Personality which is how they referred to what we call celebrities today. Public Personalities were semi-well-known for a couple of parts in big movies but spent the majority of their careers appearing on talk shows or game shows or hawking Ernest and Julio wine in national magazines. Peter Ustinov also wrote his memoirs which I actually remember reading — which should tell you how boring my life was in 1975.
Don’t feel bad if you only look 35, our product can make you look 70!
“Hey I’ve got a great idea, JB. You know how women are always dyeing their hair to get rid of gray?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, we’ll do the ol’ switcheroo and make a product that will turn their regular color hair gray!”“But women who have natural blonde hair will never buy it.
“Oh yes they will because from now on we’ll say their blonde hair is just an unwanted yellow tinge, and that they need to get rid of it by dying it gray.
“You mean take a group of women who have natural blonde hair, have them dye it gray thus making them look like fabulous 70-year-old grandmothers instead of what they really are which is 35-year-old models?”
“Yes that’s it exactly!
“Let’s do it!”
Hey here’s an ad about losing weight with Ayds
In 1975, a woman was supposed to bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and still look sexy for her man! (Nobody knew what the men were supposed to be doing.) Enter Shirley Badders. Even though Shirley gave birth to five children, her biggest accomplishment was losing the 63 pounds she put on in the process. And now look at her! The ad boasts that she’s not only poised and clothes conscious, she’s even articulate! (Apparently her tongue isn’t as chubby). Let’s face it, aside from sporting the ugliest leotard ever conceived, Shirley’s a knockout! And how did she do it? She got Ayds. No not the sickness with an “i” but the candy, with a “y”. My oh my, how the world has changed since 1975.
People in 1975 laughed easier than they do now
- Back in 1975, people laughed a lot easier than they do now. Take this hysterical dog owner. Oh. she just knew her dog wasn’t going to like new, improved Gainsburgers. Why? Because she’s been eating a steady diet of old, unimproved Gainsburgers since they came on the market, and her dog wouldn’t even eat the scraps leftover from the Gainsburgers she prepared for herself — and she added cheese! So you can see how the joke was on her! P.S. Don’t you think she’d look a lot better if she dyed her hair gray? But then again she’s probably eating Gainsburgers in heaven by now, so I guess it’s a moot point.
There now. Well that was a fun day off. Maybe we’ll have to flip through old magazines again next week on Harrumph Day . . .
Until next time . . . I love you
Linda Vernon Humor 
Genius! Do you think it’s too late for me to subscribe to Better Homes 1975? Right am off to dye my hair grey and find a leotard with a collar. Wowzers!?!
Oh I so hope not Evie!! But if it is too late to subscribe to 1975 Better Homes and Gardens you can be consoled that we are currently living the 2013 amusement for future generations who are flipping through their 2051 issue of Better Homes and Gardens. 😀
I wonder what things they are going to find particularly amusing? Lip filler and botox spring to mind as a starter for ten!
Oh yes definitely the lip fillers and botox, they even look weird to us now . . . unless of course it’s a trend that just gets worse and worse. Oh I don’t even wan to think of what a scary place the world would be if that were to happen! YIKES!
I think 1975 had a shortage of good publicists. Otherwise, Shirley Badder would’ve had a better name, spin on her situation, and a one-piece suit that was less “collary.” Great post!
LOL Erin!! You are so right. Seeing outfits like the one Shirley Badder is actually wearing really puts the hot peppers on the Round Table Pizza of life!
Alright! Give me a jay leno chin and some of that silver dye! Gonna make myself irrisistable! 😛
Andy I think you’ve stumbled upon a foolproof formula for getting the girls! 😀
Yups!! thank god for silver hair dye LOL 😛
hahahah! Oh you must post a picture of your new hair do for us all Andy . . . or maybe I should call you Andrew befitting your new status as a “the silver-haired fox”. 😀
In fact, the candy Ayds was doing really well, getting more and more marketshare.
Until it was beaten down by the disease AIDS.
(And I’m really glad Shirley’s polo onesie got left in the 70s.)
LOL!! You always make me laugh out loud when you refer to onesies! Hahaha! I think Shirley is getting down with her bad bad badder self! (Sorry a joke which was just laying out there and nobody else seemed interested so I took it. )
I think this is my new favorite post! in 1975 losing 63 pounds still makes you look chubby. If she would have dyed her hair grey at least she could have pulled off the maternal chubby grandma look. Now! I must get back to work sewing those carpet pieces together!
You’re right. Remember the Simpsons episode where they referred to the the world’s chubbiest kick line dancers from, I think it was, the 30’s? I have to wonder if it was all the dough people at back then which gave them that perpetual chubby look.
Now I’m hungry for dough.
I enjoyed the use of the word demolished in the Gaines-burger ad. I’m going to incorporate it into daily conversation as much as I can. For example: I demolished that bottle of Ernest and Julio Gallo wine, on my date with the silver haired girl.
LMAO! Stellar use of the word demolished! You demolished my composure with your wit.
Haha! I love this. We’re bring the word “demolished” back into fashion! I couldn’t be prouder of us if we owned matching thong leatards with collars and BOTH our names were Shirley Badders!
Excellent incorporating of the word, “demolished” idiotprufs! I only hope that “silver haired girl” wasn’t the dog who demolished your stash of new, improved Gains Burgers!
She was a border collie, no way shape or fo-ho-ho-horm.
LOL! Your comment reminds me of someone . . . I can’t think who . . .
Maybe the dog owner is laughing because she got out of sewing carpet pieces together! Maybe?
(I think we used to give our dog Gainesburger and if I recall, it was like plastic or Play-Doh! So gross! I think my mom eventually switched over to ALPO!)
I totally forgot about AYDS!! LOL!! I think my older sister used them. She also believed that Pearl Drops would whiten her teeth. Haha! She was a sucker for anything that promised instant beauty. 😀
Haha! I forgot about Pearl Drops! I used those too. I imagined they were making teeth whiter! And you’re right about the Gainsburgers. It was a really weird consistency and our dog wouldn’t eat it. I think it was suppose to appeal more to the dog owner than the dog. Yes, it was very much like play doh now that I think about it.
I had a friend who was always trying to lose weight by eating Ayds. I tried a couple, but they never did anything except make me hungry for more Ayds! LOL! 😀
What a wonderfull year of ignorance! Are we still that fulnerable to Ads. and, oh may politics? Funny
Oh I do think there is a sucker still being born, maybe not every minute — but at least every hour and a half! 😀
I actually thought you’d made the name ‘Shirley Badders’ up! Then I looked at the article – LOL 😀
1975 was great year – we did laugh much more than we do now (when dying our hair and feeding the dogs). I think my mother used ‘magic silver white’ or something like that – it would turn her hair purple 😀
Oh I remember the purple hair! Ha! I’d forgotten about that. I new a lady who had blue hair. It was actually really pretty. She always wore it in a French Roll along with a streak of ruby red blush or rouge on each cheek. I thought it looked beautiful! LOL!!
And Shirley Badder is a name I thought I made up too! You mean there’s a real Shirley Badders? Ok fine, I’ll change my character’s name to Shirely Bladders!! 😀
Hey, I REMEMBER all that! In 1975, I was 28, pregnant with my third son, and worrying about whether or not my hair was showing some grey. I used Ayds–unsuccessfully–and I brushed my teeth the Colgate way, help stop bad breath help fight decay 🙂 I do remember Silk and Silver. I don’t think there’s a similar product on the market now, but my hair did the silver thing all by itself. One thing I remember clearly is that even when double-knit polyester was popular, I thought it was ugly as dirt. It was the era of plaid pants for men, with bell bottoms. The pants, not the men.
Oh boy! I felt the same way about the double-knit polyester pants suits with the humungous collars. I don’t know why the 70’s were so big on big collars. But I thought the prints were really ugly too. I remember when I was 28, I went totally 70’s and started curling my bangs backwards. The rest of my hair was straight but my bangs, no, they were curled back. I never left the house without curling my bangs. HA!! I remember one of the architects I worked with when I was a secretary always wore plaid suites with red platform dress shoes! He wore them every single day for two years! Oh the 70’s were so very ugly! HA! 😀
Where can I get me one of those fancy leotards with the collar and buttons? I simply must wear that to school pick-up one of these days. I already have those penny loafers. I will show those Ugg-wearin’, sour puss mothers that there is a new MILF in town. One question: does it come in ‘thong cut?’
LOL Undercover!! A new MILF in town. And I didn’t even notice the penny loafers!! Could Shirley Badders be any more happenin’? I think not, except for you Undercover! Oh I can just see the looks on the faces of those sour puss mothers now!! And as far as a thong goes, just get out your scissors!! You could even wait and make them into thongs while your waiting outside the school with the other moms to transform them into a thong! LoL!!
Would you suggest me taking it off before I do the cutting, or should I wear it? If I take it off while sitting in the parking lot at school, I might end up with a criminal record that demands that I register when I move into a new neighborhood. It’s an iffy situation.
LOL!! hahaha! It’s definitely iffy Undercover. It’s a good thing you’re already Undercover!! 😀 (I’m presuming you always wear a nose and mustache when picking up your kids from school!) 😀
LOL-I might have to steal this and put it on my blog. I went to Half Price Books in Fremont the other day and they had a bunch of old Look, Life and Sports Illustrated mags on sale.
Love this and love the ads.
Feel free to steal Patrick. (Oh I meant my post, not the magazines at half-price books LOL! ) I’ll have to stop by there next time I’m down in Fremont! I used to live down there a went to that bookstore a lot. I’m glad to hear it’s still in business!
Creative suggestions – I was enlightened by the facts , Does someone know if my assistant could possibly find a sample Family Group Sheet document to use ?