Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

A 1948 Whitman's ad for Mother's day and a window into the inner workings of the American family. I don't know, but it looks like dad's kind of phoning this one in on this one. The expression on his face is a mix of "What in the hell is that?" and "I just got you a box of friggin candy, now you expect me to look at the baby?" He could handle Okinawa, but Sissy's dirty ditey, not without a flame thrower. 

Mom, on the other hand, has that demoniac expression so common in 40's ads featuring women extolling the virtue, satisfaction, and fulfillment of a life consisting of nothing more than home, hearth, family, and the occasional gin-soaked mid-afternoon bridge game. Give her three or four more years and you'll see her in new ads, wearing a psychotic grin and shilling chunky peanut butter or a new fridge.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, here's hoping you got the puppy you wanted!

Coronet Films - 1950s Advice on Appreciating our Parents

Mother's Day always kicks off the parental appreciation season and there's a Coronet Film to tell us all about the things we should thank them for. To me it seems a little like mom's getting a raw deal!

Mothers Day - Buy More Flowers

Okay, so Mothers Day is this Sunday, but stumbling across this ad I felt like I should put it on the blog. I have to say mom looks a bit like Don Knots, and mama Knots doesn't look too impressed with the card...you did get more than a card, right?

The ad comes from the May 1920 issue of Florists' Review hence the emphasis on greenery. Mom expects flowers, mom should get flowers, a good child would have given flowers not just a crummy card...

Happy Mother's Day - With the Jolly Green Giant

This morning I woke to the sudden realization that I'd failed in my Mother's Day responsibilities, I'd failed to put a web greeting together. So, between coffee and getting ready to visit my own mother, I did a brief search of the web for mom-appropriate material. I came across a lot of Victorian greeting cards and images that would have worked well, but the item that stayed with me was this little Mother's Day mention in a Green Giant ad.

The ad ran in the November 15, 1937 issue of Life Magazine, so the mention of the May holiday really is just a passing mention. The form, including the pronunciation guide, is an imitation of the McGuffey Reader a creation of William Holmes McGuffey. McGuffey's readers were one of the nation's first true textbooks for teaching reading and grammar to young students.

It's interesting that the bad mother is a saucy fan dancer. Then again, maybe I'm making an assumption. The prim woman in the leg-of-mutton sleeves could be the bad one. She does look like the wicked step-mother sort now that I think about it. I can imagine her saying "I know you'd like to go to the ball, but the basement floors need scrubbing and someone has to kill the bats infesting the belfry...". In the end, though, neither one of them look anything like a real mother - especially not of the era when the ad ran.

Back to my point and reason for writing this morning, happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there. I sincerely hope your children don't gift you with cans of Green Giant peas (or any other vegetation short of flowers).

Happy Mother's Day