A recipe from an ad for Ann Page mayonnaise and A&P published in 1957
Recipe HERE
A splendid plan published in Modern Mechanix in July 1931 
Build This Monorail Bathing Chute for Thrills
As a thrill producer, it will be hard to beat this monorail bathing chute. Erected on a hill sloping down to a beach, it will send you flying out into the water at a breathtaking speed. Construction is very simple.
BATHING weather prompts many novel means of sport in the water such as diving slides, swings, etc., but here is a regular “shoot the chute” in simplified form with which loads of sport can be obtained and all at a minimum cost.
In laying out plans for the chute try and find a spot of land with a long gradual dip towards the bathing beach or swimming hole. Several hundred feet will furnish the greatest amount of fun, but it should have a hundred-foot stretch at least.
The track can be constructed entirely of ordinary hemlock or spruce boards six inches wide and 7/8 inches thick. The accompanying sketches show just how to put it together. Use short lengths of board laid end to end, the joints meeting over posts sunk into the ground at the proper height to give the track a nice even bearing to the slider.
Plans and description in jpg HERE
Found at: blog.modernmechanix.com
Advertising for the classic Behrens toaster. 1951. Firmanarchiv Electrolux
Image and text found at DesignIsFine
Mamie Smith (née Robinson) (May 26, 1883 – September 16, 1946) was an American vaudeville singer, dancer, pianist and actress, who appeared in several films late in her career. As a vaudeville singer she performed a number of styles, including jazz and blues. She entered blues history by being the first African-American artist to make vocal blues recordings in 1920. Willie "The Lion" Smith (no relation) explained the background to that recording in his autobiography,Music on My Mind
On August 10, 1920, in New York City, Smith recorded a set of songs written by the African-American songwriter Perry Bradford, including "Crazy Blues" and "It’s Right Here For You (If You Don’t Get It, ‘Tain’t No Fault of Mine)", on Okeh Records. It was the first recording of vocal blues by an African-American artist, and the record became a best seller, selling a million copies in less than a year. To the surprise of record companies, large numbers of the record were purchased by African Americans, and there was a sharp increase in the popularity of race records. Because of the historical significance of "Crazy Blues", it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994, and, in 2005, was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
Although other African Americans had been recorded earlier, such as George W. Johnson in the 1890s, they were African-American artists performing music which had a substantial following with European-American audiences. The success of Smith’s record prompted record companies to seek to record other female blues singers and started the era of what is now known as classic female blues. It also opened up the music industry to recordings by, and for, African Americans in other genres.
Smith continued to make a series of popular recordings for Okeh throughout the 1920s. In 1924 she made three releases for Ajax Records which, while heavily promoted, did not sell well. She also made some records for Victor. She toured the United States and Europe with her band "Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Hounds" as part of "Mamie Smith’s Struttin’ Along Review". She was billed as "The Queen of the Blues". This billing of Mamie Smith was soon one-upped by Bessie Smith, who called herself "The Empress of the Blues." And like Bessie did, Mamie too found that the new mass medium of radio provided a way to gain additional fans, especially in cities with predominantly white audiences. For example, she and several members of her band performed on KGW in Portland OR in early May 1923, and she earned very positive reviews.
Various recording lineups of her Jazz Hounds included (from August 1920 to October 1921) Jake Green, Curtis Moseley, Garvin Bushell, Johnny Dunn, Dope Andrews, Ernest Elliot, Porter Grainger, Leroy Parker, Bob Fuller, and (June 1922-January 1923) Coleman Hawkins, Everett Robbins, Johnny Dunn, Herschel Brassfield, Herb Flemming, Buster Bailey Cutie Perkins, Joe Smith, Bubber Miley and Cecil Carpenter.
While recording with her Jazz Hounds, she also recorded as "Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Band", comprising George Bell, Charles Matson, Nathan Glantz, Larry Briers,Jules Levy, Jr., Joe Samuels, together with musicians from the Jazz Hounds, including Coleman, Fuller and Carpenter.
Mamie Smith appeared in an early sound film, Jailhouse Blues, in 1929. She retired from recording and performing in 1931. She returned to performing in 1939 to appear in the motion picture Paradise in Harlem produced by her husband Jack Goldberg. She appeared in further films, including Mystery in Swing, Sunday Sinners(1940), Stolen Paradise (1941), Murder on Lenox Avenue (1941), and Because I Love You (1943). She died in 1946, in New York.
Text from Wikipedia
Published primarily from the 1890s to 1910s, these prints were created by the Photoglob Company in Zürich, Switzerland, and the Detroit Publishing Company in Michigan. Like postcards, the photochroms feature subjects that appeal to travelers, including landscapes, architecture, street scenes, and daily life and culture.
Images and text found on vintage_everyday
The first ever Botulin’s opened at Skegness in Lincolnshire in 1936 and it immediately became a huge success. Even during the first season the capacity had to be increased from 500 to 2,000 people. Eleven years before Billy Butlin had opened a set of fairground stalls at Barry Island in Wales. Indeed he opened the first ever dodgem cars here in 1928 and had an exclusive licence to import them. While in Barry, however, Billy noticed that landladies at seaside resorts would push families out of the lodging house during the day. He started to nurture the idea of a holiday camp similar to the one he used to attend when he lived in Canada as a child.
During World War II, the Skegness Butlins became a Naval training base (known as HMS Royal Arthur) but reverted back to a holiday camp in 1946. It is still open today as one of three remaining Butlins resorts. Over 400,000 visitors now attend every year. One of the original 1936 chalet accommodation units is still present and is now a grade II listed building.
The 18’6″ x 6′ Escargot is a pedal-powered boat designed by Phil Thiel. The minimalist design is beautifully simple. Functionally somewhere between a motor-driven cruiser boat and a kayak or canoe — it’s perfect for eco-tourism rentals and slow houseboaters alike – read more HERE
Joan Bradshaw, a ravishing brunette with big brown eyes, was well known to readers of men’s magazines in the mid 1950’s through the early 1960’s. This Texas beauty started her modelling career in her teens winning beauty titles in 
her home state. She then packed up and moved out to the west coast to try her hand the 1953 Miss Universe title. She didn’t get it, but stuck around and found small roles on TV (appearing in shows such as “Dragnet”) and a few movies (all forgettable).
Her tail of the tape came in at 38-23-36, which earned her the nickname of “The Bust of MGM.” She was also know as the favourite arm candy of many celebrities including the King of Rock and Roll himself. Besides the usual selection of men’s magazines like “Modern Man,” “Jem” and “Carabet,” she also appeared in the October 1956 issue of Playboy. She had the look that cheesecake photographers loved. Besides girlie magazines, she also appeared in several how-to photography digest including the cover of Earl Leaf’s “Photographing Women of the World.”
Now if IMDB is to be believed, this gal went from pin-up and bit-part actress to Unit Production Manager to the TV show “Amazing Stories” and movies like “Back to the Future II” and Executive Producer to films like “Road to Perdition” and “Cast Away.” Not a bad way to wind up.
Text from Java’s Bachelor Pad
In this day and age is is actually a little hard to believe that this ad is for real. I don’t know exactly when it was printed, but their clothing and hairstyle suggest late seventies, early eighties. That is only 35 years ago. It is even hard to believe that this was printed in the US back then.
Actually even back then being part of designing and texting an ad like this would have been the same as professional and social suicide here in Norway. You would have been on the shit list of every advertising firm in the country and without a social life for years. And women’s libbers (and they were not few around this neck of the wood back then) would have stoned you if the had had the chance.
The Lure Of The Mad Men – Intro
The Lure Of The Mad Men – Part 21
The Lure Of The Mad Men – Part 23
The Lure Of The Mad Men – Part 19
The Lure Of The Mad Men – Part 18
The Lure Of The Mad Men – Part 22
We used to have them in Norway too, until the government decided sometimes in the fifties that it was time to put an end to it. They ordered the police around the country to take their horses and slaughter them. This was normally done right there by the road side while the owners watched. It is a part of my country’s history I’m deeply ashamed about and I blame it on the old-school social democracy’s love of mediocrity and the principle of forced equality.
I saw an interview with a man of the travelling people who was a small kid back then and he told that the only time he ever saw his father cry was the day the police slaughtered his horse.
It is strange that so many of us find it so hard to accept people who chose to live their life on the outside of the mainstream – Ted
Paula Grant has enjoyed a featured spot in every show since she started in show business as an exotic dancer, but the big dream of her life has been to appear in shows in Rome, London and Paris. Recently, she had her dream come true when her agent booked her into all three cities, plus appearances in Germany and Madrid.
Read the whole article and see the naughty pictures HERE
Warning: Nudity do occur in this article. If you are under age or live in a country where watching images of nude women for some reason is against the law I take no responsibility if you click the link above. In other words you’re flying solo from here on – Ted ;-)
The FIAT 600 (Italian: Seicento, pronounced say-chento) is a city car produced by the Italian manufacturer FIAT from 1955 to 1969. Measuring only 3.22 m (10 ft 7 in) long, it was the first rear-engined Fiat and cost the equivalent of about € 6,700 or US$ 7,300 in today’s money (590,000 lire then). The total number produced from 1955 to 1969 at the Mirafiori plant in Turin was 2,695,197. During the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, the car became very popular in countries such as Spain (as SEAT 600), where it became the icon, par excellence, of the Spanish miracle, Argentina, where it was nicknamed Fitito (a diminutive of FIAT) and former Yugoslavia where it was nicknamed Fićo(pronounced [fee-cho]).
The car had hydraulic drum brakes on all four wheels. Suspension was a unique single double-mounted leafspring – which acts as a stabilizer – between the front wheels coupled to gas-charged shock absorbers, and an independent coil-over-shock absorber setup coupled to semi-trailing arms at the rear. All 600 models had 3-synchro (no synchro on 1st) 4-speed transaxles. Unlike the Volkswagen Beetle or Fiat 500, the Fiat 600 is water-cooled with an ample cabin heater and, while cooling is generally adequate, for high-power modified versions a front-mounted radiator or oil cooler is needed to complement the rear-mounted radiator. All models of the 600 had generators with mechanical external regulators.
The top speed ranged from 95 km/h (59 mph) empty with the 633 cc inline-four engine to 110 km/h (68 mph) with the 767 cc version. The car had good ventilation and defrosting systems.
A year after its debut, in 1956, a soft-top version was introduced, as well as a six-seater variant — the Fiat 600 Multipla. It was a precursor of current multi-purpose vehicles.
Retrospectively the water-cooled Fiat 600 is sometimes over-shadowed by the air-cooled Fiat 500, but the 600 was a remarkably fast seller in its time: the millionth 600 was produced in February 1961, less than six years after the car’s launch. At the time when the millionth car was produced, the manufacturer reported it was producing the car at the then remarkable rate of 1,000 a day. As of 2011 there are only 65 left in the UK that are road legal.
In Spain, the 600 model was made under the make of SEAT, from 1957 to 1973. Up to 797.319 SEAT 600 were made. The Spanish car maker exported them to a number of countries worldwide. This car motorised Spain after the Spanish Civil War.
SEAT produced various derivatives of the original 600 model some of them with improvements and special fittings like the use of "suicide doors": the SEAT 600 D/E/L Especial version, the ‘Descapotable’ convertible and the ‘Formicheta’ commercial version etc.
The most interesting version produced between 1964 and 1967 by SEAT is though the SEAT 800, the sole four-door derivative of the 600 model which received a longer wheelbase. It was developed in-house by SEAT and produced exclusively by the Spanish car maker without any equivalent model in Fiat’s range.
The Fiat 600 was also manufactured at Fiat Neckar in Germany between 1956 and 1967. Presented in a first time as Jagst 600, in 1960 with the release of Fiat 600D it became Jagst 770. The model was manufactured until the end of 1967, more than 172,000 copies.
In former Yugoslavia the model was very popular, and was produced under the nameZastava 750 (later 850), nicknamed "Fića" in Serbian, "Fićo" in Bosnian and Croatian, "Fičo" in Slovene, and "Фиќо/Фичо" (Fikjo/Ficho) in Macedonian. It was produced by the Zastava factory in Kragujevac, Serbia, from the early 1960s until 1985, during which time it played a major role in motorisation of the country, due to its affordability.
In 1958 Fiat shipped a number of Fiat 600s to the Italian design house Ghia for conversion into the Jolly. Featuring wicker seats and the option of a fringed top to shield its occupants from the Mediterranean sun, these cars were originally made for use on large yachts of the wealthy (Aristotle Onassis owned one).
The car was designed as a luxury vehicle for wealthy Europeans and the US market.
With a cost of nearly double that of a standard "600", they were made in a very limited production. It is believed that fewer than 100 exist today, each one being unique. 32 Jolly cars were used as taxis on the island of Catalina off the coast of Los Angeles in the USA in the years 1958–1962.
Italian tuning company Abarth produced various versions of the Fiat 600 from 1956 to 1970 under a variety of model names, including Abarth 210 A, Fiat-Abarth 750, 850, and 1000. Many suffixes like Granturismo, Berlina, TC, and TCR were also used and many were built with aluminium bodywork by Zagato and other famed Italian carrozzerie.
The original FIAT 600 Multipla was based on the Fiat 600’s drivetrain, model 1100 coil and wishbone independent front suspension, and sat six people in a footprint just 50 centimetres (19.7 in) longer than the original Mini Cooper. The driver’s compartment was moved forward over the front axle, effectively eliminating the boot but giving the body a very minivan-like "one-box" look. Behind the front seat the vehicle could be arranged with a flat floor area or a choice of one or two bench seats. Until the 1970s, it was widely used as a taxi in many parts of Italy.
A 633 cc, RHD Multipla, was tested by the British magazine The Motor in 1956 and was found to have a top speed of 57.1 mph (91.9 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-50 mph (80 km/h) in 43.0 seconds. A fuel consumption of 38.4 miles per imperial gallon (7.36 L/100 km; 32.0 mpg-US) was recorded. The test car cost £799 including taxes on the UK market.
In 1956, Fissore designed a remarkable open-topped Multipla prototype called the "Marinella" with a wooden-slat wraparound bench in the rear. A Fiat 600 Multipla towing a caravan is used in the video clip of the Crowded Househit Weather with You from their 1991 album Woodface.
The Multipla name was re-introduced in the late-1990s, for the Fiat Multiplacompact MPV.
Text from Wikipedia
This scooter was a mail order special from the Sears Roebuck Catalogue way back in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. It actually is a rebadged stamped frame Puch, it has a 3.9 hp. 1 cylinder 2 stroke engine and a three speed twist shift transmission. The sales sheet says it’s supposed to go 42 mph. These were cheap scooters for the time, I don’t think any were thought of being collectable. This scooter sold for $ 297 brand new out of the catalog. The Allstate Compact Scooter had 3.9 horsepower, got 100 miles out of the gallon and had a 2-stroke engine and 3 speed transmission.
The story of the Allan Line is that of the enterprise of one family. Captain Alexander Allan, at the time of the Peninsular War, conveyed stores and cattle to Lisbon for Wellington’s army. After 1815 he began to run his vessel between the Clyde and Canada, and as years went on he employed several vessels in the service.
Till 1837 the ships ran from Greenock to Montreal, but in that year, after the Clyde was deepened, the ships went to Glasgow, as they have continued to do ever since. Captain Allan and his five sons devoted all their 
energies to the development of the Canadian trade, and for about forty years the line ran sailing ships only, which were greatly in request for the emigrant traffic.
In 1852 the Canadian government requested tenders for a weekly mail service between Great Britain and Canada. That of Sir Hugh Allan of Montreal, one of Captain Allan’s sons, was accepted, and the Canadian mail line of steamships came into existence.
It may be noted that the Allan Line inaugurated steamers of the "spar-deck" type, i.e. with a clear promenade deck above the main deck. This measure of safety was taken as a lesson from the disastrous foundering of the Australian steamship London in the Bay of Biscay in the year 1866. The company may claim, too, that their steamship " Buenos Ayrean," built for them in the year 1879 by Messrs Denny of Dumbarton, was the first Atlantic steamship to be constructed of steel.
As time went on the company’s services were extended to various ports on the eastern shores of North America and in the river Plate; and London, as well as the two strongholds of Glasgow and Liverpool, was taken as a port of departure.
In the course of its career it has absorbed the fleet of the old State Line of Glasgow and a great part of the fleet of the Royal Exchange Shipping Company and of the Hill Line. Included in the latter fleet were the first twin-screw steamers constructed for a British North Atlantic line. The Virginian and the Victorian, built for the Allan Line in 1905, were the first transatlantic liners propelled by turbines.
The principal ports served by the Allan Line are (in the United Kingdom) Glasgow, Londonderry, Belfast, Liverpool and London; from these their vessels ply to many places in North and South America, including Quebec, Montreal, St Johns (Newfoundland), Halifax, St John (New Brunswick), Portland, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Rosario.
Text from GG Archives
The Victorian was a 10,635 gross ton ship built in 1904 by Workman, Clark and Co, Ltd. for the Allan Line of Liverpool. Her details were – length overall 540 ft, beam 60.4ft, one funnel, two masts, triple screw (first N.Atlantic liner with triple screws and first with turbine engines) and a speed of 18 knots. There was accommodation for 346-1st, 344-2nd and 1,000-3rd class passengers. Launched on August 25, 1904, she sailed from Liverpool on her maiden voyage to St John NB on March 23,1905. On April 27, 1905 
she commenced her first Liverpool – Quebec – Montreal voyage and continued UK – Canada sailings until 1914 when she was converted to an armed merchant cruiser.
She served with the 9th and later the 10th Cruiser Squadrons and after the war, was refitted by Cammel Laird and returned to Canadian Pacific Ocean Services who had taken over the Allan Line. She resumed the Liverpool – Quebec – Montreal service on April 23, 1920, was refitted to carry 418-cabin, and 566-3rd class passengers in October 1920 and commenced her last Liverpool – Quebec – Montreal voyage on September 2,1921.
In October 1921 she was chartered to the British government and carried out a trooping voyage from Southampton to Bombay and on her return was re-engined to oil fuel. On August 3, 1922 she transferred to the Glasgow – Quebec – Montreal route and on December 11, 1922 was renamed Marloch. She commenced her first Glasgow – St John NB voyage on December 12, 1922 and on Feb 2, 1926 transferred to the Antwerp – St John NB service.
She collided with, and sank the British steamer Whimbrel off Flushing on February 2, 1926 and was towed to Southampton. Repaired, she returned to the Antwerp – Southampton – St John NB service on March 4, 1926 and sailed on her final Antwerp – Quebec – Montreal crossing on August 17, 1928.
She was laid up at Southend until 1929 when she was sold to T.W.Ward and Co and arrived at Milford Haven on April 17th, being subsequently broken up at Pembroke Dock. Her panelling, which was inlaid with mother-of-pearl was transferred to the board room of Ward’s Sheffield office, where it can still be seen.
Text from Destination: Yellow Grass
PICCADILLY CIRCUS – In this picture of what is sometimes called ‘the hub of the universe’ Regent Street lies behind ‘Eros’, silhouetted against the sky. The famous statue is a memorial to the Victorian philanthropist, Lord Shaftesbury, who also gives his name to Shaftesbury Avenue, one of the streets running into the Circus. The sculptor, Sir Alfred Gilbert, called the statue Eros, but there has always been controversy about whether it was meant to represent the god of love or was a figure ‘illustrative of Christian charity’, as it was described at the time of the unveiling. The statue was removed to the Embankment Gardens between 1923 and 1929, when Piccadilly Circus was being altered, and during the second world war it went down to Egham in Surrey, returning only in 1947.
From “Country Life Picture Book of London” with photos by G F Allen
In 1978, the Associated Press met Kellie Everts, the Miss Nude Universe who became as a striptease artist performing on a Washington stage because “God told her to quiet her job as a social worker and return to the stage to perform her strip act”.
The woman born Rasa von Werder was stripping for Jesus. And isn’t stripping another kind of social work?
Kneeling at her altar to the Virgin Mary, the 33-year-old prayed for guidance in her dealings with men. Everts asked the Virgin to be mother not only of her soul, but of her body.
The room, as Everts tells it, filled with a bright, white light and the Virgin appeared. “I want you to stop having sex with men,” she commanded. Then she vanished. It was the epiphany Everts had prayed for. For five days she thought about the Virgin’s words. “I saw good-looking men everywhere,” she says. “But I thought, if I don’t do this I’ll be a coward.” So Everts pledged herself to Mary, promising never to have sexual intercourse again….
Click to view slideshow.
“The Christian religion has some excellent doctrines,” says Everts, “but also contains the poisons of male domination — most notably the denigration, enslavement and exploitation of women. Women are punished for charging money for sex — because in doing so, they claim their own bodies as a resource to exploit for their own benefit. If fornication and adultery are sins, then punishment should be applied to both sexes.”
Text and images from Flashbak
I love these old colour postcards and have collected digital images of them for ages. Here’s some of the ones I like the best – Ted
Click to view slideshow.
In 2002 Roger White joined A. G. Barr as managing director and in 2004 became Barr’s first ever non-family chief executive. On 14 November 2012 the Company agreed to merge with Britvic, which produces drinks like J2O, Tango and Robinsons, as well as holding the authority to produce Pepsi for the UK market, to create one of Europe’s largest soft drinks companies. Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia![header_image_softdrinks_thumb[2]](http://retrorambling.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/header_image_softdrinks_thumb2_thumb1.jpg?w=505&h=263 "header_image_softdrinks_thumb[2]")
The company was founded in 1875 by Robert Barr in the town of Falkirk. In 1887 his son, Robert Fulton Barr, set up a division of the original company in Glasgow, which had a much larger population. Then in 1892 the Glasgow branch passed to Andrew Grieg Barr, a brother of the founder of that branch. Irn-Bru was first launched in 1901. The Falkirk and Glasgow divisions merged in 1959. The Company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1965.
In 1972, the Tizer brand was purchased. The year 1980 saw the introduction of Low Calorie Irn-Bru: this changed its name in 1991 to Diet Irn-Bru, and then in 2010 to Irn-Bru sugar free. In 2001 the company acquired Findlays Mineral Water which is sourced in the Lammermuir Hills.
The Company acquired Forfar based Strathmore Mineral Water in May 2006.[6] The Irn-Bru 32 energy drink variant was launched in 2006. In 2008 the company purchased the Taut sports drink range.
Help Needed
I need your help visitors, both in suggesting sodas and soft drinks from around the world and in giving your opinion on the ones presented if you know the product. And you can start with giving your opinion on the ones posted already or reading what other visitors have written – Ted
List of Soft drinks and sodas posted already
Visitors soft drinks and sodas suggestions and comments
