The 1940s

It seems like ages since I've posted, but really it's just been a project filled week in a rush to get things done before summer's end. Updates to come on the dresser, dollhouse and a few other furniture projects underway. But there's another lovely collection of things I've been meaning to post about, all with a decade of origin in common... Recalling the nineteen forties, I'm always swept up in the glamor of red lipstick and the swinging strains of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. I suppose it's sentimental and a little naive to idealize a time of rations and railway station partings. But I do think the period is rightly remembered as a picture of human resilience. A resilience apparent in even the tritest of aesthetic details - the ability to meet fear with a jaunty trumpet wail, the class to take on the wartime assembly lines in tailored uniform and perfectly rouged cheeks.
{Snapshot} You might be wondering about the origin of those two photos above - the woman painting American insignia on a bright yellow wing, the aerial shot of two navy planes. They're part of a Flickr collection from the Library of Congress - an enthralling archive of color photos from the 1930s and 40s. There seems to be a certain intangible quality about these images - something different and quiet, aloof and faraway. Unsatisfied, I concluded that it's the striking contrast and muted tones that yield such a solemn serenity. Twenty four favorites are gathered here.
{Sew} A few months ago I acquired a darling little toy sewing machine. It's such a joyous pop of color in shiny red metal. And it's just eight wee inches across, certainly appealing to my love of crafty small things. With my grandmother's help and a box of vintage spools uncovered at a yard sale, I got it sewing a single thread chain stitch fairly reliably. It's history is little known to me - it's a Kay-an-EE Sewmaster with a throat plate bearing "Made in Berlin, U.S. Zone." Clearly it's post war, and some research has suggested late forties or early fifties, but I'm still trying to find out more.
{Story}
Photographed above is a March 1942 copy of the news magazine Coronet that I found while thrifting recently. The cover is sublime with its combination of bright red-orange and turquoise, not to mention a trio of forties fonts.
{Screen}
Old movie musicals are a beloved pastime of mine. Coincidentally, not long after spying the old periodical mentioned above I saw Cover Girl (1944), in which a Brooklyn dancer (Rita Hayworth) becomes a magazine's cover girl after winning a contest. Slightly formulaic as all musicals go, but in the end more reflective than most. I quite liked it for it's array of forties fashions and a very dashing Gene Kelly.