If there is an annoying thing it is for a broomhead to come off when a housewife is busy.

[strange_complex]

Firstly, thanks to everyone for their comments on my last post. 'Cathartic' would be an understatement.

But secondly, because not everything is about doom and gloom, I have some lovely pictures to share. They are from two publications of the 1930s, and both were found in the family archive last weekend, where they'd obviously been preserved by my step-grandmother.

The first ones come from a page of the Daily Mirror, published on Monday September 17th 1934. It's the women's page (page 23), which she had torn out and kept, though we're not quite sure why. Anyway, it's an absolutely brilliant snapshot of feminine life in the 1930s. You've got recipes, fashion reports, household tips and (best of all) an article about Meg Lemonier, a 'charming little French actress' who is also a male impersonator. I've scanned it in four over-lapping parts, so that every article can be read in its entirety on at least one of the scans.






The other side of the page is sporting news, but apart from a few pictures of very 1930s-looking rugby-players, it's nothing like so exciting. Teams win and teams lose in every era, and unless you're invested in their fortunes, it's pretty dull to read about.

Meanwhile, my second find was a souvenir programme printed to commemorate the centenary of the City of Birmingham being awarded a royal charter in 1938. The official content is again kind of dull - there's a great deal of stuff about centenary committees and awards, and a bit of stuff about decorations, floodlights and pageants put on to mark the occasion. Best of all by far, though, are the period adverts, which take up about 50% of the booklet. Click on each one to go to the gallery, and then again for the full-size version.

	Birmingham Centenary souvenir programme, 1938 Front cover of a brochure produced to celebrate the centenary of the City of Birmingham in 1938
	Cadbury's advert
	Electric cookers advert
	Healthy living adverts
	Mitchells and Butlers advert
	Slumberland advert
	Triplex cooker advert
	Typhoo tea advert
	Back cover Jones, Mackay and Croxford housing advert. My Dad grew up in a house pretty much identical to the one shown in the advert in Ralph Road, Shirley.

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Comments

[biascut.livejournal.com]

I think my friend Little Mrs owns one of those houses in Acheson Road, Shirley, too!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Ah, well do pass the scan along to her, then.

[aliceinfinland.livejournal.com]

How can the city of Birmingham be less than 200 years old? ... great scans!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

It's true for quite a few of the big Industrial Revolution cities. They blossomed late, but they did it on a big scale when they did!

[big-daz.livejournal.com]

One of my cookbooks (which never gets used as I can't cook for toffee) is Elizabeth Craig's Electric Cookery, published in 1938 by the British Electrical Development Association.

In it, the elegant-looking Ms Craig (who probably has servants to do such menial tasks as cooking) gives some Mr Cholmondley-Warner -esque tips for the modern housewife, such as cleaning one's oven when its switched off. I'd have thought cleaning it when its swithed on would make for a far more interesting experience..

[dragophelion.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! I love Vintage Ads! :o)

You just inspired me to make a post of my own. (I've been meaning to for a while after Pete got a magazine from 1897 & it has wonderful adverts in it!)

My post is here (http://dragophelion.livejournal.com/885116.html) if you want to take a look! Some of them are quite amusing! :o)

[weepingcross.livejournal.com]

It's like being back at the museum again!