Betty Draper

Mad Men and Madder Women

Betty Draper is as coolly and cleanly beautiful as white rose petals peacefully floating down a clear mountain brook. Yet beneath the immaculate exterior of this TV representative of an affluent, white 1960s housewife, lies a cesspool of neurotic impulses. But then, the world of constructed illusion is what the drama Mad Men is all about.

For those who haven't yet been sucked into the series (now in its repeat run), Betty Draper, played with a certain edgy frisson by January Jones, is super-successful Ad man, Don Draper's, perfect-on-paper, stay at home wife. While Don (in-between philandering) is out exploiting the masses in the hedonistic world of advertising, Betty is left home to languish amid the sparkling consumables of their modern upper middle class suburban home. Their's is an ad copy world whose superficial family solidity belies an inner weakness as fragile as any cardboard production set.

Vinyl Records

'Round & 'round.Vinyl record on the turntable. Source

The Vinyl Comeback
For some traditionalists, the exponential evolution of digital music over the last fifty years or so, while impressive, is somehow lacking in soul. Vinyl enthusiasts miss the shiny black smoothness of the grooved record, the visual impact of the album cover, even the smell - in short they pine for the whole  feel and ambiance of an actual record. Vinyls have a 'physicality' that just can't be matched by non-touchable mp3's or even lightweight CD's in their crackable cases. Records have substance and according to many LP fans, a richer, warmer sound than their digital counterpart.

Vintage Pan Am Bags

Reproduction vintage Pan Am travel bag, wash bag and passport cover

Flying High
Established in 1927, Pan American was at one time the largest international air carrier in the States. The airline began as a  began as a mail and passenger service between Florida and Havana and grew to be an innovator and major International force in the airline industry.

Peaking in the 60s and 70s,  the airline boasted millions of passengers, flying in 150 jets to 86 foreign destinations. Its slogan was The World's Most Experienced Airline, designed to instill confidence and familiarity in passengers.

Back in the days when air travel was largely the province of the affluent, possessing an airline bag was something rather special - it meant you were an air traveller and thus one of the fortunate few who could afford to fly. After the arrival of the jet age in the late 50s, the first Pan Am airline bag, the Orion (above), was given away to jet -setters in the 1960s. The perfect size for on board travel.

Fake Beauty Spots

Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette

Although it's a subjective thing, I'm quite partial to the sight of a well-formed, well placed, dark mole. As it happens, I'm certainly not alone there, as in 18th Century Europe, when men were fops and vied with women to be prettier than they, dark 'beauty spots' were quite the thing for both sexes.

If nature didn't supply you with a perfect, natural mole, you could stick one, two or even three, strategically on your face using gum. You didn't just have to confine yourself to the conventional circle either, as the beauty spots were available in stars, hearts, teardrops and crescent moon shapes.

The spots were called mouches, the French word for flies, which is a pretty unappealing, if apt, name, and were made from velvet or silk. They were worn by both women and men and provided a dramatic, dark contrast to the highly elaborate and very pale, powdered wigs and hair extensions worn during the same period. The mid to late 18th Century was a particularly flamboyant period for fashion, especially in the French court of Versailles, which was the fashion capital of the day.

Britt Ekland

Beautiful Britt Ekland

Britt and Peter Sellers

Long Blonde Hair and Eyes of Blue
Swedish-born actress Britt Ekland had the kind of sensual, pouty, kittenish blonde looks that had worked such wonders for French bombshell, Brigitte Bardot and while the Swedish beauty never quite reached the Goddess stature of Bardot, she nonetheless left her mark on the swinging 60s set and beyond, acquiring some famous love-interests along the way.

Ekland's rise to International fame began while she was making a film in Rome in '63. Sitting in a side walk cafe sipping a cappuccino with an American  friend, she was approached by a stranger who, struck by her extraordinary beauty, asked her if she'd like to meet the then head of 20th Century Fox, Daryl F Zanuck. Following the whiff of stardom to the US, Britt was signed to a contract and sent off to drama school to sharpen her acting skills and ready her for the English speaking market.
Some of Ekland's more notable  film credits include The Man with the Golden Gun, The Wicker Man, After the Fox and The Bobo.

Teenage Idol

Ever since the term "teenager" was invented, there's been moves to create the one, a role-model youth who would have the rest of the mob longing either to be them or have them. The first post-war, manufactured, young teen idols (as opposed to bobby soxer magnet Frank Sinatra, who was a mature man of 45 by 1950) were probably Frankie Avalon and Ricky Nelson, who were a 1950's phenomenum and there have been teenage idols in every decade since. Usually the idols were male but females have been on top of the teen pedastal too - Sandra Dee, Gidget and Hayley Mills, just to name a few. However they never had quite the same pulling and selling power as the boys, which yank all the right strings in the tender hearts of tweens.

WC Fields

A Clown with a Voice

Born William Claude Dukenfield in 1883, WC Fields was one of the most popular comedians of the 1930's. His rotund physique, irascible visage, drawling, elongated voice and cynical, wisecracking personality was irresistable to depression-era filmgoers, looking for relief and a temporary escape from the harsh conditions of the time.