Vintage Photos of the Lindy Hop

I don’t know about you friends, but here in Toronto the weather has been making me miserable (and sick). Freezing one moment, snowy the next, warm(ish) another day and no sun for days. Winter you are making me blue and you’re keeping me indoors, a lot more than normal!

The one good thing about seeing the inside of my apartment all the time, is all the reading and video watching I’m accomplishing. So today’s post is all about some of my favourites, starting with our first article…

WARdrobe: Fashion during World World II via Fashion History Museum

About: Fashion did not stop when war was declared. In the first Paris collections shown after the start of World War II, practical clothes were designed with an eye for beauty. Utilitarian coats and trouser suits, zipper-front jumpsuits and print cotton frocks were cut with a smart look and a sense of style. Life went on between the air raids and women still looked in the mirror. Where hope existed, so did fashion.

‘Naomi Parker Fraley, the Real Rosie the Riveter, Dies at 96’ article by The New York Times.

Unsung for seven decades, the real Rosie the Riveter was a California waitress named Naomi Parker Fraley (seen below on the right). Read her story HERE.

Diary of Vilma the Unconquerable-Lost History of Vilma & the Clifton’s Camera Girls

About: In the 1950’s, Vilma penned a vivid account of her single life as she blossomed into womanhood. She worked and played in the glitz and glamour of Old Hollywood and Downtown Los Angeles. As a “Camera Girl” on staff at some of the main tourist attractions of the time such as Clifton’s Cafeteria, The Paris Inn, China Town and The Pike (in Long Beach), she made her living strolling through the crowds with her camera offering a souvenir photo for a keepsake of the exciting nightlife.

The Fastest Feet Dance Competition at The Snowball 2017 in Sweden (this is a MUST watch!)

How Benny Goodman Orchestrated ‘The Most Important Concert In Jazz History’ by NPR

By 1938, clarinetist Benny Goodman was already known as “The King of Swing” — the leader of the most popular dance band in America at a time when swing jazz was America’s most popular music. But nobody knew how it would be received in Carnegie Hall, America’s temple to classical music.

Goodman and his supporting cast would go on to claim a new place for jazz on the American cultural scene that night, in what has come to be seen as the most important jazz concert in history.

Read about the Concert HERE and watch some of the highlights below.

How Debbie Reynolds Preserved Movie History: “Hollywood Owes a Huge Debt” by Hollywood Reporter

About: The actress was one of Hollywood’s greatest memorabilia collectors and an early advocate for the preservation of the town’s history.

1950s Gangs of New York – Google Arts & Culture

About: Photographer Bruce Davidson investigates a teenage gang in Brooklyn, New York, capturing the spirit of post-war youth culture that inspired the rival gangs of West Side Story.

NEW BOOK ALERT!

Some of you might have remembered the book I mentioned on my blog (and had a contest for) called ‘Birds Eye View‘ from Canadian Author Elinor Florence? It is the unforgettable story of an idealistic young woman who joins the air force after her town in Saskatchewan becomes a British Commonwealth Air Training Base during the Second World War. Well I LOVED it (read it twice) and now Elinor is about to release another novel called ‘Wildwood‘ (seen above) and I was able to have an advance read.

About the book: 

Broke and desperate, single mother Molly Bannister of Phoenix, Arizona, accepts the stern condition laid down in her great-aunt’s will: to spend one year in an abandoned farmhouse deep in the remote backwoods of northern Alberta. If she does, she will be able to sell the farm and fund her four-year-old daughter Bridget’s badly needed medical treatments.

With grim determination, Molly teaches herself the basic pioneer skills, chopping firewood and washing her clothes with melted snow. But her greatest perils come from the brutal wilderness itself, from blizzards to grizzly bears. Only the journal written by her courageous great-aunt, the land’s original homesteader (from the 1920’s), inspires her to struggle on.

But there’s another obstacle to her success: an idealistic young farmer, Colin McKay, wants to thwart Molly’s strategy to sell her great-aunt’s farm to an oil company. Will Molly be cheated out of her inheritance after all? Will she and Bridget survive the savage winter, and what comes next? Not only their financial future, but their very lives are at stake.

The story was absolutely wonderful and a must read for all my vintage readers. I especially enjoyed reading about how 1920’s life was for a Canadian Pioneer Woman. Fascinating!

The book releases in February, so pre-order HERE.

We have now reached the end of our roundup for this almost finished month and I hope you enjoyed all my finds. If you have something that you read or watched recently, please share in the comments below. I still have plenty of winter to get thru……

Liz