Glossy Time Capsules #5: Family Circle - October, 1965

Glossy Time Capsules #5

Family Circle

October, 1965

Price: 15 cents

My copy of this magazine has no cover, but I found a picture of it on Google...

The table of contents is chock full of enticing article titles, such as...

Fashion Original: A Season-Spanning Outfit To Knit

Food Shopping Tips That Make Cents: Rice Is Just Plain Nice

Eye-Catching Ways To Trim A Casserole

Souffles - How They Rise To All Occasions

Make The Most Of False Eyelashes

and

But Where Can We Add A Bathroom?

followed, of course, the inevitable question: How Much Orange CAN We Legally Get Away With?

Another question: What can the advertisements featured in this 1965 women's magazine really tell us about what life was like during the 20th century's grooviest decade? 

Let's look at some ADS to find out!

Well, it appears that, just as in 1958, folks were really into foods (and food packaging) that strongly featured the color red:

Although sometimes they eschewed most color in favor of pictures of grumpy Edwardians...

Ads were also starting to play into the "diet" trends of the day...

Oh, but don't worry. People still ate the good stuff...

Mmmm... health.

I can confidently assert that folks of the 60s were no different from you and me, in that they wanted cleaning to be easy...

But I think they may have missed the mark with this monstrosity...

Can you imagine trying to fit everything back into that case? 

And let's not forget ads for health & beauty products...

Props for your honesty, Helene. 

Um, ma'am? Those aren't age spots. Either your preschooler got to you with a magic marker while you were passed out, or you should drop everything and go see your primary care physician right away. I say this because I care.

There are some things from the past I'm glad I missed out on. That up there is one of them.

Speaking of progress, some cool new inventions were coming on the scene in 1965!

Dishes stay cool, there's never any mess, and other blatant lies about microwave ovens.

I think "portable" meant something different in 1965.

That's cool, but what kind of person regularly takes abundant phone messages at night? The intrigue!

Your phone can be a lot of things, including your friend.

They aren't wrong.

But this is...

Yikes. I mean, congratulations to Mrs. V.A. Nati on her $100 win. That was a big prize back then. That would be like $10,000 today.

Oh hey, another contest!

This must have been such a novel concept for these people....

YOUR CAT.

ON TV.

But it's okay, guys... if your cat doesn't win this and doesn't get to be on TV, don't worry... in just 40 years, we'll have this thing called Youtube. It will have SO MANY CATS. You can even put YOUR cat(s) on it! YOU'LL LOVE IT.

People of the 60s may have had no inkling of the internet or internet cats, but they were thinking of the future... in overly optimistic, amusingly naive, and sometimes eerily prescient ways....

Below is an article called Your Child In A World Of Change. Click on the images to peruse the entire article. I think it's worth a read, and its information definitely still applies today. 

Shorter workdays and 4-day work weeks? If only....

Well, those self-driving cars are really coming along, now, 54 years later. Sort of....

I love that this "encourage your child" advice was being given to parents in the 60s.

And that those parents' children were Baby Boomers.

The same Boomers who I've heard declare that parental encouragement is what made MILLENNIALS turn into a lazy, entitled generation.

To which I say, OH REALLY?

"A frequent error some parents make is to try to remove all the bumps and irritations in a child's life."

I love this article so much. 

I love it almost as much as I love vintage fashion.

I call this one "Not Your Governess's Curtains"...

Here we have "Potholder Chic"...

Behold: "Rump Plumage"...

And, my personal favorite, "Grandma's Pajamas"...

Just kidding. Vintage clothing, I salute you.

Vintage hair, ehhhh not so much. 

Oooh! It's time for my favorite part of any vintage magazine: The NEAT STUFF YOU SHOULD BUY pages!

I have this mental picture of a family sitting on a soggy picnic blanket in the park. Rain pours down. The family looks forlorn. The caption reads, Dammit... Pepi LIED!

PEPI!!!

1960s: Put names on everything!

1980s: Don't put names on anything because kidnappers!

2010s: Put names on everything, kidnappers be damned!

How you could wear these and not get beat up by literally everyone you met that day, I do not know.

My grandma had one of these and we spent hours clicking it, making the numbers change. Oh, sure she had actual toys at her house. But this thing was amazing.

Or perhaps you prefer poodles.

Don't make me choose!

Jaunty hat and muff!

Why wasn't there a movie about this thing becoming sentient and trying to murder everyone in the house? I feel like that should have been a thing.

You know, I hear high heels have roughly the same effect.

I like to think these cake toppers inspired the costumes on Star Trek.

Yes, no, maybe?

Ha ha ha ha.... no.

I would like to point out that 50% of all the things we needlessly buy could double as doorstops.

You may not get every station essentially means you'll get exactly two stations total and at least one will involve the music of poorly-rehearsed gospel choirs.

Yay.

Fewer than 2 years since JFK was assassinated, and these people are already trying to cash in on it via the lucrative market that IS Memorial Sampler Kits?!?!

Too soon, people. 

Too soon.