School System In Toronto 1940's

This is a photo of me and my mother in 1942, standing in front of Niagara Street School on the corner of Niagara and Adelaide Street in Toronto.  My mother eventually tires to register me at that school since she felt the school being directly across the road from our home it would be a safe journey to and from school.  All my family were Chatholics and paid seperate school taxes so therefore they would not allow me to attend a Public School which Naiagara Street school was. Therefore when the time came for me to go to school  I went up Adelaide towards Bathurst Street were I attended St.Mary's Catholic School. The school had the girls on one side and the boys on the other even in the playgrouns at recess and for the longest time I thought that was why they called it a seperate school.We were taught by nuns the Sister's of St. Joseph. I think my mother was gorgeous and always smartly dressed dispite the low income we had.

Victorian Beaded Evening Bag

This has got to be one of the most delicate a precious Victorian bags. The entire purse is beige silk with tiniest seed beads of silvery and black. The condition is excellent for it's age and it is one of my very favourite keepsakes a true piece of history.

Weight Loss in 1937

This is an article on suggested weight Loss method in an 1935 Old Hollywood scrap book.  This is like a Home version of the vibration machine.  I wonder if wearing the long sexy satin pyjamas is criteria for this exercise.

Old Hollywood 1935

I have just returned from a visit to my mother's hometown of Selkirk Manitoba Canada.  I visited my uncle antique shops where he has a 50 years plus collection of vintage antique oil lamps.   In the shed I did find two old scrap books filled with clipping and articles of old Hollywood with clipping having dates of 1935.  I think that it was interesting to see the old styles of clothing costumes hairdos and shoes.  There are notes of Movies that I have never heard of. If these were coloured it would be fabulous. The top pictures says"
Joan Crawford tops a frock of turquoise blue with a blue fox coat and Myrna loy wears a powder blue pebble crepe.
Below the caption says Don Ameche Simon Simon and Robert Young in the film "Josette"
Joan Blondell and Melvyn Douglas in "There's always a Woman"

Carol Tannenbaum at the Royal Ontario Museum

Several Years ago Carol Tannenbaum was to give a seminar at the Royal Ontario MUseum in Toronto.  As a collector I had many pieces I would have liked her to give her opinion on but one piece per attendee was the rule. With my ticket purchased I had to think long and hard to decide which item I would take since I never did get rid of any vintage items I had.  As the day approached I decided that I would take one of my favourite a four strand milk glass necklace with decorative ornament and it's matching wired bracelet. As the seminar progressed I waited in line for my turn to approach Ms. Tannenbaum and when I handed her the jewellery she held t in her hands and told me they were made in West Germany and dated to the early 1960's.  To my surprise she looked at me and said that the brooch I was wearing was valuable and that it was French Carved Bakelite.  I was very pleased I had two opinion instead of one.  This brooch is now special and will sit in my collection and wait to be inherited.

A 1935 Wedding

I have been enjoying PINTREST what a great site to find out what new ideas are out in this world and to share with others things of interest.  I posted this picture of my mother as a bridesmaid in Selkirk Manitoba in 1935, and it was well received by the members of Pintrest. with many views and likes so I thought I might add it to my blog.  The original cardboard frame remains with the original picture.

Weddings through the ages

On April 27th I presented a Vintage Fashion Show "Vintage Evening Elegance"with all proceeds to the Salvation Army. I received great response from those attending.  I do not normally keep many wedding dresses offered to me, but if a dress is older than 1970 and I am able to get the picture of the original owner in that dress than I am truly interested.  I found that many folks asked to see wedding dresses so I made the Finale  a bridal Parade.  Dresses were from a 1929 silk flapper style to a 1980 ruffled organza.

What is a Vesta?

This lovely 1-1/2 inch silver case on silver chain with a small charm attached lay for many years in my display showcase.  Many guests asked me what it was and all that I did reply was that it held tiny wax matches.   One fashion show I had a guest who hailed from England and she said "Oh I see you have a Vesta"  she went on to say that this was probably from the late 20's or the 30's when women who chose to smoke must do so discreetly.  The match striker is on the bottom.  If anyone recognized the symbol of the charm please let me know. I have just finished another successful Charity Vintage Fashion Show with proceed to the Salvation Army.  I hope that I now will have a tad more free time to post more regularity.

Port-side or Starboard Red or Green

This post follows upon My post of Captain George Elliott, the pipe smoking Captain.  During the war Captain Elliott was pulled ashore and made the Marine Superintendent for Imperial Oil out of Dartmouth Nova Scotia, it was the early 1940's. During the war an oil tanker was torpedoed and it was brought to McNabbs Island at the entrance to Halifax Harbour where it was to be eventually beached.   Captian Elliott set a salvage crew to reclaim any items that were worth saving.   The two copper and brass oil lamps that provided direction from the deck of the ship and the ships clock he maintained.  The lamp in the picture bears the number 684.  After Captain George Elliott's retirement he kept the lamp and the ships clock for souvenirs of his years at sea. He spent many hours painstakingly removing ever bit of battleship grey and had the clock mounted in a small grandfather clock case.  We have many things in this house that I have begged the grandchildren to take but unfortunately they don't want most of it, but somehow I feel that there will be no problem getting a taker for these.

Here are some interesting pipe paraphernalia.  To-day is is hard to find a dedicated pipe smoker but some of these did belong to my husband but most of the interesting pipes were used by my husband's father who was  Captain George Elliott and he was Captain of a ship for Imperial Oil during the Second World war. As one would expect this Ship's Captain was a pipe smoker and most pictures of the hardy captain standing on deck with his pipe in his hand.  I wonder if they allow smoking on board naval ships today????

Why I am keeping these and I guess it is the old story that everything has a memory and a tale to tell.
I suspect that as the years go on and time goes further down the road the memories become faint and eventually no one will know the stories or who they even belong to, and that will be their final demise.

Tying the knot in 1954

This wonderful typical 1950's gown was worn by Marguerite Dey of Collingwood Ontario when she married Mr. John Dance.  The dress with the exception of the veil is in remarkable condition and could be worn again if one is as tiny and petit as marguerite.  the skirt is accordion pleated tulle with lace bodice.  The original slip remains with the dress as well as the headpiece of tiny seed pearls and rhinestones.

All the years the dress was preserved so was the grooms suit with it's two pairs of trousers.  I seek out the photos of the original brides when I am offered a vintage wedding dress for I feel that the picture give more meaning to the day and the type of wedding held in 1954.

Three Generations of Bracelets

These great little dust collectors hang on the wall to my bedroom.  Some bracelets from my mother'  (only the orange baklite remains)  my daughter did collect the others which I was glad to see since that indicated to me that they meant a lot to her as well. There are bracelets that I wore and bracelets that my daughter wore in the 70′s and early 80′s. My father made this shadow box inserted dowels with glass door knobs on the ends and a mirror at the back and it works perfectly for displaying bracelets.

When I was growing up in Toronto we lived on Niagara street from there my grandfather walked to work at the ”Coro Jewellery Factory” which was on King street east of Bathurst in the late 1940 and early 1950′s and many broken trinkets destined for the trash came home in his lunch box. My mother I remembered spent much time piecing together odds and sods to complete pieces for us to wear.   I think now it is time to have another box built to accommodate the cast off bracelets that my two grown granddaughter’s have put aside.  They know the rule “what you don’t wear you give to grandma”.  The only thing I wish I could do is have my father here to build me another shadow box.  Thanks Dad, yours is the best.

Bust Enhancers- So they claimed

Here are just some ways that you ladies could improve your bust measurements,  so they claimed.   I do not remember in my teen years (the 1950′s) of any one of my friends who knew about implants for bust enhancement.  We either stuffed our bras with kleenex or purchased a pair of falsies or a cream that they said who enlarge your breasts. I also remember the bullet bra and as time passed they some  ladies wanted  the soft natural look so they actually cut the tips off the bras so that the nipples would stick out of the cut ends and give a softer appearance to the sweater girl.   Things sure have changed but I do hope that you ladies would find this interesting. If you know of any other old booby tricks please let me know I would be glad to hear from you.

My Flower garden

How Does your garden grow?   I love these cheery bright enamelled pins dating from the 1960 to the 1970.   I have seen many of these pins used by artist who attempt to create their own jewellery and render these pins unusable.  I am all for the recycling of items that can no longer be used in their intended way but to actual take the jewels of the "Flower Child" and use them in any other way I find disturbing to me.   I will be showing more of my collections  

Overshoe Evolution

Since I started this blog it has been an adventure Hunt for me.  Each time I think of an item that I would like to share with you I discover that I have two or three more to show.   This has become a form of house sorting which is long overdue.  Here is some good examples of the boot or rain boot from the 1940 to the 1960.  The fur trimmed overshoe I wore in the 1950's but the sexy heeled boots was popular in the 1960's.  The rubber overshoes judging from the shape of the heel would be typical of the 1040.  The most interesting is the black rubber protector which left the heel of your shoe out and only covered the sides and sole.  I do remember my mother having a pair of the clear plastic fold up shoe covers in her bag along with the little package with a  fold up head cover.

Vintage Wicker and Straw bags and Purses

I promise myself that I will post more often so that i can share with you some of my favourite things.  this collection of straw and wicker purses and totes are  novel lovely and great examples of some hand made bags.  Most I suspect are souvenirs from many different tropical vacations.  These are starting to require a lot of space, so I am not applying myself to acquire more I just keep the ones that come my way.