"Don't Make Love; Love Makes Itself." And Here's a List of 10 Don’ts for a Youth in the 1910s

Let's travel back in time to the 1910s. These are 10 funny advices for a youth from The Tacoma Times in 1911.

Don'ts for a Youth

1.—Don't fall in love because you're in bachelor quarters for the first time.
2.—Don't think you're in love with a girl because she's had a lot of trouble.
3.—Don't take an inferior or superior position when you've found the golden girl; walk alongside.
4.—Don't forget love is contagious—never infectious.
5.—Don't fall in love with a chorus girl after the second high-ball; it takes lots more to keep it up.
6.—Don't but a new suit the moment you think you're in love; she may not like it, and you may have to wear it out.
7.—Don't propose to the same girl more than three times.
8.—Don't be too sentimental; women, though practical, like at this period to show some sentimentality themselves.
9.—Don't keep on talking about the last girl you were engaged to, to the last girl you mean to marry.
10.—Don't make love; love makes itself.

(from The Tacoma Times, Washington, April 21, 1911)

An Excellent Guide for Using Telephone in 1951

How to use the rotary dial phone? How to talk with a phone? How to call, how to answer?

This booklet The Telephone and How We Use It, published in 1951 by Bell Telephone System, was a beginner course in telephone use. Targeting elementary school students, it covers everything from basic use to emergency calls and proper etiquette.

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“Stay Away From New York City If You Possibly Can” – An Anti-Tourist Guide to NYC in 1975

Travelers arriving at New York City’s airports in June 1975 were greeted with possibly the strangest object ever handed out at the portal to a great city: pamphlets with a hooded death’s head on the cover, warning them, “Until things change, stay away from New York City if you possibly can.”

Welcome to Fear City: A Survival Guide for Visitors to the City of New York (1975) was published by the Council for Public Safety—police, firefighters and other unions. New York City was in dire financial straits and Mayor Abraham Beame had proposed heavy cuts in municipal services.

The pamphlet—with a skull on the cover—was aimed to discourage tourists from visiting New York City. The pamphlet had received such negative publicity that it was not distributed, although the unions distributed other pamphlets to get their message out. Inside was a list of nine “guidelines” that might allow you to get out of the city alive, and with your personal property intact.

• Stay off the streets after 6 p.m. — “Muggings and occasional murders are on the increase during the early evening hours.”
• Do not walk — “Try not to go out alone.”
• Avoid public transportation — “Subway crime is so high that the City recently had to close off the rear half of each train in the evening so that the passengers could huddle together and be better protected..”
• Remain in Manhattan — “Restrict your travel to daylight hours.”
• Protect your property — “The city is urging everyone to engrave identifying numbers on all property.”
• Safeguard your handbag — “Never let it out of your hands; above all, never let it out of your sight.”
• Conceal property in automobiles — “Remember too that auto thefts have increased this year.”
• Do not leave valuables in your hotel room, and do not depot them in hotel vault — “Hotel robberies have become virtually uncontrollable.”
• Be aware of fire hazards — “Try to avoid buildings that are not completely fireproof.”

Negative nicknames for New York City during this economic crisis period included “Default City,” “Fear City” (by the police and fire unions), “Stink City” (sanitation unions), and “Stupid City” (teachers unions).

How to Make Friends by Telephone From the 1940s

Speak to the person at the other end of the line — not to the telephone — then you’re more apt to be pleasant and understanding.

As technology and the services we use are getting ever more advanced, it could, for some people, become harder to make real friends. The social networking hubs that have become the backbone of business are also becoming the new avenue for making friends.

In the 1940s, when the phone first became a household item, people started to question if we would even need to get out of the house anymore (just like we did when the television and the Internet became household names). However, history has shown us that we still need that physical interaction. We want to keep all our friends and still go out for a coffee or a movie every once in a while.

If you still don’t find a way to make friends in today’s jungle of technology services then why not have a look at this insanely geeky and retro guide brought to our attention by Contact Sheet? It’s called How To Make Friends By Telephone and is a guide meant to show people how to go about making real friends even though you’re in different locations by just using technology to interact back in the 1940s.

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How To Identify Ford Pickups From 1948 to 1996

The Ford Motor Company (commonly referred to simply as Ford) is an American multinational automaker headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand and most luxury cars under the Lincoln brand.

The Ford F-Series is a series of light-duty trucks and medium-duty trucks (Class 2-7) that have been marketed and manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1948. While most variants of the F-Series trucks are full-size pickup trucks, the F-Series also includes chassis cab trucks and commercial vehicles. The Ford F-Series has been the best-selling vehicle in the United States since 1981 and the best-selling pickup since 1977. It is also the best selling vehicle in Canada.

We have many ways to identify generations of Ford trucks, and here is an interesting guide based on their hoods.

Ford Truck Identification Guide

1948-1960

1961-1966

1967-1972

1973-1996

How to Dress Like a Flapper: A 1920s Guide to Good Posture With Julia Faye

In 1928, renowned actress Julia Faye published a “Guide to Good Posture For Flappers” and it is blowing our minds.

The dictionary defines a flapper as - “A young woman, especially one in the 1920s, who showed disdain for conventional dress and behavior.” That is, conventional in the 1920s. The style came around after the first world war, and women were tired of trying to conform to society’s idea of normal - women were gaining more independence, and the face of America was changing!

Flappers were most commonly known for their dancing, drinking, smoking, wearing a lot of makeup, and a love of films. Almost all flappers had bobbed hair, dated frequently, and stopped wearing their corsets (which were social norms in the 1910s).

1. How to sit correctly #1

No lady should ever sit like Julia does on the left (even a student). In fact no lady would! There are other ways of sitting comfortably while still looking graceful, as Julia does to the right.


2. How to sit correctly #2

The art of sitting with crossed legs went out for women with the arrival of short skirts. “Don’t do this!” warns Julia. “Cross the feet instead of the legs and you’ll be just as comfortable and twice as feminine!”


3. How to sit correctly #3

“Never hook your toes behind chair legs, if you would be graceful,” says Miss Faye. All right Julia! To the right is the correct posture.

“Sitting pretty is my name for this pose!” laughs Julia.


4. How to stand correctly

Don't stand like you're hiding a boner. How the well brought up young girl should not stand is illustrated to the left. Well really Julia! But over on the right, this is more like it! Julia Faye demonstrates erect posture and firm balance.


5. How to stand by a chair

Note the bad lines of Julia’s body on the left and the ungraceful balance of legs and hips. On the right, Julia stands in the correct manner.

(via Glamourdaze)

How to Decorate Your House for Christmas: 18 Interesting Vintage Ads of Snow Spray From the 1950s

Here is a set of interesting vintage advertisement posters showing how to decorate houses for Christmas by spraying snow from the 1950s.

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How to Be a Good Wife in the 1950s

Things are very different form how there were in the 1950s. But we can all learn a little for reading about being a good housewife in the 1950s.

The "Good Wife's Guide" is a magazine article rumored to have been published in the May 13, 1955 issue of Housekeeping Monthly, describing how a good wife should act, containing material that reflects a very different role assignment from contemporary American society.

The article states:

• Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal is part of the warm welcome needed.

• Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you’ll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your makeup, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.

• Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

• Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives.

• Gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper etc. and then run a dustcloth over the tables.

• Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

• Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children’s hands and faces, comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.

• Be happy to see him.

• Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

• Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first-remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

• Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.

• Your goal: Try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquility where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.

• Don’t greet him with complaints and problems.

• Don’t complain if he’s late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.

• Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.

• Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

• Don’t ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.

• A good wife always knows her place.

It's Great To Be Alive! – A Grim Safety Manual Booklet for Kids From the 1950s

According to this 1950s Police Safety League booklet there is life threatening danger at every turn for the teen and pre-teen. Going through these scanned images from It's Great To Be Alive!, two things quickly become obvious: kids from the 1950s were terrible bicycle riders and they also did a lot of stupid, dangerous things.

It would be a great idea to shock children into being safe by painting morbid scenarios of what could happen if you didn't exercise caution and common sense. This little booklet didn't mince words: there's maiming, crippling, and death sprinkled throughout its sometimes disturbing and unintentionally funny illustrations. So let's have a look...

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How-to Make a Psyche Knot

Psyche knot is a woman's hairdo in which a knot or coil of hair projects from the back of the head, originally from 1885-90 and popularly during Edwardian era.

Below is ways to make a fashionable psyche knot of women in the 1900s-10s.

Here Are 12 Reasons Why We Should Be Wearing 1960s Bathing Suits

Suits of today are far more risque than those of the 1960s. In spite of the mod look and miniskirts, women didn’t show nearly as much flesh as they would now but the bold prints and exotic designs made them seem very risque. Here are 12 reasons why we should all be wearing 1960s bathing suits:

1. Because you can wear a bathing suit and make it seem like you’re just wearing a romper or shorts.

2. Because matching.

3. Because look at the beautiful lines these suits make on these ladies.

4. Because you could wear a swimsuit that looks like a little dress.

5. Because now those bangs you got on a whim look so awesome.

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How a Wife Should and Should Not Undress: 11 Silly Tips From a 1930s Undressing School

Allan Gilbert decided to start the Gilbert’s “School of Undressing” in Manhattan in 1937 to help ladies keep their men pleased in the bedroom. Because, of course, that is a wife’s duty.

These images were featured in LIFE magazine, where Gilbert was also quoted saying that many marriages ended in divorce because “the wife grows sloppy and careless in the bedroom.”

So here are 11 tips from Gilbert and his 1930s Do’s and Don’t models.

1. “Attractive undressing technique is here being demonstrated by June St. Clair (right), of the Allen Gilbert School of Undressing.”

2. “She begins the day’s classroom exercise by neatly sliding her dress down over her hips and gracefully stepping out of it.”

3. “At the Allen Gilbert School for Undressing, Professor Connie Fonzlau begins her lecture on “Bedroom Don’ts” by demonstrating the worst possible method of disrobing.”

4. “No creases remain after Miss St. Clair (right) picks up her dress up, smoothes it out, places it on a chair which remains otherwise unoccupied. Such good bedroom manners are essential to married happiness once the honeymoon is over.”

5. “Nightgown technique is the high point in the Gilbert course. Here Miss St. Clair adroitly gets into her nightgown and drops her lingerie all in one magic motion.”

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