Dream Books

"Dreaming is one of the few remaining delicious pastimes open to the public that's absolutely free.  There is no better way to remain passionate than to dream big."

R. Brooks, B.L. Richardson, "You Should Really Write a Book"

Coming out of the first part of the 20th Century, and World War II, families began to create the American Dream - to have more than their parents had, to finally live a life of luxury - a house for all with white picket fences. 

In the 1950's and 60's we, like everyone else, had a magazine rack in the living room.  If you don't know what that is, it's fine.  It was a bad idea, a place where you could keep your magazines close, but without clutter, so you could reach in and read them at any time.  Of course, they usually filled up in about a week and sat there, next to a growing pile of magazines on the floor.  We had a magazine rack, and it seemed to collect what I call Dream Books - books that we would look at and think about what we might want.  Books that let us dream the American Dream.

Of course, catalogs like the Sears Catalog and the Penny's Catalog and the S&H Stamps Catalog were there; these let you look at clothes and appliances and all sorts of things and think about what you may choose to purchase some day "when your ship comes in".  The Sears Catalog had been a Dream Book for many decades. The first Sears catalog was published in 1888.  By 1894 it was already more than 300 pages long!  In 1993, Sears stopped publishing its general merchandise catalog, but all through the 50's and 60's we had them.

A reproduction of the "1909 Sears, Roebuck and Co., Inc. Consumers Guide", (Cheapest Supply House on Earth) must have been a great dream book, with not only clothes and tools in it but jewelry, musical instruments, furniture, guns, cameras, everything you could imagine.  I used to pretend that it was 1909 and I had $5 to spend.  I would make lists for myself, choosing things like the 64 cent American pocket watch over the Swiss Calendar watch ($5.88); or the Remington Derringer for $4.25.  If I had given myself more, I would still have favored the cheaper Beckwith Home Favorite Piano for $89 over the $138 Beckwith Artist's Grand Piano.  (All of their grand pianos look like uprights to me.)  You could get a perfectly fine shotgun from Sears for $11-17. 

In addition to the Sears Catalog, cookbooks were an interesting kind of Dream Book.  In the 50's and 60's we were flooded with them, as booklets somehow associated with a product.  They took you away to thoughts of dinner parties and entertaining - to thoughts of having the money to throw dinner parties and entertaining.  In the 1950's, as new appliances were becoming available, many manufacturers provided cookbooks to accompany their product.

Every product seemed to come with a booklet that gave you something to look forward to.  I have a brochure from perhaps 1954 advertising "Low Cost Room Cooling".  It was portable! Reversible!  It was Automatic!  If it was hot, it turned itself on; cool, it turned itself off!  There was even a picture of a happy eskimo in front of his igloo on the cover.  All this fuss was over a 20-inch Window Fan!  But to read about it, this was true luxury.

In 1961, my parents bought a Kenmore washing machine from Sears for $209.00, possibly the first one for them that didn't have a wringer.  "NOW - make washday a JOY instead of a JOB!"  It tells about the pleasure of using this Automatic Washer.  This was a woman's user manual.  Accompanied by drawings of well-dressed women, there are tips to make washing better - by defining the  tasks of sorting clothes, preparing clothes before washing, pretreating, prewashing, and of course, using Kenmore Detergent.  We all take detergents for granted but it wasn't too long ago that families would periodically make small batches of their own soaps, none of which worked very well for cleaning clothes. 

We had a 1962 booklet that accompanied freezers and those newfangled refrigerators with freezer compartments, again from Sears.  It was titled "How to Prepare foods for Freezing".  It was filled with color pictures of the great food you will have if you freeze fresh strawberries, meats, etc.  The 35 page booklet contained lots of recipes too.  Apparently when freezers came out, you needed help to use them.

Even my parents' Sunbeam Automatic Percolator came with a booklet, containing lots of pictures of coffee being poured.  "The best automatic percolator made!" (also described as the "Finest Automatic Percolator Made".)  Several references are made to the perfect coffee that you will enjoy, now that you have it. 

An electric iron from Westinghouse came with a booklet - "The Secret of Easier Ironing With Steam!"  It was the easiest iron you've ever use!  The last page contains technical details (weight, cord construction, heating elements, steam generating principle, etc.); the page is labeled "for men only".

My mother's Sunbeam Mixmaster came with a 45 page cookbook called "How to get the Most out of your Sunbeam Mixmaster". It also contained full-page ads for their other products such as the Sunbeam Ironmaster, the Coffeemaster, the Waffle Baker, the Automatic Egg Cooker, and the Shavemaster.  It was quite an impressive line of products.  We would dream about having a house full of Sunbeam xxxmasters!

Dream books related to products made it seem like just about everything was brand new, and needed explanation.  They filled your head with exciting new ideas, often for dinner parties and barbecues (all things you didn't do before, but now would do because of these products).  One particularly exciting booklet from the Reynolds Metals Company, Compliments of the Penn Fruit Co. Cookout Center, was called "Outdoor Cooking with Reynolds Wrap."  The opportunity to make corn on the grill by wrapping it in the latest "tin foil" was exciting, and well photo-documented.  The promise was clear - life was going to be good!

The American Dairy Association put out a booklet called "Let's Eat Outdoors" (A Cook Book of Recipes and Ideas for Picnics, Barbecues, Patio Parties and Camping).  I'm sure we never would have even thought of having a patio party, or even a patio, before reading this full color booklet.  Of course, page one was dedicated to "Milk Coolers for Outdoor Fun".  You remember Milk Coolers, Right?  One very exciting one was called the Calypso Cooler.  ("Bartender, One Calypso Cooler for my friend here!")  The recipe was as follows: " To one quart of thoroughly chilled milk, add 8 tsp. of Nestle's Quick.  Stir briskly and serve."  Another, the Raspberry Flip, was made by adding Stokely's Red Raspberry perserves to milk.  Yum (I think).  Where have Milk Coolers gone?

I'll spare you the details, but we had a booklet (1961) from Knox Gelatine, called "Do you really want to lose weight?  then here's the KNOX EAT and REDUCE PLAN".  I used to know what Knox Gelatine was, but not any more. 

There was a 1965 booklet in the magazine rack called "quick recipe favorites".  There are drawings of some desert-y looking things, a salad mold, and even a ham on the cover.  Can you guess who it's from?  The subtitle is "distinctively different with 7 Up"!

Sealtest published a free booklet entitled "Serve Cottage Cheese" (selected favorite recipes from the Sealtest kitchen) that made you just want to have a Cottage Cheese patio party!  We also had a "Royal Baking Powder ROYAL Cookbook", a "Bisquick party Book" (from Betty Crocker), a "Calumet Baking Powder Company book of Reliable Recipes", and a picture book of recipes called "Flavor and Spice and All Things Nice" from McCormick.  They all did an impressive job of convincing you that your life would be better, more elegant, if you made some of their recipes.

A distinctive red, white and blue booklet from Betty Crocker, "How to prepare appetizing, healthful meals, with foods available today" is dated 1943, and Betty's Forward begins with "Hail to the Women of America!".  It really is an interesting read, with sections such as "Stretching Meat".  It talks about what to do when meat is rationed, and how you should consider asking for bones and trimmings to make soup with.  It must have been very complicated because the war made heavy demands on the meat supply, so "homemakers" were well-versed in meat grades, correct methods for storage and preparation, how to make plans for left-overs, and even techniques such as "salvaging drippings".  It was a different time. Even in the 40's during the war, this cookbook booklet discussed Hospitality in Wartime, and making food for activities such as a victory garden supper, a basket social, a community sing, or perhaps a barbeque or hobo party.  We still had to party!

Magazines peaked in the 1960's.  They were big and glossy, filled with photojournalism and news and lots of exciting color ads for alcohol, cars and cigarettes.  Life magazine (1936-1972) led the pack.  Its mirror image Look magazine, had a similar rise and fall (1937-1971).  The ads in these things certainly raise them to Dream Book Status.

One of my favorites in the Dream Book rack was "The Sherwin-Williams 1959 Home Decorator (and how to paint book)".  It was given to us compliments of John Wanamaker (Philadelphia) who apparently used to sell house paints on the 5th Floor.  The color pictures of beautiful homes and rooms painted with Sherwin-Williams paints really did make you believe that their paint could convert your row house into a sprawling ranch.  "This is your book of Wonderful Ideas" is how the book begins.  All of the rooms they showed looked so nice, and we could have them, because "everything in a room can look new with a change of color on the walls".  That's quite a promise.  Filled with words like perfect, exciting and beautiful , it really did make you want to go out and improve the quality of your life by painting!

Get some paint, paint the walls, paint the doors, paint the piano!, you can even paint the kids!

We only had a few issues of a publication called "Popular Home" (your how-to-do-it magazine), but that was more enough.  We looked at them over and over.  They came to us complements of the Scholtz Lumber Company, 85th and Tinicum Ave, Philadelphia.  (SA 9-5500; "we're as near as your phone").  They had so many ideas on how to fix up an attic or a bedroom or family room, you wanted to go to Wanamaker's and get some Sherwin-Williams paint, then stop off at the lumber yard, so you could turn the attic into that extra space that every family needs.

Pulling these ideas together was a "magazine" called "Hospitality Home" (A digest for Modern Homemakers), circa 1956.  

I'm not sure what a digest is, but it says it was.  We got a few issues from B& W TV, Furniture & Appliance, 402 MacDade Blvd. Collingdale PA (Phone Sharon Hill 1187).  There were articles on things to sew, things to do in the summer, something to build like a bookcase, some new recipes, often something on flowers (The Magic of Annuals) and lots of ads - from Hotpoint.  The month that they printed a full page ad on Hotpoint air conditioners they also published an article on air conditioners called "Styled from a Woman's Point of View").  Hotpoint washing machines and dryers got a double-page ad, with a photo of a family - wife, husband, two girls, a boy and a baby - with what now seems like a confusing title - "Everything this family is wearing (yes everything!) can be perfectly washed in a Hotpoint. . .".  Articles such as "Don"t be a Snob about Modern!" seemed to fit well with another one, "Fit TV into Your Home" (Have you puzzled over the best way to fit television into your life and living space?).   Surprisingly, Hotpoint also sold TV's, even portable ones, called Hi-Vi TV, because of the VIvid picture, VIvid sound and VIvid styling!

wanted this room then, still want it now!

Of course, we don't get free booklets or anything any more - although similar things may be on the internet for you.  I think these Dream Books represented dreams for those who created them as well.  They spent the money to give loyal customers something good, and by making this investment, they would get more customers.  They had their dream too!

This was a time of dreaming, a time of so many changes, a time of new technology, making the lives of our womenfolk easier, and brighter, a time when, even if you couldn't have all of the latest colors and alcohol and cars and appliances, you could dream.  Someday it would happen, some day you would be there.  You would have a Patio Party and become part of the high society in your town.  Life had the potential to be good.  All we had to do was dream, and dream we did.

© 2013 John Allison