Zipper

In 1950 all clothes had a button or a zipper to put them snug against your body. There were darts from the waist to your breast, concave arches up the back, a snug pack of cotton for the shoulders that came to a point. Boy were we cute! No such things as stretch pants or elastic waistband. The ladies hair was a beehive and we teased our hair 6 inches high. The guys had a ducktail at the nape of their neck and pompadour full of grease, enough to make fried chicken.

Nan had three dresses in her closest two with buttons up the front and one with a zipper down the back. One was for church, one was for weddings and one was for every day. She never wore slacks and absolutely would never put on a pair of jeans. She was a lady. He hair was black and straight and always covered her ears. She hated her ears, she thought they were too big and she never wore her hair up in a bun. She was beautiful even when she was hanging clothes with the wind blowing 40 mph. 

In the morning she put on a clean apron and never took it off until 10 pm. She would put a sweater or coat over her dress and apron when she went to the store. We did not have a mailbox the mailman delivered right to our door. Everyone knew his name. UPS trucks came to our house once a year, we went to the post office to send packages to our uncle in the Korean War. We did not have to send letters all of our immediate family of 60 lived within 10 miles of us. It was not odd to have 15 kids in the backyard playing tag and going to the alley to take a piss. Remember we had one bathroom. You may not know what an alley is? Homes were built with garages in the rear of the back yard. You had to go up the alley to park your car in the garage. Otherwise you parked your car on the street. Most families had one car.

Our uniforms for gym had buttons, they always popped off doing jumping jacks or climbing the rope to pass or fail that class. The boys had gym shorts  with a button at the waist and a tee shirt. Girls were allowed to play field hockey and tennis. All other sports were reserved for the guys.OOPS sorry the girls were allowed to try out for cheerleading. Only the prettiest girls in the clic made it to the cheerleading team. I was in the band so I could not do both.

The zippers were made of steel or aluminum, not plastic like today. If something was stuck in your zipper and you pulled on it, you are out of luck, the zipper  broke. You had to find a safety pin to keep your panties or your penis from showing. I was in Home Economics in 10th grade, the first semester we did cooking. I got an F. The second semester we did sewing and I got an F. I bought fabric for a dress and tore out the zipper 6 times before it would look like a straight line. My escapades in the kitchen are monumental. It is a wonder my children ever gained weight between the ages of 2 and 10.

Don't you love the sound of a zipper when it works?