Misidentified: The Jungle Girl

Hollywood Jungle Girl - the Actress Acquanetta - Jet Magazine Feb 14, 1952

Born Burnu Acquanetta in Cheyenne, Wyoming, to an Arapaho mother and a French-English-Cherokee father, she was given up for adoption and raised as Mildred Davenport by adoptive parents in Norristown, Pa. Accounts of her "real" story vary widely because early agents thought it best to conceal her Black heritage. Which really wasn't too unheard of back then because there was favoritism towards light skinned women within the race. And as for outside of the Black race, the lighter you were back then, the better you could pass for White. Therefore, you have two conflicting stories one being she was born on a reservation... The other story is she was born to light skinned working class Black parents.

After graduating high school, her exotic good looks brought her to New York to become a model. As her career took off, she took back part of her original name and, with the aid of helpful New York columnists, fabricated a South-of-the-Border background. In 1942 she landed a contract at Universal Pictures, where she played a succession of jungle girls and exotic beauties.

She is perhaps best remembered for her role in "Tarzan and the Leopard Woman" (1946). Other films included "Arabian Nights" (1942), "Captive Wild Woman" (1943) and "The Sword of Monte Cristo" (1951).

In the late 1950s, she married Los Angeles businessman Jack Ross and the two moved to the Phoenix area, where he became a successful automobile dealer. She starred in radio and TV commercials for her husband's Lincoln-Mercury dealership and became a socialite and philanthropist.

The couple donated money to help build a hospital in Mesa, Ariz., founded a theater in Scottsdale, Ariz., raised money for the Phoenix Symphony and served as a member of the Arizona Press Club. They also founded Combined Charities Inc., a foundation that allowed smaller charities to use the interest from its consolidated donations. Ross later ran unsuccessfully for governor.

In 1974 she published a book of poetry called "The Audible Silence." The couple eventually divorced in the 1980s, and among the property she gained in the settlement was the Mesa Grande ruins that scientists suspected was an ancient Hohokam temple. She eventually sold the site to city of Mesa, after obtaining promises that it planned to preserve the site as a museum.

This Black and Indian actress died in 2004 at 83 after having lived an apparently very full life with four children and seven grandchildren.

Pictures via google.
 Some enlightenment
 from Barry L. Atkins
via vieilles_annonces.

Graceful Sundays

Dining etiquette brings us right to: sitting in a social setting.

Tupperware Showers

Confession time: I enjoy reusable containers! I even like buying the deli meat that comes in the containers from time to time. They are just so handy and durable.


Selling Tupperware was another way for women to
 make money after World War II.


I would so have a 50s theme for a fun, joyous occasion, like a bridal shower!

Some things I would do whenever that time comes:

1. Everyone would have to bring Tupperware, to go along with the theme.
2. Recipe cards as part of party favors.
3. Play bridal shower games, of course!

It would be so fun! Yes.. I know, I'm a nerd, but I embrace it. So take that you naysayers! Ever since I saw these next ideas in the following pictures, I've been harping on it!

Table settings

Handmade paper pom-poms dangle above tables.

Paper flowers in vases were used.
Guests drank homemade sweet tea and lemonade.

Napkins with 1950s housewives and funny captions
 are an easy way to further drive home the theme.

Champagne in retro style ice bucket

Cupcake tower with variety in flavor

A Pimp My Cupcake station label.

Guests had fun making their own cupcake creations.

Take home gifts for guests

Pop quiz, “Who Knows the Bride Best?” for guests
to take. The quizzes are on white paper
with a retro-style teal and red border.
the winner gets a prize!

Guests also went home with
heart-shaped measuring spoons as favors,
in keeping with the housewife theme.
I've also seen these on Etsy!

Now see, doesn't this look fun?! Gotta love theKnot.com! Though it just happens to be the two colors I really like throwing together, I would try to incorporate more original ideas so that my own function can be uniquely mine. 

Graceful Sundays

Graceful Sundays

Now introducing "Graceful Sundays"! Here are some etiquette tips for the proper Lady of the 50s. We'll start with the basics: sitting pretty.

R.I.P. Etta James

Etta James passed away today at the age of 73! She struggled with leukemia, dementia and kidney problems. :-(

Etta James musical career spanned six decades. She started out in a group called, "The Peaches" singing background vocals. Then she went solo ending up with a second Top 10 hit in 1955 with "Good Rockin' Daddy." After beginning to date The Moonglows vocalist, Harvey Fuqua, James signed with Chess Records'. Producer, Leonard Chess, believed James had crossover pop potential, and backed her material with orchestral arrangements. With this new style, many of James songs became hits on both the R&B and Pop charts, such as "All I Could Do Was Cry", "At Last", and "Trust in Me." She released her debut album, At Last! in 1960, followed by The Second Time Around in 1961. In 1968, James had her first Top 10 hit in three years with "Tell Mama", which was followed by an album of the same name. Her discography consists of 28 studio albums, 3 live albums, and 6 compilations. She has a total of 58 singles!

I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield

Before Anna Nicole Smith, there was Jayne Mansfield; American actress and sexual icon of the 1950s and 1960s!

 Left: Anna Nicole Smith.
(November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007)
Right: Jayne Mansfield.
(April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967)

"If you're going to do something wrong, do it big, because the punishment is the same either way."

Fact sheet About Jayne:
1. Born as Vera Jayne Palmer.
2. She wore a blonde wig; naturally a brunette.
3. Height: 5' 6¼".
4. Measurements: 46D-18-36, after having kids!
5. She had four children, Jayne Marie Mansfield, Mickey Jr Hargitay, Zoltan Hargitay, and Mariska Hargitay.
6. One of her daughters, Mariska Hargitay, plays Detective Olivia Benson on "Law & Order: SVU".
7. She had a very high IQ.
8. She attended the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Dallas, UCLA, and Southern Methodist University.
9. She spoke five languages, and was a classically trained pianist and violinist.

Jayne Mansfield at the pink gates

of her house, which had her intials J M.

10. She was obsessed with the color pink. Jayne lived in a house located at 10100 Sunset Boulevard, in Beverly Hills. It was painted pink and became known as the Pink Palace.
11. She had a heart shaped swimming pool. It used to have "I love you Jaynie" in mosaic on the floor of it built by her husband at the time, Mickey Hargitay.
12. She turned down the role of Ginger on Gilligan’s Island.

Jayne Mansfield with Marilyn Monroe.

13. She actually admired Marilyn Monroe, even though, throughout her career she was compared by the media to Monroe and the other top sex symbol Mamie Van Doren.

14. 20th Century Fox signed a six-year contract with Mansfield to replace Marilyn Monroe as their resident blonde sex symbol.

15. Jayne starred in several popular Hollywood films that emphasized her platinum-blonde hair, hourglass figure and cleavage revealing costumes.

16. Jayne notoriously pulled publicity stunts by exposing her cleavage and fully exposing her boobs in "accidents".
17. She was a Playboy Playmate of the Month and appeared in the magazine several additional times.

18. She had a role in the film "Promises! Promises!", which is the first Hollywood motion picture with sound to feature a mainstream star in the nude.

On Location

She died in a gruesome car-truck accident at the age of 34. Some say she was beheaded upon impact. Others think the impact scalped her, or that it was her wig knocked off by the impact shown in photos after the accident. The car she was in at the time was a 1966 Buick Electra. All three people in the front seat including Jayne died instantly. The three children she had with Hargitay were also in the backseat at the time with four Chihuahuas. Miraculously, the children survived. One dog did die. Jayne's casket was completely covered in pink roses. The Jayne Mansfield accident resulted in the Hollywood Screen Actors Guild and the Louisiana State Police successfully lobbying Congress for the "Block Bar" a.k.a. "the Mansfield Bar", which was legislated in 1967 to be installed on all semi trailers and trucks to prevent cars from running up under the back of them. What a tragic ending.. like most Hollywood tales.



Moments Captured: Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. A young man with alot on his mind, destined to do great things.

Martin Luther King is sprawled across the police desk
 as his wife, Coretta Scott, looks on stunned.
He was arrested for loitering at the Montgomery Courthouse
and released when his identity became known to the police.
Montgomery, AL 1958.

What is he thinking in this moment?
Whatever it is, burden is written all over his face.

 Coretta Scott King, Yolanda Denise King, and family man Martin Luther King, Jr.
stand on the stairs of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in spring of 1956.

Coretta Scott King embraces Martin Luther King, Jr. on 22 March 1956
 after he was found guilty of conspiracy to boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.

That Makes the Two of Us Sister!



Screams For Eames

Charles (1907-1978) and Ray Eames (1912-1988).

Who doesn't know that Eames products are quintessential for creating your mid-century style home or Mad Men office? But did you know Charles Ormond Eames Junior is a native of St. Louis, MO?  He attended Washington University's School of Architecture. It is rumored he was dismissed from the school because of his modern views. Others say it was because of sleep deprivation between having the demands of school and work. To further his education in architecture, he moved (in 1938) to Michigan. Charles attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He decided to use the St. Louis riverfront as his area of focus in order to apply for the Architecture and Urban Planning Program. With the help of Eero Saarinen (friend architect partner), Charles designed prize-winning furniture for New York's Museum of Modern Art "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" competition. Originally developed by Alvar Aalto, it displayed the newer technique of wood moulding. Eames further developed this technique in multiple moulded plywood products including: splints and stretchers for the U.S. Navy during World War II, and of course furniture!

After Charles divorced his wife of 12 years and mother of his daughter, named Lucia, Charles Eames married his second wife in 1941. He married his Cranbrook colleague Ray Kaiser. Mrs. Bernice Alexandra "Ray" Eames met Charles while preparing models and drawings for the "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" competition in September of 1940. Tsk Tsk.. dating before you're even officially divorced.

In 1943, 1944, and 1947, Ray Eames designed several covers for the reputable magazine, Arts & Architecture. She also had two of several textile designs produced by the company Schiffer Prints. So yeah, Ray can stand on her own two feet. Though, it is agreeable that Mrs. Ray was very involved and important in the designs with her husband. The Eames fabrics were mostly designed by her.

The Eames continued to be innovative in the 1950's, using plastic resin chairs and the wire mesh chairs designed for Herman Miller.

Throughout the mid to late 50's and into the 60's and 70's, Charles designed many exhibitions:

• Textiles and Ornamental Arts of India (1955)
Glimpses of the USA (seven screens for the American exhibition in Moscow, Sokoolniki Park) (1959)
Mathematica (for IBM, 1961)
IBM Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair
Nehru: The man and his India (1965)
The World of Franklin and Jefferson (1975) built for the US Bicentennial Commission opens in Paris, travels to five other countries and the US.

The couple had many short films documenting their interest, what we would consider indie films today. As part of the 20th Annual St. Louis Int'l Film Festival, the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts' Steinberg Auditorium at Washington University, will be screening "Eames: The Architect & the Painter". It is a revealing documentary on the husband-and-wife team.

Eames films include:

• Traveling Boy (1950)
• Blacktop: A Story of the Washing of a School Play Yard (1952)
• Parade Parade Or Here They Are Coming Down Our Street (1952)
• A Communications Primer (1953)
• House: After Five Years of Living (1955)
• Day of the Dead (1957)
• Toccata for Toy Trains (1957)
• Kaleidoscope Jazz Chair (1960)
• Powers of Ten (1968, rereleased in 1977)
• Image of the City (1969)
• Banana Leaf (1972)
• Fiberglass Chairs
• SX-70
• Eames Lounge Chair

No doubt they are part of America's most influential and important industrial designers!

One Suburban 50's Housewife Experience

Having two cars in the 1950's was such a big deal. Today you still need a car just to get around in the suburbs. Most interesting, is all the mixed reactions on the comments below the video on YouTube though! What is your input on this video? Can you relate to feeling trapped?