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Saturday, January 03, 2015

1948: AMERICAN MORALS AND THE SOCIAL FABRIC

Back in the 1940's and 50's when my friend Don Slabicki and I worked for Fred and Edna Kuser there were always copies of the "MOTION PICTURE HERALD" and "LIFE" magazine in the Kuser "den." (The den being the room which now serves as the office of Ms. Patti Krzywulak. (pronounced Sheh-voe-lack). I just came across an article, extracted above which is from the complete article entitled "FAMILY STYLE MODEL AGENCY," which in this case happened to be the Ford Modeling Agency. I was immediately taken back to my years at Kuser Farm. Even though I recall her as a Powers model, lovely Mary Corey, Fritz and Edna's niece, was the epitome of the "girl next door." All of us admired and hoped one day to meet the perfect girl she personified. Mary was a frequent visitor to the Sunday night movies at the Kuser family theater, and whenever she was there, you can be assured that she was dressed in extreme good taste. How we have changed over the years! What was once a society where wholesome femininity was the norm, we have morphed into a society where tattoos, belly buttons and other "in your face" examples of societal changes have become the rule rather than the exception.  
Note that this is my personal observation, and also note that it comes from a person who longs for a return to those years when life was much less complicated. In other words, from an old "fuddy duddy" who remembers how June Allyson, Kim Novak, Betty Grable, June Haver, Jeanne Crain and other Hollywood lovelies exhibited "wholesome" feminism and were every bit as "sexy" in their one piece bathing suits when compared to the "derriere-exposing" Bikinis.

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