What my grandmother told me about life in the 1940s.

Some of my favorite stories that I have heard from Grandparents and Parents is how they met. My Dads mom told me she was deterimined not marry a boy from the neighborhood that she grew up in which had lots of poor imigrant and blue collar inhabitents. She was dating a Jewish boy from up the hill when she met my Grandfather I didn't get a clear answer on how or where they met but she told me she liked her men more rough and ready. lol

My parents met on a blind date but my dad was originally supposed to go out with her sister as they were looking for a short girls to fix up my short dad with. Her sister got engaged and sent my mom instead.

My husbands Grandma told me how she and her husband met. She and her friend were supposed to go out for a drive with these two guys. Anne (my husbands Grandma) didn't want to ride with her future husband because he was Lutheran and she was catholic. Lorna her friend didn't want to ride with her future husband because she was older than him. But Anne said what the heck (not sure of exact words) its not like we are going to marry them.lol

My Grandmother often talks about USO dances (I think that's the right term) and how she and my Great Aunt used to go out in little dresses and dance with all the soldiers. She told me about dancing at Disneyland, too, since my family has lived in California for a long time on that side. I think she said her first visit was in 1956. She also commented on one of my dresses saying that she would wear something like it when she was younger and that it suited me.

I don't know how she met her first husband, I never thought to ask. I do want to ask her questions about hair, though, I can't ever get mine t behave!

Why is this thread in the Powder Room? [huh]

My mom:
A. Never went out without a hat and gloves.
B. Nice girls don't smoke on the street.

Tomasso said:

Why is this thread in the Powder Room? [huh]

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Because I prefer female input and DON'T want it to turn into a "the past was/wasn't better because of XYZ" argument. That post isn't about this. I just want some girly-type ideas and questions to ask my grandma because I' most interested in the female point of view from back then (and now).

My other grandmother was born in 1901 and I never met her, but apparently she said that women who bobbed their hair were "sl*ts". lol. Here SHE is:

I love this thread! But I have nothing much to add except it makes me miss my Nana (my greatgrandmother Helen, born 1897, died 1996) so much. I remember she talked about working in the Department of Printing and Engraving during WWII and into the 50's. She lived in the Washington D.C. area, but had met a Spanish Doctor in the Teens and married him, gone off to Cuba and had her family there. He passed in the 30's and she returned to the U.S. This thread just made me miss her and the long talks we'd have about the past. I wish I'd recorded them, that is a great idea Lizzie!!

Tomasso said:

Why is this thread in the Powder Room? [huh]

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More to the point, what are you doing in the Powder Room?

I love the idea of asking about rebel behavior! What did they do that their parents would have disapproved of? My mother (who grew up in the 40s) talks about hiding her red lipstick among her school stuff and then putting it on when she got down the street because my grandfather vehemently disapproved of his little girl (at 16) wearing lipstick (of course, he didn't disapprove of his "girlfriends" wearing it, but that's a whole 'nother tale!).

When I was a teenager, my grandmother pulled out a dress of hers that she'd made before she got married in 1926, found an old purse, scarf and hat, and played dress-up with me. I learned a WHOLE lot about her in that! She talked about all the items of clothing, from under to over, and the little details that either made them very risque or not (and how they could change from one to the other depending on who was around!), as well as the various fads of the day. And my very sweet, very *pure* grandmother's fascination with Clara Bow came out. Mainly, though, I think it was because of my grandmother's very unruly hair that she thought so much of Clara Bow--her hair was something to behold, too!

So, yeah, if you can incorporate some clothing, either something 40s that you have, or ask her if she has anything hidden away, that can trigger some interesting memories indeed!

Oh, and ask about her neighbors growing up. Were there any neighborhood scandals?

Drappa, I am in awe of your family.
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I love threads like this.
My parents married in the 1940s. One of the main things I remember my mother telling me was nice girls did not go out after dark at all without a chaperone (her brothers)
She would dance around all the time doing a dance she called the hitchhiker I believe. I think it was a type of Lindy Hop.
She gave me an etiquette book for my 12th. birthday.
So ask her how important it was for mothers to teach their daughters how to be a woman. Cook, clean, sew a button etc.

This is a great thread. My grandmother was born in 1924 and told me her family would go to the beach to go bathing, but she never learnt to swim because it was seen as "indecent" for a girl. She's from a catholic family, I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but according to her none of her girlfriends her age learnt to swim when they were young. She also wasn't allowed to get her ears pierced, which she wasn't happy about. She was a seamstress and later also a milliner by training, mainly because she had to learn a useful profession that was appropriate for a girl. She envied her brothers a bit for having more choices in life, but she grew up to be a remarkable woman herself despite the restrictions.

She has a lot of stories about World War II, when her family's house was bombed by a V2. They lost a lot but didn't let it get them down. She lived in German occupied Belgium and told me about how she used to hide money inside her gloves to bring to family in the Netherlands. When she got stopped by German soldiers at the border they never found it, I guess they didn't ask a young lady to take her gloves off. She has other stories about how they used to trick the occupying forces, but for some reason the one about the gloves is my favourite.

The 50s is the decade I associate most with my gran because this is when my grandparents' house (where she still lives) was built. They wanted it completely modern and it is a beautiful example of 50s modernist architecture. It still has a lot of the original fittings and furniture and my grandmother is very proud of her home which she helped design. The architect originally said it was unnecessary to have a bathroom as they could just have a tub, but she insisted on having a modern bathroom built in. Can you imagine an architect having the same opinion now? Other houses in their neighbourhood which were built around the same time were in a much more traditional style, and at the time many people criticized my grandparents' house for clashing with them and being "too ugly and modern", while nowadays people praise it for its enduring appeal, which always makes her smile. As for safety concerns, she lives in a neighbourhood where people still leave their back doors open and drop in for a chat or to borrow some milk, so not so much has changed for her in that respect.

My grandmother never learned to swim either -- which is funny, because she lived her entire life less than half a mile from the shore. She was terrified of water, and never even went out on a boat. I got curious about this -- because I can't swim either, and always felt strange about it -- and she told me it went back to something that happened when she was very young. A woman from her neighborhood joined the Baptists and they took her out to get baptized in the bay -- but it was March or April, the water was very cold, and the woman caught a chill, which developed into pneumonia, and she died. That terrified my grandmother and she never forgot about it. And she never wanted anything to do with Baptists.

Most memorable advice she ever gave me? "Don't eat raw macaroni. I knew a sailor once who ate raw macaroni, and he died." For some reason, most of her stories seemed to involve people who did dubious things and then died.

She was a child of the teens and twenties, and was never a flapper or anything rebellious -- or so she'd always told us. But one day when I was about twelve, I was looking thru the family photos and I noticed something that didn't add up. I knew her first child -- my uncle -- was born in June of 1934, but when I found a newspaper clipping among the pictures announcing her wedding to my grandfather it was dated December 1933. Hmmm. December to June -- that's not even seven months. "Was Uncle Earle a preemie?" I asked.

"No, of course not," she said. "He was the biggest baby I ever saw, had a head like a cantaloupe."

"But you were married in December and he was born in June, right?"

"Yep."

"That's only six and a half months. Don't babies take nine months?"

She turned bright red.

"Go out in the yard an' pull some dandelion greens or I'll warm your backside."

I always meant to ask my grandfather about it, but I get the feeling he wouldn't have stopped laughing long enough to give me an answer.

I remember my mom telling me "some" of the women going a bit wild during the War while the men were away. Things that make you go hmm....Nothing new under the sun except levels of self control I guess.

My mum used to tell me things about the 40's when I was young, but I have to admit I was never very interested back then! She had me in her 40's and was always the oldest mum in the school, and I suppose I was kind of embarassed by her and her extremely old fashioned ideas when I was a teenage Goth/Punk.
Most of her tales involved having a good old sing song down the shelter during the Blitz in Liverpool. Her parents refused to evacuate the kids as they had the fatalist view that 'if they were going to go, they'd all go together'. To hear her, you'd think it was all fun and games, but every now and again she'd tell of the 'real' war, of her sister not being allowed to go to a friends birthday party because of the bombing, and how the house had a direct hit that night. Her sister's friend was decapitated. My auntie dodged death that night only to die a couple of years later from TB.
When I was a kid and we had a thunderstorm, my mum used to sit shut into the cupboard under the stairs, or lie down in the hallway away from all the windows with a pillow over her head, I always thought she was loopy. It wasn't until fairly recently that I realised it was probably because of her experiences during the Blitz.
As you can probably guess, we never really saw eye to eye. She died about 12 years ago, before we really buried our differences, but I would love to have her around to talk to now.

My Grandmother always had a problem with people kissing on TV and always turned her head way and would not look if there was a bed room scene in a film then she make a noise with her tong in disapproval.
Talking about different social attitudes in the 40's, my mother was punished at school most likely with a ruler on the back of her legs by the teacher because her younger sister turned up at school with dirty knees.

my mother was punished at school most likely with a ruler on the back of her legs by the teacher because her younger sister turned up at school with dirty knees.

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sounds like my childhood. I would get in big trouble as I was in a large family if I showed up without my younger sister. I was completely responsible for her.

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W-D Forties..Mercy is all I can say. The trials and tribulations of history is stunning.

Thanks Foofoogal, she was very hard work my mum, but then again, probably so am I!

My dad was slightly easier going, he was a tail-gunner on Lancaster bombers during the war. Again, he wouldn't talk about the terrible things he saw and did but camouflaged it all with jokes about getting weeknd passes and landing the Lanc on local playing fields to nip home. It was only after he died that my stepmother told me that he suffered with terrible guilt about the people he had helped to bomb.

It all goes to show that now is the time to talk, don't leave it too late to ask the important questions.

Weightloss during the 40's

My Nana was in her mid 20's & married with a child during the 40's. I remember being shocked when we were talking about weight loss & she said, "You know, during the 40's I used to buy black market amphetamines from US soldiers, they worked a treat!" She said they were very popular with housewives at the time. The idea of Nana on speed is a bit surreal.

lolly_loisides said:

The idea of Nana on speed is a bit surreal.

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LOL. My nana seemed like she was on speed without any help. I think she wouldve exploded with outside influence.

scottyrocks said:

LOL. My nana seemed like she was on speed without any help. I think she wouldve exploded with outside influence.

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That's the thing, my Nan was a larger than life character (honestly, the stories she used to tell & the things she used to get up to) & the idea of her amplified is just bizarre.