Your most non-vintage preference or attributes ...

[scotrace]

I like Hepburn a lot, the actress and the woman. But I can't abide her in Bringing Up Baby - I just want her to shut UP.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

One '30s phenomenon that totally passes me by is Rudy Vall?©e. Sure, he had a good radio program. But he came across as an effete twit, including in his singing. Will Osborne was a better singer than Rudy in the same style, and had a very musical band too.

I never "got" Rudy Vallee, either. He's not handsome in the slightest and his voice isn't anything stellar (to my ears, at least!) My dad is always telling me how my grandmother was in love with him and John Boles (another one I don't get!) Give me Dick Powell any day of the week.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

When I go to the dentist I like modern technology a lot. Have you ever seen a prewar dental drill?

HaHaHaHa!!!! That is a very good point you make!!lol And yes, I have seen a prewar dental drill, as well as other very scary looking devices that they called "dental instruments" back in the day. Amazing though, there is an instrument that we dental hygienist use called the sickle. The name says it all, it's a long metal instrument with a hook at the end that has blades on either side of the hook. It's something that we are only supposed to use on the actual visual surface of a tooth, NEVER below the gum line. When we do go below the gum line we have to use a single sided bladed instrument, that way the actual blade of the instrument only touches the surface of the tooth and not the gum. We wouldn't want your gums to look like ground beef when we're done!! But anyway, this sickle was created a very long time ago, and it's a hygienists best friend. If you can't remove something very hard (calculus is some really seriously hard stuff!) we grab that sickle and go to town. Just don't tell the dentist!!! But, modern dental instruments really do make a huge difference, not just in the patients life but in the life of a hygienist. I think if we had to use those old instruments, sickle aside, it would take us 10 hours to do what we now can do in 30 minutes to an hour. Hey, it's a tough and unglamorous job, but somebody's gotta do it1!!


RedHot: I totally agree with you on what you are saying about the cookie cutter pinup thing thats going on. I do applaud them for having "their own style", however there are thousands of girls with "their own style". They all wear the same thing, have the same hair cuts, and have similar persona's. If you're gonna do your own thing, why do you have to copy thousands of other people. Put your own spin on it. Do the pinup thing, but make it your own. Personally I prefer the classic pin up style. I have seen a lot of these girls on Myspace and some other sites, and they really have it down. From the hair and make-up to the props that they have custom made for their photo shoots, most of them are all so very beautiful. I think this pinup sub-culture that has been created should be called something else. It's more of a cross between pinup and punk. Again, I haven't any problem with these gals. I applaud them for putting themselves out there and getting noticed. But it is funny when the promote themselves as being their own type of gal, when really they are all dressing the same. Nothing wrong with this at all, but tell it like it is....

As for me, I couldn't live without technology. The internet, my cell phone, I think I might die without my iPod, and I can't wait until June 24th when I run down to Cingular to get my iPhone!!!
Also, one thing about dressing vintage that makes me a little batty is over accessorizing. I was actually gonna start a thread about this. There are a log of very cute vintage and vintagey accessories to be had. However, I personally don't like wearing them all at once. If you have a bigger pair of earrings on that are brightly colored, then leave the big chunky necklace out of the picture. Add a nice dainty brooch or something. But, I just think it's a bit much when you've got the earrings, necklace brooch, and big bangly bracelets on all at the same time. It's find to accessorize, but there's gotta be a happy medium. Sometimes I just feel too over the top, almost like I'm trying too hard to have the perfect outfit with everything matching, if I have too many accessory's on. But, thats just my opinion. Some gals can pull it off and look really cute and classy. I just prefer to wear one bigger and bolder piece and leave the rest to subtlety

Great thread by the way!

 

[LizzieMaine]

One '30s phenomenon that totally passes me by is Rudy Vall?©e. Sure, he had a good radio program. But he came across as an effete twit, including in his singing. Will Osborne was a better singer than Rudy in the same style, and had a very musical band too.

I think Vallee's greatest gift was in his choice of material -- he might not have had the most stellar voice of all time, but he had a thorough understanding of what it was capable of, and an instinctive feel for how to most effectively present that material. Vallee's band remotes of the mid-thirties make for very educational listening today, I think -- they aren't simply one song after another, but are carefully structured packages deliberately designed for maximum entertainment value, and show a real sense of pacing. I think it was this attention to showmanship and detail, more than any vocal gifts, that were responsible for his success.

 

[LadyStardust]

Non-vintage preference I would have to go with the iTrip, which enables you to sync your ipod with a radio. As much as I love phonographs, and the records spinning endlessly on them, it's just terrific being able to coast down the street and hum along dreamily with Dick Haymes or boop boop a doop along with Helen Kane,no commercial interruptions, song order of your choosing. It's so satisfying. And it's a nice change from having to deal with most people who blast rap music so loud it reverberates within any car within 100 feet.

 

[Fletch]

'K, Liz, I'll give you that. His band records aren't too bad to listen to either, altho they suffer from a certain show-band blandness (think of George Olsen's Music around that same time).

My favorite Vallée story comes from Paul Weston, then (1935) arranging for Joe Haymes. Evidently Rudy decided the Haymes band was the greatest thing since electric light. He called together his radio sidemen and arrangers and said, basically, "This is the way it's gonna be done. Go hear Joe Haymes or turn in your 2 weeks notice."

Well, of course, having put it that way, no one wanted a thing to do with Joe Haymes. To meet the obligation at minimum, they all went into Roseland, where Joe was playing, by the stage door, for free. And stood around and glared. Thirty of them.

Paul said they didn't give a wet slap about the style of the band, and none of the Haymes influence turned up on Vallée's show. (I don't know of any wholesale personnel changes in Rudy's organization afterwards however.)

 

[JazzBaby]

Alternative/Progressive rock and I love my gadgets (especially my laptop and iPod). I also have a lot of Indie-ish clothing

 

[Dixon Cannon]

I've said it before...

..ain't ashamed to say it again!

I suffer from BM! That's Beatlemania, to you vintage people! I am an unabashed Beatles fan, and for that matter, of all that is related from the British Invasion. I love all those dumb pop songs... including 'Freddy and the Dreamers'!

John Lennon lives inside of me somewhere and in that place I still have long hair like his c. '68-'69. I have never been without a pair of 'Beatle Boots' since high school and still wear them five out of seven days a week. I only wear plimsoll tennis shoes like lennon wore in 'Rock & Roll Circus'. And, I'm liable to launch into Lennonesque 'Jabberwocky' speak (with a thick scouse accent) at the first sound of some Merseybeat tune.

I love vintage and the WWII era and have a great affinity for my fedoras and vintage(ish) look. But I can't help that I came of age during Beatlemania and that John Lennon was my idol and hero.

"This is my story both humble and true, take it to pieces and mend it with glue." -jol

-dixon cannon

 

[dhermann1]

Is the M14 considered a "Golden Age" rifle, or is it "too new to count"?

Well, the M-14 was an adaptation of the Garrand, which is pretty vintage. They added the 20 round magazine and the fiber glass sections to the stock and got very mixed result. It still used basically the same ammo. So I would call it transitional, but hey, we're all friends, right? (In spite of political leanings.)
On the subject of Rudy Vallee, I just imagine these old fashioned working class and middle class ladies of the era, the kind that look like the lady on the old Mother's Oats box, sitting in their extremely old fashioned conservative kitchens and living rooms just swooning over that almost choir boy voice. In other words, he just sheds a lot of light on what real average people were like in those days. Very home spun and simple. Keep in mind, until the Big Band era of the 40's it was usually the tenor who was the romantic lead (think Dick Powell at his sappiest). Also, I think that the radio crooner's soft approach must have been a startling contrast to the more operatic style that would have been universal among live performers at the time. And Vallee was certainly soft sounding. Hey, you mean you can't dig "I'm Just a Vagabond Lover"?

 

[WideBrimm]

Microwave Oven

I'd never want to go back to a time without the microwave oven in the kitchen, a definitely non vintage item. I know what it was like to do without the microwave. Not fun. Forget about defrosting the turkey? Forget about it. Have eggs & bacon for Thanksgiving dinner! Before Microwaves, leftovers were warmed up in the oven (30 mins minimum), fried in yesterday's lard, or boiled and burned in the kettle. Oh, and no teflon coatings in those days either. There have been so many wonderful kitchen improvements since the 1920s & 1930s (or even the 1970s) it would be difficult, though not impossible, to go back in time.

 

[WideBrimm]

I've been driving stick for so long that I get confused when I rent a car and it's automatic. (Keep looking for the damn clutch!) I also have trouble with the power steering and power brakes.

Very True!

 

[Dr Doran]

I'd never want to go back to a time without the microwave oven in the kitchen, a definitely non vintage item. I know what it was like to do without the microwave. Not fun. Forget about defrosting the turkey? Forget about it. Have eggs & bacon for Thanksgiving dinner! Before Microwaves, leftovers were warmed up in the oven (30 mins minimum), fried in yesterday's lard, or boiled and burned in the kettle. Oh, and no teflon coatings in those days either. There have been so many wonderful kitchen improvements since the 1920s & 1930s (or even the 1970s) it would be difficult, though not impossible, to go back in time.

Blah, I can't stand Teflon and hate microwaves. I don't consider teflon an improvement over the cast iron skillet with nonstick spray at all. Microwaves seem to produce soggy horrible food. I defrost things by lightly boiling them or by letting them sit in the refrigerator for several days. I guess I'm old fashioned when it comes to those things -- but I still can barely stand Sinatra or the stick shift so I guess you win the vintage contest anyway.

 

[erikb02809]

3 words to describe my most non-vintage preference/attribute.


<----------Star. Wars. Geek.


I'm also rather fond of classic rock, low brow art and muscle cars.

 

[GwenLake]

They still use old dental tech in certain villages in Poland ... yikes ... having traveled extensively in Poland a number of times, I've seen it.

Yeah, that reminds me of something .When we were first here, my mom went to a recommended dentist to get her wisdom teeth removed. He looked at her teeth and then said "Well, I can try."
Needless to say, she waited several years and then went to another dentist!(Who, by the way, is very good. He regularly gets clients from England because it's cheaper.)

The thing I like a lot is that I can dress like I'm from 1940 and still get away with it. If someone in 1940 dressed in clothing from 1880 all the time I'm sure they would be regarded as a freak.

 

[DaveTheDude]

My i-Pod.

Enough said,

but it's to listen to all the vintage mp3's that I have.

 

[pigeon toe]

I would also probably die without psychobilly and punk. I love 30's and 40's tunes, but punk and psycho are really what get me.

Also, I'd be lost without the internet and cell phones. I would have no way to keep in touch with my best friend who has moved across the country, and when I go away to the Netherlands I'd have no way to communicate with my boyfriend. And that would be horrible! Thanks to Myspace, Facebook and all that stuff I'm able to keep in touch with a lot of people, some even from middle school, that I wouldn't be able to normally.

 

[PA Dancer]

I don't own vinyl anymore.

I listen to mainstream top 40 music, dance west coast swing to it and LOVE IT!

I need a microwave in my kitchen.

I love modern conveniences.

 

[nyx]

I've been driving stick for so long that I get confused when I rent a car and it's automatic. (Keep looking for the damn clutch!) I also have trouble with the power steering and power brakes.

Ha! Me too with the clutch thing! The new automatics that have the gear shift in the middle are nerve wracking, because I have to stop myself from trying to wiggle it while I'm stopped. But I can't do without the power steering. The power steering went out in my car once, and I could not turn the wheel because I'm such a wimp.

I also like 80's music and air conditioning and computers and cell phones, like many others have said. Because of where I work, I have to dress like a modern professional, so I don't do the vintage appearance much unless I'm going out. And in that vein, I can't live without modern hair utensils and products. My hair is stick straight and without it, I look like Morticia Adams.

 

[RondoHatton]

Non-Vintage Confessions

This MAC, my Yamaha GTS1000 daily beater, health care & dentistry, Dish TV for TCM, iTunes for Radio Dismuke, my lack of the amount of courage and fortitude our grandfathers and grandmothers had...

...My hair is stick straight and without it, I look like Morticia Adams.

Like that's a bad thing?

 

[nyx]

This MAC, my Yamaha GTS1000 daily beater, health care & dentistry, Dish TV for TCM, iTunes for Radio Dismuke, my lack of the amount of courage and fortitude our grandfathers and grandmothers had...

Like that's a bad thing?

It is when you are sighing over someone else's perfect fingerwaves or beautifully rolled hair. I guess I just hate people thinking I'm a hippie

And I guess I should clarify that my HAIR looks my Morticia Adams. The rest of me, not so much