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Generation In-Between: A Xennial Podcast
Xennial co-hosts Dani and Katie talk about their analog childhoods, digital adulthoods and everything in between.
Generation In-Between: A Xennial Podcast
Nostalgia Trip: Dolls, Decorations, and Windsuits
Did you know that your 80's childhood toys are now considered antiques? Would you try on an authentic used windsuit for the sake of a selfie opportunity? Do you wish you could find your see-through corded phone, just to put it up to your ear one more time?
If you get excited at the sight of painted fast food glasses or Holiday Barbies still in the box, you might be a Xennial. And we are too.
Join us on a thrifting field trip to America's Antique Mall in Melbourne, Florida.
From the unsettling Madame Alexander dolls that haunted Dani's piano lessons to iconic American Girl dolls, we encounter artifacts from our 80s childhoods and 90s teen years that are now considered antiques.
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Did your childhood home have fancy collectible display dolls that creeped you the?
Katie Parsons:F out. Did you own a book of photographed babies dressed as various garden plants?
Dani Combs:If seeing Christmas villages, ceramic light-up trees and spode Christmas plates makes you remember holidays back when you were a wee one. You might be a Xennial, and we are too.
Katie Parsons:Hi, I'm Dani and I'm Katie and you're listening to Generation In Between, a Xenial podcast where we remember, revisit, literally went on a visit for this episode and sometimes relearn all kinds of things from our 80s childhoods and 90s teen and young adulthoods.
Dani Combs:Yes, and today we have another special episode for you. We had a fun one not too long ago with our snippets of our favorite moments, but today we have one filled with all kinds of fun soundbites that we recorded while we were on a little field trip recently.
Katie Parsons:We should talk about quickly how we recorded the soundbites. Tell the listeners about our fun purchase.
Dani Combs:Yeah, katie took a little fun picture of this, so we'll put that on our social. Oh, she did have it on our socials. We'll put it again. I bought these little baby microphones that are really popular right now that I see people on the interwebs using, yes, the interwebs using, yes, these, so we use it with my phone and, um, hello, we're zennials and we struggle with technology, so we're standing by in this antique booth, um, for like 15 minutes trying to get these.
Katie Parsons:Yes, but we did, we did, yes, so it was. It was really really funny, but it did work, okay. So here we've got a clip when we first got there, which explains where we are and what we're doing. So let me just play that now.
Dani Combs:Okay, we're on a field trip. I guess we need to do a little intro.
Katie Parsons:Yep here we are at America's Antique Mall in Melbourne. Yes, of.
Dani Combs:Sarno yes, little field trip today, and we have these new portable mics yes, we do, so that's how we're going to have our soundbites throughout this episode, so it'll be fun. So, okay, what we're going to do today is, as we go through the Antique Mall, when we find an item that reminds us of our childhoods or our teenagehoods in the eighties and nineties, we're going to tell little stories as we're there, so as soon as we walk.
Katie Parsons:Okay, so I'll pause it there. Yes, so that was us just reminding ourselves we were pausing there. So, yes, okay, so we took a trip to the local antique mall, our local antique mall.
Dani Combs:Oh one of them.
Katie Parsons:We have a lot. One of them, that's true. That is true. There are a lot, um, just generally in florida, but the melbourne area there's a lot. But we were specifically looking for 80s and 90s stuff, which, again, hello, an antique mall. Okay, the things from our childhoods, firsthand accounts, as patrick always says. So just let that sink in for a second. Zennials, our childhood things are in antique malls. Now, girl, and it was the first time either of us had actually ever been there and first of all, it was huge. It was huge.
Dani Combs:And we were on a time crunch, as always, having to pick up kids and go to things, yeah, but we should have found a time where we could have stayed all day because we missed so much.
Katie Parsons:I feel like, yeah, we were there for like two hours and it still wasn't enough, it wasn't, and there were, like these maps and you know, aisles, that's what I would call them like you're walking down aisles but they gave them like street names, so there were like intersections of streets.
Katie Parsons:There was like this whole map, I mean. Mean there were a lot. And the booths themselves. There were a few big ones, but most of them were pretty small. There were just so many. Yeah, it was wild and we're going to tell you more of the stuff.
Dani Combs:I saw.
Katie Parsons:So here's what we did is we walked around and saw things that were attached to our childhoods, teenhoods or just memories in general, or, if we thought it was cool, we paused and took out the mobile microphone kit that Dani bought and we held our little microphones to our mouths and chatted about our thoughts. And the other shoppers, I think, were a little confused, yeah, but it was fine.
Dani Combs:I mean, but really when you're an antique mall like there, are all kinds of peeps there doing all kinds of stuff. So honestly, I don't think anybody cared what we were doing. Or even noticed us Honestly so okay, so I actually we're there five minutes and I was one of the first to have their memory jogged yes, and not in a warm and fuzzy way, y'all.
Katie Parsons:Yes, okay, here we go. Dani's thoughts right after we got there.
Dani Combs:Okay, All right. So here we go. We're not even five steps into the store yet and I see this doll. By the way, we'll have pictures on our socials that reminded me of our Madam Alexander dolls when I was a kid. If y'all had moms who liked to collect fancy dolls, you may know what that is. So we had a piano. Growing up, we took piano lessons and we had this display thing on the top of the piano where you could put stuff. My mom put all the Madame Alexander dolls up there, and the creepiest thing ever was when you would practice piano. They would shake a little bit and their eyes would blink.
Katie Parsons:So they have like the blinkable eyes with the lashes. Yes, these do too. I know we're not looking at official, madam Alexander, these are called F and B. F and B, I think. Yeah, look, yeah they look old and fancy. E, f, f.
Dani Combs:F and B. Okay, anyway, so that's my first scary story, wow, okay, but don't worry, listeners. We did come across some more dolls that were indeed the exact Madame Alexander dolls that I remember.
Katie Parsons:Yes, there they are, dolls 2. This was later in the trip.
Dani Combs:Oh my god, we did find a wall of madame alexander dolls everyone a wall. Creepy right they are.
Katie Parsons:And you know what, after seeing the other dolls and these, these eyelashes are way longer and thicker.
Dani Combs:Imagine them on top of a piano and every time you're playing piano they blink at you. Sometimes only one eye would blink. Oh, yeah, right, yeah, nope, creepy af, I'm getting scared. Okay, bye, all right. So creepy part of my childhood. Horror movies could be made in the abundance. But I did some research, okay, and I found out some cool stuff about creepy dolls. So here's the background of Madame Alexander dolls. Are you ready, I guess? So we have so many random things and research today, it's the best, okay. So here's the deal.
Dani Combs:In 1923, at the age of only 28, madame Beatrice Alexander Behrman founded the Alexander Doll Company. So she grew up in her stepfather's doll hospital, which is where they just made dolls on Manhattan's Lower East Side. But she believed that dolls should be played with and loved without breaking, like the porcelain dolls that were popular during her childhood, and without sacrificing details or quality. So I didn't realize that Madame Alexander dolls weren't all strictly collectibles. They're supposed to be played with. Yeah, it's weird, right, some are not. Some are collectible, okay, but when they were envisioned to be touched, and I mean I'm looking at it from a 2024 lens.
Katie Parsons:Maybe, back in the 1920s and 1930s. That was a step up from whatever there was before, right?
Dani Combs:So I'm sorry. I look at my notes and I'm like that sentence makes no sense. I put an era of toy industry first. Oh, yes, okay, sorry, my bad, everyone, now you know, we all know Danny and language. Okay, so an era of toy industry first cemented her legacy as the mother of modern doll play. Very cool.
Dani Combs:That was interesting when I read that. So Madame Alexander actually created the first doll based on licensed characters, wow, yes. So Scarlett O'Hara from the book and movie Gone with the Wind my next door neighbor growing up, miss Linda loved that movie and I remember having her having that doll and if it wasn't that exact doll, it was one just like it, okay, and it was like in this case. And her bedroom. Wow, I know.
Katie Parsons:She really loved it it was weird.
Dani Combs:I mean I grew up in Louisiana, y'all, and I mean I have issues with Gone with the Wind, as we all should, anyway. But she was also one of the early creators of mass produced dolls of living people. So she made dolls of the Dionne quintuplets in 1936. Kind of a weird choice, but they were very famous. They were yeah, um. And she made a set of 36 queen Elizabeth the second dolls to commemorate the 1953 coronation celebrations.
Katie Parsons:So she made 36 of those, so I would imagine if those are in any of those are in existence anywhere, they're probably worth so much money at this point.
Dani Combs:Oh yeah, for 36 of them, wow, yeah. And again, with her licensed characters, she made other ones. That one it was just Scarlett O'Hara was one of the popular ones.
Dani Combs:So, and that one probably is pretty collectible. But here's the thing she, madame, was not just an artist, she kind of was also a pioneer in a male dominated business world, which you have to remember the years we're talking about here, right, so she was 28 and 19. What year did I say? Oh, 1923. So this was. This is groundbreaking for females, um, in the industry of any kind, Um, but the American, um, where did I keep losing my spot? Oh, my gosh, I'm going to get my life together today, everyone, male dominated business world. She was this wonderful woman who broke all kinds of glass ceilings. Um, she, the American original factory, actually introduced many toy industry. First, and this is kind of important, it emerged from the great depression with a new, larger factory space. Wow, which is kind of wild, right. But here's some of the things that she did as a pioneer in this industry. In the thirties, she popularized sleep eyes, the innovation that allows dolls to close their eyes. Hence the creepy ass blinking when the piano was playing that I was talking about.
Katie Parsons:Oh, yes, so she invented that.
Dani Combs:Like that was not a thing until she made it and now, like all creepy ass dolls have it, and in the forties she created this is super creepy. She created one of the first walking dolls and created the first plastic face mold, which changed the doll making industry forever. Oh, okay, not like actual walking, but like that was on legs, that could move, like you know what I'm talking about, had flat feet and you could make it walk. Yeah, yeah, yeah, because a lot of dolls before then were just like baby dolls when you would think of a baby or just a pretty doll that did not that like sat there or needed a stand.
Dani Combs:Okay, so she created that that's cool and the plastic face mold like let's think about it that's revolutionary for a production standpoint for any kind of toy or product. Yeah, and if?
Katie Parsons:her, you know, value was dolls people can play with, right? Obviously, it's a lot safer, better whatever to play with a plastic face than a ceramic one or whatever. Yeah, that's pretty cool. There you go. Good for her, okay. Well, we didn't see everything, but somehow we found all the creepy doll booths. Those weren't the only creepy ones, madam Alexander. We came across this booth, um, that were just the heads of dolls like on, almost like I call them like doilies. They were like you need to play the clip though. Okay, let me play the clip your reaction.
Dani Combs:Okay, hang on, everybody, we're ready okay, so katie found something very disturbing to it lightly.
Katie Parsons:They are porcelain dolls, very fancy, but it's just their heads.
Dani Combs:Literally like it looks like a head on a platter. It does and it's not art. It's like fancy heads.
Katie Parsons:They're like actual doll heads 3D. It's like fabric doilies doilies, almost like part of their dress. What are they called? They're called Dandy Ceramic Vintage Christmas.
Dani Combs:Dolls, and there's a lot of them. You just put these ceramic doll heads around. I can't.
Katie Parsons:Do they go on Christmas trees? Maybe what's happening, what I don't know, Okay, we're moving, we're leaving, we're moving.
Katie Parsons:Okay. So, yes, they actually do go on Christmas trees, and I must have a memory somewhere of like, maybe a great aunt or maybe even my grandparents, that did put these on their Christmas trees. Okay, so I did a little research to figure this out. So the thing I said in the clip is true these head-only ceramic dolls by Dandy are Christmas ornaments. What? Yes, and again, I have a memory I think it was my great-aunt, kate of a whole Christmas tree with these heads on them. Stop it, it's the whole tree. So it's like what.
Katie Parsons:I know, I know it's like I just I'm just envisioning like I think it's supposed to be like a Victorian vibe, but like, like it's it's weird, though.
Dani Combs:I'm just envisioning walking into somebody's house Like all my friends I can think of. That would have a Christmas tree decorated with doll heads. It would not be Victorian vibe, it would be like blood and guts, it would be like Halloween vibes, yeah, so I looked them up.
Katie Parsons:They aren't worth much. There's a lot of them in existence in the world, so I found a bunch on eBay for like $15 or $20.
Katie Parsons:And that's about what they were at the antique mall too, yeah, um, the company that makes these dandy is still going strong, but they don't make these. These are not made anymore. They must not be popular. Uh, the company itself was established in 1954 and designed all of their own products, which they brag about. Look at our heads, wow, yeah, look at this. We did it ourselves and they still have a team of over 150 designers and they actually have 60,000 copyrighted patterns For heads.
Katie Parsons:No, now they make like plushies and like regular porcelain dolls with bodies. I don't even think they make the actual bodies. That's what I thought of my notes. Oh, so, yeah, if any of you know what's going on with that or why someone would want this, let us know. But not all the dolls were creepy, right, we came across a couple booths, but one in particular with dolls that you all might enjoy hearing about. Well, we found the American Girl Mothership, you guys. Yeah, there are probably a hundred physical dolls and then lots more clothes. Oh, and the books. Yeah, the books are here, but you know looking.
Dani Combs:I don't know if any of these are from the 80s, when the American Girls first came out. There are some more expensive ones at the top, but I think those are 90s ones. Yeah, I had the very first American Girl doll oh gee, samantha. I think I was like six or seven when she came out, so this brings back memories, but she was the only one I had, because american girl dolls back in the day were not like what they are now.
Katie Parsons:We're gonna do a whole episode on the whole episode don't worry, it's coming what's interesting is, there's a few problematic ones in here too. Oh, you see, aren't there yeah, so that'll be interesting when we revisit.
Katie Parsons:But if you have one that you still use, there's furniture, a look little home computer, yeah, which I guess is now retro, yeah okay, yes, so neither of us did any research because, like we said in that clip, we definitely want to do a whole episode of the books and the dolls and the culture, of what American Girl was and what it's become and all of that. You can wait for that, but if in the meantime you need your American Girl fix, you can head on over to America's Antique Mall on Sarno and you've got a lot to pick from.
Dani Combs:Yeah, and apparently we really were on a doll kick that day. I didn't even realize that until I was like going back through the sound clips and I was like another one on dolls. But apparently we were on a doll kick, I don't know. And so here's another one. We found that was kind of kooky, it was not creepy, and it made me oh, it made me oh, what, what, what.
Katie Parsons:Stop, I was trying to be ready.
Dani Combs:He was like be quiet there you go. Sorry, come on, I was almost ready. Okay, it made me get all the nostalgia feels and you'll see why when you hear this clip that Katie shall now. Okay. So I honestly forgot this even existed. This. We found a figurine, um from strawberry shortcake and it's one of the friendly foes. It says it was like one of the villains, but they weren't really villains. And strawberry shortcake Um name was Sour Grapes and she still smells like grape. And this year on this it's $70. 1981. Well, she's still in the box.
Katie Parsons:That's why it's so expensive.
Dani Combs:Sorry about that, whoops. So she's still in the box and she still let me smell. Oh wait, no, it doesn't still smell. I thought I smelled grapes, but it was my imagination that made her still smell like grape. But yeah, her name was sarah and she's pretty fierce. I kind of want to be her for halloween. She's got like this great makeup and hair and eyebrows. See, this was my eyebrow inspiration.
Katie Parsons:There, you go.
Dani Combs:So it grieves. But yeah, that's pretty cool, it's authentic, it's in good shape too, still in the box, okay. So that little silent moment y'all heard and the whoops Oop, I'm okay now. The little silent moment and the whoops y'all heard on that clip was us in the way of a very stressed older man who had a very large cart that he was trying to navigate.
Katie Parsons:He was very unhappy, not with us, he was just unhappy with the cart, and then we were in his way that we were like recording and taking pictures and being ridiculous.
Dani Combs:And he's like girls. I have a cart.
Katie Parsons:Pretty much yeah.
Dani Combs:Anyway. So here's the sour grapes info I found and I remember her distinctly. So in the early eighties y'all strawberry shortcake toys were popular and there were several cartoon TV specials that came out during this time. Not a regular series. We used to have these things in the eighties that were like cartoon specials that came on prime time. It was like events, right, um. So there were six specials that aired between 1981 and 1985. Obviously they were repeated. Um, and sour grapes premiered in the third one that aired in 82, which is interesting because the box said 81. Yeah. So I'm wondering if that was just the strawberry shortcake trademark in general and it just covered everything, but anyway.
Dani Combs:So Sour Grapes is the partner in crime to the Purple Pie man. Yes, and he was the OG shortcake friendly foe, although, you know, I said on there like they were villains and then I was like, oh, they were friendly foes. They weren't really villains, actually they were. They were villains, okay, cause I like watched a few old clips and I was like, yeah, they were bad guys, like you know, like traditional, but they weren't really friendly. So I don't know what that wording was about. I guess marketing, but whatever. Capitalism, of course.
Dani Combs:So Sour Grapes is very confident in her abilities as a villainess and she enjoys being evil, okay. So I don't know why they call her a friendly foe. She liked it. So here's the thing she's way smarter than Pie man and brags to him about her many successes and robberies and other feats, and she constantly belittles him. Wow, she's pretty, she's not nice, she's a lot. Yeah, she constantly thinks about getting rich and getting famous and most of her schemes involve money. Okay, so, interesting, right, capitalism again, even with cartoon characters. Um, her plans fail mostly due to Pie man mucking up her plans, or Strawberry and all her friends stopping her. Okay, so that combination of the two is Pie man not being a good villain, right, but apparently she's not either, because she's not succeeding.
Dani Combs:Right right, but here's the thing you're going to really like. Oh my God, she is capable of emitting a loud yodeling noise that annoys the pie man greatly. She uses it mostly to irritate and to punish him. Okay, I wish I could use my recording when she isn't yodeling that noise. She sings instead, and she's a really good singer.
Katie Parsons:Maybe I be her for halloween.
Dani Combs:Yeah, I thought about that. I was like if we dressed up like, like cartoon character villains yeah, she could be katie. Yeah, so I I thought I saved a clip of it. Let me see if I can find it real quick.
Katie Parsons:I feel like I could use this. So, like you know, you go to the house that gives you the apple or the toothbrush, so you just like yodel in their face. But if they give you like the king size candy bar, then you sing them a little song, I mean it's like I I could not stop laughing when that's assuming my 42 year old self would be accepting treats on trick-or-treat. I know which I will not be doing, don't worry. Okay, let me see if I can find it, I just steal my kids candy when, uh when, the night's over.
Dani Combs:Oh, my gosh Strawberry shortcake was so cute and you know shortcake made a comeback in the in the I loved her.
Dani Combs:And I think they do have sour grapes in there. Okay, where is? Where's the yodel? Hold on, oh, here we go. So I'm showing Katie a picture of the pie man. Do you remember him at all? Okay, man, do you remember him at all? Uh-uh, okay, there's always a moral lesson. Okay, oh, there, it was. Dang it, this is bad. We're doing really good on sound and editing today. I mean we should have prepared for this, but Well, that's a pie man crying.
Katie Parsons:You coward, you spoil everything.
Dani Combs:I'm through with you. Take this.
Katie Parsons:I love that Yodeling like loud, high-pitched yodeling as a form of punishment.
Dani Combs:It sounded like she had a bell or something too, it did. Yeah, anyway, sorry, all of that just so y'all could hear her yell. That was really cool.
Katie Parsons:I like that. All right, moving on. Okay, yes, moving on. But guess what? We have more dolls for y'all. So, of course, no Zennial Nostalgia Thrift Field Trip would be complete without the number one doll, barbie. And my first find when we were there that day lots of Barbies. Okay, guys, we found a Barbie. It's labeled Sparkling Splendor. It's from 1993. It says it's a limited edition.
Dani Combs:Oh, she might get it. Her eyes just really lit up.
Katie Parsons:It looks exactly like the holiday Barbies which I talked about in our toys episode that I got probably mid-90s, like 94, 95, 96 probably. It's not labeled as a holiday Barbie so I'm going to have to do some research and figure out if she's like the precursor or what's going on here. But she's really pretty. We have a picture of her. She is pretty.
Dani Combs:I'm amazed by her.
Katie Parsons:You'll see in the picture Katie is looking at her in awe. Okay, we need to go now. Okay, no-transcript. So if you see this at a garage sale or a church rummage sale or a thrift shop, or if I do, she's coming home with me. And this is the Pink Splendor Barbie. She is a rare, extravagant Barbie doll that was released in 96 to celebrate Barbie's 35th anniversary. She originally cost $900. In 1996?
Dani Combs:Yes, whoa.
Katie Parsons:And she features long pink hair, a full pink gown made of silk and lace. Yes, In 2022, Cosmopolitan reported that the Pink Splendor Barbie right now could sell for around $240. So that's way down from its original price. I wonder why it went down. That's a really interesting thing and she's really pretty. I should have pulled. I'll show a picture to you later. I showed a picture to you because I was like I mean you had to buy her a pink gown. Duh, she's beautiful.
Dani Combs:I mean you had me in pink hair and pink gown.
Katie Parsons:Duh, she's beautiful. Now why she was like? I guess because it was a limited edition, but like she's not that much more fancy than the one we saw. So I'm not really sure what that was about. But I did mention Holiday Barbie in there, and as we got a little deeper into the antique mall we did come across some of those too. Didn't buy any, but I had a very good time looking at them. Oh my gosh, you guys, I found a holiday Barbie from 1995. She's sparkly, she's still in her box, she's mostly in green with like a poinsettia bow, and she's really pretty. I have her somewhere, but it was fun to get to hold her in her little box.
Dani Combs:She has on white eyeshadow too. She actually does.
Katie Parsons:Yes, you know, you have your green holiday dress and your white eyeshadow as one does when they're fancy.
Katie Parsons:So on the last clip I said something about, is the Splendor Barbie the precursor to Holiday Barbie? And the answer is no, because Holiday Barbie started in 1988. So I guess they just needed another Glamour Barbie in addition, um, but the Holiday Barbie is considered to be the first collectible Barbie, even though originally that's not how they planned it. But it was so popular the dolls sold out, um that they almost immediately began to command big prices on the secondary market, right Like so you go to buy one and they're gone. You buy them from somebody else. People making like parking lot deals, all those things, all those popular Christmas things that we've talked about before. Well, based on the popularity of the doll, mattel realized there was a huge market for Barbie dolls for adults Collectors, because they were adults buying these too. It wasn't just like wrap it up for your kid for Christmas. Adults wanted them. So this was the beginning of the Barbie craze that continued to grow. It reached a fever pitch in the late 1990s thanks to eBay and people selling like their originals on there. It has died down since then. That's why a lot of them are lower priced now. There's just like so many Barbies out there and less people that are trying to get them. They've either found the ones they want or people now don't want them or aren't buying them. But the Holiday Barbie was the most popular or close to the most popular of all time.
Katie Parsons:Many began the Barbie collection in general because of this series. Many girls received a happy holiday barbie each year for christmas. I got that right offline. Maybe boys did too. Anyone that received a happy holiday barbie. I hope they loved it as much as I did, and I thought that they had discontinued these, but no, they still make Holiday Barbie. There is a 2023 version, so I'm actually going to keep my eyes open for the 2024 to see what she looks like. But that was kind of fun like seeing those and I know in the toys episode I talked about like Barbies around the world, those and the issues and all of that. But it is true, I started to collect those because I was already collecting the holiday. So when it said it was sort of like a gateway To gateway drug.
Katie Parsons:Yeah, gateway drug To Barbie collecting. I have all the problematic dolls Well, not the head, only ones. Not yet.
Dani Combs:Not yet. Anyway, look, katie's Christmas tree is going to have Barbies underneath and doll heads on it. Oh my gosh, what if I did that?
Katie Parsons:in the lobby of my studio. All the families would be like we're done. Actually, actually not. We should decorate for Christmas. Yeah, In here and out there. You're going to have to help me, because you're good at that stuff Okay. Otherwise it'll be doll heads I know. So please help Okay.
Dani Combs:All right, so we've reached the end of our doll fascination. Everybody's like why are they just talking about dolls? All right, we did. Speaking of Christmas, we saw quite a few things that reminded us of the Christmas season growing up in the 80s and 90s, and for me there were two things we saw that really hit my nostalgia heartstrings.
Katie Parsons:Yes, okay, first one.
Dani Combs:Okay, first one, okay. So Christmas in my house has always been a big deal, even when I was a kid. And there are these trees that have come back in style now, because I've seen them at Target like replicas. They're these ceramic trees that light up I don't know what they're called. It says on here Glenview mold, um ceramic Christmas tree and it plays music. That's right. We had one of these growing up and I loved it. See how there's a little key in the back you can turn it and it plays jingle bells. Um, this one is from 1980, so it's $155 and it's in good shape, really good shape, yeah, but I used to love this thing and I was never allowed to touch it for valid reasons because, like, I'm scared of it right now, because she's like recording, five feet away from it, staring at it, but not touching it.
Dani Combs:The whole thing's ceramic, right, but I wanted to make it play music, so I have to. We're going to have some research sprinkled out through these sound bites, and this is going to be one I'm going to find so, but they're so fun and Christmassy. Oh my gosh, yes, I was still scared. Oh my God, I am like on here trying to edit our little research document as we're talking, cause I put something in the wrong spot and now I lost my spot, erwigerd ceramic trees, so I really was scared to touch it.
Katie Parsons:Hold on, let me fix my. I see where we are. I know what we're doing, don't worry, I gotcha.
Dani Combs:Oh, it went away. Okay, whatever, I know what order we're doing. Okay. So here's the deal.
Dani Combs:Ceramic Christmas trees had some interesting research. They first started showing up not in the 80s, guys, in the 1940s. They first started showing up not in the 80s, guys, in the 1940s, oh dang. So the original trees were handcrafted by private artists on a small scale and sometimes featured little tiny electric bulbs that lit individually. Not like that, you just plugged in. But in the following decades, advancements in mold making techniques led many ceramic mold companies to develop molds based on the Christmas tree design and in particular, the Atlantic Mold Company is attributed, with copywriting, one of the first ceramic Christmas tree designs A64. Wow, in 1958. So the one that I was looking at was made from that specific mold. Wow, okay. So here's how they got popular.
Dani Combs:Diy Christmas projects became really big and popular during the Great Depression in the 1940s, for obvious reasons, but it continued into the 50s and 60s because of the explosion of Christmas consumerism oh boy, and a retreat into traditional gender roles following the war. So interesting and kind of icky. It's really icky, I know, but the ceramic Christmas tree was perfect for this purpose. So it was a DIY. You could make them together. Lots of housewives making these little trees, okay them together. Lots of housewives making these little trees, okay. So in the in the sixties and seventies, craft shops would actually offer workshops you know like Michael still does that and levels where you can go and make stuff.
Dani Combs:So they had workshops where people would come and create their own ceramic Christmas trees using the mass produced mold, so you would paint it yourself and glaze it and all the things, and, in addition, advancements in plastics and lighting led to the replacement of those pain in the butt individually lit bulbs with one light bulb that lit the entire tree's plastic bowls from within. So that you know, instead of just each little light like that, you had to replace each little light. There was one light bulb that lit up the whole thing with the little plastic. So the mold was, the mold was ceramic, the lights were plastic, okay, okay, and then you put like a light bulb on the bottom.
Katie Parsons:Woo.
Dani Combs:That's a lot of explanation, but here's the thing Ceramic Christmas trees.
Katie Parsons:I lost my spot again this is going so well they began going out of style in the 1980s. There we go.
Dani Combs:They did which is weird because that's when I remember it Like we had it. But they started going out of style in the 80s and by the 90s the influx of ready-made ceramics from Japan and China sealed their fate, Although they have made a retro comeback in recent years. They started selling them at Target, like last Christmas or the Christmas before. They're not the same, but they look very similar. Yeah, so they have like everything comes back around, you know at some way, but yeah, so that. Um, actually, some of the OG Atlantic mold ceramic trees are on eBay for four to $500. Dang.
Katie Parsons:I wonder how much they cost at first. I mean especially back then it was probably like $10, maybe I don't know. I'm totally just guessing, I know, isn't that?
Dani Combs:wild. That's wild, yeah, so that's the kind of yucky history and interesting history of the. They are really pretty. I know, yeah, I was looking at it like I want one. I know I wish I. I wish my mom still had hers, because I would take it.
Katie Parsons:You would take it, you would you come and dear it. Okay, here we go. Here's the other thing.
Dani Combs:Oops. Okay, so I found this Christmas China that, um, my mom used to have and it was so fancy, it was like in its own special box and it was Spode Christmas China. Now, the one I'm found here I don't think is authentic because it's very cheap and I think, um, I think you could. If it was original it'd be a lot more expensive, but they have, like, the wine glasses and the plates, and I remember, like I said, christmas was a big deal in my house and we would always have people over on Christmas. We didn't live by a lot of family. Um, actually, look, there's the boxes. Yeah, oh, yeah, they're newer boxes, but it's a replica of the old spode China. But my mom would always get like we'd have a big Christmas dinner and she'd invite over friends like whose family lived away or people who were single, and we would take out the fancy plates to use on Christmas. It's really pretty, isn't it cute? It's pretty simple, it's just like a Christmas tree and presents under it. But every time I see that print, I remember like having people over on Christmas for Christmas dinner. But, yeah, that's fun. I'll have to do research on the on that, but I kind of want to buy it even though it's not real. It doesn't have to be Okay.
Dani Combs:So this was. This was really fun to look back on and has an interesting history, like everything else, but a little bit of different spin. So Spode is actually an English household brand and it was renowned for its exquisite designs and contributions to modern bone china. So they were fancy. They were founded in 1770. Wow, nearly 150 years before the renowned Christmas set came into existence. So traditions and elegance were kind of the mainstay of Spode. It was a popular purveyor of porcelain in China and it was based out of Stoke-on-Trent, england. It was only sold in one American store. That was in New York up until the 1930s. So they had a sales rep, sydney Thompson, and she would travel once a year to England to kind of collaborate with Spode and their art director, whose name was Thomas Hassel, on new unique designs that would generate mass interest among their American clientele.
Dani Combs:So they would kind of work together to see okay, what are Americans going to buy from Spode right? So in 1938, the task was to introduce a new festive design for the Christmas season in the States, and it was left to one of Hossel's designers named Harold Holdway. So many seasonal designs were already in existence, but none seemed like lively or fresh and personal like the iconic illustration of Holdway's tree, which is what I was describing in our clip.
Dani Combs:It's like a little tree with little presents underneath it. It's nothing elaborate, but it's become this icon and the moment it was introduced to the US, the dinnerware was a bestseller. So it brought Spode to a broader audience across the nation and started showcasing its classic designs to new fans across a bunch of generations. So that Christmas design kind of helped them to reach more people. I guess you'd say so. The design is just called Christmas Tree. I love that Christmas Tree, and that design was in production until the clothes of the till. The Spode factory closed in 2009. So they produced it and so for a long time, dang yeah, 1938 until 2009.
Katie Parsons:And it was the same or like the same design. Wow.
Dani Combs:And it was still produced, though, even though after a Spode factory original Spode factory closed. It was still produced, though, even though after Spode factory original Spode factory closed, it was still produced until 2011 under the Spode brand. So there was this. I think Port Marion is that how you think?
Katie Parsons:you say that. I think so yeah.
Dani Combs:They kind of bought out Spode and so they produced. They bought all their designs and still produce their designs, but it is not made anymore. 2011 was the last time it was made. Now there are copycat designs, but it's not the OG. It's not the OG, okay. So here's the thing. This was kind of fun to find out. And all you people out there who like to thrift and antique, you understand the importance of validating office? And tell me how you say that Authenticity?
Katie Parsons:Authenticity yes.
Dani Combs:Good job, me and language. What is it Anyway? Authenticity, yes. So here's how you can usually determine it. You can usually determine it by the maker's marks on things. So dishes produced by Spode from 1927 to 1957, those 30 years show this ornate backstamp and it reads Copeland, spode England on it. It's very elaborate, it's ornate. But dishes produced after 1960 by Spode show a different maker's mark. The company changed ownership during that year and they simply read Spode England, very simple, followed by a little pattern name and a pattern number that ends with a letter to indicate the year produced. And I remember my mom's having that on the back because that was like. I remember her checking it to make sure you know like it was like in this little box and all the things. And actually it's not too pricey to get an authentic set of Spode Christmas China. Okay, you can get a never used set from the 1990s, a set for 12, totaling 41 pieces. You can get it for like 200 bucks.
Katie Parsons:Okay, so that's not too much. That's not too much. It's like do you want to spend $200 on it? Right, but yeah, service for 12? Yeah, that's a lot of dishes, 41 pieces I mean.
Dani Combs:And I think that's what we had. I think we had a service set of 12. Plus, you know, you have a little gravy boat Of course, yeah, so that's just kind of for those of you who like antique items. Spode's kind of a fun one, but that's how you validate if it's real or not, and those there definitely didn't have that on the back.
Katie Parsons:No, you're right, they didn't. They were cute though. They were cute I still think you should go back and get them. I know it wasn't 12.
Dani Combs:It was four, I don't know, but while we're sitting here I was like damn it, I should have got those. You should go back can get red. We got to go back.
Katie Parsons:We got to go back All right, how much time we got.
Katie Parsons:Yeah right, I'm just kidding Forget like working out or voice lessons or whatever else we're trying to do after this. We're going to or picking kids up from school. We're going to go back to America's Antique. So, in the Christmas spirit, we found some more cool stuff I had to find. There we go. Okay, we are at a booth that has a bunch of the Christmas village ceramic houses that light up. It doesn't look super antique though, but it looks like the ones that were. It looks like maybe the ones we had in the 90s. Yeah, We'll have to look, check some of the boxes and see if they have dates. But one of the things I want to look at when I go to Indiana which guys? I am going soon, so don't worry, I'm going to get all the things. My mom collected these and what she would do is she would buy one every year and it would have something to do with whatever.
Katie Parsons:So, for example, she worked for the post office for a couple of years. We got a post office one year. Oh. So, for example, she worked for the post office for a couple of years. We got a post office one year. Oh, I love that. Like the year I went to high school, we got a high school one. Like everyone kind of had meaning and then eventually you'd run out of meaning and you'd just be like here's a lighthouse, or whatever, oh I love that.
Katie Parsons:So one of the things I want to find when I'm up there. Of course, I don't know how I'll get them from Indiana down here lot to ship them.
Dani Combs:Maybe not if I boxed them and just had my dad like ship one a month or something, and just send them a full year to get seriously, but, um, I'll have to see which ones she has and maybe come back here and fill in with some extras.
Katie Parsons:Oh, that's sweet, yes. So the christmas village I will loop back to the personal connection here, but I did go ahead and do a little bit of uh research on this. So these tradition of christmas villages, also known as putz, because really it's a german term. I always thought putz was like an insult. I know me too. But maybe, yeah, depending, I guess what language you're in. Um, it originated in Germany in the 16th century, so obviously they didn't light up and plug in and all those things, but it was a miniature representation of the nativity scene. And the word putz comes from the German verb putzen, which means to clean or to decorate.
Dani Combs:So how did we mess that word up in America? I don't know.
Katie Parsons:Okay, good question. So how did we mess that word up in America? I don't know. Okay, good question. So these miniature scenes were often made from wood or other materials and they featured little figurines of the nativity. So then over time, the Christmas village evolved to include not just the nativity scene but also other aspects of a traditional European village. So those would be houses, shops, other buildings and then, of course, the villagers going about their daily lives. So in the 19th century the popularity of Christmas villages grew and they became a common decoration in many households.
Katie Parsons:You could just kind of make them yourselves too. You could make them out of plaster, cardboard. Some people made them out of sugar, which is kind of fun, kind of like a gingerbread house, kind of vibe. They're still very popular today. Some can be very elaborate, found in a variety of styles and sizes simple, rustic, elaborate, like. Basically anything you would want to find, you can find, and this line is just from where I was doing my research.
Katie Parsons:Regardless of their style, christmas villages continue to bring joy and a sense of nostalgia to many people during the holiday season. So they have all sorts of you know kind of have evolved to what they are today, and there's lots of brands so I didn't like list one brand on here because there's just so many and some are worth more than others. More than anything, it's not the brand, it's how old and what condition it's in. So if you can find one from like the 1940s or 50s with a box in great shape, or maybe even without the box, but it's in good shape, it still works, you know, that's worth a lot, yeah, a lot. But more than anything, I think these are just an inexpensive way. It's sort of like with a dollhouse you have a dollhouse and you customize it the way you want. You make the rooms what you want, and people make their own doll furniture, their own things. I remember being a kid making stuff out of cardboard for my dollhouse that I didn't have. It's something that my daughter, tegan, would probably do, and I think the Christmas villages are a similar idea, because you build your own village with what you want.
Katie Parsons:So I was in Indiana over the weekend and I did find them. My mom has about 35. Dang mom. So I went through and a lot of the and so, look, we are not like keep the boxes kind of people. Yeah, we are not. I am not, my parents are not, but each of these houses had a box so it was great because a lot of them had the date on there oh cool. So A I could remember, like she got this in 95. What was going on then, but also like I could kind of see the progression and she had them up through like 2008,. 2009 were the boxes that I saw, and they were different brands, because what happened with my mom was she kind of had like the brands she liked or knew what she was looking for, but then people started to give them to her as gifts. So if you just see one, I mean even like Aldi sells those types- of things you know at.
Katie Parsons:Christmas. They'd be like oh, sally likes these, like let's get her one. So I think like that's how her collection got as big as it is, and then there probably are even more somewhere else. So I went through and I only grabbed about 12 that I really liked and put them in two huge boxes package, taped them up. My parents are probably coming for Thanksgiving, so if they drive they'll bring them. I'm trying to get them to take the train and not drive, in which case my dad will just ship them to me. And that was my start.
Katie Parsons:But it was interesting because and I think this happens in every family when there's nostalgic things that maybe aren't worth a lot but they're nostalgic. I had this moment where I was like, well, do my brothers want any of these? Like, I'm just like walking in like from Florida and just taking all these. So my brother, aj, was around. He was like no, like he doesn't have children or anything, and he was like your kids will like like them. But my other brother I spoke to his actually ex-wife, so the mother of my nieces, and she actually did want some of them, but she didn't necessarily.
Katie Parsons:She said that the ones she wanted were the ones her and my brother had given my mom. So we kind of narrowed down which ones those were. And those were later, those were like early 2000s, and I was mostly taking the ones from your childhood 80s, 90s stuff. So I just figured, if it has like a 2000 date on it or whatever or isn't like special to me, I'll leave it. So I left those for her to like go through. So I'm hoping by this Christmas to have those to me and then maybe I'll go back to the antique mall because I would like to get some that are already manufactured.
Dani Combs:Yeah, and there are some cute ones. There were some cute ones. You need like a little music studio. I do.
Katie Parsons:Oh, that's such a good idea. I don't know if they have that, but I'll look. But if not, I bet they have those online somewhere.
Dani Combs:I bet they have. You could, or I'll, paint it on there for you. There, you go, I'm crafty. There you go, I'm crafty, you are crafty. I haven't been crafty in a while, but I could do that Find something that looks like it.
Katie Parsons:I'll make it safe and I'm already like in my head, like where do I want to set it up? And one of my daughters. London is great at like decorating and like making things look good, so I sent her a picture just of the boxes. And I grew up has a lighthouse that people visit and walk to and like it's a working lighthouse that you can walk out to, you can't go inside, okay, because nobody, it's automated. You have a lighthouse in the Midwest yes Lake.
Dani Combs:Michigan. Oh Lake Duh, yeah, lake Michigan. I oh lake duh, yeah, like I just always think, like you're, like the ocean in missouri, yeah and like kansas, so it's just like fields. So I always right, which the midwest is a very big area.
Katie Parsons:I was forgetting about all the lakes. Yeah, so the boats coming in from lake michigan need the still to this day, need the lighthouse, so they know where the pier is and they don't run ashore. So I did bring that one as like a little hint of like home, so, so I will have to post some pictures of that when I get it all up and running. I can't wait to see it.
Dani Combs:Yes, speaking of can't wait, we were so, so excited to come across one booth in particular that might sound a little familiar to all of you out there.
Katie Parsons:Mm-hmm, I think they know it's coming Maybe there.
Dani Combs:I think they know it's coming, Maybe Okay. So we found our friend Patrick and Dina's booth and I just got to tell y'all there's so much in their booth. Um, that reminds me, oh my God, Katie. Just look around, Like I can't turn around in their booth without seeing my childhood. There is gremlins. There is an old camera with film 1981. It is a camera. There is, um, oh, there's a clue VHS mystery game. We totally had that. There is a see-through phone which I had this exact phone.
Katie Parsons:We might need just that for the pod studio right Just for like decoration. Yes, I love it.
Dani Combs:That phone. In my dang bedroom there is a Lisa Frank clipboard. What?
Katie Parsons:Oh and look, it looks like you can like open the back of it. You know those clipboards that you open at the back of the school supplies in.
Dani Combs:They're targeting me. I see you, Patrick and Dina. I see you they knew you were coming. There's also a Gummy Bears the TV show.
Katie Parsons:Gummy Bears. There's also a sweet two cassette boom box.
Dani Combs:Sweet that is pretty awesome. Yeah, their booth is awesome and they have some fun clothes that I'm totally going to look through and I think I see the jacket. I see the jacket. I'm going to have to leave with that, so the jacket I wanted. All right. So yay, we found Shaznit. Oh, look at the Lance Bass bobblehead.
Katie Parsons:Hey we have the same birthday, you and Lance yeah, he's a couple of years older than me Birthday. We both have the Star Wars birthday.
Dani Combs:Birthday buddies. Okay, yay, we're so excited we found their booth. I don't know what was happening in that booth, are we okay? If you wonder, that is exactly how conversations with Katie and I go all the time. Yeah. We are all over the place Random singing. I don't know what I'm talking about.
Katie Parsons:Me like shouting out random trivia about birthdays, like why not?
Dani Combs:Makes sense. Okay, anywhowho, we were also, so we loved finding our friend's booth and, by the way, I was so sad because that jacket did not fit me it was too big.
Katie Parsons:It was too big like it wasn't even like, oh, a little oversized, and that's cute, no, no it was just too big.
Dani Combs:When you're short and you have short limbs and short torso, it's a fine line between oversized cuteness and just looking like you're wearing your dad's clothes, which is kind of what it looked like it did. It was so cute, so it's still there. Everybody wants it, but yeah we're also super excited to find something else, oh boy, oh boy.
Katie Parsons:Yes.
Dani Combs:Yes, Okay. So Katie found us matching wind suits. Swear from the eighties, a hundred percent. They are turquoise, blue and purple and literally we were going to make these work. They were almost our size and except, uh, there are names written on the inside. Well, there was a name on the inside of one, the one I tried on. Obviously it was Ben's, and Ben had a very good time in his Wensuit because there was a whole lot of stains.
Katie Parsons:Yeah, we weren't sure if we could get the stains out of Ben's Wensuit jacket.
Dani Combs:Yeah, and they were $45 a piece. If they were $10 a piece we would have tried to figure it out. But like, like the sleeve looked like it maybe had some puke stains. The inside was definitely sweaty stains and that sweat stain has been there since the eighties. So like, yeah, Anyway, it was really funny and we had all kinds of ideas of the places and situations. But I think the idea has been born and it will happen. Funny, and we had all kinds of ideas of the places and situations we could wear matching windsuits.
Katie Parsons:But I think the idea has been born and it will happen. We just might not buy Ben's windsuits.
Dani Combs:Yeah, we're manifesting matching windsuits that are actually from the 80s or 90s, yeah.
Katie Parsons:Not like replica ones on Amazon. No.
Dani Combs:Yes, the windsuits, and y'all. Yes, I did In fact do research on the windsuits.
Katie Parsons:Yay, Wind suits and y'all. Yes, I did In fact do research on the wind suit. Yay, I'm excited about this. Are we so pumped about this? I?
Dani Combs:am. So we are going to have a whole photo shoot in windbreakers at some point, so stay tuned. So here is your information Windbreakers, not wind suits, but windbreakers really started to become popular in the 1970s. Really started to become popular in the 1970s, but if you look far enough back, you can find these types of jackets appearing as far as 500 years ago. So the premise of windbreakers actually comes from parkas, which if you lived anywhere cold and wet, you know what a parka is, and they were first created by the. All right, katie, you're going to have to help me on pronunciation, because I don't want to mispronounce this.
Katie Parsons:Okay, Is it?
Dani Combs:Inuit, inuit.
Katie Parsons:Okay.
Dani Combs:Inuit yeah, I didn't want to, I don't want to say that wrong. So they were first created by Inuits, who are indigenous people, due to frigid conditions. So the parka was actually made of two animal skins seal and caribou. Okay, so here's how they made it. They put the two skins together, with the skin facing outward and the hair side facing inward. Okay, so you'd stay warm, and they were able to trap the warm air inside the jacket, and then it was weatherproofed on the outside due to the seal skin, because, you know seals, the water runs off their skin. So pretty ingenious thing to create.
Dani Combs:But in the 20th century, these waterproof, insulated jackets were picked up by Western polar explorers, of course, because let's just steal everybody's ideas and then make money off of them. You knew that was coming right. You knew it was coming, so they modified the jacket though, which then entered into the sports wardrobe market. Whoa, yeah. So after World War II, nylon replaced animal skins, and the development of waterproof fabrics led to the production of thinner jackets so you could be warmer without as much material. Okay, so windbreakers evolved to be made instead of from animal skins, to be made from nylon, poly cotton or just other cotton mixes, and then they're treated with like a waterproof finish to withstand the rain. Okay, so that's kind of how they've.
Dani Combs:They've evolved in their design form, but here's how they got popular. So during the seventies, these jackets really grew in popularity for people wanting to look fashionable but also wear something functional. Yes, who knew that you could do that as a windbreaker? But you can. You could. You used to cook Well, you still kind of can, uh, kate, and actually bought one at the Nike store not too long ago. But uh, of course, they were popular in the late eighties and early nins in the neon colors that we know so well and that attracted us to them in the thrift store.
Dani Combs:And the swishy loud. Oh my gosh the pants that go with the jacket, can we?
Katie Parsons:talk about that for a second. Yes, and I feel like it's similar to like what we would now call athleisure. Athleisure, yes, where you could go on a little jog or walk in them or you could just wear it.
Dani Combs:You could just wear it. But here's the thing that was. I mean, I had several wind suits, so, windbreaker, the jacket came before the pants. So basically they just use the same technology to make pants and then you had a whole matching outfit right yes, I had a few of those back in the 90s and it was always funny. You could hear people walking down the halls of school. Right? Yeah, oh yeah.
Katie Parsons:Imagine like being a teacher at that time and like passing period, like that was like, probably deafening, although I mean same thing. I'm sure there's stuff on clothes now that is there, though I don't know. Do clothes make noise, like when you walk? I don't know. I also had noise I don't Like when you walk, I don't know. I also had pleather pants that would make the noise, yes. And when you stand up and sit down like the crackle, yes. Oh, my gosh, me too, oh man.
Dani Combs:So that's our little background on the windbreaker.
Katie Parsons:And, yes, our windbreakers are coming to us. I am receiving them from the universe. They will be in our lives soon. I am looking forward to that. Just Ben's, Ben's, wasn't it? No, no, no, no, no. Okay, so we're going to take a little bit of a left turn here for something that we were again not looking for, not expecting to find, but brought us like a little bit of joy and a little bit of like when we saw it. So here we go.
Dani Combs:Okay, so we just found a book of the photographer and Geddes. So this brought back some memories, cause I had one of these books which is bizarre Cause I don't really like babies, but I guess so and Geddes had all these pictures of babies, but I guess I did so. Ann Getty's had all these pictures of babies like in different things, like as a flower and what else.
Katie Parsons:I don't know, Just like in the middle of flowers, Lots of flowers, I don't know. And did you just say I don't like babies? I don't?
Dani Combs:really Like we know this, like I liked my babies, but like I'm not one of those people who's like can I hold your baby? Like I don't. Unless I know you personally, I don't want to hold your baby ever Fair, um, but like it was such a weird phenomenon, like there were posters and books and bookmarks. I remember bookmarks.
Katie Parsons:And it's kind of creepy If you think about it. It kind of is. I would like to research it because I would like to know, like, did these babies make money? Like, did their families, like, have little college funds? Because that'd be cool.
Dani Combs:Yeah, that's okay. Well, you'll know when y'all are listening what the answer is to that find out, yes, of course.
Katie Parsons:Now I'm hearing that and I'm like I don't know if I researched that part. I guess we're gonna find out. Um, but yes, I did. Uh, true, my word, do a little bit of research into the why and the what and the how of Ann Geddes. Why Tell me the why?
Katie Parsons:Okay, so Ann Geddes grew up in Northern Australia, okay, and she had aspirations to be a sign painter, okay. So that's really something really interesting about her. She doesn't have a single photograph of herself as a baby, huh, yeah, and she was born I don't have this on here, but she was born in like the 1950s, I believe 40s or 50s, okay. But she always loved photography, particularly the full page images she would see in Life Magazine. So this is a quote from her. I used to stare at them and think that's a moment in time that's there forever, and I still think that the power of a still image far outweighs the power of a moving video, which, yeah, what do they say? Like a picture tells a thousand words or something Like there's a lot and it freezes time in that moment.
Katie Parsons:So in the early 1990ss she began working as an assistant to a photographer who specialized in baby portraiture, you know, just normal pictures of your babies, and she actually loved shooting pictures of children, but she felt like the static work of it, like you know, the monotony and this was her word she said was exhausting, and the way that all creative work eventually becomes when it's not the kind you want to be doing. Ooh, we all feel that man. So, to give herself a bit of a break, she, just for fun, decided to start shooting images like the ones we got used to, once a month. So it's not like she's like oh, I love babies, I must shoot pictures. It was literally her day job was to take pictures of babies.
Katie Parsons:So she's like well, love babies, I must shoot pictures. It was literally her day job was to take pictures of babies. So she's like, well, since there's babies here, let's just like do something creative once a month, right? So she after a while built up quite a collection of these and she would give copies to the families and you know, so they would also have the pictures. So in 1996 she published that book down in the garden. Yes, that's the one we saw.
Dani Combs:That's the one we saw.
Katie Parsons:And she turned babies into beds of roses, tucking them in between the soft petals of tulips. So Oprah found this book. Yeah, as all books, authors, artists that were catapulted in the mid to late 90s were Even now, still Even now or Reese's Book Club, if you get her stamp. Yep, that's it. So she flew in Gettys to Chicago to appear on her show Oprah's show and naming the work the best coffee table book she'd ever seen. That's so 90s, I know right. Well, wasn't it on Seinfeld when Kramer was going to make a coffee table book that had pictures of coffee tables? And you could make it?
Dani Combs:into a coffee table. Book that has pictures of coffee tables? Yeah, and you could make it into a coffee table.
Katie Parsons:Yes, yes, yeah, oh, my gosh, that's so great. So from being on Oprah she was catapulted into like worldwide phenomenon. The book flew to the top of the New York Times bestseller list for weeks. She went on to appear on an episode of Friends Really, isn't that crazy on to appear on an episode of Friends, isn't that crazy? And I remember this she shot a book with Celine Dion and babies.
Dani Combs:I don't think it was with babies Celine Dion with a baby and a flower. Actually, it might have been oh my God, Stop.
Katie Parsons:But I loved this. She ended up partnering with March of Dimes to help research and families dealing with issues like prematurity. I don't believe she had children. I looked it up, I couldn't find for sure. So I don't want to say she definitely did not, because she's nowhere on the record saying like I don't want to have kids. But it also doesn't list her anywhere as being a mother or being married. So she leads a pretty quiet life now she's still living. The industry that made her start, you know, pretty much dried up yeah, like like really she was at the tail end, yeah, of that kind of thing making money. Um, there's not a market for that kind of stuff. There's ai. Um, the internet can produce things quicker and cheaper. But she, you know, she's comfortable and living her life, but she's not um photographing anymore do we still think it's weird?
Katie Parsons:I, I think it's so. Here's the thing. I can see how she got to that point, because babies were her subject matter, so that's what she photographed. I think it's weird that it was so popular. That's what I mean. Yeah, that like she was just kind of doing something creative and then she probably had so many, she was like, oh, this is kind of calming, how sweet, like babies, maybe like the people I know will buy this book from me. But then for it to be like a bestseller and calendars and bookmarks and posters and like it's a little weird.
Dani Combs:I was a teenager and I had that book. What?
Katie Parsons:yeah, it's like like you literally couldn't put it in a stocking, but it was like that kind of thing. It was like a stocking stuffer, like a like you buy it for your teacher or you know I know. I mean it's a little weird. I don't know and I didn't look up about the kids if they made any money. So, guys, that'll be a circle back.
Dani Combs:It will be Stay tuned, because I do want to know. I just saw I was Googling while Katie was talking, which is rude, okay, but I was trying to see if they got paid, but they had like a then and now like showing the baby models. Oh, cute, I'm assuming they did.
Katie Parsons:Probably, yeah, because they'd probably be like. I'm guessing she either paid them when she put them in her book and they signed something, so they have no legal recourse, or there was a royalty clause, or there was a royalty clause and that when she was like, even if it wasn't that much for each book sold or each time their image was used, they got money. Yeah, I'm guessing they probably had something like that, because I don't think nothing popped up like the whole.
Dani Combs:Do you know the whole drama with the baby on the cover of nirvana's? Nevermind like he tried to sue them and all this stuff.
Katie Parsons:Yeah.
Dani Combs:Yeah. So anyways, moving on, yes, from creepy baby flowers. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if y'all like that, that's great.
Katie Parsons:I mean it's calming and it's cute. Like I said, I think it's weird that it caught on the way that it did. Yeah, I won't deny that adorable.
Dani Combs:oh yeah, it's, but like to the level that it took off is a little weird as a culture. Like what were we like? What were we doing? Like why do I need a baby in a sunflower pot? I don't know.
Dani Combs:I don't know what maybe you do and that makes you happy and so fine, go for it totally. But okay, who knew that there would be even more dishes at the antique mall? That would make our childhood memories spark and it's something we've talked about on here before. Yes, omg, we just found some of the McDonald's glasses and these are the OG ones. I don't think they're very hard to find. I think I remember Patrick saying that, like, they're not hard to find, but I haven't seen them in a while. And they have the Hamburglar and they have the. That's the police officer, that's the do you remember yeah?
Dani Combs:Isn't it just Big Mac? Big Mac, yeah, but he's in a police outfit, I don't know. Yeah, and they have the other one that is Mayor McCheese, I don't remember him, could you forget Mayor McCheese, but they're're 12 a piece. So how much? 12 bucks, that's a lot, so I'm gonna pass on that, but it's fun to find them in the wild yeah, yeah, okay.
Dani Combs:So the main thing I thought about, because we saw these multiple times in the antique mall and I found some cheaper and I almost bought them. But then I was like, wait, I can't remember if these glasses were safe to use, because I thought I remembered in our other episode coming across some research saying something about the paint in the glasses. So I looked it up and so here's this. It wasn't a simple answer, as nothing ever is you revisit?
Dani Combs:anything. So here's some kind of background and the answer to that question. To that question so, before US regulatory measures were introduced in the mid-1970s, manufacturers often added lead and, to a lesser extent, the carcinogens cadmium and arsenic to ceramic glazes, painted barware and crystal glassware. Dang, yeah, because it was used to improve their appearance and their durability. Okay, and I remembered that Once I read that I was like, oh yeah, that's why I remember reading something a long time ago about being careful about antique glassware that you buy because of this very reason, even just regular, like glasses from the, from before the seventies.
Dani Combs:So, as a result, there are some vintage items that contain some pretty toxic substances and they can even be like a source of lead poisoning Dang, I know. So here's the thing Repeated exposure to lead and cadmium can cause it to accumulate in our bones and kidneys respectively. So it can kind of contribute to a wide range of health problems, including listen to this reduced bone density, neurological issues, low sperm count, mood disorders, joint pain and heart disease. Yeah, and that's not like a one-time OIU, it's repeated exposure over and over, which is why there's so many things regulations in place now to prevent this from happening. But unfortunately it's super tricky to determine if an antique item contains lead without help from, like, a specialized consumer product testing lab. Wow, which can be difficult, given most focus on testing paint and soil for these items, and it's pricey to pay professionals just to test the McDonald's glasses that you pick up at the thrift store, right?
Dani Combs:So there are DIY lead test swabs that you can find at hardware stores, but they are not specifically designed for consumer items, so it can be very unreliable results. So even if a glass says, oh yeah, it doesn't have lead, it still could, right, okay? So here's the thing as a general guideline when you're looking at those antique glasses of any kind, be wary of orange, yellow or red items, because cadmium is frequently used to achieve those pigments, okay, and it has been found in products ranging from 1970s Garfield glasses to novelty McDonald's cups from 2010. Dang, I know, even after the regulations were in place. So I mean, not every object in those colors will have the cadmium. But if in doubt, consider just researching its origins or not using it like by your mouth. Just put it in a display cabinet or on a shelf just to look at.
Katie Parsons:Are you going to get your McDonald's glasses to just put on a little shelf? No, in your house.
Dani Combs:No, so I shall not be obtaining those, which is very sad. So if you have any in storage or you find any anywhere like maybe not, Don't drink out of them, drink out of them. Yeah, and I was super excited this is a side note. I was so excited that McDonald's said they were going to have these collectible Happy Meals. That just came out Right With collectible glasses. They said glasses in their advertising. You sent it to me. That's what it said it did. So my kid went and got one, came home the they are plastic. Oh, they are not glass.
Katie Parsons:How like. That's not even the same vibe, no it was so disappointing.
Dani Combs:It was like he, he was upset. He was like mom, this is plastic. I was like why, is everything plastic yeah.
Katie Parsons:Yeah, I mean, we know why. Capitalism but whatever I also was thinking. I'm just going to start saying diet culture all the time. That'll be mine Facts. Why that's diet culture, I don't know.
Dani Combs:I mean it's not, but when it's appropriate. If it was a low-fat cup, I guess.
Katie Parsons:Yeah, yeah, I was talking to our like oh, I just listened to your cause she's kind of listening out of order, just whatever she's in the mood for. And she was like, oh, I listened to diet culture. I was like, Ooh, it's a lot. And so we talked about it for a while and then she's like, yeah, but like this thing is diet culture.
Dani Combs:I'm like so is this things? Oh yes, actually, why would mcdonald's what I was like? I don't know, katie. Today's a weird day, guys.
Katie Parsons:This is a weird day okay, but don't worry, we're, we're about to pull into the station. We have one more clip for you guys of something. We found that about dishes, sort of not glass ones, though no, you'll see we found a whole baby crib full of um tupperware every type. So you know how. There's the tupperware that had the lids, that had all the like, what, what?
Dani Combs:like creases or pleats. This is the Tupperware from Tupperware party days. For those of y'all that don't remember, that was like a big deal for like my mom's era Tupperware parties like you'd go and buy all the Tupperware and it has this distinct look like this with like the ridges on the top.
Katie Parsons:And you would push it down in the middle and it would make like a little sound before it would close. So you knew it was airtight, you knew it was sealed.
Dani Combs:Supposedly and honestly I feel like it was made so much better than the junk you buy like in Walmart and junk now, like it was like that's thicker plastic to me. But they also had like pictures, like there's some pictures here and look at the fun colors. But they also had like pictures, like there's some pictures here and look at the fun colors. Everything's like the orange and the blue and yellow and like, yeah, very retro and fun.
Katie Parsons:I really like it. I guess that's all we had to say about tupperware. I really like it. But don't worry, all I did do a little bit of research here. Yay, um, okay, okay. So Tupperware is an American company. So there you go, that's still in existence. They manufacture and internationally distribute prep, storage and serving containers for the kitchen and the rest of the home. So in 1942, it was founded by Earl Tupper Stop. So you know, he just named it after himself. Tupperware. I would do that too. Yeah, I think what would it be if you did that? I would not use my last name, because that's not my last name, that's my married last name.
Katie Parsons:Oh, true, true, it would be.
Dani Combs:Dannyware.
Katie Parsons:Dannyware. Ooh, I wonder what that would be.
Dani Combs:See Ooh, we're going to think about this. Everybody's excited for, for that now.
Katie Parsons:Well, earl Tupper developed his first bell-shaped container. So I kind of looked that up and it's like flat on the bottom and then like so the bottom's kind of the lid and then you put the thing on top and it seals and he introduced that to the public in 1946. So that's when it all got started, right. So it's still around as of 2007. It was sold by approximately 1.9 million direct salespeople on contract, which we're going to loop to in a second.
Katie Parsons:In 2013, the top marketplaces for Tupperware were Indonesia, and that was more than Germany, which I guess is right behind it, and sales in 2013 in Indonesia were 200 million, which is wild. So we'll get into this a little bit. But, like, essentially, this was one of the OG direct marketing companies, mlms, where not so much now where there's like tiers of people and, like you know, you've got to report to this person who gets a cut. It wasn't so much that it was literally like you get your stock and you make a cut off what you sell. That's kind of how it started, but it was direct sales, like from your home, and that sort of thing.
Katie Parsons:So Earl Tupper asked for pure polyethylene pellets from DuPont, the company DuPont to build Tupperware in 1938. And then that first product in 1946 came out in Massachusetts and this is like a stronger plastic like we talked about in our clip. It could keep foods airtight and those seals that made the sound were called burping seals Nice, because it would make that little like hiss or sound and it was patented. The burping seal was patented in 1949. So it became popular with a sale-through presentation idea held in a party setting, usually someone's house.
Katie Parsons:But, you could go to these at church, I mean, they could be anywhere. So they had a direct marketing strategy that was like a party, so you would have this Tupperware party, and it enabled women, particularly in the 1950s, to start to earn an income, but they were still at home, right?
Dani Combs:So, yeah, so they were making money, but you still got to stay at your house to do it, and what you're selling has to do with cooking and maintaining your house, right, right.
Katie Parsons:Exactly so. Brownie Wise was a former sales representative of Stanley Home Products, which is funny, that's the same Stanley that the cups are also wildly popular Interesting, yeah, and that company's been around forever. So she was organizing these parties and soon they actually made her, took her out of her kitchen, made her the vice president of marketing in 1951 at Tupperware. So she later sort of like not patented but kind of trademarked this idea of the signature Tupperware parties, and women at the parties were exhorted to sell more. Listen to this. And this was the slogan no sex, no sup, just tupp, tupp, tupp. Were sex parties a big deal, I feel like no.
Dani Combs:So what does that mean? No, sup like supper.
Katie Parsons:I guess what? So they're not having sex parties or dinner parties? It's just supperware. I guess what? I guess I would need to deeper dig into the kind of parties that were going on in the 1950s.
Dani Combs:I mean, I was thinking what decade was it the swinger parties?
Katie Parsons:Wasn't that like the 60s, 60s, 70s, right? So this would have been before that, okay, well, anyway, I guess it worked because a lot of people were doing them, so people were like, well, thank.
Dani Combs:God there's not sex or supper, I'm going.
Katie Parsons:No food, no sex. Yes, this is a party I can get behind Plastic burping seals. Let's go Done In orange and blue and green, so kind of like. We've just touched on the Tupperware party sales model actually created opposing views by feminists. So positive feminist reviews considered Tupperware. It was an employment opportunity for women who were pregnant or just at home or not otherwise able to get a position at work because gender laws were unequal in the workplace, so this gave them a path to some financial freedom. The opposing view stated that it intended gendered products and selling campaigns that further domesticated women, kept their predominant focus on homemaking. Yeah, which is what you said. Yeah, it also includes the restriction of women to the domestic sphere, limiting the real separation between running the household and a career.
Dani Combs:Well, it's like here make some money, but only when your husband's home from work at night and it has to do with all the things you have to do because you stay at home and it's going to keep your kitchen more organized and you're cooking better, yeah.
Katie Parsons:So I feel that I have friends who either to me talk about this or just, you know, in social spaces about how there are still careers like that for women now. And it's how it's made me really think about it, because when my kids were younger, I had a parenting blog and my friend was like, well, that's like kind and I'm like, yeah, cause I can like be at home and do it. She's like you're like limiting yourself to talking about being a mom while you're at home being a mom, but like in the end it brought me joy. I like writing. I'm so glad I did it and I did make some money doing it. But it did make me think, like all these like kind of hustle culture and like do your side hustle? How much of it? For women still tends to focus on that side of things. Oh well, you're home anyway doing all these things, so why don't you like give um laundry folding tips on tiktok and make your money that way?
Dani Combs:you know like I just that's an extreme example, but not that there's anything wrong if you stay home with your kids, but it is a difficult, it is a really weird area, I think. I feel like I see what you're, totally see what you're saying.
Katie Parsons:Yeah, and.
Dani Combs:I understand both sides of the coin here with the argument with the Tupperware parties. Yeah, because, as somebody who has been part of several direct sales adventures, when I was a stay at home parent it was the default parent because my husband was active duty military and I did not have the opportunity to work outside of my home it did give you a little freedom to feel like you are contributing financially a little bit.
Katie Parsons:And just like the confidence of selling things and how that feels, I feel like there's a big confidence boost to earning an income Like I like, even if it's not a lot. My friend Sarah and I the other day when we were at lunch and we were talking about I said this is a longer story than we have time for today, but when I got back into performing and acting it was only about five years ago and I had taken a really long break because of children and career and all the things and getting married and moving and all the things. One of the things I would write in my journal when I do aspirational writing so things that I am not yet but I would like to be so or be better at. I am a patient parent, I am an attentive friend stuff like that, stuff I want to strive to be One of the things I would write down every day was I am a paid performer and because for me that was a marker that it was more than just like something I kind of like to do.
Katie Parsons:It was a value to me and something other people valued in me and so you know it started like you know, a voice lesson here, a voice lesson there. I got paid a little bit to do fringe, I got paid a little to do community theater and as it started to kind of build, it was something that I valued. And I think as women sometimes well, and maybe men too just in general we don't like to talk little bit doing this thing, and it's not because, oh, I can contribute to my family, that's part of it. But I think it's also okay just to be like I feel good when people pay me to do things that I'm good at.
Dani Combs:Yeah, I think it's interesting sometimes and so much we have to remember too when we're talking about making income and staying home parent. A lot of that is from a place of privilege, right, and that you don't control. And I was telling that to one of my clients who's also a friend for personal training, the other day because I work part time because I can. And I told her I said you know, I work because I want to, not because I have to and.
Dani Combs:I have to remind myself that that is not a common narrative. That's a great point and how lucky I am to be able to say that, because my husband had did 20 years in the military.
Dani Combs:We do have that retirement pay plus his civilian pay, that he now has his other career, that he's stuck in for another 20 years. I know he does all the really hard things and that's why you know. So I feel like too. When we talk about money and jobs, like we have to remember, like it is sometimes, a lot of times people don't have a choice you know, and it is a nice. It is a nice lucky, privileged position to be in a place where you're like.
Dani Combs:I can, because you had a single, you were a single mom for a while.
Katie Parsons:I was a single mom for three years. Being a paid performer was not an option. That's when it first went out the window, exactly, and it took over a decade to get it back. Because it wasn't an option, right, not even like oh, one hour a week I'll go to a chorus, that's free. I could not go to work right, pay my child care bill and like be home with my kid, yeah, and survive.
Dani Combs:And that was it, yeah. And so, anyways, we literally whoa, okay.
Katie Parsons:Well, if you stuck around this long, you got a little treat everyone so good job.
Dani Combs:You never know what's gonna happen here here on Generation In Between we go from talking about burping dishes to the wage gap.
Katie Parsons:To the wage gap and Katie's single parenting and all the things. But we hope that you did enjoy our little nostalgia-filled thrifting trip. Today we will be doing more road recordings. These mics are super fun. We got one that because, of course, I have the newer phone. That doesn't fit, so I had to get my own mics, but they're not very expensive, so I got those too. So if you liked what you heard today, please share us, review us, tell people of all generations to listen. Of course, you can find us everywhere you listen to podcasts. Follow us on our socials. We are on Facebook, facebook, instagram and now TikTok. Don't miss it. It's a hot mess. You're going to love it. And, of course, go check out America's Antique Mall for your own Zenniel and Nassauja field trip and tell them that the Generation In Between podcast host sent you. I like what.
Dani Combs:Amanda said about us today. She said we are the dynamic duo, so tell them the Generation In Between dynamic duo duo.
Katie Parsons:So tell them the generation in between dynamic duo yes, I love that. That's what you tell them, and they'll have a little tally sheet. I'm sure I'd be like hey guys, you got a whopping two people here. Two people came in and said you sent them. So good job. Um, but, and? And you can see the sources for our research as well in our show notes. So until next time, keep thrifting.
Dani Combs:Don't drink out of lead-based glass or eat them and check your windsuits for puke stains.
Katie Parsons:And don't buy windsuits from Ben.
Dani Combs:Ben.
Katie Parsons:Sorry, Ben, Whoever you are Well maybe he's not alive anymore.
Dani Combs:I don't know. Oh jeez, I know Sorry, we went there, oh my God. I don't know. Oh geez, I know Sorry, we went there, oh my God.
Katie Parsons:I just gotta go now, all right. Well, we'll see you next time, guys. Bye.
Dani Combs:I just meant because they were old too.
