tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post1277927147984937215..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: IT WAS OFTEN QUITE DIFFICULT TO GET CREAM by Leslie WilsonMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-16115061767287117362013-11-28T20:42:14.825+00:002013-11-28T20:42:14.825+00:00I still have my parents' ration cards -- they ...I still have my parents' ration cards -- they also lived in Chicago, coincidetally. I remember that butter was a great luxury and they would hoard little bits for months to save up for a cake for someone's birthday, etc. No comparison at all with bread made out of sawdust, but a definite contrast to conditions before the war. People on farms and in the countryside, like my cousins, were better off.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03177992281206275818noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-21076009836160788492013-11-24T18:16:39.811+00:002013-11-24T18:16:39.811+00:00About Chicago, I mean, Momma Bear..About Chicago, I mean, Momma Bear..Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-8215996867956697862013-11-24T18:15:17.383+00:002013-11-24T18:15:17.383+00:00Momma Bear - I am currently reading a V.I Warshaws...Momma Bear - I am currently reading a V.I Warshawski novel - I am a great fan of the abrasive detective - and so I can relate to what you are saying.<br />Sensibilia - Great-Aunt Mia was my grandmother's sister, and Uncle August her husband and the textile factory was in Silesia. We were always told that they 'lost everything' at the end of the war, and I was a teenager before it occurred to me that they were rich again when I knew them. My mother finally revealed that Mia (not August) had decided to stash the loot in Swiss bank acccounts at the end of the war. Grandma in Canada was my father's mother, and that, I think, is the relevant family-tree info for this blog.<br />Of course there was the big revolt against the 'utility' short skirt in the New Look, with its yards and yards of fabric, but it never really took off, did it? The skirts got narrow again, though in the Fifties I can remember the sticky-out skirts with net petticoats, something I always dreamed of wearing when I was grown-up - only to become a teenager into the era of the mini-skirt. But I vicariously fulfilled my childhood dream when I saw my elder daughter in her wedding-dress, with a full long skirt and a wonderful net petticoat - and this is definitely getting off the topic..Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-43776767114010259232013-11-24T16:57:11.373+00:002013-11-24T16:57:11.373+00:00if you lived in a more rural area you had access t...if you lived in a more rural area you had access to farmers directly also less mouths to feed in a town than a city.<br />Chicago was a BIG city, competing with NY and LA even then in population.<br />and lets not forget Chicago then was known for it's corruption, graft and violence. <br />The end of prohibition only slowed it down but did not kill it.<br />Chicago is also a very segregated city. each major nationality having it's own neighborhood(which also attributes to the violence) <br />The more affluent the neighborhood the more able they were to pay graft and kickbacks for the "good" stuff, leaving scraps for the rest.<br />Momma Bearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03215840942640904965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-39287505134944738942013-11-23T23:01:31.146+00:002013-11-23T23:01:31.146+00:00Lovely post Leslie and lovely photos. I notice you...<br />Lovely post Leslie and lovely photos. I notice your mum's dress is fairly short and I recall my own mother saying that this rationing of materials was a great excuse for girls to raise hemlines!Theresa Breslinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02240135723649161949noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-85872580085321535802013-11-23T18:39:44.333+00:002013-11-23T18:39:44.333+00:00Thanks, Momma Bear! I wonder why the rationing was...Thanks, Momma Bear! I wonder why the rationing was different in different places?Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-12910168932468494062013-11-23T18:01:45.558+00:002013-11-23T18:01:45.558+00:00My mother lived in Chicago during the war and ther...My mother lived in Chicago during the war and there was indeed rationing. Mostly of milk, butter and eggs, sugar and beef.<br />They were just coming out of the Depression, where you were lucky to find, let alone afford, any of these luxuries at your local grocery.<br />It all went to the "war effort" and it was our "patriotic duty" to forgo these things in order that our boys should have the best when they were fighting for our country.<br />She remembers everyone who had a backyard had a "victory garden" where people grew their own food to supplement their rations.<br />If you were in a city like Chicago the rationing was severe, depending on where you lived. <br />Mom's family were inner city and poor to begin with so rationing, wasn't anything new to them.<br />Sugar and beef were already something they couldn't afford, grandmother kept chickens and had a garden to feed her family already so what as the fuss all about?Momma Bearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03215840942640904965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-50765115562757506962013-11-23T11:31:39.338+00:002013-11-23T11:31:39.338+00:00Your history sounds so interesting. I think I nee...Your history sounds so interesting. I think I need a family tree, though, as I got a bit confused in places. History based on family recollections and actual facts passed down always interests me, as being authentic in a different kind of way from archive materials.sensibiliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08715737628925538412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-18954379163621056862013-11-23T10:30:45.201+00:002013-11-23T10:30:45.201+00:00What I forgot to mention was about the wedding dre...What I forgot to mention was about the wedding dress! It had been a leaving present to my father's lovely friend Molly MacRory, shortly thereafter Huckerby, who with her equally lovely husband Syd, became my brother's godparent (and functioned as mine, too), and was my mother's bridesmaid. She had been working in a dress factory, and so she got the dress, almost unheard of in those days. It had to be taken in for my mother, and you can see it still hung on her, for Molly was pretty buxom. Incidentally, Molly made my own wedding dress!<br />My mother is wearing socks on the photo with the dress, Kate, she certainly had no stockings, but she was probably also wearing walking shoes, from the context.<br />Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-51594044618031242262013-11-23T06:37:15.607+00:002013-11-23T06:37:15.607+00:00It's a good point that wartime experiences wer...It's a good point that wartime experiences were not universal. The 'haves' were still relatively much better off than the 'have-nots' - one of the diary entries I read once said stockings were a strong indicator of this. The 'haves' kept going through the war, while ordinary women were forced to go bare legged. Wonderful photos.Kate Lord Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00278515379867576350noreply@blogger.com