Comments on: “Get Yourself a College Girl,” 1964

By: rootlesscosmo

rootlesscosmo — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:20:44 +0000

That chandelier looks like Sputnik.

@ClioBluestocking: there’s a nice book about this version of postwar Modernism caled “Populuxe” (the author’s invented name for it.) Kidney-shaped swimming pools and coffee tables–for a while the coffee tables had holes in them, à la Henry Moore, except you tended to spill your drink through them which seldom happened with big bronze outdoor sculptures. There was a permanently unresolved tension between the lure of jazz-Bohemia (read: Black people) and the safety (read: no Black people) of tract home suburbia; it can be seen, in not very difficult cipher, in shows like “The Adventures of Dobie Gillis.”

By: Historiann

Historiann — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:35:44 +0000

What? Knitting in a bathing suit in December doesn’t sound totally awesome to the rest of you? (Especially wearing nylons and shoes too, beauty-pageant style?) I’m wearing a stunning maillot with boots–it’s my typical lounge wear.

(And, believe it or not, I’ve got the rec room panelling with dead animal heads too–for realz.)

By: Mother of ALL

Mother of ALL — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:11:26 +0000

I can’t recall any semi-clad knitting klatches in my day. That really looks uncomfortable!

By: Marya

Marya — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:28:39 +0000

I haven’t seen the movie so I can’t quite tell where all these women are supposed to be hanging out en masse, but the way they are enjoying themselves–with a little knitting and a little music and in mild semi-undress–seems in keeping with a longish art history tradition of the way women in harems and other all-female gatherings have been represented. The male viewer is supposed to imagine they all choose to look a bit sexy when relaxing.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:03:20 +0000

I can answer my own question: She was on some Love Boats, but more often on Fantasy Island (which would have been my second guess), and also was a regular guest for a while on Diff'rent Strokes.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:01:01 +0000

CanadaGoose–I think she’s the star of the movie!

Where do I know her name? Was she on Love Boat a lot in the late 1970s or something?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

By: CanadaGoose

CanadaGoose — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:00:06 +0000

Did you notice? The song “Get Yopurself a College Girl” is sung by Mary Ann Mobley, Miss America 1959.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:17:59 +0000

Mother of ALL: sleeveless is back, big-time, as are short and shorter-sleeved sweaters.

HistoryMaven wrote: Oh, why do I try to make sense of it all?

Exactly! Just relax and have fun. Maybe Mother of ALL can confirm whether or not women sat around in their underwear knitting in 1964? (Maybe they were knitting bottoms for themselves? The outdoors in that movie look too wintry to make extended underwear-sitting-around-in look too much like work.

By: HistoryMaven

HistoryMaven — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:01:58 +0000

Why in the world is this scene choreographed so that she walks to and sings behind the mike, all the while singing?

And what’s the deal with Astrud sitting at a table with one coed knitting and another in belted leotard (with hose)? What would Betty Friedan say?

Oh, why do I try to make sense of it all? Hers is a lovely voice.

Nor sure those are Wright-designed chairs, but they are cool.

Jazz musicians tended to be/look older in these movies. The sort of beatnik jazz look (goatees, longer hair, etc.) start appearing about this time.

By: Mother of ALL

Mother of ALL — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:56:55 +0000

The part of this video which is what I relate to is the sleeveless dresses in the dead of winter. I can’s tell you the number of sleeveless wool dresses I owned in the late 50′s and early 60′s. Seems ridiculous now, but the height of fashion then.