and glamour. Real glamour. Party dresses with tulle, women not leaving the house without a hat and gloves, gentlemen holding the door open and helping a lady with her coat glamour.
My faith and hope are being ever so slightly restored that Americans might one day tire of crass, tack and the nasty. My hit count went WAY up after posting pictures of Grace Kelly. Even more so than the teasers for nude Kelly Monaco and Emily Stern pics or even Scarlett fully clothed.
Don't get me wrong, I love my oldest pair of Levis almost as much as my significant other. I want to be buried in them. However, the closest most women ever come to owning or wearing a dress like this is on our wedding day.
One commenter recently stated, and I agree, that many ordinary people are as beautiful as celebrities. However, very few celebs have the poise or class as the days of old. Case in point, Angelina Jolie now admits she is prego with Brad's baby. Jennifer, Hon, you're better off. Brad is fine, but he can't act. Angelina is just rough, period. She'll probably get her kids tattoos as well. One day, as the vast amounts of silicone harden, Angie's lips are going to burst and the flying shrapnel will probably kill Brad.
It seems like manners are becoming a hindrance for living well in America. To get business done, you must shout at the top of your lungs on your cell phone at a nice restaurant. Leave more than one car length of space between your vehicle and the one in front of you on the freeway, and some arrogant ass in a Beemer driving 90 mph will happily clip in front of you.
Can you imagine Cary Grant spitting in public?!
Can you imagine someone who wears their hair like this getting a tattoo?
Once upon a time it wasn't necessary to show everything to be sexy. In fact, to be considered beautiful one needed to be fully dressed.
Imagine that!
I know the "olden days" were not perfect. Celebs of yester year were apt to drive too fast, drink too much, take pills and have affairs. Society was not as likely to condone or forgive it, however.
Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful that women have more opportunities to do more and I'm grateful to previous generations who fought hard for said opportunities. There also something to be said for being able to slip on a pair of sweats, pulling my hair into a greasy ponytail and running to Walgreens for a bottle of Motrin.
It's just that something is woefully missing in today's very casual world of drive thrus, overnight mail, and web surfing.
What's missing is class, good taste, politeness, good manners, trust, you know, glamour.
8 comments:
Polly... you're having a breakdown, kiddoette. Do like I do... keep telling yourself that we're better off now than in those time periods... a lot less cigarette smoke; women are earning darned close to what their male counterparts are earning; people are more tolerant of other people's thangs; the air is cleaner.
Okay, it's a lot more violent today, but overall, life is pretty safe, for most of us.
Keep telling yourself this stuff, babycakes... it works most of the time.
Women are NOT earning close to what their male counterparts are earning, Prego.
The air is cleaner? REALLY? Find that one hard to believe.
I don't know if, overall, 'thangs' were better then than now, but I do think folks had better manners, and more grace.
I'd just like to see those specific qualities return. That's all.
Amen, Polly!
Polly: I have read that much (not all) of the disparity in wages has to do with the fact that women chose professions that pay less. And when woman are in male-dominated jobs, they often chose to leave or not seek advance because family concerns. It's called the "mommy track."
I just know I'm, gonna get rapped in the mouth for this.
Also, the air is indeed cleaner. Imagine walking the streets of London in the 1800's when horse-drawn carts carried peoiple and goods and services everywhere, and when coal provided all the heat and power to homes and industry, and when the sewer was an open stream running outside your door.
The good old days never existed.
Oh Bill, Bill, Bill...
It's the stuff you can't see in the air and water that is dirty and deadlier (think plutonium) than the horse crap of the 1800s. Statisically speaking, men of your generation are half the men your grandfathers were. That is, before all the PCBs polluted the rivers, streams, ground water, men made twice as much sperm as they do now.
According to the last census, women in Peoria still make on average half what men do (lets remember how many factory/blue collar jobs there are here). The fact that the mommy track hasn't allowed for equal pay in this day and age is nothing short of pathetic.
Things for women are looking up, I admit. More females attend college than males. Nearly half of the law and medical school classes are now female. What we really need to make things equal across the board is better laws, i.e., half of the house and senate needs to be female.
As I wrote before, the good old days were not perfect, but in terms of good manners and class, they have modern times beat hands down.
Polly, dang it, the proof is in the pudding. When my mom was working in '73, she WAS earning about two-thirds of what a guy in a SIMILAR position was making... by the time she retired 10 years ago she LEGALLY HAD to be making what her male counterpart was making.
I wasn't saying that EVERY woman was earning close to what EVERY man is making... I meant that those females in SIMILAR positions to the dudes today are much CLOSER if not the SAME as what the guys are making.
Sheeeeesh.
And, if you were around in the 70s, then you should recall what the Illinois River looked like then (IF you could see it through the suds), and what the air in Peoria was like (IF you could see it through the smoke)... the reality is in the sight, babycakes.
You're just a Negative Nelly... you're staring at old photos of Grace Kelly and thinking life was like that back then... they're PHOTOS, Polly... in reality, she was being put to sleep in a smoke filled room with a Prince and a couple robber-barons...
Oh, and before anyone gets warped over my statement of the 70s, bear in the mind that the 50s were probably even dirtier environmentally around here, and likely around the country, than even the 70s.
So there. Nyah nyah nyah.
Brad Pitt can't act?
Come on, Polly. You're letting your sentiment get the best of you. I'm a huge Cary Grant fan, but Cary Grant never played a character other than Cary Grant. Meanwhile, Pitt's played a lot of challenging roles well...stuff that would have terrified Grant, no doubt. Don't let Pitt's tabloid coverage snooker you into missing the talent...
As for Grace, Audrey, et al...please feel free to share they're pics anytime.
Finally, Chase's comment re: daughter's, oddly enough, made me think of Charles Barkley. In an interview, someone asked The Charles about boys who were soon to be calling on his 13-year old daughter. His reply? "I figure if I kill the first one, word will get around."
My daughter's twelve. Sounds like sound advice to me.
Post a Comment