Mid-Century Immersion: Being an Entire 1950's Family

How can an individual, obsessed and fascinated since high school years with the look, aesthetics, and feel of the American 1950's immerse one's self into that period as much as is physically possible, and, obtain proof of having "been there, done that?"

My name is Paul Wilson, and for me it started during my college days when I got to flipping through my mother's old Better Homes & Garden's back issues, and simultaneously loving and baffled by what I saw. It was all so bold and pretty, and, being an art major at Arizona State University that of course appealed; but what I found confounding was that people then actually purchased gaily colored plastic dishes, Formica topped boomerang coffee tables, and drove those fabulous two-tone cars. It was like another planet, "the Future" that never quite arrived.

I knew then and there I had to experience it.

It started simply, by obtaining period items, most from thrift shops - colorful rotary telephones, picnic baskets, table lamps, starburst clocks - and slowly evolved to the clothing. My 1957 home took on a 50's flavor in every capacity, to the point of kitchen cupboards filled with vintage products, fake picture-perfect Jello creations in my grandfather's 1951 Crosley Shelvador fridge, and of course the furniture, which was easily found then. COULD I create, via photo shots of my-selves as a coupla guys playing cards, with different outfits and varying hairstyles, cut them out, paste them down with double-sided tape into a set-up already laid out in my home and make it convincing? I COULD. Even I was startled by how "real" it looked. I asked for white borders on all prints from the drugstore, and, as there were no "scrapbooking/crafting" scissors then, used a wee Swiss army knife's scissors to "deckle" the edges, as I had seen in so many period photo albums.

Then came the day I decided to realize the women - a daunting task for a man of six feet - but I realized a family was in order here, a family that would endure ALL experiences that period had to offer, from cocktail parties to the occasional atom bomb in the front yard to mutant insects, ala the 'B'-movies. The goal was to be lighthearted and over the top in some instances, while others were the standard fare we so often see - folks attending a prom or dinner dance, smoking fiendishly after an exhausting New Year's Even party. And this I did! I had roomfuls of purses, gloves, earrings, bracelets, dresses, suits, hats, briefcases, shoes and wigs, wigs, wigs. SO many wigs...

Dick and Dottie were featured often, as I envisioned the finished album had been assembled by Dottie years later, They had distinct looks and personalities. His job was vague, some accounting or corporate thing as many men had then, while Dottie was the consummate housewife, doing incredible feats while father was away, like finding mutant snack cakes after another atom bomb and serving them up for dinner, engaging in local Fashion Shows (a great way to show off the dresses!) and other colorful activities. They soon had teenaged children, requiring yet more wardrobe needs, and that EXPLODED into friends, relatives, strangers, all the folks one can find populating 60 year old family slides and snapshots.

These were all done PRE-photoshop, which was way beyond me and something to this day I do not comprehend nor want to, really. Cut & Paste was always the sensible option - and that I did. A crowd scene would take a few days of posing as each character, male and female. Waiting for the prints to come back. Then, cutting them out, as closely as possible with both tiny and large scissors (never an X-Acto, too dangerous). Even around individual fingers. I quickly learned that in shots where Dottie is waving, to keep the fingers together for ease in cutting out hands! And so it went, hundreds of images, and ALL vintage backgrounds I would find here in my home city of Phoenix- old department store fronts, strip malls, to car shows to take advantage of the old automobiles (some owners even let me "drive" them for further authenticity!) and unchanged cocktail lounges or markets, enhancing them with my vast collection of vintage liquor bottles and barware, or, period food packaging lining the shelves. I felt a bit empowered going out in public "like that," but late in the game, it was absolutely necessary. So what if my dress was unzipped in the back to fit, from the front I looked fantastic...

These tiny photo montages, once completed, were often enlarged at color copy shops, and hand-colored to hide obvious cut marks, add in shadows, brighten the colors to technicolor standards, then mounted on large white illustration boards, again, all cut by hand to appear deckled edged, only in super-size. These acted as art that could be hung on a wall. But the real goal, the real love, was creating the finished Kimble family album, using one with black pages of course, photo corners, and white ink to label all the fun, the vacations, the parties.

It is never ending, in that my current newer vintage home is also decorated period, with a few new furniture additions, to allow for more varied scenes, and, as I age, so too do the Kimbles, yet somehow they always remain in a colorful alternate plane from about 1955 to 1962...

End goal? "Been There, Done That..."

-Paul Wilson