A Vintage Magazine: McCall’s April 1943 Edition

I was recently gifted with a large amount of vintage magazines from ‘Better Homes & Gardens’, ‘Chatelaine’, ‘McCall’s’, ‘American Home’ and more. They are all from the 1930s to the 1950s (majority are late 1930s) and at some point they will all be shared on my blog. Yay for you!

For today’s vintage magazine browse, we are going to open up a ‘McCall’s Magazine from April 1943.

Let’s see what what was inside….

First up, a brief history of McCall’s Magazine:

McCall’s was a monthly American women’s magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-format magazine called The Queen in 1873 (source).

Your very first vintage ad is from Cannon Towels, featuring a young woman talking about her beauty routine after a war-weary day.

At the botton of the ad, it talks about how their towels are going to the Armed Forces and that it is why you favorite store may not have as wide of a selection. “Naturally, you won’t buy any towels unless it’s absolutely necessary”. OF COURSE!

The Washington Bureau added its own “Guide to Daily Living” article that was meant to help you with any questions you may have about the home front or the war.

For example:

Rags & Nylons (bottom left)

Your rag bag is one of the stockpiles of material for wiping cloths for the machinery of the Army and Navy war industry. So save the rags you don’t need. If there’s no rag dealer in your town, your local salvage committe can tell you when and where to take them. And remember that the last of your silk and nylon stockings are as precious to the war effort as they are to you. When they’re worn out, wash them and turn them in.

Easter is upon us and so the magazine is filled with lots of vintage Easter meal ideas, like a “Half a Star Ham for Easter that makes 5 wonderful meals” from Armour and Company.

• Easter Ham and Hot Stuffed Eggs
• Sliced Ham and Spring Salad
• Ham and Sweetbread Pastry Shells
• Ham Patties
• Ham Split-Pea Soup (YUM! I love soup!)

The first 2 page spread is called ‘It’s An Old American Custom….” and talks about how neighours are solving war problems right in their own backyards. Problems like food rationing, transportation, labor, child care and housing.

The magazine also features several stories about love, heartbreak, romance, struggles and more. This story is called “The Girl Who Wouldn’t Talk” and it’s about a man who strikes up a romance with the office clerk (“The pretty girl with her brillant smile and her silky pale pompadour and her trim dark suit“).

Vintage Advertisement for Woodbury Color Controlled Powder, featuring Lucille Ball who is appearing in ‘Du Barry was a Lady’ on the big screen.

“Which woman’s on her way to being hated?”. An article about the right and wrong ways to help the war effort while at home. AKA don’t be trying to outsmart the food rationing rules…HELEN!

“She’s Engaged! She’s Lovely! She Uses Ponds”. 1943 vintage ad for Ponds cold cream featuring the lovely Martha Montgomery.

Martha is an adorably sweet and popular daughter of Mr. And Mrs. William Robert Montgomery and she is engaged to Lieutenant Herbert Slatery, Jr. The ad goes on to talk about her beauty routine, her ring and her wartime job (taking care of small children).

Flexi-Menu: “Describes the kind of menus we’ll all have to learn to plan if we want to keep our good health and our even dispositions during these day of shortages and ration stamps.”

Featuring meals like:

• Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie
• Versatile Main Dish Loaf
• Fruit-Crowned Spanish Cream

Heinz 57 vintage ad: “Short Cuts to Good Eating to Save time and Money!”

“Added to the wartime woman’s vital task of providing adequate nourishment for her family are her patriotic activities and new factory jobs! These recipes and suggestions are specially designed to save her many precious minutes and pennies”.

“Good meals lift the spirits as well as protect health! These attractive and energy-giving dishes, enriched with the 57 varieties, are lifesavers for today’s active homemakers because they cost little in time, money and effort!”

Here are some food ideas from Heinz:

• Broiled Grapefruit
• Mayonnaise Egg Sauce for Cooked Green Vegetables
• Poached Eggs in Cream
• Bake Lamb Casserole

As mentioned before, April is Easter Month and everyone always needs another good Ham recipe for Easter dinner especially if it’s from Swift’s!

Here is your Easter Menu:

• Shrimp & Cucumber Salad
• Easter Ham with Fruit Dressing
• Parsley Potatoes
• Asparagus
• Hot Rolls
• Rhubarb Pie

A Kitchen and Dining Room remodel when you just don’t have the materials you need…right now (war bonds will help them with future purchases later).

A Party is a State of Mind….Sometimes you’ll have others there. Sometimes it’s just a home affair! But Jell-0 will supply you with all the fun dessert recipes in this vintage ad for whatever party your hosting.

McCall’s Style and Beauty section.

“Little Girl on a Big Plane”

You’ll like this girl. She does a man’s work in the ground crew, servicing airplanes, but she hasn’t lost any of her feminine sweetness and charm.

Meet Phyllis Anderson, whose dream was NOT to work in a store selling things. She wanted to do something around planes. She is now working as the ground crew for Northeast Airlines U.S. Army Army Air Transport Command and she LOVES IT!

Ground crew by day, stuffed puppy lover by night.

1943 Spring Dresses are Soft and Feminie this year! Why? “Well since the time of the crusades, whenever there has been a war, there has always been a definite trend toward feminine, ladylike clothes that form a vivid but restful contrast to masculine uniforms and utilitarian work clothes”.

What to wear this Spring? The Printed Dress Comes First” as seen in these pretty 1940s fashion illustrations.

Plenty of Pleats is all the rage for women’s fashion in 1943! Along with square lines at the shoulders and the use of Shantung a fine fabric seen on the green dress on the right.

This is a Spring Wardrobe. The aqua dress is for those who don’t like to wear the traditional Shirtwaist Dress. The middle dress is a softer version of the suit-dress and the navy on the right has lingerie touches. All so pretty!

1943 College fashions for the young women with big goals in mind.

The Look of Spring. Beautiful 1940s women’s 2 piece suits. The Seersucker Suit, The Semi-Fitted Suit and the Boxy Shortie. Love the Seersucker!

The last ad on the back of the magazine is for Ivory soap and features 3 women. The WAAC Officer, the Homemaker and the Hat Designer all who have different skincare needs.

I hope you enjoyed taking a look into my McCall’s 1943 magazine. I especially enjoyed this one because it was a time of war and I find it very interesting to see how the ads and the articles were focused on the real issues of the time.

Stay tuned for many more blog posts like this in the future.

Liz