This from Wikipedia: “Dr. Brown’s dates back to 1869 when their famous Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda was commonly sold in New York delicatessens.[1] This soda was originally developed by a doctor who treated immigrant children in NY. The seltzer that helped these children contained celery seeds and sugar. Dr. Brown’s has been sold as a bottled soda since 1886.”
Can you just imagine? Celery soda? THEY STILL MAKE IT!!! Dr. Brown’s sodas now come in six flavors- Cream Soda, Cel-Ray, Black Cherry (my favorite), orange, ginger ale and root beer. The Black Cherry and Cream Soda are also available in diet. Dr. Brown’s soda is typically sold in 12-ounce cans and in one-liter and plastic bottles as well as two-liters in Black Cherry, Cream, and Root Beer flavors. Dr. Brown’s soda is also available in a 6 pack of 8 ounce glass bottles. Did we mention it’s kosher? Yep. It’s even kosher!
Talk about a piece of history! Wearing denim jeans has been around for more than a century! Lets focus on the 1940′s here, and narrow the discussion a bit.
In 1943, Blue Bell Inc. acquired the Casey Jones Company… who had been making jeans since 1905. The combined knowledge promoted the Wrangler line of jeans, designed with cowboys in mind. In 1947, style 11MW (which was Men’s Western) was introduced, using 11 oz denim and a rust-proof zippered fly. Midwest-Vintage goes on to say this, “Wrangler, like Lee initially used the arcuate stitch on the back pockets, but this was quickly replaced in 1948 with the “W” stitch. It is interesting to note that the Wrangler label or the back of the jeans has never been produced in leather. The Wrangler label was first made in pressed card and then in plastic for a simple reason. The Wrangler jeans were designed for cowboys and when the leather label and leather saddle came into contact they would stick together. These jeans had a “Blue Bell” label sewn on the back of the zipper fly with the sizing and the world “Sanforized”.”
It is interesting to note that these earlier products had both the Wrangler and Blue Bell logo sewn into them!
Since 1936, Bass has been producing this iconic classic loafer shoe. Here’s a little history lesson for you:
(from Wikipedia)” The Norwegians producing leisure slippers of the moccasin style in the 1930s began exporting these to the rest of Europe where they were taken up by visiting Americans,and championed by the American Esquire magazine. Some photographs included with the Esquire feature were of Norwegian farmers in a cattle loafing area.The Spaulding family in New Hampshire started making shoes based on this design in the early 1930s,deeming them loafers, the general term for slip-on shoes that remains still in use in America. In 1934, G.H. Bass (a bootmaker in Maine) started making loafers under the name Weejuns (sounding like Norwegians).The distinctive addition was a strip of leather across the saddle with a diamond cut-out. Initially only worn in the summer at home, the shoe grew in popularity in America to become a significant part of men’s casual shoe wardrobe, though back in Europe its ubiquity has never reached the same degree. When American students in the 1950s wishing to make a fashion statement took to inserting a penny into the diamond-shaped slit on their Weejuns, the name penny loafer came to be applied to this style of slip-on and has since stuck, though the practice itself does not continue.“
Bass still offers Weejun style shoes, and even has a particular “Weejuns” category in their catalogs! Shop and enjoy!
Barbasol (yes, the shaving cream!) was invented by MIT professor Frank Shields in 1919, looking for a product that would produce a less irritating effect from shaving. Yesterday’s product is not the same you’d see on the shelves today, but Barbasol still produces a similar product today. Try Barbasol Moisturizing Therapeutic Shave Lotion. Barbasol is formed from two words- the Latin word for ‘beard’, and an abbreviation of ‘solution’.
The Barbasol Company was founded in 1920, and was producing 30-40 dozen tubes of shave lotion per day in no time at all! The product didn’t change from the lotion in the tube, to the fluffy shave cream we know today, until the mid 1950′s.
A product similar to the original product was reintroduced in 2003, but then was reformulated into what is now sold as the Moisturizing Therapeutic Shave Lotion.
According to Wikipedia:
“Barbasol became a very popular shaving cream. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, many print advertisements were used to support its growth. Many of the print ads featured men and women in situations that would be considered risqué for their time.
The company also used several famous spokesmen throughout the years, notably star baseball players Babe Ruth and Rogers Hornsby as well as football legend Knute Rockne”
You’ve heard the Beach Boys singing about them… but huarache sandals have been around since before the Beach Boys were born! Originating in Latin American countries, made of woven hand-tooled leather uppers and soles, they began appearing in Mexican markets around 1936. Eventually the soles were replaced with rubber from worn tires, but the year this began is not specific. They were originally a peasant shoe, and the smaller sizes made them popular with American women. Some modern pairs have lasted their owners up to 20 years! Now THAT is a long-lived shoe! Huaraches are traditionally hand-made, so no two pairs are ever exactly alike.
