Mainly for women: fashion, food and film in the 1930s

IN the 1930s, the McIvor Times began to feature lengthy articles aimed at its women readers.

Under the heading Let’s go gossiping, there was a collection of fashion, beauty and household tips.

It was sourced externally and syndicated in dozens of newspapers across Australia, in both regional and metropolitan areas.

While the format varied between publications, it gave local women everywhere a window into cutting-edge fashion advice with a sophisticated flare.

In early 1934, it announced that “woollen blouses will be absolutely the rage this coming season.”

They were “formidable affairs … some with shoulders as on an army officer’s tunic – in fact, very manly affairs.”

But this was not fast fashion as such, it was advice for the depression-era home dressmaker on a tight budget.

Inexpensive fabrics were recommended and readers were also urged “to buy a bit extra so that, as the season advances, you can make a chic hat, bag, glove gauntlet and cravat set to match.”

Budding Heathcote fashionistas could also learn how to set their hair at home as “not everyone has the time or money to go to a hairdresser.”

Although they were warned “it may not be a howling success the first time, because, like everything else, it wants getting in to.”

The household tips were extensive, and centred on making attractive, good-quality food, as well as waste minimisation.

Readers learnt that they should plunge hard-boiled eggs into cold water “the very instant you take them out of their boiling water” as “this prevents a black line round the yolk.”

They should also “sprinkle lemon juice over peeled and cut-up bananas when preparing a banana sweet or trifle.”

These were an expanded version of the handy hints that the McIvor Times had printed since the 1920s.

In 1925 this included such gems as “slotted length-wise and slipped onto the garden clothesline, a cork will readily remove all smuts and dirt accumulated there. It can be parked at one end and used again and again.”

The McIvor Times carried many advertisements for locally available items such as Berlei corsets and ready-to-eat foods, and these were aimed at women.

Founded in Sydney in 1910, Berlei had already expanded to the United Kingdom by 1930 and its 1920s research project to identify Australian women’s figure types had helped quantify its local success.

Christie’s Store encouraged women to “be critical” about their figure and to “call in and let us show you the way to choose the correct model for your figure by personally fitting you with a true-to-type Berlei.”

Robert Hornes Beehive Stores promoted “table dainties”, which were “a few inexpensive items that will add variety to meal getting at all times.”

These included crystalised fruit, dates, cake icings, jellies, nuts, piquant pickles, flavoursome sauces, dessert fruits, fancy biscuits and sandwich pastes.

The McIvor Times ran regular articles on films and film stars.

These were also mainly intended for women readers and had a heavy emphasis on fashion.

Heathcote Fire Brigade played host to the ‘talkies’ each week and there was a regular summary of upcoming movies in the paper.

There were stock photos of Hollywood stars such as Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, and, more daringly, a buff and scantily clad Johnny Weissmuller in his Tarzan costume.

The caption noted that “the former swimming champion declared by health experts to have the finest proportioned body of any man living, stands 6 feet 3 inches in his stocking feet and weighs over 13 stone.”

But as the 1930s drew to a close and the Second World War loomed, Let’s go gossiping disappeared from Australian newspapers.

Wartime fashion and homemaking centred around rationing and a make-do-and-mend ethos, rather than how to make the latest high-end look at a budget price.