Just So Stories

Some months ago I found, at our favourite op shop, a stash of vintage Women’s Weekly magazines [reminds me of Sister Poppy saying that LOL]and though they were not cheap, I bought this one so I could share it for this year’s countdown.

What a revelation it has been to get a glimpse of the Australia that existed when I was just six years old. I’ve told Mr Surfer (who is just one month older than me) that I will pass it onto him and after he’s had a squizz, he can share it with his mum – he’s still lucky enough to have his mum, being the oldest and not the youngest like me.

From the ads – I definitely remember the jolly Santa Coca-Cola ad, though we never had any in our house (and only very rarely soft drink of any kind) and the hors d’oeurves using the Holbrooks and Planters goodies are all too familiar from various celebrations in our house – to the articles themselves, this was a nostalgia trip like no other. There’s a double spread feature on royal and celebrity babies and a whole page devoted to a very young Shirley Jones, up-and-coming actress, demonstrating her innovative ‘hair hat’ styles – bunching her hair up and adorning it with fake flowers – HOOT!!! It’s easy enough, from this distance, to see the cultural cringe that was evident back then, with the Oz-focused articles coming across as quaint, rather than high-end (like the royal babies!).

I do love that there are lengthy stories from well-known authors including a serialised Agatha Christie! and the ‘Teen’ magazine insert was quite a revelation to me – and utterly hilarious when we read it now. I’m not sure how many teen boys were reading it back then either, re the quiz for boys (to check their appeal!).

Mr Surfer is busting to read ‘Do You Really Understand Your Man? – which, personally, I think was written by a man who didn’t know the first thing about women, marriage and I strongly doubt he had any point of reference.

One thing I particularly loved was the Ross Campbell column. I’ve only just talked about his columns in the Sydney papers and magazines recently, with the 50th anniversary of Rocky Horror Picture Show and Little Nell being in a spotlight again. All in all it was good fun and worth the $15 I paid for it. It’s in pretty frail condition and I think it won’t survive much handling, but it has been a swinging 60s spectacular sojourn! I do hope you enjoy the sampling of pages!

Bonus 60s Xmas from the ABC