Let's Get Into Physical: Part 7, New Year Resolutions!

Editor's note:  The following is a part of a continuing conversation between a man who came of age in the 70s and his grandson.

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"Hey Grandpa, it's one week into the new year. How are those New Year resolutions coming along ?  Ya know, the ones about loosing weight and getting into shape."

"Well, son, uh, well......Don't you have some new video games to play or something?  Anyway getting into shape these days isn't as much fun as it used to be when I was your age."

"Why's that, Grandpa? "

"Well, because back in the 70s and 80s, we had lots of neat-oo exercise stuff we could buy from the Big Book catalogs!  Let's take a look......"

 "Jogging was really big back then.  I mean everyone did it.  And those groovy catalogs had all the gear that one needed - right down to the stylish athletic shoes!"

"Wow Grandpa, with great looking gals like Kathy in short-shorts, no wonder you liked to jog!  Still it's too cold outside right now to take up jogging." (1)

"Ah son, you're not getting off THAT easy.  After all, those Big Books were chalk full of indoor aerobic equipment like this state of the art, high tech treadmill."

"Or this high tech indoor bike, complete with electronic controls."

"Did it come with Bluetooth like the Pelotron bike that mom got for Christmas this year?"

"Ahhh, no. And how many times do I have to explain to you that there was no such thing as the internet back then.  Anyway back to the exercise gear!"

"Hey Grandpa, what's with the belt machine and the wooden roller thing?"

"Well son, just like today, people were always looking for a shortcut when it came to taking those pounds off."

"Ha, ha, Grandpa, laying down while pedaling is about as lame as you can get!"

"I stand corrected.  Hey Grandpa, didn't they lift back in those days?  That's what I'm into - getting ripped."

"Well son, you're in luck...."

"Your complete home gym from Sears!"

"With sturdy and adjustable weight bench to hit all those muscle groups.  They even had celebrity endorsements in those catalogs....""

"Hey Grandpa isn't that Caitlin Jenner before the operation???"

"Who knew back then, let's move on. Perhaps we need to cleanse our minds with some nice, safe pics of dance wear from the 70s."

"People did ballet for exercise?!?  That's pretty weird Grandpa."

"Well, with good looking gals like Kathy and Karen, perhaps it wasn't so weird after all!"

"One thing to keep in mind is that people back then were more interested in looking good than anything else.  Getting in shape was just a side benefit.

"A tanning light from Sears?!?  Grandpa, I don't think that was such a good idea."

"Probably not son.  But those Big Book catalogs had everything you needed to look good.  They even had personal use items to unwind from a hard workout."

"For example, a 'Pedle-Dedle' for him and a.....well a.....Oh boy, this is awkward."

"Grandpa isn't that lady holding a......"

"That's enough son."

"It says it relives tension."

"That's enough son."

"And that it's good for all parts of the body."

"I said, THAT'S ENOUGH son!"

"Gee Grandpa, these old catalogs are pretty cool after all!"

footnotes:

(1) This pic is courtesy of Blue Senshi. Thanks!

Just Too Cute for a Wishbook Christmas!

After last week's crazy outfits, I thought we would take a break and go back to just some ordinary fashions from the early 70s. 

These pics are from the Sears 1972 Wishbook.   The Wishbook was a Christmas mail order catalog that came out in time for parents to place their orders for all the in demand toys for the season.  They were not as big as the big book catalogs for the spring and fall, but they were still pretty substantial. 
The arrival of the Wishbook (and their counterparts from other department stores) always caused great excitement in households across the land for they signaled kids that the Christmas season was in full swing.  It was almost like Santa had fired a flare across the sky letting everyone know that, yep, he was coming this year.

The Wishbook was mostly toys of course.  However, they had seasonal clothing offerings also.   Moms could always be counted on to order some clothes.  The kids wanted toys while moms were more interested in making sure they had school clothes.  Grandmas too could be counted on to always get clothes for the grand kids.  You can still hear the echos across the land from those Christmas mornings "No, you WILL put on that sweater with the reindeer pattern that Grandma Casey got you and we WILL take a photo of it and you WILL send her a thank you card, young man". 

All of these pics are form Sears Junior Bazaar.  Sears really was the marketing leader in this category.  The others never could quite come up with as catchy a name for their juniors section.

Otherwise these are just really nice pics of Kathy.  She was just too cute.

Not much to say here.  Except for the pointy collars, these shirts would not be out of place today.  Karen has a wig on (obviously).  They did that with the models sometimes.  Maybe they got bored or something during the shoots.  Not really a good look.  Kathy is absolutely radiant here.

Not sure who the third model is.  There were a posse of models that were always in these catalogs, and there were others that kinda popped in and out.  The extra wide white belt on Kathy is a nice touch.

Ahh, here we go - sweaters.  Nothing says Christmas quite like a comfy, cozy pull over sweater with acyclic bell bottom pants.  Note the price on the pants.  Gee, that is not much less than the equivalent would go for today.  And this was in 1972!  Those foreign workers making stuff for Walmart have really had an impact on clothing prices. Otherwise acrylic was about the most uncomfortable fabric to wear as I remember. 

Kathy looks absolutely adorable here, really steals the scene. No wonder she was a popular model for this kind of work.  You can picture grandmas looking at this and going  "Ohh my little Suzy would look adorable in that.  I'm not sure about the bell bottoms, seems a bit hippie, but if that is what the young folks are wearing these days, I'll get it for her".  Perhaps that is why Sears toned down the clothing for the season - they were going after the grandma sales.  They could save the edgier stuff for Spring.