Alcoa’s Book of Decorations : A Year-round Treasury of Easy-to-do Decorations for Holidays and Special Occasions
von Hagen
1959
Submitter: I can’t decide what I love most about this book — there is just too much awesome awfulness to choose from! From “Conny of Alcoa” (is that like Saul of Tarsus?) perched on the edge of the table in her smart 50’s shirt dress to the scarlet-haired beauty dipping her foiled toes in the water on page 90, this book is a gem. Glue together foil boots to hold lingerie at Christmas! (And don’t forget to invite your guests to “snip nuts to learn their fortunes.”) Hang foil donuts on your front door to impress the neighbors! Mound crushed foil up and stack fruit on it! Dress your son up as a mind control-foiling (yuk-yuk) Pippi Longstocking for Halloween! (Although the aliens may have already gotten him — notice the childish attempt at a Vulcan salute)
Holly: Wow. These are really…something. What possible excuse could a library make for keeping this in their collection? 1959??
This may be the most horrible book cover I have ever seen. And the bathing beauty is pretty awful too. Evidently aluminum foil was a lot cheaper in 1959. I use it very sparingly these days because it is really expensive.
I am gobsmacked!
WOW. That is one of the most amazing terrible craft books I have ever, ever seen.
Oh, if only Weird Al had seen this before he made this music video https://youtu.be/w-0TEJMJOhk
I try to be sympathetic to these old craft books, but the “treasure tree” just looks like a mess.
This made me laugh so hard – Alcoa is an aluminum plant where my dad worked until he retired, and I can’t believe they made a (terrible!) craft book sneakily trying to get people to buy more foil to boost their sales. I can’t wait to tell him he somehow missed the boat on being a craft superstar!
That’s what I was thinking. Good old Aluminum Company of America trying to get people to waste foil, and therefore buy more. I doubt this book convinced many people.
notice the childish attempt at a Vulcan salute
In 1959? If so, the book hides the secret of time travel. I’m there!
But then, I once saw a stage melodrama (this is really true) whose plot revolved around an aluminum mine. In the last scene, the villain is led off swathed in aluminum foil, saying … well, what do stage villains always say?
Very good!
Would have had it if not for those meddling kids!?
Bwa-ha-ha! “Curses! Foiled again!”
Aluminum foil must have been a lot stronger back then. Every time I try to fold some around a piece of food, it ends up tearing. Was aluminum foil new in 1959? My mom, who was born in the late 1920’s always called it “tin foil” so I’m assuming it was originally made of tin. And seriously, WTF is Conny of Alcoa’s “friend?”
Apparently it came in after WWII. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_foil. I never saw actual tinfoil that I know of, but I am sure I use the term, if only to refer to certain hats or those who may wear them. It rolls off the tongue better than “aluminum foil.”
For something like this, but in brilliant sound and light, check out Reynolds Metals’ “Aluminum on the March”: https://archive.org/details/Aluminum1956
The “mermaid” looks like it crawled out of a well in a Japanese horror film.
Ye quainte olde atomic age! 1959: I was born in 1958! I’m nearly 60!!! No wonder everything was cheaper and the foil was sturdier!!
Please don’t weed that book. It is truly craptastic.