I spent a good portion of today giving the house its weekly cleaning. You know, dusting, vacuuming, polishing the furniture, taking out the garbage–all those things that I would rather not do. And every time I clean, I always think of a particular scene from the movie, Penny Serenade (1941).
For those of you who have seen it, you already know the story. For those of you who haven’t, this is the plot in a nutshell: Irene Dunne and Cary Grant fall in love and attempt to adopt a child, only to encounter an unexpected tragedy that nearly tears them apart. It’s what everyone calls a tearjerker, although to be honest, I’ve never cried during this movie. Despite its downbeat plot, Penny Serenade is great because 1. I absolutely adore the pairing of Grant/Dunne. Not only are they absolutely perfect together, but I think she was Cary Grant’s best leading lady. And 2. I love how she works in a record store at the beginning of the film. From what I’ve seen, 1940’s record stores were pretty awesome. You could go into a booth and listen to records. If I were alive back then, you can bet that’s where I would have been working.
Anyway, the scene I was talking about was when Miss Oliver (Beluah Bondi) unexpectedly visits the home of Julie Adams (Irene Dunne). Since it’s a surprise visit, Julie isn’t expecting any visitors–instead, she’s spending the afternoon cleaning her house. What always gets me about this scene is the way she’s dressed:
Look at her! She looks absolutely adorable. Her hair is up in a turban/scarf, she’s wearing a cute dress and apron combo and if that weren’t enough, she’s also wearing heels. Heels! For cleaning and scrubbing the house!
Since I wasn’t alive back in the 1940’s, I’m not sure if this is how housewives really dressed while cleaning or if this was Hollywood’s version of dressing for housework. After all, think of how many times actresses look absolutely glamorous and beautiful while on their deathbeds. Still, it seems absolutely ridiculous to wear high heels while cleaning, although I’m not sure if there was any other kind of shoe for women to wear. I think they had to wear heels by default.
Every time I start cleaning the house, I think about this scene. One time I tried to look a bit more presentable while doing all the chores. I tied my hair up in a cute scarf and put on some lipstick–no high heels though, since I like my legs intact and unbroken. Sadly, by the time I finished cleaning, I looked a little something like this:
For more on 1940’s fashion, there’s a really informative wiki page here.
I love Sweetums! Thanks for the link to the 40s fashion page. I love the styles from the 20s-40s and over the past few months I have noticed a lot of stores (Dress Barn, Sag Harbor, Target, Walmart, etc..) selling stuff that looks like those styles. I have bought several dresses and pairs of shoes for work that look very 20s and 30s. I have short curly hair too that I try to style it to look like Clara Bow in the 20s. (It’s also dyed red to match hers
).
I vividly remember seeing this movie when I was heavily pregnant and in an emotional state – I wasn’t so into classic movies in those days as I am now, and blithely assumed that, if it was Cary Grant, it must be a comedy. I soon discovered the error of my ways… and cried until I was a wreck!
I don’t remember anything about the cleaning scene, but don’t think I could bring myself to watch the movie again to check it out. However, I do agree with you that it doesn’t seem all that likely anyone would do heavy cleaning while tottering around in high heels.
Angie, I’ve noticed that the stores are going for the retro look as well, which I like–but I always wonder how many people think, “hey! This looks like it’s from the 20’s?” or “Hey! This is a cute dress?” Still, it’s good to have your own personal style and I like that you’re trying the Clara Bow look.
I’m a sweater set, pearls and pencil skirt kind of girl myself–I really go for the 50’s secretary look. Heels. Matching handbag. All that stuff. I did it in college and I used to stick out like a sore thumb because everyone was dressed so casually.
My one goal in life was to have Rita Hayworth “Gilda” hair, like when she flips her hair back and says, “Me?” I tried to do that and I nearly broke my neck.
Judy – Your experience with Penny Serenade sounds like mine with “Days of Wine and Roses”. I went in expecting a comedy-drama and got a full blown lesson on alcoholism. Really quite a bummer.
I was searching around to see the footwear styles of the 40’s and the most variation I got was that women wore wooden wedge sandals while working in the plants! I don’t know when it became acceptable for women to wear sneakers or even flats around the house, but I know that if I was alive during the 40’s and did housework in heels, I would have made many trips to the hospital for a broken leg or back.