[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] A [/dropcap]nd this week in Mum’s Drawer we have some little bombs…

Well, the 1950s was a time full of admiration for the atomic bomb and what better way to ‘celebrate’ (?) such an achievement than to have a pair of small salt-and-pepper bombs on your kitchen table?

These little bakelite gems were most likely an engagement gift.

By the way, did you know that bakelite is made from formaldehyde and phenol and its formal name is polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride?

Keep that one in mind when next playing Scrabble.

 More from Mum’s Drawer…

Do you remember the Drive-In?

To Hoover or not to Hoover?

A well-travelled junket

Bowlin, bowlin’, bowlin’….

Lunch order, 1975?

signed, Fletcher Jones

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] T [/dropcap]his week from Mum’s Drawer we have extracted an attractive brochure detailing how to brighten your home with Dulux paints.

More than 50 years after this pamphlet was printed, the retro-styling of the homes is very much back in vogue.

It is a little hard to read in this image, but the range of colours suggested for the lounge included nasturtium (ceiling), parchment (walls) and golf brown (walls).

Suggestions for the adult bedrooms – including those with two single beds – ranged from Nile green or pumpkin to Cloud pink and pewter.

Inspired?

Other treasures from Mum’s drawer…

Do you remember the Drive-In?

To Hoover or not to Hoover?

A well-travelled junket

Bowlin, bowlin’, bowlin’….

Lunch order, 1975?

signed, Fletcher Jones

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] T [/dropcap]his week’s image for Mum’s Drawer isn’t from Mum’s Drawer at all, but we couldn’t resist sharing it with you.

The photo was taken in the 1960s and is from the collection of Ivan Berndt who used to work at the Warrnambool Drive-In and who still works as a projectionist for Warrnambool’s Capitol Cinema.

Do you remember nights at the Drive-in?

A product of the vehicle boom in the 1950s, drive-ins were once the ultimate in cool, what with their kiosks, speakers that hung from the rear window and the freedom of watching a film in the cosy capsule of a car (although, of course, not everyone went to the drive-in to watch the movie…)

Drive-ins survived the arrival of television, but succumbed to the rise of the VCR in the 1980s: people could watch movies of their choice in their own homes.

The Warrnambool Drive-In was on the corner of Rooneys Rd and Raglan Parade, where an (empty) hardware business now stands.

 What else have we pulled from Mum’s drawer?

To Hoover or not to Hoover?

A well-travelled junket

Bowlin, bowlin’, bowlin’….

Lunch order, 1975?

signed, Fletcher Jones

What is a tray cloth?

This is the sort of thing that once stimulated “controversy” in households across Australia…to Hoover, or not to Hoover, the new carpets? When Mum bought her first Hoover in the 1950s, this was included in the instruction booklet.

THE OPENING of the Warrnambool tenpin bowling alley on Christmas Eve, 1963, was cause for great excitement, with the local newspaper declaring that the city was now home to a sport that “has captured the world”.

At that time, the complex was known as the Western Bowl and patrons paid 40 cents a game for adults, or 25 cents for children (under 17 – 17!), to try their hand at knocking down a series of pins with a heavy ball while wearing stylish, soft-souled shoes.

The place was a hit and no doubt early marketing ideas like this one – a patron card sent to potential customers at Christmas time – helped with its success.

Fifty years on, “The Bowl”, as it is affectionately known, is still going strong and has a vibrant league competition that has produced its share of champions.

My mother kept everything – and I mean, everything. Each week we will reveal another item from the collection.