RIP Joan Rivers

What Becomes A (Semi) Legend Most? (Geffen, 1983)

 

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

If I Were A Woman - Ira North (Eden Records, circa late 1950s, early 1960s)

You've probably been seeing this record cover circulating around the interwebs lately amongst the world's worst album covers listings. But rarely do we get the chance to hear what one sounds like.

Well, thanks to our friends at Kill Ugly Radio, you can now hear this one.

And it's not really what you might be thinking (female viewers of this blog will be REALLY offended listening to this.) It's one big clueless (and hopelessly dated) misogynistic rant in the guise of a folksy sermon (like on just about every Southern religious sermon record, where if it wasn't white, Protestant, straight and male, it was to be subjugated.)

Ira North sure thinks he's a sweet funny preacher. And perhaps he was considered that in the Deep South of the late 1950s and early '60s before the Civil Rights Act, Women's Liberation and Stonewall. But his screed back then sounds vomit-inducing amongst the more evolved amongst us today.

More From The History's Dumpster Bookshelf...

Also see The History's Dumpster Bookshelf and Read Any Good Books?

 

Source: Regrettable Reads

1943 Disney Studio Employees Handbook

(Click on images to enlarge)

Thanks to Open Culture.

Happy Mother's Day

 

"I.O.U." Jimmy Dean (1976)

WHER.....1,000 Beautiful Watts

Ladies, if you ever needed something to play on the stock car radio of your brand new 1955 Dodge La Femme, then Memphis was your kind of town.

Because also debuting in 1955 was radio station WHER. At 1430 on the AM dial, WHER was the first radio station completely staffed, programmed and operated entirely by women. The only Y chromosomes at WHER were there to write the checks and fix the transmitter whenever it got wonky. The women controlled everything else.

A terrestrial radio station with a mostly female staff is still a very rare thing. But in the 1950s, it was extremely rare to hear a female DJ with her own program. The 1950s were a pretty sexist time and the ceiling wasn't glass in the radio industry. Most women in air positions at that time were network voice actresses or they were local socialites who read recipes during the midday show. But most women overall however remained behind the scenes, doing office work.

WHER was owned by local record mogul Sam Phillips of Sun Records and Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson. Phillips used the money he got for Elvis Presley's recording contract from RCA Victor records as seed money for WHER.

But surprisingly, WHER played no rock. Probably because of the uncomfortably close link between Sun and WHER (the payola scandals around the country were just beginning to simmer.) The music on WHER was a mix of easy listening, jazz and country swing.

WHER became an instant sensation and inspired many imitators (including KPEG in Spokane, WA.)

An early press release for WHER described the station as this : 

“The studio and offices have been feminized from front door to rear exit. The disc jockeys are called jockettes, the studio is known as the doll’s den, the control rooms are called playrooms, the hallway is mirrored, the equipment room has been decorated with murals depicting the evolution of feminine clothing, the stationary is perfumed, the advertisers are listed in a date book, and the exit to the parking lot is labeled “Bye, Bye ‘Till Next Time”.

You were clearly in their world.

WHER was managed and programmed by Becky Phillips (wife of Sam Phillips) and Dottie Abbott. And from 1955 to 1966, WHER was exclusively operated by women. However after Abbott left, it seemed time to let the guys in. The station changed call letters to WWEE, or "We" radio.

1430 kHz in Memphis today is WOWW, a repeater for country music station "95.3/97.7 The Rebel" WEBL.  

More info on WHER:

WHER Radio Station

The Kitchen Sisters documentary on WHER (Complete with audio!)

Tickle Deodourant

Courtesy of Found In Mom's Basement

Something about the thick phallic shaped bottle, it's big wide ball and the fact that women on the TV ads for Tickle giggled everytime the voice over mentioned this deodourant's attributes made a lot of men hot and bothered in the late 1970s (C'mon ladies, we knew why you were taking so long in the bathroom).....

Picking Up Girls Made Easy! (Symphony Press, 1975)

If there's one product that illustrates the very lengths of what some men will do to keep from being lonely, it's mail order records like this.

Now I'm not sure how many copies this sold, but I would love to hear some 2014 female critiques of this record. For example, I imagine "The Women's Clothing Store Pick-up" would send sirens going off in the minds of store employees alone before he even got within 50 feet of you.

"Huh-uh-huh-uh-huh....Hey Beavis....We're gonna score....."

And when was the last time you met an, ummm, persuasive (and presumably straight) guy at the ballet.... 

Listen to it here (from 365 Days Project.)