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Heap Big Birthday: 1964

My nephews and I celebrating my Native American themed birthday.  It's spring of 1964 in North Carolina as noted by the jonquils on the table. Kodachrome slide taken with my father's Kodak Automatic 35 camera. View full size.

My nephews and I celebrating my Native American themed birthday. It's spring of 1964 in North Carolina as noted by the jonquils on the table. Kodachrome slide taken with my father's Kodak Automatic 35 camera. View full size.

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Pinwheel Boy

This a funny, funny picture! Cracks me up everytime I see "Pinwheel Boy" poking his head into things. Little one perched on the counter doesn't look too happy, though.

Birthday Girl Update

The cabinet and drawer pulls are still there, as is most of the china. The cabinet is currently painted white. The area where we're all sitting was a breakfast nook. Now it's a pantry but still the same color. The little boy in the back is "Pinwheel Boy" from my post Kids' Table 1966.

Green paint flavors

I'm surprised I didn't comment on the paint color, since it looks like an exact match for our living room and dining room - whatever brand my father used called it "Mist Green." Flat latex for the walls, semi-gloss for the woodwork, like the china cabinet here. Oh, and white ceilings. I remember being amazed when Father first used latex paint over the fact that he could clean his brushes by just rinsing them out under the faucet.

A Favorite Flavor

The cabinet and walls are the very popular color of the 40's through the 60's: mint green, a.k.a. Dr Pepper green. The latter name refers to the color of the coolers and vending machines of the time.The deco-influenced hinges on the cabinet would have been a matching chrome of the drawer pulls but, like so many households, they just painted over them.

[Also called Seafoam Green. - Dave]

Get the Best...

Great photo! These kids wouldn't remember, but one of our favorite Saturday morning TV shows was the "Sealtest Big Top", which aired from 1950 to 1957. Ed McMahon was a clown and a writer on the show. They nearly always had trained seals.

Burned into my mind is the chorus of the jingle: "Get the best, get Sealtest. Get the best, get Sealtest."

Decor

I'm admiring the simulated woodgrain Formica table.

Drum cake

Love the older brother (or nephew), obviously too old to wear a costume and headdress, but he still wants to be included. Also, love the DRUM cake! By that stack of plates, I'm guessing there is a large supporting cast of adults behind the scenes.

Freebies

In the early 50s my father owned a store about two blocks from a Sealtest plant. I would wander over (streets were safe for little kids back then) and the ladies would always give me a little cup of ice cream.

As for dumb brand names my vote goes to Uneeda Biscuit. Still send shivers.

Looks like home

sweet home to me -- Mom's red nail polish, purse on the counter, best silver and dishes in the built-in china cabinet. I remember it well.

The Cake

The birthday cake appears to be homemade and there's no writin' on it.

Enameled trays

I actually have a set of 4 of those exact trays, but they have thin tube legs that unfold to make standing TV tray tables. I also love the coffeepot. I miss the soothing percolations ours made in the morning. Today's automatic drip just doesn't wake me the same way.

I Scream

I remember that half-gallon carton of Sealtest so well -- cheap, good and consumed immediately! Always with Hershey Chocolate Syrup poured all over it.

East Meets West

First of all, I'd like to know just exactly what our kitchen drawer pulls are doing back in North Carolina. Secondly, Sealtest was one of those brands we never had on the West Coast that, when I did hear about them, thought were the dumbest names ever. Everybody knows ice cream is supposed to be Foremost. And mayonnaise Best Foods, not "Hellman's." What kind of a name is that? Thirdly, did everybody have those black enameled metal trays with the floral motif? Fourthly, why can't I find Kleenex in blue and white boxes? Don't those people know the meaning of the word "retro"? Fifthly, and I need hardly point out the obvious: there's one in every crowd.

Caked

I wonder if those were accidentally clever teepees on the cake.

Indian Guide

I was a member of the YMCA-based Indian Guides and was proud to wear my feather headdress at age 10.

Sealtest oh yes!

Oh, I remember Sealtest Ice Cream! Great photo! I'm the same age and lived in Greensboro at the exact same time; we also had the very same table. By the way, what happened to your little brother's bolt-action rifle?

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