18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, February 25, 1914: Something like yesterday.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
It was a slow week. This was the third day in a row that Grandma didn’t write much.
Maybe Grandma had time to enter a contest that was in Ladies Home Journal.
The Wilson Dress-hooks contest gave a $100 cash prize for the best title of 8 words or less for this picture.
The contest rules say:
Why tolerate such embarrassment as shown in the above picture? For the last five years increasing numbers of women have been exclaiming, “At last I have found a fastening that simply can not be sprung open nor come unfastened!”
Rules
1. Write your title (8 words or less) –the shorter the better. Below it your name and address–nothing more. Only one title accepted per person.
2. Count Wilson Dress-hooks as two words only. You may use or omit them in your title.
3. Contest closes June 1, 1914.
4. Questions cannot be answered.
The original hooking up.
🙂
I still like hooks and eyes!
Personally I tend to prefer buttons and zippers. It always surprises me when I realize that zippers weren’t commonly used until the 1920’s and 30’s.
That’s very good prize money.
Yes, that would have been a lot of money back then.
Questions cannot be answered==as true then as today
Some things don’t change. . .
I’d love to know what won!
It would be fun to know what the winning title was.
I thought maybe you’d ask your readers to submit their entries for the contest!
hmm. . . now that’s a thought. . . Maybe next time if I come across another old contest.
I also wonder what caption won ….
I bet that it was something clever.
Life used to be so much simpler! We need contests like that today. Finding a new flavor of potato chips is not my cup of tea! Lol!
I agree. . . this type of contest had to have inspired creativity.
I wonder if Grandma ever worried that someone might read her journal? Is it possible that might have something to do with her minimalist entries?
(and yes! Hooks are so much better than snaps or buttons)
Maybe. . . I could imagine her mother or sister Ruth occasionally sneaking a peek.
Eight words is a serious word count restriction. How about: “She’d have used Wilson dress-hooks, but Rupert’s downstairs!” Hmm – perhaps a bit risqué for the times…
Awesome title. . .It might not have won in 1914, but I love it. 🙂
Helping you keep it together since 1867 – what? I could use the $100!
Diana
Great title! It sounds like a winner to me.
Hahaha, I like the one by yakinamac!
I agree. . .She did come up with a fun title.
I’m with LB on wondering if a Grandma was concerned that someone might read her entries. What do you think Sheryl?
The diary entries sometimes seem like they were written very cautiously. I also think that she may have worried that someone (probably either her mother or sister Ruth) might read the entries.
I wonder if this was the winner – “Hook the hook that stays hookt”. I found it here – http://books.google.com/books?id=u8kcAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA13-PA36&lpg=RA13-PA36&dq=Wilson+Dress-hooks+contest&source=bl&ots=rintQ7ygGP&sig=N9bgZaoRbI07XANYjJHl3oJhcxw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DZ8SU4r-K5GDogSkrICgDA&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Wilson%20Dress-hooks%20contest&f=false