The Real 1970's

I actually managed to finish all the Chanukah shopping on Friday morning, and even had time to stop and enjoy a nice salad for lunch before getting my daughter from school.

That, my friends, is what I call Power Shopping.

There was one item on Megan's list that she wants very badly and that I refuse to buy her: Julie, the latest historic doll from American Girl.

In the past, I've encouraged Megan's love affair with the American Girl line. I love the books that accompany the dolls, the fact that the characters are all decent, independent girls living in interesting times, and the authentic historic furniture and accessories that all help teach kids about our country's past. When she was in second grade, she received the introductory book for each of the characters. The one she loved best was Felicity, because she related to her spirit and sense of humor.

She received the doll on her next birthday, and over the last four years, it's made it easy for her grandparents to buy her something special. Felicity now has several changes of clothes, a bed, a chair, a wardrobe, and several replicas of Revolutionary War-era household items like a tea set and sewing kit. And when Megan got to study American history in school last year, she had a head start because she had read so many of the American Girl doll books (not just Felicity's, but the books that accompany the entire line).

So I don't object to the fact that Megan wants the doll. In fact, I think it's sweet. But she's now in middle school and about to turn 12. I do not want to force my kid to grow up too soon, but the fact is that she rarely touches Felicity any longer. Do I really want to spend $100+ on a new doll she'll play with a few times before outgrowing them once and for all?

But there's another reason I won't be buying the new Julie doll:

Julie is supposed to represent the year 1974.

That was when I turned 18.

When did I become so old that the era of my youth is now a historic period for an American Girl doll?

On top of that, a few years ago, I was joking with my sister that it would be great fun to do a parody of the American Girl catalog with a 70's doll, because that was such an unwholesome time. Think about it -- until the arrival of Julie, the last American Girl doll was Molly, who lived during World War II. There is a world of difference between the um, sophistication of teens in the 1940's and those in the '70's.

That said, the folks who created Julie did a great job of recreating the era without making it inappropriate. Look at the crocheted cap the doll is wearing, a style that was popularized in 1970 by Ali McGraw in the movie, "Love Story" (a huge hit the year I started high school). I had a favorite one in a cranberry shade that I wore all the time.

Then there are Julie's furniture and accessories, all of which are eerily familiar to me. I swear I used to store my vinyl 45's in a case just like the one Julie has, and I stuck the same Ricki Ticki Stickers on my notebooks and and owned the same Day-Glo poster she's put on her locker. (As "The Brady Bunch" debuted the year I turned 13, I wouldn't have been caught dead with that one.)

And I can't be the only Boomer who would like to get my hands on the miniature cassette recorder (that looks EXACTLY like the one I used to use to tape songs off the radio) and tiny package of popped Jiffy Pop popcorn.

Of course, my satirical version of a 70's American Girl doll wouldn't be funny unless it came with some less wholesome knickknacks (let's just say they belong to Julie's older sister):

Decor: A big bushy fern in a macrame hanger. Macrame was big in the '70's.

An incense burner and incense. Patchouli was particularly popular, but I used to go for the fruity scents. My favorite was actually blueberry. I did use a patchouli scented shampoo back then.

A black light to make the Day Glo poster pop (I didn't have one. But I can remember desperately wanting one). And a Day Glo Jimi Hendrix poster, too.

Clothing: Back then, boys had to take at least one shop class while girls had to take home ec. My first sewing assignment in high school was a halter top! Halters were big in the 70's, and I liked the way I looked in my long Indian print halter dress, which I wore with a crocheted shawl. Everyone wore hip hugging low rider jeans with wide legs. And then there were the "hot pants."  These were very short shorts and very high fashion in the early '70's. I didn't own any, but my mom did and we were the same size back then, so I would borrow hers and wear them to school.

Music: A copy of the Rolling Stones' "Sticky Fingers" album, complete with real working zipper. (Boy, do I wish I'd bought this in 1971 -- it's worth a fortune now!)

Eight-track tapes! We had a stereo receiver that played eight-tracks.

Getting Around: Car keys to a Pinto. Or its Chevrolet counterpart, the Vega. Actually, that was for kids who could afford a new car. Most of my friends at the time drove Corvairs -- the car referred to in the title of Ralph Nader's star-making book, "Unsafe at Any Speed." The vehicle was discredited and discontinued -- which means that by the time my friends and I were getting our drivers' licenses, they were REALLY CHEAP.

Recreation: Bottles of Annie Green Springs and Boone's Farm Apple Wine. (OMG - I just googled these and they still make the stuff. Yuck.)

Drug paraphernalia -- even for kids who didn't do drugs, 'cuz it was the '70's and they would want to look "cool": A carburetor, bong, roach clip, poster of the Zig Zag man.

I remember going into Spencer Gifts in the mall (to price black lights), which is where I saw a candle that looked like a kilo of grass (and smelled like it, too). It was expensive ($5, which was a whopping amount for a novelty candle back then, but cheap for a kilo of marijuana).

Books (mostly snuck into room behind parents' backs): "Valley of the Dolls," "The Godfather," "The Joy of Sex" (actually used to read that one at the neighbors' place when I was babysitting -- after the kids had gone to bed - also "Naked Came the Stranger." I think those neighbors engaged in wife swapping and were soon divorced) and the most subversive of all: "A Separate Reality" by Carlos Castaneda and "The Illuminatus Trilogy."

Yeah. The less my daughter knows about what it was like for me to come of age in the '70's, the better. We'll stick with Felicity, the Revolutionary War American Girl. It's much safer.

Comments

[Karoli]

My motherthedollcollector would tell you to buy the doll as a collectible rather than a toy. :) Even though American Girl dolls are easy to get now, when Megan is my mother's age, they won't be.

Now I tell you this because I can hear my motherthedollcollector saying it, but I should also tell you that I was a great disappointment to her, because I never touched a doll in my entire childhood, and I never bought dolls for my daughter who, while liking to dress like a girly-girl in her younger days, wanted nothing to do with dolls and the like either.

Now that you've walked me down memory lane (I was 18 in 1976), let me recommend a book (or audio book) for you. Tom Brokaw's Boom! is not to be missed. It's going to be the definitive sourcebook of that era. It's somewhat autobiographical, but also profiles and chronicles the people of that time and it's awesome.

[Michele]

Donna, you had me laughing out loud at your annoyance that a '70s era doll is considered "historic." I know! The nerve!!

That's how I felt when my daughter's elementary school had 60s, 70s and 80s day. Huh? It made my head spin. You mean, I'm so old kids are now trying to recreate my era.

Yeah, the 70s is a weird era to try and capture in a wholesome doll. The entire decade was kinda of gritty, funky and then slid on into sleazy with the whole Studio 54 disco era.

Oh, and I, too, spent lots of time in Spencer's gifts. I also remember my local mall having a complete head shop with nothing but bongs, roach clips, little coke spoons and those little bottles people would wear around their necks. Weird, huh?

Anyway, I love your memories. And thanks for linking to me. You're sweet.

[Liz D.]

"what is lamer than your dad looking at your MySpace?"

"Finding your dad's band on MySpace!"

No -- it is seeing the clothes you were so proud of in 1970 on a....historical doll.

YOu made me laugh out loud.

And Julie isn't accurate unless she has some dope stashed in her bell-bottoms, or in her blouse (or bra -- only some of us went bra-less) cause the man won't frisk the chick.

I'm back in school (taking a couple of classes at the local community college) and I caused jaws to drop today:

"Fellow students, I was not allowed to wear pants to class until I was in college." (1969--true that!)

I actually stood up and turned around, to face my classmates to say that so I could see their faces.

The males faces' were "so?" and all the females' faces--disbelief.

[Donna]

Liz: There must have been something in the air in '69 -- that's when my junior high started letting us wear jeans to school, too. Today it's hard to believe that during cold Santa Ana conditions (like today's) we were bare-legged and trying to keep our skirts down in the wind (I must remember to tell my daughter that story the next time she complains about her school uniform -- ironically, at the same middle school!)

Michele: A head shop in your mall? But of course - you were living in San Francisco. Here in the Valley, we had to drive to the seedy streets, like Van Nuys or Reseda...

Karoli: I see the reasoning behind buying the doll as a collectible. I'm just not into collecting (I leave that to my accumulative spouse and daughter). And I've always had a problem with pristine toys left in their packaging. Maybe I just saw Toy Story 2 too many times...

The Brokaw book sounds great, and exactly what I want to read. I want to see the History Channel special on 1968, too. That's a year I remember very well.