Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Jaclyn


The lilies that I found in the cemetery are beginning to fade, but look how well they bloomed! Every bud opened but one.

Yesterday was nothing to write home about. Another quiet day in the library. And I just can't bring myself to talk about politics.

So let's talk nostalgia instead.

A few weeks back, blogger Tasker Dunham wrote about posters. Most of us probably plastered our bedrooms with them when we were young. In my day, Farrah Fawcett was the must-have poster; in fact, my step-brother had that image on a t-shirt, I believe.

I never had Farrah myself, but I remember pinning up a glamorous picture of Rachel Ward in a blue dress with a plunging neckline. (I suppose I was trying to convince myself that I was straight. I think I just liked the dress.) I can't find the image online now, unless it was this Cosmopolitan cover from 1979 -- but I don't remember it being that revealing.

Anyway, I thought I'd stuck the Rachel Ward picture into one of my childhood journals. But when I looked yesterday, I was surprised to find I didn't save Rachel's picture at all. Instead I saved...


...Jaclyn Smith. Who I was also quite taken with. (As you can see, I proclaimed her "beutiful." So much for my spelling.) She did have really good hair. I'm not sure why she's all folded up. Maybe I took her to school.



These are the only pictures I have of my childhood bedroom, c. autumn 1983. As you can see, I had a Garfield poster, and a Budweiser poster of some Old West cowboy. (I collected beer cans at the time, so I had a lot of beer paraphernalia hanging around, even though no one in my family drank much beer. It was a very '80s thing to do.)

I made that collage over the closet door, and I pinned up lots of comic strips -- mainly Peanuts and Garfield. I don't remember what the written pages are above my crappy plastic stereo; I think they're lyrics to a song. Probably something by The Fifth Dimension, who I loved.

It's funny to look at these images now. It's like another lifetime. I still have that big round beige vase in the middle of the bookcase, as well as the tin box to its left and the bookends on the top. In the second photo, there's a rock from the Grand Canyon on my desk at far right; I still have that, as well as the needlepoint made by my stepmother hanging above the dresser, which you can just barely see. Otherwise all that stuff is long gone.

47 comments:

Yorkshire Pudding said...

The colouration of those room pictures makes them look as if they came from distant history. Your curtains were delightful weren't they? Did you pick the fabric yourself? Nice to see that even back then you had houseplants.

Moving with Mitchell said...

What great memories! I don't have any good pictures of my room itself. Wish I did. I don't remember having any pin-ups on my walls -- nor any posters at all come to think of it.

Steve Reed said...

No, the curtains were not my choice! I never minded them, though. As I recall the flowers were more red than they appear in the picture. I guess it IS distant history -- almost 40 years ago!

Steve Reed said...

You must have had some pictures of some kind, though, right? A lot of parents didn't like posters because they put pin holes in the walls. In fact, I think that's why my stepbrother had Farrah on a shirt -- because my father wouldn't let him put holes in the walls in his room. (They lived in a different house -- I lived with my mom and she didn't care as much.)

John Going Gently said...

Memories
I too kept Garfield posters and liked Jaclyn Smith ....Kate was too manly ( go figure) Farrah was a bit too dense

Ms. Moon said...

I think I may have made curtains for Lily and Jessie's room out of that same fabric. Or at least something very close. I have no pictures of my old room and thank god. So many horrible memories.
You were certainly a tidy young man. I see seeds of the librarian in the way those books are arranged!

ellen abbott said...

are you sure it wasn't the girly curtains that turned you gay? I have nothing left from my childhood bedroom and I'm pretty sure I never hung up pictures of movie or TV stars. in fact I can't think of anything I had on my walls. surely they were all bare.

Sharon said...

What fun memories. Jaclyn Smith was a beauty. I saw her once sometime in the 70's on a trip to LA. She was shopping at the Farmer's Market there. I don't think I have any photos of my childhood bedroom.

e said...

I had a Peter Maxx poster and a Darfield puppet, no photos of my small grey room which was eventually painted yellow.

Anonymous said...

I love that you have photos of your old bedroom. What a great way to piece together life from those days. You remind me that the only poster I remember having was The Beatles.

Red said...

the flowered drapes were very popular at that time. My son came home and had a good look in his room but very little of his stuff was there. He stood for quite a while. I think he was trying to remember stuff he had in has room.

Steve Reed said...

I never really saw the appeal of Farrah until she starred in "The Burning Bed" and I thought, "Wow, maybe she DOES have talent!"

Steve Reed said...

Yeah, I was always pretty organized! I wish I could see better what books are on my shelves. I can see "Alien" and "Different Seasons" and "The High and the Mighty" and some others.

Steve Reed said...

LOL -- I'm not sure they MADE me gay, but maybe I didn't mind them because I AM gay? It's a chicken or egg question.

Steve Reed said...

Wow, that must have been quite a sighting at the time, when she was at the peak of her fame!

Steve Reed said...

I loved Peter Max, but alas, I had none of his posters!

Steve Reed said...

Probably would be worth a million dollars if you still had it!

Steve Reed said...

Yeah, I'm sure my parents put those drapes in before I even moved into the room. But I always liked flowers and plants so I was fine with them.

Tasker Dunham said...

If you can it might be worth scanning in those pictures at the highest res your equipment allows. I've always been surprised at what I remember when you see the detail.

Ellen D. said...

Seeing your avocado green dresser brought me back to my childhood home. My Mom LOVED avocado green and "antiqued" many pieces of our furniture that color. It was a popular style of painting that was supposed to make furniture looked aged, I guess. Many, many years later some of us paid to have the green paint removed from the china cabinet and gifted the restored piece to my sister and her husband for their wedding. It was so lovely when refinished!

Debby said...

Your avocado dresser reminded me of our avocado green pleather sofa. My parents were so very proud of their new furniture. They were able to discard the antique hand-me-downs they'd used for years. Then there's me who's snapping up the very sort of furniture they were so anxious to be done with! PS: I spy with my little eyes: A Fleetwood Mac Rumors album?

Allison said...

It's pretty cool that there are photos from 40 years ago. My parents took slides, the slides deteriorated and are now in a landfill somewhere.

37paddington said...

And of course, the set of encyclopedias! very cool look back.

Margaret said...

Old photos are so interesting and bring back many memories and stories. I was never into posters, although I was madly in love with George Harrison.

Linda Sue said...

that is the tidiest kid's room I have ever seen!

The Bug said...

I like this glimpse into your bedroom. Wait, that sounded wrong. I have some photos of mine from back then - it was glorious! Red carpet, two yellow walls, two walls with patchwork quilt wallpaper, blue bedspread. Ha!

Anonymous said...

I did have a few token female celebrities on my walls among the many many posters of male celebs. I wish I had kept the posters.

Janie Junebug said...

I hadn't thought about my posters in many years. As a teenager, I had a bedroom in the basement. It had a cheap ceiling and paneling. I was allowed to put up all the posters I wanted--on the ceiling and the walls. Some were anti-war posters. Many were cartoonish appeals to travel to a variety of countries. My oldest sister had a friend who was a travel agent who gave the travel posters to my sister, who then gave them to me. Never any posters with pretty girls.

Love,
Janie

Michael said...

Your photos brought me back to my childhood home. My bedroom had the same kind of look as yours did.

Catalyst said...

I had a wirephoto of Raquel Welch striding out of the ocean in a teensy-weensy bikini on the wall of my newsroom many years ago. Under it I had penned one word: Mom.

Steve Reed said...

Unfortunately I think that IS the highest res for my equipment. The fault is in the negatives, not the scanner. My little camera from those days just didn't produce very clear pictures.

Steve Reed said...

Oh yeah, I remember "antiquing." It's funny how avocado and "harvest gold" were such popular colors at the time.

Steve Reed said...

Although I did have Fleetwood Mac in my album collection ("Tusk") the album you see on the end is actually the soundtrack to the James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice." That's Sean Connery as Bond. I loved the Bond movies and at the time there was no compilation album with all of the theme songs, so you had to get the full soundtrack for each movie just to have the themes. (And who wants to listen to anything beyond the main songs?) That is no longer true, fortunately. My albums were alphabetized so Y for "You" made it the last album. :)

Steve Reed said...

It is interesting to look back. Like I said, it's like another lifetime. Sometimes old slides can be restored. If you find more I wouldn't throw them out.

Steve Reed said...

I loved those encyclopedias and I kept them well into adulthood -- until we moved to England, in fact. I wrote about them here on the blog when I finally discarded them.

Steve Reed said...

The early Beatles were ALL so adorable.

Steve Reed said...

Ha! I was pretty neat, although I'm sure I cleaned the room before I took the pictures.

Steve Reed said...

OMG! You have to blog those photos!

Steve Reed said...

Like who? Inquiring minds want to know! I didn't hang up any posters of men, although I'd sneak a look at Tiger Beat magazine when given the opportunity.

Steve Reed said...

Do you have any pictures of your basement den? It's cool that you could put up all the posters you wanted. Most of us were constrained by parents who didn't want us marring the walls.

Steve Reed said...

I loved my room. My safe retreat!

Steve Reed said...

I know that photo! That's a hilarious caption.

Ms. Moon said...

And burnt orange. All the worst colors.

The Bug said...

I did - here! Way back in 2014. Unfortunately, it's not a photo of the whole room, but the wallpaper is the most important part :)

Anonymous said...

I think they were mostly local pop stars but The Bee Gees were there in very tights pants. Rick Springfield was one. David Cassidy another. I just checked what Tiger Beat was. I used to devour such trash mags.

Janie Junebug said...

No photos. I was the youngest of six, so I didn't have a baby book and I wasn't in many photos. When I had my senior pictures taken, my mom lost them! It was unusual that I was allowed to put up posters. My mom kept a pretty tight rein on us.

Moving with Mitchell said...

I DID have things on the walls, but my father WAS a stickler about tacks AND tape. Two walls were covered in cork and things went up and down constantly but no fan posters. The only poster I remember was one my uncle got for me. He was a NYC bus dispatcher at the time and he took a Levy's rye bread that was supposed to go up in a train. It was "You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's," the one with the native American in a hat with a feather eating a pastrami sandwich on Levy's rye bread. I wish I still had it!