The Good Wife - 1955

[SgtRick]

I ran across this article and thought it was.....interesting

The Good Wife's Guide
From Housekeeping Monthly, 13 May, 1955


Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have be thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they get home and the prospect of a good meal is part of the warm welcome needed.
Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.
Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.
Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives. Run a dustcloth over the tables.
During the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering to his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.
Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Encourage the children to be quiet.
Be happy to see him.
Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.
Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.
Don't greet him with complaints and problems.
Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through at work.
Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or lie him down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.
Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.
Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.
A good wife always knows her place.

No hate mail please! It's just an article.

 

[Edward]

Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through at work.

lol

I wonder how much reality reflected this sort of thing back in the day? (Incidently, I'd put big money on that having been written by a man.... ).

 

[Puzzicato]

It's inconsistent to be expected to have a meal ready for him AND get him to lie down in the bedroom with a drink.

Snopes casts doubt on the authenticity of that specific list though.

 

[SGT Rocket]

Ok, now that I'm officially a house-husband, I will try to follow these standards. However, I'm a little worried about a bow in my hair because I just don't have much hair! :-(

 

[Puzzicato]

Ok, now that I'm officially a house-husband, I will try to follow these standards. However, I'm a little worried about a bow in my hair because I just don't have much hair! :-(

Amateur! You tie it around your head with a bow on top like bunny ears.

 

[angeljenny]

I know it is probably a fake article but I think it is adorable! Especially putting a ribbon in your hair!

It doesn't sound unreasonable to me but I am reading The Fascinating Girl at the moment!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Ok, now that I'm officially a house-husband, I will try to follow these standards. However, I'm a little worried about a bow in my hair because I just don't have much hair! :-(

Staple it in place.

(And yes, this article has been thoroughly debunked elsewhere in the Lounge. Amazing the lengths people will go to to prove how terribly terribly terrible the Bad Old Days were.)

 

[SGT Rocket]

Amateur! You tie it around your head with a bow on top like bunny ears.

Ohhhh, cool. Thanks!

 

[Pompidou]

The Snopes article that debunks this particular list as fabricated goes on to validate the consensus of its message as fairly accurate, so I'd say the score is tied 1:1 between "The Good Old Days" and "The Bad Old Days". The perception of the Golden Era woman didn't materialize in a vacuum after all. At the very least, the forgery does present a cautionary tale against investing in rose colored glasses.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The perception of the Golden Era woman didn't materialize in a vacuum after all.

The perception of the upper-middle-class postwar suburban Golden Era woman, that is. A rather narrow subset of the whole.

(If anyone had tried to tell my mother she should have acted like that, she'd have brained them with a skillet.)

 

[Gregg Axley]

Sgt Rocket, because I get home first in the evening, I do the cooking. In fact I do a lot of these things for my wife and I.
Holy cow, I'm a "good wife!"
Oh yeah I agree 100% this is fake, not even June Cleaver could do all that.

 

[Dinerman]

Here's some more Fedora Lounge discussion of this "article", from back in May 2009.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Three men were sitting together bragging about how they had given their new wives duties. The first man had married a woman from Alabama, and bragged that he had told his wife she was going to do all the dishes and house cleaning that needed done at their house. He said that it took a couple days but on the third day he came home to a clean house and the dishes were all washed and put away.

The second man had married a woman from Ohio. He bragged that he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning,dishes, and the cooking. He told them that the first day he didn't see any results, but the next day it was better. By the third day, his house was clean, the dishes were done, and he had a huge dinner on the table.

The third man had married a Maine girl. He boasted that he told her that her duties were to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed and hot meals on the table for every meal.

He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything, but by the third day most of the swelling had gone down.

 

[dhermann1]

Ah, the Rock Bound Coast of Lizzie Maine. :eusa_clap

 

[sheeplady]

I was waiting for one of the guy's meals to be poisoned.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Ah, the Rock Bound Coast of Lizzie Maine. :eusa_clap

Ayuh

We could play cribbage and drink Moxie. We'd have a wicked good time.

 

[Tomasso]

Have you noticed that many of Lizzie's posts contain at least one act of violence. At first it was disconcerting but then I grew to enjoy it and now when it's absent I feel an emptiness.....

 

[AtomicEraTom]

My mom was just saying this weekend that she wishes she could be this kind of wife, but this is the real world and in the real world you need two incomes lol

 

[LizzieMaine]

Have you noticed that many of Lizzie's posts contain at least one act of violence. At first it was disconcerting but then I grew to enjoy it and now when it's absent I feel an emptiness.....

"You WORM!"

 

[SGT Rocket]

My mom was just saying this weekend that she wishes she could be this kind of wife, but this is the real world and in the real world you need two incomes lol

Oh don't say that! I'm one of the forgotten men of the "he-session;" one of the 20% of men who are out of work in the U.S. who still want a job. Or, at least I was. I'm now part of the men in the new profession of house-husband. So we are one income, and we WILL make it work. No choice not to make it work really...