Continuing with the subject of vintage magazine ads, below are some full-page clips advertising food and soft drinks. It’s interesting to see which products survived into today, as well as trace some common items to the days when they were first introduced. Advertising and marketing were pretty much absent during my childhood – people having to deal with shortages did not need additional enticement to buy things. I don’t recall seeing any commercials on TV or in print until the mid-1980’s. Now, when technology provides a way to block most TV and internet advertisement, I find myself marveling at these old ads, probably because they look so naive and amateurish compared to the slick ways the goods are being sold to us today.
We’ll start with this subtly racist ad for Aunt Jemima pancakes.
This set of photos is interesting in a sense that when I was growing up® nothing like this was left in existence in the majority of the country. The stores were stocked with a scarce selection of products and no need for visual advertising remained:anything that was slightly above the horrible level of the Soviet consumer products was swept off the shelves without hesitation; many times the lines were so long that people in the end didn’t know what was being sold, they figured anything worth buying will find some use at home or would be appreciated by other family members. Sometimes after hours in line, the supplies ran out and disappointed people were off to try their luck elsewhere.
With empty shelves, long lines and sad-looking products around me, it was hard to believe my parents’ stories about many things being plentiful in the late 50’s and 60’s. Grocery stores filled with caviar and various delicacies seemed impossible to me. Not that I was deprived of good food and dressed in garb; we had more or less of everything from good food to decent clothing but most of it wasn’t purchased in the regular retail establishments. From black market to bribery, there were other ways to acquire things.
Note: the prices you see on some storefronts are in pre-1961 rubles, in 1961 they were exchanged 10 to 1.
It’s true what they say: eating sausage is like riding a bicycle, do it slow and everything will be OK. For years I was longing for a firm piece of sausage that would taste like real meat. Industrial sausages are like marital aids – they may have the right look and size but they just don’t taste right. Finally I got tired of living with mediocre impostor sausages, the time was right to visit Krizman’s House of Sausage in Kansas City, KS (<–click on the link for the address to magically appear).
Finding Krizman’s is pretty easy. Moving North on the 6th street, go past “Fat Matt’s Vortex”.
This view on the right is a good sign you are on the correct track.
Slow down by the VFW post.
Right by the tattooed chick…
…turn left into the parking lot.
If you are driving past this…
…you missed it.
Just to reiterate, this should be the view ahead of you…
…and this is where you came from.
According to this site, Krizman’s has been making the real sausages since 1939. The assortment is not mind-boggling and the Polish sausage seems to be the item most women people want. If you are lucky, Vice President Joe Krizman himself will weigh you several hefty links of this delicious sausage. While I was in the store they were packing a special order of sausage to be shipped off to California where the sausage seems to be in high demand but there is an unexplained abundance of tacos.
Krizman’s Polish Sausage costs just little over $4/lb leaving no excuse to munch on a limp corporate sausage.
For those who crave some exotic sausages they offer blood sausage and other unusual varieties, but I am just a traditional Polish sausage guy.
On the way home I took a few pictures of this church with an Orthodox Christian-looking cupola…
…and a view of the downtown worthy of showing to people who will never visit this area.
Leaving Kansas City,KS I thought that Krizman’s should call themselves Joyeria to better reflect on the small pleasures they share with the sausage lovers everywhere.
Fresh sausage calling my name from the back seat of my car, I drove home to enjoy the rest of my day.
In the comments to my recent post about Khrushchev few people mentioned their memories of living under the “Soviet threat”, personified by the Soviet leaders like Khrushchev. I, on the other hand, don’t remember ever feeling threatened by the West. The news reports were always full of the stories about the Western aggressors running up their arsenals and meddling in the military conflicts around the world, but I don’t recall people around me ever being concerned about potential attacks. While the Americans were watching the “Red Dawn“, the Soviet people felt safe guarded by the Soviet Army directed by the ever-wise Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
In addition the the news reports and the shows depicting the hardships of the Western life, the Soviet government loved to use the satire against the capitalist enemy. Uncle Sam in a top hat, British Lion, Israeli Military “Clique” and others frequently appeared on the pages of satirical magazines such as Krokodil (Crocodile). The caricatures below were published in Krokodil in 1977 and this may be the first time some of them are seen in the West (captions translated by me). I have several years worth of the digitized magazines, and will post more if there is any interest.
