Happy Halloween!!

Wishing you a safe and spooky night from Halloween's past! 

♥Rachel

Instagram

I finally have my Instagram account up & running for Vintage Rachel! If you have the app, search for vintagexrachel and follow me for fun vintage pictures. 

Until next time,

♥Rachel 

Tuesday Teaser: Niagara Falls

Part two of our "babymoon" is coming up for this week's Throwback Thursday blog post!! 

It was an exciting, once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip for my husband & I (and our furbabies!!) 

And what do you know? One of my favorite old movies is based in Niagara Falls! 'Niagara' stars Joseph Cotten and Marilyn Monroe and is about deception and murder. Oh, my!! 

See you Thursday!! 

♥Rachel

Tuesday Teaser: the Lucille Ball Edition

It's almost time for another Throwback Thursday blog post about another fun adventure we took! In the meantime, I'll just leave a few photos here to get you ready!! Any guesses where we went? 

Just in time to celebrate the 62nd birthday of I Love Lucy! 

Enjoy your day!

♥Rachel

*All photos courtesy of a Google image search. If they are yours & you wish for me to remove them, please email me!*

Marvelous Monday, dahhling.

I hope you all had the most divine Monday! 

Until next time, 

♥Rachel 

*Photo courtesy of a Google image search. If it is yours & you wish for me to remove it, please email me!*

Spotlight: Thurl Ravenscroft

You already know I love everything from Yesteryear. I'm obsessed with Old Hollywood: the movies, the actors, the actresses. When I read a book, 99.9% of the time it is a biography or autobiography about someone from the golden era. It fascinates me! From time to time on my blog, I want to spotlight someone who I find interesting. 

I am fascinated by the man called Thurl Ravenscroft. Yes, that is absolutely his real name! He has had a hand (a voice, really!) in all of my favorite interests. Thurl moved from his home in Nebraska to attend art school in California, where he was urged to make a move into show business. He got many calls to be a studio singer, eventually taking his talents to radio in the mid 1930s.

In the late 1940s, he and a fellow singer formed a group called the Mellomen. They performed on television, radio and in movies and performed backup for many of the popular singers of the time. They started working with Elvis Presley when his favored back up group, the Jordanaires, were unavailable for the film It Happened At The World's Fair. The Mellomen sang back up for Elvis on three other films as well, Roustabout, Paradise, Hawaiian Style, and The Trouble With Girls (as a group called The Bible Singers). 

The Mellomen as "The Bible Singers" in The Trouble With Girls

alongside Elvis. Thurl is on the far right.

In the 50s, the Mellomen got their start with Disney. In addition to several short films, the group performed in Alice In Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and The Jungle Book. The Mellomen also recorded several records and did television shows for Disney, such as the original Mickey Mouse Club. Thurl lent his voice to several attractions at Disneyland as well. His booming bass voice can be heard on the Mark Twain Riverboat, as Fritz the parrot in Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, and in my two favorite attractions, the Pirates of the Caribbean as part of the group singing Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life For Me), and as Uncle Theodore, the lead singing bust in the Haunted Mansion who croons Grim, Grinning Ghosts. 

Thurl (2nd from right) with the Mellomen on the Mickey Mouse

Club on November 8, 1955. 

The singing busts inside the Haunted Mansion. Thurl

is the bust who has um... lost his head.

A fun video of Grim, Grinning Ghosts

Video courtesy of imgonnaeatya.

Fritz from Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. 

Photo courtesy of Jack Spence.

Thurl became a Disney Legend in 1995.

Thurl also is the voice behind the Christmas classic You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch from the 1966 television special How The Grinch Stole Christmas. However, his name was accidentally left out of the credits, leaving people to give the credit to a multitude of singers such as Boris Karloff, who actually narrated the show, and even Tennessee Ernie Ford. 

You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch. You really are a heel.

Video courtesy of 

horgemlingurinn

Mr. Ravenscroft was most famously known for his role as Tony the Tiger for the Frosted Flakes cereal commercials! He was uncredited for his work as Tony the Tiger, though he did the voice for over 50 years.

Thurl and Tony the Tiger.

Thurl passed away in 2005. I'm thankful for his many works through all walks of entertainment. A lot of what he's done makes me so happy!! 

Until next time,

♥Rachel

All Things Thurl
Thurl Ravenscroft Wiki

**All photos used on this blog post were found on Google Image search. If they belong to you and you do not wish for me to use them, please email me!**

Fashion Throwback: 1950s

If you haven't figured it out yet, I have a sick obsession with pretty vintage things. I'm interested with the 1920s-1960s, but I have a soft spot for the '50s. I can't figure out what it is about that decade that I adore so much, but whatever it is has grabbed a hold of me and won't let go. And I'm okay with that.

Last weekend, I finally pulled the trigger and purchased a couple vintage 1950s day dresses from two different shops on Etsy. Some days, I just feel like wearing a pretty dress when we go out, and I only have a few things I can wear. Once I receive both dresses and get a chance to wear them, I will write a review and give the shops a shout out so you can check them out too. 

My absolute favorite thing about 1950s fashion are shirt dresses. The medium heavy cotton fabric, the circle skirt with a crinoline underneath, the fab collars... ahh!! They can be fancy and worn for a night on the town. Accessorized with pretty white or lacy gloves, a diamond necklace, stilettos, and a clutch, a girl could dress to the nines! They can also be dressed down, casual, lighter weight fabric, no crinoline, some cute flats and a handbag, and a girl could be ready for a day of shopping or a day at the park. I prefer my dresses to be about knee length since I have a toddler son. I can still reasonably play with him and not have to worry about what my dress is doing.

I would definitely wear each of these styles.

That square neckline on the right!! 

This one!! I wonder if she still has it? I'll find it.

I would LOVE to have this beauty in my closet!

I'm loving that collar/sleeve combo on pattern number 2.

I'm obsessed with the skirt on this one! 

Lucy Ricardo frequently wore a shirt dress. That's probably why

we get along so well. Yes, we're friends.

Yes, you can run away now.

I'd understand.

I also enjoy a good circle skirt. They are about the same style as a shirt dress, the same shape and flow, but you can mix and match tops! 

Audrey Hepburn in a circle skirt minus crinoline. Simply lovely.

This pattern is amazing!! The perfect length.

The bottom right is a perfect example of what a light

slip can do for a circle skirt.

Girls of all ages can easily pull of a circle skirt! This catalog is so cute!

I also have a love of 1950s style one-piece swim suits. As a mom taking a toddler to the pool, I have more to worry about and focus on than wondering if the appropriate body parts are staying covered.  While the bikini was invented in the 1940s, still pretty much the only women to wear them were some movie stars in the 1950s like Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner to gain publicity, and they weren't really widely accepted until the '60s. The one-piece style is classic. Esther Williams, a swimming prodigy turned movie star, made the one-piece style famous. 

Three bathing beauties.

Aren't they just precious??

Obsessed with the glamour in this photo! 

The million dollar mermaid, Esther Williams. So cute, right?

Yep, even Marilyn wore this style of bathing suit. 

These are just a few of my favorite things. I have so many other vintage styles that I love, but these 3 are absolutely at the top of my list.  My dream closet is full of pretty vintage dresses! My real closet is not, however. Please tweet me, email me, or comment on this blog post and tell me what your favorite vintage fashions are! Or you can request a topic!! I'd love to hear from you! (All of my information is at the top of the page under 'Contact') 

♥Rachel

**All photos used on this blog post were found on Google Image search. If they belong to you and you do not wish for me to use them, please email me!**

Slacker, that's me.

I may have been a bit lazy this week when it came to blogging. We have been fairly busy in other aspects, so it's okay. Right? Thank you for excusing me from my absence.

Last weekend, Holden got his first haircut. I finally got brave and decided I was tired of looking at his shaggy blonde locks. We took him to a place called Sharkey's Cuts For Kids, and inside, they have fun themed chairs to sit in, movies on TV, and lollipops to distract the little ones! Sharkey's choice of chairs are Lightning McQueen, a pink Barbie Jeep, and a blue Mini Cooper. For the older kids, they have just a regular chair the kid can sit in and play XBox games, and for the older girls, they have a little "tween" room with vanity lights and pink walls. 

Look at that stringy shaggy hair! He was watching Cars on TV

and playing with the buttons on the steering wheel.

Now keeping happy with a blue DumDum. Of course, they had

to give him blue, the messiest of all colors.

Here, Mama. All done. 

I am the trash lady.

About this time I'm freaking out that she would cut 

it too short. I don't really want him to look like 

a little boy.

He needs to be a baby!

Finishing touches.

Oh so handsome!! He gets so embarrassed

when I tell him he's handsome.

So haircut day was on Saturday. Sunday we got together at our friends' house to celebrate H's birthday with a Mexican dinner and some cake & ice cream. Baby H always enjoys going over there because there are plenty of trucks to be played with. He lives for trucks. Every other word every day is truck. Truck, mommy. TRUCK!! 

Sorry. Back to dinner. It was to be a non-cheesy Pirate themed evening, with a Pirates of the Caribbean cake to finish off the theme. However, lovely Vons still has the cake displayed in their book of cakes they can make, though they told me it was discontinued when I asked for it. I had to settle for stupid Spongebob pirates. Totally killed my vibe, Vons! Not cool. I forged on with my life, deciding cake is cake and delicious cake it was! 

Ugh, go away Spongebob. Does anyone like you still?

Gotta blow that candle out!

Success! Daddy may or may not have helped.

(He did.)

He pretty much picked at the ice cream. And the

frosting. Obviously.

A pirate's life for me!

But not for me.

Yesterday, he had his 2 year check up with the doctor. Basically, H is tall, skinny but solid, and right on track with his developments. 

Oh, and he's ornery as ever.

He's nothing like me.

♥Rachel