July 9, 1953
San Diego, Calif.
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| Vintage print ad for Wil-Hold Plastic Rollers, ca. 1950 |
What's new with the girl I love?
I'm tired. We had games yesterday and today. We lost the first one, but won today's game. We play again tomorrow.
In the letter I got from you today, you said you might not work on your bedspread while I'm home. Well, all I can say is you had better not work on it. HA You are not a housewife yet and for thirty days you won't be able to act like one.
Seriously, I worked pretty hard the past year and I'm sure you have. I want us to do nothing but relax while we can.
I'll be out of this "Yacht Club" in 18 months. Then we will both have to work pretty hard.
The ship will go in dry dock either in Norfolk or in Newport News, Virginia, which are very close to each other. I don't have any idea what ship I'll be transferred to. I don't even know if I will be. That might be "bum dope." It's only a rumor. Personally, I think a rumor is all it will amount to. I hope I'm right because if I have to be aboard a ship, I had rather it was this one.
I'll have some snapshots taken the first chance I get and will send you a couple.
I mailed my brother and sister a jacket the same time I did your bed jacket. My mom said in her letter today that they hadn't gotten them either. Also, that my little brother [Larry Parker] was "raising hell" about his. HA "Damn," I wish they would get there. I'm worried about them. Also, I don't suppose you have received your coat either.
If I tried to surprise you when I come home, I doubt if I'd find you with pajamas on and set hair*. I'd probably find you with another man. So I'll tell you when I am coming so you can get rid of the bum and meet me. HA
[*Editor's Note: Young women in the 50s, like Norma, typically wore their hair with some kind of curl. Sections of wet hair were "set" around "curlers" or "rollers," cylinders of various sizes made of hard plastic or metal wire with bottle brushes inside. To keep in a curler in place, it might have a plastic bar that clipped around the hair, or bobby pins were used to hold the curlers in place, or the curler might have small bristles set in the plastic, which were painful when removed because they pulled some hair out at the root. The curlers were arranged in rows around the head and the hair was allowed to dry to air dry, a process that took hours (often because hair dryers available for home use were slow, large, and pricey). When the curlers were removed, the hair would be styled with a variety of products designed to keep the curl in place. Click on this link for an iconic TV commercial from the 70s featuring Clairol's revolutionary production, "Kindness," a set of electric curlers that achieved the same results as plastic rollers in a fraction of the time.]
I just glanced in the mirror and noticed that my forehead keeps getting bigger and bigger and my hair is getting lesser and lesser. Guess before too much longer, I'll be "baldy."
Well, sweet thing, I better sign off and hit the sack.
Answer real soon.
All my love,
Jim
Seriously, I worked pretty hard the past year and I'm sure you have. I want us to do nothing but relax while we can.
I'll be out of this "Yacht Club" in 18 months. Then we will both have to work pretty hard.
The ship will go in dry dock either in Norfolk or in Newport News, Virginia, which are very close to each other. I don't have any idea what ship I'll be transferred to. I don't even know if I will be. That might be "bum dope." It's only a rumor. Personally, I think a rumor is all it will amount to. I hope I'm right because if I have to be aboard a ship, I had rather it was this one.
I'll have some snapshots taken the first chance I get and will send you a couple.
I mailed my brother and sister a jacket the same time I did your bed jacket. My mom said in her letter today that they hadn't gotten them either. Also, that my little brother [Larry Parker] was "raising hell" about his. HA "Damn," I wish they would get there. I'm worried about them. Also, I don't suppose you have received your coat either.
If I tried to surprise you when I come home, I doubt if I'd find you with pajamas on and set hair*. I'd probably find you with another man. So I'll tell you when I am coming so you can get rid of the bum and meet me. HA
[*Editor's Note: Young women in the 50s, like Norma, typically wore their hair with some kind of curl. Sections of wet hair were "set" around "curlers" or "rollers," cylinders of various sizes made of hard plastic or metal wire with bottle brushes inside. To keep in a curler in place, it might have a plastic bar that clipped around the hair, or bobby pins were used to hold the curlers in place, or the curler might have small bristles set in the plastic, which were painful when removed because they pulled some hair out at the root. The curlers were arranged in rows around the head and the hair was allowed to dry to air dry, a process that took hours (often because hair dryers available for home use were slow, large, and pricey). When the curlers were removed, the hair would be styled with a variety of products designed to keep the curl in place. Click on this link for an iconic TV commercial from the 70s featuring Clairol's revolutionary production, "Kindness," a set of electric curlers that achieved the same results as plastic rollers in a fraction of the time.]
I just glanced in the mirror and noticed that my forehead keeps getting bigger and bigger and my hair is getting lesser and lesser. Guess before too much longer, I'll be "baldy."
Well, sweet thing, I better sign off and hit the sack.
Answer real soon.
All my love,
Jim
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