A Cruise on the S.S. Lurline - 1935

If we could spend 5 days in 1935, and there was no possibility of staving off the Depression or averting World War II, we would probably spend them cruising from San Francisco to Honolulu on board the Matson liner S.S. Lurline.

Matson’s beautiful white liner was the third ship of its fleet to be named Lurline. Her maiden voyage took place on January 12, 1933. She joined her sister ships S.S. Malolo, S.S. Mariposa, and S.S. Monterey. It was pure luxury all the way - most of Lurline’s staterooms were first class, and there were games (such as potato sack races and musical chairs – for adults), sports, swimming (Lurline had 2 pools), cocktails, dinners, and dancing designed to amuse.


Arriving in our stateroom (”Lovely!”), stewards would be rushing in and out, delivering telegrams and floral arrangements. We’d quickly scan the passenger lists to see if anyone we knew was sailing, or a movie star – maybe Bette Davis, or Ginger Rogers – then dash to secure deck chairs for best choice of location. Finally, it’s Bon Voyage!



The horse race game was played aboard Lurline. With real betting, such games were popular on transatlantic ships as well.

In the evening, there would be the Captain’s Champagne Party, with a sing-along. Evening meals were elegant, topped by the festive Aloha Dinner. After dinner, meeting friends for cocktails and dancing in the Verandah Café.

We might try a Matson Cocktail:

1/3 shot kümmel
½ shot cognac
1 sugar cube
Chilled champagne
Piece of lemon peel
Chilled 6-oz martini glass.

Pour kümmel and cognac over crushed ice in a shaker and shake gently. Place the sugar cube in the glass. Strain kümmel and cognac into glass. Add champagne to fill. Float lemon peel over the top. Sip slowly and stay far away from the ship’s rail.


Or maybe we'll just retire to a chaise lounge on our balcony and gaze romantically out to sea and trying out our "Wallis Simpson" look.

Matson ad, June 1934. Matson provided its passengers with suggestions for what to wear: "Clothing of linen, white drill, pongees, or ‘Palm Beach’ are popular all seasons with visitors to Hawai’i and the South Seas. Ordinary light-weight clothing of the mainland will be found entirely satisfactory for visitors to Hawai’i. Warm wraps should be taken for the higher altitudes…A raincoat will be found useful” (quoted in To Honolulu in Five Days: Cruising Aboard Matson’s S.S. Lurline by Lynn Blocker Krantz and Mary Thiele Fobian.

Arrival in Honolulu was exciting. On “boat day” practically the whole city came to meet and greet the arriving Lurline passengers. We’d be dazzled by the colorful leis, handmade on the shore by Native Hawaiian women. Beautiful! Souvenir photo taken at Luke Photo Studio, 1240 Nuuanu St., Honolulu , 1930s


From the ship, Matson’s crew would whisk us and our bags over to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, the “pink palace” built by Matson at Waikiki Beach in 1927. Here, amidst gorgeous grounds, we’d be able to dance on the beach or at the neighboring Moana Hotel, and listen to Harry Owens’ Royal Hawaiian Band – familiar to mainlanders due to their popular radio broadcasts.

We could learn to hula (or just watch the experts in action), or learn to surf – like tobacco heiress Doris Duke did when she was here with husband James Cromwell on their 1935 honeymoon. Or we might go horseback riding, tour the Dole pineapple plantation, or take a motor tour around the island. Oh dear - our time in 1935 is up way too soon!




Cruising to Hawaii in the movies:
William Powell and Kay Francis in One Way Passage (1932) –remade in 1940 with George Brent and Merle Oberon as ‘Til We Meet Again.

Below: Bing Crosby and Martha Raye in Waikiki Wedding (1937).

The Royal Hawaiian Hotel and the Moana Hotel (now the Moana Surfrider), though dwarfed by modern highrises, are still the queens of Waikiki Beach. Doris Duke enjoyed her visit so much, she decided to build a home there. Her Shangri-la (built in 1937) is now open to the public (www.shangrilahawaii.org/).

Easter Greetings

Happy Easter to all! If anyone needs us, we'll be in the Bonnet Bar.

Those Flapper Doggie Mascots

These 1920s toy doggies are so intriguing! Clara Bow has one in It (1927), below; Louise Brooks posed with one, c. 1927 (top), and Colleen Moore carries one as a purse in Her Wild Oat (also 1927 – barely visible in her arms, lower). We’ve also seen obviously well-loved vintage “doggie” purses show up for sale now and then. What was up with these? we wondered.



Writer Basil Wonn, in an “exclusive dispatch” direct from Paris, reported on August 7, 1927: “The slogan ‘A Dog for Every Woman’ has captured Paris society.” Noting that not every woman had room for a dog, or a place to walk one, “It was left to a bright Paris dressmaker, as usual, to solve the problem. At his last showing a few days ago, he excited sobs of admiration from the assembled ladies by presenting a line of dogs for every size, variety, color, coat, and age. They were stuffed.”

By fall, the “doggie mascot” idea had caught on – and how. “Mascots,” ran a typical report on October 19, 1927, “which have made such a hit as automobile ornaments, are spreading to nearly all fields or ornament in England. They are made as jewelry, as ‘doggie’ handbags, as tops for umbrella handles…” One wag of the period suggested that if anyone were to dare to suggest a mascot for flappers, it should be the “Peekin’ knees.”

While Colleen, Clara and Louise’s pooches appear more carnival prize than pedigreed Paris pups, dogs seems to have been everywhere in 1927.

Elizabeth Arden: 100 Years of Beauty & Glamour

We’ve been very remiss on this blog for not yet mentioning that our favorite beauty house, Elizabeth Arden, is celebrating its 100th birthday in 2010. Miss Arden, born 1878-ish near Toronto, Canada, opened her first salon, on Fifth Avenue in New York, in 1910. By the early ‘30s she had salons around the world. Her income was reported to be in excess of 700,000 in 1931 (almost $10 million today). During the Depression, the flagship New York salon expanded to seven floors. It is said to have been the model for the salon in The Women. “Looking like she just stepped out of an Elizabeth Arden salon” became synonymous with soignée in the ‘30s.

On June 21, 1933, Elizabeth Arden opened her Los Angeles Salon, at 3933 Wilshire Blvd. The semi-circular building, with its black and white marble façade and signature Chinese red lacquered door, was modeled after her Fifth Avenue salon on the exterior. The interior, however, had been designed by the great MGM stylist Adrian. Under Adrian’s direction, the circular main salon had walls of jade gray, with silvery gray curtains, black and white floor (with a “symbolic star” in black), silver-gray satin corduroy covered chairs, colonial-empire style sofas, and crystal chandeliers. The third floor contained the exercise rooms as well as the “Garden of Arden,” which Adrian designed, through copious plants, vines and painted metal awnings, to look like an outdoor room. Miss Arden greeted her new customers personally on opening day.

For further reading:

A brief history on this Radcliffe website.

And another excellent, accurate history post on the Ann Lauren blog

In 2009, public television aired a documentary about Miss Arden and her arch-rival Helena Rubinstein, titled The Powder & the Glory. View & more information here. It is also on DVD.

The film is based on the book War Paint: Miss Elizabeth Arden and Madame Helena Rubinstein — Their Lives, Their Times, Their Rivalry by Lindy Woodhead. An excellent book that we highly recommend – our only criticism is that it seems fairly obvious that the author does not like Miss Arden; author bias in a history is not so good.

The self-styled Elizabeth Arden (formerly Florence Nightingale Graham) strikes a romantic pose in this 1930 ad from the Fabulous Duke University ad* Access collection. The name Arden came from the Tennyson poem Enoch Arden and Elizabeth because she had always liked the name. As she once famously said: "There is only one other Elizabeth like me, and she is the Queen."

French model Cecille Bayliss was the “face” of the “Elizabeth Arden Look” in advertising from 1920 to 1940. Miss Arden's signature color? Pink.

Elizabeth Arden was one of the first beauty houses, if not the first, to offer travel size containers of her beauty products, assuring that her ladies would be gorgeous whether they were up the Amazon or on a mountain top. For the 100th Anniversary, Elizabeth Arden introduced this “vintage style train case” (below). There is also a 100th Anniversary limited edition signature lipstick, Red Door Red.

Top image: Elizabeth Arden’s Los Angeles salon, from the Los Angeles Public Library digital photograph collection.

'Round the Clock in Pajamas

Associated Press. Chicago.
March 9, 1931.

And now the latest fashion song is “Around the clock in pajamas.” For there are pajamas in which to cook the ham, and pajamas for a dash to the corner grocery, and still more – lounging pajamas, beach pajamas, cocktail, dance, dinner and evening pajamas, as well as the substitute for the traditional nightgown.

This new style note is sponsored by mighty names in the realm of design – Worth, Chanel, Molyneaux, Vionet, Schiapparelli, Mainboucher, and others – and charming are the models that are coming from Paris.

Pajamas are no longer merely coveralls in which to rest the weary bones. They have come out of the boudoir and are going places – to teas, the theater, dinners. The fad began in smart European resorts.

"The fad began in smart European resorts..." like Juan-Les-Pins, Antibes, in the south of France. Visit the fabulous French blog devoted to payamas, La Mode Pyjama.

A tour of smart Michigan Avenue shops and State Street department stores revealed that the last word in morning and breakfast pajamas are of one piece and are tailored out of gay printed or flowered cotton fabrics, or out of a silk known as bamboo. The long, wide trousers simulate a skirt. Lounge pajamas can be as tailored or as negligee as desired.

If her day’s program brings friends in for early afternoon bridge, the hostess’ costume will be a trump if it resembles one creation seen on display. It was a three-piece heavy crepe silk bridge set, the trousers and blouse of which were of tapestry, a new shade of American beauty. It had wing sleeved coates of rose dawn, lined with tapestry.

Next our heroine may wish to go to the beach. If she is of the vintage that goes to sea and be seen, there are the beach pajamas which established their popularity in Palm Beach this season. They are fashioned in pastel and pastel linens, flowered and printed cretonnes.

Then as the shadows lengthen comes the hour for cocktails, tea and hostess pajamas. Cocktail pajamas are saucy. One model just unpacked was a one-piece lipstick red crepe with intervals of accordion pleats on the voluminous ankle-length trousers. It flaunted the new cap sleeves.

Tea pajamas are more sedate. Hostess pajamas may be made of lace or chiffon. Quite frequently they have sleeves. The little touches, such as the treatment of the neckline, or the fit of the bodice, differentiate them from negligees, and there is subtle distinction between hostess pajamas that stay at home and the tea pajama that gads.

Norma reveals the secret to keeping those wide-leg pajamas wrinkle-free all day long.

As the hours pass comes the reign of the dance, evening, and dinner pajamas. These are best described by saying they are gowns with divided skirts. The dinner pajama, as with the dinner dress, is less formal than the evening pajama. The dance frocks are youthful, leaving sophistication to others.

The newest note is the back skirt on the dance frock. When the wearer approaches she is in pajamas; when she retreats she is in a dress.

As in the case of dresses and gowns, jackets from the Eton jacket to the close-fitting peplum, are much in evidence.

Above: "Sporting pajamas to wear at home - they have the chic simplicity of an informal little tea frock - and many times the comfort."

Top image: Marian March models a "simple black velvet pajama costume, with cape sleevesand very wide trousers." From Screenland, December 1931.

Cruise Hats

Continuing the travel theme, here are a few examples of those wonderful, "packable" cruise hats. These are from 1932-36.

Velvet on the beach: From 1936, top, "a becomingly draped leghorn beach hat with velvet bands in red or royal drawn through the crown and tied in the back. Henri Bendel." Lower: "Don't fail to pack several of these tailored felts with bright ribbon bandings. In white, pastel tints or high shades." Below, some other choices from the aptly-named H.C. Capwell of Oakland, California.

Last but not least, from Kahn's, also of Oakland, California: "Exciting new fabric-straws, exotic fabrics, fine felts. . . smart travel companions to follow the sun. . . brilliant and dazzling in white, pastel blues, yellow, green, or red. . . equally "advance" in black, brown or navy."

1930s Travel Pt. 2 - Clothes

In packing for travel in the 1930s, most experts advocated “travelling light,” although we suspect their definition of “light” would not be compatible with today’s one-carry on rules.

Suggestions for what and how to pack for travel are plentiful. For example, from Designing Women: The Art, Technique and Cost of Being Beautiful by Margaretta Byers, 1938:

"The cosmopolitan attitude toward traveling is to travel light. . . a suit and a topcoat is the perfect travel costume. In cold weather, a tweed suit with a furred or fur topcoat is ideal. In semi-tropical climates like California, a thin wool suit or cotton tweed suit is unbeatable. The wool suit might have a furred matching topcoat. The cotton tweed might have an unfurred cotton reefer. In the tropics, a Palm Beach suit does well all by itself. (All of these clothes are practically immune to wrinkles, In choosing a cruise coat, be careful to get one with a lap generous enough to cover you comfortably as you recline in your steamer chair.

Norma Shearer

For evenings on shipboard, lace is the fabric par excellance because it solves your pressing problems. Shoes are the things that take up space and break porters’ backs and turn aviation officials gray from worrying about excess poundage. Try to compromise on two pairs beside those you’re wearing; evening shoes and sports shoes, perhaps, besides the inevitable mules. Naturally, you will wear medium heels on the ships deck, if you value your neck.

Hats should be packable, like those much advertised fold-up affairs, and non blowable; close fitting cloches or small hats well anchored with a backstrap. And on a cruise take plenty of large handkerchiefs to tie up your curls securely.

Casual slacks and halters, from McCall's, April 1934

For a train or a boat. Dishabille should include Pullman pajamas of some dark silk with a matching robe – something discreet that won’t take the porter’s mind off his work when you lurch down the aisle to do your face in the morning.

Through it all the big idea is to work out a minimum of suitable, adaptable clothes and toilet accessories."

Miami Beach resort-wear shop Burdine's used the slogan "Bring Them Empty" for years - adding that as styles change so rapidly, your travel things might be out of fashion by the time you got there, anyway.

Beach coats, from McCall's April 1936

Plenty of publications were ready with specific advice about what that minimum should be. The 1936 edition of Harmony in Dress (published by the Women’s Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences in Scranton, PA) had these suggestions:

The Travel Outfit

BY TRAIN
1 dark coat of proper weight
2 dark silk dresses or
1 dark silk dress and
1 suit
1 semiformal dress
1 hat for traveling
1 hat for wear with dress-up frocks
4 sets of undergarments
3 silk slips in colors to match the dresses
4 to 6 pairs of hose
3 or 4 nightgowns, or pajama suits
1 dark, light-weight kimono or Pullman robe
2 pairs slippers for daily wear
1 pair pumps for dress-up wear
1 pair bedroom slippers or mules
1 pair overshoes
1 pair service gloves
1 pair dress gloves
Handkerchiefs
1 scarf of silk, wool, or fur
1 umbrella
1 purse of generous size

BY BOAT
Same as for travel by train, except to add
1 wool dress
1 heavy coat for warmth
1 evening gown of a material not affected by dampness

Kay, looking ship-shape

One new note that crops in the 1930s is “cruise clothing,” due to the rising popularity of pleasure cruising – which differed from other kinds of shipboard travel in that it was simply a means to get from here to there; it was leisurely and usually quite long in duration, it typically occurred in warm climates, and included shore excursions. So, the cruise passenger had different needs than say, the transatlantic passenger.

Bullock's Wilshire ad for cruise-wear February 10, 1937 , includes "romper leg" playsuit with matching coat, linen "trip dress" buttoning from neck to hem, and tropical leaf bolero linen evening print in jade, navy or native red.

In January 1934, Good Housekeeping magazine offered the following suggestions, noting “There is no holiday in the world more carefree than that spend on a boat, especially if your wardrobe has been so well planned beforehand that you have everything ready for all occasions.

Below, from Good Housekeeping, 1934: Since everyone dresses almost every night for dinner on cruises, evening clothes assume great importance. And a plain white gown is a real stand-by, especially if accompanied by a charming wrap. The first gown is Lelong’s, of flamisol crepe, and the wrap is velvet striped in black and nasturtium. With the standing ruffed collar and wide sleeves, it ties in front. A net frock is extra practical because it gives the desired fluffy effect of chiffon but does not need pressing. Chanel, famous for her net frocks, designed the one in black with a full ruffled skirt and a simple bodice (extreme right. With it is a brown runched and ruffled jacket. It is these jackets that vary one’s evening gowns. [Note: the designers names are reversed in the illustration]

Indispensible to the cruise wardrobe, or to any smart wardrobe, is the knitted dress or suit, and here is one (first, below) from a new designer, Mme. Nagornoff. Interesting are the suits she makes of unbleached cotton thread, and particularly good are suits with short fitted jackets worn with knitted cap and tri-colored knitted scarf. Useful for general travel is a coat and dress costume like the one below [right] from Molyneux, of beige djalap. Djalap is a thin, hairy-surfaced material, smart for traveling, and beige is always a delightful color. The tunic frock is laced up in front with moiré, and since the skirt is separate, it may be worn with other blouses.

For a cruising wardrobe, adaptable jacket costumes are ideal, and Lyolene has made one in creamy white jersey with short-sleeved jacket and a skirt – a costume to be worn with different blouses. Alpaca, that most durable of fabrics, has been smartly revived by Lucile Paray for the jacket dress. It is an indefinitely striped iron gray, with plain white pique vest, and edged with white pique.

Ruth Seder of Delineator, in January 1935, also tackled the cruise wardrobe question and came up with these recommendations:

“The first thing to do is pick a basic color, and then your wardrobe will fit together as neatly as a jigsaw puzzle. You’ll need very few accessories, for you can wear the same ones with several outfits. We’ve chosen navy blue because it’s smart and well-liked, but you can switch to brown or dark green or black if one of them is more becoming to you than blue.

You’ll need a tweed suit for embarking and disembarking and for the first cool days on board. A navy and green and white checked jacket (6016) is smart with a plain blue skirt (5615). For the deck, you’ll need a red, natural and blue checked linen shirt and shorts (6042) and a white pique tennis dress (6041) with a sun-back.

When you’re not being active in the boat you’ll want a shirtwaist dress (6035) in pink linen, the crepe kind that doesn’t muss, and a jacket dress (6017) of plaid silk gingham.

A white wool coat (6032) of the swagger type is a necessity. For shore trips, a navy on pink printed crepe, jacket dress (6021) is the smart thing. At night, wear a white lace dress (6005), not too formal.

The accessories you will need are: One pair navy calf oxfords. One pair navy and white pumps. One pair white rubber soled oxfords. One pair crepe or satin evening sandals. One navy felt hat. One white felt hat. One pair beach sandals. One navy fabric or straw hat. One Basque beret. One navy calf bag. One pair navy fabric gloves. Three pairs white fabric gloves. Also a bathing suit, sweaters, socks, scarfs, clips, a bathrobe, mules, a raincoat, stockings, lingerie.”

I. Magnin suits for cruise-wear, January 11, 1935

An additional footnote on shipboard clothing: per Emily Post’s 1931 revision of Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage, “on the de luxe steamers nearly everyone dresses for dinner; some actually wear ball dresses, which is in the worst possible taste, and like all overdressing in public places, indicates that they have no other place to show their finery. In the a la carte restaurant, which is a feature of the de luxe steamer of size, fashionable women wear semi-dinner dresses, but in the regular dining saloon they wear ordinary house dresses with or without hats.

Lastly, if travelling with a lady’s maid, Vogue’s Book of Smart Service (Condé Nast Publications, 1930s) mentions specifically that “a maid when travelling does not wear a uniform. On steamer, or in hotels, she wears quiet clothes of the ordinary kind.”

Coats for travel - equally suitable for Town. June 24, 1934.