Odd ad for an outfit to be worn while eating a midnight snack

I like this odd print ad from the 1960s for a line of clothing called "living loungerie."

Odd ad for midnight snack outfit

[#1 posted by doublethink , December 2, 2008 3:01 PM]

What I wouldn't do for a few crackers, if only I had a proper coat for such nocturnal indulgences!

[#2 posted by Anonymous , December 2, 2008 3:09 PM]

... First of all she's obviously wearing a night gown. The coat is what's mentioned in the advertisement. You have to remembered the time period in which this ad came out. Heating a hole house was very difficult. A fireplace only radiates heat too, leaving other rooms extremely cold. Therefore it's reasonable to assume that people "back then" would derive a certain utility from this coat.

[#3 posted by TharkLord , December 2, 2008 3:16 PM]

The Missus should love this for when she cooks up her occasional midnight bacon feast.

I just like the idea of a clothing line called "Schrank".

[#4 posted by bat21 , December 2, 2008 4:49 PM]

@ Anonymous
It's difficult to keep anything in a hole house. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X815nOvLMdk

[#5 posted by Pipenta , December 2, 2008 4:53 PM]

# 2. I do remember when the ad came out, and heating was not an issue, not for whole houses nor even for hole houses.

We had all kinds of things in the sixties: central heating, television, air conditioning, even the wheel!

[#6 posted by Takuan , December 2, 2008 4:56 PM]

remember driving when you were bored?

[#7 posted by nanuq , December 2, 2008 5:05 PM]

"heating was not an issue, not for whole houses nor even for hole houses. "

Even in the sixties, heating a hole house was expensive. Then again, if you were walking around in your hole house at night, you'd better have been wearing something (Schrank outfit or not). The neighbours would have had you arrested otherwise.

[#8 posted by Modusoperandi , December 2, 2008 5:29 PM]

Going by the picture, the midnight snack must've been her only daily meal.

[#9 posted by Falcon_Seven , December 2, 2008 6:01 PM]

'Leisuresuit Lisa' predates 'Leisuresuit Larry'!

[#10 posted by callmebazza , December 2, 2008 6:54 PM]

Jeezuz...if they're going to make literary references can't they at least give props to the ACTUAL quote:

"A book of verses underneath the bough,
A jug of wine, a loaf of bread - and thou"
-Rubaiyat

What's wrong with talking about wine? Is even "wine" too dangerous a topic in advertising we need to baby-proof it by instead talking about cheese?!

I love cheese as much as the next guy, but it irks me to all hell when the puritan agenda rears it's BORING head and makes everything safe and non-confrontational in the public eye.

Okay maybe I'm over-reacting here - it was just the first thing I saw and it rubbed me wrong...an ad from the 60's, why should I even care?...ho hum...

By the way, I hear cheese right before bed gives you nightmares. Not like wine.

[#11 posted by Pipenta , December 2, 2008 7:02 PM]

#10, Dreams of a rarebit fiend?

[#12 posted by sammich , December 2, 2008 7:10 PM]

Pipenta @ 5 - I'm guessing you're from the US.

In the sixties (in the UK), my family had wheels and a television, (central heating came in '76), and at school we were reading about automatic doors and (wired) tv remote-controls with skepticism.

Setting up my own household in the 80s, we waited until half-way through the 90s for central heating, and before that would sleep in +/or under coats next to the fire during the worst weeks of the winter.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

[#13 posted by Trevour , December 2, 2008 7:39 PM]

This ad looks better than most Photoshop stuff you see today!

[#14 posted by takeshi , December 2, 2008 8:04 PM]

The combination of a normal sized woman, a tiny woman, and the phrase "eating a midnight snack" reminds me a little too much of Koonago.

Great ad, though.

[#15 posted by axoplasm , December 2, 2008 8:24 PM]

Meh, it's a housecoat.

This is the 1964 version of the ratty old hoodies the missus and I wear around our unevenly heated 20th century abode.

The intriguing bit to me is the doubled text

to women
to women
who don't
who don't
sleep well
sleep well

She's so tired she's seeing double?

[#16 posted by Frank W , December 2, 2008 10:26 PM]

@ #2: heating the whole house is an issue if you care at all about your budget and/or natural resources and/or climate change. It's a waste in every respect.

[#17 posted by Ugly Canuck , December 3, 2008 4:17 AM]

Clothes for midnite snacking, eh?
You ought to see my smoking jacket.

[#18 posted by arkizzle , December 3, 2008 4:49 AM]

Smoking jacket, eh?
You ought to see my seduction cardigan.

[#19 posted by Jerril , December 3, 2008 6:25 AM]

I have a housecoat, so does my husband. Sometimes we argue about what temperature the house should be set at, and sometimes you just need something to throw one when some unreasonable citizen rings your doorbell at 10:00 AM on a Saturday morning and you hadn't planned to get up until noon.

What strikes me as totally peculiar is that her house-jacket seems rather short. I've always thought a housecoat that only goes down to the knees was a bit drafty, and mine's more of a terrycloth robe than anything. A mid-thigh jacket like that strikes me as very drafty, and reveals more of my Saturday-morning body than any doorbell-ringer really wants to see.

[#20 posted by Raines Cohen , December 3, 2008 9:54 AM]

@Takeshi I see only a normal-sized woman and a giant woman.

[#21 posted by Noelegy , December 4, 2008 6:38 PM]

My one personality quirk that I find absolutely inexplicable is my inability to eat in the nude. Even before I remarried and gained teenaged stepsons, even when it was just me, my ex, and our cats, I could not get up in the night for a snack without at least putting a bathrobe on. There was no risk of anyone seeing me. I just couldn't eat with no clothes on. It seemed improper. Then again, there are photos from my recent 20-year class reunion in which I am drinking a shot with my pinky finger extended in a proper, tea-sipping fashion.