B is for...

Bourgeois (this interior), Bess (Truman, the lady deep in her magazine, left), and Birthdays.  Today is hers; she would be, in a better world, 127 today.

Few would argue that she was the most exciting of first ladies, but she had her own kind of homey charm, and she simultaneously managed to keep Harry happy and put up with Margaret (who would sing), which is no mean feat.  If nothing else, she set the stage for Mamie, who seemed by contrast both stylish and vigorous.

I don't know about you, but I'm just mad for that davenport, and I have to admit with a certain pride that somewhere in the depth of a storage unit back home, I have a chair just exactly like Harry's.

Ten Things This Image Makes Me Think About

1. The Truman era was truly a time apart.
2. A time when first ladies appeared in public wearing novelty prints.
3. Perle Mesta (seen here departing for Luxembourg) looks to have been almost as much fun as Ethel Merman.
4. Margaret Truman looked an awful lot like her father. Her father in a black crêpe afternoon dress.
5. Nostalgia for hats may be slightly overvalued.
6. Even the firmest foundations could only do so much.
7. Daytime corsages: when exactly did they leave the scene completely?
8. I really, really wish we could see the shoes.
9. Especially if we could do so without having to see the calves.
10. Do public personages ever look this purely happy in photographs nowadays?