The Barbie Inspired Swimsuit is Back!

You're a Barbie girl in a Barbie world .... right?  Well she's back in our shop!  The 50's inspired swimsuit  in all it's glory!  Want the look?  Visit us at Get Go Retro!  And, did you know....  The Vintage Barbie Black and White Swimsuit was the original outfit for the first Barbie dolls. The ponytail Barbie dolls sold in 1959 to 1961 were wearing the famous zebra striped suit. The first Bubblecuts were also wearing this.

In 1962 Barbie's outfit was changed to the Red Helenca Swimsuit.

The outfit always included Black Open Toe Heels and White Sunglasses with Blue Lens.

Lest We Forget ... in rememberance on Veteran's day

Rita Hayworth sports a “V” for victory, supporting the troops during WW2

From the words of   Laurence Binyon . . .

They shall grow not old
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

From Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen, written in September 1914  (The full poem, For the Fallen, is printed in both Minds at War and Out of the Dark. Binyon's poem Now in thy Splendour is also printed in Minds at War.)

Hey Designers There's a Great Oppportunity at Gotham House Showroom!

Okay; all you designers out there ... here is a really cool concept!  There's a brand new Showroom called Gotham House looking for products for the Holiday Season.  Known as the store that doesn’t sell anything - this particular shop is reserved for Hollywood Producers, members of the press and A-List Celebrities.The showroom is also open to stylists, wardrobe, hair and make-up teams and prop masters of hit shows and films who regularly visit the store.  Gotham House store works directly with TV shows and Films to supply them with the newest and most up to date products and fashions for on camera coverage.

Co-Founder, Beth Beasley says, "This shopping experience is intended to supply TV shows and films with new, amazing and fresh products for their daily projects, it’s our job to get our clients seen on camera, at the same time easing the stress and strain on the producers who trust us."

Throughout the year long program, the Gotham house will also host a series of full-scale productions and cocktail parties for celebrities, trendsetters, members of the press. The space is also available for TV shows and productions to shoot segments and for intimate gatherings and fundraisers.

With a strong foundation in event production, film and television production and entertainment marketing, Gotham City Films, LLC has created a venue where Hollywood can find everything from the latest gadgets, red carpet attire and jewelry to lifestyle brands and accessories.

The Gotham House is actively searching for new products and fashions for the holiday season to exhibit in the showroom. While brands will be displayed in the company of many household names, this opportunity is aimed specifically at new and fresh products and designs of the highest caliber and design quality. The Gotham House reserves the right for extreme selectivity, therefore only the most competitive are encouraged to apply.

Contact: Beth Beasley or Mario Simone  at  1-323-515-4145, or via the web:
 info@gothamcityfilms.com  --- http://www.gothamhouse.com/

And, I say .... You won't know 'til you try!  So go for it!

Contact: Beth Beasley or Mario Simone

Tommy Edwards Photo Exhibit in Cleveland! Be There or Be Square

If you love early rock 'n' roll - and early rock 'n' roll radio - you will be mesmerized by the new book "1950s Radio in Color: The Lost Photographs of Deejay Tommy Edwards"(Kent State University Press).

Author Chris Kennedy discovered the lost, never before published color photo collection of  1950s Cleveland radio deejay Tommy Edwards back in 2006. The collection consists of over 1,700 Ektachrome slides of most everyone who passed through Edwards  radio station from 1955-60; including: Elvis, Chuck Berry, Doris Day, country music superstars, Hollywood celebrities and the inevitable unknowns.


Elvis & Bill Haley

 Tommy Edwards was a man of many talents.  He was a deejay at WERE in Cleveland from 1953 to 1960; wrote the weekly "T.E. Newsletter" that chatted about what was going on in the music business; and was a photographer of artists he interviewed, met or saw onstage.  For example, in October 1955, Edwards took the only known picture of Elvis meeting Bill Haley. Haley was a full-blown star then, Elvis an ascending one.  Edwards took the music as it came. When Elvis Presley heated up down South, especially among country fans, Edwards helped set up his first live shows in the North, proving he wasn't just a regional starburst.

Roy Orbison minus
his trademark
sunglasses.

The book has pictures of  Johnny Cash following the Emeralds,a young and depressed-looking Roy Orbison without the famous sun glasses; Gene Vincent and Hollywood stars like Henry Fonda andClark Gable.

As the 1950s wound down, Edwards who had become disenchanted with radio was fired by WERE.  Edwards ran record stores until he died in 1981.

Author Chris Kennedy has picked some great photos and newsletter snippets to illustrate a fascinating seven-year time capsule which in essence was  the dawn of rock radio.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland are curating a Tommy Edwards photo exhibit, January 12, 2012 through May 6, 2012.In 2006.

Poodle Skirts for a Classic Halloween Costume

Create a Halloween costume worthy of any sock hop  or juke box hall! We carry a variety of full poodle skirt costumes and solitary poodle skirts that let you create your own unique costume.  Our poodle skirts and poodle outfits let you create a fun 50s  theme. The perfect 1950's costume for your next event or Halloween party is here at Get Go Retro.

Our Classic Poodle skirt is a one-size-fits-most, elastic waist. They stretch from 22" to 52" waist and are approximately 26" in length. Made from comfortable and easy to care for poly/cotton broadcloth with chenilled 8" walking poodle & leash.

 

And, if you want something a tad different ...You can goto the hop in this poodle outfit as the girl with a checkered future.  Blue and white gingham blouse and skirt highlighted with a cute cherry applique' and lace up front.  Full swing skirt with white poodle and leash.

Order now! Ryan Gosling's "Drive" Scorpion Jacket

It's the fashion buzz .... Gosling's White Satin Jacket from the movie Drive.   Taking pre-orders for this fab jacket put out by Steady Clothing.  For info on the film, the jacket and the story behind the jacket visit us at Get Go Retro!

Check it out here:

Pan Am Takes Flight .... Carry On

Grab a window seat and hold on tight! Pan Am takes flight tonight on ABC. The adventure, glamour and romance of the Jet Age is soaring right on over to your T.V.

Pan Am Defiance Bag

Pan Am follows a group of young flight attendants who sign on to the “new” luxury airline in the hopes of seeing and experiencing the world. The series takes place in the early Sixties when traveling aboard PanAm's luxury Jet Clippers glorified the height of the Golden Age of Air Travel. The pilots are handsome and the stewardesses desirable; trained to handle in-air emergencies, unwanted advances; and how to make a cocktail at 30,000 feet; all without wrinkling their uniforms or messing up their hair. Unlike 'Mad Men,' 'Pan Am' promises to focus more on the women. Christina Ricci plays the rebellious bohemian Maggie; Karine Vanasse is the flirtatious Collette, Kellie Garner is the always-adventurous Kate and Margot Robbie is Kate's beauty queen sister, who has f literally left her groom at the alter.. And while each of the stars has perfected that classic "Pan Am Walk" with the hips swaying and one hand in the air, underneath the pretty facade it's all about female empowerment.

Think about it; in the sixties, little girls couldn't and didn't really aspire to be pilots, if they were lucky... and pretty enough... they could become stewardesses, travel the world, and hope to meet rich men and land a rich husband. What more could a woman ask for in a career? The social climate of the 1950's and '60's was strongly sexualized and promoted the glamorous image. They were selected not only for their knowledge but also for their characteristics. A 1936 New York Times article described the requirements: "The girls who qualify for hostesses must be petite; weight 100 to 118 pounds; height 5 feet to 5 feet 4 inches; age 20 to 26 years. Add to that the rigid physical examination each must undergo four times every year, and you are assured of the bloom that goes with perfect health." Stewardesses, as a rule were young, beautiful, and voluptuous which brings us to the "girdle.". The association between the glamorous image of the stewardess and the girdle her employers required her to wear was strong. Nearly all published descriptions of a stewardess's job managed to find a way to include mention of the mandatory girdle policy. Certainly by the mid-60's, popular books such as Coffee, Tea, Or Me, and The Fly Girls made repeated reference to the heroine's girdles, usually in the sense of a good-natured complaint, but sometimes mentioning the protective value of heavyweight undies when dealing with drunken male passengers with "Russian hands and Roman fingers."Christina Ricci plays one of the stewardesses in the new series and says "... the uniforms are sexy, but that sexiness is not easily found. We wear girdles, it’s literally a half-hour pee break. Someone has to help you, because afterward it’s all unhooked. The girdles make you walk a certain way,” she continued. “It keeps your legs together. I don't know how women in the 1960s did it. "I don't know how women got dressed by themselves." Girdle requirements were not uncommon in the '60's (and not just at the airlines.) Most women wore girdles, and girdles were looked upon as a sign of neatness and good grooming, Suffice it it to say, stewardises were required to be so well groomed as to have no lumps or bumps and nothing on display, either. The girdle simply put was part of the uniform. This meant that most young women around the pool would have red dent marks on their thighs from the girdles. It's only fair to note, that, when "stewardesses" became militant, there was quite a brou-ha-ha in which PanAm stewardises claimed --and won --a case in which they claimed to suffer from a syndrome called "jet tummy" or such. They won by getting medical agreement that, indeed, there is some air trapped within internal organs, and that at the reduced cabin air pressure of jet planes, it could become painfully trapped by a girdle.

Sony Pictures TV production president Zack Van Amburg said the idea for "Pan Am" came from a meeting he and  Jamie Erlicht, had with Nancy Ganis (a former flight attendant) and her husband/production partner Sid Ganis. When Nancy Ganis relayed tales of   what it meant to be a flight attendant in the go-go days of flight travel, Van Amburg and Erlicht latched on to the idea. "These were the world's ambassadors," Van Amburg said. "They were really interesting women at a time when a lot of things were happening, particularly for women in this country... and in terms for what Pan Am did for exporting American culture and importing the world, think about all the visuals of the Beatles landing at JFK on Pan Am." One interesting note about the show is that you won't see the actors smoking. Producers admitted that ABC-Disney nixed the use of tobacco by key stars like Christina Ricci and Margot Robbie, despite the fact that smoking was de rigueur on flights – and throughout the terminal — in those days.

The show has also relaunched, Pan Am Brands luggage and bags. Pan Am has been recognized the world over as the most stylish airline in the world. This was no accident, as the Pan Am powers that be decided to incorporate partnerships between top designers and tastemakers to create what was to become some of the most stylish and iconic images in aviation history. Stewardess uniforms by top designers like Edith Head made heads turn in the terminals and in the aisles. It was the iconic Pan Am cabin bags that were given to first class passengers that became the lasting reminder of escape from the mundane. Carrying a Pan Am bag signified not only a departure from the ordinary, but that you had truly arrived. The current Pan Am brand operates every day with style and innovation in mind. The iconic logos and classic colors of the Pan Am Originals line tell a story rich in history and style with a passing glance. With the addition of the tech-based 707 Collection for spring of 2012, it’s not about where you are, but where you are going.

Incidently, a full line of luggage and bags are available at Get Go Retro!  And if yo miss a show ... catch it on line at ABC.
 Sources: Pan Am Brands Blog; Confessions of Christina Ricci; Starbacks; Everything PanAm; Variety