It’s football season! Listen in as Jennifer discusses vintage football etiquette for the fans in the stands, what the well-dressed football fan wore in 1943, and more.
If you prefer to read rather than listen, scroll down to find a transcript of this episode.
Show Notes:
The Highlanders preorder: Kindle edition
The Highlanders preorder: print edition
“What it Was, Was Football” by Andy Griffith
Transcript of Episode 22: Sparkling Vintage Football!
Welcome to A Sparkling Vintage Life, where we discuss all things vintage and celebrate the grace and charm of an earlier era. It’s September 26, 2019, as I record this. There’s not much to report this week in writing news, just a reminder that The Highlanders novella collection is now available for preorder on Amazon. I’ll put a link in the show notes.
We’re officially a couple of days into fall, and less than three months away from Christmas. Up here in North Idaho there’s no denying now that summer’s gone. In fact, according to the forecast, we’re facing an unseasonably chilly weekend coming up. For me, it’s definitely time to pull out the soft blankets and woolly socks and hunker down with a good book and a cat on my lap. But I know for many of you, you won’t let a few skin-searing winds or freezing temperatures stop you from heading to the nearest stadium to grab a spot on the bleachers and cheer your favorite team to victory.
That’s right, it’s football season! And we’ll be taking a sparkling vintage look at football today. For those of you listening outside the United States, I’m talking about American football, those great hulking men in their pads and helmets charging each other across the field, not what the entire rest of the world calls football, which we call soccer.
Now, anyone who knows me will tell you I’m not a great football fan. On Super Bowl Sunday I’m more interested in the snacks than in what happens on the TV, except, possibly, if the Chicago Bears are playing. Hometown loyalty leads me to take at least a passing interest in how the Bears are doing. Nonetheless, football and fall go together like salsa and corn chips. American football’s history goes back over 100 years. It has its roots in rugby, a game played in England and brought to these shores. Some major changes in the game are credited to Walter Camp of Yale University, who introduced such key changes as the line of scrimmage and the forward pass. The late 19th and early 20th centuries were the glory days of coaches like Amos Alonzo Stagg and Knute Rockne and Pop Warner. Football’s popularity started in the colleges but quickly spread to professional teams. The predecessor of the National Football League formed in 1920, almost exactly 100 years ago.
So I did a little digging around to find out what watching football was like, back in the good old days.
First of all, perhaps you’re wondering what to wear to the big game. You may think that wearing your team’s colors is quite enough, but not if you were a lady of fashion in, say, 1943. For a taste of mid-20th-century elegance, forego the team jerseys and sweatpants and take a page from Grace Margaret Morton, who wrote a home economics text titled The Arts of Costume and Personal Appearance. About “spectator sports” like football, Miss Morton recommends attiring oneself thusly:
“Good taste for any spectator sport calls for clothes which are casual and nonchalant. Textures should be sturdy and practical, without glint or sheen. The girl on a limited budget will choose coats and suits which can do double duty as street clothes by change of accessories. . . . The coat may be an all-season coat with water-repellent finish and zip-in lining, a bulky knit coat of fingertip or shorter length, or a fur-lined cloth coat. It may be fashioned from tweed, cheviot, camel hair, boucle, fleece, suede, or leather. Plaids, stripes, and plain colors are used.
The suit that is tailored of sturdy tweed or similar fabric is an excellent choice. Warm-weather suits made of hopsacking, seersucker, cotton tweed, or cotton cord are appropriate.
The dress suitable for spectator sports and campus wear may be one from wool jersey, washable flannel, cotton jersey, or corduroy. Separate skirts of denim, seersucker, hopsacking, cotton tweed, cotton cord, and linen suiting are correct when worn with matching or contrasting shirts or blouses.
The hat in keeping with this casual wear will be a fabric or felt cap, beret, cloche, or any narrow-brimmed hat. Gay wool or silk is used in scarves or hoods. Your creativity will be expressed in the manner in which you wear your scarf; find an interesting way to wear it.
The shoe is generally flat. One may choose saddle shoes, brogues, moccasins, oxfords, or ghillies. They may be made of calf, pigskin, or buckskin. Pumps with low or medium heels and made of leather, straw, or linen are also proper choices.
The glove worn for spectator sports will be of capeskin, pigskin, or cotton suede. String gloves, gloves with leather palms, or gay woolen or angora mittens are other possibilities.
The handbag that is carried may have shoulder straps. Calf, novelty fabric, or saddle leather are often thought of in relation to this type of costume.
Jewelry must be very restrained in design. Metal, wood, or leather will express a harmonious relationship to the attire for these occasions.”
So there you have it, ladies. Pigskin: it’s not just for the football anymore.
Of course, once you’re properly attired for the Big Game, it’s all for nought if you don’t know how to behave. With gridiron season upon us, let us not neglect our manners. Here are some ways to root without rudeness.
In her 1940 book This Way Please, Eleanor Boykin advised fans on how to conduct themselves properly. She wrote:
It is unsportsmanlike for the friends of a team to try to rattle players on the other side by booing or shouting personal remarks. Hurling criticism at the referee is both useless and crude. Enthusiasm for your side is a fine thing, but don’t let it carry you to bumptiousness.
The members of a visiting team are your guests. Treat them like friendly enemies, and show them the courtesies you would like to have shown to your team on a return visit. When a player is hurt, forget sides. Give him a cheer and all the assistance he needs.
Back up your cheerleaders. Some stirring Rah! Rah’s and choruses at the right time are not an affront to the opposing team, and they put heart into the schoolmates you have chosen to arouse school spirit.
And from an article in Seventeen magazine back in 1971:
“Lots of words have been written on the subject, but good sportsmanship still depends on how you play the game, no matter what game you’re playing. Whether you cheat on an exam or on a court, it’s equally dishonest and distasteful to others. Whatever the game, follow the three “Be’s.” BE fair. BE a good loser. BE quick to congratulate winners.”
Now that you’re dressed to kill and have bowled over the opposing team with your exquisite manners, nothing beats an epic tailgate party, which takes place in the relatively neutral ground of a parking lot or nearby field. Typical picnic fare–burgers, brats, sandwiches, potato salad–is served up from the tailgates of vehicles ina spirit of good sportsmanship. But it can be fancier. One suggested tailgate luncheon menu from an old Lexington, Virginia, cookbook included baby mint juleps, cheese lace, cold cour-cherry soup, cold fillet of beef with sour cream, rice salad, hot rolls, and banana bourbon cake with banana creme anglaise! How do your game day snacks stack up against that feast?
So the next time your favorite team hits the field, be sure to dig up your pigskin gloves and jaunty beret before you politely cheer them on in the spirit of good sportsmanship. May the best team win!
And I’ll be back in a moment with today’s grace note.
Today’s grace note is a link to a delightful recording that’s been a fall classic in my family for years. It’s called “What it Was, Was Football,” and it was recorded by Andy Griffith way back in 1953. Many of you may remember Andy Griffith, who played Sheriff Andy Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show and later was the star of Matlock. Well, when he was just a young comedian starting out, he recorded this piece, in which he portrays a country bumpkin who accidentally stumbles across a football game, which he’s never seen before. I’ll play just a little snippet of it for you, so you can get a taste.”
“What it Was, Was Football” is currently available on YouTube. Look for a link in the shownotes at sparklingvintagelife.com/podcast under Episode 22.
And that’s our show for today. If you have a heart that sometimes yearns for the misty memories of yesteryear, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter at sparklingvintagelife.com. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts. And tune in again next time when I’ll be back to discuss another aspect of A Spa