Sally Edelstein Collage | CONSUMING IMAGES
DEFROSTING THE COLD WAR MEDIA MADE WOMEN FRACTURED AMERICAN DREAMS RE: VISIONS GENDER BODY PARTS CONSTANT CRAVINGS CONSUMER CULTURE

Limited Edition prints available upon request

 

 

Off My Mind DEFROSTING THE COLD WAR

Defrosting the  duck n' cover Cold War World of my childhood, this collection of satirical vignettes and collages,  re-envision the Atomic Age  of nuclear bombs and nuclear families, cold warriors and hot wars, Mad Men and happy housewives that littered  a pop culture landscape  run rampant with mass media stereotypes and  myths.

Cold War Culture

Post-War America
Master of The Universe
Absolutely Atomic

Frosty Relations
Reconsidering the Russians
Red Menace
The American Way
Russian Bombshell
Jet Age Jitters
Better Dead then Red

Consumer Culture
Consuming Passions
Tomorrows Living Today


 

New and Improved
Better Living Through Chemistry
Baby Boomers

Superpower
Mid Century MADness
Land of Good n' Plenty
The Arms Race
Space Race


Atomic Passion
Homeland Security
Civil Defense
Well Stocked Shelter
Duck n' Cover

A Frigid New Frontier
Can You Top This?
Nuclear Family Fears
FalloutShelter1960's
Happy Housewives
Chillin' in Cold War
Backyard Bunkers
Nuclear Winter

Nuclear Testing
Alarmists
Nevada Test Site
Downwinders
Accidents Will Happen


 

THE BIG CHILL - An Introduction

collage artist Sally Edelstein appropriates advt. illustration from the 50's in depicting Atomic Age pop culture


The Cold War was a bone chilling time.

While Americas soaring can-do confidence offered us sugar-frosted promises of a future filled with frost- free fun and abundance, that giddy optimism coexisted with the very real fear of nuclear annihilation. I would catch a Cold War chill that I could never quite shake.
 

 


Jet Age Jitters
Artist Sally Edelstein's collage on baby boomer childhood using vintage illustrations 50's

For those of us who grew up during the 1950s and 60's, the Cold War Culture was a subtext of our lives.

It was a time when most Americans assumed the U.S. and the Soviets stood continually on the brink of nuclear war.

I began working on this project in the frightening, post 9/11 world of terrorism. when memories of growing up duck and covering didn't flood back because they were always lurking in the recesses of my mind.

The familiar struggle between good and evil was renewed. There were  striking parallels to the way American officials were characterizing Muslim "terrorists" and the way Cold War American propaganda portrayed Communists, drawing stark contrast beween The American Way of Life and the Soviets.

Utilizing vintage children's school books, mass media advertisements, popular periodicals and book illustrations from the late 1940s, 1950's and 1960's, I appropriate images from these sources in creating the collages.

 

Set To Defrost

Appropriating images from 40's 50's vintage illustrations collage artist Sally Edelstein comingles media stereotypes of the nuclear family

With all its cliches and gender stereotypes distinctive to Mid-century America, a culture littered with media stereotypes,  the fallout from the fictions, fabrications and facades that flourished in the hot house climate of the Cold War world, are, like the effects of radioactive fallout, still felt decades later.

 

 

 

Appropriating vintage illustrations from adv. Sally Edelstein's collage is a collection of media stereotypes of 50's housewives Thawing Out
 

Certain beliefs, certain idealized values remain undiluted, undefrosted and fundamentally unchanged over time and fragments remain within. The Cold War might be in the deep freeze of memory but I thaw out those media memories as a way to re-think and re-envision a time that could serve as a lesson today.

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POST WAR AMERICA

A FROST FREE  WORLD
Collage Artist Sally Edelstein appropriates 1940's 50's pop culture imagery in picturing Post War consumer America

Set the Wayback Machine for 1945...With the end of WWII, the greater possibilities of the world of tomorrow had come alive.

In our color- happy Celanese separates, Americans from coast to coast were bursting with pride, as bubbly and effervescent as a bottle of Pepsi. back to top

 

 

Master Of The Universe

 The Greatest generation celebrates WWII victory in sally Edelstein's collage using 1940's 50's vintage illustrationsWith our blinding Pepsodent smiles, we were "the greatest nation the sun had ever  shown upon" a gloating President Truman assured us. Have a Coke and smile.

They said it couldn't be done yet we had just been victorious on opposite sides of the globe. We had entered a new era of power. A new kind of power- the sole Atomic power.  back to top

 

 

 

 

Absolutely Atomic

Sally Edelstein's collage composed of 40's 50's vintage illustrations takes a satirical look at Americas post war atomic monopoly

In those heady Post-War years, we alone had the bomb and most thought it ought to just stay that way. The Atom Bomb was as closely guarded a secret as Bess Truman's recipe for pineapple upside-down cake and just as hard to pry loose.

We could relax with deep-down smoking enjoyment, engulfed in a plume of hazy blue mentholated smoke, with no worries of a mushroom cloud spoiling our spacious American skys. back to top

 

 

 

 

 

Appropriating vintage illustrations from the 50's artist Sally Edelstein's collage looks at the begining of Cold war culture
FROSTY RELATIONS

1947 began with the lowest temperature ever recorded in North America making it an appropriately chilly year to mark the start of the Cold War. Bernard Baruch coined the term, but it was our government who would keep a low flame under the Cold War for the next 45 years.

Who Do You Trust

Marking the occasion was the birth of those Cold War quadruplets- the CIA, The Department of Defense, The Joint Chiefs of Staff and The National Secuity Council.  With the world of doublethink looming on the horizon, the first cure for schizophrenia- a pre-frontal lobodomy- was announced in the nick of time.

A hot-war might have ended with those 2 fiery Atomic blasts in Japan but another war, a cold one, began with our former allies in arms, the Russians.  back to top

 

 

 

Up In Smoke

Sally Edelstein's tongue in cheek collage composed of vintage illustrations  looks at our post war Soviet breakup

Like so many war- born marriages it turned out our grand alliance with the Soviets was more a marriage of convenience and our relations soon turned frosty.

The Hungry Bear

"Uncle Joe" Stalin, our wartime warm and fuzzy teddy bear, quickly turned into a cold blooded grizzly bear ready to gobble up crippled Europe turning its starving, shivering population into Godless Communists.

As Soviet tanks angrily roamed Eastern European Streets, our war- born good will faded as quickly as Elizabeth Arden's Vanishing Cream.  back to top

 

 

 

 

 

RED MENACE

Sally Edelstein's collage filled with vintage illustrations of a 50's pop culture run rampant with anti communism

Convinced that Moscow was hell bent on destroying the traditional American way of life, it would be up to us to contain them.

 

As if shifting gears between enemy and ally was as effortless as the automatic transmission in your Chevrolet, the considerable fury and fear that had fueled our hatred of those bloodless Nazis had been seamlessly and swiftly re-routed to those Godless Russian Commies.  back to top

 

 

The American Way

Artist Sally Edelstein borrows imagery from the American dream filled pop culture of the 1950's in her collage about American Cold war propaganda

Uncle Sam was certain that the Communists were waging a campaign of hatred against us to the enslaved people behind the Iron Curtain.

Truth, Justice...

They  were weaving fantastic stories and twisted facts about America unlike in our country where our government told us the truth. Truth as clear and undistorted as the perfect picture you were promised on your new Philco television set. True picture, no blur, no distortion, that was the American Way. back to top

 

 

 


BOOM!


Post war nuclear families blend with nuclear fears in Sally Edelsteins collage composed of vintage illustrations from the 50's 60's1949 was a year marked by big bangs and big booms!

The same year that a developer named William Levitt built Levittown, a suburban paradise  rising out of a potato farm on Long Island just for the ex GI's and their boatload of baby boomers, America's nuclear monopoly came to an abrupt end.

 

We were still digesting the Communist takeover of China, when on a hot summer morning in August 1949, the Soviet's detonated an Atom Bomb. A shock wave reverberated around the world .

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I've Got A Secret

The anti Communism that permeated 50's pop culture is subject of sally Edelstein's collage utilizing vintage illustration from 50's

 

Where there was smoke there was a fire-ball.The swiftness in which the Soviets had built the bomb could mean only one thing- this had to be a Red conspiracy. Suddenly along with atomic jitters we began looking everywhere for spies. Communists could be found everywhere.

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Better Dead than Red

The culture of suspicion Russian spy's and witchhunts that permeated the McCarthy era is the subject of Sally Edelstein's collage

A cloud of suspicion and darkness seemed to drift over this glowing Post-War landscape, and danger seemed to lurk everywhere.

Think Pink!

With the same zeal that the 50's housewife chased after dirt and germs, Americans were convinced hidden Communists were lurking everywhere.

Like those scheming villians Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale the two hapless no-goodnik spies carrying out Fearless Leader's secret evil plots, Communists were sinister, sneaky plotters, just waiting to overthrow a government. back to top

 

 

 

POST-WAR PROMISES

The Greatest generation returns home from WWII to a Post War world of abundance in Sally Edelstein's collage composed of 40's 50's vintage illustrationsAmerican's eagerly entered the material age of Post-War promises with whetted appetites and overflowing wallets.

After years of curbing our enthusiasm, the pent-up hunger born of war sacrifices and denial was unleashed sending us on a bender of a buying binge.

On Your Mark

Even before the GI's returned home, the Post-War world of plenty was temptingly displayed in full color advertisements . "Right now engineers and scientists were busy devoting their toil and genius to weapons of war", the ads teased, but in the same breath hinted that the fruits of their efforts held un-heard of promises for the future. back to top

 

 

 

 

CONSUMING PASSIONS

Cold war consumer culture as seen in Atomic Age advertising in a collage by artist Sally Edelstein utilizing 40's 50's vintage advt. illustrations

With the war over, the material dreams kept pumping through the culture in lavish color- drenched ads.

What awaited was a colorful world of all manner of unparralled ease, the most wished for, never-before things-never before because it was never possible before,  things that would make you proud of your choice and the envy of others.

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Tomorrows Living Today

  Cheering the golden age of cultural consumerism that was the 1950s is the subject of Sally Edelstein's collage composed of 50's vintage advt, illustrationSuddenly, miraculously, the drabness of years of  "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" were behind us. Before us beckoned a world so rewarding, so refreshing, so revolutionary, now even hum-drum hair could seethe with excitement.

A world of no-waiting, no wondering ,no-defrosting, no-fuss no-muss. Everything was long- wearing, fast-drying, king-sized, the last-word, the best-looking, most convenient, new kind of clean working twice as fast.

 

The Missus' Goes Shopping

Now at your fingertips, you have never seen, felt, owned, driven, or tasted anything like it. From morning to night the color's of the rainbow would be all around us thanks to laboratory wonders.  We could wear the future right now in our wash n' wear-too-wonderful -to-believe Acrylon-Acrylic clothes, and magically illuminate our suburban homes with General Electric's all new Coloramic bulbs in four thrillingly-new colors, proving the Post-War  would truly be a colorful world of frost-free-fun.  Progress was our most important product. back to top

 

 

 

NEW AND IMPROVED

An homage to the cold war world of processed foods is the subject of artist Sally Edelstein's collage composed of 50's vintage food adv. and illustrationsOur pride in our scientific prowess spilled over into m'lady's kitchen where once again man triumphed over nature in our march towards progress - a future of pre-sweetened, reconstituted, freeze dried world of good eatin'.

 

It's Anybody's Guess

The wizards of the wonderland of American food laboratories were  busy concocting magic, creating and altering food, setting the pace for never before such important advances. In this happy-go-lucky land of the free, everything was more comfortable, more convenient, more magically delicious.

The foods were as brimming with eye-appealing color as all the gay and festive polystyrene toys and household items surrounding us. And talk about tantalizing flavor- everything would be lip-smacking-whip crackin-paddy-whacking-delicious! back to top

 

 

 

Better Living Through Chemistry

The wonderful world of 1950's convenience foods is celebrated in artist Sally Edelstein's collage utilizing vintage food advt illustationsThat very symbol of Man's triumph over Nature, Tang, beckoned us into the space age just by drinking their orange elixir. "And if you want to do what the astronauts do join the gang and drink energy Tang/Tang is energizing like rocket fuel..."

 

And wonders of wonders was Wonder Bread to build the boomers bodies in 12 ways. Along with those added enriched vitamins, the clever bakers enriched it with petroleum derivatives to make the bread so soft and squishy and oh-so-fresh-feeling, even after a full 6 weeks.

 

 

The American Cold war appetite for convenience is displayed in Sally Edelstein's collage  composed of retro food ads

Chemimagination

And for America's prodigious Post-War sweet tooth, the apperance of sweetose, a completely new type of sweetener made from good ol' plentiful American corn, so new and different it had to be patented. Hundreds of housewives who had tried it prefered high fructose corn syrup to sugar. Good thing, because they'd be eating lots of it over the next several decades

Yes, Mr. and Mrs. America all benefited from the research and engineering of these amazing alchemists putting chemagination to work, providing new and better processing so Americans could enjoy a higher standard of living.Your body is too important to swallow anything but the truth. back to top

 

BABY BOOMERS
Appropriating vintage ads and illustartions Sally Edelstein's collage is a tribute to the ebullience of appetite and abundance in Cold War popular culture

And in this land of new and improved, the baby boomers were the newest kids in twenty years, the generation that captured a nation overnight.

American's were giving these youngsters the most thunderous reception in history. Never before such an automobile, never before such a floor wax, a stove, a freezer...never before such a baby.

"You're so new and oh so lucky," General Foods cooed to the Baby Boomers, "you'll grow up in a world of never before things. You'll eat exciting never before new food."

 

Break The Bank

Just in time for marketers, the Life magazine Cover , June 1956: Kids: Built in Recession Curebaby boom was a business bonanza making them the first generation to be baptized by Madison Avenue.

A euphoric Life magazine gushed "in the first year a baby is not just a child but a prodigious consumer."

Yes, it would be a new world- a YOU world!  back to top
 

 

 

 

 

 

SUPERSIZING THE   SUPERPOWERS

Sally Edelsteins collage composed of vintage adv. illustration is a landscape of Atomic Age American affluence and cultural consumption of the 50's

There was a spontaneous combustion of red-hot excitement amongst consumer's that was fueled by accelerants provided by Hotpoint, Frigidaire, and five star General Motors.

Bid N' Buy

What enhanced the happy 1950's housewive's Clorox Clean home was not unrelated to what protected the homeland since many of the same companies like GE, Westinghouse, and Chrysler were also major defense contractors. The desire for the ever larger tail finned car and ballistic missile, frost- free refrigerator and 3 stage rocket were brought to you by the same corporation. back to top

 

Mid-Century MADness

1950s consumer culture driven by military industrial complex is subject in artist Sally Edelstein's collage composed of 50's vintage adv. and illustrationsThe martini-swilling magicians of Madison Avenue were working their magic in tandem with the MAD men of the  Military Industrial Complex, working double-time fusing a double set of desires for the nuclear family for more weapons of mass destruction and more ease of living-Mutually Assured Destruction and Mutually Assured Consumption.

 

 

Sally Edelstein's collage of consumer driven pop culture of post war America in images appropriated from Atomic Age pop culture

Worry Free

In the advanced, brighter, Post-War propserity, Americans were not just clean but Clorox clean, dandruff-free, lint-free, water resistant and vitamin- enriched. While our constipation worries were over, we were sure with Arrid. Americans were loving it, buying it, wanting it. back to top

 

 

 

 

 

 

Land of Good N' Plenty

The Atomic Age abundance of weapons, consumer goods and ego as portrayed in artist Sally Edelstein's collage of appropriated images from 50's vintage illustrations

 

We were the most envied people on the planet. You couldn't help but stand and admire us and our technological know-how and might.

Running rings around all others, no other country so accented the march of new ideas. Big trends begin in America! The U.S.A. stood ever ready with a more confident answer to all the demands of modern living.

Whether bombs, breasts or Buicks, bigger was better

How Do You Rate?

With more bounce and zoom in every step, we could run faster, jump higher and win more often.

And in the dawn of the Space Age, naturally it was to be America who would steer us into space, braving the dangers of the cosmic frontiers, safeguarding the cause of universal peace and freedom.  back to top

 

 

 

OFF TO THE ARMS  RACE

 

Sally Edelstein's collage deals with the subject of Atomic Age belief of Bigger is Better whether bombs breasts or king size cigarettes Goodness gracious great balls of fire...When the Russians successfully launched Sputnik, the first man made satellite, into space, we were shaken to the core. The very thought of Soviet technological supremacy i.e.missile supremacy sent off a chain reaction of panic, rising fear levels, and soaring defense spending. We would pay any price, bear any burden to fill any Missile gap.

Play Your Hunch

In this age of Post War plenty we had plenty to fear.  At a push of a button, just a turn of a dial, Presto!...it could all disappear if we didn't defend them properly. It was critical to deter a nuclear war by keeping nuclear superiority. To live in peace, the Cold War Credo went, we must have power. back to top

 

 

 

Sally Edelstein's collage of appropriated vintage illustrations looks at a Cold war culture of Mutually Assured Destruction as America and Russia begin the nuclear arms race

Beat The Clock

Like contestants on the Game Show "Beat the Clock", we were thrust into an arms race and a space race with the Russians. By successfully launching a man made satellite into space, the Soviets had won the first lightning round and moved into the  bonus stunts winning that challenge too with the development of the ICBM.

Win, Lose or Draw

Smugly, the Soviets boasted, "Maybe next time will be your time to Beat The Clock." Now like two contestants with fingers on the buzzer, the first hot- headed cold warrior to push The Button-ding-ding-ding-would be "Winner Take All"! Of course in order to "Beat the Clock" we would first be playing "Break the Bank". back to top

 

 

 

ATOMIC PASSION

1950s Atom Bomb image showing effects of radiation on an American CityBefore long, our arsenal of missiles was becoming as bloated as the ever expanding bellies of the prodigious legion of pregnant women. Along with a boatload of baby boomers, a bouncing new U.S. policy was born and they would grow up together. The proud papa, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles named his progeny Massive Retaliation.

 

1950's Atom Bomb image showing effects of radiation on a city populationUnder the watchful eye of his rich Uncle Sam the policy would grow up big and strong. Concieved as was I in the warm afterglow of the Hydrogen Bomb, it was also in the dark shadow cast by Godzilla, the radioactive mutated monster of mass destruction. Together they would send a collective shiver down our Cold war spine. back to top

 

 

 


Who's Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf?
Sally Edelstein's collage of appropriated 50's vintage illustrations reflects the nuclear fears and denials that permeated the Cold war culture

After 9/11, Americans faced unnerving official terror warnings displayed in primary colors of yellow, orange, and doomsday red.

Newspapers printed preparedness articles as a profusion of emergency instructions appeared on how to protect ourselves. Panicked, people started stock-piling canned goods and duct tape, batteries and bandages to keep in their designated safe rooms.

With round the clock breaking news on television, it made it seem as if we had entered a time of great danger and Armageddon was near.

 

Take My Word For It

Fear of nuclear bombs that ran in the Cold war culture of the 50's and 60s is the subject matter of Sally Edelstein's collage utilizing 50's vintage illustrations

But there was already a precedent of fear, one which we had  lived through, not that long ago.

Nothing matched the profound fears that gripped our country's fear of a cold war turning hot. Even without 24/7 news coverage, the terror was seared into our minds.  It was an unrelenting fear that sent Dick, Jane and Sally Draper duck n' covering under school desks. back to top

 

 

 

CIVIL DEFENSE IS COMMON $ENSE

Sally Edelstein collage of appropriated vintage illustrations from 50's narrates the Cold war fear of nuclear warIn the postwar world of pushbutton ease and no more guess work, it was anyon'es guess when the ultimate button would be pushed and nuclear war begin. "How much time do we have, minutes, days, months, years? We don't know" a somber male voice asked on a public service announcement. "But this we do know- Civil Defense is everybody's business!" 

 

 

A satirical poke at CIvil defense suggestion of stocking up your home fall out shelter with convenience foods is the subject of Sally Edelstein's collage using 50's vintage advt illustrations

It was time to wake up and smell the coffee!

Fueling our prodigious fears, was the emphasis on Civil Defense and the government's zeal in  educating the public about the risks of an atomic attack-  how you could survive one, and how to plan and pack for the few days you and your family would have to spend in your fall out shelter.

In case of an H- Bomb blast, the Atomic Energy Commission offered some EZ advice: "People in fall-out areas can protect themselves by following some simple rules", they suggested reassuringly. "The news of an H- Bomb attack will be announced over the radio and most people will know about it before the veil of stinging dust comes settling down out of a clouded sky over farm, forest and village." So until then, enjoy the freedom to live as you please. back to top

 

 

 

Take A Can And Take It EZ

Collage artist Sally Edelstein's look at the consumer culture of a post atomic attackIn keeping with the can-do containment policy of our government, canned foods were darn handy to stock up your bomb shelter with.

Just as the Soviets and Uncle Sam were stock-piling arsenals of Nuclear weapons, so patriotic 1950's housewives were stocking up a good supply of canned goods for that long Nuclear Winter.

Double Jeopardy

Re-emerging from your shelter after an atomic attack would be a snap. After a few days when the surrounding radioactivity is greatly reduced, the government offered some helpful hints about re-adjusting.

Hungry? Canned food was safe to eat, but fresh fruit had to be washed and scrubbed. That's why you  would be glad you had the Green Giant around- with his canned peas its would be as if the Green Giant stepped out to his pre-radioactive garden and picked a batch of peas. Ho-Ho-Ho.

Speaking of which,  they reminded us that before planting your spring tomatoes, it was  necessary to turn the turf and bury the radioactive dust which would fall on lawns and gardens. Buried dust might make future plants and crops radioactive, they chuckled, so there would be plenty of hot peppers next season! back to top

 

 

 

 

DUCK N' COVER

The cold war emphasis on speed whether cars, ballistic missiles, laundry detergent or survival rate is the subject of  artist sally Edelstein's collage

 

To prepare for this big disaster, evacuation plans were set in motion to send big city dwellers quickly to the hinterlands.

Think Fast

Printed maps of American cities appeared in newspapers and magazines upon which were superimposed  ominous Atom bomb bullseyes showing the lethal reach of the bomb. To prevent a stampede of citizens dashing to safety, the maps let you know how long you had to get out of Dodge. back to top

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bert The Turtle Was Very Alert...He'd Duck and Cover

The happy go-lucky world of a duck n cover childhood as shown in a collage by artist Sally Edelstein utilizing 50's vintage illustrations

 

Just for the kiddies there was Bert the Turtle that loveable, cuddly, Cold War cartoon character from the Civil Defense film Duck and Cover who cheerfully offered frightened school children life- saving instructions to guide them through an atomic attack.

 

 

Face The Music

"When Danger threatens them they never get hurt, they know just what to do..."

Poking fun at the duck n cover ethos of Cold War, artist Sally Edelstein's collage portrays smiling baby boomer children rushing to a fall out shelter

 

At the sound of the warning siren, like some Pavlonian response,  Stan Musieal baseball gloves were unceremoniously tossed to the ground, gun-slinging cow-pokes shifted attention and slippery-tots would jump out of vinyl-sided pools as a stream of children appeared- a blur of pig tails, baseball caps and scraped-kness racing in their U.S. Keds helping them to run faster to get to the public fall-out shelter in time. 

Duck and covering in our orlon blend sweaters, cowereing in the chilly school  hallways became as regular a part of school life as was outdoor recess.  back to top

 

 

 

A FRIGID NEW FRONTIER

The nuclear fears that permeated Atomic Age pop culture inform Sally Edelstein's collage utilizing 50's vintage illustrations


"What you are about to watch is a nightmare.. .This is the Twilight Zone"

The Cold War had moved into a deep freeze by the early 1960's teetering on turning very hot.

 

The Big Showdown

Rattled Americans were twisting the night away as the jousting match beween President Kennedy and the Soviet's leader Nikita Khrushchev escalated as the world poised for a show down of wits between these two Cold Warriors. With a rat-a-tat-tat-and-a-ring-a-ding-ding, we would all be pioneers in this scary New Frontier.

Despite being lulled to sleep with sweet stories from our Little Golden Books, baby boom children knew a nuclear attack could happen any hour. Instead of sweet little kittens finding their mittens, the spectre of a mushroom cloud would hang over our dreams.  back to top


 

 

NUCLEAR FEARS FOR THE NUCLEAR FAMILY

The effects of radiation in popular culture real and imagined is subject of sally Edelsteoin's collage utilizing 50's 60's vintage illustrations

Within a short period of time we came teetering close to the brink of nuclear war.

First, in the balmy summer of 1961 when the terrifying thought of thermonuclear confronation between us and the Soviets became all too real as the crisis in Berlin heated up.  back to top

 

Fearless Leader

 Do-it yourself instructions for Building Fallout Shelter Sounding a lot like the  sinister Fearless Leader, a character on Rocky and Bullwinkle,  who exclaimed "What does Pottsylvania have more of than any other country?  Mean! We have more mean than any other country in Europe! We must export mean!", a volatile Khrushchev had boasted that the USSR's thermonuclear strength was unmatchable and could leave America in a cloud of radioactive dust. Appearing on TV, Kennedy urged Americans to build bomb shelters- citizens should be ready to protect their own families. back to top



 

FALLOUT SHELTERS FOR THE NEW FRONTIER

Life Magazine Sept 1961

 

 

A somber letter from JFK printed in an issue of  Life Magazine from September 1961, urged Americans to be prepared.

"Nuclear weapons and the possibility of nuclear war are facts of life  we cannot ignore. Unprepared there is a 1 chance in 4 that you and your family will die." However you could be among the lucky 97% to survive if you followed the advice in the magazine about building a shelter.

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Happy Homemaker

 Sally Edelstein's collage looks at Cold war American propaganda of 60's happy homemakers in their home fallout shelterUncle Sam advised that we should be prepared to take cover for about 2 weeks.

For the nuclear family the ultimate togetherness would be a spruced up, well supplied family shelter. An important factor in increasing merriment and togetherness in the family living conditions was the attention paid to fall-out fun.

To pass the time, good mothers made sure to stock plenty of games for the children. When you're hot, wilted and sorry for yourself you'll be glad you packed that game of Chutes and Ladders. Don't blame that listless, half alive feeling on the beautiful spring day you were missing. No gloomy Gus's aloud!

 

Artist Sally Edelstein pokes fun at Cold War Civil Defense in her collage whose subject portrays the message that Nuclear Attack should not be a detterance for dieting Whittle While You Wait

And just because you were stuck in a fallout shelter ladies, didn't mean it was okay to let your diet slide. It would be the perfect time to whittle your waist.

Don't let your weight losing intentions fade in the rise of temperature, Cold War ladies were warned. Keep a supply of tasty Rye-Krisps and cans of Metracal- you'll still want that trim figure for those post-blast pool parties!

 

 

Home Sweet Home

US Government booklet Why prepare a shelter now? Fall Out Protection for Homes with Basements

Knowing that  they were going to spend a week or two in their bomb shelter, happy homemakers in the 60's were advised to make it as  gay and restful an environment as possible.

Painting the walls a bright color would make it cheery, while decorating it in Early American charm would give a nice homey touch to the The New Frontier Fallout Shelter. back to top

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sally Edelstein's collage demonstrates how American Cold war Civil Defense propaganda was enough to give you a headacheChillin' in the Cold War

More sound suggestions were offered to us from a record entitled, "If the Bomb Falls: a Guide to Survival." A no- nonsense narrator speaking in a confident, calm voice suggested that "by all means provide some tranquilizers to ease the strain and monotony of life in a shelter. A bottle of 100 should be adequate for a family of 4. Tranquilizers are not narcotic and are not habit forming. Ask a doctor for his recomendation."

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BACKYARD BUNKERS

Appropriating vintage adv and illustrations from 50s 60s artist sally Edelstein's collage reshuffles media stereotypes of happy suburban women and men preparing for nuclear warSuddenly there was a mass hysteria to burrow underground. Suburban-do-it-yourselfer's came out in full force prudently eyeing that palette of bricks once slated for an outdoor barbeque now being re-evaluated for the home fallout shelter.

In the early 1960's, there was a huge real estate boom; not in houses but in home-shelters. From coast to coast, families were eyeing the new models of family shelters.

Contractors and salesmen pitched home shelter kits  as a modern miracle of mass production likening them to Levitt houses. "You'll be patting your good judgement on the back for years to come if you get a family shelter now", they boasted.

Better Homes and Garden Magazine offered advice suggesting to it's readers that they would be smart to consider fall-out shelter's peace time role, offering tips in converting it into a rumpus  room for the kids.

 

 

 

Don't Turn That Dial

Sally Edelstein's collage utilizing appropriated images from vintage illustrations looks at a home cooked convenience meal in a fallout shelterA year later in 1962 when the Soviets installed missiles only 90 miles from our shore during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the nuclear family was back huddled in their  home fall-out shelter built in their faux-wood paneled finished basements.

With our radios turned to CONELRAD 640AM we would wait to hear the all clear signal alerting us it was safe to emerge.  back to top

 

 

Nuclear Winter

The tic-tic-tic of the geiger counter would be the soundtrack of our new Post-War World. Venturing out into the beak post-atomic landscape of chaos, you'll be glad you packed your weatherproof galoshes for the long nuclear winter that loomed ahead.  

 

Don't forget your galoshes.Preparing for a Nuclear winter is the subject of Sally Edelstein's collage composed of 50's 60's vintage illustrations


"The poles of fear, the extremes of how the Earth might conceivably be doomed. Minor exercises in the care and feeding of a nightmare, respectfully submitted by the thermonuclear watches of the Twilight Zone. back to top





 

 

 

 



NUCLEAR TESTS

 A collage by artist Sally Edelstein conveys the story of a 1950's public hoodwinked by our government on the dangers Atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons

In the 1950's our government insisted that the spate of Nuclear atmospheric testings in Nevada were no more a danger than the new fangled TV transmissions racing through the sky.

You Don't Say!

The Atomic Energy Commission had decided that Utah and Nevada, these "virtually uninhabited territory", would be the perfect site for Nuclear testing.

 Most shrugged off the potential hazards of testing especially the long term danger. In fact the danger lay in not doing the tests. Most folks agreed that the ultimate benefit of peace and security that only Nuclear bombs would bring us was more than enough for the potential risk.

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Keep your fingers crossed! Sally Edelstein's cold war collage on American propaganda concerning radioactive dangersAlarmists

Of course there were outlandish allegations from alarmists who attributed everything from birth defects, to rising cost of living, to climate changes,   to the tests. 

It was the same nervous Nellies who thought we should be concerned about the safety of DDT. Uncle Sam patiently and confidently dismissed every last one. Radiation was like taxes, not pleasant but you learned to live with it.

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Nevada Test Site

A trusting public misled by our government on the effects of radiation is the subject matter of Sally Edelstein's collageOur Government had guaranteed us the safety of the testings and if you couldn't trust the U.S.A. who could you trust?

Every school kid knew The Father of our country George Washington could never  tell a lie, and so a trusting public believed that our Uncle Sam's word was as trustworthy as a Boy Scout.

With a ringing endorement from the Atomic Energy Commission confirming that Uncle Sam had taken all necessary precautions to ensure our safety, the Nevada Test Site, only 65 miles from Las Vegas, became quite the attraction.  Why some folks even made a family trip of it catching Frank Sinatra at the Sands Hotel while they took in the sights at the Nevada Test Site.

Folks were encouraged to pack their Kodak's and Coppertone and head west for a rip-roarin' good time. And if you forgot your Brownie Hawkeye at home, not to worry, the experience would give you long lasting memories, to relive again and again.
 

 

Appropriating vintage  illustrations from 1950s Sally Edelstein's collage deals with dangers of 1950s nuclear testing that were fueled by our Nuclear fears

Before the first light of dawn, dazzled onlookers with their heart thumping in their newly purchased resort-wear, sleepy kids in Roy Rogers cowboy hats, gathered with ex-GI's in Bermuda shorts sporting WWII issued anti-glare Ray Bans and looked at awe at the flash of bright light.

Rockets Red Glare Bombs Bursting In Air....

As the pink clouds drifted across the flat mesas, the shock waves booming against their chests, a veil of radioactive particles floated over the test site. With the rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air, the heat from the blast stimulated a healthy radiant-blush on the visitors, leaving them with an envied, sunburned vacation glow.

 

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DOWNWINDERS

Appropriating vintage advertising and illustrations from 50's, Sally Edelsteins collage explores the cover up of the long term effects of radiation exposure from 1950's Atmospheric testing at Nevada Test Site

And for those folks  who couldn't make any of the 126 tests detonated over 12 years, no worries.

The wind would carry the mushroom cloud downwind, dispersing radioactive elements over the purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plains, making you feel just like you had actually been there.

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Accidents Will Happen

Artist Sally Edelstein's collage utilizing 50's vintage illustrations narrates the story of an unsuspecting public exposed to effects of radiation from Atmospheric Testing of Nuclear Bombs in 1950's
In 1961 Physicians for Social Responsibility was founded by doctors concerned about the public health dangers associated with the testing and use of nuclear weapons.

Despite the government  protestations of I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing, several serious health affects such as increased incidence of cancers, leukemia, thyroid diseases and congenital malformations have now been well documented to those citizens known as downwinders- individuals and communities exposed to radioactive contamination from nuclear weapons testing. back to top


The irony of the Atmospheric tests is that the only victim of the U.S. nuclear arms since WWII have been our own citizens.


The subject of Sally Edelsteins collage is how America Cold war propaganda took a dangerous turn in atmospheric testing of nuclear bombs

 

 

Links

Cold War Era Civil Defense Museum
Virtual Museum featuring art galleries, shelter tours and civil defense history
conelrad

Cold War Museum
Founded in 1996 by Francis Gary Power Jr. and John C. Welch to preserve Cold war history and honor Cold War Veterans
Atomic Testing Museum
In association with the Smithsonian Institution 
Atomic Archive 
Explores the complex history surrounding the invention of the atomic bomb
Bradbury Science Museum
An archival collection of artifacts dating from the Manhattan Project 
The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History 

Located in Albuquerque, NM. The only U.S. Congressionally chartered museum of nuclear science and history
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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