Things you thought were glamorous when you were a gayling

Kitty Carlisle on To Tell The Truth.

As the song goes, “She had refinement.”

It was only years later that I wondered why this society doyenne was slumming on a game show with crass Peggy Cass.

Ladies with dangly earrings - when I would see them, I thought they must be fancy, rich, and glamorous.

Beverly Hills, a white jeep, Fred Segal's, Rodeo Drive, and platform shoes.

The wheel.

Turbans, like those Diahann Carroll and Joan Collins wore on "Dynasty."

Cigarette holders.

Throwing a cocktail into someone's face.

Turning on one's heel and flouncing out of a room while saying, "well." I used to do this to my mother.

Removing a clip on earring when answering the phone and answering it by saying, "(last name's) residence."

Now-closed thread for reference:

Another now-closed thread for reference.

Women who wore high heels. I used to walk around on my toes because it was so glamorous.

In my 20s, I took a ballet class and my instructor said I had an excellent demi pointe. 😂. I didn’t tell him it came from years of pretending I was glamorous in high heels.

The porcelain black panther figurine in our 70s living room. It definitely didn’t mean we were trash.

Taking the Caddy to the Club.

Joan Collins.

A chic NYC woman in a fur coat and a cigarette with a handsome guy in a tux on her arm was the height of glamour.

Emeraude by Coty

Celanese Fortrel

Clove cigarettes

Breck

I used to think Vienettas were the height of sophistication as a young kid. It's only because my parents would rarely ever buy them and when they did, they were for "the adults only" and we had to do with normal everyday ice cream out of the punnet.

Haha, they're really not that special turns out.

Champagne? Shit I thought Martinelli’s sparkling apple cider and Clearly Canadian flavored water in the fridge was the height of sophistication.

[quote] Taking the Caddy to the Club. - Muriel Puce

Ghastly. Just ghastly.

Two-seater sports cars.

Those square wafer thin chocolate after dinner mints each in their own pocket

I still adore all of the above

Power windows and seats. My grandmother's green Lincoln had power everything; those chrome switches were intoxicating.

Satin sheets

Bain de Soleil

Evian water

An extra long filtered cigarette (120's) smoldering in a giant ashtray, stained with scarlet lip gloss.

The bejeweled, décolletaged, mink-stoled, bouffanted glamour girls who would purr in Marilyn Monroe voices, “Live from Miami Beach, it’s the Jackie Gleason Show!”

That’s how I remember them anyway. I can’t find a clip online. The camera would zoom in over the water onto the Miami beach skyline, which I thought was glamorous as well. Miami Vice kind of ripped that off.

Having a separate styrofoam head for each one of your wigs, and if not an actual "wig alcove," then a wig shelf in one's closet.

That, and the smell of Aqua Net.

And of course, anything related to Miss Donna Mills.

Radford Minis

R26 The “his and hers” Chevys in that ad….There’s a phrase you don’t hear anymore.

A multi-line touch tone phone

Jean Naté After-Bath Body Splash.

Fire

Martini TV commercials.

The first time my family stayed at a hotel and I saw tall ashtrays next to the elevators. When the butts were scooped out, the attendant would smooth the sand and then "emboss" it with a crest that looked like the Cadillac symbol. I could imagine no higher height of sophistication.

Cigarettes, cigarette holders, ashtrays and little carriers....all seemed so elegant.

My mother had one of these from her youth and I used to play with the empty case often. I'd pretend it was my suitcase and was waiting for a train in Paris or about to board a transatlantic steamship.

When I visited friends, if their parents had resin grapes on the coffee table I felt like I was in high society.

People who went to Le Touquet for the weekend (from London, not America)

Also those huge desk lighters. My grandparents had one like this, only it was dark green.

Whereupon daddy learned that the valet had taken sister’s virginity and mummy made us all dress in our hunting suits and we drove the valet to the abandoned well while daddy shouted on an on about family. I never felt like I so belonged, every bit as much as sister and how long it seemed we waited. . Well they lowered the valet in the well and capped it two days layers. This was 6p years again South Africa. Hardly a news story at all at the time. But boy did it feel like class.

This

Andes candies, i.e., chocolate mint "sandwich" candies. Very classy-looking, individually wrapped as well.

Colored toilet paper that matched the bathroom.

As mentioned before, the opening sequence to "Family Affair."

The kaleidoscopic "jewels." The music. The fancy script writing. Even the fake lens flare on one of the jewels.

And don't get me started on Unca Biww's fabulous apartment with the double doors and the knobs in the center of the doors.

And this

Bottled water, especially Italian, or French!

Dicker & Dicker of Beverly Hills

"From Television City in Hollywood"

Any unusual or dish-specific plate/serving item at a restaurant

In the movie "All About Eve" Birdie brings Margo a breakfast tray and serves it to her in bed! On the tray is a glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice and the glass is sitting in a silver bowl of crushed ice! THAT is the HEIGHT of glamor, also the fact that I noticed it made me gay!

A Turkey Club sandwich cut into quarters, pierced by cellophane-adorned toothpicks. How recherché!

Cigarettes, cocktails, champagne in coupes, heavy delicious perfume, NYC in spots, gentlemen's clubs in NY, West Point and Ivy League jocks, rich bohemian rock stars in Woodstock and environs, horse farms, Swiss boarding schools and finishing schools, Swiss clinics, summer automobiles, sailboats, skiing and ski resorts, water skiing on chic lakes, tennis, (but not golf - we all played golf in those days), dowdy country clubs in New England, dowdy WASP beach clubs, very rich Jewish art collectors and Jewish intellectuals, famous professors, successful artists, fashion shows, horse races, boxing, bullfighting, big game hunting, alpinism, Paris, Monte Carlo, Venice, Rome, Capri, Istanbul, Beirut and Cairo. Etc etc. The usual.

Miss Arlene Francis.

When I attended a demonstration of Stradivarius violins at the arts club. They had like fifteen.

Celebrities. Now I realize the majority are just fucked up attention whores with zero morals.

I thought Royal Families were so wonderful- now I can’t imagine a more constricting and depressing life.

R49 is so right on the money. I have had the opportunity to be adjacent to some in the past few years, and yeah. They're nothing to write home about, just because they're well known.

Charm bracelets on a woman's wrist when she dressed up, often seen wearing a short or long fur coat at a function or even a sporting event..

I'd often buy my mom a new gold charm of some theme at a discount suburban jewelers, usually with a very tiny but pretty colored "diamond" attached to the charm. I loved when a woman gestured while chatting with similar friends, and I'd notice the charms jingling and dangling from the bracelet!

This was late 60s into the 70s.

I'd get jealous of my friend, as his mom had many more charms on her bracelet than my mom!

Weren't charm bracelets very common back then in some American places?

Hollywood.

this intro

Dining room chandeliers. I'd often notice them in my middle class community when entering a friend's home.

I also loved wall-to-wall carpets in bedrooms and living rooms and dining rooms.

Oh, and a refrigerator with a built in water and ice cube dispenser.

Cigarettes. Tom Ford. Cocaine.

PAN AM

Finishing School

Hoop skirts

A gentleman caller in a suit with hat and cane bringing me flowers & fine chocolates.

Yikes, my third post this half hour...Those shiny metallic drink glasses in various colors.

Wall safes in homes.

In retrospect the idea of keeping a a gold watch and $50,000! In a safe concealed behind a Rembrandt or a Picasso is so delightfully quaint.

New York!

Glamoooor!

Cher. I was right, of course. And I still am.

General Foods International Coffees.

Chocolate Mousse served at holiday get-togethers. And these...

I adore this thread, in all its incarnations. Who knew back then there were so many likeminded out there. Glamour was not something I could discuss with any of my little classmates in the 1960s.

R67, what are those and how the heck are those glamorous?

Checques!

The gold Godiva chocolate box was glamorous, IMO.

Clip-on chignon hair extensions.

My mom caught me trying on her private collection and I got a stern lecture by my dad later that night.

Do you mean Peggy Crass?

No chignon for you!

Spiral staircases. I expected Doris Day to come down them and then twirl around.

I guess they hve been discontinued.

Opera windows and fine Corinthian Leather interiors in sedans.

Saying "I'll check my book," when invited to a social event.

1962 Cadillac Coupe de Ville

I always thought most of these things were tacky. Except for the Jackie Gleason girls, I loved them.

St. John's fashion advertisements: glossy multi-page spreads featuring Kelly Gray (the SJ founders' daughter) in sexy international locations, surrounded by male flesh and looking mildly bored but fabulous.

Kelly Gray lived the life I wanted!

More about the St. John's phenomenon. The ads had very little to do with their actual product: dowdy tailored suits for rich WASPy professional and society ladies.

I think Kelly Gray deserves her own DL thread.

[quote]I always thought most of these things were tacky. Except for the Jackie Gleason girls, I loved them.

In the mid-1950s, Ellen Burstyn was one of the "And away we go!" girls on "The Jackie Gleason Show."

The candy dish with ribbon candies in it. So glamorous that nobody would touch it. Eventually the ribbons stuck to the dish.

Angelina Jolie was on the St. John campaign until they dropped her for being "too famous."

[quote] Angelina Jolie will no longer be the face of St. John because she's too famous. She "overshadowed the brand," the luxury label's chief executive officer Glenn McMahon told WWD.

Mrs. Drysdale on the Beverly Hillbillies. Though never understood why she married a bank president.

Marabou peignoirs with matching heels

Feathered pens

Those elegant but uncomfortable retro phones and princess phones

Canopy beds

Having your maid wake you with breakfast in bed, after a lovely night's sleep in a negligee and an eye mask. Then sitting up with your best bed jacket and enjoying eggs Benedict and a mimosa in bed.

Cha-cha heels!

Dialing the phone with a pencil, of course!

[quote]Turbans, like those Diahann Carroll and Joan Collins wore on "Dynasty."

[quote]Cigarette holders.

Your third choice should've been an Isotta-Fraschini.

Cashew nuts. The only nuts we ever ate were Planters peanuts. My parents took me to a wedding one time and at the reception, they served whole cashew nuts in paper cups. WHOLE cashew nuts. I had never known such elegance before.

[quote] Canopy beds

Agree.

Also, a TV in the bedroom. Now, I don't think TVs in bedrooms are glamorous, though.

[quote] Dialing the phone with a pencil, of course!

My "aunt" had what I can only call a stick, but it looked shiny, glamorous and gold, and its purpose was to dial the phone.

It had her initial engraved on it, and came as a set with a letter opener, pen and small compact with a notepad inside, all engraved.

Aunt Lee was one of those friend of the family aunts (not biological) and I think she was a big old lez, but she and father were friends from college and she could drink Mother under the table (a rare feat) so we were frequently in the city at her place when I was a kid. Everything at her place seemed so elegant, just because we were in the city.

Cadillacs and Imperials

Caftans

Earrings

Thh 1966 Olds Toronado

Dusty Springfield. Rue McClanahan as Blanche. Still do.

Virginia Slims

Benson & Hedges 100s

After Eight dinner mints ... in their own little sleeves.

"More" brand cigarettes as well.

I tried Dunhills (very glamorous) but preferred Marlboro reds, so why bother.

I used to hold Mom's Virginia Slims in my hands and wave them as I talked. It felt so elegant and glamorous

Mink coats for sure. Finding out my grandma had a fox fur shrug, & my Mom had a rabbit fur coat, made me feel like we’d arrived!

When I was about six or seven, when they aired this commercial at the holidays, I was convinced it embodied modern class and elegance.

Cadillac Sei

Vienneta -- the ice cream dessert of European royalty, now in your suburban supermarket freezer case!

Cadillac Seville

Staying up late...now I can't wait to get to bed

Flying First Class...the only ones who do it are either snobs or people traveling on other people's money

Restaurants that had bowls of butter mints at the register.

Fox stoles, with heads attached, clasped by their paws. They scared the shit out of me but I thought only glamorous women wore them.

Benson & Hedges Ultra Lights Midori Melonballs Cocaine Chinese food served in domed serving dishes

I used to think the Chevrolet Monte Carlo was the height of elegance and glamor!

I remember when they first rolled out in 1970! That's the first time I ever heard of Monte Carlo, but then Lucy Ricardo went there during the European Tour episodes, so I got more of an idea then!

Mascara.

Didn't understand it, was utterly fascinated by it. Looked positively ridiculous smearing black mascara on my blond eyelashes.. at age 7.

I still love all these things, what a great thread! Whenever I see a house with those huge doorknobs in the center, my mood is elevated. I hope that inside is a candy floss haired lady with a raspy smokers voice, wearing mules, popping pills, and waiting for the pool boy to service her in her Hollywood regency tufted bed.

This Chanel No. 5 commercial.

R109 My grandma had one...a Kalinsky...it used to disappoint me as a child, I wanted it to be a stuffed animal, but it was lacking.

R94 Isn't that all they could afford in Breakfast at Tiffany?

R71 I worked in the same office building as Godiva corporate once upon a time. The employees were so fucking haughty all the time and always screeching about this launch or that, staccato tapping into their blackberries, and generally being really annoying and loud as they packed into the elevator...my colleague and I would exchange glances and roll our eyes and I would think to myself "Godiva is not Li-Lac, or La Maison du Chocolat, it is like a Sephora or a Victoria's Secret."

One day they all crowded into the elevator, gabbing and screeching and carrying on. There was a momentary pause for air/silence, and right before the doors let me off on my floor I said—projecting and clear as a bell and in my best is-he-or-isn't-he-being-sarcastic tone of voice—"Is today a big day for Mall chocolate?" They were stunned. It was fabulous. I like to think that at least one of them had an existential crisis afterwards.

High-end foreign cars (Mercedes, Lamborghini, Jaguar)

Impeccable table manners

French dining

Caviar and pate

Tailored clothes

Country Club and horses at stables

Crystal and silver

Trips to Europe and Asia, and luxury cruises

Complaining about the help..."hard to find," "they ALL steal," etc.

The old (early to mid 1970s) TV commercial for Marriott's Essex House...where the lady wrote a postcard to her friend writing "we walked, and talked, and laughed like lovers" while footage of her and her male friend holding hands as they strolled on Central Park South ran. Was she his wife, girlfriend, sidepiece? So many questions...

Bob and Emily’s high-rise apartment on the Bob Newhart Show. Also the Jeffersons’ de-luxe apartment in the sky.

THIS >

r121 My friend lived with her first husband there! (Jefferson's) It's around 85th and Lexington if I remember correctly. I went to a party there years ago and was thrilled to stand on their terrace!

[quote] Rue McClanahan as Blanche.

I’ll add the sound of Blanche’s low rise mules click click clicking on the hardwood floor as she entered the room.

R122 I am a huge Shelley Hack fan! I was Tiffany Welles when I was a little boy in 1980

The Milford Plaza Hotel!

Then I stayed there and it was the dumpiest frau-and-family tourist trap in Midtown.

R126 wow, I’d forgotten that one.

My very own leather suspenders...that's about as glamorous as it gets around my house.

My nana used to come visit twice a year and had a set of steel blue Samsonite luggage. The kind that used to be prizes on game shows. By contrast, my family’s luggage was a mismatched assortment of zippered nylon bags. And on every visit she had a matching nightgown and robe set with a pair of color coordinated quilted Daniel Green slippers. I don’t think my mom ever wore a robe, she would walk around the house in a bath towel or her bra and underwear.

I always thought my nana was rich but she was far from it and my parents basically supported her. She was so elegant though.

Speaking French.

Furry rugs.

Land yacht cars.

Women wearing long wigs.

Women wearing fur shawls over a sheath evening dress.

Woman in the driver seat and the husband in the passenger’s.

A family having more than one car.

Traveling abroad in summer.

Colored home telephones particularly the red ones. Ours was black.

Children calling their parents with anything other than mom and dad.

A woman letting one of the straps of her dress falling down.

Five-star hotels’ lobbies.

The Drake Hotel in New York City. It wasn’t *just* a hotel, it was a Swissotel. It was the hotel where guests of the Phil Donahue Show stayed.

Shoes.

The first hotel I remember staying at was in the mid 70s. It was a Beat Western outside of Washington, DC. We had adjoining rooms (parents and 5 kids). The beds had royal blue “satin” bedspreads and I thought they were so elegant.

Cruises with all you can eat buffets.

Private Yachts, of course.

R114, in that commercial, the man sounds like Walter Matthau and the woman sounds like a beautiful young girl.

[quote] My nana used to come visit twice a year and had a set of steel blue Samsonite luggage.

I thought the cosmetic train case was glamorous.

Yes r137!! I still have my nana’s train case and it was the only thing I wanted from her “estate” after she died!

Satin pajamas with matching robes.

Not childhood by young adulthood...

Using hotel lobbies at meeting points. The palm court or similar lobby of some venerable hotel was the perfect place to meet some professional or university contact, and when the person I was to meet suggested it, you knew it would be a friendly meeting.

"I'll sit by the clock."

"Where you like. I'll recognize you, I'm sure."

I thought it was glamorous to have a little pitcher of water & drinking glass on the night stand.

R126- Beautiful Mount Airy Lodge and Penn Hills in the Poconos. I really liked those commercials in the late 1970's.

Car phones.

[quote]The Milford Plaza Hotel! Then I stayed there and it was the dumpiest frau-and-family tourist trap in Midtown.

I served on a jury in a criminal case in Manhattan years ago, and we were sequestered. They put us up at the Milford Plaza.

Hot rollers (for hair) in the carrying case.

Lunch at The Plaza. Ski in St. Moritz.

It was hammered into our brains for decades.

The Princess dial telephone

I came across this clip and it reminded me of this thread.

In 1973, my first serious boyfriend had two (!) push-button phones. I was briefly convinced that he must be loaded.

The Rat Pack - Frank, Dean, Peter, Joey and Sammy

My neighbor had paintings hanging on walls with light fixtures right above each painting, shining down on the painting.

Artwork, particularly paintings and sculptures, both traditional and modern, in well appointed homes and apartments.

Jewelry such as broaches and cocktail rings.

Cartier watches, men's and women's, and the travel alarm clocks.

Ultimate glamour is the Art Deco period of the 1920s and the 1930s.

Café Costes in Paris, Stars in SF

Also, gold and silver cigarette lighters and cigarette cases.

Glamorous chauffeured limos of old Hollywood.

R126 You have to give it to the Milford plaza for producing such a slick, fun, memorable commercial. And it wasn’t even a chain. Watching that video 40 years later I remember every line and scene.

The sunken living room.

Patrick Nagel prints. My face went numb as though from cocaine by just looking at them.

Shrimp Cocktail!

Concorde

Anything from Asprey

Things made of ivory

California

50s GE kitchens of the "Future"

[quote]The sunken living room.

And the partially sunken living room lined with couches and called a "conversation pit."

Every note, every frame of this opening theme.

Well, except for that nanosecond of DJT walking with Michael Jackson.

A house with a cee-ment pond.

Water beds. Even as a child I had low expectations. I blame my poor upbringing.

Having a meal that was made in the oven and not in the microwave!

When a well-dressed couple walked by (young or old) and left behind a gust of perfume or cologne in their wake, you were left in that invisible cloud of dream glamour. That exotic scent they left behind to enchant you with was a message: "yes, we are royalty. Or at least consider us royalty." Yet they were gone.

[quote] "yes, we are royalty. Or at least consider us royalty."

Isn't this the mantra of every old queen on DL?

Chafing dish, courtesy of the Michael C. Fina Company.

r69 They are cream cheese mints, Served at the very BEST weddings or social events! Usually served next to the cashew nuts as mentioned above.

Shoulder pads. Big hair. Glass penthouses with all white decor.

I watched too much fucking DYNASTY when I was a gayling.

Housed with 5=bedrooms…ours was a lowly 3-bed + study.

Convertibles

Power windows

FM Radio

Everything James Bond.

A Rolls Royce convertible with the big huge hood ornament.

I saw Eric Estrada at the grocery store in one of those and started laughing at how foolish he looked in such a garish display of wealth in a working class parking lot!

^this was 10 years ago.

R70 here. Muriel, I’d gladly pay more for a fucking ability add.

I’m sure most members would agree.

^^^edit. See what I mean, sister?

R169 Watch the 1980s segments of the first season of the CBS TV Show “Why Women Kill,” they do a spot on “suburban Dynasty circa 1985”

ANYTHING showcased in Architectural Digest in the 1970's.

Absolut Vodka in the freezer and carrying around my passport every day in case the opportunity to travel abroad should suddenly arise.

General Foods International Coffees

The smell of lilac water at the barber shop, or the lime scented splash. I can't remember the name of it now.

Beautifully landscaped grounds with impeccable lawns and flower beds filled with beautifully grown flowers , all of this maintained by someone other than the owner.

Collections of porcelain dishes, especially hand-painted Chinese porcelain.

Wall-to-wall shag carpeting was ne plus ultra in glamour to me as a kid.

People who ate while keeping their forks in their left hand and using their knife as a pusher. Oh so European!

[quote]The smell of lilac water at the barber shop, or the lime scented splash. I can't remember the name of it now.

R181 YES, what was that lime scented splash? I loved it on my father and tried to find it on my own.

R183 People who casually drop ne plus ultra into a throwaway comment still are the height of glamour to me.

R186 Thank you darling. And I will admit that when I moved to New York City from the sticks where I grew up, I trained myself to eat with the fork in left hand, continental style. I was working with pretentious art world people and quickly ascertained that sawing the food and then putting down the knife and shoveling it in with my right hand wasn’t going to cut it, so to speak. Today it feels natural but I always secretly know I’m posing. At least I look glamorous.

You knew it was a special evening when this was served for dessert!

See post above

Perrier and Haagen Dazs seemed glamorous to me as a teen in the 80s.

R117 MARY!

You evil bitch!

Being in the city at night felt like high glamour to me.

Even the smallest car felt like a glamorous ride, and the city lights made things feel like they were there for us, so elegantly dressed to go to the club du jour.

[QUOTE] I’ll add the sound of Blanche’s low rise mules click click clicking on the hardwood floor as she entered the room.

Agreed, although in the Miami heat and humidity I tend to think the GG’s floors were all ceramic tile or marble.

R189 just reminded me.

Pudding in wine glasses. I thought that was the height of fabulous.

Oven/broiler in the wall.

Drink cart in the den.

I thought the liquor commercials on 70s and 80s TV were so glamorous, like Harvey’s Bristol Creme and Dubonnet.

Pia Zadora was the Dubonnet girl in the late 70s (her billionaire husband owned the brand)

R196

I can't find it online (damn it), but there's a hilarious SNL sketch with "sophisticated single" Gilda Radner sipping her Harvey's Bristol Creme and repeatedly calling up guys, then strangers, and finally a hobo from the street to come share a drink with her. LOL

Manhattan, particularly the UES.

Not the one R198 spoke of, but similarly, here's Gilda Radner having a sophisticated SATC moment.

"Hey.... YOU!"

RIP Gilda.

That awful, awful, cherry-colored, heavily beveled and ornate wood furniture. Like something akin to the smaller pieces you'd see at Bombay Company. Glad I grew out of that. Blech.

Turbans.

Fancy Feast cat food.

Maraschino cherries

Sherry and port

Chocolate truffles

Home jacuzzi

Walk-In showers

Beef Wellington (even more so if spelled Beouf)

[quote]Beef Wellington (even more so if spelled Beouf)

"Boeuf," dear.

Shirley temple drinks. I would always order one at Ruby Tuesday's ( which I also found glamorous).

I thought she was so elegant.

R206

Sorry, I have dyslexia. But thank you, you miserable cnut.

Plays on Broadway. Not musicals, straight plays.

Oh honey, no. There are no straights who play on Broadway.

Monogrammed sheets and towels

Owning a blender and a waffle maker. We had neither because mom was a terrible cook and spent as little time as possible in the kitchen.

[quote] Wall-to-wall shag carpeting was ne plus ultra in glamour to me as a kid.

Me, too. Now, shag carpet gives me the creeps. Who knows what lurks between the yarns?

The Chambord liqueur bottle (and contents). Wow! It was cool-looking. (The newer bottle is still round, has a gold "belt," but doesn't have the crown "stopper" and the gold coming down the sides.)

Anyway, I was at an older friend's house. We were both hung over. I said: "What's that?" She said it's Chambord and that it was very refreshing mixed with soda. (Chambord is berry-flavored.) (You can also use it to make Kir Royales - i.e., Champagne cocktail.)

[quote]Being in the city at night felt like high glamour to me. Even the smallest car felt like a glamorous ride, and the city lights made things feel like they were there for us, so elegantly dressed to go to the club du jour.

Me too. The bumpers on the local late-night movie ("Movies Til Dawn") were helicopter shots of the downtown skyscrapers glittering at night, with cocktail jazz playing in the background, while the velvety announcer would say "Tonight on Movies Til Dawn, Jason Evers in 'The Brain That Wouldn't Die.'" Absolute sophistication to a suburban kid like me.

Everything about Doris Day in Pillow Talk. Witty repartee with a stranger. Martinis with Nick and Nora Charles (in my imagination - I would put sprite in a stemmed glass).

Having front and back stairs in your house. Cutting gardens. A dedicated breakfast room. Each room of the house being painted a different but coordinating color. Having brandy in the house in case someone took a turn.

Something I still think is glamorous & luxurious. Having one of those breakfast nooks set against a wall. The part of the nook that's against the wall has a bench (upholstered) seat.

[quote]Jewelry such as broaches and cocktail rings.

Oh, dear. Perhaps the word should be "brooch".

Having a "Night Cap" before bed, and it would poured from an ornate leaded glass decanter!

Not draining pasta.

From TV and movies: ice buckets around the house, always full in case someone wanted a drink.

Chez Cary restaurant, in the city of Orange, California, just a couple of miles from where we lived. I thought only rich people were allowed to eat there, but my sister's boyfriend took her there on a date. High prices for the 1970s, no prices shown on the ladies' menu, huge chairs, expert service, strolling violinists, valet parking with your car already waiting, the whole 9 yards. I never got to go there but to me it was the height of glamour.

Did someone say BROOCH?

[quote]I thought the liquor commercials on 70s and 80s TV were so glamorous, like Harvey’s Bristol Creme and Dubonnet.

It's Martini & Rossi, on the rocks-

Say ye-eh-ess!

Pronouncing schedule like shed-yool.

Hostess pants.

Let's have another shrimp cocktail.

And a waiter grating fresh pepper over your salad.

Close with crepes flambé?

My own bowl of watery rice, mixed with earthen clay and chopped up bike tires, to make me feel full!

Hostess aprons

When I turned 18, my parents took me to a restaurant of my choice. It was an old school, fancy restaurant. I remember eating fresh strawberries, thick cream, and brown sugar. I guess it was called Strawberries Romanoff, but I don't remember that term. My dad figured out it was just strawberries, sour cream, and brown sugar and we ended up eating that combo at home as well.

Lauren Bacall

Vagina Slims

[quote] Vagina Slims.

She comes a long way, baby.

R232 is ghost Larry King

Julie London

[quote] Me too. The bumpers on the local late-night movie ("Movies Til Dawn") were helicopter shots of the downtown skyscrapers glittering at night, with cocktail jazz playing in the background, while the velvety announcer would say "Tonight on Movies Til Dawn, Jason Evers in 'The Brain That Wouldn't Die.'" Absolute sophistication to a suburban kid like me.

And announcers always seemed so elegant. I remember the voice that announced our public TV station, and also was an announcer on the classical station.

Something about a good announcer with a very clear voice and diction made one feel elegant.

R235 I think you meant Julie Newmar. Thanks for everything, anyway.

Saturday mornings in the early 80s CNN would air Style! with Elsa Klensch, which I would covertly watch to see the fashion shows and listen to the interviews with the designers. I thought it was the height of glamour.

I used to think Linda Ellerbee was the height of glamour on CNN. I wasn't very good at being gay as kid.

Not Julie Newmar. Julie London. Google "Julie London cigarette commercial "

you’re right R239, I did too. I think an intelligent well spoken woman in glasses and a blazer seemed to me very sophisticated. “And so it goes..”

Rubbing copious amounts of cum into my face.

[quote] Not Julie Newmar. Julie London. Google "Julie London cigarette commercial "

Oh wow, I just did. She's half Joan Collins and half Coco Peru.

Condoms , KY and emko in my dad's nightstand .

[quote]I think you meant Julie Newmar. Thanks for everything, anyway.

Why? Julie London was a sultry glamour-puss singer.

R103, R109 I watched an Andy Hardy movie where Betsy Booth (Judy Garland) complimented another woman on her 'tasty foxes.'

[quote]Rubbing copious amounts of cum into my face.

No, dear. That means you're a whore.

A whore perhaps, but with a luxuriously silky complexion.

Eva Gabor

[quote]Condoms , KY

Is that a suburb of Louisville?

The Gabor sisters were quite the beauties, well into middle age and beyond.

I wonder how and which virgins they sacrificed.

[quote] Eva Gabor

And Zsa Zsa, at least while she had both legs.

Middle ages actress/singers on The Merv Griffin Show, even if I'd never heard of them.

Merv was always so excited to have them on.

The Gabors always had so much damn makeup on (plus nose jobs) that it was hard to tell what they really looked like. Both wore up-dos all the time, so, it's hard to tell what kind of hair they had as well. No, I don't think they were attractive. JMO.

Supposedly, the Kardashians are what the Gabors were, back in the day.

[quote]Supposedly, the Kardashians are what the Gabors were, back in the day.

No. Eva Gabor was a talented actress. She was hilarious on "Green Acres." She even replaced Vivien Leigh on Broadway in "Tovarich" and later took it on tour.

As a kid I was fascinated by how the Gabor sisters had the same hairdo and basically looked alike, except Zsa Zsa seemed just a bit more over the top and had the more fun name. Eva seemed the more elegant one.

Opera lights on cars.

hors d'oeuvres

painted toenails

Killer heels and seamed stockings.

Definitely yes to seamed, patterned, or fishnet stockings. Dark and patterned hosiery was very chic in the 80s and all I wanted was to prance around and pose and cross my showgirl seductively in black seamed stockings and patent leather slingback pumps. Or even ballet flats.

Which might have alarmed others, as I was a 10-year-old boy.

[quote]Which might have alarmed others, as I was a 10-year-old boy.

Clearly you were a showgirl in a previous life.

Smoking and drinking. Actually, holding the cocktail AND the cigarette in the same hand.

Yes, a glittering cocktail (with ice rattling) and a lit cigarette, both held in the same hand, sheathed in an opera-length kid glove.

CHILLS!

Spiral staircases

Strategically dramatic stair landings

Large Palladian windows at stairways and stair halls

Double doors

French doors

Over scaled chandeliers (the only correct kind)

Working door and window locks in every room (important for privacy and murder mysteries)

Sitting rooms adjacent bedrooms

Very high ceilings

Spiral staircase and double doors I'm more specific about, but the rest more or less hold true still)

Pillbox hats with veils were popular mid-century, then briefly emerged again in the 1980s for a bit.

The nurse-y white color is hideous, but otherwise this is the idea. And I love how LIZA the mannequin head is.

Darling, fetch me a cocktail and a cigarette.

^^Of course, the choker significantly enhances the glamour.

I thought the NYC art scene of the early 80s seemed glamorous, I was too young to participate but we got New York Magazine and I’d read it and see what was happening. I knew more about Tama Janowitz then what I was studying in junior high school. I also loved flipping to the ‘Cue’ section with all the restaurant and nightclub listings.

[quote]Yes, a glittering cocktail (with ice rattling) and a lit cigarette, both held in the same hand, sheathed in an opera-length kid glove.

R263 Plus a very large cocktail ring worn on the outside of that glove.

Bouillotte lamps

Lauren Bacall’s apartment in the High Point ad where she draws the blinds (with a gaily lit NYC skyline outside) and says “My favorite time of day is night!”

Eating copious amounts of corn.

If that social climber Sally Quinn had bouillotte lamps, they must be high class.

Artichokes

Foie Gras

EGOÏSTE!!

Sucking cock.

Ice cream served in parfait glasses in people’s homes.

Juice served out of a glass pitcher instead of a plastic jug.

Linda Evans' hairstyle as "Krystle" on DYNASTY, which seemed to increase wingspan with every week. It rarely obeyed laws of time and space. It should have had its own opening credits.

It was FABULOUS.

My dad had a wine/champagne bottle that held cigarettes.

Thought it was so chic when his friends came over and wanted a smoke.

-miss you Dad, today and every day ☺️

That looks stupid as hell.

The Oscars were glamorous to me when I was a kid. Our family would gather to watch it. The only time you could see a movie star without actually going to a movie.

I had no idea back then about all the backstabbing and malfeasance within it and surrounding it.

I gave up smoking cigarettes many, many years ago....

But FUCK it was cool as hell.

Go ahead, fight me.

Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!

Cigarettes: people have mentioned having a huge, crystal (or whatever) lighter on the coffee table. I thought it was cool to have a covered container stocked with cigarettes on the coffee table. Of course, you also need huge glass ashtrays. I started smoking in around 8th grade, lol.

Also cool and mentioned upthread were those "crystal" decanters for Scotch or whatever. Nowadays, people don't decant hard liquor. Better to see the label, I guess.

Forgot where I saw it, but those globes that opened up for storage of liquor bottles. I guess I did think those were glamorous.

Clutch purses.

I STILL think smoking is glamorous, even though I no longer indulge.

R185 Depends on your barber, but I believe this is the most common old-school barbershop aftershave cologne.

My dad wore that citrus aftershave too. The smell of it reminds me of church because all the men wore it.

[quote] Linda Evans' hairstyle as "Krystle" on DYNASTY, which seemed to increase wingspan with every week. It rarely obeyed laws of time and space.

R277, it was totally out of control by the last season!

Krystle's hair was too symmetrical.

Ann Miller

I thought she was so sophisticated, especially how she wore her hair.

I sympathized when she bemoaned that young people in Hollywood had "no glamour, no mystique."

Everything I played dress up in!

A black tux

Dinner at the country club

A beautiful tea service in silver

Beautiful China and Waterford glasses

Negro Lawn Jockeys

Metal flasks or leather-covered metal flasks. I still think they're kind of cool even though I don't drink alcohol any more.

Funny, I associate metal flasks with alcoholism. Seriously, you need to carry booze on your person at all times?

R295, yes, there's an element of alcoholism in there. But I'm speaking honestly about what I thought was glamorous. I no longer drink, so, there's that.

The "you" didn't mean you, R296. It was a universal you. I didn't even know (or even really know now) that you carried one or might have had a problem. I almost never drink anymore, but it's a choice. Just like how I rarely smoke pot or snort coke anymore either (the latter being pretty infrequent, less than a 12 times in 20 years).

When I was young I thought my asshole was so glamorous, so fetching and with it! It was the PLACE … to BE.

But then when I matured came the sad realization it was just another backstreet in a sprawling city.

R298, I think I saw that movie... Valley of the Dingleberries

You are that movie, dear.

R283, I think the problem is that fine crystal had lead in it and if you kept Scotch or whatever hard liquor in the decanter for a long time, we now know that unhealthy amounts of lead would leach from the crystal into the liquor.

R300

You're being OHBNOOXIOUS!

Are you ME, OP? Couldn't have put it better...

Clubman Pinaud Lime Sec may be what the barber used. That, and Bay Rum.

ceiling fans

Window blinds on a rack

Hand held fans at funerals covered in black lace

Crystal chandeliers

Lladro and waterford

R304 here. Not both at once, however!

An aluminum Christmas tree illuminated by a color wheel.

A gated entry to your private drive. Taking it up a notch, a private plane along with landing plane, and hangar all on your private property. Guard dogs to protect all of it. It sounds ridiculous, but I've seen it in real life. It was pretty damn impressive. The house itself wasn't Dynasty fancy, more high end rural ranch house, and they had a pond. So yeah, that.

Dusk seemed like the most glamorous time to go out, dressed beautifully. The luxury car ads in the 70s frequently used the dusk light for their photos.

R308, so a drug lord's compound?

French wire/fish hook/shepherd hook earrings. So elegant!

R310 Not necessarily. Bunny Mellon had a 5000-foot runway at her Virginia estate that could take 727s. Useful when John Edwards wanted to fly in and ask for money.

The Mid-Atlantic accent. But curiously not the RP British accent.

Straining my pasta.

Alexis Colby's penthouse...where she got fucked by Dex and Mark Jennings fell from the balcony.

Having your own sleeper compartment on the train.

New York City has never been as glamorous or elegant since Kitty Carlisle Hart passed away in 2007.

[quote]Straining my pasta.

R314 I bet it hurts afterwards.