Good afternoon everyone,

I hope you're having a lovely Friday. I am, and I have a quite cool Fem Fri for you – it's a look at a women's magazine from July 1924, McCall's. It was a monthly magazine, aimed (as you will see) at quite young women, what they would at the time have called the young married set.

We know that they were in pretty much the middle of the Roaring Twenties, so does that mean that McCall's is all about the latest jazz, where to buy bootleg whiskey, the most daring vers libre? No it does not. Here's the opening article, a super judgemental piece called Educating Mother, on that perennial theme: YOUNGS ARE BAD. Based on the rest of the magazine I can only assume that this was what we now know as a "hate read":

Here's the pullquote:

You'll notice above the reference to fathers as suppliers of money only; note in this illustration of a later short story how supremely non-arsed the father looks at the prospect of his daughter motoring out to Stamford to marry Mark tomorrow morning:

Okay yes of course there is a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald in this issue, I am not just buying stuff at random. This is an incredibly charming story of his, I would rate it nine out of ten Zeldas, here's a picture of the eponymous spoilt heiress wearing a monocle as an affectation:

It's July now, so maybe this is relevant content; your guide to summer hospitality with lists!

Your basics for entertaining:

Why not go a little bigger this summer:

Big summer funtimes, 1924 style. Note that you can write in for a booklet entitled "Entertaining Without a Maid":

I just love this picture of a young woman lecturing a dog about housework. Airdales must have been a trendy dog breed in the 1920s, it's the dog Myrtle (is told she) buys in Gatsby:

Frocks! Beautiful 1920s frocks. I'm glad I don't live in this era as it's hard to imagine I'd look good in clothes like this. These ladies do though:

Finally, it's the section we all love; problem pages.

Mrs Wilcox wanted her advice to "bear the mark of modernity with some atoms of common sense":

Cheating: fine or nah:

HELP ME I'M TRAPPED IN A SCOTT FITZGERALD NOVEL:

I hope you have enjoyed this leaf through a magazine with me. I hope you have a beautiful weekend planned.

Mega love,

Alex.