Fashion, food and nuclear fear in the 1950s
From 'pizza pie' to the newest in fashion for 1958
"Today, I'm going to make that popular Italian dish: pizza pie."
It's 1957, and Mrs. Brady is trying out for the Homemaker's Club in Vancouver.
Pizza, she tells her audience, is becoming popular in the United States and has three parts: a biscuit layer, the tomato sauce and toppings. Men, she says, love the meat toppings, such as pepperoni, canned spiced meat and blood sausage.
Keeping safe with shelters
No such delights for Ross Parry and his wife in 1959, as they seal themselves into a fallout shelter for a week.
In the event of a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union, cities won't be able to evacuate all residents safely and the Canadian government is promoting bomb shelters as a solution.
Going in, the Parrys were concerned about maintaining oxygen levels and becoming claustrophobic.
When they come out a week later, they say the biggest challenge turned out to be the lack of contact with the outside world.
Nevertheless, says Ross Parry, a reporter with the Toronto Telegram, he thinks fallout shelters should become a standard feature in Canadian homes for family protection in the event of a nuclear war.
New frocks in fashion
From fallout to fashion, CBC's Here and There takes a look at the state of the Canadian garment industry in 1958.
Most clothes worn by Canadian women are manufactured in Canada, but the designs and fabrics are often imported.
Skilled workers can make up to 15 dresses a day. The newest style — conceived two years ago in Paris and only now making it to Canadian stores — is the sack dress, or chemise, fitted at the bust and hip and loose elsewhere.
What's the most fashionable Canadian city? According to a buyer for Simpsons in Toronto, national surveys say Montreal comes first, followed by Ottawa and Vancouver. Toronto comes in at a distant fourth.