Was there a relax-a-cisor for sale? ;-)

Neat post, Helen!

Chelsea, you are hilarious, as usual.

Probably no relax-a-cisor...but, more likely a "body massager" (wink wink, nudge nudge) for all those pesky "sore muscles" those hard-working housewives had back then!

I actually did check to see if there was a relax-a-cisor type device, and sadly, there was not. There were the massagers that SCfan describes, however. They also had those exerciser belts where you stood on a platform of some sort and a belt extended around your waist. Did it shake the excess weight off, I wonder? There were plenty of other things that one does not see in catalogs today like tampons and sanitary napkins and even mynah birds. And a 50 piece Melmac dinner set for under $10.

I chuckled when I read the application for the Spiegel credit account that was found within the catalog. Female applicants were cautioned that the answers given "must apply to the husband" as well. The application also asked for the number of rooms in the applicant's home. Why that information would be relevant to a credit application, I am not certain.

What is also interesting is the post-war Utopia the catalog depicts (briefly interrupted by the fall out shelter depicted on page 639 and accompanying threat of nuclear annihilation and a warning from President Kennedy to be prepared). Buying items "on time" would improve one's life immeasurably and imagine everyone's excitement when the box from Spiegel arrived all the way from Chicago. But how on earth did they ship St. Bernard puppies and mynah birds, I wonder?

What a neat time capsule indeed!

BTW did you guys see my favorite actress on TCM this weekend? Lots of Jean Harlow movies. A good one with her and Clark Gable.

Yes, Chelsea, I caught part of "Dinner at Eight" where Marie Dressler and Jean are walking into dinner and Jean remarks "I was reading a book the other day..." to which Marie stops dead in her tracks and clutches her chest in shock. Soooo funny!

Helen,
You mention that one of the items in the 1962 Spiegel catalog was "...those exerciser belts where you stood on a platform of some sort and a belt extended around your waist. Did it shake the excess weight off, I wonder?"

I had one of these exerciser belts in the 1960s (not from the Spiegel catalog) which I used religiously for about a year until the belt flew off once too often and couldn't be reattached.and the motor died. No, it did not shake off excess weight. Nor did it do any of the pleasant things the Relax-a-cisor is supposed to do! Shortly after throwing it out, I took up tennis in earnest. A couple months of steady tennis playing did more to tone my body than the belt exerciser ever did.

One odd thing about the belt was that the body itched unbearably while using it. Many times I had to stop the belt and scratch my arms and legs before continuing. My son liked to adjust the belt around his waist and turn on the motor. He could take the vibrations for a minute or so, then ran into the nearest closet and started scratching like crazy, screeching, "I can't stand it! I can't stand it!"

Unfortunately, my children identified this contraption to one and all as "mom's vibrator"!

Too funny! (though not for the money you wasted on the exerciser belt). I came along a bit later in the 1960s so I did not have any direct experience with these belts but always wondered if they worked (I suspected they did not). The 1962 Spiegel Catalog also offered some nice looking wooden tennis racquets, too.

Any Bullet Bras for Joan?

Are you REALLY looking for a relaxacisor? Got one.