The Color(s) of Perfection: The Feminine Body, Beauty ...

[Pages:279]Dissertations

Loyola University Chicago

Loyola eCommons

Theses and Dissertations

2011

The Color(s) of Perfection: The Feminine Body, Beauty Ideals, and Identity in Postwar America, 1945-1970

Elizabeth M. Matelski

Loyola University Chicago

Recommended Citation

Matelski, Elizabeth M., "The Color(s) of Perfection: The Feminine Body, Beauty Ideals, and Identity in Postwar America, 1945-1970" (2011). Dissertations. Paper 158.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright ? 2011 Elizabeth M. Matelski

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO

THE COLOR(S) OF PERFECTION: THE FEMININE BODY, BEAUTY IDEALS, AND IDENTITY

IN POSTWAR AMERICA, 1945-1970

A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

PROGRAM IN HISTORY

BY ELIZABETH M. MATELSKI

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2011

Copyright by Elizabeth M. Matelski, 2011 All rights reserved.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project is the culmination of many years and uncountable hours of study, but it represents a beginning as much as an end. Since the start of my graduate studies at Loyola University in Chicago, I have benefitted from the wisdom and friendship of numerous individuals. I can only begin to thank those who have helped me along the way. First, I would like to acknowledge the assistance of the archival staff at the American Medical Association, Chicago Public Libraries, Evanston Public Library, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Their patience and willingness to retrieve boxes upon boxes and cartful after cartful of magazines was exceptionally helpful. I am grateful to the Interlibrary staff at Loyola, particularly Beth Andrews, for going above and beyond to help me find sources that would have otherwise gone unseen. This dissertation would not have been completed if not for the financial support of the history department and the Graduate School at Loyola that allowed me to work uninterrupted. I also wish to thank my fellow graduate students who provided not only intellectual companionship, but made my years living in Chicago memorable. Several faculty members at LUC deserve special mention for their support. Thank you to my teacher mentor, Robert Bucholz, for his passion to undergraduate teaching and his continued interest in my scholarship beyond my years as his Graduate Assistant. To

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Lewis Erenberg and Susan Hirsch who provided me with thoughtful and thorough critiques on my scholarship from the genesis of this project through its completion and from whose many excellent graduate courses I benefitted. I am particularly grateful to my advisor, Timothy Gilfoyle, whose graduate course on nineteenth-century America originally sparked my interest in the history of women's bodies. As my advisor he provided me with a model of what an academic should be like, and his motto, "the only good writing is re-writing," is advice I'll practice long into my academic career. I owe a special thank you to Courtney who endured the mountain of hours I spent poring over Playboy magazine in the name of "research." Because of her love and support, I found a balance between life and academia, and for this, I'll always be in her debt. Thank you to my parents who supported my academic endeavors unflinchingly even though the shortest book ever written is Job Opportunities for History Majors. And lastly, I dedicate this dissertation to my grandmother, Rosemary Matelski. It is because of her that I first acquired my passion for the past, sitting in her kitchen while she made bread and entertained me with stories about growing up during the Great Depression. But most of all, I dedicate this to her because she loved me best for being "such a good little eater.

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To my grandmother, Rosemary

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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LIST OF TABLES

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LIST OF FIGURES

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INTRODUCTION

1

CHAPTER 1: CREATING THE IDEAL: ACTUARIES, HOLLYWOOD, AND

THE FASHION INDUSTRY

15

CHAPTER 2: "WE MUST, WE MUST, WE MUST INCREASE OUR BUST":

UPLIFTING THE FEMININE BREAST

50

CHAPTER 3: BUILD-UPS AND SLIM-DOWNS: RE-SHAPING AMERICA

95

CHAPTER 4: WHAT MEN WANT: MEN'S MAGAZINES AND THE

GIRL-NEXT-DOOR

132

CHAPTER 5: (BIG AND) BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL: BODY IMAGE AND

EXPANDED BEAUTY IDEALS

160

CHAPTER 6: LESBIAN BODY IMAGE AND THE BUTCH/FEMME

DICHOTOMY

195

CONCLUSION: THE YEAR OF THE AIRBRUSH AND OTHER PHOTOSHOP

DISASTERS

232

BIBLIOGRAPHY

247

VITA

271

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. "Desired" Weights of Women 25 Years Old and Older, 1942 and 1959

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