Kleinert’s for 1961 Swim Caps – Beach Bags

I have always loved catalogs. I wasn’t too crazy about the Barbie I got for Christmas in 1962, but I loved that little catalog that came with it, the one showing her latest fashions. And the arrival of the yearly Sears Wish Book was a big event in the Adams household.

It amazes me that so many old catalogs have survived. Why would anyone keep a 1961 Kleinert’s swim cap catalog? After a season its usefulness is wiped out. When I was a kid, there were never stray catalogs nor newspapers nor magazines lying around. My mother kept a tight ship when it came to clutter, and her method of dealing with it was to get rid of it as soon as possible.

But I’m grateful for the savers – the people who didn’t mind a few old catalogs taking up space in their homes or business. The latest addition to my collection is a wholesale catalog. The shop owner chose what she or he thought would sell. The original owner of this catalog made notes in the margins such as, “Add 6 to order, natural only”.

An obvious benefit of having catalogs of the things one collects is that they help so much when trying to place a date on an object. I’m sure a lot of people must think that these fancy bathing caps disappeared at the end of the 1950s, but this catalog is full of them. The bathing cap covered with flowers must have been really popular because so many of them survive. Most are in bad shape. The caps tend to age quite well, but the attached flowers get all mashed out of shape when stored flat. I’ve even seen them melted and sticky.

The “Gamine” style is less common, but not really rare. I have one that is covered in shiny black “hair”.

I’d like to see someone with that much hair actually put that rubber cap on! That is a sweet cap though, with the braid trim and that flower on the back of the neck. And how about those rubber bangs on the Bouquet cap?

Here we are getting in rarer territory. I’ve never seen a gingham swim cap, not in reality nor in print. This gives me something to aspire to, preferably in turquoise.

But most of all, I need this Regatta swim cap in my life, along with the matching beach bag.

When I think of bathing caps, I think of old ladies round the pool in Florida. I must have gotten that from some movie I saw as a girl. My actual experience with bathing caps was short-lived. My local public pool and the summer camp I attended both required caps for girls, insisting that the long hair of girls got clogged in the filtration system. In the mid-1960s when boys started growing their hair longer, we girls rebelled, saying truthfully that many of the boys had longer hair than we did.

Of course, instead of making boys wear the caps, the rule for the girls was “forgotten”.

The catalog has much more than just swim caps. I think that this postcard beach tote is simply the best.

Some time ago a reader emailed a photo of one of these folding hats that she had. I’ll admit I was clueless about it, so seeing this one was a real treat, despite the very unfortunate name. I’ve forgotten who had this hat, but if you are still around and you still have it, I’m ready to buy!

And here’s a different take on the sunglasses hat. Again, this is a new one to me.

The catalog has several styles of hats that have an attached scarf to tie on the head. I have a fairly generic one that belonged to my mother-in-law, but how I’d love to have this one that just looks so Italian.

 

1960s Surfer Shorty Cap from Kleinert’s

Occasionally a find will come along that defies all you thought you knew about a subject.  In this case the object is the Surfer Shorty Cap.  For decades the purpose of the bathing cap was to keep the hair dry, but there is no pretense that this cap will even cover the head, much less keep water out of the hair.

 

What it does do is keep the hair in place, plus it ties with a sporty under-the-chin bow.

There is no date on the package, but from the illustration and the name of the product, this is surely from the early to mid 1960s .  In the early 1960s, possibly starting with the movie Gidget in 1959, there was somewhat of a surfing craze.  The Beach Boys formed in 1961, singing about “Surfin’ USA,” and “Surfer Girl” and Jan and Dean came along in 1963 with “Surf City.”  The Beach Party movie franchise with Frankie and Annette started in 1963.

The people at Kleinert’s must have looked on in horror as Sandra Dee hopped on her surfboard bareheaded, with just a ponytail to keep her locks in place.  Some how the idea of  a surfer’s cap materialized, even though the impetuous surfer girl would not have inclinations toward such a thing.

So the Surfer Shorty Cap was a new one on me.  I’ve not found any advertising for it, and I’ve not seen anything like it in my 1960s fashion magazines.  Anyone with memories of the 1960s recall this one?