Fun
Let Us Give Thanks
On this day of reflection, gratitude and a copious abundance of Fambly Time, we wish you hearty appetites, peaceful minds, and dancing feet.
(Fun fact: in 1964, Kay had the exact same haircut as Peter Pan Collar Girl at the start of the video. Ann was an infant at the time, but a few years later, she also had the same haircut. Bangs-cutting technology has made great advances since the 1960s.)
We are grateful to Cristina Shiffman, for sharing the video, and for countless other kindnesses.
I can’t stop watching. What is this? A documentary by the Maysles Brothers? An episode of the Patty Duke Show by way of Kentucky?
That do was called a pixie haircut, BTW, and I had one too.
I so loved seeing this again! The older gentleman (see off to the side of the main action) is North Carolina’s Bascom Lamar Lunsford, who did so much for the collection and preservation of traditional old-time and bluegrass music in the region. (PS: I would guess that this footage, which resides at Library of Congress, was shot by David Hoffman who did a lot of video work in that area, including a documentary about Lunsford.)
I looked up David Hoffman later too, and I see he really WAS a documentarian like the Maysles Brothers. An interesting guy.
(PS: Yep, I’m another one who had that same haircut in that same era!)
That was fantastic. So much to see, I’ll need to watch again and again. Happy Thanksgiving y’all!
PS Another childhood pixie head here, I even had a version in the early 90s when my hairstyle changed frequently.
There are so many things I am thankful for this year. I include on that list you, Ann and Kay, for appearing in my early morning emails each day with bits of laughter, life and knitting. Thank you and I wish for you a very Happy Thanksgiving too.
Well, I’m gobsmacked with gratitude, dear Ann and dear Kay. Thanks for the ongoing conversation and sharing of discoveries and joy. xoc
Love this video! I had the same pixie cut in the late 50s/early 60s. The music reminds me of music from the Canadian east coast, and the living room reminds me of places I visited in central Ontario in the late 50s. Have a happy day!
I too was a baby in ’64 and donned a pixie haircut through out most of my youth. It morphed into a Dorothy Hamell by high school. Great video!
Happy Thanksgiving y’all!
I was 6 in ’64 and sported that same haircut. And by ’76 I was sooo Dorothy Hamill. 🙂
I was just transported to my grandmother’s living room in Western New York! Esp the close-ups of the couch-sitters: “Lord give me patience, when will this end?” (Oh, and yet another pixie-cut here, via Edie Adams Cut ‘n’ Curl – only the cheapest and most reliable for my “moisturizers are for millionaires and milquetoasts” mom.)
Put a big smile on my face! Just loved watching the video, then had my husband watch it. He loved it, too.
We’re both sitting here in Baltimore, waiting to have diner with all three sons, their wives, and five out of seven grandchildren!i
We are very thankful.
Hope you both, Ann and Kay , have a wonderful holiday!
I, too, am grateful for your humor, joy, and sharing.
Resemblance to Irish step dancing is striking – the active feet and the arms down at sides.
Never had the haircut but saw several pairs of shoes and 1 shirtwaist that were in my closet in 1962. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Loved the video and will be sharing it with the family today when we all gather as it makes me want to participate in the dance. Didn’t everyone have a pixie cut in the 60’s? I see my pixie haircut every time I look at the Chip off the Old Block photo block my parents had.
I particularly enjoyed the dead guy (must have been dead-couldn’t have slept through that), the woman with the force 10 headache, and the youngster thinking “I have GOT to get out of here somehow!).
I also particularly enjoy your daily letters and the awesome space that is your new website!
And THAT is how you work off a turkey dinner.
That brings back memories of 6th grade P.E. class in the late 1960s when we had a semester of square dancing and we had to — horror of horrors — dance with BOYS. Thanks for the memory and a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and your famblies. I am grateful for your new revamped MDK site!
My new haircut is pretty much like that pixie cut. Love the full skirts and ballet flats. And the dancing!
Turkey (for 11!) is in the oven, taking a moment to drop in and say Happy Thanksgiving to you lovely people! XOClare
I was born in ’62 and had that same unfortunate Pixie haircut. I hated it—my mom had some older lady cut it. She had an old barber chair, and she would lay a board across the arms and stack a phone book on top of that for me to sit on. She would then hack my hair off with a razor while I cried inconsolably. All these years later, I still shudder when I drive by the old house that lady had her shop in and my hair is down to my butt.
Happy Thanksgiving anyway—I am grateful for Modern Daily Knitting, German sock yarn, and L-O-N-G hair.
Oh Brenda! Another sobber here. All I wanted was long flowing locks like all the other girls at school who actually looked like girls. Marcia-Brady hair – or better yet, Jan-Brady hair! Also went butt-length as soon as I developed a modicum of autonomy. (I’ve since recovered, but still am very particular about my hairstylists.) Here’s to being a grown-up!
There was no escaping those bangs back in the day!
Oh, the Errol Flynn shirt! Made my morning.
My Mom and and I (mostly my Mom) got the turkey in the oven and then took a break and loved watching the dancing. Thank you Kay and Ann for MDK, often the bright spot of my day.
I too am thankful for MDK, and for this video today. See how the girls are upright, and the boys are leaning in?
Me too with the darned pixie, which during growout? if one’s hair is super fluffy? earns one the nickname Palm Tree?
Sheesh.
Oh wow, that video is wonderful. In 1964 I was still young enough to have a pixie cut and wear peter pan collars, but had not yet discovered the joys of clogging. Although the Virginia Reel had made it to the south side of Chicago by then, along with the Hokey Pokey, the Hully Gully, and Hava Nagilah.
Pixie cut here too, in southern Ontario. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Good grief, were they clogging? I hope that floor was hickory and…Mr Big Shirt – think his Momma made it?
Pixie Sisters, unite! I don’t know if I have a photograph to document it, but I certainly had the haircut.
And the daughters of another blog-buddy have been clogging for many years as part of a group – their videos are also real foot-tappers 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it!
Wow, best 6 minutes of my day for sure. So uplifting
I think we need a hashtag on Instagram for the pixie cuts. Happy Thanksgiving!
No clogging at my family Thanksgiving today but, even though there were 28 of us of various political stripes, it was a peaceful, happy gathering, with pumpkin desserts galore! And I too had a pixie haircut in approximately 1964. My hair grew out, but the bangs stayed, always at a slight tilt, since my mom trimmed them herself.
DH, preparing for his Christmas present of banjo lessons, found this yesterday and made us watch it. Shiny floor, huh? None of these are our relatives but they sure look familiar. I am grateful for the common threads found among knitters.
Omg, that was awesome! I still search Andy Griffith for the Darling episodes. I also had a pixie cut in 1964. Our neighbor, Mr. Naccarado, was a barber, and he was my personal hairstylist. Boy, was I ever cute!
Truly wonderful, this was great!!! So much fun to watch and be thankful to see.
Just getting to it now, on Sunday, but what a wonderful video! I loved watchng the dancing, and was struck by how the version of line dancing reminded me of how ( yes at Greek dances and weddings) we dance to Hava Nagela. We truly are all connected.