Ladies, are you alone in this world? Don’t have a man? In danger of becoming a spinster, an old maid? Well, McCall’s magazine has just what you need!
It’s been a while – an even 60 years – since the article ran, but “129 Ways to Get a Husband” was the answer to the female single’s woes in the early throes of the Cold War, when suburbia was calling her name and Elvis was wooing her on the radio and she felt her uterus longing to become gravid.
We can hardly fault McCall’s for this; their motivations were clearly benign: “In the United States today [1958], there are sixteen million women over the age of seventeen who are not married,” the article tells us. “Presumably the vast majority of them would like to be.”
If you want to read them all, you can google it – there actually are 129 ways to get a husband! - but here are the highlights broken down by category (each of them has a gem): “WHERE TO FIND HIM”
Get a dog and walk it
Have your car break down at strategic places (See the 1999 Kevin Costner movie For Love of the Game)
Get lost at football games
Volunteer for jury duty
Become a nurse or a stewardess – they have very high marriage rates
Get a job in a medical, dental, or law school
THE GEM: Don’t be afraid to associate with more attractive girls; they may have some leftovers
“HOW TO LET HIM KNOW YOU’RE THERE”
Walk up to him and tell him you need some advice
Laugh at his jokes
Learn how to bake tasty apple pies. Bring one into the office and let the eligible bachelors taste it
Stumble when you walk into a room that he’s in
THE GEM: Make a lot of money
“HOW TO LOOK GOOD TO HIM”
Wear high heels most of the time – they're sexier!
Tell him he’s handsome
Go on a diet if you need to
European women use their eyes to good advantage; practice in front of a mirror
Don’t whine; girls who whine stay on the vine!
THE GEM: Practice your drinking with your women friends first
“HOW TO LAND HIM”
Never let him believe your career is more important to you than marriage
Ask your mother for her recipes
Turn wolves into husband material by assuming they have honor
If he’s a fisherman, learn to scale and clean fish
Don’t talk about how many children you want
Stop being a mama’s girl – don't let him think he’ll have in-law trouble, even if you know he will
THE GEM: Point out to him that the death rate among single men is twice that of married men
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