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Topic spans: 1944 - 1958
Welcome Home, Soldier! Life in Postwar Canada
War is over, victory savoured. Now what to do with jobless soldiers streaming home? And how to get women out of the factory and back to the hearth? Such postwar fears evaporated as the economy boomed, a surge of immigrants transformed an increasingly confident nation and the social safety net began to take shape. In what's now viewed as a golden age, modern Canada was born.
3 television clips
12 radio clips
A run on nylons
Broadcast Date: Feb. 24, 1946
The battle of the nylons was fought this week and, luckily, there were no casualties. Women started lining up early in the morning outside clothing stores across the city as nylon hosiery came back on sale for the first time since 1939. As we hear in this brief radio clip, one merchant took no chances, erecting barricades in case of a riot. The sale went off, however, without a snag.A run on nylons
• Nylon stockings were unavailable during the war because the raw material was needed to make parachutes, medical sutures, flak suits and flak curtains. Silk stockings were also sacrificed to make parachutes. Some women put make-up on their bare legs to give the appearance of hosiery, complete with a black line up the back.• Cities across Canada experienced consumer giddiness as hosiery came back on the market. The Hamilton Spectator reported that the first shipment of 25,000 pairs of nylons sold out on the first day they returned to the shelves. "The crowds were handled in orderly fashion; the stockings were sold considerably before noon and the next nylon shipment will not reach Hamilton for another month," the newspaper reported.
• Many other products were either unavailable or extremely scarce during the war while production was diverted to military purposes. Rubber tires, oil and gas, meat and butter and liquor were among them.
• Ration books were issued and a black market developed for hard-to-get goods.
• The end of the war, rising prosperity and the gradual return of fully stocked shelves ushered in the consumer culture of the 1950s. For example, car registrations doubled in Canada between 1947 and 1952.
• With the war won, women were expected to return to the feminine ideal. In February 1946, ex-servicewoman Chris Foley reported some good news for CBC Radio — "Curves are back!" Now that the soldiers were back home, she said, "pin-ups and glamour girls are no longer dream dust to the boys. This year the sweet sophisticated girl will ring the church bell." To hear the clip go to Feminine curves are back.
A run on nylons
Medium: Radio
Program: Overseas Extra
Broadcast Date: Feb. 24, 1946
Reporter: Dick Diespecker
Duration: 0:23
Photo: TV Little Studios/Library and Archives Canada/361546
Last updated:
March 20, 2008
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15 clips in this topic . page
Radio
25:28
May 7, 1945
Victory flags are flying high, church bells are ringing, and people are celebrating in the streets. It's May 7, 1945, and the Allies have secured victory in Europe.
Topic
From 1939 to 1945 Canadian soldiers, sailors and air force personnel lived and died in lands far from home. CBC Radio was one of the few links friends and family in Canada had to their loved ones abroad...
CBC.ca
Canadian Culture Online Program partner sites
External sites
postwar canada · 1940s · 1950s · baby boom · second world war · wwii
A run on nylons.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: March 20, 2008.
[Page consulted on Nov. 21, 2009.]