by Susan Marks
As ever, letters to Betty Crocker articulated the prevailing misery of homebound women exiled in the kitchen wasteland. In 1963, Betty Friedan’s groundbreaking The Feminine Mystique would call this affliction “the problem without a name.” But even in 1946, Betty Crocker’s Home Legion Program, with its themes of scarcity and making do, was fast becoming outmoded. That year Husted transformed the program into “Designs for Happiness.”
Take pride in your homemaking skills, take time for yourself, take an interest in your husband’s work, and take up a hobby topped Betty’s cures for the ailing spirit of America’s homemakers. According to her pamphlet “Better Home Management for Happiness”:
Too many of these young homemakers of today find that they are absolutely unprepared for their new career. They reveal that if the home manager does not feel adequate to her job she cannot be completely happy. A successful home is a structure of happiness. It is built day by day from daily activities—with hands, heart and mind. It needs a constructive plan—a design—to become a place of peace, joy and contentment.
Betty Crocker cited five keys to happiness: love and affection, good food, self-expression, pleasant surroundings, and spiritual faith. “Include them in your life’s pattern … and you will build a true and lasting happiness for yourself and your dear ones.” Betty also quoted letters from Home Legion members about the joy they found in homemaking:
I always try to have the children clean, my house a shining palace, and myself as radiant as possible when my husband comes home at night.
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I keep a full cookie jar to treat the children’s friends.
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My kitchen radio has made it possible for me to enjoy many a grand opera while baking breads and pies and cookies.
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I was blue until I decided that the most important thing for me was to do things that would please my husband. I leave undone unimportant work to have more time to improve my appearance. I cook dishes my husband likes best. I get someone to tend the store one day a week so my husband and I can go out for dinner. What a difference.
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When I wash dishes, I see jewels in the soap bubbles in the dishpan.
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I save countless steps by keeping a small towel over my left shoulder while working in the kitchen. Many guests have copied this habit of mine.
During a 1946 winter broadcast entitled “Betty Crocker Helps,” Betty quoted a letter from a legionnaire who had helped a young couple cope with differences that arose over the wife keeping her paying job after the war. Betty sensed a conflict between expectations and reality.
We know that millions of men returning from service have a new appreciation of home and a new image of happiness. To them happiness means the simple, fundamental homey thing that they hold so much dearer after months or years far away. And can the girls they marry understand this yearning? Many of them are pretty young and they haven’t had these same maturing experiences.
Fantasies of domestic perfection screamed from the headlines of women’s magazines. “What Is Your Dream Girl Like?” the Ladies’ Home Journal asked servicemen in 1942. First preference went to the “Domestic type, fond of cooking and children,” while “Business ability and braininess run a mighty poor second to a talent for cooking.” A January 1946 Crisco advertisement beseeched, “Cakes and Pies and Real Home Fries … that’s what a G.I. dreams of! Lady—make his dreams come true!”
For some women, such dreams were a test of sanity. “Dear Betty Crocker,” wrote “Young Mother” on January 16, 1946:
I listen to your program and I get so darn tired of hearing women who have 4 or 5 children, say they still have time to do this and bake that besides getting through with most of their work every day without help.
You may think I’m an old grouch and a pessimist, but I never get through. I’m always tired and mostly unhappy.
I have two children—one 6 in school, the other 16 months. If you or someone could please tell me just how these other women do it—what’s their routine? I’ve got to get through or I’ll go crazy, I know. I hope you don’t mention my name over the radio.
I like to cook and bake but I can’t seem to get things done—or get in the mood to bake. My husband is a teacher and he’s always dressed up and out meeting people, but I feel in a rut—it’s horrible.
Sincerely, “Young Mother”
P.S. We can never get anyone to care for the children, but don’t you think he should be willing to watch them while I get out once in a while to a show or to visit someone?
Betty Crocker read the letter over the air and asked her listening audience for their counsel. Listeners responded with prolific advice, decribing their own lives and making their opinions known:
You asked your listening audience to help the homemaker whose letter you read. I felt that I must answer, hoping, yes, even saying a little prayer, that perhaps my words could aid this evidently unhappy woman. So I shall just write a letter within a letter.
Dear Friend,
As a way of introduction I will state that I have been married for 5½ years. A source of much pride and joy is our eight-month-old baby boy. Ours is truly a happy home…. It always has and always will take two to make a successful marriage. We mutually agree to treat each other with all the courtesy and thoughtfulness that we would afford any guest in our home. Think it over carefully, my friend. In my mind much of the “secret” of a happy marriage is contained in that one thought.
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Let me remind you and the young mother that God has bestowed upon women the greatest honor that can come to anyone in this world. (That of bringing a life in this world: motherhood.) Next in line of first honor comes to a woman, (Homemaking) the highest calling a woman can have. Some man has chosen her of all women in the world to come and make a home for him. If women would only try and realize their place in life as a woman and quit trying to wear the pants and getting out and doing a man’s work, there would not be as many broken homes and divorces….
Let the young mother read my letter. Think of your work, my dear, as part of the bargain, see how well you can do it. Married life is the most competitive business in the world; you have got your man but it is up to you to keep him if you love him and want him. Stay neat, clean and interesting to him, stay his sweetheart—just because you are married, there is no reason why you should not still be the best of sweethearts.
In a May 14, 1949, ceremony in Washington, D.C., President Harry S. Truman and Bess Truman presented Marjorie Husted (far left) with the Women’s Press Club award for her achievement in business. Other honorees include (from left to right): Dorothy McCullough Lee for government, Madeline Carroll for theater, Anna Mary Robertson (Grandma Moses) for art, Eleanor Roosevelt for Woman of the Year, and Mary Jane Ward for mental health.
Betty Crocker’s staff replied by mail, suggesting that the “young mother” see a doctor, take time out for herself, accept her husband for who he was, and concentrate on raising her children. Betty also broadcasted the highlights from the letters she received. The “young mother” sent a thank-you letter back:
Dear Betty Crocker,
First of all I wish to thank you sincerely for all your kindness and help, and all your friends for the wonderful suggestions and ideas they so unselfishly offered. After hearing all the wonderful things other people have done in harder circumstances than mine, I feel quite ashamed of myself. But, so help me, I hope to the best of my ability to do all I can from here on out to make my home an ideal place to live and bring up children with happy memories of their childhood when they are grown … thank you again and to all your listeners I am grateful for their interest. Now if I can only prove myself worthy.
From 1924 to 1950, Husted’s personal philosophies and Betty Crocker’s corporate philosophies were almost indistinguishable. Through Betty, Husted told women what she believed they wanted to hear, given their circumstances, and at the same time she advocated empowerment to change their lives. Wi
th her briefcase full of letters that needed special replies, Husted took good corporate citizenship quite seriously. Thus Betty and Husted shared the spotlight on two noteworthy occasions. In 1949, Husted was named Advertising Woman of the Year by the Advertising Federation of America. The previous year, President Harry S. Truman presented Husted as a Women’s National Press Club Woman of the Year, alongside fellow honorees Eleanor Roosevelt and Grandma Moses. Husted also served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1948. Long after Husted retired, she was interviewed about her influence over Betty Crocker’s persona for Twin Cities magazine:
It is very interesting to me to look back now and realize how concerned I was about the welfare of women as homemakers and their feelings of self-respect. Women needed a champion. Here were millions of them staying at home alone, doing a job with children, cooking, cleaning on minimal budgets-the whole depressing mess of it. They needed someone to remind them that they had value.
The problem without a name would not be solved on Betty’s watch. American homemakers’ rampant discontent was beyond the jurisdiction of Husted or any flour company. Betty Crocker’s Home Legion Program, “Designs for Happiness,” like other special homemaker-recognition initiatives and radio programs, ran its course, peaked and bottomed out by the mid-1950s. Such ideologically based programs no longer seemed viable in a marketplace driven by rampant consumerism. What General Mills had to offer instead were new product lines designed to enhance the kitchen experience.
Chapter Four Bake Someone Happy
Snickerdoodles
Puff during baking but settle down and look sugary and crinkly.
1 cup soft shortening (part butter)
1½ cups sugar
2 eggs
2¾ cups sifted GOLD MEDAL Flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. soda
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
Heat oven to 400°. Mix shortening, the 1½ cups sugar and eggs thoroughly. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, soda, salt and stir in. Form dough into balls of size of walnuts. Roll in mixture of the tbsp. sugar and cinnamon. Place about 2” apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 min. Makes about 5 dozen.
From Gold Medal Jubilee, Select Recipes, 1880-1955: A treasury of favorite recipes modernized by Betty Crocker
In a “kitchen just like yours,” Betty Crocker’s staff devoted their days to creating “breads, pastries, cakes—everything.” Over the decades, the best of these recipes made their way into kitchens across America and became family favorites, shared by millions. Requests mounted for a “cook book full of [Betty’s] famous tested recipes,” until, in 1942, General Mills happily introduced Betty Crocker’s Cook Book of All Purpose Baking. This paperback cookbook, a compilation of 220 of Betty’s most requested recipes for cakes, pies, cookies, desserts, and breads, was available by mail order for 25¢.
All Purpose Baking was an overture to an instant classic, Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book, often called Big Red for its redand white “early American” cover design. Big Red is the culinary equivalent of a national sing-along. Snickerdoodles, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Chicken à la King, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Pigs in a Blanket, Meatloaf, Tuna—Potato Chip Casserole—our taste buds know these tunes. A perennial best-seller in its category since its 1950 release, Big Red is in its ninth edition and has sold more than 30 million copies.
Big Red was the culmination of a half-century of recipe collecting, development, and testing by Betty Crocker’s home economists. The staff of forty-eight was well equipped to turn out recipe books and pamphlets, but a production on the grand scale of Big Red required immense resources and time—ten years of planning, and three painstaking years of project development. The effort also called for the total restructuring of the department. One of Washburn Crosby’s original Gold Medal Home Service staff members, Janette Kelley, was appointed director of the Kitchens, as Marjorie Child Husted became cookbook editor-in-chief. The resulting assemblage of talent and expertise was primed to set the new standard for cookbook excellence.
The original “Kitchen Bible,” Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book or, affectionately, Big Red, made cookbook history in 1950 when it debuted and shot straight up the best-seller charts.
The Cooking Bible
Consumers’ first “glimpse” of the long-awaited Big Red came on the September 8, 1950, broadcast of Betty Crocker Magazine of the Air. For weeks, Betty and her sidekick, the announcer Win Elliot, teased audiences about “Betty’s Mystery Gift,” which, unbeknownst to listeners at home, had been strategically distributed to food industry tastemakers just before the publication date. On air, the book was presented to Sylvia Schur, the food and household editor of Look magazine.
M.C. Here you are! Now let’s have that Grand Opening!
SYLVIA Stand back everybody! Here I go! … I’ll bet I’m the envy of everybody who’s received a mystery gift! Now I’ve got the ribbon off…. And here goes the paper! I’ll open it up! And would you look at that! I wonder how many of you guessed that the mystery gift is Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book!
M.C. That’s what she said! It’s what you gals have been asking for and waiting for years and years! Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book! A Betty Crocker Cook Book with pictures … and lots of ’em in gorgeous color!
America’s First Lady of Food appeared to have the postwar nation by the purse and apron strings as recipe-loving customers lined up in stores to purchase Betty Crocker’s culinary masterpiece. A Ladies’ Home Journal ad announced, “At last! A Betty Crocker Cook Book! Over $100,000 spent in testing and developing recipes before a single page was printed! Just off the press!
Exciting, revolutionary, handsome! The result of 29 years’ experience by the Betty Crocker Staff of General Mills, in food, cooking and homemaking.” Betty’s opus came in both loose-leaf ring binder with “deluxe” index tabs ($3.95) and case-bound ($2.95) editions. Big Red quickly became the gift of choice at bridal showers.
Within a year of publication, Big Red was a national bestseller, closing in on the Bible for the top spot. Though hundreds of cookbooks were on the market by 1950, just two could boast sales comparable to Big Red’s. The Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book was published in 1930 under the auspices of the Meredith Corporation’s Better Homes and Gardens magazine—each 1930 subscriber received a complimentary copy—and went on to sell 15 million copies by 1996, when the updated eleventh edition was released. Irma S. Rombauer’s Joy of Cooking was the leader in regular book-publishing channels. Originally self-published in 1931, the book became a best-seller for Bobbs-Merrill in 1943. Its 1951 edition, the closest contemporary to Big Red, sold 732,004 copies between 1951 and 1958.
Big Red enjoyed a distinct advantage over its competitors: the powerful marketing capacity of General Mills. The launch campaign was effective from the start, with Big Red drawing widespread media attention. The press was more than kind to Betty, touting her cookbook as essential for every homemaker:
This new cook book out-Crockers Betty Crocker. It is, in short, a dilly. (HOUSTON POST)
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… if you haven’t already asked for a mink stole, then ask for the new Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book.
(ATLANTA CONSTITUTION)
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… a cook book that has everything, plus the wonderful knowledge that every recipe will work—a cook book you’ll always use for cooking, not just an ornament for a bookcase. (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES)
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… probably the finest basic general cook book that has ever been published. (CHICAGO TRIBUNE)
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… Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book is on its way to a sales record; initial printing of 950,000 copies is the largest ever, says McGraw-Hill distributor. (NEW YORK WORLD TELEGRAM SUN)
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… one of the finest contributors to the advancement of the art of cooking that has rolled off the presses in many a year. (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE)
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… the new Betty Crocker Cook Book is going through the stores at the rate of 18,000 a week. Not bad when you consider that Hemingway, who is at the top of the best seller list, is doing about 3,500. (THE NEW YORK TIMES)
A 1955 celebration of Gold Medal’s diamond jubilee trumpeted Big Red’s bestsellerdom as a highlight of Betty Crocker’s galaxy of stellar achievements.
A Dream Come True
Betty’s star power was housed in her famous test kitchens. Big Red invited readers in for a closer look. A “personal” letter from Betty welcomed cooks everywhere into her place of dreams.
Dear Friend,
This book seems like a dream come true for us. And we hope it will be for the thousands of you who have requested a cookbook full of our famous tested recipes! And to those who have asked for a successor to that old brown-covered Gold Medal Cook Book which their mothers and grandmothers treasured—here it is at last, a new and different cook book for a new age! … We hope this book will bring you more fun in cooking and a deeper joy in your homemaking.
Betty Crocker
Light and lyrical text, cheery tinted line art, and personal hospitality—” Miss Esoline Beauregard of Fort Lauderdale, Florida said, ‘Please try my mother’s recipe’ for French Breakfast Puffs”—weave through 16 chapters, 2,161 recipes, 633 instructional photo essays, 36 full-page color photographs, 20 sectional tabs, a glossary of cooking terms, an index, and tips for meal planning, table service, and shortcuts.
Big Red’s most innovative feature was its pictorial, step-by-step directions; no other basic cookbook had such functional visual appeal. Hundreds of photographic close-ups—of hands mixing, blending, sprinkling, and kneading—illustrate Betty’s tutorial, basic enough for a beginner, sufficiently sophisticated to satisfy a more experienced cook. Designed for adaptation according to skill and desire, many “key” recipes begin with a foundation for more complex variations—a basic stew becomes Lamb Printanière, for example.