Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

In Rhoda’s 1962 Diary, my mother talks about investigating Sandy’s relationship after finding blonde hairs in his clothes.

February 8

In the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, ‘blondes’ were by some people considered a ‘threat’ to sanctified married life. According to Wikipedia, ancient Rome and Greece viewed blonde women as prostitutes, while Western Culture view them as stupid: 

“In ancient Greece and Rome, blonde hair was frequently associated with prostitutes, who dyed their hair using saffron dyes in order to attract customers. (…) In contemporary Western culture, blonde women are often negatively stereotyped as beautiful, but dumb (‘dumb blonde’).”

Of course, there are numerous ‘dumb Blonde jokes’ on the Internet, not to mention in various publications. In Oslo, Norway, where I live at present, there are recycling stations where you can pick up useful and not-so-useful things for free, such as used books. I picked up one such book, Politically Incorrect Jokes from the Net, which includes many such ‘dumb blonde jokes’, such as: 

“Why do blondes like BMWs? Because they can spell them.”

 I don’t think my mother would disagree with the above Wikipedia description of blondes. Interestingly, my mother and father joke about ‘blondes and brunettes’ in their wartime letters. My father also wrote that Auntie Flora (my mother’s younger sister) was a peroxide blonde and a ‘flirt’. Both my parents joked about a blonde girl (‘the blonde’) who perhaps worked in the local pub in Dunoon, Argyllshire (where my father worked during the war). 

Brunettes

My mother was a ‘brunette’. Without wanting to enter into a discussion of blondes versus brunettes, the consensus is that people see brunettes as more reliable in a relationship. In other words, people think that dark-haired girls are more trustworthy and loyal compared to blondes. Of course, this is just ‘stereotyping’, but it affects what people think.

The film industry did its best to promote these stereotypes – the US had Marilyn Monroe, and Britain had Diana Dors!

Films such as “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” cemented Marilyn’s screen persona as a ‘dumb blonde’. Of course, she also played ‘serious’ roles, such as in “The Misfits”, written by her husband, the author Arthur Miller. But it is perhaps her ‘dumb blonde’ films she will be remembered by. 

In my mother’s eyes, perhaps the only thing worse than a blonde was a working class blonde! 

My mother ‘Jocasta’

After inspecting my brother Sandy’s clothes like some detective in an Agatha Christie novel, my mother’s worst fears were confirmed: “blonde hairs”! I remember his ‘blonde’ girlfriend was from the ‘wrong side of town.’ As mentioned in my biographical books, Culcheth had at least three social classes: the working, middle, and upper classes.

I can’t remember the actual address of his blonde girlfriend—perhaps it was Hampton Avenue. One might go as far as to say that the ugly ‘Jocasta complex’, or Electra Complex, was rearing its head, that is, a mother who becomes enamoured with her son, which has its reflection in the Oedipus complex.

February 10

I suppose this is a typical scenario – the ‘mother hen’ trying to keep her chickens in the coop – but my brother was now 20 years old and no ‘chicken’! 

February 11

In retrospect, this seems highly comical—my mother worrying that her son is coming home at 11 p.m.! After all, at this point, my eldest brother is a grown man and almost 20 years old!

By the time she reached me (fourth in line), I think she relaxed her high standards of child discipline.

The other irony here is that Sandy was the ‘obedient and loving son’ unlike her other sons who were usually opposing their ‘bossy’ mother.