Same, Adam! 
Super Speed Razors: The Post World War II Shaving Culture in America to 1955
- Thread starter mgbbrown
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No problem Tony, I knew you would come along sooner or later. I also watched Wide World of Sports, I will never forget watching the snow skier rolling down the hill every Saturday afternoon.
You might have been wrong about CBS, but you were right about the Z3 Flare Tip. I shaved with it a few nights ago and it was a great shave like you said. It was like a '40s style but with a better handle.
Mr. Lee,
So happy your Z3 is a great shaver! So much fun in finding a vintage tool and adding it and it's history to one's daily life!
I have a Z1 which is a part of my daily rotation and I love the shaves it gives. Amazing that 60+ years ago such simple design/
manufacture still provides excellence in service. We've got even more capability today when the right individuals catch a vision
for excellence!
Shave on brother!
Thanks Ozarkedger for the nice reply, it is fun finding vintage razors to add to the collection, especially the ones that have some historical significance like the first year of the Flare Tip, and getting a great shave with it. Saturday, I found another D-1 TV Special and a '49/'50 Super Speed in a case, both almost mint. I'm glad your Z1 also gives you a great shave, but I don't know how it couldn't, it' a great razor. To me it is right in the middle of aggressive and mild, it has the head of a '40s SS with a better handle.
Looks like we're in the same neck of the woods, maybe we'll cross paths someday.
Very interesting read! Thanks for posting. I am fascinated with WWII history. Being in the military myself I love reading about the history behind things that the military has influenced on day to day culture! I am new to this wet shaving world but one thing I have consistently heard of has been the Gillette Super Speed. Now I am very eager to get one to call my own.
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- #505
Mata 66; Ozark Kedger. M. Lee; T. Gunk; Adam; Thank you all for your additions. My wife and I, along with my mother's nursing aide, spent the afternoon with her surviving brothers and sisters, eating an early Christmas get-together lunch, and disseminating a car-full of family heirlooms to them. I apologize for my late response to your kind words.
I have been quite busy away from the site, beginning to build the 1950's office that will showcase both family and MGB items of historical interest. One wall is complete aside from touching-up the trim work, and it has been quite therapeutic. I have appreciated the prayers and kind words that have been sent our way. Aside from locating a long extension cord from my father's shop in the house we grew up in, we have completed our trips there, and are beginning to clean, repair, reframe, and enjoy that which was important to both parents and to myself from our past.
Below is one wall of the office with a barrister bookcase that will help define the room. To the left is a framed newspaper clipping noting the last MGB to roll off of the assembly line in Abingdon and the closing of factory, and below that my collection of period unused key fobs for the MGB. My two favorite are my 1950's Philmont Scout Ranch key chain, and the NASA issued one commemorating Neal Armstrong's walk on the moon in 1969. Many relate to automotive parts suppliers, such as Castrol, Marchal, and Esso, and are certainly not all marque related. The barrister bookcase is filled with childhood books, Scouting handbooks, and books that were my father's, including his high school textbooks, and basketball playbooks from his coaching days, including one from the US Navy published during World War II. Several pairs of my mother's antique knitting needles are inside. Not pictured are some of the Native American projectile points that we collected as boys which propelled me into my first career as an archaeologist. A number of them have been framed in five shadow boxes, one of which includes all of the early Paleolithic point types found in North Carolina.
The 1956 B4 Red Tip Super Speed that was my father's has a home in the book case, alongside of a rather large Stanley spearhead that he found. Some of the Parke-Davis medicine bottles that he collected can be found there as well. Unfortunately, his seaman's Dixie Cup white had was not found inside the house, but his wool pea coat had been lovingly stored all these years by my mother. The front buttons had been removed, perhaps as a naval tradition when he separated from service, but these were located and my brother will return the two that he has to complete the jacket. The wool is so tightly woven to be virtually windproof, and it is easy to see why this was an important part of the bridge watch uniform. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
I have been quite busy away from the site, beginning to build the 1950's office that will showcase both family and MGB items of historical interest. One wall is complete aside from touching-up the trim work, and it has been quite therapeutic. I have appreciated the prayers and kind words that have been sent our way. Aside from locating a long extension cord from my father's shop in the house we grew up in, we have completed our trips there, and are beginning to clean, repair, reframe, and enjoy that which was important to both parents and to myself from our past.
Below is one wall of the office with a barrister bookcase that will help define the room. To the left is a framed newspaper clipping noting the last MGB to roll off of the assembly line in Abingdon and the closing of factory, and below that my collection of period unused key fobs for the MGB. My two favorite are my 1950's Philmont Scout Ranch key chain, and the NASA issued one commemorating Neal Armstrong's walk on the moon in 1969. Many relate to automotive parts suppliers, such as Castrol, Marchal, and Esso, and are certainly not all marque related. The barrister bookcase is filled with childhood books, Scouting handbooks, and books that were my father's, including his high school textbooks, and basketball playbooks from his coaching days, including one from the US Navy published during World War II. Several pairs of my mother's antique knitting needles are inside. Not pictured are some of the Native American projectile points that we collected as boys which propelled me into my first career as an archaeologist. A number of them have been framed in five shadow boxes, one of which includes all of the early Paleolithic point types found in North Carolina.
The 1956 B4 Red Tip Super Speed that was my father's has a home in the book case, alongside of a rather large Stanley spearhead that he found. Some of the Parke-Davis medicine bottles that he collected can be found there as well. Unfortunately, his seaman's Dixie Cup white had was not found inside the house, but his wool pea coat had been lovingly stored all these years by my mother. The front buttons had been removed, perhaps as a naval tradition when he separated from service, but these were located and my brother will return the two that he has to complete the jacket. The wool is so tightly woven to be virtually windproof, and it is easy to see why this was an important part of the bridge watch uniform. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
Tony, that is great that you have so much family memories and memorabilia, I'm very envious. I lost my only brother when he was 16, about 25 years ago. My mother (80) and father (83) now, were devastated, and a lot of memories have been blocked out. Still today, our family get-togethers aren't what I believe they would have been if the circumstances were different. I enjoy reading your stories and the history you have to share, it's very inspiring.
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- #507
M. Lee; I am sorry to hear about your brother. On our way into the town of Oxford, we pass by the tree that a friend's brother hit in the late 1950's and was killed. The pine bark never grew back in the area of contact. My mother was indeed quite wise to have saved so many items of historical interest. Because as a twin, our selective service number was 17 for November 24th- we were surely headed to Vietnam. Everything was boxed in anticipation of our pending induction, and that saved all of our childhood hallmark toys, such as our Aurora HO slot cars and Lionel O-Gauge trains. Thankfully I have both, along with a 1958 Tonka Toy pick-up truck and boat trailer to display. The office will be a totally vintage effort, so a laptop computer is on its way so not to confabulate the look and feel of things when sitting at my desk. Using the plastic restoration techniques I utilized on my Super Speed razor cases- my project for the next couple of days will be to restore the case of an early RCA Victor AM radio, which is a working example. My Sony walnut AM-FM radio, which I have had since the early 1980's, will be housed out of view inside the desk where a typewriter shelf would swing out. Yes, I am very fortunate, but very fortunate even more to see the love and cohesiveness displayed at my aunt's house when we visited with everyone. Unfortunately, the memories that we could all have shared together with my brother have been marred by his selfishness. In choosing to collect items that are of historical interest rather than monetary, we have indeed won the real prize of our inheritance. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
Lovely artifacts in a beautiful piece of furniture. In keeping with the 1940s-1950s theme, a classy barrister bookcase like that should display selections from The Harvard Classics, "the five-foot shelf of books."
Yes, sounds to me like you won the True Blessing, my RN brother.
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Colonial Hogan; I suppose that one foot of the Children's Classics will have to do. I plan to replace some of my childhood books and others of my parents in the next few days, and hopefully can locate some of the Hardy Boy's mysteries that we loved growing up in Raleigh. Still, nothing Harvard, or my Alma Motta, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill approved, I am afraid, although I may put in a copy of my archaeology thesis inside for safe keeping, which is housed at the Wilson Library there. This style of bookcase is quite unusual, as I have been around barrister bookcases and antiques most of my life. The Mason Canvas Back decoy was the first antique I purchased in high school, along with a pit-sawed dowry chest and similar bottomed chair, built in the 1600's. I still have them all. My first nice watch was a Hamilton Railroad Standard Watch with a 4992B works, manufactured in the last batch of civilian production before they changed to military timers primarily for the US Army Eighth Air Force.
Thank you Farmer Tan! It is always nice to hear from another male nurse, and I hope that you are remaining warm in Michigan these days! Our visit with her brothers and sisters certainly showed the value of honoring your father and mother. In that, we are promised that our days will be prolonged in Exodus 20:12- Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
Thank you Farmer Tan! It is always nice to hear from another male nurse, and I hope that you are remaining warm in Michigan these days! Our visit with her brothers and sisters certainly showed the value of honoring your father and mother. In that, we are promised that our days will be prolonged in Exodus 20:12- Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
mgbbrown - Thanks so much for this thread! I also have a Flare Tip A1 (Heirloom from my Grandfather), and it is my go to razor on most days, as well as being my baseline razor for trying new products.
For a few years, I had a neighbor who was a B-24 pilot. I really enjoyed the times when he would recount his experiences. Truly an amazing generation, the likes of which we will most likely never see again...
For a few years, I had a neighbor who was a B-24 pilot. I really enjoyed the times when he would recount his experiences. Truly an amazing generation, the likes of which we will most likely never see again...
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- #512
Thank you so much for posting Lockedin! I am at work in my office before hitting the hay, as the essential staff here at the hospital are sequestered here by the snow and bad weather. We have so much to thank them for, as they gave us so much. I cannot imagine how terrifying it would have been to be in the lead ship or in the lead formation during Big Week over Schweinfurt, be it in a B-24 or a B17. Your neighbor was made of stern stuff I am sure. The discipline, unswerving devotion, and duty bound responsibilities they shared will perhaps never be equaled. I do know that those who did not fight, were also united in their civilian efforts to support those that did-something that perhaps our nation shall never see again.
You certainly have a treasure in your grandfather's heirloom A1 Flare Tip razor- they are excellent, mild, and consistent shavers. I have a 1954 Z3 that is also relegated to daily duties, and it is the best of the herd in my opinion.
As we continue to unpack all of the containers from my late parent's estate- I hope that I can share more of this fascinating era. I have been busy, I assure you! God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
You certainly have a treasure in your grandfather's heirloom A1 Flare Tip razor- they are excellent, mild, and consistent shavers. I have a 1954 Z3 that is also relegated to daily duties, and it is the best of the herd in my opinion.
As we continue to unpack all of the containers from my late parent's estate- I hope that I can share more of this fascinating era. I have been busy, I assure you! God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
Stay safe down there, T.
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- #514
Thank you Adam- I arrived home in one piece but barely- on the way out of the hospital's parking lot- my driver's rear tire became trapped behind a six inch pile of hardened snow from the snow plow- It doesn't sound like much, but I was locked in and had to be shoveled out. I did jump start our Spanish interpreter's Land Rover though, on my way out as my good deed for the day.
Our house is a half mile off of the main road on a steep downhill grade-very rural and very slick. As I got to the house to turn into our driveway- our plumber's truck was at the entrance (we lost power for three hours earlier that day and the pipes froze), and he had to push my truck to make the turn from a standstill. He got stuck once he pulled out for me, but his Silverado was far heavier than my Tacoma and he finally made traction on the hill.
It will be nine degrees tonight, so things will be frozen solid in the morning. I'll play it safe and venture in about mid-morning as things begin to warm up a bit. I am indeed thankful to be home! God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
Our house is a half mile off of the main road on a steep downhill grade-very rural and very slick. As I got to the house to turn into our driveway- our plumber's truck was at the entrance (we lost power for three hours earlier that day and the pipes froze), and he had to push my truck to make the turn from a standstill. He got stuck once he pulled out for me, but his Silverado was far heavier than my Tacoma and he finally made traction on the hill.
It will be nine degrees tonight, so things will be frozen solid in the morning. I'll play it safe and venture in about mid-morning as things begin to warm up a bit. I am indeed thankful to be home! God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
I'll keep you in my prayers, buddy. It's hard dealing with snow when you're not used to having it. It's a pain here in PA and we are equipped, theoretically.
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Thank you all for your kindness and patience during my lengthy hiatus from posting. I have contemplated building a 1950's themed office for a number of years now, and the timing is ripe for this to come to fruition. Previously I pictured one wall of this project, which I assure you is quite detailed and ambitious, and is not just a passing tribute to that part of the early Super Speed culture in America. It has been very therapeutic as well, involving many of the research skills acquired during my archaeologist days. Progress has also been hampered by a tenacious case of bronchitis, which simply will not let go of its hold as a thorn in my flesh, perhaps not as troubling as the one Paul describes in Second Corinthians. Biblical scholars have argued for centuries as to the nature of his thorn, hypothesizing that it involved his eyesight in some way. Thankfully mine will go away with rest and time.
Our house remains a Rubbermaid repository of artifacts, but that has been reduced somewhat during this period. Discoveries into both of my parents life have been exciting and many, with all of the childhood tales of my father proven true by what was left behind. One discovery was finding my father's Ruptured Duck pin, which was officially called the Honorable Service Lapel Pin, awarded to military service members from all branches who were discharged under honorable conditions during World War II. My father had spoken about it as I remember, but it remained tucked away in a large wooden steamer trunk situated at the foot of their colonial four poster bed for a half-century. Designed by sculptor Anthony de Francisci, the pin was awarded by the Department of Defense between September 1939 and December 1946.
Along with his Honorable Discharge certificate, the pin offered tangible evidence that my father had indeed served well. It also gave him a ride on any bus or train that offered free or subsidized transportation to returning veterans, and from what I can tell, he took full advantage of that benefit.
Officially, military personnel in active duty were forbidden to possess civilian clothing. This not only made desertion more difficult, but also ensured that any captured service member would be treated as a prisoner of war under the Geneva Convention. In pre-war conditions, discharged veterans typically donned civilian clothing when returning home, but this was logistically difficult during wartime and immediate post-war America, as new clothing was already in short supply due to governmental rationing, and the return of millions of veterans threatened an already taxed cloth supply. Federal law also prevented veterans from wearing their uniforms as civilians, but this was circumvented by wearing the Ruptured Duck pin on a uniform with all rank insignia removed. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
Our house remains a Rubbermaid repository of artifacts, but that has been reduced somewhat during this period. Discoveries into both of my parents life have been exciting and many, with all of the childhood tales of my father proven true by what was left behind. One discovery was finding my father's Ruptured Duck pin, which was officially called the Honorable Service Lapel Pin, awarded to military service members from all branches who were discharged under honorable conditions during World War II. My father had spoken about it as I remember, but it remained tucked away in a large wooden steamer trunk situated at the foot of their colonial four poster bed for a half-century. Designed by sculptor Anthony de Francisci, the pin was awarded by the Department of Defense between September 1939 and December 1946.
Along with his Honorable Discharge certificate, the pin offered tangible evidence that my father had indeed served well. It also gave him a ride on any bus or train that offered free or subsidized transportation to returning veterans, and from what I can tell, he took full advantage of that benefit.
Officially, military personnel in active duty were forbidden to possess civilian clothing. This not only made desertion more difficult, but also ensured that any captured service member would be treated as a prisoner of war under the Geneva Convention. In pre-war conditions, discharged veterans typically donned civilian clothing when returning home, but this was logistically difficult during wartime and immediate post-war America, as new clothing was already in short supply due to governmental rationing, and the return of millions of veterans threatened an already taxed cloth supply. Federal law also prevented veterans from wearing their uniforms as civilians, but this was circumvented by wearing the Ruptured Duck pin on a uniform with all rank insignia removed. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
Another fascinating post of American History! I can't wait to see more of the 50's office.
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Thank you Mata! I have been at it daily after work pretty much since I posted those initial photographs of the barrister bookcase wall. That too has changed, with the addition of a colonial candlestick tin lamp that was converted in the late 1950's. I have been hampered, though, in my efforts due to the bronchitis, which has persisted for a month now. This is my second episode in two years, and my family doctor in Oxford wanted me to just tough it out. I missed work for three days, so rather than record a time and attendance episode on my employment record, I came in and turned my office into a recluse asylum, staying away from both staff and patients alike. With what energies I had left, I worked on smaller projects that would not compromise me further. The desk is now half-finished, and has been taken up several notches from when it was first spruced-up in 1987 or so. It has a rolling metal chair that was recovered then in a period-correct cloth that compliments the office well. In the process, I have restored a Western Electric 5032 telephone to pretty much as new, drawing the line though to leave the paint loss on the dialing finger wheel, but adding a center dial card with our house telephone exchange from 1958. It works perfectly on our modular telephone line, and features an original cloth line and ivory four-pronged jack. It will be wired into a corresponding wall jack salvaged from the house we grew-up in. The handset is a large Bakelite F1 that was a holdover from the previous 300 series, and is quite a throwback. Hearing volume is a bit diminished, but that is corrected by banging the daylights out of the earpiece to loosen the charcoal granules inside the element. Once it is completely wired and in place, I will beat it into submission. The desk features a spring-loaded shelf for a typewriter, so to augment that particular feature, I located a 1949 Royal Deluxe typewriter, and it too is now in almost as new condition, missing only the case key. It was complete with its owners manual, erasing brush from the factory that clips onto the lid of the case, and even had the hang tag from when it was displayed at the time of purchase. The case is one of the first uses of fiberglass commercially following the war, and was taunted for its light weight for airplane travel. it too shows almost no wear. Also refurbished was a 1954 RCA Victor Standard Broadcast table radio, which featured a styrene chassis case rather than the earlier Bakelite versions. This was gone-over extensively, looks as new, and works as it should. Three shelves will be on the wall as you enter the office on the left, made from birch shelving that my father kept his Parke-Davis medicine samples on. The wall brackets are period and from the 1950's. One shelf will display my O-Gauge Lionel train dating to 1958; another a Tonka Toy pick-up truck and boat trailer with a reproduction boat still made by the original manufacturer I was told, as the original did not survive. Under the shelves will be a 1950's club chair that will be reupholstered using period fabric from a vintage specialty shop in Charlotte. The chair area of the office will be illuminated by a smoking lamp from my parents house in 1954- I even have the receipts from when it was purchased and photographs of it inside the house. Beside that will be a pine end table, also from their first house in LaGrange, North Carolina. They lived there until my father was transferred to Columbia, South Carolina in 1958 through a promotion he received after his first year with Parke-Davis. Records indicate that he was their top salesman for what I believe to be the entire country, but he never spoke of this achievement. We were able to locate blueprints and photographs of both houses. The walls will be rather eclectic, with shadowboxes holding prehistoric projectile points and Sioux fully-beaded moccasins, as well as a collection of advertisement mirrors from the 1930's. It also will display period Scottish Terrier dog art, vintage MG related artwork, diplomas, and a couple of restored steering wheels. Another wall will house an antique display case filled with Hummel figurines which my mother and I both collected. A true respite from the storm- a Luddite wonderland for certain. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
I feel for you, Tony @mgbbrown . As someone who suffers from asthma, I know what it is like to have a persistent breathing problem. I've had bronchitis, pneumonia, you name it. I loathe the standard treatment, which in my case is always outrageous doses of prednisone taken over a couple weeks. It makes me anxious & irritable, I can't sleep, and my appetite is such that I could easily dip your MGB in tartar sauce and swallow it whole. The only benefits are that the bronchial symptoms eventually dissipate, and that any and all nagging aches and pains disappear overnight. One sees why athletes are tempted to gobble steroids to hasten the healing process. Get well!
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- #520
Thank you so much Colonel Hogan for your kind reply! Prednisone is indeed all that you say it is. In psychiatric nursing, we deal with the consequences of Metabolic Syndrome from second generation antipsychotics, which can cause untoward weight gain, and of course all of the possible resultant problems, such as diabetes. It is a really nice day here in our part of the Southland, but my cough and illness prevented our attending church this morning, which I sorely missed. Thankfully, our church has a live streaming program, and my wife and I watched that instead. Temptation would have me to go outside and sand on a 1950's walnut magazine rack, but I know perhaps that is not the best idea. Instead, I will photograph perhaps the real reason of the American Super Speed's popularity, which is not too far removed from the rise of the British automobile's popularity in North America following World War II and the almost immediate popularity of the MG TC in America. God Bless! Tony Brown RN mgbbrown
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