# How to undress for your husband 1930s style: (Life Magazine) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 18, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804 "2013-07-18T01:33:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/1 "2013-07-18T01:33:30Z")
I never knew there were rules for undressing in the bedroom. 😛 I don’t think this article was ever meant to be taken seriously. An amusing retro article that made our grandparents laugh. > **[How to undress for your husband: LIFE publishes step-by-step guide to...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2367710/Life-magazine-LIFE-publishes-step-step-guide-1930s-claims-disrobing-wrong-way-driving-Americas-divorce-rate.html)** > > The images, published originally in LIFE Magazine in 1937 and again on LIFE.com this week, illustrate step-by-step how a wife should - and should not - undress for her husband. slideshow at Life’s website [http://life.time.com/curiosities/how-a-wife-should-undress-dubious-advice-from-burlesque-stars-of-the-1930s/#1](http://life.time.com/curiosities/how-a-wife-should-undress-dubious-advice-from-burlesque-stars-of-the-1930s/#1) > [@](#): > > A curious collection of photographs from the 1930s has shown us just how different life was for the American family just 75 years ago - particularly for women. > > The images, published originally in LIFE Magazine in 1937 and again on [LIFE.com](http://LIFE.com) this week, illustrate step-by-step how a wife should - and should not - undress for her husband. > > Using burlesque dancers as models, Allen Gilbert, who was promoting his new Manhattan School of Undressing, gave readers a few pointers and lamented in the article that wives with a faulty ‘disrobing methodology’ were largely responsible for America’s ballooning divorce rate. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/2 "2013-07-18T01:48:52Z")
I wonder how long the Manhattan School of Undressing was open before it went broke? A few months maybe? I can’t see it attracting many students. Today some ladies go to belly dancing classes. 😃 That will ignite a spark in the bedroom. I’ve been married over 20 years. It isn’t easy keeping the sheets warm. (they were hot 17 years ago). But we still enjoy each other. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/3 "2013-07-18T05:49:12Z")
I can’t deny that there is a graceful way and a clumsy way of undressing, on all sides of the equation. Toppling over when you have your sock caught on your heel can dampen the ardour a tad. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/4 "2013-07-18T06:34:55Z")
I prefer unwrapping my presents myself. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![\_Olive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/4af34b/32.png) [@\_Olive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Olive)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/5 "2013-07-18T08:47:54Z")
I remember many years ago there was a cam for watching called 'dressed for church. The video was an hours worth and nude and semi nude couple getting ready for sunday church. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/6 "2013-07-18T14:49:54Z")
I was surprised at the amount of skin in the photos. I would imagine that spread might have ended up under a lot of boys’ mattresses. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/7 "2013-07-18T16:20:23Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > I was surprised at the amount of skin in the photos. I would imagine that spread might have ended up under a lot of boys’ mattresses. Other than that one shot where the model is bending over and you can see the top half of her breast, it’s not really more skin than you can see in movies of the era. Any sort of exercise (a workout, dance practice/class, horseback riding) meant shorts or a skort that showed that much leg. Halter tops that show that much skin are also very common. And changing scenes aren’t uncommon, wherein women are wearing exactly that sort of underclothing. After all, if showing that much skin were all edgy and shit, a mainstream publication like _Time_ wouldn’t be doing it, ya know? ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/8 "2013-07-18T16:54:51Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > I was surprised at the amount of skin in the photos. I would imagine that spread might have ended up under a lot of boys’ mattresses. If you look at the end, not all those photos made it to the magazine spread. The last two pictures show what actually hit the stands. StG ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/9 "2013-07-18T17:43:58Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > I was surprised at the amount of skin in the photos. I would imagine that spread might have ended up under a lot of boys’ mattresses. They’re boys. A Sears catalog ends up under mattresses. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/10 "2013-07-19T05:45:21Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > I was surprised at the amount of skin in the photos. I would imagine that spread might have ended up under a lot of boys’ mattresses. It was the 1930s, not the 1910s. By that time, it was about the same amount of skin you would’ve seen in a bathing suit. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/11 "2013-07-19T05:59:21Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > I was surprised at the amount of skin in the photos. I would imagine that spread might have ended up under a lot of boys’ mattresses. Probably next to [this cover.](http://www.2neatmagazines.com/Life-Magazine-Covers/1938/Life-Magazine-1938-01-03.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/12 "2013-07-19T11:25:32Z")
Hubba hubba! ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/13 "2013-07-19T12:21:58Z")
there is no wrong way to undress for your husband. But I do admit the facial expressions in the ‘wrong way’ go a long way toward it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-undress-for-your-husband-1930s-style-life-magazine/663804/14 "2013-07-19T16:32:36Z")
When I try to click through the pictures on the Life/Time site, all I get when I try to click to get the second one is a little whirling circle and no other pictures.