From the Editor: Give Me That Good Old-Fashioned Modern This issue has been a blast to put together! I just celebrated another birthday, always cause for a stroll down memory lane, and this new Jetsetmodern deals with some of my fondest recollections. The greatest thing about being around in the Mid-Century era was the constant change - the shape and feel of life evolved at a pace that is hard to imagine today. Cars went from dumpy postwar six-cylinder sedans, to magical tailfinned V8 wonders by 1960. The Fifties began with family dinners and eat-your-vegetables; they ended with instant pizza mix and chip-‘n’-dip. The chairs of my toddler years were heavy, lumpen affairs whose ugly dark upholstery hid beneath droopy slipcovers. My teens saw lightweight, sleek Danish-style furniture, and if a lot of it was from W.T. Grant’s, it was still modern. There’s modernism around today. There are new designs that hold tremendous promise for the future, and the best of the Mid-Century is being reproduced. But it’s not the same, because the mailbox never holds an Elizabeth Gordon-edited issue of House Beautiful devoted to Danish Modern any more. There’s no more Sears catalogue, crammed with rya rugs and Spaceliner bikes and futuristic stoves. The Jetsons haven’t been seen in a Western Auto flyer in years. And the boundless optimism that made America excited about those things, so many years ago, has taken a sad drubbing. I want to keep that optimism alive, and I want to see it back in the mainstream. That’s why I felt it was important to have an issue about MAMCM - Middle American Mid-Century Modern. There’s an old aphorism: “Those who do not learn from the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them.” This month, we’re standing that sentence on its head, presenting the successes of the past. In a world filled with supersized SUV’s, glitzy overstuffed furniture, and mammoth McMansions, they’re worth reviving, repeating, getting excited about all over again. Sandy McLendon Editor-In-Chief www.jetsetmodern.com sandy@jetsetmodern.com