When I was in school in the mid 50’s and early 60’s there were still a few door to door salesmen that came around. In our town they came about once a month to try and sell things to the housewives. Since most of the women didn’t work back then they were an easy target.
There was one old guy that my mom didn’t like to come to the door and she couldn’t seem to convince him that she didn’t want to buy any of his stuff. He sold hair brushes and mops and brooms and other household and personal items. I never saw his car, he must have parked somewhere in town and walked everywhere. Probably so the women wouldn’t see his car and know he was on their street or maybe he just liked to walk.
But it was usually not until he was banging on the door at the first house before anyone knew he was in town. He carried a big black bag that he would open up and string stuff all over the living room if he was allowed into the house. He made it into our house only one time. He made such of a mess with the dirt he carried in his pocket to show the women how well his things cleaned, that mom wouldn’t let him in again.
He was a very skinny wiry little guy barely 5’6″ and he was so skinny he looked really small even to me as a child. He always wore a black suit that was shinny and wrinkled from wear and he never looked really neat and tidy to me. His face was long and narrow, with a hawk like nose and small dark eyes that seemed to be sunk into his face above prominent cheekbones. The skin on his face looked like it was about 2 sizes to big and hung in deep wrinkles.
His hair was white, or what he had left was white. It was always a little dirty and greasy looking when he took the fedora off. Mom cringed and wrinkled her nose when he plunked the stinky fedora down on the coffee table; the one time he got into the house.
There was a door to door salesman alarm system between the women because when he hit the first house the news traveled fast that he was on foot and going door to door. Of course back then the phones were party lines for most people and that made the news fly through the town faster than he could walk.
I remember after the first time he came to the house my mom said we were not going to let him in again. So when we got the call that he was in town and where he was at the time, she would put me on salesman watch. When I saw him coming down the street toward our house I would alert mom.
She’d round up my dog and the cat and my sister and we’d go to mom and dad’s bedroom and sit on the floor by the bed. Mom would shut the blinds in the room and we were instructed to keep quiet. Even my dog Brownie knew mom meant business and he wouldn’t even make a sound when the knock came at the door.
I was always amazed how long the salesman would stand on the porch and knock and call out his company name. But he was persistent if nothing else. I wondered now how much he actually made going door to door but it must have been worth his time to keep coming back.
Mom didn’t like his products although I am sure that some of the women in town must have. I know that a lot of women swore by the wooden boar bristle hair brushes that he sold. Mom always bought our combs and brushes at the drug store.
The only other sales person I remember back then was the lady that sold perfume and makeup. She was a local woman and mom would have her come in and give her a glass of tea if she wanted to sit for awhile. But my mom was highly allergic to a lot of things and perfumes and face creams were one of her worst problems.
The lady that sold the cosmetics door to door understood and didn’t push her to buy anything. I think the only thing mom could buy from her was lipstick. But they remained friends even though mom couldn’t use the products she was selling.
The allergy specialist, that mom went to, explained to her that a lot of his patients were allergic to that one brand of cosmetics and it didn’t seem to matter what product it was; face cream, makeup, soap or oil for the bath, they were allergic to all of it. He said there was one ingredient that affected every one that had allergies and that one ingredient was in almost every item the company made.
The door to door salesmen are pretty much a thing of the past now. Now our computers are bombarded with unsolicited emails and ads. They are still door to door salesmen but get to you in a different way. I am not sure what is worse having to lock the doors and hide from the salesman at the door or dealing with unsolicited email on the computer. At least you can just hit the delete button and they are gone from the computer. Wouldn’t that have been great with the door to door salesmen back then? To contact Sandy: [email protected]
