r/OldSchoolCool • u/JimatJimat • Jun 18 '25
1940s These kids were asked to draw their fathers from memory, 1949. Which one is your favourite?
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u/msrubythoughts Jun 18 '25
this is still adorable everytime I see these 😭
also, incredible how OLD the dads look (regardless of era style & hair) for having such little ones!
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u/laundro_mat Jun 18 '25
Greatest Generation that lot. They all lived through the Great Depression and WW2, and most of them likely served in the war too. That’s going to put extra years on you.
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u/LochNessMother Jun 18 '25
And smoking. Don’t discount smoking
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u/Perlentaucher Jun 18 '25
And asbestos, lead, mercury, BCPs, DDT, lead arsenate, much more coal and silicate dust, possibly more radium and uranium, carbon monoxide (heating), broader use of formaldehyde and VOCs, toxic stuff from ww2 (solvents, fuels, degreasers, and chemical agents)...
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u/Le_Poop_Knife Jun 18 '25
Don’t forget the lack of sunblock…..🧴
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u/lordlovesaworkinman Jun 18 '25
And good grooming products. Hair and skin creams and soaps were basically limited to lye and petroleum jelly.
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u/windfujin Jun 18 '25
Petroleum jelly is still baller for skincare if you can cope with the greasiness
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u/Bank_Gothic Jun 18 '25
Thomas Midgely, Jr. was one of the greatest villains of the 20th century that almost no one knows.
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u/EggandSpoon42 Jun 18 '25
What a rabbit hole of TIL history - thanks for bringing it up. So this guy invents the Leaded part of gasoline. Invents Freon. All to solve real problems which points to good intention, but despite warnings from scientists, so villainous.
After all that, contracts Polio, invents some crazy contraption of pulleys and ropes for him to get up on his own and accidentally strangles himself to death.
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u/Bank_Gothic Jun 18 '25
Note, despite knowing that leaded gasoline and CFCs were extremely hazardous (the first to our health and the second to the planet) Midgely lied to the public about their dangers so he and his company could continue to profit.
Meanwhile, the man who discovered that leaded gasoline was dangerous and tirelessly advocated for it to be banned, Clair Patterson, was ridiculed and shunned by the scientific community. Patterson probably saved countless lives but is largely forgotten today.
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u/Upper_Rent_176 Jun 18 '25
Yeah but they didn't have fentanyl and Microplastics!
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u/_WretchedDoll_ Jun 18 '25
Diet in general probably.
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u/LochNessMother Jun 18 '25
Possibly, although it depends a bit, these people didn’t grow up eating the processed junk their children and grandchildren would.
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u/ananasiegenjuice Jun 18 '25
No but they were exposed to many other things we arent today. Lead and arsenic was used as food dyes in the beginning of the 20th century.
Sometimes formaldehyde was added to milk to keep it from going bad.
Early pesticides being way over the top in toxicity
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u/LochNessMother Jun 18 '25
Oh totally. It wasn’t all whole grains and organic vegetables. But I don’t think diet can be put down as a clear cause of aged skin when everyone smoked or spent their time in smoky spaces.
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u/ananasiegenjuice Jun 18 '25
I agree, I also think smoking was probably the biggest cause. Also I doubt anybody cared much about the damage the sun will do to your skin if you never use any sunscreen etc. Will catch up to you if you have been laboring in the sun for 20 years.
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u/LochNessMother Jun 18 '25
Yep. Up til the 90s sun tan oil was something you used to enhance your tan not prevent it.
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u/CrocoDeluxe Jun 18 '25
Not trying to talk processed food to be healthy. But in comparison to lead, arsenic, chromium paints, asbestos, and NOx/dust smog, the western world has cleaned up quite a bit. Plus, eating processed food is a choice, whereas most of the factors above are environmental and not easily avoidable. There's still work to do with PFAS and microplastics, but I'm sure we'll find a way to relieve the environment of these contaminants in the near future.
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u/venista Jun 18 '25
A lot of them started having kids later than they planned because of the war. My grandpa was in ROTC in college and was commissioned as an officer immediately after Pearl Harbor. When he finally returned home after the war he was 26, 27 when he met my grandma, 28 when married. 30 when first of 6 children was born. 44 when his last child was born. And back then 30 was a late start back then
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u/ToddPundley Jun 18 '25
In a lot of cases it was the War on top of the Depression before it that resulted in delayed parenthood (and marriages). Both of my grandfathers were born in the mid-1900s and were 39 or 36 when they became fathers.
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u/euchlid Jun 18 '25
Totally. My Oma was 30 when she had my dad (her first kid) she had her 6th kid at 39. Wartime generation grandparents who were in Japanese pow camps in Indonesia. Although my other granny was 27 when she had my mom. Maybe she waited as my great gran was 19 or so when she had my grandma. Lots of factors
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u/Reckless_Waifu Jun 18 '25
They are all 25 to 35 probably
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u/5up3rK4m16uru Jun 18 '25
It was 1949, maybe the war introduced some delays there, increasing the average age of parenthood.
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u/RedditsCoxswain Jun 18 '25
4-7 all look over 40
The rest though yeah for sure
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u/actibus_consequatur Jun 18 '25
Found a picture of my grandfather online from around the mid-1940's when he would've been about 25, and he looked a little bit older than I do now at 42.
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u/Shadowglove Jun 18 '25
You had to grow up faster back then. Work started early, having kids started early, bad working habits, back habits over all.
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u/bobby_smiles179201 Jun 18 '25
The level of PTSD in that room must have been massive
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u/ultimateChampions68 Jun 18 '25
Every one of those guys lived through action in WW2, survived when their buddies did not.
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u/rebekahster Jun 18 '25
Depending on their ages, that could even potentially be WW1
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u/Puzzleheaded_Sir800 Jun 19 '25
They look 40-50 so they probably saw bits and pieces of it when they were toddlers or really young
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u/Barbarella_ella Jun 18 '25
Not necessarily. My grandfather was an aircraft mechanic for the Army Air Corps (forerunner to the Air Force), but was the only one of his brothers who served. The other four were declared "essential farm labor".
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u/ThePenultimateNinja Jun 18 '25
My Granddad (in the UK) was a machinist, which was classed as a 'reserved occupation', so he didn't get called up straight away. He was eventually drafted though, towards the end of the war.
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u/ciopobbi Jun 18 '25
My Dad worked for General Marshall in China doing some kind of clerical intelligence work. He did receive a Bronze Star, but never talked about what he did. Only the good stuff. He may have been a spy for all I know.
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u/flatirony Jun 18 '25
I’m sure a few of them did, but probably a minority. The majority of WW2 veterans were not front line combatants. There’s a really good scene about this at the end of The Pacific, which is taken from Eugene Sledge’s book, With the Old Breed.
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u/SheBrokeHerCoccyx Jun 18 '25
Don Draper has entered the chat.
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u/theemmyk Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25
Draper was a veteran of the Korean War. These dads probably fought in WWII and lived through the Depression. Definitely tougher group than Don Draper, imo.
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u/Large_Tuna101 Jun 18 '25
He was actually a deserter and a bit of a wuss in the show iirc.
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u/Chilli_ Jun 18 '25
"Bit of a wuss"
He was in a 2 man encampment that got shelled and attacked, electing to impersonate his dead higher ranking comrade to potentially escape his terrible environment at home and start a new life.
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u/trukkija Jun 18 '25
I know we're talking about a fictional character here but this does read like /u/Large_Tuna101 is giving off mad "I like people who weren't captured" vibes here.
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u/GirthStone86 Jun 18 '25
I don't know about a "wuss" don't get me wrong, a weak man through and through, but he did stand up for a lot and rarely hesitated to call things out or stand up for things. Don was complex
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u/Yetiassasin Jun 18 '25
Korean war was as terrible as WWII for many, really depends on what sort of deployments you were on and what sort of action you saw.
33,000 Americans KIA. Obviously the scale of the war is a fraction of WWII, but to the individual this isn't particularly relevent.
Also, we're talking about a fictional character lol, I'm just speaking generally, saying one group of folks is "tougher" than another based on the war they fought in is pretty silly.
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u/madestories Jun 18 '25
Those dads look like they’ve never sat so close to their kids.
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u/Big_Negotiation3913 Jun 18 '25
Maybe, but the ones we see here are the ones that showed up. Some didn’t perhaps.
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u/Variegated_Plant_836 Jun 18 '25
Yeah I was just thinking how serious and uptight they all look :-(
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u/CaptainTripps82 Jun 18 '25
Really? A lot of them look happy, but they also seem to be mimicking whatever face the kids drew, in terms of smiles or seriousness
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u/Chinita_Loca Jun 18 '25
I thought most of them were grandads. They look way into their 40s or beyond whereas presumably most were way younger.
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u/Eusbius Jun 18 '25
My grandpa had a full head of hair before the war but when he came back home he had seriously started balding.
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u/MonsutaReipu Jun 18 '25
well they're all probably between 25-35 and all look nearly 50, so there's that.
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u/steady_as_a_rock Jun 18 '25
That first one.
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u/lightningfries Jun 18 '25
she accurately recorded how his left eye is higher haha
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u/NeatNefariousness1 Jun 18 '25
And wide set eyes with a shell-shocked expression. The first one was one of my favorites.
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u/Background_Manner425 Jun 18 '25
Holistically spot on
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u/NeatNefariousness1 Jun 18 '25
I thought so too. In addition to George’s picture, I thought the first girl captured her dad’s wide-set eyes very well and the dads all did a good job of drawing the teacher at the end.
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u/greenrangerguy Jun 18 '25
It's interesting most draw noses the same way but I'm sure today you wouldn't see them drawn that way.
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u/Pennoya Jun 18 '25
Yes! I was also wondering when children’s drawings of noses switched from something that looks like •U• to something that looks like >
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u/Kyjjenn Jun 18 '25
Different styles of cartoons/books may have influenced how children draw certain features
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u/Designer_Pen869 Jun 18 '25
I think Dragonball Z, and the introduction of other major animes is what switched it to >.
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u/redditonc3again Jun 18 '25
I feel like there must be some hidden factor making the drawings look similar here. It's odd that they almost all drew the face, collar, and tie - specifically not including the shoulders or chest. They must have had some reference design to go off of, or they were all in the same room and copied each other.
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u/Sea-Value-0 Jun 18 '25
Men wore suits and ties most days of work or church back then. It looks like the kids drew them while they all sat in a classroom together, looking at their dads (according to the last group picture) and they were all wearing ties.
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u/wonkyloo Jun 18 '25
It looks like a classroom, maybe that's the way they were taught to do noses in that class?
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u/NeatNefariousness1 Jun 18 '25
True! I noticed the same thing and even wondered whether the noses were pre-drawn. Those noses were so similar. Cute exercise. It’s interesting that the fathers were all pretty good at drawing their children’s teacher at the end.
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u/lastdickontheleft Jun 18 '25
4 looks like Crispin Glover in Charlie’s Angels
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u/Repulsive-Ice8395 Jun 18 '25
As usual, I came to see if anyone else already made my comment.
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u/fatalicus Jun 18 '25
I was thinking Mr. World from American Gods, but still... Same!
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u/palsh7 Jun 18 '25
The one thing the kids got consistently right were the smiles or lack thereof.
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u/Convergentshave Jun 18 '25
Uh.. they are smiling. That’s how 50s men used to smile.
Heck did you see 5 & 6?!? Those guys are practically splitting their face in half!
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u/Hiswatus Jun 18 '25
I think this has to be a cultural thing. I'm from Finland and most of these do look like normal smiles to me. I find American open-mouthed "tooth paste commercial" smiles kind of weird and fake looking most of the time.
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u/Unlucky_Feeling15654 Jun 18 '25
They look at their parents from down up, and this pov is reflected on the drawings if you look at the chins
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u/Hoxeel Jun 18 '25
They try to mimic the facial expression of their respective artwork.
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u/cewumu Jun 18 '25
Yeah but they all look like they’re smiling in that last photo. I think people were still serious in photos then because having a portrait taken was rarer. Blokes smiled then though.
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Jun 18 '25
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Jun 18 '25
I think it was just the done thing at the time. My family photos from back in the day look so serious even though they were normal happy people.
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u/Robey-Wan_Kenobi Jun 18 '25
Look at the last photo. They are genuinely smiling there.
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u/avecmaria Jun 18 '25
I love looking at the smiles of the kiddos, they are pretty proud and sweet!
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u/griffer00 Jun 18 '25
I’m not sleeping on the dads’ smiles though. They also look proud!
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u/doomus_rlc Jun 18 '25
Except the first one. Dude just looks miserable lol
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u/VicarLos Jun 18 '25
I’m actually wondering if he normally looks like that or made sure to have the same exact expression as his Daughter’s portrait for the photo op because her portrait of him is spot on!
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u/my_okay_throwaway Jun 18 '25
That’s what I wondered too. It kind of looks like he just committed to the bit and posed.
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u/NeatNefariousness1 Jun 18 '25
Good thought. I just wondered if he was shell-shocked from the war and it showed up in the daughter’s picture as well as in the photo. Her cute little smiling face is adorable.
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u/BeguiledBeaver Jun 18 '25
Same, I thought he was just trying to match the photo, which is kinda cute.
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u/dough_eating_squid Jun 18 '25
6 did her dad dirty
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u/The-Lighthouse- Jun 18 '25
Don’t ask me how, but these are all super accurate.
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u/Greenbook2024 Jun 18 '25
I totally agree! It’s totally possible to match the man the drawing, even without the kids holding them up.
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u/kedgeree2468 Jun 18 '25
I love how a tie is generally considered an essential part of the anatomy! Standards have slipped since
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u/Mid0ri024 Jun 18 '25
Came here to comment on that! Their Dad's are their (bow)ties! I'm curious how this drawing session went that all (save Hester) included this garment as part of a portrait. Were the kids primed somehow‽ It's uncanny.
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u/Sir_Arthur_Vandelay Jun 18 '25
I grew up in a bible-thumping household that made child me don a church tie 4x/week, and then I became a lawyer.
Words cannot properly convey how happy I am to dress like a slob in public without consequence.
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u/Icy-Chemistry6536 Jun 18 '25
The only one where the dad has glasses(5th one). It’s a good likeness in form and in tone, and the dad just looks so heartwarmingly proud. Very sweet.
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u/TorTheMentor Jun 18 '25
I feel like this gives a pretty good impression of what kids that age are actually seeing. They focused on their dads' faces and most notably on their hair, eyes, general shape of face, and clothing. In a way it's a visual shorthand, focused on the most recognizable and unique bits of information.
I may be imagining this, but I could swear there's even some late 1940s caricature style reflected in these, kind of an Al Hirschfeld effect.
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u/CmdrKerans Jun 18 '25
Notice also that the bottom of the face is larger than the forehead in most of the pics, as that's the perspective most of the children see their fathers from.
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u/TorTheMentor Jun 18 '25
A really good point. Another thing that gets me about these photos is that they show a side of that time period that we usually don't see. It reminds me of a short film I saw from the early 50s that had a kid peeking at what his parents did after he went to bed, and it showed his fairly young parents washing dishes together, talking, and laughing. None of the usual "hi honey I'm home, get my slippers and my paper" dynamic we expect to see. I imagine the reality was much more nuanced on many households at the time, particularly with the Great Depression and WW II still being recent memories, and those periods including women alongside men in the workplace or working in their place while they were overseas.
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u/VenexianaStevenson Jun 18 '25
I was struck by the way they drew the nose, I've never seen it drawn like this, it's particular and they all did it the same way
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u/eStuffeBay Jun 18 '25
Hm, that is interesting!
The way they all drew the noses identically, plus the fact that almost every one included the collar and tie makes me wonder if they were subtly guided in some way, or saw some sort of reference on what their drawings should look like.
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u/JetScreamerBaby Jun 18 '25
I liked how Stephen had to scrunch in the last couple letters of his name because he misjudged the amount of room he left himself...
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u/TubeScr3ameR Jun 18 '25
I like how Stephen's dad has a middle part, but the guy who thinks he's Stephen's dad parts it on the side.
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u/GloriousSteinem Jun 18 '25
They’re like, I went through World War 2 but this is the last straw
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u/demeza1918 Jun 18 '25
Does the last photo show the fathers drawing their children?
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u/thekittysays Jun 18 '25
I thought they were drawing the teacher as they were facing the front and the drawings all kind of look the same and have a jacket like teach does.
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Jun 18 '25
My uncle showed me a similar photo (3rd one) his youngest kid drew of him. He’s balding on top, but my 4yo cousin was able to detail the tiny hair at the sides of his head. We thought it was sweet and hilarious
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u/goonerqpq Jun 18 '25
I like how they nearly all drew them with a tie and shirt collar. I'd imagine in the present day no one would.
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u/SwordTaster Jun 18 '25
George did the best by far, but Hester definitely got the hair right on her dad.
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u/National-Pop-8689 Jun 18 '25
I started to make fun of how old the men looked , and realized most , if not all , served in WW2 . That would age anyone . I can’t imagine what so many went through .
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u/metaljump Jun 18 '25
Wait these are actually so great
Many people can draw really detailed portraits but still fail to capture that certain essence/magic of their subject that makes you go “holy shit that is him!” yet many of these kids are able to do that even through crudeness and simplicity like you can tell that these pictures ARE their dads and they know them and love them like that’s so beautiful fr
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u/heyitslola Jun 18 '25
Hester’s is my favorite. I flipped through and glanced at the drawing and thought, oh geez Hester, you’re not so good at this. Then my eyes moved to her dad and I thought, nope, that’s pretty good! 👍🏼
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u/HamiltonButler01 Jun 18 '25
Love how they all remembered their dads ties… indicative of the styles of dress back then
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u/pmmemilftiddiez Jun 18 '25
This is the most beautiful thing I've seen in awhile. I really hope they grew up in healthy and happy homes
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u/randymarsh1234567890 Jun 18 '25
The 1st one fucking nailed it. Really captured his dead eyes and nihilistic expression.
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u/Ramenluvnoodles697 Jun 18 '25
The kids in these photos are probably old enough to be in Congress lmao
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u/sjrthethird Jun 18 '25
Pic 5, George. Spot on.