Jul 16
1964, when "backyard banquet" meant throwing some burgers and hot dogs on the grill and calling it haute cuisine because you had "The Champagne of Bottle Beer" to wash it down. The audacity of comparing beer to champagne would be hilarious if it wasn't so earnest.
Everyone in this photo is having the exact same amount of fun, which is to say "aggressively cheerful in that specific mid-century way." The woman's hair could withstand a nuclear blast, the men are wearing colors that would make a peacock blush, and somehow there's an entire salad spread for what looks like a cookout for three. Also, "no-return bottles", because nothing says "premium beverage" like single-use glass.
Source: Redbook Magazine, August 1964.
