Writing Out of an Era

with guest Eva Marie Everson.

Even though I am a child of the 1950s, it was my mother who introduced me to the magic of the decade. When I was a child, we snuggled together, watching Debbie Reynolds movies. Or Gene Kelly movies. Or Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly movies. As I grew older, we sat near each other, our eyes straight ahead to the black and white films showing on the color television/stereo combo. Sometimes, though, those flicks were colorized--the blues and yellows popping in surreal ways. Even up to the day of her death, Mother and I shared the love of classic films and, while neither of us liked watching war movies, we appreciated those set during WWII and immediately after. One evening, as a movie's credits rolled, Mother shared her own memories of those days. "I stood on the sidewalk in front of our house," she told me, referring to an early-childhood memory. "I was about eight or nine and I stood there waving to the soldiers as they made their way in their caravan, heading toward Fort Stewart." Then she smiled. "They'd call out, 'Hey, Little Sister,' and I'd wave and wave." After a pause she said, "And that was my contribution to WWII."

I've always enjoyed the era, but in all honesty I knew little about it. So, when I heard the true story of Joan Hunt Zimmerman, how she came to this country from England after WWII with only $30 in her pocket, and how she ended up buying a wedding dress with four other women before accepting a job in Nuremberg, Germany in the Palace of Justice working under General Robert Partridge, only to return to the States and then marry a soldier she met halfway around the world (and in the dress), I knew I had my homework cut out for me.

Watching movies is one thing. Immersing oneself in an entire era is another. Where to begin?

I contacted my good friend (and fellow author) Dan Walsh. Dan had several era-laden books that had done well and I hoped he'd be a fount of information. Ironically, his answer was the same as my mother's might have been were she still "with us."

"I watched a lot of movies set in that time period or filmed in that era," Dan told me.

Well, all right then ... I began by watching episodes of Bomb Girls (because of the fierce independence of the female characters, even though the era is about ten years ahead of Five Brides) and Call the Midwife (because the era was right and Joan is British). I listened for words and phrases not common to me, but that would have been common to the time and place. As for movies, I watched Monkey Business (which gave me the reference to Marilyn Monroe's walk you'll have to read the book to understand), How to Marry a Millionaire (single women living independently in the 1050s while looking for/not looking for love), and To Catch a Thief (because, well ... let's face it ... Cary Grant is Cary Grant ...no matter the era!).

Because most folks--and certainly not the young women who lived on Greenleaf in Chicago in the early 1950s--had a television, radio met many of the entertainment needs. I went online and found uploads of classic shows (Our Miss Brooks, Father Knows Best, and The Big Show. I used part of the script of the latter in one of the book's scenes.

Of course fashion was a big issue. I typed "Women's Fashions of the 1950s" into a Google search and had a field day, especially with some of the old McCall's and Simplicity dress patterns for both men and women. I had already noted from the movies that women wore gloves and both men and women wore hats. I also noticed that the way a woman moved in her clothes was different from today. There was a femininity I found myself missing ... mostly that which had could recall from my own mother.

I studied every detail of life. Shoes. Hair. Dining experiences. Cars (oh, boy, did I look at cars!). As I wrote, I listened only to the tunes of the 50s. Everything and anything I thought would draw readers into the 1950s.

Then, it was time to get specific. Chicago, 1952 ... Nuremberg, Germany, 1954 ... Charlotte, North Carolina, 1956 ... and most importantly the iconic Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company. I studied photos I found online, including those of downtown Chicago during a Christmas season and videos taken by young servicemen while stationed in Germany. I read accounts of what life was like during the era, especially when it came to being raised by certain religious standards. I studied Joan's photos, looking deep into the background for any hint of the way things had been.

I'll be honest ... some days I found myself wishing I'd been born 25 years earlier than what I had been and some days I found myself so enraptured by the era, I allowed myself to simply stay there, even after my writing workday had come to a close.

At the end of the near-year it took me to write the book, I felt I knew and understood the world of the real Joan Hunt and her four roommates better than I could have ever done, even if all five of them were alive to tell me every little detail. I also found myself a little bit madly, crazy-in-love with an entire decade.

Joan Hunt Zimmerman and her husband Robert on their wedding day.

I'd love to hear about your favorite decade ... a favorite movie or song from within that era ... or the fashion ... or, share with us a particular experience you had that could have only happened when it did.

Five Brides by Eva Marie Everson

One dress, five women, a lifetime of memories.


Five single, fiercely independent women live together in a Chicago apartment in the early 1950s but rarely see one another. One Saturday afternoon, as they are serendipitously together downtown, they spy a wedding dress in a storefront window at the famous Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. After trying it on―much to the dismay of the salesclerk and without a single boyfriend or date between the five of them―they decide to pool their money to purchase it. Can one dress forever connect five women who live together only a short time before taking their own journeys to love and whatever comes happily ever after?


Leave a comment today for a chance to win a copy of Five Brides. Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.

Eva Marie Everson is a multiple-award winning author and speaker. She is president of Word Weavers International, director of Florida Christian Writers Conference, and enjoys coaching new authors through her company, Pen in Hand. Eva Marie and her husband are the parents of three fabulous children who have blessed them with the world's greatest grandchildren.Visit her at evamarieeversonauthor.com.