It’s the first day of the New Year, and the time when
everybody starts thinking of changing their life for the better. Even if you
declare to all and sundry that you don’t ‘do’ New Year Resolutions, you
probably secretly thought of a couple – the kind you would do if you were to do
resolutions.
The most popular New Year Resolutions people went with in
the 1950s were illustrated for the Lensmen photographers by Milo O’Shea, a
talented character actor who cut his thespian teeth on the Irish stage. He is
perhaps best known internationally for his role as Dr Duran Duran in Barberella, or will be recognized from
various roles in series such as Cheers,
Fraiser and The West Wing.
If you have a hangover from the celebrations last night, the
first item on your list might be alcohol, or at least copious drinking. It
seemed to have been a common choice in 1959 too, as Milo demonstrates in this
image.
Smoking is another choice, especially in 2015 when you’d
almost need a bank loan to purchase just a single pack of cigarettes. The
health benefits of giving up are not to be overlooked either, of course, and I
can testify from personal experience on that. Though whether money or health
was the main push factor in 1959, I’m not sure. Given Milo’s attempt to wedge
as many in his mouth as possible, I suspect health may be a little bit down the
list.
But another resolution that constantly pops up for people is
to stop procrastinating, or to stop putting unpleasant tasks on the long
finger. Milo demonstrates this tendency in this photo, as he sneakily brushesthe dirt under the rug while nobody is watching.
There’s a few more modern things that people might be
swearing off this year, like maybe wasting less time on Facebook, or watching
less on Netflix, or spending less on takeaway skinny mochas with a caramel
twist.
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