May, 1937

[Angela Bauer]

May, 1937

 

Fiction by Angela Bauer

As told to her by her loving husband, Don Davis

 

In mid-June I would turn five. Since September 1936 I had been a child actor on network radio broadcast from New York City. Being on radio was fun, but there were also disadvantages.

I was discovered while I was reading a story to other kids in my Kindergarten class. The advertising agency lady picked me because I could read and yet my voice sounded like an ordinary four-year-old. Then I was proud of having been toilet trained since I could remember.

The primary downside for child actors was that we were required to wear diapers in the studio during performances and rehearsals. It was explained that because we performed live, it would not be possible to take potty breaks.

Mind you this was a long time before disposable diapers were common, practical or even had factory-installed sticky tapes. At least in 1936 the revolutionary PlayTex stretchy latex baby pants were available from a single department store in New York City. We already had some of those because I needed diapers for bed.

The washable diapers did improve during the 1930’s. Mine were the classic Curity rectangular 21x40” flat gauze diapers held in place with special “diaper” safety pins. My nanny was an expert at folding my diapers to fit me correctly for any situation. For bed she would fold two diapers together. For days she only used a single diaper so she changed those more often every two hours or less. Since the wet or soiled diapers needed to be taken home, diaper bags then were huge.

Before I was discovered I did not think about toilet use. When I felt the need to go I went to a toilet. At school there were boy and girl restrooms connected to the classrooms. We did not need to ask permission. We just left our seat quietly, went to the toilet, did our thing and returned to our desks.

I was not ashamed about wearing a diaper while on radio. The studio audience could not see the diapers inside our clothing. At the studio our restrooms were private from the audience.

Over the first months I was hired for an increasing number of radio shows. Frequently I would be at the studio for many hours. If I was waiting between rehearsals or performances I would tell my Nanny that I needed a toilet. She would take me to the restroom where in private she would remove my diaper. I would then use the toilet as if I had simply lowered ordinary underpants. Once I finished and had cleaned myself my nanny would diaper me again.

However, if I was in a rehearsal or performance I just used my diaper both to pee and to poop.

At first my diaper was removed before the trip home and I was not diapered until I got to the studio.

Then one time after several hours at the studio on the way home I felt the need to pee. I did pee, but since I was not wearing a diaper my trousers, underpants and the car seat got wet. I wasn’t spanked or scolded for wetting my pants, but the next day I was diapered at home before we left for the studio. I remained diapered until we returned home.

The following week when I felt the need for a toilet my nanny told me to use my diaper and to only ask for a diaper change when doing so would be convenient. Of course at home I would forget I was not diapered.

As a result I often wet my pants while awake and my bed while sleeping. Nanny must have spoken to my mother about the accidents and wet beds.

One day after we got home Nanny told me I would remain diapered for the afternoon and for bed. I protested to my mother as soon as she got home from work.

Instead of being sympathetic, my mother told me that if I refused to wear diapers at home I could no longer be an actor. I thought about that for several minutes before I told my mother I enjoyed acting so much that I would put up with wearing diapers at home and for the trips.

What surprised me was that my mother asked my nanny to remove my diaper. Once my bottom was bare my mother put me over her lap and gave me the hardest spanking of my life up to then. She told me she spanked me for being an ungrateful brat.

During April 1937 my work on radio slowed down. After a couple of days without work I no longer wet my bed. My mother told my nanny while I was in the room to not diaper me routinely and to go back to the old way. I did not have a wetting accident while asleep or while awake.

I had a couple of radio jobs for which I was only diapered after getting to the studio. I would remain diapered until we got home. That seemed fair to me.

Early in May 1937 I had a rehearsal and a performance on a Friday. I wet my diaper during the drive home, so I had to wear the wet diaper for about a half hour. At home Nanny removed the wet diaper. I used the toilet and put on underpants immediately.

Saturday before lunch we had to go to a radio station. I was not diapered for the short trip. I just managed to reach a toilet before my bladder let go. Nanny was waiting with a diaper once I finished using the toilet. That evening I was sleepy before the drive home so I wore a diaper without protest.

At home mother told me she had decided to return me to diapers full-time. I did not think I deserved to be diapered. My mother considered that I had thrown a tantrum, so she spanked me harder than usual. Then Nanny diapered me.

Not wanting more spankings, I stopped complaining about being diapered. I also no longer asked to use toilets. Even my mother, who seldom changed my diapers, could tell when I needed changing.

I was not in the least embarrassed about using the diapers I was required to wear. Friends about my age who were not actors were surprised I accepted being diapered. Those who visited our large apartment knew about the over-sized changing table and diaper pail in my room. Nanny never bothered to close my door when changing me.

At the radio studios of all the networks the restrooms for child performers all had changing tables and cubbies for storage of diaper bags.

Away from home and studios Nanny took me to ladies’ rooms. None of those had changing tables large enough for me even when I was only four. Most had no changing table. Nanny was ingenious and made do. Long before I was on radio I knew better than to squirm or wriggle during a diaper change. Nanny had unlimited authority to spank me if I failed to cooperate while being diapered.

[AbabeBill]

Great story! 
Announcer: This program is sponsored by, Playtex! Keep your baby sociably acceptably, with Playtex latex baby pants. Several sizes available. Stretches to fit any baby, or toddler comfortably. Ventilated, for better air circulation. Keep wetness in, and keep your baby sociably acceptably, Playtex baby pants! ? 

[Angela Bauer]

6 hours ago, AbabeBill said:

Great story! 
Announcer: This program is sponsored by, Playtex! Keep your baby sociably acceptably, with Playtex latex baby pants. Several sizes available. Stretches to fit any baby, or toddler comfortably. Ventilated, for better air circulation. Keep wetness in, and keep your baby sociably acceptably, Playtex baby pants! ? 

Wow, do you own recordings of PlayTex radio commercials? Or even TV commercials?

It is possible that PlayTex advertised their baby pants on early TV. After PlayTex resumed production of stretchy pants once wartime rationing ended (circa early 1946) they introduced daytime baby pants with the vent holes. Before they ended baby pants production in late 1954 PlayTex was making adult sizes which they termed "sanitary panties". I've been told they continues making sanitary panties well after 1954, so it is possible pioneer adult babies used those.

Perhaps an expert on all things rubber panty can inform us. What my husband remember from doing PlayTex radio commercials up to the summer of 1942 is that vent holes were not mentioned, nor were adult sizes. He was nine during the summer of 1941 and knows that the PlayTex pants he wore then did not have vent holes. Long before 1946 he stopped wearing any kind of diaper. Since he was not getting paid to perform PlayTex commercials he paid no attention to any kind of diaper cover until his first son was born in 1962. He did his share of diaper changing for his older son and his daughter who was born in April 1964, several months before I was born in July 1964. Yes, my step-daughter kids me about being my elder.

I gotta say I wish I could have worn PlayTex baby panties. My Mom was born in 1937 and was toilet-trained by 1940. My Granny Vi has told me she did splurge on buying PlayTex pants for her older daughters until those were sold-out in 1942. By 1947 when her last daughter (my Aunt Betsy) was born Granny Vi was happy with the far less expensive Gerber vinyl baby pants. Of course Granny also wore diapers 24/7 since 1936. She told me she did buy PlayTex adult sanitary panties when she saw those in a store circa 1949. She did not find any advantage over adult-size Gerber panties which she continued to buy after they became VIP in the 1990's. Now Granny and my Mom wear the same kind of KINs pull-on vinyl panties as my sisters Penny, Missy and I wear.

[AbabeBill]

@Angela Bauer, LOL. No, I have no recordings. But, I’m well steeped in what advertisers might say. As are we all. 
I have seen some of those, PlayTex sanitary pants for sale on eBay. They must have been hot while wearing them, even with vent holes. 
My dad was born in 1935, later he was a bedwetter. My grandmother had a rubber sheet for his bed, which was kind of an expensive item, (for them) to lay out for. My dad, said he had the rubber sheet, and they were hard to come by at that time, because of the war. Couldn’t get rubber, it was either cut off, or going to the war effort. I don’t know from what time span he wet the bed, but if I were to guess, it would be from about 1938-1943, 44, 45?