WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Dale’s Dates: Grandmother Knows Best, Part 1

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

Join Cupid and Psyche as they dive into advice from the 1950s on how to find a spouse.

Welcome back to Dale today. Love is still awkward and bad stories. Psyche, how are you doing this week? Still single. Cupid. How's it going? It's going. Lots of stuff going on. But it's good to be back and recording an episode

of Dale's dates. Yeah. Today we have a treat for whoever dares to listen to Dale's dates. We're going back to the 1950s to find someone a husband because we are bringing 129 ways to find a husband in 1958.

Do we know the name of whoever wrote this? No. The only sort of articles I could find are just a bunch of modern people writing opinions about it and this one has all 129 reasons well whoever this lady was I think homesteaders rad trads and hillsdale girls have have to thank her for all these creative ways to find them a man you know yeah and hey we're inclusive so maybe you guys you could find a wife this way as well oh I'm sure there's ways that you can find a wife from this if anything you can get yourself in the ways the women are might be looking for you you know if it's like go to this place you guys go to the place so they can

find you oh 100% yeah uh so yeah so last week we talked about love is blind or of modern dating garbage and now we're sort of going retro we're sort of that's right uh the complete opposite of what we did last week so hopefully we well last time it was how not to get a husband this week was how to get a husband so hopefully there will be some good advice here in this uh in this list uh so starting off with number one The advice of the writer is to get a dog and walk it. That's right. Easy.

How many times have you walked a dog? I've walked many a dog. Yes. How many times have you found a wife out of that? Still zero. Yeah. Zero, yeah. So we've got to work on that.

Dog sitting hasn't done it for me. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when it's Dr. Maddox's dog, I feel like you're probably, your demographic probably isn't. Well, yeah, that's kind of rough. It was a lot of concerned couples as to why there was a 20-year-old at this nice house by herself. And why the dog looked like it was about to die? Well, you know, he's still alive.

So I think that's, yeah, he is. I mean, I think there's sort of good principle behind this sort of get active. Get out, get out of your house. That's a start to finding a husband. And if that means you have to walk a dog, that's fine. That means you get to walk a dog. Walking dog is a privilege, okay. I know I'm a cat person, but that's fine.

I mean, this is sort of the whole thing behind, like, all the running clubs in the big cities where people are finding... No, I think getting out of the house, walking a dog, that's a good start. You might also want to add, talk to the person walking the dog. Yes. I feel like that's sort of implied. Because if you're staring at the person walking the dog, that's called stalking. And that's not a way to find a spouse, I don't think. Yeah, very fine line.

That's not actually very fine at all. Yeah, just talk to them. Be social. Don't be weird. Don't ask for their phone number the first time you see them. No. Yeah. That's weird. That is kind of weird. Moving on to number two. This one is really funny. Have your car break down at a strategic place? That's right. It worked for one of my housemates. Did it really? Well, I don't know if they're going to get married, but it sure works if you need to change the battery and don't know how to as a girl. Do you look at any man and be like, hey, do you? Do you? you know how to do the car thing yeah i mean when i read this my uh my mind sort of immediately went to that flannery o'connor short story where it was it a good man is hard to find oh yeah yeah where this family breaks down in the middle of nowhere and then that's why it's strategic yeah just not not anywhere but this requires a level of um invasiveness of someone's privacy to choose

the right place yeah like if you want to break down close to his house that's true you have to find out where he lives first. Yeah. Yeah. So this one is, I don't know, it could work for you. I don't know if this might be. I broke down on the side of the highway last semester and not a single man came to help me. And I looked pretty helpless because I'm not really sure what's going on in the inside of a car.

Well, I guess that just goes to show that O'Connor was right and a good man is hard to find. It is hard to find. Even if they don't end up sort of murdering you in your family. Yeah. No. Thankfully, good men are hard to find. Yeah. This next one is applicable to students here at Hillsdale. Attend night school and take courses that men like.

Lucky for you. It doesn't have to be night school. It could just be school school. What courses do men like, Cupid? Enlighten us. If you want to find a man, take any Dr. Peter's English classes. Really? They are notoriously, he's teaching a section right now that is exclusive men. That's true. It is your best opinion that they should.

take Dr. Peters' class. In my best opinion, if you want to find a man, Dr. Peter's classes are very, very heavily skewed towards the male demographic. Could I ask why is that, or is that going to get you in trouble? I have no clue. I love Dr. Peters. I think it depends on the man that they're trying to find. Like, what kind of man is a Dr. Peters class?

I still feel like there's a pretty wide range of guys who take Dr. Peters classes. you know obviously not every class every guy is a winner but the more guys you put in a room the more likely that one of them will be a winner take some philosophy classes um but that's only if you're okay with men mansplaining to you if you're okay with a man starting a sentence with actually you might find them in the philosophy department do come hang out or like any department at Hillsdale. Yeah, I mean, I think there's different iterations. It's just in the philosophy department.

They are just very smart. That's true. Or at least they think they're smart. They try. Yeah. This next one, I'm just going to read it. Look in the census reports for places with the most single men. As of 1958, Nevada has 125 males for every 100 females.

Goodness. Nevada's the place to be. in 1958 And then sort of in a similar vein The next one is read the obituaries To find eligible widowers You know, I don't hate that one Really?

Yeah I mean I I don't want to find his wife's obituary To be completely honest But finding an eligible widower Not a bad idea Probably got his life a little bit together Before he met you

That's fair, that's fair You know Has a sense of responsibility Yeah If he is willing to marry you He really loves you because he already married someone else and they died. That's true. I don't know.

It might take a little bit of time. Maybe don't jump on that one right away. No, that's for later on. I don't think any Hellsill College shouldn't ought be looking at obituaries for eligible widowers. No, the age difference might be a little bit. I was invited to a wedding, though, of some guy that was friends with someone who passed away and he was married, had nine children, attended the funeral, met this. lady they became good friends and got married a year after that oh well yeah he was 68 he was his first marriage it was beautiful that's i mean hey anything can happen i suppose widowers don't those four of them

like they're great they i mean they've already got a proven track record yeah um let's see they're we're skipping over some of them because you know some of them are not they're just kind of like anodyne and just sort of kind of boring um this one i think is Ask your friend's husbands who the eligible men are in their offices. In their offices, yes. We love an employed man. Yeah. And sort of.

I think this works for guys too. If you have a friend that, you know, works somewhere where the women might be of your type. Yeah. Ask her. She knows. I feel like that would especially work for men looking for, you know, wives because I feel like a lot of women on our campus. You mean to tell me some guys are okay with women working? I know.

It's scandalous. Crazy. It's crazy. No, but I think a woman's opinion might be helpful here. I feel like at Hillsdale, especially, a lot of women like to sort of play matchmaker. Yeah. Whether or not they're good at it sort of depends on the individual, but the effort is there. Not all of us can be perfect judges of character, you know?

That's true. That's true. And hey, we're not holding out against anything. Plus, you know, the woman will tell you if they're crazy before you date them. That's true. Yeah. Yeah. let's see be nice to people because they may have an eligible brother or son that's right

it works pretty straightforward although i must say it's my hot take blind dates don't work yeah i feel like blind dates are kind of blind dates don't work i haven't been to a single one that has been decent yeah i don't know yeah it's it's hard like if your mom calls you cupid you know from from the heavens and it's like hey there's this girl she's not dead yet she's still alive well you're a Greek God. So, you know, I'm just making assumptions here. If your mom's immortal, you can tell me later. But she calls you. It's like, hey, Cupid, found this girl. Very nice. Goes to church. Would you go out with her? There are very few people that I would, see, here's the thing. There are like four people that I would trust to know me well enough to set me up with someone who I think

would work. My mom is one of them. I have a couple friends here. I've got a couple of friends back home. But for the most part... Probably not. Yeah. Probably not. And so, like, be nice to people, but don't put your hopes on their brothers or sons.

Yeah. Because 90% of the time, the son's not going to listen to her or him if you're talking to the dad and their brother. I mean, I know people's siblings. They're not. I don't know. Yeah. Sometimes the apple does fall far from the tree. Very far.

Um, next one, get a government job overseas. Go find yourself in France. Yeah, I suppose, yeah. Is that for an American husband or a foreign husband? Which one do we want? I don't think the article really specifies. So, hey, if you want to go, you know, sort of get married to an international man of intrigue, then that might be a good one for you. Next one is volunteer for jury duty.

oh what that's unusual but hopefully it's not the man who's you know case that you're presiding over hopefully not i mean i'm i'm gonna give the charitable view and say that there's a fellow member of the jury yeah that is an eligible bachelor still it's quite an unusual place like how do you break that out in a dinner party with other couples like oh yeah we met a jury jury It was a murder case Yeah, we bonded over, you know, deliberating I just really loved his, you know, hunger and thirst for righteousness We were both the first, we were the only first two to sort of to say yes

Yeah, to bring down the guilty verdict Yeah, I mean, I guess for some people in my work I don't know, I think that's that's in the widower category Don't go for that one yet Yeah, next one be friendly to ugly men yes yes be friendly to ugly men i agree yeah ugly men are quite kind back to you that's very true yeah and they're probably a great person don't knock them out of your list ladies yeah the ugly guy can become really nice yeah and really nice looking if it starts working out so

you know there's hope for everybody and hey plastic surgery exists i'm i'm kidding i'm not i'm not advocate I mean, okay, listen, let's talk about the other side of that prompt. Be nice to ugly girls. Yeah. I mean, I feel like that's just, be nice to everyone is just sort of a, be nice to ugly girls. You never know. Maybe she's exactly your type and you just haven't discovered it yet. That's true. And hey, maybe it's, you know. Maybe she's not ugly. Maybe she hasn't taken a shower in a couple days. I was about to say it's maybe one of those rom-coms where they get like Anne half away. Yeah.

They just like have her hair up and put glasses on her and I don't know, maybe give her braces. And then when all that comes off. Princess Diary. Yeah. Yep. So hey, maybe she just needs to like take like wear contacts. Yeah. You won't think she's ugly anymore.

Wow. Going back to like 2005 with that glass hating right there. Uh, number 19. I think I really like this one. Get lost at a football game. Ooh. I've never got to lost at a football game. Maybe I should.

try that rodeo or like anywhere where there is a large sort of group of guys who and if they want to help you then go to like go to like a a Lego store if you're into that sort of guy there's a Lego store. There's a lot of guys who get lost at a convention would be my version of that in you know 2025 I think the football game might be it but given how people are not talking to each other face to face anymore in a lot of public places that might be a hard place to be like sorry where where where am i you know but a convention if you go to a convention people are expected to talk to the people at the booths or whatever yeah be like hey i'm looking for and you just say a random spot the guy will take you you know yeah uh next one on a plane train or bus don't

sit next to a woman so talking to women uh sit next to a man and vice versa for men if you're just in public transit don't be creepy about it don't be creepy yeah i feel like sort of that that can get creepy quickly you know yeah like if you see a girl and she's clearly like doing stuff if you plop yourself next to her and it's like hey that that might not work for you i don't know same for women like you know if a guy's in the middle of something and it's clearly locked in first he will probably not register that you're sitting there for a while yeah and then if you interrupt him you might like actually shoot yourself in the foot with that one yeah i feel like this one may have been sort of recommended in the age where it's it wasn't sort of yeah 1958 when people didn't have

phones and stuff to do yeah and where you know there wasn't the expectation that you'd be recorded and posted on social media for doing like the most basic thing yeah one person thought it was weird i mean and sitting next to someone that you don't know it's not weird objectively no but there's plenty of people with a lack of social skills that would find that like jarring so i don't know exactly yeah i don't know if a bus is also like mid cute that people want today i don't know i feel like the the opportunities for meet cute sort of have decreased significantly yeah which is which is sad we all want the meat cute no one wants to like oh i swipe right on him you know yeah uh let's see what's uh so uh okay so this is in the category how to let him know you're

there. The first one is stumble when you walk into a room that he's in. This never worked for me. As a chronically clumsy person, I have stumbled on air more times than I can count.

Literally never has this worked. Yeah. I don't know. If you do it as a man, you'll definitely get some stairs. So if you want attention, that might be it. But if you want a husband or a wife, maybe not. Unless you stumble on them. They're definitely going to know you're there if you do that.

Yeah, fall over. Yeah. This one, I actually kind of like this one. Forget discretion every once in a while and call him up. I feel like especially here, there's sort of... Call him up. I like that. There's like sort of an attitude amongst like the trads, like the group who wants to sort of get back to traditional dating,

which I think is a generally good movement and a good idea. What is traditional dating anyway? Look at the 1958 ladies calling. of these men. There's sort of like an expectation that the guy has to make every sort of initiatory move.

Which is, which if a guy doesn't that, if a guy doesn't do that, it doesn't mean that he's like not interested or cowardly. Sometimes the guy won't do it if he thinks that you're not interested. And so you sort of putting yourself out there in a way to show that

you're interested without taking away the responsibility from him. There's, there's, you know, I got some advice about this. And it was men do the first move when they have the green light, you know? So you have to give them a little bit. Like, okay, fine. Don't tell him like, hey, you should take me out on a date.

Yeah. Tell me? Like, that's really not going to do it. But, you know, talk to him maybe. Say hello? If he thinks you're a scarecrow, then it doesn't matter, like, how much he wants. Like, if he thinks that there's no shot that, you know, you're going to say yes. How's your week been?

Yeah. Talk to him. Maybe smile. Make it clear that, like, you know that he exists. Yeah. To a certain extent, you're sort of interested. If he makes a joke that's half decent, why don't you laugh at it? Like, this doesn't need to be that hard.

It's not that hard. But it's going back to that, like, you know, does he have to do everything? I don't think so. I mean, text him. Hey, how's it going? Yeah. That's not the same thing as asking him out. Yeah.

Just being like, I thought about you yesterday. That's a great text. Wouldn't that make you happy? that would make my month yeah like i thought about you yesterday hope you're doing well that's a perfectly nice text that you can send anybody yeah exactly 100% same with guys you know same with guys yeah also i got say if a guy has the nerve to call a girl that's great yeah like caller be like hey what are you do on saturday yeah yeah want to get coffee exactly yeah rough draft oh rough draft where there are no there's no such thing as a rough draft uh let's see

what's another good one are we close to the ugly men one the half pretty friends so you can get your left over that one oh we need to talk about it I'll go back to that one what's the way yeah don't be afraid to associate with more attractive peers they may have some leftovers

how do you feel about this do you want your friend's leftovers that's that's that's quite it's this rough way of saying it That's a very rough way of saying it. I mean, I don't, it would depend on, I think it would depend on the guy who's, you know, my friend whose ex this was. And like if I knew her and was sort of interested, then I would, yeah.

I mean, I don't think. Do you think guys are more likely to date someone who's, like, if your friend's dated someone? It really depends. I don't know how the brocode applies in these situations because I think girls would be. Very reluctant to date a guy. You definitely have, I feel like, you definitely have to ask first. Mm-hmm. Like, does it matter how involved you were?

Yeah, I feel like a couple dates. Do you have to ask? Oh, no. No. If, like, if, if you guys aren't, like, officially, like, dating each other and you go, but you go on a couple dates, no, you don't have to ask. If you're in, like, a two, three-year long relationship. Well, yeah, I mean, I feel like there's, I mean, you got to get the appropriate morning period.

Yeah. So, I don't know, it depends. I feel like for some girls, even if you just went on one date, you might want to ask. Really? I think so. Like, one date for many girls I know, like, takes a level of involvement on their end that might make it awkward if you're just like, so. So how much, because like this is, I'm of the opinion that of, unless there are like specific extenuating circumstances, most requests for first dates should be yes. Yeah. No, I agree. So my personal rule is anyone who asks for a first date gets a first date just for asking. The second one, that's my choice. So that's my personal approach to this thing. But I know for a lot of girls, like the mental energy it takes to prepare for one date can be quite consuming. Is he going to like me? I need to do all these things. I need to get ready. It's going to take forever. And then you discuss.

with your friends and it's been three days and you haven't slept you know like it's just it's a lot i don't do that but i have friends who do this approach to dating and i think it's exhausting and women shouldn't do it but Never want to stop rolling you.