tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83806049808534392842024-03-10T22:23:44.287-05:00the american past: NYC in focusAn American Studies take on New York City: exploring the city through its various forms, from images and novels to pop culture and social history.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-54815208566377930712021-08-23T17:20:00.013-05:002021-09-07T11:20:56.200-05:00“Would you welcome, Miss Diane Keaton.” <p> </p>
<div class="entry-content">
<p class="has-text-align-center" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></p><div class="wp-block-image" style="text-align: center;"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/diane-keaton-godfather.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1170" data-attachment-id="1170" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="diane-keaton-godfather" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/diane-keaton-godfather.jpg?w=690" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/diane-keaton-godfather.jpg?w=207" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/diane-keaton-godfather.jpg" data-orig-size="690,1000" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/diane-keaton-godfather/" height="640" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/diane-keaton-godfather.jpg?w=690" width="442" /></a><figcaption>What a lovely blouse, Mrs Corleone! Diane Keaton as Kay Adams Corleone in <i>The Godfather</i> (1972)</figcaption></figure></div>
<p>On December 28, 1972, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoiJXz4g2RY" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Diane Keaton appeared</a> on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.</p>
<p>“Would you welcome, Miss Diane Keaton.”</p>
<p>After a discussion of her bangs (prompted by a comment made by Keaton
herself) Johnny Carson asked his first question. He was curious about
what she was wearing.</p>
<div class="wp-block-image" style="text-align: center;"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/screen-shot-2020-09-30-at-3.57.00-pm.png"><img class="wp-image-1172" data-attachment-id="1172" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="screen-shot-2020-09-30-at-3.57.00-pm" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/screen-shot-2020-09-30-at-3.57.00-pm.png?w=723" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/screen-shot-2020-09-30-at-3.57.00-pm.png?w=300" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/screen-shot-2020-09-30-at-3.57.00-pm.png" data-orig-size="2018,1538" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/screen-shot-2020-09-30-at-3-57-00-pm/" height="488" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/screen-shot-2020-09-30-at-3.57.00-pm.png?w=1024" width="640" /></a></figure></div>
<p>Carson: “What are you wearing tonight? It looks like kind of a suit.”</p>
<p>Keaton: “It is a suit. I’m just like you guys. I have a suit on, yeah.”</p>
<p>Carson: “Was it a man’s suit that you had fixed?”</p>
<p>Keaton: “Oh, no. It’s a female suit.”</p>
<p>Carson: “Uh-huh.”</p>
<p>Keaton: “And I am female.”</p>
<p>Carson: “Oh I know that. No, I was…”</p>
<p>Keaton: “Sometimes, you know. . .”</p>
<p>Carson: “There’s no question about that.”</p>
<p>Keaton: “You promise?</p>
<p>Carson: “Yeah.”</p>
<p>Keaton: “You do?”</p>
<p>Carson: “And you’re wearing those clogs again tonight.”</p>
<p>Keaton: “That’s right, yeah, yeah. Well, now that we know what I look like.”</p>
<p>Ed McMahon interjected: “And a lovely blouse.”</p>
<p>It had been several months since the blockbuster film, <i>The Godfather</i>, in which Keaton had a starring role, had been released.</p>
<p>One of Carson’s next questions concerned what presents Keaton had received for Christmas.</p>
<p>Finally, Carson ventured into his guest’s biography. He was surprised
to learn that no, she had not grown up in New York City, where she now
lived. She had grown up in Southern California and moved to NYC at the
age of 19.</p>
<p>“Did you go alone to New York?” Carson asked. Indeed, she had, Keaton responded.</p>
<p>“That’s kind of a big move for a young girl to go to the big city,” Carson said.</p>
<p class="has-text-align-center" style="font-size: 21px; text-align: center;"><b>YOUNG GIRL, BIG CITY</b></p>
<p class="has-normal-font-size">In 1965, Keaton headed to New York City. Known then as Diane Hall (her real name), Keaton had been accepted into the <a href="https://neighborhoodplayhouse.org/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater</a> (est. 1928), located at 340 E 54th Street. There she studied with famed acting teacher, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBJMZ4COkMw" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Sanford Meisner</a>. </p>
<div class="wp-block-image" style="text-align: center;"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/daily_news_sat__mar_26__1938_.jpg"><img alt="" class="wp-image-1202" data-attachment-id="1202" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="daily_news_sat__mar_26__1938_" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/daily_news_sat__mar_26__1938_.jpg?w=689" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/daily_news_sat__mar_26__1938_.jpg?w=202" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/daily_news_sat__mar_26__1938_.jpg" data-orig-size="3341,4962" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/daily_news_sat__mar_26__1938_/" height="512" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/daily_news_sat__mar_26__1938_.jpg?w=689" width="345" /></a><figcaption>Sanford
Meisner, 1938. Meisner was a member of the Group Theatre in New York.
He developed a method of teaching acting based on Stanislavsky’s
“method,” but involving a more emotional and reflective way of accessing
emotional states and truthfulness in characterizations.</figcaption></figure></div>
<p>When Keaton first arrived in NYC, she stayed at the YWCA. But only for a 3 days. Soon, she moved into the <b>Rehearsal Club</b>
at 47 West 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Housed in a
brownstone, the boarding house (women only) operated from 1923 to 1979
and served as inspiration for Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman’s play <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_Door_(play)">Stage Door</a></i>. (Later made into a film by the same name.) </p>
<div class="wp-block-image" style="text-align: center;"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/rehearson-club.jpg"><img alt="" class="wp-image-1179" data-attachment-id="1179" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="rehearson-club" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/rehearson-club.jpg?w=410" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/rehearson-club.jpg?w=257" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/rehearson-club.jpg" data-orig-size="410,479" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/rehearson-club/" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/rehearson-club.jpg?w=410" /></a><figcaption>Keaton’s second NYC home: The Rehearsal Club. Other former residents were Sandy Duncan and Carol Burnett.</figcaption></figure></div>
<p>Life at the Rehearsal Club must have been lively. At least it was in
its 1937 film depiction of hopeful actresses boarding at the fictional
“Footlights Club” at 158 West 58th Street in Manhattan.</p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-19-at-2.04.13-pm.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1206" data-attachment-id="1206" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="screen-shot-2021-04-19-at-2.04.13-pm" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-19-at-2.04.13-pm.jpg?w=723" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-19-at-2.04.13-pm.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-19-at-2.04.13-pm.jpg" data-orig-size="1984,1034" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/screen-shot-2021-04-19-at-2-04-13-pm/" height="333" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-19-at-2.04.13-pm.jpg?w=1024" width="640" /></a><figcaption><i>Stage
Door, </i>a 1937 RKO film starring Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers
(along with Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Ann Miller and many others)
centered around a group of women living at a theatrical boarding house
in New York City and hoping to break into show business. </figcaption></figure></div>
<p class="has-text-align-center">After a while Keaton decided to find her own place. At one point she wrote home:</p>
<p class="has-text-align-center">“I’m frantically looking for an
apartment. But it’s so hard. The cheap ones go fast, even though they’re
located in the worst, most rotten areas. Today I went to the upper west
side. No luck. I’m thinking of going to a real estate broker . . . This
is more of a hassle than I expected.” (<i>Then Again</i>, 55). </p>
<p>Keaton ended up staying for a year at the Rehearsal Club. In the meantime, her career started to take off.</p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-06-at-2.20.40-pm.png"><img class="wp-image-1197" data-attachment-id="1197" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="screen-shot-2021-04-06-at-2.20.40-pm" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-06-at-2.20.40-pm.png?w=723" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-06-at-2.20.40-pm.png?w=300" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-06-at-2.20.40-pm.png" data-orig-size="1018,828" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/screen-shot-2021-04-06-at-2-20-40-pm/" height="325" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-06-at-2.20.40-pm.png?w=1018" width="400" /></a><figcaption>Publicity photo of Diane Keaton, Barry McGuire, and Steve Curry in the stage production Hair, 1968, New York Public Library, <a href="https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/kenn-duncan-photograph-archive-ca-1960-1986" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Kenn Duncan Photograph Archive, ca. 1960-1986</a></figcaption></figure></div>
<p>In 1968, Keaton secured an open-call audition for the musical <i>Hair</i>
which had recently opened at the Biltmore Theatre at 261 W. 47th Street
(now known as the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre). In the audition, she
sang a song and was quickly eliminated. Walking out of the theater, the
executive producer “came over to me,” Keaton later recalled, “looked me
up and down and said, ‘You stay.’ ” (“Is She Kookie, This Diane Keaton?”
<i>Philadelphia Inquirer,</i> May 14, 1972. ) </p>
<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/hairesquirewomen-68.jpg"><img alt="" class="wp-image-1211" data-attachment-id="1211" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="hairesquirewomen-68" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/hairesquirewomen-68.jpg?w=600" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/hairesquirewomen-68.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/hairesquirewomen-68.jpg" data-orig-size="600,446" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/hairesquirewomen-68/" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/hairesquirewomen-68.jpg?w=600" /></a><figcaption>The
women of Hair, 1968. Back row: Suzannah Norstrand, Melba Moore,
Marjorie LiPari, Lynn Kellogg, Emmeretta Marks. Middle row: Natalie
Mosco, Lorrie Davis, Diane Keaton. Front row sitting: Shelley Plimpton
and Leata Galloway</figcaption></figure></div>
<p>In July 1968, just three months after <i>Hair </i>opened on
Broadway, Keaton joined the chorus. She was later promoted to understudy
for Lynn Kellogg who played the lead role, Sheila. After Kellogg left
the show, Keaton took over the part. (First she was instructed by the
producers that she would have to lose weight).</p>
<div class="wp-block-image" style="text-align: center;"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/daily_news_fri__jul_19__1968_1.jpg"><img alt="" class="wp-image-1186" data-attachment-id="1186" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="daily_news_fri__jul_19__1968_1" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/daily_news_fri__jul_19__1968_1.jpg?w=518" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/daily_news_fri__jul_19__1968_1.jpg?w=152" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/daily_news_fri__jul_19__1968_1.jpg" data-orig-size="2545,5027" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/daily_news_fri__jul_19__1968_1/" height="512" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/daily_news_fri__jul_19__1968_1.jpg?w=518" width="259" /></a><figcaption>New York Daily News, July 19, 1968</figcaption></figure></div>
<p class="has-text-align-center" style="font-size: 21px; text-align: center;"><b>Moving Up(Town)</b></p>
<p>After her promotion, Keaton finally found an apartment for $75 a month: a studio walk up on West 82rd Street (with a <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/07/28/why-bathtubs-wound-up-in-kitchens-of-old-nyc-apartments/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">bathtub in the kitchen</a>). The toilet was down the hall. </p>
<p class="has-text-align-center">“I know I should find someplace else
now that I can afford it,” she told an audience of drama students during
a visit back home to Southern California in January 1969. “But I really
haven’t had time to look. The place I have now is all right. The only
trouble is, it’s right in the middle of the Puerto Rican area and a
little scary to walk home to after the show.” </p>
<div class="wp-block-image" style="text-align: center;"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/the_los_angeles_times_tue__jan_7__1969_.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1177" data-attachment-id="1177" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="the_los_angeles_times_tue__jan_7__1969_" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/the_los_angeles_times_tue__jan_7__1969_.jpg?w=723" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/the_los_angeles_times_tue__jan_7__1969_.jpg?w=222" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/the_los_angeles_times_tue__jan_7__1969_.jpg" data-orig-size="4814,6508" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/the_los_angeles_times_tue__jan_7__1969_/" height="400" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/the_los_angeles_times_tue__jan_7__1969_.jpg?w=757" width="296" /></a><figcaption>Keaton returns to her alma mater: Orange Coast College, The Los Angeles Times, January 7, 1969</figcaption></figure></div>
<p>Despite Keaton’s insensitive language, she underscored a NYC in
transition in the late 1960s. Just a decade prior to Keaton’s move to
the Upper West Side (UWS), a large number of Puerto Rican immigrants had
settled there. By 1960, they amounted to roughly 15% of the population
of the UWS. </p>
<p>At the time she moved uptown, Keaton was just one of the many young,
white singles who trekked to the UWS and took part in the long and
ongoing process of gentrification in the neighborhood that is, one can
argue, still being enacted.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/uws-screen-shot-2021-03-19-at-4.34.03-pm.png"><img class="wp-image-1192" data-attachment-id="1192" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="uws-screen-shot-2021-03-19-at-4.34.03-pm" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/uws-screen-shot-2021-03-19-at-4.34.03-pm.png?w=723" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/uws-screen-shot-2021-03-19-at-4.34.03-pm.png?w=300" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/uws-screen-shot-2021-03-19-at-4.34.03-pm.png" data-orig-size="2064,398" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/uws-screen-shot-2021-03-19-at-4-34-03-pm/" height="123" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/uws-screen-shot-2021-03-19-at-4.34.03-pm.png?w=1024" width="640" /></a></figure>
<p class="has-text-align-center" style="font-size: 25px; text-align: center;">West Side Story</p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center"><p><b>“This used to be one of the all time freak areas”</b></p><cite>72nd St. bar owner to the <i>New York Times,</i> (“Singles Seeking Rapport of ‘Now’ Flock to the Upper West Side,” <i>New York Times,</i> December 28, 1970.)</cite></blockquote></div>
<p class="has-text-align-left">As Keaton packed up and moved uptown,
seeking affordable housing, so did many others. In just a handful of
years, the Upper West Side was said to be “experiencing a singles
population boom” – as the <i>New York Times</i> reported in 1970, and it was “changing the face of the neighborhood from 72<sup>nd</sup> to 96<sup>th</sup> street.” </p>
<p class="has-text-align-left">Indeed, the unnamed bar owner quoted
above described how crowds of “straight” people were now flocking to
the UWS. But after all, the neighborhood was extremely “cool.” It was
“loose.” It was young. And the women of the UWS, as the reported
observed, were “more likely to have long hair, wear less make up, [and]
are more intellectual.” (“Singles Seeking Rapport of ‘Now’ Flock to the
Upper West Side,” <i>New York Times,</i> December 28, 1970.)</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center"><p style="text-align: center;">“Despite an
often raffish appearance and much-discussed crime rate, the West side if
becoming, as one resident put it, ‘where the action is.’” Catering to
the hip, the young, the less uptight, the neighborhood was transforming
with bars, restaurants and businesses now cropping up to appeal to this
new crowd. Brownstones were rapidly being renovated into “$250-a-month
studio apartments.”</p><div style="text-align: right;"><cite>Singles Seeking Rapport of ‘Now’ Flock to the Upper West Side,”</cite> </div></blockquote><blockquote class="wp-block-quote has-text-align-center"><div style="text-align: right;"><cite><i>New York Times,</i> December 28, 1970</cite></div></blockquote>
<p>The Upper West Side had long been under siege by developers, urban
planners, gentrifiers, capitalists, and others who sought to stake a
claim in an area of the city that had once, long ago, seemed so far away
from the “real” Manhattan that it was considered the “country.” (It
did, after all, have farms.)</p>
<div class="wp-block-image" style="text-align: center;"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-22-at-4.01.43-pm-1.png"><img class="wp-image-1225" data-attachment-id="1225" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="screen-shot-2021-04-22-at-4.01.43-pm-1" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-22-at-4.01.43-pm-1.png?w=723" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-22-at-4.01.43-pm-1.png?w=300" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-22-at-4.01.43-pm-1.png" data-orig-size="1396,1108" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/screen-shot-2021-04-22-at-4-01-43-pm-1/" height="508" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/screen-shot-2021-04-22-at-4.01.43-pm-1.png?w=1024" width="640" /></a><figcaption>UWS:
Just a few blocks from Keaton’s future apartment: 84th and Broadway,
1879. The Brennan farmhouse. By 1985, the farms had long gone, and the
gentrification continued. The term “Yupper West Side” was coined.
Photograph, Collection of The New-York Historical Society.</figcaption></figure></div>
<p>In 1969, just off her stint in Hair, she had fallen into the clutches
of W**dy A**en (“discovered” by him, some reporters wrote) and she was
cast in the David Merrick production of Allen’s play, <i>Play it Again Sam</i>.
After a tour, the play opened on February 12, 1969, at the Broadhurst
Theatre at 235 W 44th Street. The play received rave reviews and Keaton
was nominated for her first Tony Award nomination. </p>
<div class="wp-block-image" style="text-align: center;"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/the-yupper-west-side-1.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1215" data-attachment-id="1215" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="the-yupper-west-side-1" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/the-yupper-west-side-1.jpg?w=723" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/the-yupper-west-side-1.jpg?w=221" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/the-yupper-west-side-1.jpg" data-orig-size="814,1106" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/the-yupper-west-side-1/" height="640" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/the-yupper-west-side-1.jpg?w=754" width="471" /></a><figcaption> <i>New York Magazine,</i> May 13, 1985</figcaption></figure></div>
<p>Soon, Keaton’s had removed south. Her new pad was <a href="https://www.6sqft.com/san-remo-co-op-that-was-diane-keatons-first-nyc-apartment-lists-for-17-5m/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">another apartment </a>whose bathtub was decidedly not in the kitchen. In 1985, she bought an apartment in the San Remo. <a href="https://www.elledecor.com/celebrity-style/celebrity-homes/a19632699/diane-keaton-nyc-apartment/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Her “starter” apartment </a>that went on the market in 2018 for 17.5 million.</p>
<p class="has-text-align-center has-large-font-size" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sex and the Single Girl</b></span></p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/lookinf-for-mg.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1233" data-attachment-id="1233" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="lookinf-for-mg" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/lookinf-for-mg.jpg?w=723" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/lookinf-for-mg.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/lookinf-for-mg.jpg" data-orig-size="1588,1072" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/lookinf-for-mg/" height="432" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/lookinf-for-mg.jpg?w=1024" width="640" /></a><figcaption>Two singles in Manhattan: Diane Keaton with Richard Gere in the 1977 film, <i>Looking for Mr. Goodbar. </i>Three
years after the film came out, Gere starred in a film depicting the
sexual revolution from and by a male pov: <i>American Gigolo</i> (see below). </figcaption></figure></div>
<p>Keaton would return (cinematically) to her old stamping ground when she starred in the 1977 film, <i>Looking for Mr Goodbar.</i>
The film, based on a 1975 book by the same name by Judith Rossner,
imagined the larger context to a real-life incident: the murder of
Roseann Quinn, a 28 year old single woman who lived on the UWS and <a href="http://nakedcitystories.com/goodbarmurder.php" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">was killed by a man</a>
that she reportedly met (“picked up”) at an UWS bar called W.M. Tweeds
(opened in 1968 and after Quinn’s death renamed All State’s Cafe).</p>
<p>Quinn, who lived across the street from the bar at 253 West 72nd
Street, was portrayed in the media as having led a “double life:” stolid
and respectable teacher by day and singles bar frequenter by night. She
was out on the prowl, sitting in bars, picking up men and ultimately,
according to the press coverage (and the film version) she paid the
ultimate price for her behavior.</p>
<p>The film version of the story was loyal to the media-shaped version
of the story, reiterating the idea that single women were not only
unsafe in a scary city full of predators, but they were also “asking for
it” by frequenting bars and having one night stands. </p>
<p><b>“The Single Girl in New York City” </b>headlined an
article by Judy Klemesrud that appeared in the <i>New York Times</i> in
February 1973. In the wake of Quinn’s death, Klemesrud wrote, many
single women were taking precautions: carrying weapons, avoiding
subways, or moving to “safer” areas which she called “girl ghettos” –
areas where young single women live with roommates or in buildings
guarded by doormen. These ghettoes were on the upper east side,
however, and the UWS was, according to one woman interviewed in the
article, “the most dangerous area of the city for single women.” </p>
<p class="has-text-align-left">But the truth of the story of what had happened to Roseann Quinn was not to be
exposed within the frenzy to level an anti-feminist attack on single
women and victim blame. In fact, Quinn had not picked up a "stranger;" she knew the man who killed her. </p>
<p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>“She wasn’t like they made her out to be.”</b></i></p>
<p class="has-text-align-center" style="text-align: center;">Retired NY police detective, speaking about Roseann Quinn.</p>
<p>“She didn’t pick up the guy [who killed her] here,” the detective <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/nyregion/25allstate.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">told a reporter </a>about
Quinn in 2007. The "here" he was referring to was the bar where the media had pinpointed as the scene of the "pick up." “He was her boyfriend’s friend and she was showing him
around N.Y.C. They went to a couple of places that night before going
back to her apartment.”</p>
<p>But the fictional version was so much more useful, wasn’t it? After
all, the fictional story was fodder for some good entertainment. In
fact, it had been fodder for “one of the best motion pictures ever made!” [sic].</p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/daily_news_wed__oct_19__1977_.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1239" data-attachment-id="1239" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="daily_news_wed__oct_19__1977_" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/daily_news_wed__oct_19__1977_.jpg?w=723" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/daily_news_wed__oct_19__1977_.jpg?w=214" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/daily_news_wed__oct_19__1977_.jpg" data-orig-size="3247,4556" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/daily_news_wed__oct_19__1977_/" height="640" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/daily_news_wed__oct_19__1977_.jpg?w=730" width="456" /></a><figcaption>The
praise for Keaton’s performance may have been well-earned, but in all
the hyperbole there was a sense of delight in a film that both portrayed
the sexual revolution and the punishment of those who took part in it. <i>New York Daily News, </i>October 19, 1977</figcaption></figure></div>
<p>Keaton did win a best actress Academy Award. But not for <i>Looking for Mr Goodbar. </i>She won it for another film she appeared in that same year: <i>Annie Hall.</i> </p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-embed wp-block-embed-embed"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://i.gifer.com/9Mve.gif"><img src="https://i.gifer.com/9Mve.gif" style="max-width: 100%;" /></a>
</div><figcaption>“La-dee-da. La-la.” The character Annie Hall famously
wore traditionally male clothing. And Keaton was praised for bringing
this sartorial aspect to the character. However, the cloaking of Hall in
a “suit” had double meaning in the film: she was a character who was
portrayed as "quirky" and also comically insecure. She needed the “structure” of a man’s
guidance. Keaton herself, however, saw it differently. She had been wearing suits for years!<br /></figcaption></figure>
<div style="text-align: center;"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/richard-gere-american-gigolo-1108x0-c-default-785x486-1.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1247" data-attachment-id="1247" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-caption="" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="richard-gere-american-gigolo-1108×0-c-default-785×486-1" data-large-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/richard-gere-american-gigolo-1108x0-c-default-785x486-1.jpg?w=723" data-medium-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/richard-gere-american-gigolo-1108x0-c-default-785x486-1.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/richard-gere-american-gigolo-1108x0-c-default-785x486-1.jpg" data-orig-size="785,486" data-permalink="https://nycpast.org/richard-gere-american-gigolo-1108x0-c-default-785x486-1/" height="396" src="https://nycpast.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/richard-gere-american-gigolo-1108x0-c-default-785x486-1.jpg?w=785" width="640" /></a></figure></div>
<p class="has-text-align-center" style="text-align: center;">American Gigolo: Richard Gere with Lauren Hutton.</p><p aria-label="Paragraph block" aria-multiline="true" class="block-editor-rich-text__editable block-editor-block-list__block wp-block has-text-align-center is-multi-selected wp-block-paragraph rich-text" data-block="61e159bd-0c0b-4cf3-9996-439e6e55c05e" data-empty="false" data-title="Paragraph" data-type="core/paragraph" id="block-61e159bd-0c0b-4cf3-9996-439e6e55c05e" role="document" style="min-width: 1px; white-space: pre-wrap;" tabindex="0">Three years after <i>Looking for Mr Goodbar</i> was released, critics reacted to <i>American Gigolo</i>'s portrayal of the main character's sexuality and sexual identity with far more sympathy (surprise!) than they did to Keaton's character in <i>Looking for Mr Goodbar.</i> </p><p class="has-text-align-left">“We leave ‘American Gigolo,’ wrote Roger Ebert <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/american-gigolo-1980" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">in a 1980 review</a>
of the film, “with the curious feeling that if women weren’t paying
this man to sleep with them, he’d be paying them: He needs the human
connection and he has a certain shyness, a loner quality, that makes it
easier for him when love seems to be just another deal.” </p>
<p class="has-text-align-left">And he was totally in charge of his clothes:</p><p class="has-text-align-left"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V82L4JRMk_c" width="320" youtube-src-id="V82L4JRMk_c"></iframe></div><p></p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><span class="embed-youtube" style="display: block; text-align: center;"></span></div>
</div></figure>
<p class="has-text-align-center" style="text-align: center;">American Gigolo: Clothes make the man</p>
<p>I almost forgot to mention: What a lovely blouse you’re wearing, Miss Keaton!</p>
<p>~Jenny Thompson</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-55545961685147670292018-04-20T18:16:00.003-05:002018-04-20T19:11:01.707-05:00Hey, girl, is that guerrilla art? The Fearless Girl, the Charging Bull, and the Public Square<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRh9nA8wyyk4r2Iszxch-_tQ-7Kx11te6Wkyv9o3JIAjJUsjUeddo-zO0_grZLZT7ruipNF9HH5MZFrDLQbKC7Soq4CPfnya-mL7dcMPtDSUiNIINifmQnaJcaIhNoY7Ij0mFXUZSEKX1-/s1600/girl+and+bull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="495" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRh9nA8wyyk4r2Iszxch-_tQ-7Kx11te6Wkyv9o3JIAjJUsjUeddo-zO0_grZLZT7ruipNF9HH5MZFrDLQbKC7Soq4CPfnya-mL7dcMPtDSUiNIINifmQnaJcaIhNoY7Ij0mFXUZSEKX1-/s640/girl+and+bull.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The "Charging Bull" and the "Fearless Girl," 8 Broadway, New York City</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In March 2017, the statue "Fearless Girl" by Kristen Visbal, became famous
after being left in the middle of the night to stand in an apparent face off with the statue
"Charging Bull" in NYC's financial district. (<span class="right">© Charging Bull, Arturo Di Modica, 1989) </span>The piece, and its relation to the bull, was interpreted as a
kind of act of defiance, an anti-establishment piece of art of and for
the people, etc.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Many people went nutty for the statue.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaplEdxDuE3EmjU7fUlu5v9ddADjnxaWcWOkPn8RwAk1yZaQ_QRfD1TqYqf_1qeg-IY1KkwaS1Br4sEn1LX983KIbFp4SushVZwcBfsLMzK3dFw3m53-XIZknpU7eD2pGACvvHDITef82s/s1600/fearless+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="591" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaplEdxDuE3EmjU7fUlu5v9ddADjnxaWcWOkPn8RwAk1yZaQ_QRfD1TqYqf_1qeg-IY1KkwaS1Br4sEn1LX983KIbFp4SushVZwcBfsLMzK3dFw3m53-XIZknpU7eD2pGACvvHDITef82s/s640/fearless+4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Fearless Girl" was originally intended to stand for one week. Soon that week was extended to one year, with calls to let it remain permanently.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h1 class="title" itemprop="headline" style="text-align: center;">
"Fearless Girl" statue sends bold message to Wall Street titans<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fearless-girl-statue-wall-street-raging-bull-international-womens-day/" target="_blank"> CBS news reported</a>: </h1>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="title" itemprop="headline">
"People young and old are flocking to see her including a group of school children who stopped by. “I wanted to see the new statue of the girl because I feel like it’s really a symbol of power,” said one student. Another said, “It’s kinda cool that they’ve actually put a girl standing up to the bull there.” And the bronze statue has become an instant internet sensation."</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
Politicians, especially, seemed to take to the artwork. New York's Mayor, Bill De Blasio visited the statue as soon as she appeared:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEKSjVgYyHsFlgJ-fjzyIiMz29Nug05dn-7h0aIRb0NPlhioWEnpY8Wqy1hpmN45cB71E8vOF2CI8SjupR5a3e1Er4JPHxYyGyiE7ed_-arfEWuvrdZcVh1OJRxeG_DtpMRgZzcHNiQRmF/s1600/fearless+girl+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="624" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEKSjVgYyHsFlgJ-fjzyIiMz29Nug05dn-7h0aIRb0NPlhioWEnpY8Wqy1hpmN45cB71E8vOF2CI8SjupR5a3e1Er4JPHxYyGyiE7ed_-arfEWuvrdZcVh1OJRxeG_DtpMRgZzcHNiQRmF/s640/fearless+girl+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NYC Mayor of all residents: men, women, girls. And statues.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And it became as rallying point for those who wished to capitalize on its implied meanings.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOkZAdI-Rvm6Cmt0TQ_pVk9b66Sck9DmBQG4J8Knk6zdMpKBjf-RO6Fi46jJQAOKwpV_jR5i3mwtPpl8Gtf7juut9-4PVy-6XfhvnCjXNqeJfgFTgx43bf9RnnzXSQBeW_vjN3kS9NkZS2/s1600/fearless+girl+3+congress+Carolyn+Maloney+march+18+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="523" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOkZAdI-Rvm6Cmt0TQ_pVk9b66Sck9DmBQG4J8Knk6zdMpKBjf-RO6Fi46jJQAOKwpV_jR5i3mwtPpl8Gtf7juut9-4PVy-6XfhvnCjXNqeJfgFTgx43bf9RnnzXSQBeW_vjN3kS9NkZS2/s640/fearless+girl+3+congress+Carolyn+Maloney+march+18+.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney even brought her own podium to the statue! March 2017. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>This statue has touched hearts across the world, with its symbolic
depiction of the resiliency of women,” </i>Carolyn Maloney proclaimed.</div>
<br />
Meanwhile, others were not so keen on the piece. Many objected to the obvious anti-feminist image of a pro-woman message in girl form. And, in May 2017, NYC artist Alex Gardega* installed another piece of art: a "pissing pug," a small statue lifting its leg on the "Fearless Girl."<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99QFV-XrgdxGFaBSJrfTiG0z9SiuFNHIxTC8Q0Ew4advMqTUa5VsIGcT4ENriFUt_ZzlDP_4K0Z6itQWeQuOBQhszZ4RGrL4gKvGqSV-oTL8-gB0uJgDiR9d3U6hGAQmrUXfcTJ-GLJrV/s1600/pissing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="605" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99QFV-XrgdxGFaBSJrfTiG0z9SiuFNHIxTC8Q0Ew4advMqTUa5VsIGcT4ENriFUt_ZzlDP_4K0Z6itQWeQuOBQhszZ4RGrL4gKvGqSV-oTL8-gB0uJgDiR9d3U6hGAQmrUXfcTJ-GLJrV/s640/pissing.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
"It has nothing to do with feminism," Gardega said in response to his piece's interpretation as being anti-woman (or girl?) He explained that his piece came as a response to the way that the "Fearless Girl" "disrespected" "the artist that made the bull. . . That bull had integrity," he said in <a href="https://nypost.com/2017/05/29/pissed-off-artist-adds-statue-of-urinating-dog-next-to-fearless-girl/" target="_blank">a NY Post interview.</a> He explained that he “decided to build this dog and make it crappy to downgrade the
statue, exactly how the girl is a downgrade on the bull,” said Gardega.<br />
<br />
“That is not a symbol! That’s an advertising trick,” Arturo Di Modica <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/03/21/charging-bull-fearless-girl-artist/" target="_blank">said in an interview</a> after "Fearless Girl" appeared. Di Modica is the sculptor of the "Charging Bull." <br />
<br />
Di Modica was absolutely correct. The reality behind the piece could not have been further from the truth reported by the mainstream media. "Fearless Girl" was actually a carefully coordinated
product of the power structure itself. It was commissioned by State Street, a global financial services firm, in partnership with a global
marketing company (Mcann).<span class="text_exposed_show"></span><span class="text_exposed_show"> </span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">According to Mcann: "In honor of International
Women’s Day 2017, we partnered with State Street Global Advisors to
introduce the Fearless Girl to the world -- a statue of a daring young
girl, standing strong on Wall Street. Why? Because companies with women
in leadership perform better. " </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
<span class="text_exposed_show">Girlish? (Um.... hey, girl, just a thought, but
why not commission a depiction of <i>a woman</i> to honor women? )</span></h3>
</blockquote>
</div>
</blockquote>
<span class="text_exposed_show">Not only was the company behind "Fearless Girl" a pro-corporate powerhouse, it was, according to a lawsuit, institutionally anti-woman. In October 2017, State Street settled a lawsuit by paying </span>$5 million, "mostly to settle
claims that it discriminated against 305 top female employees by paying
them less than men in the same positions," <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/business/fearless-girl-settlement.html" target="_blank">as the NYT reported</a>.<br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">Ironically,
the statue that "Fearless Girl" faces, "Charging Bull," was in fact
created as true "street art" or guerilla art. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">The artist, Arturo Di
Modica, created the 3.5-ton sculpture o</span><span class="text_exposed_show"><span class="text_exposed_show">ver the course of two years</span> in his SoHo Studio. The idea came to him after the 1987 stock market crash. The Italian born artist wanted to create an image that captured what he saw as the strength and vitality of his adopted country.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">On the wee hours of December 15, 1989, he and some friends surreptitiously installed "Charging Bull" according to a carefully crafted plan to avoid being caught. They deposited the statue (using a truck and forklift) in front of the New York Stock Exchange. And since a huge Christmas tree had been erected by the city on the site, Di Modica left the bull as a "Christmas present," <a href="http://chargingbull.com/chargingbull.html" target="_blank">he later explained.</a> He had no permission whatsoever to install his piece of public art. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">The bull caused a sensation. The next day, Di Modica claimed it and posed proudly in front of it, explaining his motivation. He declared that the piece was his "gift to the city."</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHto6e7XFs7mNiubzzyNhZvtEYXKxLYM8mv53Nz4ppUseRcLGxDAkXV0KC9sspmJoElcBjhOAG_4UfOXemcGTzrgkDfYhkF0AC4WP-fRMYr9DwEn1KVyZ7URAyMNpgNwTWyAgrUYwUiAC/s1600/bull+1989.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="357" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHto6e7XFs7mNiubzzyNhZvtEYXKxLYM8mv53Nz4ppUseRcLGxDAkXV0KC9sspmJoElcBjhOAG_4UfOXemcGTzrgkDfYhkF0AC4WP-fRMYr9DwEn1KVyZ7URAyMNpgNwTWyAgrUYwUiAC/s640/bull+1989.jpg" width="582" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grabbing the Bull by the Horn: DiModica, with his assistant, Kim Stippa, December 16, 1989. (AP Photo)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="text_exposed_show">People flocked to see it. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">By the end of the day, they wondered where it had gone. It had been removed by a private company (reportedly because the city officials and Wall Street power brokers did not enjoy it.)</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicn3mRNHX90OQcpc-8fkVO5_j75PcnwAUnBenPqfBgD7_2-pdDjQA3Tr4mGa_EARqXuL9omzGtsQ-tk7we4mq94oN4jZ9sRDDT94xB1WjAigyOFSLVIMYZhnle3qoQ4kkFFmLLJMGfRJ63/s1600/bull+bah+humbug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="615" data-original-width="768" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicn3mRNHX90OQcpc-8fkVO5_j75PcnwAUnBenPqfBgD7_2-pdDjQA3Tr4mGa_EARqXuL9omzGtsQ-tk7we4mq94oN4jZ9sRDDT94xB1WjAigyOFSLVIMYZhnle3qoQ4kkFFmLLJMGfRJ63/s640/bull+bah+humbug.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's a bunch of BS! Moving the unauthorized bull, December 1989. (New York Daily News)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="text_exposed_show">Soon, however, the NY Parks Commissioner, with the backing of Mayor Ed Koch, decided that they were, in fact, bullish on Di Modica's piece. It was installed on Broadway Street, near Bowling Green.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">Flash forward to 2017: Di Modica objected to the alteration of the meaning of his piece implied by the presence of "Fearless Girl." So upset that he considered suing for trademark and
copyright infringement of his work. (<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/12/charging-bull-new-york-fearless-girl-statue-copyright-claim" target="_blank">See more</a>.)</span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">Di Modica may have a point, to be sure. Objects and ideas are given new meanings according to new relationships. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">Too Close For Comfort? Scholar</span><b></b><span class="text_exposed_show"><a href="http://girl/" target="_blank"> Daniela Pelusa notes</a>: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"[I]n<span class="text_exposed_show"> the graffiti world, tagging close to or in conversation with a masterwork is a sign of disrespect and an audacious declaration of war – as well as a cheap
attention-grabbing ploy. Even the boldest museum curators do not place
confrontational objects before masterpieces." </span></blockquote>
<span class="text_exposed_show">But in fact, in the aftermath of yet another financial crisis (2007-2008), "Charging Bull" had already been adopted into a new set of relationships and new meanings. In 2011, it appeared in an image that launched a new movement (or at least coalesced existing movements): #Occupy Wall Street (and the #occupy movement it spurred).</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5yVJJpaFxrDQsc90TIJOlalN6yAxvcZ1TeMjx_AR9W00PFZDi70aEsGKBhZqGP8yKo6s1HPmgkxqKdhwHkIxlih1xBoIa01_zSSndZzXuz8BR-JWTy1oeLjcUteGC1UQAS8SDIvmEblV/s1600/adbusters_occupy-wall-street_525.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="795" data-original-width="525" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin5yVJJpaFxrDQsc90TIJOlalN6yAxvcZ1TeMjx_AR9W00PFZDi70aEsGKBhZqGP8yKo6s1HPmgkxqKdhwHkIxlih1xBoIa01_zSSndZzXuz8BR-JWTy1oeLjcUteGC1UQAS8SDIvmEblV/s1600/adbusters_occupy-wall-street_525.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">July 2011: Adbusters image that launched the #Occupy Movement</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="text_exposed_show">What followed was the appearance of the image of "Charging Bull" in a series of collages, cartoons, memes, and hashtag-connected ideas, along with all the other forms of imagery that populate and punctuate the virtual public square in order to make (and re-make) meaning. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqiv-h71LkCMHWinRyi7DqYJXI1hBsWZObkfJWiGGI41gXoYBEsDF2M8rDEHlP2Ghs2iSZPACEO1hBl3AM90eaM2E_Xvj5b48WczN6vfYlEDOZZ4Op0dQrSg3z8WDJ0c6DQdpVmuGQaUi0/s1600/restrain+the+bull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="258" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqiv-h71LkCMHWinRyi7DqYJXI1hBsWZObkfJWiGGI41gXoYBEsDF2M8rDEHlP2Ghs2iSZPACEO1hBl3AM90eaM2E_Xvj5b48WczN6vfYlEDOZZ4Op0dQrSg3z8WDJ0c6DQdpVmuGQaUi0/s400/restrain+the+bull.jpg" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Symbol Restraint: #Occupy Movement</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="text_exposed_show">And of course, as the image of the bull multiplied, people also moved into the streets-physically-to occupy space in the real world. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1HvIIwWi0rZkmotS2JdleObkzvd7tU6m7mJRm2MhNbcVJ0ggB0svqjs0a3_Bpwrjwk9S1_TzOw_kyPQxwIe7Iy46Uf2zIefRs6aQeDPMHxjyrq-KKX6i_ttCa5nuRl-2AnVf4lZ4jRhh4/s1600/occupy+w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="521" height="417" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1HvIIwWi0rZkmotS2JdleObkzvd7tU6m7mJRm2MhNbcVJ0ggB0svqjs0a3_Bpwrjwk9S1_TzOw_kyPQxwIe7Iy46Uf2zIefRs6aQeDPMHxjyrq-KKX6i_ttCa5nuRl-2AnVf4lZ4jRhh4/s640/occupy+w.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zuccotti Park, NYC, November 2011 (REUTERS/Mike Segar) </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="text_exposed_show">In April 2018, after a little more than a year into the "stand off," "Fearless Girl" <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/nyregion/fearless-girl-wall-street-bull-statue-move.html" target="_blank">is being moved.</a> NYC officials cited concern with the potential for terrorism on the city streets: the statue is drawing too much of a crowd and is becoming a "safety hazard." Officials would also like to move "Charging Bull," arguing that it too draws large crowds.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show">In many ways the "public square" expanded on to the internet a long time ago. That's a place where symbols morph and meme; images can exist to find new relationships, face contradictions or challenges, and space is endlessly claimed and reclaimed, created and re-created.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">Even long after the #occupy movement dispersed, the (physical) public square continues to be a contested site. As its meanings are policed by officials, and as artists and corporations vie for a place to take a stand, the square proves to be occupied still. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">~Jenny Thompson </span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">*In a sad postscript: the <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/subway-hit-vic-urinating-dog-art-fearless-girl-statue-article-1.3561378" target="_blank">artist </a></span><span class="text_exposed_show"><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/subway-hit-vic-urinating-dog-art-fearless-girl-statue-article-1.3561378" target="_blank">Alex Gardega died in October 2017</a> after being struck by a subway train. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-74090673903204589992018-01-31T13:07:00.001-06:002018-01-31T13:31:25.960-06:00Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz: Married at Last! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZKx9ryMr-Za9ILgP2gUmNddpSKdSVgd4AIkk8JaxxrxrjbRHyO8kvSMyu_3SYIMMSF10nbJfvdDwUBS1ky5IhPnnGH2AIDNes4eCZ_KQv083INRDDKBv0lSML1_R9aHisOlUlPBudLHOz/s1600/The_Los_Angeles_Times_Mon__Dec_16__1940_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1104" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZKx9ryMr-Za9ILgP2gUmNddpSKdSVgd4AIkk8JaxxrxrjbRHyO8kvSMyu_3SYIMMSF10nbJfvdDwUBS1ky5IhPnnGH2AIDNes4eCZ_KQv083INRDDKBv0lSML1_R9aHisOlUlPBudLHOz/s640/The_Los_Angeles_Times_Mon__Dec_16__1940_.jpg" width="440" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I love you, Lucille."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"I am busy getting married to Lucille Ball." This is likely the only time this particular excuse has ever been made by an employee to an employer.<br />
<br />
It was November 30, 1940, and Desi Arnaz telephoned his boss at Manhattan's Roxy Theater at 153 W. 50th Street to explain just why he would not be appearing in the first of two shows he was scheduled for that evening. He was still in Greenwich, Connecticut. But he'd be back in New York that evening and ready to perform for the second show, he promised. And this time, the 25 year old band leader was bringing his wife!<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>When Desi and Lucille showed up at the theater that night, he insisted on carrying her over the threshold of his dressing room, a symbolic act that foreshadowed the wild success the pair would later enjoy in the world of entertainment.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJhOO39ldRQRADkWZWx-wZdNOsYHadU2nCTomNwMe7R-TzSNFfyRK1ujrvjyihAspQuVWguyQ-rTSk01Bb7qbDlSWRQiuBCU6jHlh52uopaadHknbj6FnLeOa-ffxh1Gbo9OpWu_DaBysZ/s1600/Standard_Sentinel_Wed__Dec_4__1940_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="858" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJhOO39ldRQRADkWZWx-wZdNOsYHadU2nCTomNwMe7R-TzSNFfyRK1ujrvjyihAspQuVWguyQ-rTSk01Bb7qbDlSWRQiuBCU6jHlh52uopaadHknbj6FnLeOa-ffxh1Gbo9OpWu_DaBysZ/s640/Standard_Sentinel_Wed__Dec_4__1940_.jpg" width="342" /></a></div>
<span id="goog_1147426539"></span><span id="goog_1147426540"></span><br />
That night during his band's performance, Desi brought Lucille on stage and introduced her to the crowd as Mrs. Desi Arnaz. The audience threw rice (supplied by the management).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQtembE-Lx8DRSrzHeauj3ql06-PSWVEDaS7dl-weGNwpOwEsPyKolUHtoMtdJNm-UY33tYGCIE6m39w1zGdMnM6FqCptJ6oV-DSL3Il78-yRkAsLYnglEPRUk1HhXcTqN2-21F4LuulJc/s1600/roxy+theater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="632" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQtembE-Lx8DRSrzHeauj3ql06-PSWVEDaS7dl-weGNwpOwEsPyKolUHtoMtdJNm-UY33tYGCIE6m39w1zGdMnM6FqCptJ6oV-DSL3Il78-yRkAsLYnglEPRUk1HhXcTqN2-21F4LuulJc/s640/roxy+theater.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Roxy: Featuring Desi Arnaz and his new wife, Lucille Ball</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;">Thus ended months of speculation about the couple who had met in 1940 while filming <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYaPEKhre6A" target="_blank">"Too Many Girls." </a>The RKO picture was based on the musical that had played in Manhattan from October 1939 through May 1940. Arnaz, who had appeared in the stage production as "Manuelito," reprised his role for the film production. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVMck46vQFa9d2I7_jLO6NM-x1npf6qWEQfLHVw9o1J-fSf4CQ1CXUZ4iYtOjit75THBcQV1Ba4xVQwdd1RRP4npboeXbPb6r2PLh20UlXVOz-2kDUTdMxa_cLoKBsGMgDmNzp3W3Ho14e/s1600/nypl.digitalcollections.510d47e4-6597-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.001.w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="608" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVMck46vQFa9d2I7_jLO6NM-x1npf6qWEQfLHVw9o1J-fSf4CQ1CXUZ4iYtOjit75THBcQV1Ba4xVQwdd1RRP4npboeXbPb6r2PLh20UlXVOz-2kDUTdMxa_cLoKBsGMgDmNzp3W3Ho14e/s640/nypl.digitalcollections.510d47e4-6597-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.001.w.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h1>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Diosa Costello (Pepe) and Desi Arnaz (Manuelito) in <i>Too Many Girls</i> (NYPL)</span></span></span></h1>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 1935, Arnaz launched his career in the US as
singer, performing with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra. Soon, he formed his own band and made a name for himself performing at Miami's
Conga Club. Arnaz, who hailed from </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="st">Santiago,</span> Cuba, became an overnight sensation when he helped launch the "conga craze" among Americans. (He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5QrGD0oUgY" target="_blank">leads a conga line</a> in the musical<i> Too Many Girls.</i>)</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdbNLW28K9GYJ15-W9c6p9II7UR8I11M61JDoFnpCd-XNF_JayZaFLH6FPNQ6YnIlULVNHRd0eQ61bWYZ4r0PO6Rd3Pf6u2R3dxK8nvtNbID1zumj6hCzNCT0T5Rh4w2F3i8IvoVUg6o43/s1600/nypl.digitalcollections.7be5978b-d4c1-726a-e040-e00a18062fab.001.w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="760" data-original-width="601" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdbNLW28K9GYJ15-W9c6p9II7UR8I11M61JDoFnpCd-XNF_JayZaFLH6FPNQ6YnIlULVNHRd0eQ61bWYZ4r0PO6Rd3Pf6u2R3dxK8nvtNbID1zumj6hCzNCT0T5Rh4w2F3i8IvoVUg6o43/s640/nypl.digitalcollections.7be5978b-d4c1-726a-e040-e00a18062fab.001.w.jpg" width="506" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ok, Maybe That's a Few Too Many Girls, Desi! (NYPL)</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In Hollywood, Arnaz met Ball (in the commissary line) and the two immediately began a romance. Gossip columnists were quick to notice, but the couple dismissed speculation, saying that each was now under contract at RKO and didn't have serious plans for the future.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUagD7RZ1o2vLh6VKvTV1L-AfjzbokLmrjghgf7WYh-_MISdyRQctKNeEVIC3HXHs-gMIV6FWjNrB11en2OZuSDZz_7ViMV0LnLQWs-xe5IiySHjFzXoMYu3UHY4hn_tkTffn1BysdBGz/s1600/lucy+and+desi+too+many+girls.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="243" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUagD7RZ1o2vLh6VKvTV1L-AfjzbokLmrjghgf7WYh-_MISdyRQctKNeEVIC3HXHs-gMIV6FWjNrB11en2OZuSDZz_7ViMV0LnLQWs-xe5IiySHjFzXoMYu3UHY4hn_tkTffn1BysdBGz/s640/lucy+and+desi+too+many+girls.tiff" width="368" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lucille and Desi Dance in <i>Too Many Girls</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By year's end, they were secretly planning a wedding. In November 1940, Ball arrived at La Guardia airport in New York, where she was met by Arnaz. She was ostensibly in New York for the premiere of <i>Too Many Girls</i>. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqnyqZsrpIuEhYe0KT0Ud7lG_Lg9errg_T9us66i-WGLABvaY1LGOx0f3jS3Vx5P80wa3i1BX-B1Um-BITfeaN42PKgtIE6Zht7_naToaSFoT_joOkW9Ah3o358GKdtwlQjqOQx_cUaHX-/s1600/Democrat_and_Chronicle_Mon__Nov_25__1940_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="895" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqnyqZsrpIuEhYe0KT0Ud7lG_Lg9errg_T9us66i-WGLABvaY1LGOx0f3jS3Vx5P80wa3i1BX-B1Um-BITfeaN42PKgtIE6Zht7_naToaSFoT_joOkW9Ah3o358GKdtwlQjqOQx_cUaHX-/s640/Democrat_and_Chronicle_Mon__Nov_25__1940_.jpg" width="358" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Press Gets it Wrong. And no, Arnaz was not from Argentina. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As the papers noted, the love birds were unable to wed, owing to their RKO contracts.<br />
<br />
But they had decided to worry not about the studio! And instead, they were thrilled that they had decided to marry, choosing Greenwich since the laws were more lenient and they could be
married the same day. (Once there, however, they found that they needed a
waiver to marry the same day the license was issued; a friendly judge
granted it.) Their wedding ceremony was held at the Byram River Beagle Club. (In "The Marriage License," a 1952 episode of <i>I Love Lucy, </i>Lucy wants Ricky to reenact their wedding weekend and says she wants to stay overnight at the "Byram River Beagle Club.")<br />
<br />
After the show at the Roxy that night, they checked into the Pierre Hotel at 2 <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/61st_Street_(Manhattan)" title="61st Street (Manhattan)">East 61st Street.</a><br />
They would remain in New York City for six weeks.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiCSnTjjDCbNnRjkYcDqVK7GOziXAkWJSe8_GGJIeNyj13RECUvqdEPf9PQAiMojcx5fGDeJ_RxNXorhLseol7gbWD98x6bA4A6dvYOQY7ZcojGSRlTdh_Ov7BNp62WioDgsCBkKns7czF/s1600/rko+.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="595" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiCSnTjjDCbNnRjkYcDqVK7GOziXAkWJSe8_GGJIeNyj13RECUvqdEPf9PQAiMojcx5fGDeJ_RxNXorhLseol7gbWD98x6bA4A6dvYOQY7ZcojGSRlTdh_Ov7BNp62WioDgsCBkKns7czF/s640/rko+.tiff" width="640" /></a></div>
For months, the press had delighted in noting that Ball was "dithery" over Arnaz, the Latin "glamor boy." And rumors of an elopement had circulated for weeks. Now that they were married, the press revealed that Arnaz called her "Lucy." And RKO, it turns out, did not void their contracts as threatened, but instead tested them as a team to see if they would play well on screen together. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF7jlZWK65jPVEh3ysjAYkibsBgfoSPyQ3iu75kch2tCz1EnL1ax0Ydhzm5B_FP1B-6bfkfAfj9iMY_ZDZueIlEv4QPp8kmimWCOxLP1ad_Xe0AoVivBwXUZazHkwoEI4CMUHm5DfaDwyo/s1600/lucy+and+desin+ny.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="347" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF7jlZWK65jPVEh3ysjAYkibsBgfoSPyQ3iu75kch2tCz1EnL1ax0Ydhzm5B_FP1B-6bfkfAfj9iMY_ZDZueIlEv4QPp8kmimWCOxLP1ad_Xe0AoVivBwXUZazHkwoEI4CMUHm5DfaDwyo/s640/lucy+and+desin+ny.tiff" width="508" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the streets of Manhattan, November 1940.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Ultimately, the studio was not supportive of casting the newlyweds together; and soon after their contracts ran out, both left RKO for Metro Goldwyn Mayer.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH_NISkCZ_-y8TlA9kWR0KYDc94zY_KMU3ZBftbhyphenhyphenpqu89JwRONcztjnQKNRpThM7m-Ov2-1vwsZP8Bcwyh3irKH9IZ-pmW_yMp7kQkxX8NTQXHJktpfX8p1_Z_SXU2pvZ1LoajdfvWNHy/s1600/Lansing_State_Journal_Tue__Dec_23__1941_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1150" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH_NISkCZ_-y8TlA9kWR0KYDc94zY_KMU3ZBftbhyphenhyphenpqu89JwRONcztjnQKNRpThM7m-Ov2-1vwsZP8Bcwyh3irKH9IZ-pmW_yMp7kQkxX8NTQXHJktpfX8p1_Z_SXU2pvZ1LoajdfvWNHy/s640/Lansing_State_Journal_Tue__Dec_23__1941_.jpg" width="460" /></a></div>
Of course, by the 1950s, the pair would become one of the most famous and successful duos ever. And RKO? In 1957, Ball and Arnaz purchased the studio for 6 million dollars, adding it to their independent TV production company, Desilu Productions.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
~Jenny Thompson<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-90306727320187287142017-11-27T18:09:00.002-06:002017-11-28T11:05:27.538-06:00Behind the Scenes in a Restaurant<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicn8yPW2HVD0zMXgindzVzh8AOAfwBtb_8NU7A9VR2JJ2OCdZRm2RrNFF6BI5cy8AfP9SoVdtNKa2xbwhONB_PunMtctr1GDFUjenjM9ALEsUTJ2WfONXR5iN1o8oRlsqoj8ln47rdTiw_/s1600/Exchange+Buffet+NYC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="715" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicn8yPW2HVD0zMXgindzVzh8AOAfwBtb_8NU7A9VR2JJ2OCdZRm2RrNFF6BI5cy8AfP9SoVdtNKa2xbwhONB_PunMtctr1GDFUjenjM9ALEsUTJ2WfONXR5iN1o8oRlsqoj8ln47rdTiw_/s640/Exchange+Buffet+NYC.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Public Space: the Exchange Buffet, NYC, 1920s</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<div class="gtxt_body">
<span class="gstxt_hlt">In 1916, </span><span class="gstxt_hlt"><span class="gstxt_hlt">the </span>Consumers League of New York City issued a study of </span>1,017 Women <span class="gstxt_hlt">Restaurant </span><br />
Employees. Titled, <i>Behind the Scenes in a Restaurant,</i> the study offered insight into the working conditions and ostensibly sought to bring about changes in laws regarding women working in the industry.</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="gtxt_body">
Like other Progressive-era organizations, the Consumers League (formed in 1891) sought to tackle social problems through academic study, lobbying, and legislation. A very orderly process, well in step with a modern era. (And thus the study includes lots of good graphs and charts.)</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuK7j34c50kJ1oPS8gllYlhJl3U556L_LP6tyCFUhcAXMMo8TWx4I3-_QGpsfVRWSz_F8gPMxHTbMkhI06-XCN35tMMcbY-9hq2Bw62L8KDUh3msCxgWhRVnx5ndg13x8Njx2kJm1d6Xsc/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-11-27+at+5.11.17+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="343" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuK7j34c50kJ1oPS8gllYlhJl3U556L_LP6tyCFUhcAXMMo8TWx4I3-_QGpsfVRWSz_F8gPMxHTbMkhI06-XCN35tMMcbY-9hq2Bw62L8KDUh3msCxgWhRVnx5ndg13x8Njx2kJm1d6Xsc/s640/Screen+Shot+2017-11-27+at+5.11.17+PM.jpg" width="420" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Waitress as Moral Subject. Illustration from the League's Report.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="gtxt_body">
But also like other do-good Progressive groups, the League revealed a significant moral undertone to its work. The League presents the waitress "class" as rife with potential problems: poverty and ignorance, and it notes with a kind of calm alarm that many waitresses in New York are foreign-born and live in tenements. (!)<br />
<br />
This kind of characterization is in keeping with the mindset of the Progressive movement. Many upper class, educated, and well-meaning people (including large numbers of women) looked to the city as a place full of problems and sought to "clean it up."<br />
<br />
The league saw in the waitress someone in dire need of an application of the League's <i>noblesse oblige.</i> Why she is a potential victim! A feminine figure who needs protection! At one point, the report notes, her work as a waitress can even threaten her "child-bearing" capacity.<br />
<br />
Of course the work of the waitress was long and hard. And there is no doubt she was exploited. But there was also something to the career of the working woman that the League ignores. By moving out into the public sphere more and more, women were starting to be "seen" and heard. This was prelude to the passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote.<br />
<br />
But the League didn't like some of what it saw in Manhattan's eateries.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h4 class="gtxt_body">
<span class="gstxt_hlt">"A </span>certain amount of excitement attaches to <span class="gstxt_hlt">the </span>work of <span class="gstxt_hlt">a restaurant </span>waitress which appeals to young girls," the League's report noted. "She sees and talks to <span class="gstxt_hlt">a </span>great many people; she likes <span class="gstxt_hlt">the </span>noise and bustle and cheerful atmosphere of <span class="gstxt_hlt">the </span>dining room. Also, <span class="gstxt_hlt">the </span>employer prefers young and pretty girls as waitresses, especially where <span class="gstxt_hlt">the </span>customers are mostly men. They help to make his place attractive and popular. One waitress remarked, "When <span class="gstxt_hlt">the </span>girls get to looking bad, they are laid off and someone else is put <span class="gstxt_hlt">in </span>their place.'' </h4>
</blockquote>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHzAizfw2wKsLpykw8m7JVai3LdIQcPzY-B7W7NqjKWJoLDRmUpEKAg7tA_VYnrmu-3qa2u1zh8NB45TKj_n4jGRnoNDfXItPX5nNq_kNfcF1AxgVvD5JHf3o-9HDhf51TF4EyH8q_ikwn/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-11-27+at+4.56.13+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="638" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHzAizfw2wKsLpykw8m7JVai3LdIQcPzY-B7W7NqjKWJoLDRmUpEKAg7tA_VYnrmu-3qa2u1zh8NB45TKj_n4jGRnoNDfXItPX5nNq_kNfcF1AxgVvD5JHf3o-9HDhf51TF4EyH8q_ikwn/s640/Screen+Shot+2017-11-27+at+4.56.13+PM.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Remember, you are all nice girls! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="gtxt_body">
There is no doubt that the League wanted to ensure that women restaurant workers were protected against long hours, low wages, injury on the job, and a whole slate of potential liabilities involved in the work. But in some ways they also chastised women for exercising freedom of work. And they viewed the modern restaurant as a mine field for women.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHeeDfRPN9tkKsKsYfnRyhvlH74MBa1tlCqWYGoDxC4uYmrjCFdXI1gbWA_kROXvR9Rw7v56e-bWV3EK-HYc_JoucNhnyuFpWmeAw9eGUM9okXVgNEEo0ucA1fn2E8wc40H-A10df51ms8/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-11-27+at+5.04.15+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="339" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHeeDfRPN9tkKsKsYfnRyhvlH74MBa1tlCqWYGoDxC4uYmrjCFdXI1gbWA_kROXvR9Rw7v56e-bWV3EK-HYc_JoucNhnyuFpWmeAw9eGUM9okXVgNEEo0ucA1fn2E8wc40H-A10df51ms8/s640/Screen+Shot+2017-11-27+at+5.04.15+PM.jpg" width="455" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Life of a Waitress: Illustration from the League's report, 1916.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="gtxt_body">
With the early 20th-century expansion of popular (mixed gender) casual restaurants, such as diners and lunch counters, more women were working in these public spaces, and, as the League saw it more women were now susceptible to the wiles of the "crowd." (Note that in the higher-end restaurants, the waiters remained male.)</div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
Ironically, the kitchen had long been the premiere domestic space. But once eating shifted into the public space, it became a complicated territory to navigate.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr51gFk4QWAfc9y9fmG5j4Lz75hVvBg3nFb4Ia1Mh-nP4TmliU9xRTuT4zOXj4bOio-0Emcb91toMNFaeVMV2gmf_7wFGmwckNJZGKH87pBGWuAjSCB8jom9Ii2qM3dziQrNeNQAq-2AaL/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-11-27+at+4.47.21+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="984" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr51gFk4QWAfc9y9fmG5j4Lz75hVvBg3nFb4Ia1Mh-nP4TmliU9xRTuT4zOXj4bOio-0Emcb91toMNFaeVMV2gmf_7wFGmwckNJZGKH87pBGWuAjSCB8jom9Ii2qM3dziQrNeNQAq-2AaL/s640/Screen+Shot+2017-11-27+at+4.47.21+PM.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NYC, Exchange Buffet: Come On In and Have a Bite (and Behave Yourself!) </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="gtxt_body">
In this new territory, the League pointed out just one of the many "moral danger[s]" facing waitresses:</div>
<h4 class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="gstxt_hlt"> </span></h4>
<h4 class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="gstxt_hlt">"</span>Because of their position, they are peculiarly exposed to <span class="gstxt_hlt">the </span>attentions of men customers. For this very reason, <span class="gstxt_hlt">the </span>Baltimore Vice Commission recommends that only older and more experienced women be / employed <span class="gstxt_hlt">in </span>this capacity, while <span class="gstxt_hlt">in </span>Norway <span class="gstxt_hlt">the </span>law sets <span class="gstxt_hlt">a </span>minimum age limit for waitresses <span class="gstxt_hlt">in </span>public places."</h4>
<h4 class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></h4>
<h4 class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A chaste "maid-like" service uniform soon became the norm for most casual dining places. Long familiar as the outfits worn by nurses and maids, these uniforms were "correct" and almost child-like (why some even had "bibs.!")</span></h4>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJfRIzu29Uv3kc_yzI9sT2lWthRwZ9OdoPQN4R96WmmvuecAswFi9U6ypCyi_FFxd2ys2xOJlg-ami7S1RNSvmIDqb2VKLm_eguESHvhwJMwkkb0Y-5vvWFNLI0SPTLsKl58osoFTlcL5i/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-11-27+at+5.21.39+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="511" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJfRIzu29Uv3kc_yzI9sT2lWthRwZ9OdoPQN4R96WmmvuecAswFi9U6ypCyi_FFxd2ys2xOJlg-ami7S1RNSvmIDqb2VKLm_eguESHvhwJMwkkb0Y-5vvWFNLI0SPTLsKl58osoFTlcL5i/s320/Screen+Shot+2017-11-27+at+5.21.39+PM.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lord and Taylor on 5th Ave, New York Times Ad, 1916.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h4 class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Of course it was unlikely that male customers would confuse his waitress with his maid or some other "domestic" worker just because of her uniform. But the implication was there: Hands Off! This woman is a worker. She is there to serve. She is of a certain class. And she is "separated" from you by her uniform.</span></h4>
<h4 class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">In a final statement (or warning to women considering restaurant work?) the League's report observes that restaurant work is ultimately a "dead end."</span></h4>
<h4 class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left;">
</h4>
<h4 class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="gstxt_hlt">"Restaurant </span>work is <span class="gstxt_hlt">a </span>'blind alley' trade. There is little opportunity for development or advancement. What training is necessary can be acquired <span class="gstxt_hlt">in a </span>few weeks, and <span class="gstxt_hlt">the </span>only position to which <span class="gstxt_hlt">a </span>girl can look forward is that of head waitress. There are no recognized degrees of skill <span class="gstxt_hlt">in </span>any part of <span class="gstxt_hlt">the </span>work connected with <span class="gstxt_hlt">a restaurant."</span></h4>
<h4 class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="gstxt_hlt"> </span></h4>
<h4 class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="gstxt_hlt">Ironically, restaurant work would come to be characterized as a means to an end: think, James M. Cain's <i>Mildred Pierce</i> or Fannie Hurst's <i>Imitation of Life</i>, both novels (and later film versions) include bold women who make it on their own thanks to their restaurant work.</span> </span></h4>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<h4 class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> ~Jenny Thompson</span></h4>
<div class="gtxt_body">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvUEZKP8HMffZSaad0NcuetywaNb94V8CnnYQ2OAZ6Ofnzw6NLOZGwJarYFDqTSof_7OZyltsdCbQxA97LKN6ZTDuPDKAlfdt-3m9QdGW8Dq_3wvfGDrblJa2D35RAcCuTQAwXI8de89yQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-11-27+at+5.57.35+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="577" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvUEZKP8HMffZSaad0NcuetywaNb94V8CnnYQ2OAZ6Ofnzw6NLOZGwJarYFDqTSof_7OZyltsdCbQxA97LKN6ZTDuPDKAlfdt-3m9QdGW8Dq_3wvfGDrblJa2D35RAcCuTQAwXI8de89yQ/s640/Screen+Shot+2017-11-27+at+5.57.35+PM.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the Verge of a Pancake House: Louise Beavers and Claudette Colbert in<i> Imitation of Life</i> (1934)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_body">
<br /></div>
</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-40184265023083963672017-10-23T16:26:00.003-05:002017-10-23T17:46:57.827-05:00Alone at the Wheel: Driving in Manhattan<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"The roadster glided through traffic as easily, gracefully as a fish swimming downstream, the first lights of evening sliding backward over the long, gray hood."</i></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
~ Winifred Van Duzer, <i><a href="https://thegoodbadbook.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/the-good-bad-girl/" target="_blank">The Good Bad Girl</a> </i>(1926)</div>
<span id="goog_325229622"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="giphy-embed" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://giphy.com/embed/p0sI68zrvtMfS" width="480"></iframe><br />
<a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/vintage-gif-black-amd-white-new-york-1928-p0sI68zrvtMfS">Yeild to the...? City Street, NYC, via GIPHY</a><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
The website, <a href="https://www.tripsavvy.com/tips-for-driving-in-new-york-city-1612991" target="_blank">Trip Savvy, offers ten tips </a>for driving in New York City. Number one:<br />
"Don't drive in New York City."<br />
It's simple logic, the site asserts, since "driving your own car around New York City rarely makes sense."<br />
<br />
At one point though, driving a car in Manhattan not only made sense; it meant "freedom," that tried and true American ideal.<br />
<br />
In Winifred Van Duzer's excellent 1926 novel, <i>The Good Bad Girl,</i> 19-year old Mimsi comes to New York City from the small town of Tranquility. She wants to be an artist, but winds up subject to the great city's ebbs and flows of fortune, heartbreak, and danger.<br />
(A couple of cads haunt the narrative, making Mimsi miserable).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0WZ3__qyCdtCiVKP8gbk6rm7d1tMBYT50PmxTfDSGMTGzIl_If1PfTBsStI7T8wZq5pL5w83SSs_egszOJo4Owl87rkeS4Pahewow8G9rL0wO2Rs5r3BIq4S667ugYeScbKkLH_2GGszI/s1600/good+bad+girl+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="308" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0WZ3__qyCdtCiVKP8gbk6rm7d1tMBYT50PmxTfDSGMTGzIl_If1PfTBsStI7T8wZq5pL5w83SSs_egszOJo4Owl87rkeS4Pahewow8G9rL0wO2Rs5r3BIq4S667ugYeScbKkLH_2GGszI/s640/good+bad+girl+cover.jpg" width="459" /></a></div>
<br />
At one point, Mimsi is taken under the wing of a wealthy man who offers her sole use of his Washington Square home (yes, home) and his "roadster," which is conveniently stored in a nearby garage just around the corner.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBwqB2di78XIlyMIVoe2uVZIWBnQ-BBM5GhQhB5corbRyuwf-S6BBl6dNU0ZbkwEKyFs9mkTRdtozFSHLXC8Am2h_0U5xB28FzisnSu0FeriK80UEIphzwIhFfE5Dy7TY33oALmbTE71a/s1600/wash+square+nyc+1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="1028" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBwqB2di78XIlyMIVoe2uVZIWBnQ-BBM5GhQhB5corbRyuwf-S6BBl6dNU0ZbkwEKyFs9mkTRdtozFSHLXC8Am2h_0U5xB28FzisnSu0FeriK80UEIphzwIhFfE5Dy7TY33oALmbTE71a/s640/wash+square+nyc+1920.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mimsi's Haunts: View of Washington Square arch, 1920.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
All alone in the city, save for her white collie, Luck, a depressed Mimsi takes to sleeping during the day and driving through the city at night. She retrieves the great roadster from the garage and drives north through Manhattan at nightime.<br />
Here, she finds herself again.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Mimsi felt the heart-throb of the engine on the wheel under her palms and thrilled to the sure knowledge of power. Luck curled up on the seat beside her; she settled back. 'This is freedom,' she chattered to the dog. 'This is freedom, Lucky, dearest!'</blockquote>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxrd5SGuE91UEqUbDPgkFaZluh-K4kh6UixAdfS-mebqgpeh3jBtnUXHYzBhb00MWDDUbu9PDAGDXhXe9yyGnJVaJ2-jliiovNeHBB8Etv9t4bdQjzsGvWyaiKlpsLKJwZC7pG6GdR2LoH/s1600/1926+roadster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="548" height="459" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxrd5SGuE91UEqUbDPgkFaZluh-K4kh6UixAdfS-mebqgpeh3jBtnUXHYzBhb00MWDDUbu9PDAGDXhXe9yyGnJVaJ2-jliiovNeHBB8Etv9t4bdQjzsGvWyaiKlpsLKJwZC7pG6GdR2LoH/s640/1926+roadster.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mimsi, is that you? And your 1926 roadster?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Driving all night, Mimsi re-discovers her strength. She drives around the city and beyond its limits, night after night, racing along country roads and through towns that sleep in the darkness.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"On and on, sweeping through other little towns, along Main streets where drug-store windows blazed red and blue all night and the white steeples of white churches threw long shadows. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Past clever little houses where people lived. Contented people . . . A long stretch of road would unwind like a satin ribbon."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Mimsi finds freedom behind the wheel. She finally "conquers" the city by getting into the roadster and driving. This is just one aspect of Van Duzer's novel that provides a glimpse into popular attitudes concerning cars in the 1920s, and the ease of their use in Manhattan!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI0q-vBFMmR3AocHiru_pXCgTjiP38Y26emBQgagwsAeJDZhaNmahk_CcCiFtNmCL6KM7eTDw6MpUxKBKDXSRK-MY0Ub6vVZQxTOW2jPyrkqaAk0mKDPk9OY2LPUiBIiqKOGDLJNNbG-PS/s1600/cat+on+street+nyc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="657" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI0q-vBFMmR3AocHiru_pXCgTjiP38Y26emBQgagwsAeJDZhaNmahk_CcCiFtNmCL6KM7eTDw6MpUxKBKDXSRK-MY0Ub6vVZQxTOW2jPyrkqaAk0mKDPk9OY2LPUiBIiqKOGDLJNNbG-PS/s640/cat+on+street+nyc.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cars Brought to a Halt! Cat Crossing, NYC. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Indeed, Katherine Hepburn recalled her early <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1iWuXK0_Gg" target="_blank">days in New York </a>in the late 1920s, early 1930s."I had the use of a car," she wrote. "You could park almost anywhere in those days." (<i>Me: Stories of My Life,</i> 87.) <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT_doXOdSuMxuChzpdq5zRAoVjvrQVEeDAnTPc1g0yJVwIOORbODUuPcb6WKf3OLQY2cggtTICazLzxHh9eEltE2Lam166MFsTtRkvP_sXpWa6FjKEpnfKbVtjwAkK9yAXio4AByxQT3uQ/s1600/hepburn+in+nyc+1934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="330" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT_doXOdSuMxuChzpdq5zRAoVjvrQVEeDAnTPc1g0yJVwIOORbODUuPcb6WKf3OLQY2cggtTICazLzxHh9eEltE2Lam166MFsTtRkvP_sXpWa6FjKEpnfKbVtjwAkK9yAXio4AByxQT3uQ/s640/hepburn+in+nyc+1934.jpg" width="534" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NYC, 1934. Hepburn on Foot, by choice. She could drive (and park) anywhere! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
New Yorkers were early adopters of the auto. In 1900, there were an estimated 8,000 cars in the entire U.S, and nearly a third of those were owned by New Yorkers.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnbQztP5ovVPjzALER-lwwOrWp0Lb1bvB5N1DHwjzT7TuXUfrouiqj_qzeS1eo5A8jUJEnhZY0H59kFYzldWHqhelkBS5_s-5v8NpkmJlpkeMxVdYLakYZG5_jhCfz8HNuZJ8Ekd-44-f2/s1600/1024px-NY_5ave_13easter_1910s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="731" data-original-width="1024" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnbQztP5ovVPjzALER-lwwOrWp0Lb1bvB5N1DHwjzT7TuXUfrouiqj_qzeS1eo5A8jUJEnhZY0H59kFYzldWHqhelkBS5_s-5v8NpkmJlpkeMxVdYLakYZG5_jhCfz8HNuZJ8Ekd-44-f2/s640/1024px-NY_5ave_13easter_1910s.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early Adopters in the Easter Parade, NYC. Autos on Display.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"They raced them at City Hall Park and built getaway roads. William K. Vanderbilt II, a great-grandson of the railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, built a parkway on Long Island," observes Donald Albrecht, curator of architecture and design at the <a class="meta-org" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/m/museum_of_the_city_of_new_york/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Museum of the City of New York">Museum of the City of New York</a> and a co-curator of the 2010 exhibit. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/automobiles/21MUSEUM.html" target="_blank">“Cars, Culture and the City,” </a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd4wi82Ff4cX4xF-R-r8AfTnpoqanB1zwS23Ufk0Fj7QQNmJOGygyH12acwCFJ9TB3zTQZ_Asr0eIWrhTKjieeRswqf16B4kva0GazDnxnBHF3GAXHcoHkLtdFzWsvJow-SZDd8D29FOLd/s1600/car+on+street+nyc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="617" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd4wi82Ff4cX4xF-R-r8AfTnpoqanB1zwS23Ufk0Fj7QQNmJOGygyH12acwCFJ9TB3zTQZ_Asr0eIWrhTKjieeRswqf16B4kva0GazDnxnBHF3GAXHcoHkLtdFzWsvJow-SZDd8D29FOLd/s640/car+on+street+nyc.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Side Street: Hey, look! There's a space! 1920s parking in NYC.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Those who did not own their own cars could still enjoy traveling through the city by car. Hailing hired cars (electric), which were charged at facilities around the city, was commonplace. </div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHFlAnj2Eg_-Q-Q8prVaz77IGmVVvP2CqA5LrJA4US20jJ8tLiihBs78DpKBLa1ddLjnf-2BiYCWKhhAKAvj_hP96hn1NM4qhCnPIWD3XEjNPE0FJj4ooSZy8i0OR8gWAbCGk93s3Tc3AW/s1600/chargin+station.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="407" data-original-width="615" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHFlAnj2Eg_-Q-Q8prVaz77IGmVVvP2CqA5LrJA4US20jJ8tLiihBs78DpKBLa1ddLjnf-2BiYCWKhhAKAvj_hP96hn1NM4qhCnPIWD3XEjNPE0FJj4ooSZy8i0OR8gWAbCGk93s3Tc3AW/s640/chargin+station.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New York City of the Future? Charging Stations for Cars, 1920s</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>"The old resident of the city has become accustomed so gradually to the presence of the <b>electric hansom</b> and <b>electric brougham</b> on the streets of the metropolis that he gives no more thought to them than to the horse-drawn cabs and hacks, and the visitor accepts them as one of the many features of life in Manhattan that make it different from existence in his home city, and, while he finds it convenient and expeditious to order an electric carriage by telephone and be whisked rapidly from his hotel down to Wall street or to the railroad station or steamship pier, he has no idea of the extent of the service and the magnitude of the plants required for its conduct."</i> </blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Henry W. Perry, "Automobiles for Everyone in New York," <i>Automotive Industries,</i> June 7, 1906.</blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZqXukqkau_cBqsQn1zf5042lTl5vdkZbNQG894pU8vuLrbiHWjmX0JpdOsmvJMOanPkt3MDS1sTpPLL6IfuHysLxHIvmnR0Hs1ZCiVi9eRS3GvUL-ZGIgscfDI9Z_eDkxJAyACP8hWne/s1600/charging+stations+1923.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1500" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZqXukqkau_cBqsQn1zf5042lTl5vdkZbNQG894pU8vuLrbiHWjmX0JpdOsmvJMOanPkt3MDS1sTpPLL6IfuHysLxHIvmnR0Hs1ZCiVi9eRS3GvUL-ZGIgscfDI9Z_eDkxJAyACP8hWne/s640/charging+stations+1923.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map of charging stations for electric cars, NYC, 1923.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
As the city's population
opted more and more for the personal freedom of owning a car, the ease
of driving in Manhattan came under threat. And by the late 1920s, as more and more cars appeared on the city's streets, residents became concerned with a new, modern problem: traffic. Construction was soon underway to try to address the problem.<br />
<br />
The Holland Tunnel opened in 1927, the same year construction began on the West Side Highway. By 1929, the Triborough Bridge was under construction. (Get a glimpse of the city streets in <i>The New Yorker's</i> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh5PSp51UGA" target="_blank">film of "side by side" driving in NYC</a>, 1930s and today.)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUdYLUWYUuayrI_aKTWH0INFsGKhu32TPk0qR4t0jVj1-ULHr5BLVU3xEq8mb5HQTYMCD-mr0mMwv87YcAR-C4JQ_dF_U8cqMnTwT7P5tt0lQVrT8Uj15ZZU29ifjvFkV9RXJzTSeSgkN3/s1600/opening+holland+tunner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="651" data-original-width="1034" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUdYLUWYUuayrI_aKTWH0INFsGKhu32TPk0qR4t0jVj1-ULHr5BLVU3xEq8mb5HQTYMCD-mr0mMwv87YcAR-C4JQ_dF_U8cqMnTwT7P5tt0lQVrT8Uj15ZZU29ifjvFkV9RXJzTSeSgkN3/s640/opening+holland+tunner.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Holland Tunnel Opening Day, 1927.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Soon even automobiles had places to rest in the city when not in use. The "hotel for auto" (also called an "Auto Inn") made its appearance. You can read more about those <a href="https://www.citylab.com/design/2015/09/the-marvellous-history-of-new-yorks-hotel-for-autos/405832/" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXReK_VOfI2AhOZr79fY1VGUQSyE8Dk5RoiTNfvJ00DMUAtfDOgQpQ4HYpDALfbL8b86hpEMG9PMWPbry98HTuK1QV_pRBelLNDxlKC0iO8lPCsKit1dkqdXRGLYBGwFzb4EmBwoUdeiXn/s1600/hotel+for+autos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="410" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXReK_VOfI2AhOZr79fY1VGUQSyE8Dk5RoiTNfvJ00DMUAtfDOgQpQ4HYpDALfbL8b86hpEMG9PMWPbry98HTuK1QV_pRBelLNDxlKC0iO8lPCsKit1dkqdXRGLYBGwFzb4EmBwoUdeiXn/s640/hotel+for+autos.jpg" width="459" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
The ease of driving in New York would, of course, gradually disappear, going the way of the hired hansom electrics. Still, in so many novels, memoirs, and films of those early days, the "freedom" of driving in New York evokes something so chic, so cool, and so downright "New York." Many a film scene centers around the characters' ability to pull up in front of their destination and go on with their business with little concern for that modern-day and agonizing challenge: finding a parking spot. (See the opening scene of Noah Baumbach's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czyMIIm12JY" target="_blank"><i>The Meyerowitz Stories: New and Selected </i></a>for a pitch-perfect portrayal of the parking spot challenge in New York.)</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
~ Jenny Thompson </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLvO_-k_WiOEnlxUCmUA6sglGCVblebDLICap1bqGKws7OZT6NE5q141BQskU5mKemm712Io_-3b1wKd96NZ8YDr5uPF5aji4ChGPLv9PWH9QzVtrrQ0fTYvw-jX-haeTH787pXaWmByV-/s1600/electric+car+ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="354" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLvO_-k_WiOEnlxUCmUA6sglGCVblebDLICap1bqGKws7OZT6NE5q141BQskU5mKemm712Io_-3b1wKd96NZ8YDr5uPF5aji4ChGPLv9PWH9QzVtrrQ0fTYvw-jX-haeTH787pXaWmByV-/s400/electric+car+ad.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Those were the days!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lkqz3lpUBp0/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lkqz3lpUBp0?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-28343880981013773222017-08-22T16:42:00.000-05:002017-08-22T21:28:13.153-05:00Faith Baldwin of Brooklyn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0_-sb-lU5gpqpgeOZJl0ocWJOr5Icf3I4pg2YGXuMqzBXMqk0l3YqM8zSasmutae32sZhVB-4uEmx172B8Y6kjqjYhK8wLmytRS5e3uebJn88AFxormSNth0QnKIl8R1LRj1Pgx42DHlF/s1600/Baldwin+Skyscraper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="234" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0_-sb-lU5gpqpgeOZJl0ocWJOr5Icf3I4pg2YGXuMqzBXMqk0l3YqM8zSasmutae32sZhVB-4uEmx172B8Y6kjqjYhK8wLmytRS5e3uebJn88AFxormSNth0QnKIl8R1LRj1Pgx42DHlF/s640/Baldwin+Skyscraper.jpg" width="416" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New York and the (Aspirations, Dreams) Lives of Women: Faith Baldwin</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"Romance novel" is a useless phrase. Let's just stick with "novel," shall we? And thus we can take a look at one of the United States' most successful writers: Faith Baldwin (1893–1978). Over the course of her career, she published roughly 100 novels, wrote for various magazines and newspapers, and saw some of her novels turned into films (eg, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028505/" target="_blank"><i>Wife Versus Secretary </i></a>1936). Her first published piece (a poem) appeared in the <i>Brooklyn Daily Eagle</i> in 1907 (see below). Her first novel was published in 1921, and her final novel appeared in 1977. "She writes about people you know," reads the copy from one of her novels. "The girl next door, the young man who rides down on the elevator with you, the people in your office." Baldwin's novels focused on women's lives, their relationships, dreams, families, marriages, careers, and challenges of the modern world. The setting for the vast majority of her novels: Why, New York, of course! Brooklyn, to be exact.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLnCApy22vWAGX6TIMca_uU1H7FRB4ULsyxdccIMjYyFBDNf0vX3olxqXJaQb3CXojGfZlnd4YJIZo1BYUCXEjwjXAP76N0z8432ryJcYYANMRiP_cWmkTDbaJVCNaJzQN37FE5meJmjvq/s1600/faith+baldwim.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="665" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLnCApy22vWAGX6TIMca_uU1H7FRB4ULsyxdccIMjYyFBDNf0vX3olxqXJaQb3CXojGfZlnd4YJIZo1BYUCXEjwjXAP76N0z8432ryJcYYANMRiP_cWmkTDbaJVCNaJzQN37FE5meJmjvq/s640/faith+baldwim.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Faith Baldwin and friend</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"For color and atmosphere," Baldwin told reporter Ruth Blair in 1924, "I depend mostly on what I know and where I've been." ("In Spite of a Husband and Two Babies Faith Baldwin Continues Writing Career." <i>Brooklyn Daily Eagle, </i>November 2, 1924. )<br />
<br />
What Baldwin knew was Brooklyn. This was her hometown, her home, and her center. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2PVVDik8ZqQTXtrgaU-hYT4XzhLJ4i0EMzyKvjzBdUcWqNFy_rD_22CzKQnkXDqGA9a6g7tD_O4E-Pt8BzKTFGfLFUWv79lVdnc9JzRKgKxeNL7nPYaslVklyXuRoSd-EnZVQF4KIION/s1600/266+Hicks+st+brooklyn.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="413" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2PVVDik8ZqQTXtrgaU-hYT4XzhLJ4i0EMzyKvjzBdUcWqNFy_rD_22CzKQnkXDqGA9a6g7tD_O4E-Pt8BzKTFGfLFUWv79lVdnc9JzRKgKxeNL7nPYaslVklyXuRoSd-EnZVQF4KIION/s400/266+Hicks+st+brooklyn.tiff" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Baldwins' home in Brooklyn Heights (1900 Census) 266 Hicks Street.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It was in Brooklyn where Baldwin would grow up; she was married there, raised her children there, and there she launched her career as a writer. She lived in numerous houses over her long residence there, and many are still extant. (See more pics below.)<br />
<br />
Although born in New Rochelle, New York, Baldwin was just three years old when her family first moved to Brooklyn. Their first home was at 266 Hicks Street, where she lived with her younger sister, Esther, her mother, Edith
(a native New Yorker), and her father, Stephen C. Baldwin, a successful New York lawyer.<br />
<br />
Later, the family moved (according to a 1905 New York census) to <a href="https://www.onradpad.com/11708539-apartment-105-pierrepont-st-brooklyn-ny" target="_blank">105 Pierrepont Street</a>, and finally, they settled at 73
Remsen Street. They were part of Brooklyn society. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg53L9xRyrPlyRDUQ95qxIOFR2iAUV5KbokNXKv52au9kbC_JUPhyphenhyphenrShYG-e0O2vPYaMc36WItWeylNF3OXD1107Klcl7NikUg0T6HXpyNrZ9c932GdJXPtEtprVYMiKNJUNHkVFhs0wU2J/s1600/brook+blue+book.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="263" data-original-width="533" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg53L9xRyrPlyRDUQ95qxIOFR2iAUV5KbokNXKv52au9kbC_JUPhyphenhyphenrShYG-e0O2vPYaMc36WItWeylNF3OXD1107Klcl7NikUg0T6HXpyNrZ9c932GdJXPtEtprVYMiKNJUNHkVFhs0wU2J/s400/brook+blue+book.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Baldwins Were Regularly Listed in this Blue-Blooded Blue Book</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In fact, Baldwin's name and activities regularly appeared in the society columns of the <i>Brooklyn Daily Eagle</i> and <i>Brooklyn Life.</i> Baldwin attended Brooklyn Heights Seminary and later <a href="https://store.briancassidy.net/shop/cassidy/15175" target="_blank">Mrs. Dow's School for Girls *</a>(a preparatory boarding school) at Briar Cliff.<i> </i> Once she came of age, she would be among Brooklyn's celebrated debutantes.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMIDxaHOttFRSM2SY1uE2SyHQMLZh-OEB71PLxgCyjkxEfVnymcQ7098Sq5RoHpw1nEYdzASX-2bgA19ahbqHhQWDI97NyICg6YDVHsAD-gJCwAAeBw62Zu81JDqKvGIO45NVu50r4S_g/s1600/73+remsen+2014.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="775" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMIDxaHOttFRSM2SY1uE2SyHQMLZh-OEB71PLxgCyjkxEfVnymcQ7098Sq5RoHpw1nEYdzASX-2bgA19ahbqHhQWDI97NyICg6YDVHsAD-gJCwAAeBw62Zu81JDqKvGIO45NVu50r4S_g/s640/73+remsen+2014.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baldwin Home: 97 Remsen St. Brooklyn (photo from 2014)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Baldwin's father also had a love of writing (he published some of his work in <i>Frank Leslies's</i>). But it was clear to the whole family that it was Faith Baldwin who was the writer of the family; her early interest in writing was just one reason she was considered a prodigy. (She learned to read at the age of 3.) But the family did not permit her to be coddled and worshiped. "I was was permitted to astonish and gratify the family," Baldwin told <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunnally_Johnson" target="_blank">Nunnally Johnson</a> in a 1924 profile of her, " but no more."<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG17PTIk3WnJ_TKfWZ4U45uNIUMYPhJcVPbESxWGD7J-bmU87Qy8w2PZ69QP2fug1hZjh-OybCnpAXfFgz0D-4S3Cs9-naID2GT7mYqaTsZ71Jgp0tL3qu9qkwLSdAH5y1sTE5qfLbA6TW/s1600/faith+baldwin+BDE+april+21+1907.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="258" data-original-width="536" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG17PTIk3WnJ_TKfWZ4U45uNIUMYPhJcVPbESxWGD7J-bmU87Qy8w2PZ69QP2fug1hZjh-OybCnpAXfFgz0D-4S3Cs9-naID2GT7mYqaTsZ71Jgp0tL3qu9qkwLSdAH5y1sTE5qfLbA6TW/s400/faith+baldwin+BDE+april+21+1907.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prodigy's Poem: Baldwin's poem appeared in the <i>Brooklyn Daily Eagle </i>on April 21, 1907</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Still, Baldwin was deeply intellectual and adventurous. At the outbreak of WWI, she was living in Germany where she had gone to study, living with a family friend. Rather than try to make it back home, she elected to remain, taking in the historic events that unfolded around her. On her passport application she stated that she would remain in Berlin until "after the war." Despite that statement, Baldwin returned home to the US in 1916 and took up "war work." <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB_CV5yk_7pxEGTxVkKMRSOE7rw8tq3FJ-6QBKF9KjEmHtm1XIcQsb28fL2Eb47jegLaKHSLz5qN2cFpXesjhSHKtAAph_QBN1hW_AibH1foV6ehuNSE190wD5CJHHJd4QFRyNrglbTZ9V/s1600/BDE+21+march+1915+Baldwin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="572" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB_CV5yk_7pxEGTxVkKMRSOE7rw8tq3FJ-6QBKF9KjEmHtm1XIcQsb28fL2Eb47jegLaKHSLz5qN2cFpXesjhSHKtAAph_QBN1hW_AibH1foV6ehuNSE190wD5CJHHJd4QFRyNrglbTZ9V/s640/BDE+21+march+1915+Baldwin.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Over There: Faith Baldwin's Stay in Germany During WWI Elicits Press Coverage</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After the war, in 1919, Baldwin met the man she would marry. On October 13, 1920, at her family's home on Remsen Street, she married
Hugh Hamlin Cuthrell, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. Later, Cuthrell <span class="st">served as vice president of the Brooklyn Union Gas Co.</span><br />
<br />
One year after her wedding, Baldwin published her first novel, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=SKEiAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP9&dq=faith+baldwin&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjYtL3xyI7UAhVj6YMKHdqTB4MQ6AEIOjAE#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Mavis of Green Hill.</a> While she continued to use her maiden name professionally, her first novel also identified her as "Mrs. Hugh Hamlin Cuthrell." This was something she soon stopped doing, sticking solely to the name Faith Baldwin from there on out.<br />
<br />
Her first book was dedicated to her agent, Jean Wick, in "gratitude and affection." Wick, a literary agent with an office at 59 Washington Square, was later celebrated for her early cultivation of Baldwin, and for her having taken the "poor struggling scribe under her wing." (Rian James, "Reverting to Type," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 27, 1929.)<br />
<br />
From then on, Baldwin wrote and published, setting her novels (mostly) in New York, from Manhattan to Brooklyn (and occasionally beyond).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeEbu6bP3dkiTVfrGI34mUOeOkpBl-YYutOpDvjAX7nIqY3DsCeK0ucEo4eHM8aTsB1tdfY1js0j9OEUXMklWPEZTevUk8Awb5iAeyTHiGE98fPU5UFLg3qKdr98NrWn-OYzGJp-hbXRmA/s1600/Faith+baldwin+cover+nyc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="538" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeEbu6bP3dkiTVfrGI34mUOeOkpBl-YYutOpDvjAX7nIqY3DsCeK0ucEo4eHM8aTsB1tdfY1js0j9OEUXMklWPEZTevUk8Awb5iAeyTHiGE98fPU5UFLg3qKdr98NrWn-OYzGJp-hbXRmA/s640/Faith+baldwin+cover+nyc.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baldwin's paperbacks frequently made use of New York maps to identify the varied locations of the plots.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Early in her career, Baldwin, her
husband, and first born son (along with a cat named Bootleg) lived at 8219 13th Avenue in
the Dyker Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The house is no longer there.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_HI1hA1Csq8OCYHt2peg4loZ11cH2aCvS4zUkzZ-ieWrt8KDEO_saJ5LqSqfpxLU8S2_i7mcLc8FIrtC0Te4YuQgTKbjxPjSmmm9BqWh-_zECCLtS6IkzSiRcGv7gOyu4_DViPJO50dEf/s1600/8219+13th+ave+%2528across+street%2529.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="599" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_HI1hA1Csq8OCYHt2peg4loZ11cH2aCvS4zUkzZ-ieWrt8KDEO_saJ5LqSqfpxLU8S2_i7mcLc8FIrtC0Te4YuQgTKbjxPjSmmm9BqWh-_zECCLtS6IkzSiRcGv7gOyu4_DViPJO50dEf/s320/8219+13th+ave+%2528across+street%2529.tiff" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baldwin's Neighborhood near 8219 13th Ave, Brooklyn</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By 1930, she was listed in the US census as "Faith B. Cuthrell," living at 156 97th Street in Bay Ridge. She was identified "as a writer of novels" with a reported annual income of more
than $25,000.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitqXz0Q0d91ye02iHTxZsHsNBuEYjR8XFG96PFm1vmzJ3OwJrmAR690gI5YHAzusa3qQ36n0fc3aBWHouZy6hWwGSh_wimJU9cSeZeX2fM8XMTzLKTqFBXl3ZgY4qiUM2S1wuiDFDCk31W/s1600/156+97th+street.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="456" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitqXz0Q0d91ye02iHTxZsHsNBuEYjR8XFG96PFm1vmzJ3OwJrmAR690gI5YHAzusa3qQ36n0fc3aBWHouZy6hWwGSh_wimJU9cSeZeX2fM8XMTzLKTqFBXl3ZgY4qiUM2S1wuiDFDCk31W/s400/156+97th+street.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Faith's Former Home: 156 97th St.: the Bay Ridge Baldwins (<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/156+97th+St,+Brooklyn,+NY+11209/@40.615607,-74.0446174,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c24f88cb2958d5:0x8c1189814de03ece!8m2!3d40.615607!4d-74.0358627" target="_blank">photo Google Maps</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Brooklyn's Bay Ridge neighborhood appeared many times in her novels, as did other Brooklyn neighborhoods. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
By 1936, Baldwin earned more than $315,000. Once she made it "big," the press seemed to enjoy following
the same story line:<br />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
A woman who has a family and a career! <i> </i></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<i>How does she do it?!</i></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_Mk0vQWB6nfUK3MP2yYoXGZaVvPXRY5xkAgvNWc4ihFFO2zq4eoQq3zkrE1l40mZpqnC5oV80rLrqUHwGgOg9cdgR0DkGJ-m7XgY0rQvzIBVaxPupPxjazaurRT7hawqWErsDq9Dp409/s1600/BDW+baldwin+2+nove+1924.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="1125" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg_Mk0vQWB6nfUK3MP2yYoXGZaVvPXRY5xkAgvNWc4ihFFO2zq4eoQq3zkrE1l40mZpqnC5oV80rLrqUHwGgOg9cdgR0DkGJ-m7XgY0rQvzIBVaxPupPxjazaurRT7hawqWErsDq9Dp409/s640/BDW+baldwin+2+nove+1924.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baldwin: Wife, Mother, Author!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Baldwin had four children: Hugh, Henny, and twins, Stephen and Ann. They kept her busy, but did not keep her away from her work. What critics would not seem to allow was the respect that was her due: she was, to use the title of one of her own novels, a "Self Made Woman." She wrote because she loved writing, but her success was far more than coincidence.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSxnpZ5eU9V3jhvAJWcVu4RyK7nzhmunCjAJv3CmOR2BDDGPpKsO2OBjtAOVSL7fixkSavUQ8cwkuDJCdhKhzl0aoKPlQfztS_J2Y1KCPCqjSOS1XCBR_-Lia7FIoSiyFblhrNXdu0b2n0/s1600/self+made+woman+cover.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="228" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSxnpZ5eU9V3jhvAJWcVu4RyK7nzhmunCjAJv3CmOR2BDDGPpKsO2OBjtAOVSL7fixkSavUQ8cwkuDJCdhKhzl0aoKPlQfztS_J2Y1KCPCqjSOS1XCBR_-Lia7FIoSiyFblhrNXdu0b2n0/s640/self+made+woman+cover.tiff" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">False Dilemma: In Baldwin's Life There Was No Need to Sacrifice. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Her novels reflected the tempo of the times for women who confronted new ways of being in a modern world. Indeed, many of the issues at the center of her work, namely the balance between work and "home," are still discussed today. While Baldwin lived out the true possibility that yes, women could have it all, she also seemed to serve as an example to other women that they could do it well and entirely successfully. Still, she was often critical of the modern woman, arguing that women of today needed "protection," noting that, especially in the "big city" with its various trappings that could destroy innocence, women needed to be shielded and careful.<br />
<br />
The 1932 film "Skyscraper Souls," based on Baldwin's novel, <i>Skyscraper</i>, typified this attitude. Both novel and film were cautionary tales for women eager to "make it" in the big city.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOv-xElJlTzCWNmc25QxyOXEzI6VH4TntQ0tCcravBd5zH9lHv3i5GDnziiz3yBOSFN9n15G1TLyx4LYkDwCEl3NXEm_k6ZcAeb2K7MM1a1I8ZnONoC5qhZ8t4vYymr-JszxhvrDVae3s/s1600/skyscraper+souls.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="432" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOv-xElJlTzCWNmc25QxyOXEzI6VH4TntQ0tCcravBd5zH9lHv3i5GDnziiz3yBOSFN9n15G1TLyx4LYkDwCEl3NXEm_k6ZcAeb2K7MM1a1I8ZnONoC5qhZ8t4vYymr-JszxhvrDVae3s/s640/skyscraper+souls.tiff" width="392" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beware! Modern Women Please Take Note of the City's Dangers!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Despite Baldwin's rather conservative bent on certain issues, she was decidedly enlightened on others. "I can't for the life of men," she wrote, "see how any thinking person can contend that a marriage from which love and respect have disappeared should continue." ("Author Approves Divorces Where Love Has Vanished," <i>Arizona Daily Star, </i>January 27, 1931.) Such a view on the contentious issue of divorce was not entirely rare, but it reveals the complexity of Baldwin's views. Thus, while Baldwin often seemed to advocate for "traditional" (conservative) hierarchies between men and women, husbands and wives, she also supported the idea that women can undertake serious careers.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjOLBt3Nnym5BBOqE-p3CauoL2gcYFmHFUH_y1mqt-0WsKfJYmtElAgbwX5V2NnQfTwbjcmIg8rJiRHhNOcILj86lnhNFABfRtpD6e1F9k7uNz3LPF8Bc5DaxaxLwA7n1jCwCzu8LQDpTn/s1600/Baldwin+White+collar+girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="361" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjOLBt3Nnym5BBOqE-p3CauoL2gcYFmHFUH_y1mqt-0WsKfJYmtElAgbwX5V2NnQfTwbjcmIg8rJiRHhNOcILj86lnhNFABfRtpD6e1F9k7uNz3LPF8Bc5DaxaxLwA7n1jCwCzu8LQDpTn/s640/Baldwin+White+collar+girl.jpg" width="452" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Work and Love: Two Themes under Baldwin's Scrutiny</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
She did offer a warning: "Men don't resent women so much if they're writers or painters or singers . . . But let the little woman compete with man in his own field of business and there's immediate enmity." (Isabelle Keating, " 'Skyscraper Author Looks Down on Sex,'" <i>Brooklyn Daily Eagle, </i>September 28, 1931.) <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK92Ao0f_YSvgmTi3aMxCfJepvwFZ2M0tQJ9Vy84RyD4oX_mJymh_1hHKgZ50710pqdtV598wsfmsc8-PeCNyS8AyEmuxHvzMYE9-dwHc7mP-JtPiTnPGq2U48pWXdTKX7UhnzV5jNZ-ZA/s1600/rocks+cradle+writes+Quad+City+Times+20+april+1930.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="309" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK92Ao0f_YSvgmTi3aMxCfJepvwFZ2M0tQJ9Vy84RyD4oX_mJymh_1hHKgZ50710pqdtV598wsfmsc8-PeCNyS8AyEmuxHvzMYE9-dwHc7mP-JtPiTnPGq2U48pWXdTKX7UhnzV5jNZ-ZA/s640/rocks+cradle+writes+Quad+City+Times+20+april+1930.tiff" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two Arts at Once! Baldwin in the <i>Quad City Times,</i> April 20, 1930</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Despite the press' characterization of Baldwin as wife and mother, she was in fact more mother than wife. In reality (and almost secretly) Baldwin and her husband were separated for decades, although this information was not widely circulated. It was only upon his imminent death in 1953, that the couple reconciled.<br />
<br />
Ultimately, Baldwin was not only a self made woman, but a woman who lived largely on her own. She lived most of her life with her children and an occasional friend who boarded with her in her modest homes. (Later in her life, she moved to Connecticut.)<br />
<br />
"I thought it was the only way to be adventurous and independent," Baldwin later said of her writing. (Obituary, <i>Poughkeepsie Journal,</i> March 20, 1978.)<br />
<br />
In offering her "recipe for fellow women," Baldwin encouraged other women to write.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijcdYAVrA-dqoLYxuAnuzqRgAq-uA1H5jhGDojBXng5YmpORPyNBB9Y-bk0ngxWrHZfMtOLvwBxLa0DqE0OHFMXKA7L75ke8tEmxu3R-FoHx8dfuTM5hE6BX2BBR2IX-M0ljrIRaEJrbIR/s1600/write+baldwin+Quad+City+Times+20+april+1930.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="374" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijcdYAVrA-dqoLYxuAnuzqRgAq-uA1H5jhGDojBXng5YmpORPyNBB9Y-bk0ngxWrHZfMtOLvwBxLa0DqE0OHFMXKA7L75ke8tEmxu3R-FoHx8dfuTM5hE6BX2BBR2IX-M0ljrIRaEJrbIR/s400/write+baldwin+Quad+City+Times+20+april+1930.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And a Dash of Confidence! Baldwin's Recipe </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In fact, she would serve as a mentor of sorts for many young women throughout her long career. (See <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristen-houghton/faith-baldwin-mentor_b_921726.html" target="_blank">Kristen Houghton's piece </a>about Baldwin's influence on her.)<br />
<br />
<i>The New York Times </i>would
later characterize Baldwin as "one of the most successful writers of light
fiction on the American scene," (NYT, March 19, 1979). Whether her work was "light" or not can be disputed. But her influence was clear.<br />
<br />
And Brooklyn, her home and the setting for many of her novels, remained close to her heart. In 1935, the popular columnist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._O._McIntyre" target="_blank">O.O. McIntryre</a> singled out Baldwin and her beloved Brooklyn as worthy of noting: <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQCkWcLjYesOqK9ivkrh3QFlXHtAJl8Hqe26z8GGS9QaRM58-nbW4I2we91OszA0I9WfzWJz82eUS3lMO8KHJQTacBSl6Kk6hVeFhtoh2802g3CJxYhmZXlMvxyHSOZmIfs7R2W5uItGyJ/s1600/28+may+1935+O+O+McIntryre.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="392" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQCkWcLjYesOqK9ivkrh3QFlXHtAJl8Hqe26z8GGS9QaRM58-nbW4I2we91OszA0I9WfzWJz82eUS3lMO8KHJQTacBSl6Kk6hVeFhtoh2802g3CJxYhmZXlMvxyHSOZmIfs7R2W5uItGyJ/s400/28+may+1935+O+O+McIntryre.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">O.O. McIntryre's "New York Day by Day," May 28, 1935.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
~Jenny Thompson<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* Mrs Dow was Mary Elizabeth Dunning Dow, formerly of the exclusive Porter School in Farmington, CT.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-64151236145144354842017-06-23T17:50:00.003-05:002017-08-28T14:15:22.019-05:00Skyscraper Souls: Warren William and the Working Girl<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSa1hc4wjXGwoqrIcNrzkJWX3-ZImJnQSsT4P38_craMOV7nNdIa75dWDKzFrnfZpbKti7qFikuupuWqor-gf99r7tImUrppdy5oUIa9fjjWtyyfp6iT5N3-8ktzy3PioA0mrarG9fqfja/s1600/warren+william.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="322" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSa1hc4wjXGwoqrIcNrzkJWX3-ZImJnQSsT4P38_craMOV7nNdIa75dWDKzFrnfZpbKti7qFikuupuWqor-gf99r7tImUrppdy5oUIa9fjjWtyyfp6iT5N3-8ktzy3PioA0mrarG9fqfja/s640/warren+william.jpg" width="476" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warren William: Villain, City Dweller.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Actor <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0929925/bio" target="_blank">Warren William</a> (1894 – 1948) has been called the "king of pre-code" Hollywood. At the age of 26, he first appeared on Broadway, enjoying a successful run on the New York stage before going West under contract with Warner Bros.<br />
<br />
In films, William was best known for playing a ruthless tycoon, a man who seeks money and power; a man who disposes of women easily and heartlessly, the kind of character who <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtbkYSEM-Eg" target="_blank">"made life his plaything," </a>in the words of a trailer for his 1934 film, <i>Bedside. </i><br />
<br />
Many of his films portray New York City in the 1930s; a portrayal that offers a rather biased view of the metropolis: the city was a jungle, a trap, a den of immorality that dazzles and seems to promise everything, but ultimately only destroys.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
This portrayal has a long history, but it is particularly interesting to view the ways that 1930s Hollywood deployed this analogy in reference to women. Indeed, the 1930s marked the first full generation of American woman who entered a new decade with a true and legal sense of freedom (the right to vote, of course, having only recently been granted to women). And many of these women were deciding that it was far more interesting to go to the big city to pursue one's dreams than sit around at home. Who needed to settle down and get married?! A Career! Adventure! Freedom!<br />
<br />
Many films of the 1930s center around such young women in New York: they have come
to the city to work, to make it rich, or to go on
stage. (These were the "types" which Hollywood and other media variously derided as "climbers," "gold diggers," or worse, in the parlance of the time.)<br />
<br />
Well, watch out, ladies, these films warned. Even the smartest of women could find herself prey to the likes of a man who embodied the very city itself: classy, sophisticated, and deadly. Why, a woman's very innocence was at stake once a man such as William appeared on the scene. He was ready to exploit the "skyscraper souls" of New York. He was, in short, the perfect predator. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXTrTX-OdtrkRJzVYa5TgLn8QVutf7rZZ-veXhtFgsJ9XCz3Dh4aNfhwr7NqerSkGzXmNDsMue5Tg7BJcKQB1GhDoS9aZuGsjVp3vBLqp8kU0CCrhU1K4LndTPj4JBoy76uCZHO2xediHm/s1600/skyscraper+souls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXTrTX-OdtrkRJzVYa5TgLn8QVutf7rZZ-veXhtFgsJ9XCz3Dh4aNfhwr7NqerSkGzXmNDsMue5Tg7BJcKQB1GhDoS9aZuGsjVp3vBLqp8kU0CCrhU1K4LndTPj4JBoy76uCZHO2xediHm/s640/skyscraper+souls.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Don't resist; It's only me, New York."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the classic 1932 <i>Three on a Match, </i>three such women suffer different fates owing to their error (lighting their cigarettes on one match and thus dooming one of the trio).* But of course their real error was coming to New York in the first place: my goodness, ladies! You don't even have a chaperone! <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGfgHiigTpcnha4NhpEtgIGTJ98SP4zryuJviCBCiIu10bP1pFuSAtXzbf8Nz9cLmmwxjnQeXF4AcEs1yGc0C0V1TVkAJAjUcMJQuyp359ehcOadIK0PaKvm7tqm6cuvCTEMXELs2DNZxS/s1600/3+on++a+match.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGfgHiigTpcnha4NhpEtgIGTJ98SP4zryuJviCBCiIu10bP1pFuSAtXzbf8Nz9cLmmwxjnQeXF4AcEs1yGc0C0V1TVkAJAjUcMJQuyp359ehcOadIK0PaKvm7tqm6cuvCTEMXELs2DNZxS/s640/3+on++a+match.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watch Out! It's Warren William! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Whether playing the charmer, the dashing tycoon, the heartless producer, or even the sympathetic husband as he occasionally did, William always seemed to appear out of nowhere (symbolically rendered by his larger-than-life head on many of the movie posters). He was there to make women's dreams come true, but he always took something in return.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitAhQJKajHnr6BQntpLUxk4mJFIva6NQjUK65zAfVEC7xVnqfc1WQ8eL3k5egfkGO70Ezo8n9iXe2Zhi3GmmJacfK9qK9EWOLhJGm9Squyg0TUFBnT1hhfzVvBleRisXLb4hCKm8-he72C/s1600/1931-Under-18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="800" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitAhQJKajHnr6BQntpLUxk4mJFIva6NQjUK65zAfVEC7xVnqfc1WQ8eL3k5egfkGO70Ezo8n9iXe2Zhi3GmmJacfK9qK9EWOLhJGm9Squyg0TUFBnT1hhfzVvBleRisXLb4hCKm8-he72C/s640/1931-Under-18.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
In the racy <i>Under Eighteen</i> (1932), William's character ( a "wolf in a silk dressing gown," read the Brooklyn Daily Eagle's review) exploits a poor seamstress, luring her to his penthouse apartment (complete with a rooftop swimming pool.) She needs help (money) desperately and he is only too willing to give her what she needs, just in return for a little something.....<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA1vWeA-y9Ms5i8Y7SXk0Osh_c_6UTdFJ8iHUTSaJtbSruS5pc1tdgxOdj7ZL5RiYpb0_VBswLRQkQdpA-ipUprT8yao8V33uiMJw4K90bVT817aaRyagKjXcWhymIK8Gj95Bg-qd-RJVx/s1600/under+18+two.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="656" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA1vWeA-y9Ms5i8Y7SXk0Osh_c_6UTdFJ8iHUTSaJtbSruS5pc1tdgxOdj7ZL5RiYpb0_VBswLRQkQdpA-ipUprT8yao8V33uiMJw4K90bVT817aaRyagKjXcWhymIK8Gj95Bg-qd-RJVx/s640/under+18+two.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"That fur can be yours. I just want what's underneath it." <i>Under Eighteen </i>with Marian Marsh.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The film <i>Skyscraper Souls </i>(1932) was based on a book by Brooklyn-based writer <a href="https://americanpast.blogspot.com/2017/08/faith-baldwin-of-brooklyn.html" target="_blank">Faith Baldwin</a>. Here William portrays a cut-throat New York City real estate developer whose 100-story skyscraper stands as a symbol for greed and power on the verge of the market crash of 1929. (Read an <a href="http://pre-code.com/skyscraper-souls-1932-review/" target="_blank">insightful take on the film here.</a>) Spoiler alert: the film ends badly for nearly all involved, but particularly (surprise!) for the young working woman: See the film's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6EP_YPpF8" target="_blank">unmistakable visual warning to women here</a>).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
In New York City, "one million women march to work each morning," a <i>March of Time </i>newsreel from the 1930s states. But ... wait for it: you DO NOT want to join them! (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzSg8hGtEb4" target="_blank">You can find this odious propaganda here.</a>) It's hard to "kill the dream" of the young girls who wish to go to New York City, but, the film warns, it really must be done.<br />
<br />
Not only might you find yourself "fallen" at the end of your stay, you might be forced to work as a taxi dancer or clip joint worker. And you might, you just might, find yourself staring into the dreamy eyes of Warren William. But don't be fooled by his urbanity; he is the sin, the city, and the sinner.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1qwjmqT4ZQqByDaFk9aal-0z4F92nfISzjF-a8iY-747EFPDaXLasOevq2poaZ2upSj65vnnQRT9L82_JlW2e0N4h1r3gnpFvwbMXTeOfyny3pzGIfo3yeUDHeDY7SSb3zzrm68Byu7Jt/s1600/william+warren+employ+entrance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="587" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1qwjmqT4ZQqByDaFk9aal-0z4F92nfISzjF-a8iY-747EFPDaXLasOevq2poaZ2upSj65vnnQRT9L82_JlW2e0N4h1r3gnpFvwbMXTeOfyny3pzGIfo3yeUDHeDY7SSb3zzrm68Byu7Jt/s640/william+warren+employ+entrance.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What are your qualifications? Can you type? Can you....? <a href="http://2014.filmfestival.tcm.com/warren-william-on-the-prowl-2/" target="_blank"><i>Employees Entrance </i></a>(1933)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By all accounts, Warren William was a heck of a good guy in real life, happily married, hard working, and an animal lover! But that's Hollywood for you: if you make a good picture, you just might be able to change how people view reality. I'm just glad that women kept coming to New York, kept pursing their dreams until Hollywood could catch up with them. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi102HboN47ygafnqEoocJxJsMYoQi8nb7hPilKiV5Wm9s7r2RrLl_SqMGNJZw8t9zZTzcnDvoDvrVv3JgJ4rycFXLStmd47DXAbP-xn8XwfUbcOFn5iw2TIkieXVkVwX_Pu2ZHawmSTZr1/s1600/warren+william+and+dog+jill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="325" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi102HboN47ygafnqEoocJxJsMYoQi8nb7hPilKiV5Wm9s7r2RrLl_SqMGNJZw8t9zZTzcnDvoDvrVv3JgJ4rycFXLStmd47DXAbP-xn8XwfUbcOFn5iw2TIkieXVkVwX_Pu2ZHawmSTZr1/s400/warren+william+and+dog+jill.jpg" width="317" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warren William and his dog Jill</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
~Jenny Thompson<br />
<i>*The superstition related to "three on a match" is rooted in the experience of soldiers as far back as the Crimean War (revived in WWI). To light a match long enough to light three cigarettes was time enough to be spotted by the enemy. The third party on the match was said to be doomed to die soon.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-72606893256854278532017-04-03T18:38:00.001-05:002017-04-19T19:09:18.905-05:00Anonymous, New York: Ursula Parrott<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OwfK0t9tGSV200qstAWoXxTIaDBesreddh-pRBIgp7dPC5YpPxNuFpGo6SxP44YHVJHaZ71cB4RcnpAL2H90tbcAX1OfaZuO2HiyxxIOc-XDNJ8tpeuMGMwgMGnGi9wxwy3yQCyUfAXE/s1600/crop+map+ex+wife_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OwfK0t9tGSV200qstAWoXxTIaDBesreddh-pRBIgp7dPC5YpPxNuFpGo6SxP44YHVJHaZ71cB4RcnpAL2H90tbcAX1OfaZuO2HiyxxIOc-XDNJ8tpeuMGMwgMGnGi9wxwy3yQCyUfAXE/s640/crop+map+ex+wife_edited-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You are Here, Manhattan, 1929. Back Cover of Ex-Wife, Dell paperback edition.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h4>
<i>My husband left me four years ago. Why--I don't precisely understand, and never did. Nor, I suspect, does he. Now, in these waning days of 1929 when the world may be tumbling about our ears, that other catastrophe and its causes are matters equally inconsequential.</i> ~ Ex-Wife, 1929</h4>
</blockquote>
<br />
In 1929, a novel titled <i>Ex-Wife</i> was published by Jonathan Cape publishers. The book, published anonymously, "caught readers' fancy," and made the bestseller list. Many readers were shocked and astonished at the racy story of a woman who, divorced from her "heel" of a husband, takes up relationships with other men, along with a cocktail or two, and even takes up her own career!<br />
<br />
She rooms with an artist friend in the Village, attends parties and "first nights" in the city, she shops, she pays attention to her clothes, perfume, and other details, and she loves to find love in the arms of a handsome male friend--RACY! <br />
<br />
Who had written such a truly modern story of a young woman in 1920s Manhattan, navigating men, work, and the impact of the "Aspirin Age?"<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9o989E6JAWTPtsOZJVKiBxHNJNrFkf7LHlDMVBwY_iVvCZXmXKHHywqlMxriAW1PY-o-HExE30d2bxeTCTzuliEBvGVXwjXgPEtyiDkYi-QOWAyRWl14X1B_hHZF0b-sg6_lIsxiR6z8R/s1600/ursual.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9o989E6JAWTPtsOZJVKiBxHNJNrFkf7LHlDMVBwY_iVvCZXmXKHHywqlMxriAW1PY-o-HExE30d2bxeTCTzuliEBvGVXwjXgPEtyiDkYi-QOWAyRWl14X1B_hHZF0b-sg6_lIsxiR6z8R/s640/ursual.tiff" width="640" /></a>"Ursula Parrott" was the pen name of the author of <i>Ex-Wife</i>. Her real name was Katherine Towle. <br />
<br />
Towle was born in Boston on March 26, 1899. After graduating from Radcliffe College, at the age of about 22, she listed herself as a journalist in the city directory.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSQcWCBKP-uz6Xldv8eZgzqXWZIyCLJbtWGP5iAL-nEFBOo9x0g8bR2WYF-XsZqnkC8O-PyzdwOatfGlvQyFqacfB9nSG0THKo7V2RE7tX4BWra0376ciFHCSVeeAZEAzLE1yl2nWWXQ4Y/s1600/ursula+parrott+1937.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSQcWCBKP-uz6Xldv8eZgzqXWZIyCLJbtWGP5iAL-nEFBOo9x0g8bR2WYF-XsZqnkC8O-PyzdwOatfGlvQyFqacfB9nSG0THKo7V2RE7tX4BWra0376ciFHCSVeeAZEAzLE1yl2nWWXQ4Y/s320/ursula+parrott+1937.tiff" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ursula Parrott: Author</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
World War I had only just concluded, and the country was in disarray. Add to the postwar chaos, a weak economy, recriminations surrounding the war, fears of new wars, "red scares," and a host of other thorny issues confronting the United States, American women now had the right to vote. (!) <br />
<br />
Oh, and did we mention that one could no longer legally purchase a cocktail to help ease the strain of this jazzy modern world? After 1920, it was illegal in the U.S. Prohibition was the law of the land.<br />
<br />
This was the world Towle confronted as she starting out, a graduate, a woman, an adult.<br />
<br />
Getting married was perhaps a radical notion for a woman who wanted her own career, but marry she did.<br />
<br />
On August 31, 1922, Towle married Lindsay Parrott, a New York "newspaper man," whose father was a professor of literature at Princeton. <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Parrott eschewed high brow lit for the real world of pavement-pounding journalism. He would work for <i>Newark Evening News</i> and then for the <i>New York Evening Post.</i></span></span> <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His wife wanted to do the same.<i> </i></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i> </i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Whatever happened for the next six years is not known. Although Ex-Wife might give us a clue.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">In June 1928, the couple divorced. Soon after Parrott's anonymous novel was published and caused a sensation. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">The protagonist of <i>Ex-Wife</i> has recently divorced and her "ex" is not exactly a nice guy. Parrott would later state that the novel was not "autobiographical." But her novel was a seminal treatment of a modern women's life--the limitations of her choices, the ways in which she might embrace the so-called "new freedoms" of a postwar age when a certain kind of fatalism following war intermingled with a kind of bravery and clear sightedness for independent women.</span></span> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXu3o_Rte1CzxWGB8EHzJ3U1UiXmNANT4iYwwQ823YBmYkdNUoXufUS8VPwlnyQLD9-G0-T9QHYfAhUe7f6EH0jlUspdNO17kZzcY3Sb2LwWwNqFtVdJWpQIOKxCrdafcLnEH_mnFRwr0X/s1600/ex+wife+cover.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXu3o_Rte1CzxWGB8EHzJ3U1UiXmNANT4iYwwQ823YBmYkdNUoXufUS8VPwlnyQLD9-G0-T9QHYfAhUe7f6EH0jlUspdNO17kZzcY3Sb2LwWwNqFtVdJWpQIOKxCrdafcLnEH_mnFRwr0X/s640/ex+wife+cover.tiff" width="452" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A later version of Ex-Wife included Parrott's name</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">In 1930, the film version of <i>Ex-Wife</i> was released, titled, <i>The Divorcee</i>. The pre-code film starred ground-breaking actress <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norma_Shearer" target="_blank">Norma Shearer </a>in the leading role. Shearer had fought to get the role. Her husband, Irving Thalberg, president of production at MGM, wanted Joan Crawford to play it. But Shearer persisted. The film was a blockbuster. Shearer was fantastic. She would win the 1930 best actress Academy Award for her performance. </span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1D82xfFZ6QQROI_vrAbvp0ORy8MegT3Hax4NnDlHz8yzJT688jRm9OPcq5KoXl4rMCDc13fVBzx1FDRh1rWv3SxzMbnPEQJbjYkB2E25kgwluPU9LjS_xlX60PfRZTVB7HfdewMUelLGA/s1600/shearer.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1D82xfFZ6QQROI_vrAbvp0ORy8MegT3Hax4NnDlHz8yzJT688jRm9OPcq5KoXl4rMCDc13fVBzx1FDRh1rWv3SxzMbnPEQJbjYkB2E25kgwluPU9LjS_xlX60PfRZTVB7HfdewMUelLGA/s640/shearer.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shearer: "No, Irving. I am going to play it!" Publicity Still for The Divorcee</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">The success of <i>Ex-Wife</i> and <i>The Divorcee </i>saw Parrott continue to write, publishing more novels (roughly 22 novels over the span of her career) and also being hired by Paramount as a screenwriter. Other Parrott novels (<i>eg, Strangers May Kiss)</i> were made into films; and Norma Shearer continued to favor the deep, intricate parts for women that Parrott created. Shearer also starred in <i>Strangers May Kiss</i> (1931).</span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">See beloved<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnqlDIXc0lk" target="_blank"> Robert Osborne's intro to the film on TCM.</a> RIP Robert Osborne. : ( And here's his intro to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73IJxpa2vJw" target="_blank"><i>The Divorcee.</i></a></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">Parrott's career however was hindered by the "old freedoms," if you will. Despite her successful writing career, the media seemed fixated on her marital state. The puns and plays on the term "ex-wife" would dominate coverage of her personal life; she would marry three more times, and each time, the media had a field day. </span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";"> </span></span> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizpZqgXc2WdIA4Nyw-Ap16Lr5iP-cXFgJGZg3vcAPLtZmSYsVNWifhz-d94T7NjAkaaAhdjXsuKlwwuvJFuDd6GqqBUBVrXRfMiXZvJ_FweYoGizIFkV8HgwVppBDKMn82UyGcj4X-IjzZ/s1600/santa+cruz+evening+news++3+dec+1932.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizpZqgXc2WdIA4Nyw-Ap16Lr5iP-cXFgJGZg3vcAPLtZmSYsVNWifhz-d94T7NjAkaaAhdjXsuKlwwuvJFuDd6GqqBUBVrXRfMiXZvJ_FweYoGizIFkV8HgwVppBDKMn82UyGcj4X-IjzZ/s640/santa+cruz+evening+news++3+dec+1932.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can't You Think of Any Other Angle? Santa Cruz Evening News, December 3, 1932</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";"> </span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">Parrott moved briefly to Hollywood and reportedly hated it. She loved New York, and in her novels she portrays the city's life, its rhythms and moods, with clarity and beauty. The city was really the place to be in an era when new mores were being tried and tested. And Parrott was a part of that first postwar wave of writers who sought to give form to these new experiences.</span></span> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim4jWaMR3w3nFLfdLJpvjWMgxEeUeO0ZBXQD9MpvoG-B6UMTj2Ln_Y1Dg1QTEe_6nUvpuTm2b0U3Bz3TiHYxtn7cqOYpckBXRRP-zOgp-i0kVSmGlbHrp_06NlPbA0JPkhXm6UL3BtiLF9/s1600/BDE+23+Oct+1929.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim4jWaMR3w3nFLfdLJpvjWMgxEeUeO0ZBXQD9MpvoG-B6UMTj2Ln_Y1Dg1QTEe_6nUvpuTm2b0U3Bz3TiHYxtn7cqOYpckBXRRP-zOgp-i0kVSmGlbHrp_06NlPbA0JPkhXm6UL3BtiLF9/s640/BDE+23+Oct+1929.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 23, 1929</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">In fact, in 1929, Parrott's first novel was seen as important to the post war moment as two other novels considered all time classics: <i>All Quiet on the Western Front</i> and <i>A Farewell to Arms.</i></span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";"> </span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">Of course, few reporters covered Hemingway with an accompanying illustration of a bride and groom, or with questions concerning (and judging) his marital status. (</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">For the record: </span></span>He was married four times.)</span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";"> </span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">No, this treatment was reserved for women only. </span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">And so Parrot continued to work in a new world, struggling to change the status quo, working to portray the new state of American women, and working to give literary form to a city (New York) and the country after the winds of World War One had blown through its roads and streets, casting the normal, workaday world into a different light.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";">~Jenny Thompson </span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";"> </span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";"> </span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";"> </span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";"> </span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";"> </span></span> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "times";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: small;"></span> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-41735966973549215132016-12-29T17:58:00.000-06:002016-12-30T12:19:45.039-06:00"Calling" in New York: A New Year's Day Tradition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvygzBiJ5tVoNLjf7x8ID66kKUTagYVGNHGmrzBTJaj1iXpIzw3QSAIBVwaD09Yfkodc_oBK6C26HCDSpad3JcUL9nUXCfoxoWGDzrwhOR4VvQtWLH1bWvRXbg1-8y6_SmFZlqV4wnDPUs/s1600/calling+new+years.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="417" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvygzBiJ5tVoNLjf7x8ID66kKUTagYVGNHGmrzBTJaj1iXpIzw3QSAIBVwaD09Yfkodc_oBK6C26HCDSpad3JcUL9nUXCfoxoWGDzrwhOR4VvQtWLH1bWvRXbg1-8y6_SmFZlqV4wnDPUs/s640/calling+new+years.tiff" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Mrs. Pegu, and drawing-room, are all laid out in state to receive New Year's calls. Thirty-two young gentlemen make a brief appearance at the door, and recite the following shibboleth: </i> "How d'ye do, Mrs. Pegu. Happy New Year. Can't stay a minute. Made seventy-six calls this morning; got thirty more to make. <i> Adoo! Adoo!" </i> The young gentlemen vanish, to be succeeded by others. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>"There is a singular custom, which prevails in New-York, but, I am informed, in no other part of the Union: on New-year's Day, all gentlemen call on their female friends, to renew or perpetuate their friendship." </b></i><b> </b>The Reverend Isaac Fidler, <i>Observations on professions, literature, manners, and emigration in the United States and Canada Made During a Residence There in 1832, 1833.</i> </span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8MKy1xb2GKrvQVNmoCJ1ucJX1XjqodpUFolQyJ4q1wD4-2XO6cQAwT4T84OknPxLrrNSTTYKoIXWXPeLSiAR4l5pVCrb_X_mCWb3SWOi24BfUXY28mCuZRt7Q94rql2xss2mXtgo8Uudn/s1600/happy+new+year+scene+nypl.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8MKy1xb2GKrvQVNmoCJ1ucJX1XjqodpUFolQyJ4q1wD4-2XO6cQAwT4T84OknPxLrrNSTTYKoIXWXPeLSiAR4l5pVCrb_X_mCWb3SWOi24BfUXY28mCuZRt7Q94rql2xss2mXtgo8Uudn/s640/happy+new+year+scene+nypl.tiff" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Prior to the late 19th century, New Year's Day in New York was a traditional day of "calling." </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Men (of a certain class) were expected to dress themselves in their finery and pay calls to the homes of the ladies within their circle and wish them the very best for the new year. Only men were to do the calling. Women (and newly married men) were to stay at home, dressed to the nines, and offering a spread of cakes, cordials, oysters and other delectables. (Calling was, of course, a routine practice. <a href="http://www.avictorian.com/etiquette_calling.html" target="_blank">See some rules regarding it here</a>.) </span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5uPc7ErkSUazjvnfus9nymGAw5vhyMK0dQXNd135oUj9nfjr51ulO2SX0QGzUqe1H8QzbzRCbjx_h83Qk-tiAECnQwc8nMsxDVr1OjDv5gdMQmJDw2yL1OnGvH0PiFJ_8GkD2Z2iM8WhI/s1600/dress+new+years.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5uPc7ErkSUazjvnfus9nymGAw5vhyMK0dQXNd135oUj9nfjr51ulO2SX0QGzUqe1H8QzbzRCbjx_h83Qk-tiAECnQwc8nMsxDVr1OjDv5gdMQmJDw2yL1OnGvH0PiFJ_8GkD2Z2iM8WhI/s640/dress+new+years.tiff" width="403" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">c. 1850, dress for receiving New Year's day callers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">America's first president was charmed by this New York tradition, which he first experienced in 1790. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="gtxtbody1">“The highly favored situation of </span><span class="gstxthlt">New York </span><span class="gtxtbody1">will, </span><span class="gstxthlt">in </span><span class="gtxtbody1">the process of years, attract numerous emigrants," Washington observed, "who will gradually change its ancient customs and manners; but let whatever changes take place, <i>never forget the cordial, cheerful observances of </i></span><span class="gstxthlt"><i>New </i></span><span class="gtxtbody1"><i>Year's day.” <a href="http://americanpast.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-washingtons-in-new-york-nation.html" target="_blank">See more about the Washingtons' time in New York City here. </a></i></span></span></span><br />
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The tradition, which had its roots in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, evolved over the years (and even expanded to other cities). By the mid 19th century, as the above <i>Harper's Weekly </i>illustration shows, the tradition of the New Year's Day call had amped up to such a degree that it required a kind of speed-calling by those who took the rounds by carriage to pay the requisite calls. The calls lasted all day, usually concluding by 9pm.</span></div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Meanwhile, women were in competition to see just how many cards the might receive. Indeed, it was a holiday and tradition that was judged "one of the most important social observances of the year." </span></div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">An 1886 article explained how the holiday had evolved:</span></div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The winter holidays or Christmas season in Dutch New York occupied some two or three weeks, and, commonly, all public business was suspended until the hilarity was over. </i></span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Christmas festival . . . was particularly distinguished by boisterous revels, and great men became trifling and frolicsome. But New-Year's-day was quite another affair. Dignity was everywhere observable. Ladies were never to be seen in the streets; they were in their decorated homes, in the richest of apparel, welcoming the chief magnates of the colony with stately courtesy and becoming grace. The French and English who subsequently settled in New York fell in with the established custom, and soon became more devoted to its agreeable exactions than even the Dutch themselves. No gentleman of that early school, who esteemed himself eligible to good society, ever thought of omitting to visit his lady acquaintances on the first day of the year; and in the mean time the English habit of making presents on New-Year's-day instead of Christmas was adopted by the Dutch. </i></span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">("The New-Year's Holiday: Its Origin and Observances," <i>The Magazine of American History,</i> 1886.)</span></div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj77JZ-709V9uPPGEScKi0Elje96FHXzfP8Yk_oKALCNtnzdgOoKIwa930dp20IaBSLYj-jW_C54CethtUxfOWoaCBjY5x8kPfNUF2SUax9dCsDpN7UQhy3VUZEII_pXtBl_xniXNLve-6m/s1600/new+years+in+new+am.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj77JZ-709V9uPPGEScKi0Elje96FHXzfP8Yk_oKALCNtnzdgOoKIwa930dp20IaBSLYj-jW_C54CethtUxfOWoaCBjY5x8kPfNUF2SUax9dCsDpN7UQhy3VUZEII_pXtBl_xniXNLve-6m/s640/new+years+in+new+am.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Rendering of New Year's Day in New Amsterdam</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During this significant holiday, the gentlemen of the city arrived at the homes of their friends with their cards in hand. The calling cards were passed to a servant or deposited in a silver tray near the home's entrance. The women at home often had alerted callers that they would indeed by "at home" on New Year's Day. </span></div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some even posted ads in the local papers. But personal notes written directly to particular gentlemen were not recommended since a lady might then look as if she were "begging the gentleman to come and see her." (<i>Home and Health and Home Economics, </i>1879)</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2giH06uui32i81PUCeBiD1Fjb4Jc9sLOcwPNC15VNjsZ8e_GxUM6bFtTDz0CowquaTHiKAu24ljD018ZjMQYFoNO6Xwau1F3WPyuyIhHdngmfqTI5mwyKTBQQsl7IhI_sl89N7sJc9kPL/s1600/1854+parlor+new+york.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2giH06uui32i81PUCeBiD1Fjb4Jc9sLOcwPNC15VNjsZ8e_GxUM6bFtTDz0CowquaTHiKAu24ljD018ZjMQYFoNO6Xwau1F3WPyuyIhHdngmfqTI5mwyKTBQQsl7IhI_sl89N7sJc9kPL/s640/1854+parlor+new+york.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready and Waiting: A New York City Parlor, 1854</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Indeed, the etiquette of the day was extensive, demanding that both the callers and "callees" follow certain protocols for the day. For example:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">A lady who expects to have many calls, and who wishes to offer refreshments, should have hot tea and coffee and a bowl of punch on a convenient table; or, better still, a silver kettle filled with bouillon standing in the hall, so that a gentleman coming in or going out can take a cup of it unsolicited.. . . Of course, her "grand spread" can be as gorgeous as she pleases. Hot oysters, salads, boned turkey, quail, and hot terrapin, with wines </span></i><span style="font-size: small;">ad libitum</span><i><span style="font-size: small;">,* are offered by the wealthy; but this is a difficult table to keep in order when ten men call at one o'clock, and forty at four, and none between. The best table is one which is furnished with boned turkey, jellied tongues, and pates, sandwiches, and similar dishes, with cake and fruit as decorative additions. The modern and admirable adjunct of a spirit-lamp under a teakettle keeps the bouillon, tea, and coffee always hot, and these, with the teacups necessary to serve them, should be on a small table at one side. A maid-servant, neatly dressed, should be in constant attendance on this table, and a manservant or two will be needed to attend the door and to wait at table. </span></i></span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">(</span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="addmd">Mary Elizabeth Wilson Sherwood,</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="addmd"> </span>Manners and Social Usages, </span></i><span style="font-size: small;">1887)</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><i><span style="font-size: small;"></span></i></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1em;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;">*"at one's pleasure," meaning, if one wishes to serve wine</span></i></div>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4uCJ4dTRWER_efjqUY73j3EYiIdFeF49KtD4Kk0hEJdDElfgGpIjZMxHU2FOAh1iB7BPLIYKyYMN14NjevOhhAY7CAL0MsrIPc4iEEtbZ5D1YqmnpMlqjBIBIIOhp8Ap-eurA__ThJiqQ/s1600/ladies+in+finery+1872.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4uCJ4dTRWER_efjqUY73j3EYiIdFeF49KtD4Kk0hEJdDElfgGpIjZMxHU2FOAh1iB7BPLIYKyYMN14NjevOhhAY7CAL0MsrIPc4iEEtbZ5D1YqmnpMlqjBIBIIOhp8Ap-eurA__ThJiqQ/s640/ladies+in+finery+1872.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ladies in Finery Dressed for New Year's Day Callers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">More Instructions for a New Year's Day Call:</span></b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">The man at the door should have a silver tray or card-basket in which to receive the cards of visitors. If a gentleman is not known to the lady of the house, he sends in his card; otherwise he leaves it with the waiter, who deposits it in some receptacle where it should be kept until the lady has leisure to examine the cards of all her guests. If a gentleman is calling on a young lady, and is not known to the hostess, he sends in his card to the former, who presents him to the hostess and to all the ladies present. If the room is full, an introduction to the hostess only is necessary. If the room is comparatively empty, it is much kinder to present a gentleman to each lady, as it tends to make conversation general. As a guest is about to depart, he should be invited to take some refreshment, and be conducted towards the dining-room for that purpose. This hospitality should never be urged, as man is a creature who dines, and is seldom willing to allow a luncheon to spoil a dinner. In a country neighborhood, however, or after a long walk, a visitor is almost always glad to break his fast and enjoy a pickled oyster, a sandwich, or a cup of bouillon.</span></i><br />
<br />
The gentlemen caller had to be handled gingerly lest he violate protocol and do something gauche such as stay too long or talk too much. Women were instructed that they should <i>not</i> ask men to take off their coats or hats, and they should only be offered something to eat or drink only when they were about ready to depart. <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">As for topics of conversation, the weather was viewed as among the most amiable. </span></span></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2pLUhJvUCTCyET5HqHUmkYbdL9zQEZg0rSguhL1o_rn7h9ZCWr2QZ_-PVkF1DN7IG7XnQuVjUG5wdzAp5zj_gftNOiBFpWxd4vaOPTTariScfBu-xQCNX8E6ZFjuLpJIuaj2U2mjAGbuJ/s1600/men+loc+1866.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2pLUhJvUCTCyET5HqHUmkYbdL9zQEZg0rSguhL1o_rn7h9ZCWr2QZ_-PVkF1DN7IG7XnQuVjUG5wdzAp5zj_gftNOiBFpWxd4vaOPTTariScfBu-xQCNX8E6ZFjuLpJIuaj2U2mjAGbuJ/s640/men+loc+1866.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Parlor Games: Please Behave Like Gentlemen! 1855, LOC.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Whatever words were exchanged, by all means, a "</span>gentl</span>eman should not be urged to stay when he calls. He has generally but five minutes in which to express a desire that old and pleasant memories shall be continued, that new and cordial friendships shall be formed, and after that compliment, which every well-bred man pays a lady, "How remarkably well you are looking to-day!" he wishes to be off." </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Reverend Isaac Fidler, a visitor to New York in 1832, found the custom to be particularly charming and quite American. He described his experience of New Year's Day calling:</span></span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 1em;">
</div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <i><span class="gtxt_body">All the ladies we called on, as is universally the case, had prepared cakes, sweetmeats, wines, cordials, &c, in great profusion, in readiness to exhilarate and regale their visitors. They were themselves, in general, very elegantly decked out and beautified. All appearance of mercenary business was wholly laid aside, and calculating penury had its annual slumber. Many gentlemen jaunted about in sleighs, a kind of carriage which slides upon the snow, to pay their devotions to the fair recluses; ladies on this day not being permitted, from punctilios of etiquette, to stray from home. The scene to me was as gratifying as it was new. All was animation, cheerfulness, and friendly feeling. The Americans seem, on this occasion, to have light hearts and buoyant spirits, and fulfil as much as any nation the command, " Take no thought for the morrow." Thus some traits in their character are extremely pleasing to a foreigner. This was the only occasion, on which I saw the bright side of American sociability. In the midst of this joyous and festive gaiety, my fancy whispered, that the Americans are really a pleasant people.</span></i> </span></span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By the late 19th century, many were the problems faced by those who called and were called upon. The habit of calling had changed and some young ladies now had the nerve to leave their homes on the day, leaving a basket tied to the doorknob to serve as a receptacle for the calling cards of the gentlemen! But, to be fair, it was the men's fault, since some had lapsed into casual behavior and failed to show at the homes of ladies who sat glumly waiting for no one to come.</span></span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Soon, the New Year<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span>would be celebrated more on the eve of the <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">holiday. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">H</span></span>osting a party or going out on the town to dine would become de riguer.</span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGY28l1owwcmmzJ3GlebVaWoDdqwzeP2GSWLbNCPyr4aPoWTenrhJ3PeGIFWc_a4qCKy7QIE6KBXGiNnH7VgBkWz75xzLsHUGWlJzMixohEJEMqK-3icWcVrYx9rr1pi-OKiWYf4tu6WpD/s1600/hoffman+cafe+ny+1891+menu.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGY28l1owwcmmzJ3GlebVaWoDdqwzeP2GSWLbNCPyr4aPoWTenrhJ3PeGIFWc_a4qCKy7QIE6KBXGiNnH7VgBkWz75xzLsHUGWlJzMixohEJEMqK-3icWcVrYx9rr1pi-OKiWYf4tu6WpD/s400/hoffman+cafe+ny+1891+menu.tiff" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">An 1891 Menu from Hoffman Cafe (NYPL)</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1em;">
<br /></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But for many years the New Year's Day <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">custom of calling</span> was a delightful expression of city dwellers in the throes of celebration and forward<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">-</span>looking to the New Year.</span><i><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></i></span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: small;">"New Year's Day in New York"</span></i></b></span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: small;">Here is one man's account which originally appeared in The Hesperian, 1838</span></i></b></span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Have you ever passed a New Year's day in New York? If you have not, perhaps you would like to accompany me in my calls. We must start early, and take our list; containing the names of those we intend visiting, arranged in the most convenient routine of their residences. Many of them, business and other causes have prevented our meeting since last New Year.</span></span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_column">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The first we call upon, is Miss Newton. She is a pretty affected girl, living in great splendor. The table in the back parlor is loaded with the luxuries of the season— oysters, turkey, wine, cordials, coffee, and confectionary, tempt every variety of taste. For this day the young lady has thrown off her airs, and each guest quits the house resolved to call again.</span></div>
<div class="gtxt_column">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span> <br />
<div class="gtxt_column">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The next place is old Mrs. Van Pelt's. The daughters are all married and settled, her husband is dead, yet here sits the old <span style="font-style: italic;">vrow* </span>ready to welcome her friends as warmly as in younger and happier years. Her table presents a striking contrast to the preceding one. Here, too, is cake and wine; but in the center stands a large silver urn, containing <span style="font-style: italic;">hot </span><span style="font-style: italic;">rum, </span>which an old Knickerbocker thinks indispensable in dispensing the hospitalities of New Year's Day. On a side-table reposes in great state, a large New Year's cake. Now, if any of my readers are not aware what New Year cookies are, I pity them from my heart. In truth, poor ignorant reader! so much do 1 commiserate you, that I would fain enlighten you upon the subject of New Year cookies, if it were not a very busy day, and I have scarcely time to eat one, much less tell you how thoy arc made.</span></div>
<div class="gtxt_column">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span> <br />
<div class="gtxt_column">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The next visit is to the bride, Mrs. Charlton. Her house is crowded with vis<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">it<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ors</span></span>, all anxious to wish her a happy New Year.</span></div>
<div class="gtxt_column">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span> <br />
<div class="gtxt_column">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The next is on the Misses Maxwell's, who have been on rather cool terms with our family. The gentlemen call, and then they will have no excuse for continuing these distant feelings of friendship. Then follow some dozens more of friends and acquaintances. Night overtakes us still performing duty. Not one gloomy face have we seen this day.</span></div>
<div class="gtxt_column">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span> <br />
<div class="gtxt_column" style="text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At home, we find a happy group of neighbors assembled, to finish the sports of the day in frolic and social chat. Jokes are cracked by the old folks, and love and mischief brewed by the young. All part, declaring, as I hope my readers will, that the first day of January in New-York is the happiest day of the year."</span></div>
<div class="gtxt_column" style="text-indent: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_column" style="text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Happy New Year! </span></div>
<div class="gtxt_column" style="text-indent: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_column" style="text-indent: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">~Jenny Thompson </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">*Vrow: Dutch<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, a woman<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, usually married.</span></span> </span></div>
<div class="gtxt_body" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 1em;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-1763193163695322372016-10-12T13:26:00.000-05:002017-08-30T15:35:30.680-05:00Selling (Off) New York<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gaVd99d5iFUR86XbzwcVmAjFj5te0vrPbfPEhzQm_a5Lee7hi-3NwIw_NUMrFRPaz1jQhdTvUFIlqkiVeWOs0CEHBHZSxFisXG5zSa2BkeMjRAZ48M6Kg4EmPdHRkzmk-kCVq7fVjYAh/s1600/mdlny+.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gaVd99d5iFUR86XbzwcVmAjFj5te0vrPbfPEhzQm_a5Lee7hi-3NwIw_NUMrFRPaz1jQhdTvUFIlqkiVeWOs0CEHBHZSxFisXG5zSa2BkeMjRAZ48M6Kg4EmPdHRkzmk-kCVq7fVjYAh/s640/mdlny+.tiff" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cardboard Cut-Outs?: The cast of <a href="http://www.bravotv.com/million-dollar-listing-new-york/season-4/videos/this-season-on-million-dollar-listing-new-york" target="_blank"><i>Million Dollar Listing, New York</i></a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;">"I think the doorman is just as important as the guy who owns the building," real estate broker Luis D. Ruiz says in an episode of Bravo's <i>Million Dollar Listing, New York </i>(MDLNY).<i> </i>"Because you never know where a deal is going to come from." (<a href="http://www.bravotv.com/million-dollar-listing-new-york/season-4/videos/this-season-on-million-dollar-listing-new-york" target="_blank">Watch a trailer for the show here.</a>)</span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Ruiz is one of three New York real estate brokers - and reality TV personalities - who make up the cast of the popular and fascinating show that will next air its 6th season.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimUy_UF7ou48OlwYMZsPFwYygLqxvTuIT6YxRsrj6ewWtq32_AuFadUOkNV-WT8dHT8nOiIjVggxh3R5KE0z1I_uY7AbI2LgXG2l1_KPZey9BMpVuxTJ6XjlNvEhX-1ko5sKuLa9gS0dGZ/s1600/million+dollar+listing.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimUy_UF7ou48OlwYMZsPFwYygLqxvTuIT6YxRsrj6ewWtq32_AuFadUOkNV-WT8dHT8nOiIjVggxh3R5KE0z1I_uY7AbI2LgXG2l1_KPZey9BMpVuxTJ6XjlNvEhX-1ko5sKuLa9gS0dGZ/s320/million+dollar+listing.tiff" width="220" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">Ruiz, in many ways, is the show's "conscience." Yes, he's as money hungry as the other two brokers </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">on the show </span>(<a href="https://theeklundgomesteam.elliman.com/about/fredrik-eklund/4198" target="_blank">Frederik Ekland</a> and <a href="https://www.nestseekers.com/agent/ryan-serhant" target="_blank">Ryan Serhant</a>), but he is cast as the more humble of the three, the young immigrant from Puerto Rico who has worked his way up. <a href="http://www.bravotv.com/million-dollar-listing-new-york/season-2/videos/killing-it-with-the-spanish-rhymes" target="_blank">He raps. </a>He cries. He flashes a winning smile.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Ruiz's comment about the doorman is about as far as the show ever comes to expressing interest in "average" New Yorkers, those getting pushed out, forced out, and priced out as the city is sold, slicked, packaged, promoted, hyper-gentrified, spiffed up, <a href="http://www.bravotv.com/million-dollar-listing-new-york/season-1/videos/sexing-up-an-apartment" target="_blank">"sexed up,"</a> and marketed. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Now, buildings are given catchy monikers to entice buyers. "Starchitects" are deployed to help elevate already astronomical prices. Addresses of available property <a href="http://100avenuea.com/" target="_blank">appear on women's bodies</a>. Multi-million dollar renovated apartments are staged with tactics including </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.thespiralny.com/home/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;">making short </span>films, </a>which offer an imagined lifestyle of a would-be buyer, throwing lavish open houses for brokers, and showing off the various crazy features of the "new" New York's high priced real estate (<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/business/real-estate/ferrari-has-best-view-new-yorks-skyline-n327156" target="_blank">such as a "sky garage" en suite</a>).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">A few visual samples:</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTweLGcMwiZNf1H37YbVA_fB4uDJN_6jm2MCubr1-gHqdsrcbsRE4NgWjPvaXlB7qTHOuQ59JxdArbmug_z_KZbH7-fZETB5iGpSUSPn8PbMxY3VUzbMtnd-4Zvlsx7D4m70XmqvG5X-Jm/s1600/penhouse.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTweLGcMwiZNf1H37YbVA_fB4uDJN_6jm2MCubr1-gHqdsrcbsRE4NgWjPvaXlB7qTHOuQ59JxdArbmug_z_KZbH7-fZETB5iGpSUSPn8PbMxY3VUzbMtnd-4Zvlsx7D4m70XmqvG5X-Jm/s640/penhouse.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.designboom.com/architecture/zaha-hadid-520-west-28th-penthouse-37-apartment-50-million-dollars-new-york-05-23-2016/" target="_blank">"Triplex" Penthouse on West 28th St</a>reet (because 1 and 2 story apartments are so 20th century). Asking Price $50 Million </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM4yYaHZdWPanmnQMJa77ygevyplhIHuhyedkFRt-7kZvcab_iXmcbdwDNC6xY7pQd3ey7xf9-YOriSId0AFz0m9G7Sq5kXYObMHi8LJe6MK7eDbpqfIyNfvMSaUUUc5NnKXf9mssJkLfR/s1600/soho+garage.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM4yYaHZdWPanmnQMJa77ygevyplhIHuhyedkFRt-7kZvcab_iXmcbdwDNC6xY7pQd3ey7xf9-YOriSId0AFz0m9G7Sq5kXYObMHi8LJe6MK7eDbpqfIyNfvMSaUUUc5NnKXf9mssJkLfR/s640/soho+garage.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rendering of a 2014 SoHo Development: Want the garage? <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/realestate/million-dollar-parking-spot.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Add $1 million to the price</a>.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;">MDLNY premiered in March 2012 as a spin-off of the show, <i>Million Dollar
Listing, Los Angeles. </i>Ruiz, the third broker on the show, was originally "played" by erstwhile cast member, Michael
Lorber, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/realestate/being-related-to-the-family-firm.html" target="_blank">whose father, Howard Lorber,</a> is co-owner of Douglas Elliman, a real estate firm featured on the show. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">As a cast member, Michael Lorber was bullied and insulted by the other cast members. Now, Ruiz takes on that role. (<a href="http://www.bravotv.com/million-dollar-listing-new-york/season-2/videos/the-epic-battle-between-luis-and-fredrik" target="_blank">See a particularly disturbing moment here)</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">There
are apparently no female brokers in NYC, unfortunately, so the cast
of MDLNY remains male. (Although another spin-off, the short lived
<i>Million Dollar Listing, Miami,</i> found one. But that spin off series ran for only one
season.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Two years before MLDNY's premiere, its predecessor made its debut on HGTV with the apt title, <a href="http://www.hgtv.com/shows/selling-new-york" target="_blank"><i>Selling New York</i></a>.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zbVaGwzt6Yig8noKiPfJhdcwEazX6xcRTSjHXlT-7frtxJkNrPhyphenhyphenQ8kG8AonZyuIM0ienWFiyjZZBSqKVIc5vF5-vnC9caR1RqAixVr_5wVgUSSOSuOy5xwen45TRl1aXEkpRD_ZGS3i/s1600/selling+ny.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3zbVaGwzt6Yig8noKiPfJhdcwEazX6xcRTSjHXlT-7frtxJkNrPhyphenhyphenQ8kG8AonZyuIM0ienWFiyjZZBSqKVIc5vF5-vnC9caR1RqAixVr_5wVgUSSOSuOy5xwen45TRl1aXEkpRD_ZGS3i/s640/selling+ny.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Food Chain NYC: Who's on the Bottom?</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>"They are assertive, razor-sharp and always compelling real estate
brokers in the country's most competitive market. In a city of over 8
million people, where the average sale price is over $2 million, the
competition to seal the deal is stiff. Now, catch a rare glimpse into a
world where a solid reputation at the top of the real estate food chain
involves swimming with the sharks, going head-to-head with the best, and
rubbing shoulders with the wealthiest and trendiest of New York's
social, political and artistic elite. This is Selling New York."</i></span></span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.hgtv.com/shows/selling-new-york" target="_blank">- <i>Selling New York</i> promotional copy</a><i> </i></span></span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqFRJ28chqTPiKbOa0a3Wp7IktKRHu0yMgoDc8-zV1PM5vegWNNXFKDOcKyX0MuDfJuUQaKRkw7XVtpEu13svHQ7UJETk13-yIpmWsFgCdxOZh-8fZzrFywGFSxOh__6X_fd4H59J_xrg/s1600/selling+new+york+kleiers.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqFRJ28chqTPiKbOa0a3Wp7IktKRHu0yMgoDc8-zV1PM5vegWNNXFKDOcKyX0MuDfJuUQaKRkw7XVtpEu13svHQ7UJETk13-yIpmWsFgCdxOZh-8fZzrFywGFSxOh__6X_fd4H59J_xrg/s640/selling+new+york+kleiers.tiff" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Oh, wait, I guess there are female brokers in NYC: The Kleiers, <i>Selling New York</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;">On <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2SWA6bZUno" target="_blank">Selling New York</a>,</i> various brokers are featured, but the stars are the Kleier women, two daughters, Samantha and Sabrina, and their mother, <a href="http://www.kleiers.com/agent/MXK" target="_blank">Michele</a>, a high powered, well known broker and owner of her own real estate firm. The women chit chat and make deals, sit around their kitchen table and talk, and trot around in their high heels, their expensive purses held out before them as if they were blocking some kind of evil force. The <i>New York Times</i> called the Kleier women the city's<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/realestate/21hgtv.html" target="_blank"> "real brokers"</a> when the show premiered in 2010. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Both <i>Selling New York </i>and <i>Million Dollar Listing New York</i> came on the scene in the aftermath of the 2006-2007 real estate crash and at the onset of the Great Recession. </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">BUBBLE BURSTS! </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5FtbO_3ABNxMrMpdFtTto3beL7MrsiXAZyNwlZM5cB0aqhw2iFI4FBtVRVI0eKUTHoIfOoUjxHMhJs4gMPO_TvexsvERD0KPJJsSWr5ZKLeDfWuASJbWIWH8kKSZHSE_TMtRxmZ64gjC0/s1600/chart+real+estate.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5FtbO_3ABNxMrMpdFtTto3beL7MrsiXAZyNwlZM5cB0aqhw2iFI4FBtVRVI0eKUTHoIfOoUjxHMhJs4gMPO_TvexsvERD0KPJJsSWr5ZKLeDfWuASJbWIWH8kKSZHSE_TMtRxmZ64gjC0/s640/chart+real+estate.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Plunging Prices Bring on the Glitz in TV Real Estate Shows</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">In 2007-2008, as the U.S. economy wobbled, weakened, and was later re-ordered by the billions in bailouts to bankers, New York real estate (momentarily) flinched. By 2009, Michele Kleier admitted that the NYC market was in a bleak period. In fact, it had <a href="http://www.hgtv.ca/blog/selling-new-york-recap-weird-loft-with-pool-relisted-and-mystery-canadian-investor-revealed/" target="_blank">"tanked." </a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">In 2006, the foreclosure rate in New York City was 5.8 per 1,000 households. After the housing bubble burst in 2007, that number started to climb. By 2010, the rate reached 22.2. (For more detail see <a href="https://www.osc.state.ny.us/osdc/rpt13-2011.pdf" target="_blank">"Foreclosures in New York City," </a>Report of Thomas D. Napoli, New York Comptroller, 2011).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">While
the average New Yorker found life hard in the wake of the economic calamity,
there were plenty of people with cash to move in to the city, buy up foreclosed
properties, and later look for "under market" priced buildings to buy
(and then force/evict/push tenants out.) The result: affordable
housing in NYC began to dwindle. Fast.</span> </span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6hU7svFy6VSuDQtqW7-aqCr93b4hAF0BySlPfEVqkF7ANqn4wZX0Oc1M2bdIElKDzfgf_J9lTuzKQV_KhUYfhGh1Q-RxljaK8MBGDhFdhN4qdGOf8cMujOOewQ3sR-DgmPfnVb2pMlec0/s1600/New+York+state+foreclosures.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6hU7svFy6VSuDQtqW7-aqCr93b4hAF0BySlPfEVqkF7ANqn4wZX0Oc1M2bdIElKDzfgf_J9lTuzKQV_KhUYfhGh1Q-RxljaK8MBGDhFdhN4qdGOf8cMujOOewQ3sR-DgmPfnVb2pMlec0/s400/New+York+state+foreclosures.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Show Me the Mortgage! Foreclosure rates momentarily dip after courts order banks to legitimate ownership of properties.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In the wake of the great reordering of New York City property, most people did not find that the rising tide of real estate prices lifted their boats. And now, there is officially a <a href="http://gawker.com/this-is-what-an-affordable-housing-crisis-looks-like-1748499826" target="_blank">"housing crisis" </a>in NYC. Rents are being increased and developers are focused on building high-end, luxury property, leaving the average city dweller out in the cold (or in a <a href="http://ny.curbed.com/2016/9/16/12947206/williamsburg-tiny-apartment-rental" target="_blank">crawl space</a>, see below.) </span></div>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS5_2i-5TZHhq6ebGV7Gd7Hvv4uwCssruxMNB1GdlG3peC-6B4-tjwRaJg8gXfNePwUqihhgsy6nsT33HYolD6kHkopy-y2CXIlrdiNvxxh6WLXnO75Gh1dyi3GD5irKbpHbnZkVUQFp81/s1600/450+per+month.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS5_2i-5TZHhq6ebGV7Gd7Hvv4uwCssruxMNB1GdlG3peC-6B4-tjwRaJg8gXfNePwUqihhgsy6nsT33HYolD6kHkopy-y2CXIlrdiNvxxh6WLXnO75Gh1dyi3GD5irKbpHbnZkVUQFp81/s640/450+per+month.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/realestate/so-you-think-your-place-is-small.html?_r=0" target="_blank">A Windowless Cave in New York:</a> Price per month, $450</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;">Now, the fad for <a href="http://nypost.com/2016/06/12/the-costly-fallacy-of-nycs-first-micro-apartments/" target="_blank">"micro housing"</a> or "tiny" housing began to take its lap around New York, under the pretense that living in a space <a href="http://nypost.com/2015/08/19/inside-nycs-infamous-100-square-foot-apartment/" target="_blank">far too small for a dwelling</a> was somehow cool for young people, chic, or even desirable. While there are indeed charming small studio apartments (especially geared toward the city's over 4 million single residents-out of 8.5 million people), these teeny abodes can also be a means for landlords to take advantage of (desperate and poor) tenants. Since the passage of the 1901 Tenement Law, New York has barred the renting of space deemed too small (less than 400 sf) to be habitable. But in the face of the city's housing crisis, the New York government is <a href="http://ny.curbed.com/2016/9/19/12970542/micro-housing-nyc-future-studio-apartments" target="_blank">turning a blind eye to the new micro apartments </a>that fail to meet those requirements. (At <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nycs-first-micro-apartments-photos-and-cost-of-rent-2015-12" target="_blank">Carmel Place</a> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="_Xbe">at 335 E 27th St, </span>a building of "micro apartments" that opened in 2015, a 302 sf apartment rents for $2750.)</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOCZFSXB_505QTRXRVLKdeBY_brJfJryR3M8bKYvG6b4vMUFwQsz9JIvCnVsL2tqPlPa0WIBT7cWTiEPJGARoJnK1hV_NIkD1z1aa6BKjpoTqcO8Q3QDKTShy5lx3xA1HCxLaOxrZ_IxL-/s1600/tiny+apt.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOCZFSXB_505QTRXRVLKdeBY_brJfJryR3M8bKYvG6b4vMUFwQsz9JIvCnVsL2tqPlPa0WIBT7cWTiEPJGARoJnK1hV_NIkD1z1aa6BKjpoTqcO8Q3QDKTShy5lx3xA1HCxLaOxrZ_IxL-/s640/tiny+apt.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Home Sweet Home: a 78 sf "Micro" in Hell's Kitchen. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4FoAr8i26g&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">Get a tour here. </a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Meanwhile, for another dweller, there's this 11,000 sf abode:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7o-0gbJcVbCA_OVNo5b0Y-M-32348iRKAIFR6QgI6Yo8vAgG3OdLc_matm60pcg8ht9Vz2954YhLLyO8PVlmyUK7zNISENndk9DHd6MqIObswX91-6QQVxeeWjs_iqFlmTwbShARbffcA/s1600/100.5+million.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7o-0gbJcVbCA_OVNo5b0Y-M-32348iRKAIFR6QgI6Yo8vAgG3OdLc_matm60pcg8ht9Vz2954YhLLyO8PVlmyUK7zNISENndk9DHd6MqIObswX91-6QQVxeeWjs_iqFlmTwbShARbffcA/s640/100.5+million.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQUuwPyOwNc" target="_blank">"You'll Feel on Top of the World!"</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;">By 2013, almost 170,000 families were on a waiting list for housing assistance, and homelessness in the city jumped by 13%. According to Patrick Markee, Deputy Executive Director for Advocacy, <a href="http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/" target="_blank">Coalition for the Homeless</a>, "New York City’s homeless population continued to rise last year, with the number
of homeless people sleeping each night in municipal shelters exceeding
60,000 people, including 25,000 children, for the first time ever." (<a href="http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/state-homeless-2015/" target="_blank">"Turning the Tide.")</a> </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQQaQ3b0H-qTelC4xio1cjfq4sSAfVUrFu8sKDIHVwzzx2uhYpKkho2HhG1zgAPEKR4-03j4tpmXIlmy3M0g2W0fzoR9GJMkrNTIgioCl7x8vVnRmTT2OjEfnUJ-TTsAYAo64SlKcORGXX/s1600/there+goes.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQQaQ3b0H-qTelC4xio1cjfq4sSAfVUrFu8sKDIHVwzzx2uhYpKkho2HhG1zgAPEKR4-03j4tpmXIlmy3M0g2W0fzoR9GJMkrNTIgioCl7x8vVnRmTT2OjEfnUJ-TTsAYAo64SlKcORGXX/s640/there+goes.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Podcast for People: </span>For more on the housing crisis take a listen to</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://www.wnyc.org/story/there-goes-neighborhood-brooklyn-gentrification/" target="_blank"> There Goes the Neighborhood,</a> a 2016 podcast produced by The Nation and WNYC that takes an "in-depth look at gentrification" in Brooklyn.</span></span><br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>So how is it, in the midst of so many people losing their homes, </i></b><br />
<b><i>that NYC real estate prices would break record after record following the crash?</i></b></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The "tanking" of the NYC real estate market, along with the rest of the economy,
was only slightly "portrayed" on TV shows that focused on the lives of
brokers and flippers and the art of real estate deal making. Notably, in another reality show set on another coast, <a href="http://www.bravotv.com/flipping-out/season-3/videos/jeff-blows-up" target="_blank">Jeff Lewis and his team were shown suffering </a>the slings and arrows of a market in decline on Bravo's <i>Flipping Out. </i>The erstwhile house flipper was forced into (oh, dear) renovating other people's homes (!) to make a living post crash.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">But the other shows, Selling New York and MDLNY, focused on the big money in a new market of the SUPERRICH. These shows now constituted a new version of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and they unwittingly documented the selling off of New York City.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIj117KScdiuQ-CiyWQIXQ2nTwqJz3-0tDe8BRaksSIBOq4pgUoQMb8m_aFwtcWAxNEYFTAUJ2zNdl3TdBDFnXkPvwpRuuMc7M2HDdDTipo4taCXtYQiOZyCXv9H-IsrJ3CbWD29Wu9Hjf/s1600/ny+lux.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIj117KScdiuQ-CiyWQIXQ2nTwqJz3-0tDe8BRaksSIBOq4pgUoQMb8m_aFwtcWAxNEYFTAUJ2zNdl3TdBDFnXkPvwpRuuMc7M2HDdDTipo4taCXtYQiOZyCXv9H-IsrJ3CbWD29Wu9Hjf/s640/ny+lux.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Just a little <i>pied a terre</i>: <a href="https://www.zumper.com/blog/2015/07/the-10-most-luxurious-apartments-for-rent-in-nyc-right-now/" target="_blank">165 Perry St.</a></span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Haves Have It</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Oh, yes, New York! Luxury. Escape. Impeccable. One-of-a-Kind. Hand-Crafted. Wraparound Views. Carrera Marble. Ebonized Floors. En-Suite Post Suite Tout Suite.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<i>Dateline NY: </i>After the crash, New York City underwent an invasion: "great torrents of cash came pouring into Manhattan," as <a href="http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/culture/features/11721/" target="_blank">Daniel Gross of <i>New York Magazine</i> wrote in 2015. T</a>hese torrents belonged to the "superrich," once a rarity in New
York, as everywhere else. "The Forbes 400," Gross reported, "which
tallies the domiciles of Americans worth more than $750 million," recently listed 38 of those 400 as living in New York City.<br />
<br />
And now, as Gross observes:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"the more rich people there are, the tougher it is for everyone else to
get by, to afford apartments and live the New York life they dreamed of.
How wonderful is Central Park if you live an hour away by train? It’s
almost as if the superrich have cordoned off much of Manhattan for their
own personal use, distancing themselves from the workaday rich and
building a social class all their own." </i><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKN_tHm6FZNRd63o7jM0NqrYqfpuuaSkuQNaFfFbOPjVY311wqOwMLEyVN_q3EgnArOECrwoKfXOcQpRmj6LguufFBVoyEDCoukRp8sXSGjnAY4oTSXGC1g0bMBxplw6Go4hUtB2hYzQF4/s1600/shelter.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKN_tHm6FZNRd63o7jM0NqrYqfpuuaSkuQNaFfFbOPjVY311wqOwMLEyVN_q3EgnArOECrwoKfXOcQpRmj6LguufFBVoyEDCoukRp8sXSGjnAY4oTSXGC1g0bMBxplw6Go4hUtB2hYzQF4/s640/shelter.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="s1"><span class="s1">"It’s not a homeless crisis — it’s a housing crisis!" See more <a href="http://danneiditch.org/tag/homelessness/" target="_blank">here </a>and more about the </span><a href="http://picturethehomeless.org/home/whatwedo/" target="_blank">“shelter industrial complex" here. </a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
As the real estate market was geared more and more to those with the masses of money to buy the luxury properties that have displaced middle and low income dwellers, an an entire industry grew up around it, including the production of entertainment (several real estate shows that premiered after the crash include <i>Selling New York,</i> <i>Million Dollar Listing New York, and Next Step Realty</i>). This industry is focused not only on the building of the luxury apartments. After all, hordes and scores of people are needed to decorate these "high end" properties, market them, sell them, film them, and report on them. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/24/nyregion/still-unconvinced-home-buyer-check-out-the-view-from-the-drone.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Drones take flight to film </a>their spectacular views. Building models are constructed for tens of thousands of dollars if a property is not yet constructed but already on the market. And wordsmiths are hired to write the perfect pitch to potential buyers: </div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>
</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Masterful design and modern luxury are uniquely embodied in this 4
bedroom 4.5 bath Duplex Penthouse with a 4500 SF wraparound terrace . . This one-of-a-kind glass house, created by New
York architect James Carpenter who designed 7 World Trade Center, is
sheathed in high-performance, museum-quality insulated glass atop an
historic Art Deco loft building in the heart of Tribeca. . . .Every detail was carefully selected and quality crafted. Highlights
include Lutron light and shade systems, heated bathroom floors, concrete
first-level and hallway floors, teak wood bedroom flooring, troweled
plaster walls and ceilings, artwork display lighting, hidden
mechanicals, a climate-control system, high-tech security system, and
spacious corner rooms that overlook the city. . . .The top-of-the-line chef's kitchen is clad with premium
finishes and fixtures including custom white lacquer cabinets, bluestone
counters and professional-grade appliances. Sliding glass doors in the
dining area showcase views while opening up the home to even more light
and air. Spill out to the awe-inspiring terrace which can be accessed
from any room, where a fully-equipped outdoor stainless steel kitchen,
sun deck, hot tub and private outdoor shower await.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>
</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i> </i><a href="http://realtormag.realtor.org/sales-and-marketing/feature/article/2015/01/property-descriptions-power-words" target="_blank">~Valerie Haboush</a><i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCHo8vIKj6sa7xIGgTcFhZLPRfIIqMQ-Y9kjptVEG38sZBD4fVgL3YMXAYIZiZE0Q7m9pB__Dz7e-eNrJ03sSCFO_oXCK0D7EEBapm9WMdG7TJ8cJOkDABTSF3duKw7OTFoGzljPP2TYt4/s1600/40+million.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCHo8vIKj6sa7xIGgTcFhZLPRfIIqMQ-Y9kjptVEG38sZBD4fVgL3YMXAYIZiZE0Q7m9pB__Dz7e-eNrJ03sSCFO_oXCK0D7EEBapm9WMdG7TJ8cJOkDABTSF3duKw7OTFoGzljPP2TYt4/s640/40+million.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NYC Command Center: Hey! Even NASA doesn't pay so much for a couple of screens: <a href="http://robbreport.com/real-estate/40-million-richard-meier-manhattan-penthouse-hits-market" target="_blank">Price $40 Million.</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://ny.curbed.com/maps/the-20-most-expensive-nyc-homes-of-2015-mapped" target="_blank">By the Numbers: Take a look at Curbed NY's map of the most expensive real estate sales of 2015 here. </a></span></div>
<br />
Part of the reporting on the sky-high real estate industry focuses on the record-breaking prices paid.<br />
<br />
In 2015, a 14,000 square feet duplex apartment on the 75th floor of the ridiculous "luxury building," <a href="http://www.one57.com/" target="_blank">One57</a>, at 157 West 57th Street, was sold for more than $91 million. The buyer was hedge fund billionaire Bill
Ackerman, who seems to live in a world of absences. He didn't get rich <i>making anything,</i> and he didn't buy the property<i> to be occupied</i>. No, his seems to be a pure kind of world, where a simple desire for <i>more </i>reigns supreme. He bought the place apparently to flip and make more money. And yet, even he did not pay the highest price at One57; the highest price on record is <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2958817/Taking-real-estate-new-level-Penthouse-former-Sony-building-Madison-Avenue-expensive-listing-New-York-150MILLION.html" target="_blank">$100.5 million.</a> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3vN8trTgJg17tEpn3wlw3zAMfwEhCHSCSabqVtSAsT23d8sbjz8vLfz_5-woJmv4Z6oDPSJ8h0ppPG69JXPRJx4OciVlJGeVI0PyRl51mBE2BH6m0O3wRxMuKwbITiAhMaf4wMVykMtoh/s1600/157.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3vN8trTgJg17tEpn3wlw3zAMfwEhCHSCSabqVtSAsT23d8sbjz8vLfz_5-woJmv4Z6oDPSJ8h0ppPG69JXPRJx4OciVlJGeVI0PyRl51mBE2BH6m0O3wRxMuKwbITiAhMaf4wMVykMtoh/s640/157.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Towering Over Everyone: One57 is "branded" as a building for billionaires.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Like other luxury buildings, One57 is advertised as "rising above it
all." That building, along with many of the new designer buildings,
features an exterior surface that reflects light and the city back onto itself, acting as
a kind of visual barrier to those on the outside.<br />
<br />
Indeed,
and ironically, the appeal to the billionaire buyer is that s/he can
buy a place that is somehow not even a part of the city at all. Oh,
sure, you can see it from your "wraparound" windows. But you are "set
apart" from its reality. You are "enclosed;" you dwell in an "ultimate
retreat;" you exist, in fact, in a bubble. (uh-oh).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOphhLAcqfzRfSeZ5MvFn6DkIbNYMwmU3G08iLSFphxjHYcTxYbvCLDzO8bCDiL4X8cj_sHjYbZYpWsi8zfMuK0hIQnj7VGgzk2mjwvcOCkgQtz-s73skGS9gJ4lSm0Qp7_Th-3hXu-IvY/s1600/living+space.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOphhLAcqfzRfSeZ5MvFn6DkIbNYMwmU3G08iLSFphxjHYcTxYbvCLDzO8bCDiL4X8cj_sHjYbZYpWsi8zfMuK0hIQnj7VGgzk2mjwvcOCkgQtz-s73skGS9gJ4lSm0Qp7_Th-3hXu-IvY/s640/living+space.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Local color? An open book provides the only hint of human life.</span><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;">A room in Real Housewife of New York Bethany Frankel's subdued, muted "Living Space:" <a href="http://ny.curbed.com/2016/10/5/13179304/real-housewives-bethenney-frankel-tribeca-condo-for-sale" target="_blank">She listed her $6.95 million Tribeca apartment with, who else? </a>her Bravo pal, Frederick Ekland of MDLNY.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In staging these multi-million dollar residences, the idea of absence is reinforced. Carefully staged images must only "hint" at any real life in the living space. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVPyrSauGLZkfcxd3gpv9o4Y3vQ0AvKKX9ssp2Jmtt8BsqyiCceeaMqGFu6R0zo42ftyw4RMERgv7VZlODGrM-G8iuHrfcsFBQy40Jgn_Hef0WTzUH-pkZXPbk52oAn2qd3x87xImOiaM2/s1600/meatpacking.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVPyrSauGLZkfcxd3gpv9o4Y3vQ0AvKKX9ssp2Jmtt8BsqyiCceeaMqGFu6R0zo42ftyw4RMERgv7VZlODGrM-G8iuHrfcsFBQy40Jgn_Hef0WTzUH-pkZXPbk52oAn2qd3x87xImOiaM2/s640/meatpacking.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Have a seat, or 20. <a href="http://www.elliman.com/new-york-city/165-charles-street-165-charles-street-penthouse-manhattan-kusqtpp" target="_blank">Meatpacking (District) </a>never looked so elegant. Price: $31 Million.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpPqBXOBxbJtD2B4BOisXMuLlLJcIXheeM3HGwryKKIW7NNIFsNrRcmUjN6dgsmEG-vaDZLVgbuYcYZ7mMfC1e-Ih9N6lLj4i9mdFOxK0qCg0qY2Vw-Bxowp1xJMkjI6RypuXCez0I697/s1600/my+new.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpPqBXOBxbJtD2B4BOisXMuLlLJcIXheeM3HGwryKKIW7NNIFsNrRcmUjN6dgsmEG-vaDZLVgbuYcYZ7mMfC1e-Ih9N6lLj4i9mdFOxK0qCg0qY2Vw-Bxowp1xJMkjI6RypuXCez0I697/s1600/my+new.tiff" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b>My</b> </i>New York: View from One57 </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The selling off of New York is nearly complete. Who owns it now, you
ask? Well, wealthy people from all over the world. People looking to
park their financial power in properties that have been so worked over
that they resemble a page out of a catalogue, a marketing piece,
something created by those whose lives center on the act of selling.<br />
<br />
Some people, such as the above mentioned Gross defend these 1%-ers since they support an economy and employ people (ahem). But in fact, what makes a city great is not that you have a class of superrich to give you a $10 an hour job. What makes a great city is not that you "get to" walk through a park that has been spiffed up by generous benefactors. What makes a great city is not that old "eyesore" buildings have been graciously demolished and replaced with new eyesores (eg One57).<br />
<br />
No, what makes a great city is Community. Energy. Equality. Safety. Opportunity. Humanity. (for all).<br />
<br />
Bill Moyers noted that in New York City, “Inequality in housing has reached Dickensian
dimensions,” as <a href="http://mavericksquared.com/2015/11/09/new-york-is-for-the-rich-only-there-is-no-housing-for-you-poor-middle-class-folks/" target="_blank">Michael Winship quoted in a recent piece</a>. Winship continues: "The middle class is being squeezed to the edge as the
rich drive up real estate values and the working poor are shoved farther
into squalor… wealth and power get their way without regard for the
impact on the lives and neighborhoods of everyday people.”<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMCGi89YubuysfwXBW_T48bXu1LvXKf1DfWJg2mODeFHbxw98x_ecY_vSBUhY3OaukwRizCklucWHd_qAC5bFZDbCbvcTVuzgw0fU4Lq9hYxFMYEffOIDlP1UQz_J4HP14_gZjITvOupnC/s1600/slick+ny.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMCGi89YubuysfwXBW_T48bXu1LvXKf1DfWJg2mODeFHbxw98x_ecY_vSBUhY3OaukwRizCklucWHd_qAC5bFZDbCbvcTVuzgw0fU4Lq9hYxFMYEffOIDlP1UQz_J4HP14_gZjITvOupnC/s640/slick+ny.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Park Your Money Here: Pent-Up Cash Penthouse </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
New York, New York. A global hub. Of Money. Many thousands of residents are gone. The "color of the great city," to use Theodore Dreiser's phrase referring to New York, has turned into a muted palette of the very same "neutral," "subdued," beige and earth tones so widely used in the expensive design of interior living spaces; that palette seems symbolic of a city drained of its former colorful life.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dekehLPNrIU/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dekehLPNrIU?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_2063450104"></span>MDLNY Cast Gets a Final Question from a New Yorker who says: "I grew up with many people who can't afford to live here anymore. . . How do you feel about that?" (At 30.00)<span id="goog_2063450105"></span></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">In the aftermath of the crash and the selling off of New York, greed can be seen to have indeed altered the city's landscape.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>Signs now point to yet another bubble (and not just in the over priced champagne)</i></b> </span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> As a result of the luxury boom, there is now "a high-end condo glut." </span>So-called "aspirational" pricing of high-end units is not bringing in the sales as in the last few years. Even MDLNY's <a href="http://therealdeal.com/2016/09/22/elliman-in-corcoran-sunshine-out-at-eichners-45-east-22nd-st/" target="_blank">Frederik Ekland has to play a new kind of game </a>in a city that is bloated by the years of high-priced condos and new development targeted to the wealthy, elite buyer. As of October 3, 2016, Manhattan apartment sales had <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-04/manhattan-apartment-sales-plunge-20-as-homebuyers-get-pickier" target="_blank">reportedly "plunged" 20%.</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Meanwhile, Bill Ackerman (owner of that empty One57 property) was <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2016/10/04/elizabeth-holmes-bill-ackman-more-the-26-billionaires-who-lost-their-spot-on-the-forbes-400/#7feb92c564bf" target="_blank">just dropped from the Forbes 400</a>. (His<span style="font-weight: 400;"> fortune reportedly declined from $2.6 billion in 2015 to $1.65 billion in 2016.) And things are shifting among the cast of MDLNY: "I chose happiness," Luis Ortiz said, as he announced his recent <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3681681/Million-Dollar-Listing-New-York-star-Luis-D-Ortiz-opens-decision-quit-real-estate-wasn-t-happy.html" target="_blank">decision to quit the real estate business</a>. Well, if he changes his mind, he might want to work on <a href="http://www.fox5ny.com/news/156627314-story" target="_blank">a show a little more realistic</a> about NYC real estate: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRgBoiZ6xgM" target="_blank">"Thousand Dollar Listing."</a></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">~ Jenny Thompson </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Update August 30, 2017: Excited to read Jeremiah Moss' "Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost Its Soul." <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/11/realestate/a-book-from-a-blogger-about-disappearing-new-york.html?_r=0" target="_blank">See the recent NYT piece about it here. </a>Moss' most excellent blog about NYC can be found here: http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/</i></span> </span></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-10820256350635659772016-09-08T17:38:00.003-05:002016-09-30T13:31:37.620-05:00Hellward, New York? The Shimmy Dance and Other Indecencies<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:Times;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-size:11.0pt;
mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:Times;
mso-ascii-font-family:Times;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Times;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
</style> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7JBHkiBhV9XwZfNvrFEpO9fm3cWqsAbRrCOtbQg9dGFGTJhzs-ZhiUtnjBCefwJuBitARnLQKrgTZRdgOMjnmC1SrnUvaU38eu9jPmtdxNAxplxuBgRbPgT-hc7s-bNMtqRCHKLTlIsqa/s1600/1928+our+dancing+daughters.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="592" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7JBHkiBhV9XwZfNvrFEpO9fm3cWqsAbRrCOtbQg9dGFGTJhzs-ZhiUtnjBCefwJuBitARnLQKrgTZRdgOMjnmC1SrnUvaU38eu9jPmtdxNAxplxuBgRbPgT-hc7s-bNMtqRCHKLTlIsqa/s640/1928+our+dancing+daughters.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dance, Daughters, Dance! 1928</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">By the time a young
actress danced in front of a three-way mirror and on table tops, shaking her
body as her bobbed hair bobbed and her scandalously short skirt swayed up and
down, the dance known as the "Shimmy" was almost a decade old. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">This was Joan Crawford in
the Academy Award nominated film, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24MdcFYyZb4"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Our Dancing Daughters</span></a>
(1928). Crawford epitomized the flapper-dancer-modern-woman of the Jazz era.
She may have brought the popular Shimmy dance to the (somewhat respectable)
silver screen, but she also tamed it in many ways. The Shimmy had actually
emerged a decade earlier, in the months after the end of World War I. And
it caused an uproar.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJkws90tHmKBih_epRKAoZGFsJdr4BkLBU0WAOFq7axCE9u2IOc7O0SvCgHpcjgUlTehqjAMhofASo0TOcqobVugbmPAt6Qw1WFIyziCy2Yda3NBSjLZiPhLz1jTrpqwjUMOHleUAv_OTV/s1600/jazz+babaies.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJkws90tHmKBih_epRKAoZGFsJdr4BkLBU0WAOFq7axCE9u2IOc7O0SvCgHpcjgUlTehqjAMhofASo0TOcqobVugbmPAt6Qw1WFIyziCy2Yda3NBSjLZiPhLz1jTrpqwjUMOHleUAv_OTV/s320/jazz+babaies.tiff" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh, baby.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">In the days after World War
I, a "germ" was spreading across the United States. No, it was not
the influenza epidemic, but a "naughty" and "indecent"
dance, known as the "Shimmy."</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">In 1919, as the dance
spread from state to state, many tried to pinpoint its origins. One
"expert" claimed it arrived in New York City after being exported
from somewhere in Africa. Or maybe Cuba. Some argued that it emerged from the
"underworld" of New Orleans before making its appearance in New York.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia";"> Various entertainers, from Sophie Tucker to Gilda Grey, were later cited as having "introduced" the dance to Manhattan.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br />
In 1919, it took little time before people across the country noted that
the "purest type of the dance is done in Gotham." (<i>The Kansas City
Kansan</i>, February 17, 1919). </span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br />
Well, maybe not exactly "pure." For, the dance was, according to one
outraged critic, all "violence and vulgarity." </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">"The 'Shimmy' is the
latest in syncopated stepping," the <i>Oakland Tribune</i> reported in February
1919, after the dance had been introduced there by "military men coming
from New York and other eastern centers." The author instructed
other men just how it is done:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia";">"You just do a little
syncopated fox-trotting with the young woman.</span></i></b></div>
<b><i>
</i></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia";">Then you stop and do a
little more syncopating from the waist up;</span></i></b></div>
<b><i>
</i></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia";">you shake her rhythmically
sideways, so to speak,</span></i></b></div>
<b><i>
</i></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia";">and you have the 'shimmy'
dance."</span></i></b></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia";">("'Shimmy' Dance
Arrives Here," Oakland Tribune, February 13, 1919.)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">In New York City, the
dance was all "the rage" in "the more frivolous cabarets in the
metropolis," <i>The Evening World</i> reported. And authorities were taking note
and action.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">In January 1919, Ellen O'Grady,
a police commissioner in New York City (the first woman appointed to that role)
announced that the dance was hereafter banned. (‘Shimmy’ Dance is Put Under Ban
by Mrs. O’Grady,” <i>The Evening World</i> January 16, 1919.) </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">It was not “decent,” she
proclaimed, and any dance hall permitting the Shimmy will have its license
revoked, she announced. Other government officials followed suit. The
mayor of Perth Amboy, NJ, also outlawed it (<i>The Evening World</i>, February 21,
1919). By June, policemen were roaming the "pleasure capitol," Coney
Island, entering dance halls and looking for anyone who danced with
"modern steps." These people were summarily thrown out. </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNGL_kxzSQ0Nmf2Dw2P4nHEIAU0rTPKzbS7CDZzYNRMqCUTk13MVH3pxvIxTIo9mUyE4CQtdG5mTMruwtm_Xndklea9Fy9sbYWkOd1d7lnfbiBPuBcjdRMxdIe-1uWNGftXUIvhKKs9zay/s1600/shimmie+prohibited.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNGL_kxzSQ0Nmf2Dw2P4nHEIAU0rTPKzbS7CDZzYNRMqCUTk13MVH3pxvIxTIo9mUyE4CQtdG5mTMruwtm_Xndklea9Fy9sbYWkOd1d7lnfbiBPuBcjdRMxdIe-1uWNGftXUIvhKKs9zay/s640/shimmie+prohibited.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't You Know There Isn't a War On? Pleasure Prohibited</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;"><tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"><td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"><br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">With the passage of the
Volstead Act, drinking would go underground in January 1920, when prohibition
went into effect. Coincidentally, just 8 months later, the 19th Amendment was
ratified. Women could now vote.</span>
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"><br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOaLWQyQ65k7vi7zIW0Ao9kt1XYWlzorGlERd86g4tZnfRit-xCny__pSqX7-O0tC1reG4-PY5D9KcjjcMbbPGMb0ruorCSEkGXarqHKU6wiRDXQRNHIHYJe5y2jbbGFsCLOvfxiGgYowA/s1600/2A34A67700000578-0-image-a-33_1436054179155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOaLWQyQ65k7vi7zIW0Ao9kt1XYWlzorGlERd86g4tZnfRit-xCny__pSqX7-O0tC1reG4-PY5D9KcjjcMbbPGMb0ruorCSEkGXarqHKU6wiRDXQRNHIHYJe5y2jbbGFsCLOvfxiGgYowA/s640/2A34A67700000578-0-image-a-33_1436054179155.jpg" width="436" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">A Line in the Sand: That's too close!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"><br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">The gangs of police and
moralizers now went in search of all kinds of lawbreakers (indecent dancers,
drinkers, and women of "ill repute") that could be found in dance
halls. Indeed, officials noted that the dance halls were populated by
"public women," to use the term of the day, (aka prostitutes)
who passed themselves off as dance "instructresses" who would teach
men to dance the Shimmy </span><span style="font-family: "georgia";"><span style="font-family: "georgia";">for 25c (they also taught other </span>scandalous dances including the
"Hootchi-Kootchi" and the "Cheek to Cheek") . </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">The outrageous moralist
Reverend John Roach Straton, outspoken pastor of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvary_Baptist_Church_%28Manhattan%29#/media/File:Calvary-baptist-church.jpg"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Calvary
Baptist Church</span></a>, tasked himself with going undercover to
investigate what he believed to be the destruction of the city owing to
immorality and vice. Along with several unidentified "helpers,"
he visited several dance halls on the Upper West Side.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br />
There he was aghast not only to see highballs and whiskey straights being
served openly, but dances that made him sick with moral outrage. The
"dancing was," he proclaimed, "disgusting." Men and
women sat at tables around the crowded dance floor, he reported, "many of
whom were in indecent posture and were indulging in indecent
familiarities." Occasionally, he noted, women would "make special
exhibition of vulgar dancing" in front of his table! All in all it was a
horrific night witnessing "sinful amusement." "[T]he wastage of
the young life of this city is tragic and heartbreaking," he declared
after sermonizing on the subject. ("Dr. Straton Tells of Buying
Drinks," <i>New York Times, </i>April 5, 1920.) In 1923, Straton would launch his
own <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/nyregion/14fyi.html?_r=0"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">radio station
to broadcast</span></a> his sermons against the "devil" in the city. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">At places such as The Palm
on Chrystie Street, Billy McGlory's Armory Hall at 158 Hester Street;
Fatty Flynn's Dance Hall at 34 Bond, the Terrace Garden at 58th and Lexington,
and the Bay Ridge Assembly, at 50th Street and Fifth Avenue, the threats of
closure were palpable. No longer able to serve cocktails, the proprietors also
faced threats from undercover spies looking to spot the Shimmy and bring doom
upon the once happy "pleasure" palaces.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2J_CtdmxC5PFJnWyGjvyp5CkGENBAqLE-wVc7obusQfzkFJU8ZMDU7j3Di03VHpAub6lOuvj5k_u4CDPL5OJ_SAErtrIKhXRIBjYDkUGgMYBcQW4O5rg5Q_X6KLRDecHnm8WcuszJNyT/s1600/speakeasy.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2J_CtdmxC5PFJnWyGjvyp5CkGENBAqLE-wVc7obusQfzkFJU8ZMDU7j3Di03VHpAub6lOuvj5k_u4CDPL5OJ_SAErtrIKhXRIBjYDkUGgMYBcQW4O5rg5Q_X6KLRDecHnm8WcuszJNyT/s640/speakeasy.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Swanky-Panky: Rich folks at leisure; no undercover cops here</span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">"Is America's dancing, via the jazz route, hellward? asked reporter John
R. McMahon in a November 1921 essay in the <i>Ladies Home Journal</i>, titled
"Back to Prewar Morals."</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br />
His answer was, in essence, "Yes." But in order to pretend that he was objectively seeking to answer his own question, he too ventured around New York City to
see for himself just how steep America's decline was. He hires a
"guide" to take him on a tour of the hottest dance places in the
city.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">At the first spot: </span></b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">"The dancers wiggled,
jiggled and hopped about. Hardly two couples danced alike. It was a
free-for-all, every hold permissible and no referee to break clinches. My
experts assured me that most of the dancers were quite untutored and
unregulated; they did what they pleased; anybody without previous experience
could hop onto the floor and do as well or ill. </span></b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">Perhaps that is the charm
of the jazz. It is anarchy in the dance.</span></b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">However, there were two
predominant motions. One was horizontal and the other was vertical. The first
came under the category of shimmy, while the second appertained to the toddle.
To my surprise I noted a simultaneous combination of vertical and horizontal
motion, as Professor Einstein might term it, together with a relative degree of
gyration. The performer had bobbed hair and a salmon smock with a blue sash.</span></b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">'That is called the
Chicago,' explained our feminine dance expert. 'It is considered ultra.'</span></b></i></div>
<i><b>
</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "georgia";">'It is not allowed in some
places,' added the guide."</span></b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Soon, the Shimmy was pervading popular culture, ban or no ban. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJa8uIu9WNLSjWIp80MSskyn8TvomyT5TuSDFsbL53cURkRDGgTADnFmiM1Yad_8Ha84u0C0SS0pVGWSv3z0w3fO4psVNGs1QeO9N-JIwRuRIQgqCllNcqAlcCCAcSzJxDsHHCgoWOi7Xk/s1600/new+york+tribune+jan+22+1919.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJa8uIu9WNLSjWIp80MSskyn8TvomyT5TuSDFsbL53cURkRDGgTADnFmiM1Yad_8Ha84u0C0SS0pVGWSv3z0w3fO4psVNGs1QeO9N-JIwRuRIQgqCllNcqAlcCCAcSzJxDsHHCgoWOi7Xk/s640/new+york+tribune+jan+22+1919.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What's More American than Baseball? The Shimmy Goes Mainstream, New York Tribune</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">In an essay titled "Home
Again," (<i>Good Housekeeping,</i> September 1919), the actress <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Janis"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Elsie Janis</span></a> reported that she had noticed the
"shimmy" craze in New York City upon returning home from volunteering
to entertain troops during the war. Janis was one of thousands of American
women who had gone to Europe to work for the war effort. They returned to a new
country, in many ways. And they themselves had also changed.</span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl5scNTmBBLF0-YLjZfR6iB95FKmMte6nI7EOiBMx8D4lDDlWBR79rHIa4BsGY3BnhsLa7MNAFZ7r5gnDl9V3Y1u5WiL2_bhE-wzJHh0RRYxNY8SLtZSYu5pBxCIfD0I9MFkitG82fF71-/s1600/elsie+janis.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl5scNTmBBLF0-YLjZfR6iB95FKmMte6nI7EOiBMx8D4lDDlWBR79rHIa4BsGY3BnhsLa7MNAFZ7r5gnDl9V3Y1u5WiL2_bhE-wzJHh0RRYxNY8SLtZSYu5pBxCIfD0I9MFkitG82fF71-/s640/elsie+janis.tiff" width="460" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elsie_Janis" target="_blank">Elsie Janis</a>: "The Sweetheart of the AEF," entertained troops during the war.</span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia";">Janis, who had been
working in Manhattan as an actress for many years before going overseas,
regarded the new dance as part of the liberation of women. Its emergence also
accompanied a new trend for women: the beginning of being freed from the mounds
and yards of heavy skirts and long hemlines of the prewar era. </span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br />
In order to Shimmy, it seemed, one needed to stay light.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br />
"I never saw so many girls with so few clothes," Janis observed of
New York women upon her homecoming. She even composed a comical poem for the
occasion: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia";"> "It's a case
of: </span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>
</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia";"> A little tulle.</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>
</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia";">A yard of silk, <br />
A lot of skin as white as milk. </span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>
</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia";">Is it wished on? <br />
How dares she breathe? </span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>
</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia";">A little cough. </span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>
</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia";">Good evening. Eve!</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Indeed. The clothes. The
newly enfranchised women were not only dancing scandalously, but they were
doing it wearing scanty clothing. </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZTFBfApsoCk4og-vTao_zPiWHTuZavPZ5kkS7SW2eoanARgr9mY4ciLJSrdA5MEgIK5jy5QqyXtVCwRK750Wz4mwCQ062cZxgtGcLVd484-rJVzqRSvQ0m1GwoYIehu8By8XccsINPxrT/s1600/gilda+grey.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZTFBfApsoCk4og-vTao_zPiWHTuZavPZ5kkS7SW2eoanARgr9mY4ciLJSrdA5MEgIK5jy5QqyXtVCwRK750Wz4mwCQ062cZxgtGcLVd484-rJVzqRSvQ0m1GwoYIehu8By8XccsINPxrT/s640/gilda+grey.tiff" width="388" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Oh ye of little clothes! Gilda Grey: New York's famous "Shimmy" Dancer </span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">What would women want
next? This indecency had to stop. And it had to stop now.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br />
Along with the bans on the dance, there was also a widespread effort to restore
"decency" to women's fashions, much the same way films came under
fire for their indecent story lines.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56njf9idH8fGp9KQtBfJPX1y4V3zC_DGavMF59QOPzAg0UPBO3AjCmtxqLNVgjcWaodVQsusfcTcW6p33QQ7iwQZMXplDEGM4-ohfAaXBTEJh26K7DXeHip1WMCFCWc_sYvZtc9h9Z5LS/s1600/moral+gown+1921+Literay+Digest.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56njf9idH8fGp9KQtBfJPX1y4V3zC_DGavMF59QOPzAg0UPBO3AjCmtxqLNVgjcWaodVQsusfcTcW6p33QQ7iwQZMXplDEGM4-ohfAaXBTEJh26K7DXeHip1WMCFCWc_sYvZtc9h9Z5LS/s640/moral+gown+1921+Literay+Digest.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">A Moral Gown (for a Woman Trapped in the Past), from the <i>Literary Digest, 1921</i></span></span></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Clergymen (those noted
fashionistas) designed "moral" gowns for women in another effort to
return the country to "prewar morals." ("Is the Younger
Generation in Peril?" <i>The Literary Digest</i>, May 14, 1921.)</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLQtXK5Si1GRu_Bx5n3Su1SXkjmciOOFdzjSZi0dytBqxVg77qt8QRrlaJ_C6ckdiCOCp1KZyDLdXkEQmB9esngg9BaXZ63HiNIcL5_D-5A-wND0yAFpMl0rVDznJ0H1GZj4c21f5JzSVl/s1600/proper+and+imporper.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLQtXK5Si1GRu_Bx5n3Su1SXkjmciOOFdzjSZi0dytBqxVg77qt8QRrlaJ_C6ckdiCOCp1KZyDLdXkEQmB9esngg9BaXZ63HiNIcL5_D-5A-wND0yAFpMl0rVDznJ0H1GZj4c21f5JzSVl/s640/proper+and+imporper.tiff" width="436" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia";"><i>Which one are you?</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia";">But the younger
generation, tired by war, looking to create new meanings in a world that seemed
to have changed irrevocably in the war, would have none of it.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgvCq0LXqMXLoDnQ3MaHgHJiQ8M2aKL8cxx-dbpChyphenhyphenZJBck1o7yyW7NN9ARtw6Xs_8_TIqFjiNbjXTgk1YCUJRIMhzj5Yl3YIpt3ESiOQSeIYskWs4fbXqpXMilPY2qcZO5ntG-2giBRec/s1600/i+want+to+shimmie.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgvCq0LXqMXLoDnQ3MaHgHJiQ8M2aKL8cxx-dbpChyphenhyphenZJBck1o7yyW7NN9ARtw6Xs_8_TIqFjiNbjXTgk1YCUJRIMhzj5Yl3YIpt3ESiOQSeIYskWs4fbXqpXMilPY2qcZO5ntG-2giBRec/s640/i+want+to+shimmie.tiff" width="428" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well, Go Right Ahead!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">
The dance was fun.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia";">“We’re a dizzy people. The
shimmy proves that, without the ghost of a need for further proof," read a
1921 article in the Dartmouth College Jack-o-Lantern, "We—any of us—will
travel for miles on a black night through mud and rain, we will endure any
discomfort, eventually to arrive at a place where the shimmy is being shaken.
Young girls, pretty girls, vivacious girls trust themselves to come safely
through the identical experiences many of their wartime sweethearts were
enduring in France. They will shimmy for hours, indefinitely, undergoing the
pangs of hunger and increasing bodily fatigue. The mental side probably is not
very much taxed. The effect seems merely to be that next night and thereafter
they are ready to shimmy wherever the shimmy is being vibrated. All this
doesn't prove anything, except that we're a dizzy lot!” </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">It seemed only a
matter of time before the ban would be lifted (and other more "decent"
dances captured the popular imagination, ie the "Charleston.") But the Shimmy craze marked a moment when a dance captured the desire of a generation to move...forward.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">~Jenny Thompson</span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia";"> </span></i></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Xv5rfIrMJvJqUfuQMuAiRvYyv1ZCXjAf_A2RrZupFzxFbdnLRgBE7JKK6l7mPf9henUgpedBrJHVtkaOHfrLGRUQPklWk2IZXuDrCIbJSOXRGI1LLK9Y0h-S-c8LKaH8Jj0_PBKG5ljg/s1600/that+is+is.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Xv5rfIrMJvJqUfuQMuAiRvYyv1ZCXjAf_A2RrZupFzxFbdnLRgBE7JKK6l7mPf9henUgpedBrJHVtkaOHfrLGRUQPklWk2IZXuDrCIbJSOXRGI1LLK9Y0h-S-c8LKaH8Jj0_PBKG5ljg/s640/that+is+is.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's it! Follow Me, Boys!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br /></span></i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-55902436254180411162016-04-21T15:03:00.001-05:002018-02-22T13:21:19.337-06:00Color of Postwar New York<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPkBVJFgDxaI4XLt8em5QPT3G5Fzk-DGkgw3FNa_0qNw_p4rlo8deBcwMM0sd6SFER_-dg4lb3uUQGI_ckUF7hRj4bEt1an-dNQkrpwAYfzDBS3n_ZRyL0d1buFYwPa_48AxGS0ba3dyGq/s1600/saul+leiter+1956+walking.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPkBVJFgDxaI4XLt8em5QPT3G5Fzk-DGkgw3FNa_0qNw_p4rlo8deBcwMM0sd6SFER_-dg4lb3uUQGI_ckUF7hRj4bEt1an-dNQkrpwAYfzDBS3n_ZRyL0d1buFYwPa_48AxGS0ba3dyGq/s640/saul+leiter+1956+walking.tiff" width="416" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking, 1956, Saul Leiter, <a href="http://www.howardgreenberg.com/artists/saul-leiter" target="_blank">Howard Greenberg Gallery (most of the Leiter images used here are from the same source)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Photographer <a href="http://watch.innogreathurry.com/" target="_blank">Saul Leiter </a>(1923-2013) spent a large portion of his life living in New York City. Working in the tradition of the street photographer, he captured images from Manhattan, applying an artistic eye to a city that was in constant motion. The city, represented through light, composition, movement, shadow, and most of all color, was transformed through his lens. His work is, in many ways, a visual companion to E.B. White's <a href="http://americanpast.blogspot.com/2012/01/eb-whites-new-york.html" target="_blank">Here is New York</a>. Leiter started shooting color in 1948, a moment when the American cultural landscape was shifting, its contours shaped by the world war and shaded by the new Atomic Age. <br />
<a name='more'></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmTMQR5EXM9D742R8qO_vZpjsbFGmlLq5xNgTsxmGxTi1V-s4_BDSZrebgTaxx5UkaA8UGho2667ydXTjmHd0YSXjmrt2Sc6VfhyphenhyphenH9L-h9kxTul2rblmlu4HP058iIvdPCuODZQFs-QwiN/s1600/LEITER_c1950s_Untitled_Self-portrait-620x432.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="443" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmTMQR5EXM9D742R8qO_vZpjsbFGmlLq5xNgTsxmGxTi1V-s4_BDSZrebgTaxx5UkaA8UGho2667ydXTjmHd0YSXjmrt2Sc6VfhyphenhyphenH9L-h9kxTul2rblmlu4HP058iIvdPCuODZQFs-QwiN/s640/LEITER_c1950s_Untitled_Self-portrait-620x432.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0000ee;"><u><span style="color: #0000ee;">Self Portrait, 1950</span>: Looking through the Lens</u></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Letier's intention to become a painter once he moved to Manhattan as a young man may never have materialized; but his vision as an artist found its place through photography. In 1951, he was described in <i>Life Magazine</i> as<span class="st"> "a young New York free-lance photographer [who] spends a great deal of his time searching for incongruity." </span>Leiter supported himself through advertising and fashion assignments, most notably shooting for <i>Harper's Bazaar</i> (1958-1967). (In <i>Grace, A Memoir </i>(2012) former model and <i>Vogue</i> creative director <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Coddington" target="_blank">Grace Coddington </a>recalls being booked by Leiter for a job.)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfuIO1vFq1StMdr2Uc3r7xm6LXuDEkgNOOjQvwQ4DRDYTbW-5Kxcd7_Lh7bmAeWnDQwTmKcZLMR9BY4ZJchWQQhAXVsg-Q_CwRyZA2yJa5WSt1mdcmS6JWkty6ZJB1-lXtSfjk717uWNR/s1600/leiter.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfuIO1vFq1StMdr2Uc3r7xm6LXuDEkgNOOjQvwQ4DRDYTbW-5Kxcd7_Lh7bmAeWnDQwTmKcZLMR9BY4ZJchWQQhAXVsg-Q_CwRyZA2yJa5WSt1mdcmS6JWkty6ZJB1-lXtSfjk717uWNR/s640/leiter.tiff" width="419" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Incongruity in Manhattan: Harper's Bazaar, 1959, Saul Leiter image</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Leiter enjoyed success in the newly burgeoning consumer market; he made money creating images to advertise products and ideals. In the late 1940s and 1950s, fashion would be elevated to an art form and American women were enticed by the promises for a better life. Purses! Hats! Shoes!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjgPsSaQFsn2igC2jfTA0KAjbyGFMZFls0-gGN804N8iZYkmS3ts0cVtpTMFpAUilpg5OK6tkw7v8flHHWZ6qm1s3Qeo8EJJcDpbmeWe-x_CKuQQNTaDzxfi91F2WxZZhttXJ2C09bryg_/s1600/Saul+Leiter+1967+for+Miller+Shoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjgPsSaQFsn2igC2jfTA0KAjbyGFMZFls0-gGN804N8iZYkmS3ts0cVtpTMFpAUilpg5OK6tkw7v8flHHWZ6qm1s3Qeo8EJJcDpbmeWe-x_CKuQQNTaDzxfi91F2WxZZhttXJ2C09bryg_/s640/Saul+Leiter+1967+for+Miller+Shoes.jpg" width="482" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967: Miller Shoes Advert, Saul Leiter image</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Leiter's commercial work was accompanied by a foray into the world of art photography. In 1953, <a href="https://dictionaryofarthistorians.org/steichene.htm" target="_blank">Edward Steichen</a>, curator of photography, selected Leiter to be included in an exhibit, "Always the Young Strangers," at the Museum of Modern Art, along with 24 other "young American photographers." The show's title was taken from the title of poet and writer Carl Sandburg's <a href="http://www.sandburg.org/SandburgsHometown/SandburgsHometown_AlwaysTheYoungStrangers.html" target="_blank">1953 memoir.</a><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBpfvyW96iEnYaPtrPeyzkCo0m9PlhqQxQpDEGcBcw4mfzRpapH4BGKLjUa6UkZrHUOtV1OiQs8qPxn6K20Uq6HIbXs4EQ9ly2zcnO14tv3bNEMu8OnjgvJMfX_SKPQsLfcL6VYOCMo9l5/s1600/moma+always+the+young.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBpfvyW96iEnYaPtrPeyzkCo0m9PlhqQxQpDEGcBcw4mfzRpapH4BGKLjUa6UkZrHUOtV1OiQs8qPxn6K20Uq6HIbXs4EQ9ly2zcnO14tv3bNEMu8OnjgvJMfX_SKPQsLfcL6VYOCMo9l5/s640/moma+always+the+young.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Young Americans: MOMA Announcement 1953</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After the show, Leiter's artistic success never quite came to fruition. He
continued to work in commercial photography, and to roam Manhattan's
streets, documenting the postwar city. He made the unusual choice (for a street photographer at that time) to shoot in color. His images took on a striking
theme: people alone in a vast concrete jungle. Indeed, his images seem
to capture something about the pace of American life after the war: its
hard driving focus on work and ladder-climbing; he sought color through
his lens, but the suggested reality of life in the city had a black and white
cast.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIhz2oyaL-0FcdbDLs9TXDt1hfwvvyNa5Y85aYJvc5myk7iobIiWGyCUFVGtQL_xn2UMpBNh4CMjj_oRAVPMtZKn1ktE3zYF8ipZtwlO8xNLUI2WhE9iX3oSklcDknd8-ImBzfuTPNLyQh/s1600/LEITER_1952_Don-t_Walk_small-620x936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIhz2oyaL-0FcdbDLs9TXDt1hfwvvyNa5Y85aYJvc5myk7iobIiWGyCUFVGtQL_xn2UMpBNh4CMjj_oRAVPMtZKn1ktE3zYF8ipZtwlO8xNLUI2WhE9iX3oSklcDknd8-ImBzfuTPNLyQh/s640/LEITER_1952_Don-t_Walk_small-620x936.jpg" width="416" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't Walk, Saul Leiter's Manhattan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH7oMNAIQ-AxL-3ueGFuVDBSfvcguiINUKHa68H4KWdYANFNN9Eo47k2Y_sz4-3UUq9zbudvJWH5ogYlmmfe6XOJ5jYOHvnjM95lYbUXIMCm_d7TRLdtcxsvAj1pOvZ_U4fAg865gkYBdx/s1600/taxi+1957.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="473" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH7oMNAIQ-AxL-3ueGFuVDBSfvcguiINUKHa68H4KWdYANFNN9Eo47k2Y_sz4-3UUq9zbudvJWH5ogYlmmfe6XOJ5jYOHvnjM95lYbUXIMCm_d7TRLdtcxsvAj1pOvZ_U4fAg865gkYBdx/s640/taxi+1957.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mad Man in Taxi, NYC, 1957, Saul Leiter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Leiter stated that, as an erstwhile painter, he had been heavily influenced by painters such as Edgar Degas, and he sought to capture beauty through his images. But he also said, "There are the things that are out in the open and then there are the
things that are hidden, and life has more to do, the real world has more
to do with what is hidden, maybe." An interesting comment from a photographer who goes out "in the open" to see. Perhaps he was seeking what was hidden.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif8U10qb-WDbqrRMdlM85j0niZavgynRRQmi_Jl2I34tDZwuL6MQ6UUvBg4CPXlthgdsnGCyBnakZSQ2rdUy0OaZmFtuNxPUzx_3NiDOTo3jBlxEejbrFuO8CBeOkQrXnjrgzzNwwO9FXc/s1600/leitier+.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif8U10qb-WDbqrRMdlM85j0niZavgynRRQmi_Jl2I34tDZwuL6MQ6UUvBg4CPXlthgdsnGCyBnakZSQ2rdUy0OaZmFtuNxPUzx_3NiDOTo3jBlxEejbrFuO8CBeOkQrXnjrgzzNwwO9FXc/s640/leitier+.tiff" width="438" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reflection, NYC, Saul Leiter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUwvzYd1f33zPMQ2crBWpnhAiSxsHsOUPreJ-VAyFEOa1XCKnWvsLXjfYtYL-Tbxg-inTzPP1YCKwWIP5UGFxTi3efTecb6yejr_hWWPC060f9kaTRRp18MuicyqBhxPyd7jXmxPJVXxQX/s1600/red+umbrella.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUwvzYd1f33zPMQ2crBWpnhAiSxsHsOUPreJ-VAyFEOa1XCKnWvsLXjfYtYL-Tbxg-inTzPP1YCKwWIP5UGFxTi3efTecb6yejr_hWWPC060f9kaTRRp18MuicyqBhxPyd7jXmxPJVXxQX/s640/red+umbrella.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New York Passing By: "Red Umbrella," NYC, Saul Leiter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Leiter's images picture New York in many layers: the camera's presence is central to the finished piece; we view scraps and shreds and pieces of the city, buried beneath light, shadow, rain, snow.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdbIWa1o9_G4w69w747P-7CvgQzJKbNJJXVE4cVRoY_9SiKdoKWm20Z9RKHYV1h1N5oMQLwO7XyXFki88XEy6Ac-1COGdtTxnVdmD3IejjV9mqBmwDS-hL-SrlfyslgnF4BRsgT54RjzUX/s1600/window+new+york+1957.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdbIWa1o9_G4w69w747P-7CvgQzJKbNJJXVE4cVRoY_9SiKdoKWm20Z9RKHYV1h1N5oMQLwO7XyXFki88XEy6Ac-1COGdtTxnVdmD3IejjV9mqBmwDS-hL-SrlfyslgnF4BRsgT54RjzUX/s640/window+new+york+1957.tiff" width="409" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Layers of the City: "Window," NYC, 1957, Saul Leiter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We can't see a "decisive moment" in Leiter's images, but we do glimpse something of the motion of a city that is constantly transforming itself. People come and go, walking, trudging, working, stopping for a moment; they are not easy on the city streets. They are busy getting from here to there, caught up in the mad dash to make a living in the postwar city. Engaged in the daily chore of getting from here to there, they reflect a modern, dizzying pace in America after WWII.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfBL1plThCJGst3DBNqISaGCr1cpiIh7ELS7O0aCEeNpce2gglTp0B4brFSFuG_Ms7XccOEZYhr8V1GPSstCdFsvwTvOBGYAQOHdXlSg_3p5HCO7HPpFJBIo7TN9wzps__GSxH1WyzIqSm/s1600/postman+1952+.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfBL1plThCJGst3DBNqISaGCr1cpiIh7ELS7O0aCEeNpce2gglTp0B4brFSFuG_Ms7XccOEZYhr8V1GPSstCdFsvwTvOBGYAQOHdXlSg_3p5HCO7HPpFJBIo7TN9wzps__GSxH1WyzIqSm/s640/postman+1952+.tiff" width="428" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Work: "Postmen," NYC, 1952, Saul Leiter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhISkhw0NvngMzoBBZK4py3Kvi96rYXh7488ZtBZJGgbePZe7z2ipxwStOWt4MhIovunhrUuaP3SNRMomnM_9vXH3PVT-g_BqjDxHFmdAiV8dqPRByHNpFy789edfhpe1qL1E7nuNdyMcgT/s1600/leiter+3.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhISkhw0NvngMzoBBZK4py3Kvi96rYXh7488ZtBZJGgbePZe7z2ipxwStOWt4MhIovunhrUuaP3SNRMomnM_9vXH3PVT-g_BqjDxHFmdAiV8dqPRByHNpFy789edfhpe1qL1E7nuNdyMcgT/s640/leiter+3.tiff" width="536" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keep Moving: On the Streets of New York, Saul Leiter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Leiter's images can be paired with a certain trend in a host of artistic works that came out of the immediate postwar gloom; his images are at home with those depicting a sense of dislocation and anxiety in works such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Street_%28novel%29" target="_blank">Ann Petry's <i>The Street</i></a> (1946), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Member_of_the_Wedding" target="_blank">Carson McCullers' </a><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Member_of_the_Wedding" target="_blank">The Member of the Wedding</a> </i>(1946), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_Salesman" target="_blank">Arthur Miller's <i>Death of a Salesman</i></a> (1949), and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_Gray_Flannel_Suit_%28novel%29" target="_blank">Sloan Wilson's <i>The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit </i>(1955).</a><br />
<br />
His images are connected to the eerie sense of a cold, morally neutral world inhabited by characters in Raymond Chandler novels and reflected in film noir, a genre known for its literal black and white portrayal of a corrupt postwar world. Leiter's use of color was as unusual as the rare "color noir" film such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037865/" target="_blank"><i>Leave Her to Heaven </i></a>(1945) or <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MSqkYW478s" target="_blank">Rope</a> </i>(1948). <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijNRYu_uAJAp1oh4m2JxaXfK-jTLXCcwGT6xZGnIeVV2am8xSL761yqkq6XvTmkMRyPuMCqxTx0FiuAB8jJnKvfRpU0i6lytTqmgb3hSkbB6P1HUKUBgCAuIbCIsZZj_UkMPQZohYI54Ew/s1600/leave+her+to+heaven.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijNRYu_uAJAp1oh4m2JxaXfK-jTLXCcwGT6xZGnIeVV2am8xSL761yqkq6XvTmkMRyPuMCqxTx0FiuAB8jJnKvfRpU0i6lytTqmgb3hSkbB6P1HUKUBgCAuIbCIsZZj_UkMPQZohYI54Ew/s640/leave+her+to+heaven.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Film Noir in Color: <i>Leave Her to Heaven</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCgIhdAA4rlPaGkZhW5iNqwvv08xXhlQrT0WgwSgHamanICXqFBSMw1Zp_H-TJXcrWyuZidoXBBO8H9GuEK8TddhNLN1o3aUB-xnOlsHzfSfXaXg5_RjSLbjnP4Qp7bsDnNS5mVZoEs7kS/s1600/rope.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="473" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCgIhdAA4rlPaGkZhW5iNqwvv08xXhlQrT0WgwSgHamanICXqFBSMw1Zp_H-TJXcrWyuZidoXBBO8H9GuEK8TddhNLN1o3aUB-xnOlsHzfSfXaXg5_RjSLbjnP4Qp7bsDnNS5mVZoEs7kS/s640/rope.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Color of a Dark City: <i>Rope</i> and the "perfect crime"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDext9_YTBkiMSZ20m1g7-Kn6iUQz9_3iDD2yj-mPynV9r6XCxcsRxu7mm-Ul8fZh4ggBQXBjVlnA9uTjSbVwgGuenpaqiSH8vP2UGeibynNBz_u8eQxdHfPxTYAymBuQIcC5IegfPI8mP/s1600/man+in+the+grey+flannel+suit.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDext9_YTBkiMSZ20m1g7-Kn6iUQz9_3iDD2yj-mPynV9r6XCxcsRxu7mm-Ul8fZh4ggBQXBjVlnA9uTjSbVwgGuenpaqiSH8vP2UGeibynNBz_u8eQxdHfPxTYAymBuQIcC5IegfPI8mP/s640/man+in+the+grey+flannel+suit.tiff" width="524" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Postwar Anxiety: <i>The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit</i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Often, the color of the fifties was portrayed in grand Cinemascope style.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Epic. Dramatic. And Large.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
In Leiter's work, color is deployed to frame the fragmentary moment. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Small. Human. Real.</div>
<span class="st">Even in his most colorful images, themes of loneliness and isolation
emerge in the various surfaces of Leiter's work; he depicts fragments of
a world that seem captured from life, resembling stills from a film.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/carol/cinematic_inspiration/" target="_blank">Director Todd Haynes is known for turning to the work of early 20th century photographers</a> in giving visual depth to his films. In <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2402927/" target="_blank"><i>Carol</i></a> (2015), Haynes portrays a photographer<i> </i>in
a film that is heavily inspired by photographers. Along with
looking at the work of photographers <a href="http://www.atgetphotography.com/The-Photographers/Helen-Levitt.html" target="_blank">Helen Levitt </a>and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/06/arts/design/a-legal-battle-over-vivian-maiers-work.html" target="_blank">Vivian Maier,</a> Haynes also turned to
Leiter for inspiration. <a href="http://www.indiewire.com/article/edward-lachman-shares-his-secrets-for-shooting-todd-haynes-carol-20151203" target="_blank">See cinematographer Edward Lachman's comments</a> about using Leiter as an inspiration in shooting the film.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbOT0z5cQqPgPdtIcvzEpShsk9cppnjTtUDs1XTCPxVTmknc1R_1VfPIekLPh-tHbzIZ9yusYi__CG1DANaVMKtWJ131gUG-rXdTl3gfo5EVK9irB-3WzsreLSWH65AlEwfF3oydFv8taa/s1600/carol.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbOT0z5cQqPgPdtIcvzEpShsk9cppnjTtUDs1XTCPxVTmknc1R_1VfPIekLPh-tHbzIZ9yusYi__CG1DANaVMKtWJ131gUG-rXdTl3gfo5EVK9irB-3WzsreLSWH65AlEwfF3oydFv8taa/s640/carol.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Layers and Reflections on Leiter: Rooney Mara in <i>Carol </i>(2015)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="st">Leiter's
work offers viewers a chance to see New York City, and America, at a
particular historic moment. His artistry is clearly visible in his
images, and in working against the (film) grain, as it were, he brings
out the color of the city. He shows its layers, its movement, and its people, all striving, working, seeming to push forward toward a future and its promises.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">~Jenny Thompson</span><br />
<br />
<span class="st">You can see Saul Leiter <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-bhhJD4ZOg" target="_blank">in conversation (2012) here.</a> </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vTDOaN-M4pUEkImuDW-GZZOELqMfVWzIKDenydo_YsqeP2IoJuDWoE0aCw1jtU5FvjayOy8MWjxOszGfc-Bqbrh_D45GICQGjHGSo3efMWx3cvRlju4h-qpNRDqLO-m1Gemtadtj9K3n/s1600/leiter+2.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vTDOaN-M4pUEkImuDW-GZZOELqMfVWzIKDenydo_YsqeP2IoJuDWoE0aCw1jtU5FvjayOy8MWjxOszGfc-Bqbrh_D45GICQGjHGSo3efMWx3cvRlju4h-qpNRDqLO-m1Gemtadtj9K3n/s640/leiter+2.tiff" width="418" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">News at a Cold City Corner, NYC, Saul Leiter</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-15048081091185659052015-12-24T18:15:00.000-06:002015-12-24T18:15:58.957-06:00Windows, Shopping, and Christmas Past, NYC<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzjQ6cyw3TUEk-ALYNHBcSYKe0_ZdiC1YFwqBd1RYO9Pnw_1HCDj6tbCx90m3gQWgY_-jhEjVAMQUBxjqfs1v08zy01XdkIienJS8h3f2OswAZJATaHqJqVySxzN0s7c-6bT_3oUM5q7sf/s1600/Christmas_Shopping%252C_1910.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzjQ6cyw3TUEk-ALYNHBcSYKe0_ZdiC1YFwqBd1RYO9Pnw_1HCDj6tbCx90m3gQWgY_-jhEjVAMQUBxjqfs1v08zy01XdkIienJS8h3f2OswAZJATaHqJqVySxzN0s7c-6bT_3oUM5q7sf/s640/Christmas_Shopping%252C_1910.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas Card Display: the observed and the observer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span id="goog_262599050"></span><span id="goog_262599051"></span><br />
<span id="goog_262599050"></span><span id="goog_262599051"></span><br />
<span id="goog_262599050"></span><span id="goog_262599051"></span><br />
<span id="goog_262599050"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>From any recent study of <span class="gstxt_hlt">New York </span>the
visitor from another planet would conclude that our observance of
Christmas consisted chiefly in unusual practice and encouragement of the
art of shop-keeping. Broadway and the other <span class="gstxt_hlt">shopping </span>streets
have been for many days a vast fair, crowded with customers till long
past the dinner-hour, and late at night, no doubt, the shopmen went out
and bought from each other, for there is no resisting the contagion.
When one has bought what he desires, there is a fine pleasure in
leisurely strolls through the <span class="gstxt_hlt">shopping </span>quarter.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
J. E. Learned, "Christmas Streets," New Outlook, December 1892 </div>
<br />
Ah, Christmas!<br />
<br />
Late 19th century and early 20th century images depicting Christmas in New York from the Library of Congress collection can be divided (roughly) into two types: those showing activities related tocharities (Salvation Army, soup kitchens, orphanages, et al) and those showing shoppers on the street.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJLXOLEWHJxQc7scidRl6aEfCAnASWXXYqj1cXRzz1DQDbUv8VANhBqiR-ZqZfPlrEr4mA-TgdanG1rhvRDU95dmPUlR2hz9_Hdy1p-XZMcpvmHs1TNITPMiLntJX3TZc185IPR9SVIPN2/s1600/macywindow08-17B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="435" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJLXOLEWHJxQc7scidRl6aEfCAnASWXXYqj1cXRzz1DQDbUv8VANhBqiR-ZqZfPlrEr4mA-TgdanG1rhvRDU95dmPUlR2hz9_Hdy1p-XZMcpvmHs1TNITPMiLntJX3TZc185IPR9SVIPN2/s640/macywindow08-17B.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Children looking into Macy's Department Store window, New York City, c. 1914</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In relation to the latter subject, the camera's point of view is that of the observer--observing those who are themselves observing. The camera's subject is the people on the street who have paused to look at window displays and are strolling along the street "window shopping." <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxbnxAWzHqSncKj99yh5VbtEr7fc9RNNWXYakKSehNfJsvBuIp79E_2z12ci0H2_fNpMIjJiC0nPck4682v4HjPrn7IJcqsN7euggK1JrHeuomPh55Kwme18Bw2t-jYD7TQL-sF1sC9ION/s1600/03058r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="467" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxbnxAWzHqSncKj99yh5VbtEr7fc9RNNWXYakKSehNfJsvBuIp79E_2z12ci0H2_fNpMIjJiC0nPck4682v4HjPrn7IJcqsN7euggK1JrHeuomPh55Kwme18Bw2t-jYD7TQL-sF1sC9ION/s640/03058r.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0000ee;"><u>Window S<span style="color: #0000ee;"><u>hoppers, NYC</u></span></u></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>There's a little shop half a flight up, on Fortieth Street, in <span class="gstxt_hlt">New York, </span>whose
windows are always especially attractive—one of those upstairs apparel
shops with all manner of dainty things. A neatly lettered card in the <span class="gstxt_hlt">window </span>suggests in a businesslike yet friendly manner that the "<span class="gstxt_hlt">window shopper</span>"
come in and look around. </i><br />
<i>"We thank you for stopping — for stopping to
look at our display of merchandise We hope that it pleased you, and if
you are anxious for further information, come inside. If you are not
ready to buy, thanks anyway for stopping," reads the card. </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i> </i>"Thank You Card," <i>The Spatula, </i>June 1921.<br />
<i></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i></i><br />
<i></i></div>
The practice of displaying goods in shop windows for passers-by to view was an invention of the mid-19th century. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Gordon_Selfridge" target="_blank">Harry Gordon Selfridge</a> (of Chicago's Marshall Field Department Store and later founder of Selfridges in London) is often touted as the first to use large window displays.<br />
<br />
It took time before many merchants recognized the valuable advertisement that a store could broadcast through a window pane, but once they did, window displays became ever more prominent and elaborate.<br />
<br />
Soon, they would even be lit at night.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1p1S4BKiShyphenhypheno6gM1IgMvXeJVBCb26d4NFrFBoAsDwAAuzpmQdVVGOoc_xQUufcTF9dliA1hELzH0ksNjpp4DL4vHcXslbwchB0-YVvTh2ZX1AXDDDuEqAMn64EYlwummVUH3aroctZ1z_/s1600/printer%2527s+ink.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1p1S4BKiShyphenhypheno6gM1IgMvXeJVBCb26d4NFrFBoAsDwAAuzpmQdVVGOoc_xQUufcTF9dliA1hELzH0ksNjpp4DL4vHcXslbwchB0-YVvTh2ZX1AXDDDuEqAMn64EYlwummVUH3aroctZ1z_/s320/printer%2527s+ink.tiff" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Printer's Ink, April 10, 1907</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
In 1908, a New York merchant commented on the value of the night shop window, noting:<br />
<br />
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
“I have frequently seen men and women too, who were <span class="gstxt_hlt">window </span>shopping before my place at night inside the next day. People in <span class="gstxt_hlt">New York </span>keep posted on the fashions and on what is to be had in the stores by <span class="gstxt_hlt">'window </span>shopping.’ ” (<i>Trade: A Journal for Retail Merchants, 1908).</i></div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
Women in particular were targeted by shop keepers through the window display. Women, it was argued, "can either <span class="gstxt_hlt">'window </span>shop' or <span class="gstxt_hlt">'window </span>wish' without embarrassment. There are no clerks to ask her this or that until
her mind is made up. Women are guided and influenced by <span class="gstxt_hlt">window </span>displays, I believe, in fully 80 per cent of their purchases," A.G. Sten, <i>"Why Show Windows Appeal," The Dry Goods Reporter,</i> 1912.</div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_column">
By the early 20th century, the psychological impact of the window display was widely recognized:</div>
<div class="gtxt_column">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_column">
"You ask me what there is about a store <span class="gstxt_hlt">window </span>that makes a woman irresistibly turn for inspection,"<br />
A.G. Sten continued. "I will tell you. The store <span class="gstxt_hlt">window </span>is a woman's great 'reminder.' It recalls to her some need, past or future." </div>
<div class="gtxt_column">
<br /></div>
<div class="gtxt_column">
As the modern consumer looked through the window pane of glass, she could reflect on the goods displayed. But she also engaged in an act of self-consciousness, reflecting an image of herself onto the display--imagining a longing that could be fulfilled by what was available, imagining a "need" that could be met through a purchase.</div>
<div class="gtxt_column">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5p2G_Z7TKm89MCBKVQsKpv5GARvwciP7zT6vrJE_Z7lp3tHSDSoxiYyT0Xi0ioJsSF1fpcRuPcnmJEltMq2zR1xK1NZ_Sy0cpdB7Zia0iAkXi7Bw_0QXlG65JBaM8ocH1JeXzXxEm7KNA/s1600/03058u+copy.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5p2G_Z7TKm89MCBKVQsKpv5GARvwciP7zT6vrJE_Z7lp3tHSDSoxiYyT0Xi0ioJsSF1fpcRuPcnmJEltMq2zR1xK1NZ_Sy0cpdB7Zia0iAkXi7Bw_0QXlG65JBaM8ocH1JeXzXxEm7KNA/s640/03058u+copy.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The great "reminder," detail, window shoppers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="gtxt_column" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">James McCutcheon's Department Store (pictured above) was located along the aptly named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladies'_Mile_Historic_District" target="_blank">"Ladies Mile" </a>on Fifth Avenue. </span>Its large windows seemed to open up to stage settings, where a world of dreams was laid out. You too can dream about some of McCutcheon's erstwhile products, a few of which are now in the Metropolitan Museum. See one <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/156556" target="_blank">here.</a> </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHCv_zSW3XBAI5uB-hkS7aOLf2vUUg0jZ-MNhCQ0apYaLxLD6CyeRwWIa1ZtTt02QqHvHWM63gzTxnYfl7WSGCC9_JpIYmT0jf7akmlFSNgqIwK1nMc5Qb8dhBIE3JGOVBgjPb4l74ZsrV/s1600/03034r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHCv_zSW3XBAI5uB-hkS7aOLf2vUUg0jZ-MNhCQ0apYaLxLD6CyeRwWIa1ZtTt02QqHvHWM63gzTxnYfl7WSGCC9_JpIYmT0jf7akmlFSNgqIwK1nMc5Qb8dhBIE3JGOVBgjPb4l74ZsrV/s640/03034r.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bird's-eye view of shoppers on 6th Avenue, 1910</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While the window shopper could lose herself in fantasy or reverie, she could, of course, also stir feelings of insufficiency, especially if she did not have money to fulfill the "need" she recognized (or created) through window shopping.<br />
<br />
That feeling, that pit in her stomach, was now also a reminder of an absence that she might never have recognized without seeing these displays. This was, of course, part of the psychological dance prompted by a society based on consumption. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj15htGQXJAgJK-vQlMgYyDo0P0ZBMjTVxlXlo8hXzcS-uc9T2-Ts51PswHb_MgdayP_5o5fwnx3qIB3tK6pVY3PO_299daPtybSpe5ImJ-gkPWCmPiW8sIj9sNbXtEpRvodwfB_7bipwGn/s1600/1928-washington-DC-THomas-R-Shipp-Co.-Atwater-Kent-Window.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj15htGQXJAgJK-vQlMgYyDo0P0ZBMjTVxlXlo8hXzcS-uc9T2-Ts51PswHb_MgdayP_5o5fwnx3qIB3tK6pVY3PO_299daPtybSpe5ImJ-gkPWCmPiW8sIj9sNbXtEpRvodwfB_7bipwGn/s640/1928-washington-DC-THomas-R-Shipp-Co.-Atwater-Kent-Window.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A stage setting of the play "What Life Should Be," aka a window display</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
To buy something that somehow could help make life better, easier, happier, prettier, nicer, cleaner, etc. is an act of hope. And to deny that purchase left that emptiness. The longing would remain.<br />
<br />
In his 1900 novel, <i>Sister Carrie,</i> Theodore Dreiser perfectly captures this idea. In a visit to a New York department store, Carrie Meeber finds herself:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>much affected by the remarkable displays of <span class="gstxt_hlt">trinkets, </span>dress
goods, stationery, and jewelry. Each separate counter was a show place
of dazzling interest and attraction. She could not help feeling the
claim of each trinket and valuable upon her personally, and yet she did
not stop. There was nothing there which she could not have used—nothing
which she did not long to own. The dainty slippers and stockings, the
delicately frilled skirts and petticoats, the laces, ribbons,
hair-combs, purses, all touched her with individual desire, and she felt
keenly the fact that<span class="gtxt_body">
not any of these things were in the range of her purchase. She was a work-seeker, an outcast without employment, one whom the average employee could tell at a glance was poor and in need of a situation. (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?dq=sister+carrie+%22trinkets%22&jtp=17&id=d0NmIKcMDFYC#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Sister Carrie</a>, 17.)</span></i> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
As techniques for enticing shoppers into stores through window displays became ever more sophisticated, numerous "experts" on the subject of window displays emerged, giving out advice to merchants. See, for example, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=IaJAAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA8-PA66&dq=window+shopper+new+york&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKsKKmzPDJAhVGeSYKHYWxA3IQ6AEIOTAG#v=onepage&q=window%20shopper%20new%20york&f=false" target="_blank">"Why Some Windows Fail to Attract,"</a> in <i>The Underwear & Hosiery Review,</i> September 1921). <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9zmNkG6S1T8TbjjUB2N5yBdRUPaL6Mkba3oBaf3N5MghjgnHgTGJeRRK3VBZxn46euPI3PBlyJZsfa-Eyu3eez_EBZAIudVz85B77LMe2C4S3Dk5WkrZgM2tqYoHTE3WRmXPf9mrzkzOo/s1600/4a21443r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="510" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9zmNkG6S1T8TbjjUB2N5yBdRUPaL6Mkba3oBaf3N5MghjgnHgTGJeRRK3VBZxn46euPI3PBlyJZsfa-Eyu3eez_EBZAIudVz85B77LMe2C4S3Dk5WkrZgM2tqYoHTE3WRmXPf9mrzkzOo/s640/4a21443r.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Street Scene, with shadow of photographer, foreground</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
These experts reveal the fact that the shopper herself was now quietly being observed. Those who hoped to entice her into a purchase were mapping her behavior, deploying the newly emerging "science" of measuring and orchestrating the habits of consumers, based in part on psychoanalysis and brought to famous use by New Yorker <a href="http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/12/consumer.aspx" target="_blank">Edward Bernays</a> (who was loosely related to Sigmund Freud).<br />
<br />
In the photograph above, the fact that shoppers were now being keenly observed is suggested in the visibility of the photographer's shadow in the foreground. The woman looks at the photographer, peering out from under her broad brimmed hat, catching the act of observation. (And in fact, in all the images here, the act of observation is present, even if it is not recorded within the image itself). <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXA9A2jX9EK0GnM4P-KEoBsY-X36iG3vHrBrULtU5x4ZWKtwAxw30zWPPLTRGJLruku-9P2LI7wjhBiybxL99Ae1csOqXChDuTS1peBT_fte3XnulWB9mWXZB-DyLAvB6Nc1o8N-cdEhh6/s1600/03036r-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXA9A2jX9EK0GnM4P-KEoBsY-X36iG3vHrBrULtU5x4ZWKtwAxw30zWPPLTRGJLruku-9P2LI7wjhBiybxL99Ae1csOqXChDuTS1peBT_fte3XnulWB9mWXZB-DyLAvB6Nc1o8N-cdEhh6/s640/03036r-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cards: One Cent each, East 14th Street</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the photograph above, the card seller (and the boy behind him) look into the camera lens. The card seller stands in front of his display and confronts the photographer with a steady gaze, as if to ask, what are looking at? As a street merchant, the card seller has no store window, per se, but his method of confronting potential buyers on the street by stopping them in their tracks was a precursor to the modern window display.<br />
<br />
Stop.<br />
<br />
Look!<br />
<br />
Behold what awaits you!<br />
<br />
Only a thin pane of glass separates you, the window display suggests, from all your heart's desire!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-L2UKItddYgiZvicb1KhLJtdUYJVHwg99K_Tr7NZfHNQlk5et_0cVMWOohyphenhyphenfzTKHW4UguAdmp-3RgqWnNIlTze6GseWHdBvLxfvm_ecZo0-k1h9J5M8CCfYUJ_D8_M6kJCxfHmF3NrmFz/s1600/Two%252Belegantly%252Bdressed%252Bwomen%252Bwindow%252Bshopping%252Boutside%252Bof%252BBergdorf%252BGoodman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-L2UKItddYgiZvicb1KhLJtdUYJVHwg99K_Tr7NZfHNQlk5et_0cVMWOohyphenhyphenfzTKHW4UguAdmp-3RgqWnNIlTze6GseWHdBvLxfvm_ecZo0-k1h9J5M8CCfYUJ_D8_M6kJCxfHmF3NrmFz/s640/Two%252Belegantly%252Bdressed%252Bwomen%252Bwindow%252Bshopping%252Boutside%252Bof%252BBergdorf%252BGoodman.jpg" width="505" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"They're watching you," Bergdorf Goodman, NYC, 1947.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Today, the window display has become ever more sophisticated psychologically. We are now confronted everywhere by advertisements, screens, images, flashing promises, and reminders of unfilled needs.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR22KstfYYuExh8xm1fRWB1zvm7rmTVBeWRZ2vMA13MOLu2q9ymF17smrPwYEbYJ7mf3NRYHxMGw5x-ap4yeEqsFUOPEOYwaR1HdFzsAbO_dj7V31NQ95zsGK5CvZGsZ4c7LNdbGGrMyNd/s1600/2064096174_a76ff6c72b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR22KstfYYuExh8xm1fRWB1zvm7rmTVBeWRZ2vMA13MOLu2q9ymF17smrPwYEbYJ7mf3NRYHxMGw5x-ap4yeEqsFUOPEOYwaR1HdFzsAbO_dj7V31NQ95zsGK5CvZGsZ4c7LNdbGGrMyNd/s640/2064096174_a76ff6c72b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lord and Taylor window, NYC, 2007, Christmas, old school.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The window display is now a kind of meta-display, referring to an earlier time (above) or stripping down the "image" (below) to serve us not a Christmas goose, but a dazzling and amorphous reminder of something we just might need....now or in the future.<br />
<br />
~Jenny Thompson<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7FeyVSh54kiNf5yOy7goe_HNnUKxX050IURlmfiuWVisoSwIM4tKJON2xgH50k2K1LnRZBh6ImUCWvURBEWwp67PqsqmCezZJ3-jiAHCr9yE7Kf7w5KVtUQ2ZTZNSqPijvlbClXbeMsO/s1600/Windows4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj7FeyVSh54kiNf5yOy7goe_HNnUKxX050IURlmfiuWVisoSwIM4tKJON2xgH50k2K1LnRZBh6ImUCWvURBEWwp67PqsqmCezZJ3-jiAHCr9yE7Kf7w5KVtUQ2ZTZNSqPijvlbClXbeMsO/s640/Windows4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just This: A Modern Reminder, Tiffany and Co. Window, NYC.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-906236557199250462015-11-09T18:04:00.001-06:002015-11-09T18:24:03.564-06:00General Pershing's Welcome in New York City, 1919<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"> <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxpEPTo80qiBLg1emHjHax4qmsYIsn1zwKZ85eUBnwXGJHTJQQ9pUo4eeUTokhJf4lp9nh5pidyS1LTJ2Wmg9wqlHih6BD7oSm2mmvMixVASpgVLqf2gM6-XvATyRLYZwb02_Az6_3ks_/s1600/pershing+nyc+1919+septemebr+loc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxpEPTo80qiBLg1emHjHax4qmsYIsn1zwKZ85eUBnwXGJHTJQQ9pUo4eeUTokhJf4lp9nh5pidyS1LTJ2Wmg9wqlHih6BD7oSm2mmvMixVASpgVLqf2gM6-XvATyRLYZwb02_Az6_3ks_/s640/pershing+nyc+1919+septemebr+loc.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">General Pershing salutes New York</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"The Heart of New York goes out to you," wrote mayor John F. Hylan in an "air letter" to General John J. Pershing (1860-1948) on September 7, 1919. The letter was dispatched from Manhattan by hydroplane and dropped
aboard the SS Leviathan during its final days at sea. The ship was bringing the general home.<br />
<br />
General Pershing had commanded the American Expeditionary Forces
in France during World War I. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUg-W2Exc8g" target="_blank">left the United States in June 1917,</a>
just months after the U.S. declared war against Germany on April 6,
1917. He would not return for more than two years.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Just months after the signing of the treaties that officially ended the war in June 1919,
--and after the numerous celebrations honoring Pershing that were held in France and England --Pershing sailed from Europe on the Leviathan, (a German ship
seized by the U.S. in 1917). The troop ship had crossed the Atlantic
many times during the war, transporting a large share of the more than 2
million American soldiers who would eventually serve in France.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ72c_8iSJ4e_r8ZW5UDUbLkiJlZLWrRlyC9YgHDLhGVx4ajDfWHLr7NDrKoFGm_YLS0PjP_mkaEaSiRXsSZtKuOeHUCchTc7T3V39STHhqXfZLl31q1UvN0K-Im9qhKZDXs-lEejrvThS/s1600/leviathan.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ72c_8iSJ4e_r8ZW5UDUbLkiJlZLWrRlyC9YgHDLhGVx4ajDfWHLr7NDrKoFGm_YLS0PjP_mkaEaSiRXsSZtKuOeHUCchTc7T3V39STHhqXfZLl31q1UvN0K-Im9qhKZDXs-lEejrvThS/s640/leviathan.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Homecoming: SS Leviathan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The
ship's last voyage was the one that brought Pershing home, arriving in New York Harbor in the early morning of September 9, 1919.<br />
<br />
Millions of "loyal
citizens of the great metropolis of the world," Hylan wrote to the general, "eagerly and
impatiently await the opportunity to give their plaudits to the man
through whose instrumentality the magnificent achievements of our armies
were made possible." <br />
<br />
The city was beside itself with excitement to welcome the valorous general back on American soil.<br />
<br />
When Pershing set foot on New York soil (the Battery), he was observed to have tears streaming down his cheeks at the sight of the welcoming crowds. The crowds themselves were brimming with enthusiasm, and he was soon on his way to City Hall for a reception. Accompanying Pershing was his 10 year old son, Warren, who, just days earlier, had the honor of informing the general that he had been appointed "General of the Armies," the highest rank of any American military officer in history.*<br />
<br />
Over the next couple of days, Pershing was feted by the thousands of Americans who came out to welcome him. You can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPy4Dcau6G8" target="_blank">watch the footage of his New York welcome in 1919 here. </a> <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyhX08q34CoW_5dDLDmphAFAVeP-YVtcAM3KEc1CbvDPkPH7F73wfSL2x2HlnIZIOZCKyPK8dDd3pkEbx2ckB6W0wPH2jS0Oi0Kn8pAmWmMnug_L50LN6kwKGWZQRhBaTe9yN1F66NEHc/s1600/pershing+central+park.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyhX08q34CoW_5dDLDmphAFAVeP-YVtcAM3KEc1CbvDPkPH7F73wfSL2x2HlnIZIOZCKyPK8dDd3pkEbx2ckB6W0wPH2jS0Oi0Kn8pAmWmMnug_L50LN6kwKGWZQRhBaTe9yN1F66NEHc/s640/pershing+central+park.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pershing in Central Park: crowds jammed the greensward that day</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Immediately upon his arrival on the morning of September 9, 1919, General Pershing was whisked along city streets jammed with cheering crowds. His car was proceeded by 35 motorcycle policemen, followed by 24 mounted officers, and a Fireman's band. People watched the motorcade not only from the streets, but from windows and even rooftops. "Paper showers" descended upon the general's car (which, the New York Times noted, had become "a routine part of such celebrations." "Sidewalk Crowds Give Noisy Greetings, " <i>New York Times, </i>September 9, 1919.)
<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 7.000000pt; font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-family: "timesnewroman"; font-size: 7.000000pt;"></span>Pershing
waved and smiled, and, after a couple of blocks, stood up in the back of
the car and rode standing the rest of the way to City Hall.<span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 8.000000pt; font-weight: 700;"></span> <br />
<br />
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhggsLrRPAcJUygdPJ_Gs_YirFyAFfgEE6BKAN4hqiVVY9aZCJCvcG94aYdng5aB2EDKTM0Ys4eV-Y0_uABe1B1rlnP1nc6ohyphenhyphen8eYtCmCyCm2ioXn4rCI0Z8goIsher3PuDrRXJFmo3F6Gy/s1600/through+the+victory+arch+1919+nyc.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhggsLrRPAcJUygdPJ_Gs_YirFyAFfgEE6BKAN4hqiVVY9aZCJCvcG94aYdng5aB2EDKTM0Ys4eV-Y0_uABe1B1rlnP1nc6ohyphenhyphen8eYtCmCyCm2ioXn4rCI0Z8goIsher3PuDrRXJFmo3F6Gy/s640/through+the+victory+arch+1919+nyc.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPy4Dcau6G8" target="_blank">Through the Arch of Victory, NYC</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the 1919 filmed footage of Pershing's car speeding along 5th Avenue, you will see it pass under what looks very much like the
Washington Square arch. This was, in fact, another arch, known as the
“Victory Arch,”
located near Madison Square at 24th Street and Fifth Avenue. The arch was built as a temporary monument (made of wood and plaster) to
"symbolize the height of elation and depth of feeling found in their [New Yorkers']
hearts on the announcement of peace and the return of our valorous
forces."<br />
<br />
The New York City Board of Alderman approved the construction of the
arch on December 3, 1918, just weeks after the Armistice had gone into effect on November 11, 1918. Mayor Hylan approved
the resolution which appropriated $80,000 for the construction of the
arch. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQzsW8-pWfvZPRacP0aJumiws3OZ6Vn34QGxRHl0KVJrBRK9IGj5Okvw3IyE9T5aCRoojNrcHMvxHvs0uuQZZRO2_CgEjOe_JwNA207o79Emdg1M1xYxEAfNlPBJKXlikxPKPmM6FmUmS-/s1600/Victory-Arch-Flatiron-District-NYC-Untapped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQzsW8-pWfvZPRacP0aJumiws3OZ6Vn34QGxRHl0KVJrBRK9IGj5Okvw3IyE9T5aCRoojNrcHMvxHvs0uuQZZRO2_CgEjOe_JwNA207o79Emdg1M1xYxEAfNlPBJKXlikxPKPmM6FmUmS-/s640/Victory-Arch-Flatiron-District-NYC-Untapped.jpg" width="507" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is it a little "over the top"?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Architect Thomas Hastings (of the firm <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carr%C3%A8re_and_Hastings" title="Carrère and Hastings">Carrère and Hastings</a>,
designers of the New York Public Library) designed the arch to resemble
a Roman arch. Plans to make a permanent arch were bandied about
following the temporary arch's completion. Just two months after
the celebration of Pershing's homecoming, on December 9, 1919, however, the arch was
demolished. (The city did pay metropolistic tribute to the general by naming a section of the city after him: "Pershing Square" at Park Avenue and 42nd St.)<br />
<br />
During Pershing's big welcome home extravaganza the arch still stood. It was, after all, pretty hard to miss. Crazy with ornate detail, its architectural exuberance well matched to the spirit of New York in full flush of "victory."</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH8aPhUwyX7S309G4jJRDfXvN1utHHRpGm5fwIrTTL9igOzxuPb_ozMOKknG00Pj9dLVe8qmwgl-4_7RasKvuhjJXjrhevqS2IpAg2UR1cBE4jMD86sHeWSvKcoBcSTFknTvvPykLJQjC2/s1600/nyc+notables+1919.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH8aPhUwyX7S309G4jJRDfXvN1utHHRpGm5fwIrTTL9igOzxuPb_ozMOKknG00Pj9dLVe8qmwgl-4_7RasKvuhjJXjrhevqS2IpAg2UR1cBE4jMD86sHeWSvKcoBcSTFknTvvPykLJQjC2/s640/nyc+notables+1919.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is my hat on straight? </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
At City Hall, all the big-wig politicians were present and assembled, including Secretary of War
Newton Baker, New York governor Al Smith, and mayor John Hylan. Everyone wanted to get in on the spectacle.</div>
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6N7ZaZYcZCQT1Jf5C1I8nxgIXFFKS2i7oO8fjcOJFdy1LmLIyOZPjBXJTFDqSD3YEIDVTqGCEzb0K3BoUEF130hIlOSIoYGFiduZsSJVr3F7Vr-ZNRqrxY8hw75e7Wvjwu4l0MH1kHKFJ/s1600/woman+nyc+1919.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6N7ZaZYcZCQT1Jf5C1I8nxgIXFFKS2i7oO8fjcOJFdy1LmLIyOZPjBXJTFDqSD3YEIDVTqGCEzb0K3BoUEF130hIlOSIoYGFiduZsSJVr3F7Vr-ZNRqrxY8hw75e7Wvjwu4l0MH1kHKFJ/s640/woman+nyc+1919.tiff" width="496" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flowers and Kisses from Nice New York Misses</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
A surprise awaited the general at City Hall when a young woman burst past the police lines and kissed him on the cheek. The crowd erupted in cheers. Another woman tried to follow suit, but the general stopped her in her tracks. "O, madam," he exclaimed, "please don't."</div>
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLrfpmMz-bL3Xmf4CDjwtQohkZ7LIbppkwW0htKc9LTdCp7Tx7PFDsMSDOPmi7clvoaNikpk6NBtMPCocSrNp2n53NOACVAlVAujCG-IisoLv2ExZksdOlMCIJNSTAId-5V4uwfGu2QelC/s1600/warren+pershing.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLrfpmMz-bL3Xmf4CDjwtQohkZ7LIbppkwW0htKc9LTdCp7Tx7PFDsMSDOPmi7clvoaNikpk6NBtMPCocSrNp2n53NOACVAlVAujCG-IisoLv2ExZksdOlMCIJNSTAId-5V4uwfGu2QelC/s320/warren+pershing.tiff" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Who was that lady, Dad?" Warren Pershing</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
Pershing was, after all, with his young son! </div>
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
<br /></div>
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
<i>Meanwhile: Stories of kissing and being kissed by Pershing seemed to circulate widely--perhaps they symbolically represented the city's feeling of l'amour for him--one story told of a woman, Kitty Dalton, who was the kissee. "Can he kiss?" she was asked after he reportedly "kissed her a regular American man's smacker" when she presented him with roses. "I'd say he can," Kitty dished. "He kissed me full on the lips.. . nobody ever kissed me as Gen. Pershing did."("Can He Kiss? This Girl Says Pershing Can," New York Times, September 11, 1919.</i><br />
<br />
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
</div>
<div class="column">
</div>
After the City Hall reception, Pershing's motorcade traveled to the Waldorf Hotel (Pershing and Warren stayed in the hotel's "pink and gold suite," reporter Percy Hammond noted) via Lafayette Street to Ninth, then to 5th Avenue and to the hotel's entrance on 33rd Street. That evening, he, Warren, and a group of VIPs dined at the Ritz-Carlton and then were entertained (along with 5,000 others) at the <a href="http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/534" target="_blank">Hippodrome Theater</a> at 6th Ave and 44th Street. </div>
</div>
</div>
<br />
Pershing's first full day back in the United States, September 10,
1919, was jam packed.<br />
<br />
At the Sheep Meadow in Central Park, he would greet a crowd of 50,000 people, 30,000 of which were
school children. Some waited three hours just to catch a glimpse
of the general.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJItkKFYMofpLTzsy6j6JXRe70z8nl4mrx0DIVnjMoxDygg5p8rUb88l0coEjR10c3YtHMKp2TGmMLGT16srDswU78Rx9d7uoZasiic7Sasv5WnLQSCXp1lQ1yQ0Awbc5EI_G4MV9G0Dy/s1600/flag+wavers+central+park+1919.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJItkKFYMofpLTzsy6j6JXRe70z8nl4mrx0DIVnjMoxDygg5p8rUb88l0coEjR10c3YtHMKp2TGmMLGT16srDswU78Rx9d7uoZasiic7Sasv5WnLQSCXp1lQ1yQ0Awbc5EI_G4MV9G0Dy/s640/flag+wavers+central+park+1919.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jubilance, American Style</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Many believed that the general would and should be the
next American president.<br />
<br />
The general also conducted an "inspection" of cadets outside of <a href="http://www.thedepartmentstoremuseum.org/2010/06/john-wanamaker-new-york.html" target="_blank">Wanamaker's Department Store </a>at 770 Broadway at 9th Street (the site of the defunct A.T. Stewart store).<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlrY8t0bXUm-YhEV1HNdAQ95TesiRvD86U75gaOYdquNNJTpzHTx4vrWRhh4r4SdItAUMKR6J9AxkEl9o5MNmETwUJxWNvjV3lPqh9MKtE_N5eJfbA200-kNTddFwoLM3YfEBhBnIYjC-/s1600/pershings+program+nyc.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlrY8t0bXUm-YhEV1HNdAQ95TesiRvD86U75gaOYdquNNJTpzHTx4vrWRhh4r4SdItAUMKR6J9AxkEl9o5MNmETwUJxWNvjV3lPqh9MKtE_N5eJfbA200-kNTddFwoLM3YfEBhBnIYjC-/s200/pershings+program+nyc.tiff" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A full day's honor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This was followed by a reception at the Elks club, and, following the reception, there followed a reception at Carnegie Hall (!)<br />
<br />
At 10:30 AM the next day, a parade was planned with Pershing leading it, traveling from 110th Street to Washington Square. It would take the parade a total of three hours to complete.<br />
<br />
Pershing was particularly looking forward to riding his horse, Kidron
(1907-1942), in the parade. Kidron had been given to him in France and
the general had ridden him in
various ceremonies and parades in Paris, including the victory parade
through <i>l'arc de triomphe</i>. But Kidron had been in quarantine in
Newport News, VA, since arriving from France and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture refused to release the sorrel horse in time for the parade.<br />
<br />
And so Pershing had to ride another horse.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1yfcTHW7-keLhbshkMGs-_25MXfxxTvehceSNyrCMifVEnPWY6YoNk2JYy7LS96VbVi4muLY_dbcl6YyZ40S8IhX9jhg1BzW3SeUKbjFyFQ0V83bKjTEt9z1nZu5mE5ALNQL9DVo70xf/s1600/kidron+pic.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC1yfcTHW7-keLhbshkMGs-_25MXfxxTvehceSNyrCMifVEnPWY6YoNk2JYy7LS96VbVi4muLY_dbcl6YyZ40S8IhX9jhg1BzW3SeUKbjFyFQ0V83bKjTEt9z1nZu5mE5ALNQL9DVo70xf/s400/kidron+pic.tiff" width="376" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pershing and Kidron, who became, Pershing reported, "a naturalized and enthusiastic loyal American." </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOGcWhABzo0WKHxMNkHKbIAxVrf_92TObloOKvWiVWzcqirLLOdLHuB5jwgkf_Pu033tvQZaGHwnMLBkXAiC5ftr1VqCgmcZSX7Wc2oHxmCtbHw7YxtgjpPXNX41Z1CojwWHXYrPsF50Bj/s1600/1st+division+nyc+sept+1919.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOGcWhABzo0WKHxMNkHKbIAxVrf_92TObloOKvWiVWzcqirLLOdLHuB5jwgkf_Pu033tvQZaGHwnMLBkXAiC5ftr1VqCgmcZSX7Wc2oHxmCtbHw7YxtgjpPXNX41Z1CojwWHXYrPsF50Bj/s640/1st+division+nyc+sept+1919.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"And We Did Come Back! It's Over Over There," Parade of US Soldiers, Fifth Avenue</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
Pershing was proud to lead the parade of soldiers of the <a href="http://www.firstdivisionmuseum.org/history/history/wwi.aspx" target="_blank">First Division.</a> Among this unit were the first American troops in France, the men who had marched with Pershing in Paris upon their arrival "over there." "Layfayette," they announced at the tomb of the French general who had fought alongside George Washington, "<i>Nous sommes ici.</i>" (We are here!)<br />
<br />
Also marching with Pershing was the "Composite Regiment," a group of U.S. soldiers of various ranks and from various units that represented the "best" of the armed forces.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH48KQhmPuFhX4A7T-gcdQMMUEkfoygvbyMoeYfJGxBhDF7HpVkxvwL-R2PUeRVyMQ8FDzJDDPsIoYBOdz2agdUs1SDUfZr79w3jgluBUkcRPSyD1Jbvap8ocTRGa3GAmOlHPadWrE6NjA/s1600/pershings+own+on+leviathan.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH48KQhmPuFhX4A7T-gcdQMMUEkfoygvbyMoeYfJGxBhDF7HpVkxvwL-R2PUeRVyMQ8FDzJDDPsIoYBOdz2agdUs1SDUfZr79w3jgluBUkcRPSyD1Jbvap8ocTRGa3GAmOlHPadWrE6NjA/s640/pershings+own+on+leviathan.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.loc.gov/item/2007663802/" target="_blank">Composite Regiment with Pershing</a>, SS Leviathan, September 1919</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzq7tg-Oxph6Ar8SsVlm1msPuKBT8Yc6bKtwDgFAAiObMjpA_3OZTGgDUB32x8cWbhb2jQbuEpy2xLjh_xiFjvQ3xkXOZRbNmj8VuFokEwf8HQWb_22Sf3D6f3eUjhmHSpF2aIYhtHFQ3/s1600/henry+johnson.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzq7tg-Oxph6Ar8SsVlm1msPuKBT8Yc6bKtwDgFAAiObMjpA_3OZTGgDUB32x8cWbhb2jQbuEpy2xLjh_xiFjvQ3xkXOZRbNmj8VuFokEwf8HQWb_22Sf3D6f3eUjhmHSpF2aIYhtHFQ3/s320/henry+johnson.tiff" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sergeant Johnson's Homecoming </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It was fairly diverse group, boasting several Native
American men, but the unit did not include a single African-American soldier. <br />
<br />
This was perhaps no
surprise owing to the complete segregation of the U.S. Armed
Forces at the time. But still, it is hard to imagine that so many brave Americans (never mind New Yorkers!) were left out of the "representative" unit.<br />
<br />
The city had celebrated its own, however. In February 1919, New York had welcomed the famed members of
the 369th Infantry Regiment (the Harlem Hellfighters), who had all been awarded the Croix de Guerre, France's highest
award for bravery. Nearly 250,000 New Yorkers turned out to welcome them, as they marched and rode in a parade along 5th Avenue.<br />
<br />
Among them was Sergeant <a href="http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/henry-johnson.htm" target="_blank">Henry Johnson </a>(1891-1929) who enlisted in June 1917 in Brooklyn. His heroism would not be "officially" recognized by the U.S. military until nearly a century after the war: <a href="http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/johnson/" target="_blank">See Henry Johnson's story here</a>.)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmdHbhdReHFXLsZoug4V1K-5A7n0-1yaMTe_8tWAxoUKy0lVyqDKtKh-WfXi48GPyit47i1REULtC_hquoya7Uhk5pz3bz6VPDeNxsTUqvjSHmLrJkjv1ZigWWWHNhh8gIRo0lvI7FTYl/s1600/1st+division+soldiers+nyc+sept+1919.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmdHbhdReHFXLsZoug4V1K-5A7n0-1yaMTe_8tWAxoUKy0lVyqDKtKh-WfXi48GPyit47i1REULtC_hquoya7Uhk5pz3bz6VPDeNxsTUqvjSHmLrJkjv1ZigWWWHNhh8gIRo0lvI7FTYl/s640/1st+division+soldiers+nyc+sept+1919.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On Fifth Avenue, a Three-Hour Parade</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Pershing's victory parade was a much larger affair, to be sure. And despite the numerous parade participants, it was really only one single man that the crowds wanted to see.<br />
<br />
"General Pershing was a handsome martial figure as his horse two-stepped past the Metropolitan museum," reported Percy Hammond, "saluted the secretary of war with ample and a gracious dignity. . . it was his crowded hour." ("Pershing Leads First Division in Glory March," <i>New York Times,</i> September 11, 1919.)<br />
<br />
A carillon of bells played "The Star Spangled Banner" as the parade made its way down Fifth Avenue.<br />
<br />
After he had ridden the parade route, Pershing returned to his hotel, where, from his suite's balcony, he would observe troops passing in review.<br />
<br />
In the evening it was back to Central Park for a concert, and then it was on to dinner at the Waldorf.<br />
<br />
Just a small dinner of 1,600 guests.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia0sl_XLvfpdxC4Ns68lVF3uWRAoSfnyFbQrEeDs_87oidKtVdov86LgY1W0ODmwDjEFk3gkEAGNB9D7Sz26A3BcCYRf8OThZd1RQ2V9gbDx-nG39vpOCORux6Pbn85M2JNZDwvhpx7FfD/s1600/18ccdb63e3e161d63923deb5ae72ace9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia0sl_XLvfpdxC4Ns68lVF3uWRAoSfnyFbQrEeDs_87oidKtVdov86LgY1W0ODmwDjEFk3gkEAGNB9D7Sz26A3BcCYRf8OThZd1RQ2V9gbDx-nG39vpOCORux6Pbn85M2JNZDwvhpx7FfD/s640/18ccdb63e3e161d63923deb5ae72ace9.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is that a feather in your cap, General?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Pershing had the "customary feather in his cap" when he returned to America. And if he had any doubt, his welcome in New York made it known that he was a hero. He would leave New York for more celebrations, parades, and banquets, and for months his name would be on the lips--kissed and unkissed--of millions of Americans who saw in him a spectacular leader that had brought the country safely (relatively when compared to Europe's millions of casualties) through the Great War.<br />
<br />
And indeed, Pershing had steered a course through the first truly modern industrialized war. He had been up against the mammoth egos of French and British generals who scoffed at the upstart American (while overseeing the slaughter--in the millions-- of their own armies.) Pershing had fought successfully to maintain the American army and not let the Allies simply use as cannon fodder the Americans in their own bloodied ranks. And he had more than proven his skill as a strategist and military leader.<br />
<br />
And he had also endured <a href="http://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/john-pershing.htm" target="_blank">unspeakable personal tragedy.</a><br />
<br />
He more than deserved the fanfare and kisses, the "paper showers" and cheers.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVfiSTs8N_RYh2mSYGD4S2cmK09Htxpaid4k13xd2QLE18cQKLn1RQ0S77DemQgqB1Y8zaZ8qNap_HWYgRE2bBhc6-Nn6irDmT8dr7MjUXcEqPtgssL4eWxC_tgrJ_3Cvw-f4jFhJD3-l4/s1600/b_1918_136_resco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVfiSTs8N_RYh2mSYGD4S2cmK09Htxpaid4k13xd2QLE18cQKLn1RQ0S77DemQgqB1Y8zaZ8qNap_HWYgRE2bBhc6-Nn6irDmT8dr7MjUXcEqPtgssL4eWxC_tgrJ_3Cvw-f4jFhJD3-l4/s400/b_1918_136_resco.jpg" width="301" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A La Jeune Fille de France</i> by Micheline Resco</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In New York that fall of 1919, Pershing was likely thrilled to be home, to be whisked through the Victory Arch. Now, if he could only be reunited with Kidron.<br />
<br />
And if only--could he dare to think it?--if only he could be reunited with someone who remained in Paris, the love of his life, Micheline Resco, then victory would truly be his.<br />
<br />
Ah, Micheline! Pershing no doubt wished that the young woman he met in Paris upon his arrival in the summer of
1917 could be by his side. Micheline, an artist, would soon <a href="http://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-GB/asset/259972/resco-micheline-fl-1920/general-john-pershing-1921-oil-on-canvas" target="_blank">paint a portrait of Pershing</a>, an image of the victorious general as the world, and as New York chose to see him. <br />
<br />
But despite the very public display of affection he received by the city, Pershing still wanted something more. The millions of New Yorkers would never know that something was missing upon his return to the United States.<br />
<br />
He would have to wait for another homecoming of sorts. This one would take place when another ship sailed into New York Harbor. It arrived from Le Havre, France, on August 30, 1920. On board was Micheline, finally reunited with Pershing.<br />
<br />
No newspapers would report on this arrival. No reporters would know. Pershing and Micheline would continue the<a href="http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1952/11/30/page/102/article/display-ad-64-no-title" target="_blank"> romantic relationship</a> that they had begun that summer in 1917 and would last--in secrecy-- for the entirety of
Pershing's life.<br />
<br />
To her kisses, Pershing might have responded, "O, mademoiselle, please do."<br />
<br />
~Jenny Thompson<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-RjQaVDnOh7CN-awacd-1sStkuYdKKGvqDTuryHV_O-AV2L-CZ15Xpd6iosv40JlcoDEmt_wzgtTaMcoDW4jO41NJK9p_H7RAwASC0LyPVzFGkcTc6KLcxPuVaPRg9-HbkydMnQiFHMer/s1600/resco+pic+ship.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-RjQaVDnOh7CN-awacd-1sStkuYdKKGvqDTuryHV_O-AV2L-CZ15Xpd6iosv40JlcoDEmt_wzgtTaMcoDW4jO41NJK9p_H7RAwASC0LyPVzFGkcTc6KLcxPuVaPRg9-HbkydMnQiFHMer/s640/resco+pic+ship.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A New York Arrival, Just for Two, August 1920</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
* On September 3, 1919, the U.S. Congress promoted Pershing to the rank of General of the Armies of the United States. Warren was given the task of informing him on board the Leviathan. Pershing would be the only person on active duty ever to attain that rank. In the 1970s, however, the U.S. Congress posthumously promoted George Washington to the full grade of General of the Armies of the United States with the stipulation that no officer of the
United States armed forces should ever outrank him.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-61434638474071794602015-08-14T16:37:00.002-05:002015-08-14T18:26:51.681-05:00August 14, 1945: Times Square and a Couple of Kisses<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBUvT9KHhbDOQYp3y59Pi6W2CK4X2tGi6d2FCt6_RedYdhWasDzYl6lHIxfzF4k3Em0OKnome1UjyGYynd1HJbTkWMZ0tHrAcS3j1I6lYTxyOURLuqiBkwClAB-sw7Y6JgfncfocKyP4z/s1600/GettyImages-72431352.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBUvT9KHhbDOQYp3y59Pi6W2CK4X2tGi6d2FCt6_RedYdhWasDzYl6lHIxfzF4k3Em0OKnome1UjyGYynd1HJbTkWMZ0tHrAcS3j1I6lYTxyOURLuqiBkwClAB-sw7Y6JgfncfocKyP4z/s640/GettyImages-72431352.jpg" width="537" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You must remember this....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Life Magazine </i>photographer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Eisenstaedt" target="_blank">Alfred Eisenstaedt</a> took the iconic image of the nurse and sailor locked in an embrace (she is headlocked, actually) in NYC's Times Square on August 14, 1945, 70 years ago today.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Since then the image has been reproduced, re-staged, reenacted, and remembered in a multitude of ways. It's been <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/08/14/story-behind--kiss-vj-day/31676791/" target="_blank">investigated</a> too.<br />
<br />
On the 70th anniversary of the famous photograph, let's remember that Mr. Eisenstaedt also took time to celebrate the surrender of Japan, and the end of World War II, by doing a little kissing himself.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhaTjnlgFtYTnkzBshu7oHvc_AVuiJ1IUeHSF9FjrA_LzZY3VRvA9wNDxq4EMUO-vihOfSS-ydGXR7KGkeQiaNTZQ9E17XSNhNJPF0myCCjRkOOG_TLGzfs6rq3jf6fHxrEmp7oA4sSkxI/s1600/150803-vj-day-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhaTjnlgFtYTnkzBshu7oHvc_AVuiJ1IUeHSF9FjrA_LzZY3VRvA9wNDxq4EMUO-vihOfSS-ydGXR7KGkeQiaNTZQ9E17XSNhNJPF0myCCjRkOOG_TLGzfs6rq3jf6fHxrEmp7oA4sSkxI/s1600/150803-vj-day-01.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alfred to Kissee: "Do You Leica This?"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Eisenstaedt, who was born in Poland and later fled Hitler's Germany in 1935, had a long and distinguished career. After working as a photographer in Berlin, he settled in Queens, New York, and started working for Life in 1935.<br />
<br />
The setting for "the kiss" was his <a href="http://www.whatwasthere.com/browse.aspx#!/ll/40.757421,-73.986035/id/35904/info/details/zoom/14/" target="_blank">stomping grounds</a>. Each day he walked from his home to his office at the Avenue of the Americas and 51st Street. On the day that the surrender of Japan was announced, Eisenstaedt was at the <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/ticker-tape-parade-in-times-square-crowd-waving-huge-flag-news-footage/450041928" target="_blank">epicenter of the city's celebrations</a>, taking photographs, and even doing a little celebrating himself. <br />
<br />
~Jenny ThompsonUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-23735931928628435392015-08-04T17:28:00.000-05:002015-08-11T18:24:05.810-05:00One Night at Sherry's: James Hazen Hyde Has a Ball (and Some Cake)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYa2nLKHwo-8UgEERrvhISTR8zU16hvkgHKMydCUB8_Hv01ovBb7G8ME2yhrxJ3Z_0vtzpIMvY9hsLAm7JPUIaHycSvxRD9pihO_Ps_QB1ahQGkdt1OYUf1ZpFLFK_dqcsmONH3_XFkoNY/s1600/5495042081_ed89c39cf8_z-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYa2nLKHwo-8UgEERrvhISTR8zU16hvkgHKMydCUB8_Hv01ovBb7G8ME2yhrxJ3Z_0vtzpIMvY9hsLAm7JPUIaHycSvxRD9pihO_Ps_QB1ahQGkdt1OYUf1ZpFLFK_dqcsmONH3_XFkoNY/s640/5495042081_ed89c39cf8_z-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Party Over Here! Guests at Hyde's 1905 Ball at Sherry's Restaurant</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
At the age of 23, Manhattan socialite and supreme party-er of the Gilded Age, James Hazen Hyde (1876-1859) inherited a fortune. He was given majority control of the extremely profitable Equitable Assurance Society, a company founded by his father, Henry Baldwin Hyde, in 1859.<br />
<br />
Hyde was the prototypical dandy of turn-of-the-20th-century New York.
His clothes were made in Paris (a city that he loved and visited
frequently). He was enormously fond of horses and coaches (and <a href="https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18737577/" target="_blank">once raced, with Alfred Vanderbilt,--by coach!--from Philadelphia to New York City</a>).<br />
<a name='more'></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1SAv7sDW1ajOWYySYyGQc6QBvFnhBrXV0I_OyxJCtpyMljLYgKB00G_4XYvLuyP7AqB9ide3dBkWhFdHKP9JGvO6iFfuJzzfQBp88y80YYxXr-pblIcRviF1tJrlUBLEtZqz39SN9LVKv/s1600/61228dd61f7cdcd1049b652a67d9987f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1SAv7sDW1ajOWYySYyGQc6QBvFnhBrXV0I_OyxJCtpyMljLYgKB00G_4XYvLuyP7AqB9ide3dBkWhFdHKP9JGvO6iFfuJzzfQBp88y80YYxXr-pblIcRviF1tJrlUBLEtZqz39SN9LVKv/s400/61228dd61f7cdcd1049b652a67d9987f.jpg" width="270" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James Hazen Hyde was a dandy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;">He attended Harvard, summered on Long Island, at "the Oaks," his 400-acre estate, and when, "in town," he lived at 9 East 40th Street in Manhattan. His offices were located at 120 Broadway, in the swanky and expensive Equitable Life Building, <span style="color: black;">built by his father after the American Civil War for 3 million dollars. (It was the first New York building to have passenger elevators).</span> </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrcgVwwpVzRy8cdG0gCvTA2bbhlqxADLe0xLidMhfDX31MowEc1Dap3f0o30FbY6XUIiW8IeRDtaRu3nNCzpo_G6q8UzIyLZWdKWmQmK2u5TBv2fROVWse8WBjeVzoofZ1FKj4NWLpKKMK/s1600/equitable+ad+1902.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrcgVwwpVzRy8cdG0gCvTA2bbhlqxADLe0xLidMhfDX31MowEc1Dap3f0o30FbY6XUIiW8IeRDtaRu3nNCzpo_G6q8UzIyLZWdKWmQmK2u5TBv2fROVWse8WBjeVzoofZ1FKj4NWLpKKMK/s400/equitable+ad+1902.tiff" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"strongest in the world," for now at least, 1902</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Hyde was an art lover and he would spend his life amassing a spectacular collection. Ultimately, much of his collection would wind up in a
variety of museums, including the <a href="http://metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/201434" target="_blank">Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art </a>and the Brooklyn Museum (<a href="https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/76606/Table_Clock" target="_blank">see a piece from his collection here.)</a><br />
<br />
A self-professed Francophile, Hyde was fluent in french. So what better theme to chose for his "high society" party than a costume fete set in the (recreated) gardens of the Versailles of 18th century France?<br />
<br />
The "400"--New York's wealthiest, including the Astors and the Vanderbilts-- were invited to [<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sherry" target="_blank">Louis</a>] Sherry's Restaurant at 44th Street and Fifth Avenue on the evening (10:30 pm) of January 31, 1905.<br />
<br />
They had been instructed to arrive in costume; the women wore lavish dresses, every detail of which was assiduously recorded in the society columns; the men came in "hunt and court costumes," and many wore wigs or powdered their hair. (Sherry's was a known hot-spot for the wildly expensive and outrageous parties of NYC's uber-rich. See <a href="https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/tag/sherrys-restaurant/" target="_blank">Ephemeral New York's post about a dinner </a>hosted there where the guests were back in the saddle...)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLxYF9dSk9Ey6D-TUOgo9Xvugtb-5k8u22vLKtYvqlEaKmcWARJ4RdO1ARXkJIkluoAr8CpcAOao9ZUMrBWzhV8CzDcH4QTjeFNtQzfdmedlAI7C5N6zBGrYFI0Ehdvi3f5Lj4vvnUo53-/s1600/MNY65692.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLxYF9dSk9Ey6D-TUOgo9Xvugtb-5k8u22vLKtYvqlEaKmcWARJ4RdO1ARXkJIkluoAr8CpcAOao9ZUMrBWzhV8CzDcH4QTjeFNtQzfdmedlAI7C5N6zBGrYFI0Ehdvi3f5Lj4vvnUo53-/s640/MNY65692.jpg" width="416" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hyde and his sister in an early "flashlight" version of the step and repeat (see below)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
At Hyde's party, guests were greeted upon arrival by "several flunkeys," the <i>New York Times</i> reported.<br />
<br />
The women were given time to adjust and compose themselves in dressing rooms before being escorted to the ballroom. There, their host, James Hyde awaited, dressed "in the costume of the New York Coaching Club" (with "traditional bottle-green coat with wide skirts and flaps, read waistcoat and dark knee breeches.") Beside him, stood his sister, Mrs. Sydney Dillon Ripley.<br />
<br />
Now, the elite would have some fun as they presented themselves to the camera in an early example of a "step and repeat." <br />
<br />
Hyde had secured <a href="http://broadway.cas.sc.edu/content/joseph-byron" target="_blank">Joseph Byron,</a>
the famed "flashlight photographer," who operated a fully equipped
photograph gallery on site, "where five operators, by the aid of the new
<a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/bios/hewitt.htm" target="_blank">'Cooper Hewitt' light</a>, took over two hundred photographs" of guests (and party staff too). <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=24UAYWFSPCUV&SMLS=1&RW=1239&RH=662" target="_blank">(See the Museum of the City of New York's Collection here.)</a><br />
<br />
These portraits are fantastic and fantastical as they reveal just how the 400 wanted to be seen. Striking poses that in some cases appear extremely serious, the portrait subjects appear almost entirely unaware of the irony involved in their outlandish presentation. Wealthy Americans "showing off"--there can be no other term for it--by wearing costumes that evoke a toppled regime whose members also similarly used money to display their sense of privilege and power over the "flunkeys."<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;">The 400 to the Flunkeys: Let Them Serve Cake!</span></i></div>
<br />
In a ballroom decorated with lattice work, green vines and roses, guests were treated to 18th century-dancing, with a balcony set aside for "those who did not care to don fancy costumes."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxuc6w3LXK6qY8K-iIFp3GqxmKzuagfe7fveaMuNuNJASgHhUMeBgdfNdUpZGPJDeoTX_BXTldpp0IfQ9MzPmB-fNguG9DWG3sCfIP8KZSBobYir6XQOrb5az5sBDlCZOt1IYdlMTtMk0Q/s1600/MNY35899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxuc6w3LXK6qY8K-iIFp3GqxmKzuagfe7fveaMuNuNJASgHhUMeBgdfNdUpZGPJDeoTX_BXTldpp0IfQ9MzPmB-fNguG9DWG3sCfIP8KZSBobYir6XQOrb5az5sBDlCZOt1IYdlMTtMk0Q/s640/MNY35899.jpg" width="528" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"My, what a fancy costume!" Hyde with Madame Rejane, Museum of the City of NY Collection </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Next, a ballet was performed by dancers of the Metropolitan Opera House. <br />
<br />
After the dance, guests descended to the second floor of the restaurant where the gardens of Trianon had been re-created.<br />
<br />
The second floor of Sherry's had been sodded with real grass. Statuary, shrubs, and potted orange trees were arranged surrounding the tables. Wisteria and vines, more lattice work and arbors created the fantasy that only the wealthy could delight in.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX3UzlDDznKfuCIDPWbzdOzgez7RXjAh-Mi9oj3lqyfHIE979YzbMoffVnjYYVHzQCxBYz2xzga5n42nV4UktgsKYXWCUIOP8H5YqtVmKoldmIDR4cneefMtH2tf6sCI3hQoZfhrtvDWEL/s1600/MmeRejane-2AA-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX3UzlDDznKfuCIDPWbzdOzgez7RXjAh-Mi9oj3lqyfHIE979YzbMoffVnjYYVHzQCxBYz2xzga5n42nV4UktgsKYXWCUIOP8H5YqtVmKoldmIDR4cneefMtH2tf6sCI3hQoZfhrtvDWEL/s640/MmeRejane-2AA-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sherry's Restaurant: Transformed for Hyde's Gala, 1905</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Various orchestras, stationed throughout the restaurant, took turns serenading the guests as they dined. The engraved parchment menus announced a dinner fit for a king and queen:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Consumme Voltaire," </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Fasand Pique Louis XV," </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and of course, <i>bon bons</i> and Pol Roger.<br />
<a href="https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18570513/" target="_blank">See the menu here. </a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2atqIPSdmzGMdpBv4ZlGiUNpA-m9oKi3M0RhxKag4WicsomEVJAq3wzfSDvBBrL1C26GxrE65vGQnKv01CzlupyHHnF3YUbAHNn_lYeKgWZZn4Ly9B73hUmQLzRrIHrEz2r7jDnzezP3a/s1600/MNY38728.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2atqIPSdmzGMdpBv4ZlGiUNpA-m9oKi3M0RhxKag4WicsomEVJAq3wzfSDvBBrL1C26GxrE65vGQnKv01CzlupyHHnF3YUbAHNn_lYeKgWZZn4Ly9B73hUmQLzRrIHrEz2r7jDnzezP3a/s640/MNY38728.jpg" width="505" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><h1>
<span class="Lbl" id="a1.2.1.1.2.1:Title_Lbl">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Does this bonnet make my head look big? Eleanor "Bo Beep" Jay Iselin and Arthur Iselin </span></span></span></h1>
<span class="Lbl" id="a1.2.1.1.2.1:Title_Lbl">
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Mdms Astor and Vanderbilt were among the many women who showed themselves to favor the "Marie Antoinette dress," while the men seemed to enjoy donning military uniforms. Col. John Jacob Astor, for example, wore "white knee breeches, blue velvet coat and powdered hair, suggesting of Gen. Lafayette."<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVkg6dDbuTFYEZi4MgwrL9hPEJCpsLBSFXl_IRikwxRH02bEI51makBIb-PUKwUHbktIvAqOTuGwapqOlQB164UtZGpwPhvRg-rbAX9l9tKFfXkuvLyVVKftJHMaasiWoWl89ws-38HHzN/s1600/phoenix+ingraham.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVkg6dDbuTFYEZi4MgwrL9hPEJCpsLBSFXl_IRikwxRH02bEI51makBIb-PUKwUHbktIvAqOTuGwapqOlQB164UtZGpwPhvRg-rbAX9l9tKFfXkuvLyVVKftJHMaasiWoWl89ws-38HHzN/s640/phoenix+ingraham.tiff" width="451" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wild Party-goer, Phoenix Ingraham</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Meanwhile Mrs Philip Rinelander wore a dress of "pale blue, covered with point lace, garlands of pink roses, large blue velvet hat with pink and blue feather, collarette of turquoise and diamonds and turquoise crown."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIn2FDMJ4AQm8qqlxb9SguBpB8y6MZvJfAuMGI_5WrHdnKC0IM6qLYSKUsYOMVkBZuAFeNmu9FikG-RhbV7_j49oeh5HNr91ppsFCdj7bolfaUZrrlGpUbJVara7Cu3RYQ61FsNixsCg-R/s1600/waiters.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIn2FDMJ4AQm8qqlxb9SguBpB8y6MZvJfAuMGI_5WrHdnKC0IM6qLYSKUsYOMVkBZuAFeNmu9FikG-RhbV7_j49oeh5HNr91ppsFCdj7bolfaUZrrlGpUbJVara7Cu3RYQ61FsNixsCg-R/s640/waiters.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Will work for tips and wigs." Some of the waiters who worked Hyde's Ball</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The party was a grand success. The 600 guests departed at 7AM, having enjoyed not one dinner, not two, but a full three dinners.<br />
<br />
And thus, they added another notch to the belt of over the top parties of New York's elite.<br />
<br />
"[Hyde] is a bachelor, a man of a large independent fortune," wrote J. C. Cartwright, in an article recounting the event for <i>Metropolitan Magazine</i>. "His taste and
his fortune combined resulted in the most carefully planned, the most
successfully managed, and the most novel ball given in the memory of
living New Yorkers." <br />
<br />
But this would be Hyde's final New York gala.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNgzqDqeJJk6dlM0KFNmmvTNI-8Zmhrvi37WBfpvU2OH-eFbaUodXgmJyG7u-Bh0X3plWdQ6uA5dariSjRtGeK3JeS68FMdN3Xioo5g6jf862pLD6psptILwfHAXPEWwYBiKRHjUH4FRZu/s1600/3b43051r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNgzqDqeJJk6dlM0KFNmmvTNI-8Zmhrvi37WBfpvU2OH-eFbaUodXgmJyG7u-Bh0X3plWdQ6uA5dariSjRtGeK3JeS68FMdN3Xioo5g6jf862pLD6psptILwfHAXPEWwYBiKRHjUH4FRZu/s400/3b43051r.jpg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hyde, Pre-Bash, 1904, Library of Congress</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">SCANDAL!</span></h2>
Soon, the very guests who had gorged, er, eaten the food he supplied at his fancy dress ball turned on him. His friends in high places accused him of "<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=V3ZNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA805&lpg=PA805&dq=james+hazen+hyde+art+word&source=bl&ots=HglYGwmVl-&sig=KIvVcQdEi81Lpv4n4ZRRwdWJnFo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wf2aVa-KEIzbggSK7oDwAg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">ruinuous waste</a>" (<i>Success Magazine</i>, 1905) and malfeasance (including paying for his $200,000 Versailles party out of the funds of the Equitable Assurance Society). Powerful New Yorkers who held the reigns of financial power created a scandal the likes of which New Yorkers always enjoyed. A Wall Street "panic" ensued, with the profitable and relatively nascent insurance industry tottering, (if only momentarily).<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0tL1cDHhKLoA3k6rkDAK1r3qq1i7byGDZd3SsKhdH71Ek-4OaQ-TdrwlCPlgPEoZdU77OD9SBvfDDbfWwEaNjkfMhCr0HUq1WAapetn4TiHSZHEcjocLI3XUPyr9LxRlGcbChwBoRrWS/s1600/NYT+Hazen+hyde+1905.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0tL1cDHhKLoA3k6rkDAK1r3qq1i7byGDZd3SsKhdH71Ek-4OaQ-TdrwlCPlgPEoZdU77OD9SBvfDDbfWwEaNjkfMhCr0HUq1WAapetn4TiHSZHEcjocLI3XUPyr9LxRlGcbChwBoRrWS/s320/NYT+Hazen+hyde+1905.tiff" width="278" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New York Times, February 1905</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The scandal was, in effect, orchestrated by Hyde's enemies. Hyde, according to the terms of his father's will, was to become president of the Equitable in 1906.<br />
<br />
This apparently did not sit well with the board of directors, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._H._Harriman" title="E. H. Harriman">E. H. Harriman</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Clay_Frick" title="Henry Clay Frick">Henry Clay Frick</a>, <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.P._Morgan" title="J.P. Morgan">and good ol J.P. Morgan</a>.<br />
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: large;">"It takes a little more than ordinary genius to startle New York society," </span></i><br />
reported William J. Graham a few years after the scandal, in an account of how Hyde had been intentionally toppled and targeted,
"and the fact that this ball so thoroughly startled it, attests that
young <span class="gstxt_hlt">Hyde </span>was not lacking in the family
genius, even though he chose to misapply it. The broadcast advertisement
of this garish festival was blatantly vulgarized by the press." (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=c_ozAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA714&dq=james+hazen+hyde&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEAQ6AEwCTgUahUKEwijrZqvpu3GAhVFkQ0KHZchCVk#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">"The Romance of Life Insurance,"</a> <i>The World Today, </i>July 1908, 714)<br />
<br />
Eventually, Hyde was run out of town, not on a rail, but on a steamship.<br />
<br />
He set sail in December 1905.<br />
<br />
His refuge?<br />
<br />
Why, Paris, of course.<br />
<br />
Hyde said good-bye to all that (he still had millions in his bank account) and embarked on a life in France that seemed to suit him well.<br />
<br />
A few years later, back in New York, on a bitterly cold January day in 1912, the Equitable Life Assurance Building <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=OZBAAQAAIAAJ&lpg=PA9&ots=TBYHZ5dbuD&dq=equitable%20building%20fire%201912&pg=PA16#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">was destroyed by fire.</a> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6C8spNd1KaJU0OaVxKFiAqOcibdspUzbrIdtWbEpeH4O5vGG7_uL7MQ1X2wAIXsaaAifxMVYly0oRnVnkP-Td73IiagPLVRgjxCfTZt4i0EMAE6k5vl4NjuCGDeCg7585j6-1VrDXncaW/s1600/1912+fire.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6C8spNd1KaJU0OaVxKFiAqOcibdspUzbrIdtWbEpeH4O5vGG7_uL7MQ1X2wAIXsaaAifxMVYly0oRnVnkP-Td73IiagPLVRgjxCfTZt4i0EMAE6k5vl4NjuCGDeCg7585j6-1VrDXncaW/s640/1912+fire.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The remains of the building were covered in ice that formed when hit by the water shot by fire hoses. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A year after <a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/consumed-in-fire-cloaked-in-ice-equitables-headquarters-fell-100-years-ago/?_r=0" target="_blank">the fire</a>, Hyde, still in Paris, married Marthe Leishman, with whom he had a son, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/08/world/henry-hyde-is-dead-at-82-wartime-spymaster-for-oss.html" target="_blank">Henry Baldwin Hyde</a>, (who would later go on to serve as the ultimate spy for the US during WWII.) The couple divorced in 1918.<br />
<br />
Even while overseas, Hyde never turned his back on his country. In fact, during World War One, he turned his Paris flat into a hospital and worked for the American Red Cross.<br />
<br />
He also worked to support Franco-American cultural exchanges and opportunities for students at French and American universities, including at his alma mater, Harvard and at the Sorbonne, where he established a foundation for the study of America and American Ideas and Institutions (See, for eg, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=npAixve5cWUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=james+hazen+hyde+paris&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEAQ6AEwB2oVChMI_5SlnKrtxgIVQWs-Ch3LlQKv#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Educational Advantages for American Students in France</a> (1908). <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ds8u9SaJ2FcTB-LeSWsDIMRGscvP-GWE_9aXpPVRZzyIbt7gj33mPETcR6_4MFnec9SqgFsua8-DcUYaGZvWWOPZ1GOxhZvfZltGkJ-rMU7F3vaqJvPyBsvlorHTn8p1lzn81vnyXVH7/s1600/hyde+franco.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ds8u9SaJ2FcTB-LeSWsDIMRGscvP-GWE_9aXpPVRZzyIbt7gj33mPETcR6_4MFnec9SqgFsua8-DcUYaGZvWWOPZ1GOxhZvfZltGkJ-rMU7F3vaqJvPyBsvlorHTn8p1lzn81vnyXVH7/s400/hyde+franco.tiff" width="260" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A re-made man: Hyde in France</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In a 1919 portrait of Hyde in <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Ok0tAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA77&dq=james+hazen+hyde&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCsQ6AEwBDgUahUKEwijrZqvpu3GAhVFkQ0KHZchCVk#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">The New France Magazine</a>, he was described in terms that underscored his success in re-making himself. He was a:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<h3>
<span style="font-size: small;">lecturer at all the great French Universities, officer of the Legion of
Honor and wearing also the ribbons of an officer of the <i>Instruction
Publique</i>, the <i>Medaille de la
Reconnaissance Francaise</i> and two or three other orders; writer of
erudite historical monographs, Fourth-of-July orator upon invitation of
the French Government, but, more than all, mentor of A<span class="gstxt_sub">m</span>ericans
in Paris— a citizen of the United States at whose house in Paris you
meet ministers of state, distinguished visitors, men with missions from
the world over, generals, journalists, notabilities and “interesting
people” of every sort—that is <span class="gstxt_hlt">James Hazen Hyde.</span> </span></h3>
</div>
<br />
In 1930, Hyde married again. His second wife bore the title Countess Ella Matuschka, from her first marriage. But she had previously been known as <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=71512224" target="_blank">Helena Walker</a> from Detroit, Michigan. (Her grandfather was Hiram Walker, liquor baron.)<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1WXeNTAxpyacQ18ctbyBAENGNzDYBkpbsSMlYp6Mv_-hQXLC-MA4UJBjaAJB6B8s-sx9HpWQenBk4BPtMiskE4Cy_ZC0dVJHPBm_TOvxKnn2c3iUIp7w-hURayIEgLnIfkA2HYaiAM3FO/s1600/Helena+Holbrook+Walker+Hyde.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1WXeNTAxpyacQ18ctbyBAENGNzDYBkpbsSMlYp6Mv_-hQXLC-MA4UJBjaAJB6B8s-sx9HpWQenBk4BPtMiskE4Cy_ZC0dVJHPBm_TOvxKnn2c3iUIp7w-hURayIEgLnIfkA2HYaiAM3FO/s320/Helena+Holbrook+Walker+Hyde.tiff" width="245" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Oui. I was once from Detroit."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Hyde certainly had matured since his 1905 fancy dress ball. And with maturation comes certain privileges. But his love for the life of the rich and French had clearly not been extinguished. And so he exercised the rights of his privileged, mature status and chose not to compromise for his second wedding with a mere replica of a place he truly loved. Instead, he chose as the site for his second wedding the real thing: Versailles.<br />
<br />
Hyde would remain an adopted son of the city of lights until the Germans overtook it in World War II. Then he only reluctantly returned to New York City, settling into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savoy-Plaza_Hotel" target="_blank">Savoy Plaza</a>, with occasional stays at his estate in Saratoga.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">He continued his academic efforts after returning to the U.S. In 1946, he gave $1,000 to the
American Historical Association (he was a lifetime member of the AHA)
for the establishment of an annual prize to recognize </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">"the best work on Franco-American relations or on the history of France
in the nineteenth century. (The prize was only awarded once, in 1948, and then discontinued.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">When he passed away in 1959, one obituary observed that his death broke "a tie with a cultural past which today seems almost as remote as Louis the XVIII." </span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWAmGVTUIc7wYhcIcavfpJk5Kvh-G8_rVuytnmUbBK0bFym_pO0TtKMEeybTTgkgRkJPUEBZmrr9n0upePWRKO14FzFWtBEzxKFt2knsp2UQ0o8oucTIjjs7-NTr32Jym7naSBlm3yXf4/s1600/brad+and+ang.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWAmGVTUIc7wYhcIcavfpJk5Kvh-G8_rVuytnmUbBK0bFym_pO0TtKMEeybTTgkgRkJPUEBZmrr9n0upePWRKO14FzFWtBEzxKFt2knsp2UQ0o8oucTIjjs7-NTr32Jym7naSBlm3yXf4/s320/brad+and+ang.tiff" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fancy Dress Ball, Oscars 2012</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Well, perhaps not quite broken. After all many Americans still seem to desire to appear in public in all their riches, stepping, repeating, stepping, repeating....</span><br />
<br />
~ Jenny Thompson<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn3h752dxYZNtB2oz_QS3H6eh8Y8GdQ25UKQkPjBlERFgLzc4alaaPWAUmgJxfW3j8HyOED6AIL9XsWHrom14y-i1hzhbZlnPwBp40AnT56MTMjiQxJbl6L5MX8_wqrDoqUEzTPxWagkP7/s1600/marie+antoinette.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn3h752dxYZNtB2oz_QS3H6eh8Y8GdQ25UKQkPjBlERFgLzc4alaaPWAUmgJxfW3j8HyOED6AIL9XsWHrom14y-i1hzhbZlnPwBp40AnT56MTMjiQxJbl6L5MX8_wqrDoqUEzTPxWagkP7/s640/marie+antoinette.tiff" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.chateauversailles.fr/history/court-people/louis-xvi-time/marie-antoinette" target="_blank"> Cake, Cake, Cake. </a>Oh, Flunkey, I get so bored with it all! (Sofia Coppola's <i>Marie Antoinette)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
For more on Hyde: Patricia Beard's <i>After the Ball<span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle">: Gilded Age Secrets, Boardroom Betrayals, and the Party That Ignited the Great Wall Street Scandal of 1905</span></i> (2003) takes a look at Hyde and the financial scandal. (<a href="http://www.c-span.org/video/?179228-1/book-discussion-ball-gilded-age-secrets" target="_blank">Watch C-Span's coverage of a talk about the book Beard gave in 2003.</a>)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><br />
<b> </b><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-28230929146791622212015-07-10T16:03:00.003-05:002015-07-10T17:36:48.358-05:00Signs of the Time: Federal Art in NYC<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpEKQKIlPuwNAfP1ja0GXB_GqN6y6OAiEwlBDKA0yrTLX4uVc5v7s86JCwqe13dqrwDg-NxKHx2_YVUMRaNDKnkn3-fxnviIm1PZjmRoPBeW45Tan5b9xFGqeDBt5iG_YcTDt3pqxLZPBU/s1600/05592r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpEKQKIlPuwNAfP1ja0GXB_GqN6y6OAiEwlBDKA0yrTLX4uVc5v7s86JCwqe13dqrwDg-NxKHx2_YVUMRaNDKnkn3-fxnviIm1PZjmRoPBeW45Tan5b9xFGqeDBt5iG_YcTDt3pqxLZPBU/s640/05592r.jpg" width="507" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Music Contest Poster, Estelle Levine, Artist, Federal Art Project, Library of Congress</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">During the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration* (WPA) sponsored a variety of public programs designed to put people to work and to better society at large. The arts were particularly favored. Painters, dancers, photographers, musicians, writers, sculptors, actors, illustrators, et al, found a haven away from the down-and-out economy through a variety of programs that included the Federal Theatre Project, the Federal Art Project, the Federal Music Project, and the Federal Writers Project.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Over the course of just a few golden years, from about 1935 to 1939, in New York City, the work of those artists was visible everywhere, from the theater marquees advertising a production to posters displayed on the streets. </span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiacdlFh3DkibKfIwnFme6BpS6wrzmLOi2XoDXD0jusv729FBqeZBuXzmkKFX4c3QfhaVK5M5XzMG6_Ml7lkjaJuKMbSnCV5nF4ft2WKlJgorF0nug2AB7hyphenhyphenp6qDZNAG-3gmQLC_Xw6dc-M/s1600/3b48741r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiacdlFh3DkibKfIwnFme6BpS6wrzmLOi2XoDXD0jusv729FBqeZBuXzmkKFX4c3QfhaVK5M5XzMG6_Ml7lkjaJuKMbSnCV5nF4ft2WKlJgorF0nug2AB7hyphenhyphenp6qDZNAG-3gmQLC_Xw6dc-M/s640/3b48741r.jpg" width="412" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">One of a series of posters that were part of the New York Mayor's "Poster Project Emergency Relief Bureau," 1936, a Federal Art Project.</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A 1936 poster series on the "History of Civic Services in the City of New York" put illustrators to work and documented the city's progress over the years in relation to public works. These patriotic history lessons had a number of intentions, primarily to promote the arts and promote civic pride. But they also had an underlying goal: to place current hard times within a larger historical context that emphasized the fact that the depression was only one tale in a far larger historical narrative. (Collectively, it was <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/wpapos/" target="_blank">WPA illustrators whose posters </a>very nearly "branded" the 1930s and created the visual theme of the Great Depression--truly stunning work.) </span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlZBcIMwbcmABuG6fJHr9Y9mOGoLnAxJkSvT26bTtS3loFMubxnQsf3_BANiDmukrI92xhQfkYEVCZlWfF6_ne0waMLPX-Q7bdR_g-BQcmFFBXuT2Nic9mqX_VXUfZY4xZXlig4li-L-MZ/s1600/3f05339r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlZBcIMwbcmABuG6fJHr9Y9mOGoLnAxJkSvT26bTtS3loFMubxnQsf3_BANiDmukrI92xhQfkYEVCZlWfF6_ne0waMLPX-Q7bdR_g-BQcmFFBXuT2Nic9mqX_VXUfZY4xZXlig4li-L-MZ/s640/3f05339r.jpg" width="417" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i> <a href="http://newdeal.feri.org/power/contents.htm" target="_blank">Power </a></i>at the Ritz (now the Walter Kerr Theater)</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Actors, directors, costume designers, playwrights and scene designers found a temporary home in New York theaters that produced productions sponsored by the Federal Theatre Project (FTP). A total of 15,000 people were employed by the FTP, and roughly 1,200 productions across the country were staged (radio productions were also supported by the project).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">FTP director, <a href="http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/faculty/prominent-faculty/hallie-flanagan-davis.html" target="_blank">Hallie Flanagan (Davis)</a> hailed the project, proclaiming: "For the first time in the relief experiments of this country the preservation of the skill of the worker, and hence the preservation of his (sic) self-respect, became important."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The FTP folded in 1939. (The U.S. House Un-American Committee accused its practitioners of what else? being red.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILoKokqdxZAUZWGwt6TzbpW_7lqzte6TGuEqJ_TIzBSqxPf9-zETyfuhyeIAurykAc9u99XNXNw4TJhP34nuEL0Vxr04YX7yXu6JrnHwfx5-UU97XLsVsZnWw0_3qJBgiNY4r2kbAE6aL/s1600/Circus-Lancaster-Cravat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILoKokqdxZAUZWGwt6TzbpW_7lqzte6TGuEqJ_TIzBSqxPf9-zETyfuhyeIAurykAc9u99XNXNw4TJhP34nuEL0Vxr04YX7yXu6JrnHwfx5-UU97XLsVsZnWw0_3qJBgiNY4r2kbAE6aL/s400/Circus-Lancaster-Cravat.jpg" width="316" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Burt Lancaster, pictured with Nick Cravat, performed in a circus as a part of the Federal Theatre Project</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.blackpast.org/aah/federal-theatre-project-negro-units" target="_blank">African American performers </a>were supported in a separate section of the FTP, known as the "Negro Unit." NYC's unit was one of the country's most popular and successful, staging roughly 30 productions. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In its first year, in 1935, two white directors,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Welles_theatre_credits" target="_blank"> Orson Welles </a>and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0922.html" target="_blank">John Houseman</a>, served as the unit's directors. A "Voodoo" Macbeth, set in the Caribbean, was staged by Welles in 1936 at the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/11/realestate/streetscapes-harlem-s-lafayette-theater-jackhammering-the-past.html" target="_blank">Lafayette Theatre </a> in Harlem. The production later went on tour. (See below for a film clip of the production.)</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5IgiaJh-N-4REPMTJMjSngvnkASW3oHac82MMnhl7YV6TSL2rsAcaQDsxc5eO2Tk7ETUzyqcWbj95HkenlyyDVqMwRlpy2vzwHdm3_NXuNVzNfEy2S5YxAwnO4_UExgw9T4zPXN4bOr38/s1600/3b48740r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5IgiaJh-N-4REPMTJMjSngvnkASW3oHac82MMnhl7YV6TSL2rsAcaQDsxc5eO2Tk7ETUzyqcWbj95HkenlyyDVqMwRlpy2vzwHdm3_NXuNVzNfEy2S5YxAwnO4_UExgw9T4zPXN4bOr38/s640/3b48740r.jpg" width="416" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /> A preview performance of Welles' <i>Macbeth,</i> offered free of charge, drew 3,000 more people than the New York theatre could accommodate</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBTX-kfX2LyBeXO9ZaaB_NXNkAVRNZlRmrXSj9K_i5W9omClu9UolhE-DETHv893ah7Ag-C3jt_cIU_4X2d7sMt_vAitQBRNIFIJlytiZHl6Cs4JJF7VYr1ri_ddFFEKLGBVCC7AiC0oTn/s1600/3b48866r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBTX-kfX2LyBeXO9ZaaB_NXNkAVRNZlRmrXSj9K_i5W9omClu9UolhE-DETHv893ah7Ag-C3jt_cIU_4X2d7sMt_vAitQBRNIFIJlytiZHl6Cs4JJF7VYr1ri_ddFFEKLGBVCC7AiC0oTn/s640/3b48866r.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Art for the Masses</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In 1935, the Federal Art Gallery opened at 7 East 38th Street, a gallery that was part of the Federal Art Project under the Works Progress
Administration. (In 1937, the gallery moved to 225 West
57th Street.) During its years of operation, it mounted roughly 40 exhibits including photography and children's art exhibits. Summer <a href="http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/images/detail/life-class-adults-brooklyn-museum-under-auspice-new-york-city-wpa-art-project-11039" target="_blank">art classes </a>were also offered free of charge throughout the city. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdIAODIKG9eKfbbpGp9XxXQWGgJSsNB-6WAVUzYIbGHHIvtvZRP55Q3JrTuzn6zysFYlI61j_mP0RrtMlzWhEGUsLGShpnrxPp41H17fOTQBoBvTTkafOtZBvZRIkkN2TUyI5GnAiD72NO/s1600/3f05586r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdIAODIKG9eKfbbpGp9XxXQWGgJSsNB-6WAVUzYIbGHHIvtvZRP55Q3JrTuzn6zysFYlI61j_mP0RrtMlzWhEGUsLGShpnrxPp41H17fOTQBoBvTTkafOtZBvZRIkkN2TUyI5GnAiD72NO/s400/3f05586r.jpg" width="296" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoeHzf4sNHKjWP2Ef_r2Oes5r87zw-MRybFwzI7jkQ54lO_P2WyfYQDWf3unaby3IoHtjwJPgfQPxPwPV_wOms23PV622c9DRfJi-iKTqSyrTddrm6qKkCFbhbuYWDEbQvOav3Pd4P-M93/s1600/3f05314r.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoeHzf4sNHKjWP2Ef_r2Oes5r87zw-MRybFwzI7jkQ54lO_P2WyfYQDWf3unaby3IoHtjwJPgfQPxPwPV_wOms23PV622c9DRfJi-iKTqSyrTddrm6qKkCFbhbuYWDEbQvOav3Pd4P-M93/s200/3f05314r.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Critics
could be harsh </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(what's new?)</span></span>, and some derided the art project as a
mere catch-all; not all of the art exhibited was "high art," they argued. But
there can be no question that
the project supported artists and encouraged the idea that art was
essential to a healthy society. And, to be sure, the project supported
the work of numerous artists, including some of the most famous artists
of the 20th century, such as <a href="http://commercegraphics.com/ba_gallery.html" target="_blank">Berenice Abbott,</a> <a href="http://www.jackson-pollock.org/" target="_blank">Jackson Pollock</a>, and <a href="http://www.theartstory.org/artist-de-kooning-willem.htm" target="_blank">Willem DeKooning</a>. <a href="http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/changing-new-york#/?tab=about" target="_blank">Abbott's "Changing New York" series</a>, which constitutes one of the most valuable photo-histories of the American scene, was supported by the Federal Art Project. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQvII7DhTzVW__WyjTBSlycPvos0ZGRxzz2RI8Ce3mUtTwcQd6dWnOl7D4377HCwLwCw0Xay1I7sLLD8y0gMAyFAZviwLBree7qgXUf0J1Nfx0DtHi8N7-PbPnv6U0DkBEtENuT6TCaCDY/s1600/Blossom_Restaurant%253B_103_Bowery_by_Berenice_Abbott_in_1935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQvII7DhTzVW__WyjTBSlycPvos0ZGRxzz2RI8Ce3mUtTwcQd6dWnOl7D4377HCwLwCw0Xay1I7sLLD8y0gMAyFAZviwLBree7qgXUf0J1Nfx0DtHi8N7-PbPnv6U0DkBEtENuT6TCaCDY/s640/Blossom_Restaurant%253B_103_Bowery_by_Berenice_Abbott_in_1935.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Changing New York: Abbott's Blossom Restaurant, 103 Bowery, 1935, <a href="http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/changing-new-york#/?tab=about" target="_blank">NYPL</a></span><br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">New Yorkers were also treated to musical performances and concerts through the Federal Music Project. At the Theatre of Music, at 254 West 54th Street (later home to Studio 54), concerts were performed for "popular prices."</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtx9PMBWKEIP1_07ThFN_7Vu-TociA9cBQtHZUMNipr9GQMyN_bqhj9AIyG4J-VeCe00GWfRWQKo8T8X-XAX_LIQIJNV9fwdMnq62uT4HmMlVwTm2PoT43UP2aSEWvEHa3wyiQKYgIq68O/s1600/3b48774r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtx9PMBWKEIP1_07ThFN_7Vu-TociA9cBQtHZUMNipr9GQMyN_bqhj9AIyG4J-VeCe00GWfRWQKo8T8X-XAX_LIQIJNV9fwdMnq62uT4HmMlVwTm2PoT43UP2aSEWvEHa3wyiQKYgIq68O/s640/3b48774r.jpg" width="409" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="font-size: small;">Music Concerts took place all over the city--not just in concert halls. </span></span> </span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht7UXLk2AwX4lr7uXtAUKjX4YNdG6dTNj4J9vCr48T4g1BHSb19-r5bPrJZ6AlHgX2KyfezUsiuGj9BFjReFDI_zfG8iU3FIg2SONfCDyzvB-arLxlIVIbWB5esbwqv5Bkx9teEHcWQoaH/s1600/05592r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht7UXLk2AwX4lr7uXtAUKjX4YNdG6dTNj4J9vCr48T4g1BHSb19-r5bPrJZ6AlHgX2KyfezUsiuGj9BFjReFDI_zfG8iU3FIg2SONfCDyzvB-arLxlIVIbWB5esbwqv5Bkx9teEHcWQoaH/s320/05592r.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGecr3q3v-Lw0QnJ4fc5AjQvGR2aQUYme8GWuAkxTMcL6mq88CmDoRoCpZaiFxIK1JkqGCSufECC0ukjQiIMED0zzh-pUhDBsWCBTuwDUp6eGUH2qOK7gNe8oDloMU_BziZOk6z1UiVE89/s1600/nyc-americanguide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGecr3q3v-Lw0QnJ4fc5AjQvGR2aQUYme8GWuAkxTMcL6mq88CmDoRoCpZaiFxIK1JkqGCSufECC0ukjQiIMED0zzh-pUhDBsWCBTuwDUp6eGUH2qOK7gNe8oDloMU_BziZOk6z1UiVE89/s400/nyc-americanguide.jpg" width="311" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A New York Classic about Classic New York: Produced at the Height of the Great Depression </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Writers, not to be outdone by their artistic counterparts, took up pen and paper and embarked on massive projects to document New York in words. From 1936 to 1943, </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="area_header">the WPA Federal Writers' Project (<a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/archives/collections_wpa.shtml" target="_blank">NYC Unit</a>) would produce works that are still considered both useful and classic, including: the 800+ page <i>Guide to New York City </i>(1939) <a href="https://archive.org/details/newyorkcityguide00federich" target="_blank">(available for free in digital form here</a>) a<span style="color: black;">nd</span></span></span> <span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>New York Panorama: A Comprehensive View of the Metropolis </i>(1938) <a href="https://archive.org/details/newyorkpanoramac00federich" target="_blank">(available for free in digital form here).</a> (<a href="http://www.digitalbookindex.org/_search/search010histus20fedwriproja.asp" target="_blank">A full list of digitized WPA books can be found here)</a>.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="area_header"> </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So let's just recap: hard economic times, federal projects to support artists, a public that is educated, inspired, and entertained, artists that flourish and produce invaluable works for their own and future generations, and on top of all that, Burt Lancaster in his early circus performing years! ....what's not to like?</span></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">~Jenny Thompson</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzSLTJv1GC19vsXdCcS7SLiz1xKg0PdoEv7BW6FcThiaEX90g8Lw-uMFszCmWy2m37Jzh8Cf_zVSPcCqj16TOhkNWP433Yg_sYG1H3O3qiMKDM9RU2EJxvpu9pcSDbTm8VG6aimAVKbfo_/s1600/macbeth.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzSLTJv1GC19vsXdCcS7SLiz1xKg0PdoEv7BW6FcThiaEX90g8Lw-uMFszCmWy2m37Jzh8Cf_zVSPcCqj16TOhkNWP433Yg_sYG1H3O3qiMKDM9RU2EJxvpu9pcSDbTm8VG6aimAVKbfo_/s320/macbeth.tiff" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef6kd4D2taY" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Still from Macbeth</i></span></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Watch this 1937 film here, <span class="watch-title " dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="We Work Again 1937 Works Progress Administration WPA"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef6kd4D2taY" target="_blank">"We Work Again,"</a> produced by the Works Progress Administration. Included in the film are clips from Welles' <i>MacBeth (11.11).</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="watch-title " dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="We Work Again 1937 Works Progress Administration WPA">-------------------------------------- </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="watch-title " dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="We Work Again 1937 Works Progress Administration WPA">* In 1939, the WPA name was changed to Works Projects Administration. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-24833333034396099432015-04-13T17:34:00.000-05:002015-07-10T16:51:54.294-05:00Street Scenes: Cropping Into History <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANc9QeuRORkK5rP8qU5hQgu4xkkt_qosiUYpNI48CsdfEZt_HRyieMSwlPeexlnx0Z-jGnL3i1pK6meTWlyy6ntjQoP_cxQctVxZqU4AaWbuvFUEnUtznH3PTi6hYYje_51085FuvaJUp/s1600/nyc+street+scene.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANc9QeuRORkK5rP8qU5hQgu4xkkt_qosiUYpNI48CsdfEZt_HRyieMSwlPeexlnx0Z-jGnL3i1pK6meTWlyy6ntjQoP_cxQctVxZqU4AaWbuvFUEnUtznH3PTi6hYYje_51085FuvaJUp/s1600/nyc+street+scene.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On Fifth Avenue: A cropped image, c. 1900. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/det.4a18643/" target="_blank">(See Full Size Image Here.)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I spend a lot of time looking through visual archives to find images to use in my research and my design work. One of my favorite archives to peruse is the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/" target="_blank">Library of Congress</a> (LOC). The LOC happens to hold one the best collections of American images: roughly 25,000 glass negatives and transparencies made by the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/det/background.html" target="_blank">Detroit Publishing Company</a> (DPC).<br />
<a name='more'></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6xaD0p0y6f2k1xwANrG9lB0Y4CxDLEqLgNhNS9042HysIv56oemHv4BW0ubZwIyCSSXEA_3Co_0MN1rI54cC5d2AqKjo4G4Rra4vf-Cp8A1kEC1aXccHcdxiYlD9xswqyt_IGt7YNtAXL/s1600/LOC+Fifth+Avenue+at+Fifty-seventh+Street,+north+to+Central+Park,+New+York+City%5D+loc.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6xaD0p0y6f2k1xwANrG9lB0Y4CxDLEqLgNhNS9042HysIv56oemHv4BW0ubZwIyCSSXEA_3Co_0MN1rI54cC5d2AqKjo4G4Rra4vf-Cp8A1kEC1aXccHcdxiYlD9xswqyt_IGt7YNtAXL/s1600/LOC+Fifth+Avenue+at+Fifty-seventh+Street,+north+to+Central+Park,+New+York+City%5D+loc.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5th Avenue at 59th Street, looking North, c. 1900 <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994003068/PP/resource/" target="_blank">(See Full Size Image Here)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The DPC was founded c. 1880 by William A. Livingstone and
photographer Edwin H. Husher. It was a publisher of a variety of popular
image formats, including stereographs and postcards. The company hired
photographers to document the American scene and also a variety of
countries outside the U.S. Specializing in city views, parks, monuments,
etc., the DPC amassed a vast collection of high quality images spanning
the years of the company's operations, c. 1880-1932.<br />
<br />
In
2010, the LOC scanned approximately 22,000 images of the DPC collection at high resolution. The
result: an amazing chance to peer into the past. These incredibly high
quality images offer viewers a means to look at a spectrum of detail
from the images.<br />
<br />
I often crop images in search of detail. It feels as if I am entering into history by doing this. By cropping an image, one can enlarge smaller segments
of the image in utterly dazzling detail: facial expressions, clothing,
movement, and the very essence of the city comes alive.<br />
<br />
So here is just a sampling of cropped history, NYC style. (Nearly all images are created by DPC). <br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU8lPMk5Ftd9zsa91crJ2EsA25VVOte63hu6TYVKO7WSrKc0_69q_6jLwy54KnrDmUUMxAZoV-iLmOvTH22C-SlLuDYH8JxY6QmC6K3EclbNKaI-Dx7Sdep2IknqC4ivjZZxi9Ysrc1dHy/s1600/5th+and+59th+crop.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU8lPMk5Ftd9zsa91crJ2EsA25VVOte63hu6TYVKO7WSrKc0_69q_6jLwy54KnrDmUUMxAZoV-iLmOvTH22C-SlLuDYH8JxY6QmC6K3EclbNKaI-Dx7Sdep2IknqC4ivjZZxi9Ysrc1dHy/s1600/5th+and+59th+crop.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5th Avenue and 59th Street <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994005684/PP/resource/" target="_blank">(See Full Size Image Here)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9DxY_ZzW3e-l-gUFzIFCmhzLv_UDhVRfgX9oW1AxOTgX5LExytxO9xwf0AYPLxAFaq8hMT4PaHzyTFihG58sFlwJ_XZFRmlFWFIxF1Jk52gIDIg_z9aVfnu-2zKHh9hHYUW50jMJ1spgn/s1600/brooklyn+bridge+entrance.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9DxY_ZzW3e-l-gUFzIFCmhzLv_UDhVRfgX9oW1AxOTgX5LExytxO9xwf0AYPLxAFaq8hMT4PaHzyTFihG58sFlwJ_XZFRmlFWFIxF1Jk52gIDIg_z9aVfnu-2zKHh9hHYUW50jMJ1spgn/s1600/brooklyn+bridge+entrance.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Manhattan, Entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge, 1905</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIW7A9twpZTeabsOqgU4YYGitejNkhJXMttW_-TC-qwTknLv0HMYAfU_DJy8v2pKwhY_89oLNzr-SnZcIGh3v2F_qWoPlws0_HGbzzs2oIXvcANuDat66T7UfZ1zV8ZplfmvjF5yixM-75/s1600/nyc+59th+lov.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIW7A9twpZTeabsOqgU4YYGitejNkhJXMttW_-TC-qwTknLv0HMYAfU_DJy8v2pKwhY_89oLNzr-SnZcIGh3v2F_qWoPlws0_HGbzzs2oIXvcANuDat66T7UfZ1zV8ZplfmvjF5yixM-75/s1600/nyc+59th+lov.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5th Avenue and 59th Street <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/det.4a27527/" target="_blank">(See Full Size Image Here)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkFEofO7hT8Ajn-sfF2dPK87dUKRUCIzH75yEF20PH2xt8S0TpuQkZY6BsHqt6KAYIyIRlyJAk-RxbB-WyShVFBPBaJqmzEyq2KrWIoUFyzCwuzk5jnvl98C4fACPT0kmm07Du9wnnQ7ll/s1600/nyc+5th+loc+crop+.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkFEofO7hT8Ajn-sfF2dPK87dUKRUCIzH75yEF20PH2xt8S0TpuQkZY6BsHqt6KAYIyIRlyJAk-RxbB-WyShVFBPBaJqmzEyq2KrWIoUFyzCwuzk5jnvl98C4fACPT0kmm07Du9wnnQ7ll/s1600/nyc+5th+loc+crop+.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5th Avenue (<a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994003067/PP/resource/" target="_blank">See Full Size Image Here</a>.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Z0a0Q5zsH90d9vY-xDJ-KiRbRHE8uLBW1m2Q0XFxuZJWtJmm3TQ_XI66IMH8pb1EwESjlgL-kVOlr3MA09gj4XKRVJ9SBvwgWCAbcpUiN8AcZRQAaCmwKjEzQLZT15UiEwXZt_3APjEs/s1600/5th+and+51st+crop+.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Z0a0Q5zsH90d9vY-xDJ-KiRbRHE8uLBW1m2Q0XFxuZJWtJmm3TQ_XI66IMH8pb1EwESjlgL-kVOlr3MA09gj4XKRVJ9SBvwgWCAbcpUiN8AcZRQAaCmwKjEzQLZT15UiEwXZt_3APjEs/s1600/5th+and+51st+crop+.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5th Avenue</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQis2S1-NNNsM43TConfnPFRrG4avK49cAqgEidVRwxrzQk7yyOi19kakXwsUzvhRjzLQeGQq7jGn40xi29gchZzsYEdCCrz5cPTBjTOcCwOqNH89fnBZHokJMR7wbraniRF-t0zlDAjev/s1600/5th+and+42+crop.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQis2S1-NNNsM43TConfnPFRrG4avK49cAqgEidVRwxrzQk7yyOi19kakXwsUzvhRjzLQeGQq7jGn40xi29gchZzsYEdCCrz5cPTBjTOcCwOqNH89fnBZHokJMR7wbraniRF-t0zlDAjev/s1600/5th+and+42+crop.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5th Avenue and 42nd Street</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KS9EaeidmFNUMRgYAgK1Z5H3-6GwlADvGhPdRyczwfmFkCSK2l30QxDcRGOubu2f-Qd0z3V5zTvfnX6ysseg5c7nuUV4IanXAUQr9OJ53UDkp4FjvIaKqGVhKy1EMyP_0N9yJxXVapii/s1600/4a18643u+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6KS9EaeidmFNUMRgYAgK1Z5H3-6GwlADvGhPdRyczwfmFkCSK2l30QxDcRGOubu2f-Qd0z3V5zTvfnX6ysseg5c7nuUV4IanXAUQr9OJ53UDkp4FjvIaKqGVhKy1EMyP_0N9yJxXVapii/s1600/4a18643u+copy.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5th Avenue near the 59th Street Entrance to Central Park</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDeF55gMBOtZ3rWCU71pzr9oTISwEfAaVfwBE75qzHvT-D6L_HeE7pII87PKdwyR_hvri8mYOVeD5dYk9gLLTp9T0OC-UoXt8wieRGICNaPJer7aRocVdO2_EcxwieQIsAhYuIw-52K9T/s1600/5th+and+33rd+crop.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDeF55gMBOtZ3rWCU71pzr9oTISwEfAaVfwBE75qzHvT-D6L_HeE7pII87PKdwyR_hvri8mYOVeD5dYk9gLLTp9T0OC-UoXt8wieRGICNaPJer7aRocVdO2_EcxwieQIsAhYuIw-52K9T/s1600/5th+and+33rd+crop.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5th Avenue at 33rd Street</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aTgcJ1AzmUcLvK_ZNctc8kQNi9KKKA-PRGFqh26EJOc6cZWrEAYXPevDGo-2rLDXLZwKUwDoKKYPPTJ6UEmeB9sqtCs1NIVnOCFekhuCo0nY6GUqaSxZiM5hG5G4M7i9dt1_P2nF9uIv/s1600/broadway+and+canal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aTgcJ1AzmUcLvK_ZNctc8kQNi9KKKA-PRGFqh26EJOc6cZWrEAYXPevDGo-2rLDXLZwKUwDoKKYPPTJ6UEmeB9sqtCs1NIVnOCFekhuCo0nY6GUqaSxZiM5hG5G4M7i9dt1_P2nF9uIv/s1600/broadway+and+canal.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broadway at Canal Street, 1916</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQf1oRPsbYMvnj2KEjwEQANRlNCTvofeTXfYPAtlYoJoQOdNdBdP9s_qS67IDjVet9ZoHUH95lQlkvOgr5Yi1ckbvV3-ELhpGj49UPrl-I0Wz_cp4_s4C5GFq4jcEacywnz4w88RkeyKF/s1600/newstand+crop.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="528" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQf1oRPsbYMvnj2KEjwEQANRlNCTvofeTXfYPAtlYoJoQOdNdBdP9s_qS67IDjVet9ZoHUH95lQlkvOgr5Yi1ckbvV3-ELhpGj49UPrl-I0Wz_cp4_s4C5GFq4jcEacywnz4w88RkeyKF/s1600/newstand+crop.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Newsstand, 1903.(And below) <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994009026/PP/resource/" target="_blank">See Full Size Image Here.</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Jp9nuh6dhY2kKMrw6eQoGxCYGVufxCpw2-jPp1yv29FrhYTdnmbnCH7lDpZKAzQ7mRzWKfsN86dpwFyWl0V7WFEyq6MOJYrTIg-Hmseqm5zjiiUbKGb8JMgrnMVJFBE40PdusLJ3Zpvz/s1600/newstand+2+crop.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Jp9nuh6dhY2kKMrw6eQoGxCYGVufxCpw2-jPp1yv29FrhYTdnmbnCH7lDpZKAzQ7mRzWKfsN86dpwFyWl0V7WFEyq6MOJYrTIg-Hmseqm5zjiiUbKGb8JMgrnMVJFBE40PdusLJ3Zpvz/s1600/newstand+2+crop.tif" width="640" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyaW3pzInCDBVljeVkeNDLMGgXm49bU_D5lNv6gRFDRkxZfo-3dIkWrWiQugDx_uvLVf2AmfXSl4x9UNhu85cmbvuwcI4tH5cIZOV9yguCGjqhoUeYPqvToipIP58m4UqNPwhaotchccaz/s1600/229+5th+crop.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyaW3pzInCDBVljeVkeNDLMGgXm49bU_D5lNv6gRFDRkxZfo-3dIkWrWiQugDx_uvLVf2AmfXSl4x9UNhu85cmbvuwcI4tH5cIZOV9yguCGjqhoUeYPqvToipIP58m4UqNPwhaotchccaz/s1600/229+5th+crop.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5th Avenue and West 27th Street </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguASv06Qt6nz3b_u0Tf54LJsUag7fVs81tFRE6XSdNR-W8JNHihnXHYPpUUgypoDf8O_2WsPn1IKbkMwLvYR1rcoiN7Gy8DHkvL-Qeh2HzUgWEL-ioVAAN_1rb8C7ne6nRH0JvQK8lS2mK/s1600/mott+stree+cropt.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguASv06Qt6nz3b_u0Tf54LJsUag7fVs81tFRE6XSdNR-W8JNHihnXHYPpUUgypoDf8O_2WsPn1IKbkMwLvYR1rcoiN7Gy8DHkvL-Qeh2HzUgWEL-ioVAAN_1rb8C7ne6nRH0JvQK8lS2mK/s1600/mott+stree+cropt.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mott Street, <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994015502/PP/resource/" target="_blank">See Full Size Image Here</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE4BdMzZ8cQidOzrUxK2eNtjAFI2g7JtEdnvEvj8-jXf6R66DP2t6sw9KiQCJmLSYWya0co2TldSVx7cD_xxlfEyaBnYHZ4GqpSRwWAnxuxyE6XG_fD1t77jGGyErt20yrYQgBzWd35pKS/s1600/1904+flower+vendor+crop.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE4BdMzZ8cQidOzrUxK2eNtjAFI2g7JtEdnvEvj8-jXf6R66DP2t6sw9KiQCJmLSYWya0co2TldSVx7cD_xxlfEyaBnYHZ4GqpSRwWAnxuxyE6XG_fD1t77jGGyErt20yrYQgBzWd35pKS/s1600/1904+flower+vendor+crop.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flower Vendor, Easter, 1904</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGLg2UxWls5aHUOkT8evVDppFHb-J1U2M3qhuzipRzWv5T8d75IrSdN6cnhigYaozFlW5aLa_16fwAyK5Hf68bUeeTZE7D4wya2Ay4cIvbDZjgZM87ld9Gr8REsV8PX69TqlbS950gomC4/s1600/west+27th+street+2+crop.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGLg2UxWls5aHUOkT8evVDppFHb-J1U2M3qhuzipRzWv5T8d75IrSdN6cnhigYaozFlW5aLa_16fwAyK5Hf68bUeeTZE7D4wya2Ay4cIvbDZjgZM87ld9Gr8REsV8PX69TqlbS950gomC4/s1600/west+27th+street+2+crop.tif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">West 27th and 5th Avenue. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/det.4a20606/" target="_blank">See Full Size Image Here. </a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
~Jenny Thompson <br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-43081545611547610002015-04-08T11:39:00.002-05:002016-01-06T13:00:41.533-06:00The Washingtons in New York: The Nation, the Publick, and the Enslaved<br />
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/tomasutpen/album6/forgottenfactsaboutwashington32.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/tomasutpen/album6/forgottenfactsaboutwashington32.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 430px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George: "Mary, Please come with me to New York!"<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Illustration by Norman Rockwell, 1932)</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">On
April 23, 1789, just one week before being sworn in as the first
president of the United States, George Washington and his staff settled
into the country's first executive mansion, located at <a href="http://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2008/01/george-washington-slept-here.html" target="_blank">10 Cherry Street in New York City.</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"> For nearly two years, before being moved to Philadelphia, the
seat of the U.S. government would be located in New York City; and
Manhattan would be home to the President and First Lady. </span><span style="font-size: small;">The new nation was just starting to recover
from the long years of war, and nowhere was this better in evidence than
in Manhattan.</span></span></div>
<a name='more'></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Ul8Zw7Q0k87QYFhkVnhLJGdkDM4rcOH3ACgW1DLED6VF7kT_jBs7dTW11k1H4cszgt-k3_k3OvhhcCLmffDPEReJNT0y-0ep3DFSpezvQzRLCZKiAQ6D9O6J40XIzskLY3jVsJzvZJc1/s1600/19164r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Ul8Zw7Q0k87QYFhkVnhLJGdkDM4rcOH3ACgW1DLED6VF7kT_jBs7dTW11k1H4cszgt-k3_k3OvhhcCLmffDPEReJNT0y-0ep3DFSpezvQzRLCZKiAQ6D9O6J40XIzskLY3jVsJzvZJc1/s1600/19164r.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">A New New York</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJXLauLeGvB6sKch2mKJYI3lAOmxEwfD6ywFP4jhsgm7_v2tEjcx6bzdXL-X73nf5i1NklcjHe5YG6weiyrjzr5leq0rwmMDPA4eBBgFRq8bP4vRGac6iVm0kmbF9yVcwpgZKLUlirxcJ0tbA3bf1R7g=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="http://www.mamalisa.com/images/blog/image1086.png" border="0" class="transparent" src="http://www.mamalisa.com/images/blog/image1086.png" height="320" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NYC 1783: Concentrated Population<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"The city received a sudden, strong, healthful, forward impetus in the
spring of 1787, through large accessions to its population," <span class="addmd">wrote historian Martha Joanna Lamb (in </span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?ei=SCVpVO-yGcSgyATTroHwAg&dq=martha+washington+%22new+york+city%22&jtp=301&id=6OOd1G7B3FcC#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank"><i>The History of the City of New York: Its Origin, Rise and Progress.</i></a>Volume 2. New York: Valentine's Manual, Inc., 1921, 301).</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span class="addmd">"</span>Every
dwelling-house was occupied. Rents went up, doubling in some instances;
fresh paint and new shutters and wings transformed old tenements, and
carpenters and masons found ready employment in erecting new structures.
The streets were cleaned and pavements mended. New business firms were
organized and old warehouses remodeled; the markets were extended and
bountifully supplied, and stores blossomed with fashionable goods. Wall
Street, the great centre of interest and of fashion, presented a
brilliant scene every bright afternoon."</i></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggNcEeCpxQiJjQzHti5VMJusckq2FCIhvU7BcyYEIoMSIRv6A4HsXJuBn_mku73v_KFsjXYKI3ITntD9oigm7L9Ti2vYT3dw7thZB2aKb6BGBdKRhR5k9jEe-2ZpNwtGe8Km7BP7i7ffg9/s1600/broadway_2-480x296.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggNcEeCpxQiJjQzHti5VMJusckq2FCIhvU7BcyYEIoMSIRv6A4HsXJuBn_mku73v_KFsjXYKI3ITntD9oigm7L9Ti2vYT3dw7thZB2aKb6BGBdKRhR5k9jEe-2ZpNwtGe8Km7BP7i7ffg9/s1600/broadway_2-480x296.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On Broadway, 1780s</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_3dZt7FbhWrBiFHepu0mgbiWkzewXrUrXKMUWQyYy39pggKApf6sedZ0l4ClD8dVmwrzIvp9Maco2NlHJyKfL11Z-awY_Nsi-jtJVd63y7r_EmNcg1z5t56aBLLEW1ELtF2K9gqmWONW/s1600/Caraco_1786.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8_3dZt7FbhWrBiFHepu0mgbiWkzewXrUrXKMUWQyYy39pggKApf6sedZ0l4ClD8dVmwrzIvp9Maco2NlHJyKfL11Z-awY_Nsi-jtJVd63y7r_EmNcg1z5t56aBLLEW1ELtF2K9gqmWONW/s1600/Caraco_1786.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fashionable Promenading</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now, Manhattan would begin to swagger.</span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"Ladies in showy costumes, and
gentlemen in silks, satins, and velvet, of many colors, promenaded in
front of the <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/continental/nyc.html" target="_blank">City Hall </a>— where Congress was holding its sessions. At the
same time Broadway, from <a href="http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2011/08/1766-st-pauls-chapel-broadway-and.html" target="_blank">St. Paul's Chapel</a> to the Battery, was
animated with stylish equipages, filled with pleasure seekers who never
tired of the life-giving, invigorating, perennial seabreeze, or the
unparalleled beauty of the view, stretching off across the varied waters
of New York Bay."</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In a "new" New York, on April 30, 1789, George Washington took the oath of office at <a href="http://www.nps.gov/feha/index.htm" target="_blank">Federal Hall</a> in New York City (demolished 1812).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There was little fanfare, and Washington's inaugural address was
brief, befitting the Federalism of a new nation. The frills and
follies of the British Empire were gone, and "simplicity" now reigned.</span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbToM6RDpt4vW3nKVHqEx2n2N_oGH5V40QZG72XRUsTpoakSjb3NNn9mbh-yIDOHsxzml7ATp6-03Vxf0wjDxMxeeP9ZwDXKVUP5_brkyXPYYrwSvT9PUjDe1BqDt-wxXDS54F3yvJdKlo/s1600/3a06239u_enlarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbToM6RDpt4vW3nKVHqEx2n2N_oGH5V40QZG72XRUsTpoakSjb3NNn9mbh-yIDOHsxzml7ATp6-03Vxf0wjDxMxeeP9ZwDXKVUP5_brkyXPYYrwSvT9PUjDe1BqDt-wxXDS54F3yvJdKlo/s1600/3a06239u_enlarge.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A New Nation: Simple, Proud, and Orderly</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"></table>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It seemed that everyone, except the First Lady, Martha Washington, wanted to be in New York.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the spring of 1789, Martha Washington was preparing to join her husband in New York. And she planned to be present for his inauguration.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYhvS5QZErCpMOAUAQvhlNBI51sYGCY4jC7ukHe7O4JgLyFHiaCexZimrC3ChcrGj8F4gmEIRhacG7H3k2npZrQub73UryO_IiMSfUqauMKze56OCx6zOIytfoJDSvHEqXiWjySOQrcUo/s1600/Martha_Dandridge_Custis.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYhvS5QZErCpMOAUAQvhlNBI51sYGCY4jC7ukHe7O4JgLyFHiaCexZimrC3ChcrGj8F4gmEIRhacG7H3k2npZrQub73UryO_IiMSfUqauMKze56OCx6zOIytfoJDSvHEqXiWjySOQrcUo/s1600/Martha_Dandridge_Custis.jpg" width="280" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But she lingered at <a href="http://www.mountvernon.org/" target="_blank">Mount Vernon</a>, in Virginia, at the home she loved dearly. </span></span></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a data-ved="0CAcQjRw" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mountvernon.org%2Flibrary%2Fcatalog-library-holdings%2Fspecial-collections%2Fthe-acts-of-congress%2F&ei=PWQDVcvmGcigoQT2n4KwBw&bvm=bv.88198703,d.cWc&psig=AFQjCNG1QiHSwRX7avtzmm-Ihxr_rjWBTQ&ust=1426372013234487" id="irc_mil" style="border: 0px none; clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/mtv-main-assets/files/pages/savage-the-west-front-of-mount-vernon-web.jpg" height="385" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Quiet Place, Martha's Home, Mount Vernon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mrs. Washington's reluctance to move to New York City was understandable. For many years, she had weathered the storms of war, either at her Virginia home without her husband, or <a href="http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/martha-washington/martha-at-the-front/" target="_blank">in the field, with him.</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And during the Revolution, it was New York City that had been an epicenter of the war, occupied by the British from 1776 to 1783.</span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwW4LJ_VKTAtNDT4YrbY5VB5Sj08p9cvGNecvmTG15mAkT14kGkGYd4xN9qOa3oeL4D6E3IAF8vdPGCVEQZH8mYY_myIeHvizYqWlNwiQP4GELvXgGma4AHaG3NPjTnH0VbgBYBPBgZMvc/s1600/revolutionarynyc2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwW4LJ_VKTAtNDT4YrbY5VB5Sj08p9cvGNecvmTG15mAkT14kGkGYd4xN9qOa3oeL4D6E3IAF8vdPGCVEQZH8mYY_myIeHvizYqWlNwiQP4GELvXgGma4AHaG3NPjTnH0VbgBYBPBgZMvc/s320/revolutionarynyc2.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pulling Down the King: <a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/celebraing-276-years-of-bowling-green/?_r=0" target="_blank">Bowling Green,</a> NYC, 1776</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Spies were everywhere in the city. Violence took place on the city streets. Outbreaks of disease and hangings were regular occurrences. Thirty thousand inhabitants had fled the city upon the British occupation. And when they were finally defeated, and left, on November 25, 1783, the city rose up en mass to celebrate "<a href="http://earlyamericanists.com/2014/11/25/the-story-of-evacuation-day/" target="_blank">Evacuation Day.</a>"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">All of that had been just a few years prior to the Washington's move to Manhattan. But now the city was in a state of renewal.</span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuV3AhtJKZQzCLv6JNXirD20hxGnF65KvoMoncZWLStG4P5FPBn5Z_Ihlrb6kN5SYNmV6Advcvqy_4wzq6hAp_u_dkP0JX7v9jhJ_c7mQvDQqJ6cpTs7dPdvqj6VQzdmEfyRXW6z9yRdM7/s1600/3b51184r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="489" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuV3AhtJKZQzCLv6JNXirD20hxGnF65KvoMoncZWLStG4P5FPBn5Z_Ihlrb6kN5SYNmV6Advcvqy_4wzq6hAp_u_dkP0JX7v9jhJ_c7mQvDQqJ6cpTs7dPdvqj6VQzdmEfyRXW6z9yRdM7/s1600/3b51184r.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Good-bye Red Coats. Hello New York!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the spring of 1789, </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Mrs. Washington</span></span> set off on her journey north, traveling by
horse drawn coach, with a large entourage, other carriages, and loads of luggage. Her trip would take many days and involve many nights spent at various
residences of friends along the way. She would not arrive in New York City until the end of May.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">She missed the swearing-in ceremony. Her husband was already president by the time she arrived.</span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHQy5GSWX0_xpgA4SWvkwqEUaOzkgp-94a6xcln4soVI3FRYcfJkssd4NIwBwnCuT-k1J1r1IK3UW_EqOoVHYItu4MRSW1RnUVuuOqSa8T5mQX6X73cQdlPeAnfMxUtCFDBxcMGo6nXFW/s1600/8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBHQy5GSWX0_xpgA4SWvkwqEUaOzkgp-94a6xcln4soVI3FRYcfJkssd4NIwBwnCuT-k1J1r1IK3UW_EqOoVHYItu4MRSW1RnUVuuOqSa8T5mQX6X73cQdlPeAnfMxUtCFDBxcMGo6nXFW/s1600/8.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Lady of his Excellency" Arrives<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In late May, Mrs. Washington's party had finally reached <a href="http://www.revolutionarywarnewjersey.com/new_jersey_revolutionary_war_sites/towns/elizabeth_nj_revolutionary_war_sites.htm" target="_blank">Elizabethtown Point</a> in New Jersey, (today known as Elizabeth) and there she was
greeted by her husband and other distinguished officials.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Then, "the entire party was conducted over the bay in 'the President's Barge,
rowed by 13 eminent pilots, in a handsome white dress.' On passing the
Battery a salute of thirteen heavy guns was fired, and on landing at
Peck's Slip Mrs. <span class="gstxt_hlt">Washington </span>was welcomed
by crowds of citizens who had assembled to testify their joy upon this
happy occasion, while prolonged cheers, and shouts of 'Long live
President<span class="gtxt_body">
<span class="gstxt_hlt">Washington </span>and God bless Lady <span class="gstxt_hlt">Washing</span>ton' were heard on all sides." </span></i><span class="gtxt_body"><span class="addmd">Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, </span></span><i><span class="gtxt_body">Martha Washington. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, </span></i><span class="gtxt_body">1897, 192.</span></span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcdBFUwBP2FjUcyV51l9InQxJzEdAk1OQLUL0n1GSQ5Yw60ePPn1ZOkizaKlWcBvxIz3v1JMtIbZu-VFBpq7AU5SP5rJ6tkUNzdIrHLL2cv40_3lm696N4wfqpeY_ujEdZOwOVdd1l2slB/s1600/10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcdBFUwBP2FjUcyV51l9InQxJzEdAk1OQLUL0n1GSQ5Yw60ePPn1ZOkizaKlWcBvxIz3v1JMtIbZu-VFBpq7AU5SP5rJ6tkUNzdIrHLL2cv40_3lm696N4wfqpeY_ujEdZOwOVdd1l2slB/s1600/10.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cherry Street, NYC</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
President's "apartments" in <a href="http://www.manhattanpast.com/2012/cherry-street/" target="_blank">Cherry Street</a>
was a house built by Revolutionary War veteran Samuel Osgood in 1770.
(Osgood was later Postmaster General. His NYC house was demolished in
1856. But his <span class="st">Massachusetts </span>house still exists. ) </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In preparation for the first American President's
occupancy (the residence would also serve as the executive office), the
house had been renovated and furnished with newly built mahogany furniture;
and the walls had been newly papered. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"The mansion was quite elegant and spacious for the time," wrote historian <span class="addmd">Benson John Lossing in </span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA268&dq=george+washington+residence+new+york&id=Cx4FAAAAYAAJ#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank"><i>Mary and Martha, the Mother and the Wife of George Washington. </i></a>New York: Harper and Brothers, 1886.
It was "in a
very respectable, though not in the most fashionable, quarter of the
city, which was then in Wall and Broad streets. It was regarded as
'up-town.' The situation was pleasant, for in front of it flowed the
broad East River, beyond which were the little village of Brooklyn and
the green forests of Long Island." </span></span></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwns6E6hYlrAvxfP8yJxxlCyjbh1bCATp20uoH63VxQx2CmLlX_haw7Or3JgvpDsvcvu_fem0MeNIeYlZultqEhiJHV9rwCYJLOu08NrgkaP6eui73cFsn8f3WVaDUhCwE3oMi8KVZs0aO/s1600/mw_style.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwns6E6hYlrAvxfP8yJxxlCyjbh1bCATp20uoH63VxQx2CmLlX_haw7Or3JgvpDsvcvu_fem0MeNIeYlZultqEhiJHV9rwCYJLOu08NrgkaP6eui73cFsn8f3WVaDUhCwE3oMi8KVZs0aO/s1600/mw_style.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Mrs. Washington: Not So Very Publick</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The home might have been nice, but privately, </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Mrs. Washington</span></span> did not, according to various
sources, entirely enjoy living in New York. While she rose to the
demands of being First Lady, she did not like the public scrutiny. She
really longed for a quite life.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"I
little thought when the war was finished," </i>Martha wrote to a friend,<i> "that any
Circumstances could possibly happen which would call the General into
public life again. I had anticipated that, from that moment, we should
be suffered to grow old together in solitude and tranquility."</i></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In another letter to a friend, (dated October 22, 1789), she wrote: </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"I lead a very dull life
here and know nothing that passes in the town. I never goe to any
publick place,—indeed I think I am more like a state prisoner than
anything else, there is certain bounds set for me which I must not
depart from—and as I cannot doe as I like I am obstinate and stay at
home a great deal."</i></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mrs. Washington did meet her obligations, however, and hosted "state dinners" with the
General every week. Despite her claim of being home bound, she enjoyed going to the theater, and held formal
dinners on Thursdays and public receptions on Fridays.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span class="gtxt_body">"More than one description has come down to us of
Lady Washington’s Friday evening receptions," </span></i><span class="gtxt_body">wrote historian </span><span class="gtxt_body"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="addmd">Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, </span></span></span><i><span class="gtxt_body"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="addmd">"</span></span>with their plum-cake, tea,
coffee, and pleasant intercourse, — all ending at the early hour of
nine. There was nothing excessive <span class="gstxt_hlt">in </span>the
gayety of these drawing-rooms, and they may even have been a trifle
dull; but the hostess wisely set the fashion of early hours, rising
about nine o'clock, and saying, with a graciousness and dignity that
well became her, 'The General always retires at nine, and I usually
precede him.' The short evening proved to be like the small caviare
sandwiches that are now handed around to whet the appetite, making the
guests feel like coming again; for these receptions were largely
attended by the old Knickerbocker and Patroon families,—the Wons and the
Wans, – as well as by the wives and daughters of all government
officials resident at the capital,</span>"</i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="addmd"> Anne Hollingsworth Wharton, </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Martha Washington, </span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">197.</span></span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6LtvMWgKZtjf0VmsmzliydxUpseiVwEIiDGR6OdPUowUHIqCWV0Y0T1rsZ44Gh1E8fmPdnU_RiBc4a2rPXtkJmScKs8h5rqkmJcWQ7iWJhZng00-gXJMFo7gk98cbPth_5wBLRk894Nx8/s1600/Brooklyn_Museum_-_The_Republican_Court_(Lady_Washington%27s_Reception_Day)_-_Daniel_Huntington_-_overall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6LtvMWgKZtjf0VmsmzliydxUpseiVwEIiDGR6OdPUowUHIqCWV0Y0T1rsZ44Gh1E8fmPdnU_RiBc4a2rPXtkJmScKs8h5rqkmJcWQ7iWJhZng00-gXJMFo7gk98cbPth_5wBLRk894Nx8/s1600/Brooklyn_Museum_-_The_Republican_Court_(Lady_Washington's_Reception_Day)_-_Daniel_Huntington_-_overall.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">"It's almost 9 o'clock, everyone!" A Presidential Reception in NYC</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="addmd">The Wons and the Wans may not have
wanted to leave the Washingtons' house so early. Still, they turned out
when invited. For, it was the "social ticket" to receive. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="addmd">Sometimes, there was even a little bit of drama:</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>"Mrs. Washington's drawing-rooms, on Friday nights, were attended by the grace and beauty of <span class="gstxt_hlt">New York. </span>On
one of these occasions an incident occurred which might have been
attended by serious consequences. Owing to the lowness of the ceiling in
the drawing-room, the ostrich feathers in the head-dress, of Miss
Mclver, a belle of <span class="gstxt_hlt">New York, </span>took fire
from the chandelier, to the no small alarm of the company. Major
Jackson, aid-de-camp to the President, with great presence of mind, and
equal gallantry, flew to the rescue of the lady, and, by clapping the
burning plumes between his hands, extinguished the flame, and the
drawing-room went on as usual."<span class="addmd"> </span></i><span class="addmd">George Washington Parke Custis,</span><i> Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington. </i>Washington, DC: William H. Moore, 1859: <span class="addmd">59.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="addmd">Despite the occasional drama in
the drawing room, the social life of the upper classes in New York was
flourishing. "The luxury and ostentatious display of riches in the
city," observed
French writer and soon-to-be French Revolutionary Brissot de Warville,
"were great." The ladies, he remarked, were "especially
extravagant in their dress."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="addmd">True, the New New Yorkers had a taste for the good life. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="addmd">But
they did win over the President with their simple New Year's Day
tradition of calling upon their friends. The President first experienced
this tradition on New Year's Day, 1790, when the
weather in New York City was closer to a day in May than January.
Visitors arrived at the Washington home following a long observed
custom </span><span class="addmd"><span class="gtxtbody1">"derived from Dutch
forefathers" </span>of the city. </span> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">General Washington delighted in this and remarked:<span class="gtxtbody1"> “The highly favored situation of
</span><span class="gstxthlt">New
York </span><span class="gtxtbody1">will, </span><span class="gstxthlt">in </span><span class="gtxtbody1">the
process of years, attract numerous emigrants, who will gradually change its
ancient customs and manners; but let whatever changes take place, <i>never
forget the cordial, cheerful observances of </i></span><span class="gstxthlt"><i>New </i></span><span class="gtxtbody1"><i>Year's
day.”</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_YZHZsmi3ujCYSnm0NC7i54gNbFRZh2SorcjAczSwytrlzghly7wMgJ0bSIKLTFLLdZpvZDi6PmUyHhvMUojUGve1EW9e11y5_8QIMw9HiJ1T_xJzcmqJbOG-lRZkd79UWKwwUWxwrCJM/s1600/bunkersmansionhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_YZHZsmi3ujCYSnm0NC7i54gNbFRZh2SorcjAczSwytrlzghly7wMgJ0bSIKLTFLLdZpvZDi6PmUyHhvMUojUGve1EW9e11y5_8QIMw9HiJ1T_xJzcmqJbOG-lRZkd79UWKwwUWxwrCJM/s1600/bunkersmansionhouse.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The "Mansion House," the Washingtons' more commodious house at 39-41 Broadway, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">near Bowling
Green </span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
Washingtons spent just ten months in their rented house on Cherry
Street. On February 23, they would move to the much larger Alexander
Macomb House, also known as the "Mansion House," just south of Trinity
Church, at 39-41 Broadway (demolished in 1940). There they remained until August 30, 1790.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"The
situation was delightful" at the Mansion House. "The location was better
than the Cherry Street house, and there were grassy slopes from the
house to
the Hudson River, and far away to the westward spread out the fields
and forests of <span class="gstxt_hlt">New </span>Jersey," Lossing, 289.</span></span><br />
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="gtxtbody1"><br /></span></span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="mw-mmv-title">Before their move, from December through January 1790, the painter <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Savage_%28artist%29" title="Edward Savage (artist)">Edward Savage</a>
(1789-96) visited the Washingtons in their Cherry Street home to make
sketches for a group portrait that would be displayed publicly in 1796.
(The painting is now in the collection of the <a href="http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.561.html" target="_blank">National Galley of Art.)</a></span></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_WnT7hmRUJ8F4QG7K8m41qAaTZSKYEH58rQcUGZd1RBqeL_qVhxhIxNBtsiiEyRIiCKxLXgXnkqPHCTJwk86EQFTgcD_rdC4gJY2Q2r6B5yUbLJLwkgEWYqLQufa8uHpAQsItKyZ2QwTL/s1600/800px-Edward_Savage_-_The_Washington_Family_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_WnT7hmRUJ8F4QG7K8m41qAaTZSKYEH58rQcUGZd1RBqeL_qVhxhIxNBtsiiEyRIiCKxLXgXnkqPHCTJwk86EQFTgcD_rdC4gJY2Q2r6B5yUbLJLwkgEWYqLQufa8uHpAQsItKyZ2QwTL/s1600/800px-Edward_Savage_-_The_Washington_Family_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">In NYC: George, George,
<span style="font-family: Times;">Eleanor, Martha, and "<a href="http://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/historyculture/enslaved-people.htm" target="_blank">Servant</a>."</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"></table>
</div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
Washingtons strike a formal pose for the viewer; they show themselves
residing among the trappings of knowledge and good breeding; General
Washington's sword is in repose; and land--seemingly endless and
idyllic-- spreads out behind them in typical American mythological
fashion. These are people whose "self-interest" is, i<a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_1750571600" target="_blank"><span id="goog_1750571601"></span>n the words of Alexis de Tocqueville,</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"> "<span id="goog_1750571602"></span></a>rightly understood." </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Pictured with George and Martha are George Washington
Parke Custis and Eleanor Parke Custis, Martha's grandchildren, who lived
with the Washingtons at Mount Vernon following the death of their
father, and who also came with them to live in New York. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
man in the painting identified by the National Galley of Art as a
"servant" was actually one of the seven enslaved workers George Washington took
with him from Mount Vernon to New York in 1789. (The Washingtons'
"ownership" of enslaved people has been well-documented <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/16/opinion/george-washington-slave-catcher.html" target="_blank">and continues to be studied and critiqued</a>). </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
seven enslaved workers who lived with the Washingtons at Cherry Street
and later Broadway included: Austin, Giles, Paris, Moll, Christopher
Sheels, William Lee, and Oney
"Ona" Judge. Moll was nursemaid to little George and Eleanor. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the portrait, </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Mrs. Washington</span></span> is shown pointing on a map to a location for the future site of the U.S. Government: Washington, D.C.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">No
doubt she wished to escape from New York, and one year later, the
Washingtons moved, along with the seat of the American government, <a href="http://www.ushistory.org/presidentshouse/history/briefhistory.htm" target="_blank">to Philadelphia</a>. While </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Mrs. Washington</span></span> was not free from her public duties, she was
more comfortable in her publick role.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But there were others in the Washington household who longed for their freedom too.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One of them would attain that freedom after the move to Philadelphia; In May 1796, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oney_Judge" target="_blank">Oney Judge</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oney_Judge" target="_blank"> escaped </a>from
the household while the Washingtons were eating dinner. She was
assisted in her escape and brought to New Hampshire. There she would
learn to read, get married, and raise a family.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It
was reported to the Washingtons that "a thirst for compleat freedom. .
.had been her only motive for absconding." In fact, Martha Washington
was preparing to give Oney to a relative as "a wedding present." </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwZ6lyZteKawOo96bmXjitd24ujRhJMsH1PrInhSJDvGuH_FSTkpzXVnKuZ9oVP-CX-DZECGRKY1acyN0Oy0VeXhAsq_yR3Wjkx4g5dp9AcY0N_lVZDS4gRUDVulP-dQXUs8VLCMmViPeM/s1600/NW0106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwZ6lyZteKawOo96bmXjitd24ujRhJMsH1PrInhSJDvGuH_FSTkpzXVnKuZ9oVP-CX-DZECGRKY1acyN0Oy0VeXhAsq_yR3Wjkx4g5dp9AcY0N_lVZDS4gRUDVulP-dQXUs8VLCMmViPeM/s1600/NW0106.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Runaway" Notice in the NY Gazette</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Martha and Oney. Two women in a "new" New York.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Both longed for the lives they dreamed for themselves. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja3yUYygJrJ8ugpRavZ4_v9gTl6WSYFf05pYJhATrLlCdFIrsX1-7s66mgDO4KsgbOSoIgskcbbxvU14T8O4NTaTXmYke5lnBWps3Hf-KvaC3r327n6B0KeD0UurJV3ryjpM7i7Xa9QUJI/s1600/bibb81.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja3yUYygJrJ8ugpRavZ4_v9gTl6WSYFf05pYJhATrLlCdFIrsX1-7s66mgDO4KsgbOSoIgskcbbxvU14T8O4NTaTXmYke5lnBWps3Hf-KvaC3r327n6B0KeD0UurJV3ryjpM7i7Xa9QUJI/s1600/bibb81.jpg" width="170" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Only Compleat Freedom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">They
found themselves in a city that was coming into its own: fashion,
tradition, society, and politics were key components to this new
Federalist town. The Revolution was done.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But
New York in the 1790s was also just beginning its trajectory into a
modern world. When the Washingtons called it home, American democracy
was just beginning to be defined and tested. And the new city was not
only full of the swaggering and promenading new Americans, but it was
also <a href="http://www.slaveryinnewyork.org/about_exhibit.htm" target="_blank">full of enslaved people-</a>
constituting roughly one quarter of the population. During the
Revolution, 10,000 enslaved people had, in fact, come to New York City.
They came after hearing that the British promised them their freedom if
they reached
the British lines.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">New
York was then, and perhaps remains to some extent, a place where people
go to escape, to find freedom and the lives they dream for themselves.
It is also a place from which people wish to flee. The dream of a better
place is truly a constant in American history. </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">~Jenny Thompson</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>
</div>
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<div class="gtxtbody">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Times;
panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Times;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Times;
mso-ascii-font-family:Times;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Times;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
</style>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mamalisa.com%2Fimages%2Fblog%2Fimage1086.png&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjJXLauLeGvB6sKch2mKJYI3lAOmxEwfD6ywFP4jhsgm7_v2tEjcx6bzdXL-X73nf5i1NklcjHe5YG6weiyrjzr5leq0rwmMDPA4eBBgFRq8bP4vRGac6iVm0kmbF9yVcwpgZKLUlirxcJ0tbA3bf1R7g=" -->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-13885534375771903742015-03-12T19:07:00.001-05:002015-03-26T16:44:33.212-05:00Owners of America, NYC<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjviFtInIr4OP5i3k93A6mqOP5PDVQCjPWPR1QJyuKtK5srhE0F_AwAO0RmpGs5ackoe_KPWYJ3rtymp9oUlq-_GNX8sJeRehsfNK5Yk_e3G8azH81L4cPudLbRKlVyOar37XxsHfAiu8Jd/s1600/ryan+home+nyc+cosmo+mag.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjviFtInIr4OP5i3k93A6mqOP5PDVQCjPWPR1QJyuKtK5srhE0F_AwAO0RmpGs5ackoe_KPWYJ3rtymp9oUlq-_GNX8sJeRehsfNK5Yk_e3G8azH81L4cPudLbRKlVyOar37XxsHfAiu8Jd/s1600/ryan+home+nyc+cosmo+mag.tiff" height="400" width="348" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"By their banks ye shall know them," Alfred Henry Lewis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In 1908 and 1909, <i>Cosmopolitan Magazine</i> published a series titled, "Owners of America," profiling some of the country's wealthiest men. (The magazine modestly touted the series as "one of the most interesting that has ever appeared in an American magazine.")<br />
<br />
Accompanying the article were images of the Manhattan homes of the "owners."<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Morgan, Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Schwab were among the individuals profiled in the series. These were the titans of the age; men of wealth, power, and influence. While there was a small degree of praise woven throughout the biographies of these men, there was a significant amount of revolutionary rhetoric that accompanied the profiles. Their wealth was linked to their ideologies; yes, they were philanthropists, and many were "self-made." But they were also exercising a level of power on the economy and on people's lives that was not only unprecedented in the modern democracy, but it was also without control. <br />
<br />
But they were, after all, the "owners" of America.<br />
<br />
Muckraker <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Henry_Lewis" target="_blank">Alfred Henry Lewis</a> (1855-1914) provided a profile of Andrew Carnegie:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>He may not take physical life, but he may take dollar life—he may not
take the house, but he may take away the prop that doth sustain the
house. Every man and woman and child between <span class="gstxt_sup"></span>the
oceans is serf to Mr. Carnegie, and directly or indirectly must render
him tribute. To what end? That he may drink deep and ever deeper of the
money-goblet. Does it do him good? No. Does it do us harm? Yes. Is
there no remedy, no power of cure? Remedy? There are half a dozen
remedies. We pass laws against the man who carries a pistol. Yet far
more deadly, as a weapon of offense against the citizen, is the
concealed bank-book of a multimillionaire. </i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMAqfqe8k_dDiLcjs31zYVQTwmXLcxFLd0tBv1bPQMcULtrl6ESHw1ErshwSlSS5oCMdu-sBFfYhkZFBN72QFn-wIzPA39Bbjfol8facfZVjTW8fU2KB_bRaX009msapWqXsk_a1y_WcjO/s1600/carnegie+home.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMAqfqe8k_dDiLcjs31zYVQTwmXLcxFLd0tBv1bPQMcULtrl6ESHw1ErshwSlSS5oCMdu-sBFfYhkZFBN72QFn-wIzPA39Bbjfol8facfZVjTW8fU2KB_bRaX009msapWqXsk_a1y_WcjO/s1600/carnegie+home.tiff" height="514" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">"One mark of
strategy is common to all, " Lewis wrote, "they are each sufficiently
military ever to fortify the high ground---with a bank. The bank's the
thing; by their banks ye shall know them." </span></i></div>
<br />
And by their mansions ye shall also know them.<br />
<br />
Indeed, what good was the amassing of great wealth if one did not display it for all to see?<br />
<br />
Accompanying
the profiles was the evidence of great wealth: images of the titans'
property, from churches and country estates, to <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">y</span>achts and even prize
dogs. But most striking were the images of the stately and massive
mansions on the streets of Manhattan that were built, owned, and
occupied by the titans.<br />
<br />
While the images are intended
to impress the viewer by conveying the power embodied in these mammoth
and severe structures, they also tell another (revolutionary?) story.<br />
<br />
The
portraits display "homes" that are only structures. Seemingly devoid of life,
they sit silently, even ominously, in a city that appears, according to
the images, to enjoy little or no action on its streets or sidewalks.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6kAxopLioSPUdiayAy6RaysKy-v_bDdSs_PlCn3wn0Nd4tdMCim-MH4wmRcOwlqS87VDj409TEFEOqfwI2uBbWVIyw0lNXWErgEvdizZ3k3pXpImzkO4XAn4mK4pUK1tFLd3NDLq8MY1W/s1600/jp+morgan+nyc+cosmo+mag+%22owners+of+america%22+series+cosmo+1908.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6kAxopLioSPUdiayAy6RaysKy-v_bDdSs_PlCn3wn0Nd4tdMCim-MH4wmRcOwlqS87VDj409TEFEOqfwI2uBbWVIyw0lNXWErgEvdizZ3k3pXpImzkO4XAn4mK4pUK1tFLd3NDLq8MY1W/s1600/jp+morgan+nyc+cosmo+mag+%22owners+of+america%22+series+cosmo+1908.tiff" height="448" width="640" /></a></div>
People and life have been erased from the boundaries of these strutcures. And it is only the structures themselves that seem to offer themselves up to the viewer, suggesting that only they should be seen.<br />
<br />
These impenetrable fortresses are public statements. "Our owners are wealthy and powerful," they proclaim without shame to the public.<br />
<br />
But, with curtains closed, the structures also maintain a silence: and it is in that silence that they claim a certain kind of privacy.<br />
<br />
Pedestrians may be forced to look at us, they suggest, but our interiors will remain locked, private, hidden from view. What lies within is anything but public.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92Tuf0eNjS-HvW382VpZXD5YuWray-TGjwztVYKKhq0elKRrKy-ZhgQoZeFqqpgljbTucoer2DJJUli7MM4Fs-AWtRC56dbVKWKaJRdNhL-JJdfeHxebbpGihmedcgFFqDbTZNASj9uAZ/s1600/owners+of+american+rockefeller+cosmo.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92Tuf0eNjS-HvW382VpZXD5YuWray-TGjwztVYKKhq0elKRrKy-ZhgQoZeFqqpgljbTucoer2DJJUli7MM4Fs-AWtRC56dbVKWKaJRdNhL-JJdfeHxebbpGihmedcgFFqDbTZNASj9uAZ/s1600/owners+of+american+rockefeller+cosmo.tiff" height="480" width="640" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOy6jqfnww5jBDeeS7_lBGk7FGSsMk5Drg5NXoqvljVrVvrcWnYAI9wcKugRynYIW_JQSmXLjFalKMGgQTXBrh3zOw-h_HGyCuG7XRvUGmh_XFYQ8BF2pNll37zF8Iq8Tkevrtb5HVCBTM/s1600/John+Jacob+Astor+Cosmo+mag.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOy6jqfnww5jBDeeS7_lBGk7FGSsMk5Drg5NXoqvljVrVvrcWnYAI9wcKugRynYIW_JQSmXLjFalKMGgQTXBrh3zOw-h_HGyCuG7XRvUGmh_XFYQ8BF2pNll37zF8Iq8Tkevrtb5HVCBTM/s1600/John+Jacob+Astor+Cosmo+mag.tiff" height="435" width="640" /></a></div>
Thus, the buildings are like bank vaults themselves, containing the life of wealth, but never revealing its secret.<br />
<br />
The buildings are there to impose upon the city a sense of "ownership" itself.<br />
<br />
The streets of New York, so full of life, so crowded by its inhabitants and visitors, seem to be the ultimate of public spaces.<br />
<br />
But remember, these images seem to suggest, the city itself is really not entirely public.<br />
<br />
It is a place for private property to exist and to enclose and police the public square. Out of those windows, the titans gaze.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"There is a smugness and complacent security to come with vast
wealth, particularly when—with the health and the youth to taste</i><span class="gtxt_column"><i>
it in its highest flavor—its arrival is so early as to permit <span class="gstxt_hlt">of </span>contrast with<span class="gstxt_sub">,</span>
a poverty that preceded it. Thus secure and smug the lucky rich one
looks out upon the world with a bland, ingenuous aplomb, and in a spirit
<span class="gstxt_hlt">of </span>amiable patronage is moved betimes to
tutor humanity and teach it the way it should go. Having himself
succeeded, your rich man will turn guide and show others the path to
success. Attend ye, therefore, to the young words <span class="gstxt_hlt">of </span>Mr. Schwab. Not that they are like to leave you planet-struck by their deep originality: mankind has been swamped by floods <span class="gstxt_hlt">of </span>similar twaddle one thousand times one thousand." </i> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="gtxt_column">Alfred Henry Lewis, "Charles M. Schwab." </span></div>
<br />
~Jenny Thompson<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhle1geBiJ4rPUHMw5KWj0zwwXM0eLfLjLNIFrQhpUnn2hnKvvbEhYziLiE6RrEZE5e_FyYzu-Gm3OFbm143HvPeURgmGlBZ_iO9EyLXIQgY8Uwv-bZItJE2sAEXfm6NwOjuskc9NdhQ5f/s1600/charles+scwab.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhle1geBiJ4rPUHMw5KWj0zwwXM0eLfLjLNIFrQhpUnn2hnKvvbEhYziLiE6RrEZE5e_FyYzu-Gm3OFbm143HvPeURgmGlBZ_iO9EyLXIQgY8Uwv-bZItJE2sAEXfm6NwOjuskc9NdhQ5f/s1600/charles+scwab.tiff" height="312" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-30396470679869100842014-11-16T14:24:00.001-06:002018-07-07T19:38:32.420-05:00Jackie, A New Yorker<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWdXjsvEdJSPkw7eACKIIdDR3FBj7FTZVz9qs4tTsOHgO6oHsDtSqt398c035GZLJKUEYusvRK7L4nn9i68bTKzRkCr7ODrZ-gfwKU_Q2P50Z0I1LhQ4wvI2GUYoXNrXrOyG5RRL44HW7K/s1600/031-jackie-kennedy-theredlist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWdXjsvEdJSPkw7eACKIIdDR3FBj7FTZVz9qs4tTsOHgO6oHsDtSqt398c035GZLJKUEYusvRK7L4nn9i68bTKzRkCr7ODrZ-gfwKU_Q2P50Z0I1LhQ4wvI2GUYoXNrXrOyG5RRL44HW7K/s1600/031-jackie-kennedy-theredlist.jpg" width="419" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jack and Jackie Greet New York, 1960</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After becoming First Lady, Jackie Kennedy seemed to do anything to avoid Washington, D.C. She did indeed officially live in the White House during John
Kennedy's presidency, but she spent far more time away from the capitol than she spent in it. (Spoiler Alert: New York City was one of her favorite places to go.)<br />
<a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJMwPFT9vnP8poqB2rl8WqwfGzC5j_to5iJ9JBbhr5QHV0zPw1VbzYiW9HQby-EKACUV_YAPIxdQ-mNBBeFmtIxt8TN1Hlx0-QPk8OUHw6ANAiE1-r5sLU4eu21DEtOgQT4f6cyJxSNIgB/s1600/jackie2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJMwPFT9vnP8poqB2rl8WqwfGzC5j_to5iJ9JBbhr5QHV0zPw1VbzYiW9HQby-EKACUV_YAPIxdQ-mNBBeFmtIxt8TN1Hlx0-QPk8OUHw6ANAiE1-r5sLU4eu21DEtOgQT4f6cyJxSNIgB/s1600/jackie2.jpg" width="459" /></a></div>
At the time Jackie Kennedy became First Lady, she was no stranger to Washington, D.C. She had lived in the city as a child--shuttling back and forth from NYC where her father lived-- after her mother married <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_D._Auchincloss" title="Hugh D. Auchincloss">Hugh Dudley Auchincloss, Jr.</a>, an attorney and Standard Oil heir. She moved to the city as a college student, after transferring from Vassar College to George Washington University. At the time, her mother and stepfather lived at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Lee_Bouvier#mediaviewer/File:3044_O_Street,_N.W..jpg" target="_blank">3044 O St, NW. </a><br />
<br />
In 1951, after graduation, she was hired by the <i>Washington Times-Herald</i> as their
"Inquiring Camera Girl."<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU3vrMDW25D_yNAFY3dJy4AfUSYWiLw-dcE6ya58q7NO6GqwnKWBHRuqCcB14L3bRxZ9pfYp624UsPK0jXRoL07jlT9Pqfxp3wyCnRDIjrsaoO-cG5qrlMUYvSW_zH_RYUSZC2iHhYqw7p/s1600/image_thumb%5B34%5D.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU3vrMDW25D_yNAFY3dJy4AfUSYWiLw-dcE6ya58q7NO6GqwnKWBHRuqCcB14L3bRxZ9pfYp624UsPK0jXRoL07jlT9Pqfxp3wyCnRDIjrsaoO-cG5qrlMUYvSW_zH_RYUSZC2iHhYqw7p/s1600/image_thumb%5B34%5D.png" width="323" /></a></div>
The next year, she met Congressman Jack
Kennedy. They were married in September 1953.<br />
<br />
The couple <a href="http://www.americanguesthouse.com/blog/2011/07/02/john-f-kennedys-home-tour" target="_blank">lived in several Georgetown residences</a>, before settling into a home at 3307 N Street, where they would live until moving into the White House in 1961. (John Kennedy lived in <a href="http://www.unabashedlyprep.com/site/entry/a-tour-of-jfks-georgetown-homes/" target="_blank">several places in Georgetown</a> beforehand).<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3zA7Yu26jdTGOZzasxMqd53mhrhjxIb4wL4hRNGiXi_l-5mF80IrS_doX3oPK5lyFuFFx1NqhJ-ER6CY4yaHWgJsp4RWclHnzpqEMcipJDGIt27j0O_y8KwpmrdEdXc5YnSWIdi38nfD8/s1600/Jackie-in-living-room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3zA7Yu26jdTGOZzasxMqd53mhrhjxIb4wL4hRNGiXi_l-5mF80IrS_doX3oPK5lyFuFFx1NqhJ-ER6CY4yaHWgJsp4RWclHnzpqEMcipJDGIt27j0O_y8KwpmrdEdXc5YnSWIdi38nfD8/s1600/Jackie-in-living-room.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Settling In: Jackie in Georgetown</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
John was a senator by now, and Jackie (apparently) spent the day taking care of him and their dog Tippy (despite an admitted interest in politics!) You can see Jackie's almost visible annoyance at the inane questions asked her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XebG54eybsc" target="_blank">in this </a><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="watch-title long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="April 3, 1957 - Jacqueline Kennedy on ''Home'' hosted by Arlene Francis"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XebG54eybsc" target="_blank">April 3, 1957 interview with her </a>(and John). The interviewer is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlene_Francis" target="_blank">Arlene Francis.</a>)</span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5VBJe8JtDp5ZvNOpw2tMjpPz6ijyYTIooNm1dwoJLhnNgvKxgvW8M4lCjd15YH4zC_P36Gd2zVadXxmMog0f80_7CYguxqECm4RF8GVVoHPQJblE0Jv0xQQkWNUEtIHYQNXUD1n7r-mx/s1600/jackie+1961+interview.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT5VBJe8JtDp5ZvNOpw2tMjpPz6ijyYTIooNm1dwoJLhnNgvKxgvW8M4lCjd15YH4zC_P36Gd2zVadXxmMog0f80_7CYguxqECm4RF8GVVoHPQJblE0Jv0xQQkWNUEtIHYQNXUD1n7r-mx/s1600/jackie+1961+interview.tiff" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smile and Explain: Jackie in the Media Glare</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In a later <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3ZvIzL1JbI" target="_blank">interview, in March 1961</a>, Jackie talks about undertaking a (limited) restoration of the White House, a place which she clearly did not consider her home:<br />
<br />
"It doesn't belong to anyone," she said of her current residence, "but to everyone in this country."<br />
<br />
Her effort to restore the house was intended to make it into a "museum." It was her idea to hire a curator and a historian for the White House.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpwVnr788XAHNuyU3MTgx5cAwe5CE_XEkMXP9Vybx2nFnThQwWpYwc3YYBSEZQc-ZPYTegik3uony25DfWLJN6DTzPeT11nFURXVf2INS6sMG3vTHioJ7xv0aMO5dOfmC5gxZMcf0zrfZO/s1600/jackie+white+house+life+mag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpwVnr788XAHNuyU3MTgx5cAwe5CE_XEkMXP9Vybx2nFnThQwWpYwc3YYBSEZQc-ZPYTegik3uony25DfWLJN6DTzPeT11nFURXVf2INS6sMG3vTHioJ7xv0aMO5dOfmC5gxZMcf0zrfZO/s1600/jackie+white+house+life+mag.jpg" width="505" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White House Make Over, 1961</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The restoration of the White House would captivate the nation's attention, and it is for this that Jackie is perhaps most widely remembered.<br />
<br />
But for her, the work to restore the White House was less about creating a stunning or even more comfortable living space for her and her family, and more about conserving American history.<br />
<br />
You can watch Jackie's tour through the White House in this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUP9gY_5MzI" target="_blank">1962 film. </a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR4-L0GOOQBXzugdUmimIFbDCU5or2eIZ0i4hCw0yh-y4XPEjEf2KoLEwaakF5Xo_uiQbbYOEqwZlQ7F9WyquRFR2vNwxGTfVa1elJdlRpyfdxBKVAvMpII3TqaJgQP9GaQJ5ncWX4AWyZ/s1600/White+House+Blue+Room+Jan+1963+after+renovation.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR4-L0GOOQBXzugdUmimIFbDCU5or2eIZ0i4hCw0yh-y4XPEjEf2KoLEwaakF5Xo_uiQbbYOEqwZlQ7F9WyquRFR2vNwxGTfVa1elJdlRpyfdxBKVAvMpII3TqaJgQP9GaQJ5ncWX4AWyZ/s1600/White+House+Blue+Room+Jan+1963+after+renovation.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Like a Museum:" The Blue Room at the White House, January 1963</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While the country dreamed about the White House as Jackie's "home" (and the elevated homemaking she accomplished there), she was actually spending the vast majority of her time miles and miles away from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. She was either spending weeks at time at the <a href="http://www.providencejournal.com/features/lifestyle/house/20140913-a-peek-inside-the-kennedy-compound-in-hyannis-port.ece" target="_blank">family compound </a>in
Hyannis Port or at Glenora, her rented farm in Middleburg, VA; (The
Kennedys rented Glenora while building a new house nearby, "Wexford," which was
completed in the spring of 1963. The Kennedy family only stayed in the house a couple of times. In 2013, Wexford went on <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/zillow/2013/11/26/jackie-and-john-f-kennedys-horse-country-estate-for-sale-in-virginia/" target="_blank">sale for $11 million</a>. Later, <a href="http://dc.curbed.com/archives/2014/01/price-on-kennedy-vacation-retreat-wexford-slashed-by-3m.php" target="_blank">the price was reduced</a> to just under $8 million.)<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1QinZ5ouhGDs-sBjfzGQtSlUlioqx9xFjuxDYphdY6mQzPTqPsYx-fuxBrGPG8vX_3RBTN5VxEPMRuotr-EVf32yZ-0AwmjrObGrlgTuKBeiUcGk01dXLRtino0y6c12x3mZlLIY4r6n/s1600/U1258926_000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="417" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1QinZ5ouhGDs-sBjfzGQtSlUlioqx9xFjuxDYphdY6mQzPTqPsYx-fuxBrGPG8vX_3RBTN5VxEPMRuotr-EVf32yZ-0AwmjrObGrlgTuKBeiUcGk01dXLRtino0y6c12x3mZlLIY4r6n/s1600/U1258926_000.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Glenora: A Kennedy Retreat (<a href="http://miami.curbed.com/archives/2014/05/22/kennedy-winter-white-house-lists-in-palm-beach-for-385m.php" target="_blank">Palm Beach </a>served as another Kennedy favorite site)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Glenora and Hyannis Port were places Jackie retreated for solitude;
especially at Glenora, she could do one thing she loved most: ride her
horses.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJzUNoaythegY64Ycj4_HFVewMrtTUDFZRVjyHkBFe045G3Um8XO8Hw9_dhExqZAw6Lhc2r05ZpTIJxnrErMrzgLN6Jq8Hyv3wbgXbkVK0E7JF7Nk-6vQDuo5UddXztfQ6Yp2oqXgjg41S/s1600/a-JFK-HYANNIS-PORT-640x468.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="467" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJzUNoaythegY64Ycj4_HFVewMrtTUDFZRVjyHkBFe045G3Um8XO8Hw9_dhExqZAw6Lhc2r05ZpTIJxnrErMrzgLN6Jq8Hyv3wbgXbkVK0E7JF7Nk-6vQDuo5UddXztfQ6Yp2oqXgjg41S/s1600/a-JFK-HYANNIS-PORT-640x468.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hyannis Port: Home-Away-From-White House</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
These cozy, albeit palatial, residences offered Jackie and her young children a place to be at home. When she wanted to be in "the world," as it were, it was to New York City that Jackie often traveled, spending days
shopping, attending the ballet, and socializing with friends. Her <i>pied-a-terre </i>was none other than a swanky duplex apartment on the
34th and 35th floors of the <a href="http://www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/the-carlyle-new-york" target="_blank">Carlyle Hotel at 35 E 76th Street.</a><br />
<br />
Her
secret service agent, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clint-Hill/288767091212810" target="_blank">Clint Hill</a>, always enjoyed these New York
excursions, and he wrote about these trips at length in his fascinating memoir, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Kennedy-Me-Intimate-Memoir/dp/1451648448/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=" target="_blank"><i>Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir, (</i></a>with Lisa McCubbin, 2012). Mr. Hill was delighted each time he arrived with the First Lady in NYC; The Carlyle always put the agents up in their own rooms in the
hotel.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDEu2nMo6IWf_NK-YctsJXcap3UzyRimthMjygoG7Jnr64ISr3-PtChzNtKKzcIPtcG4IdiQGodYi2kJjhstPgIXEPid3W4iM2GyY_De2Y_nleBZtCSU0avqfjesiWHKKFzZ84qiRLkcc/s1600/clintand-jackie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDEu2nMo6IWf_NK-YctsJXcap3UzyRimthMjygoG7Jnr64ISr3-PtChzNtKKzcIPtcG4IdiQGodYi2kJjhstPgIXEPid3W4iM2GyY_De2Y_nleBZtCSU0avqfjesiWHKKFzZ84qiRLkcc/s1600/clintand-jackie.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackie Kennedy with her Secret Service Agent, Clint Hill. He would provide her with security from 1961-1964</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbk7FwjLHRaHgYZAIMwb19qE4SeY-c_jDMIcSAHyGHS59jcSzFwQPxnJ79ptmTk7zRcnjc-fAf5fFqAt7N4rrNRn7dOcoFdcmth0EYJTqPojRXpkrVJJ0XV0wHVWqZztZXzYOeVd-YNTF5/s1600/the-carlyle-a-rosewood-hotel-50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbk7FwjLHRaHgYZAIMwb19qE4SeY-c_jDMIcSAHyGHS59jcSzFwQPxnJ79ptmTk7zRcnjc-fAf5fFqAt7N4rrNRn7dOcoFdcmth0EYJTqPojRXpkrVJJ0XV0wHVWqZztZXzYOeVd-YNTF5/s1600/the-carlyle-a-rosewood-hotel-50.jpg" width="444" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It <i>would</i> hold a lot of wheat: The Carlyle Hotel, built in 1930</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Hill also notes the extensive preparation required for each visit: the Washington, D.C. Secret Service had to coordinate with a New York office for security. And protecting Jackie on the busy streets of New York was altogether different than taking care of her at one of her secluded homes.<br />
<br />
Landing at LaGuardia airport (having flown to the city in their private plane, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.440602062684610.1073741826.109813095763510&type=3" target="_blank"><i>The Caroline</i></a>,) Jackie and entourage would be driven to Manhattan in a Lincoln Town Car (the Secret Service had an "agreement" with the Ford Motor Company).<br />
<br />
Hill recalls his first trip:<br />
<br />
"I had never been to the Carlyle before, and as I realized we were getting close, I noticed this beautiful structure that seemed to rise up from the city, overlooking Central Park, unobstructed by any other tall buildings. . . . As we pulled up to the stunning hotel that rose forty stories high, I thought back to my youth in North Dakota wheat country where the highest structures were grain elevators standing for or five stories tall, and I thought, <i>That sure would hold a lot of wheat.</i>"<br />
<br />
The general manager of the Carlye, Mr. Samuel Lewis, would escort Jackie and company up to the 34th floor, where Secret Service agents from the New York Field Office awaited.<br />
<br />
The apartment- with its stunning views and two terraces- occupied two floors, the 34th and 35th. According to Clint Hill, it included, on the lower floor, a living room, dining room, kitchen and study, and, on the upper floor, two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a glassed-in solarium. While this layout sounds modest, the "magnitude and majesty of this apartment," as Hill recalled, "was almost overwhelming."<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQmShFETRfJlxf6vFJdwVyWPMCkdPcwxZP1D5E-s_bJ0WzD89M-BtAadmYTfvssQqa6W0mZV8iaSQvOwQCWw9IKUYG1HJgRsMuRnCSutMIJ6o0EgZ65spxFjJDmkiDc-_lQWoboqx8T2tg/s1600/onassis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQmShFETRfJlxf6vFJdwVyWPMCkdPcwxZP1D5E-s_bJ0WzD89M-BtAadmYTfvssQqa6W0mZV8iaSQvOwQCWw9IKUYG1HJgRsMuRnCSutMIJ6o0EgZ65spxFjJDmkiDc-_lQWoboqx8T2tg/s1600/onassis.jpg" width="490" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Home in the City: At the Carlyle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
According to one reporter, it was John Kennedy who had "put the Carlyle on the map," when he purchased the Kennedy apartment prior to
becoming president. After he assumed office, both Kennedys
stayed there during frequent visits to NYC. (Stories about JFK's visits to NYC are quite scandalous.)<br />
<br />
And thus the Carlyle came to be known as "the New York White House."<br />
<br />
(JFK's father traced the Carlyle's outlines on the map before him.
Joseph P. Kennedy also owned a suite at the Carlyle. Other presidents
had stayed there too, including Harry Truman.)<br />
<br />
But Jackie had roots in NYC that were far deeper than JFK's. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOcMUVs6o85m5o2Y8U_A-fJH7cf1Yy9VROJzouCJAdhiO77swzEG1Ggve2dJRDP6ya94d6llCSHZG0R3vQ02E4YkASKg_rDOj8ZOm0Gm49MovH10noH1zVEDujuhs8lgB2E1qYSatFw7Yw/s1600/c7709c82415226b7723965ca54dc8e7a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOcMUVs6o85m5o2Y8U_A-fJH7cf1Yy9VROJzouCJAdhiO77swzEG1Ggve2dJRDP6ya94d6llCSHZG0R3vQ02E4YkASKg_rDOj8ZOm0Gm49MovH10noH1zVEDujuhs8lgB2E1qYSatFw7Yw/s1600/c7709c82415226b7723965ca54dc8e7a.jpg" width="306" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">City Girl: Jackie Loved the Country Life</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Born in Southampton, New York, on July 28, 1929, Jackie was a member of a family that had been a part of Manhattan's swanky upper crust for many years.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrnJBl-JRl41VbqJq2S0bohGo5vygcHgvAbR66Mipfef95_XRTqg0g0EhpjgktsDxO-5qHNMYIxknZFpzmSJuPL3lV2Fj7IgzBIKtC-8hT4Otnyhg4K79PoJw-O0m-rO98CmfitTps5rb/s1600/John+Vernou+Black+Jack+Bouvier+III+and+Janet+Lee+Bouvier+-+parents+of+Jackie+and+Lee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyrnJBl-JRl41VbqJq2S0bohGo5vygcHgvAbR66Mipfef95_XRTqg0g0EhpjgktsDxO-5qHNMYIxknZFpzmSJuPL3lV2Fj7IgzBIKtC-8hT4Otnyhg4K79PoJw-O0m-rO98CmfitTps5rb/s1600/John+Vernou+Black+Jack+Bouvier+III+and+Janet+Lee+Bouvier+-+parents+of+Jackie+and+Lee.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Janet and John Bouvier, Jackie's Parents</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
If a family trip had not intervened, she would have been born, as had been planned, in Manhattan. She was baptized at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola at 980 Park Avenue. <br />
<br />
Her mother, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Lee_Bouvier" target="_blank">Janet Norton Lee,</a> was born in Manhattan. Her father,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vernou_Bouvier_III" title="John Vernou Bouvier III"> John Vernou "Black Jack" Bouvier III</a>, was a lawyer and Wall Street financier. (Janet and John divorced in 1940).<br />
<br />
(For more on the extensive Bouvier roots in Manhattan see<br />
<div class="a-size-large a-spacing-none" id="title">
Jan Pottker's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Janet-Jackie-Daughter-Jacqueline-Kennedy/dp/0312266073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421792991&sr=8-1&keywords=jackie+and+janet" target="_blank"><i>Jackie and Janet:</i> <i><span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle">The Story of a Mother and Her Daughter, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.)</span></i></a>
</div>
<br />
Jackie's maternal grandfather was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/12/realestate/streetscapes-jacqueline-kennedy-onassis-s-grandfather-quality-developer-with.html" target="_blank">James Thomas Lee</a>, a banker, lawyer, and New York developer, whose many projects included <a href="http://nypost.com/2014/07/16/jackie-os-childhood-home-on-the-market-at-740-park-ave/" target="_blank">740 Park Avenue</a>, a 1930 Art Deco building that is still considered one of the most elite in NYC. The building was designed by architect<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosario_Candela" target="_blank"> Rosario Candela</a> (1890 –1953).<br />
<br />
There, in an luxury apartment at 740 Park, Jackie would live as a child, from age 3 through 9, a time when she attended the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapin_School" target="_blank">Chapin School</a> on East End Avenue. (She later attended boarding school at Miss Porter's in Farmington, CT.)<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFCO_ep4Oe2nNW5vSmQnhjIyT0ipoiQ_5_JIf6KQwFqXkUsxwqdA5Gfk2Hjt3Zzl_gdWuD98hbDsTHz7E4K6iwlCEosLe9oliYTmyecCkUT7FCjkzbLvLl8uPa5WpHwrRYHAxzvF9HQAaL/s1600/740-Park-Avenue-has-long-been-considered-the-most-prestigious-address-on-the-island-of-Manhattan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFCO_ep4Oe2nNW5vSmQnhjIyT0ipoiQ_5_JIf6KQwFqXkUsxwqdA5Gfk2Hjt3Zzl_gdWuD98hbDsTHz7E4K6iwlCEosLe9oliYTmyecCkUT7FCjkzbLvLl8uPa5WpHwrRYHAxzvF9HQAaL/s1600/740-Park-Avenue-has-long-been-considered-the-most-prestigious-address-on-the-island-of-Manhattan.jpg" width="472" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Far-reaching Ideas in Modern Luxury and Beauty:" 740 Park Ave, Jackie's Grandfather's Dream</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sUIpZsZYBKpriUL22XBKwelMbyksVkgrUvQ34Mu4egBQKu0KQScWJWxjTJt3F-Z69R2FzIDaEZ7tfeYd6WJQSOR0dh9tHbxj_aVsQbo2x7H_Npeeka1udTcHUSTmsA88U0qqBFmByfZw/s1600/3e7949752e69d14c637076c46419f733.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sUIpZsZYBKpriUL22XBKwelMbyksVkgrUvQ34Mu4egBQKu0KQScWJWxjTJt3F-Z69R2FzIDaEZ7tfeYd6WJQSOR0dh9tHbxj_aVsQbo2x7H_Npeeka1udTcHUSTmsA88U0qqBFmByfZw/s1600/3e7949752e69d14c637076c46419f733.jpg" width="155" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jackie and Friend: She had a lifelong love of horses</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Manhattan was Jackie's childhood playground. She took ballet lessons at the <a href="http://untappedcities.com/2014/06/20/vintage-nyc-photography-the-original-metropolitan-opera-house-and-its-demolition/" target="_blank">old Metropolitan Opera House</a> at 1411 Broadway (demolished in 1967). She rode her horse, Danseuse, in Central Park. And she went to Schrafts for pistachio ice cream with her father and younger sister, Lee.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOrw35u86HO1sXMK8s-qMCGpGNM7tgvlO2DsJuj78raHEHDrGegCL0Qyd1jbnS_UnRx43R0vFN6dgK8jWbyfIVJnL6-88LTteVpXLyi4bLmRz7nG4UxwiQAtPj7w5fLDfFIWDLfpAoaZLU/s1600/MNY10703.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOrw35u86HO1sXMK8s-qMCGpGNM7tgvlO2DsJuj78raHEHDrGegCL0Qyd1jbnS_UnRx43R0vFN6dgK8jWbyfIVJnL6-88LTteVpXLyi4bLmRz7nG4UxwiQAtPj7w5fLDfFIWDLfpAoaZLU/s1600/MNY10703.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="irc_su" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">625 Madison Avenue</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After spending her younger years on Park Avenue, she would find herself growing up in a quiet, but up-and-coming neighborhood near the East River.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtDXNcEKSOwDaa82QeMk0JrfEmnn_HIm4hWmrotWsiacNGG0hmdYqkoqnHJ3P549e2taOsLlP8baDN-h9zhGEHe4hv-TfBmk5e0eIeWC8gVqYecX8IGOd_qikjdgywxyBYAV9h1EDwFh2F/s1600/schoolj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtDXNcEKSOwDaa82QeMk0JrfEmnn_HIm4hWmrotWsiacNGG0hmdYqkoqnHJ3P549e2taOsLlP8baDN-h9zhGEHe4hv-TfBmk5e0eIeWC8gVqYecX8IGOd_qikjdgywxyBYAV9h1EDwFh2F/s1600/schoolj.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackie's Manhattan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After her parents divorced, Jackie moved with her mother, sister, and servants to another building developed by James Lee, <a href="http://streeteasy.com/building/1-gracie-square-new_york" target="_blank">1 Gracie Square</a><a href="http://streeteasy.com/building/1-gracie-square-new_york" target="_blank"> </a>(at 84th Street), near Yorkville, on the upper East Side. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1O9-iBFOl9UKY-5H0TJwflkLE1HYmrvU0t_LkvF2kjQf8ahZZCY_UV8BTt7rlmbxVrQM-Ny4R8QjAHO7aHYk8LegXYskB8F3E1kmdwSZP4YGE5cHxozQhcep8tLs1sIhQds4AHcbXpOBm/s1600/04scape1-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1O9-iBFOl9UKY-5H0TJwflkLE1HYmrvU0t_LkvF2kjQf8ahZZCY_UV8BTt7rlmbxVrQM-Ny4R8QjAHO7aHYk8LegXYskB8F3E1kmdwSZP4YGE5cHxozQhcep8tLs1sIhQds4AHcbXpOBm/s1600/04scape1-1.jpg" width="271" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">East River View: Gracie Square, c. 1940</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The 1929 building (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/realestate/04scap.html" target="_blank">an innovative development</a>) was another Rosario Candela design. Candela, along with developers James Lee and Anthony Paterno, and architect William Lawrence Bottomley, created a new kind of apartment cooperative (with huge closets, views of the East River, and outdoor space) that was designed to appeal to well-to-do families.<br />
<br />
Named after nearby <a href="http://www.mottschmidt.com/about_mott_schmidt/view/gracie-mansion" target="_blank">Gracie Mansion</a> (constructed as a private residence in 1799 and designated the official residence of the New York city mayor since 1942), Gracie Square (and the various buildings constructed there in the 1920s) was soon be considered a fashionable address. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjU7J1nNfyJufOGefkkFGt2Dxz-oG4hzekijGnSo09Zci5aD7a2iKUwSkMgoiNAi0NnQSzCT1R0UJRn7s6FbpxtLpCUz9-AH3wRB0eMLJYgRs6phs_YbMk5olENe7Owbn9hDy6-I1qny4X/s1600/one+gracie+nyt.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjU7J1nNfyJufOGefkkFGt2Dxz-oG4hzekijGnSo09Zci5aD7a2iKUwSkMgoiNAi0NnQSzCT1R0UJRn7s6FbpxtLpCUz9-AH3wRB0eMLJYgRs6phs_YbMk5olENe7Owbn9hDy6-I1qny4X/s1600/one+gracie+nyt.tiff" width="257" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Where Park and River Meet," Jan. 20, 1929 Ad, New York Times</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
A 1928 change in the city's zoning laws had opened the area for
this kind of development and would transform the working class identity
of the neighborhood in just a few years. (In 1930, socialite Brooke Astor, also following a divorce, moved to Gracie Square with her young son.)<br />
<br />
And so in this quiet corner of Manhattan, Jackie Bouvier would grow up. Her school, Chapin, was just steps away from her apartment, and summers were spent at her paternal grandparents' estate in East Hampton, Long Island, known as "Lasata." The Bouviers had been summering on Long Island since about 1912.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-iM4Zf_bLzAzs5jTB01IhjOg672FHMgZkFyFVK8PJUohyphenhyphengmZYmAzLytiugmZ4bQPfo1PvVu_qmeY0qtyMwG5vTiVg57HV7cxeSbaqhtsieBTGCnE88BmmHIJx0EmRRNE1TkRs5pyGfjh/s1600/jackieparents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-iM4Zf_bLzAzs5jTB01IhjOg672FHMgZkFyFVK8PJUohyphenhyphengmZYmAzLytiugmZ4bQPfo1PvVu_qmeY0qtyMwG5vTiVg57HV7cxeSbaqhtsieBTGCnE88BmmHIJx0EmRRNE1TkRs5pyGfjh/s1600/jackieparents.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A la Gatsby, The Bouviers at Play</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"East Hampton Colonists" the <i>New York Times</i> called those New Yorkers who "summered" on Long Island.<br />
<br />
On Long Island, her relatives were also her neighbors: her aunt, Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale, and cousin, Edith Bouvier Beale.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjdIuyDp5rAN6RZGUtOHptl3XQHthuMXRZ6D1L8X13Ze9wJYkI7ExoQPdHs6-k-2qFKW-iTRIsKNxkbZd3N6dzc3SU4p1B7WpBiYFLmA8DsZoqVt3_GEMHM8yQOuDhB8IjXvD4Pv2jHzFz/s1600/Edith_Bouvier_Beale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjdIuyDp5rAN6RZGUtOHptl3XQHthuMXRZ6D1L8X13Ze9wJYkI7ExoQPdHs6-k-2qFKW-iTRIsKNxkbZd3N6dzc3SU4p1B7WpBiYFLmA8DsZoqVt3_GEMHM8yQOuDhB8IjXvD4Pv2jHzFz/s1600/Edith_Bouvier_Beale.jpg" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackie's cousin, Edith Bouvier Beale, (1917-2002)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Edith had married Jackie's father's law partner and, in 1924, the couple moved into their Long Island estate just three miles from Lasata. In New York City, the Beales lived at 987 Madison Avenue, the future site of the Carlyle Hotel.<br />
<br />
As cousins Edith and Jackie grew to adulthood, their families' fortunes would rise and fall, tossing the women in an emotional sea, as financial disaster, divorce, and alcoholism played themselves out through their families. But to the world, these young women seemed nothing if not privileged. These beautiful, educated, and poised young women seemed
to have it all.<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DfjqV-fK6LtiEdX2eFUG4N6tRgIfrtsRKeqJnXnOJ9OyGi1B-vfMtrK2GIiCXHlphtrOcln589CU061Q5oyt0MUcvugwkn-7tgU75sR7mLTB-gZfiN1zDOk27i4UAZnc1Ip4n9hXbxQr/s1600/august+2,+1947+debut+NYT.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DfjqV-fK6LtiEdX2eFUG4N6tRgIfrtsRKeqJnXnOJ9OyGi1B-vfMtrK2GIiCXHlphtrOcln589CU061Q5oyt0MUcvugwkn-7tgU75sR7mLTB-gZfiN1zDOk27i4UAZnc1Ip4n9hXbxQr/s1600/august+2,+1947+debut+NYT.tiff" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Media Spotlight Begins</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Jackie made her debut in 1947, and afterwards she took part in the social whirl that involved all proper debutantes.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0UmrfLVWd8_gYhsVt2ljkGEUkDuylN62qQveI1iUS8w8AuGQPB2jSYthb9ibaSfg4_n0r8aoDSNYX3kd_paLRh3PtwuA9mon_l-WrLVKCkUAyRIjeoPaqP44y-y_qzk7EECaPxzlj_yz/s1600/lee12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0UmrfLVWd8_gYhsVt2ljkGEUkDuylN62qQveI1iUS8w8AuGQPB2jSYthb9ibaSfg4_n0r8aoDSNYX3kd_paLRh3PtwuA9mon_l-WrLVKCkUAyRIjeoPaqP44y-y_qzk7EECaPxzlj_yz/s1600/lee12.jpg" width="497" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Debutante Ball: Jackie and her sister, Lee (<a href="http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/the-real-lee-radziwill/?_r=0" target="_blank">Caroline Lee Bouvier Radziwill)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After coming out, Jackie was part of the Manhattan social
scene, indeed. At
age 18, she chaired the philanthropic committee that sponsored a
Metropolitan Opera benefit performance of "Lucia di Lamamoor." The
performance took place in December 1947, with the proceeds benefiting
the Free Milk Fund for Babies. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGfKv96fsICnldBlCrlhSRLOt7cBuae15TbiqA8h1UO3HGI-7UXIDtZPgc3qYG4u1mjpAiwKLaNnoemcYyW77a8EvwShvAzlgVAuZpchvWqG-K68xcPsZTnastfqXsTRXlDLZzyEit9mXU/s1600/Jackie+Milk+Fund+NYT.tiff" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGfKv96fsICnldBlCrlhSRLOt7cBuae15TbiqA8h1UO3HGI-7UXIDtZPgc3qYG4u1mjpAiwKLaNnoemcYyW77a8EvwShvAzlgVAuZpchvWqG-K68xcPsZTnastfqXsTRXlDLZzyEit9mXU/s1600/Jackie+Milk+Fund+NYT.tiff" width="387" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackie, right, on the pages of the NYT, Nov. 23, 1947.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While the media focused on the lavish parties and philanthropic projects of the rich and richer, Jackie and family underwent their own personal troubles. Indeed, all was not always swanky for the Bouvier clan.<br />
<br />
They did indeed claim great wealth, and they built and lived in great structures that symbolized the
dynamism of NYC and the
nation itself.<br />
<br />
But from the boom years of the 1920s, to the crash, and into the Great
Depression, the family endured divorces, bitter custody battles, and the loss of fortunes.<br />
<br />
In fact, Jackie's
relatives would rise and fall with regularity--moving from boom to
bust--creating great works and enduring great tragedy-- each with his or
her own story that seemed not only to parallel the American story, but
also to illustrate the strains and emotional toll endured by many Americans through these periods.<br />
<br />
Jackie's father and mother's divorce, and the accompanied alcoholism of her father, cast a dark shadow over her life.<br />
<br />
It was not until she was married to the handsome young "Jack" that the media began to shine the light even brighter upon her. And at that time, she found herself seeking out places of refuge, away from the scrutiny.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoklMPIlqBra7Z1z-nnrYGBS-BcWL5gTf3jmgVdeJRDorLmVaf3AtXaON5AYyI0Vdv6QDqj0YeVhoqKeSaeR7iBDnVwsQpTqZ1K1rPFtxQXbij81ElEo73lB10yNNik5JtrF8361Tou8JN/s1600/june+28+1953+with+JFK+NYT.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoklMPIlqBra7Z1z-nnrYGBS-BcWL5gTf3jmgVdeJRDorLmVaf3AtXaON5AYyI0Vdv6QDqj0YeVhoqKeSaeR7iBDnVwsQpTqZ1K1rPFtxQXbij81ElEo73lB10yNNik5JtrF8361Tou8JN/s1600/june+28+1953+with+JFK+NYT.tiff" width="287" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Perfect Couple, Perfectly Happy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Another dark shadow was cast in November 1963 with the assassination of her husband. New York, the nation, and the world was stunned. Times Square and the Broadway theaters <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBfToNRDjZY" target="_blank">went dark after</a> the assassination.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNNa6li1SJZdSZwgRdqnkp0gVgPGICnhP0_PJWDLMfemxVxWWoRAUfs6FlOMEjxXF3zSo_CTnKXD2Xtrui3f8homqSwBzGRnQ0aYM8Ugtu8MNTisIYwIAt4kE2OjsybTTGgnuw7aTo7ZmV/s1600/new+yorkers+november+1963.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNNa6li1SJZdSZwgRdqnkp0gVgPGICnhP0_PJWDLMfemxVxWWoRAUfs6FlOMEjxXF3zSo_CTnKXD2Xtrui3f8homqSwBzGRnQ0aYM8Ugtu8MNTisIYwIAt4kE2OjsybTTGgnuw7aTo7ZmV/s1600/new+yorkers+november+1963.tiff" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_qysmz-d-Y" target="_blank">New Yorkers react</a> to the assassination in November 1963. </div>
<br />
Immediately following the assassination, Jackie called up Theodore White. White, a journalist and author, had been a friend to JFK. His groundbreaking 1961 book, <i>The Making of the President</i>,<i> 1960, </i>had changed the way the American public viewed politics. And it had more than bolstered Kennedy's image.<br />
<br />
Jackie sat down with White for hours just a week after his assassination. On December 6, 1963, <i>Life </i>published White's interview with Jackie, titled, <a href="http://adriennelacava.com/americas-camelot/" target="_blank">“For President Kennedy: An Epilogue.” </a> <br />
<br />
Here, Jackie would refer to the famous line from the 1960 musical <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelot_%28musical%29" target="_blank"><i>Camelot</i></a> in an effort to take control of her husband's legacy (remembering that she and Jack had listened to a recording of the musical during their time in the White House):<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="st">"Don't let it be forgot</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="st"> that once there was a spot</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="st"> for one brief shining moment </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="st">that was known as <i>Camelot</i>."</span> </div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDbNGsm0mpfyuytHwET8HKymxUAB3koOA_hIWm6Us2_XR7AxuJfWN9qRVGsJKYslJGq7ZRVZ1eLEJHARhT_oiuN6aBr7pNeV05JoW7aEXy3tNusiwq4A1bDLMt9sMVbwRVMHNziOaUF-OS/s1600/jackie+and+jfk+1961+avedon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDbNGsm0mpfyuytHwET8HKymxUAB3koOA_hIWm6Us2_XR7AxuJfWN9qRVGsJKYslJGq7ZRVZ1eLEJHARhT_oiuN6aBr7pNeV05JoW7aEXy3tNusiwq4A1bDLMt9sMVbwRVMHNziOaUF-OS/s1600/jackie+and+jfk+1961+avedon.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Avedon's Kennedys, January 1961</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
After November 1963, Jackie
decided to leave Washington, D.C. for good. The press was far too eager to watch (and photograph) her every move.<br />
<br />
She would return to NYC (with Clint Hill as her bodyguard) staying in the Carlyle for 10
months before moving into an apartment on the 15th floor of <a href="http://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/carnegie-hill/1040-fifth-avenue/1412" target="_blank">1040 Fifth Avenue, </a>another Rosario Candela building. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3RB3CJ1dBUEZZscjmmiZfVgRIYKDgZKC7e6xLAgHcU5y71xMTkFQa3Sv3jIw_RG77XbNhSgacQch0edOjnlRNT_gN5AXLiL2YR40to7CBmOIye_KYtbT5uajz5YJJKFJEImrA3xofIKyK/s1600/Manhattan_revised1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3RB3CJ1dBUEZZscjmmiZfVgRIYKDgZKC7e6xLAgHcU5y71xMTkFQa3Sv3jIw_RG77XbNhSgacQch0edOjnlRNT_gN5AXLiL2YR40to7CBmOIye_KYtbT5uajz5YJJKFJEImrA3xofIKyK/s1600/Manhattan_revised1.jpg" width="497" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2011/09/24/archives/retrospective/watching-jackie-watchers.html/attachment/manhattan_revised-2" target="_blank">1967: Jackie's NYC</a> (Follow the link for the various addresses related to Jackie)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In Manhattan, Jackie would work (first from an office on Park Avenue in the Pan Am Building) and later as a book editor in the city (for Viking and then Doubleday). Her marriage to Aristotle Onassis in 1968 was not without controversy, and Jackie continued to be the center of attention. Still, she often moved into the public eye, taking part in events around the city. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pX7y5LI1JZR4xhdaCmCQWSJ8-1nzyoZjTfxD32laJaGjnqCH06rund1NiqOUO4L2iMU6RZnyOCOX7ZDiD34sF6QAyg49A4n2WAWTWiNIeg2JIhcP2MKjuxWM8ZxprvNGWuovOXC1MQ50/s1600/Whitney--+Flora+Whitney+Miller+cuts+the+ribbon+at+the+dedication+ceremony+for+the+Whitney+Museum+of+American+Art,+with+architect+Marcel+Breuer+and+Jackie+Kennedy,+in+New+York+City,+1966.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pX7y5LI1JZR4xhdaCmCQWSJ8-1nzyoZjTfxD32laJaGjnqCH06rund1NiqOUO4L2iMU6RZnyOCOX7ZDiD34sF6QAyg49A4n2WAWTWiNIeg2JIhcP2MKjuxWM8ZxprvNGWuovOXC1MQ50/s1600/Whitney--+Flora+Whitney+Miller+cuts+the+ribbon+at+the+dedication+ceremony+for+the+Whitney+Museum+of+American+Art,+with+architect+Marcel+Breuer+and+Jackie+Kennedy,+in+New+York+City,+1966.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="irc_su" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">1966: Dedication ceremony for the
Whitney Museum of American Art, with architect Marcel Breuer and Jackie
Kennedy </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWewF8HKcXQj9liG-k-FQ6VVL1Zy7QBd47cAmQ4w23Pl1MjA72yZrMe1LkzT_5iXql2S9NJlYP6vX9e-EY3DqkRlW6qMBHyoArI4p5MaY1MNT9Yt72UQIBIY0KdmkjOFIdOAXSHWyf6WK6/s1600/Alan+Levy's+Post+1967.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWewF8HKcXQj9liG-k-FQ6VVL1Zy7QBd47cAmQ4w23Pl1MjA72yZrMe1LkzT_5iXql2S9NJlYP6vX9e-EY3DqkRlW6qMBHyoArI4p5MaY1MNT9Yt72UQIBIY0KdmkjOFIdOAXSHWyf6WK6/s1600/Alan+Levy's%2BPost%2B1967.tiff" width="348" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still in the Spotlight</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
In 1967, Alan Levy's <i>Saturday Evening Post</i> piece acknowledged the near frenzy related to the "National Sport of Watching Jackie Kennedy" (although, to be fair, the sport was somewhat local, relegated to Manhattan's streets.)<br />
<br />
In NYC, Jackie was constantly hounded
by the press. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msMpreAiwcY" target="_blank">(See her NYC apartment and the paparrazo who pursued her relentlessly here. </a>That story was the subject of a 2010 film: <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smash-his-camera/" target="_blank"><i>Smash His Camera</i></a>).<br />
<br />
Sometimes, it was those closest to her that violated her privacy: Her cousin, John H. Davis, wrote numerous books about her and her family, beginning with the <i>The Bouviers </i>in 1969. (In 1998, Davis published: <i><span class="fn"><span dir="ltr">Jacqueline Bouvier</span></span>: <span class="subtitle"><span dir="ltr">An Intimate Memoir.)</span></span></i><br />
<br />
Also in 1969, Jackie's former secretary, Mary B. Gallagher published, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Life-Jacqueline-Kennedy-Barelli-Gallagher/dp/B0006CUA1Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421794521&sr=8-1&keywords=My+Life+with+Jacqueline+Kennedy" target="_blank">"My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy,"</a> a bestselling tell-all that painted Jackie in less than flattering terms.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAnsyDQvQR4" target="_blank"> (Watch a clip of Barbara Walters' 1970 interview</a> with Gallagher.)<br />
<h1 class="yt" id="watch-headline-title">
</h1>
It seemed as if, in the wake of the loss of "Camelot," --and the myth of those halcyon days at the White House that Jackie herself had crafted--that the nation was ready to see past the myth (even though in past decades the media continues to riff on the Camelot legend).<br />
<br />
Thus, by the lean and grim 1970s, the toppling of the majestic myths of the wealthy and powerful was in full swing.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfqYRCnoSRp4PfqTvh1wHqevyRufwupr4rtsFL9UeKxFSJjZTbu4JwIj8-nYEtOyTdPMLzZfqPfg39K_wQW2ycrZ3bOxvyPks6iBaPCuQGWzxF8_5CHIvN-cJJCGBPbwKUjqSq-LPbswkP/s1600/nymag19720110_cover_250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfqYRCnoSRp4PfqTvh1wHqevyRufwupr4rtsFL9UeKxFSJjZTbu4JwIj8-nYEtOyTdPMLzZfqPfg39K_wQW2ycrZ3bOxvyPks6iBaPCuQGWzxF8_5CHIvN-cJJCGBPbwKUjqSq-LPbswkP/s1600/nymag19720110_cover_250.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paradise Lost: Sheehy's Take on the Bouviers' Downfall</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While Jackie received quite a lot of negative press, she was still revered and adored by many.<br />
<br />
It would be two other women in Jackie's family who would bear the brunt of the harsh scrutiny as they were observed as if
specimens under glass, wilting and eccentric, trapped within their own once
splendorous walls of wealth: Edith and Edie Beale (Jackie's aunt and cousin).<br />
<br />
Profiled in Gail Sheehy's 1972 <i>New York Magazine</i> piece, <a href="http://nymag.com/news/features/56102/" target="_blank">"The Secret of Grey Gardens,"</a> (--In 2007, <a href="http://nymag.com/arts/theater/features/23484/" target="_blank">Sheehy updated her piece--</a>) they were later the focus of the Maysles brothers' 1975 documentary, <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073076/" target="_blank">Grey Gardens</a></i> (and numerous other versions of <i>Grey Gardens,</i> including a musical among other portrayals).(<a href="http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20069998,00.html" target="_blank">I<span id="goog_1711385615"></span>n 1978, Edith Beale herself would appear in a cabaret in NYC.<span id="goog_1711385616"></span>)</a><br />
<br />
The story of the mother and daughter, living in a rambling and ruined Long Island estate, seemed to provide the perfect mixture of (lost) glamor and pathos, a kind of latter day <i>Sunset Boulevard</i>. 1970s readers and audiences found in the story of "Little Edie" and "Big Edie," a tale of decline and survival (something parallel to conditions in the country generally at the time). <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmhWYtRsmcU93WaiWdMVGvXcv373mTcNItlJkTbT0qlSJeX3dMFQJTWnpWRbaDd152XwdQerYlvJT6dwQTvZ7nIRCU2X3OO5cY7Cm1qrLMFwQsWCfrIWlp9Kvy1cAwFRK60tUZTA1DdhpQ/s1600/grand-central-terminal-turns-101-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmhWYtRsmcU93WaiWdMVGvXcv373mTcNItlJkTbT0qlSJeX3dMFQJTWnpWRbaDd152XwdQerYlvJT6dwQTvZ7nIRCU2X3OO5cY7Cm1qrLMFwQsWCfrIWlp9Kvy1cAwFRK60tUZTA1DdhpQ/s1600/grand-central-terminal-turns-101-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fight to Preserve the City: A New York Renovation, Jackie with Ed Koch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And indeed, by the 1970s, Jackie's beloved New York was in flux--and decline--too.<br />
<br />
But just as she tried to help out her Bouvier relatives, she would also lend her name and support to a number of preservation projects around the city, the most famous of which was the saving and ultimate preservation of Grand Central Terminal.<br />
<br />
In a landmark case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978, the owners of the decrepit, but historically significant station who wanted to tear down the station, argued that they "should be able to do what it wanted with
its property." Meanwhile, "New York's lawyers said the city had the right to regulate
land use through the landmarks law." <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/story/283953-how-grand-central-terminal-survived-the-wrecking-ball-and-lived-to-100/" target="_blank">Read an account of the story here.</a>)<br />
<br />
Grand Central was saved. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjreO6uFzHCbDfdJbkVyit7LP336fWSfDXGug36sam7FSLBL5bnizG8uwqNzct5MxLkNahDsMb6Ryeokp0bkn8DTnweXbRwRizDnlZQXDCSoH_OxTJOWWfyZESHApEPSxyH1W7-1xhaHJ74/s1600/2710129d1407356719-vintage-photos-jackie-kennedy-in-manhattan-september-30-1969.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjreO6uFzHCbDfdJbkVyit7LP336fWSfDXGug36sam7FSLBL5bnizG8uwqNzct5MxLkNahDsMb6Ryeokp0bkn8DTnweXbRwRizDnlZQXDCSoH_OxTJOWWfyZESHApEPSxyH1W7-1xhaHJ74/s1600/2710129d1407356719-vintage-photos-jackie-kennedy-in-manhattan-september-30-1969.jpg" width="520" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jackie, A New Yorker</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Jackie passed away on May 19, 1994. Her funeral, on May 23, took place at the very same church where she was baptized.<br />
<br />
<div class="articleHeadline" itemprop="headline">
This was just one reason that, after she was gone, New York remembered that yes, she had been First Lady; certainly, she had been a style icon; and indeed, she had been an important leader in the preservation movement, among other things. But she was first, and simply, a New Yorker. (See Robert D. McFadden's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/22/nyregion/jackie-new-yorker-friends-recall-a-fighter-for-her-city.html" target="_blank"> "Jackie, New Yorker; Friends Recall a Fighter for Her City," </a><i>New York Times, </i>May 22, 1994.)</div>
<br />
<div class="articleHeadline" itemprop="headline">
After her death, the city wanted to find a way to honor her "for her role in the city's life." (John Kifner, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/23/nyregion/central-park-honor-for-jacqueline-onassis.html" target="_blank">Central Park Honor for Jacqueline Onassis</a>," <i>New York Times, </i>July 23, 1994).</div>
<br />
Her children, John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Kennedy
Schlossberg, came up with the idea of naming something in her honor, something she cherished, somewhere in a place that had seen her biking, riding, and jogging for many years: Central Park.<br />
<br />
The Central Park Reservoir was chosen, a place where she had, for many years, walked and biked alone or with her friends or her children.<br />
<br />
The city bears her name in many places still. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="st">"Don't let it be forgot</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="st"> that there (is still) a spot..." in Central Park....named for one of the city's own.</span><span class="st"></span></div>
<br />
<br />
~Jenny Thompson<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtHMrKcRoVSuCNVZrG7oHvDwKFbkpN5-H3ESMfQly-bx6yMkqjrHjgRauD9GssvQBGlDYV0VK9jp_jtZVi7ufO4KNFBYba1XjrK9nPHSWKOa69_bdLT_mh8EHh3U52UY5bTT5yebKqyAmv/s1600/Jacqueline_Kennedy_Onassis_Reservoir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtHMrKcRoVSuCNVZrG7oHvDwKFbkpN5-H3ESMfQly-bx6yMkqjrHjgRauD9GssvQBGlDYV0VK9jp_jtZVi7ufO4KNFBYba1XjrK9nPHSWKOa69_bdLT_mh8EHh3U52UY5bTT5yebKqyAmv/s1600/Jacqueline_Kennedy_Onassis_Reservoir.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, NYC</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-20716725864620865502014-09-16T18:00:00.000-05:002014-09-16T19:02:56.387-05:00Take a Walk: Time Traveling Through the City Streets<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRmY2x1QWS1ImcKrXD5dZ1C0ySXPSMIesmJbolc5yZTOY_6gedI0EOD3Qc5RLVYVY47iHcKpHgWnncSfl-RadpaqoGNGByasthRyQcFmtnRiNFHm_JNzWJSPsQzlv3chRHbELJala_RNaJ/s1600/1971+nyc.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRmY2x1QWS1ImcKrXD5dZ1C0ySXPSMIesmJbolc5yZTOY_6gedI0EOD3Qc5RLVYVY47iHcKpHgWnncSfl-RadpaqoGNGByasthRyQcFmtnRiNFHm_JNzWJSPsQzlv3chRHbELJala_RNaJ/s1600/1971+nyc.tiff" height="368" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnH6e7mP33w">Time Traveling on the Upper West Side, 1971 (click text here to go to film)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Take a Walk</h2>
<div style="text-align: left;">
New York is made for walking. And it's a city that lends itself to image making, from still photography to home movies. To see the city from a "common" or everyday point of view seems both literally and figuratively quite pedestrian. But with the passage of time, that point of view becomes magical, offering viewers the opportunity to time travel and walk through the streets of Manhattan in another era.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Here are just a few of my favorite films shot on the street. They are surprisingly modern in many ways, but in so many others, they come from a place (a time, a city) that no longer exists. The post-industrial eye is so familiar with the mediated image, but actual historic footage can be surprising. It often bears very little resemblance to the images we consume in television and films.<br />
....and now, please take a walk with me....first stop, 1965: </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZwfp5EwrW70gIg8dzQyw4Tp-plvUiaDcnfVML3IGQY_HiS5_dEjDeakqWd6QdfYiWA5IhZ1TtMz9zd9vi-5T0vDu6vhjuoWYztF3DqAV8Dzq3Stgdf15O7Fqd6W1a6Hb-7_fSj9Rc1zdn/s1600/1965+NYC.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZwfp5EwrW70gIg8dzQyw4Tp-plvUiaDcnfVML3IGQY_HiS5_dEjDeakqWd6QdfYiWA5IhZ1TtMz9zd9vi-5T0vDu6vhjuoWYztF3DqAV8Dzq3Stgdf15O7Fqd6W1a6Hb-7_fSj9Rc1zdn/s1600/1965+NYC.tiff" height="462" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m138USl6DY">Take a walk in New York City, 1965. click here to watch film</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZWIhztGbZhb92aAuyb3KzImB1X3FP6OdLEMGt4q8-jzW4Z1mmuiZKbL3oHZ7JNM50QF2i5hpsy3rIxvs9El34sUtTIuRIXix9HmBeePs5hMMTcxF9_faPjYd96fcW6MEK_wpRSaViCa9L/s1600/NYC+fastion.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZWIhztGbZhb92aAuyb3KzImB1X3FP6OdLEMGt4q8-jzW4Z1mmuiZKbL3oHZ7JNM50QF2i5hpsy3rIxvs9El34sUtTIuRIXix9HmBeePs5hMMTcxF9_faPjYd96fcW6MEK_wpRSaViCa9L/s1600/NYC+fastion.tiff" height="460" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy4iFhOGnzs" target="_blank">Talk a walk while viewing fashions on the Manhattan streets of the 1970s (with commentary), click here to watch film </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlwt5GfapsRQloUjxxFOnIBREt24CI-AM4gjruqZx1bKgXJI8jaO1ivck6GmoKpwPaZ5ucw5tV7mEBsZjexl8TjUaU-W4glyhzMYazGXPxRDE65MEmVvCS3D23Zk1WL0Gq2ecBI1PKLBdt/s1600/1968+NYC.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlwt5GfapsRQloUjxxFOnIBREt24CI-AM4gjruqZx1bKgXJI8jaO1ivck6GmoKpwPaZ5ucw5tV7mEBsZjexl8TjUaU-W4glyhzMYazGXPxRDE65MEmVvCS3D23Zk1WL0Gq2ecBI1PKLBdt/s1600/1968+NYC.tiff" height="456" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0gutWTUJV4" target="_blank">Take a Walk Uptown, from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park, in Snapshots, 1968, click here to watch film </a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnH6e7mP33w"> </a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
This film is an amazing string of still photographs taken as the photographer walks north along the city streets. The jump cuts, jittery shots, and altering perspective create a vivid experience that mimics the point of view of a real person on the streets of New York.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4gVgzu0q_a-WsNo5CtAf1Y9gO-1eEEUY7VupAgETY6p6ozGSaxkvluU9d4AkcOqsLb7JQ9k_sPXi2b11fPfiFrO2N1ihKhxb2XYnUOJGoUKsD5O32945nmajeZjH7Tkf_gn-HZ2rvVw5G/s1600/times+sq+1951.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4gVgzu0q_a-WsNo5CtAf1Y9gO-1eEEUY7VupAgETY6p6ozGSaxkvluU9d4AkcOqsLb7JQ9k_sPXi2b11fPfiFrO2N1ihKhxb2XYnUOJGoUKsD5O32945nmajeZjH7Tkf_gn-HZ2rvVw5G/s1600/times+sq+1951.tiff" height="472" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0fDjJ-gorM" target="_blank">Cold War New York City, 1951, click here to watch film</a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnH6e7mP33w"> </a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
This film, shot in Times Square in 1951, pictures NYC in gorgeous black and white. The shots of restaurants, traffic, signs and theatre marquees are spectacular; but interjected into the movie is a chilling reminder of the state of world affairs: we watch as an air raid drill takes place. The later shots foreshadow the haunting Cold War film, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World,_the_Flesh_and_the_Devil_%281959_film%29">The World, the Flesh and the Devil,</a> set in New York City.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
~Jenny Thompson </div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-28494586730815965812014-09-04T13:26:00.001-05:002015-07-13T14:40:08.197-05:00Bright Lights, Big City: Early 1980s New York<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://americanpast.blogspot.com/2014/09/bright-lights-big-city-early-1980s-new.html#more" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgQn10zA7pd0ZqNHw6kTgkQJgYE6qXVdoJ-qTLFCZqz7yCCZ5MNATYy0sMC87EN5NSZUNr4K4HP-alNhQ2YCIhkB-Ilf0iiK4V-A8kk2nrs_VcZ3BBlEt2tFWlCPD0sc2qQRT4UyuRyZPO/s1600/f1df5bf8aa23edfb0b47dcad1eeb0bb1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://americanpast.blogspot.com/2014/09/bright-lights-big-city-early-1980s-new.html#more">The Write Crowd: McInerney, Janowitz, Ellis, 1980s, NYC </a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"Die Yuppie Scum" was common graffiti that writer Jay McInerney remembers spotting around his East Village neighborhood in the early 1980s. A graduate of Williams college, McInerney studied creative writing (with Raymond Carver) at Syracuse University, and in the early 1980s, he was back in New York City, living in the East Village and working as a reader at Random House. Meanwhile, he wrote the novel that would make him famous.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9WlU1NSGvKXUI074_n4rnpQNWla1z0JFP1dHyv0ODpLRITKaoLurvbphvZk46GT9-mFJkA5sd89qJiEU2EqVsdZxH1Wo5jq4TR6_HY3YeJB_A46CnCGYa2QIlxaRJNqp5QusfUlmu-Z-b/s1600/170415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9WlU1NSGvKXUI074_n4rnpQNWla1z0JFP1dHyv0ODpLRITKaoLurvbphvZk46GT9-mFJkA5sd89qJiEU2EqVsdZxH1Wo5jq4TR6_HY3YeJB_A46CnCGYa2QIlxaRJNqp5QusfUlmu-Z-b/s400/170415.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bright Lights, Big City: You Are Here</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">That novel, <i>Bright Lights, Big City,</i> set in early 1980s New York and published in August 1984, would forever change McInerney's life. He was anointed one of the "literary brat pack," along with other young writers, Bret Easton Ellis (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Less_Than_Zero_%28novel%29" target="_blank"><i>Less Than Zero</i></a>), David Leavitt (<a href="http://davidleavittwriter.com/writings/stornov.html" target="_blank"><i>Family Dancing</i></a>), and Tama Janowitz (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Slaves-New-York-Tama-Janowitz/dp/0671745247" target="_blank"><i>Slaves of New York</i></a>), and he was credited for (and sometimes accused of) giving voice to a generation.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">McInernery was part of a new wave of young writers that <i>Newsweek</i>
called the
"divine decadents." One editor described these writers as possessing a
complete unwillingness to
"struggle" as writers have historically. No, this new breed was getting
paid upfront, and the payments needed to be large. "[T]here's a
preoccupation with making money among this new generation of
writer," the editor continued, "They all approach writing in some ways
like baby stockbrokers." Nikki Finke, "<a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1987-09-13/news/vw-7633_1_jay-mcinerney" target="_blank">Literary Brat Pack: Bright Lights, Big Advances</a>," <i>Los Angeles Times,</i> September 13, 1987.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQ5uOLJmC36sFjyOfVojFSQNw71KlS9fIOnx6CS5DBVya5O00Z_xxNQozUYo7IaQqOG8dVTzuUmw9Uh_MdNEbiT0oWs8ooQI2xZiAvxC1mltMGTigGoY-59vNX3-2FqinY8W0k6AAPbOb/s1600/Jay+McInerney.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQ5uOLJmC36sFjyOfVojFSQNw71KlS9fIOnx6CS5DBVya5O00Z_xxNQozUYo7IaQqOG8dVTzuUmw9Uh_MdNEbiT0oWs8ooQI2xZiAvxC1mltMGTigGoY-59vNX3-2FqinY8W0k6AAPbOb/s1600/Jay+McInerney.tiff" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Man on the Street: Jay McInerney in <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=i-UCAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=new+york+magazine+1984+jay+mcinerney&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZqkIVN-WMJWryATDroH4AQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=mcinerney&f=false" target="_blank">NY Magazine, October 1984</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">McInerney was also part of a re-envisioning of a changing New York City. By the late 1970s, New York had become the ultimate symbol of an America in decline, full of decay, corruption, and vice. </span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Much of the city was an
"urban wasteland," as McInerney described Manhattan in the early 80s. It was "a war zone," he remembered, "where muggings and rapes weren’t considered news. The Hells Angels
ruled East Third Street, and after dark you went east of Second Avenue
strictly at your own risk. The cops didn’t go there. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vkxFs7Q84c" target="_blank">East Tenth beyond Avenue A</a> was a narcotics supermarket where preteen runners scampered in
and out of bombed-out tenements. In fact, great swatches of the city
were dirty and crime-ridden. Even the West Village was pretty gritty by
today’s standards, and Times Square was a scene of spectacular squalor." (Jay McInerney, <a href="http://nymag.com/anniversary/40th/50657/" target="_blank">"Yuppies in Eden</a>." <i>New York Magazine</i>, September 28, 2008.)</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMpMPj0oc4PtJicZkz5jTm81i1JGpTcg6A5tZBDvmxJYMgKtHlARiN-FfksH47Kkeq1zN5vdUW_7Em14So64UT0AYb5ZVMgjmbPJsgaHfhN_153fQUywgB5rMxkc8AJO2DwgziK0K74vZn/s1600/40r3_53B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMpMPj0oc4PtJicZkz5jTm81i1JGpTcg6A5tZBDvmxJYMgKtHlARiN-FfksH47Kkeq1zN5vdUW_7Em14So64UT0AYb5ZVMgjmbPJsgaHfhN_153fQUywgB5rMxkc8AJO2DwgziK0K74vZn/s1600/40r3_53B.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tag You're It: A Graffiti Covered City, NYC in the 1980s</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">As a dweller in this urban wasteland, McInerney would be part of the reconfiguring of New York City as a sort of mythic landscape--a post-sixties American <i>terra incognita</i>. It was a place on the brink of drastic changes, and in its stark contrasts, its poverty and its increasingly visible wealth, it served as a kind of battlefield for the self, where the "rugged individual," armed with little more than a Sony Walkman, could lay claim to the city streets for him or herself.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Manhattan’s kind of a place where the rhythm is like attention deficit
disorder," McInerney reflected <a href="http://theaesthete.com/story/view.dT/brighter-lights-bigger-city" target="_blank">in an interview with David Amsden</a> that appeared in <i>The Asthete</i>. "Temptations. Distractions. This is a city that celebrates
conquests of all kinds above everything.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">And indeed,
at the time of McInerney's ascent to literary and pop culture fame, New
York was in the midst of being conquered. Early 1980s New York was a
city shifting gears. Neglect, poverty,
and corruption had made their mark throughout the city in the 1970s-- especially in
certain areas such as the Lower East Side (aka LES), which included the neighborhood, the East Village. (<span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j-3DxNdj2M" target="_blank">Time travel to 1980s NYC in this amazing video.</a></span>)
The 1970s had not been a prosperous decade for the U.S. or for NYC,
and an early 1980s recession intensified the anger and despair that
existed throughout the country.</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibkcNKsJ1v35s6I05ydbjvGoszEaXxpPvvUsvpoZEdjdLojALvPkpcF7ldr7nHzzGQIHv8nF5CMvUubFoqy4eLrvEO38ljbJyPKf-q1nMckGDYxw_MORv9UttDYFbqzI81c-XPMxWhNezp/s1600/soho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibkcNKsJ1v35s6I05ydbjvGoszEaXxpPvvUsvpoZEdjdLojALvPkpcF7ldr7nHzzGQIHv8nF5CMvUubFoqy4eLrvEO38ljbJyPKf-q1nMckGDYxw_MORv9UttDYFbqzI81c-XPMxWhNezp/s1600/soho.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So-SoHo...1979, Crosby and Spring Streets: An Urban Landscape. <a href="http://www.thomasstruth32.com/smallsize/photographs/streets_of_new_york_city/index.html" target="_blank">Thomas Struth, </a>photograph.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At the time McInerney was writing, an army had come to the city, its ranks full of the forces of
gentrification. First, artists famously encamped in neighborhoods like Soho and the East Village where studio and exhibit
space could be acquired inexpensively. (Read about the complexity of this movement in former <i>Village Voice </i>art critic Gary Indiana's account,<span style="color: blue;"> <a href="http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/features/10557/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">"One Brief, Scuzzy Moment,"</span></a></span> <i>New York Magazine.</i>) That wave was accompanied by
another force, this one more monied and more focused on
making more money: the Young Urban Professionals, aka, Yuppies.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">McInerney remembers the anger that existed towards the encroachment of Yuppies (hence the "Die Yuppie Scum" sentiment); that anger was, he remembered, "a
function of rapidly escalating real-estate prices
in the East Village." <a href="http://nymag.com/anniversary/40th/50657/" target="_blank">"Yuppies in Eden</a>." </span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Ofm0x5Ga7j5ocucLAech13rpRCh-HD-TfOos63wod_Sv4A6cwO4XErB0WYa8Usk2NmCqunnJWU6Pfp0sf9hkLav5V_230aA5w1-HSShw_OSolmPGGf1by6z8gMxpakRXiTfCNyKuVXI9/s1600/220px-BrightLightsBigCity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Ofm0x5Ga7j5ocucLAech13rpRCh-HD-TfOos63wod_Sv4A6cwO4XErB0WYa8Usk2NmCqunnJWU6Pfp0sf9hkLav5V_230aA5w1-HSShw_OSolmPGGf1by6z8gMxpakRXiTfCNyKuVXI9/s1600/220px-BrightLightsBigCity.jpg" width="253" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A 1980s </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>flâneur</i></span> </span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But McInerney rejects the idea that <i>Bright Lights, Big City</i> is the quintessential Yuppie manifesto (<a href="http://nymag.com/anniversary/40th/50657/" target="_blank">you can read his argument here</a> and also his fascinating account of early 80s NYC). Nonetheless, <i>Bright Lights, Big City</i> would become linked with the zeitgeist of the 20-something educated urban dweller, the individual who came of age in "post-revolutionary" America, and grew up in the wake of earlier movements (women's rights, gay rights, civil rights, et al).</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But for some people in this generation, the new revolution would not be about changing the world; it was about getting to the top, claiming victory for oneself. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Bright Lights, Big City</i> is the story of a 24-year old man (unnamed) who struggles with a life out of control: a failed
marriage (to a beautiful model), a cocaine addiction, a mind-numbing job as a fact checker (at a <i>New Yorker</i>-like publication<i>)</i>, an inability to write (his life's ambition) and a too-expensive apartment on West 12th Street (although well-appointed by his erstwhile wife).</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">McInerney's protaganist--let's refer to him as "X" since he has no name-- closely resembles the author himself (the two have parallel biographies). Throughout the novel, as the reader follows X round the city, we find that he is a man who is deeply critical and irreverent, profoundly unsatisfied, and entirely unable to perform a "Horatio Alger" and pick himself up by the bootstraps. ("You wanted to skip over the dull grind of actual creation," X notes about his inability to write, p. 54.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He is late for work. He has hangovers. He hates his boss and is indifferent to his colleagues (he even forgets to bring his co-worker her Tab soda! How rude!)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The city too is in its own mess. The New York of McInerney's novel is not a terrain of rugged plains whose drama
comes in the form of natural disasters, such as a deadly tornado. "In the city it's man-made," X
observes of the urban tragedies all around him, "Arson, rape, murder."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This mess of a place is the perfect setting for a person that is so at odds with himself that all he can do is to wander at all times of day and night. Whether riding the subway, walking to his office, or inhabiting the famed<a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2005/11/odeon200511" target="_blank"> Odeon </a>nightclub (which opened in 1980 and still exists at 145 W Broadway), X is in a tangle. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As X wanders the city, high on coke or in a dizzied hangover state, he is not a <i>flâneur</i> in the Walt Whitman sense (nor is he the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/books/open-city-by-teju-cole-book-review.html?_r=0" target="_blank">accutely observant city-wanderer </a>Julian in Teju Cole's 2011 <i>Open City</i>).</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsRs5f_hK_EqlOGI_Nx1Av-fX5PmKx_rPRj4xi1SyR2SXx-7tkc1C3c5jnwM5q1z6W49F1FLM_A1ga2be-VTYBLIF2T4N-zFIxguny5TnFK8S1n-fSGwKoqsgFgS8VJdSWyMw1yCSqjE31/s1600/flan.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsRs5f_hK_EqlOGI_Nx1Av-fX5PmKx_rPRj4xi1SyR2SXx-7tkc1C3c5jnwM5q1z6W49F1FLM_A1ga2be-VTYBLIF2T4N-zFIxguny5TnFK8S1n-fSGwKoqsgFgS8VJdSWyMw1yCSqjE31/s1600/flan.tiff" width="222" /></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">Charles Beaudelaire observed that "the perfect <i>flâneur</i>" was a "passionate spectator." </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">No, this post-industriral <i>flâneur</i> takes only selective notice of his surroundings. Because he is so focused on his inner life and his own "existential" personal dramas, he sees only snippets of the dramatic stories unfolding within the city: the story of a missing girl or the saga of the "coma Baby," two stories he views through the headlines glaring at him from the <i>New York Post</i> (which "confirms [his] sense of impending disaster" p.75).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The novel, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/freedom-speech-person-homeland-conversation-jay-mcinerney-mohsin-hamid-blog-entry-1.1639343" target="_blank">written in the second person</a>,
uses a narrative point of view that is uncommon, but not unique. Its use in <i>Bright Lights</i> serves the narrative perfectly: it is a perfect form of self-indulgence,
managing to both refer to the character and the reader. The ultimate
narcissism. </span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPEMglf1Ai_OVaVlcnPb1_dYfLdjOD2JgRRJQuP3TrzWjxIyPMo0kizgjh0igBtNdBYjIqBbS6sGHHSDwVBtl17rIdscEaNSfXeubAywZit3kB0R8jklBtw-QLeaGI2UmXhaNjkb5kxa6l/s1600/-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPEMglf1Ai_OVaVlcnPb1_dYfLdjOD2JgRRJQuP3TrzWjxIyPMo0kizgjh0igBtNdBYjIqBbS6sGHHSDwVBtl17rIdscEaNSfXeubAywZit3kB0R8jklBtw-QLeaGI2UmXhaNjkb5kxa6l/s1600/-1.png" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Revolution of Self: Each to His or Her Own <a href="http://www.minimallyminimal.com/blog/sony-walkman-tps-l2" target="_blank">Sony Walkman</a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody></tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That narrow view of self and of place was in perfect synchronicity with a post-1960s sensibility, embraced by some in McInerney's generation: a kind of hyperactive "me" generation, with the pursuit of self-satisfaction the highest form of living (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF_iorX_MAw" target="_blank">"Greed," as the iconic 1980s character Gordon Gekko states in the 1987 film <i>Wall Street</i>, "is good."</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This was, after all, Ronald Reagan's America. And although the
recession that played out most intensively from 1980-1982 would strongly impact working class
and poor people, the post recession upturn in the stock market brought about a welcome
relief and sense of renewal (for those who benefited), especially after a tumultuous decade that opened with protests
against the Vietnam War and closed with the Three Mile Island meltdown.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By
1984, Reagan's reelection campaign focused on appealing to that sense of renewal via
the famous TV commercial, "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa8Qupc4PnQ" target="_blank">It's Morning Again in America</a>."</span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjREAdgxwgOegLAkTOW92_aAyiUOENSWFFwpk5hvh1-OQhYpOQ8EO_vV00zD9pv_xZHDzELTCS6mtzjniL8OK0h_Hz-0A-TN0gI00soz_RDwEYtzwMZ2K3tTTZa6ar1W1UlkcvbysweVt_g/s1600/6be65a2fdb877035096f996de00d4383.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjREAdgxwgOegLAkTOW92_aAyiUOENSWFFwpk5hvh1-OQhYpOQ8EO_vV00zD9pv_xZHDzELTCS6mtzjniL8OK0h_Hz-0A-TN0gI00soz_RDwEYtzwMZ2K3tTTZa6ar1W1UlkcvbysweVt_g/s1600/6be65a2fdb877035096f996de00d4383.jpg" width="307" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yup, it's the Eighties </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">During Reagan's first term, a pop culture icon appeared on the American scene in the form of one of the most
famous of Yuppies: the character "Alex P. Keaton," portrayed by Michael J. Fox on the
TV show, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WHIRFqWx8I" target="_blank"><i>Family Ties</i>.</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(It's no coincidence that Fox would play the protaganist of McInerney's novel when <i>Bright Lights, Big City</i> was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmeTsRQ6STE" target="_blank">made into a film</a> that was released in 1988. )</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Yuppie Handbook</i> (a satire of its progenitor, <i>The Preppie Handbook, </i>1980)
arrived just in time (1983) to offer a step-by-step guide to the
trappings of 20-somethings everywhere. New York, with its Wall
Street morality, was an epicenter of sorts.</span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJ6Cz3Wy-nAjFhQvx7wWF1qJkGVTaIjdTlGyzY73jbX2my7PLpUOu-tlltIrYgEBqfqUx2Kai9Ldz1lUoKDpGo2lO6_eiJaZD7WzyGjY-pQnzmu9Qov8KkHxPMzvL4suZxtjio6Afk7sW/s1600/5aa2b220dca017a0e38a6010.L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJ6Cz3Wy-nAjFhQvx7wWF1qJkGVTaIjdTlGyzY73jbX2my7PLpUOu-tlltIrYgEBqfqUx2Kai9Ldz1lUoKDpGo2lO6_eiJaZD7WzyGjY-pQnzmu9Qov8KkHxPMzvL4suZxtjio6Afk7sW/s1600/5aa2b220dca017a0e38a6010.L.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Definition of a Yuppie (according to the Handbook): A person of either sex who meets the following criteria: 1) resides in
or near one of the major cities; 2) claims to be between the ages of 25
and 45; 3) lives on aspirations of glory, prestige, recognition, fame,
social status, power, money or any and all combinations of the above; 4)
anyone who brunches on the weekend or works out after work. The term
crosses ethnic, sexual, geographic - even class - boundaries.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sushi.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jogging.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Sony Walkman.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In ways, McInerney's novel is its
own kind of Yuppie Handbook, although it ostensibly presents itself as
a manifesto for the alienated young man.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As X wanders the urban landscape, wallowing in his many dilemmas, he becomes the very symbol of the "new man" in New York--a literary type so essential to the city's history that it even McInerney can't help but place X within the city's long history in a rare wider view of the world:<i> </i></span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The first light of the morning outlines the towers of the World Trade
Center at the tip of the island. You turn in the other direction and
start uptown. There are cobbles on the street where the asphalt has worn
through. You think of the wooden shoes of the first Dutch settlers on
these same stones. Before that, the Algonquin braves stalking game along
silent trails." (Bright Lights, Big City. NY: Vintage, 1984, 235). </i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">X is forging a new path along the city streets; he is part of, one can argue, the new forces moving into the city in the 1980s. The forces of gentrification.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHSqlvgb1XZctV0IED4DH3YoTu35v4d0bQwvErqfHlxYHYpFisyl55DtGzuEGqvamgEYvEefvC5UCFVZC29qODIA4kCouhj7PA_kAsmD0B0ddADqUJ87UrtOsdLwGhXHz_1RkMOk8KowhH/s1600/0-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHSqlvgb1XZctV0IED4DH3YoTu35v4d0bQwvErqfHlxYHYpFisyl55DtGzuEGqvamgEYvEefvC5UCFVZC29qODIA4kCouhj7PA_kAsmD0B0ddADqUJ87UrtOsdLwGhXHz_1RkMOk8KowhH/s1600/0-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mayor Ed Koch: he led the 1980s army of gentrification and ruled for more than a decade</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As these forces moved in, working class and poor people were being pushed out of the city. View Robert Herman's photographs from this period, for a sense of the New York that <span style="color: cyan;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" target="_blank">has now almost disappeared</a>.</span> "At that time," Herman notes, "these neighborhoods were a mixture of three distinct groups: the people
who had lived and worked there for many years and had their ethnic
background in common; the artists who came in search of affordable
living and studio space; and finally the more well to-do who instigated
the process of gentrification with the seemingly inevitable exile of the
original inhabitants. It was a time when graffiti was an integral part
of the landscape, and the clash of cultures created a cacophony of
voices."</span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2IacUBVdLCNimZpigqSivjhHm5R3zoq3Z_lw4TFpF7t5lfhX2Wsx7Breae52mobe-3RZzsr8L2MuO_4gq-eQN0b92WZ4n22oYrrl_dZPljXqT-PT6aE1FhC6gAgzkcCFKoRPsyzj0FvW0/s1600/18photo.600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2IacUBVdLCNimZpigqSivjhHm5R3zoq3Z_lw4TFpF7t5lfhX2Wsx7Breae52mobe-3RZzsr8L2MuO_4gq-eQN0b92WZ4n22oYrrl_dZPljXqT-PT6aE1FhC6gAgzkcCFKoRPsyzj0FvW0/s1600/18photo.600.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">“People called it a war zone,” photographer Marlis Momber said of the
LES in the 1970s. “I grew up in Berlin after World War II, and it looked
the same.”</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Clearly, not all the effects of gentrification were negative. But for many people, something profound was lost during this time. (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/18/nyregion/18photos.html" target="_blank">See photographer Marlis Momber's images of the LES then and now, here.)</a></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody></tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Fast forward thirty years: McInerney admits that he "<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/may/20/lunch-with-jay-mcinerney-william-skidelsky" target="_blank">got a lot out of [his] vices</a>" (William Skidelsky "Lunch with Jay McInerney," <i>The Observer,</i> May 19, 2012.) His later books include, (no irony intended?) <i>The Good Life </i>(2006)<i>. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And in New York City, thirty years later, the forces of what Jeremiah Moss of <a href="http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Vanishing New York</a> calls <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/04/13/the-pros-and-cons-of-gentrification/new-yorkers-need-to-take-back-their-city" target="_blank">"hyper-gentrification"</a> have been unleashed; this time the pro-corporate tax
breaks and deals offered by city government, coupled with a new city
breed, what Moss calls "the Yunnie," or Young Urban Narcissist (<a href="http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2007/08/young-urban-narcissists_08.html" target="_blank">See Moss' definition here</a>), have re-made the city (and not to everyone's liking). </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The "land rush" is still on in sections of the city (see Nathan Kensinger's <a href="http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2014/08/28/a_survey_of_the_bowerys_changing_landscape_in_20_photos.php" target="_blank">portrait of the Bowery</a> from <a href="http://ny.curbed.com/" target="_blank">NYCurbed</a>, Aug. 28 2014), and by 2008, the Lower East Side was designated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Most_Endangered_Places" target="_blank">America's Most Endangered Historic Places. </a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Today, New York City is a place where the wealthy need not arm themselves with a walkman or refer to themselves in the second person in order to distance themselves from the "wasteland" of the city. No, the city is now their playground; (As CeeLo Green puts it in a mind-numbing homage to the pursuit of self-satisfaction, the demand now is for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBhdIcb84Hw" target="_blank">a Bigger City</a>.)</span></span><br />
<br />
~Jenny Thompson<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-4YGrzDanne-_Mdv39shUTOvgCXf0jKleoS-ICbBQmXCKOJKKfsi9Uzm-bp2Nz6I9KwTmcqlB1LqS9NZ4nLbRK0M7Ble3BHpIePcPlPVJGGlUWfeKhXADnEIRmNDrALB-Big5Io-8-l6/s1600/jay-mcinerney-landing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-4YGrzDanne-_Mdv39shUTOvgCXf0jKleoS-ICbBQmXCKOJKKfsi9Uzm-bp2Nz6I9KwTmcqlB1LqS9NZ4nLbRK0M7Ble3BHpIePcPlPVJGGlUWfeKhXADnEIRmNDrALB-Big5Io-8-l6/s1600/jay-mcinerney-landing.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You Live the Good Life and You Get to Do Whatever You Want: McInerney Rests, <a href="http://theaesthete.com/story/view.dT/brighter-lights-bigger-city" target="_blank">The Asthete</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul class="article-attributes trackable-component b4" data-component="Article:byline"></ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-64521429019097053452014-08-15T17:31:00.004-05:002014-08-29T18:52:02.779-05:00Coney Island on Their Mind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQxRcxogh66lQPWPgQyYeTCfHsP7qKKZNM5aHzDt7SD2DQ8CdU4pej5nKV2i6IjfByGs1duoVQYWYMi0hyphenhyphenp1IVXmUlWbgAfkfAd3YUeL79TDOo3rM8N6bLVpn75Xr2c8C7Si-kiVr3lmwf/s1600/Our+World+Cover_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQxRcxogh66lQPWPgQyYeTCfHsP7qKKZNM5aHzDt7SD2DQ8CdU4pej5nKV2i6IjfByGs1duoVQYWYMi0hyphenhyphenp1IVXmUlWbgAfkfAd3YUeL79TDOo3rM8N6bLVpn75Xr2c8C7Si-kiVr3lmwf/s1600/Our+World+Cover_edited-1.jpg" height="640" width="491" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Hot town, summer in the city/
back of my neck getting dirty and gritty." </div>
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>So go the opening lines
of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5bUmx-hk-c" target="_blank">The Lovin' Spoonful's hit song</a> of 1966. In the lyrics the hot, muggy
character of a New York summer is wonderfully captured. For decades to
escape meant
to get to Coney Island and the 5 cent BMT fare it cost to ride there.
Once an actual island, Coney Island had been linked to Brooklyn, and
the rest of Long Island, since the 1850s. It had been a getaway from
city summers since the 1820s and a variety of
attractions had been "amusing million(s)" of City denizens since the
1890s. The years immediately following World War II were the amusement
park's and beach facilities' apogee of popularity before decline and
decay set in in the 1950s.
<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407959109869_3236">
<br clear="none" /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407959109869_3231">
A competitor with <i>Ebony</i>
magazine, <i>Our World</i> celebrated post war prosperity and leisure and
African American participation in society. Editors of the magazine
promoted images and narratives of a new American black cultural norm. In
the summer idyl
they present here, more than a decade before Marilyn Monroe battled the
updraft from a subway vent, a brown damsel is distressed by a bawdy
clown, and the characters in the photographs seem almost to have stepped
out of a Reginald Marsh painting onto the nitty
gritty of the beach. It is a moment of war end's innocence, more than a
decade away from the strife and friction of the 1960s. </div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407959109869_3231">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
~ Rodger Birt<br />
<br />
For more on <i>Our World</i>, and its publisher, John Preston Davis, visit:<br />
<a href="http://johnpdaviscollection.org/about.html" target="_blank">http://johnpdaviscollection.org/about.html </a></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7DWPQekVyqZqNnLQEbNGQckKcrq39h6MCNzwSO7FZ9X0KnR0GEAOc45pRScMgOC0NzIikVRYL4M60Ig3juE-ucLkzvGDxn3RI-pswSnSMdt_3ANYyBRuCVechqiyroPZ5WnmM7Zz75OoR/s1600/Coney+Island+1_edited-2.jpg" height="640" title="" width="476" /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGjsrmYDbt3LFV6y19Ps6vCZ7RZFmCo5hQ78FsQ_qdsjrzi3qzALYVGWUaJJIVdjhidKKPiG9M1j_q1k0ELtVantuJLdB5ekT_QeCgTch07z1_-VCy8aF4TvdmZ2TVBb-kxfJD8FtYfW69/s1600/Coney+Island+2_edited-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGjsrmYDbt3LFV6y19Ps6vCZ7RZFmCo5hQ78FsQ_qdsjrzi3qzALYVGWUaJJIVdjhidKKPiG9M1j_q1k0ELtVantuJLdB5ekT_QeCgTch07z1_-VCy8aF4TvdmZ2TVBb-kxfJD8FtYfW69/s1600/Coney+Island+2_edited-3.jpg" height="640" width="468" /></a></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbj7nScqZIeyna3Uov9Nolrw60IsGpD39ibcuE7ljTMjJKimx-BBhiJtri6jl55ADOkTiZiNRJDuwhHP1bGePNZBmau29MLEtRsbDNmTer4I6rJ8jeEc5R83Py9SKnFbnDCKD1FuJurAqP/s1600/Coney+Island+3_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbj7nScqZIeyna3Uov9Nolrw60IsGpD39ibcuE7ljTMjJKimx-BBhiJtri6jl55ADOkTiZiNRJDuwhHP1bGePNZBmau29MLEtRsbDNmTer4I6rJ8jeEc5R83Py9SKnFbnDCKD1FuJurAqP/s1600/Coney+Island+3_edited-1.jpg" height="640" width="462" /></a></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikU3vMvEqlSUMMm0E57NV6ZD0udcEYhsqqHOhnFgP8Ap0-DRrUGn5QMSOpgpTffZn5v7sO3xNGOFyzaj0b7Z4qfgmd1Cv02D2PSZ5yPUOEEfodmQXNm7A4Nf4AAV3k17a7cLCGmQ2QCeT8/s1600/Coney+Island+5_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikU3vMvEqlSUMMm0E57NV6ZD0udcEYhsqqHOhnFgP8Ap0-DRrUGn5QMSOpgpTffZn5v7sO3xNGOFyzaj0b7Z4qfgmd1Cv02D2PSZ5yPUOEEfodmQXNm7A4Nf4AAV3k17a7cLCGmQ2QCeT8/s1600/Coney+Island+5_edited-1.jpg" height="640" width="500" /></a></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9554">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9564">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9564">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCSyCwkWX8MLj3xXkibbhCT4XLhtciuRpsBEeJaBGQx5Kex_Hut6ivHEWYEMVBCyLV2ym89fzdW3422PjxLgPFMacqudg1Xkj7QgGWWxo9IQ1mwPETD4HV_nMn82nbnmtMLlsV0-U7Z-8J/s1600/Coney+Island+4_edited-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCSyCwkWX8MLj3xXkibbhCT4XLhtciuRpsBEeJaBGQx5Kex_Hut6ivHEWYEMVBCyLV2ym89fzdW3422PjxLgPFMacqudg1Xkj7QgGWWxo9IQ1mwPETD4HV_nMn82nbnmtMLlsV0-U7Z-8J/s1600/Coney+Island+4_edited-2.jpg" height="640" width="494" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1407951331091_9564">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8380604980853439284.post-50113991189506329222014-07-09T09:30:00.000-05:002014-07-09T09:32:15.435-05:00The Beauty of the Miniature: Helena Rubinstein in New York City<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXxsMItkYBCGznr_Vl6a2Oc3Un-yFDV_13zYjPeblcj4wf-Q5Y__GDS3qM7uCKbo3LE4Bslm_oPnALCBKyC20mEsZppQ5Ih-GaG-fmwmyplgK-AFWP5F-DxxscxEdw-uRnTk9s4pQ0tfi3/s1600/HR+glamor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXxsMItkYBCGznr_Vl6a2Oc3Un-yFDV_13zYjPeblcj4wf-Q5Y__GDS3qM7uCKbo3LE4Bslm_oPnALCBKyC20mEsZppQ5Ih-GaG-fmwmyplgK-AFWP5F-DxxscxEdw-uRnTk9s4pQ0tfi3/s1600/HR+glamor.jpg" height="468" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Madame Helena Rubinstein</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Helena Rubinstein (1870-1965) was a revolutionary force in the world of beauty. She was an entrepreneur, a businesswoman, and a marketing genius. During a long and successful career that spanned six decades and made
her one of the richest women in the world, Rubinstein operated salons
all over the world and launched scores of products that were sold globally. She was a magnificent purveyor of the idea that
all women can find personal satisfaction through the pursuit of beauty. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
Rubinstein's signature products and "Days of Beauty" at one of her many salons
made her the symbol of the modern woman, out in the world, looking her
best. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Rubinstein was born in Krakow, Poland. In 1891, she moved to
Melbourne, Australia, where she opened her first salon. She later
lived in London and Paris (where she opened a salon in 1912) before
moving to New York City with her first husband, journalist Edward Titus.
The year was 1914, and the couple, along with their two children, came
to the city to escape the Great War in Europe.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7e4Cdi3oXyeMC963VaDO0yYToYHIverB2kmUgqTVZ2W-JYPH5kBP5h3X9xx-ewlwqxeK1El_jDlsytvgP-06c_Fa0XF6T2Q3iRRnKICItLIOBkCW3pzGN9h0ic-yi8DXCUsXcPt8OsXS/s1600/HelenarubinsteinParis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr7e4Cdi3oXyeMC963VaDO0yYToYHIverB2kmUgqTVZ2W-JYPH5kBP5h3X9xx-ewlwqxeK1El_jDlsytvgP-06c_Fa0XF6T2Q3iRRnKICItLIOBkCW3pzGN9h0ic-yi8DXCUsXcPt8OsXS/s1600/HelenarubinsteinParis.jpg" height="513" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rubinstein's Salon, Paris, 1913</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi48zQ6t9_AQMF38hGrezKQqi5B4DdGM2WBnCqLIZfrmSRJVSI5LH1awqxEqEJBffS4oX6TgXCWRIIdg_Ayq6GVNrTL6yYd9qRa5-4_I29qimZ2o9EmNl4URXYNioKcZibQdl6r7KZjX6RH/s1600/HR+la+Petite+Illustration.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi48zQ6t9_AQMF38hGrezKQqi5B4DdGM2WBnCqLIZfrmSRJVSI5LH1awqxEqEJBffS4oX6TgXCWRIIdg_Ayq6GVNrTL6yYd9qRa5-4_I29qimZ2o9EmNl4URXYNioKcZibQdl6r7KZjX6RH/s1600/HR+la+Petite+Illustration.tiff" height="301" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"A Pretty Complexion" Ad in 1913 <i>La Petite Illustration</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In 1915, Rubinstein opened her first New York salon, the "Maison de Beaute Valaze" at 15 E. 49th Street, and soon, she was the talk of the town. <i>Vogue</i> magazine, in particular, could not get enough of this amazing woman whom everyone called, "Madame."</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
While Rubinstein would own five homes around the world, and would
always have a special place in her heart for Paris, she made a
significant impact on New York City. From a first apartment on West End
Avenue to a Central Park West flat in the 1930s, Rubinstein eventually
moved to the East side, and settled in on Park Avenue. (First at 895
Park Avenue and later 625 Park Avenue. She also had a private residence above her Fifth Avenue Salon.)</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifCTrlkg9ZrQzTUXKnv8in_KR0KetUvAXEdlstUDEaz9F2BHUHbu0yUaYydS4SKED-KBnZdlFZho_NtihKgCqL-mzg87rDNqJrlGB_otgYHpMHBkw8eJefxnsmPY5rrQ0PV3kbmkFznC-b/s1600/HR+dream+room+.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifCTrlkg9ZrQzTUXKnv8in_KR0KetUvAXEdlstUDEaz9F2BHUHbu0yUaYydS4SKED-KBnZdlFZho_NtihKgCqL-mzg87rDNqJrlGB_otgYHpMHBkw8eJefxnsmPY5rrQ0PV3kbmkFznC-b/s1600/HR+dream+room+.tiff" height="311" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Madame and the Prince: New York Digs, 1941</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnWNNABmm4y6-cZSbsmf4ok-6v58umXls2bEwy-n79qSBnFaNrz4nMf5ky6OO0LwQOAhMksLe3gMyPq2lUyZzT5D1CS6qDuPat2ixlKVk-wJOClbQsrU-T-89UFLV-knwIYR_JsS7ztPnY/s1600/HR+715+Park+Mus+of+city+of+new+york+1936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnWNNABmm4y6-cZSbsmf4ok-6v58umXls2bEwy-n79qSBnFaNrz4nMf5ky6OO0LwQOAhMksLe3gMyPq2lUyZzT5D1CS6qDuPat2ixlKVk-wJOClbQsrU-T-89UFLV-knwIYR_JsS7ztPnY/s1600/HR+715+Park+Mus+of+city+of+new+york+1936.jpg" height="640" width="451" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Vision of Beauty: Rubinstein's Residence (above her salon at 715 Fifth) <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWQN8M73&SMLS=1&RW=1243&RH=646" target="_blank">MCNY, see more here</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivN_XkCKldnCzUydK0jNXpwt1nBJ3FZfnrw52Suzhy-VkRH30nMKL39PUH1jibEucp_oHVESO6Z4orEYmzi-V9Labv0duWNLUGTxPTpuPoEhyg4S41tm8OzoDKVqbVVJkEK9Fi5h4Ay_XP/s1600/rubinstein4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivN_XkCKldnCzUydK0jNXpwt1nBJ3FZfnrw52Suzhy-VkRH30nMKL39PUH1jibEucp_oHVESO6Z4orEYmzi-V9Labv0duWNLUGTxPTpuPoEhyg4S41tm8OzoDKVqbVVJkEK9Fi5h4Ay_XP/s1600/rubinstein4.jpg" height="489" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rubinstein's Park on Park Avenue: A Royal Garden</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyqnjKkO7TgJUT8FYt0C_UgxKNqQGd9rddq_0A_3ceLXFrFgCAD2xxg7_V5kdn6SfOaZzAsHzBJkH6xyqLwdPs6PsZsg5AELNO6PboQCIDmqK4tivxj1JUsBPJoyZYACN6Msiu76J2_CSt/s1600/HR+compact+by+dali+1928.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyqnjKkO7TgJUT8FYt0C_UgxKNqQGd9rddq_0A_3ceLXFrFgCAD2xxg7_V5kdn6SfOaZzAsHzBJkH6xyqLwdPs6PsZsg5AELNO6PboQCIDmqK4tivxj1JUsBPJoyZYACN6Msiu76J2_CSt/s1600/HR+compact+by+dali+1928.tiff" height="200" width="130" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1928 Compact by Dali</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Known for her tremendous dinner parties and swanky guest list (after a divorce from Titus, she married a Prince, Artchil Gourielli-Tchkonia). She was also know for her decorating skills. <i>Life Magazine</i> observed that her Park Avenue residence was "perhaps the most arrestingly decorated apartment in New York." An avid collector of art, Rubinstein showcased Picassos and Renoirs, African Masks, and lavishly decorated rooms, from a gold and white baroque dining room to a "dream room" modeled after the work of surrealist Salvador Dali. (Some of Dali's artwork was also displayed in Rubinstein's apartment, including several murals; she and Dali were great friends and the artist designed a compact for her in 1928).<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftK5TXPYsAH5OltihnXAK_3VEOpOu79PW76uYTaFHkizWIVx18JuRfRGXzLxOUDK4WobbL_fJkcfUbWbojSIUx1T3Ihb1rW11cn6BmQphaULCoEVMCdRF9kYPm_ASS9HxzPZ_NND-9g8I/s1600/HR+life+mage+1941+jewelry.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftK5TXPYsAH5OltihnXAK_3VEOpOu79PW76uYTaFHkizWIVx18JuRfRGXzLxOUDK4WobbL_fJkcfUbWbojSIUx1T3Ihb1rW11cn6BmQphaULCoEVMCdRF9kYPm_ASS9HxzPZ_NND-9g8I/s1600/HR+life+mage+1941+jewelry.tiff" height="400" width="317" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Organizing the Beautiful: Rubinstein and Her Jewelry </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There is no question that Rubinstein was a collector of things: art,
jewelry, rugs, American glass, artifacts--and she collected with an eye
to choosing a range of quality--from the most expensive items (in 1941, her
jewelry was valued at one million dollars) to the "junk store"
variety. And she was famous for decking out her salons with artwork and
beautiful rugs. As a collector, according to <i>Life,</i> she was "a female small-scale Hearst."<br />
<br />
Here the term "small-scale" is applicable to Rubinstein's love of ordering and decorating spaces (whether that space be an apartment or a female face). Along with all of her other collections, she also collected miniatures and crafted spectacular rooms of various styles. (The rooms are now housed in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, <a href="http://www.tamuseum.org.il/collection-item/5336" target="_blank">see a slideshow here</a>.)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgwITACNvdO7wzoP-_mxUhhfln_fTWbT3vDkqJA17-aEA28OLST1IiJRP-jxyaix6JX0GzolJqtJP_cP1G2PPdMk1vh2WraqnnxijQ_NM8Xcw8ljLY6I5nUK8sH5WC-GFbGwQFI2gXdN4e/s1600/ruben.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgwITACNvdO7wzoP-_mxUhhfln_fTWbT3vDkqJA17-aEA28OLST1IiJRP-jxyaix6JX0GzolJqtJP_cP1G2PPdMk1vh2WraqnnxijQ_NM8Xcw8ljLY6I5nUK8sH5WC-GFbGwQFI2gXdN4e/s1600/ruben.jpg" height="371" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Rubinstein Miniature: Queen Anne Dining Room</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Rubinstein's love of the delicate and small object was, no doubt, related to her love of beauty, of arranging all the smaller parts to make a stunning whole. And her apartment, style, and proclivity for collecting, mirrored her approach to beauty. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhot5vjFdSrRxklW_a46dUjdpM7yfzet0Btn9dMUs9LuNaISv5YQmziKcPFts_fdzZaV_7XJfNfOPqjeYEFEYV3xxJJKNXMLHfYwTxBuTjCf52QqqAF1cDKkDz6tXyy5zRhzK67EPB7wx5Z/s1600/ruben9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhot5vjFdSrRxklW_a46dUjdpM7yfzet0Btn9dMUs9LuNaISv5YQmziKcPFts_fdzZaV_7XJfNfOPqjeYEFEYV3xxJJKNXMLHfYwTxBuTjCf52QqqAF1cDKkDz6tXyy5zRhzK67EPB7wx5Z/s1600/ruben9.jpg" height="400" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Careful Arrangement: Rubinstein and the Miniature</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPnb-HODsrCJyAkXCysslVp7aWKkLVSVLXWj0FFu88B8uuCY0N1c-cvEdfZvjGvJVpouJqYJml1BHht3Vu5BKhUmSQb6uOFgu7iQ_p4YkGKJFMHpW21zAxwrsEHiduL1pQJvEpCW8jpfKY/s1600/HR+valaze+Harpers+bazaar+november+1922.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPnb-HODsrCJyAkXCysslVp7aWKkLVSVLXWj0FFu88B8uuCY0N1c-cvEdfZvjGvJVpouJqYJml1BHht3Vu5BKhUmSQb6uOFgu7iQ_p4YkGKJFMHpW21zAxwrsEHiduL1pQJvEpCW8jpfKY/s1600/HR+valaze+Harpers+bazaar+november+1922.tiff" height="200" width="172" /></a>Rubinstein offered customers much more than a pot of face cream (although she launched her empire with a single face cream treatment, called "Valaze.") She not only offered "treatments" (along with a line of products) but she also sold a kind of philosophy. Her products were not simply part of the vast array of available creams and tonics on the market. "If you wish merely to play make-believe with your
complexion," read one of her clever ads addressed to New York City
women, "there are to accommodate you hundreds of more or less
pretentious 'make-up parlors' all the way from lofty Fifth Avenue to the
humbler downtown sections of New York."<br />
<br />
Rubinstein's approach was different from others in the beauty industry at the time. She herself was out in the world seeing what it had to offer. She was a stylish globetrotter, part scientist, part artist. And she used the image of herself as a modern woman squarely within her product line and approach. (She was famous for posing for portraits and, especially in the first decades of her business, she usually used self portraits to advertise her product, hence connecting her very own "image" with the items she sold.)<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN5JLcDy3zyKmZ-BZEnaij_JgP1wwMWkp9w07vWf_ZLfvWZ2ljZXtfctSnks9oIloW5eIhSSL_5sNurDO2_M49YXcB1z1IZF6jQGwMu5yqM4zayb6vs36b7kTonUcKyZQJFpKzWxVs2gui/s1600/HR+pink+and+red+ad.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN5JLcDy3zyKmZ-BZEnaij_JgP1wwMWkp9w07vWf_ZLfvWZ2ljZXtfctSnks9oIloW5eIhSSL_5sNurDO2_M49YXcB1z1IZF6jQGwMu5yqM4zayb6vs36b7kTonUcKyZQJFpKzWxVs2gui/s1600/HR+pink+and+red+ad.tiff" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1920 Ad, with a likeness of Madame </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Rubinstein's approach asked women to see the pursuit of beauty as necessary <i>for themselves.</i> Women needed to attend to themselves, their appearance, their complexion, in order to attend to themselves as full citizens in the world. Beauty was a means to freedom, as it were.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEm8aN6WO6qOpKThWmwsieVg5EARLQseeuQUmmjBmOKc64i3B-txzy6_TEf36Z47oBd3FpvZ0mKQ-sBF3mmieWBHwSQ3dRXAx5pz8lN7gJjQlf5goFZUlRp9IrTVDG3RbB0Y1HH46bKUEo/s1600/HR+1919+ad.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEm8aN6WO6qOpKThWmwsieVg5EARLQseeuQUmmjBmOKc64i3B-txzy6_TEf36Z47oBd3FpvZ0mKQ-sBF3mmieWBHwSQ3dRXAx5pz8lN7gJjQlf5goFZUlRp9IrTVDG3RbB0Y1HH46bKUEo/s1600/HR+1919+ad.tiff" height="280" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Mecca in New York City</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"Visit her now," read an ad in a 1916 issue of <i>Harper's Bazaar</i>, "or write her. . . to free yourself from the freckles, the sunburn, the hateful sallowness--the fine lines and the coarse wrinkles, the black heads and open pores,--let her tell you how that coarseness of skin may be made delicate and fine, and the sweetness and fascination of purity and color be made once more your own."</div>
<br />
The idea of making beauty "one's own" was a powerful elixir in an American culture on the verge of liberating women, not only by granting women suffrage in 1920, but by opening up the possibility that a woman could take control of her own life. As a woman in business, in charge of her own empire, Madame Rubinstein indeed epitomized what she was selling.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcp55_TEDFM7zBS065NkOW8JDlKBY7Gd8gxoEKCssz98Ra4GIsSr2OY0ygUdifsmoWWvUYrFTganu6MgUIe8ZYE41rUcjIG38QVxEVJUOb30hKLq5udMt3aQHo0WhQLmpDGwLbf3LwOLSs/s1600/HR+715+fifth+ave+salon+life+mag+1941.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcp55_TEDFM7zBS065NkOW8JDlKBY7Gd8gxoEKCssz98Ra4GIsSr2OY0ygUdifsmoWWvUYrFTganu6MgUIe8ZYE41rUcjIG38QVxEVJUOb30hKLq5udMt3aQHo0WhQLmpDGwLbf3LwOLSs/s1600/HR+715+fifth+ave+salon+life+mag+1941.tiff" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Storefront for Beauty: 715 Fifth Avenue</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After World War One, Rubinstein moved into a new salon at 46 West 57th street. "From the moment you enter the door," read a 1919 ad for the new salon, "you realize that you are in a different atmosphere . . . The whole place is an inspiration to the actress, to the writer, to the woman of beauty."<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
In 1937, she would move her salon to 655 Fifth Avenue, and later, to 715 Fifth Avenue (where she maintained a private residence on the upper floors). It was that "sleek little salon in New York," <i>Life Magazine</i> reported in July 1941, that would serve as "the capital of the worldwide beauty business." </div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgseaTWJJXyJuhoq7VZf12Bz_J4VL6oXzkvFrap9q9uxHvAGEKk_2GtEKn2t9YBeh_AFzxaMCavPDbB9v7TxBV8Tw1S2Jk8FUEQ9yEhMRCK5YEY9ZR0e3s6bYjg5qhUlZTsdSi0tDQtkCND/s1600/5a14856r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgseaTWJJXyJuhoq7VZf12Bz_J4VL6oXzkvFrap9q9uxHvAGEKk_2GtEKn2t9YBeh_AFzxaMCavPDbB9v7TxBV8Tw1S2Jk8FUEQ9yEhMRCK5YEY9ZR0e3s6bYjg5qhUlZTsdSi0tDQtkCND/s1600/5a14856r.jpg" height="448" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Clean Well-Lighted Place: The Fifth Avenue Salon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Keenly aware of the ways in which the commodity of "beauty" was sold, Rubinstein offered her clients many things, from cosmetics to facials, but she also offered things that were not tangible: a promise and an escape. To visit her salon was not only to "free yourself from... hateful sallowness," but it was also an escape from the daily world to be indulged and inspired. Beyond that, her salon was also a no-nonsense place where one could be "fixed," as it were.<br />
<br />
"Behind its slick facade," <i>Life Magazine </i>continued, "the Fifth Avenue salon is a super-garage and repair shop for feminine faces and bodies. Here, in the Rubinstein 'Day of Beauty,' ladies are stretched, exercised, rubbed, scrubbed, wrapped in hot blankets, bathed in infra-red rays, massaged dry and massaged under water, and bathed in milk--all before lunch." <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirOfwlr9Nn2JCxOY8DQx6CpOrvcFtwEV0YxpgXxyNqDtmCs75FkUIjQrosnyO4-3elwpNlv1yei2jL1GDHtz5PSdb-ldS2OFec0nb8ZQl4YeW-06bLbMsB2G2mi6-Mqc9scPhtSWRTtvxi/s1600/5a14854r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirOfwlr9Nn2JCxOY8DQx6CpOrvcFtwEV0YxpgXxyNqDtmCs75FkUIjQrosnyO4-3elwpNlv1yei2jL1GDHtz5PSdb-ldS2OFec0nb8ZQl4YeW-06bLbMsB2G2mi6-Mqc9scPhtSWRTtvxi/s1600/5a14854r.jpg" height="464" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Repair Room: Beauty is Efficient</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9DWXLsi11btJ9MQM3NgjbHxmBprhyapA2XaIBczHzSxaa2MeAuf4YectUbXQC2-AiPG-T811cHJx1O6otAQk-XFoht3lY-kXB2wrkF9mFm1uPSAtJcjB4vNHKR00pz-XSv8-yId2Mg6as/s1600/HR+school.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9DWXLsi11btJ9MQM3NgjbHxmBprhyapA2XaIBczHzSxaa2MeAuf4YectUbXQC2-AiPG-T811cHJx1O6otAQk-XFoht3lY-kXB2wrkF9mFm1uPSAtJcjB4vNHKR00pz-XSv8-yId2Mg6as/s1600/HR+school.tiff" height="245" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keep Your Powder Dry: NYC Class for Salesgirls at Rubinstein's Salon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In 1941, a "Day of Beauty" treatment cost $25 (no small fee given that minimum wage at this point was roughly 41 cents per hour). The salon certainly appealed to a high-income clientele, but at the same time, Rubinstein was a major employer for working class women of all ages, training 2,700 women a year as salesgirls.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwXIF3sYDe7dyChozS008SuluhNGdtW-wRe-gUOc6_1j0J8UyCg9Wh3H0dat514Rd_Qz-2TKmYyGislGk0ULTtPTKSv6GcXP6xiLJeM-7pui68hyphenhyphenq2x9Xfifv9y1rgatfMRwedBLgk0QzK/s1600/HR+science.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwXIF3sYDe7dyChozS008SuluhNGdtW-wRe-gUOc6_1j0J8UyCg9Wh3H0dat514Rd_Qz-2TKmYyGislGk0ULTtPTKSv6GcXP6xiLJeM-7pui68hyphenhyphenq2x9Xfifv9y1rgatfMRwedBLgk0QzK/s1600/HR+science.jpg" height="320" width="257" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Laboratory of Beauty: Madame's Elixers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Beyond her salons, her products were displayed in department stores, drugstores, and pharmacies across the country, and any woman or girl could peruse the selection, (assisted by a salesperson who just might have been coached by one of Rubinstein's traveling instructors). There was something very real-world and down to earth about this approach: confront the consumer at the potential point of sale not only with the item, but also with the promise and the philosophy.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-itVVDPTSj2f-IqYUKroHsvTf8XpOtrRkxBzNgIfim4y4LyQAD9bBbWHMl5kdAwpjsxdVJ4r9LHLY1j0NNfElr3CaTvzo0X23PTMepfHYqmvkgRtzVq1T5LZR2R6krcGGNcp9wACAOUyM/s1600/HR+heaven+scent.JPG" height="320" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Small & Delicate: "Heaven Sent," 1941</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Rubinstein's
artistic eye is most certainly revealed in the careful designs of her
products. They are smart and lovely. They are beautiful and artistic.
But they are also utilitarian
and portable. Who could blame a woman for wanting to purchase one these enticing items so beautifully crafted? Who would not want all 629 items in her catalogue of products? <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFbSQ3L19urWBJ2WTijxpq8qPmCx-8_ubVBtiGM3WvkBbw76O84XLV3elOol1Fu94NncUfBToNFJQPgwBWrqz6_khtrl80wftkrqBZUzbmLeTi7enMw4DzvNny_SfZrBb19dxSQGpVyh9m/s1600/HR+compact.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFbSQ3L19urWBJ2WTijxpq8qPmCx-8_ubVBtiGM3WvkBbw76O84XLV3elOol1Fu94NncUfBToNFJQPgwBWrqz6_khtrl80wftkrqBZUzbmLeTi7enMw4DzvNny_SfZrBb19dxSQGpVyh9m/s1600/HR+compact.tiff" height="288" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'll take it! Compact & Lipstick, c. 1930 </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM7xMu-cvxlfB01J72MaQQo9X4pYSJgxvg4PkAr2NRbdTNz6NEOU12dF5y5AxltsMWtEhc40OTM6fjMKmCcTCDMERVhUmWgoaQ-4pQDSwqgfof0IC3LxzU2G26kX26IEGYA4dUjuzLvrbs/s1600/lipsticks+hr.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM7xMu-cvxlfB01J72MaQQo9X4pYSJgxvg4PkAr2NRbdTNz6NEOU12dF5y5AxltsMWtEhc40OTM6fjMKmCcTCDMERVhUmWgoaQ-4pQDSwqgfof0IC3LxzU2G26kX26IEGYA4dUjuzLvrbs/s1600/lipsticks+hr.tiff" height="303" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Four-Cast for Beauty, 1940s</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMMEtbu_WtgswExSNMC8mJe2Wi4LSeOFMU3eNFSKg-2hnqUyt3Tzf0jWzIcqji-mDVHD6VQHdnCd-CYd7a4eHUvnOuzabizDZw2k4feXcvn7QUpXe19zjPwlkUUPNi5pS5tvOiFORsifFw/s1600/hr+apple+blosson+time.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMMEtbu_WtgswExSNMC8mJe2Wi4LSeOFMU3eNFSKg-2hnqUyt3Tzf0jWzIcqji-mDVHD6VQHdnCd-CYd7a4eHUvnOuzabizDZw2k4feXcvn7QUpXe19zjPwlkUUPNi5pS5tvOiFORsifFw/s1600/hr+apple+blosson+time.tiff" height="320" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Apple Blossom Time, Jewelled Perfumette," 1938, with Carrying Case</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unlike Elizabeth Arden (who was always cast as Rubinstein's arch rival, but may simply be viewed as a competitor in the same industry) Madame's products were most often purchased by women for themselves. (Arden's, it has been asserted, were more likely purchased as gifts.)<br />
<br />
Making a gift to oneself was a central theme of Rubinstein's philosophy. To pamper and primp and to care for and cultivate one's own appearance was, to Rubinstein, an act of artistry. And in her careful arrangement of the rooms she inhabited, in her collections and arrangements of things in space, Rubinstein viewed the world as a thing to be ordered. The face, the body were both "canvases" upon which cosmetics could be applied, turning a blank surface into a work of art. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDBk3ZdI_I0HFs0jtUa2AIosWPrcXksTpbDI1-e8oTUg6zCg2HUBniMjhONU4nxoSrX-VEww2bSRi6PanXz7wsZ5ExnmXdZODjc7b2lsjGGDtxMUCXofsCK5e0nQpH5Hr_w9oVYWnEJi-y/s1600/salon613333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDBk3ZdI_I0HFs0jtUa2AIosWPrcXksTpbDI1-e8oTUg6zCg2HUBniMjhONU4nxoSrX-VEww2bSRi6PanXz7wsZ5ExnmXdZODjc7b2lsjGGDtxMUCXofsCK5e0nQpH5Hr_w9oVYWnEJi-y/s1600/salon613333.jpg" height="345" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Face time: Rubinstein Demonstrates her Artistic Skills</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcpAgA7exa3y7xuR3KffcuWtN2_dfW1gtr7H59Z-owELvCYTQOriPWs36IhHU3QWoGNH4cVOxvIACvSV1m09ifakaGE4hV_HWSB638JUkptTD3URzHlcoJEbt89mL94vI0WFqmmKq0CT7I/s1600/HR+Ad+Nov+18+1957+Life.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcpAgA7exa3y7xuR3KffcuWtN2_dfW1gtr7H59Z-owELvCYTQOriPWs36IhHU3QWoGNH4cVOxvIACvSV1m09ifakaGE4hV_HWSB638JUkptTD3URzHlcoJEbt89mL94vI0WFqmmKq0CT7I/s1600/HR+Ad+Nov+18+1957+Life.tiff" height="320" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Confronting the World: The Product's Promise</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Instant. All Day. Easy. Glamor. The promise of these things was made real in a small bottle, a scent, a compact, a cream, a portable, stylish object. Helena Rubinstein understood the need to cater to women with the beautiful, the delicate, the inspiring. Care for yourself, she seemed to suggest with each product line. (She also literally asked women to care for themselves, opening a gym in her salon and offering tips for healthy eating.)<br />
<br />
What Rubinstein offered was clearly what many women wanted. The range of her career--from the 1910s to the 1960s--spanned a time of major changes in the status of women in terms of economics, politics, social boundaries and much more; Her salon was a refuge; her products a gift. Now, women could face that changing world with a sense of control.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEictOUe2o2tcti5UQidVvOPqjfGVpWpINNSGJCkkx752JU0-Qq1juf73H2kIwrdATxRoZtH0sNlkU2TV1GG3Aye8aLHJJSo1At6fO35tlQzheS_dBgNvKsQwqrOmHmJZ11C1jfzx719Yi30/s1600/hr+portrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEictOUe2o2tcti5UQidVvOPqjfGVpWpINNSGJCkkx752JU0-Qq1juf73H2kIwrdATxRoZtH0sNlkU2TV1GG3Aye8aLHJJSo1At6fO35tlQzheS_dBgNvKsQwqrOmHmJZ11C1jfzx719Yi30/s1600/hr+portrait.jpg" height="400" width="310" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Madame at Work: She retired at age 90</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
As she oversaw the success and expansion of her business throughout the years, she must have marveled at the changes witnessed. After all, once upon a time, women did not vote; they did not dine out by themselves; they did not run multi million dollar enterprises, and they did not, heaven forbid, paint their faces.<br />
<br />
Helena Rubinstein was just one voice that extolled women to think
differently. She may have lived for many decades in New York City, but
she truly was a woman of the world. <br />
<br />
~Jenny Thompson<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDyoLTx5KzWfe5t9hmE2RO2fFdwPp9xexyhpHHb7LMjTozRZ9ASXHFzifi-bI0qB_dodKKJtwIMGt0wIlJys6USGgfurwKmPaRhjuGI3wGrHIeFsmxb_EXhWAp6baheZkeV-g8VPyuhLkq/s1600/39153r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDyoLTx5KzWfe5t9hmE2RO2fFdwPp9xexyhpHHb7LMjTozRZ9ASXHFzifi-bI0qB_dodKKJtwIMGt0wIlJys6USGgfurwKmPaRhjuGI3wGrHIeFsmxb_EXhWAp6baheZkeV-g8VPyuhLkq/s1600/39153r.jpg" height="640" width="435" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Madame: A Woman of the World ( Library of Congress)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2