Burlesque Legend Wild Cherry talks New Orleans, burlesque revivals, and “taking it outside”.

By: Divertida Devotchka

New Orleans burlesque legend Wild Cherry grew up travelling the carnival circuit with her family, and her first performances were carnival girlie shows.  She began dancing in New Orleans night clubs in the late 1950s. “I just wanted to make a living, because I had not had any formal schooling.” explains Cherry.  Her stage name was given to her by a club owner who found it was befitting of her feisty personality. Cherry danced in various clubs throughout the French Quarter over the years and has fond memories of dancing, drinking, and of course, fighting. According to Cherry, there were certainly some clubs she didn’t stay at for very long. “I worked at some clubs with bad reputations- girls fighting a lot, and some managers even hit the girls. That never happened to me though,” Cherry said.  “Maybe because my name put them off, I don’t know.”

There’s known to be intermittent cattiness and drama in some aspects of the burlesque scene, but Wild Cherry says things are nothing like they used to be. “There wasn’t a lot of that catfight stuff. Nah, these girls were pretty rough,” Cherry said in an interview with Rick Delaup, producer of New Orleans’ own Bustout Burlesque and the New Orleans Burlesque Festival. “And if they did decide they didn’t like somebody, in theaters I’ve seen, they would take a rolling pin and a light bulb, and grind that glass up fine like a powder and put it in your face powder. They would put shoe polish in the eye mascara tube. They could get really rough. They didn’t play.”

I found the “crushed glass in the face powder” gag to be rather shocking, so when I asked Cherry about it in our interview, she casually replied, “Well, I was glad I didn’t use powder, for one thing! I used pancake makeup instead and I suppose I would have seen crushed glass in that.”

In recent years, Wild Cherry has performed in several of the Burlesque Hall of Fame weekend Legends showcases, as well as performing occasionally with New Orleans troupe Fleur de Tease, and she’s also done a comedic monologue in some Bustout Burlesque shows. She’ll be appearing again at this year’s New Orleans Burlesque Festival, where she will participate in panel discussions and sign autographs. I asked Cherry for her opinion about the current boom in modern burlesque.  “There are girls out there who are bringing back the classic style and I’m excited about that,” Cherry said. “There are troupes all over doing that now, thank God. But I’m dead set against most of the new Bourbon Street. So many girls just go on stage and stroll around begging for money. Most of them don’t even dance, and some of them may be good at working the pole, but soliciting money has no part in burlesque.”

According to Cherry, burlesque isn’t the only thing that she has seen change over the years. She was known for being “scrappy” and argumentative, and admittedly used to go looking for fights some nights as an outlet for her rage. “I don’t go looking for trouble like I used to. People who knew me before would definitely think I’ve mellowed out over the years,” Cherry said. She may be calmer these days, but the old Cherry is still in there, and is known to make an appearance from time to time, much to the chagrin of her family. “I haven’t been in a good fight in years, but I wouldn’t back down from one even today, doesn’t matter if it’s a man or a woman. A few years ago I embarrassed my granddaughter in Wal-Mart because I was threatened by two young women and I said, ‘Let’s take it outside.’ Of course, the girls backed down.”

Traveling Tent

by Hella Goode

Pole dancing originated-you guessed it-from the Polish! Not really, it was practiced to keep warm and to entertain Santa Claus on the North Pole…

Just kidding, there are a few very different theories though, on how pole dancing came about.
The first one is probably the most logical pole dance. Although not intentionally erotic, the Maypole dance did have sensual roots. This pagan ritual was a fertility dance dating back to around the 1100’s, with the pole representing (but not obviously resembling) the typical phallic figure. Basically, people danced in a circle around the pole, often holding ribbons that were attached to the pole. This was done on May Day every year until Christianity became the mainstream.

Other areas of the world were also learning to dance with poles. In India, there have been non-erotic forms of pole dancing or exercising since around the same time as the Maypole. Men would do yoga on a wooden pole to improve their strength, called Mallakhamb. Another variation is called Mallastambha which used an iron pole for building strength. Mallakhamb is still done today but only by males.

Pole dancing took a sexier turn in the heyday of traveling tent shows. Each act was housed in a tent. Poles holding up the tents tended to be in the way of the dancers performing inside, so a few innovative ladies began to use them as props, swinging and dancing on them from time to time.

The pole really began to be used for pole dancing as we know it today, was reportedly first used by Belle Jangles as she danced in Oregon at the Mugwump club in 1968. However, this was not the norm and did not catch on right away. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that strippers really began using the pole regularly. The rumor is that pole dancing first became the rage in Canada, and then spread throughout the US.

Today poles are making their way from strip joints into mainstream fitness program, even being given a less scandalous name, the fitness pole. They have yet, however, to shake all of the stigma of their past. What is left to see is whether or not they will stay in the spotlight or, like many a fad, return to whence they came….and whether or not Polish girls will dance on them again (ha!)

Herstory of Bettie Page-What Would Bettie Do?

By Hella Goode

What would you do if a random woman walked up to you and asked you if you had found God? You’d probably brush her off. Bettie Page walked the Jesus walk for many of her latter years, unrecognized and hardly recognizable, even participating in the Billy Graham Crusade.  She felt she had quite a bit to reconcile, but nude modeling wasn’t really what she wanted to wash clean.

In fact, Bettie was known to say that nude modeling came naturally to her and that it was only once Adam and Eve sinned that they needed to wear clothes. Bettie did not regret most of her modeling, however, the government probing into Irving Klaw’s photography; accused of being pornographic and derogatory could have made Bettie begin to feel a bit dirty about her work. The photos taken of Bettie in various dominatrix outfits and gear were not blatantly sexual and did not involve nudity, yet filth is in the eye of the beholder. Just as a mother nursing her child in public can be seen as beautiful and natural by some, yet overexposed and even a turn-on by others, the images of Bettie became seen as something to be ashamed of.

Bettie modeled for fun, for the money (which paid better than her prior secretarial work), and for attention. She had never had a stable home life, unconditional acceptance, or stability, and strangely, her modeling-risque at the time, gave her all she sought after.

Bettie Page, born Betty Page on April 22, 1923 to Walter Roy Page and Edna Marie Pirthe in Tennessee, had no idea that her childhood longing for attention and acceptance would help bring about a cultural revolution.

She was the second of six children, and as any innocent child does, she needed attention. She wasn’t getting much of it. Her father wasn’t around much and wasn’t pleasant when he was. He was abusive and in and out of jail. Her mother became so desolate that she sent Bettie and a sister to live in an orphanage until she could afford to have them back. Yet, Bettie kept smiling and enjoying the simple joys of life. She and her brothers and sisters competed at keeping a chicken feather in the air using their breath, and she dabbled in art with the oil from her fingers. Bettie would always find a way.

Then,  in 1950, while strolling along Coney Island, a random photographer snapped her photo. His name was Jerry Tibbs, and he had just discovered black gold. Although yet to have her signature bangin’ bangs that would be emulated for generations to come, she was still pretty and charismatic. The bangs came later as a suggestion to keep her face from appearing too long.

Bettie was a hit! She appeared in numerous magazines including Playboy, a move which would prove unexpectedly helpful later in life. Her career shot as high up as the Rocketeer, whose girlfriend in the movie was inspired by Bettie’s look. This is the part of Bettie’s life, from 1950 to the beginning of the 60’s, that we know the most about.

Then, just as Jesus disappeared for a few years, so did Bettie Page. Until recently, little was known about what she did for so many years. She was often assumed dead. Then she popped up as a Golden Girl of the faith. Turns out that between her three failed marriages she had become part of the Christian faith and devoted herself to God. Also a motivator in her newfound Christianity, her trouble with her temper.  Bettie had been arrested for the attempted murder of her landlady after a fiery dispute. She was deemed mentally instable and diagnosed with schizophrenia. She served out many months in an institution, trying to heal herself.

During these turbulent years she had no way of supporting herself, not realizing that others were rolling in green by selling her images. Yes, the sexual revolution of the sixties and seventies, had Bettie blowing up years and years later. Playboy’s Hugh Hefner extended his hand to Bettie, helping her bring in some profits from her images, most of which she did not own the rights to. After the government’s investigation of Irving Klaw, she was surprised any of the images still existed.

Bettie had no desire to create new images though. She wanted to be remembered even in life for her heyday moments, those glorious images of Jungle Bettie, fetish Bettie and the gorgeous Playboy shot of her, naked hanging the ornament on a Christmas tree. She couldn’t understand why anyone would want to see her growing old. Meanwhile, Bettie was more popular than ever, with countless websites, books (including the great The Real Bettie Page: the truth about the queen of pin-ups by Richard Foster), and movies about her, including 2005’s The Notorious Bettie Page, starring Gretchen Mol.

That’s how Bettie chose to live her last quiet years, with psalms on her lips, her signature bangs (peppery gray) on her face, and memories in her head.  A rarity amongst the legends of her day, Bettie did live a long life. At the age of 85, on December 11, 2008, Bettie Page passed away as a result of pneumonia and a heart attack in Los Angeles.  Impossible to forget, rest in peace, Bettie Page.

So, next time someone approaches you thinking you look like you need a bit of faith in your life, look closely, you never know who you might find.

God Bless Lili St. Cyr!

By: Hella Goode

“God bless Lili St. Cyr!” Janet belts out in the mock-burlesque musical number “Wild and Untamed Thing” in the movie Rocky Horror Picture Show. I tried for years to figure out what she was saying. Thanks, Pin Curl, for guiding me to my answer.

Mike Wallace interviewed the legendary burlesque striptease icon, Lili St. Cyr in October of 1957 expecting to meet a run of the mill, heart of gold, bad girl who is really a good girl who fell into an unfortunate lifestyle according to standards of the day. What he found was something entirely different. He met a brutally honest woman who had no qualms answering his questions of how she really felt about her profession and herself.

Lili St. Cyr, born Willis Marie Van Schaack, on June 18, 1918 in Minneapolis, MN into a family where she wasn’t necessarily wanted or needed. Her unstable childhood, although still producing an intelligent, beautiful and talented woman seemed to have left its mark on her self-esteem.

St. Cyr never really aspired to become a burlesque star. Lili was first hired as a dancer by accident. She accompanied her sister to an audition and was offered a job as well. She danced at venues such as Florentine Gardens and the Music Box, and began to concoct her own signature style of fanciful and creative numbers beyond simply removing clothing. Anyone can do that. St. Cyr created storylines in her routines that came to be what voyeurs expected from her, to be enticed, but also entertained. One such move was the ‘Flying G’ in which her G string would be caught by a fishing rod and pull her off stage. Some of her most well-known numbers were “Jungle Goddess,” “Persian Harem,” and “Ballet Dancer,” the latter in which she incorporated the years of ballet lessons from her youth.

Lili St. Cyr was photographer, Bruno Bernard’s muse, too. She was also in a few films, but usually as a striptease artist and was not granted acting roles that other actresses were offered. She was meant for live performance and continued to wow audiences with routines that included bubble baths and even a backward strip. In the backward strip, St. Cyr entered the stage barely covered and would provocatively redress herself.

This backward strip might have been symbolic of her struggles with her self-esteem and her career. Audiences applaud at the end of an act, so if they could applaud her for being herself and fully-clothed, she might begin to feel legitimized about her career again.

In the Wallace interview, after about 15 years in the scantily-clad spotlight, Lili admits she wasn’t proud of what she was doing for a living and was embarrassed by it. She expressed wanting to leave the business but needed to support herself. Sadly, she did not feel herself capable of doing anything else to make a living. St. Cyr, married at the time, wanted to quit her lusty life of burlesque as soon as she could be supported by her husband at the time. He was one of six she had in her lifetime.

Lili also admitted to not being part of any major religion and had no desire to bear children. In the 1950’s coming out with these statements instead of slopping frosting on her feelings to say that of course she one day dreamed of dancing around the kitchen surrounded by babies and attend church in her best every Sunday, was somewhat shocking.

These were not rash statements Ms. St. Cyr gave. They were truth. In Kelly DiNardo’s biographical book on the star, Gilded Lili, she reveals that she has had more than one abortion. Grief after an abortion as well as low-self esteem or failed marriages, or disconnect in her family life or all of these factors may have lead her to experiment with heroin. However, Lili herself had said that using was part of the Hollywood lifestyle and that some did it for attention from others, and others still to have a non-existent moment of privacy in the public eye.

She continued to battle with heroin years later and was seen less and less in public. She died January 29, 1999 in Los Angeles at the age of 80 (thus not a death likely caused by heroin, more likely from old age), but like a stained shroud, left her mark in burlesque herstory.

For the above mentioned Interview with Miss St. Cyr, please click here.

By: Hella Goode

Here we are in the midst of another Depression, and coincidentally at a peak of popularity in the world of roller derby. Why a coincidence? Roller derby, although baring a rockin’ powerful image now, was born as a coed sport during the first Great Depression.

Brainchild of Chicagoan, Leo Seltzer, the sport debuted in 1935 as a nearly marathon race of over 50,000 laps around the rink. A few years later, realizing that violence sells, roller derby skaters got more competitive and physical. Becoming a huge TV hit in the 1950’s, derby female skaters began to become stars of the sport and turned into household names. After its rowdy youth, the sport began to spin its wheels in the 1970’s. Maybe it was disco that took its toll, who knows, but for whatever reason, roller derby athletes hung up their skates.

From time to time I have flashbacks of watching roller derby as a child in the 1980’s with groups like Blondie heading up the entertainment. Is this a figment of my imagination? Did roller derby ever really bite the big one?

Even if it did, there were still believers. So, like many things magical, at the turn of the millennium a group of Austin ladies decided that roller derby needed to be brought back from the dead. Anya Jack, April Herman, Heather Burdick and Nancy Lynn, the She-EO’s as they like to be called, formed TXRD Texas Roller Derby Lonestar Rollergirls, and Bad Girls, Good Women. Their passion for the sport was fierce as they battled their way through hoops, injuries and discord as to how to give birth to a league that would last and win over new fans. The original teams: Putas del Fuego, Rhinestone Cowgirls, Holy Rollers, and the Cherry Bombs and the Hellcats inspired a new generation of skaters, hard-knockin’ ladies and athletes to join up, form teams, and leagues all over the United States.

The local DFW Metroplex scene has a very active group of ladies who skate in the Assassination City league, ACDerby.com. These tough ladies have bouts the third Saturday of every month at Dad’s Broadway Skateland in Mesquite. So, go out and support them!

Dayla Cox, from Flower Mound (Flower Mound seems almost too good of an alias to use), who (although currently on hiatus) skated under the name Trayla Park, gives Pin Curl some insight into the roller derby experience.

For her, the roar of the crowd is the adrenaline rush that makes her skate harder. Of course, there are good and bad nights. Trayla Park still feels guilty about crashing into another girl (who just so happened to be one of the founders) at practice during her virgin days in the rink, leaving her needing pins in her leg. She also has a rival, known as Calypso Crash, who she says is evil. “She knocks people on their asses for the fun of it.”

This is a sport where some are meant to participate and others are destined to be spectators. Yet, according to Trayla Park, roller derby isn’t exclusive to those who wish to join the ranks. Outgoing girls, no matter what they do during the day should try to jab their way in. The more the merrier (until the bout, that is).

Roller Derby today is always open to new skaters, but what they also need is attention to keep support strong, like media attention, the movie, Whip It, directed by Drew Barrymore, and local businesses sponsorship. Even by being a spectator, fans can support roller derby and ensure that it stays a thriving monument to women’s prowess in sports.

Trayla says that, “the derby revival shows that women are fiercely competitive creatures in the sports world. We may use our sexuality to our advantage, but the real draw is the power of competitive sport.”

To see just what the She-EO’s and other ladies went through to bring back roller derby, check out the documentary, Hell on Wheels, or their website, http://www.txrd.com/.

Women Air Force Service Pilots

By: Hella Goode

Although the term usually brings to mind images of pointy-headed individuals, WASP does not always refer to a White Anglo Saxon Protestant, but in this case, something way more exciting. WASP refers to the Women Air force Service Pilots who bravely served their country during World War II. When Rosie the Riveter was queen and women were taking the place of men displaced at war in factories, stores and offices, when supplies of men were drying up the government began looking for domestically licensed women to fill pilot’s seats.

Officially begun in September 1942, the program only lasted about two years. When the men began to return from war, they wanted their jobs back, the ladies were sent packing as if it had never happened. Even the dead were sent off without military monetary compensation for their funerals. Thirty-eight lost their lives in training or piloting orders. Those who survived were forever changed. They had collectively flown 78 different aircrafts and over 60,000,000 miles of flight time.

During their service the WASPs were given menial housework tasks when not occupied flying. They were usually not sent on major missions, but ferried planes back and forth, sometimes tested other planes, and were even used to prove to the men that the B-29 was safe to fly. One would think that men, thinking themselves so brave and strong, would be the ones wanting to prove this to the women, not the women proving it to the men.

Over 1,000 women graduated from the vigorous training of an Air Force Pilot during those two years. Trained in the sizzling heat of Sweetwater, Texas, they were made to be as tough if not tougher than the men.

It was an experience that united women who were from very different ‘walks of life’ who otherwise might not have associated with one another nor had a common springboard to bond. Most of the candidates were single, young women, however there were married women and a few mothers who were selected to apply for the task at hand. Although it would seem obvious that their families would worry, the ladies felt the same sense of duty that their male counterparts did when addressing whether or not they would go to war. To many at that time, each individual had an obligation to serve whether it be in the military, at the workplace, or in the home. Interestingly, although the gender divide was as large as the Grand Canyon in the military, the economic status divide narrowed for prospective WASPs. WASPs included rich heiresses as well as less well-to-do farm girls. Ironically, no matter how much money the heiresses brought forth, they could not have bought the chance to become a WASP. WASPs were recruited from a list of privately licensed female pilots who had a certain amount of flight hours. For once, economic status would not interfere and allow for a truly equal opportunity where all women, at least, were created equal.

They found and lived freely only to be forced to return to the forced roles of standard life in the 1940’s and 1950’s where despite all they had achieved, they were once again limited to the options of housewifery and motherhood. These of course, are not bad choices, but really were not much of a choice as there were no alternatives. They yearned for other opportunities. Some applied to become commercial pilots, but were instead offered positions as stewardesses. It was not their safety records, or lack of flight hours that kept them grounded with the airlines but the simple fact that they were women. What would other pilots or passengers think? Others taught new pilots or became crop dusters in order to be able to keep flying. Still others found their prior roles just as fulfilling in offices and at home. Most of these brave lady soldiers never got the chance to pilot again. It wouldn’t be until the year 1977 when women would get another chance to be invited to fly military aircraft and finally be recognized for it. This, however, was when the WASPs fought back and became known as the first true female military pilots.

Today, when only 316 of the original 1, 074 lady wonders remain, the WASPs and women in general still have many hurdles to overcome. It’s ironic that despite feeling as close to equal as many of us do in this day and age, that it wasn’t until our lifetime that these women were finally recognized by the military for their service. To date, despite even dogs who fought in Vietnam having a memorial monument before the WASP pilots do. Keep in mind these dogs served in a war that dated later than the one fought by the brave women of the WASP unit. One would think that if choosing between the contributions of these heroic women and the also heroic canine units, that women would win the respect of men first. The problem with that statement is that it involves thinking and what reasonably good excuse could there have been to prevent women from doing what the WASP did both before and after World War II? Inequality and discrimination are beyond reason and logic. Thankfully, there have always been those ready to challenge such biased beliefs and try to instill change. What I’m sure women would like is not to take the place of the dog as ‘Man’s Best Friend,’ but instead to become to be seen as his equally brilliant and beautiful counterpart.

What the WASPs do currently have in their honor are two smaller pieces of recognition. In the Arlington National Cemetery, there is a memorial display for the Women in Military Service for America, which features one section about the WASPs. In 1996, the Postal Service created a stamp for the WASPs with the image of one of their founding mothers, Jacqueline Cochran, also known as a Pioneer Pilot. She later became the first female pilot to break the sound barrier. Before 1996, wasn’t that still something worth commemorating?

To learn more about the WASP experience, visit the site of their training in Sweetwater, Texas, home of the WASP Museum, or read up on some of their more personal stories in such books as Flying For Her Country by Amy Goodpaster-Strebe, and Winning My Wings by Marion Stegeman Hodgson. For those who wish to help make a permanent memorial for the WASP, they can make donations to the Memorial Campaign at http://waspmuseum.org/donation-sub-nav-page/.

Editor’s note: Our very own Hella Goode has her very first book out (under her legal name, of course)! We couldn’t be more proud of her! You’ll check it out, won’t you? 101 Mexico City Travel Tips

Legends: Josephine Baker
Story: Hella Goode

When Frida Kahlo painted her double self-portrait, the Two Fridas, she couldn’t possibly have been imagining that she would meet another Frida one day that would enchant her so.

The other ‘Frida’ in the rumored love affair, was actually born Freda Josephine McDonald on June 3, 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri to Carrie McDonald and drummer Eddie Carson, who hesitated very little in abandoning the new mother and child. She would later choose to go by her middle name, Josephine. After a series of family changes and a few short-lived marriages, she would become the legend known today as Josephine Baker, sometimes called ‘Black Venus,’ ‘Black Pearl,’ or ‘Creole Goddess.’ Josephine was renown worldwide for many of her passions, dancing, singing, mothering a menagerie of unusual pets, rallying for Civil Rights and setting the example for such adoption-happy celebs as Mia Farrow and Angelina Jolie, with her dozen adopted multicultural children which she lovingly referred to as the “Rainbow Tribe.”

One might ask, how did a black woman shoot to such fame and success at a time when racial restraints would not let her so much as sit in the front of the bus in the United States? Josephine mentions, “One day I realized I was living in a country where I was afraid to be black. It was only a country for white people. Not black. So I left. I had been suffocating in the United States…A lot of us left, not because we wanted to leave, but because we couldn’t stand it anymore…I felt liberated in Paris.”

Before departing for Paris, she had performed in the first all-black Broadway musical, Shuffle Along in 1922 at the age of 16 in New York. In 1925, she joined La Revue Nègre in Paris. Her performance with her partner, Joe Alex in the Danse Sauvage made her a star. She then took on La Folie du Jour at the Follies-Bergère Theater. Meanwhile in 1926 she recorded music for the first time ever. She briefly returned to New York to perform at Carnegie Hall, where she never before would have been accepted, but after her success in Europe and social growth in the Civil Rights movement, she was given a standing ovation.

In France, she starred in movies and on stage. Off stage she lead her life the way she saw fit. She became iconic, known for her exotic beauty, although she mocked it, saying her good feature was her legs, and the rest of her body was simply ‘amusing.’ She had presence that few other stars had.

Her films included:
La Sirène des Tropiques (1927)
Josephine plays a tropical beauty who aspires to dance in Paris. She was used to overacting for the live stage and thus gave an exaggerated performance which later haunted her.

Zouzou (1934)
Josephine portrays Zouzou, a circus performer in love with the man who plays her twin brother, but leaves her for another woman.

Princess Tam Tam (1935)
Josephine takes on the role of a primitive woman again, introduced to the French culture by a man.

The French Way (1945)
Josephine plays a cabaret performer named Zazu.

One can speculate as to why, despite being such a proponent of equal rights, she would accept roles as a ’savage,’ however, she made sure that she was not pigeonholed as such. She was civilized in all other aspects of her life, after, her favorite food was spaghetti.

Josephine never left the United States behind completely. She kept vigilant watch over the events going on in the Civil Rights movement while enjoying her success in France. By the time she had amped her popularity in film and on stage in Europe, becoming one of the best if not, the highest paid performer of her time and ranking amongst the most photographed women in the world, she knew she had a new mission, to aid in the fight for Civil Rights in the United States. She was invited to speak at the 1963 march on Washington DC, where Martin Luther King Jr.’s infamous speech still runs shivers down the spines of those who hear it. “Until the March on Washington,” Josephine stated, “I always had this little feeling in my stomach. I was always afraid. I couldn’t meet white American people. I didn’t want to be around them. But now that little gnawing feeling is gone. For the first time in my life I feel free. I know that everything is right now.” Josephine continued to help the cause by refusing to perform or appear in places that did not allow blacks to enter or refused them seating. She was very public about her stance on equality, even when it meant open and public media battles.

How ironic for the spirit of political activism to come from the woman most known for the image of the costume she wore for the Danse Banane. It was nothing more than about a dozen bananas strewn together to make a less than skimpy skirt. Josephine gave new meaning to many things, but she topped the sweet cake by showing us what Chiquita Bananas really meant with this one. She wasn’t recognized for being very modest in her costumes, but often wore revealing and sensual digs, performing and posing topless as well, which was not nearly as scandalous in France in the 1920’s and 1930’s as it was in the United States. It took until the 1950’s in Las Vegas for American girls and venues to accept the daring challenge of having topless showgirls. She lit up the venue no matter what she did, taken over by the thrill of the stage. … “I improvised, crazed by the music… Even my teeth and eyes burned with fever. Each time I leaped I seemed to touch the sky and when I regained earth it seemed to be mine alone,” she said.

She died at the age of 69 on April 12, 1975 in Paris, France of cerebral hemorrhage, a recognized contributor to the victory of World War II on the French side, earning her a 21-gun salute, an American Civil Rights activist, the cause of the contagious jazz bug in Europe, amongst other achievements including giving hope to those who had none. She was honored with the presence of over 20,000 people in her funeral procession and status as a stage legend, inspiring women of her time and future generations to not let beautiful and bold be determined by the opinion of the masses, but to simply bleed it from the inside out.

For more: http://www.cmgww.com/stars/baker/

By: Hella Goode

Maybe my next piece should be the history of gossip and misconceptions. It appears that Amelia Bloomer is not the inventor of bloomers. I repeat, Amelia Bloomer did not invent Bloomers. A woman named Elizabeth Smith Miller did in the late 1840’s to early 1850’s. So then why does Amelia Bloomer get all the credit?

Amelia Bloomer did not create the first pair of bloomers, but she does get credit for publicizing them and making this free-legged step toward comfortable women’s clothing more available to ladies. Today we choose to wear dresses, but in Bloomer’s time, there was no other choice if one wanted to be considered a lady. Really the only alternative to being a ‘lady’ was to be considered a whore, regardless of a woman’s actual value or virtue. Such scandalous debate on women’s behavior became tied to Amelia’s name, most likely due to her writings for the feminist-reform magazine, Lily, referred to as ‘bloomerism.’ What is interesting is that the most concern was taken for middle-class women. After all, lower class women were a lost cause and upper class women were, well, classy and untouchable, above the influence of such immorality. Or so it was thought.

Stranger also, was that, what today is considered more scandalous, women not wearing any undergarments at all, was the norm before bloomers. They were so covered in ‘overgarments’ that there really was no need for the invention of panties until later.

The first bloomers, full-length puffy pants that were worn under knee-length skirts, were likely inspired by designs of the Eastern world. Women of the Orient were already wearing pants, some of which are similar to belly dancing traditional ‘harem’ pants and other styles out of Turkey. Yet these women were not being pestered for suddenly having the opportunities to move freely in their clothing such as the men, or not carry around 30 or more pounds of extra weight with each day’s dress. It seemed obvious that women’s dress was limiting for a reason, and it was to keep them in their place. 

Although American women everywhere expressed their desires for more rights such as the right to vote, the right to property ownership, and to divorce, they worried that dressing too radically might jeopardize their other battles and be too much of a distraction from their main causes. So, many chose to keep wearing the traditional dress.

In the midst of this fight, bicycles were becoming a popular mode of transportation. This was disturbing to many as it would allow women the ability to find their way around. Who knows where they might end up and under what influence? They also worried that the physicality of the bicycle would lead women to become lesbians or even to masturbate. Many thought they were better off trapped in their dresses.

Whoever would have guessed that the straw that broke the camel’s back (who was wearing harem pants) for resistors would be upper class women who embraced this new fashion in order to be able to use the bicycle, even Queen Victoria herself. Aha, so when royalty does it, it becomes fashionable. Hear this, modern day royalty, give us something new…

By: Hella Goode

Perfumes have been around since the development of recreation and civilization and not just the mere search for food, sex, and shelter. And, thank goodness, we took the time do take care of our odor needs. Over the centuries people have made taking a bath a more frequent activity, but this was not always the case. Imagine au natural smelling au natural….it wouldn’t likely smell pretty.

Surprisingly, it is not the French who began the perfume industry. Perfume, in its most basic form-incense and other natural fragrances have been used since and before Biblical times. Frankincense was even brought to baby Jesus, for Christ’s sake. Since ancient time in the Americas, native cultures have used the fragrant smoke of different herbs and wood to wash and perfume the souls of others.

However, it might surprise you that the Egyptians were the real perfume freaks, even entombing their dead with perfume ready for the afterlife. They used a wide variety of scents, mostly from oils and used decorative bottles to encase them. The Romans picked up on the perfuming habit through their visits to Egypt and brought their discovery back to Europe where it became custom for both Romans and Greeks. They used them both before and after baths. Through trade, war, and recreational travel, the use of perfume spread, wafting behind travelers. Then, an Arab chemist, who caught wind of the new fad, developed a distillation technique for extracting oils from plants and did it so well, that many still use his techniques today.

The French did get hold of perfumes, as we well know, and went a bit crazy with them, especially amongst the upper class. With Louis XV, perfumes were even used on clothing. The French were so crazy about perfumes that they incorporated these scents into their culture and maintain their reputation as one of the world’s top perfume industry leaders.

Today celebrities have taken over the perfume market. Some have done it well and others have just watered down another form of art. For me, just like any other taste (or do I mean smell), it really is what the nose knows.

In the last few years, the US, particularly Texas and California, have taken notice of the Mexican celebration known as Dia de los Muerto, or the Day of the Dead. Cavaleras (or skulls) that are brightly decorated, or skeletons wearing clothing and engaging in activities- playing music, getting married, etc., have become popular imagery for clothing and accessories. Sure, you recognize the fashion trend, but do you understand the origins? Our resident tri-lingual librarian, Hella Goode, enlightens us.

The origins of this awe-inspiring holiday can be traced back a few thousand years or more to the heyday of the Aztec Empire in Central and Southern Mexico. The Aztec religion and gods viewed death as part of the circle of life, and were positive that it was just a step from rebirth. Death was nothing to fear, but to celebrate as a rite of passage. They worshiped the Lady of Death, a goddess called Mictecacihuatl throughout their month-long celebration. They gathered marigolds, as the sweet smell they believed would guide the dead back home, making marigolds the official flower of the celebration.

Of course, when the Spanish arrived, just as they were with most of the indigenous activities, they refused to value this celebration. They were horrified to see death glorified instead of mourned and dedicated themselves to spreading Catholicism throughout the land. The Day of the Dead traditions were so deeply rooted in the Aztec culture, however, that the Spanish found it impossible to get rid of altogether. Instead, they blended their Christian beliefs with the Aztec beliefs. The month-long event became the new three-day celebration that still exists in Mexico and Latin America.

Around this time of year, markets are flooded with Day of the Dead supplies, including popular artist renderings of the Day of the Dead, paper mache or wooden carved figurines of skeletons or “calacas” doing everything from getting married to playing guitar to eating dinner. They are not sad or scary but happy, celebrating their rebirth. They make people laugh. One of the most popular images from this celebration is that of the “Catrina” or the sophisticated lady calaca. She usually wears the fanciest of dresses, a hat, and is often depicted smoking. She was first made by an artist by the name of Jose Guadalupe Posada, born in 1852 in Aguascalientes, Mexico. He was originally an illustrator, but enjoyed crafting as well. His image of the sophisticated lady, Catrina, is the first that inspired many today.

Day of the Dead begins on October 31st, what we recognize as Halloween. This is the day that preparations are made for family altars for the dead which are kept in the home. They usually feature a photo of the deceased, marigolds, the deceased’s favorite foods, and typical Day of the Dead adornments such as candy skulls, tamales, or a piece of “pan de los muertos” or “bread of the dead.” Sometimes families also use “papel picado” or tissue paper cut into intricate designs and burn incense.

November first is called “All Saints Day” in honor of children who have passed away. It is said that on this day the spirits of the children, “angelitos” or little angels, return to their families. Then, on November second, the official Day of the Dead is celebrated. It is also known as “All Souls Day.” On this day, families will visit the cemetery of their family members who have passed, and picnic at their grave which has been decorated with candles, marigolds, a photo, and favorite toys or foods. They sing and carry on, feeling the soul of their loved one beside them. They celebrate way into the night and sometimes until the next morning.

Meanwhile, here in the US, kids are still recovering from their sugar hangovers, and haven’t really reflected on anything more deep than the extent their finger will go into a marshmallow or why Ms. King wasn’t afraid of their Friday the 13th mask. Others will appreciate it artistically, using its colorful displays in their own arts and crafts, and begin to reflect on their own life and rebirth. Like it says in the Lion King, “we are all part of the circle of life.”

Resources

Cano, Theresa. Day of the Dead art. http://www.azcentral.com/ent/dead/articles/dead-history3.html

Heinrichs, Ann. Day of the Dead. The Child’s World, 2006.