Channeling Dorothy Parker

It's just 10:30 a.m. and I've already got martinis on my mind.  My darling sister Mary turns 50 this coming week (sorry M - guess the cat's out of the bag now) and five of the six sisters (and a couple of nieces) are celebrating today with an afternoon of shopping fun - and then a sleepover at a nearby Hampton Inn.

It's during the sleepover part that the martinis will come into play.   And play is exactly what I need after a particularly looong week at the office.  (It's hard to go back to work after a week's vacation!  I'm ready for another one...)

courtesy of Mind Bling

Dorothy Parker and martinis somehow led me to think of Helga von Trollop.  Have any of you had the pleasure of meeting Helga or visiting her delightful blog? 

lovely Helga in 70's frock

Helga is one of the queens of cheeky quips.  Her motto (borrowed from Mae West - or is it the other way around?) is...
 "Better to be looked over than overlooked."

That sounds like something Dorothy Parker would have said.
Are you familiar with Mrs. Parker?

Witty Dorothy Parker (1895 - 1967) was a poet, short story writer, literary and theatre critic - and was the darling of the New York literary scene in the 1920's and 30's.

Parker was the best known female member of the Algonquin Round Table.  Each day at a 44th Street Manhatten hotel a collection of journalists, actors, writers, and other artists gathered around this famed table.

"Algonquin Roundtable" cartoon by Al Hirschfeld

Dorothy Parker is perhaps most famous for her tart sayings and playful turns of phrase - like the drinking quote (...four, I'm under my host) above.   She had a reputation during her lifetime as being one of the wittiest women in America.

"If all the girls who attended the Yale prom
 were laid end to end,
I wouldn't be a bit surprised." - Dorothy Parker 

I was first introduced to "Dottie" through the rather grim (warning!) but still fabulous 1994 film "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle." 

The cast includes some of my favorites: Jennifer Jason Leigh (who won a Golden Globe for her performance), Campbell Scott, Matthew Broderick, Andrew McCarthy, Jennifer Beals, Sam Robards, and Gwyneth Paltrow. 

If you're intrigued with the arts and literary scene of the 1920's and 30's - and adore fashions from that era as much as I do, you'll enjoy this film.  (Tip: the entire film is available in a series of 13 videos on YouTube!)


courtesy of Paikov

Here's more fun from Mrs. Parker...

photo courtesy of frogsmoke

"Brevity is the soul of lingerie."  - D.P.

"Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses." - D. P.

photo courtesy of Heartaches and Handbags

"It serves me right to put all my eggs in one bastard."

                                                             - Dorothy Parker


I would like to have seen Helga and Dorothy Parker sharing a table back in the 1920's.  Better yet, add witty British bloggers Vix and Ivy Black to the mix.  Now that would have been a hoot of a conversation to listen to.

Admittedly, I tend to be a bit on the prim and proper side sometimes.  (My German Catholic upbringing, perhaps?)  And I can always use a little help from martinis and such to loosen up a bit.  So before I head over to meet my sisters today, I'm going to be channeling Dorothy Parker and all my lighthearted blogging friends to lift my spirits. 

Here's to blogging, to friendship - and a drink that warms the soul!

As Dorothy Parker once said: 

"I'd rather have a bottle in front me than a frontal lobotomy."

Yes, this is Greta Garbo...

Cheers!

Have a wonderful weekend -

Susan

1920's-1930's Composition Dolls: Ain't They Sweet!

There she is! There she is!
There's what keeps me up at night
Oh, gee whiz! Oh, gee whiz!
That's why I can't eat a bite

Those flaming eyes! That flaming youth!
Oh, mister
Oh, sister
Tell me the truth...

Ain't she sweet?
See her walking down the street.
Now I ask you very confidentially
Ain't she sweet?

Ain't she nice
Look her over once or twice.
Now I ask you very confidentially
Ain't she nice?

Just cast an eye in her direction
Oh me, oh my, ain't that perfection

I repeat
Don't you think she's kind of neat
Now I ask you very confidentially
Ain't she sweet?

Tell me where, tell me where
Have you seen one just like that.
I declare, I declare
That sure is worth looking at.

Oh, boy!  how sweet
Those lips must be.
Gaze on it, doggonit!
Now answer me...

Ain't she sweet?
See her coming down the street.
Now I ask you very confidentially
Ain't she sweet?

Ain't she nice?
Look her over once or twice

Now I ask you very confidentially
Ain't she nice?

Just cast an eye in her direction
Oh me, oh my, ain't that perfection

I repeat -
Don't you think that's kind of neat.
Now I ask you very confidentially
Ain't she sweet?

            -- "Ain't She Sweet" by Milton Ager (music) and Jack Yellen (lyrics). Published in 1927 by Edwin H. Morris & Co., Inc./Warner Bros., Inc.

15" comp. head Bye-Lo doll, marked "Grace Storey Putnam". 19" unmarked comp doll.  14" Effanbee "Patsy" all-composition doll, poseable head/arms/legs. 21" Horsman Doll, mohair wig, marked E.I.H.Co. Inc.

13" Mama Doll, comp. head/arms, cloth body/legs, marked "Ideal Doll, Made in USA".  Large 25" comp. doll, open mouth/teeth, unmarked.

Video courtesy of RReady555

This charming early version of "Ain't She Sweet" was recorded in 1927 by Gene Austin (1900 - 1972).  Austin is often proclaimed the singer who gave birth to the singing form "crooning"

Hope you enjoyed the song...
...and my humble
but definitely sweet!
collection of dolls.

If you'd like to see another fun and eclectic collection of "little friends" from the same era - take a peek at Mitzi's Collectibles latest blog post. 

I fell in love with her adorable Kewpie (below) and her sweet handmade flapper girl figurines!

courtesy of Mitzi's Collectibles: Vintage and Handmade Treasures from the Midwest.

Mitzi feels that "every room should have something with a face in it." 
I most definitely agree.

Hugs,
"Sarsaparilla" Susan

O hushed October...

This morning I found myself in Vogue UK's website, perusing the magazine archives from the 1920's and 1930's, and came across this wonderful Vogue cover from October 1924.

Vogue - October 1924

The poet Robert Frost was a master at capturing the imagery of the four seasons - and the 1924 Vogue cover above reminded me of his wonderful "October" poem included in his 1915 collection of poetry, A Boy's Will.  I had this poem printed on the back of the church program that was handed out to family and friends on my wedding day many Octobers ago - so it's a sentimental favorite of mine.

OCTOBER

O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

To-morrow’s wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

To-morrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow,

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know;

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away;

Retard the sun with gentle mist;

Enchant the land with amethyst.

Slow, slow!

For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,

Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,

Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—

For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

Robert Frost (1874–1963). A Boy’s Will. 1915. 30. October

I love the colors of autumn, don't you?  Gold, crimson, amethyst, burgundy, wine, auburn, brown, mocha, dove grey, sienna, rust, ochre, plum, pumpkin, goldenrod, copper... 

All those lovely colors can be found in the Fall issues of fashion magazines from the 1920's and 30's.  Here's a collection of scans from the covers of Delineator, Eu Sei Tudo, Harper's Bazaar, Photoplay and Vogue that capture the warmth of autumn and the spirit of the Art Deco era.  Enjoy!

Eu Sei Tudo - November 1924.  Courtesy of Blog da Rue Nova

Vogue - September 1927. Courtesy of Vogue.co.UK

Photoplay - October 1927.  Courtesy of Allure

Vogue - October 1928.  Courtesy of Vogue.co.UK

Delineator - October 1929.  Courtesy of MagazineArt.org

Harper's Bazaar - October 1930.  Courtesy of Hemad Pant's Personal Blog

Delineator - October 1930. Courtesy of C.P. Strand: In His Words

Vogue - August 1932.  Courtesy of Vogue.co.UK

Delineator - November 1933.  Courtesy of Cover Browser

Vogue - October 1935.  Courtesy of Vogue.co.UK

Vogue - August 1938.  Courtesy of Vogue.co.UK

Harper's Bazaar - September 1939. Courtesy of Applejacks

Vogue - November 1939.  Courtesy of Vogue.co.UK

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

1928 New Yorker cartoon by Peter Arno; from The Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker,

edited by Robert Mankoff, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, NY, 2004, 2006.

Hope this is what you said to yourself as you glanced in the mirror before dashing off to work this morning!  Have a lovely Tuesday...

What'll I Do?

photo courtesy of Indospectrum

It's 2:30 a.m in St. Paul, Minnesota, and I'm listening to the lovely sound of rain outside my window as I type.  I know I should be sleeping, but I've got a lot on my mind - and I figured that blogging was more productive than tossing and turning. 

A friend of mine, and fellow blogger, wrote a little post a few autumns ago on "My Definition of Fall."  He chose this word:  Pensive.  1 : musingly or dreamily thoughtful  2 : suggestive of sad thoughtfulness.

I know what he means.  There's something about the change of seasons, summer to fall, that always sends me into this dreamy, wistful, nostalgic state.  Does this happen to you too? 

The 1923 Irving Berlin song, "What'll I Do?" captures that summer-to-fall wistfulness perfectly for me.  And this video's gorgeous photographs of 1920's film stars helps satisfy my nostalgic yearnings...

A ballad of love and longing, "What'll I Do?" was a 1924 #1 hit for the Paul Whiteman Band, and there were five other top-12 renditions that same year. Twenty-four years later, the song went to #22 for Nat Cole and #23 for Frank Sinatra.  Some of you might also remember that the song was featured in the 1974 film "The Great Gatsby."  Jay Gatsby (Robert Redford) and Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow) slow danced to this song in Gatsby's mansion.

Ah, I just noticed that the rain has stopped.  3:10 a.m.  I think I can get some sleep now.   Good Night - and Good Morning to you!  Have a wonderful third day of Fall...



video courtesy of YouTube's CharlotteSavoy.  Film stars in order of appearance: Clara Bow, Esther Ralston, Norma Shearer, Louise Brooks, Dorothy Mackaill, Anita Loos, Elsie Ferguson, Louise Brooks, Anna May Wong, Janet Gaynor, Carole Lombard, Marion Davies, Mary Pickford, June Marlowe, Louise Brooks, Lillian Gish, Blanche Sweet, Mary Miles Minter, Norma Shearer, Louise Brooks

What'll I Do?

Gone is the romance that was so divine.
'Tis broken and cannot be mended.
You must go your way,
And I must go mine.
But now that our love dreams have ended...

What'll I do
When you are far away
And I am blue
What'll I do?

What'll I do?
When I am wond'ring who
Is kissing you
What'll I do?

What'll I do with just a photograph
To tell my troubles to?

When I'm alone
With only dreams of you
That won't come true
What'll I do?

- words and music, Irving Berlin, 1923

You Can't Judge a 'Box' By Its Cover...

That was the clever comment that I got back from Stacey of Flotsam & Jetsam a few weeks ago when I shared the story of how I found these 1919 Movy-Dols...

...inside this much newer 1960's Christmas cards box at recent estate sale.

I really didn't mean to keep this whole box of treasures to myself!  So I thought it was about time that I showed you a few more of the paper dolls that were inside.

Isn't this quartet sweet?

They aren't tiny paper dolls - they're ten adorable inches tall.

Flip them over and you can see that the dolls (and their clothes) were cut from what appears to be a movie magazine - perhaps an issue of Photoplay, as was the case with the Movy-Dols that I shared with you in my post a couple of weeks ago.

What I love about these paper dolls, and many of the others in the box, is that the previous owner gave a name to each of the dolls and wrote them out on the backs.  From left to right we have: Erleen Hodger, Marian Dahltop, John Marsh, and Sally Bingham.  But in previous lives, Erleen was both a Lorraine and a Donald...and Marian was a Margaret...John was a Eugene...and Sally was a Betty!

Here they are again - with some clothes on!

It was fairly easy to date these dolls. This little blurb about Gloria Swanson was on the back of the Sally Bingham doll: "La Marquise de la Falaise de la Coudraye, better known as Gloria Swanson, whose latest Paramount picture, Stage Struck, is acclaimed by many as her greatest work."

So...I googled Stage Struck and learned that Gloria's film came out in 1925.  Voila! - these are 1925 paper dolls.

Have you ever seen such soulful eyes? No question, Little Johnny Marsh broke a lot of hearts when he grew up. :-)

Lots more paper dolls to share! But I'm lazy about taking photos these days - so you'll have to be patient. 

Patience.  That reminds me of my fifth grade teacher, Sister Leann (yes, a Catholic nun), and the punishment she doled out to restless and misbehaving students.  It was a trip to the blackboard to write out 100 times...

Patience is a virtue I must practice. Patience is a virtue I must practice. Patience is a virtue I must practice...

Sister Leann would be happy to know that to this day those words pop into my head sometimes when life is crazy and my mind is going a mile a minute, and it causes me to pause... 

But thank God I didn't pause too long when I spotted the Christmas Cards box at that sale, or someone else would be blogging about my paper dolls instead of me!  Patience is definitely not a virtue when it comes to finding bargains at estate sales.  :-)

"In This Ever Changing Age, the Flappers and Sheiks Demanded Something Different...

...and the Black Bottom Dance was the answer!"

I dare you to give these dance moves a try.   First, do the Double Stamp - combine it with the Swing, and strut forward  - then add the Box.   Simple, they say?   Not if you're a heeler like me.

But this flapper certainly is a hot foot!   Watch her arms in slow motion.  It's the finesse of her wrists that really makes this dance smoke.  C'mon - Get hot!

(If you need a flapper era "dance slang" translation - take a peek in the column on the right. And in case you were wondering, being a heeler is not a good thing. :-)

Video courtesy of YouTube's MotorThings




This excerpt of blues era Black Bottom dancing is from AMERICA DANCES! 1897-1948: A Collector's Edition of Social Dance in Film. Visit http://www.blues-dance.com/ for a wonderful historical collection of articles, interviews, photos, and more video clips on Blues Dance.

Okay, time to cool down and head to work!  Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday...

Creative finds from the 1920's: A Scrapbook and a Beaded Flapper Chapeau

I told you the other day that when I go to estate sales I usually ignore the living room at first (because the highest priced items are there, and aren't usually nabbed as quickly) and head directly to the bedrooms to check for possible vintage clothing, accessories or pretty linens.  

Well, my rush-to-the-bedroom strategy worked this past weekend.  I managed to be one of the first to spot this lovely flapper hat and had to have it! 

It's up for auction on eBay right now (until July 25).  If you're interested, here are the details.

My other favorite finds in the bedroom are old paper items.  Did I tell you how much I love old paper in any form?  Catalogs, brochures, booklets, magazines, books, napkins, post and greeting cards, paper dolls, matchbook covers, etc.  It all fascinates me. 

Actually, one of the best places to find old paper is in the basement. If a paper item hasn't been brought up from the basement to the main floor by the estate sale team - it's usually undervalued, sometimes unmarked, and almost always a great deal.

I found some wonderful old paper at a great price last weekend, and I didn't even have to venture beyond the bedroom for it.  I bought four wonderful scrapbooks filled with lovely magazine clippings from the 1920's (or possibly the 1930's).  I've been paging through them these past few nights - falling asleep with heavenly vintage images in my head. (Much better than counting sheep!)

I'd like to share some photos from one of the scrapbooks with you today, and will continue to share more from the others in future weeks.

A simple but charming cover.

...and a very creative way of binding the pages together!

This last one is my favorite. The "ghostly" children are walking through the radiator and coming out with smiles on the other side!

There are lots more! - but I don't want to spoil you... :-)

I'm still amazed by these gorgeous and quaint illustrations each time I look at them, and I wish I knew what magazines they were clipped from.  Perhaps some are from magazines that were published for children?  I've owned several different "adult" magazines from the 1920's and 1930's and I don't recall so much color and variety.   Do I dare try and carefully remove some of the clippings from the pages and peek on the other side for clues to its origin?  I might have to do that...

For another example of a 1920's scrapbook visit An Apple A Day  (fascinating blog, take a peek - you'll love it!)

And finally, I wanted to introduce you to a lovely book on scrapbooks and their history....Scrapbooks: An American History, by Jessica Helfand.

Here the author gives us a fascinating glimpse into her own vintage scrapbook collecting experience and how she came to write the book.  YouTube video is courtesy of WinterhouseStudio.



Stop by again next Tuesday night for another peek at the Roaring Twenties. Good luck with your treasure hunting this coming weekend!