Hollywood Rapid Fire, Laser Sharp, Egotistical, Golden Era Speak!

During the 1940s, upper-crust bearing accents and intonations were the rage among American films!

American actors and actresses, politicians and socialites alike, engaged in what some described as rapid fire, laser sharp, egotistical, socialite speak. An example of this type of  vocalizing to consider is within the film "The Philadelphia Story", a product of the Golden Era of Hollywood and starring the inimitable Katherine Hepburn. Through the words and manner spoken, here was a film, among many, highly and extremely conscious (and unashamedly so) of conveying stratified social classes to Americans!

What readily comes to mind in describing the words flowing forth from this and other motion pictures of  the era are endless and the mother lode in descriptive verse! Some phrases and describing adjectives could include: Unabashedly, devastatingly witty and snobbish, the "stuff" and posh from the pedigree of privileged blue bloods! But then, we could collect adjectives for simply years in description couldn't we?

Upon closer observation, whilst listening to these remarkably skillful masters and elocutionists of film and life, one may find themselves wondering, then as now, if they're hearing any number of variations of English, Boston, Philadelphia or New York accent among noveau riche with a bit Katherine Hepburn brevity version in the mix. Whatever the case, you may find yourselves lapsing into a feeling you're a piercing observer or intruder among an enclave of artistic, wealthy and elite socialites and flowing words.

Yesterdays' public theatre-goer, Americans fascinated by "escapist film gems" and so long deprived by the War and the Great Depression, surely found the allure of opulence and manner of speech enthralling.  Having a glimpse, through motion pictures, into the lives of the American over-privileged offered a temporary reprieve from the reality of the everyday world of the era.     

Author note: Frankly, don't mean to be a bear of a bug, you know (eh, what?) but this over stylized, stinging wit and scalding mincing of words and candor,which thrilled most in the milieu of observers of movie goers during the 1940s, thrills and intrigues yet today!

Some may say history has the linguists of the era to name as progenitors of the 1940s style of speech made popular in motion pictures. Others say we may credit the collaboration and bally hoo of Hollywood and elocution coaches for the clear style of diction and affectation of speech represented in films and elsewhere througout the 1940s and still heard today.

Each and every time you utter a word, you give listeners clues of who you are and where you come from.

It is difficult to find the answer in the milieu of possibilities to the origin of the ephemeral "1940s speak". Yet as I leave you now, to enjoy a bonanza and plethora of 1940s dead-on movie portrayals, from the purely historical perspective (wink, wink),  I proudly unabashedly proclaim (speaking slowly, teeth together and round tones in pure affectation):

"It may be a "tad ovah the top deahs", nevertheless, the thawt that ah am evah so completely enthralled, to the point of neahly shaken (and devastatingly so dahling), I do not apologize for my extreme enjoy-ament of the "kind" speech occassioned of the 1940s".

Le Brigand
Contributing

PRESERVATION OF HUMAN FREEDOM, 1948

Eleanor Roosevelt

 Delivered 28 September, 1948 in Paris, France (Excerpt)

I have come this evening to talk with you on one of the greatest issues of our time -- that is the preservation of human freedom. I have chosen to discuss it here in France, at the Sorbonne, because here in this soil the roots of human freedom have long ago struck deep and here they have been richly nourished. It was here the Declaration of the Rights of Man was proclaimed, and the great slogans of the French Revolution -- liberty, equality, fraternity -- fired the imagination of men. I have chosen to discuss this issue in Europe because this has been the scene of the greatest historic battles between freedom and tyranny. I have chosen to discuss it in the early days of the General Assembly because the issue of human liberty is decisive for the settlement of outstanding political differences and for the future of the United Nations.

The decisive importance of this issue was fully recognized by the founders of the United Nations at San Francisco. Concern for the preservation and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms stands at the heart of the United Nations. Its Charter is distinguished by its preoccupation with the rights and welfare of individual men and women. The United Nations has made it clear that it intends to uphold human rights and to protect the dignity of the human personality. In the preamble to the Charter the keynote is set when it declares: "We the people of the United Nations determined...to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and...to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom." This reflects the basic premise of the Charter that the peace and security of mankind are dependent on mutual respect for the rights and freedoms of all.

One of the purposes of the United Nations is declared in article 1 to be: "to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion."

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month...can't you remember?

Oh, indeed, there are some WWII veterans who can yet say, "I was there"! There are some who can yet speak those words with pride of admission "I breathed the same air and fought side by side with heroes who died for America in a patchwork of terror". Do you listen as they, nearly inaudible, tell the tales of brevity and courage and honor they realized a million lives ago? Are you uncomfortable and glance away as these weathered, aged veterans' eyes take on the glazed far away look as though they are again reliving the brim and hailstone of battlefields' horror? Are these hauntings of embracement, once again, for a battle of startling enormity and an imminent attack? Are they searching for the high tides of courage that they once experienced? 


Oh you "complacent fellows"  who fail to hear crowded reveries and recollections, by any accounts, of "old" soldiers re-telling of the "old" victories that bought your freedoms with American soldiers' lives and limbs. Do you not know that whilst brave soldiers now lie cold and sodden, in their graves for nearly seventy years, others who were permitted the grace of survival of the fierce war yet struggle to live out the final days of their lives?

What would those of the fallen warriors have known of the pleasure of love and  intimacy of  life had they, given the chance, lived the natural course of their lives? Had they been spared the expectation that war assailed upon them, would they have experienced another day to worship, to pray, to catch the Yankees game, to paste the gloss into their '47 Ford, to grab a dog at Coney Island or better yet, their sweetheart just once more?

The vastness of this war had been deemed important enough to cut short the lives of so many.

Would these hard run soldiers have lived a life of greed and parsimony of feelings at wars' end had they survived? Maybe, or maybe WWII would have left them to their own devices, shell shocked and hardened and aimless in their own lives. Maybe, there is the off chance that the sight and sounds of aching human deceit bred cruelty they'd endured during the World War II war campaigns would have seen them altered, softened or weakened to a mere shell of humanity.

We'll never know the answer to these questions, to be sure will we? There isn't enough care, by most counts, for anyone to struggle for answers to these questions if at all possible. Life goes on, sure, it's the American way. But, pray, you simply must remember these soldiers who fought and the soldiers who fought and lost their lives, some through hell and some into death!  Beneath the cooling shade of a sheltering tree, take time to listen to an excerpt and murmurs of American history. Take more than once and more than a nod to WWII soldiers on Veterans' Day. Take time to recall, other than with a hot dog and burger, the lives of others who braved terror and death paving a road of freedom for you and  I.

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month...can't you remember?

Something For The Boys

.

Star Struck and Falling Hard!

So, came the war era of Broadway!  With the 1920s stock market crash and subsequent Great Depression which followed, the level of Broadway activity had dwindled as the War Era followed. The new motion picture genre had ignited the hearts and hi-jacked the imagination of the public. Broadway, for a while, was left to a smaller, still valiant, but more ardent and discerning sophisticated audience.

Yet still while the audience was smaller, today, surely and most assuredly, you'll smile and nod knowingly and familiarly at the mention of many now Iconic Broadway musicals produced during the war era! At the very least, you'll recollect the melodies of the past few, the witty, ingenious, inventive lyricists of Broadway musicals!



Many of these lyricists produced a long line of World War II-era musicals that blended a subtle choreography, punctuated with quasi to full blown, bawdy humor, and dialog intended to provide the audience with a bit of the aura from “USO Show” feelings. These musicals, from blase to suave, to sophisticated and complex, showcased some of the greatest talents that even today, still stand apart from the shadows of others who followed. These talents have withstood the true test of a timeworn art.

Why, memorable World War II melodies, borne of Broadway musicals of the 1940s, were heard by an audience of people whose husbands, fathers, sons and daughters were supporting and fighting the war campaigns! Is it any wonder one can still hear the echos nobly straining through our todays?

It was, in part, through pure Broadway talent that America was able to find inner strength and resilience and endurance during the War Era. The musicals served a lighthearted escape from all that troubled the world and reality by adding vitality and humour to the tragedy of life.

 True, the characters of these Broadway musicals, at times, could be one dimensional, downright unbelievable or believable as the case may be, to their audience. Whatever the occasion, the characters were capable of resting squarely amidst the qualitative pillars of our empathy and sentiments.

Finally, the musicals, in themselves, offered distraction and a bit of escape and yet had all the makings to produce a plethora of pride, love, sentimentality, patriotism. Why at any given moment, audiences could find themselves proud, amorous, patriotic, and joyous! And, oh yes...a bit of down home hokey was always a score! But never you mind hokey! Come now! This was America against the backdrop of WWII and anything that could go... would!

All in all, and nevertheless, the audience goers to Broadway, willingly subjected and indulged in the blurry-eyed, nostalgic tributes that, to them, unknowingly hailed another coming-of-age and post WWII America.

What were some of these provacative Musicals of the 1940s?

"Something for the Boys" with the piquant yet robust Ethel Merman in the following biting and risque innuendo excerpted from the script:

Mac: Hey Hattie?
Hattie: What Do You Want
Mac: There's four guys down here to see you.
Hattie: Only four? I must be slipping.

"Pal Joey" with the wonderful song of collaborated and grand scale "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered."
"Lady in the Dark" was a work of finesse all in dream sequence!
"Oklahoma!" hailed as a unexpected surprise and resounding success to all and capable of awakening any inert lifeless soul!
"Miss Liberty" depicting the depth of meaning that Statue of Liberty held for our GI's followed by:
"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"
"Little Girl from Little Rock"
"Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend."
"Kiss Me Kate"
"Annie Get Your Gun"
"Carousel"
"Let's Face It"
"Finian's Rainbow"

Did this new Broadway that began and ended the 1940s still exalt in the hey day of activity of the once formerly prosperous pre-World War II?  History will have decided as will you, yet today.  You may just emphatically glance back to New York and Broadway and, from your safe vantage point indisputably consider this era the "all- hail-to the queen" hub of the musical world!  Why?

Broadway's last musical hit of the decade happened to be one of the biggest ever? The name? Oh you'll all recall..."South Pacific"


A note:  Frankly, though any era, there is no debating the delightfully evident appeal and stick-to-itiveness, dogged preservence and tenacity of Broadway!

Home For The Holidays II, Gettysburg, PA

Join

 Quite The Stir Bungalow Bed and Breakfast
and

A Sentimental Journey Bed and Breakfast

of

Gettysburg, PA

As We Present

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS II

A Gettysburg Open House
A Childrens' CharityFriday, December 11, 2009 between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm, join Gettysburg's finest establishments as they open their doors to the public:

Friday, December 11, 2009 between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm, join Gettysburg's finest establishments as they open their doors to the public:

Quite The Stir Bungalow...a 1930s/1940's Bed and Breakfast

500 W. Middle Street , Gettysburg, PA

Creating Quite The Stir Event Planners

 500 W. Middle Street, Gettysburg, PA

A Sentimental Journey Bed and Breakfast

433 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA

The United States Christian Commission
242 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA

The United States Christian Commission Log Chapel
 Chambersburg St, Gettysburg, PA

Adams County Winery

25 Chambersburg Street, Gettysburg, PA

Aces High

 433 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA

Tillie Pierce Bed and Breakfast

303 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA

Cafe Saint-Amand French Bistro

 48 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA

Home Front General Store

312 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA

Images Web Design

Myers Neon

The Lion Potter
855 Taneytown Road, Gettysburg, PA

The Gettysburg Experience Magazine
Gettysburg, PA

Meet Felicia and enjoy a sampling of her delicious treats at the Bungalow!Courtesy of Tasties Bakery
Spring Grove, PA

Lowe's of Hanover, PA and their kind donation of Christmas Trees

                            

Join Carolers and musicians as they stroll through Gettysburg Streets...rekindle Norman Rockwells' yesterday!

A special display of 1940 WWII telephone courtesy of Adams County Telephone Supply

Many more town merchants and participants will welcome in the Yuletide Holiday for this second history making open house tour!

The "Swinging" Christmas music, sights and sounds of the 1940's will come alive at Quite The Stir Bungalow.

There will be a display of children's toys from the 1930's through the 1940's and an outdoor highlight among fresh cut pine trees twinkling with large globe C-9 lights of the era. All throughout the night at Quite The Stir, you'll find glimpses from the era of the big bands and the greatest generation of the WWII era including the life size replica of the 25th anniversary "Leg Lamp" from A Christmas Story! NEW this Holiday Season...A 1930s/1940s Five and Dime Recreation with candies for the family!

Other merchants and participants will share their own brand of hospitality from tours, candy canes and cider to cracking Yule log and the fresh scent of pine as you follow your own tour route (Participant Listings at each stop)! A tuba fest on the square and live nativity, along with carolers, will add to the Norman Rockwell type Christmas! It just may be that you'll catch snowflakes of joy and warm memories during "Home for the Holidays"

No Admission Charged to the Public.

Donations are being accepted for a local children's foundation. Please look for the red and white striped candy canes which designate these donation points.

For further information please contact the innkeeper@quitethestir.com at (717) 549-3631.

An Impulse To Soar!

“Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way.”



"Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars.”

                                                                                                   Les Brown



One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

                                                                                                   Helen Keller



If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.

                                                                                                   Latin Proverb




It sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.

                                                                                                   Eric Hoffer




Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

                                                                                                   Theodore Roosevelt



Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
                                                                                                   Winston Churchill

History Shed A Tear Of Pride Back In 1945

30 Miles South of No Where's Yonder you'll find the Heller twins, Tweet and Rip, hers and his. Alongside of the twins, you'll find two of the dullest, darnedest big hearted "with a lot of tease ripping in them" brothers, Darnell and Guz. Bringing up the rear, sewing the twins in a nice weevil riddled flour bag was the sisters, Justine and Becker, plain shore enough, with smiles that's like as not light up the whole valley like fireworks if you'd let them!

Among the Heller kin, leastwise anybodies' kin, there shore wasn't anything more special and unpredictable than the Heller twins! It is them two who made history shed a tear of pride, away back in 1945. Changed the town, and some say, by gum, the whole country sorta shifted places in their moral universe and turpitude! Of course, nowadays, what Tweet and Rip managed to accomplish then, some would just call "celebrating diversity through exploration" or some name that just don't ring true what happened, for real.

Food was hard to come by, everywhere, rations were tight, biogtry was hard to swallow and tempers were tried.

Happened there lived down from the Heller twins, a John Schmidt and his Missus, Elvey Nells, straight from the forests of Germany. I don't need to tell you, but with the War on full, tweren't too easy for John and Elvey Nells, no how! Why what with lots of folks given them the evil eye when they went to the town some days, and all because they answered to the name of Schmidt and was somewheres away back, related to those dastards given our boys heck over in Rhineland.

Anyway, back to what I was saying, wasn't long before John Schmidt up and died from contracting the worst case of pneumonia seen in years 'round those valleys. Elvey Nells got stricken with the same while nursing John most long days and longer nights. She out chased the pneumonia, but only barely, and was left with a limp like to throw her body left and right when she walked, and kept a whole lotta folks scratching their heads in wonder. I'm a drifting again...

Yessir, John never did out chase the pneumonia. After he gasped a final shuddering spasmodic gulp of air and looked skyward like he was hearing angelic harps, he left Elvey Nells a fending pretty much alone and in a fair financial bind, for sure. Seems like everyday afterward, she was a struggling to make ends meet, and working as hard as she could digging away in that there Victory Garden out yonder, and working harder for the US boys overseas too.

Americans helped out where they could with a Victory Garden in war time.

Guess a broken heart and hard work finally took its toll on Elvey Nells, afterall. Wasn't long before one day, Tweet and Rip happened on down to Elvey Nells to deliver some fresh cattle milk like they always did on Tuesdays. They never expected, as they stopped to dip and weave a little in the stream on the way, what they'd find. And,...when they was finally down the holler,that's when they found her.  Shame 'ole mighty.  Elvey Nells was lying in the Victory Garden dead and cold as a doorknob on the fuhrers' bunker door! Didn't phase Rip one iota past a wink, but Tweet had a fair time shaking that memory of Elvey Nells just a lying so peaceful like flattening the tops of the entire near five rows of ruby red turnips braving in between the pea lime green cabbage heads that were just big enough to take a light to. Funny thing Tweet said later, was the all-knowing smile on Elvey Nells' face. Now moving onward,

Being Elvey Nells had no more kin and it wouldn't be right that she was planted in that V for Victory Garden anyways no how, the Heller's, took it upon themselves to set Elvey Nells to her final resting place. They were dang nice folks! They took a heart all their lives to folks when the need called. And the need was calling for Elvey Nells now! The Hellers up and buried her in the Heller family cemetery, on yonder hill behind the Heller claim what was left to them by kinfolk! Wasn't more than a walked off patch of ground good for nothing and lying fallow on the edge of the hill anyway.  Just like that, Elvey Nells was part of history, once she was planted snug with the last of the rich brown earth spilt over her eternal home alongside some late dandelions. Yes sir, old Elvey Nells' is a restin in peace with the Heller kin now and their maker, isn't that something peculiar fine?

Anyway, things weren't quite the same round bout now that the Schmidt's, in particular and primarily of late, Elvey Nells, were gone. Seems like some spit and fire went out of the fun belittling folks around town. Words on the street were that folks felt cheated out of doing their part and fair share of slinging hate mud against innocent folks while fighting their own brand of peculiar battle for our boys against war criminals. But, still for the most part, folks kindly felt ashamed of themselves in general for not standing up and speaking out, leastwise the ones with conscience did. But nobody could put a finger on exactly what it was that was a bothering them, leastwise not yet.

Bout a week after the Heller familys' rusty cemetery gates were tied shut with the dried split baler twine and the twins had packed away their black morning clothes in moths for the next visit the old grim reaper made, something happened. Don't you know that Tweet and Rip headed on down to Elvey Nells' sweat and tears Victory Garden!

Some say the twins had a divine purpose for going that day, others say it just came upon them real slow like. What those two twins did in the space of a few weeks, with their tired worn out ma, and their sisters Justine and Becker following their lead, surprised a whole lotta folk.

Tweet and Rip, tore straight into the cabbage down in Elvey Nells' garden, right where she had keeled over the week before, worms and all! No sirree, Tweet and Rip weren't for leaving Elvey Nells', of late lifes' work nor the turnips, go idle one whit either!

Weren't long afore the best blue ribbon saurkraut, anybody can remember to this day,was born steeping pungent and strong right there in the same kettles used by Elvey Nells' on her sad pride and joyous delight, her outdated 1901 stove. Elvey Nells always did polish that stove up real proud like. Time was, folk could remember she would sit up all night a fussing and boiling the Grim All Farms pork sausage somedays til dawn! The smell from those Grim All Farms pork could send you to paradise faster than dancing with the USO girls, to the sound of Rum 'n Coconuts,...that's for sure! And, like I was saying, dressed up and sitting alongside the sauerkraut was the bitter and turnips, all fine and jarred, pretty as you pleased.

Tweet and Rip didn't stop there, resting on their laurels with the finest produce your eyes saw turned into tasty, lip smacking goodness! Oh, no,.. not them twins...they up and packed their victuals in the back seat of the hand-me-down family rusted Model T, that sported worn seats prouder than a preening pup.  Not that it matters a hill a beans, but some said the "T" was ill-gotten in the 20s' by a moonshining Pennsylvania Yankee. There, alongside Daniel and Guz flapping their jaws all the way, the twins lit, right sputtering, clean to the County Seat straight into the County Fair Day, they did! That day they won the Daughters' of the Revolution Ribbons, the Sisters of the Peace Medal, not to mention a special commendation by the sweating hippo of a town Mayor, that danged radical hypocrite! Why, if I had a dime for every promise he broke, I'd been a millionaire years ago. Getting back on track..

Invest in America and buy a bond!

That wasn't all, no sir! Tweet and Rip were awarded the highest honor round 'bout. That saurkraut and the turnips earned them a war bond! Not fooling one iota of a grasshoppers' hind leg!   They exchanged handshakes, a pat on the back and the bond right, some said, there with a high level war correspondent sent di-rect-ly from Mr. Roosevelt himself!  Oh, the cheek pinching and baby posing showing off the old Mayor was able to pull out of his hat that day back then, I can't begin to tell you.  Right in front of everyone in the County, were danged reporters down from the County Seat Daily Times paper taking photographs. Those flash bulbs snapping, a burning and flashing and smoking and if you didn't have eyes you'd like to think you was hunkering down in a fire storm for dear life and safety in make shift bunkers yourself!

This story's a tribute to Elvey Nells, for sure and others like her and John who came to America for a dream and a future or died trying.  But, the story?   It's more than a tribute.

Those twins, Tweet and Rip, they shore made people see things alot different after that day, what with the sauerkraut and turnips trading hands with bonds for the War Effort.

A lot of folks sorta just realized that Americans aren't the only ones born here ready made and loving this country. No sirree, you can come ready made across her borders a loving this Country because it's filled with hope and dreams and a special kind of freedom where you really are free.

You can love a country that holds morals high and freedom what every dang one of them deserves. Where families can stay together and pray together.  And, you can love someplace like America in spite of all the sniping and pie eyed looks and crow you might be eating because you're a different color or from a different country and have a voice to say hold up enoughs enough!


For some folks, it's enough to be an American, to die for America or to die free on Americas' soil.

Here's to you and your V Garden Elvey Nells, and here's a smart salute to Tweet and Rip.

The flag? Long may she proudly wave!

Yep, sure jarred folks 30 Miles South of No Where' Yonder. 

(A Victory for Veri·si·mil·i·tu·di·nous Wording, too)

Her Eminence Magnifique Scoundrel!

                                                    
Le Brigand...                                                                     


Now in this vast ugliness resides a most powerful beauty which, in a very few minutes, steals forth and charms the mind, so that you end, as I ended, in falling in love with her....

                                                         — Henry James, in a letter to his father

At the Copacabana...Just The Place For Getting Dreamy and Starry Eyed

For New Yorkers, with June 27, 1933, seeing the repeal of the Prohibition Act, or as some called it, "The Noble Experiment", the funeral of liquor was over!  The outcome of a temperance movement in social reform was miserable failure! The wake which followed was still in full swing when the Copacabana Club opened November 10, 1940 at East 60th Street in a sweet little town you may know, New York City.

This hot spot, with the haute monde of night club goers, is where folks finally came out to play, to see and be seen. Not too likely any regular GI Joe or dreamy, starry eyed gal  fresh off of the street could enter through the portals of the Copacabana or Copa, as it was fondly named.  Being somebody or knowing somebody was the only ticket inside!  Why, wit dripped out of a bottle of booze faster than money flowed out of the hands of dames and millionaires once across the hardly sanctimonious threshold of the Copa!

The atmosphere inside the Copa was electric charged!   Everywhere, were the shady ties to the mob, in sharp contrast to dames' diamonds and baubles glittering in competition with the steady flow of the best hooch and champagne around.   Meanwhile, in any and every place at the bar, or on the dance floor, deals were being made, history was being re-written and everyone was clamoring to meet stardom, fame, millionaires and satisfaction! The smell of cigar and cigarette smoke filled your senses with pure pumping adrenalin!

The Copa was surrealism at its finest and believe you me,...not in the least filled with modest embellishments of any nature! Hibiscus patterned hot and red dresses moved in a blur amidst shimmering evening gowns on the dance floor. Black to white tux and black pearl buttons blended into the uniforms in cloistered star filled corners. Inside, you weren't going to find any ersatz fixtures amid the psalm fronds and cloak checks, this was first class all the way. The whole "joint" was lit upside down with excitement at the titillation of "risque" behavior! This was New York City after all! What a hot spot!

Here in the Copa, thwarted careers stayed hidden under a cloak of mystery and pure patent leather shine while passions played out like unblemished emeralds among formidable gangs of whos' who. These urbane folks had a penchant for danger and excitement all mixed up with understudies and wanna be's and some of the toughest , sharpest "big shots" around.

If you were lucky enough to be announced upstairs at the Copa, well , you had actually made a laudable debut that said "you had arrived"! Hubba, Hubba! Naivete out of the window, savvy was your middle name, you drew flies like honey and you became, without a preponderance of doubt,  a legend!  Wink wink!

The saavy Copa, now silent, still evokes memories and dreams for the club goers of the Copa!   Showgirls that nobody could keep their eyes off of, Chinese foods-in of all places the Copa- and the surreptitious connections with the Mafia types remain history. From Tallulah Bankhead to the Copa dancers, from Merengue meets the Jitterbug and Swing, to the survivors of the '29 stock market crash, life went a lot faster at night in the Copa!

How's that for attitude and style from the era of our parents and grandparents?

Did You Say 1940s Trick or Tease Costume?

Trick or Treat will find some lovely, going forth into the frosty night, dressed as a vamping, steamy, duplicitous, scheming, sultry and sensuous Hollywood Siren of years gone by.

Oh yes,  just the perfect costume to be sporting for Hallowe'en! Take on the hard as nails bad girl image! Glare into the night, undaunted, while you turn every stoney stare aside looking for some treats and expecting quite the bagful of tricks! Baby, oh baby, some lucky gal is going to have personality to burn come October 31st!

Archetype film noire lovers, look out...it is the 1940s again!  Halloween hasn't been this hot since the Fourth of July!

"People aren't safe with women like you in the world and people have to be protected."  (1947) Lloyd Nolan in Lady in the Lake

“She wants you very badly, doesn’t she? She’s willing to run away with you and keep on running and ruin everything for herself. But she wouldn’t care because she’d be there with you and that’s what she wants. Well, she doesn’t have you now and she’ll never have you – nobody will ever have you and that’s the way I want it!”  (1947) Agnes Moorehead in Dark Passage

“You’re no good for anyone but me. You’re no good and neither am I. We both deserve each other.”  (1947) Jane Greer in Out of the Past

“An interesting study, that man – rather complicated. He spent his adult life in pursuit of women, and at the same time, he has no respect for them. Men like that can be fascinating and dangerous. They prey on women and very often the women love it.”  (1945) Rosemary DeCamp in Danger Signal

Boo!

The Yanks Are Coming

In stunned disbelief, the world watched as the dense fog of WWII began a cruel descent.

In the United States, the shadowed dimensions of the fog had begun rearing its especially deceptive and uglier side by sending wisping tendrils slipping beneath the borders of every state. The murky insanity of war was groping, clawing and tugging, exponentially, at the best and the brightest of America. Something evil had been awakened, palpable and dark, somewhere beyond any reasonable understanding. A
mosaic of hell was about to unfurl, marking a chapter of freedom at the cost of miserable tragedy and loss in human lives.

Before the world had fully imploded upon itself, and with American senses still innocent and obscured of the harsh reality of  this war, before the misery and suffering became heir apparent, and robbed her of innocence, the atrocities taking place nipped only slightly harsh, at first, upon the heels of human decency and conscience.

All too soon, however, the hideous and unspeakable events unfolding "a world away" became a tangible reality to Americans and a sort of noblisse oblige for our brave, stalwart Country. The acts of inhumanity, bore hard against the soul capturing and holding the undivided attention of every passionate American.  Within her bosom, there immediately stirred disbelief bordering on anger, obsessing her with the powerfully bitter taste of  inhumanity, condemnation and injustice! 

Americans awakened to a new world of horror and their pre-occupation was drawn away from the aftermath of the Dust Bowl, the lingering wrath of the Great Depression and their everyday occupation of farms, towns and cities.  Obsession of the opulent style and glamour of 1930s Hollywood, encased in her epitome of elegance and chic, fell away.  What was at first, perhaps a siren's beckoning lure of adventure for Americans... the adventure and romance of war...soon became, in every sense of the words, a very real, infinite test of human boundaries in endurance, patriotism, heroism, bravery, and self-sacrifice...well beyond the promise of gallant adventure.

As the world became intent on shaking herself of her own poison, and red blood flowed generously from America, the tall order of freeing the world from the despot of all that war brings, became an enormous weight upon every American shoulder. Bravado and confidence was leveled in facing the realities and weaknesses of intolerance, bigotry, cruelty and bloodshed showing its hideous face.

Americans reached deeper into their reserves of strength and attitude...

Socialist cliches of right, freedom and dignity, more desperate than ever, were flung from the red, white and blue roof tops of America! And, the words, shouts and symbolism of freedom permeated no where louder than every living room across America! The echos and calls of freedom for humanity rang insistently and clearly. Consumed by the fight of the worlds colliding, by the stolen identity and rights of humanity, America was full tilt with allies, committed to an unholy combat to restore a semblance of humanity to nations!   The former inviolable perimeters of the world became blurred and shattered. The safe and forgiving world of yesterday was no more.

The War Raged on as the World went up in smoke, rightly putting an end to the despotism that had been unleashed from her bowels.

World War II proved to be the deadliest military conflict in history. Over 60 million persons were said to have been killed.

The count of human losses, in the needless face of atrocity, remains an intolerable plague upon humanity.

Let us just look closer, let us check beneath the "hooded veneer" of our mother and grandmother's famous outward persona. Let us slowly languish and savor each indelible memory recounted to us. Let us see if we cannot erase our jaded, stock portrayal of mother and grandmother for the first time. Let us see if we cannot find what they leave with us, from the collaborative bane of their existence. Let us see if we may not be the wiser through their history.

Listen again or perhaps for the first time, nonjudgmental, to the precious few anecdotal memories of our mother and grandmother's past recounted.  Personally re-define, if you will,  their family secrets long held in the hushed catacombs and hearts of your family.   Take heed to the incessant, furtive whispers of a women's history through women's own words, as they are unlocked from their long silent treasured places.

Your mother, or your grandmother and mine and millions like her may not have recounted their "service" in WWII "Home Front" as courageous or fascinating. But their "supporting roles" during war time were every bit as daunting and challenging to them! Without choice, mother and grandmother "stormed" through life during the war era, stepping up and taking their part in the war support.  And, in the end, their personal experiences have molded you and I.

Our mother and grandmother's courage, their endurance, their fears, their suffering and loss and oh, yes..their laughter still calls to you and I somewhere and somehow through time and space. And, with renewed interest, it is encumbent upon us that we heed their stories. The urgency of life back then, the drama and the hardships have all  woven a tapestry  from which we must learn and to which we need be mindful of.

In retrospect, by vigilance of discovery or re-discovery in hearing their stories, perhaps you'll find yourselves enlightened and learned of not only the WWII era, but of yesterday in any number of ways. Hopefully, through this discovery and appreciation of our mothers and grandmother's journey mayhaps we will all find ourselves knowing and better understanding  of  the propensity of  human spirit.  Perhaps, as well , we will find ourselves more comfortable with the ebbing flow and surge of  the mysterious following tides of our mothers, grandmothers, our sisters and, indeed ourselves.

Be that as it may, shore up the knowledge of  fortitude and insight of endurance learned from and of these women, our mothers and grandmothers!  If alone, for the survival of future generations of women to come, hear their stories!

And why, you may ask, shall we take the time to hear the stories of our mothers and grandmothers?

But for the magnificent Saving Grace of God, And Lest History Repeat Itself ...The WWII War  Era Was Theirs, Nevermore To Be Ours, Nor Our Daughters.

Quite The Stir Bungalow Accepts National Country Inn Bed And Breakfast Award Banner

Quite The Stir Bungalow Bed and Breakfast proudly accepts the National Country Inn Bed And Breakfast Award Banner Saturday, October 3, 2009, in Gettysburg, PA.

Now into the fifth year, and going global, The National Country Inn, Bed and Breakfast Day, celebrated the first Sunday in October, was inspired by premier author and screenplay series, Tina Czarnota. Ms Czarnota, self described "as one who was born on the edge of a simpler time--when rock 'n roll had already arrived, at times, felt the pressure of too much hustle bustle and instant photos, messaging, FAXing, texting, and traffic, which makes one want to escape to practices that hint of that simpler time".

The amenities of the Bed and Breakfast "Inn-dustry", brought Tina to the simpler time she was craving for...filled with baths full of bubbles, cozy corners to curl in, roads less traveled with loved ones and cozy nooks to enjoy good books...mystery especially! Tina resolved to establish a day to honor Bed and Breakfasts and almost on the spot, The National Country Inn, Bed & Breakfast Day was born!

For more information on The National Country Inn Bed and Breakfast Day, please contact: info@tinaczarnota.com

For more information on Quite The Stir Bungalow, and award winning accomodations, visit our website @ www.quitethestir.com or, please contact the innkeeper@quitethestir.com . Awaiting our guests are unparralled amenities, privacy and accomodations on the "Home Front" of 1930s Glamour/1940s Attitude and Style! Simply, "Exclusive Splendor!"  Hubba, Hubba!

A Star Is Bored!

Johnny, Johnny where are you?!  You're running way too far behind!  Don't you know a Star is born every minute and I'm about out of time?

I've packed my marble colored luggage with everything I'll need! 

And, now all I desire is my shining knight and his trusty steed.

Party Line...Number, Please?

Oh, dear Alexander Graham Bell, with Mr. Watson willingly in tow; what magic hath you conjured upon the hapless unsuspecting masses? Had you known the telephone would inure creation of "The Operator and Party Line"? Shall we thank you or be thankless to you for these by-products of your invention?! In truth and summary, kind sirs, many are the benefits to which we hold ourselves benefactor of your invention. Ever intangible and wondrous strange it be to engage the telephone handset, and discover "long awaited, instantaneous cracker jack surpise, hold to thine bosom friends" emerging as if occupants in the very room we ourselves occupy!

                                       Operator

"Number Please?" spills forth from mouthpiece, in droning cacophony at yonder fevered pitch. Soothing to the ear, such sounds of this sweet soliloquy emerge, from a faceless operator audibly "clear as the school yard bell, yet ever so tinny".

Operator, my nameless friend, you are so rare and true as to count on one appendage, unfailingly dependable.  A friend you are, who will so endure, faithfully and honorably, awaiting your distant call of duty. Despite the unspeakable torrid dust that fans and fumes its exhaust through the mid-west Dust Bowl- the operator is there! Laughingly mocking and defiant in the face of virulent influenza raging as an infernal wildfire snakes through the dank and humid south- the operator is there! While she pantomimes a feign of annoyance, braving the most fierce of blizzards that rage through the eastern seaboard from nor'easter stirring a mighty brew- the operator is there!

Ceaslessly routing and re-routing, connecting and unconnecting RI-3601 to RI-9802 with earnest endeavor, the operator flawlessly performs as her day is painted before her.  Eyes fixed in focused tunnel vision,  the operator is as wary and vigiliant as the lioness stalking her prey; the panel of myriad plugs, the holy of holy! 

                                         Party Line

Money barren shall not be a clueless fellow who resists temptation to bet the last dollar lying fallow in worn thin, thread bare, clothing pocket.  A bet issued  forth through the thin mocking lips and mottled, yellowed tobacco stained teeth of a guffawing onlooker, more the wise, for a clueless fellow to defy, with proof , that no less than four neighbors be listening 'round the clock on the Party Line buffet!  Alas, no bet turned aside nor challenged could dispel, as myth, a truth.  The profoundly exacting truth of the neighbor to yonder left, the neighbor to stage right, revered great Aunt Eunice and more often than not, the dependable town barber (may he rest in hair raising peace) each were party to the party line! And doubly so their worth, each held willing captive in their own share of party line Tom Foolery and trickery!

Pray, do not allow this erring of frank and certainly justifiable behavior, a forgivable flaw in human nature, riddle or perplex! These friendly neighbors, good do left and finer do right, revered great Aunt Eunice and dependable town barber (may he rest in hair raising peace) be honest, stand-up right square and staunch fair-minded and most good citizens! These friendly neighbors, they merely fulfill a destiny of engagement,though avowedly discreet, to which they answer the call.

Time before times and then again more, the party line inhabitants could be identified, while in supine repose, as hosts to many the conversation!   By a peculiar and quickened inhalation of awed breathiness, brought on by age and lesions, rasping and curling heard through the party line, quickly and surreptitiously snuffed; party line hanger-oners made themselves known! Why, even before the Mister had barely pressed the gas pedal, on his homeward  bound '41 smooth gliding Plymouth Cruiser, talk had it from the party line that the Missus was in the "genteel way"; enceinte.

If listening yet closer and equally more vigilant, a distinct rustle of chocolate bon bons (rare but special treatise for the party line goers) unnested from tissue trappings, could be distinguishable proof, self-evident, one from another, on the party line circuit.

Barely and no sooner had the night folded her darkened silent doors upon the tired day, had a peevish night owl, still  wrapped in his silken red and white smoking jacket,  heard nee rather overheard, a most urgently vital message sent screaming to the local parish and sheriff through party line siren!  Hushed silent was the intruding listener, with mortification at the indecency that the Plimpton fellow on Jay Street, (the very same) waddled an unsteady gait  home again from another rousing night at the USO club, stinking drunk!  Rather, shall we say, smellingly inebriated and uttering such discourse as only could be known to his lowly self?!  Rumor had it that the Plimpton never could recover from the mortifying fact that his "flat as mothers ironing board"  feet kept him, mores the pity, drilling away at a hoped for, longed for anticipated "new" miracle arch at dance recitals far too long as a child.  The final blow of  insult to humiliation further rumored and tossed about idle minds of party line mentality, fully and sadly to him, was rejection from "doing what a guys gotta do" combat in WWII.

What now of  the forever chagrined, poor Edgar who had only just recently been plagued with a curse worse than death?! Edgar suffered the indignities and inequities of a bothersome leg fracture which rendered him bed bound, all as to the stricture of a downed tree on Electric Boulevard! Had poor Edgar only known, beforehand, that his inadvertent, unpropitious omission through lack of etiquette in engaging the party line "buffet" of gossip would have averted this miserable happenstance of events on Electric Boulevard, he most certainly would have crossed over the intolerable bans of party lines! By informing and forewarning himself of his present malady, through partaking of the bounteous providence of party lines, he most certainly and indubitably would have been rescued from the pendulous jaws of his freakish accident!

Oh, the party line, to be sure, worked with far more efficiency than even the raucous, rat-a-tat hammering of cylinders neath the shining hood of  a fathers pride and joy; Oldsmobile! Indeed, the party line emerged consistently, unerringly faster and more reliable than the drying stamp of ink spots hot off the presses when it came to neighborhood events!

Friends be the Operator and Party Line!

                                                                                                  
Memoir of Le Brigand, Operator
Brooklyn, NY 1944 (or not!)

Last floor, the Palms Tea Room!

So popular were teas over the decades that the era of 1930s and 1940s found department stores appointing the greater part of a floor to splendid tea rooms and the devotees of tea! This quiet elegance and genteel service of tea, amidst lavishly adorned palm fronds, became a cloistered oft times all female strong hold.

Oh yes, taking "Tea" was an unspoken gesture to one another that life was good, that beauty mattered, and that order and civil stability, as always, prevailed. A way of life and tea was the security of luxury and social outlet that woman were craving.

And, who were these women who frequented these splendid tea rooms?

Contrary to "then" popular opinion, frequenters of tea rooms were not always a cadre of humorless, pious, etiquette minded harpies that eschewed pleasure. However, it may not be implausible that among a good portion of these generous, kind hearted community leaders there may have bristled a painful twinge or the irritant of a feather or two ruffled amiss with the public's appropriation and pre-occupation of the pin-up girls during the WWII era!

Yes, true among these women tea goers, there did indeed remain a great gasping breath of resuscitation in conservative attitudes which still prevailed strong and stalwart in the 1940s. But, as the war loomed onward, and women's roles changed, a change in Tea goers could also be seen. Tea rooms were becoming more and more frequented, as scarce monies and time would allow privilege, by the working women whose heart quickened with patriotism at the mere mention of Rosie the Riveter.  These working women too, were longing for "the tea of tranquility"!

While tea was intended for a few moments of reprieve from stresses of life in the war era, the overall experience was not an affair for the faint of heart. Social etiquette took second place to none within the boundaries of tea court! Etiquette was observed and noted discreetly, from beneath lowered lashes of onlookers, if not practiced precisely. And, there, in the tea room, genealogy pedigree charts were compared with practice born of repetition and shared behind many the petite and gloved hand.

Gloves, oh indeed...from hats, and clothing (shoulder yokes and waist of contrasting color, ladies!) to gloves, all were worn purely to impress. Oh surely, one must often times have endeavored and aspired, worrying themselves to tears and vapors to be the paragon of fashion in the 1940s era!

While it was absolutely appropriate to express appreciation of surroundings, the line was fine in showing officious admiration or serious disdain of the tea room, hostess, service and overall appeal in surroundings. One must surely not glance askew nor allow ones glance to linger too long and covet any one aspect of the appropriated tea amenities!

Lest we not forget, take note that department stores did not have the monopoly in offering the afternoon tea! Remember, if you will please, the valiant women who also appointed rooms from their homes or opened shops (the well connected and fortunate ones) in hopes of earning a pittance of small income. And, daily, many the matron was who served teas on social occasions, from charity events through soirees to ladies and gentlemen alike. To those tea proprietresses, very serious in appropriate etiquette and tea service, equally very important was the offering of appropriate accouterments of a fine tea. Many is the hostess and proprietress who wouldn't serve tea until it was firmly established as to the type of congealed salad these fine women were going to serve with tea. Everything else at the tea, was secondary to tea and congealed salad. Of course, it was necessary to have the proper cream for tea!

Quite The Stir Bungalow...a Bed and Breakfast, ( Click here for Bungalow Website or contact the innkeeper@quitethestir.com for details) is most pleased to announce the first in a series of  themed "Bungalow Teas" coming Thanksgiving week, 2009 (Rosie The Riveter and Pin Up Girls are also welcome)!  Proceeds from the first in a series of inaugural "Bungalow Teas" will be donated to an Assisted Living/Nursing Care Facility still housing brave men and women who proudly served during WWII!

Hello, Snook'ums, What'll you have?

If you were to walk right on in to any particular diner coast to coast in the 1940s on any given day of the year, you'd probably find a stool at the luncheon counter, wrap your leg around the base, give a heave ho and pull yourselves a break on the swivel down.

 

"Hotsy Totsy day out there" you'd probably overhear a city slicker, who just pulled in with his brand new shining black jalopy, (for the second time that week) comment to a kinda hard boiled P.Y.T  (pretty young thing), who boredly awaited the hundredth order that morning alone.

And, you'd probably see P.Y.T. resting an elbow atop the steel counter, lead pencil stuck in her mass of blonde waves and gum snapping.   Her crisply starched white collar, with sheared off cuffed sleeves to match, would be in odd contrast to her demeanor.  She'd be listening as the city slicker boasted (for the second time that week) "I'm gonna spend me some pennies from heaven!" 

So? What a wise guy betcha dimes to the dozen P.Y.T is probably thinking.  Instead, she'll stand upright, look him in the eyes and drawl "Okey Dokey then, same, loverboy?" 

Man Oh Man!, thinks city slicker to himself.   This  P.Y.T has a kisser to die for and gams to match!  Hubba!  He gets his own eyeful as she lets out a lungful  to the sad sack rumpled cook, whose been reading the paper's track results, while standing unseen beyond the galley opening.  "Big Cheese here gets an order of Adam and Eve on a Raft and wreck um!" Continuing to snap her gum, she ads with a quick afterthought " Oh yeah, and make it snappy, ya pushover!"  The cook mutters beneath his breath and tosses the paper into the tattered dog-eared cardboard breadbox to begin frying up another endless order of rations. 

No Siree, it was never second rate or boring at the diner!  What'd ya think Snook'ums?

                                                             

Even Back Then...You had to Laugh!

Gotta Laugh...Gotta Dance!

Follow along in the hysterical madcap adventures of Dreamers into Doers!  http://dreamers.marthastewart.com/

We may be all talent, and all 1930s and 1940s in this Blog, but we are definitely NOT no work and no play!

Watch as Ms. Shopping GoLightly, The Premier Thrifter,.... Kathy "The Hammer Salsa Lady" and Jolene, a Quite The Stir Gal, (Yours Truly)  interweave their "Red Faced" moments among the tapestry of stories we share with one another in the "Red Faced" Group on Martha Stewarts Dreamers into Doers site!

Join in the Group of Dreamers...and tell them Quite The Stir sent you!

Are You Really In The Mood?

Rosie the Rivetor, Is She Really In The Mood?  Are you?

Tomorrow will dawn another day here in the good 'old USA just as it has any other day before and since WWII.

Back then, amidst the svelte sounds of Swing and Big Bands pumping out songs of the hey day, such as "In The Mood" and "A Sentimental Journey", the war era of our parents and grandparents was unique in time.

One could find women on the homefront taking jobs in Five and Dimes, grim offices and dirty factories as their everyday roles were expanded out of a harsh necessity. While their fathers, husbands and sons fought in horrid combat they fought another war. The war they fought was on the homefront, keeping vigil 'round the clock over their home and hearth without the added extras of today, raising their children well and doing their part to defend the country. These women were made from some of the "finest stuff" of which humans are imbued.

Pulling a days work could be gritty in the factory, and hard on the the knees and soul, life was filled with doubts, insecurity and worries in overdrive yet they somehow managed to run a household, lovingly administer to the needs of a family and get the job done well. These women were fighting for their country as surely as any of the brave men at the embattled front. Emboldened by the ties that bound them, these women unknowingly forged inroads for todays' American women in all aspects.

I ask you, as you fumble for the alarm clock just one more time before arising and beginning the day that leads into your week, if you feel overwhelmed at the day that lies ahead, remember:

You may not be in the mood, nor was your mother or grandmother and Rosie probably wasn't either, but YOU CAN DO IT.

KEEP MAKING THE WAVES!

GI JOE

Lately, I've been traveling homeward bound by way of  the "country" backroads to briefly capture views of spectacular scenery.  I speed by the miles, watching as the foilage, once green and luscious, begins to shed her bounty of summer.  I'm ever so enchanted with the bright and bold hues of Fall as she slides  silently and almost shadowlike in her demeanor to claim her rightful place in the scheme of seasons. I've got to say, this 30s and 40s kinda gal has been feeling a bit nostalgic, from the visceral reaction, perhaps, to this glorious season.  I'm pining for what memory has left me with, what experience has engrained upon my heart and too, what has been taught us through history.

If you will,  journey back with me, to the 1940s for just a while and picture the moving stories of love, sacrifice and endurance that most American families were certainly engaged in during WWII.

Norman Rockwells' pictures, such as this one,  minutely reveal so many unspoken words and thoughts.  Perhaps, this GI Joe, stationed overseas during World War II, has been chosen to celebrate a holiday with his wife, children and various family members all bound by love, in a very special homecoming.  Perhaps, later and back at the fury of the front, he'll be called upon by his commander for an elusive and dangerous mission to save lives, which only he is able to fulfill.   I shudder to even consider, if  this homecoming is the last homecoming for...possibly forever.  From my safe little car traveling over these American Roads made safer by GI Joes and Janes, I prefer to imagine this soldier coming home to raise his children and boast of his grandchildren...ah, yes,...the hero!