"Father Knickerbocker", Washington Irving, New York and Quite The Stir Bungalow?

It is a special and sacred privilege,... my fellow Bungalow enthusiasts, lovers of history, all things Gettysburg being both great and small, intermingled with a few New York attitudes or so... to recount the following history, myth or legend! Hubba, Hubba!

As you grow more curious by the moment...allow what follows not to be a digression or an irreverence of the truth. Rather let us venture to remind you that the history and lore we will share, in picturesque methods and written word, are derived from bits and pieces gleaned by bits and pieces with a (quite frankly) incurable romantic at the helm of this unraveling, unwinding, revealing, revelling and de-fragging a bit of history!

Our research began, in earnest, by attempts to discover the first resident of Quite The Stir Bungalow. It was in research that we understood the following story’s true scale of irony, which made it even more amazing touching and whimsical!

Shall we begin to connect New York, Washington Irving, only one of the legends of American literature ("The Legend of Sleepy Hollow""A History of New York" and "Rip Van Winkle")"Father Knickerbocker" and Gettysburgs' Quite The Stir Bungalow? Well, I'll venture, by the gleam in your eyes...yes!

Father Knickerbocker, The Legend and the Myth

Actually, the first Knickerbocker was a real person, as far as scant account reveals to us. Harmen Jansen Knikkerbakker (later Knickerbocker) migrated to the newly renamed English colony of New York some time in 1674.

Knickerbocker is a Dutch surname and references the oldest of New Yorker families, for the most part of Dutch origins, and very likely among the first socially prominent families of New York. Many are the generations of New Yorkers, in particular, and Knickerbocker kin who proudly claimed to be descendants of Father Knickerbocker, despite his beginning and no doubt to the contrary, fictional roots. Yes, Father Knickerbocker was once a revered and rivaled "symbol" of old NY, and sometimes known as the equivalent of Uncle Sam, claimed as forefather of many a Knickerbocker!

However, in all actuality (as best we can surmise)again for the history and anals of New York, Father Knickerbocker was the fictional character of Washington Irving, who wrote under the nom de plume of Dietrich Knickerbocker the book, History of New-York .

Through Washington Irvings' writings (1809, and other succesive stories), the image of a benign father figure captured the cities imagination! The city's most popular symbol of the late 19th and early 20th centuries "Father Knickerbocker", was characterized with cotton wig, three-cornered hat, buckled shoes, and, knickered pants.

A part of creating lore and mystique arose in NY.

In summarization, indeed there seems to be abundant proof, that there existed a beautiful bit of nonsense, surrounding "Father Knickerbocker" all rooted into a captive and disconcerting compromise of truth!

Searching through scattered accounts, disturbing historical/comedic mention and great gaps of actual accounts of reference to Father Knickerbocker, some untenable chronicals, fiction (or not!), illustrations, imagination flights of fantasy and daydreamers... history re-affirmed and further cemented that "Father Knickerbocker" is a mythical NY Legend based in real life. Shock value and applause here.

Quite The Stir Bungalow, New York, Washington Irving, and "Father Knickerbocker"?

Washington Irving, New York, "Father Knickerbocker", the 1930s and 1940s, and Gettysburgs' Quite The Stir Bungalow? Whatever do they have in common?

Follow along as we re-tell a tall tale, (which may not be quite so tall, after all!), unravel a web, and unwind a yarn...coming soon, VERY SOON!

Hubba, Hubba!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas in Gettysburg, PA!

THIS JUST IN FROM OUR RADIO SPONSORS...

THE SOUNDS OF THE HOLIDAY DOOR DECORATING CONTEST sponsored by GCVB in historical Gettysburg, PA finds Quite The Stir Bungalow Swing Dancing, Jitterbugging, rounding the corner and nearing completion with their WWII era kitchy submission!

VISIT Gettysburg, and while you're at it... "jitterbug" on by, 500 West Middle Street for a "look see" at a Genuine Bungalow decked out for the Holidays, '40s style!

And remember, kids?...Tell Mom To Buy You Bond Bread! Hubba! Hubba!

From Creators of Quite The Stir Bungalow

We Proudly

Introduce Bungalow Radio

The era of radio voices wisped into WWII homes with regularity during the 1940s.  The Red, White and Blue American family gathered together, with kith and kin, around their living rooms and kitchens to listen to the radio news.  GI Joes or Janes and Rosie The Riveter would tune in, when time would allow, by the lights of dingy factory break room or nightly by a comforting radio glow.

Americans listened, intently, as history unfolded a swathe of grandeur or milieu of terror across radio airways.  Every man, woman and child of the 1940s was enlightened of  sorrow, joy, hope, laughter, tragedy and war. Astounding events that shaped our very lives today were sent to them yesterday.  A link to the outside world could be had by simply listening to radio and the confident assuring radio broadcasters of The Greatest Generation.

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends.                                                        

                                                         General Dwight D. Eisenhower

We are not retreating -- we are advancing in another direction.
                                                                               General Douglas MacArthur

They Slipped The Surly Bonds Of Earth

Today, through gauche words that lack the lustre and polish called for, we endeavor through intent, to celebrate history! We pay homage to The Pioneers, The Women, The Wasps, and forever, The Flygirls!

Climb and soar with these Immortals of the Air! Join as we fly into dawns' bomb bursting sky 'neath the sheltered wings of history, and aside, very possibly, the greatest women pilots of all time! Even the most tacit of readers may be moved in their approval and wonder by these brave women who engaged the altitude and far reaches of the skies! Find yourselves perched high atop images painted here, through their history, and yearning to take flight alongside their labor of patriotism, love of America, their consuming passion for flight all intermingled with adventure...

The Flygirls are a classic case and embodiment of remarkable women doing remarkable jobs, in remarkable times, and under remarkable circumstances. Having the appropriate descriptive quotation on hand at this, the exactly right moment, escapes one. To that end, we offer up this powerfully poignant verse as a tribute to them.


High Flight
by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Published in 1943, this is a transcription of the original manuscript in the Library of Congress

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sun-ward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds, – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless falls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, nor eer eagle flew –
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high, untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Sound off, Bring it on Down...Let's do proceed onward, thoughtfully and gingerly to surmise an answer to the questions that follow... Who were these whiz girls flying at 2200 hours, wearing flying jackets, helmets, gloves and goggles? They not only could fly, but indeed they tested flight! Who were they, in approaching the speed of sound more than satisfactorily by all intents and purposes, proving true Sir Isaac Newton's first law of motion which states that objects in motion will continue to move in a straight line at a constant velocity unless acted on by an outside force?

Who were these women, this cadre and cultivation of beautiful dishes, (in keeping with the 1940s ebullience of slang...hubba, hubba!) social grace and talent who remained unparalleled and displayed exemplified prodigious behavior beneath outrageously difficult contempt and misunderstanding? Why did they choose to overcome the biases and challenges of women's ability and yet were able to stand heads above others? Who were they to dismiss the timeworn idea of using women in the military prior to the start of World War II...yet, most certainly serving as pilots and using their skills to that end?

And why did these women do what they did? Because they had to? Because it was long ago by a mis-stroke of destiny implanted in their genes? Were these women, first and foremost, radicals? Or were they great women at great moments emerging upon history with their passion ignited and playing out?

These questions certainly titillate the senses of inquiry and resonate with many!

POSTING WWII FLYGIRLS SOON

Fighters of the skies....

TIMES CREATE THEIR OWN LEGENDS AND HEROES

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WHO BUT PONIED UP FOR THE LEGEND AND GALLOPED INTO AMERICAN CHILDRENS' HEARTS?   WHY THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION IS....THE LONE RANGER, OF COURSE! He grinned in the face of death and grinned death in the face! The Lone Ranger had grit and so can all of America..that means YOU!

The epic tall western tale had its start as a local radio show from WXYZ/Detroit and debuted in 1933 as perhaps one of radio’s best-remembered dramas, The Lone Ranger!

Although the show was aimed at young audiences, at least half of the show’s listeners were adults! Hubba!

"The Lone Ranger Tale" is now a golden classic! While donning a mask and riding a white stallion named Silver, The Lone Ranger avenges along side his very own sidekick, the white knight of native American Indians,... Tonto. The duo brought down many a dastard of the wild and wooly west with some "Silver" fast riding and some dead straight shooting! Man of mystery, masked idol of millions, with his never ending supply of silver bullets and one singular goal! That goal? To avenge evil-doers of the West and provide law and justice to guileless, hard-working cattle drivers and marms like you and me wasting away in rustlers' gulch!

Mystery and illusion intrigued, and "by cowboy howdie", The Lone Rangers' appeal of legendary words, along with black eyed mask did indeed intrigue raspy radio listeners and static television viewers! What a swell ride everyone all enjoyed in The Lone Rangers hey day!

Now entrenched in American vocabulary and a spontaneous tribute to the imagination, memories and wishful thinking of Americans, Rossini’s “William Tell Overture,” heard a heyday ago and still known today, assures everyone within hearing distance that the masked legend, "The Lone Ranger" was and still is somewhere on the elusive American front and on the job! “A fiery horse with the speed of light! A cloud of dust and a hearty ‘Hi-Yo, Silver!’ The Lone Ranger!”

The pair, the iconic duo, The Lone Ranger and Tonto enjoy a powerfully significant presence in history, and salted the American public with words to enrapture their hearts.
Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the great horse Silver! The Lone Ranger rides again!"

WELL, I JUST HAVE TO PLAY THIS AGAIN, GENTLE READERS!  NATURALLY!





Everywhere the public visited, there could be found The Lone Ranger appeal broadly singing and pistol whipping out for attention! Ten cents and a box top, a pledge, or a loaf of bread could buy any child The Lone Ranger immortality! And yes, there were the "Radio Premiums"! Hi Ho Silver!!!!!

One way into the American Public Heart was the offering of radio premiums! During the 1940s and onward, and over the course of many radio and television programs many radio premiums, kitchy ideas or "souveniers" were offered to viewers. (Note: Radio Premiums were supreme souvenier giveaways offered to listening/viewing audiences to entice and capture their hearts and imagination! )

Some premiums popular to viewers of The Lone Ranger were The Lone Ranger Masks, Six-Shooters, Six Shooter Rings, creed  and the Lone Ranger Deputy Badge. Some of the premiums employed a large bit of silver bullet appeal to children, others offered miniature pistols capable of emitting a shower of sparks!

And, if you are able to recall radio premiums you'll agree " to know these premiums are to love them and drive mother into virtual pandemonium until you had attained your hearts' desire of possession!"

It's important to note as an aside for history buffs and as it relates to The Lone Ranger, during World War II, the premiums offered may have adapted to the trends of society but did not lose their lustre! For example, in 1942 The Lone Ranger program offered a brand Blackout Kit and the Atomic Bomb Ring (aka the Lone Ranger Atom Bomb Ring.) This ring was a miniature spinthariscope (look it up yourselves) that had small amounts of radioisotope within to produce the scintillations caused by nuclear reactions. Upon removal of the tailfin apparatus, though, the "bomb" body bore resemblance of a silver bullet. Now what was mother thinking then?

As time would have it, and as World War II moved onward, restrictions were placed on manufacturing materials everywhere as the needs of war resources increased . What resulted was a change in premiums manufactured. Thank goodness (in some cases)! And, most every premium available took on the material element of cardboard, wood and cloth.

So, what's this all coming down to? Aside from a tribute to The Lone Ranger series, writers and producers and audience of the era and in keeping with this classic western genre theme, (phew!) I'm jumping into the saddle, but before I go, I appeal and enlighten you a bit...
The Lone Rangers' view of whitecapped mountains, eco-friendly buzzards and a heaping horizon of prickly cactus and rocky shelved cliffs of the pristine west have me virtually jumping to navigate the troubled water holes and deserts of Outlaws!

"Whether you like them or dislike them, don't you just get choked up thinking about the sizzling classic western genre of The Lone Ranger? Seriously, don't you just love the embodiment of heroism in the dashing, form fitting shirt and pant wreathed in the carbine belt and six shooters of The Lone Ranger?! Doesn't that just blow a breath of romantic tizzy your way?

Now step aside, while I lope brazenly into the deepening sunset, Quite The Stir Bungalow types! I'm looking for me some public trust, while matching wits and deterring hog tying, dog eared, snake eyed cattle rustlin varmits! What's more? While I'm at it, I'm earning my Lone Ranger Badge, my mask and Notification Code NOW! Those outlaws are going to feel the weight of my wrath as I too race toward another thrilling adventure at Quite The Stir Bungalow in Gettysburg, PA!

That being said "PARDNER" , it's familiar territory to me, but maybe stranger to some, The Lone Ranger Creed! I'm living the "creed" and conducting myself by a strict moral code. How About You?"I believe.....That to have a friend, a man must be one.
That all men are created equal and that everyone has within himself the power to make this a better world. That God put the firewood there, but that every man must gather and light it himself.In being prepared physically, mentally, and morally to fight when necessary for that which is right. That a man should make the most of what equipment he has.
That 'this government of the people, by the people, and for the people' shall live always.That men should live by the rule of what is best for the greatest number.That sooner or later...somewhere...somehow...we must settle with the world and make payment for what we have taken.That all things change but truth, and that truth alone, lives on forever.
In my Creator, my country, my fellow man."

A word from our WXYZ Radio Sponsor: "Regularly eat Bond Bread today".

In memory and tribute to the talented actors of The Lone Ranger, in particular Clayton Moore, The Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels, Tonto-- and others who live or may have since passed on to the "Cowboy, Spur Jingling Heaven In The Wide-Eyed Red Horizon Sky" we remember Clayton Moore, in his comment summing up the series and legends : "It's the good guy in the white hat, fair play and honesty, the settling of the Old West. Don't forget the cowboys, the trials and tribulations they went through. What we have now is because of our ancestors and pioneers."

QUITE THE STIR INTRODUCES BUNGALOW RADIO

From Creators of Quite The Stir Bungalow

We Proudly

Introduce Bungalow Radio

The era of radio voices wisped into WWII homes with regularity during the 1940s.  The Red, White and Blue American family gathered together, with kith and kin, around their living rooms and kitchens to listen to the radio news.  GI Joes or Janes and Rosie The Riveter would tune in, when time would allow, by the lights of dingy factory break room or nightly by a comforting radio glow.

Americans listened, intently, as history unfolded a swathe of grandeur or milieu of terror across radio airways.  Every man, woman and child of the 1940s was enlightened of  sorrow, joy, hope, laughter, tragedy and war. Astounding events that shaped our very lives today were sent to them yesterday.  A link to the outside world could be had by simply listening to radio and the confident assuring radio broadcasters of The Greatest Generation.

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in blood of his followers and sacrifices of his friends.                                                        

                                                         General Dwight D. Eisenhower

We are not retreating -- we are advancing in another direction.
                                                                               General Douglas MacArthur

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

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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!