Loveliest of all, the magic of this Bungalow shall remain in your heart for all the days of your life..1930s Glamour intermingled with 1940s Homefront Attitude and Style! Hubba, Hubba!
Pin Up Girls Adore Quite The Stir Bungalow!
Quite The Stir Bungalow, Gettysburg, PA
Ahh...you've happened across Quite The Stir Bungalow Blog quite unexpectedly right?
Need a break from rushing full tilt down busy city streets where all eyes are focused on the day ahead and the persons' back in front of them? Transport yourselves into history with overnight accommodations at an historical small town all-American '30s and '40s Bungalow where everyone looks you in the eyes, gives you a hearty fare-thee-well and always knows your name.
Be our guests through this Blog, as we share the attitude and style of the 1930s through the 1940s,and yes...glamour of Quite The Stir Bungalow!
Amidst the plethora of treasures within this Bungalow, there are remarkable mementos and memories from "The Greatest Generation". And, naturally, you will find World War II memorabilia is interspersed in the mix of the bounty too.
Quite unexpectedly, I came upon the most wondrous gift of all, yet this Holiday Season.
How glorious can you imagine anything to be as what was experienced in and of a discovery only last evening? Allowing myself a bit of time to indulge in historical revery, at the Bungalow, I often browse amongst the memorabilia that had left its mark upon history in a large way. This particular night, I alighted upon history in the form of a WWII helmet resting, if possible, both stalwart and at ease upon a camp stool. Held within the heavy dull metal of the helmet, was a stubborn removable lining... which naturally intrigued. With no little difficulty, I was able to wedge the lining of the helmet from it's outer casing of the heavy metal where it had lain silent, for perhaps, years...
The heart skipped a beat or two and began racing as the decal revealed all of the world of glory to me by the glimmer of chandelier light. Gold with blue print, a red keystone and a black swastika on either side of a horses' head (be that the Knight?)
One can only imagine a brave soldier, a stranger, far away from home and longing for family. Engaged in mortal combat for our country, he most certainly may have used this very helmet to rest his weary head before "falling in" early the next morning, for you and I. Godspeed noble, brave, gallant,young, fine fighting men!
Soldiers of and in your youths, sailors of the seas, pilots of the skies, you are encouraged to reminisce, if it so pleases you.
Oh, Give Us A Home Where The Bungalow Roam and the skies are not cloudy all day!
Did I just sing BUNGALOW ROAM? I fear, yes. Oh go on, scoff if you will!
As I wander around this Bungalow, Quite The Stir, right here in Gettysburg, PA and perhaps strain on tip toes reaching upwards whilst lowering the folding attic stair steps or mayhaps adjusting a transom here and sliding a wooden pocket door there...I find myself actually singing these words aloud. In my interaction with magnificent architecture, detailed arts and crafts and pure history, I find the beauty of music. It is my hope that by the time you've arrived at the end of this simplistic tale (and re-read, tweeted, face booked, whistled and woofered), you too will be singing along with us all the praises and beauty of the "Bungalow as she roams"...alongside all of America, and ROBUSTLY too!
It's rather nice to know Quite The Stir didn't make room, or give way to build modern day homes! No sir, the owners of this little Bungalow, past to present, held stalwart in the face of modern progress! How's that for a quotation? "Held Stalwart In The Face Of Modern Progress". Thank you Gettysburg Springs Hotel, thank you Mr. MacPherson, thank you Orin, thank you John Knickerbocker, thank you Edith, thank you Mildred, thank you Robert, thank you Jolene. Me, Jolene, what? Why I'm just a 'lil ole Bungalow enthusiast gal!
Well, 'lil ole Bungalow enthusiast gals have been know to say, "HERE'S A BIG HUGE LARGESS OF TIFF TOFF GUESS WHAT?" I didn't know it before, but after a year and a half of intense research, I now know "These historically preserved Bungalows are HOT PROPERTY" and I'm glad the temptation to resist change roared a bit here at 500 West Middle Street in Gettysburg, PA!
Historically preserved Bungalows are perpetually, being sought after more and more each day by historians, preservationists and enthusiasts of bungalows, arts and crafts and purveyors of the early 20th century!
Enough said, but, only after all that follows, (a jocular and hardy hi ho jab to the ribs on enough said!)
"Whether people are fully conscious of this or not, they actually derive countenance and sustenance from the 'atmosphere' of the things they live in or with. They are rooted in them just as a plant is in the soil in which it is planted." Frank Lloyd Wright.
Frank, (I like to call him Lloyd, but that's personal) "my old compatriot in my dreams of architecture", I finally understand what you meant by that eloquent statement NOW although I'll admit, the meaning alluded me for a while. That statement rallies to remind me of much more as it relates to Quite The Stir Bungalow. Once upon a time, not too long ago someone once hazarded a query of me, "Who, exactly, do you think you are?" I now, unlike then, ponder the question and hestiate not! My response to that evah so bold question is "Well, here is exactly who I think I are...among other adjectives, I am a Bungalow enthusiast!
After a bit of pondering that age old question, we'll give you a positively resounding....Maybe!
Firstly, we'll need to explain what a Bungalow is all about. Secondly, we'll hope to offer up some magnificent historical treasury, trivia and facts about Bungalows, just to reflect upon, that is. Finally, into this wonderful Bungalow mix we'll bring to you, we'll be sure to toss in some most searching and daunting introspective questions you'll be wanting to ask yourselves!
With a few salty phrases bantered about such as "They don't build them like this anymore!", and "You should see the built in ironing board!" you may just have your answer to the question, Could I Be A Bungalow Enthusiast Too?
So, give us a few, will you? ...and we'll return...with a bit more on these "swell" little Bungalows and... while were at it? We'll croon a bit about, our near and dear to the heart, Quite The Stir Bungalow in historical Gettysburg, PA and what we're all about too!
Get your Bungalow Dancing Shoes on now! Please enjoy the Christmas Story while you wait...
We'd be oversimplifying things if we said we'd keep this brief...bah that's pure bunk!
Let's talk Pin-up gals who were so gorgeous they could pop the rivets out of a B-47 Bomber in the line of their indirect fire! These were real beauties, box office queens, cheescake idols and ideals of glamour!
You could've seen these pin-up gals painting the night and day through any number of ways.
From Variety magazine to newspapers, tabloids, and local rags...a painted mast head, er...figure on planes and ships, a quintessential ornament that was pasted over every interested fellas locker and calendars, pictures, movie screens, ...these pin-ups had it going on along with everyone jumping in on the World War II bond drive efforts and photo ops! Hunker down, bunkers away,...incoming Bombshells were legends of iconic beauty and physique and could draw the public attention... boy howdy!
Hollywood industries, radio, television, writers, producers and beauty pagents (there's another story upcoming soon wink, hint, wink)...they grabbed at the chance of molding and sustaining Americas' perception of the glamourous pin-up gals! The public demand for glamour and allure found these pin-ups in celebrity photographs, footage, publicity shots...a hot commodity!
Did you know it's said that empires were founded on the "talents" of pin-up gals, poetry flowed from their inspiration, stories prolifigated at the memory of their dark slash of ruby red lips, gossip scandalous and incessant, followed their lead and movies filmed and movie goers applauded their talents. And, the public and gossips loved them or reviled them!
"A bevy of lovelies from a far, great and wide universe". Jolene
SCREECH....halt....stop....OH-DAD-E-OH ...do you want to hear more? Sure you do...
For all that going on, oh ye iconic of lithe figure, glamourous, long to die for and fight for legs, lips, eyes, silken hair, ... in whatever form fitting attire they donned...verily ideal of glamour be still thy fickle American hearts...these Pin-Up gals were also objects of spoof , parodie and satire. That was good or bad but not necessarily unavoidable (shore n begorren) WHY what with the fact they were... the subjects of motivations, quotations, publications, notifications, adaptations, salutations, adorations, imitations, emulations, inspirations, infatuations, exaggerations, affectations, co-agulations (whoops), impersonations, imaginations, agitations, and adulations!
So, did these "hot properties of stage and screen" beauties emanate, exist or co-mingle of in or from a far, great and wide universe ? Well, here is the scoop...they were the girl next door. As the legend goes, "she was discovered in a drug store" is very true and apt in quite a few instances according to history. Whether found "discovered" by a talent scout, pushed forth by an over anxious mother pushing forty or a father driven to distraction, these gals hailed from every imaginable walk of life.
Mistresses of skill and due dilligence, whatever else, make no mistake that rather than the exception, these women were either or both of fluff and stuff resolve, determination and fortitude! With hard boiled femme fatale glamour that was all business alongside "wildfire determination" , wit and with beauty and raw animal magnitism...they combined to fuel the WWII GI Joes' escapist fortitude necessary, in part, to keep America free!
These women were irresolute and tireless in encouraging and entertaining civilians on the "homefront" and performing for our fighting troops at war overseas! They engaged their " fighting prowess" of pretentious personality and glamour with a great heaping measure of patriotic aid to help encourage Americans and boost morales.
In part, they changed America in infinite ways with the glamour and attitude of their trademark images. They encouraged, enamored, engaged and bolstered America, both men and women, with much that is lovely. These glamourous personnas kept the homefires burning bright on the long and cold, stormy, firey, shrapnel and strafe filled nights for those gallant US forces in the direct line of theatre fire.
Who of these pin-ups did not give voice to the WWII heart?
They were fashion models, consummate professionals, swimmers, actresses, dancers, glamour with a captiol G of revolutionary genre, sophisticated, urbane, blunt, bawdy, or fickle. These star studded vibrant, sulky, sirens of womanhood...revolutionized and paved the way for todays' women. These pin-up gals, these "sometimes" bad gals brought an era of change. These screen siren images of America certainly made headlines in their niche and full measure of fair share as torches of the heart!
Whatever the case and whatever you take away from all of this, these pin-up gals ushered in a renaissance paving the way for much that has since followed for womens' equality.
Yes, "sometimes" bad gals can bring on an era of "good" change, too! Hubba!
Here is a little note of must have commonly shared knowledge from history: Betty Boop, 1930s is the earliest known, first animated, most famous sex symbol!
When Jolene Macks created a group on Dreamers into Doers with the purpose of meeting other members of the site, she wasn't sure what to expect. Three months and 29 members later, a trip to New York City is in the works!
Jolene has enlisted the help of fellow members Rachel Gaffney and Terry Grahl, and the trio is creating a Dreamers into Doers outing that will include a trip to see "The Martha Stewart Show," a tour of the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia offices, volunteering at a women's shelter, and much more. It should also be noted that Jolene, Rachel, and Terry are making this dream come true with the help of other members of Dreamers into Doers, and we're very grateful to everyone involved.
Want to be a part of this trip?
Join the Group Now
Take Part in the Dreamers' Conversation:
What do you like the most about our website? Tell Us!
Next week, we'll return to our Doer of the Week feature. Let us know why YOU should be a Doer of the Week!
You could paint the town red with your fellow Dreamers!
Quite The Stir Bungalow Enthusiasts and Readers...Care To Join Jolene, Terry or Rachel in a Contribution for a Local Womens' Shelter in NYC?
Actress, singer, dancer and indisputably the number one Pin-Up girl of era-WWII-May we present Betty Grable?! And why the appeal of this Pin-up gal? Oh, yes, somewhere in the dregs of history, it comes to the forefront of ones' mind...the legs! Indescribable legs! And, those legs were insured to the tune of $1,000,000 with Lloyds of London!
We'll be sharing indescribable moments of glamour and glory of the Pin-up gals, the gals that stole a million WWII fighting soldiers' hearts...and soon! Rest assured, America, Ports 'O Call far and wide and our Aussie friends...for along with the glamour of the Pin-Up Gals, we'll pay homage to and remember "the gals", American Sweethearts, Keepers of Home, Hearth and HEART that GI Joe "left behind"!
Hubba, Hubba most fine Bungalow readers...Brace Yourselves!
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.
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
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!
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."
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
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 realityof 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".
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."
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?
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!
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.
“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
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