View allAll Photos Tagged Extramarital
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
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click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;
or…. Press the “L” button to zoom in the image;
clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;
oppure…. premi il tasto “L” per ingrandire l'immagine;
www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...
www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
The Vows, before God, made Him essentially THE Lord of these rings..and our home.
23 years, later and, PTL, He still is our central cornerstone.
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And for those who need so desperately a Restorer, a Comforter..there's hope. The story of Joseph is told by my fav wordsmith, Max Lucado here..read on and rekindle hope.
Family Wounds Are Slow to Heal
by Max Lucado, You'll Get Through This
Family wounds are slow to heal.
I hope your childhood was a happy time when your parents kept everyone fed, safe, and chuckling. I hope your dad came home every day, your mom tucked you in bed every night, and your siblings were your best friends.
But if not, you need to know you aren’t alone. The most famous family tree in the Bible suffered from a serious case of blight. Adam accused Eve. Cain killed his little brother. Abraham lied about Sarah. Rebekah favored Jacob. Jacob cheated Esau and then raised a gang of hoodlums.
The book of Genesis is a relative disaster.
Joseph didn’t deserve to be abandoned by his brothers. True, he wasn’t the easiest guy to live with. He boasted about his dreams and tattled on his siblings. He deserved some of the blame for the family friction. But he certainly didn’t deserve to be dumped into a pit and sold to merchants for pocket change.
The perpetrators were his ten older brothers. His brothers were supposed to look out for him. Joseph’s brothers were out of line. And his father? Jacob was out of touch.
With all due respect, the patriarch could have used a course on marriage and family life.
Mistake number one: he married a woman he didn’t love so he could marry one he did. Mistake number two: the two wives were sisters. (Might as well toss a lit match into a fireworks stand.) The first sister bore him sons. The second sister bore him none. So to expand his clan, he slept with an assortment of handmaidens and concubines until he had a covey of kids. Rachel, his favorite wife, finally gave birth to Joseph, who became his favorite son. She later died giving birth to a second son, Benjamin, leaving Jacob with a contentious household and a broken heart.
Jacob coped by checking out. Obstinate sons. Oblivious dad. The brothers needed a father. The father needed a wake-up call. And Joseph needed a protector. But he wasn’t protected; he was neglected. And he landed in a distant, dark place.
Initially, Joseph chose not to face his past. By the time he saw his brothers again, Joseph had been prime minister for nearly a decade. The kid from Canaan had come a long way.
Joseph could travel anywhere he wanted, yet he chose not to return to Canaan. He knew where to find his family, but he chose not to contact them.
He kept family secrets a secret. Untouched and untreated. Joseph was content to leave his past in the past. But God was not.
Restoration matters to God. The healing of the heart involves the healing of the past.
So God shook things up.
All countries came to Joseph in Egypt to get grain, because the famine was severe in all lands. — Genesis 41:57
And in the long line of folks appealing for an Egyptian handout, look what the cat dragged in.
Joseph heard them before he saw them. He was fielding a question from a servant when he detected the Hebrew chatter. Not just the language of his heart but the dialect of his home. The prince motioned for the servant to stop speaking. He turned and looked. There they stood.
The brothers were balder, grayer, rough skinned. They were pale and gaunt with hunger. Sweaty robes clung to their shins, and road dust chalked their cheeks. These Hebrews stuck out in sophisticated Egypt like hillbillies at Times Square.
They didn’t recognize him. His beard was shaved, his robe was royal, and the language he spoke was Egyptian. It never occurred to them that they were standing before their baby brother.
Thinking the prince couldn’t understand Hebrew, the brothers spoke to him with their eyes and gestures. They pointed at the stalks of grain and then at their mouths. They motioned to the brother who carried the money, and he stumbled forward and spilled the coins on the table.
When Joseph saw the silver, his lips curled, and his stomach turned. He had named his son God Made Me Forget, but the money made him remember. The last time he saw coins in the hands of Jacob’s older boys, they were laughing, and he was whimpering. That day at the pit he searched these faces for a friend, but he found none. And now they dared bring silver to him?
Joseph called for a Hebrew-speaking servant to translate. Then Joseph scowled at his brothers.
He acted as a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them. — Genesis 42:7
The brothers fell face-first in the dirt, which brought to Joseph’s mind a childhood dream.
“Uh, well, we’re from up the road in Canaan. Maybe you’ve heard of it?”
Joseph glared at them. “Nah, I don’t believe you. Guards, put these spies under arrest. They are here to infiltrate our country.”
The ten brothers spoke at once. “You’ve got it all wrong, Your High, Holy, and Esteemed Honor. We’re salt of the earth. We belong to the same family. That’s Simeon over there. That’s Judah... Well, there are twelve of us in all. At least there used to be.
The youngest is now with our father, and one is no longer living. — Genesis 42:13
Joseph gulped at the words. This was the first report on his family he had heard in twenty years. Jacob was alive. Benjamin was alive. And they thought he was dead.
“Tell you what,” he snapped. “I’ll let one of you go back and get your brother and bring him here. The rest of you I’ll throw in jail.”
With that, Joseph had their hands bound. A nod of his head, and they were marched off to jail. Perhaps the same jail where he had spent at least two years of his life.
What a curious series of events. The gruff voice, harsh treatment. The jail sentence. The abrupt dismissal. We’ve seen this sequence before with Joseph and his brothers, only the roles were reversed. On the first occasion they conspired against him. This time he conspired against them. They spoke angrily. He turned the tables. They threw him in the hole and ignored his cries for help. Now it was his turn to give them the cold shoulder.
What was going on?
I think he was trying to get his bearings. This was the toughest challenge of his life. The famine, by comparison, was easy. Mrs. Potiphar he could resist. Pharaoh’s assignments he could manage. But this mixture of hurt and hate that surged when he saw his flesh and blood? Joseph didn’t know what to do.
Maybe you don’t either.
Your family failed you. Your early years were hard ones. The people who should have cared for you didn’t. But, like Joseph, you made the best of it. You’ve made a life for yourself. Even started your own family. You are happy to leave Canaan in the rearview mirror. But God isn’t.
He gives us more than we request by going deeper than we ask. He wants not only your whole heart; He wants your heart whole. Why? Hurt people hurt people. Think about it. Why do you fly off the handle? Why do you avoid conflict? Why do you seek to please everyone? Might your tendencies have something to do with an unhealed hurt in your heart?
God wants to help you for your sake. And for the sake of your posterity.
Suppose Joseph had refused his brothers? Summarily dismissed them? Washed his hands of the whole mess? God’s plan for the nation of Israel depended upon the compassion of Joseph. A lot was at stake here.
There is a lot at stake with you too. Yes, your family history has some sad chapters. But your history doesn’t have to be your future. The generational garbage can stop here and now. You don’t have to give your kids what your ancestors gave you.
Talk to God about the scandals and scoundrels. Invite Him to relive the betrayal with you. Bring it out in the open. Joseph restaged the hurt for a reason.
Revealing leads to healing.
Let God do His work. The process may take a long time. It may take a lifetime.
Family pain is the deepest pain because it was inflicted so early and because it involves people who should have been trustworthy.
Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. — Romans 12:2
Let Him replace childish thinking with mature truth (1 Corinthians 13:11). You are God’s child. His creation. Destined for heaven. You are a part of His family. Let Him set you on the path to reconciliation.
Joseph did. The process would prove to be long and difficult. It occupies four chapters of the Bible and at least a year on the calendar, but Joseph took the first step. After three days Joseph released his brothers from jail. He played the tough guy again. “Go on back. But I want to see this kid brother you talk about. I’ll keep one of you as a guarantee.”
They agreed and then, right in front of Joseph, rehashed the day they dry-gulched him:
Then they said to one another, ‘We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us’. — Genesis 42:21
Again, they did not know that the prince understood Hebrew. But he did. And when he heard the words, Joseph turned away so they couldn’t see his eyes fill with tears. He stepped into the shadows and wept. He did this seven more times. He didn’t cry when he was promoted by Potiphar or crowned by Pharaoh, but he blubbered like a baby when he learned that his brothers hadn’t forgotten him after all. When he sent them back to Canaan, he loaded their saddlebags with grain. A moment of grace.
With that small act, healing started. If God healed that family, who’s to say He won’t heal yours?
Healing of the heart involved healing of the past
For Reflection
Listed below are several words and phrases that characterize some of the hardships and dysfunction evident in Joseph’s family. Which issues have marked your family?
❑ abandonment
❑ troubled marriage(s)
❑ premature death
❑ hatred
❑ sibling rivalry
❑ favoritism
❑ severe grief
❑ disregard for others
❑ parental abdication
❑ guilt
❑ deception
❑ betrayal
❑ infertility
❑ resentment
❑ abuse
❑ extramarital relationships
❑ harsh treatment
❑ brokenness
❑ self-absorption
❑ secrecy
❑ neglect
Part of the healing process includes unearthing the details — the specifics of how you were hurt — and inviting God to relive those experiences with you. What help do you need from God? How do you want to experience His presence, comfort, or guidance?
Coming face-to-face with old hurts can be disorienting. When Joseph first encountered his brothers again, he withheld his identity, spoke harshly, made false accusations, jailed them, released them, put conditions on their departure and return, held one of them hostage, concealed powerful emotions, and was secretly generous to them (Genesis 42:6-28). What conflicting thoughts and emotions surface when you consider the possibility of engaging old hurts and the people connected with them?
Joseph’s path to reconciliation with his family was long and difficult, but it began with a small act of mercy and grace — he loaded his brothers’ saddlebags with grain and quietly returned the silver they had paid for it. A gift, free and clear.
What small act of mercy and grace do you sense God inviting you to extend to someone in your family?
from You'll Get Through This by Max Lucado,
Plotting the takeover of my family's company by blackmailing my brother over his extramarital dalliances in Bangkok...
And by convincing his son to become a ladyboy! 😈
Gosh, if soap operas were like this I'd consider watching them! XXX
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
This is how he lives...
Two years for two houses.
In one - wife and little daughter,
In the other - she, the soul of his languor,
Who does he sometimes spend the night with?
His two women - he is dear to each
And he gives everyone his warmth.
He got used to believing that one day in fate
He is very lucky with women.
He doesn't want to listen to anyone's opinion.
Neither colleagues, nor my own mother
Who cannot be brought to a decision,
What do you need to break up with that extramarital relationship?
“Understand! The wife finds out, it will go sideways
To you, fool, your crazy whim.
He will inadvertently trace your route,
Having arranged an unexpected surprise for you!
Beautiful wife, princess daughter...
The house is full... What do you want?
And with that other one... Just for a night,
It doesn’t matter who you pass the time with sometimes.
And what did you find in her, this shameless fool?
We can’t understand... Lord forgive me!
I bewitched you to know you in nature,
To take a decent family away..."
He will wave his hand at them. Light a delicious smoke
One of the last two cigarettes
And he will smile somehow meaningfully,
Having again scrolled through the silent answer in my mind:
“She is my angel, half of my heart...
And she has no one relatives
Me. What else... She is under the heart of her son
She’s been wearing mine for six months now.”
This is how he lives...
Two years for two houses.
In one - a wife and a little daughter,
In another - she, the soul of his languor,
Who does he sometimes spend the night with?
----------------------------------------------------------------
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or…. Press the “L” button to zoom in the image;
clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
Baños de Doña María de Padilla
The Baths of Doña María de Padilla were built around the 12th century and owe their structure to an ancient Almohad garden. They served as a recreational area to take refuge from the summer heat, as well as a food storage area.
They receive this name because it is believed that Doña María de Padilla, the lover of King Pedro I the Cruel, walked naked through the palace and bathed in this beautiful stone cistern coated in lime. Legend also has it that Pedro I made all those who visited him drink from the water in which Doña María bathed. Once they drank, the audience began.
The most curious thing about the romance between Pedro I and Doña María is that they never married. They had extramarital relations while Pedro married other women. Although it is true that it was Doña María de Padilla who gave him more offspring. Pedro I got the archbishop of Toledo to annul all their previous marriages and declared Doña María queen posthumously. The remains of both rest together in the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral of Seville.
Londres 247, Colonia del Carmen, Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico
Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954) was one of the most remarkable Mexican painters of the indigenous culture of her country in a style combining Realism, Symbolism and Surrealism. She also was a remarkable personality, an active communist supporter, and wife of the Mexican muralist and cubist painter Diego Rivera.
Kahlo was noted for her unconventional appearance, declining to remove her facial hair (she had a small mustache and unibrow which she exaggerated in self portraits), and for her flamboyantly styled clothing, drawn largely from traditional Mexican dress. She was half Jewish of German-Hungarian descent, & half Mestizo.
Her paintings attracted the attention of fellow artist Diego Rivera, whom she later married. They were often referred to as "The Elephant and the Dove" due to their difference in size (Frida's mother, who did not like Diego, came up with this description of them). When they first married, he was 42, 6 ft 1 in tall, and 300 pounds; she was 22, 5 ft 3 in and 98 pounds.
Their marriage was a loving but storming one, largely due to Diego's weakness for extramarital flings. Their notoriously fiery temperaments also played a part in the storminess, and both had numerous extramarital affairs (Frida was outraged when she found that Diego had an affair with her younger sister, Cristina Kahlo). The couple divorced, but remarried in 1940. This remarriage was as turbulent as the first.
Frida did not hide from Diego the fact that she was bisexual; Diego tolerated her relationships with women (among them actress Josephine Baker) better than her relationships with men, which made him fiercely jealous.
Active Communist sympathizers, Kahlo and Rivera befriended Leon Trotsky as he sought political asylum from Joseph Stalin´s regime in The Soviet Union. Initially, Trotsky lived with Rivera and then at Frida's home depicted in this photo where he and Frida allegedly had an affair. Trotsky and his wife then moved to another house in the same neighborhood of Coyoacán where Trotsky was later assassinated. Sometime after Trotsky's death, Frida denounced her former friend and praised the Soviet Union under Stalin. She spoke favorably of Mao, calling China "the new socialist hope".
Kahlo died on July 13, 1954, supposedly of a pulmonary embolism. She had been ill throughout the previous year and had had a leg amputated owing to gangrene. However, an autopsy was never performed and many are convinced she committed suicide. A few days before her death she had written in her diary: "I hope the exit is joyful; and I hope never to return."
The pre-Columbian urn holding her ashes is on display in this blue home, La Casa Azul in Coyoacán, today a museum housing a number of her great works of art.
0296-082006
On the Road
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Marylou" redirects here. For the album by Anna Rossinelli, see Marylou (album).
For other uses, see On the Road (disambiguation).
On the Road
1st edition
On the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac. On the Road is based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across America. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonists living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry and drug use.
The idea for On the Road formed during the late 1940s. It was to be Kerouac's second novel, and it underwent several drafts before he completed it in April 1951. It was first published by Viking Press in 1957.
When the book was originally released, The New York Times hailed it as "the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat,' and whose principal avatar he is."[1] In 1998, the Modern Library ranked On the Road 55th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. The novel was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.[2]
This section is written like a personal reflection or opinion essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (December 2012)
Many aspects go into understanding the context of On the Road, and they must be viewed cohesively in order to appreciate why the book was as relevant and pertinent as it was. The following issues are important to consider as the foundation for the book and its reception by the public.
Kerouac biography[edit]
Kerouac was born in a French-Canadian neighborhood of Lowell, Massachusetts, and learned English at age six. (He had difficulty with the language into his teens.) He grew up in a devout Catholic home, and this influence manifested itself throughout the work. During high school, Kerouac was a star football player and earned a scholarship to Columbia University. After dropping out following a conflict with the football coach, he then served on several different sailing vessels before returning to New York in search of inspiration to write. Here he met the likes of Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs who would not only become characters in the book but also form the core of the Beat Generation.[3]
Many of the events depicted in the book are the experiences that shaped both its content and production. Kerouac met Neal Cassady, who would become Dean Moriarty, in December 1946 and began his road adventures in 1947 while writing what would become The Town and the City. The adventures themselves, which took place between 1947 and 1950, were meant to help him overcome writers block during early attempts to write the book. It was through letters and other interactions with his friends that Kerouac decided to write the first person narrative that became On the Road as we know it today.[3]
The publication process was another adventure unto itself, which took a major psychological toll on Kerouac. He was discouraged by the struggle (even though he continued to write during the period) and finally agreed to substantially revise the original version after years of failed negotiations with different publishers. He removed several parts in order to focus the story and also to protect himself from potential issues of libel. He also continued to write feverishly after its publication in spite of attacks from critics.[3]
Historical context[edit]
On the Road portrays the story of a fierce personal quest for meaning and belonging. This comes at an interesting point in American history when conformity was praised and outsiders were suspect. The Beat Generation arose out of a time of intense conflict, both internally and externally.
The issues of the Cold War, the Second Red Scare and McCarthyism took center stage of the cultural arena in the 1950s. As the U.S government cracked down on left-wing influences at home and abroad, the sentiment of unifying and banding together led to extreme measures of censorship and control.
The Cold War was the backdrop for this fight. In a short time after defeating Germany, the Soviet Union fell from ally to threat in the eyes of the United States. In the postwar reconstruction process, the two powers found themselves continually at odds. The sentiment arose clearly as a struggle between two opposing ways of life. Contention over Soviet support for alleged communist revolution in Iran, then Turkey and Greece, led to the American policy of containment and the Truman Doctrine. Before a joint session of Congress on March 12, 1947, President Harry S. Truman stated, "I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support the people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."[4] That summer, Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed a plan for the economic reconstruction of Europe. While Western European countries planned how to go about rebuilding with American help, the Soviets walked away and forced the Eastern European countries to do the same. A Soviet aid and recovery plan followed for these countries and would mark the beginning of a punch and counterpunch pattern that would typify the early years of the Cold War. This laid a foundation for the tension that would define the period.[4]
Beat Generation summary[edit]
It was in this climate that some individuals of the young generation were seeking meaning outside the mainstream worldview. Amidst all the conflict and contradiction, the Beats were seeking out a way to navigate through the world. As John Clellon Holmes put it, "Everywhere the Beat Generation seems occupied with the feverish production of answers—some of them frightening, some of them foolish—to a single question: how are we to live?"[5]
The idea of what it means to be "beat" is still difficult to accurately describe. While many critics still consider the word "beat" in its literal sense of "tired and beaten down," others, including Kerouac himself promoted the generation more in sense of "beatific" or blissful.[6] "Beat" can also be read as a 'rhythm' such as in music, as in Jazz - a rhythmic beat or 'the rhythm of life' itself.
Holmes and Kerouac published several articles in popular magazines in an attempt to explain the movement. In the November 16, 1952 New York Times Sunday Magazine, he wrote a piece exposing the faces of the Beat Generation. "[O]ne day [Kerouac] said, 'You know, this is a really beat generation' ... More than mere weariness, it implies the feeling of having been used, of being raw. It involves a sort of nakedness of mind, and ultimately, of soul: a feeling of being reduced to the bedrock of consciousness. In short, it means being undramatically pushed up against the wall of oneself."[7] He distinguishes Beats from the Lost Generation of the 1920s pointing out how the Beats are not lost but how they are searching for answers to all of life's questions. Kerouac's preoccupation with writers like Ernest Hemingway shaped his view of the beat generation. He uses a prose style which he adapted from Hemingway and throughout On the Road he alludes to novels like The Sun Also Rises. "How to live seems much more crucial than why."[7] In many ways, it is a spiritual journey, a quest to find belief, belonging, and meaning in life. Not content with the uniformity promoted by government and consumer culture, the Beats yearned for a deeper, more sensational experience.
Holmes expands his attempt to define the generation in a 1958 article in Esquire magazine. This article was able to take more of a look back at the formation of the movement as it was published after On the Road. "It describes the state of mind from which all unessentials have been stripped, leaving it receptive to everything around it, but impatient with trivial obstructions. To be beat is to be at the bottom of your personality, looking up."[5]
Literary context[edit]
At the time of publication, On the Road was not the first book to criticize contemporary American culture. A nonconformist sentiment characterized the arts and popular culture of the 1950s as a way of rejecting societal norms. Many of the best selling books of the time achieved this same mission.[4]
J. D. Salinger produced the first shock to the tranquil suburban landscape with the publication of The Catcher in the Rye in 1951. His protagonist Holden Caulfield struck a chord with young readers also at odds with the adult world. Caulfield's rejection of the regimentation and "phoniness" of the world around him resonated with the struggle for meaning that drove the Beat Generation. Salinger's rejection of traditional middle-class values signaled the first widely recognized public stand against the cultural conformist pressure.[4]
Among the best-selling novels of 1950s was Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. Published in September 1956, it managed to be the second most sold book in the country that year and then to top the chart in 1957. In fact, it went on to be the best-selling book in American history up to that point.[8] Often cited as the prime example of the decline in American culture of the decade, the novel examines the traditional values of a New England mill town by introducing the complications of extramarital sexual affairs. A book that received a broad range of reviews after publication, Peyton Place's popularity shows that popular culture was ready for a break from their traditional expectations.[8]
Another popular contemporary was Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955) that dealt with the increasing suburbanization of American society. Tom Rath struggles with the dilemma of following his conscience or pursuing the big salary and lush lifestyle typically portrayed of the 1950s family. In the end, though, he discovers that he can have both. While Wilson can be seen as chastising the societal norms at times, he concludes with his character achieving them. This shows the dichotomy of attitudes toward the middle-class values of the day.[9]
Production and publication[edit]
The scroll, exhibited at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts, summer 2007
Kerouac often promoted the story about how in April 1951 he wrote the novel in three weeks, typing continuously onto a 120-foot roll of teletype paper.[10] Although the story is true per se, the book was in fact the result of a long and arduous creative process. Kerouac carried small notebooks, in which much of the text was written as the eventful span of road trips unfurled. He started working on the first of several versions of the novel as early as 1948, based on experiences during his first long road trip in 1947. However, he remained dissatisfied with the novel.[11] Inspired by a thousand-word rambling letter from his friend Neal Cassady, Kerouac in 1950 outlined the "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose" and decided to tell the story of his years on the road with Cassady as if writing a letter to a friend in a form that reflected the improvisational fluidity of jazz.[12]
The first draft of what was to become the published novel was written in three weeks in April 1951 while Kerouac lived with Joan Haverty, his second wife, at 454 West 20th Street in Manhattan, New York. The manuscript was typed on what he called "the scroll"—a continuous, one hundred and twenty-foot scroll of tracing paper sheets that he cut to size and taped together.[13] The roll was typed single-spaced, without margins or paragraph breaks. In the following years, Kerouac continued to revise this manuscript, deleting some sections (including some sexual depictions deemed pornographic in the 1950s) and adding smaller literary passages.[14] Kerouac authored a number of inserts intended for On the Road between 1951 and 1952, before eventually omitting them from the manuscript and using them to form the basis of another work, Visions of Cody.[15] On the Road was championed within Viking Press by Malcolm Cowley and was published by Viking in 1957, based on revisions of the 1951 manuscript.[16] Besides differences in formatting, the published novel was shorter than the original scroll manuscript and used pseudonyms for all of the major characters.
Viking Press released a slightly edited version of the original manuscript on 16 August 2007 titled On the Road: The Original Scroll corresponding with the 50th anniversary of original publication. This version has been transcribed and edited by English academic and novelist Dr. Howard Cunnell. As well as containing material that was excised from the original draft due to its explicit nature, the scroll version also uses the real names of the protagonists, so Dean Moriarty becomes Neal Cassady and Carlo Marx becomes Allen Ginsberg, etc.[17]
In 2007, Gabriel Anctil, a journalist of the Montreal's daily Le Devoir discovered, in Kerouac's personal archives in New York, almost 200 pages of his writings entirely in Quebec French, with colloquialisms. The collection included ten manuscript pages of an unfinished version of On the Road, written on January 19, 1951. The date of the writings makes Kerouac one of the earliest known authors to use colloquial Quebec French in literature.[18]
Plot summary[edit]
The two main characters of the book are the narrator, Salvatore "Sal" Paradise, and his new friend Dean Moriarty, much admired for his carefree attitude and sense for adventure, a free-spirited maverick eager to explore all kicks and an inspiration and catalyst for Sal's travels. The novel contains five parts, three of them describing road trips with Moriarty. The narrative takes place in the years 1947 to 1950, is full of Americana, and marks a specific era in jazz history, "somewhere between its Charlie Parker Ornithology period and another period that began with Miles Davis." The novel is largely autobiographical, Sal being the alter ego of the author and Dean standing for Neal Cassady. The epic nature of the adventures and the text itself creates a tremendous sense of meaning and purpose for the themes and lessons.
Part One[edit]
The first section describes Sal's first trip to San Francisco. Disheartened after a divorce, his life changes when he meets Dean Moriarty, who is "tremendously excited with life," and begins to long for the freedom of the road: "Somewhere along the line I knew there would be girls, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl would be handed to me." He sets off in July 1947 with fifty dollars in his pocket. After taking several buses and hitchhiking, he arrives in Denver, where he hooks up with Carlo Marx, Dean, and their friends. There are parties — among them an excursion to the ghost town of Central City. Eventually Sal leaves by bus and gets to San Francisco, where he meets Remi Boncoeur and his girlfriend Lee Ann. Remi arranges for Sal to take a job as a night watchman at a boarding camp for merchant sailors waiting for their ship. Not holding this job for long, Sal hits the road again. "Oh, where is the girl I love?" he wonders. Soon he meets Terry, the "cutest little Mexican girl," on the bus to Los Angeles. They stay together, traveling back to Bakersfield, then to Sabinal, "her hometown," where her family works in the fields. He meets Terry's brother Ricky, who teaches him the true meaning of "mañana" ("tomorrow"). Working in the cotton fields, Sal realizes that he is not made for this type of work. Leaving Terry behind, he takes the bus back to New York and walks the final stretch from Times Square to Paterson, just missing Dean, who had come to see him, by two days.
In this section, Kerouac not only introduces many of the book's characters but also its central conflicts and dilemmas. He initially shows Sal as the deep thinking writer who yearns for greater freedom. As the plot unfolds he shows the depth and degree of Sal's internal conflict in the pursuit of "kicks," torn between the romanticized freedom of the open road and practicality of a more settled, domestic life. Dean appears as the "yellow roman candle" that catalyzes the action of the novel. His uncontainable spirit invites Sal to follow but also foreshadows problems of commitment and devotion that will reappear later on.
Part Two[edit]
In December 1948 Sal is celebrating Christmas with his relatives in Testament, Virginia when Dean shows up with Marylou (having left his second wife, Camille, and their newborn baby, Amy, in San Francisco) and Ed Dunkel. Sal's Christmas plans are shattered as "now the bug was on me again, and the bug's name was Dean Moriarty." First they drive to New York, where they meet Carlo and party. Dean wants Sal to make love to Marylou, but Sal declines. In Dean's Hudson they take off from New York in January 1949 and make it to New Orleans. In Algiers they stay with the morphine-addicted Old Bull Lee and his wife Jane. Galatea Dunkel joins her husband in New Orleans while Sal, Dean, and Marylou continue their trip. Once in San Francisco, Dean again leaves Marylou to be with Camille. "Dean will leave you out in the cold anytime it is in the interest of him," Marylou tells Sal. Both of them stay briefly in a hotel, but soon she moves out, following a nightclub owner. Sal is alone and on Market Street has visions of past lives, birth, and rebirth. Dean finds him and invites him to stay with his family. Together, they visit nightclubs and listen to Slim Gaillard and other jazz musicians. The stay ends on a sour note: "what I accomplished by coming to Frisco I don't know," and Sal departs, taking the bus back to New York.
In this section, Marylou sums up the dilemma of Dean's lack of commitment and selfishness when she says that he will always leave you if it isn't in his interest. This central conflict appears again after Dean returns to Camille in San Francisco, abandoning his two travel companions. Sal again finds himself at a loss for purpose and direction. He has spent his time following the other characters but is unfulfilled by the frantic nature of this life. Much of the euphoria has worn off as he becomes more contemplative and philosophical.
Part Three[edit]
In the spring of 1949, Sal takes a bus from New York to Denver. He is depressed and "lonesome"; none of his friends are around. After receiving some money, he leaves Denver for San Francisco to see Dean. Camille is pregnant and unhappy, and Dean has injured his thumb trying to hit Marylou for sleeping with other men. Camille throws them out, and Sal invites Dean to come to New York, planning to travel further to Italy. They meet Galatea, who tells Dean off: "You have absolutely no regard for anybody but yourself and your kicks." Sal realizes she is right — Dean is the "HOLY GOOF" — but also defends him, as "he's got the secret that we're all busting to find out." After a night of jazz and drinking in Little Harlem on Folsom Street, they depart. On the way to Sacramento they meet a "fag," who propositions them. Dean tries to hustle some money out of this but is turned down. During this part of the trip Sal and Dean have ecstatic discussions having found "IT" and "TIME." In Denver a brief argument shows the growing rift between the two, when Dean reminds Sal of his age, Sal being the older of the two. They get a '47 Cadillac from the travel bureau that needs to be brought to Chicago. Dean drives most of the way, crazy, careless, often speeding over 100 miles per hour, bringing it in a disheveled state. By bus they move on to Detroit and spend a night on Skid Row, Dean hoping to find his homeless father. From Detroit they share a ride to New York and arrive at Sal's aunt's new flat in Long Island. They go on partying in New York, where Dean meets Inez and gets her pregnant while his wife is expecting their second child.
After seeing how he treats Camille and Marylou, Sal finally begins to realize the nature of his relationship with Dean. While he cares greatly about him, several times discussing future plans to live on the same street, he recognizes that the feeling may not be mutual. The situations are beginning to change, though, as Sal has received some money from his recently published book and can begin to support himself and also Dean when he comes to New York. Sal is taking a more active role in his freedom as opposed to just following Dean.
Part Four[edit]
In the spring of 1950, Sal gets the itch to travel again while Dean is working as a parking lot attendant in Manhattan, living with his girlfriend Inez. Sal notices that he has been reduced to simple pleasures — listening to basketball games and looking at erotic playing cards. By bus Sal takes to the road again, passing Washington, Ashland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and eventually reaching Denver. There he meets Stan Shephard, and the two plan to go to Mexico City when they learn that Dean had bought a car and is on the way to join them. In a rickety '37 Ford sedan the three set off across Texas to Laredo, where they cross the border. They are ecstatic, having left "everything behind us and entering a new and unknown phase of things." Their money buys more (10 cents for a beer), police are laid back, cannabis is readily available, and people are curious and friendly. The landscape is magnificent. In Gregoria, they meet Victor, a local kid, who leads them to a bordello where they have their last grand party, dancing to mambo, drinking, and having fun with prostitutes. In Mexico City Sal becomes ill from dysentery and is "delirious and unconscious." Dean leaves him, and Sal later reflects that "when I got better I realized what a rat he was, but then I had to understand the impossible complexity of his life, how he had to leave me there, sick, to get on with his wives and woes."
In this section we see Dean's selfishness finally extend to Sal, as he leaves Sal abandoned in Mexico City. Sal has sunk to the bottom of his reality having seen Victor put his family obligations over the freedom of the road and Dean was not ready to do the same thing. This is the moment where the paths diverge and Sal realizes that he has more to live for than just constantly moving.
Part Five[edit]
Dean, having obtained divorce papers in Mexico, had first returned to New York to marry Inez, only to leave her and go back to Camille. After his recovery from dysentery in Mexico, Sal returns to New York in the fall. He finds a girl, Laura, and plans to move with her to San Francisco. Sal writes to Dean about his plan to move to San Francisco. Dean writes back saying that he's willing to come and accompany Laura and Sal. Dean arrives over five weeks early but Sal is out taking a late-night walk alone. Sal returns home to Laura and sees a copy of Proust and knows that it is Dean's. Sal realizes that his friend has arrived, but at a time when Sal doesn't have the money to relocate to San Francisco. On hearing this Dean makes the decision to head back to Camille and Sal's friend Remi Boncoeur denies Sal's request to give Dean a short lift to 40th Street on their way to a Duke Ellington concert at the Metropolitan Opera House. Sal's girlfriend Laura realises that this is a painful moment for Sal and prompts him for a response as the party drives off without Dean; to which he replies "He'll be alright". Sal later reflects as he sits on a river pier under a New Jersey night sky about the roads and lands of America that he has travelled and states ". . . I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty."
Character key[edit]
Kerouac often based his fictional characters on friends and family.[19][20]
"Because of the objections of my early publishers I was not allowed to use the same person's name in each work."[21]
Real-life personCharacter name
Jack KerouacSal Paradise
Gabrielle KerouacSal's Aunt
Alan AnsenRollo Greb
William S. BurroughsOld Bull Lee
Joan VollmerJane
Lucien CarrDamion
Neal CassadyDean Moriarty
Carolyn CassadyCamille
Hal ChaseChad King
Henri CruRemi Boncoeur
Bea Franco (Beatrice Kozera)Terry
Allen GinsbergCarlo Marx
Diana HansenInez
Alan HarringtonHal Hingham
Joan HavertyLaura
Luanne HendersonMarylou
Al HinkleEd Dunkel
Helen HinkleGalatea Dunkel
Jim HolmesTom Snark
John Clellon HolmesIan MacArthur
Ed StringhamTom Saybrook
Herbert HunckeElmer Hassel
Frank JeffriesStan Shephard
Gene PippinGene Dexter
Allan TemkoRoland Major
Bill TomsonRoy Johnson
Helen TomsonDorothy Johnson
Ed UhlEd Wall
Helen GullionRita Betancourt
Major themes[edit]
The main ideas of the Beat Generation, the longing for belief and meaning in life, are reflected in On the Road. While interest in the book initially revolved more around Kerouac's personal life rather than the literary nature of the text, critical attention has burgeoned in recent years. Although the book can be viewed through many lenses, several major themes rise up from a deeper study.
Kerouac has admitted that the biggest of these themes is religion. In a letter to a student in 1961, he wrote:
"Dean and I were embarked on a journey through post-Whitman America to FIND that America and to FIND the inherent goodness in American man. It was really a story about 2 Catholic buddies roaming the country in search of God. And we found him."
[22]
This idea of an inward adventure is illustrated in all of the experimentation. The Beats had a more liberal definition of God and spirituality closely related to personal experience.
All of the travel and personal interaction in the book permit an examination of the ideas of masculinity and mobility in the 1950s. While these concepts may seem unrelated, Kerouac weaves them together to provide another form of rebellion against the social norm of conformity. Mary Pannicia Carden examines this and proposes that traveling was a way for the characters to assert their independence. "[Sal and Dean] attempt to replace the model of manhood dominant in capitalist America with a model rooted in foundational American ideals of conquest and self-discovery."[23] Travel is a very symbolic act both in history and in literature of coming of age and self-realization, especially for males. But not only do they see conformity as restricting, but in many senses, they view women this way as well. "Reassigning disempowering elements of patriarchy to female keeping, they attempt to substitute male brotherhood for the nuclear family and to replace the ladder of success with the freedom of the road as primary measures of male identity."[23] The interactions of the book come down to balances of power and gains and losses of masculinity. Even though they seek to defy its traditional markers, Dean and Sal also rely on this masculinity in their self-definition. In the end, their divergence to different paths reflects Sal's understanding of the limitations of complete freedom that is sought on the road in so far as it pertains to relations to culture and identity.
In a broader sense, On the Road's major lesson is about the proper way of growing up. Unlike Holden Caulfield, Sal Paradise is struggling with getting through adolescence and maturity rather than delaying it. We see this contrasted with Dean Moriarty who is portrayed as the depiction of a child, always on the move. Sal's struggle is how to balance these opposing forces. We saw these exact issues in Holmes's definition of the Beat Generation as a whole, of which Sal Paradise becomes the metaphorical face.
Language[edit]
In addition to the themes and controversial topics addressed in On the Road, Kerouac's apparently erratic writing style garnered much attention for the novel. Some have said that On the Road was merely a transitional phase in between the traditional narrative structure of The Town and the City (1951) and the so-called "wild form" of Kerouac's later books like Visions of Cody (1972).[24]
Kerouac's own explanation of his style begins with the publication of "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose" (1953) in which he outlines the core features of his techniques. He likens his writing to Impressionist painters who sought to create art through direct observation. He endeavored to present a raw version of truth which did not lend itself to the traditional process of revision and rewriting but rather the emotionally charged practice of spontaneity he pursued.[25]
This spontaneity produced a book that was not only readable in 1957 but still captures the attention of audiences today. The personal nature of the text helps foster a direct link between Kerouac and the reader. Because he is writing about actual experiences, conveying appropriately the environment provided this connection. Kerouac chose to do this through his detailed descriptions, rarely pausing for a breath between sentences. His more casual diction and very relaxed syntax, although viewed as less than serious by some, was an intentional attempt to depict events as they happened and to convey all of the energy and emotion of the experiences.[25]
Reception[edit]
The book received a mixed reaction from the media in 1957. Some of the earlier reviews spoke highly of the book, but the backlash to these was swift and strong. Although this was discouraging to Kerouac, he still received great recognition and notoriety from the work. Since its publication, critical attention has focused on issues of both the context and the style, addressing the actions of the characters as well as the nature of Kerouac's prose.
Initial reaction[edit]
In his review for The New York Times, Gilbert Millstein wrote, "its publication is a historic occasion in so far as the exposure of an authentic work of art is of any great moment in an age in which the attention is fragmented and the sensibilities are blunted by the superlatives of fashion" and praised it as "a major novel."[1] Millstein was already sympathetic toward the Beat Generation and his promotion of the book in the Times did wonders for its recognition and acclaim. Not only did he like the themes, but also the style, which would come to be just as hotly contested in the reviews that followed. "There are sections of On the Road in which the writing is of a beauty almost breathtaking...there is some writing on jazz that has never been equaled in American fiction, either for insight, style, or technical virtuosity."[1] Kerouac and Joyce Johnson, a younger writer he was living with, read the review shortly after midnight at a newsstand at 69th Street and Broadway, near Joyce's apartment in the Upper West Side. They took their copy of the newspaper to a neighborhood bar and read the review over and over. "Jack kept shaking his head," Joyce remembered later in her memoir Minor Characters, "as if he couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t happier than he was." Finally, they returned to her apartment to go to sleep. As Joyce recalled: "Jack lay down obscure for the last time in his life. The ringing phone woke him the next morning, and he was famous.”[26]
The backlash began just a few days later in the same publication. David Dempsey published a review that contradicted most of what Millstein had promoted in the book. "As a portrait of a disjointed segment of society acting out of its own neurotic necessity, "On the Road", is a stunning achievement. But it is a road, as far as the characters are concerned, that leads to nowhere." While he did not discount the stylistic nature of the text (saying that it was written "with great relish"), he dismissed the content as a "passionate lark" rather than a novel."[27]
Other reviewers were also less than impressed. Phoebe Lou Adams in Atlantic Monthly wrote that it "disappoints because it constantly promises a revelation or a conclusion of real importance and general applicability, and cannot deliver any such conclusion because Dean is more convincing as an eccentric than as a representative of any segment of humanity."[28] While she liked the writing and found a good theme, her concern was repetition. "Everything Mr. Kerouac has to say about Dean has been told in the first third of the book, and what comes later is a series of variations on the same theme."[28]
The review from Time exhibited a similar sentiment. "The post-World War II generation—beat or beatific—has not found symbolic spokesmen with anywhere near the talents of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, or Nathaniel West. In this novel, talented Author Kerouac, 35, does not join that literary league, either, but at least suggests that his generation is not silent. With his barbaric yawp of a book, Kerouac commands attention as a kind of literary James Dean."[29] It considers the book partly a travel book and partly a collection of journal jottings. While Kerouac sees his characters as "mad to live...desirous of everything at the same time," the reviewer likens them to cases of "psychosis that is a variety of Ganser Syndrome" who "aren't really mad—they only seem to be."[29]
Current reactions[edit]
On the Road has been the object of much study since its publication. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of publication, several critics took a fresh look at the text in 2007. It is interesting to consider how the perception has evolved in the last half century.
David Brooks of the New York Times compiled several of these opinions and summarized them in an Op-Ed from October 2, 2007. Where as Millstein saw it as a story in which the heroes took pleasure in everything, George Mouratidis, an editor of a new edition, claimed "above all else, the story is about loss." "It's a book about death and the search for something meaningful to hold on to — the famous search for 'IT,' a truth larger than the self, which, of course, is never found," wrote Meghan O'Rourke in Slate. "Kerouac was this deep, lonely, melancholy man," Hilary Holladay of the University of Massachusetts Lowell told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "And if you read the book closely, you see that sense of loss and sorrow swelling on every page." "In truth, 'On the Road' is a book of broken dreams and failed plans," wrote Ted Gioia in The Weekly Standard.[30]
John Leland, author of Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think), says "We're no longer shocked by the sex and drugs. The slang is passé and at times corny. Some of the racial sentimentality is appalling" but adds "the tale of passionate friendship and the search for revelation are timeless. These are as elusive and precious in our time as in Sal's, and will be when our grandchildren celebrate the book's hundredth anniversary."[31]
To Brooks, this characterization seems limited. "Reading through the anniversary commemorations, you feel the gravitational pull of the great Boomer Narcissus. All cultural artifacts have to be interpreted through whatever experiences the Baby Boomer generation is going through at that moment. So a book formerly known for its youthful exuberance now becomes a gloomy middle-aged disillusion."[30] He laments how the book's spirit seems to have been tamed by the professionalism of America today and how it has only survived in parts. The more reckless and youthful parts of the text that gave it its energy are the parts that have "run afoul of the new gentility, the rules laid down by the health experts, childcare experts, guidance counselors, safety advisers, admissions officers, virtuecrats and employers to regulate the lives of the young."[30] He claims that the "ethos" of the book has been lost.
Influence[edit]
On the Road has been a major influence on many poets, writers, actors and musicians, including Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Jim Morrison, Hunter S. Thompson, and many more.
"It changed my life like it changed everyone else's," Dylan would say many years later. Tom Waits, too, acknowledged its influence, hymning Jack and Neal in a song and calling the Beats "father figures." At least two great American photographers were influenced by Kerouac: Robert Frank, who became his close friend — Kerouac wrote the introduction to Franks' book, The Americans — and Stephen Shore, who set out on an American road trip in the 1970s with Kerouac's book as a guide. It would be hard to imagine Hunter S. Thompson's road novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas had On the Road not laid down the template; likewise, films such as Easy Rider, Paris, Texas, and even Thelma and Louise.[32]
In his book Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors, Ray Manzarek (keyboard player of The Doors) wrote "I suppose if Jack Kerouac had never written On the Road, The Doors would never have existed."
Since the mobile lifestyle popularized by "On The Road" had a strong influence on the large market segment of baby boomers who joined the hippie movement the death of Jack Kerouac was of interest to the readers of the pioneering new journalism publication Rolling Stone. As a result, editor and publisher of the tabloid, Jann Wenner, printed a detailed account of the funeral of the "On The Road" author by writers Stephen Davis and Eric Ehrmann. According to the Rolling Stone article, Jack Kerouac's open casket viewing at the Archambault Funeral Home and subsequent burial funeral at the Edson Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts were attended by few of his "On The Road" era friends. Neal Cassady (Dean Moriarty in the book) had died the year before in 1968. San Francisco poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti chose not to come east to attend. Allen Ginsberg (Carlo Marx in the book) showed up with Peter Orlovsky and Gregory Corso was there filming the event. Author Terry Southern sent a floral arrangement that was on display near the bier. One writer in attendance not associated with the "On The Road" group or Beatnik crowd was New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin, who, like Kerouac, came from a working-class background. Breslin, who had been inspired by "On The Road" in his youth, journeyed up to Lowell to pay his respects, his feelings about Kerouac's appearing as part of the Rolling Stone coverage. Many writers, actors and artists including Ann Charters and Hettie Jones, inter alia, would later share their feelings about how they were influenced by "On The Road" and the Beat culture in the Rolling Stone Book of The Beats edited by Holly George Warren published by Hyperion in 1999.
The Postcard
A Colourmaster postcard that was distributed by Dragon Publishing Ltd. of Llandeilo. The photography was by Roger Vlitos.
On the divided back of the card is printed:
'Dylan's Writing Shed,
Laugharne, Dyfed.
In this converted garage with
views over the Taf estuary and
Sir John's Hill, Dylan Thomas
wrote much of his finest poetry.
Along with his last home, The
Boat House, it is preserved in
memory of the poet.'
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas, who was born in Swansea on the 27th. October 1914, was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems 'Do not go Gentle Into That Good Night' and 'And Death Shall Have No Dominion.'
Dylan's other work included 'Under Milk Wood' as well as stories and radio broadcasts such as 'A Child's Christmas in Wales' and 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog'.
He became widely popular in his lifetime, and remained so after his death at the age of 39 in New York City. By then he had acquired a reputation, which he had encouraged, as a roistering, drunken and doomed poet.
In 1931, when he was 16, Thomas, an undistinguished pupil, left school to become a reporter for the South Wales Daily Post, only to leave under pressure 18 months later.
Many of his works appeared in print while he was still a teenager. In 1934, the publication of 'Light Breaks Where no Sun Shines' caught the attention of the literary world.
While living in London, Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara. They married in 1937, and had three children: Llewelyn, Aeronwy and Colm.
Thomas came to be appreciated as a popular poet during his lifetime, though he found it hard to earn a living as a writer. He began augmenting his income with reading tours and radio broadcasts. His radio recordings for the BBC during the late 1940's brought him to the public's attention, and he was frequently used by the BBC as an accessible voice of the literary scene.
Thomas first travelled to the United States in the 1950's. His readings there brought him a degree of fame, while his erratic behaviour and drinking worsened. His time in the United States cemented his legend, however, and he went on to record to vinyl such works as 'A Child's Christmas in Wales'.
During his fourth trip to New York in 1953, Thomas became gravely ill and fell into a coma. He died on the 9th. November 1953, and his body was returned to Wales. On the 25th. November 1953, he was laid to rest in St Martin's churchyard in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire.
Although Thomas wrote exclusively in the English language, he has been acknowledged as one of the most important Welsh poets of the 20th century. He is noted for his original, rhythmic and ingenious use of words and imagery. He is regarded by many as one of the great modern poets, and he still remains popular with the public.
Dylan Thomas - The Early Years
Dylan was born at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, the son of Florence Hannah (née Williams; 1882–1958), a seamstress, and David John Thomas (1876–1952), a teacher. His father had a first-class honours degree in English from University College, Aberystwyth and ambitions to rise above his position teaching English literature at the local grammar school.
Thomas had one sibling, Nancy Marles (1906–1953), who was eight years his senior. The children spoke only English, though their parents were bilingual in English and Welsh, and David Thomas gave Welsh lessons at home.
Thomas's father chose the name Dylan, which means 'Son of the Sea', after Dylan ail Don, a character in The Mabinogion. Dylan's middle name, Marlais, was given in honour of his great-uncle, William Thomas, a Unitarian minister and poet whose bardic name was Gwilym Marles.
Dylan caused his mother to worry that he might be teased as the 'Dull One.' When he broadcast on Welsh BBC, early in his career, he was introduced using this pronunciation. Thomas favoured the Anglicised pronunciation, and gave instructions that it should be spoken as 'Dillan.'
The red-brick semi-detached house at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive (in the respectable area of the Uplands), in which Thomas was born and lived until he was 23, had been bought by his parents a few months before his birth.
Dylan's childhood featured regular summer trips to the Llansteffan Peninsula, a Welsh-speaking part of Carmarthenshire, where his maternal relatives were the sixth generation to farm there.
In the land between Llangain and Llansteffan, his mother's family, the Williamses and their close relatives, worked a dozen farms with over a thousand acres between them. The memory of Fernhill, a dilapidated 15-acre farm rented by his maternal aunt, Ann Jones, and her husband, Jim, is evoked in the 1945 lyrical poem 'Fern Hill', but is portrayed more accurately in his short story, 'The Peaches'.
Thomas had bronchitis and asthma in childhood, and struggled with these throughout his life. He was indulged by his mother and enjoyed being mollycoddled, a trait he carried into adulthood, and he was skilful in gaining attention and sympathy.
Thomas's formal education began at Mrs Hole's Dame School, a private school on Mirador Crescent, a few streets away from his home. He described his experience there in Reminiscences of Childhood:
"Never was there such a dame school as ours,
so firm and kind and smelling of galoshes, with
the sweet and fumbled music of the piano lessons
drifting down from upstairs to the lonely schoolroom,
where only the sometimes tearful wicked sat over
undone sums, or to repent a little crime – the pulling
of a girl's hair during geography, the sly shin kick
under the table during English literature".
In October 1925, Dylan Thomas enrolled at Swansea Grammar School for boys, in Mount Pleasant, where his father taught English. He was an undistinguished pupil who shied away from school, preferring reading.
In his first year, one of his poems was published in the school's magazine, and before he left he became its editor. In June 1928, Thomas won the school's mile race, held at St. Helen's Ground; he carried a newspaper photograph of his victory with him until his death.
During his final school years Dylan began writing poetry in notebooks; the first poem, dated 27th. April 1930, is entitled 'Osiris, Come to Isis'.
In 1931, when he was 16, Thomas left school to become a reporter for the South Wales Daily Post, only to leave under pressure 18 months later. Thomas continued to work as a freelance journalist for several years, during which time he remained at Cwmdonkin Drive and continued to add to his notebooks, amassing 200 poems in four books between 1930 and 1934. Of the 90 poems he published, half were written during these years.
In his free time, Dylan joined the amateur dramatic group at the Little Theatre in Mumbles, visited the cinema in Uplands, took walks along Swansea Bay, and frequented Swansea's pubs, especially the Antelope and the Mermaid Hotels in Mumbles.
In the Kardomah Café, close to the newspaper office in Castle Street, he met his creative contemporaries, including his friend the poet Vernon Watkins.
1933–1939
In 1933, Thomas visited London for probably the first time.
Thomas was a teenager when many of the poems for which he became famous were published:
-- 'And Death Shall Have no Dominion'
-- 'Before I Knocked'
-- 'The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower'.
'And Death Shall Have no Dominion' appeared in the New English Weekly in May 1933:
'And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the
west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and
the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they
shall rise again
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion'.
When 'Light Breaks Where no Sun Shines' appeared in The Listener in 1934, it caught the attention of three senior figures in literary London - T. S. Eliot, Geoffrey Grigson and Stephen Spender. They contacted Thomas, and his first poetry volume, '18 Poems', was published in December 1934.
'18 Poems' was noted for its visionary qualities which led to critic Desmond Hawkins writing that:
"The work is the sort of bomb
that bursts no more than once
in three years".
The volume was critically acclaimed, and won a contest run by the Sunday Referee, netting him new admirers from the London poetry world, including Edith Sitwell and Edwin Muir. The anthology was published by Fortune Press, in part a vanity publisher that did not pay its writers, and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves. A similar arrangement was used by other new authors, including Philip Larkin.
In September 1935, Thomas met Vernon Watkins, thus beginning a lifelong friendship. Dylan introduced Watkins, working at Lloyds Bank at the time, to his friends. The group of writers, musicians and artists became known as "The Kardomah Gang".
In those days, Thomas used to frequent the cinema on Mondays with Tom Warner who, like Watkins, had recently suffered a nervous breakdown. After these trips, Warner would bring Thomas back for supper with his aunt.
On one occasion, when she served him a boiled egg, she had to cut its top off for him, as Thomas did not know how to do this. This was because his mother had done it for him all his life, an example of her coddling him. Years later, his wife Caitlin would still have to prepare his eggs for him.
In December 1935, Thomas contributed the poem 'The Hand That Signed the Paper' to Issue 18 of the bi-monthly New Verse.
In 1936, Dylan's next collection 'Twenty-five Poems' received much critical praise. In 1938, Thomas won the Oscar Blumenthal Prize for Poetry; it was also the year in which New Directions offered to be his publisher in the United States. In all, he wrote half his poems while living at Cwmdonkin Drive before moving to London. It was the time that Thomas's reputation for heavy drinking developed.
In early 1936, Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara (1913–94), a 22-year-old blonde-haired, blue-eyed dancer of Irish and French descent. She had run away from home, intent on making a career in dance, and at the age of 18 joined the chorus line at the London Palladium.
Introduced by Augustus John, Caitlin's lover, they met in The Wheatsheaf pub on Rathbone Place in London's West End. Laying his head on her lap, a drunken Thomas proposed. Thomas liked to comment that he and Caitlin were in bed together ten minutes after they first met.
Although Caitlin initially continued her relationship with Augustus John, she and Thomas began a correspondence, and by the second half of 1936 they were courting. They married at the register office in Penzance, Cornwall, on the 11th. July 1937.
In early 1938, they moved to Wales, renting a cottage in the village of Laugharne, Carmarthenshire. Their first child, Llewelyn Edouard, was born on the 30th. January 1939.
By the late 1930's, Thomas was embraced as the "Poetic Herald" for a group of English poets, the New Apocalyptics. However Thomas refused to align himself with them, and declined to sign their manifesto.
He later stated that:
"They are intellectual muckpots
leaning on a theory".
Despite Dylan's rejection, many of the group, including Henry Treece, modelled their work on Thomas's.
During the politically charged atmosphere of the 1930's, Thomas's sympathies were very much with the radical left, to the point of holding close links with the communists, as well as being decidedly pacifist and anti-fascist. He was a supporter of the left-wing No More War Movement, and boasted about participating in demonstrations against the British Union of Fascists.
1939–1945
In 1939, a collection of 16 poems and seven of the 20 short stories published by Thomas in magazines since 1934, appeared as 'The Map of Love'.
Ten stories in his next book, 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog' (1940), were based less on lavish fantasy than those in 'The Map of Love', and more on real-life romances featuring himself in Wales.
Sales of both books were poor, resulting in Thomas living on meagre fees from writing and reviewing. At this time he borrowed heavily from friends and acquaintances.
Hounded by creditors, Thomas and his family left Laugharne in July 1940 and moved to the home of critic John Davenport in Marshfield, Gloucestershire. There Thomas collaborated with Davenport on the satire 'The Death of the King's Canary', though due to fears of libel, the work was not published until 1976.
At the outset of the Second World War, Thomas was worried about conscription, and referred to his ailment as "An Unreliable Lung".
Coughing sometimes confined him to bed, and he had a history of bringing up blood and mucus. After initially seeking employment in a reserved occupation, he managed to be classified Grade III, which meant that he would be among the last to be called up for service.
Saddened to see his friends going on active service, Dylan continued drinking, and struggled to support his family. He wrote begging letters to random literary figures asking for support, a plan he hoped would provide a long-term regular income. Thomas supplemented his income by writing scripts for the BBC, which not only gave him additional earnings but also provided evidence that he was engaged in essential war work.
In February 1941, Swansea was bombed by the Luftwaffe in a three night blitz. Castle Street was one of many streets that suffered badly; rows of shops, including the Kardomah Café, were destroyed. Thomas walked through the bombed-out shell of the town centre with his friend Bert Trick. Upset at the sight, he concluded:
"Our Swansea is dead".
Soon after the bombing raids, he wrote a radio play, 'Return Journey Home', which described the café as being "razed to the snow". The play was first broadcast on the 15th. June 1947. The Kardomah Café reopened on Portland Street after the war.
In May 1941, Thomas and Caitlin left their son with his grandmother at Blashford and moved to London. Thomas hoped to find employment in the film industry, and wrote to the director of the films division of the Ministry of Information (MOI). After initially being rebuffed, he found work with Strand Films, providing him with his first regular income since the Daily Post. Strand produced films for the MOI; Thomas scripted at least five films in 1942.
In five film projects, between 1942 and 1945, the Ministry of Information (MOI) commissioned Thomas to script a series of documentaries about both urban planning and wartime patriotism, all in partnership with director John Eldridge:
-- 'Wales: Green Mountain, Black Mountain'.
-- 'New Towns for Old' (on post-war reconstruction).
-- 'Fuel for Battle'.
-- 'Our Country' (1945) was a romantic tour of Great Britain set to Thomas's poetry.
-- 'A City Reborn'.
Other projects included:
-- 'This Is Colour' (a history of the British dyeing industry).
-- 'These Are The Men' (1943), a more ambitious piece in which Thomas's verse accompanied Leni Riefenstahl's footage of an early Nuremberg Rally.
-- 'Conquest of a Germ' (1944) explored the use of early antibiotics in the fight against pneumonia and tuberculosis.
In early 1943, Thomas began a relationship with Pamela Glendower; one of several affairs he had during his marriage. The affairs either ran out of steam or were halted after Caitlin discovered his infidelity.
In March 1943, Caitlin gave birth to a daughter, Aeronwy, in London. They lived in a run-down studio in Chelsea, made up of a single large room with a curtain to separate the kitchen.
The Thomas family made several escapes back to Wales during the war. Between 1941 and 1943, they lived intermittently in Plas Gelli, Talsarn, in Cardiganshire. Plas Gelli sits close by the River Aeron, after whom Aeronwy is thought to have been named. Some of Thomas’ letters from Gelli can be found in his 'Collected Letters'.
The Thomases shared the mansion with his childhood friends from Swansea, Vera and Evelyn Phillips. Vera's friendship with the Thomases in nearby New Quay is portrayed in the 2008 film, 'The Edge of Love'.
In July 1944, with the threat of German flying bombs landing on London, Thomas moved to the family cottage at Blaencwm near Llangain, Carmarthenshire, where he resumed writing poetry, completing 'Holy Spring' and 'Vision and Prayer'.
In September 1944, the Thomas family moved to New Quay in Cardiganshire (Ceredigion), where they rented Majoda, a wood and asbestos bungalow on the cliffs overlooking Cardigan Bay. It was here that Thomas wrote the radio piece 'Quite Early One Morning', a sketch for his later work, 'Under Milk Wood'.
Of the poetry written at this time, of note is 'Fern Hill', believed to have been started while living in New Quay, but completed at Blaencwm in mid-1945. Dylan's first biographer, Constantine FitzGibbon wrote that:
"His nine months in New Quay were a second
flowering, a period of fertility that recalls the
earliest days, with a great outpouring of poems
and a good deal of other material".
His second biographer, Paul Ferris, concurred:
"On the grounds of output, the bungalow
deserves a plaque of its own."
The Dylan Thomas scholar, Walford Davies, has noted that:
"New Quay was crucial in supplementing
the gallery of characters Thomas had to
hand for writing 'Under Milk Wood'."
Dylan Thomas's Broadcasting Years 1945–1949
Although Thomas had previously written for the BBC, it was a minor and intermittent source of income. In 1943, he wrote and recorded a 15-minute talk entitled 'Reminiscences of Childhood' for the Welsh BBC.
In December 1944, he recorded 'Quite Early One Morning' (produced by Aneirin Talfan Davies, again for the Welsh BBC), but when Davies offered it for national broadcast, BBC London initially turned it down.
However on the 31st. August 1945, the BBC Home Service broadcast 'Quite Early One Morning' nationally, and in the three subsequent years, Dylan made over a hundred broadcasts for the BBC, not only for his poetry readings, but for discussions and critiques.
In the second half of 1945, Dylan began reading for the BBC Radio programme, 'Book of Verse', that was broadcast weekly to the Far East. This provided Thomas with a regular income, and brought him into contact with Louis MacNeice, a congenial drinking companion whose advice Thomas cherished.
On the 29th. September 1946, the BBC began transmitting the Third Programme, a high-culture network which provided further opportunities for Thomas.
He appeared in the play 'Comus' for the Third Programme, the day after the network launched, and his rich, sonorous voice led to character parts, including the lead in Aeschylus's 'Agamemnon', and Satan in an adaptation of 'Paradise Lost'.
Thomas remained a popular guest on radio talk shows for the BBC, who stated:
"He is useful should a younger
generation poet be needed".
He had an uneasy relationship with BBC management, and a staff job was never an option, with drinking cited as the problem. Despite this, Thomas became a familiar radio voice and well-known celebrity within Great Britain.
By late September 1945, the Thomases had left Wales, and were living with various friends in London. In December, they moved to Oxford to live in a summerhouse on the banks of the Cherwell. It belonged to the historian, A. J. P. Taylor. His wife, Margaret, became Thomas’s most committed patron.
The publication of 'Deaths and Entrances' in February 1946 was a major turning point for Thomas. Poet and critic Walter J. Turner commented in The Spectator:
"This book alone, in my opinion,
ranks him as a major poet".
From 'In my Craft or Sullen Art,' 'Deaths and Entrances' (1946):
'Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon, I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art'.
The following year, in April 1947, the Thomases travelled to Italy, after Thomas had been awarded a Society of Authors scholarship. They stayed first in villas near Rapallo and then Florence, before moving to a hotel in Rio Marina on the island of Elba.
On their return to England Thomas and his family moved, in September 1947, into the Manor House in South Leigh, just west of Oxford, found for him by Margaret Taylor.
He continued with his work for the BBC, completed a number of film scripts, and worked further on his ideas for 'Under Milk Wood'.
In March 1949 Thomas travelled to Prague. He had been invited by the Czech government to attend the inauguration of the Czechoslovak Writers' Union. Jiřina Hauková, who had previously published translations of some of Thomas' poems, was his guide and interpreter.
In her memoir, Hauková recalls that at a party in Prague, Thomas narrated the first version of his radio play 'Under Milk Wood.' She describes how he outlined the plot about a town that was declared insane, and then portrayed the predicament of an eccentric organist and a baker with two wives.
A month later, in May 1949, Thomas and his family moved to his final home, the Boat House at Laugharne, purchased for him at a cost of £2,500 in April 1949 by Margaret Taylor.
Thomas acquired a garage a hundred yards from the house on a cliff ledge which he turned into his writing shed, and where he wrote several of his most acclaimed poems. To see a photograph of the interior of Dylan's shed, please search for the tag 55DTW96
Just before moving into the Boat House, Thomas rented Pelican House opposite his regular drinking den, Brown's Hotel, for his parents. They both lived there from 1949 until Dylan's father 'D.J.' died on the 16th. December 1952. His mother continued to live there until 1953.
Caitlin gave birth to their third child, a boy named Colm Garan Hart, on the 25th. July 1949.
In October 1949, the New Zealand poet Allen Curnow came to visit Thomas at the Boat House, who took him to his writing shed. Curnow recalls:
"Dylan fished out a draft to show me
of the unfinished 'Under Milk Wood'
that was then called 'The Town That
Was Mad'."
Dylan Thomas's American tours, 1950–1953
(a) The First American Tour
The American poet John Brinnin invited Thomas to New York, where in 1950 they embarked on a lucrative three-month tour of arts centres and campuses.
The tour, which began in front of an audience of a thousand at the Kaufmann Auditorium in the Poetry Centre in New York, took in a further 40 venues. During the tour, Thomas was invited to many parties and functions, and on several occasions became drunk - going out of his way to shock people - and was a difficult guest.
Dylan drank before some of his readings, although it is argued that he may have pretended to be more affected by the alcohol than he actually was.
The writer Elizabeth Hardwick recalled how intoxicated a performer he could be, and how the tension would build before a performance:
"Would he arrive only to break
down on the stage?
Would some dismaying scene
take place at the faculty party?
Would he be offensive, violent,
obscene?"
Dylan's wife Caitlin said in her memoir:
"Nobody ever needed encouragement
less, and he was drowned in it."
On returning to Great Britain, Thomas began work on two further poems, 'In the White Giant's Thigh', which he read on the Third Programme in September 1950:
'Who once were a bloom of wayside
brides in the hawed house
And heard the lewd, wooed field
flow to the coming frost,
The scurrying, furred small friars
squeal in the dowse
Of day, in the thistle aisles, till the
white owl crossed.'
He also worked on the incomplete 'In Country Heaven'.
In October 1950, Thomas sent a draft of the first 39 pages of 'The Town That Was Mad' to the BBC. The task of seeing this work through to production was assigned to the BBC's Douglas Cleverdon, who had been responsible for casting Thomas in 'Paradise Lost'.
However, despite Cleverdon's urgings, the script slipped from Thomas's priorities, and in early 1951 he took a trip to Iran to work on a film for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The film was never made, with Thomas returning to Wales in February, though his time there allowed him to provide a few minutes of material for a BBC documentary, 'Persian Oil'.
Early in 1951 Thomas wrote two poems, which Thomas's principal biographer, Paul Ferris, describes as "unusually blunt." One was the ribald 'Lament', and the other was an ode, in the form of a villanelle, to his dying father 'Do not go Gentle Into That Good Night". (A villanelle is a pastoral or lyrical poem of nineteen lines, with only two rhymes throughout, and some lines repeated).
Despite a range of wealthy patrons, including Margaret Taylor, Princess Marguerite Caetani and Marged Howard-Stepney, Thomas was still in financial difficulty, and he wrote several begging letters to notable literary figures, including the likes of T. S. Eliot.
Margaret Taylor was not keen on Thomas taking another trip to the United States, and thought that if he had a permanent address in London he would be able to gain steady work there. She bought a property, 54 Delancey Street, in Camden Town, and in late 1951 Thomas and Caitlin lived in the basement flat. Thomas described the flat as his "London House of Horror", and did not return there after his 1952 tour of America.
(b) The Second American Tour
Thomas undertook a second tour of the United States in 1952, this time with Caitlin - after she had discovered that he had been unfaithful on his earlier trip. They drank heavily, and Thomas began to suffer with gout and lung problems.
It was during this tour that the above photograph was taken.
The second tour was the most intensive of the four, taking in 46 engagements.
The trip also resulted in Thomas recording his first poetry to vinyl, which Caedmon Records released in America later that year. One of his works recorded during this time, 'A Child's Christmas in Wales', became his most popular prose work in America. The recording was a 2008 selection for the United States National Recording Registry, which stated that:
"It is credited with launching the
audiobook industry in the United
States".
(c) The Third American Tour
In April 1953, Thomas returned alone for a third tour of America. He performed a "work in progress" version of 'Under Milk Wood', solo, for the first time at Harvard University on the 3rd. May 1953. A week later, the work was performed with a full cast at the Poetry Centre in New York.
Dylan met the deadline only after being locked in a room by Brinnin's assistant, Liz Reitell, and was still editing the script on the afternoon of the performance; its last lines were handed to the actors as they put on their makeup.
During this penultimate tour, Thomas met the composer Igor Stravinsky. Igor had become an admirer of Dylan after having been introduced to his poetry by W. H. Auden. They had discussions about collaborating on a "musical theatrical work" for which Dylan would provide the libretto on the theme of:
"The rediscovery of love and
language in what might be left
after the world after the bomb."
The shock of Thomas's death later in the year moved Stravinsky to compose his 'In Memoriam Dylan Thomas' for tenor, string quartet and four trombones. The work's first performance in Los Angeles in 1954 was introduced with a tribute to Thomas from Aldous Huxley.
Thomas spent the last nine or ten days of his third tour in New York mostly in the company of Reitell, with whom he had an affair.
During this time, Thomas fractured his arm falling down a flight of stairs when drunk. Reitell's doctor, Milton Feltenstein, put his arm in plaster, and treated him for gout and gastritis.
After returning home, Thomas worked on 'Under Milk Wood' in Wales before sending the original manuscript to Douglas Cleverdon on the 15th. October 1953. It was copied and returned to Thomas, who lost it in a pub in London and required a duplicate to take to America.
(d) The Fourth American Tour
Thomas flew to the States on the 19th. October 1953 for what would be his final tour. He died in New York before the BBC could record 'Under Milk Wood'. Richard Burton featured in its first broadcast in 1954, and was joined by Elizabeth Taylor in a subsequent film. In 1954, the play won the Prix Italia for literary or dramatic programmes.
Thomas's last collection 'Collected Poems, 1934–1952', published when he was 38, won the Foyle poetry prize. Reviewing the volume, critic Philip Toynbee declared that:
"Thomas is the greatest living
poet in the English language".
There followed a series of distressing events for Dylan. His father died from pneumonia just before Christmas 1952. In the first few months of 1953, his sister died from liver cancer, one of his patrons took an overdose of sleeping pills, three friends died at an early age, and Caitlin had an abortion.
Thomas left Laugharne on the 9th. October 1953 on the first leg of his trip to America. He called on his mother, Florence, to say goodbye:
"He always felt that he had to get
out from this country because of
his chest being so bad."
Thomas had suffered from chest problems for most of his life, though they began in earnest soon after he moved in May 1949 to the Boat House at Laugharne - the "Bronchial Heronry", as he called it. Within weeks of moving in, he visited a local doctor, who prescribed medicine for both his chest and throat.
Whilst waiting in London before his flight in October 1953, Thomas stayed with the comedian Harry Locke and worked on 'Under Milk Wood'. Locke noted that Thomas was having trouble with his chest, with terrible coughing fits that made him go purple in the face. He was also using an inhaler to help his breathing.
There were reports, too, that Thomas was also having blackouts. His visit to the BBC producer Philip Burton a few days before he left for New York, was interrupted by a blackout. On his last night in London, he had another in the company of his fellow poet Louis MacNeice.
Thomas arrived in New York on the 20th. October 1953 to undertake further performances of 'Under Milk Wood', organised by John Brinnin, his American agent and Director of the Poetry Centre. Brinnin did not travel to New York, but remained in Boston in order to write.
He handed responsibility to his assistant, Liz Reitell, who was keen to see Thomas for the first time since their three-week romance early in the year. She met Thomas at Idlewild Airport and was shocked at his appearance. He looked pale, delicate and shaky, not his usual robust self:
"He was very ill when he got here."
After being taken by Reitell to check in at the Chelsea Hotel, Thomas took the first rehearsal of 'Under Milk Wood'. They then went to the White Horse Tavern in Greenwich Village, before returning to the Chelsea Hotel.
(Bob Dylan, formerly Robert Zimmerman, used to perform at the White Horse; Dylan Thomas was his favourite poet, and it is highly likely that Bob adopted Dylan's first name as his surname).
The next day, Reitell invited Thomas to her apartment, but he declined. They went sightseeing, but Thomas felt unwell, and retired to his bed for the rest of the afternoon. Reitell gave him half a grain (32.4 milligrams) of phenobarbitone to help him sleep, and spent the night at the hotel with him.
Two days later, on the 23rd. October 1953, at the third rehearsal, Thomas said he was too ill to take part, but he struggled on, shivering and burning with fever, before collapsing on the stage.
The next day, 24th. October, Reitell took Thomas to see her doctor, Milton Feltenstein, who administered cortisone injections. Thomas made it through the first performance that evening, but collapsed immediately afterwards.
Dylan told a friend who had come back-stage:
"This circus out there has taken
the life out of me for now."
Reitell later said:
"Feltenstein was rather a wild doctor
who thought injections would cure
anything".
At the next performance on the 25th. October, his fellow actors realised that Thomas was very ill:
"He was desperately ill…we didn’t think
that he would be able to do the last
performance because he was so ill…
Dylan literally couldn’t speak he was so
ill…still my greatest memory of it is that
he had no voice."
On the evening of the 27th. October, Thomas attended his 39th. birthday party, but felt unwell, and returned to his hotel after an hour. The next day, he took part in 'Poetry and the Film', a recorded symposium at Cinema 16.
A turning point came on the 2nd. November. Air pollution in New York had risen significantly, and exacerbated chest illnesses such as Thomas's. By the end of the month, over 200 New Yorkers had died from the smog.
On the 3rd. November, Thomas spent most of the day in his room, entertaining various friends. He went out in the evening to keep two drink appointments. After returning to the hotel, he went out again for a drink at 2 am. After drinking at the White Horse, Thomas returned to the Hotel Chelsea, declaring:
"I've had eighteen straight
whiskies. I think that's the
record!"
However the barman and the owner of the pub who served him later commented that Thomas could not have drunk more than half that amount.
Thomas had an appointment at a clam house in New Jersey with Todd on the 4th. November. When Todd telephoned the Chelsea that morning, Thomas said he was feeling ill, and postponed the engagement. Todd thought that Dylan sounded "terrible".
The poet, Harvey Breit, was another to phone that morning. He thought that Thomas sounded "bad". Thomas' voice, recalled Breit, was "low and hoarse". Harvey had wanted to say:
"You sound as though from the tomb".
However instead Harvey told Thomas that he sounded like Louis Armstrong.
Later, Thomas went drinking with Reitell at the White Horse and, feeling sick again, returned to the hotel. Dr. Feltenstein came to see him three times that day, administering the cortisone secretant ACTH by injection and, on his third visit, half a grain (32.4 milligrams) of morphine sulphate, which affected Thomas' breathing.
Reitell became increasingly concerned, and telephoned Feltenstein for advice. He suggested that she get male assistance, so she called upon the artist Jack Heliker, who arrived before 11 pm. At midnight on the 5th. November, Thomas's breathing became more difficult, and his face turned blue.
Reitell phoned Feltenstein who arrived at the hotel at about 1 am, and called for an ambulance. It then took another hour for the ambulance to arrive at St. Vincent's, even though it was only a few blocks from the Chelsea.
Thomas was admitted to the emergency ward at St Vincent's Hospital at 1:58 am. He was comatose, and his medical notes stated that:
"The impression upon admission was acute
alcoholic encephalopathy damage to the brain
by alcohol, for which the patient was treated
without response".
Feltenstein then took control of Thomas's care, even though he did not have admitting rights at St. Vincent's. The hospital's senior brain specialist, Dr. C. G. Gutierrez-Mahoney, was not called to examine Thomas until the afternoon of the 6th. November, thirty-six hours after Thomas' admission.
Dylan's wife Caitlin flew to America the following day, and was taken to the hospital, by which time a tracheotomy had been performed. Her reported first words were:
"Is the bloody man dead yet?"
Caitlin was allowed to see Thomas only for 40 minutes in the morning, but returned in the afternoon and, in a drunken rage, threatened to kill John Brinnin. When she became uncontrollable, she was put in a straitjacket and committed, by Feltenstein, to the River Crest private psychiatric detox clinic on Long Island.
It is now believed that Thomas had been suffering from bronchitis, pneumonia and emphysema before his admission to St Vincent's. In their 2004 paper, 'Death by Neglect', D. N. Thomas and Dr Simon Barton disclose that Thomas was found to have pneumonia when he was admitted to hospital in a coma.
Doctors took three hours to restore his breathing, using artificial respiration and oxygen. Summarising their findings, they conclude:
"The medical notes indicate that, on admission,
Dylan's bronchial disease was found to be very
extensive, affecting upper, mid and lower lung
fields, both left and right."
The forensic pathologist, Professor Bernard Knight, concurs:
"Death was clearly due to a severe lung infection
with extensive advanced bronchopneumonia.
The severity of the chest infection, with greyish
consolidated areas of well-established pneumonia,
suggests that it had started before admission to
hospital."
Thomas died at noon on the 9th. November 1953, having never recovered from his coma. He was 39 years of age when he died.
Aftermath of Dylan Thomas's Death
Rumours circulated of a brain haemorrhage, followed by competing reports of a mugging, or even that Thomas had drunk himself to death. Later, speculation arose about drugs and diabetes.
At the post-mortem, the pathologist found three causes of death - pneumonia, brain swelling and a fatty liver. Despite Dylan's heavy drinking, his liver showed no sign of cirrhosis.
The publication of John Brinnin's 1955 biography 'Dylan Thomas in America' cemented Thomas's legacy as the "doomed poet". Brinnin focuses on Thomas's last few years, and paints a picture of him as a drunk and a philanderer.
Later biographies have criticised Brinnin's view, especially his coverage of Thomas's death. David Thomas in 'Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas?' claims that Brinnin, along with Reitell and Feltenstein, were culpable.
FitzGibbon's 1965 biography ignores Thomas's heavy drinking and skims over his death, giving just two pages in his detailed book to Thomas's demise.
Ferris in his 1989 biography includes Thomas's heavy drinking, but is more critical of those around him in his final days, and does not draw the conclusion that he drank himself to death.
Many sources have criticised Feltenstein's role and actions, especially his incorrect diagnosis of delirium tremens and the high dose of morphine he administered. Dr C. G. de Gutierrez-Mahoney, the doctor who treated Thomas while at St. Vincent's, concluded that Feltenstein's failure to see that Thomas was gravely ill and have him admitted to hospital sooner was even more culpable than his use of morphine.
Caitlin Thomas's autobiographies, 'Caitlin Thomas - Leftover Life to Kill' (1957) and 'My Life with Dylan Thomas: Double Drink Story' (1997), describe the effects of alcohol on the poet and on their relationship:
"Ours was not only a love story, it was
a drink story, because without alcohol
it would never had got on its rocking
feet. The bar was our altar."
Biographer Andrew Lycett ascribed the decline in Thomas's health to an alcoholic co-dependent relationship with his wife, who deeply resented his extramarital affairs.
In contrast, Dylan biographers Andrew Sinclair and George Tremlett express the view that Thomas was not an alcoholic. Tremlett argues that many of Thomas's health issues stemmed from undiagnosed diabetes.
Thomas died intestate, with assets worth £100. His body was brought back to Wales for burial in the village churchyard at Laugharne. Dylan's funeral, which Brinnin did not attend, took place at St Martin's Church in Laugharne on the 24th. November 1953.
Six friends from the village carried Thomas's coffin. Caitlin, without her customary hat, walked behind the coffin, with his childhood friend Daniel Jones at her arm and her mother by her side. The procession to the church was filmed, and the wake took place at Brown's Hotel. Thomas's fellow poet and long-time friend Vernon Watkins wrote The Times obituary.
Thomas's widow, Caitlin, died in 1994, and was laid to rest alongside him. Dylan's mother Florence died in August 1958. Thomas's elder son, Llewelyn, died in 2000, his daughter, Aeronwy in 2009, and his youngest son Colm in 2012.
Dylan Thomas's Poetry
Thomas's refusal to align with any literary group or movement has made him and his work difficult to categorise. Although influenced by the modern symbolism and surrealism movements, he refused to follow such creeds. Instead, critics view Thomas as part of the modernism and romanticism movements, though attempts to pigeon-hole him within a particular neo-romantic school have been unsuccessful.
Elder Olson, in his 1954 critical study of Thomas's poetry, wrote:
"There is a further characteristic which
distinguished Thomas's work from that
of other poets. It was unclassifiable."
Olson went on to say that in a postmodern age that continually attempted to demand that poetry have social reference, none could be found in Thomas's work, and that his work was so obscure that critics could not analyse it.
Thomas's verbal style played against strict verse forms, such as in the villanelle 'Do not go Gentle Into That Good Night'.
His images appear carefully ordered in a patterned sequence, and his major theme was the unity of all life, the continuing process of life and death, and new life that linked the generations.
Thomas saw biology as a magical transformation producing unity out of diversity, and in his poetry sought a poetic ritual to celebrate this unity. He saw men and women locked in cycles of growth, love, procreation, new growth, death, and new life. Therefore, each image engenders its opposite.
Thomas derived his closely woven, sometimes self-contradictory images from the Bible, Welsh folklore, preaching, and Sigmund Freud. Explaining the source of his imagery, Thomas wrote in a letter to Glyn Jones:
"My own obscurity is quite an unfashionable one,
based, as it is, on a preconceived symbolism
derived (I'm afraid all this sounds woolly and
pretentious) from the cosmic significance of the
human anatomy".
Thomas's early poetry was noted for its verbal density, alliteration, sprung rhythm and internal rhyme, and some critics detected the influence of the English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hopkins, had taught himself Welsh, and used sprung verse, bringing some features of Welsh poetic metre into his work.
However when Henry Treece wrote to Thomas comparing his style to that of Hopkins, Thomas wrote back denying any such influence. Thomas greatly admired Thomas Hardy, who is regarded as an influence. When Thomas travelled in America, he recited some of Hardy's work in his readings.
Other poets from whom critics believe Thomas drew influence include James Joyce, Arthur Rimbaud and D. H. Lawrence.
William York Tindall, in his 1962 study, 'A Reader's Guide to Dylan Thomas', finds comparison between Thomas's and Joyce's wordplay, while he notes the themes of rebirth and nature are common to the works of Lawrence and Thomas.
Although Thomas described himself as the "Rimbaud of Cwmdonkin Drive", he stated that the phrase "Swansea's Rimbaud" was coined by the poet Roy Campbell.
Critics have explored the origins of Thomas's mythological pasts in his works such as 'The Orchards', which Ann Elizabeth Mayer believes reflects the Welsh myths of the Mabinogion.
Thomas's poetry is notable for its musicality, most clear in 'Fern Hill', 'In Country Sleep', 'Ballad of the Long-legged Bait' and 'In the White Giant's Thigh' from Under Milk Wood.
Thomas once confided that the poems which had most influenced him were Mother Goose rhymes which his parents taught him when he was a child:
"I should say I wanted to write poetry in the
beginning because I had fallen in love with
words.
The first poems I knew were nursery rhymes,
and before I could read them for myself I had
come to love the words of them. The words
alone.
What the words stood for was of a very
secondary importance ... I fell in love, that is
the only expression I can think of, at once,
and am still at the mercy of words, though
sometimes now, knowing a little of their
behaviour very well, I think I can influence
them slightly and have even learned to beat
them now and then, which they appear to
enjoy.
I tumbled for words at once. And, when I began
to read the nursery rhymes for myself, and, later,
to read other verses and ballads, I knew that I
had discovered the most important things, to
me, that could be ever."
Thomas became an accomplished writer of prose poetry, with collections such as 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog' (1940) and 'Quite Early One Morning' (1954) showing he was capable of writing moving short stories. His first published prose work, 'After the Fair', appeared in The New English Weekly on the 15th. March 1934.
Jacob Korg believes that one can classify Thomas's fiction work into two main bodies:
-- Vigorous fantasies in a poetic style
-- After 1939, more straightforward
narratives.
Korg surmises that Thomas approached his prose writing as an alternate poetic form, which allowed him to produce complex, involuted narratives that do not allow the reader to rest.
Dylan Thomas as a Welsh Poet
Thomas disliked being regarded as a provincial poet, and decried any notion of 'Welshness' in his poetry. When he wrote to Stephen Spender in 1952, thanking him for a review of his Collected Poems, he added:
"Oh, & I forgot. I'm not influenced by
Welsh bardic poetry. I can't read Welsh."
Despite this, his work was rooted in the geography of Wales. Thomas acknowledged that he returned to Wales when he had difficulty writing, and John Ackerman argues that:
"Dylan's inspiration and imagination
were rooted in his Welsh background".
Caitlin Thomas wrote that:
"He worked in a fanatically narrow groove,
although there was nothing narrow about
the depth and understanding of his feelings.
The groove of direct hereditary descent in
the land of his birth, which he never in
thought, and hardly in body, moved out of."
Head of Programmes Wales at the BBC, Aneirin Talfan Davies, who commissioned several of Thomas's early radio talks, believed that the poet's whole attitude is that of the medieval bards.
Kenneth O. Morgan counter-argues that it is a difficult enterprise to find traces of cynghanedd (consonant harmony) or cerdd dafod (tongue-craft) in Thomas's poetry. Instead he believes that Dylan's work, especially his earlier, more autobiographical poems, are rooted in a changing country which echoes the Welshness of the past and the Anglicisation of the new industrial nation:
"Rural and urban, chapel-going and profane,
Welsh and English, unforgiving and deeply
compassionate."
Fellow poet and critic Glyn Jones believed that any traces of cynghanedd in Thomas's work were accidental, although he felt that Dylan consciously employed one element of Welsh metrics: that of counting syllables per line instead of feet. Constantine Fitzgibbon, who was his first in-depth biographer, wrote:
"No major English poet has
ever been as Welsh as Dylan".
Although Dylan had a deep connection with Wales, he disliked Welsh nationalism. He once wrote:
"Land of my fathers, and
my fathers can keep it".
While often attributed to Thomas himself, this line actually comes from the character Owen Morgan-Vaughan, in the screenplay Thomas wrote for the 1948 British melodrama 'The Three Weird Sisters'.
Robert Pocock, a friend from the BBC, recalled:
"I only once heard Dylan express an
opinion on Welsh Nationalism.
He used three words. Two of them
were Welsh Nationalism."
Although not expressed as strongly, Glyn Jones believed that he and Thomas's friendship cooled in the later years because he had not rejected enough of the elements that Thomas disliked, i.e. "Welsh nationalism and a sort of hill farm morality".
Apologetically, in a letter to Keidrych Rhys, editor of the literary magazine 'Wales', Thomas's father wrote:
"I'm afraid Dylan isn't much
of a Welshman".
FitzGibbon asserts that Thomas's negativity towards Welsh nationalism was fostered by his father's hostility towards the Welsh language.
Critical Appraisal of Dylan Thomas's Work
Thomas's work and stature as a poet have been much debated by critics and biographers since his death. Critical studies have been clouded by Thomas's personality and mythology, especially his drunken persona and death in New York.
When Seamus Heaney gave an Oxford lecture on the poet, he opened by addressing the assembly:
"Dylan Thomas is now as much
a case history as a chapter in the
history of poetry".
He queried how 'Thomas the Poet' is one of his forgotten attributes. David Holbrook, who has written three books about Thomas, stated in his 1962 publication 'Llareggub Revisited':
"The strangest feature of Dylan Thomas's
notoriety - not that he is bogus, but that
attitudes to poetry attached themselves
to him which not only threaten the prestige,
effectiveness and accessibility to English
poetry, but also destroyed his true voice
and, at last, him."
The Poetry Archive notes that:
"Dylan Thomas's detractors accuse him
of being drunk on language as well as
whiskey, but whilst there's no doubt that
the sound of language is central to his
style, he was also a disciplined writer
who re-drafted obsessively".
Many critics have argued that Thomas's work is too narrow, and that he suffers from verbal extravagance. However those who have championed his work have found the criticism baffling. Robert Lowell wrote in 1947:
"Nothing could be more wrongheaded
than the English disputes about Dylan
Thomas's greatness ... He is a dazzling
obscure writer who can be enjoyed
without understanding."
Kenneth Rexroth said, on reading 'Eighteen Poems':
"The reeling excitement of a poetry-intoxicated
schoolboy smote the Philistine as hard a blow
with one small book as Swinburne had with
Poems and Ballads."
Philip Larkin, in a letter to Kingsley Amis in 1948, wrote that:
"No one can stick words into us
like pins... like Thomas can".
However he followed that by stating that:
"Dylan doesn't use his words
to any advantage".
Amis was far harsher, finding little of merit in Dylan's work, and claiming that:
"He is frothing at the mouth
with piss."
In 1956, the publication of the anthology 'New Lines' featuring works by the British collective The Movement, which included Amis and Larkin amongst its number, set out a vision of modern poetry that was damning towards the poets of the 1940's. Thomas's work in particular was criticised. David Lodge, writing about The Movement in 1981 stated:
"Dylan Thomas was made to stand for
everything they detest, verbal obscurity,
metaphysical pretentiousness, and
romantic rhapsodizing".
Despite criticism by sections of academia, Thomas's work has been embraced by readers more so than many of his contemporaries, and is one of the few modern poets whose name is recognised by the general public.
In 2009, over 18,000 votes were cast in a BBC poll to find the UK's favourite poet; Thomas was placed 10th.
Several of Dylan's poems have passed into the cultural mainstream, and his work has been used by authors, musicians and film and television writers.
The long-running BBC Radio programme, 'Desert Island Discs', in which guests usually choose their favourite songs, has heard 50 participants select a Dylan Thomas recording.
John Goodby states that this popularity with the reading public allows Thomas's work to be classed as vulgar and common. He also cites that despite a brief period during the 1960's when Thomas was considered a cultural icon, the poet has been marginalized in critical circles due to his exuberance, in both life and work, and his refusal to know his place.
Goodby believes that Thomas has been mainly snubbed since the 1970's and has become: "... an embarrassment to twentieth-century poetry criticism", his work failing to fit standard narratives, and thus being ignored rather than studied.
Memorials to Dylan Thomas
In Swansea's maritime quarter is the Dylan Thomas Theatre, the home of the Swansea Little Theatre of which Thomas was once a member. The former Guildhall built in 1825 is now occupied by the Dylan Thomas Centre, a literature centre, where exhibitions and lectures are held and which is a setting for the annual Dylan Thomas Festival. Outside the centre stands a bronze statue of Thomas by John Doubleday.
Another monument to Thomas stands in Cwmdonkin Park, one of Dylan's favourite childhood haunts, close to his birthplace. The memorial is a small rock in an enclosed garden within the park, cut by and inscribed by the late sculptor Ronald Cour with the closing lines from Fern Hill:
'Oh as I was young and easy
in the mercy of his means
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like
the sea'.
Thomas's home in Laugharne, the Boathouse, is now a museum run by Carmarthenshire County Council. Thomas's writing shed is also preserved.
In 2004, the Dylan Thomas Prize was created in his honour, awarded to the best published writer in English under the age of 30. In 2005, the Dylan Thomas Screenplay Award was established. The prize, administered by the Dylan Thomas Centre, is awarded at the annual Swansea Bay Film Festival.
In 1982 a plaque was unveiled in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. The plaque is also inscribed with the last two lines of 'Fern Hill'.
In 2014, the Royal Patron of The Dylan Thomas 100 Festival was Charles, Prince of Wales, who made a recording of 'Fern Hill' for the event.
In 2014, to celebrate the centenary of Thomas's birth, the British Council Wales undertook a year-long programme of cultural and educational works. Highlights included a touring replica of Thomas's work shed, Sir Peter Blake's exhibition of illustrations based on 'Under Milk Wood', and a 36-hour marathon of readings, which included Michael Sheen and Sir Ian McKellen performing Thomas's work.
Towamensing Trails, Pennsylvania named one of its streets, Thomas Lane, in Dylan's honour.
List of Works by Dylan Thomas
-- 'The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas: The New Centenary Edition', edited and with Introduction by John Goodby. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2014.
-- 'The Notebook Poems 1930–34', edited by Ralph Maud. London: Dent, 1989.
-- 'Dylan Thomas: The Film Scripts', edited by John Ackerman. London: Dent 1995.
-- 'Dylan Thomas: Early Prose Writings', edited by Walford Davies. London: Dent 1971.
-- 'Collected Stories', edited by Walford Davies. London: Dent, 1983.
-- 'Under Milk Wood: A Play for Voices', edited by Walford Davies and Ralph Maud. London: Dent, 1995.
-- 'On The Air With Dylan Thomas: The Broadcasts', edited by Ralph Maud. New York: New Directions, 1991.
Correspondence
-- 'Dylan Thomas: The Collected Letters', edited by Paul Ferris (2017), 2 vols. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Vol I: 1931–1939
Vol II: 1939–1953.
-- 'Letters to Vernon Watkins', edited by Vernon Watkins (1957). London: Dent.
Posthumous Film Adaptations
-- 2016: Dominion, written and directed by Steven Bernstein, examines the final hours of Dylan Thomas.
-- 2014: Set Fire to the Stars, with Thomas portrayed by Celyn Jones, and John Brinnin by Elijah Wood.
-- 2014: Under Milk Wood BBC, starring Charlotte Church, Tom Jones, Griff Rhys-Jones and Michael Sheen.
-- 2014: Interstellar. The poem is featured throughout the film as a recurring theme regarding the perseverance of humanity.
-- 2009: A Child's Christmas in Wales, BAFTA Best Short Film. Animation, with soundtrack in Welsh and English. Director: Dave Unwin. Extras include filmed comments from Aeronwy Thomas.
-- 2007: Dylan Thomas: A War Films Anthology (DDHE/IWM).
-- 1996: Independence Day. Before the attack, the President paraphrases Thomas's "Do not go Gentle Into That Good Night".
-- 1992: Rebecca's Daughters, starring Peter O'Toole and Joely Richardson.
-- 1987: A Child's Christmas in Wales, directed by Don McBrearty.
-- 1972: Under Milk Wood, starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, and Peter O'Toole.
Opera Adaptation
-- 1973: Unter dem Milchwald, by German composer Walter Steffens on his own libretto using Erich Fried's translation of 'Under Milk Wood' into German, Hamburg State Opera. Also at the Staatstheater Kassel in 1977.
Final Thoughts From Dylan Thomas
"Somebody's boring me.
I think it's me."
"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
"When one burns one's bridges,
what a very nice fire it makes."
"I think, that if I touched the earth,
It would crumble; It is so sad and
beautiful, so tremulously like a dream."
"An alcoholic is someone you don't like,
who drinks as much as you do."
"I hold a beast, an angel, and a madman in me,
and my enquiry is as to their working, and my
problem is their subjugation and victory, down
throw and upheaval, and my effort is their self-
expression."
"The only sea I saw was the seesaw sea
with you riding on it. Lie down, lie easy.
Let me shipwreck in your thighs."
"Why do men think you can pick love up
and re-light it like a candle? Women know
when love is over."
"Poetry is not the most important thing in life.
I'd much rather lie in a hot bath reading
Agatha Christie and sucking sweets."
"And now, gentlemen, like your manners,
I must leave you."
"My education was the liberty I had to read
indiscriminately and all the time, with my eyes
hanging out."
"I'm a freak user of words, not a poet."
"Our discreditable secret is that we don't
know anything at all, and our horrid inner
secret is that we don't care that we don't."
"It snowed last year too: I made a snowman
and my brother knocked it down and I knocked
my brother down and then we had tea."
"Though lovers be lost love shall not."
"Man’s wants remain unsatisfied till death.
Then, when his soul is naked, is he one
with the man in the wind, and the west moon,
with the harmonious thunder of the sun."
"And books which told me everything
about the wasp, except why."
"We are not wholly bad or good, who live
our lives under Milk Wood."
"Love is the last light spoken."
"... an ugly, lovely town ... crawling, sprawling ...
by the side of a long and splendid curving
shore. This sea-town was my world."
"I do not need any friends. I prefer enemies.
They are better company, and their feelings
towards you are always genuine."
"This poem has been called obscure. I refuse
to believe that it is obscurer than pity, violence,
or suffering. But being a poem, not a lifetime,
it is more compressed."
"One: I am a Welshman; two: I am a drunkard;
three: I am a lover of the human race, especially
of women."
"I believe in New Yorkers. Whether they've ever
questioned the dream in which they live, I wouldn't
know, because I won't ever dare ask that question."
"These poems, with all their crudities, doubts and
confusions, are written for the love of man and in
praise of God, and I'd be a damn fool if they weren't."
"Before you let the sun in, mind he wipes his shoes."
"Nothing grows in our garden, only washing.
And babies."
"Make gentle the life of this world."
"A worm tells summer better than the clock,
the slug's a living calendar of days; what shall
it tell me if a timeless insect says the world
wears away?"
"Time passes. Listen. Time passes. Come
closer now. Only you can hear the houses
sleeping in the streets in the slow deep salt
and silent black, bandaged night."
"Rhianon, he said, hold my hand, Rhianon.
She did not hear him, but stood over his bed
and fixed him with an unbroken sorrow. Hold
my hand, he said, and then: Why are you
putting the sheet over my face?"
"Come on up, boys - I'm dead."
"Life is a terrible thing, thank God."
Model: Nikisha Renee
Hera, Queen of the Gods and Goddesses. Often recognized by her majestic beauty and solemn demeanor, Hera was the protector of women and ruled as the goddess of marriage and birth. She was also known for being the driving force behind the seasons and weather as well as watching over the starry skies and heavens.
Hera was both a daughter and wife to Zeus and was extremely jealous of his many other lovers and offspring. Often enraged at Zeus due at his extramarital affairs and illegitimate children, Hera regularly punished any husband who wronged his wife. There was no being who did not fear her wrath, even Zeus himself. It is not uncommon to see this vengeful goddess accompanied by peacocks as she regarded them as sacred beings. Her love of pomegranates is echoed in the offerings presented to her in various temples across Greece.
Here, we see a powerful leader capable of anything and everything. Hera will take what she deems as rightfully hers without a care in the world and does it so casually as she sips wine. Do not be fooled by her beautiful features and presence. She may be known as a creator, but she is happy to destroy. When she was free of Zeus, she forged the golden chains that bound her into beautiful armor.
P. 385 in: Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a triumph by T.E. Lawrence.
---
Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer. He was renowned for his liaison role during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign and the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. The breadth and variety of his activities and associations, and his ability to describe them vividly in writing, earned him international fame as Lawrence of Arabia—a title used for the 1962 film based on his wartime activities.
He was born out of wedlock in Tremadog, Wales in August 1888 to Sarah Junner, a Scottish governess, and Thomas Chapman, an Anglo-Irish nobleman from County Westmeath. Chapman left his wife and family in Ireland to cohabit with Junner; in 1914 he became Sir Thomas Chapman, 7th Baronet. Chapman and Junner called themselves Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence, a name probably adopted from Sarah's likely father; Sarah’s mother had been employed as a servant for a Lawrence family when she became pregnant with Sarah. In 1889, the family moved to Kirkcudbright in Scotland where his brother William George was born, before moving to Dinard in France. In 1896, the Lawrences moved to Oxford, where Thomas attended the high school and then studied history at Jesus College from 1907 to 1910. Between 1910 and 1914, he worked as an archaeologist for the British Museum, chiefly at Carchemish in Ottoman Syria.
Soon after the outbreak of war, he volunteered for the British Army and was stationed in Egypt. In 1916, he was sent to Arabia on an intelligence mission and quickly became involved with the Arab Revolt as a liaison to the Arab forces, along with other British officers. He worked closely with Emir Faisal, a leader of the revolt, and he participated in and sometimes led military activities against the Ottoman armed forces, culminating in the capture of Damascus in October 1918.
After the war, Lawrence joined the Foreign Office, working with the British government and with Faisal. In 1922, he retreated from public life and spent the years until 1935 serving as an enlisted man, mostly in the Royal Air Force, with a brief stint in the Army. During this time, he published his best-known work Seven Pillars of Wisdom, an autobiographical account of his participation in the Arab Revolt. He also translated books into English and wrote The Mint, which was published posthumously and detailed his time in the Royal Air Force working as an ordinary aircraftman. He corresponded extensively and was friendly with well-known artists, writers, and politicians. For the Royal Air Force, he participated in the development of rescue motorboats.
Lawrence's public image resulted in part from the sensationalised reporting of the Arab revolt by American journalist Lowell Thomas, as well as from Seven Pillars of Wisdom. In 1935, Lawrence was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident in Dorset.
Thomas Edward Lawrence was born on 16 August 1888 in Tremadog, Carnarvonshire (now Gwynedd), Wales in a house named Gorphwysfa, now known as Snowdon Lodge. His Anglo-Irish father Thomas Chapman had left his wife Edith after he had a son with Sarah Junner, a young Scotswoman who had been governess to his daughters. Sarah was the daughter of John Lawrence and Elizabeth Junner, a servant in the Lawrence household; she was dismissed four months before Sarah was born—although she identified Sarah's father as "John Junner, Shipwright journeyman".
Lawrence's parents did not marry but lived together under the name Lawrence. In 1914, his father inherited the Chapman baronetcy based at Killua Castle, the ancestral family home in County Westmeath, Ireland, but he and Sarah continued to live in England. They had five sons, and Thomas was the second eldest. From Wales, the family moved to Kirkcudbright, Galloway in southwestern Scotland, then to Dinard in Brittany, then to Jersey. The family lived at Langley Lodge (now demolished) from 1894 to 1896, set in private woods between the eastern borders of the New Forest and Southampton Water in Hampshire. The residence was isolated, and young Lawrence had many opportunities for outdoor activities and waterfront visits. Victorian-Edwardian Britain was a very conservative society where the majority of people were Christians who considered premarital and extramarital sex to be shameful, and children born out of wedlock were born in disgrace. Lawrence was always something of an outsider, a bastard who could never hope to achieve the same level of social acceptance and success that others could expect who were born legitimate, and no girl from a respectable family would ever marry a bastard.
In the summer of 1896, the family moved to 2 Polstead Road in Oxford, where they lived until 1921. Lawrence attended the City of Oxford High School for Boys from 1896 until 1907, where one of the four houses was later named "Lawrence" in his honour; the school closed in 1966. Lawrence and one of his brothers became commissioned officers in the Church Lads' Brigade at St Aldate's Church.
Lawrence claimed that he ran away from home around 1905 and served for a few weeks as a boy soldier with the Royal Garrison Artillery at St Mawes Castle in Cornwall, from which he was bought out. However, no evidence of this appears in army records.
At age 15, Lawrence and his schoolfriend Cyril Beeson cycled around Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire, visiting almost every village's parish church, studying their monuments and antiquities, and making rubbings of their monumental brasses. Lawrence and Beeson monitored building sites in Oxford and presented the Ashmolean Museum with anything that they found. The Ashmolean's Annual Report for 1906 said that the two teenage boys "by incessant watchfulness secured everything of antiquarian value which has been found." In the summers of 1906 and 1907, Lawrence and Beeson toured France by bicycle, collecting photographs, drawings, and measurements of medieval castles. In August 1907, Lawrence wrote home: "The Chaignons & the Lamballe people complimented me on my wonderful French: I have been asked twice since I arrived what part of France I came from".
From 1907 to 1910, Lawrence read History at Jesus College, Oxford. In the summer of 1909, he set out alone on a three-month walking tour of crusader castles in Ottoman Syria, during which he travelled 1,000 mi (1,600 km) on foot. He graduated with First Class Honours after submitting a thesis titled 'The Influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture'—to the End of the 12th Century, based on his field research with Beeson in France, notably in Châlus, and his solo research in the Middle East. Lawrence was fascinated by the Middle Ages; his brother Arnold wrote in 1937 that "medieval researches" were a "dream way of escape from bourgeois England".
In 1910, Lawrence was offered the opportunity to become a practising archaeologist at Carchemish, in the expedition that D. G. Hogarth was setting up on behalf of the British Museum. Hogarth arranged a "Senior Demyship" (a form of scholarship) for Lawrence at Magdalen College, Oxford to fund his work at £100 a year. He sailed for Beirut in December 1910 and went to Jbail (Byblos), where he studied Arabic. He then went to work on the excavations at Carchemish, near Jerablus in northern Syria, where he worked under Hogarth, R. Campbell Thompson of the British Museum, and Leonard Woolley until 1914. He later stated that everything which he had accomplished he owed to Hogarth. Lawrence met Gertrude Bell while excavating at Carchemish. He worked briefly with Flinders Petrie in 1912 at Kafr Ammar in Egypt.
In January 1914, Woolley and Lawrence were co-opted by the British military as an archaeological smokescreen for a British military survey of the Negev Desert. They were funded by the Palestine Exploration Fund to search for an area referred to in the Bible as the Wilderness of Zin, and they made an archaeological survey of the Negev Desert along the way. The Negev was strategically important, as an Ottoman army attacking Egypt would have to cross it. Woolley and Lawrence subsequently published a report of the expedition's archaeological findings, but a more important result was updated mapping of the area, with special attention to features of military relevance such as water sources. Lawrence also visited Aqaba and Petra.
Following the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, Lawrence did not immediately enlist in the British Army. He held back until October on the advice of S. F. Newcombe, when he was commissioned on the General List. Before the end of the year, he was summoned by renowned archaeologist and historian Lt. Cmdr. David Hogarth to the new Arab Bureau intelligence unit in Cairo, and he arrived in Cairo on 15 December 1914. The Bureau's chief was General Gilbert Clayton who reported to Egyptian High Commissioner Henry McMahon.
The situation was complex during 1915. There was a growing Arab-nationalist movement within the Arabic-speaking Ottoman territories, including many Arabs serving in the Ottoman armed forces. They were in contact with Sharif Hussein, Emir of Mecca, who was negotiating with the British and offering to lead an Arab uprising against the Ottomans. In exchange, he wanted a British guarantee of an independent Arab state including the Hejaz, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Such an uprising would have been very helpful to Britain in its war against the Ottomans, greatly lessening the threat against the Suez Canal. However, there was resistance from French diplomats who insisted that Syria's future was as a French colony, not an independent Arab state. There were also strong objections from the Government of India, which was nominally part of the British government but acted independently. Its vision was of Mesopotamia under British control serving as a granary for India; furthermore, it wanted to hold on to its Arabian outpost in Aden.
At the Arab Bureau, Lawrence supervised the preparation of maps, produced a daily bulletin for the British generals operating in the theatre, and interviewed prisoners. He was an advocate of a British landing at Alexandretta which never came to pass. He was also a consistent advocate of an independent Arab Syria.
The situation came to a crisis in October 1915, as Sharif Hussein demanded an immediate commitment from Britain, with the threat that he would otherwise throw his weight behind the Ottomans. This would create a credible Pan-Islamic message that could have been very dangerous for Britain, which was in severe difficulties in the Gallipoli Campaign. The British replied with a letter from High Commissioner McMahon that was generally agreeable, while reserving commitments concerning the Mediterranean coastline and Holy Land.
In the spring of 1916, Lawrence was dispatched to Mesopotamia to assist in relieving the Siege of Kut by some combination of starting an Arab uprising and bribing Ottoman officials. This mission produced no useful result. Meanwhile, the Sykes–Picot Agreement was being negotiated in London without the knowledge of British officials in Cairo, which awarded a large proportion of Syria to France. Further, it implied that the Arabs would have to conquer Syria's four great cities if they were to have any sort of state there: Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo. It is unclear at what point Lawrence became aware of the treaty's contents.
The Arab Revolt began in June 1916, but it bogged down after a few successes, with a real risk that the Ottoman forces would advance along the coast of the Red Sea and recapture Mecca. On 16 October 1916, Lawrence was sent to the Hejaz on an intelligence-gathering mission led by Ronald Storrs. He interviewed Sharif Hussein's sons Ali, Abdullah, and Faisal, and he concluded that Faisal was the best candidate to lead the Revolt.
In November, S. F. Newcombe was assigned to lead a permanent British liaison to Faisal's staff. Newcombe had not yet arrived in the area and the matter was of some urgency, so Lawrence was sent in his place. In late December 1916, Faisal and Lawrence worked out a plan for repositioning the Arab forces to prevent the Ottoman forces around Medina from threatening Arab positions and putting the railway from Syria under threat. Newcombe arrived and Lawrence was preparing to leave Arabia, but Faisal intervened urgently, asking that Lawrence's assignment become permanent. Lawrence remained attached to Faisal's forces until the fall of Damascus in 1918.
Lawrence made a 300-mile personal journey northward in June 1917, on the way to Aqaba, visiting Ras Baalbek, the outskirts of Damascus, and Azraq, Jordan. He met Arab nationalists, counselling them to avoid revolt until the arrival of Faisal's forces, and he attacked a bridge to create the impression of guerrilla activity. His findings were regarded by the British as extremely valuable and there was serious consideration of awarding him a Victoria Cross; in the end, he was invested as a Companion of the Order of the Bath and promoted to Major.
Lawrence travelled regularly between British headquarters and Faisal, co-ordinating military action. But by early 1918, Faisal's chief British liaison was Colonel Pierce Charles Joyce, and Lawrence's time was chiefly devoted to raiding and intelligence-gathering. By the summer of 1918, the Turks were offering a substantial reward for Lawrence's capture, initially £5,000 and eventually £20,000 (approx $2.1 million in 2017 dollars or £1.5 million). One officer wrote in his notes: "Though a price of £15,000 has been put on his head by the Turks, no Arab has, as yet, attempted to betray him. The Sharif of Mecca has given him the status of one of his sons, and he is just the finely tempered steel that supports the whole structure of our influence in Arabia. He is a very inspiring gentleman adventurer."
The chief elements of the Arab strategy which Faisal and Lawrence developed were to avoid capturing Medina, and to extend northwards through Maan and Dera'a to Damascus and beyond. Faisal wanted to lead regular attacks against the Ottomans, but Lawrence persuaded him to drop that tactic.
Medina was an attractive target for the revolt as Islam's second holiest site, and because its Ottoman garrison was weakened by disease and isolation. It became clear that it was advantageous to leave it there rather than try to capture it, while continually attacking the Hejaz railway south from Damascus without permanently destroying it. This prevented the Ottomans from making effective use of their troops at Medina, and forced them to dedicate many resources to defending and repairing the railway line.
It is not known when Lawrence learned the details of Sykes-Picot, nor if or when he briefed Faisal on what he knew, However, there is good reason to think that both these things happened, and earlier rather than later. In particular, the Arab strategy of northward extension makes perfect sense given the Sykes-Picot language that spoke of an independent Arab entity in Syria, which would only be granted if the Arabs liberated the territory themselves. The French, and some of their British Liaison officers, were specifically uncomfortable about the northward movement, as it would weaken French colonial claims.
In 1917, Lawrence proposed a joint action with the Arab irregulars and forces including Auda Abu Tayi, who had previously been in the employ of the Ottomans, against the strategically located but lightly defended town of Aqaba on the Red Sea. Aqaba could have been attacked from the sea, but the narrow defiles leading through the mountains were strongly defended and would have been very difficult to assault. The expedition was led by Sharif Nasir of Medina.
Lawrence carefully avoided informing his British superiors about the details of the planned inland attack, due to concern that it would be blocked as contrary to French interests. The expedition departed from Wejh on 9 May. and Aqaba fell to the Arab forces on 6 July, after a surprise overland attack which took the Turkish defences from behind. After Aqaba, General Sir Edmund Allenby, the new commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, agreed to Lawrence's strategy for the revolt. Lawrence now held a powerful position as an adviser to Faisal and a person who had Allenby's confidence, as Allenby acknowledged after the war:
I gave him a free hand. His cooperation was marked by the utmost loyalty, and I never had anything but praise for his work, which, indeed, was invaluable throughout the campaign. He was the mainspring of the Arab movement and knew their language, their manners and their mentality.
Lawrence describes an episode on 20 November 1917 while reconnoitering Dera'a in disguise, when he was captured by the Ottoman military, heavily beaten, and sexually abused by the local bey and his guardsmen, though he does not specify the nature of the sexual contact. Some scholars have stated that he exaggerated the severity of the injuries that he suffered, or alleged that the episode never actually happened. There is no independent testimony, but the multiple consistent reports and the absence of evidence for outright invention in Lawrence's works make the account believable to his biographers. Malcolm Brown, John E. Mack, and Jeremy Wilson have argued that this episode had strong psychological effects on Lawrence, which may explain some of his unconventional behaviour in later life. Lawrence ended his account of the episode in Seven Pillars of Wisdom with the statement: "In Deraa that night the citadel of my integrity had been irrevocably lost."
Lawrence was involved in the build-up to the capture of Damascus in the final weeks of the war, but he was not present at the city's formal surrender, much to his disappointment. He arrived several hours after the city had fallen, entering Damascus around 9 am on 1 October 1918, but he was the third arrival of the day; the first was the 10th Australian Light Horse Brigade led by Major A.C.N. 'Harry' Olden, who formally accepted the surrender of the city from acting Governor Emir Said. Lawrence was instrumental in establishing a provisional Arab government under Faisal in newly liberated Damascus, which he had envisioned as the capital of an Arab state. Faisal's rule as king, however, came to an abrupt end in 1920, after the battle of Maysaloun when the French Forces of General Gouraud entered Damascus under the command of General Mariano Goybet, destroying Lawrence's dream of an independent Arabia.
During the closing years of the war, Lawrence sought to convince his superiors in the British government that Arab independence was in their interests, but he met with mixed success. The secret Sykes-Picot Agreement between France and Britain contradicted the promises of independence that he had made to the Arabs and frustrated his work.
In 1918, Lowell Thomas went to Jerusalem where he met Lawrence, "whose enigmatic figure in Arab uniform fired his imagination", in the words of author Rex Hall. Thomas and his cameraman Harry Chase shot a great deal of film and many photographs involving Lawrence, which Thomas used in a highly lucrative slide-show presentation that toured the world after the war. His lectures were "supported by moving pictures of veiled women, Arabs in their picturesque robes, camels, and dashing Bedouin cavalry", and he was well received by his audiences at Madison Square Garden in New York. He was invited to take his show to England, and he agreed to do so provided that he was personally invited by the King and provided the use of either Drury Lane or Covent Garden. He opened at Covent Garden on 14 August 1919 and continued for hundreds of lectures, "attended by the highest in the land".
Lawrence returned to the United Kingdom a full colonel. Immediately after the war, he worked for the Foreign Office, attending the Paris Peace Conference between January and May as a member of Faisal's delegation. On 17 May 1919, the Handley Page Type O crashed at the airport of Roma-Centocelle carrying Lawrence on a flight to Egypt. The pilot and co-pilot were killed; Lawrence survived with a broken shoulder blade and two broken ribs. During his brief hospitalisation, he was visited by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.
In August 1919, Lowell Thomas launched a photo show in London entitled With Allenby in Palestine which included a lecture, dancing, and music and engaged in "Orientalism", depicting the Middle East as exotic, mysterious, sensuous, and violent. Initially, Lawrence played only a supporting role in the show, as the main focus was on Allenby's campaigns; but then Thomas realised that it was the photos of Lawrence dressed as a Bedouin which had captured the public's imagination, so he had Lawrence photographed again in London in Arab dress. With the new photos, Thomas re-launched his show under the new title With Allenby in Palestine and Lawrence in Arabia in early 1920, which proved to be extremely popular. The new title elevated Lawrence from a supporting role to a co-star of the Near Eastern campaign and reflected a changed emphasis. Thomas' shows made the previously obscure Lawrence into a household name.[112] Lawrence served for much of 1921 as an adviser to Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office. He hated bureaucratic work, writing on 21 May 1921 to Robert Graves: "I wish I hadn't gone out there: the Arabs are like a page I have turned over; and sequels are rotten things. I'm locked up here: office every day and much of it".
Lawrence had a sinister reputation in France during his lifetime and even today as an implacable "enemy of France", the man who was constantly stirring up the Syrians to rebel against French rule throughout the 1920s. However, French historian Maurice Larès wrote that the real reason for France's problems in Syria was that the Syrians did not want to be ruled by France, and the French needed a "scapegoat" to blame for their difficulties in ruling the country. Larès wrote that Lawrence is usually pictured in France as a Francophobe, but he was really a Francophile.
In August 1922, Lawrence enlisted in the Royal Air Force as an aircraftman, under the name John Hume Ross. At the RAF recruiting centre in Covent Garden, London, he was interviewed by recruiting officer Flying Officer W. E. Johns, later known as the author of the Biggles series of novels. Johns rejected Lawrence's application, as he suspected that "Ross" was a false name. Lawrence admitted that this was so and that he had provided false documents. He left, but returned some time later with an RAF messenger who carried a written order that Johns must accept Lawrence.
However, Lawrence was forced out of the RAF in February 1923 after his identity was exposed. He changed his name to T. E. Shaw and joined the Royal Tank Corps later that year. He was unhappy there and repeatedly petitioned to rejoin the RAF, which finally readmitted him in August 1925. A fresh burst of publicity after the publication of Revolt in the Desert resulted in his assignment to bases at Karachi and Miramshah in British India (now Pakistan) in late 1926, where he remained until the end of 1928. At that time, he was forced to return to Britain after rumours began to circulate that he was involved in espionage activities.
He purchased several small plots of land in Chingford, built a hut and swimming pool there, and visited frequently. The hut was removed in 1930 when the Chingford Urban District Council acquired the land; it was given to the City of London Corporation which re-erected it in the grounds of The Warren, Loughton. Lawrence's tenure of the Chingford land has now been commemorated by a plaque fixed on the sighting obelisk on Pole Hill.
Lawrence continued serving in the RAF based at RAF Mount Batten near Plymouth, RAF Calshot near Southampton, and RAF Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire. He specialised in high-speed boats and professed happiness, and he left the service with considerable regret at the end of his enlistment in March 1935.
In the inter-war period, the RAF's Marine Craft Section began to commission air-sea rescue launches capable of higher speeds and greater capacity. The arrival of high-speed craft into the MCS was driven in part by Lawrence. He had previously witnessed a seaplane crew drowning when the seaplane tender sent to their rescue was too slow in arriving. He worked with Hubert Scott-Paine, the founder of the British Power Boat Company (BPBC), to introduce the 37.5 ft (11.4 m) long ST 200 Seaplane Tender Mk1 into service. These boats had a range of 140 miles when cruising at 24 knots and could achieve a top speed of 29 knots.
Lawrence was a keen motorcyclist and owned eight Brough Superior motorcycles at different times. His last SS100 (Registration GW 2275) is privately owned but has been on loan to the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu and the Imperial War Museum in London. He was also an avid reader of Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and carried a copy on his campaigns. He read an account of Eugene Vinaver's discovery of the Winchester Manuscript of the Morte in The Times in 1934, and he drove by motorcycle from Manchester to Winchester to meet Vinaver.
Lawrence was fatally injured in an accident on his Brough Superior SS100 motorcycle in Dorset close to his cottage Clouds Hill, near Wareham. He was 46, just two months after leaving military service. A dip in the road obstructed his view of two boys on their bicycles; he swerved to avoid them, lost control, and was thrown over the handlebars. He died six days later on 19 May 1935. The location of the crash is marked by a small memorial at the roadside.
One of the doctors attending him was neurosurgeon Hugh Cairns, who consequently began a long study of the loss of life by motorcycle dispatch riders through head injuries. His research led to the use of crash helmets by both military and civilian motorcyclists.
The Moreton estate borders Bovington Camp, and Lawrence bought it from his cousins the Frampton family. He had been a frequent visitor to their home Okers Wood House, and had corresponded with Louisa Frampton for years. Lawrence's mother arranged with the Framptons to have his body buried in their family plot in the separate burial ground of St Nicholas' Church, Moreton. The coffin was transported on the Frampton estate's bier. Mourners included Winston, E. M. Forster, Lady Astor, and Lawrence's youngest brother Arnold.
The grave of T. E. Lawrence in the separate churchyard of St Nicholas' Church, Moreton. The phrase Dominus illuminatio mea is from Psalm 27 and is the motto of Oxford University. It translates as "The Lord is my light."
Lawrence was a prolific writer throughout his life, a large portion of which was epistolary; he often sent several letters a day, and several collections of his letters have been published. He corresponded with many notable figures, including George Bernard Shaw, Edward Elgar, Winston Churchill, Robert Graves, Noël Coward, E. M. Forster, Siegfried Sassoon, John Buchan, Augustus John, and Henry Williamson. He met Joseph Conrad and commented perceptively on his works. The many letters that he sent to Shaw's wife Charlotte are revealing as to his character. Lawrence's linguistic abilities enabled him to communicate throughout his travels; he could speak French, German, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Turkish, and Welsh, and he had demonstrated adeptness in learning other dialects and ancient languages.
Lawrence published three major texts in his lifetime. The most significant was his account of the Arab Revolt in Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Homer's Odyssey and The Forest Giant were translations, the latter an otherwise forgotten work of French fiction. He received a flat fee for the second translation, and negotiated a generous fee plus royalties for the first.
Lawrence's major work is Seven Pillars of Wisdom, an account of his war experiences. In 1919, he was elected to a seven-year research fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, providing him with support while he worked on the book. Certain parts of the book also serve as essays on military strategy, Arabian culture and geography, and other topics. He rewrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom three times, once "blind" after he lost the manuscript while changing trains at Reading railway station.
There is a long list of alleged "embellishments" in Seven Pillars, though many such allegations have been disproved with time, most definitively in Jeremy Wilson's authorised biography. However, Lawrence's own notebooks refute his claim to have crossed the Sinai Peninsula from Aqaba to the Suez Canal in just 49 hours without any sleep. In reality, this famous camel ride lasted for more than 70 hours and was interrupted by two long breaks for sleeping, which Lawrence omitted when he wrote his book.
In the preface, Lawrence acknowledged George Bernard Shaw's help in editing the book. The first edition was published in 1926 as a high-priced private subscription edition, printed in London by Herbert John Hodgson and Roy Manning Pike, with illustrations by Eric Kennington, Augustus John, Paul Nash, Blair Hughes-Stanton, and Hughes-Stanton's wife Gertrude Hermes. Lawrence was afraid that the public would think that he would make a substantial income from the book, and he stated that it was written as a result of his war service. He vowed not to take any money from it, and indeed he did not, as the sale price was one third of the production costs, leaving him in substantial debt (Wikipedia).
Vintage postcard by Idoles. Photo: Walt Disney Pictures. Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (Gore Verbinski, 2006).
British actress Keira Knightley (1985) has starred in both independent films and big-budget blockbusters and is particularly noted for her roles in period dramas.
Keira Christina Righton-Knightley OBE was born in 1985 in London to stage actors Will Knightley and Sharman Macdonald. Knightley has an older brother, Caleb. Knightley attended Teddington School. At age six, she obtained an agent and initially acted in commercials and television films. She focused on art, history, and English literature while studying at Esher College, but left after a year to pursue an acting career. On TV, Keira played Natasha Jordan, a young girl whose mother is involved in an extramarital affair, in the romantic drama A Village Affair (1995).In the cinema, she appeared as Sabé, Padmé Amidala's (Natalie Portman) handmaiden, in the Science-Fiction blockbuster Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (George Lucas, 1999). Her first major role, she had in the Walt Disney Productions TV film Princess of Thieves (Peter Hewitt, 2001). Knightley played the daughter of Robin Hood. Concurrently, she appeared in The Hole (Nick Hamm, 2001), a thriller that received a direct-to-video release in the US. Despite having appeared in over a dozen film and television roles, Knightley struggled to get a breakthrough until portraying a tomboy footballer in the British sports film Bend It Like Beckham (Gurinder Chadha, 2001), co-starring Parminder Nagra and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Knightley portrayed Jules, a tomboy football player struggling against social norms who convinces her friend to pursue the sport. The film was a surprise critical and commercial success with a gross of $76.6 million at the box office. Knightley achieved global stardom at age 18 when she portrayed the role of Elizabeth Swann opposite Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp in the fantastic Swashbuckler Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Gore Verbinski, 2003). The film opened at number one on the box office, and became one of the highest-grossing releases of the year, with worldwide revenues of $654 million. In the same year, she appeared in the Christmas romantic comedy Love Actually (Richard Curtis, 2003) which became another box-office success, grossing $246 million worldwide on a budget of $40–45 million. Frequently shown during the Christmas season, the film has proved more popular with audiences than critics, and it has been discussed as being arguably a modern-day Christmas staple.
In 2005, Keira Knightley portrayed Elizabeth Bennet in an adaption of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright, 2005), which earned Knightley her first Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. At age 20, she became the second-youngest Best Actress nominee. In 2006, she reprised her role as Elizabeth Swann in the second and third productions of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Gore Verbinski, 2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Gore Verbinski, 2007). Knightley then starred in a series of further period pieces, portraying a complex love interest in Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007) with James McAvoy, tastemaker Georgiana Cavendish in The Duchess (Saul Dibb, 2008), and the titular socialite in Anna Karenina (Joe Wright, 2012). She then forayed into contemporary dramas, appearing as an aspiring musician in Begin Again (John Carney, 2013) and a medical student in the spy thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Kenneth Branagh, 2014), starring Chris Pine. Knightley returned to historical films by playing cryptoanalyst Joan Clarke in The Imitation Game (Morten Tyldum, 2014), earning her a second round of Academy Award and BAFTA nominations, and starred as the eponymous belle époque writer in Colette (Wash Westmoreland, 2018) to critical acclaim. Knightley reprised the role of Elizabeth Swann with a cameo appearance in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg, 2017) after test audiences repeatedly inquired about her character. On stage, Knightley has appeared in two West End productions: Molière's comedy 'The Misanthrope' in 2009, which earned her an Olivier Award nomination, and 'The Children's Hour' by Lillian Hellman in 2011. She also starred as the eponymous heroine in the 2015 Broadway production of Émile Zola's 'Thérèse Raquin. Knightley is known for her outspoken stance on social issues and has worked extensively with Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Comic Relief. Keira Knightley married musician James Righton in 2013; they have two children. Knightley's first role of the new decade was feminist activist Sally Alexander in Misbehaviour (Philippa Lowthorpe, 2020), a British comedy-drama about the crowning of the first black contestant at the 1970 Miss World competition. Knightley is set to star in the upcoming holiday comedy Silent Night, written and directed by Camille Griffin.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
Guillaume Courtois,
called I Borgognone, 1628-1679
Hagar and Ishmael, c. 1670
Oil on canvas
One of my favorite bible stories because it gives men so much guidance for how to live our lives in a truly godly manner.
1. It is ok to have slaves.
2. It is ok to use others for your sexual gratification if they are powerless to resist.
3. While your are having extramarital sex by all means continue to have sex with your wife.
4. If your "mistress" has a child treat it as your own, this will give your captive a false sense of security that can make your life easier.
5. If your wife has a child try to keep the status quo of a two wife lifestyle for as long as you can, in other words keep the lie alive.
6. When your wife has finally had enough it is perfectly ok to throw your child and his mother away to starve to death in the dessert because that is what a godly man would do.
Hagar, as told in the Old Testament, was an enslaved Egyptian woman. She was a handmaiden (slave) to Sarah, the wife of Abraham.
Because Sarah believed she was too old to bear children, her husband conceived a child with Hagar. After the child Ishmael is born, Sarah then becomes pregnant and gives birth to Isaac. After years of growing tension between the women and
their children, Sarah demands that her husband banish Hagar and her son in the desert.
Abandoned and with only small rations of food and water, the pair wander hopelessly. At the last moment, an angel miraculously appears to save them from death. Typical for an artist of the Baroque period, Guillaume Courtois chose to depict that highly dramatic scene. He heightens sense of excitement through his exuberant use of color and form.
Fagiolo Collection, Palazzo Chigi, Ariccia
British postcard by Memory Card, no. 666. Photo: Hugh Jackman as Logan "Wolverine" in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000).
Hugh Jackman (1968) is a ruggedly handsome Australian actor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, and producer. Jackman is best known as Wolverine in the X-Men film series. His other films include The Prestige (2006), the epic historical romantic drama Australia (2008), and the film version of Les Misérables (2012), which earned him his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor and a Golden Globe. On Broadway, Jackman won a Tony Award for his role in 'The Boy from Oz'.
Hugh Michael Jackman was born in 1968 in Sydney, New South Wales, to Grace McNeil (Greenwood) and Christopher John Jackman, an accountant. He is the youngest of five children. His parents separated when he was eight. His mother then moved back to England. His father brought up five children, by himself. Jackman has a communications degree with a journalism major from the University of Technology Sydney. After graduating, he pursued drama at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Straight out of drama school, he was offered a starring role in the TV prison drama series Correlli (1995), opposite his future wife Deborra-Lee Furness. Several TV guest roles followed, as an actor and variety compere. An accomplished singer, Jackman has starred as Gaston in the Australian production of 'Beauty and the Beast'. He appeared as Joe Gillis in the Australian production of 'Sunset Boulevard'. In 1998, he was cast as Curly in Trevor Nunn's 'Oklahoma'. Jackman made two feature films in Australia. His second film, Erskineville Kings (Alan White, 1999), garnered him an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Actor in 1999. Then he won the breakthrough role of Logan/Wolverine in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000), a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics team of the same name. He was a last-minute addition to the X-Men cast. Dougray Scott was originally cast as Wolverine, but was injured in a motorbike accident and wouldn't have recovered in time for filming. X-Men was very successful at the box-office, earning US$296 million.
Hugh Jackman starred as Leopold opposite Meg Ryan in the romantic comedy Kate & Leopold (James Mangold, 2001), a role for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. Then he took stunt-driving classes to prepare for his role in Swordfish (Dominic Sena, 2001) with John Travolta and Halle Berry. Jackman reprised his role as Wolverine in X2 (Bryan Singer, 2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (Brett Rattner, 2006), and the prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). He also cameoed as Wolverine in X-Men: First Class (2011). He returned for the role of Wolverine again in The Wolverine (2013), a stand-alone sequel taking place after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, and reprised the character in the sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and briefly in the follow-up X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) Jackman announced that Logan (2017), the sequel to The Wolverine was the final time that he would play the role. In 2004, Jackman won a Tony Award for his Broadway portrayal of Australian songwriter and performer Peter Allen in the hit musical 'The Boy from Oz' (2003–2004), which he also performed in Australia in 2006. Jackman played the title role of monster killer Gabriel Van Helsing in the horror-action film Van Helsing (Stephen Sommers, 2004) with Kate Beckinsale. The film is a homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and 1940s which were based on novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 stars out of 4 stating that "At the outset, we may fear Sommers is simply going for f/x overkill, but by the end, he has somehow succeeded in assembling all his monsters and plot threads into a high-voltage climax. Van Helsing is silly, spectacular, and fun." The film grossed over $300 million worldwide. In 2005, Jackman joined with longtime assistant John Palermo to form a production company, Seed Productions, whose first project was Viva Laughlin (2007). Jackman's wife Deborra-Lee Furness is also involved in the company, and Palermo had three rings made with a "unity" inscription for himself, Furness, and Jackman.
Hugh Jackman starred alongside Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johansson in the mystery thriller The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006). Jackman portrayed Robert Angier, an aristocratic magician who builds up a rivalry with contemporary Alfred Borden (Bale) in an attempt to one-up each other in the art of deception. The Prestige was acclaimed and a box-office hit. Jackman portrayed three different characters in the Science-Fiction film The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky, 2006). He also starred in Woody Allen's Scoop (2006) opposite Scarlett Johansson. He rounded out the year with two animated films: Happy Feet (George Miller, 2006) in which he voiced emperor penguin Memphis, and Flushed Away (2006), where Jackman supplied the voice of the rat Roddy who ends up being flushed down a family's toilet into the London sewer system. Baz Luhrmann cast Jackman to replace Russell Crowe opposite Nicole Kidman in his much-publicised epic, Australia (2008). That year, People Magazine named Jackman its 2008 "Sexiest Man Alive". Jackman co-starred with Daniel Craig on Broadway in the play 'A Steady Rain'(2009). In 2011, Jackman had a one-man show at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, backed by a 17-piece orchestra. He performed numbers from shows including 'Oklahoma' and 'The Boy from Oz'. He later returned to Broadway in a new show, 'Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway' (2011-2012). Jackman starred as Jean Valjean in the film Les Misérables (2012), an adaptation of the musical. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for this performance and received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Jackman appeared alongside Kate Winslet in Movie 43 (Peter Farrelly, a.o., 2013). Jackman returned to Broadway in the new play, 'The River' (2014-2015). He portrayed the villain Blackbeard in the film Pan, which revolved around the backstories of J.M. Barrie's characters Peter Pan and Captain Hook. The film received generally negative reviews and failed at the box office. In 2016, Jackman played fictional ski coach, Bronson Peary, in Eddie the Eagle, which portrayed how Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping in 1988. In 2017, he reprised the character for the final time in the third Wolverine film, Logan. Jackman's performance and the film were critically acclaimed and it is regarded as one of the greatest superhero films of all-time. That year, he also starred as P. T. Barnum in the musical The Greatest Showman (2017) for which he received his third Golden Globe nomination. Next, he starred as American senator Gary Hart in the political drama film The Front Runner (Jason Reitman's, 2018), which chronicled the rise of Hart as a Democratic presidential candidate in 1988, and his subsequent fall from grace when media reports surfaced of his extramarital affair. In 2019, Jackman went on his first world tour called 'The Man. The Music. The Show' to perform songs from The Greatest Showman. In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, Jackman was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia. Hugh Jackman and his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, suffered through two miscarriages, which they point to as the most difficult point in their lives. Both of their two children, Oscar and Ava, are adopted.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Chinese postcard by Oriental City Publishing Group Limited.
British actress Keira Knightley (1985) has starred in both independent films and big-budget blockbusters and is particularly noted for her roles in period dramas.
Keira Christina Righton-Knightley OBE was born in 1985 in London to stage actors Will Knightley and Sharman Macdonald. Knightley has an older brother, Caleb. Knightley attended Teddington School. At age six, she obtained an agent and initially acted in commercials and television films. She focused on art, history, and English literature while studying at Esher College, but left after a year to pursue an acting career. On TV, Keira played Natasha Jordan, a young girl whose mother is involved in an extramarital affair, in the romantic drama A Village Affair (1995).In the cinema, she appeared as Sabé, Padmé Amidala's (Natalie Portman) handmaiden, in the Science-Fiction blockbuster Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (George Lucas, 1999). Her first major role, she had in the Walt Disney Productions TV film Princess of Thieves (Peter Hewitt, 2001). Knightley played the daughter of Robin Hood. Concurrently, she appeared in The Hole (Nick Hamm, 2001), a thriller that received a direct-to-video release in the US. Despite having appeared in over a dozen film and television roles, Knightley struggled to get a breakthrough until portraying a tomboy footballer in the British sports film Bend It Like Beckham (Gurinder Chadha, 2001), co-starring Parminder Nagra and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Knightley portrayed Jules, a tomboy football player struggling against social norms who convinces her friend to pursue the sport. The film was a surprise critical and commercial success with a gross of $76.6 million at the box office. Knightley achieved global stardom at age 18 when she portrayed the role of Elizabeth Swann opposite Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp in the fantastic Swashbuckler Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Gore Verbinski, 2003). The film opened at number one on the box office, and became one of the highest-grossing releases of the year, with worldwide revenues of $654 million. In the same year, she appeared in the Christmas romantic comedy Love Actually (Richard Curtis, 2003) which became another box-office success, grossing $246 million worldwide on a budget of $40–45 million. Frequently shown during the Christmas season, the film has proved more popular with audiences than critics, and it has been discussed as being arguably a modern-day Christmas staple.
In 2005, Keira Knightley portrayed Elizabeth Bennet in an adaption of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright, 2005), which earned Knightley her first Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. At age 20, she became the second-youngest Best Actress nominee. In 2006, she reprised her role as Elizabeth Swann in the second and third productions of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Gore Verbinski, 2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Gore Verbinski, 2007). Knightley then starred in a series of further period pieces, portraying a complex love interest in Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007) with James McAvoy, tastemaker Georgiana Cavendish in The Duchess (Saul Dibb, 2008), and the titular socialite in Anna Karenina (Joe Wright, 2012). She then forayed into contemporary dramas, appearing as an aspiring musician in Begin Again (John Carney, 2013) and a medical student in the spy thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Kenneth Branagh, 2014), starring Chris Pine. Knightley returned to historical films by playing cryptoanalyst Joan Clarke in The Imitation Game (Morten Tyldum, 2014), earning her a second round of Academy Award and BAFTA nominations, and starred as the eponymous belle époque writer in Colette (Wash Westmoreland, 2018) to critical acclaim. Knightley reprised the role of Elizabeth Swann with a cameo appearance in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg, 2017) after test audiences repeatedly inquired about her character. On stage, Knightley has appeared in two West End productions: Molière's comedy 'The Misanthrope' in 2009, which earned her an Olivier Award nomination, and 'The Children's Hour' by Lillian Hellman in 2011. She also starred as the eponymous heroine in the 2015 Broadway production of Émile Zola's 'Thérèse Raquin. Knightley is known for her outspoken stance on social issues and has worked extensively with Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Comic Relief. Keira Knightley married musician James Righton in 2013; they have two children. Knightley's first role of the new decade was feminist activist Sally Alexander in Misbehaviour (Philippa Lowthorpe, 2020), a British comedy-drama about the crowning of the first black contestant at the 1970 Miss World competition. Knightley is set to star in the upcoming holiday comedy Silent Night, written and directed by Camille Griffin.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
The Postcard
A postally unused postcard that was published by Charles Skilton & Fry Ltd. The card, which has a divided back, was printed in Great Britain. The photography was by Lord Lichfield, courtesy of Weidenfeld Publishers Ltd.
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, was born on the 21st. August 1930. She was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II.
Margaret spent much of her childhood with her parents and sister. Her life changed at the age of six when King Edward VIII, her paternal uncle, abdicated to marry divorcée Wallis Simpson. Margaret's father became king, and her sister became heir presumptive, with Margaret second in line to the throne.
Margaret's position in the line of succession diminished over the following decades as Elizabeth's children and grandchildren were born. During the Second World War, the two sisters stayed at Windsor Castle despite suggestions that they should be evacuated to Canada. During the war years, Margaret was too young to perform official duties and continued her education, being nine years old when the war broke out and turning 15 just after hostilities ended.
From the 1950's onwards, Margaret became one of the world's most celebrated socialites, famed for her glamorous lifestyle and reputed romances. Most famously, she fell in love in the early 1950's with Peter Townsend, a married RAF officer in the royal household.
In 1952, Margaret's father died, her sister became queen, and Townsend divorced his wife. He proposed to Margaret early in the following year. Many in the government believed that he would be an unsuitable husband for the Queen's 22-year-old sister, and the Archbishop of Canterbury refused to countenance her marriage to a divorced man.
Margaret abandoned her plans with Townsend and married Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960; the Queen created him Earl of Snowdon. The couple had two children, David and Sarah, and divorced in 1978. Margaret did not remarry.
Margaret was a controversial member of the British royal family. Her divorce received much negative publicity, and her private life was for many years the subject of speculation by the media and royal watchers. Her health deteriorated in the last 20 years of her life. She was a heavy smoker for most of her adult life, and had a lung operation in 1985, a bout of pneumonia in 1993 as well as three strokes between 1998 and 2001.
Annus Horribilis
Margaret died in London at the age of 71 on the 9th. February 2002, following a fourth stroke. Margaret's death contributed to the Queen's 'Annus Horribilis' to which she referred in a speech at the London Guildhall on the 24th. November 1992.
Other events contributing to the Queen's awful year of 1992 included:
-- The publication of photographs of Diana sitting alone on a bench at the Taj Mahal when she was on a trip to India with Charles on the 11th. February 1992.
-- In March Andrew and Sarah announced their separation.
-- In April, Princess Anne and Mark Phillips divorced.
-- In June, Andrew Morton's biography of Diana was published. The book was controversial as it detailed Diana's suicidal unhappiness within her marriage, and her struggles with depression. At the time of publication, Buckingham Palace denied any cooperation between the princess and Morton, but it was later revealed that Diana was the main source behind the book's content.
-- In August, there were scandals in the tabloids relating to both Sarah and Diana.
-- In November, there was an enormously destructive fire at Windsor Castle which prompted controversy over who should pay for the restoration.
After the Queen's Guildhall speech, the Annus Horribilis continued unabated -- on the 9th. December, Charles and Diana announced their separation.
Princess Margaret - The Early Years
Princess Margaret was born at 9:22 p.m. on the 21st. August 1930 at Glamis Castle in Scotland, her mother's ancestral home, and was affectionately known as Margot within the royal family. She was the first member of the royal family in direct line of succession to be born in Scotland since the 1600's.
She was delivered by Sir Henry Simson, the royal obstetrician. The Home Secretary, J. R. Clynes, was present to verify the birth. The registration of her birth was delayed for several days to avoid her being numbered 13 in the parish register. Margaret was baptised in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace on the 30th. October 1930 by Cosmo Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury.
At the time of her birth, Margaret was fourth in the line of succession to the British throne. Her father was the Duke of York (later King George VI), the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. Her mother was the Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother), the youngest daughter of the 14th. Earl and the Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
The Duchess of York originally wanted to name her second daughter Ann Margaret, as she explained to Queen Mary in a letter:
"I am very anxious to call her Ann
Margaret, as I think Ann of York
sounds pretty, & Elizabeth and Ann
go so well together."
King George V disliked the name Ann but approved of the alternative, Margaret Rose.
Margaret's early life was spent primarily at the Yorks' residences at 145 Piccadilly (their town house in London) and Royal Lodge in Windsor. The Yorks were perceived by the public as an ideal family: father, mother and children, but unfounded rumours that Margaret was deaf and mute were not completely dispelled until her first main public appearance at her uncle Prince George's wedding in 1934.
Margaret was educated alongside her sister, Elizabeth, by their Scottish governess, Marion Crawford. Margaret's education was mainly supervised by her mother, who in the words of Randolph Churchill "never aimed at bringing her daughters up to be more than nicely behaved young ladies".
When Queen Mary insisted upon the importance of education, the Duchess of York commented:
"I don't know what she meant.
After all, I and my sisters only
had governesses, and we all
married well — one of us very
well".
Margaret resented her limited education, especially in later years, and criticised at her mother. However, Margaret's mother told a friend that she "regretted" that her daughters did not go to school like other children, and the employment of a governess rather than sending the girls to school may have been done only at the insistence of King George V.
J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, read stories to the sisters as children.
Margaret's grandfather, George V, died when she was five, and her uncle acceded as King Edward VIII. Less than a year later, on 11 December 1936, in the abdication crisis, he left the throne to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American, whom neither the Church of England nor the Dominion governments would accept as queen. The Church would not recognise the marriage of a divorced woman with a living ex-husband as valid.
Edward's abdication made a reluctant Duke of York the new king, and Margaret became second in line to the throne with the title The Princess Margaret to indicate her status as a child of the sovereign. The family moved into Buckingham Palace; Margaret's room overlooked The Mall.
Margaret was a Brownie in the 1st. Buckingham Palace Brownie Pack, formed in 1937. She was also a Girl Guide and later a Sea Ranger. She served as President of Girlguiding UK from 1965 until her death in 2002.
At the outbreak of World War II, Margaret and her sister were at Birkhall, on the Balmoral Castle estate, where they stayed until Christmas 1939, enduring nights so cold that drinking water in carafes by their bedside froze. They spent Christmas at Sandringham House before moving to Windsor Castle for much of the remainder of the war.
Viscount Hailsham wrote to Prime Minister Winston Churchill to advise the evacuation of the princesses to the greater safety of Canada, to which their mother famously replied:
"The children won't go without me.
I won't leave without the King.
And the King will never leave."
At Windsor, the princesses staged pantomimes at Christmas in aid of the Queen's Wool Fund, which bought yarn to knit into military garments. In 1940, Margaret sat next to Elizabeth during their radio broadcast for the BBC's Children's Hour, addressing other children who had been evacuated from cities. Margaret spoke at the end by wishing all the children goodnight.
Unlike other members of the royal family, Margaret was not expected to undertake any public or official duties during the war. She developed her skills at singing and playing the piano, often tunes from stage musicals. Her contemporaries thought she was spoiled by her parents, especially her father, who allowed her to take liberties not usually permissible, such as being allowed to stay up to dinner at the age of 13.
Crawford despaired at the attention Margaret was getting, writing to friends:
"Could you this year only ask
Princess Elizabeth to your party?
Princess Margaret does draw all
the attention, and Princess
Elizabeth lets her do that."
Elizabeth, however, did not mind this, and commented:
"Oh, it's so much easier when
Margaret's there — everybody
laughs at what Margaret says".
King George described Elizabeth as his pride and Margaret as his joy.
Princess Margaret and the Post-War Years
At the end of the war in 1945, Margaret appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace with her family and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Afterwards, both Elizabeth and Margaret joined the crowds outside the palace, incognito, chanting:
"We want the King, we want the Queen!"
On the 15th. April 1946, Margaret was confirmed into the Church of England. On the 1st. February 1947, she, Elizabeth and their parents embarked on a state tour of Southern Africa. The three-month-long visit was Margaret's first visit abroad, and she later claimed that she remembered "every minute of it".
Margaret's chaperone was Peter Townsend, the King's equerry, and very firm toward Margaret, whom he apparently considered an indulged child. Later that year, Margaret was a bridesmaid at Elizabeth's wedding. In the next three years, Elizabeth had two children, Charles and Anne, whose births moved Margaret further down the line of succession.
In 1950, the former royal governess, Marion Crawford, published an unauthorized biography of Elizabeth's and Margaret's childhood years, titled The Little Princesses, in which she described Margaret's "light-hearted fun and frolics" and her "amusing and outrageous antics".
The Margaret Set
Around the time of Princess Elizabeth's wedding in November 1947, the press started to follow the social life of "unconventional" Margaret and her reputation for vivacity and wit. As a beautiful young woman, with an 18-inch waist and "vivid blue eyes", Margaret enjoyed socialising with high society and young aristocrats, including Sharman Douglas, the daughter of the American ambassador, Lewis Williams Douglas.
A celebrated beauty known for her glamour and fashion sense, Margaret was often featured in the press at balls, parties, and nightclubs with friends who became known as the "Margaret Set". The number of her official engagements increased, and she joined a growing number of charitable organisations as president or patron.
Favoured haunts of the Margaret Set were The 400 Club, the Café de Paris and the Mirabelle restaurant. Anticipation of an engagement or romance between Margaret and a member of her set were often reported. In 1948, international news grew that her engagement to "Sunny", the Marquess of Blandford, would be announced on her 18th. birthday.
Similar speculation moved to the Hon. Peter Ward, then Billy Wallace and others. The set also mixed with celebrities, including Danny Kaye, whom she met after watching him perform at the London Palladium in February 1948. He was soon accepted by the royal social circle.
In July 1949, at a fancy dress ball at the American Ambassador's residence, Margaret performed the can-can on stage, accompanied by Douglas and ten other costumed girls. A press commotion ensued, with Kaye denying he had taught Margaret the dance. Press interest could be intrusive. During a private visit to Paris in 1951, Margaret and Prince Nicholas of Yugoslavia were followed into a nightclub by a paparazzo who took photographs of them until British detectives physically removed him from the club.
In 1952, although Margaret attended parties and debutante balls with friends such as Douglas and Mark Bonham Carter, the set were seen infrequently together. They regrouped in time for Coronation season social functions. In May 1953, Margaret met singer Eddie Fisher when he performed at the Red, White and Blue Ball.
She asked him to her table and he was "invited to all sorts of parties". Margaret fell out with him in 1957, but years later, Fisher still claimed the night he was introduced to her was the greatest thrill of his lifetime. In June 1954, the Set performed the Edgar Wallace play 'The Frog' at the Scala Theatre. It was organized by Margaret's by now best girlfriend Judy Montagu with Margaret as Assistant Director.
The play drew praise for raising £10,500 for charity, but was also criticised for incompetent performances. By the mid 1950's, although still seen at fashionable nightspots and theatre premieres, the set was depleted by its members getting married. As Margaret reached her late twenties unmarried, the press increasingly turned from predicting whom she might marry to suspecting she would remain a spinster.
'Romances' and the Press (1947–1959)
The press avidly discussed "the world's most eligible bachelor-girl" and her alleged romances with more than 30 bachelors, including David Mountbatten and Michael I of Romania, Dominic Elliot, Colin Tennant (later Baron Glenconner), Prince Henry of Hesse-Kassel, and future Prime Minister of Canada John Turner.
Most had titles and almost all were wealthy. Blandford and Lord Dalkeith, both wealthy sons of dukes, were the likeliest potential husbands. Her family reportedly hoped that Margaret would marry Dalkeith, but, unlike him, the princess was uninterested in the outdoors. Billy Wallace, sole heir to a £2.8 million (£78 million today) fortune and an old friend, was reportedly Margaret's favourite date during the mid-1950's.
During her 21st. birthday party at Balmoral in August 1951, the press was disappointed to only photograph Margaret with Townsend, always in the background of pictures of royal appearances, and to her parents a safe companion as Elizabeth's duties increased.
The following month her father underwent surgery for lung cancer, and Margaret was appointed one of the Counsellors of State who undertook the King's official duties while he was incapacitated. Her father died five months later, on the 6th. February 1952, and her sister became Queen.
Romance with Peter Townsend
-- The Early Relationship
During the war, the King suggested choosing palace aides who were highly qualified men from the military, instead of only aristocrats. Told that a handsome war hero had arrived, the princesses met Townsend, the new equerry, on his first day at Buckingham Palace in 1944; Elizabeth reportedly told her sister, 13 years old, "Bad luck, he's married".
A temporary assignment of three months from the RAF became permanent. George VI and the Queen Mother were fond of Townsend; the king reportedly saw the calm and efficient combat veteran as the son he never had. He may have been aware of his daughter's infatuation with the non-titled and non-wealthy Townsend, reportedly seeing the courtier reluctantly obey the princess's order to carry her up palace stairs after a party.
Townsend was so often near Margaret that gossip columnists overlooked him as a suitor for the princess. When their relationship began is unclear. The princess told friends she fell in love with the equerry during the 1947 South Africa tour, where they often went riding together. Her biographer Craig Brown stated that, according to a National Trust curator, Townsend requested the bedroom next to hers during a trip to Belfast in October 1947.
In November 1948, they attended the inauguration of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. In later life, Townsend admitted at this point there was an attraction between them, but neither of them ever acknowledged it to one another. Not long after he discovered his wife Rosemary was involved in an extramarital affair, which ended.
Contemporary anecdotes about their closeness then dissipated until late 1950, when friendship seems to have rekindled, coinciding with Townsend's appointment as Deputy Master of the Household and the breakdown of his marriage.
From the spring of 1951 came several testimonies of a growing romantic attraction. A footman told how the King diverted the pair's picnic plans, adding that whatever the King and Queen knew about the developing relationship, few royal staff failed to notice as it was obvious to them.
Townsend said that his love for Margaret began in Balmoral in 1951, and recalled an incident there in August when the princess woke him from a nap after a picnic lunch while the King watched, to suggest the King knew. Townsend and his wife separated in 1951, which was noticed by the press by July.
Margaret was grief-stricken by her father's death and was prescribed sedatives to help her sleep. Of her father she wrote:
"He was such a wonderful person,
the very heart and centre of our
happy family."
Margaret was consoled by her deeply-held Christian beliefs, sometimes attending church twice daily. She re-emerged attending events with her family in April, and returned to public duties and the social scene when official mourning ended in June.
American newspapers noted her increasing vitality and speculated that she must be in love. With the widowed Queen Mother, Margaret moved out of Buckingham Palace and into Clarence House in May 1953, while her older sister, now Queen, and her family moved out of Clarence House and into Buckingham Palace. After the king's death, Townsend was appointed Comptroller of Margaret's mother's restructured household.
In June 1952, the estranged Townsends hosted Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Princess Margaret at a cocktail party at their home. A month later, Rosemary Townsend and her new partner John de László attended judging at the Royal Windsor Horse Show. It is thought that the romance between Margaret and Townsend began around this time.
The first reports that Townsend and Margaret wished to marry began in August 1952, but these remained uncommon. The Townsend divorce in November was mentioned little in Britain and in greater detail abroad. After the divorce was finalized in December 1952, however, rumours spread about him and Margaret; the divorce, and shared grief over the death of the king in February 1952, likely helped them come together within the privacy of Clarence House, where the princess had her own apartment.
-- The Marriage Proposal
Private Secretary to the Queen Sir Alan Lascelles wrote that Townsend came to tell him that he had asked Margaret to marry him shortly before Christmas 1952. Other sources claim it occurred in April 1953. He was 15 years her senior, and had two children from his previous marriage. Margaret accepted and informed her sister, the Queen, whose consent was required by the Royal Marriages Act 1772.
During the abdication crisis, the Church of England refused to countenance the remarriage of the divorced.
Queen Mary had recently died, and, after the coronation of Elizabeth II, the new queen planned to tour the Commonwealth for six months. She told her sister:
"Under the circumstances, it isn't
unreasonable for me to ask you
to wait a year."
Although foreign media speculated on Margaret and Townsend's relationship, the British press did not. After reporters saw her plucking fluff from his coat during the coronation on the 2nd. June 1953. Townsend later said:
"I never thought a thing about it,
and neither did Margaret. After
that the storm broke."
The People first mentioned the relationship in Britain on the 14th. June 1953. With the headline "They Must Deny it NOW", the front-page article warned that "scandalous rumours about Princess Margaret are racing around the world", which the newspaper stated were "of course, utterly untrue".
The foreign press believed that the Regency Act 1953—which made Prince Philip, the Queen's husband, regent instead of Margaret on the Queen's death—was enacted to allow the princess to marry Townsend, but as late as the 23rd. July most other British newspapers except the Daily Mirror did not discuss the rumours. Acting Prime Minister Rab Butler asked that "deplorable speculation" end, without mentioning Margaret or Townsend.
The constitutional crisis that the proposed marriage caused was public. The Queen was advised by Lascelles to post Townsend abroad, but she refused, and instead transferred him from the Queen Mother's household to her own, although Townsend did not accompany Margaret as planned on a tour of Southern Rhodesia.
Prime Minister Churchill personally approved of "a lovely young royal lady married to a gallant young airman" but his wife reminded Churchill that he had made the same mistake during the abdication crisis. His cabinet refused to approve the marriage, and Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, did not approve of Margaret marrying a divorced man; opponents said that the marriage would threaten the monarchy as Edward VIII's had.
The Church of England Newspaper said that:
"Margaret is a dutiful churchwoman
who knows what strong views leaders
of the church hold in this matter."
However the Sunday Express—which had supported Edward and Wallis—asked:
"IF THEY WANT TO MARRY,
WHY SHOULDN'T THEY?"
Churchill discussed the marriage at the 1953 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference held with the coronation; the Statute of Westminster 1931 requires Dominion parliaments to also approve any Bill of Renunciation changing the line of succession.
The Canadian government stated that altering the line twice in 25 years would harm the monarchy. Churchill informed the Queen that both his cabinet and Dominion prime ministers were against the marriage, and that Parliament would not approve a marriage that would be unrecognized by the Church of England unless Margaret renounced her rights to the throne.
Prince Philip was reportedly the most opposed to Townsend in the royal family, while Margaret's mother and sister wanted her to be happy, but could not approve of the marriage. Besides Townsend's divorce, two major problems were financial and constitutional.
Margaret did not possess her sister's large fortune, and would need the £6,000 annual civil list allowance and £15,000 additional allowance Parliament had provided for her upon a suitable marriage. She did not object to being removed from the line of succession to the throne, as the Queen and all her children dying was unlikely, but receiving parliamentary approval for the marriage would be difficult and uncertain.
At the age of 25 Margaret would not need Elizabeth's permission under the 1772 Act; she could, after notifying the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, marry in one year if Parliament did not prevent her. If Churchill told the Queen, however, one could easily leave the line of succession, another could easily enter the line, dangerous for a hereditary monarchy.
The Queen told the couple to wait until 1955, when Margaret would be 25, avoiding the Queen having to publicly disapprove of her sister's marriage. Lascelles—who compared Townsend to Theudas "boasting himself to be somebody"—hoped that separating him and Margaret would end their romance.
Churchill arranged for Townsend's assignment as air attaché at the British Embassy in Brussels; he was sent on the 15th. July 1953, before Margaret's return from Rhodesia on the 30th. July. The assignment was so sudden that the British ambassador learned about it from a newspaper. Although the princess and Townsend knew about his new job, they had reportedly been promised a few days together before his departure.
-- Press Coverage
For two years, press speculation continued. In Brussels, Townsend only said that "The word must come from somebody else". He avoided parties and being seen with women. With few duties (the sinecure was abolished after him), Townsend improved his French and horsemanship. He joined a Belgian show jumping club and rode in races around Europe.
Margaret was told by the Church that she would be unable to receive communion if she married a divorced man. Three quarters of Sunday Express readers opposed the relationship, and Mass-Observation recorded criticism of the "silly little fool" as a poor example for young women who emulated her. Other newspaper polls showed popular support for Margaret's personal choice, regardless of Church teaching or government.
97% of Daily Mirror readers supported marriage, and a Daily Express editorial stated that even if the Archbishop of Canterbury was displeased:
"She would best please the vast
majority of ordinary folk by finding
happiness for herself".
The couple were not restricted on communicating by mail and telephone. Margaret worked with friends on charity productions of Lord and Lady Algy and The Frog, and publicly dated men such as Tennant and Wallace. In January 1955, she made the first of many trips to the Caribbean, perhaps to distract, and as a reward for being apart, from Townsend.
The attaché secretly travelled to Britain; while the palace was aware of one visit, he reportedly made other trips for nights and weekends with the princess at Clarence House—her apartment had its own front door—and friends' homes.
That spring Townsend for the first time spoke to the press:
"I am sick of being made to hide in
my apartment like a thief, but whether
I can marry involves more people than
myself".
He reportedly believed that his exile from Margaret would soon end, their love was strong, and that the British people would support marrying. Townsend received a bodyguard and police guard around his apartment after the Belgian government received threats on his life, but the British government still said nothing.
Stating that people were more interested in the couple than the recent 1955 United Kingdom general election, on the 29th. May the Daily Express published an editorial demanding that Buckingham Palace confirm or deny the rumours.
The press described Margaret's 25th. birthday, the 21st. August 1955, as the day she was free to marry, and expected an announcement about Townsend soon. Three hundred journalists waited outside Balmoral, four times as many as those later following Diana, Princess of Wales. "COME ON MARGARET!", the Daily Mirror's front page said two days earlier, asking her to "Please Make up Your Mind!".
On the 12th. October Townsend returned from Brussels as Margaret's suitor. The royal family devised a system in which it did not host Townsend, but he and Margaret formally courted each other at dinner parties hosted by friends such as Mark Bonham Carter. A Gallup poll found that 59% of Britons approved of their marrying, with 17% opposed.
Women in the East End of London shouted "Go on, Marg, do what you want" at the princess. Although the couple were never seen together in public during this time, the general consensus was that they would marry. Crowds waited outside Clarence House, and a global audience read daily updates and rumours on newspaper front pages.
The Manchester Guardian said on the 15th. October:
"Nothing much else than Princess
Margaret's affairs is being talked
of in this country, Now the Nation
Waits."
Observers interpreted Buckingham Palace's request to the press to respect Margaret's privacy—the first time the palace discussed the princess's recent personal life—as evidence of an imminent betrothal announcement,
As no announcement occurred—the Daily Mirror on the 17th. October showed a photograph of Margaret's left hand with the headline "NO RING YET!"—the press wondered why. The News Chronicle wrote:
"Parliamentarians are frankly puzzled
by the way the affair has been handled.
If a marriage is on, why not announce it
quickly?
If there is to be no marriage, why allow
the couple to continue to meet without
a clear denial of the rumours?"
Why a betrothal did not occur is still unclear. Margaret may have been uncertain of her desire, having written to Prime Minister Anthony Eden in August that:
"It is only by seeing him in this way
that I feel I can properly decide
whether I can marry him or not".
Margaret may have told Townsend as early as the 12th. October that governmental and familial opposition to their marriage had not changed; it is possible that neither they nor the Queen fully understood until that year how difficult the 1772 Act made a royal marriage without the monarch's permission.
An influential 26th. October editorial in The Times stating that "The Queen's sister married to a divorced man (even though the innocent party) would be irrevocably disqualified from playing her part in the essential royal function" represented The Establishment's view of what it considered a possibly dangerous crisis.
It convinced many, who had believed that the media were exaggerating, that the princess really might defy the Church and royal standards. Leslie Weatherhead, President of the Methodist Conference, now criticized the proposed marriage.
Townsend recalled that:
"We felt mute and numbed at
the centre of this maelstrom."
The Queen also wanted the media circus to end. Townsend only had his RAF income and, other than a talent for writing, had no experience in other work. He wrote in his autobiography that:
"The princess could have married
me only if she had been prepared
to give up everything -- her position,
her prestige, her privy purse.
I simply hadn't the weight, I knew it,
to counterbalance all she would have
lost"
Kenneth Rose described Margaret's potential marriage as "life in a cottage on a Group Captain's salary".
Royal historian Hugo Vickers wrote that:
"Lascelles's separation plan
had worked, and the love
between them had died".
Margaret's authorized biographer Christopher Warwick said that:
"Having spent two years apart, they
were no longer as in love as they had
been. Townsend was not the love of
her life – the love of her life was her
father, King George VI, whom she
adored".
More than 100 journalists waited at Balmoral when Eden arrived to discuss the marriage with the Queen and Margaret on the 1st. October 1955. Lord Kilmuir, the Lord Chancellor, that month prepared a secret government document on the proposed marriage.
According to a 1958 biography of Townsend by Norman Barrymaine and other accounts, Eden said that his government would oppose in Parliament Margaret retaining her royal status. Parliament might pass resolutions opposing the marriage, which the people would see as a disagreement between government and monarchy; Lord Salisbury, a High Anglican, might resign from the government rather than help pass a Bill of Renunciation.
While the government could not prevent the marriage when Margaret become a private individual after a Bill of Renunciation, she would no longer be a Counsellor of State, and would lose her civil list allowance; otherwise, taxpayers would subsidise a divorced man and the princess's new stepsons. The Church would consider any children from the marriage to be illegitimate. Eden recommended that, like Edward VIII and Wallis, Margaret and Townsend leave Great Britain for several years.
Papers released in 2004 to the National Archives disagree. They show that the Queen and Eden (who had been divorced and remarried himself) planned to amend the 1772 Act. Margaret would have been able to marry Townsend by removing her and any children from the marriage from the line of succession, and thus the Queen's permission would no longer be necessary. Margaret would be allowed to keep her royal title and her allowance, stay in the country, and even continue with her public duties.
Eden described the Queen's attitude in a letter on the subject to the Commonwealth prime ministers as:
"Her Majesty would not wish to stand
in the way of her sister's happiness".
Eden himself was sympathetic. He wrote:
"Exclusion from the Succession would
not entail any other change in Princess
Margaret's position as a member of the
Royal Family."
In the 28th. October 1955 final draft of the plan, Margaret would announce that she would marry Townsend and leave the line of succession. As prearranged by Eden, the Queen would consult with the British and Commonwealth governments, and then ask them to amend the 1772 Act. Eden would have told Parliament that it was "out of harmony with modern conditions"; Kilmuir estimated that 75% of Britons would approve of allowing the marriage.
He advised Eden that the 1772 Act was flawed, and might not apply to Margaret anyway. The decision not to marry was made on the 24th. October, and for the following week, Margaret was in disputes about the release and wording of her statement, which was released on the 31st.
It is unverified what or when she was told about proposals, drafted on the 28th., four days after the decision was made. By the early 1980's she was still protesting to biographers that the couple had been given false hope that marriage was possible, and she would have ended the relationship sooner had she been informed otherwise.
The Daily Mirror on the 28th. October discussed The Times's editorial with the headline "THIS CRUEL PLAN MUST BE EXPOSED". Although Margaret and Townsend had read the editorial the newspaper denounced as from "a dusty world and a forgotten age", they had earlier made their decision and written an announcement.
-- The End of the Relationship
On the 31st. October 1955, Margaret issued a statement:
"I would like it to be known that I have decided
not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend.
I have been aware that, subject to my renouncing
my rights of succession, it might have been possible
for me to contract a civil marriage.
But mindful of the Church's teachings that Christian
marriage is indissoluble, and conscious of my duty
to the Commonwealth, I have resolved to put these
considerations before others.
I have reached this decision entirely alone, and in
doing so I have been strengthened by the unfailing
support and devotion of Group Captain Townsend."
"Thoroughly drained, thoroughly demoralized", Margaret later said, she and Townsend wrote the statement together. She refused when Oliver Dawnay, the Queen Mother's private secretary, asked to remove the word "devotion". The written statement, signed "Margaret", was the first official confirmation of the relationship.
Some Britons were disbelieving or angry while others, including clergy, were proud of the princess for choosing duty and faith; newspapers were evenly divided on the decision. Mass-Observation recorded indifference or criticism of the couple among men, but great interest among women, whether for or against.
Kenneth Tynan, John Minton, Ronald Searle, and others signed an open letter from "the younger generation". Published in the Daily Express on 4 November, the letter said that the end of the relationship had exposed The Establishment and "our national hypocrisy".
Townsend recalled that:
"We had reached the end of the road, our
feelings for one another were unchanged,
but they had incurred for us a burden so
great that we decided together to lay it
down".
The Associated Press said:
"Margaret's statement is almost a
rededication of her life to the duties
of royalty, making unlikely any
marriage for her in the near future,"
The princess may have expected to never marry after the long relationship ended, because most of her eligible male friends were no longer bachelors.
Barrymaine agreed that Margaret intended the statement to mean that she would never marry, but wrote that Townsend probably did not accept any such vow to him by the princess, and his subsequent departure from Britain for two years was to not interfere with her life.
Townsend said:
"We both had a feeling of unimaginable
relief. We were liberated at last from this
monstrous problem."
After resigning from the RAF and travelling around the world for 18 months, Townsend returned in March 1958; he and Margaret met several times, but could not avoid the press ("TOGETHER AGAIN") or royal disapproval. Townsend again left Britain to write a book about his trip; Barrymaine concluded in 1958 that:
"None of the fundamental obstacles to
their marriage has been overcome – or
shows any prospects of being overcome".
Townsend said during a 1970 book tour that he and Margaret did not correspond, and they had not seen each other since a "friendly" 1958 meeting:
"Just like I think a lot of people
never see their old girl friends".
Their love letters are in the Royal Archives, and will not be available to the public until 100 years after Margaret's birth, February 2030. These are unlikely to include Margaret's letters. In 1959, she wrote to Townsend in response to him informing her of his remarriage plans, accusing him of betraying their vow not to marry anyone else, and requesting her love letters to him be destroyed.
He claimed he had complied with her wishes, but kept this letter and an envelope of burned shards of the vow she had sent, eventually destroying these also. He was apparently unaware Margaret had already broken the pact by her engagement to Billy Wallace, as it wasn't revealed until many years later.
In October 1993, a friend of Margaret revealed she had met Townsend for what turned out to be the last time before his death in 1995. She hadn't wanted to attend the reunion they'd both been invited to, in 1992, for fear it might be picked up by the press, so she asked to see him privately instead.
Margaret said that he looked "exactly the same, except he had grey hair". Guests said he hadn't really changed, and that they just sat chatting like old friends. They also found him disgruntled and had convinced himself that in agreeing to part, he and Margaret had set a noble example which seemed to have been in vain.
Marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones
Billy Wallace later said that:
"The thing with Townsend was a girlish
nonsense that got out of hand. It was
never the big thing on her part that
people claim".
Margaret accepted one of Wallace's many proposals to marry in 1956, but the engagement ended before an official announcement when he admitted to a romance in the Bahamas; "I had my chance and blew it with my big mouth", Wallace said.
Margaret did not reveal this publicly until an interview and subsequent biography with Nigel Dempster in 1977.
Margaret met the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones at a supper party in 1958. They became engaged in October 1959. Armstrong-Jones proposed to Margaret with a ruby engagement ring surrounded by diamonds in the shape of a rosebud. She reportedly accepted his proposal a day after learning from Townsend that he intended to marry a young Belgian woman, Marie-Luce Jamagne, who was half his age and greatly resembled Margaret.
Margaret's announcement of her engagement, on the 26th. February 1960, surprised the press, as she had concealed the romance from reporters.
Margaret married Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey on the 6th. May 1960. The ceremony was the first royal wedding to be broadcast on television, and it attracted viewing figures of 300 million worldwide. 2,000 guests were invited for the wedding ceremony.
Margaret's wedding dress was designed by Norman Hartnell and worn with the Poltimore tiara. She had eight young bridesmaids, led by her niece, Princess Anne. The Duke of Edinburgh escorted the bride, and the best man was Dr. Roger Gilliatt. The Archbishop of Canterbury Geoffrey Fisher conducted the marriage service.
Following the ceremony, the couple made the traditional appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. The honeymoon was a six-week Caribbean cruise aboard the royal yacht Britannia. As a wedding present, Colin Tennant gave her a plot of land on his private Caribbean island, Mustique. The newlyweds moved into rooms in Kensington Palace.
In 1961, Margaret's husband was created the Earl of Snowdon. The couple had two children (both born by Caesarean section at Margaret's request): David, born 3rd. November 1961, and Sarah, born 1st. May 1964.
The marriage widened Margaret's social circle beyond the Court and aristocracy to include show business celebrities and bohemians. At the time, it was thought to reflect the breaking down of British class barriers. The Snowdons experimented with the styles and fashions of the 1960's.
Separation and Divorce
Both parties in the marriage regularly committed adultery. Antony had a series of affairs, including with long-term mistress, Ann Hills, and Lady Jacqueline Rufus-Isaacs, daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Reading. Anne De Courcy’s 2008 biography summarises the situation with a quote from a close friend: "If it moves, he'll have it."
Reportedly, Margaret had her first extramarital affair in 1966, with her daughter's godfather Anthony Barton, a Bordeaux wine producer. A year later she had a one-month liaison with Robin Douglas-Home, a nephew of former British Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home.
Margaret claimed that her relationship with Douglas-Home was platonic, but her letters to him (which were later sold) were intimate. Douglas-Home, who suffered from depression, died by suicide 18 months after the split with Margaret.
Claims that she was romantically involved with musician Mick Jagger, actor Peter Sellers, and Australian cricketer Keith Miller are unproven. According to biographer Charlotte Breese, entertainer Leslie Hutchinson had a "brief liaison" with Margaret in 1955.
A 2009 biography of actor David Niven included assertions, based on information from Niven's widow and a good friend of Niven's, that he had had an affair with the princess, who was 20 years his junior. In 1975, the Princess was listed among women with whom actor Warren Beatty had had romantic relationships.
John Bindon, an actor from Fulham, who had spent time in prison, sold his story to the Daily Mirror, boasting of a close relationship with Margaret.
Beyond adultery, the marriage was accompanied by drugs, alcohol, and bizarre behaviour by both parties, such as his leaving lists of "things I hate about you" for the princess to find between the pages of books she read.
According to biographer Sarah Bradford, one note read:
"You look like a Jewish
manicurist and I hate you".
By the early 1970's, the Snowdons had drifted apart. In September 1973, Colin Tennant introduced Margaret to Roddy Llewellyn. Llewellyn was 17 years her junior. In 1974, she invited him as a guest to Les Jolies Eaux, the holiday home she had built on Mustique. It was the first of several visits.
Margaret described their relationship as "a loving friendship". Once, when Llewellyn left on an impulsive trip to Turkey, Margaret became emotionally distraught and took an overdose of sleeping tablets. She later said:
"I was so exhausted because
of everything that all I wanted
to do was sleep".
As she recovered, her ladies-in-waiting kept Lord Snowdon away from her, afraid that seeing him would distress her further.
In February 1976, a picture of Margaret and Llewellyn in swimsuits on Mustique was published on the front page of the News of the World. The press portrayed Margaret as a predatory older woman and Llewellyn as her toyboy lover. On the 19th. March 1976, the Snowdons publicly acknowledged that their marriage had irretrievably broken down and had decided to separate.
Some politicians suggested removing Margaret from the civil list. Labour MPs denounced her as "a royal parasite" and a "floozie". On the 24th. May 1978, the decree nisi for their divorce was granted. In the same month, Margaret was taken ill, and diagnosed as suffering from gastroenteritis and alcoholic hepatitis, although Warwick denied that she was ever an alcoholic.
On the 11th. July 1978, the Snowdons' divorce was finalized. It was the first divorce of a senior member of the British royal family since Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh's in 1901. On the 15th. December 1978, Snowdon married Lucy Lindsay-Hogg, but he and Margaret remained close friends.
In 1981, Llewellyn married Tatiana Soskin, whom he had known for 10 years. Margaret remained close friends with them both.
Princess Margaret's Public Life
Among Margaret's first official engagements was launching the ocean liner Edinburgh Castle in Belfast in 1947. Subsequently, Margaret went on multiple tours of various places; in her first major tour she joined her parents and sister for a tour of South Africa in 1947. Her tour aboard Britannia to the British colonies in the Caribbean in 1955 created a sensation throughout the West Indies, and calypsos were dedicated to her.
As colonies of the British Commonwealth of Nations sought nationhood, Princess Margaret represented the Crown at independence ceremonies in Jamaica in 1962 and Tuvalu and Dominica in 1978. Her visit to Tuvalu was cut short by an illness, which may have been viral pneumonia, and she was flown to Australia to recuperate.
Other overseas tours included East Africa and Mauritius in 1956, the United States in 1965, Japan in 1969 and 1979, the United States and Canada in 1974, Australia in 1975, the Philippines in 1980, Swaziland in 1981, and China in 1987.
In August 1979, Louis Mountbatten, 1st. Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and members of his family were killed by a bomb planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. That October, while on a fundraising tour of the United States on behalf of the Royal Opera House, Margaret was seated at a dinner reception in Chicago with columnist Abra Anderson and Mayor Jane Byrne.
Margaret told them that the royal family had been moved by the many letters of condolence from Ireland. The following day, Anderson's rival Irv Kupcinet published a claim that Margaret had referred to the Irish as "pigs". Margaret, Anderson and Byrne all issued immediate denials, but the damage was already done. The rest of the tour drew demonstrations, and Margaret's security was doubled in the face of physical threats.
Princess Margaret's Charity Work
Margaret's main interests were welfare charities, music and ballet. She was president of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and of the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (Children 1st.) and Invalid Children's Aid Nationwide (also called 'I CAN').
She was Grand President of the St. John Ambulance Brigade and Colonel-in-Chief of Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. She was also the president or patron of numerous organisations, such as the West Indies Olympic Association, the Girl Guides, Northern Ballet Theatre, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Scottish Ballet, Tenovus Cancer Care, the Royal College of Nursing, and the London Lighthouse (an AIDS charity that has since merged with the Terrence Higgins Trust).
In her capacity as president of the Royal Ballet, she played a key role in launching a fund for Dame Margot Fonteyn, who was experiencing financial troubles. With the help of the Children's Royal Variety Performance, she also organized yearly fundraisers for NSPCC.
Princess Margaret's Illness and Death
Margaret's later life was marred by illness and disability. She began smoking cigarettes in her early teens, and had continued to smoke heavily for many years thereafter. In the 1970s, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was treated for depression by Mark Collins, a psychiatrist from the Priory Clinic. Later on, she suffered from migraines, laryngitis, and bronchitis. On the 5th. January 1985, she had part of her left lung removed; the operation drew parallels with that of her father 34 years earlier. In 1991, she gave up smoking, though she continued to drink heavily.
In January 1993, Margaret was admitted to hospital for pneumonia. She experienced a mild stroke on the 23rd. February 1998 at her holiday home in Mustique. Early the following year, she suffered severe scalds to her feet in a bathroom accident, which affected her mobility in that she required support when walking and sometimes used a wheelchair.
Margaret was hospitalized on the 10th. January 2001, due to loss of appetite and swallowing problems after a further stroke. By March 2001, strokes had left her with partial vision and paralysis on the left side. Margaret's last public appearances were at the 101st. birthday celebrations of her mother in August 2001, and the 100th. birthday celebration of her aunt Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, that December.
Princess Margaret died in the King Edward VII's Hospital, London, at 06:30 (GMT) on the 9th. February 2002, at the age of 71, one day after having suffered another stroke that was followed by cardiac problems, and three days after the 50th. anniversary of her father's death.
Her sister's eldest son, Charles, then Prince of Wales, paid tribute to his aunt in a television broadcast. UK politicians and foreign leaders sent their condolences as well. Following her death, private memorial services were held at St. Mary Magdalene Church and Glamis Castle.
Margaret's coffin, draped in her personal standard, was taken from Kensington Palace to St. James's Palace before her funeral. The funeral was held on the 15th. February 2002, the 50th anniversary of her father's funeral. In line with her wishes, the ceremony was a private service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, for family and friends.
Unlike most other members of the royal family, Princess Margaret was cremated, at Slough Crematorium. Her ashes were placed in the Royal Vault in St. George's Chapel before being transferred to the tomb of her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (who died seven weeks after Margaret), in the King George VI Memorial Chapel two months later. Princess Margaret had opted to be cremated so that her remains could fit alongside her father King George VI’s grave in a vault that was made especially to hold him specifically.
In keeping with her rebellious reputation, the princess broke from what was typically expected of a royal family member and chose to be cremated. Princess Margaret was the first member of the royal family to be cremated since the procedure became legal.
A state memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey on the 19th. April 2002. Another memorial service to mark the 10th. anniversary of Margaret and the Queen Mother's death was held on the 30th. March 2012 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, which was attended by the Queen and other members of the royal family.
The Legacy of Princess Margaret
Observers often characterized Margaret as a spoiled snob capable of cutting remarks and hauteur. Critics claimed that she even looked down on her grandmother Queen Mary because Mary was born a princess with the lower "Serene Highness" style, whereas Margaret was a "Royal Highness" by birth. Their letters, however, provide no indication of friction between them.
Margaret could also be charming and informal. People who came into contact with her could be perplexed by her swings between frivolity and formality. Former governess Marion Crawford wrote in her memoir:
"Impulsive and bright remarks she
made became headlines and, taken
out of their context, began to produce
in the public eye an oddly distorted
personality that bore little resemblance
to the Margaret we knew."
Margaret's acquaintance Gore Vidal, the American writer, wrote: "She was far too intelligent for her station in life". He recalled a conversation with Margaret in which, discussing her public notoriety, she said:
"It was inevitable, when there are
two sisters and one is the Queen,
who must be the source of honour
and all that is good, while the other
must be the focus of the most
creative malice, the evil sister".
As a child, Margaret enjoyed pony shows, but unlike other family members she did not express interest in hunting, shooting, and fishing in adulthood. She became interested in ballet from a very young age, and enjoyed participating in amateur plays. She directed one such play, titled The Frogs, with her aristocratic friends as cast members.
Actors and movie stars were among the regular visitors to her residence at Kensington Palace. In January 1981, she was the castaway in an episode of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. There she chose Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake as her favourite piece of music. In 1984, she appeared as herself in an episode of the radio drama The Archers, becoming the first member of the royal family to take part in a BBC drama.
Princess Margaret's private life was for many years the subject of intense speculation by media and royalty watchers. Her house on Mustique, designed by her husband's uncle Oliver Messel, a stage designer, was her favourite holiday destination. Allegations of wild parties and drug taking also surfaced in the media.
Following Margaret's death, her lady-in-waiting, Lady Glenconner, said that Margaret was devoted to the Queen and tremendously supportive of her. Margaret was described by her cousin Lady Elizabeth Shakerley as:
"Somebody who had a wonderful
capacity for giving a lot of people
pleasure, and she was making a
very, very, very good and loyal
friend".
Another cousin, Lord Lichfield, said that:
"Margaret was pretty sad towards
the end of her life because it was
a life unfulfilled".
The Independent wrote in Townsend's 1995 obituary that:
"The immense display of popular sentiment and interest
in the relationship can now be seen to have constituted
a watershed in the nation's attitude towards divorce".
The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church received much of the popular anger toward the end of the relationship. Randolph Churchill believed that rumours that Fisher had intervened to prevent the Princess from marrying Townsend has done incalculable harm to the Church of England.
A Gallup poll found that 28% agreed, and 59% disagreed, with the Church's refusal to remarry a divorced person while the other spouse was alive. Biographer Warwick suggests that Margaret's most enduring legacy is an accidental one. Perhaps unwittingly, Margaret paved the way for public acceptance of royal divorce. Her life, if not her actions, made the decisions and choices of her sister's children, three of whom divorced, easier than they otherwise would have been.
Eden reportedly told the Queen in Balmoral when discussing Margaret and Townsend that, regardless of outcome, the monarchy would be damaged. Harold Brooks-Baker said
"In my opinion, this was the turning point to
disaster for the royal family. After Princess
Margaret was denied marriage, it backfired
and more or less ruined Margaret's life.
The Queen decided that from then on,
anyone that someone in her family wanted
to marry would be more or less acceptable.
The royal family and the public now feel
that they've gone too far in the other direction".
Princess Margaret's Fashion and Style
During her lifetime, Princess Margaret was considered a fashion icon. Her fashion earned the nickname 'The Margaret Look'. The princess, dubbed a 'royal rebel' styled herself in contrast to her sister's prim and timeless style, adopting trendy mod accessories, such as brightly coloured headscarves and glamorous sunglasses.
Margaret developed a close relationship with atelier Christian Dior, wearing his designs throughout her life and becoming one of his most prominent customers. In 1950, he designed a cream gown worn for her 21st. birthday, which has been cited as an iconic part of fashion history. Throughout the decade, the princess was known for wearing floral-print dresses, bold-hued ballgowns and luxurious fabrics, accessorising with diamonds, pearls, and fur stoles.
British Vogue wrote that Margaret's style 'hit her stride' in the mid-60's, where she was photographed alongside celebrities like The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren. Princess Margaret was also known for her "magnificent" hats and headdresses, including a canary feather hat worn on a 1962 Jamaica visit and a peacock feather pillbox hat to the 1973 Royal Ascot.
Marie Claire stated that the princess "refused to compromise" on her style later in life, continuing with trends of big sleeves and strapless evening gowns.
In April 2007, an exhibition titled Princess Line – The Fashion Legacy of Princess Margaret opened at Kensington Palace, showcasing contemporary fashion from British designers such as Vivienne Westwood inspired by Princess Margaret's legacy of style. Christopher Bailey's Spring 2006 collection for Burberry was inspired by Margaret's look from the 1960's.
Princess Margaret's Finances
In her lifetime, Margaret's fortune was estimated to be around £20 million, with most of it being inherited from her father. She also inherited pieces of art and antiques from Queen Mary, and Dame Margaret Greville left her £20,000 in 1943.
In 1999, her son, Lord Linley, sold his mother's Caribbean residence Les Jolies Eaux for a reported £2.4 million. At the time of her death Margaret received £219,000 from the Civil List. Following her death, she left a £7.6 million estate to her two children, which was cut down to £4.5 million after inheritance tax.
In June 2006, much of Margaret's estate was auctioned by Christie's to meet the tax and, in her son's words, "normal family requirements such as educating her grandchildren", though some of the items were sold in aid of charities such as the Stroke Association.
Reportedly, the Queen had made it clear that the proceeds from any item that was given to her sister in an official capacity must be donated to charities.
A world record price of £1.24 million was set by a Fabergé clock. The Poltimore Tiara (shown in the above photograph), which Margaret wore for her wedding in 1960, sold for £926,400. The sale of her effects totalled £13,658,000.
The Poltimore Tiara
You know the photograph: Princess Margaret lying in a bath and wearing nothing but a tiara on her head. The photograph which was taken by her husband, famed photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, was not released to the public until 2006, four years after Margaret's death.
As flirtatious as it is shameless, the photograph consolidated her status as the eternal rebel of the British Royal House. Margaret once said about herself:
"Disobedience is my fun."
Eleven years later, the portrait was withdrawn from the public eye, but the image remains ingrained in the minds of the world, to such an extent that The Crown included a scene about it in the third season. In fact the image is still readily accessible on the Internet.
Despite the fact that much of what was so shocking about the image had to do with the fact that it was taken in a bath, it acquired iconic status due to the presence of the tiara: grand, resplendent and downright stunning.
The tiara has a lot of history. Known as the Poltimore tiara, it originally belonged to Lady Poltimore, the wife of the 2nd. Baron Poltimore. Made in 1870 by London's House of Garrard, it is the epitome of Victorian-era jewellery style: diamond scrolls evoking flora and nature.
Lady Poltimore wore this fantastic creation, whose support is made up of gold and silver, at the coronation of King George V in 1911.
The 4th. baron put it up for auction in January 1959, and it was then that Princess Margaret acquired it for £5,500.
It was purchased for Princess Margaret on the advice of Lord Patrick Plunkett, Deputy Master of the Household, prior to the official announcement of her engagement to Antony Armstrong-Jones.
Despite having access to the crown jewels (the Duchess of Cambridge, for example, wore tiaras borrowed from the Queen), the then-29-year-old princess wanted something she could call uniquely hers.
Sara Prentice, Creative Director of the House of Garrard, says:
“It's very modern. It is becoming more and
more common for women to buy for themselves,
but looking back to 1959, the truth is that she
chose it for herself. She had to charm him to
do it."
A year and a half later, on the 6th. May 1960, Princess Margaret wore her tiara on the most important of occasions: her wedding to Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey. The tiara has been part of history ever since. It is the tiara most associated with Princess Margaret.
Margaret's wedding was the tiara's most high-profile outing. In 1977 she wore it again for the Shah of Iran's state visit to the United Kingdom.
While no tiara can be considered functional, the design of the Poltimore tiara allowed for multiple uses. It could be transformed into a necklace (which Margaret did in 1960) or, if she wanted to, into 11 different brooches.
The tiara appears to be practically floating when worn. This is because the bracket is entwined with a brown ribbon that matched Margaret 's hair color. Thus, only the ribbon-covered portion sank into her hair, while her spectacular jewellery remained fully in view.
Prentice estimates that such a piece would take around six months to make.
The Poltimore tiara was sold in 2006 at Christie's by Margaret's children Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto in order to raise funds to cover unexpectedly high inheritance taxes. The tiara went to an Asian buyer for £926,400.
Since the Christie's sale of the Poltimore, the tiara's current whereabouts are unknown. A number of observers felt that the royal family should have taken the opportunity to buy the historic piece, but they didn't.
"The year 2012 is the year of the Water Dragon. From the reading of the stars and element relationships in the paht chee chart, this year is going to be a transformational life-changing year! Generally, there are more goodies in store for you in the year 2012 than 2011. It’s a good year to improve oneself, take calculated investment risks and to build wealth. The year 2012 holds much promise and may be a major transition in your life. Whether it turns out extremely good, or really bad, will depend on how you ride the mighty Water Dragon!
The three powerful stars present in the year’s chart are the Star of Aggressive Sword, the Star of the External Flower of Romance and the Star of Powerful Mentors.
The Star of Aggressive Sword brings hostility, violence and aggression. Anger will pervade, forceful words will be spoken and people will become uncompromising, especially among the top brass, patriarchal people and people in charge. Revolutions and rebellions are indicated. Harmony does not come by easily. It becomes more demanding and competitive in the corporate world. People are motivated to outperform and step on others to achieve their goals. Cure this by the Laughing Buddha to disperse the tense energy.
The presence of the Star of External Flower of Romance indicates the occurrence of infidelity, extramarital affairs and relationship distress in the year 2012. Steady long term love relationships and marriages are not spared so do not that it for granted. Hearts will be broken, feelings deeply hurt and heartaches abound if you’re hit by it. Make sure you sleep facing your relationship direction based on your Kua and have Feng Shui protection in your bedroom.
For those who are seeking to reach a new career height and be successful in your profession or business will appreciate the Star of Powerful Mentors. This star brings you the good fortune of influential people giving you the support, help and recognition to propel your professional life from poor to good, good to great. Place a statue of Kwan Kung in the Northwest corner or the front part of the home to activate Mentor luck.
The Tiger, Dragon and Phoenix (a Rooster that symbolizes Phoenix) appear in the year’s pattern of influences. These are three of the four celestial animals of any space and the animal missing is the Tortoise. To complete this energy and achieve an ideal form school Feng Shui, it’s an excellent idea to add a Tortoise or Dragon Tortoise figurine in the house for good feng shui in 2012.
The 2012 Eight Character chart has every element EXCEPT Fire. This missing element rules creativity and intelligence which are vital ingredients for success in this competitive world today. We all know Feng Shui is all about balance of the energies thus it’s important to compensate the imbalance by introducing Fire element in your home or office. You can overcome the shortage by adding more lights, keeping them on for a longer period of time and using decorative items and upholstery that are red in color.
It's important to note that in order to enjoy the brilliant year ahead, the negative cosmic energies have to be kept under control. Build your confidence, empower your life force and fortify your inner strength with the help of spiritual practice and wealth luck and big successes will come to you naturally in 2012."
You're invited to The Great American Wiknic, a Wiki-Picnic being celebrated in 10+ US cities on Saturday June 25!
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Lillie Langtry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lillie Langtry
depicted with a Jersey lily in her hair
by Frank Miles
BornEmilie Charlotte Le Breton
13 October 1853
Jersey, Channel Islands
Died12 February 1929 (aged 75)
Monaco
Resting placeSt. Saviour's Church, Jersey
Other namesLily Langtry (in U.S.)
OccupationActress
Years active1881–1929
Lillie Langtry (13 October 1853 – 12 February 1929), usually spelled Lily Langtry when she was in the U.S., born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton, was a British actress born on the island of Jersey. A renowned beauty, she was nicknamed the "Jersey Lily" and had a number of prominent lovers, including the future king of England, Edward VII.
Contents [hide]
1 From Jersey to London
2 Royal mistress
3 Daughter
4 Acting career
5 Thoroughbred racing
6 American citizenship and after
7 Cultural influence
8 Places connected with Lillie Langtry
9 Bibliography
10 References
11 External links
[edit]From Jersey to London
A Jersey Lily by Millais
Emilie Charlotte Le Breton was the only daughter of the Dean of Jersey, Rev. William Corbet Le Breton. He gained an unsavoury reputation because of a number of extramarital affairs and, when his wife finally left him in 1880, he left Jersey.[1]
He had eloped to Gretna Green with Lillie's mother, Emilie Davis (nee Martin),[2] who was known for her beauty.[3] In 1842, he married her at Chelsea. One of Lillie's ancestors was Richard le Breton,one of the reputed assassins of Saint Thomas a Becket in 1170. She had six brothers, all but one older than she. Proving too much for her French governess, Lillie was educated by her brothers' tutor, becoming unusually well educated for women of the time.
In 1874, twenty-year-old Lillie married twenty-six-year-old Irish landowner Edward Langtry, a widower who had been married to the sister of her brother William's wife. They held their wedding reception at The Royal Yacht Hotel, in St. Helier, Jersey. He was wealthy enough to own a yacht, and Lillie insisted that he take her away from the Channel Islands. Eventually, they rented a place in Belgravia, London.
In an interview published in several newspapers (including the Brisbane Herald) in 1882, Lillie Langtry said,
“It was through Lord Ranleigh and the painter Frank Miles that I was first introduced to London society… I went to London and was brought out by my friends. Among the most enthusiastic of these was Mr Frank Miles, the artist. I learned afterwards that he saw me one evening at the theatre, and tried in vain to discover who I was. He went to his clubs and among his artist friends declaring he had seen a beauty, and he described me to everybody he knew, until one day one of his friends met me and he was duly introduced. Then Mr Miles came and begged me to sit for my portrait. I consented, and when the portrait was finished he sold it to Prince Leopold. From that time I was invited everywhere and made a great deal of by many members of the royal family and nobility. After Frank Miles I sat for portraits to Millais and Burne-Jones and now Frith is putting my face in one of his great pictures."
Lord Ranelagh, a friend of her father and sister-in-law, invited Lillie Langtry to a high-society reception at which she attracted notice for her beauty and wit. In contrast to more elaborate clothing, she wore a simple black dress (which was to become her trademark) and no jewelry.[3] Before the end of the evening, Frank Miles had completed several sketches of her that became very popular on postcards.[4] Another guest, Sir John Everett Millais, eventually painted her portrait. Langtry's nickname, the "Jersey Lily," was taken from the Jersey lily flower (Amaryllis belladonna) – a symbol of Jersey.
The nickname was popularised by Millais' portrait, entitled A Jersey Lily. (According to tradition, the two Jersey natives spoke Jèrriais to each other during the sittings.) The painting caused great interest when exhibited at the Royal Academy. Langtry was portrayed holding a Guernsey lily (Nerine sarniensis) in the painting rather than a Jersey lily, as none was available during the sittings. She also sat for Sir Edward Poynter and is depicted in works by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. She became much sought after in London society, and invitations flooded in. Her fame soon reached royal ears.
[edit]Royal mistress
The Prince of Wales, Albert Edward ("Bertie"), arranged to sit next to Langtry at a dinner party given by Sir Allen Young on 24 May 1877.[5] (Her husband was seated at the other end of the table.) Though he was married to Princess Alexandra and had six children, Edward was a well-known philanderer. He became infatuated with Langtry and she became his semi-official mistress. She was even presented to Edward's mother, Queen Victoria. Eventually, a cordial relationship developed between her and Princess Alexandra.[6]
The affair lasted from late 1877 to June 1880.[7] Edward had the Red House (now Langtry Manor Hotel) constructed in Bournemouth, Dorset in 1877 as a private retreat for the couple.[8] He allowed Langtry to design it.[8] Edward once complained to her, "I've spent enough on you to build a battleship," whereupon she tartly replied, "And you've spent enough in me to float one".[9] The tradition is that their relationship finally cooled when she misbehaved at a dinner party,[10] but she had been eclipsed when Sarah Bernhardt came to London in June 1879.
In July 1879 Langtry began an affair with the Earl of Shrewsbury; in January 1880 Langtry and the earl were planning to run away together.[11] In the fall of 1879 there were rumours published in Town Talk that her husband would divorce her and cite, with others, the Prince of Wales. For some time, the Prince saw little of her. He remained fond of her and spoke well of her in her later career as a theatre actress.
With the withdrawal of royal favour, creditors closed in. The Langtrys' finances were not equal to their lifestyle. In October 1880 Langtry sold many of her possessions to meet her debts. Edward Langtry did not officially declare bankruptcy.[12]
[edit]Daughter
In April 1879, Langtry started an affair with Prince Louis of Battenberg, although she was also involved with Arthur Clarence Jones (1854–1930), an old friend. In June 1880, she became pregnant. Her husband was definitely not the father; she led Prince Louis to believe that it was him. When the prince confessed to his parents, they had him assigned to the warship HMS Inconstant. Given some money by the Prince of Wales, Langtry retired to Paris with Arthur Jones. On March 8, 1881, she gave birth to a daughter, Jeanne Marie.[13]
The discovery of Langtry's passionate letters to Arthur Jones in 1878 and their publication by Laura Beatty in 1999 support the idea that Jones was the father.[14] Prince Louis's son, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, had always maintained that his father was the father of Jeanne Marie.[15]
In 1902 Jeanne Marie married the Scottish politician, Sir Ian Malcolm. They had four children. Lady Malcolm died in 1964.
[edit]Acting career
Lillie Langtry - 1899
"The Degenerates"
Langtry as Lady de Bathe c. 1915
At either the suggestion of her close friend Oscar Wilde or Sarah Bernhardt, Lillie embarked upon a stage career.[16][17] In December 1881, she made her debut before the London public in She Stoops to Conquer at the Haymarket Theatre.[18] The following autumn, she made her first tour of the United States, to enormous success, which she repeated in subsequent years. While the critics generally condemned her interpretations of roles such as Pauline in the Lady of Lyons or Rosalind in As You Like It, the public loved her.[18] In 1903, she starred in America in The Crossways, written by her in collaboration with J. Hartley Manners.[18] She returned to the United States for tours in 1906 and again in 1912, appearing in vaudeville.[18]
[edit]Thoroughbred racing
From 1882 to 1891, Langtry had a relationship with the New York City millionaire Frederic Gebhard. With him, she became involved in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing. In 1885 she and Gebhard brought a stable of American horses to race in England. On August 13, 1888 Langtry and Gebhard traveled in her private car attached to an Erie Railroad express train bound for Chicago. Another railcar was transporting seventeen of their horses when it derailed at Shohola, Pennsylvania at 1:40 in the morning. Rolling down an 80-foot embankment, it burst into flames. One person died in the fire, along with Gebhard's champion runner Eole and fourteen racehorses belonging to him and Langtry. One of the two horses to survive the wreck was St. Saviour. He was named for St. Saviour's Church in Jersey, where Langtry's father had been rector and where the actress chose to be buried.[19][20] In 1900, Langtry's horse Merman, ridden by American Tod Sloan, won the Ascot Gold Cup. [1]
[edit]American citizenship and after
In 1897, Langtry became an American citizen. She divorced her husband Edward Langtry the same year in Lakeport, California. Edward Langtry died a few months later following an accident.[21] A letter of condolence later written by Langtry to another widow reads in part, "I too have lost a husband, but alas! it was no great loss."[22]
In 1888 Langtry purchased a winery with an area of 4,200 acres (17 km2) in Lake County, California, which produced red wine. She sold it in 1906. Bearing the Langtry name, the winery and vineyard are still in operation in Middletown, California.
Langtry was involved in a relationship with George Alexander Baird, millionaire amateur jockey and pugilist from April 1891 until his death at New Orleans in March 1893.[23]
In 1899, she married the much younger Hugo Gerald de Bathe.[18] He inherited a baronetcy and became a leading owner in the horse-racing world, before retiring to Monte Carlo. During her final years, Langtry resided in a home in Monaco, with her husband living a short distance away. The two saw one another only when she called on him for social gatherings or in brief private encounters. Her constant companion during this time was her close friend, Mathilda Peat, the widow of her butler.
From 1900 to 1903, Langtry was the lessee and manager of London's Imperial Theatre.[24]
Keen's Chop House in New York says that Langtry sued them in 1905 over their gentlemen's-only seating policy and won, then sailed in wearing a feather boa and ordered a mutton chop.[25]
Langtry died in Monaco in 1929. She was buried in the graveyard of St. Saviour's Church in Jersey.
[edit]Cultural influence
Caricature of Langtry, from Punch, Christmas 1890. The soap box on which she sits reflects her endorsements of cosmetics and soaps.
Langtry used her high public profile to endorse commercial products such as cosmetics and soap, becoming an early example of celebrity endorsement. Her famous ivory complexion brought her income as the first woman to endorse a commercial product, advertising Pears Soap. Her fee was allied to her weight so she was paid 'pound for pound'.
Scholars believe the fictitious character of Irene Adler in a Sherlock Holmes novel, who bested the private investigator when he sought an incriminating photograph of her and a European monarch, is based upon Langtry.[26]
Langtry's life story has been portrayed in film numerous times. Lillian Bond played her in The Westerner (1940), and Ava Gardner in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972). Judge Roy Bean, a famous American frontier admirer, was played by Walter Brennan in the former and Paul Newman in the latter film, both times as a man with a life-long obsession with the beauty.
In 1978 Langtry's story was dramatised by London Weekend Television and produced as Lillie, starring Francesca Annis in the title role. Annis had previously played Langtry in two episodes of ATV's Edward the Seventh. Jenny Seagrove played her in the 1991 made-for-television film Incident at Victoria Falls.
A drastically fictional version of Langtry was performed by Stacy Haiduk in the 1996 television series Kindred: The Embraced. In the series, Langtry was portrayed as the immortal leader of a sect of vampires living in the present day.
Langtry is a featured character in the "tongue-in-cheek" western novel, Slocum and the Jersey Lily by Jake Logan. She figures prominently in Death at Epsom Downs by Robin Paige, the pseudonym of Bill and Susan Wittig Albert, who wrote a series of Victorian novels based on historic people.
Langtry is used as a touchstone for old-fashioned manners in Preston Sturges's comedy The Lady Eve (1941), in a scene where a corpulent woman drops a handkerchief on the floor and the hero ignores it. Jean [Barbara Stanwyck] begins to describe, comment, and even anticipate the events that we see reflected in her hand mirror. Jean says: "The dropped kerchief! That hasn't been used since Lily Langtry ... you'll have to pick it up yourself, madam ... it's a shame, but he doesn't care for the flesh, he'll never see it" (Pirolini 2010).[27]
The song "Lily Langtry" appears in a few albums by the folk group New Christy Minstrels.
Langtry was possibly the subject of The Who's 1967 song, "Pictures of Lily", about a young man infatuated by the image of a woman named Lily; the fact that her death occurred in 1929 (as mentioned in the song) gives credence to this theory.
In The Simpsons episode in which Montgomery Burns auditions children to be his new heir, the theatre in which the auditions are held on Burns' estate is called the Lillie Langtry Theater.
[edit]Places connected with Lillie Langtry
21 Pont Street, London
Blue plaque at the Cadogan Hotel, London
Lillie Langtry's grave in Saint Saviour, Jersey
Lillie Langtry lived at 21 Pont Street, London from 1892 to 1897. Although from 1895 the building was actually the Cadogan Hotel, she would stay in her old bedroom there. A blue plaque on the hotel commemorates this, and the hotel's restaurant is named Langtry's in her honour.
Whilst she was Edward VII's mistress, Lillie Langtry frequently performed at the in-house theatre of a hotel on 1-9 Inverness Terrace, in Bayswater, on the north side of Hyde Park, London W2. The in-house theatre is known as 'Lillie's theatre'. A grade II listed building, the hotel was originally built by Ritz architects Charles Mewès and Arthur Davis and continues to function as a hotel today - renamed 'The Jones Hotel', its in-house theatre continues as the venue for nightly cabaret-style performances. The hotel is now named the Grand Royale London Hyde Park - part of the Shaftesbury Hotels company.
She lived for a time at 42 Wickham Road, Brockley in southeast London.
Merman Cottage in Saint Brelade, Jersey, was purported to be owned and occupied by Lillie Langtry (Merman was also the name of one of her racehorses). However there is no record in the Public Registry of Jersey of any transactions by Emilie Charlotte Le Breton or that she ever owned property in Jersey.
Langtry stayed at Teddy's Nook, a house in Yorkshire, some time between 1877 and 1880.
The town of Langtry, Texas, was not named for her, although its most illustrious inhabitant, Judge Roy Bean, was an ardent admirer, naming the saloon where he held court "The Jersey Lily". Bean himself spread the rumor about the town's name. He also built an opera house in anticipation of a visit, and Mrs. Langtry appeared there after Bean's death. The town was named for railroad supervisor George Langtry.
The Langtry Manor Hotel (now a boutique hotel) is located at Derby Road, East Cliff, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH1 3QB. The Manor House was built in 1877 by the future Edward VII and was used as a love nest for them. It is now a hotel/restaurant and run by Tara Howard, it is one of Lorraine Kelly's top 20 Wedding venues. Also according to Paranormal Dorset by Roger Guttridge a female presence has been felt in the Manor House, namely at 4pm in the kitchen which is the time when Langtry would make her afternoon tea.
[ by Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Manage Your Life ]
[...]The Pew Research Center recently found that 40 percent of Americans think marriage is becoming obsolete. Another recent Pew study found that Millennials (people age 18 to 29) say they think being a good parent is way more than having a good marriage.
Once considered an imperative of sorts, traditional marriage is getting a second look—and research suggests that it may be coming up short. Instead of considering themselves to be happily married, some people are discovering that they're only "semi-happy," and their quest for fulfillment can lead them to extramarital affairs and divorce.
A semi-happy marriage is one of low conflict, low passion, and low satisfaction. "One minute, you love the stability and contentment. The next minute, you think it’s not the right marriage, and there are flaws in the marriage that are serious, even though there are also great things about the marriage," says historian Pamela Haag, author of "Marriage Confidential: The Post-Romantic Age of Workhorse Wives, Royal Children, Undersexed Spouses, and Rebel Couples Who Are Rewriting the Rules." In other words, "one minute you can't imagine staying, the next you can't imagine leaving," Haag says. "It’s these kinds of marriages that are 'low-conflict' but not all that satisfying that contribute the lion’s share to divorce court each year."
Her own 13-year-long marriage almost fit the bill. "Often, in my own case, I really can't tell if my marriage is woeful or sublime," she writes in her book. "Maybe I'm just so profoundly content that it feels like unhappiness, because nirvana is dull in this way, it lacks frisson." (She adds that she thinks her husband is "an amazing sport, and brave, to let me write about this topic of mixed feelings at all, even though a good number of husbands and wives have mixed feelings.")
Boredom can also cause major marital problems. A national survey of 3,341 people by advice website Good in Bed and Kristen Mark of The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction found that 25 percent of people are are bored in their current monogamous relationship, and another 25 percent admit to being "on the brink" of boredom.
“Boredom is basically like an attack on a relationship’s immunity system," says Ian Kerner, PhD, founder of Good in Bed and author of "Love in the time of Colic: A New Parents' Guide to Getting It On Again." "It’s not a coincidence that a fifth of respondents admitted to being unfaithful to their partner as a result of being bored."
While most of the women Haag interviewed said they felt lonely in their semi-happy marriages, men told her that they felt "trapped" or "penned in." It didn't seem to matter if they married "too young" or waited until they were older; what mattered was what people expected from their marriages. And for many, the traditional blueprint that their parents followed is simply no longer a good fit.
"It’s sometimes said that marriage is on the decline because our expectations are too high," says Haag. "I think it’s that our expectations for marriage may be too low—such that single people feel, perhaps rightly, that there isn’t much that marriage would add to their lives."
"My generation—people in their 30s, and 40s, and early 50s—are perhaps caught betwixt and between the old romantic ideals and the new post-romantic expectations," she adds.
Haag emphasizes the fact that she's a historian and not a marriage therapist, and says that she does not "endorse a particular marital style." In her book, she explores several suggestions for "forging a third way between melancholy persistence and divorce," ranging from slightly outside-the-box (rewriting your vows to more accurately reflect your life as it is now, for instance, or sleeping in separate bedrooms) to the extreme (redefining marriage as a temporary parenting agreement or giving the green-light to discreet extramarital affairs, among other things.)
Even so, people can still end up feeling only semi-happy. "There's a part of your soul that isn't nourished in marriage, and it's too big a part to live without," Haag writes. "You've tried, but you fear that you're in the wrong marriage, however wonderful your spouse may be."
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
French postcard by Dream'up. Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Gore Verbinski, 2007).
British actress Keira Knightley (1985) has starred in both independent films and big-budget blockbusters and is particularly noted for her roles in period dramas.
Keira Christina Righton-Knightley OBE was born in 1985 in London to stage actors Will Knightley and Sharman Macdonald. Knightley has an older brother, Caleb. Knightley attended Teddington School. At age six, she obtained an agent and initially acted in commercials and television films. She focused on art, history, and English literature while studying at Esher College, but left after a year to pursue an acting career. On TV, Keira played Natasha Jordan, a young girl whose mother is involved in an extramarital affair, in the romantic drama A Village Affair (1995).In the cinema, she appeared as Sabé, Padmé Amidala's (Natalie Portman) handmaiden, in the Science-Fiction blockbuster Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (George Lucas, 1999). Her first major role, she had in the Walt Disney Productions TV film Princess of Thieves (Peter Hewitt, 2001). Knightley played the daughter of Robin Hood. Concurrently, she appeared in The Hole (Nick Hamm, 2001), a thriller that received a direct-to-video release in the US. Despite having appeared in over a dozen film and television roles, Knightley struggled to get a breakthrough until portraying a tomboy footballer in the British sports film Bend It Like Beckham (Gurinder Chadha, 2001), co-starring Parminder Nagra and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Knightley portrayed Jules, a tomboy football player struggling against social norms who convinces her friend to pursue the sport. The film was a surprise critical and commercial success with a gross of $76.6 million at the box office. Knightley achieved global stardom at age 18 when she portrayed the role of Elizabeth Swann opposite Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp in the fantastic Swashbuckler Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Gore Verbinski, 2003). The film opened at number one on the box office, and became one of the highest-grossing releases of the year, with worldwide revenues of $654 million. In the same year, she appeared in the Christmas romantic comedy Love Actually (Richard Curtis, 2003) which became another box-office success, grossing $246 million worldwide on a budget of $40–45 million. Frequently shown during the Christmas season, the film has proved more popular with audiences than critics, and it has been discussed as being arguably a modern-day Christmas staple.
In 2005, Keira Knightley portrayed Elizabeth Bennet in an adaption of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright, 2005), which earned Knightley her first Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. At age 20, she became the second-youngest Best Actress nominee. In 2006, she reprised her role as Elizabeth Swann in the second and third productions of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Gore Verbinski, 2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Gore Verbinski, 2007). Knightley then starred in a series of further period pieces, portraying a complex love interest in Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007) with James McAvoy, tastemaker Georgiana Cavendish in The Duchess (Saul Dibb, 2008), and the titular socialite in Anna Karenina (Joe Wright, 2012). She then forayed into contemporary dramas, appearing as an aspiring musician in Begin Again (John Carney, 2013) and a medical student in the spy thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Kenneth Branagh, 2014), starring Chris Pine. Knightley returned to historical films by playing cryptoanalyst Joan Clarke in The Imitation Game (Morten Tyldum, 2014), earning her a second round of Academy Award and BAFTA nominations, and starred as the eponymous belle époque writer in Colette (Wash Westmoreland, 2018) to critical acclaim. Knightley reprised the role of Elizabeth Swann with a cameo appearance in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg, 2017) after test audiences repeatedly inquired about her character. On stage, Knightley has appeared in two West End productions: Molière's comedy 'The Misanthrope' in 2009, which earned her an Olivier Award nomination, and 'The Children's Hour' by Lillian Hellman in 2011. She also starred as the eponymous heroine in the 2015 Broadway production of Émile Zola's 'Thérèse Raquin. Knightley is known for her outspoken stance on social issues and has worked extensively with Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Comic Relief. Keira Knightley married musician James Righton in 2013; they have two children. Knightley's first role of the new decade was feminist activist Sally Alexander in Misbehaviour (Philippa Lowthorpe, 2020), a British comedy-drama about the crowning of the first black contestant at the 1970 Miss World competition. Knightley is set to star in the upcoming holiday comedy Silent Night, written and directed by Camille Griffin.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
MATTHEW 19:14
Huge win for the human species!
Life is a beautiful gift. It is something that should be celebrated as Holy. I believe that we all have a choice before having any sex to not conceive a child! Not after that by abortion. The fetus / baby is not part of the woman's body but a separate unique person, and therefore the woman is not just making a decision about her own personal body when it comes to abortion. If the baby is not part of a woman's body, then the baby needs it’s own rights before berth. The Genetic Identity, Blood Type and sex, of both mother and child are not the same thing. We really need sanctity of human life. The Constitution says nothing about abortion. But the Bible dose say much about murder.
Read in: Exodus 20:13, Jeremiah 1:5, Exodus 21:22-23, Genesis 9:6, Leviticus 24:17, Deuteronomy 19:11-13, Revelation 21:8, Proverbs 29:10, Matthew 5:21-22, 1 John 3:15, Proverbs 1:10–33, 2 Timothy 4:1-5 AND 1 Timothy 4:1-5, 1 Corinthians 1:27
O Divine Physician Jesus, I come to you now in great need of your intervention. I surrender my life and health into your loving hands. I ask you to send forth your healing power into my heart, mind, body, soul and spirit. Remove from me every lie of the enemy and destroy all the word curses that have been spoken against my health. I want you to know you are not all alone in this life time. JESUS stands next to us every day. He feels every thing we do. He holds us in His arms every moment that we feel lost and alone. Even when you may not see Him there He is. So we can Hold JESUS in our heart just call to Him to fill you with JOYS. Don’t fear to ask Him to carry you in this most hard times. Jesus said to us, “Follow me.”
Jesus, our Divine Physician will heal us if we ask.
Matthew 9:36
Romans 8:18
1 Peter 4:13
www.catholicnewsagency.com/resource/55398/the-bibles-teac...
We have great responsibility
If some one is raped look in to: Bless those who persecute you Romans 12:14-21, Luke 6:28, Romans 12:19, When people insult you Matthew 5:11-12. How to live if you really follow Jesus Romans 12:1. What Jesus tells us of our sinful ways like having an abortion is killing in the womb. Luke 23:34, Jeremiah 1:4-10. The lord talks of a mother womb Isaiah 49:15.
ONE OF THE BEST PRO-LIFE SPEAKERS IN THE WORLD TODAY. Patricia Sandoval shakes the crowd. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qJR-IAtAe8&list=WL&index=81
Our life is not about pleasing ourself but about pleasing God by doing His will. By living a sacrificial life.
John 15:13, 1 John 3:16, 1 Peter 2:5, Romans 12:1-2, Matthew 12:7, Leviticus 24:21, John 3:12, John 3:15 -16
Patricia Sandoval, Passionate and Gifted Pro-life Speaker - Walk for Life West Coast
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TndX_4BobVM
WE need to get back to living in chastity if not in a marriage. Chastity, what is it? The refraining from extramarital, or especially from all, sexual intercourse. Fornication is defined as "Sexual immorality. 1 Peter 2:11 Immorality alowes for the devils spirit to have freedom to frustrate your life. Fornication is a sin Galatians 5:19-21 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? That is any one unrighteous will end up in hell forever. I think it would be best to try to get to heaven. What is in heaven? Forever in love ,Joy and with Jesus always and forever. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 We need to be Holy and control our selfs. Matthew 5:28 How easy it is to sin. 1Thessalonians 4:3-5 Matthew 19:11-12. We should abstain from sexual immorality to serve God in the best way. www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/chastity The world as we know it would be a better place if we all followed Jesus in what he calls us to in the holy gospels. No it is not easy to follow Jesus. But if we do we will have ever lasting love and joys to the full. Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it". Wow look at that agin “ and only a few find it” Pray pray pray we all do find it.
There is ONLY
GOD VS. SATAN.
Pray & repent
Luk 13:3
Luk 15:7
2 Pet 3:9
We need Holy wisdom and knowledge to know the truth.
Pray for it.
There is no LEFT! There is no RIGHT!
No Republican or Democrat!
No Black or White!
There is ONLY
GOD VS. SATAN.
Our country needs Jesus!
WE ALL NEED TO REPENT AND TURN BACK TO JESUS
John 14:6
John 8:32
Hosea 4:6
Jesus I trust in you. +JMJ+
"O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Your Mercy".
(Our Lady at Fatima, 13th July 1917)
Bless those who persecute you
Romans 12:14-21
When people insult you
Matthew 5:11-12
Museu dos Coches
Lisboa, Portugal
Amélie of Orléans (28 September 1865 – 25 October 1951) was the eldest daughter of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris and his wife and cousin Princess Marie Isabelle d'Orléans and a Princess of Orléans by birth. She was Queen consort of Portugal and was known by her husband's subjects as Maria Amélia.
Her paternal grandparents were Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans and Duchess Helena of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Her maternal grandparents were Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier and Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain.
The Dukes of Orléans and Montpensier were siblings, both sons of Louis-Philippe I, King of the French and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies.
On 22 May 1886, Amélie married Carlos, Prince Royal of Portugal. He was the eldest son of Luís I of Portugal and Maria Pia of Savoy. He was at the time the Heir apparent to the throne. The bride was almost twenty-one years old and the groom about twenty-three. The marriage had been arranged by their families after several attempts to arrange a marriage for her with a member of the Austrian or Spanish dynasties. At first, the marriage was not popular and Queen Maria Pia was expecting to marry Carlos with Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, Princess Mathilde of Saxony, Princess Viktoria of Prussia or Princess Victoria of Wales both mentioned. However, Amélie and Carlos came to live quite harmoniously with each other.
They had three children:
Luís Filipe, Duke of Braganza (21 March 1887 – 1 February 1908).
Infanta Maria Anna of Portugal (born and deceased on 14 December 1887).
Manuel II of Portugal (19 March 1889 – 2 July 1932).
Amelie played an active role as a queen, and somewhat softened the growing criticism towards the monarchy with her personal popularity, though she did receive some criticism for her expenses. She was active in many social projects, such as the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, and the foundation of charity organisations, sanatoriums and drugstores. She was considered less formal than her mother-in-law, learned Portuguese and is described as calm and mild. She was interested in literature, opera and theatre, she was a diarist and also painted. During the absence of her spouse in 1895, she acted as regent. In 1902, she made a cruise on the Mediterranean Sea, which was much criticised for its luxury.
In 1892, Pope Leo XIII gave a Golden Rose to Amélie.
On 19 October 1889, her father-in-law died and Carlos succeeded him on the throne. Amélie became the new Queen consort of Portugal. However her husband became known for his extramarital affairs while the popularity of the Portuguese monarchy started to wane as it was falsely accused to be the face of a bankrupt economy, industrial disturbances, socialist and republican antagonism and press criticism.
On 1 February 1908, the royal family returned from the palace of Vila Viçosa to Lisbon. They travelled in the royal train to Barreiro and from there took a boat to cross the Tagus River and disembarked at Cais das Colunas in downtown central Lisbon' principal square Terreiro do Paço. On their way to the Palace of Necessidades, the carriage with Carlos I and his family passed through Rua do Arsenal (Arsenal Street). While crossing the square, and turning to the street several shots were fired from the crowd by at least two successful men: Alfredo Costa, Manuel Buiça, between many others. The King died immediately, his heir Prince Dom Luís was mortally wounded, Infante Dom Manuel hit in the arm and Queen Amélie surprisingly unharmed, after defending her youngest son, the new king Manuel II, with the flower bouquet she kept in her hand.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A9lie_of_Orleans
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Dona Maria Amélia Luísa Helena de Orleães (Twickenham, 28 de Setembro de 1865 — Chesnay, 25 de Outubro de 1951) foi a última Rainha de facto de Portugal.
Durante a sua vida, D. Amélia perdeu todos os seus familiares diretos: defrontou-se com o assassinato do marido, o Rei Carlos I, e do filho mais velho, D. Luís Filipe (episódio conhecido como regicídio de 1908); vinte e quatro anos mais tarde, recebeu a notícia da morte do segundo e último filho, o futuro Rei Manuel II; e também ficou de luto com a morte de sua filha, a Infanta D. Maria Ana de Bragança, nascida em um parto prematuro.
Ela foi o único membro da família real portuguesa exilada após a implantação da república - fato ocorrido à 5 de outubro de 1910 - que visitou Portugal em vida, bem como o último membro a morrer, aos oitenta e seis anos. Amélia de Orleães viveu sofridas décadas de exílio, entre Inglaterra e França, onde aguentou a Segunda Guerra Mundial (1939-1945).
D. Amélia era a filha primogênita de Luís Filipe, conde de Paris (neto do último rei da França, Luís Filipe I, e como tal pretendente ao trono francês) e de Maria Isabel de Orleães-Montpensier, infanta da Espanha, filha do duque Antônio de Montpensier. Através de sua irmã Luísa, a princesa é tia-avó do rei Juan Carlos I da Espanha.
D. Amélia passou parte da infância na Inglaterra, onde nasceu, devido ao exílio a que a sua família estava sujeita desde que Napoleão III assumira o trono da França, em 1848. Somente após a queda do império, em 1871, os Orleães puderam regressar ao país. A princesa teve então a esmerada educação reservada às princesas, embora o seu pai apenas fosse pretendente à coroa.
O matrimônio de D. Amélia de Orleães com o Príncipe Real D. Carlos, Duque de Bragança, ocorreu após falharem várias hipóteses de uma união com a família imperial austríaca e a família real espanhola. O dote da princesa era relativamente baixo, e D. Amélia era uma mulher alta, com 1,82 metros de altura.
É dito que Otto von Bismarck foi contrário ao seu noivado com o arquiduque Francisco Fernando da Áustria, cujo asssassinato, após a tragédia de Sarajevo, foi uma das causas da Primeira Guerra Mundial. D. Amélia poderia ter ficado no lugar de Sofia, Duquesa de Hohenberg, também assassinada na ocasião. Porém, ironicamente, ela acabou tendo uma experiência semelhante ainda antes da morte do arquiduque: o Regicídio de 1908.
Apesar do casamento arranjado, D. Amélia e D. Carlos apaixonaram-se um pelo outro. Em 18 de Maio de 1886, a futura Duquesa de Bragança partiu da França. Ao chegar em Pampilhosa, ela teria descido do comboio com o pé esquerdo. No dia seguinte, em 19 de Maio, às 5 horas da tarde, a princesa conheceu a corte em Lisboa, que estava à sua espera. Foi bem recebida pelos sogros, o rei Luís I e a rainha Maria Pia.
O casamento foi celebrado no dia 22 de maio de 1886, na Igreja de São Domingos, e grande parte do povo lisboeta saiu às ruas para acompanhar a cerimônia. O Duque e a Duquesa de Bragança mudaram-se para sua nova residência, o Palácio de Belém, onde nasceriam os dois filhos: D. Luís Filipe e o futuro D. Manuel II de Portugal. Eles também tiveram uma filha, D. Maria Ana, nascida em 14 de Dezembro de 1887, mas essa sobreviveu por poucas horas.
Em Outubro de 1889, com a morte do sogro, D. Amélia, então com apenas vinte e quatro anos, tornou-se rainha de Portugal. Contudo, o reinado de seu marido, titulado Carlos I, enfrentava crises políticas, tais como o Ultimato britânico de 1890, e a insatisfação popular; crescia o ódio à família real portuguesa. Em Janeiro de 1891, em Porto, houve uma rebelião republicana, mas foi sufocada.
Em 1892, D. Amélia recebeu a Rosa de Ouro do Papa Leão XIII.
Como rainha, porém, D. Amélia desempenhou um papel importante. Com sua elegância e caráter culto, influenciou a corte portuguesa. Interessada pela erradicação dos males da época, como a pobreza e a tuberculose, ela fundou dispensários, sanatórios, lactários populares, cozinhas econômicas e creches. Todavia, suas obras mais conhecidas são as fundações do Instituto de Socorros a Náufragos (em 1892); do Museu dos Coches Reais (1905); do Instituto Pasteur em Portugal (Instituto Câmara Pestana); e da Assistência Nacional aos Tuberculosos.
O regicídio de 1° de Fevereiro de 1908 lançou-a num profundo desgosto, do qual D. Amélia jamais se recuperou totalmente. Retirou-se então para o Palácio da Pena, em Sintra, não deixando porém de procurar apoiar, por todos os meios, o seu jovem filho, o rei D. Manuel II, no período em que se assistiu o degradar das instituições monárquicas. Encontrava-se justamente no Palácio da Pena, quando eclodiu a revolução de Outubro de 1910.
Após a proclamação da República Portuguesa, em 5 de Outubro de 1910, D. Amélia seguiu o caminho do exílio com o resto da família real portuguesa para Londres, Inglaterra. Depois do casamento de D. Manuel II, com Augusta Vitória de Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a rainha passou a residir em Château de Bellevue, perto de Versalhes, na França. Em 1932, D. Manuel II morreu inesperadamente em Twickenham, o mesmo subúrbio londrino onde sua mãe havia nascido.
Durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial, o governo Salazar ofereceu-lhe asilo político em Portugal, mas D. Amélia permaneceu na França ocupada, com imunidade diplomática portuguesa.
Após o fim da guerra, em 8 de Junho de 1945, regressou a Portugal, numa emocionante jornada, visitando o Santuário de Fátima e todos os lugares que lhe estavam ligados, com exceção de Vila Viçosa, apesar da grande afeição que sentia por esta vila alentejana.
pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._Am%C3%A9lia,_rainha_de_Portugal
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
Italian postcard by Promocard, no. PC 4802. Photo: Universal. Hugh Jackman in Van Helsing (Stephen Sommers, 2004). The card was published for the video and DVD release of the film in Italy.
Hugh Jackman (1968) is a ruggedly handsome Australian actor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, and producer. Jackman is best known as Wolverine in the X-Men film series. His other films include The Prestige (2006), the epic historical romantic drama Australia (2008), and the film version of Les Misérables (2012), which earned him his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor and a Golden Globe. On Broadway, Jackman won a Tony Award for his role in 'The Boy from Oz'.
Hugh Michael Jackman was born in 1968 in Sydney, New South Wales, to Grace McNeil (Greenwood) and Christopher John Jackman, an accountant. He is the youngest of five children. His parents separated when he was eight. His mother then moved back to England. His father brought up five children, by himself. Jackman has a communications degree with a journalism major from the University of Technology Sydney. After graduating, he pursued drama at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Straight out of drama school, he was offered a starring role in the TV prison drama series Correlli (1995), opposite his future wife Deborra-Lee Furness. Several TV guest roles followed, as an actor and variety compere. An accomplished singer, Jackman has starred as Gaston in the Australian production of 'Beauty and the Beast'. He appeared as Joe Gillis in the Australian production of 'Sunset Boulevard'. In 1998, he was cast as Curly in Trevor Nunn's 'Oklahoma'. Jackman made two feature films in Australia. His second film, Erskineville Kings (Alan White, 1999), garnered him an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Actor in 1999. Then he won the breakthrough role of Logan/Wolverine in X-Men (Bryan Singer, 2000), a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics team of the same name. He was a last-minute addition to the X-Men cast. Dougray Scott was originally cast as Wolverine, but was injured in a motorbike accident and wouldn't have recovered in time for filming. X-Men was very successful at the box-office, earning US$296 million.
Hugh Jackman starred as Leopold opposite Meg Ryan in the romantic comedy Kate & Leopold (James Mangold, 2001), a role for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. Then he took stunt-driving classes to prepare for his role in Swordfish (Dominic Sena, 2001) with John Travolta and Halle Berry. Jackman reprised his role as Wolverine in X2 (Bryan Singer, 2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (Brett Rattner, 2006), and the prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). He also cameoed as Wolverine in X-Men: First Class (2011). He returned for the role of Wolverine again in The Wolverine (2013), a stand-alone sequel taking place after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, and reprised the character in the sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and briefly in the follow-up X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) Jackman announced that Logan (2017), the sequel to The Wolverine was the final time that he would play the role. In 2004, Jackman won a Tony Award for his Broadway portrayal of Australian songwriter and performer Peter Allen in the hit musical 'The Boy from Oz' (2003–2004), which he also performed in Australia in 2006. Jackman played the title role of monster killer Gabriel Van Helsing in the horror-action film Van Helsing (Stephen Sommers, 2004) with Kate Beckinsale. The film is a homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and 1940s which were based on novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 stars out of 4 stating that "At the outset, we may fear Sommers is simply going for f/x overkill, but by the end, he has somehow succeeded in assembling all his monsters and plot threads into a high-voltage climax. Van Helsing is silly, spectacular, and fun." The film grossed over $300 million worldwide. In 2005, Jackman joined with longtime assistant John Palermo to form a production company, Seed Productions, whose first project was Viva Laughlin (2007). Jackman's wife Deborra-Lee Furness is also involved in the company, and Palermo had three rings made with a "unity" inscription for himself, Furness, and Jackman.
Hugh Jackman starred alongside Christian Bale, Michael Caine, and Scarlett Johansson in the mystery thriller The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006). Jackman portrayed Robert Angier, an aristocratic magician who builds up a rivalry with contemporary Alfred Borden (Bale) in an attempt to one-up each other in the art of deception. The Prestige was acclaimed and a box-office hit. Jackman portrayed three different characters in the Science-Fiction film The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky, 2006). He also starred in Woody Allen's Scoop (2006) opposite Scarlett Johansson. He rounded out the year with two animated films: Happy Feet (George Miller, 2006) in which he voiced emperor penguin Memphis, and Flushed Away (2006), where Jackman supplied the voice of the rat Roddy who ends up being flushed down a family's toilet into the London sewer system. Baz Luhrmann cast Jackman to replace Russell Crowe opposite Nicole Kidman in his much-publicised epic, Australia (2008). That year, People Magazine named Jackman its 2008 "Sexiest Man Alive". Jackman co-starred with Daniel Craig on Broadway in the play 'A Steady Rain'(2009). In 2011, Jackman had a one-man show at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, backed by a 17-piece orchestra. He performed numbers from shows including 'Oklahoma' and 'The Boy from Oz'. He later returned to Broadway in a new show, 'Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway' (2011-2012). Jackman starred as Jean Valjean in the film Les Misérables (2012), an adaptation of the musical. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for this performance and received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Jackman appeared alongside Kate Winslet in Movie 43 (Peter Farrelly, a.o., 2013). Jackman returned to Broadway in the new play, 'The River' (2014-2015). He portrayed the villain Blackbeard in the film Pan, which revolved around the backstories of J.M. Barrie's characters Peter Pan and Captain Hook. The film received generally negative reviews and failed at the box office. In 2016, Jackman played fictional ski coach, Bronson Peary, in Eddie the Eagle, which portrayed how Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards became the first competitor to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping in 1988. In 2017, he reprised the character for the final time in the third Wolverine film, Logan. Jackman's performance and the film were critically acclaimed and it is regarded as one of the greatest superhero films of all-time. That year, he also starred as P. T. Barnum in the musical The Greatest Showman (2017) for which he received his third Golden Globe nomination. Next, he starred as American senator Gary Hart in the political drama film The Front Runner (Jason Reitman's, 2018), which chronicled the rise of Hart as a Democratic presidential candidate in 1988, and his subsequent fall from grace when media reports surfaced of his extramarital affair. In 2019, Jackman went on his first world tour called 'The Man. The Music. The Show' to perform songs from The Greatest Showman. In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, Jackman was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia. Hugh Jackman and his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, suffered through two miscarriages, which they point to as the most difficult point in their lives. Both of their two children, Oscar and Ava, are adopted.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Italian postcard. Rotalfoto, Milano, No. 1097.
Gino Paoli, born September 23, 1934 in Monfalcone, Gorizia, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy, is one of Italy's most famous singers and songwriters.
From 1960 Paoli's songs have been part of film soundtracks of Italian and foreign films, starting with Vacanze ad Ischia (Mario Mattoli), in which Mina sings one of Paoli's most famous songs: Il cielo una stanza (1959). Mina's version was also used for La ragazza con la valigia (Valerio Zurlini, 1961), Io bacio... tu baci (Piero Vivarelli, 1961), Sapore di mare (Carlo Vanzina, 1983), while Paoli's own performance of the song was used by Nanni Moretti in Bianca (1983). In the comedy I magnifici tre (Giorgio SImonelli, 1961) Paolo sang his own song Un uomo vivo, while in La voglia matta (Luciano Salce, 1962) he sang his song Sassi. In Violenza segreta (Giorgio Moser, 1963) he sang his song Idolo nero. In 1963 Paolo sang for the first time on screen one of his beloved songs, Sapore di mare (1963), in Il successo (Mauro Morassi and, uncredited, Dino Risi). The song even inspired the title of Carlo Vanzina's summer comedy Sapore di mare (1983), even if the song is not heard in the film, according to IMDb - and two oter songs by Paoli instead are there: Il cielo in una stanza and Senza fine. The song Senza fine, song by Paoli himself was used for several films, such as La pazza gioia (2016) by Paolo Virzí. Paoli's songs were used for both genre movies such as spaghetti westerns, as well as 'auteur'cinema such as Bernardo Bertolucci's Prima della rivoluzione (1964) and Liliana Cavani's I cannibali (1970). Paoli's and Umberto Bindi's song You're My World/ Il mio mondo, made popular in Italy by Bindi and abroad by Cilla Black and many others, was used for various Australian TV shows of the 1970s. The world we live in/ Il cielo in una stanza (sung by Mina) was used in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990). Carla Bruni Sarkozy covered the song (mixing French with her native Italian) in her debut album ("Quelqu'un m'a dit"). Recently, the music was used in a Dolce & Gabbana spot, starring Scarlett Johansson e Matthew McCanaughey.
Paoli only acted in one film: Come se fosse amore (Roberto Burchielli, 2002), while he composed the soundtrack for five films, first Una donna allo specchio (Paolo Quaregna, 1984) and La sposa americana (Giovanni Soldati, 1986) both starring Stefania Sandrelli, with whom Paoli had an extramarital affair in the early 1960s and has their daughter Amanda Sandrelli. In the sixties Paoli also had a relationship with singer Ornella Vannoni, with whom he kept performing. In 1991 he married Paola Penzo, author of some his songs, they have three children. Paolo also has a son from his first wife Anna Fabbri. In 1963 Paoli tried to kill himself; as it was too risky to remove the bullet, ever since he lives with a bullet in his body.
Sources: IMDb, Italian and English Wikipedia.
For Mina's version of Il cielo in una stanza: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWEwz2iDyiI
For Paoli's version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU43Dc9KZbE
For Paoli singing Sapore di sale: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvZvPwD2YGs
The Postcard
A postcard that was published by Ad-Vision, 219, Citi Centre, Pato Plaza, Panjim, Goa.
The card was posted in Arambol, Goa on Monday the 29th. December 2003 to:
Auntie Mary, Uncle John Denyer,
176, Latimer Road,
Eastbourne,
East Sussex,
England,
U.K.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Arambol,
Goa.
26.12.03.
Hope you had a nice
Christmas. Thank you
very much for my presents.
I have just about recovered
from flu due to the place
choking me with its stench
and pollution. I had forgotten
how much India smells.
In Calcutta there is a big
Salvation Army, so I went to
the guest house.
We also went to see Mother
Theresa's tomb and took
part in a service there.
We were unable to fly to the
Andaman Islands due to a
cyclone?! But we'll fly there
on the 7th. Jan.
Hope you are well".
Bob Monkhouse
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, the 29th. December 2003 was not a good day for Bob Monkhouse, because he died in Eggington, Bedfordshire on that day.
Robert Alan Monkhouse OBE, who was born on the 1st. June 1928, was an English entertainer and comedian. He was well known as a host of television game shows, including The Golden Shot, Celebrity Squares, Family Fortunes and Wipeout.
Bob Monkhouse - The Early Years
Bob Monkhouse was born at 168 Bromley Road, Beckenham, Kent, the son of chartered accountant Wilfred Adrian Monkhouse (1894–1957) and Dorothy Muriel Monkhouse née Hansard (1895–1971).
Bob had an elder brother, John, who was born in 1922. Monkhouse's grandfather John Monkhouse (1862–1938) was a prosperous Methodist businessman who co-founded Monk and Glass, which made custard powder and jelly. In a 2015 documentary, it was revealed that Monkhouse and his older brother suffered physical and verbal abuse from their mother.
Bob Monkhouse was educated at Goring Hall School in Worthing, Sussex. In 2015, detectives investigated claims by three former pupils relating to historic sex abuse which was alleged to have taken place at the school which closed in 1988. The site is now (2021) a hospital.
Bob then moved to Dulwich College in south London, from which he was expelled for climbing the clock tower.
While still at school, Monkhouse wrote for The Beano and The Dandy, and drew for other comics including Hotspur, Wizard and Adventure. He established a comics writing and art partnership with Dulwich schoolmate Denis Gifford, and the two formed their own publishing company in the early 1950's. Among other writing, Monkhouse wrote more than 100 Harlem Hotspots erotic novelettes.
Monkhouse completed his National Service with the Royal Air Force in 1948. He won a contract with the BBC after his unwitting RAF group captain signed a letter that Monkhouse had written telling the BBC he was a war hero and that the corporation should give him an audition.
Before establishing himself as a successful writer and comedian, Monkhouse appeared on stage in London, first as Aladdin and then in the first London production of the musical The Boys from Syracuse in 1963 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, alongside Ronnie Corbett.
Bob Monkhouse's Writing and Acting Success
Monkhouse's adult career began as a scriptwriter for radio comedy in partnership with Denis Goodwin, a fellow Old Alleynian with whom he also compèred Smash Hits on Radio Luxembourg.
Aside from performing as a double act, Monkhouse and Goodwin wrote for comedians such as Arthur Askey, Jimmy Edwards, Ted Ray and Max Miller. In addition, they were also gag writers for American comedians, including Bob Hope, when they wanted jokes for British tours. Indeed, when Goodwin broke up the partnership in 1962, it was to work for Bob Hope.
In 1956, Monkhouse was the host of Do You Trust Your Wife?, the British version of an American game show. He went on to host more than 30 different quiz shows on British television.
With his public profile growing, Monkhouse also began appearing in comedy films, including the first of the Carry On film series, Carry On Sergeant, in 1958. He starred in Dentist in the Chair (1960) and Dentist on the Job (1961), later regretting not choosing the Carry Ons over the dental comedies.
Other presenting jobs in the 1960's included hosting Candid Camera and compèring Sunday Night at the London Palladium. Around 1969 he was a partner, with Malcolm Mitchell, in the Mitchell Monkhouse Agency.
In 1979 he starred in a US sketch comedy television series called Bonkers! with the Hudson Brothers and Joan Rivers, a job he hated. In the early 1970's he appeared on BBC Radio in Mostly Monkhouse with Josephine Tewson and David Jason.
Stand-up Comedy
A respected stand-up comedian, Monkhouse was known for his talent at ad-libbing. He became much in demand as an after-dinner speaker, and wrote a book about the subject, 'Just Say a Few Words' (1988).
Bob also became a favourite with impressionists, and, as his comedy style fell out of favour in the 1980's, he was mocked for his slickness and accused of insincerity. He came back into fashion during the 1990's, and an appearance on Have I Got News for You helped to restore his popularity.
Monkhouse's final stand-up show was performed at the Albany Comedy Club in London on the 25th. August 2003, four months before his death. The show was broadcast by the BBC in 2016 and again in November 2019 and April 2020.
Among the audience were a number of British comedians who had been personally invited by Monkhouse, including Reece Shearsmith, Jon Culshaw, David Walliams, Fiona Allen and Mark Steel. The show also included a rare public appearance from Monkhouse's friend Mike Yarwood.
Game Shows
In his later years, Monkhouse was probably better known for hosting television quiz shows than for being a comedian. One of his biggest successes was The Golden Shot from July 1967 until January 1972, and again from July 1974 to April 1975. This was broadcast live for 52 weeks a year and drew up to 17 million viewers.
His tenure ended with allegations, which he denied, that he had taken bribes to include branded goods on the programme as advertisements. He returned in 1974 after subsequent presenters and comedians Norman Vaughan and Charlie Williams were found wanting.
The dozens of other shows Monkhouse presented included Celebrity Squares, Family Fortunes and Bob's Full House. Audiences regularly topped 15 million. In the late 1980's he hosted two series of the revival of the talent show Opportunity Knocks, which aired as Bob Says Opportunity Knocks.
He then moved to ITV to front two more game shows, Bob's Your Uncle and the $64,000 Question, neither of which were popular successes.
Between 1996 and 1998, Monkhouse presented The National Lottery Live show on Saturday evenings on BBC One, for which he created the catchphrase:
"I know I'm a sinner, but
make me a winner!"
The opening to each show would see him deliver several minutes of topical jokes and on one occasion, where his autocue failed, he improvised a new and topical routine. This talent was used in Bob Monkhouse on the Spot, a return to pure television comedy in which audience members suggested topics and Monkhouse came up with a routine.
He was also at the helm when infamously, on the 30th. November 1996, the lottery machine failed live on air, causing the draw to be delayed by 50 minutes until after that night's episode of Casualty aired.
Monkhouse then returned to quizzes, taking over hosting duties on Wipeout from Paul Daniels when its studio recordings moved from London to Manchester and the show moved from primetime to daytime. Monkhouse hosted Wipeout from 1998 until a few months before his death.
Bob Monkhouse as a Chat Show Host
After being a stalwart of chat shows, in the mid 1980's Bob presented his own for the BBC, The Bob Monkhouse Show. The show lasted three series and showcased comedians of every age.
Monkhouse was criticised for sycophancy towards his guests, but he said that they were all heroes of his, and that was how he really felt about them. Monkhouse was known as a keen supporter of new comedy, and used the show to introduce audiences to new comedians such as Kelly Monteith, Robin Williams and Jim Carrey.
The format of the interviews varied between "true" chat and analysis of comedy to scripted routines in which Monkhouse would willingly play the role of the guest's stooge, as he did with Bob Hope.
On one occasion the guest was the comedian Pamela Stephenson, who, after prior arrangement with the show's producer, appeared in a series of fake plaster casts, apparently the result of accidents whilst at home.
During the interview she produced a handgun and fired it on several occasions, destroying a plant pot on the set and a series of lights in the studio roof. She then presented a rocket launcher which she promptly "fired", destroying a camera.
The gun, launcher and camera were props. None of this was known to Monkhouse, who appeared genuinely frightened (although the production crew were aware).
Film and Television Archive
An expert on the history of silent cinema and a film collector, Monkhouse presented Mad Movies in 1966. He wrote, produced, financed and syndicated the show worldwide. The show featured clips from comic silent films, many from his own private collection, some of which he had helped to recover and restore.
Bob's film collection was the cause of a court case at the Old Bailey in 1979. Having lent Terry Wogan's son a film, Monkhouse was charged with attempting to defraud film distributors of royalties, but after two years the judge decided that there was no case to answer. Many of the films in his collection were seized and not returned to Monkhouse.
In 2008, the British Film Institute was contacted by Monkhouse's daughter, Abigail, who asked if they would like to view the collection and provide some advice as to the best way of preserving it.
Amongst the discoveries were many radio and TV shows long thought lost. Dick Fiddy, the archivist, said:
"It's a huge, unwieldy collection which
deals with a number of areas. It's not
just film and TV. Initially, we found half
a dozen TV shows that we knew to be
missing."
Amongst those shows rediscovered were many that feature Monkhouse himself, including The Flip Side, a 1966 play in which he starred as a television DJ with his own late night show, and the 1957–58 series of his comedy My Pal Bob, including an episode in which he is suspected of an extramarital affair. The archive consisted of 36,000 videotapes, going back to when Monkhouse first bought a home video recorder in 1966. His film archive began in the late 1950's.
The entire Monkhouse film and television archive is now held by Kaleidoscope, including all the material previously held by the National Film and Television Archive (NFTVA).
It was catalogued and restored to digital formats for a major event at British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) on the 24th. October 2009. Chris Perry of Kaleidoscope said:
"We are painstakingly transferring the
important contents of the video tapes
and restoring radio shows. There are
many incredible finds, and the event
is an exciting time for all concerned."
In his final years, Monkhouse hosted a show on BBC Radio 2 called The Monkhouse Archive in which he provided humorous links to clips of comedy acts spanning the previous 50 years.
Honours, Awards and Legacy
In 1993 Bob Monkhouse was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to entertainment.
In 1995 the British Comedy Awards gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award for Comedy, and eight years later, a few weeks before he died, the Television and Radio Industries Club awarded him a Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting.
He first appeared on This Is Your Life in 1982 and, unusually, received a second appearance on the show on the 23rd. April 2003, just months before his death.
In a poll of fellow comedians and comedy insiders to find the Comedians' Comedian in 2005, Monkhouse was voted among the best 50 comedy acts.
In a piece written several years after Monkhouse's death, critic and satirist Michael Deacon suggested that although Monkhouse had feared that his legacy as a comedian would be limited, as many people knew him only from his decades of work as a game show host, his style of writing and performing could be seen as influencing many contemporary British comedians. These include Jimmy Carr (whose book on comedy The Naked Jape quoted several Monkhouse jokes), Michael McIntyre, Peter Kay, John Bishop, Lee Mack and Tim Vine.
Bob Monkhouse's Personal Life
Bob Monkhouse was married twice, firstly to Elizabeth Thompson on the 5th. November 1949. The couple separated in 1967 and divorced in 1972. His second marriage, to Jacqueline Harding, lasted until his death. He had three children from his first marriage, but only his adopted daughter, Abigail, survived him.
His eldest son, Gary Alan, who had cerebral palsy, lived at Naish Farm House, a residential home for the disabled in New Milton Hampshire. He went to Saint Michael's School in Pinner, and died in Braintree, Essex, in 1992, aged 40. Monkhouse was an avid campaigner for the disabled.
His other son, Simon, a stand-up poet, from whom he had been estranged for 13 years, died aged 46 from a heroin overdose in a hotel in northern Thailand in April 2001.
Monkhouse lived in a house called "Claridges" in Eggington, near Leighton Buzzard, and had a flat in London as well as a holiday home in Barbados.
In his autobiography, Bob admitted to hundreds of sexual liaisons and affairs, but claimed that he only undertook this course of action because his first wife was unfaithful. His lovers before his second marriage included the actress Diana Dors, about whose parties he later commented after her death:
"The awkward part about an orgy
is that afterwards you're not too
sure who to thank."
Throughout his career Monkhouse had jotted down jokes, odd facts, one-liners, sketches and ideas in a series of leather-bound books, which he took with him to every television, radio, stage and nightclub appearance he made.
In July 1995 two were stolen, and Monkhouse offered a £15,000 reward. They were returned after 18 months, but the thief, although arrested, was never charged. On Monkhouse's death, the books were bequeathed to Colin Edmonds.
Monkhouse was a vocal supporter of the Conservative Party for some years. He later told his friend Colin Edmonds that this may have been a mistake, but that he wanted to be associated with a winner, and he knew Margaret Thatcher could not lose the 1987 general election.
Monkhouse was diagnosed with prostate cancer in September 2001, and he died from this illness at his home on the 29th. December 2003. His widow Jacqueline suffered a heart attack and died in Barbados on the 28th. March 2008.
The Posthumous Advertisement
On the 12th. June 2007, Bob Monkhouse posthumously appeared on British TV in an advertisement promoting awareness of prostate cancer for Male Cancer Awareness Week.
Using computer animation techniques and a sound-alike actor, Monkhouse was seen in a graveyard next to his own grave (though in reality he was cremated) talking about the disease seriously, interspersed with humorous asides to another camera ("What killed me kills one man per hour in Britain. That's even more than my wife's cooking.").
He ended by saying, "As a comedian, I've died many deaths. Prostate cancer, I don't recommend. I'd have paid good money to stay out of here. What's it worth to you?" before walking away from his grave and disappearing.
The advertisement was made with the support of Monkhouse's estate and supported by poster campaigns, including award-winning panels displayed in London Underground trains. Money raised went to the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation.
Bob Monkhouse - Notable Quotes
“My father only hit me once,
but he used a Volvo.”
“They all laughed when I said
I wanted to be a comedian.
Well, they’re not laughing now.”
“I’d like to die like my old dad,
peacefully in his sleep, not
screaming like his passengers.”
“When the inventor of the drawing
board messed things up, what did
he go back to?”
“My mother tried to kill me when I
was a baby. She denied it. She said
she thought the plastic bag would
keep me fresh.”
“If blind people wear sunglasses,
why don’t deaf people wear earmuffs?”
“Real happiness is when you marry a
girl for love and find out later she has
money.”
“I’d never be unfaithful to my wife
for the reason that I love my house
very much.”
“I’m not saying my wife’s a bad cook,
but she uses a smoke alarm as a timer.”
“It got up to 94 degrees today –
that’s pretty good at my age.”
“Dulwich College takes me back after
seventy years: My Mum must have
written one hell of a sick note!”
“Personally, I don’t think there’s intelligent
life on other planets. Why should other
planets be any different from this one?”
“A miniature village in Bournemouth
caught fire and the flames could be
seen nearly three feet away.”
“Growing old is compulsory –
growing up is optional.”
“I’ll never stop working. I want to die
in the saddle. A day is wasted for me
if I haven’t done something even mildly
creative.”
“Although I have always loved the noise
of laughter, I really can’t fear the coming
of quiet. As for funerals, I rather like them.
Such nice things are always said about
the deceased, I feel sad that they had to
miss hearing it all by just a few days.”
“I’m rather relaxed about death. From
quite an early age I’ve regarded it as
part of the deal, the unwritten guarantee
that comes with your birth certificate.”
The Cabinet Card
A cabinet card, on the bottom of which is printed:
Daylight Superseded by
Electricity by the
VanderWeyde Light.
182, Regent Street,
W. London and Paris'.
Henry Van der Weyde
Henry Van der Weyde, who was born in 1838, was a painter and photographer. He was a founder member of the Linked Ring Brotherhood of:
"Those who delight in photography
solely for its artistic possibilities'.
Henry was a painter turned professional portrait photographer. In 1892 he publicised his photo corrector (Rectograph), causing a stir in the world of photography.
In 1877 Van der Weyde became the first photographer to install and take portraits by electric light, allowing him to take many portraits in a short period of time. The light was provided by a Crossley gas engine which drove a Siemens dynamo, which in turn fed an arc light in a five-foot reflector. Owing to lack of money the patent for this device was never completed.
Henry died in 1924.
Lillie Langtry
Emilie Charlotte Langtry, born Le Breton on the 13th. October 1853, became known as Lillie (or Lily) Langtry. She was a British-American socialite, actress and producer who was nicknamed "The Jersey Lily".
Born on the island of Jersey, upon marrying she moved to London in 1876. Her looks and personality attracted interest, commentary, and invitations from artists and society hostesses, and she was celebrated as a young woman of great beauty and charm.
In 1877 Lillie served as a model representing Effie Deans, a character in Sir Walter Scott's novel The Heart of Midlothian. The painter was Sir John Everett Millais (1829–1896).
By 1881, she had become an actress, and starred in many plays in the UK and the United States, including She Stoops to Conquer, The Lady of Lyons, and As You Like It, eventually running her own stage production company.
In later life she performed "dramatic sketches" in vaudeville. She was also known for her relationships with noblemen, including the Prince of Wales, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and Prince Louis of Battenberg. She was the subject of widespread public and media interest.
Born in 1853 and known as Lillie from childhood, she was the daughter of the Very Reverend William Corbet Le Breton and his wife, a recognised beauty, Emilie Davis (née Martin). Lillie's parents had eloped to Gretna Green and, in 1842, married at Chelsea. Emilie Charlotte (Lillie) was born at the Old Rectory, St. Saviour in Jersey where her father was Rector and Dean of Jersey.
Lillie was the sixth of seven children and the only girl. Purportedly, one of her ancestors was Richard le Breton, allegedly one of the assassins in 1170 of Thomas Becket.
Lillie's French governess was reputed to have been unable to manage her, so Lillie was educated by her brothers' tutor. This education was of a wider and more solid nature than that typically administered to girls at that time. Although their father held the respectable position of Dean of Jersey, he nevertheless earned an unsavoury reputation as a "ladies man", fathering illegitimate children by various of his parishioners. When his wife Emilie finally left him in 1880, he left Jersey.
Lillie's Move From From Jersey to London
On the 9th. March 1874, 20-year-old Lillie married 26-year-old Irish landowner Edward 'Ted' Langtry, a widower, who had been married to Jane Frances Price. She was the sister of Elizabeth Ann Price, who had married Lillie's brother William.
They held their wedding reception at The Royal Yacht Hotel in St. Helier, Jersey. Langtry was wealthy enough to own a large sailing yacht called the Red Gauntlet, and Lillie insisted that he take her away from the Channel Islands. In 1876 they rented an apartment in Eaton Place, Belgravia, London, and early in 1878 they moved to 17 Norfolk Street off Park Lane to accommodate the growing demands of Lillie's society visitors.
In 1877, Lillie's brother Clement Le Breton had married Alice, an illegitimate daughter of Thomas Heron Jones, 7th. Viscount Ranelagh, a friend of their father, and Ranelagh, following a chance meeting with Lillie in London, had invited her to a reception attended by several noted artists at the home of Sir John and Lady Sebright at 23 Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge, which took place on the 29th. April 1877. Here she attracted notice for her beauty and wit.
Langtry was in mourning for her youngest brother, who had been killed in a riding accident, so in contrast to most women's more elaborate clothing, she wore a simple black dress (which was to become her trademark) and no jewellery. Before the end of the evening, Frank Miles had completed several sketches of her that became very popular on postcards.
Another guest, Sir John Everett Millais, also a Jersey native, eventually painted her portrait. Langtry's nickname, the "Jersey Lily", was taken from the Jersey lily flower (Amaryllis belladonna), a symbol of Jersey. The nickname was popularised by Millais' portrait, entitled A Jersey Lily. (According to tradition, the two Jersey natives spoke Jèrriais to each other during the sittings.)
The painting caused great interest when exhibited at the Royal Academy, and had to be roped off to avoid damage by the crowds. Langtry was portrayed holding a Guernsey lily (Nerine sarniensis) in the painting rather than a Jersey lily, as none of the latter was available during the sittings.
A friend of Millais, Rupert Potter (father of Beatrix Potter), was a keen amateur photographer and took pictures of Lillie whilst she was visiting Millais in Scotland in 1879. She also sat for Sir Edward Poynter, and is depicted in works by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. She became much sought-after in London society, and invitations flooded in. Her fame soon reached royal ears.
In an interview published in several newspapers (including the Brisbane Herald) in 1882, Lillie Langtry said:
"It was through Lord Raneleigh [sic] and the painter
Frank Miles that I was first introduced to London
society ... I went to London and was brought out by
my friends.
Among the most enthusiastic of these was Mr Frank
Miles, the artist. I learned afterwards that he saw me
one evening at the theatre, and tried in vain to discover
who I was. He went to his clubs and his artist friends
declaring he had seen a beauty, and he described me
to everybody he knew, until one day one of his friends
met me and he was duly introduced.
Then Mr Miles came and begged me to sit for my portrait.
I consented, and when the portrait was finished he sold it
to Prince Leopold.
From that time I was invited everywhere, and made a
great deal of by many members of the royal family and
nobility. After Frank Miles I sat for portraits by Millais
and Burne-Jones, and now Frith is putting my face
in one of his great pictures".
Lillie Langtry The Royal Mistress
The Prince of Wales, Albert Edward ("Bertie", later Edward VII), arranged to sit next to Langtry at a dinner party given by Sir Allen Young on the 24th. May 1877. (Lillie's husband Edward was seated at the other end of the table.)
Although the Prince was married to Princess Alexandra of Denmark and had six children, he was a well-known philanderer. He became infatuated with Langtry, and she soon became his mistress. The Prince once said to Lillie:
"I've spent enough on
you to buy a battleship."
Lillie replied:
"...And you've spent enough
in me to float one."
Lillie was presented to the Prince's mother, Queen Victoria. Princess Alexandra chose to never display any jealousy about her husband's infidelities, and accepted and acknowledged Lillie.
Lillie's liaison with the Prince lasted from late 1877 to June 1880. Although remaining friends with the Prince, Lillie Langtry's physical relationship with him ended when she became pregnant. The father was probably her old friend Arthur Jones, who accompanied her to Paris for the birth of the child, Jeanne Marie, in March 1881.
In July 1879, Langtry began an affair with the Earl of Shrewsbury; in January 1880, Langtry and the earl were planning to run away together. In the autumn of 1879, scandal-mongering journalist Adolphus Rosenberg wrote in Town Talk of rumours that her husband would divorce her and cite, among others, the Prince of Wales as co-respondent.
Rosenberg also wrote about Patsy Cornwallis-West, whose husband sued him for libel. At this point, the Prince of Wales instructed his solicitor George Lewis to sue also. Rosenberg pleaded guilty to both charges, and was sentenced to two years in prison.
For some time, the Prince saw little of Langtry. He remained fond of her, and spoke well of her in her later career as a theatre actress; he used his influence to help and encourage her.
However, with the withdrawal of royal favour, creditors closed in. The Langtrys' finances were not equal to their lifestyle. In October 1880, Langtry sold many of her possessions to meet her debts, allowing Edward Langtry to avoid a declaration of bankruptcy.
Lillie Langtry's Daughter
In April 1879, Langtry had a short affair with Prince Louis of Battenberg, but also had a longer relationship with Arthur Clarence Jones (1854–1930), the brother of her sister-in-law and another illegitimate child of Lord Ranelagh.
In June 1880, she became pregnant. Her husband was not the father; she led Prince Louis to believe that he was. When the prince told his parents, they had him assigned to the warship HMS Inconstant. The Prince of Wales gave her a sum of money, and Langtry went into her confinement in Paris, accompanied by Arthur Jones. On the 8th. March 1881, she gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Jeanne Marie.
The discovery in 1978 of Langtry's passionate letters to Arthur Jones and their publication by Laura Beatty in 1999 support the idea that Jones was the father of Langtry's daughter. Prince Louis' son, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, had always maintained that his father was the father of Jeanne Marie.
In 1902, Jeanne Marie married the Scottish politician Sir Ian Malcolm at St Margaret's, Westminster. They had four children, three sons and a daughter. Lady Malcolm died in 1964. Her daughter Mary Malcolm was one of the first two female announcers on the BBC Television Service (now BBC One) from 1948 to 1956. She died on 13 October 2010, aged 92. Jeanne Marie's second son, Victor Neill Malcolm, married English actress Ann Todd. They divorced in the late 1930's.
Lillie Langtry as an Actress and Manager
In 1881, Langtry was in need of money. Her close friend Oscar Wilde suggested she try the stage, and Langtry embarked upon a theatre career. She first tried out for an amateur production in Twickenham Town Hall on the 19th. November 1881.
It was a comedy called A Fair Encounter, with Henrietta Labouchère taking the other role and coaching Langtry in her acting. Labouchère had been a professional actress before she met and married Liberal MP Henry Labouchère.
Following favorable reviews of this first attempt at the stage, and with further coaching, Langtry made her debut before the London public, playing Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer at the Haymarket Theatre in December 1881.
Critical opinion was mixed, but she was a success with the public. She next performed in Ours at the same theatre. Although her affair with the Prince of Wales was over, he supported her new venture by attending several of her performances and helping attract an audience.
Early in 1882, Langtry quit the production team at the Haymarket and started her own company, touring the UK with various plays. She was still under the tutelage of Henrietta Labouchère.
American impresario Henry Abbey arranged a tour in the United States for Langtry. She arrived by ship in October 1882 to be met by the press and Oscar Wilde, who was in New York on a lecture tour.
Her first appearance was eagerly anticipated, but the theatre burnt down the night before the opening; the show moved to another venue and opened the following week. Eventually, her production company started a coast-to-coast tour of the U.S., ending in May 1883 with a "fat profit." Before leaving New York, she had an acrimonious break with Henrietta Labouchère over Langtry's relationship with Frederick Gebhard, a wealthy young American.
Her first tour of the United States (accompanied by Gebhard) was an enormous success, which she repeated in subsequent years. While the critics generally condemned her interpretations of roles such as Pauline in The Lady of Lyons or Rosalind in As You Like It, the public loved her.
After her return from New York in 1883, Langtry registered at the Conservatoire in Paris for six weeks' intensive training to improve her acting technique.
In 1889, she took on the part of Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare's Macbeth. In 1903, she starred in the U.S. in The Crossways, written by her in collaboration with J. Hartley Manners, husband of actress Laurette Taylor.
Lillie returned to the United States for tours in 1906 and again in 1912, appearing in vaudeville. She last appeared on the stage in America in 1917. Later that year, she made her final appearance in the theatre in London.
From 1900 to 1903, with financial support from Edgar Israel Cohen, Langtry became the lessee and manager of London's Imperial Theatre, opening on the 21st. April 1901, following an extensive refurbishment. On the site of the theatre is now the Westminster Central Hall.
In a film released in 1913 directed by Edwin S. Porter, Langtry played opposite Sidney Mason in the role of Mrs Norton in His Neighbour's Wife.
Thoroughbred Racing
For nearly a decade, from 1882 to 1891, Langtry had a relationship with an American, Frederick Gebhard, described as a young clubman, sportsman, horse owner, and admirer of feminine beauty, both on and off the stage.
When Gebhard began his relationship with Langtry, he was 22 and she was 29.
With Gebhard, Langtry became involved in the sport of thoroughbred horse racing. In 1885, she and Gebhard brought a stable of American horses to race in England. On the 13th. August 1888, Langtry and Gebhard traveled in her private car attached to an Erie Railroad express train bound for Chicago.
Another railcar was transporting 17 of their horses when it derailed at Shohola, Pennsylvania at 1:40 am. Rolling down an 80-foot (24 m) embankment, it burst into flames. One person died in the fire, along with Gebhard's champion runner Eole and 14 racehorses belonging to him and Langtry.
Two horses survived the wreck, including St. Saviour, full brother to Eole. He was named after St. Saviour's Church in Jersey. This was where Langtry chose to be buried on her death.
Despite speculation, Langtry and Gebhard never married. In 1895, he married Lulu Morris of Baltimore.
George Baird
In 1889, Langtry met a man whom she described as:
"An eccentric young bachelor, with vast estates
in Scotland, a large breeding stud, a racing stable,
and more money than he knew what to do with".
He was George Alexander Baird or Squire Abington, as he came to be known. He inherited wealth from his grandfather, who with seven of his sons, had developed and prospered from coal and iron workings. Baird's father had died when he was a young boy, leaving him a fortune in trust. In addition, he inherited the estates of two equally wealthy uncles who had died childless.
Langtry and Baird met at a race course when he gave her a betting tip and the stake money to place on the horse. The horse won and, at a later luncheon party, Baird also offered her the gift of a horse named Milford. She at first demurred, but others at the table advised her to accept, as this horse was a very fine prospect.
The horse won several races under Langtry's colours; he was registered to "Mr Jersey" (women were excluded from registering horses at this time). Langtry became involved in a relationship with Baird, from 1891 until his death in March 1893.
When Baird died, Langtry purchased two of his horses, Lady Rosebery and Studley Royal, at the estate dispersal sale. She moved her training to Sam Pickering's stables at Kentford House, and took Regal Lodge as a residence in the village of Kentford, near Newmarket. The building is a short distance from Baird's original race horse breeding establishment, which has since been renamed Meddler Stud.
Langtry found mentors in Captain James Octavius Machell and Joe Thompson, who provided guidance on all matters related to the turf. When her trainer Pickering failed to deliver results, she moved her expanded string of 20 horses to Fred Webb at Exning.
In 1899 James Machell sold his Newmarket stables to Colonel Harry Leslie Blundell McCalmont, a wealthy racehorse owner, who was Langtry's brother-in-law, having married Hugo de Bathe's sister Winifred in 1897. He was also related to Langtry's first husband, Edward, whose ship-owning grandfather, George, had married into the County Antrim Callwell family, being related in marriage to the McCalmonts.
Told of a good horse for sale in Australia called Merman, she purchased it and had it shipped to England; such shipments were risky and she had a previous bad experience with a horse arriving injured (Maluma).
Merman was regarded as one of the best stayers; he eventually went on to win the Lewes Handicap, the Cesarewitch, Jockey Club Cup, Goodwood Stakes, Goodwood Cup, and Ascot Gold Cup.
Langtry owned a stud at Gazely, Newmarket. This venture was not a success. After a few years, she gave up attempts to breed blood-stock. Langtry sold Regal Lodge and all her horse-racing interests in 1919 before she moved to Monaco. Regal Lodge had been her home for twenty-three years and received many celebrated guests, not least of whom was the Prince of Wales.
William Ewart Gladstone
During her stage career, Lillie became friendly with William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898), who was the British Prime Minister on four occasions during the reign of Queen Victoria. In her memoirs Langtry says that she first met Gladstone when she was posing for her portrait at Millais' studio. They were later friends and he became a mentor to her. He told her:
"In your professional career, you will receive
attacks, personal and critical, just and unjust.
Bear them, never reply, and, above all, never
rush into print to explain or defend yourself."
In 1925, Captain Peter Emmanuel Wright published a book called Portraits and Criticisms. In it, he claimed that Gladstone had numerous extramarital affairs, including one with Langtry.
Gladstone's son Herbert Gladstone wrote a letter calling Wright a liar, a coward and a fool; Wright sued him. During the trial a telegram, sent by Langtry from Monte Carlo, was read out in court saying:
"I strongly repudiate the slanderous
accusations of Peter Wright."
The jury found against Wright, saying that the "gist of the defendant's letter of the 27th. July was true" and that the evidence vindicated the high moral standards of the late Gladstone.
American Citizenship and Divorce
In 1888, Langtry became a property owner in the United States when she and Frederick Gebhard purchased adjoining ranches in Lake County, California. With an area of 4,200 acres (17 km2) in Guenoc Valley, she established a winery producing red wine. She sold it in 1906. Bearing the Langtry Farms name, the winery and vineyard are still in operation in Middletown, California.
During her travels in the United States, Langtry became an American citizen and on the 13th. May 1897, divorced her husband, Edward Langtry, in Lakeport, California. Her ownership of land in America was introduced in evidence at her divorce to help demonstrate to the judge that she was a citizen of the country. In June of that year Edward Langtry issued a statement giving his side of the story, which was published in the New York Journal.
He died a few months later in Chester Asylum, after being found by police in a demented condition at Crewe railway station. His death was probably due to a brain haemorrhage after a fall during a steamer crossing from Belfast to Liverpool. He was buried in Overleigh Cemetery; a verdict of accidental death was returned at the inquest. A letter of condolence later written by Langtry to another widow reads in part:
"I too have lost a husband, but
alas! it was no great loss."
Langtry continued to have involvement with her husband's Irish properties after his death. These were compulsorily purchased from her in 1928 under the Northern Ireland Land Act, 1925. This was passed after the Partition of Ireland, with the purpose of transferring certain lands from owners to tenants.
Hugo Gerald de Bathe
After the divorce from her husband, Langtry was linked in the popular press to Prince Paul Esterhazy; they shared time together and both had an interest in horse racing. However, in 1899, she married 28-year-old Hugo Gerald de Bathe (1871–1940), son of Sir Henry de Bathe, 4th Baronet and Charlotte Clare.
Hugo's parents had initially not married, due to objections from the de Bathe family. They lived together, and seven of their children were born out of wedlock. They married after the death of Sir Henry's father in 1870, and Hugo was their first son born in wedlock – making him heir to the baronetcy.
The wedding between Langtry and de Bathe took place in St. Saviour's Church, Jersey, on the 27th. July 1899, with Jeanne Marie Langtry being the only other person present, apart from the officials. This was the same day that Langtry's horse, Merman, won the Goodwood Cup.
In December 1899, de Bathe volunteered to join the British forces in the Boer War. He was assigned to the Robert's Horse mounted brigade as a lieutenant. In 1907, Hugo's father died; he became the 5th Baronet, and Langtry became Lady de Bathe.
When Hugo de Bathe became the 5th Baronet, he inherited properties in Sussex, Devon and Ireland; those in Sussex were in the hamlet of West Stoke near Chichester. These were: Woodend, 17 bedrooms set in 71 acres; Hollandsfield, 10 bedrooms set in 52 acres and Balsom's Farm of 206 acres. Woodend was retained as the de Bathe residence whilst the smaller Hollandsfield was let.
Today the buildings retain their period appearance, but modifications and additions have been made, and the complex is now multi-occupancy. One of the houses on the site is named Langtry and another Hardy. The de Bathe properties were all sold in 1919, the same year Lady de Bathe sold Regal Lodge.
Lillie Langtry - The Final Days
During her final years, Langtry, as Lady de Bathe, resided in Monaco whilst her husband, Sir Hugo de Bathe, lived in Vence, Alpes Maritimes. The two saw one another at social gatherings or in brief private encounters. During World War I, Hugo de Bathe was an ambulance driver for the French Red Cross.
Langtry's closest companion during her time in Monaco was her friend Mathilde Marie Peat. Peat was at Langtry's side during the final days of her life as she died of pneumonia in Monte Carlo. Langtry left Peat £10,000, the Monaco property known as Villa le Lys, clothes, and Langtry's motor car.
Langtry died at the age of 75 in Monte Carlo at dawn, on the 12th. February 1929. She had asked to be buried in her parents' tomb at St. Saviour's Church in Jersey. Due to blizzards, transport was delayed.
Her body was taken to St. Malo and across to Jersey on the 22nd. February aboard the steamer Saint Brieuc. Her coffin lay in St Saviour's overnight surrounded by flowers, and she was buried on the afternoon of the 23rd. February.
Lillie Langtry's Bequests
In her will, Langtry left £2,000 to a young man that she had become fond of in later life named Charles Louis D'Albani; the son of a Newmarket solicitor, he was born in about 1891.
She also left £1,000 to Dr. A. T. Bulkeley Gavin of 5 Berkeley Square, London, a physician and surgeon who treated wealthy patients.
Cultural Influence and Portrayals
Langtry used her high public profile to endorse commercial products such as cosmetics and soap, an early example of celebrity endorsement. She used her famous ivory complexion to generate income, being the first woman to endorse a commercial product when she advertised Pears Soap.
In the 1944 Universal film The Scarlet Claw, Lillian Gentry, the first murder victim, wife of Lord William Penrose and former actress, is an oblique reference to Langtry.
Langtry's life story has been portrayed in film numerous times. Lilian Bond played her in The Westerner (1940), and Ava Gardner in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972). Bean was played by Walter Brennan in the former, and by Paul Newman in the latter film.
In 1978, Langtry's story was dramatised by London Weekend Television and produced as Lillie, starring Francesca Annis in the title role. Annis had previously played Langtry in two episodes of ATV's Edward the Seventh. Jenny Seagrove played her in the 1991 made-for-television film Incident at Victoria Falls.
Langtry is a featured character in the fictional The Flashman Papers novels of George MacDonald Fraser, in which she is noted as a former lover of arch-cad Harry Flashman, who, nonetheless, describes her as one of his few true loves.
Langtry is speculated to be an inspiration for Irene Adler, a character in the Sherlock Holmes fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In "A Scandal in Bohemia", Adler bests Holmes, perhaps the only woman to do so.
Langtry is used as a touchstone for old-fashioned manners in Preston Sturges's comedy The Lady Eve (1941), in a scene where a corpulent woman drops a handkerchief on the floor and the hero ignores it. Jean (Barbara Stanwyck) begins to describe, comment, and anticipate the events that we see reflected in her hand mirror:
"The dropped kerchief! That hasn't been
used since Lillie Langtry ... you'll have to
pick it up yourself, madam ... it's a shame,
but he doesn't care for the flesh, he'll
never see it."
Dixie Carter portrays Langtry as a "songbird" and Brady Hawkes' love interest in Kenny Rogers' 1994 "Gambler V: Playing for Keeps, last of the Gambler series for CBS that started in 1980. Langtry is depicted as a singer, not an actress, and Dixie Carter's costuming appears closer to Mae West than anything Langtry ever wore.
In The Simpsons episode, "Burns' Heir", the auditions are held in the Lillie Langtry Theater on Burns' estate.
Lillie Langtry is the inspiration for The Who's 1967 hit single "Pictures of Lily", as mentioned in Pete Townshend's 2012 memoir Who I Am.
Langtry is a featured character in the play Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily by Katie Forgette. In this work, she is blackmailed over her past relationship with the Prince of Wales, with intimate letters as proof. She and Oscar Wilde employ Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to investigate the matter.
Places Connected With Lillie Langtry
When first married (1874), Edward and Lillie Langtry had a property called Cliffe Lodge in Southampton.
Langtry lived at 21 Pont Street, London from 1890 to 1897, and had with her eight servants in 1891. Although from 1895 the building was operated as the Cadogan Hotel, she would stay in her former bedroom there. A blue plaque (which erroneously states that she was born in 1852) on the hotel commemorates this, and the hotel's restaurant is named 'Langtry's' in her honour.
A short walk from Pont Street was a house at number 2 Cadogan Place where she lived in 1899.
From 1886 to 1894, Lillie owned a house in Manhattan at 362 West 23rd. Street, a gift from Frederick Gebhard.
In 1938 the new owners of the Red House at 26 Derby Road, Bournemouth which had been built in 1877 by the widowed women's rights campaigner and temperance activist Emily Langton Langton, converted the large house into an hotel, 'Manor Heath Hotel'. They advertised it as having been built for Lillie Langtry by the Prince of Wales, believing that the inscription 'E.L.L. 1877' in one of the rooms related to Lillie Langtry.
A plaque placed on the hotel by Bournemouth Council confirmed the connection, and in the late 1970's the hotel was renamed Langtry Manor. However, despite the hotel's claims and local legend, no actual association between Langtry and the house ever existed, and the Prince never visited it.
On the 2nd. April 1965 the Evening Standard reported an interview with the former actress Electra Yaras (died 2010, aged 88) who, in the 1950's, had bought the lease of Leighton House, 103 Alexandra Road, South Hampstead, and who now claimed that Langtry had lived in the house and been regularly visited there by the Prince of Wales.
Yaras claimed that she had herself several times been visited in the house by Langtry's ghost. On the 11th. April 1971 The Hampstead News said that the house had been built for Langtry by Lord Leighton. These claims, made to suggest an historical importance for the house and support its preservation, were supported by the actress Adrienne Corri and publicised in The Times of the 8th. October 1971.
The house was, however, demolished in 1971 to make way for the Alexandra Road Estate. In 2021 research revealed that the house had been built in the 1860's by Samuel Litchfield and probably named after his wife's birthplace of Leighton Buzzard, and local records have revealed no connection whatsoever with Lillie Langtry.
Langtry is, however, further 'remembered' in the area in the names of Langtry Road, off Kilburn Priory; Langtry Walk in the Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate, and by the 'Lillie Langtry' public house at 121 Abbey Road (built in 1969 to replace 'The Princess of Wales' and briefly called 'The Cricketers' in 2007-11) as well as "The Lillie Langtry" on 19 Lillie Rd, in Fulham (though the Road originally took its name from a local landowner John Scott Lillie).
Langtry's London address in 1916 through till at least 1920 was Cornwall Lodge, Allsop Place, Regent's Park. She gave this address when sailing on the liner St. Paul across the Atlantic in August 1916, and the 1920 London electoral register has de Bathe, Emilie Charlotte (Lady), listed at the same address. A letter sold at auction in 2014 from Langtry to Dr. Harvey dated 1918 is also headed with this address.
There are two bars in New York City devoted to the memory of Lillie Langtry, operating under the title Lillie's Victorian Establishment.
The Steam Yacht White Ladye
Lillie owned a luxury steam auxiliary yacht called White Ladye from 1891 to 1897. The yacht was built in 1891 for Lord Asburton from a design by W. C. Storey. She had 3 masts, was 204 feet in length and 27 feet in breadth, and was powered by a 142 hp steam engine. She had originally been named Ladye Mabel.
In 1893, Ogden Goelet leased the vessel from Langtry and used it until his death in 1897. It was sold at auction to John Lawson Johnston, the creator of Bovril. He owned it until his death on board in Cannes, France in 1900.
From 1902 to 1903, the yacht was recorded in the Lloyd's Yacht Register as being owned by shipbuilder William Cresswell Gray, Tunstall Manor, West Hartlepool, and remained so until 1915. Following this, the Lloyd's Register states that she became adapted as French trawler La Champagne based in Fécamp; she was broken up in 1935.
THE DIANA CHRONICLES
By Tina Brown.
With “The Diana Chronicles,” Tina Brown breathes new life into the saga of this royal “icon of blondness” by astutely revealing just how powerful, and how marketable, her story became in the age of modern celebrity journalism. Indeed, while Diana named Camilla Parker Bowles as the third party in her unhappy union, she might also have mentioned a fourth: the media. “She was way ahead of her contemporaries in foreseeing a world where celebrity was, so to speak, the coin of the realm,” Brown writes. “An aristocrat herself, Diana knew that the aristocracy of birth was now irrelevant. All that counted now was the aristocracy of exposure.” And Brown offers an insightful, absorbing account of the pas de deux into which, to her eventual peril, Diana joined with the paparazzi.
As the former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, Brown certainly has the authority to examine the Princess of Wales as a creation and a casualty of the media glare. Perhaps not incidentally, Brown’s own years in the spotlight were bookended by Diana’s rise and fall. In July 1981, Brown appeared as a “royalty expert” on the “Today” show’s coverage of the Wales wedding. Then the editor of the British gossip magazine Tatler, Brown recalls that “the wedding did for the sales of Tatler ... what the O. J. Simpson chase did for the ratings of CNN. It put us on the map.”
After Diana’s death in August 1997, Brown again placed the magazine over which she presided — this time, The New Yorker — “in the middle” of what was still “the biggest tabloid story in the world,” by publishing a special issue devoted to the princess’ memory. Brown stressed the dramatic difference between the Windsors’ self-styled identity (“local, modest, unsurprising” guarantors of British tradition) and Diana’s (global superstar, unapologetically “shrewd ... at press relations”). The conflicted relationship between the two had been, the historian Simon Schama noted in the same issue, a “wedding of the past and the future: the Radetzky March meets the Tatler cover girl. ... But, as it turned out, the past and the future couldn’t get along.” What’s more — as Brown’s book demonstrates, and as the recent film “The Queen” has also made clear — the future was bound to win, even if it claimed its own leading avatar in the process.
In fact, Diana’s conquest of the camera was bittersweet from the start. In February 1967, when she was 5, her mother, Frances, began an extramarital liaison that led to her parents’ acrimonious divorce. Diana’s father, Johnnie Spencer, retaliated against Frances by gaining custody of the children. But his stiff-upper-lip reaction to the trauma (“speaking in words of one syllable ... and sitting morosely for hours staring out of the window”) made him ill-suited to handle its effects on his offspring, for whom he was able to show affection only by taking “amateur movies and still photographs” of them. As a result, Brown notes, “Diana grew up associating the camera with love,” and striving to give it what it appeared to want in return. Her brother, Charles, told Sally Bedell Smith, a previous biographer, that when Johnnie was filming Diana, “she would automatically sort of make gestures and strike poses.” Honing her star power became, Brown observes, the bereft little girl’s “own way of surviving.”
In theory, this was useful preparation for her relationship with Prince Charles, which first made it into the newspapers in September 1980. By this time, the British press was in a full-scale backlash against “the culture of deference” that had long dominated its society pages. Since Rupert Murdoch’s acquisition of “the prurient News of the World” in 1969 and his reinvigoration, a year later, of The Sun “as a rollicking, up-yours tabloid featuring bare-breasted pinups every day,” England had entered a “racier media age” in which the staid House of Windsor “was acquiring the stale, curdled taste of a British Rail cheese sandwich.” Because “pictures of a middle-aged Princess Margaret churning grandly around the dance floor in her caftan in Mustique hardly moved product” — and Brown should know, having trumpeted that princess’ “Mustique mystique” for The Tatler — “the guessing game of the Prince of Wales’s love life was the sole excitement for the media.” And what excitement it was. The prince was Europe’s most eligible bachelor, and his romantic exploits became fodder for an increasingly rapacious media machine.
Before Diana, Charles had tried to evade the tabloids’ scrutiny by bedding married women, “because the need for secrecy made them ‘safe.’ ” But when he began appearing publicly with Diana — the 19-year-old debutante with a “soft, peachy complexion” and legs that seemed “to extend up to her ears like Bambi” — secrecy ceased to be an option. The paparazzi went wild for the girl who was not only (as an aristocrat, Protestant and self-proclaimed virgin) an ideal royal bride, but also a magnificently photogenic subject. Notwithstanding her “Shy Di” nickname, born of her habit of glancing up coyly at the camera from beneath batting eyelashes, Diana proved “a natural at giving the press what they wanted”: gorgeous pictures. “One by one,” according to Brown, “the hack pack fell in love with her.”
Winning the affection of the press was not, however, the same thing as winning the affection of Prince Charles, as Diana would soon be devastated to learn. One of the more striking revelations in “The Diana Chronicles” is that it was the media just as much as the royal family — ready for Charles to stop dithering and settle down — that propelled him into marriage with a woman he didn’t love. A former royal-watcher for The Sun told Brown: “We really got behind Diana and pushed her towards him. I am absolutely convinced that we the media forced Charles to marry her.”
The prince’s heart belonged to his married girlfriend, Camilla Parker Bowles (now his second wife), but as heir to the throne, he was neither encouraged nor expected to follow his heart. The problem was that the tabloids — and Diana, who consumed them avidly — insisted on a different story line: He’s in Love. Other biographers have attributed the subsequent unraveling of the Waleses’ marriage to Charles’s cruelty (Andrew Morton) or Diana’s mental illness (Sally Bedell Smith), but Brown chalks the disaster up to the bride’s naïve belief in a tabloid fiction. She and the media became partners in ignoring the warning signs from the groom himself, like his now notorious reply when, receiving news of the couple’s engagement in February 1981, a BBC reporter asked Charles if he and his fiancée were in love: “Whatever ‘in love’ means.” Amazingly, Brown points out, “the print press literally erased” the phrase “from their accounts. No one, it seems, wanted to break the spell.” Least of all Diana, who answered the reporter’s “love” question with a giggle: “Of course.”
The bride was in for a rude awakening. And though most of the Waleses’ sordid domestic drama has already been covered at length elsewhere, Brown perceptively highlights the media’s starring role. Once married to Charles, Diana chafed at playing second fiddle not only to Camilla but also to Queen Elizabeth. While still a newlywed, she was deeply offended when Charles offered his mother a drink before her. “I always thought it was the wife first — stupid thought,” she complained afterward. Brown observes that first offering drinks to an older woman — queen or not — “was only basic good manners” and concludes: “Stupid thought, yes, or maybe something worse: the onset of superstar entitlement. ... Six months of adulation from the press had begun to reshape Diana’s worldview.” Offended by the Windsors’ failure to appreciate the qualities everyone else seemed to admire, she turned increasingly to the tabloids to nourish and sustain her.
To that end, Diana became a master of press manipulation, regularly leaking tips and planting stories about both herself and her enemies. She also understood the incomparable power of the image, which led her, at the height of her problems with Charles, to pose for a photograph alone in front of the Taj Mahal, “the monument to marital love.” In one of the book’s many new interviews, John Travolta tells Brown about his legendary dance with Diana at the White House in 1985: “I thought, She not only knows who she is, she knows what this is — and how big this is. She was so savvy about the media impact of it all.”
Yet Diana’s savvy had its limits. For although her public-relations wizardry enabled her repeatedly to upstage and — with the tell-all interviews she did in 1992 and 1995 — humiliate the Windsors, it did more than just give the monarchy an appealing, “human” face. By inviting the press to share in her most intimate experiences, the princess abolished every last vestige of celebrity privacy. And by providing the press with picture after dazzling, salable picture, she stoked “the media’s inexhaustible appetite for celebrity images.” In an extended meteorological conceit, Brown observes: “The sunshine of publicity in which Diana would at first be happy to bask, posing and smiling for the cameras, grew steadily hotter and harsher. As the superheated imperatives of an invasive press bumped up increasingly against the milder human necessity of privacy, scattered rains gave way to drenching gales and then to spectacular and finally lethal hurricanes. ... Diana herself had accelerated the climate change that ended up making her life literally impossible.” Mistakenly, she thought she could “control the genie she had released.”
But the genie pursued her to the end, right into the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris, where a high-speed paparazzi chase culminated in the princess’ death. Lying unconscious and badly wounded in the wreckage of a black Mercedes, Diana continued to inspire the frenzied photographers. As the picture editor of The Sun confessed to Brown, that very evening he initially agreed to pay £300,000 to one of the shutterbugs who had followed the Mercedes into the tunnel for snapshots of its mangled blond occupant. “Even as Diana struggled for life,” Brown writes, “she was being sold as an exclusive.”
Representation with Playmobiles of a memorable moment of modern Greek history.
1988 - Athens, Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou returns from Harefield Hospital in London after a two-months nursing and an open heart surgery. During his nursing there were rumours about an extramarital affair with an airhostess of Olympic Airlines. When the plane arrived at the airport and Andreas Papandreou stepped out of the aircraft millions of PASOK (socialist party) fans gathered for his return went crazy. He went down some stairs and then turned back: with a nod to Dimitra Liani (the airhostess) he called her to follow him, solemnizing by this way his extramarital affair. Watch the video: youtu.be/NlLslSjxB-8
The Playmobile representation is part of the exhibition GR80's: Greece in the Eighties.
Last week I was just experimenting with the shape of the bokeh... After some 7 to 8 shots this picture impressed me somewhat.. It actually reminded me of something you know what!!
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Elena Sangro in Triboulet (Febo Mari, 1923).
Elena Sangro (1896-1969) was one of the main acresses of the Italian cinema of the 1920s. In spite of the general film crisis then, she made one film after another. She was also one of D'Annunzio's mistresses, who dedicated her a poem entitled "Alla Piacente". Here we see her in Triboulet (Febo Mari 1923), a period piece on the infamous loves of king Francis I of France (Achille Vitti). He falls in love with Gilletta (Sangro), unknowing she is his own daughter, born from an extramarital affair. Gilletta has been raised by the court buffoon Triboulet (Umberto Zanuccoli) and is in love instead with Manfredo (Giovanni Schettini). Manfredo has to endure several adventures in order to liberate Gilletta from the king's clutches.
After acting lessons at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Sangro debuted on stage in La cena delle beffe by Sem Benelli and in Patria by Sardou. Baron Kanzler introduced her to director Enrico Guazzoni who gave the young actress the lead of his film Fabiola (1918). After the success of the film, more roles followed such as La Gerusalemme liberata (another epic by Guazzoni also in 1918), Primerose (Mario Caserini 1919, with Thea antagonist), La principessa Zoe (Diego Angeli 1919) and a series of films in which her cousin Giorgi Fini was her partner: Il più forte amore (1920), Il fauno di marmo (Mario Bonnard 1921) and L'eredità di Caino (Giuseppe Maria Viti 1921). Fini, alas, died very young. Sangro is a singer who sacrifices herself for an unworthy man in L'onesto mondo (Torello Rolli 1921), and she is a proud and patriottic princess in Saracinesca (Augusto Camerini, Gaston Ravel 1922), set in papal Rome. Also in 1922 she played in the pro-Montenegro drama Non c'è resurrezione senza morte, based on the memories of Vladimir Popovic, directed by Edoardo Bencivenga and personally produced by Sangro. A pro-Montenegro group, headed by D'Annunzio, promoted the film. A few years ago the film was found, restored, and presented at he Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy.
After Triboulet (1924 see above), Sangro played the proud Poppea in the epic Quo vadis? (Gabriele D'Annunzio/Georg Jacoby 1924), the seductive Proserpina in the fantastic comedy Maciste all'inferno (Guido Brignone 1926), so dear to the young Fellini, and the amazone Sarah in Maciste nella gabbia dei leoni (Brignone 1926). She was the seductress opposite Carmen Boni and Walter Slezak in Addio giovinezza (Augusto Genina 1927) and she played an actress in Germany in Villa Falconieri (Richard Oswald 1928) starring Maria Jacobini. Elena Sangro finished her career in silent film as the spicy Madonna Orietta in the heavily censored Boccaccesca (Alfredo De Antoni 1928). In the sound era, Sangro returned to the stage and singing under the pseudonym of Lilia Flores. Occasionally she played small parts in films, as in the period piece L'abito nero da sposa (Luigi Zampa 1945). In the early 1940s Sangro shot various art documentaries, with Anton Bià. The last job of this restless woman was president of Associazione dei Pionieri del Cinema, an initiative begun in the early 1960s in order to saveguard this important part of film history.
Sources: Vittorio Martinelli, Le dive del silenzio; Vittorio Martinelli, Il cinema italiano, 1923-1931; IMDB.
Princess Stéphanie Clotilde Louise Herminie Marie Charlotte of Belgium (21 May 1864 – 23 August 1945) was a Belgian princess who became Crown Princess of Austria through marriage to Crown Prince Rudolf, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Princess Stéphanie was the second daughter of King Leopold II of Belgium and Marie Henriette of Austria. She married in Vienna on 10 May 1881, Crown Prince Rudolf, son and heir of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. They had one child, Archduchess Elisabeth Marie. Stéphanie's marriage quickly became fragile. Rudolf, depressed and disappointed by politics, had multiple extramarital affairs, and contracted a venereal disease that he transmitted to his wife, rendering her unable to conceive again. In 1889, Rudolf and his mistress Mary Vetsera were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide pact at the imperial hunting lodge at Mayerling in the Vienna Woods.
In 1900, Stéphanie married again, to Count Elemér Lónyay de Nagy-Lónya et Vásáros-Namény, a Hungarian nobleman of lower rank; for this, she was excluded from the House of Austria-Hungary. However, this second union was happy. After the death of her father in 1909, Stéphanie joined her older sister Louise to claim from the Belgian courts the share of the inheritance of which they both felt they had been stripped.
Until World War II, Count and Countess Lónyay (elevated to the princely rank in 1917) peacefully spent their lives at Rusovce Mansion in Slovakia. In 1935, Stéphanie published her memoirs, entitled Je devais être impératrice ("I Had to Be Empress"). In 1944, she disinherited her daughter, who had divorced to live with a socialist deputy and whom she had not seen since 1925. The arrival of the Red Army in April 1945, at the end of the war, forced Stéphanie and her husband to leave their residence and take refuge in the Pannonhalma Archabbey in Hungary. Stéphanie died of a stroke in the abbey later the same year.
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s363 Br.23 9844 Vienac1888 Kraljevna Stefanija Vienac Zabavi i pouci Tečaj XX Urednici V. Klaić i M. Maravić u Zagrebu Tisak Dioničke tiskare Princess Stéphanie Clotilde Louise Herminie Marie Charlotte of Belgium (21 May 1864 – 23 August 1945)
Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Today however we have headed a short distance north-east across London, away from Cavendish Mews and Mayfair, over Paddington and past Lisson Grove to the comfortably affluent suburb of Little Venice with its cream painted Regency terraces and railing surrounded public parks. Here in Clifton Gardens Lettice’s maiden Aunt Eglantine, affectionately known as Aunt Egg by her nieces and nephews, lives in a beautiful four storey house that is part of a terrace of twelve. Eglantine Chetwynd is Viscount Wrexham’s younger sister, and as well as being unmarried, is an artist and ceramicist of some acclaim. Originally a member of the Pre-Raphaelites* in England, these days she flits through artistic and bohemian circles and when not at home in her spacious and light filled studio at the rear of her garden, can be found mixing with mostly younger artistic friends in Chelsea. Her unmarried status, outlandish choice of friends and rather reformist and unusual dress sense shocks Lettice’s mother, Lady Sadie, and attracts her derision. In addition, she draws Sadie’s ire, as Aunt Egg has always received far more affection and preferential treatment from her children. Viscount Wrexham on the other hand adores his artistic little sister, and has always made sure that she can live the lifestyle she chooses and create art.
Before going into luncheon, Lettice is taking tea with her favourite aunt in her wonderfully overcluttered drawing room, which unlike most other houses in the terrace where the drawing room is located in the front and overlooks the street, is nestled at the back of the house, overlooking the beautiful and slightly rambunctious rear garden and studio. It is just another example of Lettice’s aunt flouting the conventions women like Lady Sadie cling to. The room is overstuffed with an eclectic collection of bric-à-brac. Antique vases and ornamental plates jostle for space with pieces of Eglantyne’s own work and that of her artistic friends on whatnots and occasional tables, across the mantle and throughout several glass fronted china cabinets. Every surface is cluttered to over capacity. As Lettice picks up the fine blue and gilt cup of tea proffered by her aunt, she cannot help but feel sorry for Augusta, Eglantine’s Swiss head parlour maid and Clotilde, the second parlour maid, who must feel that their endless dusting is futile, for no sooner would they have finished a room than they would have to start again since dust would have settled where they began. In addition to being a fine ceramicist, Eglantyne is also an expert embroiderer, and her works appear on embroidered cushions, footstools and even a pole fire screen to Lettice’s left as she settles back into a rather ornate corner chair that Eglantyne always saves for guests.
“So, how did you find Gossington, Lettice?” Eglantine asks as she sips tea from her own gilt edged teacup.
When she was young, Eglantine had Titian red hair that fell in wavy tresses about her pale face, making her a popular muse amongst the Pre-Raphaelites she mixed with. With the passing years, her red hair has retreated almost entirely behind silver grey, save for the occasional streak of washed out reddish orange, yet she still wears it as she did when it was at its fiery best, sweeping softly about her almond shaped face, tied in a loose chignon at the back of her neck. Large blue glass droplets hang from her ears, glowing in the diffused light filtering through the lace curtains that frame the window overlooking the garden. The earrings match the sparkling blue bead necklace about her neck that cascades over the top of her usual uniform of a lose Delphos dress** that does not require her to wear a corset of any kind.
“Oh it was splendid, Aunt Egg.” Lettice enthuses from her seat. “The Caxtons really are a fascinating and rather eccentric pair.”
“Yes,” muses Eglantine with a smile. “That’s why I like them, and always have. I knew you would too.”
“I didn’t know you were acquainted with them, and certainly not well enough to obtain an invitation for me, and Margot and Dickie.”
“Well, I didn’t want your first visit to Gossington be one you entered into by yourself. Whilst I know you can hold you own socially, my dear, I sometimes feel the first visit to Gossington can be a bit daunting if you are on your own, especially with so many witty young writers and poets in Gladys’ circle. I’ve heard and witnessed her houseguests saying the wrong thing in front of a wit, and before you know it, they become the butt end of witticisms all weekend, which can become rather tiresome after the first evening if you are subject to them.”
“Well, luckily nothing like that happened on my visit to me, Margot or Dickie: in fact no-one really.”
“It must have been a more sedate weekend then.” Eglantyne remarks sagely. “No Cecil or Noël then, I take it?”
“Cecil?” Lettice queries, before thinking again. “Cecil, Beaton***? Noël Coward****?”
“Yes.” Eglantyne remarks nonchalantly as she tugs at the edges of her soft pink silk knitted cardigan’s tassel ties to loosen it around her waist. “I do love them both dearly, and they’re terribly fun and awfully clever, but their wit, Noël’s especially, can be quite cutting. Noël’s planning to put out a new show later this year after his success in America and here with ‘The Young Idea’*****. It’s called ‘The Maelstrom’ or ‘The Vortex’****** or some such thing. It’s about a relationship between a son and his vain and aging mother.” She rolls her eyes. “Which could be really rather tedious, with two actors quipping at one another over three acts, except he’s decided to make the mother character a promiscuous creature with an extramarital affair at the heart of the play, and throw in some drug abuse just for a bit of spice, which should make it a roaring success, and an entertaining evening at the theatre, or at least we all hope so.”
“No, they weren’t there.” Lettice admits. “I would have loved it if Noël Coward was though. Gerald would have been green with envy. He has a fascination with him.”
“Well, I’m hardly surprised by that.” Eglantyne replies, looking her niece squarely in the face, giving her a knowing look. “They have so much in common, as he does with Cecil.” She cocks an eyebrow and moved her head slightly.
“Aunt Egg!” Lettice gasps, raising her hand to her throat, where she clasps at the dainty string of pearls she wears as she feels a flush of embarrassment begin to work its way up her neck and to her cheeks.
“Surely you aren’t shocked, my dear?” Eglantyne says, before carefully placing her cup back on to the galleried silver tray on her petit point embroidered footstool, on which the teapot, milk jug and sugar bowl stand. “When you’ve moved in the artistic circles I have, you learn very quickly that love comes in many forms – not just between a man and woman.”
“I am shocked, Aunt Egg.” Lettice admits, smoothing the crepe skirt of the eau de nil frock she is wearing. “I’ve always told Gerald to be so careful.”
“Oh, come dear: a man running a frock shop! It may be all well and good in Paris, but not in London, my dear!”
“There’s Norman Hartnell*******.” Lettice counters.
“Exactly!” replies Eglantyne with a knowing nod. “Anyway, however discreet Gerald may be, I have it on very good authority from acquaintances of mine in Chelsea, that he has been seen at select gatherings of like-minded souls with a rather talented and handsome young West End clarinettist on his arm.”
“Who told you about Gerald and Cyril?”
“Never you mind, Lettice my dear. I’m not giving up two of my very best sources of delicious London society gossip to you, just so you can go and tell them to keep mum! I want to know all the ins and outs of what is going on, especially about people I know. I need my little indulgences, since I cannot be everywhere as I’d like to be, and I am no longer quite the topic of drawing room conversation any more as my star fades. Even my art is now seen as Fin de Siècle********, rather than à la mode********* by the newer generation of artists, in spite of my best efforts to try new things and keep ahead of the trends.” She sighs. “I fear it is a lost cause. We all of us will fall out of fashion one day.” She pauses and considers something for a moment. “Goodness! I’m starting to sound like the mother in Noël’s new play. If I didn’t know he’d based her on Grace Forster**********, I might assume he had done so on me!” She reaches out and grasps Lettice’s bare forearm near her elbow and squeezes it comfortingly. “Don’t worry, I won’t speak out-of-turn about our dear Gerald. I know he’s your best chum from childhood days, and I love him almost as much as you do. His secret is perfectly safe with me.”
“Well, I’m grateful for that.” Lettice sighs. “I do worry about Gerald. I have known about his inclinations for a long time now, and I’ve met Cyril several times, but Cyril is more flamboyant and open about who he is than Gerald is.”
“Don’t worry. The gossip stemmed from a perfectly safe source, and as I said, they have only been seen together as a couple at select parties where such inclinations are not uncommon.” Eglantyne releases a satisfied sigh, indicating the conclusion of that particular conversation. “Now, thinking about acquaintances, and going back to your original question about my acquaintance with the Caxtons: I’ve known Gladys for longer than I’ve known John. I knew her when she had published her first Madeline St John novel. What she writes is ghastly romantic drivel in my opinion, and I was horrified to find you reading her romance novels, Lettice.”
“I don’t read them any more, thanks to Margot, who has broadened my reading range considerably from Madeline St John romances.”
“Well thank goodness for Margot Channon!” Eglantine breathes a sigh of relief. “Jolly good show, Margot. I never thought of her as a great reader of anything outside the society and fashion pages of the newspapers.”
“Oh, she’s a great reader, Aunt Egg. But my maid likes to read Madeline St John novels. She was positively beside herself with excitement when she found out I was meeting her favourite authoress.
“Well, I don’t know if I approve any more of your maid reading such romances than I do you, but whatever I may or may not think of the good of Gladys’ novels, they obviously have a broad appeal. Anyway, after her moderate success with her initial books, she met John, and then she became a patron to the arts thanks to the Caxton brewery money. She even bought more than her fair share of some of my ceramic pieces. Simply because she could, and she could promote my work.”
“I know, Aunt Egg. She showed me.”
“Anyway, it was really just by a stroke of good fortune that you received your invitation at just the right time.”
“Not according to Lally, Aunt Egg. She was put out because it rather spoiled the plans she had for us whilst I was staying with her at Dorrington House, and I think she was a little hurt that she wasn’t included in the invitation to Gossington, but Margot and Dickie were.”
“That might explain why she was so short with me when I telephoned Buckinghamshire last week to ask after her wellbeing and that of the children in Charles’ absence. Well,” She sighs in an exasperated fashion. “I cannot extend the largess of someone else any more than I already did to wrangle you and the Channons an invitation.” Eglantyne takes another sip of her tea. “It actually came about because Glady telephoned me a few weeks before Christmas. She was vying for an introduction to you after reading the article about you in Country Life. As you now know, her niece Phoebe has come into property here in London, and Gladys felt Phoebe needed a push to redecorate and make the place more her own, rather than simply adding a layer to her parent’s designs.” She pauses again. “I take it you did accept Glady’s commission.”
“Gladys is a little hard to refuse, Aunt Egg.” Lettice admits, before taking another sip from her cup. “She would have worn me down at length if I had said no.”
“Oh yes, that’s Gladys!” Eglantyne chortles, making the faceted bugle beads tumbling down the front of her sea green Delphos gown jangle about, glinting prettily. “She wears everyone down eventually.”
“But as it was, she didn’t have to, and I said yes.”
“Good for you, Lettice. It will be healthy for you to be working and creative. It will take your mind off all this Selwyn Spencely business. I take it you haven’t heard from him?” When Lettice bites her lower lip and shakes her head, Eglantyne continues. “Pity. I always thought him more of a man and would stand up to his bullying mother. She always did ride roughshod in everything she did when she was younger.”
“I wouldn’t dare go against lady Zinnia’s wishes, Aunt Egg. She’s positively terrifying.”
“You do realise that this is potentially your new mother-in-law if all goes according to your wishes for you and Selwyn, Lettice?”
“Of course!” Lettice replies. Then she pauses and her face clouds over. “Mind you, I hadn’t really considered the concept any more than an abstracted and distant idea until you just mentioned it. That is a rather frightening thought, especially if she doesn’t particularly like me.”
“Zinnia doesn’t like most women, Lettice, especially ones whom she perceives as a threat to her, or her well laid plans. You are young and pretty, and far more fashionable than she is. You are intelligent and often challenge the world and your place in it, as you should. However, like me, Zinnia’s star is fading as she gets older. She won’t always wield this power she currently has over Selwyn, especially if he comes back from Durban in a year feeling the same as when he left. You told me that Zinnia had agreed that Selwyn could marry you if he felt inclined upon his return.”
Lettice nods in response to her aunt’s statement, which comes across as more of a question.
“And you still love him?”
“Aunt Egg!” Lettice gasps. “How can you even ask?”
“You are young, my dear. When I was your age, I was forever changing my mind about all sorts of things: what to do, where to go, what to wear.”
“Well, Selwyn isn’t a Sunday best hat, subject to the fickle of fashion, Aunt Egg.”
“Just so, my dear. So long as you are sure.”
“I am, Aunt Egg.” Lettice replies with a steeliness in her voice. “Most definitely.”
The two ladies fall into a companionable silence for a short while, momentarily distracted by their own private thoughts. Between them on the mantle, Eglantyne’s gilt Georgian carriage clock marks the passing of the minutes with gentle ticks that echo between the two women, the sound absorbed by all the soft furnishings and knick-knacks around the room.
“Aunt Egg?” Lettice ventures tentatively at length.
“Yes, my dear?”
“What did you mean by Gladys wearing everyone down?”
“Just that my dear. Gladys has always had the power to pester people into submission.” Eglantyne laughs. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, it’s a few things, really. To begin with it was something Sir John said.”
“John?”
“Oh, not her husband, Sir John – Sir John Nettleford-Hughes.”
“Good heavens!” Eglantyne gasps. “Was he there? Nasty old lecher. I still can’t believe Sadie invited him to that matchmaking ball she held for you, when she knows as much about his reputation as a womaniser as I do.”
“He was there, Aunt Egg, and he was actually very nice to me throughout the weekend, and not the least predatorial.”
“Will wonders never cease? Does he have an ulterior motive?”
“Not that I’m aware of, Aunt Egg.”
“Well, just mind yourself around him, my dear Lettice. I’m no prude like your mother, but I do know that he isn’t a man with whom you can let down your guard. Always be on alert with him.”
“Yes, Aunt Egg.”
“Good girl. Of course, I should hardly be surprised that he was talking about Gladys. It’s no secret that when Gladys was still Gladys Chambers, she and Sir John Nettleford-Huges were an item. Then she met Sir John Caxton, and that ended the affair. You did know that, didn’t you Lettice?”
“Not before Sir John arrived late to dinner on our first evening at Gossington. But then Gladys told us a few stories about their time together over the course of the weekend.” Lettice blushes as she remembers the tale Lady Gladys told the company at dinner of Sir John eating fruit from the small of her back.
“Yes, I’m sure she did.” Eglantyne’s mouth narrows in distaste. “Her taste in men was always questionable prior to her meeting her husband. Anyway, what did Sir John Nettleford-Hughes have to say that would trouble you, my dear?”
“Well, he said Gladys usually wears people down to her way of thinking in the end.”
“And why does that concern you, Lettice? Are you worried that Gladys is going to insist on making changes Phoebe or you don’t like? I can assure you that she adores her niece. Phoebe is the daughter Gladys never planned to have, but also the child Gladys didn’t know could bring her so much joy and fulfilment in her life, as a parent.”
“I don’t doubt that, Aunt Egg, but it does seem to me that there is an ulterior motive to Gladys wanting Phoebe’s flat redecorated.”
“An ulterior motive, Lettice?”
“Yes.” Lettice sighs. “I think Gladys sees her dead brother and sister-in-law as some kind of threat to her happy life with Phoebe.”
“Threat?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a very grave allegation, my dear Lettice.” Eglantyne says with concern. “What proof do you have to support your suspicions.”
“Nothing solid, only circumstantial anecdotes.”
“Such as?”
“Well, when she talks about her deceased brother and sister-in-law in front of Phoebe, or even to Phoebe, she refers to them as ‘Reginald and Marjory’, not ‘your mother and father’ or ‘Phoebe’s parents’.”
Eglantyne pinches the inside of her right cheek between her teeth as she considers Lettice’s observation. “Well, it probably helps keep the waters from getting muddy. The Chambers died out in India when Phoebe was still very young. I would imagine that Gladys and John are more like parents to Phoebe than Reginald and Marjory were.”
“Yes, but nevertheless, they are her parents.” Lettice counters.
“That’s true. But Gladys referring to them as she naturally would by their first names is no reason to see her feeling threatened by their memory, Lettice.” Eglantyne cautions with a wagging finger from which clings a large amethyst ring which sparkles in the light of the drawing room.
“But this brings me back to my concerns about what Sir John Nettleford-Huges said, which culminates with what you said just a moment ago. If Pheobe really is the child that Gladys never had, nor knew she wanted, but that subsequent to her discovery of the joy of parenthood Gladys’ narrative with Pheobe is for her to look upon Gladys more as a mother than her own mother, then she would naturally want to put an emotional distance between Phobe and the memory of her own mother. I think she is deliberately trying to eradicate the memory of Reginald and Marjory from Pheobe’s mind.”
“I really do think you are overdramatising things, Lettice my dear.” Eglantyne insists. “Gladys loves Phoebe. Why on earth would she want to banish her precious memories of her parents, who were taken far too soon?”
“Because she sees them as a threat to the legitimacy of her rearing of Phoebe.”
“But how can two dead people threaten what Gladys and John did, stepping in to take care of Phoebe as their ward?”
“Nothing, but that doesn’t mean that Gladys doesn’t think it. People can be irrational, Aunt Egg.”
“The only person I am thinking may be a little irrational at present, I’m sorry to say, is you, my dear.”
“But Gladys doesn’t have anything nice to say about her brother or sister-in-law. She is very dismissive of their memory, and she is openly disparaging in her remarks about Marjory.”
“Well, it is true that Gladys always felt that Reginald could have married someone grander than Marjory, who was just a middle-class solicitor’s daughter from Swiss Cottage***********. But really, Lettice, how does this dislike of Reginald’s choice in wife manifest itself as a threat to Gladys?”
“Well, when I was taking to Phoebe about redecorating her parent’s Bloomsbury flat, she seemed quite uninspired by the idea. She seems perfectly happy to leave things as they are, whereas it is Gladys who seems intent on redecorating every part of the flat, and in so doing remove any memory of her brother and his wife. She is quite enthusiastic about it, as a matter-of-fact.”
“Look, Lettice,” Eglantyne says, leaning forward in her wing backed chair and looking her niece earnestly in the face. “You’ve met Phoebe now. You know how fey she is.”
“Yes, that’s an apt description of her, Aunt Egg. My thoughts were that she has a very other worldly way about her.”
“Exactly, Lettice. So, you also know that she isn’t like Gladys. She doesn’t express her opinions readily.”
“I’ll say. It was hard enough to squeeze a colour choice to redecorate the flat with out of her.”
“And that’s why Gladys came to me, asking for your services. She is concerned that Phoebe is so disinterested in anything beyond her studies in horticulture that she will never redecorate the flat. She thought that being closer to Phoebe’s age, you might be able to make some headway where she, being so much older, has failed.”
“But would it be so bad for Phoebe to leave things the way they are in Bloomsbury, if the arrangement in existence suits her?”
“If Sadie had given you a fully furnished flat, would you have left it decorated in the way she gave it to you, Lettice?”
“Of course not!” Lettice scoffs.
“Exactly!”
“But that’s because I am an interior designer, and I have my own independent ideas about what my home should look like.”
“Of course you do.” Eglantyne soothes. “So, think for a moment. Even with her backwards ways of thinking, has Sadie ever tried to stop you from redecorating your own flat at Cavendish Mews?”
“Well, no.” Lettice says. “But what does that have to do with Gladys and Phoebe?”
“Sadie wouldn’t stop you from having some independence and would allow you to express your own opinions in style at the very least. Perhaps Gladys is trying to instil the same streak of independence in Phoebe, which is obviously so sorely lacking in her.” She tuts. “Consider that, my dear, before you go accusing Gladys of wishing to wipe away the memory of her brother and sister-in-law. Now.” The older woman gets to her feet with a groan. “I must see what is happening with luncheon.” She groans again as she rubs the small of her back. “Augusta is very good, but like me, she has been slowing down a little bit as of late. We’re all getting older. Please excuse me, my dear.”
Lettice sits in her chair and contemplates what her aunt has said as she watches the woman love elegantly around china cabinets the sofa and occasional tables as she wends her way to the drawing room door. What Eglantine says is true, but at the same time, Lettice cannot help but feel that her own judgement of the situation is somehow more in line with the truth of the matter. Lady Gladys has agreed to arrange a time, when she is back in London promoting her latest romance novel, to take Lettice to view Phoebe’s Bloomsbury flat, and she wonders what that occasion will be like.
*The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner who formed a seven-member "Brotherhood" modelled in part on the Nazarene movement. The Brotherhood was only ever a loose association and their principles were shared by other artists of the time, including Ford Madox Brown, Arthur Hughes and Marie Spartali Stillman. Later followers of the principles of the Brotherhood included Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris and John William Waterhouse. The group sought a return to the abundant detail, intense colours and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian art. They rejected what they regarded as the mechanistic approach first adopted by Mannerist artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo. The Brotherhood believed the classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular had been a corrupting influence on the academic teaching of art, hence the name "Pre-Raphaelite".
**The Delphos gown is a finely pleated silk dress first created in about 1907 by French designer Henriette Negrin and her husband, Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo. They produced the gowns until about 1950. It was inspired by, and named after, a classical Greek statue, the Charioteer of Delphi. It was championed by more artistic women who did not wish to conform to society’s constraints and wear a tightly fitting corset.
***Cecil Beaton was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as an Oscar winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre. Although he had relationships with women including actress Greta Garbo, he was a well-known homosexual.
****Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise". He too was a well-known homosexual, even though it was taboo in England for much of his life.
*****’The Young Idea’, subtitled ‘A comedy of youth in three acts’, is an early play by Noël Coward, written in 1921 and first produced the following year. After a pre-London provincial tour it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 60 performances from 1 February 1923, and is one of Noel Coward’s first commercial successes, albeit moderate. The play portrays the successful manoeuvring by two young adults to prise their father away from his unsympathetic second wife and reunite him with his first wife, their mother.
******’The Vortex’ is a play in three acts by the English writer and actor Noël Coward. The play depicts the sexual vanity of a rich, ageing beauty, her troubled relationship with her adult son, and drug abuse in British society circles after the First World War. The son's cocaine habit is seen by many critics as a metaphor for homosexuality, then taboo in Britain. Despite, or because of, its scandalous content for the time, the play was Coward's first great commercial success. The play premiered in November 1924 in London and played in three theatres until June 1925, followed by a British tour and a New York production in 1925 and 1926. It has enjoyed several revivals and a film adaptation.
*******Norman Hartnell was a leading British fashion designer, best known for his work for the ladies of the royal family. Hartnell gained the Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) in 1940, and Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth II in 1957. Princess Beatrice also wore a dress designed for Queen Elizabeth II by Hartnell for her wedding in 2020. He worked unsuccessfully for two London designers, including Lucile (Lady Duff Gordon), whom he sued for damages when several of his drawings appeared unattributed in her weekly fashion column in the London Daily Sketch. He eventually opened his own business at 10 Bruton Street, Mayfair in 1923, with the financial help of his father and first business colleague, his sister Phyllis. In the mid-1950s, Hartnell reached the peak of his fame and the business employed some 500 people together with many others in the ancillary businesses. Hartnell never married, but enjoyed a discreet and quiet life at a time when homosexual relations between men were illegal.
********Fin de Siècle is a French phrase meaning 'end of century' and is applied specifically as a historical term to the end of the nineteenth century and even more specifically to decade of 1890s.
*********The term à la mode, meaning fashionable comes from the French and means literally "according to the fashion".
**********Grace Forster was the elegant mother of Noël Coward’s friend Stewart Forster. Grace was talking to a young admirer, when a young woman within earshot of Noël and Stewart said, "Will you look at that old hag over there with the young man in tow; she's old enough to be his mother". Forster paid no attention, and Coward immediately went across and embraced Grace, as a silent rebuke to the young woman who had made the remark. The episode led him to consider how a "mother–young son–young lover triangle" might be the basis of a play. Thus ‘The Vortex’ synopsis was born.
***********Swiss Cottage is an area of Hampstead in the Borough of Camden in London. It is centred on the junction of Avenue Road and Finchley Road and includes Swiss Cottage tube station. Swiss Cottage lies three and a quarter miles northwest of Charing Cross. The area was named after a public house in the centre of it, known as "Ye Olde Swiss Cottage". Once developed, Swiss Cottage was always a well-to-do suburb of middle and upper middle-class citizens in better professions.
This lovely tea set might look like something your mother or grandmother used, but this set is a bit different, for like everything around it, it is part of my 1:12 miniatures collection.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
Aunt Egg's dainty tea set on the embroidered footstool is made of white metal by Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces. The set has been hand painted by artisan miniaturist Victoria Fasken.
The footstool on which the tea set stands is made by the high-end miniature furniture maker, Bespaq, but what is particularly special about it is that it has been covered in antique Austrian floral micro petite point by V.H. Miniatures in the United Kingdom, which makes this a one-of-a-kind piece. The artisan who made this says that as one of her hobbies, she enjoys visiting old National Trust Houses in the hope of getting some inspiration to help her create new and exciting miniatures. She saw some beautiful petit point chairs a few years ago in one of the big houses in Derbyshire and then found exquisitely detailed petit point that was fine enough for 1:12 scale projects.
The fireplace and its ornate overmantle is a “Kensignton” model also made by the high-end miniature furniture maker, Bespaq. The peacock feather fire screen, brass fire tools and ornate brass fender come from various online 1:12 miniature suppliers.
The round hand embroidered footstool at the left of the photograph acquired through Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House Shop in the United Kingdom, as was the 1:12 artisan miniature sewing box on the small black japanned table in the background
The Oriental rug on the floor has been woven by Pike, Pike and Company in the United Kingdom.
"Lord Cornwallis objected to the union on the grounds that the Gordon blood was tainted by madness. This was not unfounded; Lord George Gordon's increasingly bizarre behavior had sparked the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots; it now manifested itself in conversion to Judaism, a floor-length gray beard, and the name Israel Abraham George Gordon. Jane [Maxwell, Duchess of Gordon] efficiently resolved this problem by confidentially informing Lord Cornwallis that "Louisa has not a drop of Gordon blood in her veins." This is perhaps fair enough, when the duke's extramarital record is taken into account; in any case it seems to have satisfied Lord Cornwallis, for the marriage went ahead."
from Robin Brooks's "The Portland Vase - The Extraordinary Odyssey of a Mysterious Roman Treasure", published in 2004 by Harper Collins Publishers (p.166)