Annette Kellerman, 20th Century Woman

Annette Kellerman
Annette Kellerman

On March 11, 1911, Jessie wrote in her diary, “Went to the Orpheum with Douglas. It was the best bill that’s been there this year — ‘Twas grand. Antoinette (sic) Kellerman the ‘perfect woman’ was there. She sure was a beaut. Did some classy diving too.” Jessie misspelled her name, probably because she had some very dear family friends named Antoinette. Annette Kellerman was named the “Perfect Woman” reportedly by a Harvard professor who compared the measurements of the Venus de Milo with those of 3000 women, and proclaimed her to be that perfect woman.

She was an amazing woman in many ways.  Annette Kellerman (1887-1975) made her name as a swimmer and diver in her home country of Australia. Her parents, both musicians and teachers, were having financial problems, so Annette and her father set off for London. She began to do swimming exhibitions, swimming several miles in the oily Thames, swimming along the English coast from town to town. She went to Europe and did the same, racing 17 men in the Seine and coming in third. In 1905 she became the first woman to attempt to swim the English Channel. She tried and failed 3 times, reportedly saying that she had the endurance but not the strength.

Annette Kellerman
Annette Kellerman

Nevertheless, these attempts brought her great publicity, and she soon came to the States to perform in a giant glass tank in White City, Chicago (a huge amusement park) and the Hippodrome in New York.  She performed underwater ballet, something totally new, and became a sensation. Her grace and skill in the water combined with her beauty and personal charisma, as well as the fantasy themes of her productions, eventually made her the highest paid vaudeville star in the U.S.

Annette Kellerman, A Daughter of the Gods
Annette Kellerman, A Daughter of the Gods

She also was a pioneer in her silent film career, becoming the first major film star to appear totally nude on screen in A Daughter of the Gods. In one of her films, she choreographed a scene with a large number of actors to perform with her underwater, thus creating the art/sport of synchronized swimming. In 1911 she starred in The Mermaid and became the first screen siren/mermaid with a mermaid costume that she actually swam in. Kellerman made quite a few movies after that with an aquatic theme. She became one of the most powerful women in the silent film industry in the control she exerted over almost every aspect of the films she was in, from script to location to lighting and costumes.

The Mermaid, Annette Kellerman 1911
The Mermaid, Annette Kellerman 1911

Kellerman also wrote several books on physical fitness and health, but she felt that the most important contribution she made to the world was her invention of the one-piece form-fitting swim suit for women. For hundreds of years women had effectively been banned from swimming because of the bulky and cumbersome attire they were expected to wear. Swimming is very difficult in woolen skirts and pantaloons. At the turn of the 20th century competitive swimming was just becoming popular in Australia, and it was not unusual for women swimmers there to wear the men’s swimming attire – a one-piece jumper with shorts to the mid-thigh and a tank top. This is what Kellerman wore for her swimming and diving exhibitions, and it was shocking to most of the rest of the world. In fact, on a U.S. beach she was arrested for public indecency for wearing such attire. To make her swimsuit more ‘respectable,’ she took a pair of black tights and sewed them to the bottom of the shorts, making the first unitard. This was her famous one-piece swimsuit. Pretty soon all women wanted a form fitting bathing suit. Seeing the demand, and ever an astute business woman, she designed a line of bathing suits with the close fitting short unitard underneath and a close fitting tank top that went to mid-thigh or the knee. These suits became known as Annette Kellermans.

Jessie in an Annette Kellerman, 1920
Jessie in an Annette Kellerman, 1920

Annette Kellerman was truly an amazing women. An athlete, actress, author, life-long vegetarian, inventor, business woman and visionary, she was an important part of the women’s revolution that was going on at the time – getting the right to vote and freedom from restrictive clothing.  Through her career and life, she pushed all women forward toward greater personal responsibility and freedom of choice in all aspects of their lives. There has been much written about Annette Kellerman. For a good introduction to her life, check out the Australian official website page dedicated to Annette Kellerman.

Annette Kellerman
Annette Kellerman

Kellermanposter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Women’s Fashion, Spring 1911

Georges Barbier illus. for Paul Poiret, 1912
Georges Barbier illus. for Paul Poiret, 1912
Paul Poiret coat 1911
Paul Poiret coat 1911

On March 10, 1911, Jessie and her mother went shopping. Jessie got a tan spring hat, a tan silk pongee coat and a tan silk dress. Of course, I was curious as to what kinds of dresses and hats Jessie might be looking at, and it turns out that this is right at the beginning of a revolution in women’s fashion that is still in effect today. In freeing women from the very restrictive undergarments that had been worn during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, some fashion designers, and especially Paul Poiret (1879-1944), went in the opposite direction. “Requiring less restrictive undergarments and conforming more to the natural shape of the body, Poiret’s designs of 1908–11 are regarded as pivotal in the transition from the rigidly corseted silhouettes of the Victorian and Edwardian eras to styles providing greater freedom and comfort in dress that would characterize twentieth-century fashion.” This from the Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s online exposition on Paul Poiret’s work. Check out this link to view the Metropolitan Museum’s Paul Poiret Collection. Poiret, who was the most important French designer of the first two decades of the 20th century, made clothes that were loose and sometimes draped. Ironic, since he is the designer responsible for the brief fashion craze over hobble skirts. He designed harem pants for women. Unheard of! No doubt Jessie’s new clothes were not designer duds from Paris, but you can see from some of the following images that the empire waistlines were already part of the trend toward less restrictive dresses.

Les Robes de Paul Poiret by Paul Iribe
Les Robes de Paul Poiret by Paul Iribe
1911 Paul Poiret (?)
1911 Paul Poiret (?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hats 1911
Hats 1911
Hats 1911
Hats 1911
Edwardian dress 1911
Edwardian dress 1911

 

The Big Doll

Jessie with the Big Doll
Jessie with the Big Doll

In January 1911, Jessie was 16 years old. She was really past the point of playing with toys too much, but every once in a while she mentioned the big doll. On Christmas Eve Jessie said, “Hung up my stocking and my big doll’s too.” On January 5, 1911, the family spent a quiet evening at home and Jessie “dressed my big doll up pretty.” Since she started writing in her diaries after she received the doll, I don’t know how she got it or from whom. When Jessie had her own daughter (my mother Frances) she gave the doll to her, and when I was a little girl they gave the doll to me. I never had a formal ‘giving’ of the doll to my daughter Jessie, nor did I realize until after my Jessie was grown that I should have taken a photograph of her as a child with the Big Doll. Nevertheless, I’ve done it now! There is now a portrait of Jessie (21st century version) with the Big Doll, and the doll will move into her care eventually.  As you can see from the photos, the doll’s hair has changed through the years.

Frances with the Big Doll
Frances with the Big Doll
Jenny, Vic, Frances & Karen with the Big Doll
Jenny, Vic, Frances & Karen with the Big Doll
Jessie & the Big Doll, 2015
Jessie & the Big Doll, 2015

 

Granny dies, January 1911

Mary Porter Swayne
Mary Porter Swayne

Granny came back home on January 8th. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the house where Jessie and her family lived was Granny’s house. It had been her father’s, Col. E.H. Porter’s, country or farm home. (See the post, Late November 1909) Granny, whose name was Mary Porter Swayne, was Jessie’s maternal grandmother. She seemed to divide her time among all her children and their families, and had just returned home from spending Christmas in Gates. Within a few days Granny fell ill, and 2 weeks from the day she came home, she died, probably from a stroke. She was 77 years old. There really was no good treatment for strokes in the early 1900s. Granny was unconscious most of the time, but a nurse was hired to stay with her, which I am sure was a luxury that many people could not afford. On Monday, January 23, the day after Granny died, they had the funeral at the Old Brick Church (whose land the Porter family had donated many years earlier) and burial at Elmwood in the Swayne family plot. The grandsons were the pallbearers.

chafingdishadOn a lighter note, Jessie’s father gave her a chafing dish for Christmas. That seems to have been one of Jessie’s favorite presents, and, in fact, there was a chafing dish craze going on at the time. College students, bachelors, society dames, teenagers, housewives — everybody seemed to use the chafing dish or know someone who did. Chafing dish recipe booklets were published. Perhaps the renaissance of the chafing dish was brought on by the increasing availability of convenience foods, but the chafing dish itself was an ancient method of heating or slow cooking foods and sauces. Welsh rarebit and fudge may have been the most popular dishes fixed in this early 1900s chafing dish craze. Jessie and her friends had many chafing dish parties in which they usually made fudge.

chafingpartyrosemaryhallc1914
Chafing dish party, Rosemary Hall, c1914
College dorm chaing dish party. Mt. Holyoke
Chafing dish party, Mt. Holyoke College, 1906

A Japanese Musical Spectacle in Memphis, October 1910

Alphonse Mucha
Alphonse Mucha

A big event in October in Memphis was the huge production of Jappyland. As Jessie writes in her diary on October 21, 1910, “The cast includes 300 and oh! such acting. They all wore hobble skirts.” My impression is that a small professional cast of actors/singers were augmented by a huge cast of local people. A newspaper clipping about a production in Portland, Oregon in 1913 is headlined Society Folk To Be Seen In Spectacular “Jappyland.” Perhaps something similar happened in Memphis. Jessie and others she knew rehearsed all month for the production, which took place at the Jefferson Theatre on October 28 & 29, 1910. Jessie was a “Geisha maid,” as she put it.

Jessie in her costume from Jappyland
Jessie in her costume from Jappyland

It is very difficult to find, online at least, and from the comfort of my own home, much information about this musical.  Jappyland: a Japanese Musical Spectacle. It sounds disrespectful and completely politically incorrect, but we must remember the times. The world was just opening up through faster electronic communications. Airplane travel, which would make the world seem much smaller, was just at its naissance. From the end of the 19th century and into the early 20th century a growing interest in the exotic was expressed in the visual arts (e.g., Paul Gauguin’s Tahitian paintings) and music (e.g., Scheherazade, versions by Rimsky Korsakov and Ravel; the opera Turandot by Puccini). This fascination with the foreign and exotic made its way to the U.S and to our vaudeville and musical formats.

Jessie mentioned that the actresses all wore hobble skirts. Here are some examples.

Hobble Skirt, 1910
Hobble Skirt, 1910
Hobble Skirts, 1909-1913
Hobble Skirts, 1909-1913

Another example of exoticism in Alphonse Mucha’s work (and because I like Mucha so much):

Alphonse Mucha, 1896
Alphonse Mucha, 1896

September in Memphis, 1910

I have always wondered what Jessie’s dad, F.S. Latham, did for a living. His father, also F.S. Latham, was a well-known newspaperman in early Memphis, editor of the Memphis Eagle, and later, Postmaster in Memphis. Jessie’s dad was a businessman of some kind, and Jessie wrote in her diary on September 3, 1910, “Went down to Dad’s office and got a great big bottle of olives and watched them make and bottle Gay-Ola. Also sampled it.” On September 6th she wrote, “Walked down to Dad’s office [at] the Gay-Ola Co. and drank *heartily* of Gay-Ola.”  Since this is the first time Jessie has ever mentioned her Dad’s office at the Gay-Ola Co., and because Gay-Ola, a brand new soda in competition with Coca Cola, had just started being produced in Memphis, this must have been a new job for Jessie’s dad.

Gay-Ola bottle, 1910
Gay-Ola bottle, 1910
Gay-ola
Gay-Ola watch fobs and bottles, c.1910

Coca Cola sued the Gay-Ola Co. for copyright infringement. Notice the similar script on the watch fob and the bottle, and the red and white colors of the watch fob. Gay-Ola won the first suit, but eventually was required to change the font of their script.

Lowenstein's, 1900s
Lowenstein’s, 1900s

Later in the month (on the 23rd) Jessie’s Mother took her and her friend Sara to tea at Lowenstein’s Department Store. Tearooms became very popular around the turn of the century as some women had more leisure time.

Tearoom, 1910s
Tearoom, 1910s

That same day Jessie had to go to the oculist for glasses for distance vision. She got nose glasses.

Ladies' Nose Glasses 1910
Ladies’ Nose Glasses 1910

The last cultural tidbit I wanted to mention was Elmo’s motorcycle. Elmo was one of Jessie’s regular callers, and what they often did (see September 26, 1910) was ride on Elmo’s motorcyle, or, as Jessie always called it, “moto-cycle.” In print ads they are also called “autocycles.” Jessie loved riding that motorcycle with Elmo!

1910 racer, magazine image
1910 racer, magazine image
Sears Autocycle Ad 1910
Sears Autocycle Ad 1910

 

Riverboat Trip to St. Louis, August 1910

"All aboard for St. Louis"
“All aboard for St. Louis”

Jessie had a busy summer seeing relatives and friends. In the latter part of July, she and Sara took the train to Gates, Tennessee to visit Ethel, who I think was either a youngish aunt or an older cousin. She stayed  a week in the country with Ethel. But the big trip she was really excited about was a riverboat cruise up the Mississippi River to St. Louis. Jessie, her mother and Swayne, along with about 12 other friends formed the boating party.

The boating party
The boating party, Jessie (R), Swayne (L)

On Monday, August 15th, they left on the steamer Rees Lee for St. Louis.  Jessie and Sara shared a stateroom. There was a band on board and lots of dancing throughout the trip. After several days aboard the ship and several stops along the River (Caruthersville, MO; Hickman, KY; Cape Girardeau, MO; Chester, IL), they arrived in St. Louis at 6:30 in the morning on Thursday, August 18. They stayed in the Laclede Hotel, a grand old luxury hotel in St. Louis, now demolished, famous for serving riverboat and rail travelers. They only stayed one night in St. Louis, but while they were there they were busy shopping, touring around the city, and going to a big amusement park called Forrest Park Highlands. Friday afternoon they left St. Louis on the Rees Lee for the return trip to Memphis. Within a few hours the ship had struck rocks or land and run ashore. Another ship came to the rescue, and after some time, managed to pull the Rees Lee from the land, but almost immediately it became stuck on a sandbar. They spent the night on that sandbar, though Jessie said she couldn’t sleep a wink. After almost 24 hours on the sandbar, a tug was able to free the ship after unloading all its cargo. The steamer made several stops on its way back to Memphis, including a brief excursion up the Ohio River for a stop at the Cairo, Illinois landing. The party finally made it back to Memphis on Monday night. Jessie said, “My! how I hated to get off the boat, for I had one of the finest times I ever had in my life.”

In Cape Girardeau, MO. Jessie & Swayne are on the right
In Cape Girardeau, MO. Jessie & Swayne are on the right
The Rees Lee at the landing in Cairo, IL
The Rees Lee at the landing in Cairo, IL

The House Party, June 1910

A Night in June, 1910. Thomas Cooper Gotch. Newlyn Archive, UK
A Night in June, 1910. Thomas Cooper Gotch. Newlyn Archive, UK
House Party pp1 June 1910
Elizabeth, Willie & Jessie (R), House Party 1910.

Jessie was having a house party at the end of June, and she started planning and preparing for it at the beginning of the month. Cleaning, shopping for a picnic dress and “motocycle riding” with Elmo (and loving it) were some of her activities. She had her guy friends move a big stump into the front yard on the 13th, and on June 18th there is more talking and planning for the “lawn fete” and house party.

Jessie (L) and the Stump, June 1910
Jessie (L) and the Stump, June 1910
Jessie (L), Elizabeth and Willie, June 1910
Jessie (L), Elizabeth and Willie, June 1910

Finally on Tuesday, June 21st, Jessie and the gang met Willie Swift from Corinth, Mississippi at the depot. She was the first of Jessie’s guests to arrive. The next day they all went down to the depot to meet Elizabeth Pearson from Okolona, Mississippi. One of that day’s activities was a Tally Ho ride given in honor of her guests, in large horse drawn carriages that carried several people.

On Friday, June 24, 1910, Jessie hosted a Japanese garden fete in honor of her guests. She writes in her diary, “The yard was brilliantly lighted with Japanese lanterns. Had a fortune tent where an oriental beauty read the palms of the guests. Had a band to play all evening. About 50 were here. Had a fine time. We didn’t get to bed until late.”

House Party June 1910
House Party June 1910
Human pyramid House Party 1 June 1911
Human Pyramid, Jessie on top, June 1910

Another guest, Kate Craddock, arrived on the following Monday the 27th. They had a picnic lunch on the lawn, but at sundown Jessie’s yard became a “gypsy camp.” Sleeping tents were arranged and a delicious dinner of hamburgers and marshmallows was cooked over a campfire. 7 girls and 4 boys spent the night, though not much sleeping went on.

House party picnic at Overton
House party picnic at Overton, Jessie on R
Picnic at Overton Park
Picnic at Overton Park, Jessie kneeling  on L
The Circus at Overton, House party 1910
The circus at Overton, house party 1910

Wednesday June 29th, Jessie gave a picnic at Overton Park for the house party. Finally on Friday, July 1st, Jessie’s guests left. She was lonely, but by Saturday she returned to her usual routine. She, Mildred, Richard and Everette went auto riding through Overton Park and along the Speedway, one of the earliest expressways in the country. The name Speedway was later changed to the Parkway.

Speedway, Memphis c.1910. George Whitworth Collection.
The Speedway, Memphis.  George Whitworth Collection historic-memphis.com

 

Graduation and Halley’s Comet, May 1910

Noonday Rest, 1910, John William Godward
Noonday Rest, 1910, John William Godward

There was not much rest for Jessie in May of 1910. Despite the fact that she spent most of the first week sick in bed with tonsillitis, every day following seems to be filled with some special activity relating to the end of the school year in Memphis. On May 6th, Donna, Mildred and Jessie went to an elocutionary contest at the Goodwyn Institute. Their good friend Frank won, so the Merry Maids sent him flowers. On May 7th, Sara and Jessie went to the closing exercises of the dancing school at the Jefferson Theatre. And it continued from there — field day, basketball games, musical recitals, recitation recitals, rehearsals, club meetings, and so on. Since Jessie was graduating from Pope Elementary School and would enter high school in the fall, she had to take final exams in grammar, spelling, geography, civics, and arithmetic. On June 3, 1910, Jessie graduated from Pope School. She was class president and by her own account, “conducted the exercises.”  She also read her composition, Historic Memphis, which won the prize for best composition in her grade.

Halley's Comet during 1910 approach. Prof. Edward Emrson Barnard, Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, WI. Pub. in NY Times 7/3/1910
Halley’s Comet during its 1910 approach. Prof. Edward Emerson Barnard, Yerkes Observatory, Williams Bay, Wisconsin. Published in the NY Times 7/3/1910

On May 20, 21, and again on May 25, Jessie remarks in her diary that she “saw the comet” — Halley’s comet, that is. Her remarks coincide with the time that the comet passed relatively close to the earth (between May 14 and 22, 1910), making a spectacular sight. This was the first time photos were made of the approach of the comet, and the first time that spectroscopic data was obtained, analyzing components of the tail of the comet. One of the substances discovered was the toxic gas cyanogen. French astronomer Camille Flammarion claimed (and it was reported in the NY Times) that when the earth passed through the tail of the comet (May 19, 1910), the gas would poison the atmosphere and snuff out all life on the planet. This caused some panic amongst the gullible, and dollar signs in the eyes of some entrepreneurs (comet pills, gas masks).

ranchersuicidesubmarine & comet 1910CometComic1910

The New York Times published another article, this one by Mary Proctor, now trying to calm people’s fears.

nymag_1910_comet

Another interesting story related to the 1910 Halley’s Comet regards American author Mark Twain. Twain, whose birth name was Samuel Clemens, was born November 30, 1835, exactly 2 weeks after the comet’s perihilion in its apperance of that year. In his autobiography Twain said, “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet.” Mark Twain died on April 21, 1910, the day after the comet reached perihilion.

 

The Memphis Music Festival, 1910

On April 26 & 27, 1910, Jessie was involved with the Memphis Music Festival at the Auditorium. On Tuesday the 26th she went with a friend and heard the Mendelssohn oratorio Elijah. In the next day’s performance, Jessie got to sing in the chorus. The soloists were world class, or at least well known in the U.S. — Corinne Kelsey, soprano; Janet Spencer, contralto; Daniel Beddoe, tenor; and Marion Green, baritone. The visiting orchestra was the Theodore Thomas Orchestra, now known as the Chicago Symphony.

Theodore Thomas
Theodore Thomas

Theodore Thomas, founder of the Chicago Symphony, was the first important American conductor. In 1890 he founded the Theodore Thomas Orchestra, which then became the Chicago Orchestra. Concert subscriptions increased yearly and were enough to fund the building of a permanent home, Orchestra Hall, on 220 S. Michigan Ave. The first concert in their new home was December 14, 1904. Thomas died on January 4, 1905, and the orchestra was renamed the Theodore Thomas Orchestra. In 1913 the title was changed to the Chicago Symphony.

Theodore Thomas Orchestra, 1897
Theodore Thomas Orchestra, 1897

Below is a modern photograph of Orchestra Hall at 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. Notice the two plaques above the lower windows on either side, and beneath the engravings of the composers’ names. They read “Theodore Thomas Orchestra Hall.”

Orchestra_Hall_Chicago