Monday Open Thread: May 27 is Amelia Bloomer's birthday
May 27 is the 147th day of the Gregorian Calendar year,
Boomtime, Confusion 1, 3185 YOLD (discordian),
And let us not forget 13.0.6.9.8 by the Mayan Long Count
Amelia Bloomer was the editor and eventually publisher of the first newspaper by and for women, The Lily. Originally a temperance activist, she became acquainted with both Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and became a suffragist activist as well. She was also the person who introduced Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Susan B. Anthony and vice-versa. In the Lily she advocated for many things, including the idea that a woman's garb should be designed to meet her wants and necessitiese including her health and comfort. As fate would have it, Stanton visited Bloomer wearing an outfit designed by her cousin Elizabeth Miller which Bloomer enthusiastically adopted and began to promote in her writings to the extent that it became named after her. This happenstance has somewhat eclipsed her importance to the suffrage movement and the eventual, ongoing, women's rights movement.
Twenty years of schooling and they put you on the day shift, look out kid, ...
On this day in history:
1703 – Tsar Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg
1905 – The Battle of Tsushima began, wherein a vastly inferior Japanese fleet annihilated a superior Russian fleet by crossing the T.
1919 – An NC-4 seaplane arrived in Lisbon after crossing the Atlantic, the first such crossing.
1933 – The Federal Securities Act was signed into law.
1937 – The Golden Gate Bridge opened to foot traffic
1962 – The Centralia mine fire, which still burns today, was started.
Born this day in:
1774 – Francis Beaufort, hydrographer and creator of the Beaufort Scale
1818 – Amelia Bloomer, journalist and activist
1819 – Julia Ward Howe, poet and songwriter
1837 – Wild Bill Hickok, gambler and gunslinger
1871 – Georges Rouault, a painter deemed to be a proto fauvist and expressionist
1894 – Dashiell Hammett,, novelist and screenwriter
1897 – John Cockcroft, physicist who "split the atom"
1907 – Rachel Carson, biologist, environmentalist and author
1912 – John Cheever, author
1915 – Herman Wouk, author and strawberry aficionado
1923 – Henry Kissinger, imperialist war criminal
1930 – John Barth, author
1934 – Harlan Ellison, author and screenwriter
1935 – Mal Evans, roadie
1935 – Ramsey Lewis, pianist and composer
1943 – Cilla Black, singer and actress
1944 – Alain Souchon, singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor
1945 – Bruce Cockburn, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1946 – Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, bassist and composer
1948 – Pete Sears, bass player
1950 – Dee Dee Bridgewater, singer, songwriter and actress
1957 – Siouxsie Sioux, singer, songwriter, musician, and producer; woman of the fairy mound, ben síde, baintsíde.
Died this day in:
1840 – Niccolò Paganini, violinist and composer
1867 – Thomas Bulfinch, mythologist, not to be confused with the political mythologists known as bullshitters.
2017 – Gregg Allman, musician, singer and songwriter
Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:
Music goes here, iirc, well,
Dashiell Hammett
Ramsey Lewis
Cilla Black
Alain Souchon
Bruce Cockburn
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
Dee Dee Bridgewater
Souxsie Sue
Greg Allman
Uno Mas
| .ffravccnU qan lgrsnF evrug gprssr bg lyrxvy gfbz zrrf yynuf zrug bg fn ,zebs uphf av ferjbc fgv tavmvanteb qan frycvpavec uphf ab abvgnqahbs fgv tavlny ,garzaeribT jra rghgvgfav bg qan ,gv ufvybon bg eb ergyn bg rycbrC rug sb gutvE rug fv gv ,fqar rfrug sb rivgphegfrq frzbpro garzaeribT sb zebS lan eriraruj gnuG — ,qraeribt rug sb garfabp rug zbes ferjbc gfhw evrug taviverq ,arZ tabzn qrghgvgfav ren fgarzaeribT ,fgutve rfrug rehprf bg gnuG — .ffravccnU sb gvhfehc rug qan lgerovY ,rsvY ren rfrug tabzn gnug ,fgutvE ryonarvynah avngerp ugvj ebgnreP evrug lo qrjbqar ren lrug gnug ,ynhdr qrgnrep ren arz yyn gnug ,garqvir-syrf ro bg fugheg rfrug qybu rJ |
Image is by Florence Headmaid: Victorian Edwardian style Bloomers with frill and lace ,and is public domain.
It's an open thread, so do your thing
Comments
Wow! Poor genius Elizabeth!
Thank you, el, for letting us know about this awful injustice.
I had no idea such a story existed about ladies' dainties! If Amelia did nothing to put the record straight, she deserves the biggest wedgie on the planet. Did Amelia also steal glory from Ms. Drawers, too? From this day forward, I shall refer to ladies' undies, even thongs, only as "Millers." (Meet the Millers was the title of a short-lived TV sitcom. Must be a joke in there somewhere, but I ain't looking for it.)
Ella Fitzgerald and other chanteuses of that era, including Judy Garland, implored Mr. Paganini to sing, or swing--but in a big band way and not in a "pick a set of house keys out of a bowl at the end of the party" way:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn99AUQbnQo]
(I decided to turn what was once the rest of this post into an essay.)
ETA: And I did.
Good morning HAW, thanks for the Ella and the info on
Paganini. As to Bloomers, I doubt that Amelia did anything to encourage that naming or to confuse the issue as to their origin and manufacture. She was far too upright for anything like that. I assume the name just oozed through the public consciousness because she was the one with the bullhorn and audience.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Yes, I gathered. (no waist and thigh band pun intended)
But the following is not as funny as a giving a woman wearing
Millersbloomers a huge wedgie.Maybe my post wasn't either, but I try; I try.(-:
Glorious Day Friends
Let's celebrate each other today! Wise fools that we be. Good company.
Thanks EL
question everything
Good morning QMS. Great idea, celebrate it is.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Strictly speaking, the "bloomers" were an outer garment,
a way of getting women into pants without seeming to infringe on the male prerogative of trousers. It took another sixty or seventy years, and direct input from Hollywood, to make "women in pants" socially acceptable.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Good morning Maven. Thanks. In fact,
it was the entire outfit, a sort of waistcoat or tunic above and baggy "harem style" pants below, known as a a "Bloomer Suit" or "Bloomer Costume". Presumably the tunic was of sufficient length that the pants could've been viewed by the non-wearer (men, traditional women) as a dress and the pants, accordingly, as an undergarment of excessive length. Ironically enough, after a few years Amelia abandoned them and began wearing crinolines instead.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
“Let men be compelled to wear our dress for awhile
and we should soon hear them advocating a change.” ~ Amelia Bloomer
Good morning, el; thank you and have a safe and good holiday, everyone.
Good morning smiley. Thanks for that quotation.
Have a great day.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good Morning EL
I imagine being able to wear bloomers was very liberating back then. Dresses are impractical for many things. Being forced to ride side-saddle on a horse was one of the more inexplicable things women were required to do while wearing a dress. I wonder how many broken necks were caused by that female fashion statement?
Less dangerous but still insane, were the girdle version of my generation: control top pantyhose. For anyone not familiar with these nylon torture devices, women squeezed into these things every work day morning so our smart little Tahari suits wouldn't bulge in an unflattering way. Add the notion of wearing high heels, and we were the perfect prey for anyone wanting to outrun us.
You know what women's high heels are good for? When they are resting on the shoulders of a really hot looking guy. End of story.
What a relief that I go to work now in sneakers, jeans and a tee-shirt!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Good morning Anja, thanks for dropping by.
Indeed,female garb through the ages has been generally preposterous, dysfunctional and dangerous. Of course, for certain trend-setter social classes in certain eras, courtesans and pedestal mounted chattels, they were arguably adequate for the needs of their masters, but wider adoption and proliferation was unconscionable. How ever, for example did "sensible shoes" become a condemnation. By definition they were inherently preferable, safer and more utilitarian.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
How true
But even in my sneakers, I'm still cute as hell
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Heh, no doubt.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Morning el
et al...
Lor' bless yer, sirs and madams, I wouldn't mind what was said to me in a bloomin' madhouse.
But it all resembles too much a madhouse and on steroids now and more and more so each day.
‘ave a good one
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
Good mornin' magi, thanks for reading. Have a great one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --