A Break

     Please stop by again after the new year.  It's time for a break!

     In the mean time, "Remember the Ladies."

                       Carol

Living in Camp

     When the Japanese invaded the Chinese, the "rape of Nanking" was a frightening occurance for all the women in the area and must have been in the minds of  the nurses captured by the Japanese during World War II.   We Band of Angels by Elizabeth M. Norman tells of the capture of U.S. Army and Navy nurses who were held in Manila at Santo Tomas Internment Camp and nearby Los Banos Internment Camp from1942-1945.  The author interviewed those women who were still living when she was doing her research for this nonfiction book and has included some letters and diaries written by them.



Book Art Journal Page

       The book was excellent although I found it to be so disturbing in some places that I had to take a break from it.  The nurses weren't raped, but they were forced to abandon their wounded and in many cases severly ill patients.  They were imprisoned with 4 or 5,000 civilian prisoners many needing medical attention.

     Among some of the worst problems faced by everyone at the imprisonment centers were the serious diseases caused by malnutrition.  As the war turned against the Japanese, the food allotted the prisoners became worse with much smaller portions until they were given 500 or less calories per day.

     The nurses faced their situation with professionalism continuing to work a few hours a day even though they had no energy and often suffered from illness themselves.

     When the nurses returned home, the government used them for propoganda until they were no longer needed.  They were then basically ignored.

     This book is one that aroused my empathy and reminded me of the horrors of war in a world where people can become less than human.  If you want a good read about World War II and the conditions of the Santo Tomas Internment Camp, try this excellent book.

     And remember the ladies.

                   Carol

The Story of Coppelia

     For some reason I love the ballet.  I'm not musical nor do I have the coordination to have been a dancer, so maybe it's the costumes and the sets that appeal to me.  The sensual delight of ballet creates fairy tales in my mind that just end too quickly.

     A few years ago, I saw Coppelia danced by the Ballet Arizona.  This is classified as a "comic" ballet because there are no deaths or great suffering played out in the performance.  The town's mayor announces a celebration to be held the following day when the town's bell will be honored.  Sitting in the window of the shop across from the town square is Coppelia, a life-size doll, who draws the attention of Swanilda's lover, Franz. 

Coppelia - art journal page

   Dr. Coppelius, the maker of Coppelia, drops his keys as he is leaving his shop.  After Swanilda finds the keys, she and her friends decide to enter the shop.  Before they can investigate too much, Dr. Coppelius returns, and everyone runs away except Swanilda who hides in the alcove where Coppelia is sitting.  Soon Franz appears declaring his love for the exquisite Coppelia.  The two men share several drinks while Dr. Coppelius plots to take the energy from Franz and infuse it in his exquisite Coppelia.  She will be alive!  The Doctor brings out what he believes to be the doll but is really Swanilda who dances around the room.  As she does so, Franz awakens and they flee Dr. Coppelius's shop.  Only then does the doctor realize that Coppelia is lying on the shop floor.  He has been tricked.

   Act 3 shows the celebration in the village where all the  betrothed couples are given a dowry.  Swanilda gives the doctor her dowry to make up for the trick played upon him.  The remaining part of this act is devoted to dancing and rejoicing.

     Copplia was introduced to the Paris ballet audience in May of 1870.  Within a few months, France and Prussia were at war with many privations for the French people.  France's Emperor Napoleon III was defeated and there followed a period of civil unrest.  The 16 year old ballerina, Giuseppina Bozzacchi,  chosen to dance the title role of Swanilda became a casualty of the time dying of smallpox on the morning of her 17th birthday, November 23, 1870.

     Surprisingly many men enjoy this ballet as well as women.  Perhaps it is the light nature of the program or the introduction of several folk dances.  Whatever causes the magic, it's there for all to see and enjoy.

     So, remember the ladies.

                       Carol


    

          

Rose O'Neill

     The name "Rose" has always been a favorite of mine because of the images created in my imagination of breathtaking blossoms and fragrant scents.  I like the name "Rose O'Neill" for its Irish sound, too. 

     Rose, best known for her Kewpie illustrations, was born into a pleasantly wealthy family on June 25, 1874.  Father owned a book store and art gallery in Wilkes-Barre, PA.  Unfortunately, Father wasn't a good businessman or a good manager.  Meemie (Mother), who had been a teacher before marriage,  loved music and often gave piano lessions as well as home schooled Rose and her older brother, Hughie.

     Life was good in Wilkes-Barre until 1878 when Father lost the bookstore and decided to solve the family's financial problems by moving them out west to a sod house in Nebraska. It was a hard life especially when compared the to comforts of their old home. 



Rose O'Neill Book Journal Page

     Rose drew all the time and enjoyed drawing the elves and fairies of Father's stories.  During these years, the family increased in numbers as new babies were born, and they were often evicted from their rented homes because of Father's inability to manage the family money.   Several times he couldn't pay the tuition for Rose's schooling so she would be forced to leave.  He did, however, take her to the theater when he could because he had decided that Rose would make a splendid actress.

     The family moved to Omaha, and Rose did land a part with a traveling troop of actors when she was 14 years old.  The next year she again traveled with a troop, but she did illustrations as well and decideded that her future wasn't in acting. 

     In 1893, Father decided that Rose would have more opportunity in NYC than in Omaha, so he deposited her there and returned to the family in Nebraska.  At this particular time, there was a demand for illustrator/painters so commissions kept Rose quite busy.  She sent the money she made home to support the family.

     After about a year, Rose returned to her family who were now living in the Ozarks in a place they named Bonniebrook.  Rose loved it there and never returned to live in New York permantly. 

     In 1909, the Ladies Home Journal introduced her Kewpies and their motto, "do good deeds in a funny way."  The Kewpies were a tremendous success with dolls being sold by 1914.  All in all, Rose created some 5,500 illustrations for books, magazines, and newspapers.

     Rose married twice but had no children of her own.  She transformed Bonniebrook into her "dream home" where she supported her family retiring in 1939.  Rose died a few years later in 1944.

     Linda Brewster wrote a book entitled, Rose O'Neill the Girl Who Loved to Draw.  Even though the book is written for a young audience, it is filled with a few examples of artwork by Ms. Brewster and many pieces of Rose's lovely work. She was Rose O'Neill...America's first woman comic artist.

      So remember the ladies.

                        Carol

Africa with Lipstick

Although this isn't a photo of Mary Kingsley,
she probably dressed as the woman shown
above.

   Although I've never been one to want to go to Africa on safari, I do like to learn about those brave women who dared go there back "in the old days."  Several years ago, I researched an English woman who loved West Africa so much that she made two trips there and would have returned for a longer visit if she hadn't died of typhoid at the Cape of South Africa where she had gone to be a nurse during the Boer War.  The year was 1900, and Mary Kingsley  was 37 years old at her death.

     During Mary's second visit to West Africa in 1895, she collected fish specimens for the British Museum, studied the natives, and took a lot of photographs.  Back in England, she wrote popular books and gave lectures about her experiences.  People wanted to hear about polygamy among the natives and their other strange practices.

      Copies of Mary's book Travels in West Africa  and A Voyager Out by Katherine Frank tell of Mary's experience.

       A few days ago, I bought a copy of the March, 1928, Vanity Fair magazine at a flea market.  While paging through it, I found an article entitled "Through Africa with Lipstick and Camera" by Mrs. Corey Ford.  The article was filled with little tidbits about her African life while accompanying her explorer husband as he photographed wild animals.  She was to pose with the wild animals killed by the natives.  According to Zaza, a lady explorer had to endure a few hardships and take only the barest necessities. 

Photo supplied by Metro-Goldwyn probably to
promote a film of the time.

            "Of our modest train of 100 coolies, the first 5 or 10 carried trunks on their backs containing my evening-wraps, slippers and cloaks.  The next dozen brought a few little changes for early afternoon wear, and some simple morning frocks; the succeeding four or five staggered under my array of chemises, negligees, stockings, and other personal effects; the next squad carried my shoes and slippers; the next 12 my hats; while the succeeding forty-odd coolies carried such indespensible articles of my toilet as cosmetics, facial creams, powders, rouge, and some framed photographs of myself to decorate my boudoir.  The last coolie brought up the rear with my bath-salts and Corey's suitcase."
     
     Zaza Ford claimed to sometimes spend evenings with Martin and Osa Johnson, actual famed African explorers who spent many years in the wilderness.

As I read the article written by this Mrs. Corey Ford,  I wondered if it could possibly be real.  It was such a contrast to Mary Kingsley's African experience, but then Mary was a minimalist.  It is true that some early women on safari took a staggering amount of items with them.  Mrs. Ford's article made me laugh, so I decided to do some research on her.  Not surprisingly, I couldn't find out anything about her, but I did discover that Corey Ford was a writer of the times who wrote humor and satire for various magazines (including Vanity Fair) along with some books.  So, I'm guessing this is probably one of his satire articles pointed at the ridiculous amount of beauty products and costumes some women deemed necessary for travel in the wilds of Africa.  Can't you just picture a caravan of 100 "coolies" with 99 of them totting clothing and accessories for a spoiled hieress?  That's my kind of roughing it!

     So, remember the ladies.

                      Carol