James Roosevelt, the father of Franklin Roosevelt, died. Franklin was in Harvard. Franklin was 18 years old.
This oddly recalled what had happened to Theodore Roosevelt, whose father had died while he was a student at Harvard. He was 19 at the time. His father was 46. James Roosevelt, in contrast, was 72.
James and Franklin in 1895.
James was a graduate of Harvard Law School. We'll abstain from noting recently lumaries in depth, such as Cotton and Cruz, who apparently skipped a lot of law classes and still managed to obtain a degree. He married his second cousin Rebecca Howland in 1853, with her dying in 1876. In 1880 he married another cousin (sixth cousin) Sara Ann Delano, whom he met at a party celebrating Theodore Roosevelt's graduation from Harvard. She was 26 years his junior, and was 26 years old. His health decline markedly in later years and this was worsened when his yacht exploded and sank in 1900.
He is buried next to the graves of his two wives.
A lot of what's discussed in this story would be regarded as a little shocking today, but was quite common at the time. It shouldn't be surprising that the Roosevelts commonly married their cousins. Franklin did as well. It's who they knew and were familiar with. And it shouldn't be surprising either than there were sometimes age gaps we'd consider shocking now. Living in a married state was the norm for most adults, and in close circles such as this the availability of individuals caused large age gaps. Additionally, while the average age of marriage really hasn't changed over the years, widowers marrying again was very common and they commonly married women younger then them for a variety of natural reasons.
Pope Leo XIII issued Conditae a Christo recognizing Congregations of simple vows as belonging to the religious state. In the same document he made a distinction between Diocesan and Pontifical Institutes.
The US called off plans to send a warship to Morocco over the issue of unpaid debts in recognition of Ramadan because of the religious difficulties it would have caused to the Sultan of Morocco.
Gen. Emilio Verderflor of the Philippine Army was killed in battle.
The U.S. Navy put out an invitation for bids for ships in a number that would double its then existing size.
Donald MacArthur, Thomas Marshall, and James Ducat started their tour of duty on a lighthouse on the Flannan Isles. On December 21 when the ship came to relieve them of their tour, the lighthouse was locked and the men missing. They were never discovered although its assume they were a victim of weather.
The islands were not inhabited at the time, and with lighthouse automation, became completely uninhabited.
The islands have a very small ruined chapel on them, and were inhabited in the early Medieval period until about 990, this being a story that's fairly common to remote British isles.
Nikola Tesla claimed to have received intelligent communications from Mars.
Contrary to the later movie suggestion, it was not "Mars needs women". Indeed, there were no communications from Mars at all. Radio transmissions from space are not at all uncommon, but even now some reach out to suggest that they must be the Greatest Hits of Alpha Centauri, or whatever.
Best evidence is that Earth is completely unique, and we're it.
American democracy has several great weaknesses, the primary one being that Americans believe that we have a "two party system".
We don't. We've just allowed two parties to take over and even fund their party elections, the primaries, with government funds, and tolerate the creation of bogus Congressional roles, such "Senate Majority Leader".
That needs reform desperately.
Amongst other weaknesses, however, is that Americans believe that we have a free enterprise economic system. We don't. We have corporate capitalism which allows businesses to escape the implications of their actions through the corporate business form.
Americans believe so strongly in "free enterprise" that they basically never vote with their wallets. They'll let businesses absolutely screw them and keep supporting them. On the rare occasions in which they actually will vote with their wallets and boycott a product it's when its something trivial and otherwise readily available, as in when sales of Bud Light dropped off over a transgender personality advertising it.
Lots of companies brew beer.
I note this as the illegitimate occupant of the White House, who has no real authority, is having the East Wing of the White House destroyed for on oversized garden shed, aka, a ballroom.
The White House doesn't need a ballroom. This isn't 1875. What Donald Trump wants is something overblown and gaudy, which is his brand, so that hopefully people remember him after he departs this Earth for his final reward. It's much the same motivation that has him angling for the Nobel Peace Prize. He's hoping to be remembered as a serious person, rather than as a real estate developer/serial polygamist.
Before we move on, we should note that the White House was originally designed as a house, and its been modified continually. Frankly, it ought to flat out stop. The constant monkeying with the structure only encourages this sort of baloney, and the building isn't getting any better looking over time. The East Wing only dates back to 1942 and to some degree was built as a cover for the construction of a bomb shelter underneath it. I suppose you can argue the bomb shelter was a good addition, but this just goes on and on.
The West Wing has been modified a great deal over time, but basically dates back to 1902. Theodore Roosevelt was President then, and his large family was busting at the seams of the White House.
This is different, however.
The West Wing was built as office space. Basically it's an office space annexation. The East Wing, as noted, was originally added to cover the construction of a bomb shelter. In later years, offices for correspondence, calligraphers and the social secretary were placed in the East Wing. It became the offices of the First Lady, with the First Lady requiring offices a fairly dubious proposition, quite frankly.
Trump wasn't supposed to really touch the East Wing Structure but a Volvo bucket is out destroying part of the facade now. The new structure will be, of course, a garden shed. . .um a ballroom.
Adding offices made sense. Adding a bomb shelter in 1942 made sense, after all, German rocket technology brought the ICBM within reach during World War Two and submarine launched aircraft actually did made land strikes on the West Coast during the war.
A ballroom, however, is a superficial structure for somebody who likes to entertain.
Trump is a superficial person who has been spending a lot of his time at the golf course.
Trump can't molest the structure unless the forces of capitalism dutifully line up to give him his dream. There was never any doubt that they would. So, have you wondered who the Vandal hired by the illegitimate occupant of the White House/Real Estate Developer/Serial Polygamist to design and construct a giant garden shed is?
Well, wonder no more:
President Trump Hires National Civic Art Society Board Member to Design New White House Ballroom
James McCrery, a classical architect who is a co-founder of the National Civic Art Society and a member of our Board of Directors, has been chosen by President Donald Trump to design a new ballroom at the White House.
According to the administration, “The White House State Ballroom will be a much-needed and exquisite addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of ornately designed and carefully crafted space, with a seated capacity of 650 people — a significant increase from the 200-person seated capacity in the East Room of the White House.”
McCrery, who is principal and founder of McCrery Architects in Washington, D.C., is associate professor at the Catholic University of America's School of Architecture. He was a commissioner on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, appointed by President Trump during his first term. McCrery served alongside NCAS President Justin Shubow, who was chairman of the Commission.
According to Shubow, “The National Civic Art Society is ecstatic that President Trump selected James McCrery to design the new White House ballroom. McCrery is one of the best architects in America, and he will honor and respect one of the most beloved classical buildings in the United States. Our organization has no doubt he’ll design a beautiful, fitting addition. It was President Theodore Roosevelt who personally chose Beaux-Arts architect Charles McKim to renovate the White House in his time. President Trump has made an equally wise decision in hiring McCrery.”
Announcement from the National Civil Art Society.
The National Civil Art Society is an organization that sponsors the view that public buildings should be in a classic style. It's a worthwhile goal, as there sure are a lot of ugly public buildings around. And the architects firm, McCrery Architects, based on their website, designs a lot of nice classical buildings. Frankly, choosing them was a really good move for a really bad building. Things could have been a lot worse.
So should we rejoice?
Well, no,
McCrery clearly has a lot of talent, as do the people on his staff, but this is still a huge oversized shed that looks ugly. No matter, it'll go down on his resume, unless it turns out to be a national embarrassment, in which case it will be removed from his resume.
He's designed some beautiful buildings, including the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Knoxville, TN. To go from that, to this . . what a waste.
The contractor for the abomination is heavy contractor Clark Construction, whose website declares "Building What Matters".
M'eh.
This structure doesn't matter.
It is, however, no doubt a major contract. Nobody could blame them for bidding on it, as that's what they do.
Engineering was done by AECOM, whose website declares; "AECOM is the trusted global infrastructure leader committed to delivering a better world.".
Well, this structure and the project makes the world just a little bit worse. No matter, it's probably a big contract.
Funding for the project is not public. The $200,000,000 to $250,000,0000 vandalization will cost is going to be born by Real Estate Developer Donald Trump and donors. Donors include Google, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, Booz Allen Hamilton, and NextEra Energy, but there are a lot more. Lockheed Martin is chipping in $10,000,000.
And there's the real question.
Blogger, which this is published on, is a Google thing. Google itself is darned near impossible to avoid, so even though I think they're chipping in is inexcusable, I'll continue to use Google's products, making me just as hypocritical as can be. I don't buy anything from Lockheed, and I'm not a shareholder, but if I was I'd write in and complain.
Why would outfits like these chip in? Well, they're making a bet that King Donald will love them, or at least not hate them. That's why. And frankly, if some future administration wanted to build to whack it down, which will occur, and put up a Trump Hall of Shame, they'd contribute to that.
The overall shame, however, is that this is public property. It's being vandalized. And nobody can apparently do anything about it.
When this era is over, the country needs major reform. Part of that reform needs to be an effort to reign the Oval Office into reason. Another part needs to be to kick the dead asses in Congress back to work and require them to do their actual jobs.
As a final note, Hitler was fond of monumental projects too, planning on building a monumental Berlin after the Second World War. Franco had the monumental Valley of the Fallen built, which at least commemorates something. Fascist Italy had a bunch of monumental structures built, and of course Mussolini was in power for quite some time. The Soviets had Lenin stuff in a mausoleum, the latter of which provides an idea.
Seeing as a modern White House doesn't need a ballroom, and given that Trump is really old and will pass from natural causes in the foreseeable future anyhow, perhaps AECOM can design this structure with hydraulic jacks and wheels so when that day comes this can just be jacked up, hooked up, and wheeled down the highway to Mar A Lago, which it can serve as the Trump Mausoleum and library (I serious doubt Trump has very many books that he's actually read, so the size won't be a problem). Probably Google, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, Booz Allen Hamilton, and NextEra Energy will be willing to pay for it.
at the turn of the 20th century, working class men had something like two pairs of pants, three shirts, and a pair of boots. middle class men wore detachable collars bc shirts were expensive. one man died bc he got drunk. his head drooped & he choked to death on his stiff collar
Very interesting, really, and not just in the context of the Very Stable Genius and his trade war with China, but in terms of the focus of this page.
I've discussed this before, but cheap clothing is a post World War Two thing. The entire series of jokes about people having vast numbers of shoes, or t-shirts that are decades old, reflects a bonafide change in how people live. I recall my father mentioning that at one time it was considered ideal to buy a suit with two pairs of pants, as you could stretch out the cleaning.
Clothing now costs less, and frankly it lasts a lot longer, than it once did.
Indeed, how often do you really wear out clothing? I'm do wear out shits, but waistline expansion over time is more likely to render my trousers unwearable than really wearing them out is. Granted, part of that is because I have a fair number of them. If I was wearing the same two or three pairs of trousers every day, the story would be different. But they also simply last longer than they once did.
This is really intended to be an observation on clothing, then and now, but a little remark about now is warranted.
I have a cotton Colorado Rockies kelly green baseball hat sitting here where I'm typing. If you look at the label, it's made in China. Lots of Levis are made in Vietnam. We have, truly, exported clothing manufacturing overseas, which is to say, the producers did. I do lament that, but do U.S. consumers want to pay more for clothing? I wonder.
I guess with tariffs, we'll find out.
I have, as readers here know, a fondness for M65 Field Jackets. I'd like to have an OG 107 one for every day wear. I thought one would be easy to find, but they aren't, so I ordered one, to my present regret, from Propper. It came Chinese made (of course) and the size is completely wrong. I should have sent it back, but I didn't, as my extreme introverted nature precludes me from doing so. I thought maybe I could shrink it, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to. Anyhow, it's just wrong.
I note this as US military uniforms are in fact made in the U.S., and indeed I believe there may be a statutory requirement to that effect. Some years ago there was a scandal when the US ended up with some berets that were made overseas. I've heard of the military actually checking to make certain that soldiers don't deploy with foreign made gear, but that must be tougher than ever, with the loss of so much of the US manufacturing base.
All of which is to say that I'm sympathetic with those who lament that loss. But the time to really address it came and went some thirty to forty to fifty years ago and, if could be addressed, which is a huge if, it can't be done all at once.
And, my Propper M65 Field Jacket aside, things made overseas are not, by and large, of cheap quality anymore. Some things surely are. The stuff you get at Harbor Freight might be second rate. . . or not. As overseas manufacturing has increased, quality has too.
The Soviet–Japanese Basic Convention between the Soviet Union and Japan was signed. It provided:
JAPAN and the UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS, desiring to promote relations of good neighbourhood and economic co-operation between them, have resolved to conclude a Convention embodying basic rules in regulation of such relations and, to that end, have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say :
His MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN :
Kenkichi YOSHIZAWA, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of China, Jushii, a member of the First Class of the Imperial Order of the Sacred Treasure ;
THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS :
Lev Mikhailovitch KARAKHAN, Ambassador to the Republic of China ;
Who, having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed as follows :
Article I.
The High Contracting Parties agree that, with the coming into force of the present Convention, diplomatic and consular relations shall be established between them.
Article II.
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics agrees that the Treaty of Portsmouth of September 5th, 1905, shall remain in full force.
It is agreed that the Treaties, Conventions and Agreements, other than the said Treaty of Portsmouth, which were concluded between Japan and Russia prior to November 7, 1917, shall be re-examined at a Conference to be subsequently held between the Governments of the High Contracting Parties and are liable to revision or annulment as altered circumstances may require.
Article III.
The Governments of the High Contracting Parties agree that, upon the coming into force of the present Convention, they shall proceed to the revision of the Fishery Convention of 1907, taking into consideration such changes as may have taken place in the general conditions since the conclusion of the said Fishery Convention.
Pending the conclusion of a convention so revised, the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics shall maintain the practices established in 1924 relating to the lease of fishery lots to Japanese subjects.
Article IV.
The Governments of the High Contracting Parties agree that, upon the coming into force of the present Convention, they shall proceed to the conclusion of a treaty of commerce and navigation in conformity with the principles hereunder mentioned, and that, pending the conclusion of such a treaty, the general intercourse between the two countries shall be regulated by those principles.
(1) The subjects or citizens of each of the High Contracting Parties shall, in accordance with the laws of the country : (a) have full liberty to enter, travel and reside in the territories of the other, and (b) enjoy constant and complete protection for the safety of their lives and property.
(2) Each of the High Contracting Parties shall, in accordance with the laws of the country, accord in its territories to the subjects or citizens of the other, to the widest possible extent and on condition of reciprocity, the right of private ownership and the liberty to engage in commerce, navigation, industries and other peaceful pursuits.
(3) Without prejudice to the right of each Contracting Party to regulate by its own laws the system of international trade in that country, it is understood that neither Contracting Party shall apply in discrimination against the other Party any measures of prohibition, restriction or impost which may serve to hamper the growth of the intercourse, economic or otherwise, between the two countries, it being the intention of both Parties to place the commerce, navigation and industry of each country, as far as possible, on the footing of the most-favoured nation.
The Governments of the High Contracting Parties further agree that they shall enter into negotiations, from time to tune as circumstances may require, for the conclusion of special arrangements relative to commerce and navigation to adjust and to promote economic relations between the two countries.
Article V.
The High Contracting Parties solemnly affirm their desire and intention to live in peace and amity with each other, scrupulously to respect the undoubted right of a State to order its own life within its own jurisdiction in its own way, to refrain and restrain all persons in any govern mental service for them, and all organisations in receipt of any financial assistance from them, from any act overt or covert liable in any way whatever to endanger the order and security in any part of the territories of Japan or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
It is further agreed that neither Contracting Party shall permit the presence in the territories under its jurisdiction :
(a) of organisations or groups pretending to be the Government for any part of the territories of the other Party, or
(b) of alien subjects or citizens who may be found to be actually carrying on political activities for such organisations or groups.
Article VI.
In the interest of promoting economic relations between the two countries, and taking into consideration the needs of Japan with regard to natural resources, the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is willing to grant to Japanese subjects, companies and associations concessions for the exploitation of minerals, forests and other natural resources in all the territories of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Article VII.
The present Convention shall be ratified.
Such ratification by each of the High Contracting Parties shall, with as little delay as possible, be communicated, through its diplomatic representative at Peking, to the Government of the other Party, and from the date of the later of such communications this Convention shall come into full force.
The formal exchange of the ratifications shall take place at Peking as soon as possible.
In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention, in duplicate in the English language, and have affixed thereto their seals.
Done at Peking, this twentieth day of January, One thousand nine-hundred and twenty-five.
(L. S.) K. YOSHIZAWA.
(L. S.) L. KARAKHAN.
Japan and Russia, and then Japan and the Soviet Union, never got along well. They had fought the Russo Japanese War some twenty years prior, and Japan had heavily intervened in Siberia during the Russian Civil War. There remains tension between them over the the Sakhalin.
Japanese weapons receive much less attention that those of other armies, in part because their ground weapons tended to be obsolescent or odd. Artillery is no exception.
A lot of Japanese weapons tended to reflect an earlier era, sometimes only slightly so, and sometimes greatly, than that of the 1940s. Japan tended to adopt a weapon, of a copy of a good Western design, and stick with it for a long time, savor for naval and air weapons, where they were advancing all the time. In terms of artillery, much of it was light and antiquated.
It's notable here that of the Japanese guns depicted, most still retain wagon wheel type wheels.
On this day…we call to mind the deaths of those who died that the nation might live, who wagered all that life holds dear for the great prize of death in battle.
President Roosevelt at Arlington National Cemetery, Memorial Day, 1902.
I have to say, I wouldn't have referred to death as a "prize" in this context.
"The Old Arbitrator", Klem was a Major League (National League) umpire from 1905 to 1941, and served in eighteen World Series (1908, 1909, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1917, 1918, 1920, 1922, 1924, 1926, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1934 and 1940), more than any other umpire.
He lived until 1951 and passed away at age 77, writing his attorney just before his death that "This is my last game, and I'm going to strike out this time." He and his wife Marie had no children.
This is an advertisement commissioned by the Wyoming Department of Health, and my gosh does it bring home a really overlooked point about the past. . . and today.
Infections acquired at barber shops, sometimes deadly, were such a problem that they were a major topic of local physician's organizations. Tetanus was only one of the killer diseases that lurked there. Even anthrax could be picked up from razor strop, if it had been made from a diseased animal. Bacteria lurking in barbers brushes, used all day long on multiple clients, posed another danger.
And of course, as the story of Calvin Coolidge, Jr. shows, infections could be picked up anywhere, and kill you.
Memories of such things remained strong in my parents' generation. My mother recalled that her father used to occasionally get a shave at the barbers, which was odd as this was well after the safety razor came about, and that he invariably developed "barber's cancer", a colloquial term meaning a bad rash from an infection. The family tried to prevent him from doing this, but he would occasionally anyhow, and given the line of work he was in, it was probably in order to engage with members of the local public. My father, for his part, never approved of going barefoot, regarding it as an invitation to infection.
Eugène Criqui knocked out Johnny Kilbane in the sixth round at the Polo Grounds in New York City to take the World Featherweight Title. Babe Ruth, who had hurried over from a Yankee's game, was in attendance.
Cirqui.
Cirqui had been a professional boxer since 1910, although his career was interrupted by World War One during which he was shot in the jaw by a German sniper. His jaw had been reconstructed with wire, the bone of a goat and silver.
He died at age 83 in 1977.
Kilbane.
Kilbane was from Ohio and from a classically difficult childhood. He'd been boxing since 1907. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War One and retired shortly after losing this fight. He died at age 68 in 1957.
The Kaufman Act passed, requiring the electrification of all New York City railroads by the beginning of 1926.
The Federal Government wasn't taking New York's no to Prohibition lightly.
The guest, early on, makes a comment about the beginning of the 20th Century, end of the 19th, and mentions "archeology was new". I thought I'd misheard that, but he mentioned it again, and added sociology.
He explained it, but it really hit me.
Archeology, and sociology, in fact, were new. Many academic disciplines were.
Indeed, that's something we haven't looked at here before. People talk all the time about the decline of the classic liberal education (at a time that very few people attended university), but when did modern disciplines really appear?
Indeed, that's part of what make a century ago, +, more like now, than prior to now. Educational disciplines, based on the scientific method in part, really began to expand.
So, we can take, for example, and find the University of Wyoming recognizable at the time of its founding in 1886.
But would Princeton, as it is now, be recognizable in 1786?
And interesting also how this effected everything, in this case, the Church's look at its liturgy.
But also, everything, really, about everything, for good and ill.
Most of us know the song, House of the Rising Sun. Probably most people who think of it, when they do, think of the version by Eric Burdon and the Animals.
It's a great song.
Anything ever seem a little off about it, however?
The song is about a house of prostitution, which most people familiar with the song are aware of. As Burdon sings it, the lyrics are:
There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God, I know I'm one
My mother was a tailor
She sewed my new blue jeans
My father was a gamblin' man
Down in New Orleans
Now the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and a trunk
And the only time he's satisfied
Is when he's all drunk
Oh mother, tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Spend your lives in sin and misery
In the House of the Rising Sun
Well, I got one foot on the platform
The other foot on the train
I'm goin' back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain
Well, there is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God, I know I'm one
Now, it is a great song. And I like this version of it, which was released in 1964.
The interesting thing, however, is that song from a male point of view, which it is, it's sort of way ahead of its time. Not that it isn't relevant, it's just a point of view that I can't think of any other song from the mid to late 20th Century expressing that view. Basically, the protagonist is confessing that he's a sex addict and addicted to frequenting the prostitutes of The House Of The Rising Sun.
The song wasn't written by Eric Burdon, or any of his band. They were covering a song, which many are unaware of, that had already had a successful recording run when sung by Woodie Guthrie and Hudey Ledbetter (Leadbelly). Indeed, I thought Leadbelly had written the wrong, but I was in error on that.
The Guthrie version, from 1941, has the following lyrics:
There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one
My mother was a tailor
She sewed my new bluejeans
My father was a gamblin' man
Down in New Orleans
Now the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and trunk
And the only time he's satisfied
Is when he's on a drunk
Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Spend your lives in sin and misery
In the House Of The Rising Sun
Well, I got one foot on the platform
The other foot on the train
I'm goin' back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain
Well, there is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one
Identical. What about Leadbelly? Well, he recorded it twice, first in 1944, which had these lyrics:
There is a house in New Orleans
You call the Rising Sun
It's been the ruin of many a poor soul
And me, oh God, I'm one
If I'd listened to what mama said
I'd be at home today
Being so young and foolish, poor girl
I let a gambler lead me astray
My mother she's a tailor
Sews those new blue jeans
My sweetheart, he's a drunkard, Lord God
He drinks down in New Orleans
He fills his glasses to the brim
Passes them around
The only pleasure that he gets out of life
Is a hoboin' from town to town
The only thing a drunkard needs
Is a suitcase and a trunk
The only time that he's half satisfied
Is when he's on a drunk
Go and tell my baby sister
Never do like I have done
Shun that house down in New Orleans
That they call that Rising Sun.
It's one foot on the platform,
One foot on the train.
I'm going back down to New Orleans
To wear my ball and my chain
My life is almost over
My race is almost run
Going back down to New Orleans
To that house of the Rising Sun
Oh, now wait a moment, that's a lot different. In this version, which is earlier, the protagonist, while sung through Leadbelly's male voice, is a girl entrapped in prostitution. Frankly, the song makes a lot more sense all the way around.
Leadbelly's 1947 version of The House of the Rising Sun.
In the second recording, which is the one people normally here, Leadbelly had followed Guthrie's lead, and the protagonist was male.
The first one presents a really grim warning. The girl who is the subject of the song has obviously left the house, and now is returning? Why? Well, contrary to the way prostitution is portrayed in film, her reputation would have been completely ruined and by this point that probably would have been her only option to try to make enough money to stay alive. Not only that, she's noting that she's expecting an early death.
More on that in a moment.
Leadbelly, it should be noted, didn't get around to recording until very near the end of his life. He died in 1949, and was first recorded in 1933. He was born in 1888 and was preforming professionally by 1903. Indeed, at first he preformed in Shreveport audiences in St. Paul's Bottoms, its red-light district, with his career interrupted by stints in jail, which are referenced in some of his most famous songs. He was in fact discovered, and truly was a great musical talent, by Alan Lomax while serving a prison stint.
Leadbelly preformed so early that some have speculated to what degree he was an indeterminable influence on the blues. He definitely was, but he also was unique in that he played a twelve-string guitar, very unusual for bluesmen, and his songs were always in the blues format but in sometimes in a near blues, ten bar, format. Indeed, some of those were converted to eight bar blues formats by later recording artists, probably basically by accident.
Anyhow, Leadbelly's songs often had a really old origin. This seems to be one. And the fact that the first version he recorded was sung from a female point of view is telling. Taht's probably how he learned it.
How early is that version?
Well, the song first makes its appearance by reference in 1905. By that time, it was being sung by miners in Appalachia, which means that one of the references doesn't quite fit unless the song had really travelled in the South. I.e., a song about somebody in New Orleans is out of regional context. The first printed version of the lyrics appear in 1925, with this:
There is a house in New Orleans,
it's called the Rising Sun
It's been the ruin of many poor girl
Great God, and I for one.
Just like Leadbelly had it.
The first recorded version came in 1933, later than I would have supposed, but still pretty early in the recording industry. It was by Applachain artist Clarence "Tom" Ashley and Gwen Foster. Ashley claimed to have learned it from his grandfather, which pushes the song back to the mid 19th Century. Ashley's version has a male protagonist:
There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
Where many poor boys to destruction has gone
And me, oh God, are one.
Note, this one has a blunter warning than any others with a male protagonist. The male vocalist hasn't gone to "ruin", but to "destruction".
Hmmmm. . . . so was it a male or female song?
My guess is that it was originally a female one, but because of its compelling popularity, it's been switched back and forth from its near onset.
So, was there a House of the Rising Sun that induced poor girls into lives, and probably shortened ones, of prostitution?
Nobody really knows for sure, but applying Yeoman's Eighth Law of History, as we should, would suggest it's likely. That law, as you'll recall, stated the following:
While that eight law mostly referred to old myths, it applies to more recent ones as well, as the basic principle is the same. The song clearly came out of Louisiana, and it traveled the South pretty extensively while persistently retaining its references to a House of the Rising Sun. There likely was such a place in Louisiana, or at the chances that there was are pretty good.
Indeed, a whole series of theories hold that it was on Conti Street in the French Quarter or on Ursulines Street or on St. Louis Street. In 2016 however, the New Orleans Times Picayune ran an article about an advertisement they'd found in which a hotelier was advertising the Mechanics Hotel, just outside of town, and with obviously pretty good rooming accommodations, which was noted to have formerly been "the old establishment of the Rising Sun".
Hmmm. . . .
The owners of the Mechanics Hotel wanted his potential guests to note that the hotel had a variety of rooms and offered a variety of services and accommodations, none of which included prostitution. The prior role of the Rising Sun wasn't mentioned, just that the Mechanics Hotel was where it formerly was, or rather that it was being rebranded. Perhaps it was also being repurposed. If so, that advertisement would have served two purposes, one being "don't stay away if you would have avoided the old Rising Sun", and the second being "don't come around if you are expecting the old services of the Rising Sun".
That advertisement, by the way, ran in 1828, which would mean that the song would have to have dated back to at least that approximate time.
So, what's the moral of the song? It clearly has one.
The basic warning is against living a life of depravity, that's clear enough. More than that, it was a direct warning about living a life of sexual depravity. Further, it warns the audience that the vocalist can't get out of it, now that the protagonist is in it, even though it would see, that the protagonist has tried. In the male variant sung by Guthrie, and in the female variant sung by Leadbelly, the protagonist informs the audience that the subject is at a railroad station with one foot on the platform, and one on the train, and is going back to New Orleans "to wear that ball and train". That tells us that the male protagonist is going back to New Orleans where he intends, seemingly against his will, to resume visiting the House of the Rising Sun. In the female protagonist version, she's going back to be a prostitute.
The female version is even grimmer. In that version, not only does the lyrics indicate that the subject is a slave to the situation, she's a different sort. Her slavery, in essence, is implied to be economic. Her reputation is ruined and she can't do anything else at this point. Moreover, she knows that she's going to die young, either at the hands of one of her clients, or more likely through disease.
Which takes us to this. That in fact was then and is now the thing that kills prostitutes early. It's odd how in Western movies like Lonesome Dove or Open Range this is ignored. Prostitutes were nearly guaranteed to get a venereal disease at the time, and it was probably going to kill them. Regular clients were likely to get a "social disease" as well, and the number of men who came down with one even where they were not regular customers, but who had made a visit a few, or perhaps even one, times were likely to as well.
Indeed, it wasn't really until after World War Two that it was the case that VD could really be effectively treated. . Nearly all of the treatments before then were ineffective to varying degrees. But that's not the last of it. Girls who fell into prostitution didn't simply think it an economic option, but were often victims of what was termed "white slavery". Kidnapped and drugged, or kept against their will in some fashion, sometimes by force, sometimes by addition. This is also still the case.
It's worth noting, in addition, that modern pornography has its origin in prostitution and indeed the word stems from it. "Graphy" indicates depiction, and pornea is Greek for of or pertaining to prostitutes. Very early pornography, going back to the first really easy to use cameras, came from photographing prostitutes to expand on their marketability. I.e., the working girls were basically captives of their procurer, and those people expanded their profits, not the girls profits, by photographing and selling their images, which had the added impact of being a species of advertising. This aspect of pornography was very heavy in the industry up until the mid 20th Century, when some of the subjects limited themselves to selling their own images in some fashion, but it's apparently returned in spades since the Internet, with many, apparently, of the images around now being once again of young girls trapped most likely by drug addiction.
The whole thing is pretty bad, suffice it to say.
Okay, we went down sort of a rabbit hole here, and for an odd reason. The trip to House of the Rising Sun started off as it refers to the mother of the subject sewing his blue jeans. We'll explain that in the other thread, but we would note that the song has one final aspect. It's a warning about the decay of a family.
Frank Sinatra appeared as a solo act for the first time, appearing before a screaming crowed of bobby soxers of 5,000 at the Paramount Theatre in New York City.
Sinatra on the radio with actress Alida Valli.*
Sinatra in some ways was the first example of a phenomenon that would attach to certain male performers of the mid 20th Century in which they were the subject of gigantic teenage female fascination. We tend to think of personalities like Elvis in this category, but Sinatra had the same adulation prior to their experiencing it.
His appearance at this point in time raises certain interesting questions.
Sinatra was born into an Italian American family that endured rough circumstances, to some degree, but which also saw his father go from being a boxer to a fire captain, and which featured a dominant, highly driven mother. The mother supported the son's endeavors. Sinatra, who always performed under his own name, took an interest in music early and started singing professionally with bands at age 20. He sang with Tommy Dorsey's band in the late 1930s, with his desire to break free from the band resulting in a legal battle and persistent rumors that Mafia boss Willie Moretti, who was Sinatra's Godfather, had held a gun to Dorsey's ear. That rumor was incorporated by Mario Puzo in the novel, and later the movie, The Godfather to apply to a very much Sinatra like character.
Sinatra was a huge hit in the early 1940s, but being of conscript age, the logical question is why he wasn't drafted. He was categorized by the Selective Service as 4-F, which provides the reason, due to a perforated ear drum, but Army files later indicated that he was regarded as psychologically unsuitable for military service due to emotional instability. He did tour with the USA in the latter portion of the war. A lack of wartime service did not hurt him, as it did not hurt John Wayne, which says something about the culture of the time.
He campaigned for Franklin Roosevelt in 1944.
Sinatra lived a long, and not uncontroversial, life, dying at age 82. As all that would really be too long to go into, will stop here, with the World War Two story told.
Bobby soxers should be noted.
Bobby soxers have come to be erroneously associated with the 1950s, but in fact were a 1940s phenomenon. They were teenage girls and women in their very early 20s who were an early example of the emerging youth culture of the United States. Indeed, they were in some ways its real pioneers. They were called "bobby soxers" as, at the time, they wore short "bobbed" socks with saddle oxfords.
Saddle oxfords are a dress shoe now, but they've always had the reputation of being a semi casual dress shoe. At some point they became heavily associated with students and young people. They were introduced as a mass manufactured shoe in the early 1900s by the Spaulding Company, with the first example introduced in 1906. That's the same company, we'd note, famous for basketballs, etc., which says something, as at first, it was an athletic shoe, not a dress shoe.
Probably that origin as a sporting shoe caused its popularity. It crossed over pretty quickly to dress wear, anticipating a later trend we have seen the past few decades of basketballs hoes in that use.
The shoe came on the scene just as there was a real expansion of women in sports, so it was ideally timed It became hugely popular with cheerleading teams. By the 1930s it was approaching near universal adoption by schools as mandatory footwear for girls academic uniforms, although it remained popular with men. They began to become school uniform shoes for boys in the period as well.
The same period saw a shortening of skirts. The combination of the shorter skirts, saddle shoes, and short socks lead to Bobby Soxers being the name for young women affecting the style. The style endured until the 1950s, when it faded, but the shoes themselves retained widespread academic popularity until the decline of clothing standards started to set in during the late 1960s.
While it may seem odd now, the style was somewhat risqué.
President Roosevelt spent the morning visiting with Naval personnel, including Admirals King and Leahy, and the Secretary of the Navy. He was in New York City at the time, and had a doctor's visit in the afternoon.
The Red Army was generally gaining ground everywhere to the south of Stalingrad.
Footnotes:
*Not really related to this entry but for this photograph, Alida Valli was an Italian actress coined by Mussolini as "the most beautiful woman in the world." She truly was lovely.
Born to nobility, her real name and title was Freiin Altenburger von Marckenstein-Frauenberg. She was born in a part of Italy that is now in Croatia, and which had once been part of Austria Hungary. She was of mixed heritage, but considered herself Italian.
The photo must have been taken post 1943 as she was active in Italy at this time. Married three times, her first husband was an Italian fighter pilot who was killed in action at Tobruk.
She was popular in Western films throughout her career, which again says something about the times. Unlike hugely popular Italian actresses of a certain appearance, Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale, Valli had a more normal figure and rose to popularity in the "dirty" Italy period when Italy was regarded as, and truly was, fairly backwards.
This Catholic Church in North Denver is St. Patrick Mission Church. The Mission Architecture Church was built from 1907 to 1910, and served the Denver Highlands. Its architectural style is unusual for Denver.
This Church is also called St. Patrick's Oratory, and has a presence by the Capuchin Poor Clare Sisters.
There's more to this church than I have here, I just don't know what it is, but it may be explained by the Capuchin sisters. The church as a bit of a campus, and therefore as a mission, it might strongly reflect their presence.
This is Our Lady of Mount Carmel in North Denver, Colorado.
Built between 1899 and 1904 for an Italian population, the church is located in a neighborhood known as Little Italy, although its rapidly gentrifying and experiencing a change in neighborhood character. Nonetheless, one Mass per month is offered in Italian.
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