Learn History Through Fiction – Page 23

Learn History Through Fiction: X-Rated V-Mail

In WW II, mail was vital to maintain morale in the armed forces. But mail was bulky and took up precious space on cargo ships. So the U.S. Government instituted V-Mail, converted to Microfilm, which limited letters to one page. Correspondents, especially sweethearts, invented acronyms to save space, much like today’s social media users. Some, popular before the war, are still familiar today: SWAK (Sealed With a Kiss). Others were chaste or uplifting: OOLAAKOEW (Oceans Of Love And A Kiss On Every Wave). However, a few were downright raunchy. To bypass censors, creative acronyms borrowed from geography: NORWICH (kNickers Off Ready When I Come Home) and CHINA (Come Home I’m Naked Already). The best could work both ways: EGYPT (Ever Give You Pleasant Thoughts OR Eager to Grab Your Pretty T**s). Read more about the U.S. Navy during WW II in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Billions of V-Mail letters were exchanged in WWII

Letters were vital to maintaining troop morale in WWII

Tazia and Gemma (Vine Leaves Press) by Ann S. Epstein

Learn History Through Fiction: Sidney Luft Before and After Judy Garland

(A Hollywood romance in honor of Valentines Day) Sidney Luft (1915-2005) was a Hollywood producer and impresario. Of German-Russian-Jewish descent, he started out as an amateur boxer and barroom brawler, nicknamed “One Punch Luft.” He is perhaps best known as the husband of Judy Garland (1952-1965), responsible for orchestrating her comeback in the 1950s and 1960s, notably in A Star is Born. Luft was married once before and twice after Garland. They had two children, Lorna and Joey. Read more about Hollywood and movie history in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

Judy Garland & Sidney Luft in happier days

A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (Alternative Book Press) by Ann S. Epstein

Learn History Through Fiction: Post-Civil War Exodusters

After the Civil War and the arrival of railroads, Kansas was populated by German immigrants, migrants from the Eastern U.S., and Negro Freedmen from the South called “Exodusters.” Farmers tried to grow corn and raise pigs, but failed because of a shortage of rainfall. They switched to soft spring wheat and later to hard winter wheat, which did well in the temperate Kansas climate since it does not have prolonged periods of heat and cold. Read more Kansas and wheat farming history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Post-Civil War wheat farmers in Kansas included “Exodusters,” Negro Freedmen from the South

Learn History Through Fiction: Midwives Safer Than Doctors 100 Years Ago

Midwives, like physicians, practiced without education or regulations until the early 1900’s. In an era before germ theory was known, doctors moved between anatomy labs, medical wards, and surgery without washing their hands, thus transferring germs. As a result, midwives’ patients were less likely to die of infection than those delivered by doctors. Read more about pregnancy and childbirth 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

In the early 1900’s, midwifery at home was more antiseptic and safer than doctor-assisted births in hospitals

Learn History Through Fiction: Oz’s Horse of a Different Color

In the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz, the horse pulling Dorothy and her friends around Emerald City changes from white to purple to red orange to yellow. The ASPCA would not let the crew paint the horse, so they tried food coloring and liquid candy but it was too pale and tasted so good that the horse licked it off. Arnold Gillespie, in charge of special effects, finally used paste made with Jell-O powder. The horse still licked it, but with frequent touch-ups, the paste stayed on long enough to complete the filming. Read more about the movie in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

A horse of a different color, thanks to grape-flavored Jell-O powder

Learn History Through Fiction: When Donkey Labor Pressed Olives

Pressing when olives are at their maximum freshness produces vibrant flavor and a bright yellow and green color. Huge stone wheels, six feet in diameter, grind the fruit. Unlike the grindstones of a flour mill, which are horizontal and turn one atop the other, the grindstones of an olive press are vertical and rotate in a tub, crushing the olives against the floor. The mill (frantoio) is chilly, to keep the fruit fresh. In the early 1900s, in the olive-growing regions of Italy, local fruit growers brought their olives to a communal mill, where donkeys turned the presses. Today the process is largely automated, but some presses are still turned by hand to minimize the bruising of the fruit. Read more about olives and olive farming 100 years ago and today in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Learn History Through Fiction: What You Are is What You Wear

Social class was evident in women’s fashions in the 1930’s Depression era. The sophisticated chic look promoted by designer Elsa Schiaparelli, with its bold colors, wide padded shoulders, and belted suits, was popular in high-end stores where the angular look flattered slim, athletic bodies. Working class women, who had no time for sports and subsisted on starchier diets, favored soft fabrics in floral and other prints which disguised their heavier bodies. However, women of all backgrounds were drawn to the fancy names that designers used to christen everyday colors: Pernod green, apple blossom pink, mimosa yellow, and carnation blush. Read more about fashion trends in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

1930’s fashions exclusively for the “never too rich or too thin”

Learn History Through Fiction: No More Coin Flips for the Price of a Drink

Bad timing! Soon after the city of Las Vegas was incorporated, Nevada became the last western state to outlaw gaming. At midnight on October 1, 1910, a strict anti-gambling law became effective, even forbidding the western custom of flipping a coin for the price of a drink. Despite the law, gambling thrived in speakeasies and illicit casinos. By the time gambling was re-legalized in 1931, organized crime already had deep roots in the city. Read more Las Vegas history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Bad timing! Nevada was the last western state to outlaw gambling, soon after the city of Las Vegas was incorporated

Learn History Through Fiction: Henry Ford Just Says No

At the beginning of WWII, American public opinion was against joining the war or even supporting European Allies. In 1940, Henry Ford refused a U.S. government contract to build Rolls Royce aircraft engines for England. Other automotive manufacturers didn’t want to turn making cars over to war production either. It took the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 to change American minds and convince U.S. industry to become patriotic. Read more about WWII in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

Not until Pearl Harbor did U.S. industry get behind WWII

Learn History Through Fiction: The Swoosh of Scissors

Composer Julia Wolfe sought the right scissors — dozens of pairs — for the January 24th premiere by the New York Philharmonic of her oratorio “Fire in My Mouth,” which commemorates the 1911 Triangle Waist Company factory fire that killed 146 garment workers, most of them young immigrant women. Scissors manufactured by Wiss made the satisfying “swoosh” sound Wolfe sought. The Crossing chamber choir “plays” them in the oratorio, which also features 146 girls from the Young People’s Chorus of New York City. Read more about a young Italian immigrant who survives the Triangle fire in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).