Ann S. Epstein Writer

While researching the short story “Spinning,” I discovered yet another (egregious) example of history repeating itself. After the Civil War, when cotton once again flowed to the North, hundreds of thousands of French-Canadian immigrants came south across the order to work in the textile mills of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. By 1900, one-tenth of New Englanders spoke French. The immigrants clustered in communities dubbed “Little Canadas,” often over-crowded, company-owned tenements. Determined to maintain their culture, the Catholic “invaders” aroused suspicion among their Protestant neighbors and raised alarms throughout the nation. In 1881, The New York Times described them as “ignorant and unenterprising. They care nothing for our free institutions, have no desire for civil or religious liberty or the benefits of education.” There was fear that they planned to colonize the northeast corner of the continent and create “New France” under the control of the Roman Catholic faith. Groups like the Know Nothings and American Protective Association burned Catholic churches, assaulted priests, and attacked Catholic neighborhoods. The fear of French Canadians waned only when immigrants began to arrive from farther afield: Jews and non-Protestants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Today the perceived threat to the “American way of life” comes from south of the border, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The location of origin changes, but the reaction on U.S. shores doesn’t. To learn more about the immigrant experience and other topics in my writing — from historical to contemporary, serious to humorous, and realistic to absurdist — see NOVELS and SHORT STORIES.

The 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act creates the right to a minimum wage, and “time-and-a-half” pay when people work over 40 hours a week. It also prohibits most employment of minors in “oppressive child labor.” The law applies to employees and enterprises engaged in or producing goods for interstate commerce. States can still regulate their internal child labor force but federal rules are usually, although not always, applied if they are stricter. Read more about labor laws over the last century in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Removing the bodies of the 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire’s 146 victims was grim work. Using a block and tackle, firemen lowered nets or blankets with 2 or 3 bodies at a time to policemen 8 to 10 floors below, who spread them in a row on a dark red canvas. Ambulances then transported the bodies to Bellevue Morgue. Patrol wagons were sent to help but, delayed by the slow process, were forced to line up like taxicabs waiting to pick up customers. Read more about the tragedy in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

After a successful career as a commercial artist in the 1950s, Andy Warhol became an avant-garde artist and a film maker at his studio, The Factory, in the 1960s. His iconic images of pop stars (Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali) and American products (Campbell’s soup, Coca Cola) brought him fame. His dictum was “A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking.” Warhol is also known for claiming, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Warhol was more entrepreneurial in the 1970s, founding Interview magazine and publishing The Philosophy of Andy Warhol. He said, “Making money is art, and working is art, and good business is the best art.” Read more about Andy Warhol in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

In June 1948, the Palomar Observatory opened in San Diego. Construction of the 200-inch mirror for the Hale Telescope, named for its inventor George Ellery Hale, had begun in 1934. Edwin Powell Hubble, who in 1929 discovered that clouds of light in the night sky were from galaxies beyond the Milky Way, was the first astronomer to use the telescope. It remained the largest in the world until 1975, when the Russians built a bigger one. Discover more San Diego history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

The Wizard of Oz was previewed in Kenosha and Oconomowoc, Wisconsin 80 years ago today, on August 12, 1939. MGM wanted to test how popular the movie, which begins and ends in Kansas, would be in the Midwest, and see whether its nearly $3 million investment in Technicolor would pay off. Recalls a 91-year-old woman who saw the premier as a preteen, “It was very impressive because we had never seen a color film before.” The Hollywood premiere was on August 15 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The New York City premiere was held at Loew’s Capitol Theatre on August 17, followed by a live performance with Judy Garland and her co-stars. The film opened nationwide on August 25, 1939, its official release date. Read more about the making of The Wizard of Oz and its “big” and “little” stars in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

The 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire, which killed 146 workers, most of them immigrant women, led to major labor legislation. NYC’s Tammany Hall passed 60 of 64 laws recommended by the Factory Investigating Commission, created in response to the tragedy. The International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) fought for better sweatshop conditions, including a 54-hour work week, and the American Society of Safety Engineers was founded seven months later. Read more about the fire and the U.S. labor movement 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

At the beginning of WWI, under the 1914 “Defence of the Realm Act,” British pub hours were limited to 12-2:30 PM and 6:30-9:30 PM, so factory workers wouldn’t show up drunk after lunch or the next morning. These hours, widely disregarded outside London, were finally relaxed nationwide in the 1960s and 1970s. In the WWII era, pubs were gathering places for trade unions and sympathizers (albeit wary of communist influence). Many had football teams who played the regulars from other pubs at Sunday matches. Read more about old London in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

The Mafia, a.k.a. the Mob, is rich in slang. Some examples: action (illicit profits); associate (someone who works for the Mafia but is not a “family member” or on the books); break (discipline someone by a demotion in rank); crumb (legitimate working man); going to the mattress (warring with a rival gang); goomah (mistress); goomba (term of affection & respect); vig or vigorish (% of a bet retained as income by the bookmaker). Read more about how the Mafia infiltrated Las Vegas with loot and lingo 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).