What Would Sarah Wear?

One of the things I enjoyed most about writing my novel "Sarah & Gerald" was the research into 1920s fashions. I already knew a lot about those fashions having written about them several times for various newspapers; however, it's a different story when writing about real(ish) people who wore real clothes decades before I was even born.

Early on, my research took me to Los Angeles and the 2012 exhibition of costumes from Academy Award-nominated films (including the 1920s-set "The Artist"). I wrote about that exhibition here.

Matt and I recently took in a marvelous fashion exhibition called "Modern Spirit: Fashion of the 1920s" at the Phoenix Art Museum. It features more than 40 ensembles and accessories by more than a dozen iconic fashion designers including Gabrielle Chanel (pictured, top), Jean Patou (center) and Madeleine Vionnet (bottom). While it was neat seeing the fashions up close, it was even neater knowing that these are the very outfits that would have been worn by my characters. On several occasions I pointed out something to Matt and said "I describe a dress just like this for Sarah in one scene." It was an eerie occurrence of life imitating art.

The Phoenix Art Museum has a very long tradition of interest in fashion, with a collection that was founded in 1966. It comprises more than 5,000 objects of American and European clothing and accessories dating from the late 17th century to the present. I strongly urge you to check out this exceptional exhibition if you live in the Phoenix Metro area, or plan on being in town before the exhibition closes in February 2013. You can find out more about the exhibition at the Museum's website.  

All photographs by Ken Howie. Copyright and courtesy of The Phoenix Art Museum.

Books I'm Reading

Am reading this.

Just finished reading this.

And now...

Giraffe feeding time at the Wildlife World Zoo.

"Sarah & Gerald" Cover Wins Award

I'm very happy to let you know Matt's cover design for my book "Sarah & Gerald" a novel of Paris in the 1920s, won this month's e-book cover design award for fiction! How cool is that? You can read more about the awards and other winners here.

And now...

Three goat butts, courtesy the Arizona State Fair.

Icky Origins

Of course, no really good music has come out since the war -- World War Two, that is. With the exception of Gloria Estefan and a few keen dance pieces of the 1990s, the world of music has been nothing but a vast wasteland.

Before the war, there was a kind of dance music called "swing" that bred a style of dancing called "the jitterbug" danced by people who spoke a language known as "jive." Jive contained words like "cat," "licks," "on the cob" (as in corny) and the really great word "icky" which referred to sentimental music -- the kind that was preferred by the parents of jitterbuggers.

If you ever wanted to learn this obscure language, you can get a good start listening to this very rare circa-1933 excerpt of a radio program called "Inside Story" that attempted, in this episode, to help its audience understand just what their children were saying and doing.

So, all you hep cats and gators get ready to learn some jive!

Geese!

It's migration time in America for birds that fly south for the winter. Arizona seems to be along the migration route for many birds -- including starlings and Canada geese (shown). This morning while Matt and I were playing tennis, we were greeted with two flyovers of Canada geese. We always hear them, but rarely see them flying close by. It was really neat!

Books I Am Reading

Am reading this.

Just finished reading this.

I Wonder....

Did the male dog that played the female Lassie have gender identity issues?

The Day the Spoken Word Died

Fifty years ago tonight, the world changed forever: On this date came the end of the last two radio shows we in America consider part of the "Golden Age" of vintage radio drama and comedy. Just like vaudeville before it and silent film before that, the world saw the end of one extremely popular form of entertainment as it was replaced by another (in this case, television).

While radio broadcasts had been around for several years, commercial broadcasting did not begin until 1920. The few stations that existed during that time had little idea of what to broadcast -- music being one of the first ideas. Stations began experimenting with other subjects, broadcasting radio versions of popular plays, then original plays, finally coming up with the concept of the variety show (some music, some spoken works). Programming continued erratically for most of the decade.

With the advent of the 1930s (and the conveniently timed Depression), radio content exploded. Families unable to afford other forms of entertainment saved their scarce money and purchased a radio -- the source of otherwise free entertainment as well as much-needed news and contact with the rest of the country.

The period from roughly 1930 to roughly 1955 is considered radio's Golden Age. Literally thousands of actors from vaudeville began appearing on radio, with a not-insignificant number becoming huge stars, helping to redefine the idea of "entertainment." The power of radio was unquestionably understood the night of 30 October 1938 with the airing of the innocent (but quickly infamous) dramatization of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" by the then-scarcely-known (but quickly infamous) Orson Welles.

By then, radio was certainly ubiquitous: news, sports, weather, farm reports, music -- as well as the more famous comedies and dramas -- were everywhere. Newspapers feared for their survival owing to the reductions in revenue as advertisers moved their money to the juggernaut that was radio.

(Other countries, as well, hopped on the radio bandwagon with productions in England, France, Germany, Australia and many others.)

Radio grew up with the advent of war (Edward R. Murrow's broadcasts from war-torn Britain). Radio played two major roles in the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor: the Japanese bombers pinpointed Hawaii from far out in the ocean by latching onto the broadcasts of a Hawaii radio station; and radio brought the first news of the attack to America and the world.

Inevitably, television became the dominant entertainment medium in the home, and radio slowly faded away -- although quite a number of early television programs were versions of popular radio shows. For example, the most popular comedy on television ever, "I Love Lucy," was a variant of Lucille Ball's popular radio program "My Favorite Husband."

After the end of the Golden Age, there were attempts to bring back radio drama in America including the unsuccessful Theater Five (1964–1965), and the highly successful CBS Radio Mystery Theater (1974–1982).

While such a wealth of radio drama and comedy will never be prominent in America again, we can still enjoy the richness of radio owing to transcription disks capturing performances (to be broadcast at "this more convenient time"); and many groups and clubs that occasionally produce live-versions of vintage radio or even new scripts.

For your enjoyment, here are the final episodes of "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar" and "Suspense" that aired 50 years ago tonight:

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar

Suspense