Winner of Marie Antoinetteapalooza

And the winner of the Marie Antoinetteapalooza is:

Ashley!

 

 

 

I will be emailing you this afternoon to get your address.  Thanks to everyone who entered the Giveaway!

November Book of the Month: The Time Traveling Fashionista at the Palace of Marie Antoinette

Author:  Bianca Turetsky

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

 

Publication date: 9/18/2012

 

Pages: 272

 

Age range: 8 - 12 Years


About the Book: 

What if a beautiful dress could take you back in time?

Louise Lambert's best friend's thirteenth birthday party is fast approaching, so of course the most important question on her mind is, "What am I going to wear?!" Slipping on an exquisite robin's egg blue gown during another visit to the mysterious Traveling Fashionista Vintage Sale, Louise finds herself back in time once again, swept up in the glory of palace life, fancy parties, and enormous hair as a member of the court of France's most infamous queen, Marie Antoinette.

But between cute commoner boys and glamorous trips to Paris, life in the palace isn't all cake and couture. Can Louise keep her cool-and her head!-as she races against the clock to get home?

Meet the Author:

Bianca Turetsky is the author of the stylish, tween-friendly Time-Traveling Fashionista series. After graduating from Tufts University, Bianca began work for the artist/filmmaker Julian Schnabel, where she has been running his studio for the past eight years and was an assistant on the Academy Award nominated film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. She currently lives in a cozy studio apartment in Brooklyn, New York, that houses her very extensive and much loved vintage collection. The third book in her series, The Time-Traveling Fashionista and Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, will be released in Fall 2013.

What people are saying:

“Turetsky delivers her enjoyable history lesson through the eyes of a girl who knows every major and minor fashion designer, a character sure to appeal to her target audience, as will the time-traveling theme. Appealing illustrations aid readers’ imaginations.”-KIRKUS

 

about the first book in the series, THE TIME-TRAVELING FASHIONISTA ON BOARD THE TITANIC

 

“Turetsky’s debut breezily incorporates past and current pop culture references; with a spunky main character and breathless descriptions of glamorous clothing, it’s entertaining wish fulfillment …” -Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Bottom line: totally recommend! Plus, the pencil sketches of gowns throughout the book give it a very reading-your-awesome-best-friend’s-diary feel.” –Seventeen Magazine

Treacherous Beauty: The Life of Peggy Shppen Arnold

Since I was had two days off from work thanks to Hurricane Sandy, I had ample time to actually do some research.  I love the Revolutionary War period and I wish that more authors of both historical fiction and romance would use this rich period of history as a backdrop.  One of the most fascinating women during this period is Peggy Shippen Arnold.  Most students of American history know about her husband Benedict Arnold who turned traitor but few know the role that Peggy played in his betrayal of his country.  Thanks to a new biography, Treacherous Beauty: Peggy Shippen, the Woman behind Benedict Arnold’s Plot to Betray America by Stephan H. Case and Mark Jacob, perhaps more people will know her name.

 

Peggy Shippen Arnold and child, by Sir Thomas Lawrence

 

Margaret ‘Peggy’ Shippen was born June 11, 1760 in Philadelphia.  The Shippen family was quite a prominent family; her lineage included two mayors and the founder of Shippensburg, PA.  Peggy’s father, Edward was a judge and a member of the Provincial Council.  Peggy was the baby of the family and her favorite’s favorite, so from an early age she had learned how to wrap a man around her little finger.  Her only brother Edward was considered a bit of a dolt, so Peggy’s father took her under his wing, teaching her about finance and politics, which she took to like a duck to water.  She also learned the usual female accomplishments of the 18^th century, music, dancing, drawing and needlework.  Peggy was considered one of the most beautiful young women in Philadelphia, not just because of her looks but because of her charm and wit.  Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, she came of age during a time of war.

Peggy’s family wasn’t really Loyalists but they weren't Patriots either; they sort of straddled the fence.   While they believed that the colonists had definite grievances against the Motherland, they thought that things could be worked out, if both sides were willing to compromise.  It was a tough line to walk, particularly since during the Revolutionary War, Philadelphia was occupied by both the British and the Americans at different times.  While Peggy was growing up both George Washington and Benedict Arnold had been entertained by her parents.  When the British captured Philadelphia in 1777, they did the same for the British high command.  The parties and balls that had been a feature of Philadelphia social life continued under British occupation, giving Peggy a chance to practice her dance steps and her flirting.

A frequent visitor to the Shippen home was a young officer named John André.  André was handsome, cultured, and charming.  Some historians speculate that Peggy and André fell in love but there is no evidence of this.  In fact, he paid court to not only Peggy but also to her friends Peggy Chew, Becky Franks, and Becky Morris.  One might call them André’s Angels; he spent that much time with them. When the British withdrew from the city a year later, he gave Peggy a lock of his hair to remember him by.
Peggy and her family had fled to the New Jersey countryside initially after the Americans occupied the city under the governorship of Benedict Arnold, but they soon moved back to the city because Edward Shippen felt that they would be safer.  The family soon became reacquainted with Benedict Arnold.  Arnold was immediately smitten and began courting the young woman despite their 20 year age difference.  What did Peggy see in Arnold? Despite the age difference and the fact that he was widowed with three small sons, Arnold was also a hero, responsible for the capture for Fort Ticonderoga and also for key actions during the Battle of Saratoga in which he was wounded.  Now a major general, he had been given the military governorship of Philadelphia.  While Peggy was willing, her father was more skeptical.  Arnold had just been brought up on charges of corruption and malfeasance with the money of the federal and state governments, and was awaiting trial. Arnold, however, knew the way to a woman’s heart, purchasing one of the nicest homes in town, Mount Pleasant for Peggy which he gave her the ownership of.  On April 19, 1779, Benedict Arnold and Peggy Shippen were married.

 

Arnold was champing at the bit to get back into action now that his leg had finally healed.  He angled for the post of defending Charleston against the British but Washington gave the command to someone else.  Although he had been acquitted of most of the charges brought against him, Arnold was still convicted of two of the minor charges.  Arnold seethed at what he considered the injustices done to him.  He had spent a considerable sum of money during his campaigns and was still waiting for reimbursement, nor had he been paid any salary as an officer in the Continental Army (he was not alone, most officers were still waiting for funds).  He was also pissed off that it had taken so long for him to be promoted to major general.  Whether Peggy first suggested that he think of switching sides, or he came to the conclusion on his own is up for debate.  The authors of Treacherous Beauty believe that it was Peggy’s idea.  She was certainly the one who put Arnold in touch with her good friend John André.  Soon Arnold had involved others in the conspiracy including two Loyalists, the Rev. Jonathan Odell and Joseph Stansbury.

 If Peggy had encouraged Arnold to change sides, it would certainly be understandable.  She was being a good wife, supporting her man, who felt unappreciated by the Americans.  And she probably didn’t have to give him that hard a push.  Arnold seems like he would have been a pain in the ass to live with, one of those men who never leave well enough alone.  He made as many enemies as he did friends.

Pissed off at his treatment in Philadelphia, Arnold resigned his command there in June of 1780.  By this time, he had been corresponding secretly with André, who had gotten permission from his commanding officer, General Clinton to pursue the possibility of Arnold coming over to the British. The messages that were exchanged were sometimes transmitted through Peggy, she would write Andre a seemingly innocent letter asking for material or some sort of frippery, but the letter would also include coded communications from Arnold in invisible ink. Arnold had sought and obtained the command of West Point which was a critical defense post on the Hudson River.   The plan was now for Arnold to weaken the defenses at West Point instead of rebuilding them, to make it easier for the British to capture the fort.  Peggy and their newborn son Edward soon joined them staying at the home of Beverly Robinson, a Loyalist whose home had been seized by the Americans.

 

Image of a coded letter: Peggy Shippen Arnold's handwriting is interspersed with coded writing in Benedict Arnold's hand; Arnold's writing would have been in invisible ink

In September 1780, Arnold finally met Andréin the woods nearby, giving him vital documents regarding the fortifications at West Point.  Unfortunately for André, he ended up behind the American lines, something that Clinton had told him expressly not to do.  André was arrested on September 23, 1780 trying to cross back into British territory.  The documents hidden in his boot were found, and the plot was exposed.  When Arnold found out that the jig was up, he fled to the HMS Vulture that was on the Hudson River, leaving Peggy behind at Robinson House waiting for George Washington to show up.  Washington had been scheduled to have a meeting with Arnold that morning.  Peggy put on a tour-de-force performance, becoming completely hysterical, almost mad.  The performance convinced Washington and his aide Alexander Hamilton that not only was Peggy completely innocent but it also gave Arnold enough time to escape. 

Peggy was sent back to her family in Philadelphia but news of Arnold’s betrayal meant that it was too difficult for her to stay and put her family in danger.  Instead Peggy was banished from the city of her birth, and sent to New York City to join her husband.  Their second son James Robinson Arnold was born in New York on August 28, 1781.  Peggy was initially welcomed into New York society.  Meanwhile André was condemned as a spy and hanged at Tappan, New York.  Now on the British side, Arnold was desperate to prove his worth but officers were naturally suspicious of the traitor in their midst.  Just as he had when he was part of the Continental Army, Arnold clashed with other officers over the right way to proceed to win the war.  Ironically, if he had been listened to, things might have been different and America might still be part of the British Empire.  With the war all but over, the Arnold family moved to England. 

The Arnold family fortunes continued to decline during their time in England.  Arnold was busy trying to get the British government to pay what he felt that he was owed for his actions betraying his country (he had asked to be paid £10,000 if he failed in his mission to secure West Point for the British, but the government ended up paying him a little over £6,000). Peggy meanwhile devoted herself to motherhood, giving birth to five more children, of which 3 survived.  They moved to New Brunswick in Canada so that Arnold could pursue a business opportunity.  When that failed, the family moved back to London, moving into increasingly smaller homes.  When Arnold died in 1801, Peggy spent the last three years of her life paying off his debts.  She used the pension money that she had been given by the British government and invested it wisely so that she had something to leave her children. She died in 1804 of uterine cancer and was buried with Arnold in St. Mary’s Church in Battersea.

After her death, a biographer of Aaron Burr first made the claim that Peggy had either manipulated or convinced Arnold to change sides like a Revolutionary War Lady Macbeth.  The information came from Burr’s wife, Theodosia Prevost who had been a good friend of Peggy’s. Peggy had stayed with Prevost in what is now Paramus, NJ, enroute to Philadelphia from West Point.  Apparently Peggy couldn’t take the lying anymore and confessed everything to Theodosia, telling her that “through unceasing perseverance, she had ultimately brought the general into an arrangement to surrender West Point.”  When the biography was published, the Shippen family disputed this version of events. They claim that Burr made up these allegations because Peggy had spurned his advances made on the way to Philadelphia.  However, papers were later found that showed that Peggy was paid £350 for handling secret dispatches.  

Still, until recently, Peggy was seen as the innocent wife of a traitor. One reason is, of course, the idea that women are naturally less treacherous than men. Peggy was not the only woman who aided and abetted the British during the American Revolution, but very few women were caught, and the ones that were reprimanded at most.  While male spies such as Nathan Hale and André were executed, not a single female spy met the same fate.  Peggy Shippen Arnold was a survivor, a testament to her ancestors who crossed the ocean to the New World.  Her life was more difficult than easy after her marriage but she made it work and never complained.

The Medium and The Magician

Happy Halloween everyone! Recently, I watched a film that was released a few years ago called "Death Defying Acts" starring Guy Pearce as Houdini and Catherine Zeta-Jones as a fake psychic named Mary McGregor.  According to the copy on the back of the DVD "it is the year is 1926, and Houdini is an international superstar. Yet behind Houdini's winning smile resides the restless heart of a tortured soul. Isolated by fame and drowning in regret over having not been present to hear his mother's last words, Houdini sets out in tour of Scotland and announces that he will pay 10,000 dollars to anyone who can prove spiritual contact with his deceased mother. But in his determination to prove that there is life after death, Houdini also becomes the target of countless charlatans, scam artists, and self-proclaimed spiritualists. Of course, stunning psychic Mary McGregor and her daughter/sidekick, Benji, seem remarkably sincere in their supernatural talents, yet that doesn't mean that the pair doesn't have their own ulterior motives for making a connection with the world-famous magic man."

Sounds intriguing doesn't it? Well the irony is that movie is based somewhat on fact. In 1924, Houdini set out to expose a medium named Mina Crandon who used the name 'Margery.' Margery wasn't Scottish; she was a Canadian who lived in Boston with her physician husband. And the prize money was $2,500 put up by Scientific American to anyone who could prove that they had psychic powers. The judges were Walter Franklin Pierce, an American psychical researcher, Hereward Carrington, an occult writer, Daniel Comstock who introduced Technicolor to film, and William McDougall, a professor of psychology at Harvard University.

By 1924, Houdini was world famous as a magician, he'd even dabbled in the new medium of film, but his newest passion was debunking mediums. It wasn't that Houdini wasn't open to the idea of being able to contact the spirit world.  There had been moments in his life that he couldn't explain. Once in Berlin, Houdini was put in a box, tied up and handcuffed so tightly that he wasn't sure that he was going to be able to get out. His wife Bess had prayed to Houdini's late father Rabbi Mayer Samuel for help. Before he died, he had told Houdini that if he ever needed him, that he would be there. Within seconds after Bess's prayer, Houdini was able to escape the handcuffs. On another occasion, Houdini had seen a fleeting vision of his mother. The next day he learned that she had passed away.

Houdini had consulted spiritualists after his mother Cecilia's death in 1913. He was so distraught that he hadn't been there at the end, but he soon realized that these so-called 'spiritualists' were all con-artists. That they used illusion the same way he did on stage. Houdini was disgusted by how they were taking advantage of the grief of so many people, and he determined to expose them. He began to devote a large part of his act to debunking mediums across the country, by demonstrating no stage how they managed to fool their clients. He would go in disguise to séances, and then dramatically pull off his beard, shouting "I am Houdini and you are a fraud," as he exposed them.

Spiritualism had been on the rise again both in America and in Europe in the aftermath of World War I. Noted author and the creator of Sherlock Holmes; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a firm believer. It seems hard to understand how Conan Doyle, the man who created one of the most rational men alive could become so convinced that spirits exist. Conan Doyle had been raised Catholic, and had attended schools run by Jesuits, but as an adult he had become a confirmed agnostic. He came to spiritualism gradually over the years. After the death of his son Kingsley in the First World War, he threw his lot in with spiritualism wholeheartedly. However, like a lot of converts, he had a one track mind when it came to spiritualism; he was unable to see anyone else's point of view. “I consider the psychic question to be infinitely the most important thing in the world,” he declared. “All modern inventions and discoveries will sink into insignificance besides those psychic facts which will force themselves within a few years upon the universal human mind.”

Conan Doyle and Houdini became friends when Houdini came to England to perform. While he was there, he hoped to have Conan Doyle introduce him to various mediums who might have been reluctant to meet him given his position on spiritualism. As the two men got to know each other over the next few years, Conan Doyle became convinced that Houdini's gifts were psychic in nature, and not a carefully planned and rehearsed act, despite Houdini's protestations to the contrary. He wrote Houdini telling him that he didn't need to search for creditable medium, when he already was one. Houdini on his part tried to gently get Doyle to see that most mediums were actually fake by demonstrating how they achieved their results but Doyle refused to believe it. Houdini even sent him a copy of his book Miracle Mongers and their Methods, where he exposed the secrets of sword swallowers, snake charmers, and other side show entertainers.

Houdini and Conan Doyle's friendship, unfortunately couldn't survive their differing opinions about spiritualism, despite their mutual respect for each other.  On a trip to the US, Conan Doyle's wife, Jean had conducted a séance for Houdini and her husband (Bess was not invited) in which Houdini's mother's spirit was supposed to have come through, using automatic writing. Houdini tried to be tactful in his response to séance because he still needed Doyle's help and also out of respect but privately he admitted that the spirit couldn't possibly have been his mother. The first reason being the writing was in English, which was a language that his mother could neither speak nor read, she had made the sign of the cross on the pad, and Houdini's family was Jewish, and finally the day of the séance was his mother's birthday which she never mentioned.

When Houdini published an article with the statement, "I am willing to be convinced, my mind is open, but the proof must be such as to leave no vestige of doubt that what is claimed to be done is accomplished through or by supernatural power." Conan Doyle was pissed. He felt that the article was an insult to his wife. Doyle also knew that getting Houdini on spiritualism's side would have been a great coup for the movement. Houdini, on the other hand, was being pressured by his friends who were anti-spiritualists to come out once and for all against the movement.  It was only a matter of time before Mina Crandon came across his radar.

At first glance, Mina Crandon seemed an unlikely medium.  She was an exceedingly attractive woman who came across more like a light-hearted flapper than most mediums who seemed solid and serious.  Mina was the daughter of a Canadian farmer, who had moved to Boston as a teenager to play in various dance bands. When that didn't work out, Mina went through a serious of odd jobs including secretary, actress and an ambulance driver. After divorcing her first husband, by whom she had a son; Mina married Dr. Le Roi Goddard Crandon, twice married, and a former instructor of surgery at Harvard Medical School in 1918. Mina had met Crandon when she was admitted to the hospital, probably for an appendectomy. Crandon was famous for his technique of removing the appendix by going in through the belly button so that the scarring was minimal. At the time Mina was 30 and Dr. Crandon was in his early forties. Crandon adopted her son and changed his name to John Crandon.

Mina had never had a psychic experience in her life, and had no interest in spiritualism until her husband became interested. One evening in 1923, Dr. Crandon invited a few friends over to his house for what they called a ‘home circle’ meeting.  The group gathered around a small table, which soon began tilting in response to their questions.  Dr. Crandon suggested that they leave one at a time to see who might be responsible for the paranormal activity.  Surprise, surprise, it turned out to be Mina! Ironically just a few days before, a psychic had told Mina that she possessed supernatural abilities and that she sensed that a laughing man was trying to contact her from beyond the grave.  The young man turned out to be Mina’s late brother Walter, who died in a railroad accident in 1911.  Walter would turn out be Mina’s spirit guide, a quick-witted fellow who loved to use foul language.  Mina was so versatile that Walter would continue talking even when she appeared to be snoring or holding water in her mouth.

For a year, Mina only displayed her talents to sympathetic audiences who were all too ready to believe evidence that their loved ones were contacting them.   During the séances, mysterious things would happen, bumps and raps rang out, and strange flashes of light pierced the darkness, once a live pigeon appeared in the room, seemingly out of nowhere.  Convinced of her talents, Dr. Crandon took Mina abroad where she made the acquaintance of Arthur Conan-Doyle who was convinced that Mina was the real enchilada. He declared that she was “a very powerful medium” and that her gifts were “beyond all question.”

Mina’s first real test came in late 1923 in front of a group of Harvard professors and students.  When it was over, one of the participants William McDougall tried to get Mina to admit that she was a fraud.  The Scientific American contest was going to be her crowning achievement as a medium.  All she had to do was win the $2,500. The Crandon’s’ didn’t need the money, what they wanted was the seal of approval winning the contest would confer. It seemed like a slam dunk.  J. Malcolm Bird, an associate editor at Scientific American who had come up with the idea, also believed that Mina was the real deal, and had written articles extolling her ‘gifts.’ It was Bird who gave her the stage name ‘Margery’ to protect her privacy.

By the time Houdini got involved, the judges were almost ready to award the prize to Mina.  Houdini offered to pay $1,000 of his own money if he failed to expose Mina as a fraud. Traveling to Boston, he reviewed the findings of the judges and came to the conclusion that the whole matter had been mishandled. Not only had the committee availed themselves of the Crandon’s hospitality but one of the investigators had borrowed money from Dr. Crandon.

On the night of July 23, Houdini arrived at the Lime Street for another séance. Mina greeted her guests in a flimsy dressing gown, bedroom slippers, and silk stockings which left little to the imagination.  The idea was to rule out the possibility that she was concealing anything on her.  It also had the desired effect of sending the judges pulses racing.  At 36, Mina was still a good-looking woman with a girlish figure, and sparkling blue eyes.  By the time Houdini left the house, he was impressed by Mina although not her supernatural powers.  At the hotel that night, Houdini detailed just exactly how Mina had produced the supernatural effects that had them so mesmerized.  He told them Mina had used her foot underneath the table to make the bell ring during the séance.  He also demonstrated how she had managed to make a megaphone crash to the floor.

Another séance was arranged and this time Houdini came prepared. He’d designed a special cabinet with openings for the medium’s head and arms. Once inside, Mina’s movements would be restricted.  Reluctantly Mina agreed to conduct the séance from within the cabinet.  The séance was not a success, ‘Walter’ tipped off Dr. Crandon that an erase had been wedged into the bell box to prevent it from ringing.  The next séance, a collapsible ruler was found inside the cabinet.  Mina’s defenders claimed that Houdini had planted both items to discredit Mina.  Houdini, on the other hand, believed the items had been planted to impugn his testimony.

Houdini outraged Mina and her supporters by publishing a pamphlet called Houdini Exposes the Tricks Used by the Boston Medium Margery.  He was adamant that Mina was a fake while her supporters were just as adamant that she was genuine. Scientific American decided to cut its losses and declined to award the prize to Mina after all. No doubt, in large part, to Houdini.  From the grave, Walter weighed in with a prediction that Houdini would be dead within a year.  He was off by a year, Houdini died on October 31, 1926, of complications following a blow to the stomach.   In an interview with the press, Mina praised Houdini’s virile personality and great determination.

Mina continued to give séances.  By this time, Mina had moved on from just channeling Walter, she was now able to produce physical evidence such as ectoplasm from various body parts.  Sometimes the ectoplasm even formed into hands.  It was the ectoplasm that was responsible for the ringing of the bell and other phenomena.  When another investigator named Eric Dingwall asked to examine the ectoplasm, Dr. Crandon claimed that it could only be seen with a special red lamp.  When Dingwall touched the ectoplasm, he described it as feeling like ‘a piece of cold raw beef or a possibly a piece of soft wet rubber.’  Dingwall became suspicious as did other investigators but Mina was unconcerned.  By 1928, ‘Walter’ was now able to leave behind a fingerprint.  This time, Mina had gone too far.  When the fingerprint was examined, it turned out to match the fingerprints of Mina’s dentist! Even Mina’s most staunch defenders began to back away. 

In 1939, Dr. Crandon died, and Mina began to turn to alcohol to ease her depression, although she continued to hold séances in her house on Lime Street. Mina Crandon died in 1941 at the relatively young age of 54. In the end, she was worn down by her own success, having to produce more and more ‘miracles’ to satisfy her supporters.  Was Mina a real medium or an out and out fake? Many researchers believe that were some elements of the paranormal present in Crandon’s séances, although no one could tell what was genuine and what was not.  

Sources:

Houdini - Kenneth Silverman
The Secret Life of Houdini - William Kalush and Larry Sloman
Final Séance - Massimo Polidoro

 

London 2012 - Victoria Revealed and more

I apologize for my lack of posts lately but I spent a week in London at the end of September/beginning of October and I'm still recovering.  Not from jet lag but because it was such a great experience.  Really anytime that I get to go to London is a good experience! Once again, I booked a room through At Home in London.  At Home in London features B&B's in private homes.  The last two times I stayed in Parsons Green, this time I stayed in a lovely home in Shepherd's Bush owned by an antiques dealer and his wife.

This time the trip was both for business and for pleasure. I attended the Historical Novel Society conference held at the University of Westminster on Upper Regent Street.  This was my second time attending the Historical Novel Society conference and it won't be my last.  I saw many familiar faces from last year but also some new ones. The conference was very different from the one held last year in San Diego. For one thing, I was unable to attend the Saturday night banquet because it was sold out.  The conference in London was structured on a sliding scale, meaning that you could pay for all three days or you could pay it piecemeal.  I opted for the Friday night cocktail party, the Saturday all-day conference.  Because I registered in July, the banquet was already sold out and there was just no more room for them to add extra tables.  It was interesting to hear opinions on the future of historical fiction from editors, agents and booksellers in England vs. the US. The general consensus seemed to be for writers just to write a great story that you are passionate about.

Philippa Gregory was the Saturday morning speaker and it's always a delight to hear her speak, although she seems to have a bit of a chip on her shoulder in regards to critics who don't take the genre seriously or consider it to be 'literary.'  While I enjoyed the conference, I found the rooms to be a bit cramped, and space was tight in the room where lunch and the cocktail party was held with very limited seating. I totally get that holding the conference at the University kept costs down for participants but I kind of missed the rather posh in comparison meeting rooms that you find at most hotels in the US.  It was a bit stuffy in the rooms at times, and I found myself nodding off at various points on Saturday.

I skipped the Sunday portion of the conference opting to sleep a little later and to head out to Hampton Court Palace to see the final day of the Beauty, Sex and Power exhibit which featured a host of portraits of society beauties during the reigns of the Stuart Monarchs.  While wondering through the rooms, I came upon a reenactment of Barbara Castlemaine getting ready to have her portrait painted by Sir Peter Wright, a court painter who is not as well known as Sir Peter Lely.  When they asked for a volunteer from the audience to help Lady Castlemaine undress, I raised my hand. So I got to be the Lady Elizabeth for about 15 minutes.  I love reenactments, although I felt for the gentleman playing Sir Peter, he seemed rather green as if he wasn't quite sure what was required of him.  Lady Castlemaine had to lead him gently by the hand through their scene.

Later that night I met my friend author Leanna Renee Hieber at the Spaniard's Inn in Hampstead.  If you have never been to the Spaniard's Inn, it is worth the trek from the Hampstead tube station.  And I do mean that it is a trek.  It felt like we were walking for miles until we finally reached the Inn. Outside we discovered this groovy bench where apparently Keats sat when he quaffed ale at the inn as you can see from the sign on the bench.

The next afternoon, I headed to Kensington Palace to see the new Victoria Revealed exhibit.  The palace has undergone extensive renovations and it now looks quite spiffy.

It has stopped raining and the sun came out so here is a picture of me and King William III at the entrance to the Palace.  

The Victoria Revealed exhibit is wonderful because it uses Victoria's own words (as well as Albert's) to illustrate her life along with a host of personal items from her wedding dress to the jewelry that Albert gave her, christening gowns, books, letters.  For probably the first time, I began to see Victoria as not just a Queen but a living, breathing person with thoughts and feelings, not just the grumpy widow in black.

This is a photo of me with one of Albert's uniforms.  In fact, I think this is what he wore when he married Victoria.  My friend Leanna took it with her Blackberry without a flash, so it's a little fuzzy. As you can see Albert was not that tall, about 5'7" or 5"8.  I'm wearing 3 inch heels and I'm about the same height as he would have been.  There was also a small exhibit about Queen Victoria's jubilee which was quite interesting. A bit smaller compared to Queen Elizabeth II's!

And here's a final picture of me with Queen Victoria in the background on the staircase leading up to the exhibit.

Marie Antoinettepalooza Giveaway!

Next Friday, November 2nd is Marie Antoinette (and my birthday).  Not only that, but Scandalous Women is celebrating its 5th Anniversary and its 500th post. So to celebrate, I've come up with a Marie Antoinettepalooza giveaway for readers of the blog.

One lucky reader will receive this lovely fleur de lis tote bag filled with goodies.

Amongst the goodies will be the following:

• A copy each of BECOMING MARIE ANTOINETTE and DAYS OF SPLENDOR, DAYS OF SORROW by Juliet Grey, the first 2 books in her Marie Antoinette trilogy.
• A DVD of the Marie Antoinette documentary that appeared on PBS several years ago.
• Macaroons from Laduree
• Marie Antoinette earrings

Giveaway (US only)

- To enter, please leave a comment below and include your email address (only comments with email addresses will be entered in the giveaway).

 

- If you are not a follower and become one, you get an extra entry
- If you tweet about the giveaway, you get an extra entry.
- If you like my Scandalous Women Facebook page, you get an extra entry.

Good luck!

 

- Giveaway ends on November 2nd.

Hello Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand

Title:  Hello Gorgeous:   Becoming Barbra Streisand

Author:  William J. Mann

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Publication date: 10/9/2012

Meet the Author:

William J. Mann is the author of Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn, which was named a New York Times Notable Book, as well as several other acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction. He divides his time between Provincetown, Massachusetts and New York City.

My take:  

Like the author, I’m not a huge fan of Barbra Streisand.  I think that she has a phenomenal voice, but I haven’t been a huge fan of hers as an actress, apart from her earlier films WHAT’S UP DOC (which is a classic screwball comedy) and THE WAY WE WERE.  While I enjoyed the PRINCE OF TIDES, I thought the last film she directed, THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES, was just one long therapy session. I suspect that if I knew her, I would find her somewhat insufferable.  I totally get that she’s a perfectionist, I suffer from that same malady myself, but she takes it even to extremes.  I remember watching her on the Oprah Winfrey show, where she claimed that she managed to will some bulbs that she had planted in a window box outside her bedroom, to change color so that they matched the wallpaper in the room.  Seriously?

So why did I pick up a biography of Barbra Streisand given my love/hate relationship with the subject? Well, I was intrigued by the fact that Mann focuses solely on the first 5 years of Barbra’s career, I had to order the book from Net Galley.  The book chronicles the trajectory of Barbra's career from struggling actress to reluctant chanteuse, all the way to her triumph on Broadway, portraying Fanny Brice in a little musical called ‘Funny Girl.’ This is a Barbra that has all but been forgotten, the young insecure girl who was determined to ‘go big or go home.’  For Barbra there was no other option. Mann deals with Barbra’s early childhood, the loss of her father before her 2^ndbirthday and the hole that left in her and her mother’s short-lived second marriage to Louis Kind in a few pages.  He’s more concerned with the impact that it had on her life. 

The reader learns about the men and women who helped Barbra along the way, including her first real love Barry Dennen, who was the first one to hear the potential and Barbra’s voice and did a great deal to shape her early persona of a kooky Brooklyn girl with the big nose and the even bigger voice.  From the beginning of Barbra’s career, her looks were treated as an asset instead of a detriment.  Barbra was enormously lucky that she was beginning her career in the early sixties at the end of the reign of the studios who controlled every aspect of a performer’s career.   If Barbra had come along in the thirties, forties or even the early fifties, everything about her would have been changed from her nose, her name, they would have tried to mold her into whatever niche on their roster needed filling.  By the sixties, a whole new generation of Actors Studio trained actors paying their dues in small theaters Off and Off-Off Broadway were making their mark, including a fellow acting student named Dustin Hoffmann.

Mann does a fantastic job of not just chronicling Barbra’s career but also the changing times from the Puritanism of the 1950’s to the ‘Let it all hang out’ 1960’s, from the standard heavy and novelty tune pop music to the British Invasion bringing back the rawness of the early years of rock and roll. In many ways, Barbra embodies the changing times.  On the one hand, she made her mark breathing new life into old songs, on the other hand, she benefited from the changes in the business.  One of the things that I found fascinating in the book was how Barbra’s publicists were able to use publicity in the forms of the many newspaper columnists who covered show business, as well as the medium of television.  Here was Barbra Streisand at the tender age of 18 years old already appearing on the Tonight Show after only making a few club appearances in New York.  The only equivalent I can think of would be Ellen DeGeneres having the two little girls who became a YouTube sensation singing pop songs but even that isn’t quite the same thing.  Barbra became famous so quick and so early because a) she was incredibly talented, b) she was incredibly focused and determined, one could almost say pushy and c) she was able to attract people to her who knew a good thing when they saw and were determined to make her career happen. Not out of any altruistic sense, but because they saw a money-maker.

One of the more poignant moments in the book comes about half-way through when Mann describes Streisand’s appearance on the short-lived Judy Garland Show.  The contrast between Judy’s life and Barbra’s is fascinating.  You just wish that Judy had had people around her to protect and guide her the way that Barbra did. The meatiest part of the book is of course the second half of the book which details the journey of Funny Girl from concept to execution.  Frankly this could be a whole book on its own, and hopefully someday someone will write a book doing just that. I give Mann credit because he the reader a bird’s eye view not just from Barbra’s perspective but also of the other participants including Lainie Kazan, who was Streisand’s understudy.  For a theatre geek and actress like me, this part of the book was like manna from heaven.  I couldn’t get enough, I almost wish that Mann had continued and given us more from when the show moved to the West End.  I had no idea that Anne Bancroft was seriously in the running to play Fanny Brice, from what I know about the real Fanny Brice (the subject of a future blog post), Barbra seems to have been born to play the role.  She even resembles Fanny Brice.

The book also gives the reader details about Barbra’s first marriage to Elliot Gould, her brief relationship with Tommy Smothers (who knew?), and her affair with Sydney Chaplin (son of Charlie) who played Nicky Arnstein.  Frankly, I felt for Elliot Gould, it can’t have been easy to be in love or even married to a powerhouse like Barbra. Particularly when she walked away with all the acclaim in the musical I CAN GET IT FOR YOUR WHOLESALE in a minor role when he was the star.  Some of this will be familiar to Streisand fans, especially her fraught relationship with her mother Diana who comes across as an overprotective mother who was unable to nurture her daughter in a way that she needed.  Diana never praised Barbra because she didn’t want to encourage her only to have Barbra end up disappointed the way that Diana had been when she had to give up a spot in the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera.  You feel for Barbra, and it certainly explains her drive.  When anyone told Barbra no, she couldn’t do something, it just made her all the more determined to prove them wrong.

I can’t say that I liked Barbra Streisand more after reading the book.  There were times when I wanted to strangle her for her narcissism, her inability to thank the people who did so much for her, and her willful blindness to the needs of other people in her life.  However, I certainly feel like I understand her better, and I have sympathy for that fatherless little girl whose mother never talked about her late husband, and who seemed to prefer her youngest daughter to Barbra.  The book is over 500 pages, but it reads more like a novel than a biography.  I found that I couldn't put it down and even though I've read other biographies about Barbra, I had to find out what happened next.