Questions and Answers

Every year brings with it landmark events and 1877 was no different.

So today, the 135^th birthday of Alice B. Toklas, let’s take a look at some of the happenings of that year and how maybe, just maybe, they shaped the life of the infant born that day on O’Farrell Street in San Francisco.

The year began with Queen Victoria being declared the Empress of India. Alice’s cookbook does contain recipes for “Empress Rice” and “Lamb Curry.” So maybe, just maybe?

 By February 12^th, Lincoln’s birthday, the first news dispatch was sent by telephone from Boston to Salem, Mass. I have seen a San Francisco city directory from circa 1905 which lists a telephone number for Alice’s father. GertrudeandAlice too eventually got a telephone though in the 1938 “Americans in France Directory” published by the American Chamber of Commerce in France, the number is unlisted. Too many calls asking for invitations to the salon? So maybe, just maybe? [SMJM?]

 About three weeks later, Rutherford B. Hayes was inaugurated as  the 19th US president. Hayes Street in San Francisco is about seven blocks from O’Farrell Street. SMJM?

When Easter rolled around that year, the first Easter egg roll was to be held on the White House lawn, but it was rained out. Alice was very fond of hats particularly ones with feathers, so there could have been an Easter bonnet influence here.  SMJM?

Not to be outdone, by their American cousins in the arena of public spectacles (OK, I’m giving the Easter egg roll a lot of entertainment value!) ,  about a week later, the first human cannonball act was performed in London! Now this one, I will not touch with a ten foot fuse! SMJM?

As summer began, a group of artists got together to form the Society of American Artists. What may have been relatively well –known names back then have, for the most part, been lost in the annals of art history – names like  Walter Shirlaw, Robert Swain Gifford and John LaFarge. The most familiar of the lot is  designer and artist  Louis Comfort Tiffany who became famous for his lamps.  No need to say anything about Alice being surrounded by art and artists most of her life. SMJM?

 Closer to home three months after Alice’s birth a tragic event took place in San Francisco: a two day riot against the Chinese immigrants, who many, especially railway workers, felt they were driving wages lower.  The violence raged through Chinatown with four deaths and $100,000 worth of damage. Though GertrudeandAlice did employee Asian cooks, they were for the most part Vietnamese or as they were called in Alice’s cookbook “Indo-Chinese.” Alice was particularly fond of Trac who is the inspiration for Monique Truong’s amazing book about GertrudeandAlice, THE BOOK OF SALT. SMJM?

By the fall, the biggest news pertained to Thomas Edison’s invention of his “talking machine” which was to become the phonograph. By December the first sound recording was made.  Not sure if GertrudeandAlice had a phonograph, but Alice had studied classical music as a young girl and became quite an accomplished pianist.  Gertrude’s favorite song “The Trail of the Lonesome Pine” which was inspired by a popular novel from 1908 by the same name, became a best-selling recording. SMJM?  Here it is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d8S1bVNo0A

 In closing, who else was born in 1877:

Herman Hesse

Isadora Duncan

and Pancho Villa!

 And who else was born on April 30^th:

Eve Arden

Cloris Leachman

and Willie Nelson!

 Happy Birthday to one and all!

 

 

Tagged Alice B. Toklas, Cloris Leachman, Eve Arden, Frau Blucher, Gertrude Stein, Monique Truong, Our Miss Brooks, Queen Victoria, Rutherford B. Hayes, The Book of Salt, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, Thomas Edison, Tom Hachtman, Walter Shirlaw