{"id":3993,"date":"2012-04-30T13:16:25","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T20:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/?p=3993"},"modified":"2012-04-30T13:16:26","modified_gmt":"2012-04-30T20:16:26","slug":"1877-that-was-the-year-that-was-so-maybe-just-maybe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/30\/1877-that-was-the-year-that-was-so-maybe-just-maybe\/","title":{"rendered":"1877: That Was the Year That Was, So Maybe, Just Maybe!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every year brings with it landmark events and 1877 was no different.<\/p>\n

So today, the 135th<\/sup> birthday of Alice B. Toklas, let\u2019s 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\u2019Farrell Street in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The streets of San Francisco 1877<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The year began with Queen Victoria being declared the Empress of India. Alice\u2019s cookbook does contain recipes for \u201cEmpress Rice\u201d and \u201cLamb Curry.\u201d So maybe, just maybe?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A Queen by any other name....<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>By February 12th<\/sup>, Lincoln\u2019s 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\u2019s 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?]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Pa Bell's phone with a fine wood finish, circa 1870s<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>About three weeks later, Rutherford B. Hayes was inaugurated as \u00a0the 19th US president. Hayes Street in San Francisco is about seven blocks from O\u2019Farrell Street. SMJM?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Prez Hayes with the White House<\/p><\/div>\n

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. \u00a0SMJM?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

An Easter bonnet, 1898<\/p><\/div>\n

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!) ,\u00a0 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?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As summer began, a group of artists got together to form the Society of American Artists. What may have been relatively well \u2013known names back then have, for the most part, been lost in the annals of art history \u2013 names like \u00a0Walter Shirlaw, Robert Swain Gifford and John LaFarge. The most familiar of the lot is \u00a0designer and artist \u00a0Louis Comfort Tiffany\u00a0who became famous for his lamps.\u00a0 No need to say anything about Alice being surrounded by art and artists most of her life. SMJM?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A painting by Walter Shirlaw, 1889<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Closer to home three months after Alice\u2019s 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.\u00a0 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<\/strong>. SMJM?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Chinese arriving in San Francisco circa 1870s<\/p><\/div>\n

By the fall, the biggest news pertained to Thomas Edison\u2019s invention of his \u201ctalking machine\u201d which was to become the phonograph. By December the first sound recording was made.\u00a0 Not sure if GertrudeandAlice had a phonograph, but Alice had studied classical music as a young girl and became quite an accomplished pianist.\u00a0 Gertrude\u2019s favorite song \u201cThe Trail of the Lonesome Pine\u201d which was inspired by a popular novel from 1908 by the same name, became a best-selling recording. SMJM?\u00a0 Here it is on YouTube:\u00a0http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5d8S1bVNo0A<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gertrude belting out "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine!"<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0In closing, who else was born in 1877:<\/p>\n

Herman Hesse<\/p>\n

Isadora Duncan<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Isadora holding court<\/p><\/div>\n

and Pancho Villa!<\/p>\n

\u00a0And who else was born on April 30th<\/sup>:<\/p>\n

Eve Arden<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The teacher's teacher, "Our Miss Brooks."<\/p><\/div>\n

Cloris Leachman<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Frau Blucher herself---looks a bit like Alice!<\/p><\/div>\n

and Willie Nelson!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Birthday Girl triptych by Tom Hachtman<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0Happy Birthday to one and all!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year brings with it landmark events and 1877 was no different. So today, the 135th birthday of Alice B. Toklas, let\u2019s 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\u2019Farrell Street in San Francisco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[15,268,271,269,89,162,270,264,265,210,267,272,224,266],"class_list":["post-3993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-historic-facts","tag-alice-b-toklas","tag-cloris-leachman","tag-eve-arden","tag-frau-blucher","tag-gertrude-stein","tag-monique-truong","tag-our-miss-brooks","tag-queen-victoria","tag-rutherford-b-hayes","tag-the-book-of-salt","tag-the-trail-of-the-lonesome-pine","tag-thomas-edison","tag-tom-hachtman","tag-walter-shirlaw"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3993"}],"version-history":[{"count":82,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4098,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3993\/revisions\/4098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}