Tom47

Agnes de Mille was born in Manhattan, NY, on September 18, 1905 and started dance lessons at age 14. Eventually she became friends with Martha Graham. In 1942 Agnes de Mille choreographed and danced the lead role in the ballet Rodeo for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Here is a 2 minute long video wherein she describes her choreography for that ballet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJPuk9dPJFI The next year she choreographed the dances for Oklahoma. I never before had an interest in that musical, nor the movie, but upon recently seeing its dance numbers I have become entranced by them. Here is a 2 minute video of the Many a New Day number with Agnes de Mille describing what is happening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afxtte6yT24. Pay attention to the “fall down girl.” Next are excerpts from The Dream Ballet, again 2 minutes long and again with the choreographer’s description. What is particularly interesting with this is that scenes from the musical are interspersed with the same scenes from the 1955 film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vBO7Q755oQ Originally the dream ballet was to be light, having a circus theme, but Agnes de Mille disagreed. “I said [to Hammerstein], this is the kind of dream that young girls who are worried have. She’s frantic because she doesn’t know which boy to go to the box social with. And so, if she had a dream, it would be a dream of terror, a childish dream, a haunted dream. Also, you haven’t any sex in the first act. He said, haven’t I? I said, goodness, no. All nice girls are fascinated by [the darker side of sexuality]. Mr. Hammerstein, if you don’t know that, you don’t know about your own daughters.” See here: https://rodgersandhammerstein.com/oklahoma-out-of-my-dreams-the-psychological-canvas-of-choreographer-agnes-de-mille/ Here is an interesting 15 minute video of Agnes de Mille being interviewed about Oklahoma with excerpts from the Musical: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW35nQUZdk4. Both the ballet Rodeo and the Dream Ballet are about a young woman’s dreams, either figuratively or literally. For those who may not have seen the film, like me or who would like to see the dance scenes from it again, here is Many A New Day (9 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrGwxrqzGe4 and the full Dream Ballet (15 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D1loAVwiMc. The lyrics sung by Shirley Jones in the Many A New Day clip shows Laurey to be a mostly confident and independent woman, even though she weakens slightly near the end. In 1947 Agnes de Mille won the first Tony Award for Best Choreography for her work on the musical Brigadoon. Tom,

On Point, interesting information about Scott Joplin putting “. . . his photograph on his music, so there would be no doubt in the public’s mind that his composition was created by a Black man, not a black face parodist” and also the information on the Supremes. Another interesting point is “, , , an era when almost every middle class home had a piano and an accomplished pianist who played it for family entertainment,” so different from today. Thank you. Sandik, thank you for your thoughts. Seems as if Martha Graham enjoyed the Maple Leaf Rag and she certainly did have fun with it in her ballet. Tom,

On Pointe and Helene, thank you for your comments. I would like to read more discussions on this and the topics dealing with women. Maybe I missed something, but I’m not sure of the reference to MacMillan. On Pointe, I’m glad you indicated that Joplin’s works can be “melancholic and introspective”. Tom,

This post is about two female journalists. As with the case for Nellie Bly these women faced difficulties because of bias against women in the public sphere, but in addition faced bias because of the race the dominant culture placed them in. Ida B. Wells was born an enslaved person in Holly Springs, Mississippi on July 16, 1862 less than one-half a year before the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted. A big part of her work as a journalist was to document, year by year, the many lynchings, which she published in her book A Red Record - Lynchings in the United States. When younger she filed an anti-disrimination suit against the Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Railroad Company for forcibly removing her from the car that she had purchased a ticket for. While she initially won the case her victory was later overturned. Here is a 11 minute long video documentary narrated by Kat Blaque, giving more detailed information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dmgbXmF7yo. Born in Laredo, Texas on September 7, 1885 Jovita Idar first became a teacher, then started working as a journalist for the newspaper La Crónica and afterwards for El Progreso. Later Texas Rangers, under orders by the governor, destroyed the presses of that newspaper. In 1916 she started her own newspaper - Evolucion. A quote attributed to her is “when you educate a woman, you educate a family.” She also wrote advocating women’s right to vote and was president of La Liga Feminil Mexicaista. Lynchings violence was disrected against Mexican-Americans and other ethic minorities as well as against African-Americans. Here is a 11 minute video documentary about the life of Jovita Idar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NK-Y-WVsT4. Slavery was ended in Mexico in 1829, thirty-six years before the ratification of the 13th amendment to the US Constitution in 1865. If anyone knows more information about these courageous women please contribute. Tom,

The Ragtime composer par excellence is Scott Joplin, born in or near Texarkana in 1867 or 1868. One source gives his date of birth as November 24, 1868. While Scott Joplin didn’t invent ragtime, no one invents any type of music. they develop over time, he refined it and had a great influence on it. As such he was perhaps the most important or at least one of the most important figures in the history of modern music. As I see it Mr. Joplin did for modern music what Johann Sebastian Bach did for what is commonly called “Classical Music.” Scott Joplin is the modern J. S. Bach. While Scott Joplin has slowly become more recognized as the great composer he was, it seems to me he has not had the recognition he deserves. One of my favorite pieces of music of all time is Maple Leaf Rag. Scott Joplin wrote it c. 1898 (it was published in 1899) while he was working in the Maple Leaf Club in Sedalia, Missouri. Here are three versions of the tune: The first is a 3 minute long version “. . . recorded on Pianola Roll actually played by Scott Joplin . . .” During the composer’s life record disks and cylinders were mechanically recorded without electronic amplification which resulted in significant distortions. Some piano rolls for player pianos were made directly by the artist playing on a piano which produced the roll automatically so this is a much truer recording of the composer playing his own composition. Very good. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM - AtL7n_-rc. Next is a video entitled Maple Leaf Rag - way too fast with a young woman - Kristen Mosca - performing. While Scott Joplin may have thought that ragtime was often played too fast, I like this version and like uptempo rags, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jiLjm5ovuk. Ms. Mosca has a channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/KristenMosca/videos with many more rags, some of her own. As this is Ballet Alert I felt that this version is particularly appropriate. It is a 15 minute long video of Martha Graham’s Maple Leaf Rag ballet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13y1diTWTJg. Keep Calm and listen to Rags. Tom,

Earlier I wrote about how there were many fewer actresses than actors in movies and how there were fewer films with female leads than male leads. Well this post is about five actresses who are not as well known as they should be. Hattie McDaniel won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Mammy in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind. She was the first African-American win an Oscar (the next was Sidney Poitier 24 years later) and as such was a major figure in the advancement of racial equality. Ms. McDaniel was born on June 10, 1893 in Wichita Kansas, performed as a singer when young and is considered to be one of the first if not the first Black woman to sing on radio. In many ways she had been working up to the role of Mammy since the early 1930’s. Despite the fact that many of her early film roles were of maids, Hattie played them as assertive and strong, perhaps more so as time went by. This was exactly what was called for in the role of Mammy whether it was telling the 16 year old bratty southern belle to eat her lunch or that it would be better for Scarlett to go to Savannah instead of Atlanta Mammy said what she thought. As portrayed in Margaret Mitchell’s book and the movie, Mammy was one of if not the most insightful and honest character in the story and Hattie played her that way. The strong racism of the nation (for example according to the Smithsonian magazine “The Oscars dinner was held at the Coconut Grove, a segregated venue, and McDaniel was not able to sit with her fellow cast members who were at the awards.”), as well as the competition she had for Best Actress in 1940, including Olivia De Havilland for Melanie in the same movie is strong testimony that Hattie McDanial definitely desired the honor. It is worth seeing the film if only for her performance. Here is a 4 minute long tribute video for the great actress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny8wdxbX_hk. Sylvia Sidney was known as having the “Saddest Eyes in Hollywood” and “The Girl with the Heart-Shaped Face.” She was a great actress who was born in the Bronx on August 8, 1910. Two very good roles for her were Rose Maurrant in the 1931 film Street Scene, and Mrs. Verico in the 1936 Sabotage. I strongly recommend both. She also debuted on Broadway at age 16. Here is a 5 minute video highlighting the actresses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7c-h3mRnwI. Jessie Matthews was born in the Soho area of London, near Piccadilly Circus to a large poor family on March 11, 1907. She was a multi-talented actress - dancer, singer and comedian, who started dancing at age ten and started her vaudeville career at age 12. Jessie was a star on stage, in film and on radio. Ms. Matthews film career started with the 1923 film The Beloved Vagabond and includes the 1934 film Evergreen (Her dancing and singing talent can be seen to very good effect in the Dancing on the Ceiling scene from this film.) and the 1935 film First a Girl. both of which I would recommend She also starred in the stage version of the film Evergreen which was entitled Ever Green, with two words. Here is her video (3 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE1g2rFiQ8k. Born in Los Angeles on January 3, 1905, Anna May Wong was named Wong Liu Tsong, which means “Frosted Yellow Willows.” Her first starring film role was as Lotus Flower in the 1922 film Toll of the Sea. written by Frances Marion. This is an historically significant film. Not only, at age 17 is it Anna May Wong’s first starring role, but as it is the first or one of the first two color technicolor feature films. This means that instead of three primary colors as in more modern films it only used two - red and green. Also, despite being from the early 20th century and despite anti-asian racism, all Asian characters in the movie were portrayed by Asian or people with Asian ancestry (no yellowface). Further the story shows the white characters in a negative light. Not overtly racist, but racist nonetheless. In her early twenties, Anna May Wong went to live in Europe where she appeared in movies and on the stage. In 1929 while in London she starred in the play The Circle of Chalk.” She responded to criticism of her American accent - her “Yankee squeak” by taking lessons so as to develop a more upper class British inflection. In 1930 she starred as Hai Tang in three versions of the same film, one in English, one in German and one in French. She could speak all three languages as well as Chinese. While she appeared in each version speaking a different language the other members of the cast differed. Anna May Wong also appeared on the London stage in a 1930 play called On the Spot.” Other movies she appeared in while in Europe were the 1928 silent movie Song and two 1929 filmes Piccadilly and Pavement Butterfly. In Vienna she appeared in an opera The Chinese Dancer. One critic wrote “when she sings Chinese songs, strangely sad songs written by herself, in her sweet voice, the theater falls silent. And then a thundering applause breaks free . . .” Anna May Wong, longed to be in the 1937 movie The Good Earth, but was passed over by mostly European actresses. As with Josephine Baker, Anna May Wong, because of racism, had greater success in Europe. Although sad I recommend both the 1922 film Toll of the Sea and the 1929 Piccadilly. Here is the tribute video for Anna May Wong (4 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8gi8NXX5Fw. A remarkable woman, Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1906. She was a dancer, singer, comedian, actress, French resistance fighter, business woman, part of the civil rights movement in the United States and later in life adopted children from many parts of the world. The films she starred in include the silent Siren of the Tropics as Papitou 1927, Zouzou as the title character 1934, Princesse Tam-Tam as Alwina 1935. In November she received the honor of being entered into Paris’ Pantheon mausoleum, an honor reserved for heroes of France, as a result of her courageous efforts fighting fasism during the Second World War. During the war she held the rank of second lieutenant and was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Rosette de la Résistance. For more information on this great woman see here: https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/46443-josephine-baker-to-be-honored-by-france/. Here is the Josephine Baker video (2 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKYg-DpT6ts. Tom,

I found a very nice video of 40 Self-Portraits by Women Painters. Not only does it show the work of these female artists, with nice music, but as it is in chronological order it is an interesting little timeline of art from the 16th century to the present. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBhQFKcrvtw. Tom,

Machinka, thank you for the information. I would very much like to see the opera, however I live in the United States. I have listened to some of Dame Smythe’s work, but until now nothing from The Wreckers. You did inspire me to try and find something from The Wreckers and I did find this - the Overture from The Wreckers (9 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maozbZsiK0c. One of the pictures shown in the video appears to be of the composer being arrested, perhaps as a result of a pro-women's vote protest. Mashinka, I appreciate all of your contributions to this topic. Tom,

I remember back in 1956 when I was nine I started hearing about this thing called “Rock ‘n’ Roll” and I wondered where it had come from. Well since then I’ve learned that the music being called “Rock ‘n’ Roll” actually existed long before the name. According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History Leo Mintz, an owner of a record store, started to call Rhythm & Blues records Rock ‘n’ Roll “In order to eliminate the racial tone of this music.” The term Rhythm & Blues was coined in 1948 to replace the term “Race Music,” which was used to identify music directed toward an African-American audience. At the same time there was a disc jockey by the name of Alan Freed working in Akron OH and he and Mintz met. In July of 1951 Freed with the help of Mintz started the “The Moondog Rock & Roll House Party” on WJW-Am in Cleveland Ohio. So, both Rock n Roll and Rhythm and Blues were used to try to direct this type of music to more than one racial group by making it more acceptable to white listeners. Now, music performed by and listened to by African-Americans (Race Music) has a long history in America mostly likely going back to 1619. This then brings us to Ragtime. The term Ragtime or a Rag as pertaining to music is from 1897 and is perhaps in reference to the syncopated melody. “Syncopation is the accenting of a note which would usually not be accented.” This could mean that the “Melody is played on ‘weak’ beats” or the “Melody is played between beats.” See here: https://www.musictheoryacademy.com/understanding-music/syncopation/. Ragtime is not the only type of music that uses syncopation. The Library of Congress defines Ragtime as “A genre of musical composition for the piano, generally in duple meter and containing a highly syncopated treble lead over a rhythmically steady bass,” so the treble and the syncopated part would be played by the right hand and the steady bass by the left. Also, according to the Library of Congress, History of Ragtime “Ragtime was both exciting and threatening to America’s youth and staid polite society, respectively. The excitement came from syncopation – the displacing of the beat from its regular and assumed course of meter. Syncopation caused an individual to feel a propulsion, swing, and if played correctly, a musical looseness generally unknown to the public at large.” See here: https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200035811/. Ragtime also tended to be uptempo. Tom,

Four female choreographers. Judith Jamison was born in Philadelphia on May 10, 1943. She joined the American Ballet Theater in 1964 where she performed in The Four Marys and also danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater between 1967 and 1980. After this she choreographed works including her Divining in 1984, Forgotten Time in 1989, Rift in 1991, Hymn in 1993 and Reminiscin’ in 2005. She rejoined the Alvin Ailey Theater in 1989 as Artistic Director. Here is a short biographical video, 1 ½ minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m3eVY7MoSA and here is another video (2 ½ minutes) showing part of Judith Jamison’s 7 minute long duet A Case of You to Joni Mitchell’s song of the same name, sung by Diana Karall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FV1ORSCttg. The choreographer Twyla Tharp was born in Portland, Indiana on July 1, 1941. In 2003 she won a Best Choreography Tony, as well as an Outstanding Choreography, Drama Desk award for her work on Movin’ Out and in 2010 a second Outstanding Drama Desk award for Outstanding Choreography for Come Fly Away. She has also worked as a choreographer on a number of films including White Nights, Amadus, Ragtime and Hair. This link goes to Twyla Tharp’s Golden Section (3 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4KiBmWuTEU and this second link is to the Upper Room (3 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXObzKulJPA. In 2000 Jacqulyn Buglisi choreographed Suspended Women, see here for a 3 minute video excerpt from the work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqaUnPZ1d38. Ms. Buglisi was born in New York City on February 19, 1951. She has performed as a principal with the Martha Graham Dance Company and now runs her own Dance Theatre. The choreographer Jessica Lang grew up in a northern suburb of Philadelphia. She has worked with companies such as the American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the National Ballet of Japan. This video (3 minutes) is of her ballet EN choreographed for the Alvin Ailey Theater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIdLnO4a1fI and here is a short interview of Ms. Lang talking about EN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=banLnMmJ0q4. I found the following two short excerpts of Jessica Lang’s Ghost Variations after Helene brought the work up earlier - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOmEnUjLtXc and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6gIvARhdfk. In watching the two excerpts I was struck with how women’s customs tend to be so much more interesting than men’s, not only in dance, but also normally. I also noticed this in A Case of You, as well as in Suspended Women. It’s not just these dances, but I think that in general the clothing worn by women is much more interesting than men’s, although less so in ballet. Tom,

This post is a compilation of videos dealing with female musicians in a variety of performances.. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was an all-female, racially integrated band active between 1938 and 1946. Anna Mae Winburn (b. In Port Royal, TN on August 13, 1913) is the conductor as shown in the video below. On trumpet is “Tiny Davis” (Ernestine Carroll, born in Memphis, TN in 1909 or 1910). Here is a promotional photograph showing 17 band members https://womenshistory.si.edu/object/archives/components/sova-nmah-ac-1218-ref609 and here is one showing five members of the Saxophone section https://womenshistory.si.edu/object/archives/components/sova-nmah-ac-1218-ref25. This is a quote by Anna Mae Winburn regarding the members of the band: “When I first saw those girls I was really amazed. They were very young and composed of many different races and nationalities. Some of them were mulattoes and some were part Italian or Chinese. When they came onstage in their colorful gowns they looked like a beautiful bouquet of mixed flowers.” (See here: http://blondiecutsarug.blogspot.com/2013/08/anna-mae-winburn.html) Here is list of many of the band members, taken from a short biography of Anna Mae Winburn: “The list includes Ernestine ‘Tiny’ Davis, Ray Carter, Johnnie Mae Stansbury, and Edna Williams, trumpeters all; Marge Pettiford, Amy Garrison, Helen Saine, Grace Bayron, Willie Mae Wong, and Viola Burnside on saxophones; Judy Bayron, Helen Jones, and Ina Bell Byrd on trombones; and a rhythm section featuring Lucille Dixon on bass, Roxanna Lucas on guitar, Johnnie Mae Rice on piano, and Pauline Braddy on the drums. Evelyn McGee shared vocal duties with Winburn, who was sometimes too distracted conducting the musicians to burst into song.” (See here: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/anna-mae-winburn-mn0001009683) Also noted in that biography was this “When Winburn did head South with the group the white women in the group blackened their faces so the police would not arrest them right on the bandstand.” This appears to be in reference to laws forbidding performances by integrated bands, at some times and in some (most?) places This link goes to a 3 minute video of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm performing I Left My Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN7xU11_gS4. The next video is a seven minute long documentary entitled Girls in the Band. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm are in it, but so are many other all female bands. Much of it is old films, which I like very much, but there are also interviews of some of the women who were in those bands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WpirBVf6Xo. The name Zohra can mean “Flower Blossom,” but for the purpose of this post more importantly it is the name of a Persian Goddess of music and under this meaning it became the name of the Afghan Women’s Orchestra. In a way this is sad to write, but it is also hopeful. Currently, as of December 13, 2021, most of the members of the Afghan Women’s Orchestra are in Portugal where they were granted asylum. In the following 5 ½ minute video of the orchestra’s performance the conductor is Negin Khpalwak (b. 1997) and the medley of three Afghan songs was arranged by Allegra Boggess. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2WRS-Qz2UY. Next are three videos each showing a different female performer. First is a 2013 performance by Melissa Venema (at the time 17 years of age) playing Il Silenzio (Taps) on the Trumpet, 4 minutes, see here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=253aGgk7NSE. She has many more videos on her channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Trompet8310/videos. This video (6 minutes) is of performer Dong Min, playing the “Theme song of Big Fish and Begonia:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pqPEta-J20. Her channel, with more videos is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCal204H1HDJ62UmjIO5w86Q. Mairead Nesbitt is a violinist (fiddler) born in Loughmore, Ireland on April 18, 1979. Here she is playing and dancing with Celtic Woman. The music is Granuaile’s Dance. Granuaile, also known as Grace O’Malley, was an Irish Pirate Queen, born in the 16th century. What is great about this performance is that Mairead not only plays the fiddle, but also dances, which I expect takes much talent. She skips around like an Irish Pixie and I like Pixies. See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-ttrQ38mOc. Now for the desert. Here are four women, the Competitive Foursome, who one needs to see to believe. The 3 ½ minute video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKezUd_xw20. Tom,

This post is about eight female artists who I feel are not very well known, but who are interesting. Maria Siblylla Merian, born in Frankfurt, Germany on April 2, 1647, was an artist, a scientist and an explorer. At age 13 she started studying silkworms and other caterpillars and how they turned into butterflies. She published a number of books of engravings including New Book of Flowers in 1675 and The Caterpillar, Marvelous Transformation and Strange Floral Food 1677. Starting in 1699 she traveled to South America with her daughter to study. Two years later, after returning home, Maria Merian prepared 60 copperplate engravings which were published in a book Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium in 1705. Here is a 2 ½ minute video of her work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EPNeSa1hP0. Once I was in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City looking for art done by female artists (there are very few) when I came upon the painting shown below entitled The Horse Fair. I was intrigued by it, but thought that it was not done by a woman. Looking at the picture’s information I was pleasantly surprised that it was indeed painted by a woman and the woman was Rosa Bonheur. Born in Bordeaux, France in 1822 Rosa Bonheur, painted The Horse Fair between 1852 and 1855. In preparing this picture the artist had to get official police permission to wear men’s clothing. She specialized in the depiction of animals. Here is a 4 minute long video showing Rosa Bonheur’s paintings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14Mah5NdvJA, The artist Emily Mary Osborn, born in Essex, England in 1834, was a supporter of the Women’s rights movement. Of particular interest is the artist’s 1857 painting Nameless and Friendless. See here for a 4 minute video dealing with that work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXR7_7JmT3g. Emily Osborn became a member of the “Society of Female Artists” formed in 1857, which was dedicated to helping female artists exhibit and sell their works. Imagine, at least 164 years ago women were banding together to get more works by women artists exhibited and still museums and galleries now are falling behind in that regard. Camille Claudel was born in Fere-en-Tardenois, France, northeast of Paris, on November 8, 1864. She showed an early talent for sculpture and when older studied at the Académie Colarossi, in Paris, where female artists were able to study from the male nude, while at the same time the official École des Beaux-Arts didn’t even admit female artists. The following is a link to a 3 ½ minute video of the artist’s work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIqMt80rmbA. The illustrator, Virginia Frances Sterrett, was born in Chicago on January 1, 1900. While still a teenager she received a scholarship to attend the Art Institute of Chicago, then obtained employment producing pictures for advertisements. At the age of 19 she was hired to illustrate a book of Old French Fairy Tales by Sophie Compesse de Segur (b. 1788). Two years later she illustrated the book Tanglewood Tales and later illustrated a book of stories from the Arabian Nights. I like her drawings very much. She has a delightful way of combining curves and straight lines. Here is a 3 minute video of her illustrations with music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY9nGUgilvI. Joyce Ballantyne was a pin-up illustrator, born in Norfolk, Nebraska in 1918. Some consider the era of the pin-up to have started in the 1890s and while most were produced by male artists there were a number of female artists. In regard to the art form Joyce Ballantyne said “The trick is to make a pinup flirtatious. But you don’t go dirty. You want the girl to look a little like your sister, or maybe your girlfriend, or just the girl next door. She’s a nice girl, she’s innocent, but maybe she got caught in an awkward situation that’s a little sexy.” She also did advertisement illustrations and perhaps her most famous was the Coppertone ad with the puppy pulling the back of a little girl's swimsuit down. By the way, the model for that was the artist’s daughter. This link is to a 3 ½ minute video of Joyce Ballantyne’s pin-up works. Near the end in the calendar images there is a male pin-up for April: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7U73BCmkbo. Margaret Keane was born in Nashville, Tennessee on September 15, 1827 as Peggy Doris Hawkins and was the subject of the 2014 film Big Eyes starring Amy Adams. She started painting faces with large eyes at a young age. Among her earliest paintings were those of angels with big eyes and floppy wings, which were then shown at her church. Later in life actors such as Joan Crawford and Natalie Wood commissioned her to do their portraits. While some art critics did not think highly of her work, they were nonetheless popular and good art is in the eye of the beholder. Here is a 3 ½ minute long video of her paintings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ63MIEZnMA. The painter Laurie Cooper was born in Philadelphia and has earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Arts and her Master’s in Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania. She produces realistic art, many being portraits and mainly uses pastel and charcoal in her work. Laurie Cooper appears to be a young artist and I have not been able to find very much more information about her life. Here is a 3 ½ minute video showing her images: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q27cm5lsqU8. Tom,

Mashinka, thank you for your contribution. I hope you had a good time in Rome, I see from your profile that you are from London. You are correct female artists are rarely so prominently displayed, it is always nice to see when they are. Tom,

My error, the Nellie Bly memorial is at the northernmost tip of the island with Queens to the right and Manhattan to the left. Tom,

Elizabeth Cochran, later known by the name Nellie Bly, was born in Cochran’s Mills, Pennsylvania on May 5, 1864. She eventually moved with her family to Pittsburgh, PA and at age 18 read an article in the Pittsburgh Dispatch, entitled What Girls Are Good For, which maintained that a woman’s role was in the home and not being employed. She then wrote a rebuttal letter signing it as Orphan Girl. The managing editor was so impressed with the letter that he hired Elizabeth Cochran as a reporter. At first Elizabeth used Orphan Girl as a byline, but soon adopted the pen name Nellie Bly which was inspired by Stephen Foster’s song Nelly Bly. While with the Pittsburgh Dispatch she wrote articles on Working Girls, Slum Life and worked as a foreign correspondent in Mexico for six months. Within three years Nellie Bly moved to New York City and obtained a reporting job with the New York World. In that capacity she started an investigation into the insane asylum on Blackwell Island (now Roosevelt Island). To get the information she needed she took a room at a boarding house for women and started to act as if she was insane. Eventually she was brought before a Doctor who admitted her to that asylum. She remained in the asylum for ten days after which the New York World published the story of her time there. As an outcome of what was printed various changes which improved conditions were made. Nellie Bly went on to investigate the treatment of inmates in New York’s jails, conditions in factories and corruption in government. She also interviewed and wrote about the activists Emma Goldman and Susan B. Anthony. On Thursday, November 14, 1889, at 9.40.30 o'clock Nellie Bly started on a trip around the world. The idea was to beat the “record” set by the fictional character Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne’s 1873 novel Around the World in 80 Days, as well as to sell newspapers. Her plan was to travel eastward, basically paralleling the voyage in the novel, except leaving from New York instead of London. At the same time the publisher of The Cosmopolitan magazine convinced Elizabeth Bisland, the literary editor for the magazine, to travel around the world westward to try and beat Nellie. At the time Nellie Bly was 25 years of age and Elizabeth Bisland was 28. Both women beat the 80 days time limit, with Nellie doing it in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds and Elzabeth doing it in 76 ½ days. In fiction it was a man who traveled around the world in 80 days, but in reality it was two women who did it faster. Nellie Bly married in 1895 and inherited the Iron Clad manufacturing company when her husband died eight years later. She ran the company and obtained a number of patents including one for a steel container. Eventually she returned to reporting, reporting on the women’s suffrage movement and the First World War. Here is a somewhat long (23 ½ minutes) animated video on Nellie Bly’s life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACz2bwF1gEs. This link, only 1 ½ minutes goes to a 2015 google animated video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrrgeZKvFEo. Recently a memorial to Nellie Bly was built on Roosevelt Island (which used to be Blackwell Island). Here is a 1 ½ minute video of it. It is at the southernmost tip of the island which is in the East River. To the left is the borough of Queens and to the right is Manhattan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTOHoLEeONM. I wrote that Jane Austen is my all time favorite author so I couldn’t resist linking to this video of Elizabeth Bennet being iconic for more than 6 minutes straight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz767NyTX30. Tom,

The list of Tony Awards for Best Choreography shows that out of the 81 awards given (some years more than one person won and no award was given in 1985) only 13 were given to female choreographers (16%). Agnes de Mille won the first such Tony in 1947 for “Brigadoon” and Sony Tayeh was the latest winner for “Moulin Rouge!” In 2020. Susan Stroman won four Tonys for Best Choreography (the most for any woman), “Crazy for You” (1992), “Show Boat” (1995), “Contact” (2000) and “The Producers” (2001), while Kathleen Marshall won three, “Wonderful Town” (2004), “The Pajama Game” (2006) and “Anything Goes” (2011). Other women who have won Tonys for Best Choreography are Helen Tamiris for “Touch and Go” (1950), Gillian Gregory for “Me and My Girl” (1987), Ann Reinking for “Chicago” (1997) and Twyla Tharp for “Movin’ Out” (2003). This category started out pretty good with two women winning within the first four years, but then no woman won during the 36 years between Helen Taniris’ win in 1950 and Gillan Gregory’s in 1987. However, things seem to have improved as after 1987 to the present (2020) ten women have won out of 36 awards given (28%). According to the Dance Data Project (DDP) during the 2018 to 2019 ballet season men choreographed 81 percent of all works in the top 50 companies in the United States, women choreographed 17% and 2% were undetermined. In addition 70% of programs were choreographed by men only, 4% by women only and 26% by both. On the more positive side, here is some information on Susan Stroman who won four Tonys for Best Choreography, as well as a Tony for Best Direction for The Producers.. She was born in Wilmington, Delaware on October 17, 1954 and started dancing lessons at age five. By 1972 she was choreographing at local theaters and by 1987 she was choreographing off-Broadway. Her first Broadway show was Crazy for You in 1992, for which she won a Tony. She also was the first woman to choreograph a full-length ballet for the New York City Ballet when on January 23 2004, Double Feature: The Blue Necklace and Making Whoopee opened. It appears that Double Feature is based on two silent movies, The Kid (Charlie Chaplin) and Seven Chances (Buster Keaton). Other shows choreographed and directed by Susan Stroman include The Scottsboro Boys, Bullets Over Broadway, Young Frankenstein, The Frogs, Big The Musical (only choreographed). She also co-choreographed for the 2000 film Center Stage. Here is a link to 43 of Susan Stroman’s Productions: https://www.susanstroman.com/work/productions. Clicking on the picture for each production gives a short synopsis written by Susan Stroman, a list of production credits and in some cases videos. I am intrigued by Bronislava Nijinska and have written about her before. Here is a short video (1 minute) I recently found showing her dancing the Snow Maiden and her Etude, as well as brief interviews by Tamara Tchinarova and Nathalie Krassovaka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdoqxGd1oeA. Tom,

FPF, I’m glad you appreciated the links and I enjoyed the song by Sharon Jones. Also, I watched the ballet you linked to in the topic “What lost Petipa Ballet would you most like to see,” The Romance of the Rosebud and the Butterfly and enjoyed it. So, thank you for that. It is a pretty, beautiful ballet, with all the colorful customs and the stage settings. Tom,

I came across this ballet not too long ago and thought that the beginning of Hanukkah would be a good time to post it. It is a production of the Igor Moiseyev Ballet company which specializes in folk dances adapted to ballet. They also did a production of Night on Bald Mountain, as well as dances from other cultures. While watching this I was struck by how dances and holidays of various cultures may vary, but fundamentally serve the same purpose to bring people together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFfaMjoaGuM 29 minutes, Tom,

Hanukkah starts today, November 28, 2021, at sunset and lasts until sunset December 6, 2021. I grew up listening to Christmas songs and some years ago I started to wonder if there were Hanukkah songs. Here are four Hanukkah songs sung by women with the first two written by women: Hanukkah Lovin’ written by Michelle Citrin and Molly Kane, sung by Michelle Citrin (4 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sytfxl0ArsQ. Hanukkah Hymn (Al Hanisim) A contemporary take on Al Hanisim, a traditional Chanukah prayer. Written by Julie and performed by Julie Geller and another woman (4 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31OIJs81wII. Maoz Tzur / Rock of Ages - Traditional Hanukkah Song. Sung by Hadessah Berne (4 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MRS5c7TbJw. Banu Choshech Legaresh (We Came To Drive Away The Darkness), unknown performer (2 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMCC8DIWXYk. Hanukkah is a festival of lights and Christmas is associated with lights, both of which are appropriate for this time of year with the nights getting longer. Tom,

Earlier in the topic “Women and Art” Mashinka mentioned the film Portrait of a Lady on Fire in regard to women being denied access to life classes. This film was directed and written by Celine Sciamma, who was born just outside of Paris on November 12, 1980 and who has directed five feature films including this one. Here is a list of her films along with links to the film’s trailers: Naissance des pieuvres (birth of octopuses) aka Water Lilies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noJCYVn6Hb4 (2 minutes) from 2007 Tomboy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-Oys-IcWE (2 minutes) from 2011 Bande de filles (Band of Girls) aka Girlhood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85TTGKs3YFE (2 minutes) from 2014 Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-fQPTwma9o (2 minutes) from 2019 Petite Maman (Little Mom) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdORAHCydyY 2 (minutes) from 2021 Earlier I wrote “Basically, because there are so many more movies about males I’ve become bored with them and become interested in stories about girls and women.” The films of Celine Sciamma fit this very well. I’ve seen three of her films, Tomboy, Band of Girls and Portrait of a Lady on Fire and what makes her interesting to me is that these three films and as far as I can tell, her two other films are about women and girls. Females are presented as the major characters and their emotions, actions and desires are emphasized. This contrasts sharply with what the data presented in the above post shows - the lack of female speaking roles in films and the lack of films about girls and women among the best picture winners. Two of the films by Celine Sciamma that I’ve seen - Tomboy and Band of Girls - are “coming of age stories” and it seems that the two that I have not seen - Water Lilies and Petite Maman - are also of that type. In these films a girl or in the case of Band of Girls an older girl/young woman must deal with the difficulties and the emotional turmoils she faces while maturing. In Portrait of a Lady on Fire the characters are already grown, but are facing emotional difficulties. All the characters in this film, except for very minor ones, are female. The films Band of Girls and Portrait of a Lady on Fire show very close friendships among the female characters, without the involvement of males and with even little mention of males. It is not that I am against males, I am a male, but I am against males dominating stories which so often happen. Seeing so many major female characters interacting together is very pleasant to me however the stories are not always pleasant. The three films I have seen are not simple light stories. Band of Girls is not a happy story and the other two are bittersweet, but I feel they are worth seeing if only for their emphasis on female characters and female interactions.. Tom,

Helene this sounds interesting, but I only was able to find short excerpts of the ballet. I did find information on the PNB website, but is there a way to see all of it? Tom,

The artist Judy Chicago was born Judy Cohen, in Chicago on July 20, 1939. Much of her art focuses on feminism and one of her most impressive works is The Diner Party (1974 - 1979) now permanently on view in the Brooklyn Museum. This work consists of 39 dinner place settings, one each for 39 mythical and historical women, on a triangular table with an open space, called the Heritage Floor in the middle. Sitting on each place setting is a 14 inch china plate decorated so as to represent the woman for whom it is set. The plates are then set on runners which are also decorated. Here is a list of the 39 women: Judy Chicago the dinner party Side One Side Two Side Three Primordial Goddess Marcella Anne Hutchinson Fertile Goddess Saint Bridget Sacajawea Ishtar Theodora Caroline Herschel Kali Hrosvitha Mary Wollstonecraft Snake Goddess Trotula Sojourner Truth Sophia Eleanor of Aquitaine Susan B. Anthony Amazon Hildegarde of Bingen Elizabeth Blackwell Hatshepsut Petronilla de Meath Emily Dickinson Judith Christine de Pisan Ethel Smyth Sappho Isabella d’Este Margaret Sanger Aspasia Elizabeth R. Natalie Barney Boadaceia Artemisia Gentileschi Virginia Woolf Hypatia Anna van Schurman Georgia O'Keeffe In addition to these 39 women, there are signatures of 999 other women on the Heritage Floor. Images of each of the plates can be found here and by clicking on an image one is brought to a short description of the woman so honored, as well as to a list of related women from the Heritage Floor. Clicking on those names will provide information on them as well: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/place_settings. I found all of the women noted here to be interesting, particularly the Primordial Goddess and the Fertile Goddess in that I am intrigued by the possibility that gods/goddesses were originally represented as being female. For example figurines such as The Venus of Willendorf may have been a depiction of such a creator god/goddess. It makes sense to me that a creator god/goddess would be represented as female in that females do create life in a way that males do not. Also of interest are the Amazons. Recently discovered archaeological evidence shows there were female warriors in the area that the Greeks maintained the Amazons lived in - north of the Black Sea. The people who lived there, both women and men - rode horses and used bows and arrows. Female warriors riding horses and using bows and arrows would physically be the equal of male warriors. Also, these people appear to be the first to wear trousers, which Greek illustrations show the Amazons as wearing. Other projects by Judy Chicago include the Birth Project (1980 to 1985), the Holocaust Project: From Darkness into Light (1985 to1993) and Jewish Themes. Tom,

This post is an extension of the previous one on Disney Princess movies that highlighted Brenda Chapman as one of the directors of the film Brave. In that post I wrote “An important reason I like them [Princess films] is because they are about female characters. All twelve films have a female protagonist and in most cases females are the only protagonist.” Well, I’d like to explain that. Over my life I’ve seen so many movies in which males were the protagonists that now I am just tired of them. As a result, I have grown so much more interested in stories about females, stories in which females undertook most of the action and stories which showed their feelings and emotions and desires. Basically, because there are so many more movies about males I’ve become bored with them and become interested in stories about girls and women. I don’t believe that stories about females are innately less interesting compared to stories about males. Curiosity led me to look at the films which have won the Best Picture Oscar to see how many of them were about women. Of these 93 films, it seems to me that only 14 were primarily about a female or females (15%) and that only 16 were primarily about mixed couples or groups (17%), which leaves 63 films primarily about a male or males (68%). So, there have been 4 and one half more films primarily about a male or males than about a female or females. Here are the 14 films I felt are primarily about a female or females: The Broadway Melody 1929 Gone with the Wind 1939 Mrs. Miniver 1942 All About Eve 1950 The Sound of Music 1965 Terms of Endearment 1983 Out of Africa 1985 The Silence of the Lambs 1991 The English Patient 1996 Titanic 1997 Chicago 2002 Million Dollar Baby 2004 The Shape of Water 2017 Nomadland 2020 A list of best picture winners up until 2020 can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls009480135/. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) contains lots of information on virtually all films. According to their data see here: https://www.imdb.com/pressroom/stats/ there are 20,931,625 actresses listed and 32,320,340 actors listed for a ratio of 1.5 actors for every actress. This means that for every three actress credits there are approximately five actor credits. According to a report by the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism on average per year over the eleven years 2007 to 2019 only 31.1 % of speaking characters were female in the top-grossing films (1300 films). That means there were more than double the number of male speaking roles as compared to female speaking roles. See here: https://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii-inequality_1300_popular_films_09-08-2020.pdf. According to the Geena (Davis) Benchmark Report 2007-2017, in the top 100 Family Films “Male leads vastly outnumber female leads – 71.3% compared to 28.8%”. See here: https://seejane.org/wp-content/uploads/geena-benchmark-report-2007-2017-2-12-19.pdf. Also, according to Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, “Even among the top-grossing G-rated family films, girl characters are outnumbered by boys three-to-one.” And, “That’s the same ratio that has existed since the end of World War II. For decades, male characters have dominated nearly three-quarters of speaking parts in children’s entertainment, and 83% of film and TV narrators are male.” See here https://seejane.org/research-informs-empowers/gender-in-media-the-myths-facts/. Getting back to Disney this webpage https://pudding.cool/2017/03/film-dialogue/ gives “screenplay dialogue, broken-down by gender” for 31 Disney films, not just Princess films. Of the 31 films, 23 had males speaking 60% or more of the dialogue, 4 had roughly equal split of dialogue and only 4 had 60% or more of the dialogue spoken by females. Scroll down to see this data. Then clicking on “2,000 Screenplays Dialogue Broken-down by Gender” a graph of 2000 dots will be seen. Each dot represents one movie, not just Disney movies. The dots to the left, the bluesh ones are for films in which more than half of words are spoken by males and the ones to the right, the pinkesh ones are for films in which more than half of the words are spoken by females. Now in calculating this the authors eliminated characters who did not speak more than 100 words. So, on the far left there are 54 movies in which 100% of the words are spoken by males and on the far right there are only two films in which 100% of the words are spoken by females. These two movies are Now and Then and The Descent. Going down further on that webpage there is a graph which shows that 307 movies out of the 2000 had males speak 90% or more of the dialogue (15%), 1206 had males speak between 90% and 60% of the words (60%), 314 (16%) had roughly equal percentage of words spoken, 164 (8%) films had females speak between 60% and 90% of the words and only 9 (0.5%) had females speak 90% or more of the words. Tom,

Kathleen and Mashinka, thank you for your contributions about Fanny Hensel nee Mendelsshon. This is one reason I started these topics to learn more about women in history, who are so often overlooked. You both inspired me to learn more about Fanny and this video (11 ½ minutes) goes into the relationship she had with her father and brother: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Summ3ANoNzU. I like how Beth, the narrator, at the end of the video talks about people being the product of their times. This is not an excuse for those people, but an explanation. Here is Notturno in G minor mentioned in the video (5 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti1eZ2B63Ro. Tom,

In 1792 *Mary Wollstonecraft*’s (born on April 27, 1759 in London, England) book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects was published. Quotes from this book include: “My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone. I earnestly wish to point out in what true dignity and human happiness consists – I wish to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength, both mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonymous with epithets of weakness, and that those beings who are only objects of pity and that kind of love, which has been termed its sister, will soon become objects of contempt.” “It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are in some degree independent of men.” “I may excite laughter, by dropping an hint, which I mean to pursue, some future time for I really think that women ought to have representatives, instead of being arbitrarily governed without having any direct share allowed them in the deliberations of government.” (Chapter 9) Chapter 6 - “The Effect which an Early Association of Ideas has Upon the Character” - is particularly interesting to me. In part in that chapter the author writes “Educated in the enervating style recommended by the writer on whom I have been animadverting; and not having a chance, from their subordinate state in society, to recover their lost ground, is it surprising that women everywhere appear a defect in nature? Is it surprising, when we consider what a determinate effect an early association of ideas has on the character, that they neglect their understandings, and turn all their attention to their persons?” Thus, Mary Wollstonecraft is not excusing women’s faults – their defects in nature, – but is saying that these faults are the result of the associations made by women early in life. That is the way they are informally or formally educated. She goes on to write “The association of our ideas is either habitual or instantaneous; and the latter mode seems rather to depend on the original temperature of the mind than on the will. When the ideas, and matters of fact, are once taken in, they lie by for use, till some fortuitous circumstance makes the information dart into the mind with illustrative force, that has been received at very different periods of our lives.” This I feel shows great insight on the part of the author. A simple example is saying the alphabet. One can easily and quite quickly say the alphabet forward if that person had been taught to say it from childhood, but for most people saying the alphabet backwards is difficult, if they have not practiced it that way and while saying the alphabet forward is simply a matter of habit, saying it backwards involves thinking. Here is a nice short video by Kastra M. Strauss (3 minutes long) illustrating that idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjalBmkmkvE. So, based on what Mary Wollstonecraft is claiming early associations of ideas could have a long lasting effect on the character and behavior later in life and the behavior and even the beliefs of women and men could be, at least in part, a result of the associations they were taught early in life. Starting in 1937 Gallup Polls asked people in the US whether they would vote for a woman for President. In 1937 and in 1945 only one third said they would. This means that even as late as 1945 some women would not vote for a woman for President. However over time the percentage who said that they would vote for a woman increased until in 2015, 92% said they would vote for a woman for President with only 8% saying they would not. Then in 2016 a woman, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote for President and in 2020 a woman, Kamala Harris, was elected Vice President. Why would there be such a dramatic increase in the percentage of people who would vote for a woman for President? One explanation is that most or all of the adults who were polled in 1937 were born before women in general could vote and most were born before the first woman, Jeannette Rankin, was elected to Congress, so generally men were more likely to be involved (associated) with politics and women weren’t. With time more and more women became involved with politics and more and more women were elected to congress. So, the people polled in later years had grown up at a time when women were more involved (associated) with politics and these people were more and more likely to say they were willing to vote for a woman for president and eventually did vote for a woman. We can see this process happening in various cases such as civil rights, fashions, music, gender norms, even preferences for ballet etc. Mary Wollstonecraft was a very important and influential person in history and does not get the recognition she deserves. I have not been able to write every outstanding thing about her so here are two short videos to fill in the gaps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tYv3w4rZxI, 4 minutes by Hailey and here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7YPdheQISw 5 minutes by Tamar Gulian and Tani Zurnaci. Tom,