Category: General

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“A Painted Lady”

Each generation is attached to one or more celebrities who take self-promotion to the highest level through publicity and somehow differentiating themselves. My parents had George Hamilton, the eternally tanned “actor” . . . well, we’re still not sure why he was a celebrity although his ads for Kentucky Fried Chicken were hilarious. My generation had Paris Hilton who was just as tan as George and . . . well, we’re still trying to figure out why she was a celebrity. Our children’s generation has been blessed with Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, the Kardashians, and Britney Spears, just to name a few. Watch “Extra Crispy” George Hamilton here.

George Hamilton. Photo by Angela George (2009). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Wikimedia Commons.
George Hamilton. Photo by Angela George (2009). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Wikimedia Commons.
Paris Hilton. Photo by Peter Schäfermeier (2005). Universal Photo. PD-CCA-Share Alike 2.5 Generic. Wikimedia Commons.
Paris Hilton. Photo by Peter Schäfermeier (2005). Universal Photo. PD-CCA-Share Alike 2.5 Generic. Wikimedia Commons.

My grandparents would have undoubtedly been well aware of a young lady who never had today’s media resources for self-promotion (e.g., social media, podcasts, television, and tattoo sleeves). In those days, it was accomplished through publicity agents and gossip columnists such as Walter Winchell, Hedda Hopper, and Louella Parsons via newspapers and radio. The subject of our blog today lived in France and had a very unique personal method for turning herself into a rich international celebrity.

Suzy Solidor. Photo by Studio Harcourt (date unknown). Ministère de la Culture- Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimonine. Dist. RMN.
Suzy Solidor. Photo by Studio Harcourt (date unknown). Ministère de la Culture- Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimonine. Dist. RMN.

She was a beautiful woman. Her face and figure represent what we consider today to be the iconic image of the 1920s jazz age flapper: thin, broad shoulders, short blonde bob, and dressed in long flowing tight gowns. A well-known singer, actress, and cabaret star, Suzy Solidor’s self-promotion was her face and body captured in paintings and photographs by more than 225 artists. I don’t even think the Sun God, King Louis XIV, had that many portraits commissioned of himself during his seventy-two-year reign.

For more than thirty years, Suzy was the most popular model for artists and in fact, she became the most painted lady of her generation. I suppose her portraits were the forerunners to the “selfies” which Miley Cyrus and others like to post to social media. The difference is, Suzy’s “selfies” hang on the walls of museums and private collectors’ homes.

Did You Know?

Did you know that over the years, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has banned some pretty innocuous songs? Considering the recent uproar in the United States over the ban by selective radio stations of the 1949 Academy Award-winning song, Baby, It’s Cold Outside, I thought you might like to see this list, albeit certainly not all-inclusive.

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead (1939)             Sung by the Wizard of Oz film cast

Why banned? The song disrespected the deceased (and the BBC wasn’t referring to the Wicked Witch of the West). Actually, a band called Hefner released “The Day That Thatcher Dies” and used the Oz song at the end. It was a dig towards the former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who had just passed away (2013). And I thought it was all about one of my high school teachers.

Deep in the Heart of Texas (1941)                 Sung by Bing Crosby

Why banned? The song was “too jaunty.” It was feared that factory workers would stop working in order to clap their hands. As I’ve always said, “I don’t make this stuff up.”

Monster Mash (1962)                                    Sung by Bobby Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers

Why banned? The song was too morbid. Really?

Leader of the Pack (1964)                              Sung by The Shangri-Las

Why banned? It talked about teenage death. I guess Ozzie Osbourne hadn’t hit the charts yet.

Lola (1970)                                                      Sung by The Kinks

Why banned? The BBC didn’t like the song advertising Coca-Cola. So, Ray Davies changed the lyrics to “Cherry cola.” At least Jim Morrison never gave in to Ed Sullivan on changing the lyrics to the song, “Light My Fire” before singing it on the Ed Sullivan Show ⏤ The Doors were permanently banned from the show.

Let’s Meet Suzy Solidor 

Suzy Solidor (1900-1983) was born in Brittany, France to an unwed mother and her employer. When her mother married another man, Eugène Rocher, Suzy took his last name. At the age of sixteen, Suzy obtained her drivers license and the next year, drove an ambulance on the front lines during World War I. After the war, Suzy moved to Paris and in the late 1920s, she changed her last name to Solidor, the name of a district where she had once lived. Read More “A Painted Lady”

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“National History Day: Breaking Barriers in History”

I’ll bet most of you have never heard of National History Day. No, it’s not the same as the Congressional proclamations for National Donut Day, National Bobblehead Day, or even National Fruitcake Toss Day (these all fall in January so make sure you mark your calendars for next year).

National History Day (NHD) is a non-profit organization dedicated to offering year-long academic programs for middle- and high-school students (6th to 12th graders). The largest NHD program is the National History Day Contest which encourages students to conduct historical research, interpretation, and creative expression on a topic of their choice. Each year, a theme is chosen, and the students pick their topic based on the theme, which is then presented as either a paper, exhibit, performance, documentary, or website. Think of this like the Science Fair projects but only on history (I received an “Honorable Mention” on mine). The student will enter their project at the local and affiliate levels, with the top projects advancing to the National Contest. NHD teaches critical thinking, writing, and research skills and boosts the students’ performance across all subjects. Past winners include Guy Fieri, Food Network’s television personality.

Young contestant in the National History Day Contest. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). National History Day: www.nhd.org
Young contestant in the National History Day Contest. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). National History Day: www.nhd.org
Young contestant working on his exhibit for the NHD Contest. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). National History Day: www.nhd.org
Young contestant working on his exhibit for the NHD Contest. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). National History Day: www.nhd.org
Guy Fieri, Food Network personality. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Courtesy of the Food Network.
Guy Fieri, Food Network personality. Photo by anonymous (date unknown). Courtesy of the Food Network.

Did You Know?

Did you know that the greatest compliment I have been given in regard to writing the walking tour books was from one of my members in the Southeast Business Forums which I founded and ran in Nashville?

This gentleman had a daughter in high school who hated history. She refused to open or read any book having to do with history (you can imagine what that did to her GPA). He bought one of my French Revolution books, handed it to her, and said, “Just flip through this.”

He told me that she sat down with the book and read it from cover to cover in one sitting. When his daughter was finished, she came to him and requested that he buy the other books for her to read. The end result, or so he told me, was that his daughter developed a love for history, started bringing home A’s in her history class, and was considering becoming a history major in college.

That’s what keeps me going.

The theme for the 2019-2020 National History Day Contest is “Breaking Barriers in History.”

So, how do I know about NHD, its current theme, and the fact that some television celebrity who likes hot food is a past winner? I received an e-mail from Tristan H. asking me if I would agree to be interviewed in conjunction with the project she is working on for the 2020 National History Day Contest. Tristan informed me that her project was going to highlight the exploits of the female spies in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. Tristan is in the 7th-grade in Southern California and frankly, after receiving four or five e-mails from her, I don’t think I’ve ever run across a 7th-grader who writes as well as Tristan.

I suggested she put together a list of questions and e-mail them to me. I would respond and then, if she wanted to follow-up with a discussion over the phone, I would make myself available.

The purpose of this blog is to make you all aware of the NHD as well as share Tristan’s questions (and my answers) with you.

 Tristan’s Questions

How did the women acting as spies break gender barriers at the time?

Probably the biggest barrier they broke was by being assigned to what I would consider the “front-line.” Although their assignments were non-combat related (i.e., typically as radio operators), if they were caught, the penalty would certainly have been terrible torture (Odette Sansom is a good example) and in many cases, execution at the hands of the Gestapo, SS, or the Milice (e.g., Violette Szabo). However, some women did participate in actual combat against the Germans (read Nancy Wake’s story, The White Mouse here). All qualified SOE agents, men and women, were trained in hand-to-hand combat as well as how to handle weapons and sabotage materials. So, this tells me that women agents were expected to be ready for combat if it came their way (Women Agents of the SOE, read here). Read More “National History Day: Breaking Barriers in History”