The Duchess of Drury Lane by Freda Lightfoot

This novel about Mrs. Jordan, the long-term mistress of the Duke of Clarence ingeniously weaves fact with fiction.  As very little is known about Dora Jordan’s early life Lightfoot has created a plausible early story.

As a very successful actress Jordan earned enough money not just to support her family but also to pay for some of Clarence’s extravagances.  Her family consisted of sisters and brothers as well as her many children, most of whom were fathered by Clarence.

Jordan’s life fell apart once Clarence became heir to George IV and it became necessary for him to produce a legitimate heir which meant marrying a suitable candidate.  He subsequently became William IV and, ironically, Queen Adelaide was unable to produce children.

The Duchess of Drury Lane was what the ‘press’ of the time called Dora Jordan and, yes, the public could be vicious as well as adoring.  Nothing changes!

This book is well researched and, as with all of Lightfoot’s books, is eminently readable.  I reckon she deserves a gold star.

 Freda Lightfoot

Stephen Foster - America's First Pop Song Composer

The Suwannee River at White Springs, Florida

The name Swannee immediately brings Al Jolson to mind. But there is another song which also refers to this river: "Way Down Upon the Swannee River", better known as "The Old Folks at Home", by Stephen Foster who never saw the Suwannee River.

Stephen Foster was born in 1826 in Pittsburgh, on a most appropriate date for an American who was to become known for his all-American songs - July 4th.  The family was prominent in local politics, commerce and the social life. Stephen's father, William, was a member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature and mayor of Allegheny City (a suburb of Pittsburgh). William and Eliza Foster had eleven children and, following the death of the youngest, Stephen was then the cherished youngest child.

The whole family was interested in music, art and literature and it didn't take much encouragement for the baby of the family to acquire his interest in those arts.  Although Stephen showed that music was his first love, his family merely thought of it as an interesting hobby. What he learned about music was through his own efforts and not from serious study. Most of his early boyhood was spent in or near Pittsburgh with occasional visits to Ohio. In fact, he spent most of his life in Pittsburgh, wrote most of his best songs there, and is buried there.

At school he was a rebel. Unable to adapt to discipline and routine he preferred to study only subjects which interested him. Unfortunately, music had little place in the curriculum.  When he was fourteen and attending the Athens Academy (in Pittsburgh), he wrote his first musical work: The Tioga Waltz. His inspiration for this was Tioga Point, a local beauty spot. The waltz was arranged for flutes and presented in a school programme at the Presbyterian Church in Athens in 1841. Stephen played one of the flutes. Although he had the satisfaction of being enthusiastically applauded, The Tioga Waltz was not his first published work. It wasn't published until many years after his death.

His education continued, mostly with private teachers from whom he learned French, German and painting. He also worked occasionally in an office or a warehouse. His leisure hours were devoted to music. His father is quoted as saying, "he possesses a strange talent". An understatement if ever there was one!

In 1843 he found some verses in a magazine and set them to music. This was published in 1844 - "Open Thy Lattice, Love". As he probably didn't earn anything from this, his family felt that music did not hold out much promise of a life's work. 

When he was nineteen he formed an all-male singing group which met twice a week at the Foster home. Usually they sang the popular songs of the day, then Stephen began to compose for them. Two were to make him famous: "Old Uncle Ned" and "Oh! Susannah".  But not for a few years yet.

Eventually Stephen shared his family's concern about his future and thought he might try a career in the army. Fortunately, in 1846, he learned that his application for West Point had been rejected. With his family's encouragement he moved to Cincinnati to become a bookkeeper in a steamboat agency on the Ohio River. He was there for three years and they were among the happiest and most formative of his life.

From his office window he could see the activity on the river. Passenger boats, freight boats, southern planters, river men, gold-seekers bound for California. It was no wonder that he began to write songs and subsequently abandoned a business career to become a professional composer.

He gave copies of "Old Uncle Ned" and "Oh! Susannah" (as well as other songs) to several of his acquaintances. The minstrels sang them, the public loved them, and the minstrels took them all over the country. And they were published, but without his consent so he earned nothing. Because he had overlooked the possibility of financial gain, he had failed to protect his own interests through copyright or contracts with the publishers.

He eventually decided that it was time to profit from his writing and contracted with the New York firm of Firth, Pond & Co.

Now that he was devoting himself to music, he returned to Pittsburgh and became very ambitious. He worked hard and achieved immediate and spectacular success. The next six years were the most successful of his entire life. He wrote over 160 works - songs, compositions, arrangements and translations.  But he was also composing songs which would never die.  Songs such as "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home", "Massa's in de Cold Ground", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Old Dog Tray", "Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair".

At about the time of his return to Pittsburgh, Stephen Foster contacted the leader of the Christy Minstrels - Edwin P. Christy. The most famous minstrel band performing in the United States at that time. At Stephen's suggestion, the Christy Minstrels were to be the first to sing his new songs and the title pages of those songs would bear the legend, "As Sung by the Christy Minstrels".

Oh yes, Christy did pay for this - but only a small sum. Had Stephen Foster been a better businessman there is no doubt that he could have made a more advantageous bargain.

He also made another bad mistake. In 1851, "Old Folks at Home" was published. The title page read: "As Sung by Christy's Minstrels - Written and Composed by E.P. Christy". For the sum of a miserly $15.00 Stephen Foster had sold the right to claim authorship to Christy. And that was Stephen's idea! A year later when he realised his mistake - this song was among his best and extremely popular in the United States and Europe - he asked Christy to cancel the transaction. Naturally, Christy refused. The mistake wasn't rectified until 1879, fifteen years after Stephen Foster's death, when the song was re-copyrighted and given the correct accreditation.

Fortunately, although the song was originally credited to Christy, the royalties of the sales went to Foster. During his lifetime he received $1,647.46. After it was re-copyrighted, his heirs received nearly $2,000. A most profitable work.

The years from 1853 to 1860 were dark days for Stephen Foster. His marriage was rocky, his expenses high and he began to drink. But, in 1860 he wrote another great work. "Old Black Joe", a song of intense emotion. Was he singing about his own problems? Probably. It isn't known whether he was paid cash for this song or whether he received royalties.

After this he moved to New York but the only song he wrote during his last four years which we remember is "Beautiful Dreamer". His career wasn't helped by the Civil War which broke out in 1861. It destroyed the market for his songs.

Stephen Foster was seriously injured when he fell in his room in the Bowery and, although he was taken to hospital and died three days later. Aged thirty-seven.

The Stephen Foster Memorial in White Springs, FL.

At the beginning I said that Stephen Foster never saw the Suwannee River. So, why write a song about it? The nearest he came to the river was New Orleans, in 1852, some months after "The Old Folks at Home" was written.  In 1851 he was working on a new song for the Christy Minstrels. According to the first draft, the opening words were, "Way down upon de Pedee ribber...".  Stephen had the Pedee River of South Carolina in mind. Not satisfied with the name he asked his brother Morrison for advice. Yazoo River?  Not romantic enough. They opened a map of the United States and looked for a southern river with a romantic sounding name. It was Morrison who pointed to the Suwannee River in Florida. Except that Stephen shortened it to Swannee to fit the music.

River Douro Cruise

If you would like to read about this super cruise which I took in September go to Aunties Travels.  Aunties Travels

The Pearly Kings and Queens of London

The Pearly Kings and Queens are a charitable group of Londoners.  All cockneys and great fun to be around.  They date back to 1875 when a young man called Henry Croft was looking for an idea to bring attention to his charity work.

Henry was an orphan and at age thirteen was working as a road sweeper in north London.  He also worked in a market and was drawn to the Costermongers (market traders) whom he found to be generous people.  He was fascinated with their clothes which were decorated with pearl buttons that were stitched onto the seams of their bellbottom trousers, jackets, waistcoats and caps.  This was to show their status in the market.  Henry also learned that they looked after one another during times of sickness or need.

So impressed was he that Henry decided he would like to help people less fortunate than himself.  Whenever he was sweeping up around the market he often found pearl buttons that had fallen off so he collected them up.  Gradually he sewed them onto a suit of his own until it was totally covered.  This is what is now called a “smother suit”.  The ones with fewer buttons stitched in various designs are called skeleton suits.

Henry became so successful at raising money, not only for the orphanage where he grew up, but also for hospitals and workhouses, that he needed help.  That is when he turned to the Costermongers, many of whom became the first Pearly Families.  There were twenty-eight families, one for each of the London Boroughs, one for the City of Westminster and one for the City of London.

Most of today’s Pearly Kings and Queens are direct descendents of those Costermongers.

The Pearly Suits

All of the suits are of dark fabric, preferably velvet.  The pattern is laid out and the pearl buttons gradually, slowly and lovingly stitched on.

There are many designs for the suits, which usually reflect the owner’s particular interests.  For example:

·                                Bells – for Bow Bells

·                                Horseshoes – for luck

·                                Doves – for peace

·                                Hearts – for charity

·                                Anchors – for hope

·                                Crosses – for faith

·                                Wheel – for the circle of life

·                                Playing cards – life is a gamble!

·                                Flower pots  and donkey carts – costermongers

The outfits have tens of thousands of buttons on them and can weigh as much as 66lbs. 

The Pearly Guild

Almost every area of London has its own “royal” family within the Pearly Guild.  A prince or princess can only graduate to the status of King or Queen once their elders are sure of their maturity, have knowledge of the group’s history and have a strong commitment to the job of collecting for charity.  And, of course, they can only become a pearly king or queen if there is a vacancy.  Mostly the title goes to a descendent of the family but sometimes a family dies out or moves away. 

The Pearlies take every opportunity to dress up and collect for charity.  They can be seen in parades, at Bank Holiday Fairs such as on Hampstead Heath and even travel outside of London when requested.  The one day in the year when they all try to gather for a parade is for the Lord Mayor’s Show which occurs early in November (on a Saturday when the City is ‘closed for business’) and wends its way through the City of London from the Mansion House taking a circular tour and back to the Mansion House..

To learn more about the Pearlies, visit their web site at www.pearlykingsandqueens.com

Photos provided by the Pearly Guild.

Recycling

I have no problem with recycling - I was brought up to do it.  Rather like taking your rubbish home with you after a picnic (or whatever).  I religiously re-cycle everything I possibly can, taking it to one of the local charity shops or, if it isn't reusable, finding the appropriate skip.  And, like everyone else, I keep a bag beside the front door for all that junk mail!

Unfortunately I recently had a big problem.  When taking my junk mail and other appropriate bits and pieces to the skip I discovered that someone had dumped about 200 books (paper and hard backs) into the four skips.  I managed to retrieve about 100 but couldn't reach the others.  I left a note for the maintenance man and the next morning he managed to retrieve the rest of the undamaged books.  In total we saved about 200 books which are now stored in his shed.  Why stored there?  Because I cannot find a charity shop willing to come and collect them.

I'm still wondering what part of "Can you collect them?" they don't understand.  The popular reply is "Could you bring them?"  On one occasion I ironically replied, "Two at a time?"  "That would be fine," she responded.  I don't think so.  Think how many journeys that would be and I wouldn't do them all in one day and not necessarily more than one trip a week.

Forgive me for my naivety, but charity shops are operated by volunteers some of whom have cars.  What is the point of volunteering to help if you can't go and collect at least a few of the books?

Plastic bags:

So Europe is trying to dictate again on the subject of plastic shopping bags and saying that shops should charge us for them.  Bearing in mind that most of us use them as bin bags instead of wasting money on buying bin bags, that seems counter productive unless....

those politicians have shares in the companies that make plastic bags, of course.

Hey-ho!

Louis Comfort Tiffany - an American Genius

A Wisteria Lamp.*

Tiffany - a magic word.  Who can forget the film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”?  Tiffany was a company founded in the 19th century making and selling fine jewellery and retailing other luxury items.  And, of course, it is still selling expensive jewellery.

But it was not founded by Louis Comfort Tiffany (LCT).  It was his father, Charles Lewis Tiffany who opened the business and who expected his son to follow in his footsteps.  LCT had other ideas.  He wanted to be a painter but unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately - his paintings weren’t that great.

This redhead from New York City - with the temper to match - was frequently in trouble with his parents so they sent him to the Eagleswood Military Academy in Perth Amboy, NJ.  He stayed there for three years leaving when he was seventeen.  He then travelled about Europe to learn about art and the various cultures. 

Following his first European tour he attended art school in New York and met other people who influenced his forward thinking.  He made a second trip to Europe in 1868 and, with a friend (Samuel Colman), went to Northern Africa where he saw the use of bright colours.  He also saw the way medieval stained-glass windows literally glow and was particularly impressed with the windows at Chartres Cathedral.

Nine of his paintings were exhibited in 1876 at the Philadelphia Exposition but he was more interested in the Arts and Crafts interiors that were on show.  Subsequently, together with his friend Candace Wheeler (an embroidery expert) they founded the Society of Decorative Arts where classes were held in needlework, tile painting, pottery, wood carving and other crafts.

In 1879 he and some friends formed Louis C. Tiffany and Associated Artists and their first commission was to design a drop curtain for the Madison Square Theater.  Subsequently the company decorated rooms in the 5th Avenue mansion of pharmaceutical tycoon George Kemp, quickly followed by more commissions for Tiffany decorated rooms.  The Tiffany style was created by covering almost every surface with exotic patterns that were influenced by his time spent overseas.

During the 1880s the company increased their fame.  In 1881 Mark Twain had them decorate his home in Hartford, Connecticut.  That was quickly followed by a request from the White House.  President Arthur (who had succeeded the assassinated President Garfield) needed some of the rooms to be redecorated - the East Room, the State Dining room, the Red and Blue Parlors and a corridor.  And he needed that work done within seven weeks. 

Eventually LCT became fed up with the demands of his clients - no matter how wealthy or important.  Throughout the 1870s and 1880s he had been experimenting with glass and using it in some of the interiors.  But more importantly, he began designing stained glass windows for the new post-Civil War churches.  Until LCT (and John La Farge), the manufacturing technique had remained the same since the Middle Ages.  LCT’s wonderful innovation was a form of opalescent glass with a milky rainbow form of iridescence when the light shone through it.  He acquired the patent in 1881.

Stained Glass Windows at Flagler College, St. Augustine, FL

Over the years Tiffany produced stained glass windows for schools, public buildings, shops, homes, hotels, theatres and churches - to name but a few.  The company also exhibited a great deal.  As well as the windows, there were the famous lamps with all sorts of motifs such as poppies, dragonflies, fruit and almost anything else you can think of.

The Tiffany Chapel *.

Two other areas that interested Tiffany were the exotic vases and mosaic.  The best example of his mosaic and stained-glass windows can be seen at the Morse Museum in Winter Park in Florida.  In here is the fabulous Tiffany Chapel that began life at the Chicago Exposition of 1893.  Also in the museum are examples of other glassware including Favrile and lava glass.  My personal favourite shape of Tiffany vases is the Jack-in-the-pulpit with its narrow stem and opened out round top looking like a delicate opened flower.  They come in all mixes of colours.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit Vase *

LCT retired in 1919 and by 1924 the company began to disintegrate.  In 1932 the Tiffany Studios went into bankruptcy.  Tiffany died in 1933 and in 1934 all of the assets were auctioned.  By then Art Nouveau was out of fashion, it had given way to the rigid lines and unfussy designs of Art Deco.

That all changed after the World War II when artists began to recognise the beauty of Tiffany’s designs.  By the 1950s museums were acquiring pieces of Tiffany ware and exhibitions were held.

LCT’s homes on 5th Avenue, New York and Laurelton Hall on Long Island are no longer.  The mansions of 5th Avenue made way for skyscrapers and Laurelton succumbed to a fire in 1957, after which Mrs. Comfort Gilder, one of LCT’s daughters, offered what was left of her father’s work to the Morse Museum where years of painstaking work have recreated the Tiffany Chapel, some of the rooms of Laurelton Hall including the famous Daffodil Terrace.

The restored Dining Room from Laurelton Hall *

If you are in Florida - around the Orlando area - do go along to the museum for a very special ‘experience’.  Breathtaking!

* Copyright - Morse Museum, Winter Park.
www.morsemuseum.org

Tiffany's Restored Daffodil Terrace

A Tiffany Chapel

Coffee - the Essential Caffeine Boost.

A good cup of black coffee.

“Is that black enough for you?” a new colleague asked as she placed a mug of dark brown coffee down on the desk.

I tried to diplomatically explain that black coffee is coffee without milk.  And gave up.  As they say, if you want anything done…

But this episode did have me thinking.  Almost anywhere in Europe if you ask for coffee it automatically comes black.  In the UK ask for coffee and it comes with milk.

Little did our ancestors realise when coffee was introduced to Europe that it would become such a popular beverage and be responsible for the start of so many businesses.

England’s connection with coffee is well documented, from the Warehouses to Coffee Houses – especially in the City of London.  The first coffee house to appear was opened in 1652.

These coffee houses are responsible for much in our life which we now take for granted.  Not only did gentlemen gather to drink coffee, they did business.  And from that sprang Lloyds of London and insurance houses, financial institutions and importers of various commodities.  Stockbrokers moved from the Royal Exchange into Garraway’s Coffee House which is why attendants at the Stock Exchange are still called waiters.

And, of course, artists and writers would gather to exchange ideas.

It isn’t known exactly when and where coffee was first cultivated.  Some think it started in Arabia near the Red Sea in about AD 675.

The first coffee drinkers are reported as having experienced sensations ranging from exhilaration to religious ecstasy. 

It wasn’t until the 15^th and 16^th centuries that the trees were planted in the Yemen in any large degree. With the increase in coffee consumption in Europe in the 17^th century the Dutch began to cultivate it in their colonies – especially Java.

In 1714 the French took a live cutting to Martinique.  This was the founding plant for the coffee plantations of Latin America.

Nowadays coffee comes from around the globe – Latin America, the West Indies, the Africas, Indonesia, Hawaii, Papua New Guinea and – India.  Yes, they produce coffee as well as tea.

The coffee tree is a member of the tropical Madder family.  Other members include quinine and ipecac.  There are also some temperate members, namely rock plants and the gardenia.

Coffee 'cherries'

The trees reach a height of 15-20ft. with fragrant white blossoms that last only a few days and several months later the small green fruit develops.  These gradually ripen into the deep crimson “cherries” which are carefully harvested.

There are three basic species – Arabian, Robusta and Liberian.  The main commercial varieties being Arabian and Robusta.  Even these are broken down into yet more varieties.  In the Western Hemisphere the Arabicas are divided into Brazils and milds.  Robustas are only cultivated in the Eastern Hemisphere.

The Brazils are mostly Santos, Parana and Rio (named for the ports from which they are shipped).

Milds, Robustas and other Arabicas get their names from the countries and districts where they grow.

The production of coffee beans is by heating them in rotating horizontal drums.  The varieties depend on the temperatures at which they are roasted.  Light at 193c., medium at 205c. and dark at 218c.

An important person in the production of good coffee is the Blender.  He needs a good “nose” to produce the required flavour from a blend of different coffee beans.

The beans are either packaged as is, ground and sealed in vacuum packs, or made into other types of coffee such as instants and decaffeinated.

This last originated in Germany.  Ludwig Roselius, a coffee merchant of Bremen, is responsible for the invention called Kaffee Haag.  (Now for a plug.... I have an article about Bremen on www.thetraveleditor.com)