Clicking on these vintage typed pages should enlarge them enough to be easily read .
M Y C O L L E C T I O N — This is a rather fascinating "find" from my collections. These two pages were typed using my great-uncle Art's antique Remington typewriter, below (I tested it carefully with the 120 year old ribbon in place!). It purports to be a speech in Congress by the famous Clare Boothe Luce, a vocal supporter of equal rights for women, and a former U.S. Representative from Connecticut. She was also married to the publisher of Time, Fortune, and Life magazines, and became the ambassador to Italy in the 1950s.
Reading these two pages though, you realize it's a very clever satire of her speeches. It pokes good-natured (and adult!) fun at a typical Luce speech on equal rights for women. I have no idea if Art wrote it, or just typed it from a political newspaper or magazine of the day. I've read many of her speeches doing research for this post, and this piece uses many of her phrases, with twists and double entendrés throughout. It's really a fascinating look back in time, when clever satire was a tool for "regular" people, and not just a literate, "high brow" few.
- The Wiki on Clare Boothe Luce, here. Her life is the very definition of fascinating and worldly!
- For some of this fantastic woman's quotes, click here.
- The Women's Suffrage movement is detailed at Wiki, here.
My Remington typewriter dates to the late 1800s. In this composite image, notice the keys are arranged in a full circle under the carriage, not in a semi-circle as modern typewriters are. For my earlier post on this vintage apparatus, click here.
Happy New Year!
I'd like to wish everyone that reads my blog a very happy and healthy new year. May we find peace, joy, and equal rights for all in 2011.
Thanks for the CBL quotes link. And to that I add:
ReplyDelete"If having a little bit of your own money bothers a man, then my dear, you have the wrong man." ~ Artichoke Annie
Happy New Year All.......
Hey Casey,
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine how thoroughly Ms Luce would eviscerate our current crop of idiotic political pretenders, both male and female.
May your New Year be abundantly joyful!
Jim
This letter is a hoot! It would still garnish a "R" rating in 2011!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting life she led.
Love the typewriters!
Casey, I wish you another successful year in the blogosphere!
And I echo your sentiments to all the readers of this blog and their families. Here's to a great 2011!
Casey best new year's wishes to you too. I've so enjoyed entering your world through your blog. Much love and peace to you.
ReplyDeleteHey! I used to have a typewriter like that!! And a later "semi-circle" one that I used for my high school typing class. Yes, my teacher told me to get with it and get a new typewriter! He also told me I'd better grow up to be a boss because I'd be a lousy secretary, so I took his advice! LOL
ReplyDeleteA very very happy new year to everyone who reads this blog and a special one to Casey, who does such a fabulous job of bringing us visually and intellectually interesting things! Here's to equality and new beginnings starting at midnight of 1-1-11! If that doesn't look like it calls for a fresh start, I don't know what does! :)
Cheers! To 2011~!
Katie
Happy New Year to everyone in Casey's blog family and especially to Casey himself.
ReplyDeleteI count reconnecting with Casey (thank you Peter DeLorenzo) after the shutdown of the AutoWeek Combustion Chamber a few years back) one of the high points of 2010. The artandcolour blog is frequently the highlight of my day!
I wish for everyone here (and everywhere) a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful 2011!
Paul, NYC
Katie: I hadn't even realized it was going to 1-1-11 yet! I haven't heard it mentioned on TV either!
ReplyDeleteI would like to thank everyone again, for helping to make this blog a living, breathing space for me to write and rant, and share my life with people in a 21st century way. I had NO IDEA what this blog would mean to me when I started it last February. I put it off for years, not sure why I'd want to write about myself etc, and why anyone would want to read it, but it has become so much more than that, and I have all of you to thank for that.
OH THANK YOU CASEY. YOUR SO SWEET.
ReplyDeleteGN CASEY GN.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL. YOU ALL IS SOUTHERN YOU KNOW.
Happy New Year to all and lets wish better things to come for all of us.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year everyone!! It has been great getting to "know" our cast of characters here lol.
ReplyDeleteSo, Casey, PX, Brian, Woody, AA, Granny, Ish, Jim, Brian Katie and absolutely everyone (please forgive me if I left you out or don't know your name!) here is my wish for a peaceful, prosperous, equal, healthy, enough to share year for all of us...
blessings,
mare
January 1st ,2011 !
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Casey!
Thanks for brighting so many days in 2010.
Lots of love and luck in the new year, Casey.
Love and luck to all!
AP
Malibu!
Hey AP! Hope your holidays were great!
ReplyDeleteHolidays were beautiful. Rainy. Quiet and cold. Perfect. Thank you,Casey !
ReplyDeleteI hope yours were great, too.
Yesterday at the supermarket, I thought of you, phantom X and Paul: there parked in the lot was a creamy yellow Rolls Royce Camargue !Perfect in that that daily-driver way. Nice . Pampered but put to good use.
I really ought to bring a camera with me.
AP
Malibu
You don't see so many Camargues around! It's nice to know that someone is using one as a daily driver. I often wish I carried a camera with me when I see neat cars either in NYC or when I travel. There are lots of daily drivers from the 60s that I see on my annual San Francisco trips. I've gotten a few of them over the years, but lots of them just go by and I miss them. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year all!
Paul, NYC
I love the Camargue! They're really quite odd looking, such a big 2 door with that dipping beltline trim, and relatively narrow tread. They are such a designer's car. Were they Pininfarina? I'm going to have to read about them tonight. What a great find, AP!
ReplyDeleteThanks ,you guys ! I see it out here often, so maybe one day I will take a snap. In this part of the world, I often laugh at what I see in the supermarket lots. It can be pretty astounding.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I see this particular Rolls, I recall the words of Billy Mitchell on the Camargue : " Theres a helluva lookin' thing !" I say that out loud trying to figure if he liked it or disliked it.I would imagine he disliked the placement of the rear wheels . They seem to want to ride further back.
But I am sure he liked the rest of it...
I agree, overall,it's lovely,and is, indeed, a 'designers car" . I see a lot of it in the mid 70s Caprice/Impala (if I squint at dusk.)
AP
I never thought of it but now that you mention it the Camargue looks a lot like the first downsized Chevrolets of 1977. The Camargue always looked a little ill-proportioned -- there's no front overhang and too much rear overhang. The front looks a little flat too. It's pretty much the forgotten Rolls-Royce.
ReplyDeletePaul, NYC
Hey Paul,
ReplyDeleteI am glad you see that .It's odd, but there it is.
Sometimes The 77 Caprice reminds me of the 76 Lagonda. (The Lagonda after a diet of Crispy Cremes and Dr.Pepper Floats , of course . ) I don't know why.
I am hoping a trip to the shrink might help !
AP
AP, I can go along with your accessment of the Caprice. Both cars had a similar design language, though targeted at opposite ends of the retail spectrum. I actually love both of them - especially the Lagonda!
ReplyDeleteI've never much cared for Krispy Cremes, lol!
phantom X,
ReplyDeleteYou are right. The same design language . Crisp, razor edged lines . The Caprice gave the masses a wee taste of the Lagonda . Happily, for the super rich, the reverse was not true.
I also love the Lagonda ~ the worlds most beautiful Praying Mantis on a starvation diet.
I don't Krispy Creme either. ik! I have never had one. I didn't even spell it right . I endeavor to have a Lagonda like figure!
AP
AP,
ReplyDeleteI endeavor to have a Lagonda like figure too, but EVERYTHING I eat anymore goes right to my waistline! Getting old sucks!
IMHO, Krispie Cremes are sickeningly sweet! YUK! Just give me a good cinnamon danish.
Casey-lol !
ReplyDeleteIn my most recent attempt to Lagondonize , I went on an ATKINS diet for two years .I lost weight and gained kidney stones!
The day of my surgery , I was to eat a good breakfast (it was going to be late in the day.) Among everything else, I had a buttered bagel -the first bread/doughy thing in two years! TWO YEARS! It was better than any donut, bear claw, honey bun ,or eclair.
Okay, maybe not an eclair, but close enough !
Eating more sensibly now, I still avoid breads. Yet, I often find myself thinking of that one ,hot, moist buttered bagel !
AP
wasn't this "speech" a hoot?
ReplyDeletei tried Atkins once for a couple of weeks, but I really love bread and beer too much! now I just try to make sure it's whole grain so there is at least some redeeming value to it. the beer not so much I guess. It's about a 2 mile round trip to town for me, and I ride my bike or walk it at least once a day, sometimes twice, so I get a minimum of exercise.
The Luce speech ? Fantastic, Casey. What a remarkable find . I love it . Such a high degree of literacy ! And for blue humor, too. ,'(we)Insist on being placed upon the floor of the house". Indeed ! I' ve passed it on to a humorist I know .
ReplyDeleteTwo miles to town and two miles back everyday ? Thats pretty good . Enjoy your beer and (whole grain) sandwich !
AP
Just one mile there and one mile back! But yesterday I did it three times and added a circle around the beach. it was relatively warm compared to what it has been, probably mid 40s. same today, but it's supposed to drop to the 20s again this week.
ReplyDeleteWhen you say 'beach',Casey, what beach do you mean? I am sorry, I am still a noob and don't know all the details.
ReplyDeleteIt's cold here,too. We were just up in the Santa Monica Mts and it was in the 30s. It's snowing in some parts of LA .
Of course some folks are still out there surfing !
AP
Hey AP!
ReplyDeleteMy town, Madison, CT, is on Long Island Sound. It's only another 5-10 minute walk past the town center for me, but I don't always go that far. I try to at least once a week.
Love the old typewriters! Ferris would want to get a hold of them to "steampunk" his Macbook!
ReplyDeleteI shall google map thee ! I would imagine it is quite beautiful, judging by many of your photos.
ReplyDeleteAP
oh Deb, what does "steampunk" mean? just another clue how friggin old i'm getting!! I used to be able to keep up with the "lingo" lol. I haven't gone out socializing in 6-7 years so I have no clue what's going on!
ReplyDeleteAP: it is really pretty here. If you look back at June/July/August in my blog, you'll find some photos of the shore, but I couldn't remember the titles of the posts. I really have to label things better.
Casey, check these out:
ReplyDeletehttp://thehottestgadgets.com/2008/07/the-17-hottest-steampunk-computer-creations-001127
Why do you think I had my kids late---they keep me young! (well, at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.) You can borrow 'em any time! They are also the source of many grey hairs, mild breakdowns, and severe panic attacks. But they sure keep me on my toes!
oh Debbie, those things are so cool! I've got a million things I could use to steampunk modern conveniences, lol. Eight years ago when I bought my current TV, it was a modern gray and chrome. I didn't like it so I painted a woodgrain finish on it and painted the chrome over with gold leaf. I was sort of steampunking before I knew what it meant, lol.
ReplyDelete