One Final Word (Or Two) About The 1920s

By Kerry Lippincott, Executive Director

After spending the past few months living with 1920s and completing our Speakeasy event, I’m ready to bid a fond adieu to the Roaring Twenties.  But before I do, I want to do two things.  First, I want to thank everyone who made the Speakeasy and the programs leading up to the event possible.    From our program partners (the Smith Center for the Arts, Toeprints, Georgia Carney, and the Geneva Public Library) to our Speakeasy sponsors (Vance Metal, C.S. Burrall & Son, DeVaney-Bennett Funeral Home, Finger Lakes Partners, Geneva Awning and Tent, Geneva Club Beverage, and Phelps Sungas) to Kelly Towers and the staff at the Belhurst, Bill Greco and the Cool Club to my staff and board members who helped put the programs and Speakeasy together, I give you all a heartfelt thank you.  And, of course, thank you to everyone who came to the Speakeasy.    By the photos can tell that everyone had a good time.

Maybe it’s the nature of my profession (or just me) but I’ve assembled quite a collection of information about the 1920s.  It’s not just about having too much information but having information that too good (at least in my opinion) not to share.  So the second thing I want to do is share my collection with you.  Don’t worry I’m not going to share everything that I’ve discovered just some information about Geneva and some pop culture tidbits.   

Here’s are a few highlights about Geneva during the 1920s: 

• 1920 –   Pultney Street Cemetery moved to Glenwood Cemetery 
• 1921 – Geneva Kiwanis Club organized and Women’s Club Building constructed
• 1923 – Construction begins on the new Geneva High School and the Experiment Station placed under the control of Cornell University
• 1925 – Hobart’s centennial and bus service replaced the local trolley line           
• 1926 – An airport is constructed at the junction of Routes 5 & 20 and 14A 
• 1928 – The first Finger Lakes Outboard Motorboat regatta 
• 1929 – DeSales High School opens, sesquicentennial of the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign, and Geneva Zonta Club organized

Though the following information may not help you on Jeopardy, they could be used as icebreakers.   

•  Through Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald are now considered the voices of the era, the reading habits of mainstream America at the time preferred romance, historical fiction, westerns, and crime novels. 
• The Velveteen Rabbit, Agatha Christie, and Winnie-the-Pooh all made their debut in the 1920s.
• When it comes to fashion there is just one word – Chanel.  Along with Chanel No. 5, we can thank Chanel for costume jewelry and the must-have item in any woman’s wardrobe - the little black dress. 

• On May 16, 1929 the first Academy Awards were presented.  Since the winners were announced three months in advance, the actual ceremony lasted about 15 minutes. 
• The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade debuted in 1924 with Macy’s employees in costume, floats, bands, and live animals from the Central Park Zoo. 
• Cocktails were invented during Prohibition to mask the unpleasant taste of low grade alcohol.  

• This is a sampling of the foods that were introduced in the 1920s– Lifesavers, Good Humor Bar, Wonder Bread, Klondike Bar, Mounds, Milky War, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Welch’s Concord Grape Jelly, Caesar and Cobb Salads, Wheaties, Goobers, Peter Pan Peanut Butter, Gerber Baby Food, Twizzlers, 7-Up, Velveeta, and  Rice Krispies. 
• Kool-Aid was originally sold as fruit syrups packaged in glass bottles.  However, with the bottles often breaking or leaking during transit a powdered form was developed. 
• Betty Crocker didn’t really exist.  The fictional homemaker made her debut in 1921 to promote Gold Medal Flour.

• The 1920s were filled with crazy fads.  Among them were mahjong (by 1923 there were between 10 and 15 million players), anything to do with Hawaii (ukuleles began extremely popular) or Egypt, crossword puzzles (the University of Kentucky even offered courses), miniature golf, and endurance contests (my personal favorite was noun and verb rodeos or nonstop talking contests). 
• Kleenex (the first disposable facial tissue) debuted in 1924. 
• With the passage of the 19^th Amendment on August 26, 1920, women across the United States gained the right to vote. 

• In addition to the Roaring Twenties, the 1920s has several other nicknames.  These include the Jazz Age, the Age of the Flapper, the Dollar Decade, the New Era, the Lawless Decade, the Dry Decade, and the Age of Ballyhoo.

 If you’re interested in exploring the 1920s, I highly recommend reading: 

The 1920s (AmericanPopular Culture Through History) by Kathleen Drowne 

The Bright Young Things: AModern Guide to the Roaring Twenties by Alison Maloney 

Dance in Geneva

By Alice Askins, Education Coordinator at Rose Hill Mansion 

Scheherezade and the Golden Slave from the Ballets Russes production of Scheherezade.

During the 1910s and 20s the dance world was in ferment.  In 1909 the Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev brought a new kind of ballet to Europe and the United States with the Paris debut of the Ballets Russes.  The troupe was noted for the high standard of its dancers, who were classically trained at the great Imperial schools in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Their superior dancing enthralled Paris audiences.

Diaghilev developed a more complicated form of ballet, with showy and exotic elements intended to expand its appeal. He liked to tell his artists, “Astonish me.” He also encouraged exciting artistic collaborations among gifted young choreographers, composers, designers, and dancers.  Works were commissioned from Stravinsky, Debussy, Picasso, Matisse, and Coco Chanel. 

Set for Scheherezade  created by artist Leon Bakst

Many of Diaghilev’s dancers went on to found ballet traditions in the United States and Europe.  George Balanchine, for example, created dances for the New York City Ballet.  Others took the dance experience to smaller cities with smaller troupes.  In 1921, one such company came to Geneva.  The Daily Times reported on May 31, 1921:

BALLET RUSSE AT SMITH OPERA HOUSE

The Ballet Russe will be seen for the first time at Geneva, Friday evening, June 10th.  On that occasion the magic of art for a fleeting hour wilI transform the Smith Opera House into the Royal Opera of an earlier Petrograd.  Present and former members of the Pavlowa Ballet will contribute to the Soiree de Danse.   These include such prominent artists as Mlle. Talma, Mlle. Saxova, Mlle. Sheffield, Mlle. Verina, M. Nicholoff and M. Gardner . . . The programme will be given under the auspices of the Hobart Centennial Fund Committee, the proceeds being devoted to the . . . Fund.  The occasion will signalize the initial appearance here of Pavlowa’s associates.   The performance will be invested with the delicate grace of Pavlowa and the elusive charm of Schischinska.   [Pavlova and Kschessinskaya both danced in the Ballets Russes, and Pavlova later toured with her own company.]

The engagement is for a single evening only.  Preceding the box office sale, tickets may be had at the Hotel Seneca and at Foster’s Book Store.

Geneva had something to add to this novel experience.  The Daily Times announced on June 2 that Byron Nester [of the Nester Hotel family] would precede the performance with a talk at the High School about the “Art of Dancing.”  Mlle. Talma of the troupe would “demonstrated the various movements . . . The control of muscles and the ability of the artist in executing the various steps as called by Mr. Nester, taking the part of the ballet master, proved intensely interesting.“  Mr. Nester also traced “The religious and historical significance of dancing, with its interpretation of the thoughts and feelings of the various peoples until the present so-called ballet d'action, expressing a high degree of dramatic art.”

Bryon Nester

The Daily Times reported that the performance itself was “most pleasing,” and gave credit to Nester for the appearance of the troupe in Geneva. 

The Ballet Russe was new to Geneva and most entrancingly diverting. . .  Advance notices . . . had quite modestly kept Mr. Nester's connection with the whole venture in the background, but no sooner had the first curtain risen than the evidences of his clever handwork came into view and the audience  . . .      realize[d] that it was he who had conceived and carried out the ballet . . .

The scenery and the costumes were designed by Mr. Nester and, as regards the scenery, some of the smaller portions . . . were even executed by his hand.  The scenery . . . made a rich and picturesque setting for the various dances, and the costumlngs [sic] were daringly original, in colors that pleased the eye, harmonized with each other and with the stage settings and . . . were most artistic.  The costumes were made by Mlle. Talma and M. Gardner from the color plate designs furnished by Mr. Nester.  

. . . Each dance was a picture, a poem, a song, a dramatic interlude, a dream, a harmony in poetic motion, graceful rhythm and beautiful colorings.  None but an artist of deep feeling could have carried out so perfect a conception.

Between the divisions of the program there was a demand from the audience for "Nester! Nester!” and Mr. Nester was finally obliged to come before the curtain, where he gracefully thanked the audience for the cordial support given him.

Nester had further plans for dance in his home town.  The Daily Times reported in September 1921 that Nester:

Plans to Build Greek Theater

Geneva Art Lover Designs To Have Open Air Theater Near His Residence

The production of the "Ballet Russe" at the Smith Opera House . . . is part of a plan that Mr. Nester has long entertained for the advancement of dancing art in his home city.  . . . he has been planning for several years to construct an open air theater on the grounds to rear of his residency . . . in South Main street.  The grounds on the lake front of the estate provide the natural slope to make an ideal location for such a theater.  Mr. Nester is contemplating a theater inspired by his own sketches of classical ruins  . . . When this theater is completed, which will   other distinguished artists who will quicken the interests of the people of the city in the best of terpsichorean, chore[o]graphic and dramatic art.   . . .

As far as we know, the outdoor theater was never built.    Perhaps Nester decided against it when he realized that an open air theater could be used only half the year in Geneva.

Unidentified dancers from the Nestor Family files at the Geneva Historical Society.

Radio in the 1920s

By Karen Osburn, Archivist

How many of you have heard of the Acousticon Hour, the Clicquot Club Eskimos, the Goldbergs, the High-Jinkers, Laundryland Lyrics or Sam ‘n’ Henry?  I imagine if I asked how many of you recognized Amos and Andy, Fibber Magee and Molly, the Shadow, the Green Hornet or the Jack Benny Show many more of you would instantly make a connection.   The first group was radio shows that debuted in the 1920s while the second group included shows that aired on the radio later in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.  Of course most of us weren’t born in the 1920s, or were so young that we can’t recall those names, but these shows were the forerunners to the sit-coms, dramas and variety shows that we do remember from the second half of the 20^th Century, both on radio and television.

Let’s take a brief look at radio in the 1920s and expand our “horizons” a bit. Radio historians generally agree that broadcasting for the public began in 1920 with a broadcast on station KDKA out of Pittsburg, PA.  However, very few folks heard the broadcast because few radio receivers were privately owned. After word of that original broadcast spread people overwhelmed radio manufacturers standing line for hours to fill out order forms because the manufactures had run out of radio receivers.  Between 1923 and 1930 fully 60% of American families purchased radios and gathered around the new device to listen to nightly entertainment broadcasts.

The more folks purchased radios the more radio stations were needed to satisfy the public.  While KDKA was not the only station in 1920 it remains the standard by which others were judged.  In just two years 600 stations were up and operating nation-wide.

In 1921 KYW, Chicago’s first radio station, was begun by Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing.  KYW specialized in playing exclusively opera six days a week.  They decided to diversify programing when the opera season ended and began offering broadcasts of sports events, lectures, news and weather reports, political commentary and popular and classical music among other things.  A radio station like KYW had the ability to enhance a feeling of community among diverse groups living within the listening area.  Each group had the choice to listen to broadcasts that appealed to their interests and needs.

Confusion arose with radio’s popularity.  The rapid growth of listeners and programs had created an atmosphere with little or no control over the airwaves.  This led to a bit of chaos as time slots for programs often overlapped and interfered with shows.  A listener might be listening to one program only to have a different show interrupt it.

The government hesitated to regulate the airwaves, while stations, listeners, and broadcast companies all wanted the intervention to sort out the mess.  Eventually the Government set up the Federal Radio Commission (1926) later organized with the Radio Act of 1927.  This act became the Communications Act after television became popular.  Eventually, the Federal Government ceased to doubt their right to regulate communications.

Another interesting point is that the listening public, the Government, and the start-up radio corporations viewed broadcasting as a public service and seldom as a vehicle for profit. Manufacturers of radio receivers realized a financial gain, but announcers, deejays, and stations worked on a non-profit basis.  Once advertising was introduced later in the 1920s the public service model changed to one of private gain.

One of the shows that made radio so popular was Amos ‘n’ Andy.  It was so popular that by 1930 NBC ordered its affiliates not to interrupt the broadcast unless it was a matter of national importance.  At the peak of popularity many movie theaters advertised that they would stop their films for the Amos ‘n’ Andy show (15 minutes long at the time). 

Amos ‘n’ Andy was created by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll and started out at a program called Sam “n” Henry, which debuted on WGN in Chicago and aired from 1926-1928.  It was a ten minute comedy and is often considered the first situation comedy.  The story line revolved around two African-American men from rural Alabama moving to Chicago and overcoming the problems associated with moving to a new area such as food, shelter, and making money.  Correll and Gosden produced 586 episodes and supplied the voices for all the characters.  They left WGN after making their proposal to have Sam ‘n’ Henry recorded on phonograph records and distributed to other radio stations to be played on the air was turned down.

In March 1928 Correll and Gosden brought their new characters, Amos ‘n’ Andy, to the airwaves on rival Chicago station WMAQ.  The plot line and characters closely resembled Sam Smith and Henry Johnson and the show ran as a nightly serial until 1943 (in 1943 it was changed to a 30 minute weekly).  Gosden and Correll portrayed all the male roles and preformed over 170 different voice characterizations in the first decade of the show.  Amos ‘n’ Andy was the first radio show to be distributed by syndication in the United States.

When I wrote this blog I looked in the 1920s city directories of Geneva for a local radio station and didn’t find one, but there were several businesses selling radios in the city so I am sure there were residents here enjoying some of the programs I have mentioned.  Well over ten years ago I heard some old time radio programs broadcast on WHAM out of Rochester and became very interested in the shows and the advertising.  I think it is very enjoyable to play a CD of old time radio shows some nights instead of watching television.  The act of allowing my mind to imagine the scenes being described to me is often more fun than watching television, which does all the “work” for me.  You might want to give it a try some night. You can find these shows available on the internet.

Did you enjoy this 1920s moment?  The Geneva Historical Society is hosting several workshops and programs in December and January about the 1920s all leading up to our Speakeasy Party at Belhurst on Friday, January 17.  For more information about the Speakeasy or related programs, call us at 789-5151 or go to www.genevahistoricalsociety.com.

Geneva in the 1920s

By John Marks, Curator of Collections and Exhibits

We’ve written about Prohibition (or lack thereof) and flappers in the 1920s. What was Geneva like back then if you weren’t looking for a drink or bobbing your hair?

Geneva’s city directories are my favorite resource for such a question. They arranged information alphabetically (people and businesses combined), by street address, and by business category. Businesses could also purchase advertising. You can pick a year at random and learn a fair amount by flipping through the pages.

Here are some observations from the 1922 directory:

·        Two Syracuse detective agencies placed ads. They both boasted connections or representatives in all parts of the world. Was Geneva a hotspot for international intrigue?

·        Eight automobile dealers carried 15 different makes, including Overland, Willys Knight,    Chandler, Paige, and Cleveland.

·        Change is never swift nor absolute; there were still six blacksmiths & horseshoers. Geneva Wagon Company had shifted to making all types of commercial bodies for auto chassis.

 This 1916 Model T estate wagon body was made by Geneva Wagon Company, and can be seen, in season, at Rose Hill Mansion. 

·        Sweet tooths are not new. There were 19 retail stores under “Confectionery and Fruits,” and three wholesalers. These shops often appear in theater programs as the perfect after-show place to go.

·        There were 63 retail grocers and all but a few were independent. It would be interesting to plot them on a city map to show distribution. Traveling across town for groceries was unthinkable back then.

·        Twelve milliners made hats for “ladies, misses and children.” It shows the economic impact of fashion (when women and girls didn’t leave the house without a hat), and I just like saying “milliner.”

·        Currey & Corwin Funeral Directors advertised “Lady Attendant” as the only feature beyond their telephone number and address. Was this an unusual service in 1922, or just reassurance that they did have a lady attendant? (A quick Internet search shows that many funeral homes still employ and advertise lady attendants.)

·        C.A. King may be my favorite. Located on Castle Street opposite from City Hall, he sold newspapers and magazines, postcards and stationery, all types of tobacco, “iced drinks in season”….and guns, ammunition, and auto tires. Louis Klopfer also sold books and stationery along with “athletic goods” and Victrolas.

King produced and sold local postcards with this trademark.

These are a few lesser-known things about Geneva in the 1920s that caught my attention. In our reading room, we have a complete run of city directories from the 1890s to 1980s. Stop by anytime and take a look for yourself.

Did you enjoy this 1920s moment?  The Geneva Historical Society is hosting several workshops and programs in December and January about the 1920s all leading up to our Speakeasy Party at Belhurst on Friday, January 17.  For more information about the Speakeasy or related programs, call us at 789-5151 or go to www.genevahistoricalsociety.com. 

What was a flapper, anyway?

by Alice Askins, Site Manager of Rose Hill Mansion

The Geneva Daily Times of the early 1920s suggested a few possible origins for the term flapper. 

Why is a flapper? [sic]  Who knows?  Well, why is she called a flapper? Now, that's different.   In . . . a story published 12 years ago, Harry Leon Wilson . . . called the little dumpling girl to whom ‘Our Hero, Bunker Bean,’ found himself married, the ‘flapper.’   . . . When asked recently why he called his . . . girl a flapper, Mr. Wilson said he didn't exactly know.  ‘I heard the term first in England, l believe," he said.  "Over 18 years ago the little, plump chorus girl was called a flapper . . . flapper originated . . . in the English chorus” (December 21, 1921).

 Or,

Yes, many times we've wondered, why they call the young ladies flappers.  In the spring time, summer time, and fall there does not seem much reason for giving them this cognomen.  . . . Then we saw how they wore their galoshes [unbuckled and flapping]” (January 21, 1922).  

Or,

Flappers Resembled Ducklings

The term "flapper," as applied to young girls of a certain type, is not modern, as most people suppose, but is really close on two centuries old.  Early in the seventeen hundreds growing-up girls were first called "flappers" from a fancied resemblance to the young ducks, neither fledging nor grown-up, but dashing about with a good deal of noise and flapping of wings” (July 28, 1922).

Singer and dancer Josephine Baker in a very flapper-ish ensemble.

Wikipedia, however, suggests that these theories were actually mistaken.  According to the article on Wikipedia, flapper was actually a slang word in England for prostitute that dates to the 1600s.  As early as 1631 ”flap” referred to a young prostitute.  By the 1890s flapper was popular slang for both a very young prostitute and any lively mid-teenage girl.   Based on early 20^th century college and theatrical slang in England and the United States, flapper came to mean a lively and flirtatious young woman by the early 20^th century (Wikipedia article on the flapper). 

By 1920, the term had taken on the meaning we associate with it today.  As one critic put it,  "the social butterfly type… the frivolous, scantily-clad, jazzing flapper, irresponsible and undisciplined, to whom a dance, a new hat, or a man with a car, were of more importance than the fate of nations” (Wikipedia article on the flapper).    Clearly, not all women in the 1920s were flappers.  The flapper followed the extremes of fashion and flouted convention.  For example, Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby was a flapper.

The flapper emerged after the cataclysm of World War I, and seems to have become a symbol of everything people disliked about the modern world.  She wore makeup, and applied it publicly, which conservatives found scandalous.  She wore less clothing than western women had for centuries.  If she was corseted at all, she wore elastic undergarments instead of heavy cotton and whalebone.  Her legs were more visible than ever.  When hem lines were their highest in 1926, they hit just below the knee, and stockings were sheer and flesh-colored.  She rejected old standards of female beauty and behavior.  Instead of exaggerating her female curves, she wanted to look boyish.  Her hair was cut short.   She smoked, drank, and swore, which had been male prerogatives.     She was widely assumed to be sexually aggressive and promiscuous.  Some clothing historians speculate that young women were, in a sense, trying to replace the young men who never came home from the war.  Flappers certainly seemed to lay claim to male freedom.  At the time, many people found all of this appalling.

Boyshform elastic undergarment ad.  

The Daily Times talked a lot about flappers - most of the time, disparagingly.  The paper recounts a story from Indianapolis, expressing surprise when a flapper demonstrated that she had a kind heart.   “THE FLAPPER IS PASSING,” claimed the Times hopefully, in May 1922:   ”She Doesn't Make a Good Wife, Therefore Her Day Is Done. “  When Bishop Edwin H. Hughes of Boston spoke to the First Methodist Church in Geneva, he stated “I have . . . not much [patience] with the super-flapper.  If she should walk the streets of Jerusalem with her face spotted red and white, the people would cry, as they did for the leper - unclean! unclean!   . . . In God’s name get back to God, lest some awful thing overtake America.” 

In June 1922, the Times reported:

Barbershop, Once Haven for Man, Now Catering to Flapper Patrons

. . . investigation by a Times reporter has disclosed that . . . the modern flapper has invaded what was once  . . . a sanctuary for the male of the species alone – the barbershop.  And the shops are cleaning house and installing fancy window curtains in her honor.   She walks right in, so Geneva barbers state, hangs her hat on the brass hooks, gives a preliminary look in the mirror, and waits for the call “next.”     . . . The worst of the whole matter, according to one prehistoric customer, is the gradual decline of the old cuspidors.  They have been moved clear back to the rear wall  . . . Local flappers haven't gone so far as to adopt the general custom of smoking in public yet  . . .   Business is picking up, but the old timers cannot help but feel twinges of regret.”

The Times sometimes, though, tried to be even-handed:  “THE POOR FLAPPER . . . gets credit—or is it dis-credit—-for a lot of things for which she really is not to blame.  To be true [sic] she allows only the lower buckle of her galoshes to have any responsibility, but she didn't originate the style.  It originated at Cornell” [February 28, 1922].

Cartoon by John Held, Jr. of a woman getting her hair bobbed.  Held always drew flapper skirts exaggeratedly short.

And sometimes, the paper reported other voices in the debate:

“Bishop Thomas F. Gailor  . . . Says Woman of Today Is No Different from the Woman of Grandmother’s Day

New York March 4 [1922].  Bishop Thomas F. Gailor, head of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America, today took up the cudgel for the flapper.   . . .   According to Bishop Gailor, women had reformers "het up" over the things they did to their faces and the way they wore their skirts, even in the days when Methusaleh was a boy.   . . . Speaking of the flapper, the church leader said:  ‘It is silly to charge mere kids with deep, dark immoral emotions and motives.  There is nothing wicked about a girl who bobs her hair.  If she wants to do it, why shouldn't she?  Perhaps it is more becoming to her than long hair.  . . .  I never worry about the foibles of the young.  Girls rouge and wear short skirts because it is fashion.  People are like sheep about following fashion.  Young people are particularly so.  When I was in college it was a fad for a time for the boys to wear mustaches and we all wore them.  Then some one cut his off and we all followed suit.    . . . The world is not any worse now than it used to be.  Its morals are not degenerating.   . . . We couldn’t come out of four years of war without feeling upset.  The whole world is nervous and restless, but there's no danger of its going to ruin.   I always plead with the Christians of today to exercise more tolerance, more charity in judging their fellow men.   . . .’”

Though the debate continued, by the mid-1930s flapper was outmoded slang.  It may be that in the depths of the Great Depression, other worries took precedence. 

Do you enjoy this 1920s moment?  The Geneva Historical Society is hosting several workshops and programs in December and January about the 1920s all leading up to our Speakeasy Party at Belhurst on Friday, January 17.  For more information about the Speakeasy or related programs, call us at 789-5151 or go to www.genevahistoricalsociety.com. 

History of Christmas

By Anne Dealy, Director of Education and Public Information

Roman Feast, by Roberto Bompiani. Image courtesy the Getty.

Although Christmas marks an event that occurred 2000 years ago, Christmas as Americans celebrate it today is a relatively recent invention. The origins of the modern Christmas celebration are not found in the Bible, so much as in pagan religious traditions and 19^th-century American middle class values. Midwinter celebrations have been part of many cultures around the world and portions of these celebrations have been incorporated into the celebration of Christmas. Ancient Romans celebrated Saturnalia, in honor of the god of agriculture and the harvest, in December. The celebration included the reversal of the social order, with masters waiting on servants, and eating, drinking and raucous behavior. The Christian church did not institute Christmas as a holiday until the fourth century and probably chose December 25 in an effort to Christianize these popular pagan celebrations. As a result, pagan traditions of disorder and misrule continued, with the poor expecting food and drink at the expense of the rich and threatening mischief if refused.

Traditions of wassail and mistletoe stem from pagan religious rites that predate Christianity.

Because of these pagan traditions of disorder and the lack of biblical evidence for Christmas, the Puritans and other Calvinists rejected the celebration of the holiday in the 17^th century. Christmas was even outlawed in parts of colonial New England. While some (Anglican) Southerners celebrated the holiday with church, dinner, dancing and visiting, it was not widely celebrated in the North until the mid-19^th century. In Geneva, businesses were still routinely open on Christmas Day during the 1800s, and as late as 1900, the post office and some shops had open hours on the 25^th.

Thomas Nast’s 1863 view of Santa Claus created the image Americans have used ever since.

By the early 1800s Christmas had become a concern to the Protestant middle class, particularly in New York City, where the holiday resembled the modern Mardi Gras or Halloween. Class conflict and poverty in the rapidly growing city made the traditional reversal of roles more problematic. During the holiday season lower class New Yorkers, especially the poor and young, engaged in drunken rioting, theft and assault. Threatened by the disorder, wealthy New Yorkers like Washington Irving and Clement Clarke Moore intentionally tried to remake Christmas as a family-centered holiday using literature. Reinterpreting the Dutch legend of St. Nicholas, Moore’s 1822 poem “The Night Before Christmas” virtually invented the American Santa Claus. Stories in Irving’s Sketchbook popularized a peaceful and harmonious Christmas celebration. Merchants and ministers alike soon embraced this child-centered holiday involving gifts and goodwill. The growth of consumerism, the Victorian focus on children, and Americans’ desire to create their own traditions, all contributed to the adoption of this reinvented Christmas holiday.

The 19^th-century family surrounding the Christmas Tree.

When Phineas Prouty Jr. and his wife Adelaide lived in the Prouty-Chew House from 1855 to 1891, Christmas centered on their children. Several diary entries describe the household celebrations during the early years of their marriage with their young daughters Milly and Allie.

“Oh the excitement and wonder of this morning! The tea set! The doll! The candy! Nuts! & cornucopias!! Little Sister has her arms full of pretty things and looks wild at all this noise and frolic. This afternoon I made a Christmas tree and Mill had a private tea party.”

-Adelaide Prouty, December 25, 1859

By the 1860s Christmas was well established and closely resembled today’s holiday, right down to complaints about commercialism. For more about the invention of the American Christmas read Stephen Nissenbaum’s The Battle for Christmas. 

Prohibition: The Real Story (Or Close to It)

John Marks, Curator of Collections and Exhibits

The term “Prohibition” brings up many images: flappers, garter flasks, speakeasies, and mobsters. Like many historical words, it conjures up few facts – alcohol was outlawed, no one could get it, and you had to buy it from mobsters, right?

Not really. In the words of one person who lived through Prohibition, “If you couldn’t get a drink, you weren’t really trying.” How could this be?

For starters, most laws annoy the citizens who don’t agree with them (and that can be many people).  Laws are often vague and full of loopholes. Federal laws often saddle the states with enforcement with little or no funding, whether or not the states agree to it. All these factors applied to the 18^th Amendment and the Volstead Act.

The 18^th Amendment stated that “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors…for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.” The amendment was ratified by all states but Connecticut and Rhode Island (although New Jersey didn’t ratify until 1922!), certified January 16, 1919, and went into law one year later. The Volstead Act established powers and punishments for enforcing Prohibition. It allowed using alcohol for religious rituals, industry and science, and medicinal purposes (prescribed by a doctor and carrying a special label), and it didn’t outlaw possession. A revised version of the act allowed for making up to 200 gallons of intoxicating fruit juice (hard cider and wine) a year for home consumption.

Since possession wasn’t illegal, drinkers stocked up on alcohol right up to January 17, 1920, when Prohibition went into effect. Consumption and sharing with friends was still legal, as long as it wasn’t sold. There were doctors who wrote prescriptions for medicinal liquor, and the number of “churches” and “clergy” – outside of denominations with strict rules - rose sharply after 1920. (The Internet didn’t create “become a minister” or “start your own church”.)  Finally, home production was the biggest loophole for a city like Geneva, in the heart of grape country with Italian immigrants who knew how to make wine.

There were a variety of ways to get a drink. The late Dr. Robert Doran was a Hobart student at the beginning of Prohibition, and shared his memories in a column for the Finger Lakes Times. Frank Mellen ran the Seneca Café and continued to serve and sell alcohol during Prohibition. Dr. Doran’s friends would buy brandied wine from Frank for parties; it had been produced by local wineries, stockpiled, and was available for several years.

Many businesses, like the Seneca Café, continued to serve alcohol even after being arrested more than once. The short-lived Mullan-Gage Act called for strict enforcement of Prohibition in New York. However, the law had little impact; statewide, there were thousands of arrests but only six convictions and no jail time. It was repealed in 1923 and enforcement was left to Federal agents.

Barrels from the raid of a beermaking operation were stored at City Hall as evidence.

A person could make his own wine (up to about 1,000 bottles a year); wineries that had converted to making juice would sell barrels with instructions for winemaking. In Geneva, you could leave the job to Italian immigrants who were more experienced and buy wine from them. There were a number of speakeasies – illegal bars – where you could get a beer or a shot of liquor, maybe some food. Their locations were known around town but not documented, so we don’t have a lot of information about them.

This is merely the tip of the ice cube in the highball glass. The 1920s changed music, fashion, and popular culture, and attempting to halt the drinking of alcohol had much to do with it.

Did you enjoy this 1920s moment?  The Geneva Historical Society is hosting several workshops and programs in December and January about the 1920s all leading up to our Speakeasy Party at Belhurst on Friday, January 17.  For more information about the Speakeasy or related programs, call us at 789-5151 or go to www.genevahistoricalsociety.com.