EL PHOENIX STORY (TO START)

April 2, 1919.

Picking up her eraser, Kathy Leonard goes back to her arithmetic homework. More interesting than English class and the new paper having to be written, true, but needing to erase bits ten times more often and that not seeming to be a good thing.

One good part, each problem being like its own little house with that good feeling when one was finished. Not like most of the classes where you could read and read and it still seemed to take forever to finish. If only “Silas Marner” was as interesting as the books in the library, she thought. If it was you could read if in a jiffy not a month when the teacher said two weeks.

These are the first paragraphs of Scene I in my upcoming coming of age 5,000 word piece which will be over on my Substack with a link here. I’ve written more than the first two paragraphs here so you can read them at the link of you like

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/el-phoenix

Some pretty black and white versions of fireworks from the 1939-1940 World’s Fair held in New York City. I don’t know whether they all became real fireworks or are in a forever dreamland of their own. Collections of the New York Public Library.

Fireworks. 1939-1940. American. New York World’s Fair 1939-1940 Promotion and Development Division. New York World’s Fair 1939-1940 Collection, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library. Who currently holds the copyright or if anyone does is unsure. Fair use license. via https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c1e15ad0-c541-012f-5ef3-58d385a7bc34?canvasIndex=0

*Fireworks over water.* 1939-1940. American. New York World’s Fair 1939-1940 Promotion and Development Division. New York World’s Fair 1939-1940 Collection, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library. Who currently holds the copyright or if anyone does is unsure. Fair use license. via https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c7429ed0-c541-012f-c42b-58d385a7bc34?canvasIndex=0

*Fireworks – patriotic display.* 1939-1940. American. New York World’s Fair 1939-1940 Promotion and Development Division. New York World’s Fair 1939-1940 Collection, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library. Who currently holds the copyright or if anyone does is unsure. Fair use license. via https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/ccad4a30-c541-012f-6764-58d385a7bc34?canvasIndex=0

*Fireworks – sketch of display.* 1939-1940. American. New York World’s Fair 1939-1940 Promotion and Development Division. New York World’s Fair 1939-1940 Collection, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library. Who currently holds the copyright or if anyone does is unsure. Fair use license. via https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c43807a0-c541-012f-6c46-58d385a7bc34?canvasIndex=0

*Fireworks – with water for fountains.* 1939-1940. American. New York World’s Fair 1939-1940 Promotion and Development Division. New York World’s Fair 1939-1940 Collection, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library. Who currently holds the copyright or if anyone does is unsure. Fair use license. via https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c657ba60-c541-012f-d6cc-58d385a7bc34?canvasIndex=0

*Legion of Nations – sketch of fireworks display.* 1939-1940. American. New York World’s Fair 1939-1940 Promotion and Development Division. New York World’s Fair 1939-1940 Collection, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library. Who currently holds the copyright or if anyone does is unsure. Fair use license. via https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/3fe69ff0-c546-012f-6bd0-58d385a7bc34?canvasIndex=0

Plates in gorgeous colors that haven’t faded from “The Old Schloss.” Published in Philadelphia in 1906, it was written by Margaret Longstreble Corlies.

Front cover of *The Old Schloss.* Margaret Longstreble Corlies, author. Published in 1906 by the J. C. Winston Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA. Collections of the Library of Congress. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/oldschloss00corl/mode/1up

*We danced and we bowed to each one. Signed Ruth E. Newton, 1906.* Chromolithograph after a color drawing by Ruth E. Newton. Page 20 of The Old Schloss. Margaret Longstreble Corlies, author. Published in 1906 by the J. C. Winston Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA. Collections of the Library of Congress. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/oldschloss00corl/page/n20/mode/1up .

*In all sorts of patterns we cut it.* *Signed Ruth E. Newton, 1906.* Chromolithograph after a color drawing by Ruth E. Newton. Page 26 of The Old Schloss. Margaret Longstreble Corlies, author. Published in 1906 by the J. C. Winston Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA. Collections of the Library of Congress. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/oldschloss00corl/page/n26/mode/1up

*For in the old oak chest we hid them. Signed Ruth E. Newton, 1906.* Chromolithograph after a color drawing by Ruth E. Newton. Page 36 of The Old Schloss. Margaret Longstreble Corlies, author. Published in 1906 by the J. C. Winston Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA. Collections of the Library of Congress. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/oldschloss00corl/page/n36/mode/1up

Heading back into time and wanting to live the life of a 1960s bride with all new Drexel furniture to fill up my honeymoon cottage. From their Esperanto line and sort of Mediterranean looking. Not sure which country or anything but who cares. Not me

Front cover of the June 1965 edition of *This is Esperanto by Drexel*. Image 1. American, a trade catalogue put out by the Drexel Furniture Company. Cc0 License 1.0. via https://archive.org/details/drexel-esperanto-furniture-1965/mode/1up

*Esperanto Bedroom by Drexel*. Image (page) 2, June 1965 edition of *This is Esperanto by Drexel*. American, a trade catalogue put out by the Drexel Furniture Company. Cc0 License 1.0. via https://archive.org/details/drexel-esperanto-furniture-1965/page/n2/mode/1up

*401-510 Poudre. Moreno Finish Only. 4 drawers, Lift-up Mirror; 401-720 Poudre Bench, Moreno Finish Only (left) – 401-400 Lingerie Chest (Shown) Hispania Finish or Moreno Finish (right).* Page 10, Image 1. June 1965 edition of *This is Esperanto by Drexel*. American, a trade catalogue put out by the Drexel Furniture Company. Cc0 License 1.0. via https://archive.org/details/drexel-esperanto-furniture-1965/page/n11/mode/1up

*401-582 Bed. Open Head, Low Foot, both with Posts for Full Canopy, Moreno Finish Only (left) – 401-630 Night Stand (Shown) 3 Drawers, in Hispania or Moreno Finish (right).* Page 18, Image 19. June 1965 edition of *This is Esperanto by Drexel*. American, a trade catalogue put out by the Drexel Furniture Company. Cc0 License 1.0. via https://archive.org/details/drexel-esperanto-furniture-1965/page/n19/mode/1up

*463-300 Party Table (Brown) with Two 12 ” Plain Leaves and Adjustable Glides. Hispania or Moreno Finish (left) – 493-700 Party Chairs in Hispania or Moreno Finish (right).* Page 35, Image 33 June 1965 edition of *This is Esperanto by Drexel*. American, a trade catalogue put out by the Drexel Furniture Company. Cc0 License 1.0. via https://archive.org/details/drexel-esperanto-furniture-1965/page/n33/mode/1up

*Wing Chairs, with or without an optional Kick Pleat Skirt*. Page 51, Image 44 June 1965 edition of *This is Esperanto by Drexel*. American, a trade catalogue put out by the Drexel Furniture Company. Cc0 License 1.0. via https://archive.org/details/drexel-esperanto-furniture-1965/page/n44/mode/1up

*Sofa Lounge.* Image 46 June 1965 edition of *This is Esperanto by Drexel*. American, a trade catalogue put out by the Drexel Furniture Company. Cc0 License 1.0. via https://archive.org/details/drexel-esperanto-furniture-1965/page/n46/mode/1up

Back cover of the June 1965 edition of *This is Esperanto by Drexel*. Image 47. American, a trade catalogue put out by the Drexel Furniture Company. Cc0 License 1.0. via https://archive.org/details/drexel-esperanto-furniture-1965/page/n47/mode/1up

Some of the pages fell out and got lost. Still these are great. The Drexel Furniture Company was founded in Drexel, North Carolina in 1903. In 1956 they merged with another furniture manufacturer and became Drexel Heritage and then changed ownership multiple times before ceasing new production during a corporate bankrupty in 2018.

Out for the evening at Los Angeles’ Cocoanut Grove nightclub. And no I can’t figure out just what is levitating over the gentlemen’s heads in image #1. What makes it interesting LOL. The Cocoanut Grove was a nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel located at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard. It had nothing to do with the Boston nightclub.

*Mrs. Harold Lloyd and Friends*, the photograph caption being dated January 30, 1937 and reading “In one of the most charming parties in recent weeks, a group of the society set is pictured at the Cocoanut Grove the other evening when Mrs. Margaret L. Smith of Honolulu and Los Angeles, entertained in honor of Mrs. Frederick Conger Bryan on the latter’s birthday. Left to right, Mrs. Smith, the hostess; Roy Brooks, Mrs. Harold Lloyd and Alexander Black. The tables were beautifully decorated for the event.” The group is seated at a table with floral arrangements and candles. Other diners and waiters are in the background. American. Photographed for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner Newspaper. Los Angeles Herald Examiner Newspaper Collection, TESSA, the Digital Collections of the Los Angeles Public Library. https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/33985/rec/58

Filmland Fetes New Veterans: the photograph caption being dated June 29 1942 and reading: “Lieutenant William C. Carrithers, who helped bomb Japanese troop movements, and his partner, Betty Grable, have a chat between dishes. The heroes will leave here for Texas to resume their nation-wide tour.” Lieutenant Carrithers was one of a group of fifteen American and British soldiers on a nation-wide tour to help defense efforts by asking the public to buy war bonds. The veterans were honored at a gala reception held at the Cocoanut Grove in Hollywood, California. The soldiers pulled from a bowl, names of movie stars who became their dining and dancing partners for the night. Lieutenant Carrither’s partner was Betty Grable. American. Photographed for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner Newspaper. Los Angeles Herald Examiner Newspaper Collection, TESSA, the Digital Collections of the Los Angeles Public Library. https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/30735/rec/33

Parade of Fashion Held at the Cocoanut Grove: Gathered here from all over the nation to get a preview of the newest and smartest Los Angeles-made styles, buyers are shown viewing the parade of fashion at the climax of the Fashion Fortnight held in the Cocoanut Grove. On the runway Ruth Stevens models a spring negligee of white jersey embroidered with rhinestones. It has the new lowered waistline and the jersey is draped across the shoulders to fall at the back in a long train. The Fashion Fortnight was sponsored by the Los Angeles Associated Apparel Manufacturers. Photo dated: January 27, 1938. American. Photographed for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner Newspaper. Los Angeles Herald Examiner Newspaper Collection, TESSA, the Digital Collections of the Los Angeles Public Library. https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/12575/rec/155

Cocoanut Grove. Ambassador Hotel. View 1: Interior view of the Cocoanut Grove in the Ambassador Hotel located in Los Angeles, showing the elegant decor of the room, where palm trees are set amongst the table. American. Undated image, 1930s-1950s ish perhaps. Photographer not given. Security Pacific National Bank Collection, TESSA, the Digital Collections of the Los Angeles Public Library. https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/99950/rec/170

At the Cocoanut Grove, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California with the photograph’s caption dated February 19, 1938 and reading: “Eddy Duchin, orchestra leader, and Glenda Farrell, film actress, are pictured helping Lanny Ross, radio singer, light his cigaret [sic] with a candle during an informal chat between dances at the Cocoanut Grove the other evening.” American. Len Weisman, photographer. Photographed for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner Newspaper. Los Angeles Herald Examiner Newspaper Collection, TESSA, the Digital Collections of the Los Angeles Public Library. https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/33785/rec/261

*Cocoanut Grove Conga Line; Guests at the Cocoanut Grove on June 22, 1940, are shown doing a hot La Conga after the show.* Los Angeles, California. American. Photographed for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner Newspaper. Los Angeles Herald Examiner Newspaper Collection, TESSA, the Digital Collections of the Los Angeles Public Library. https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/20359/rec/276

*The logo for the Cocoanut Grove nightclub at the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California. At least in 1945, the date on this one.* American. Shades of Los Angeles Photo Collection. TESSA, the Digital Collections of the Los Angeles Public Library. https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/80121/rec/288

An envisioning. 1985, Seattle on an October Friday and sitting on the bench at the end of the pier waiting on the ferry out to Vashon.

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/an-envisioning-1985-seattle-on-an

Oh to be here.

Only for the long weekend, and that being for Christopher Columbus, so not bathing-suit-and-sunscreen time. The children playing pine cone toss in a front yard filled with something more garden-store-pretty than sea pebbles that got put down after the roses died. No, out where they have farms instead of grocery stores. Grass that semi-seeds itself and doesn’t care if you can only grow plants indoors.

my new short fiction piece published to my Substack at the link if you’d like to read the rest . The image is from 1967 and is in a Massachusetts archive-

Desserts delicious enough to snack on for days. Imagery from “Katharine Mellish’s Cookery and domestic management, including economic & middle class practical cookery.” Written by Ms. Mellish, it was published in 1901 in London. There are two volumes; these are from Volume II.

*Spanish Pudding – Open Apricot Tart. Theodore Kell and Son, lithographers.* Chromolithographic plate. Plate 55, Image 187 from *Katharine Mellish’s Cookery and domestic management, including economic & middle class practical cookery*. Katherine Mellish, author. Published in 1901 in London by the Standard Art Book Company. Collections of the University of Leeds. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/b21524403_0002/page/n187/mode/1up

*Princess Pudding. Theodore Kell and Son, lithographers.* Chromolithographic plate. Plate 44, Image 211 from *Katharine Mellish’s Cookery and domestic management, including economic & middle class practical cookery*. Katherine Mellish, author. Published in 1901 in London by the Standard Art Book Company. Collections of the University of Leeds. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/b21524403_0002/page/n211/mode/1up but I found it here https://www.instagram.com/p/DbiFD28DO5E/?img_index=1

*Trifle. Theodore Kell and Son, lithographers.* Chromolithographic plate. Plate 47, Image 222 from *Katharine Mellish’s Cookery and domestic management, including economic & middle class practical cookery*. Katherine Mellish, author. Published in 1901 in London by the Standard Art Book Company. Collections of the University of Leeds. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/b21524403_0002/page/n222/mode/1up

*Jelly a la Monaco – Assorted Ices. Theodore Kell and Son, lithographers.* Chromolithographic plate. Plate 52, Image 228 from *Katharine Mellish’s Cookery and domestic management, including economic & middle class practical cookery*. Katherine Mellish, author. Published in 1901 in London by the Standard Art Book Company. Collections of the University of Leeds. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/b21524403_0002/page/n228/mode/1up

*Genoise Biscuits.* *Theodore Kell and Son, lithographers.* Chromolithographic plate. Plate 49, Image 238 from *Katharine Mellish’s Cookery and domestic management, including economic & middle class practical cookery*. Katherine Mellish, author. Published in 1901 in London by the Standard Art Book Company. Collections of the University of Leeds. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/b21524403_0002/page/n238/mode/1up

*Nougat Baskets with Fruits. Theodore Kell and Son, lithographers.* Chromolithographic plate. Plate 48, Image 241 from *Katharine Mellish’s Cookery and domestic management, including economic & middle class practical cookery*. Katherine Mellish, author. Published in 1901 in London by the Standard Art Book Company. Collections of the University of Leeds. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/b21524403_0002/page/n241/mode/1up

*Assorted Cakes in Paper Cases.* *Theodore Kell and Son, lithographers.* Chromolithographic plate. Plate 51, Image 254 from *Katharine Mellish’s Cookery and domestic management, including economic & middle class practical cookery*. Katherine Mellish, author. Published in 1901 in London by the Standard Art Book Company. Collections of the University of Leeds. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/b21524403_0002/page/n254/mode/1up

*Ice Pudding.* *Theodore Kell and Son, lithographers.* Chromolithographic plate. Plate 45, Image 296 from *Katharine Mellish’s Cookery and domestic management, including economic & middle class practical cookery*. Katherine Mellish, author. Published in 1901 in London by the Standard Art Book Company. Collections of the University of Leeds. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/b21524403_0002/page/n296/mode/1up

Make that wildfire smoke go away or at least think you are. Hand fans that make their own breeze from Fan d’Eventails Paris.

*Colombine as Harlequin hand-fan. Wooden sticks and guards with the fabric leaf embroidered with multicolored ribbons and sequins and painted with Colombine dressed as a Harlequin.* ca. 1890. Maker not known. Image © Fan d’Eventails, Paris. Fair use license. https://www.fandeventails.fr/en/19th-century-fans/4727-colombine-as-harlequin-fan-circa-1890.html

*Pierrot at the carnival hand-fan, the fan leaf printed on satin with Pierrot and Colombine leading the carnival procession.* ca. 1900. Signed *G. Clairin* for the painter Georges Clairin (1843-1919). The design was reproduced for Moët & Chandon champagne advertising fans. Image © Fan d’Eventails, Paris. Fair use license. https://www.fandeventails.fr/en/fan-leafs/4723-pierrot-at-the-carnival-fan-leaf-by-georges-clairin-circa-1900.html

Two Pierrot Astronomer hand-fans with similar designs, both ca. 1910. One with a painted black silk leaf and blue-stained mother-of-pearl sticks and guards and signed *Van Garden*. The other with horn sticks and guards and a painted black gauze leaf, embroidered with sequins and signed *N. Fontte*. Image © Fan d’Eventails, Paris. Fair use license. https://www.fandeventails.fr/en/art-nouveau-fans/4731-the-pierrots-astronomers-fans-by-van-garden-and-fontte-circa-1910.html

An envisioning. 1958, high summer, and a spot to rest the rucksack under the smile of the sort of Man in the Mountain that grins at the waves up in Maine.

https://sarahbguestperry.substack.com/p/an-envisioning-1958-high-summer-and

Oh to be here.

A traveling man investment pitching banker for a husband living life as an eternally circulating something, always having to be crisp with every collar and cuff perfect what with the clients all being Rockefellers or wanting to be Rockefellers and in need of advice on where to park their money long enough for a skiff and a little Herreshof sailing something to impress the ladies and gentlemen at the yacht club between regattas.

My new short fiction piece published over on my Substack at the link of you’d like to read the rest. The image is from Buildings of New England, another WordPress blog that I follow-

Heading out in a hat so huge there are three escorts needed to keep the hats from knocking the blossoms off the sunflowers and passersby into the gutter. The 1957 Los Angeles Headdress Ball was the 19th annual Las Floristas charity event held on April 29, 1957, hosted at the Cocoanut Grove inside the Ambassador Hotel. It featured elaborate, custom floral headpieces modeled by prominent society figures. Two of these images are from 1957 with the other ones being from 1958.

*Headdress Ball, 29 April 1957.* The ladies were members of Theta Chi Epsilon, Phi Kappa Epsilon, Alpha Chi Phi (Kappa Chi), Delta Chi Sigma (Alpha X) where were social (not sure of the name) sororities as opposed to the college student kind. Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California USA. American. Photographed for the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper. Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. Under copyright. Fair use license. via https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=2A3BXZ6SPK581&PN=4&DocRID=2A3BF1OPQ7UQ5

*Three women in gowns and headdresses at Las Floristas Headdress Ball at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California USA. May 3, 1952.* American. Photographed for the Los Angeles Daily News newspaper. Los Angeles Daily News Negatives Collection, University of California Los Angeles Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections. Cc0 License 4.0. via https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/zz0002pdp8

*“Las Floristas” Headdress Ball, 1958.* American. Photographed for the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper. Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. Under copyright. Fair use license. via https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=2A3BXZ6SPGUHD&PN=11&DocRID=2A3BF1OPNTB9C

Learn more about the Las Floristas Headdress Ball which raises money to support the health and educational programs for special-needs and disabled children at the Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center children’s clinic. here. The article includes a photograph of Lucille Ball dressed to join right in https://thewackytacky.blogspot.com/2016/04/havin-ball-headdress-ball.html