Victorian Opium Dens...

So, where can you read my stories???...

Hmmm... What will the future bring for us??? I know I'm always working hard on my writing. I think of myself as creating while wearing a long black velvet gown, sipping blackberry merlot, nibbling on shrimp cocktail and listening to thunder and train whistles at midnight. In reality, I'm probably wearing sweatpants, drinking root beer and munching on sandwiches with potato chips at six in the morning, while my cat Sylvan-Midnight tears around my living room... ***BUT, I'll definitely let you know when and where you can read my stories.

Ahhhhhh!!!... Ohhhhhhh!!!...

"Decadent literature spread perfumes too dark and heady, it's exuberant blood-flowers breathe suffocating air." --- Frantisek Xaver Salda.

*************

As a writer. I love creating fiction set in Victorian and also Edwardian times and also reading it!!!... Oh, yes, it's so very entertaining to read a juicy novel!!!...

And, --- this blog is all about those very sexy and supposedly very repressed times, when "skirts" were put on those suggestive piano legs. (Did they REALLY???) And, people took their baths in their bedrooms behind screens and in tubs that were modestly draped in bed sheets and scrubbed themselves under nightgowns, --- plus it's about the depths of psychological darkness. So, --- you will find no porn posts or pornographic photos here... Naw, not a single one... [Below is a photo of a coy Victorian exotic dancer.]

Queen Victoria Of England reigned an astounding 63 years [1837 - 1901] and personified the Victorian Age...

[Above is a Victorian Christmas card featuring the Krampus, the Christmas devil, who came with birch switches to smack all the bad little boys and girls of Germanic countries... Oh, dear!!!]

Bicycles were a new stylish way to get around and people wore special cycling outfits. Laudanum, an opium concoction, could be bought over the counter at a pharmacy, as well as questionably effective potions and medicinal cure-alls, some downright dangerous, --- some containing mercury and even radium! And, Jack The Ripper slew prostitutes at will, terrorizing the East End of London, never being caught.\

And, death photography was popular, with people posing their deceased loved ones so that their images could be preserved artfully for posterity. [Ugh, --- really grotesque.]

I think of the Victorian age with elegant corseted women carrying parasols to protect their fair and delicate skin from the harshness of the sun, with upswept hairdos and gowned in silk and handmade lace, satin, velvet and ruffles. In the Edwardian age the most fashionable women wore enormous hats embellished with all sorts of elaborate decorations, --- ribbons, veils, laces, plumes, even whole stuffed birds.

Some Victorian women, upper class women, never cut their hair.

Women who were thought to be the most interesting were ghostly pale and slenderly curving with "wasp waists," and their "mounds" of bosoms, which was thought to be fascinating and even poetic. Yes, many extremely stylish women ate only enough to stay alive and consumption, or tuberculosis, was thought a fashionable thing to die of. [The horrific wasting disease killed the poet Keats, composer Fredric Chopin, who created the gorgeous piece for piano "Claire De Lune," and authors Emily and Charlotte Bronte, plus all the other Bronte siblings, --- Anne, Maria, Elizabeth and Branwell.] When upper class pregnant women began to lose their svelte shapes they went into "confinement," in the privacy of their huge homes, seldom being seen in public, --- not until they had their babies and got their glorious hourglass figures back.

[Isn't he handsome???, --- above!!!] I think of elegant Victorian gentlemen as typically with top and bowler hats, dressed in three piece suits draped with gold watches and chains and carrying walking sticks with crystal or brass knobs on the top of them, waving their fashionable calling cards. I think of tall white frame houses edged lavishly with what is called "gingerbread," houses decorated like elaborate wedding cakes.

In those houses were big families of sometimes seven to twelve children. [Many children didn't live to much more than their babyhood and methods of birth control were unreliable.] Of course, modern folks have purchased Victorian houses, painting them strange and stunning colors. Most upper class people rode around in horse drawn carriages. Bicycles, some with enormous wheels, were seen near the turn of the century and the motor car was becoming regular on streets in about 1910, which is into the Edwardian era. If you had any big money at all you could hire lots and lots of servants, because desperate, but honest people would work for very little wages. The very large houses of the wealthy had upstairs and downstairs maids, butlers, drivers for the carriages, a groom for the horses, a whole big staff to help the household to run smoothly. Women washed clothes with a laundry detergent made from flaked lye soap and washing soda. [And, that did a great job getting the clothes clean, was cheap too, not $10 to $13 a gallon, like detergent is today!!!]

Children were, of course, supposed to be seen not heard. Sadly, child labor was depressingly common among the poor of big cities.

But, once children of wealthy parents reached a certain age they often went off to boarding schools, especially if they were boys. Girls were expected to fill a modest and traditional role, - becoming excellent, efficient, dotting wives and loving mothers. [After 1823, a boy could marry as young as fourteen without his parent's consent, a girl as young as twelve, but most people married when they were in their twenties.] Some women became business owners, - few, or teachers and governesses, and were known as "bluestockings", and thought of as rather strange, too intelligent, spirited, too bold and too radical. [Ha-HA!!! I think I'd be one of those!!! My grandma, who was widowed when she was young and never married again, owned her own jewelry business.]

It was during this time that some wonderful literature was written: such great novels, --- "Jane Eyre", by Charlotte Bronte, and "Wuthering Heights", by Emily Bronte; Elizabeth Barrett Browning and William Butler Yeats wrote their poems; Lewis Carroll wrote "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland", and "Alice Through The Looking Glass". Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created the quirky detective genius Sherlock Holmes and his faithful sidekick Doctor Watson, whom some readers of the time were absolutely convinced was a real person. Bram Stoker created the wonderfully iconic horrific character Dracula. Charles Dickens and Edgar Allen Poe wrote their famous stories; Oscar Wilde wrote his only novel, "The Picture Of Dorian Gray" . Mark Twain wrote his wonderful book "Innocents Abroad" in 1869, which quickly became a best seller, then, "Tom Sawyer," and "Huckleberry Finn".

[Yes, he was a cat lover.]

The Civil War was going on in the United States. Starting in 1861, Southerners thought it might last only a few months and many young men of the aristocratic and rich plantation owners families were eager to get in on the action before it was over. That terrible war lasted years, and devastated the South, leaving many young widows to wear deep mourning clothes with black veils down to their knees. They were to be shrouded in black clothes for the rest of their lives, unless they married again, eventually, in propriety, according to the strict customs and morals of the time.

There were astounding discoveries in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, with the beginnings of industrialization... Nicola Tesla, scientific genius, was born in Serbia in 1856; we have alternating electrical current because of him. John Snow made a major breakthrough with in the treatment of dreaded cholera with the universal germ theory of disease. Louis Pasteur added to that, creating a safe way to decontaminate milk and stabilize it so it wouldn't spoil as fast by heating the liquid to 160F. Smallpox vaccinations were first given, causing the infamous deadly and disfiguring scourge to eventually be practically exterminated in our modern world. The far distant planet Neptune was discovered. Richard Owen created the term "Dinosaur," --- which stood for "The Terrible Lizard".

Even the recipe for the delicious and very popular soft drink Coca Cola was invented; it became known as the helper of listless women because it made from the coca leaf and originally contained traces of the stimulant cocaine, which was legal in Victorian times.

Music halls where saucy and even scandalous acts could be seen were becoming all the rage, such as the Moulin Rouge in Paris where artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who was only four feet six inches tall and who's shortness was the results of his broken legs never healing properly, drew and painted beautiful dancers who often threw their ruffled petticoats over their heads during their routines. [In it's early days, the vigorous Can Can dance with it's cartwheels, jumping splits, high kicks and rapid turns was sometimes performed by men too.]

[Victorians seemed to like peculiar photos.]

Alright, - then... Jolly good, --- oh, jolly good, sweetlings!!!,,, Crack on!!!... ;D

Movies And T.V. Shows Set In Victorian Times & A Little Beyond That, In Edwardian Times - ;)...

War Flowers [A Civil War Drama], with Christina Ricci
The Beguiled, 2017, with Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell
The Beguiled, 1971, with Geraldine Page and Clint Eastwood
Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, with Stuart Whitman, Sara Miles, Terry-Thomas & Robert Morley
Moulin Rouge, 1952, with Jose Ferrer & Zsa Zsa Gabor
Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman, 6 seasons, with Jane Seymour, Joe Lando, William Shockley, Barbara Babcock & Orson Bean
Wild, Wild West, with Will Smith, Salma Haylek & Kevin Kline
Titanic, with Leonardo Di Caprio, Kate Winset and Billy Zane
The Seven Faces Of Doctor Lao, with Tony Randall
Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, with Paul Newman, Robert Redford & Katherine Ross
Oliver, the musical
Gigi, with Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier & Louis Jourdan
The Greatest Showman, with Hugh Jackman
Elvira Madiagan
Jack The Ripper, 1988, with Michael Caine
From Hell, with Johnny Depp
Like Water For Chocolate, [Spanish]
Around The World In 80 Days, with David Niven & Shirley Mac Laine
Far From The Madding Crowd, 1998
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, with Kirk Douglas & James Mason
League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, with Sean Connery, Richard Roxburgh, & Peta Wilson & Stuart Townsend
Ruby In The Smoke, Masterpiece Theater, with Billie Piper
A Christmas Carol, 1984
The Glass Virgin, based on the novel by Catherine cookson
The Rag Nymph, based on the novel by Catherine Cookson
War Of The Worlds, 1953
The Time Machine, with Rod Taylor & Yvette Mimieau
Penny Dreadful, T.V. series, with Eva Green, Josh Hartnett & Timothy Dalton
The Great Race
My Fair Lady
The Girl In The Red Velvet Swing, with Joan Collins
Mary Poppins, with Julie Andrews & Dick Van Dyke
Far And Away, with Nicole Kidman & Tom Cruise
The Corpse Bride, a Tim Burton animated film
Sleepy Hollow, with Johnny Depp & Christina Ricci
Mack The Knife, musical, with Raul Julia
Journey To The Center Of The Earth, with James Mason & Arlene Dahl
Around The World In 80 Days, with Pierce Brosnan
The Governess, with Minnie Driver, excellent sensual tale
Jane Eyre, with Toby Stevens, the best version ever!
Mansfield Park
The French Lieutenant's Woman, with Merle Streep
Swept From The Sea, with Vincent Perez & Rachel Weisz
Oliver Twist, musical
Peter Pan, Disney, animated
Neverland, T.V. series, with Rhys Ifans
Hook, with Dustin Hoffman
Van Helsing, The London Assignment, animated, with the voice of Hugh Jackman and others of the original Van Helsing
Doctor Zhivago, with Omar Shariff & Julie Christie
Alice Through The Looking Glass, with Johnny Depp
Alice In Wonderland, with Johnny Depp
Alice In Wonderland, Disney, animated version
The Moulin Rouge, old version, with Jose Ferrer & Zsa Zas Gabor
The Moulin Rouge, musical with Nicole Kidman & Ewan Mc Gregor
Young Victoria
Dracula: The Untold Story, with Luke Evans
The Piano, with Holly Hunter & Sam Neil
Van Helsing, with Hugh Jackman
Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, with Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law & Stephen Fry
Sherlock Holmes, with Robert Downey Jr., Rachel Mc Adams & Jude Law
Legends Of The Fall, with Brad Pitt, Adian Quinn, Anthony Hopkins, Henry Thomas and Julia Ormand
Tombstone, with Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton and Sam Elliott
Samurai Champloo, anime series set in the late Edo Period of Japan, which was in the Victorian Era
Victoria, T.V. series, with Jenna Coleman & Tom Hughes
The Duchess Of Duke Street, BBC T.V. series, 1976-1977 with Gemma Jones & Christopher Caszenove
Dickensian, BBC T.V. series, a prequel to many of Dickens' stories, with Stephen Rea
Gangs Of New York, with Leonardo Di Caprio, Claire Danes & Daniel Day Lewis

Non-fiction, Novels, Stories & Plays Set In Victorian Times And A Little Beyond That, ;)...

The Widow Of The South, by Robert Hicks
Gone With The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
The Goblin Market, by Christina Rosetti
The novels & stories of Charles Dickens
The Harlot's House, by Oscar Wilde
Beautiful Joe, by Margaret Marshall Saunders
The Piano, [novel based on the movie], by Jane Campion
The Four Winds Of Heaven, by Monique Raphel High
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, and Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells
War Of The Worlds, by H. G. Wells
American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, The Birth Of The "It" Girl And The Crime Of The Century, by Paula Uruburu
The Picture Of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
The Crimson Petal And The White, by Michel Faber
Nicholas & Alexandra, by Robert K. Massie
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
The works of Edgar Allen Poe
The Three Penny Opera, play by Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill
From Hell, graphic novel, by Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell
The Strange Case Of Doctor Jekyll And Mister Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson
The House Of Dark Desires & other stories, by Louisa Burton
Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert
Far From The Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy
Tess Of D'Ubervilles, by Thomas Hardy
Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak
Alice Through The Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll
Alice In Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
The Plays Of Oscar Wilde
Daughter Of Fortune, by Isabel Allende
The Irene Adler novels, by Carole Nelson Douglas
The Sherlock Holmes novels, by Arthur Conan Doyle
Of course!... Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte & Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
Unmentionable, by Therese Oneill

Saturday, July 22, 2023

Victorian Opium Dens...

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