"Lady" McDougall ...?

[Tricia]

Here's an image, requested by Elisabeth, from Swanson's GA Custer: His Life And Times. Moral of the story: Cavalry hardships upon a handsome young man render him into a dilapidated ol' woman!



Lady McDougall,
Lyin' on the bed.
Listenin' to the music
Playin' in her head ...

Have fun!
LMC

[elisabeth]

Oh, thank you!!!!!

That is so bizarre. He looks like a cross between King Lear and Lady Bracknell. Well. Much food for thought there ...!

[rch]

"Charley's Aunt" was first performed in the United States in 1893. Forget Jack Benny, forget Ray Bolger, all future "Charley's Aunts" should wear goatees.

rch

[Hostler]

Good Lord, there must be a story behind this. Was he in a skit or play of some kind? I hope?

Regards, Hostler

[crawdaddo]

Brings to mind the old expression "if your aunty had a moustache, she"d be your uncle". Well maybe! Good one Leyton, Craw

[Melani]

As I recall, somebody on another thread last year described this picture and said it was inscribed on the back to his sister, "from your summer girl," or something to that effect. It's clearly a total joke--he probably just wanted her to crack up when she opened his letter and saw it. Photography was the computers and internet of the time--a new technology that was cheap and fun to play with. There's all kinds of joke photos from the '60's on, like the one of Keogh and Andrew Alexander, with their legs crossed over each other and Keogh pulling Alexander's beard. Thanks so much for posting it--I've been wanting to see it.

[Tricia]

You're more than welcome, Melani! But I think you're right when it comes to photography in the mid-Nineteenth Century. So many folks have damned GAC for the number of pictures taken during his thirty-seven years, but I'm sure he was fascinated with a relatively new art form. I don't think it was a sign of egotism--there are other examples more pressing, I believe--just a healthy respect for the photographer's art.

Cool and cutting edge? As GAC owned a pair of thoroughbreds--the 19th Century version of a Corvette--I can't imagine he'd turn a blind eye to the potential of photography. It's too bad that he died in 1876--so many things were about emerge from ithe quest of the lonely inventors. Phones, phonographs, and motion pictures. All around the corner--perhaps even closer. Even at 28 frames per second, and without sound, I'd love to have seen George Armstrong Custer alive and from all angles!

I know, I know! I owe you a PM! I haven't ignored you, but rather, I've been too caught up in The Novel to come up for air ... gulp!

--LMC

[elisabeth]

Good point. And while in GAC's time you had to go to a professional photographer, by the 1890s people could do it themselves -- Benteen talks about his son having a Kodak, and that it's a hobby that keeps him out of mischief -- so many more silly snaps could be taken at will.

That legs-crossed-over pose that Melani mentions, bizarre as it is, seems to have been quite popular; there's a photo somewhere -- ah yes, The Custer Album, p. 109 -- of Benteen doing the same with Varnum ...

[Melani]

There's a very funny one in the Oakland Museum of some Gold Rush miners playing cards, with one looking at the camera with a hilarious expression and holding up a hand with five aces. The expression on McDougall's face is also rather priceless.

At Hyde St. Pier we do 1901 Living History, and the technology available then is staggering. The Chanteyranger started doing a gig about having his picture taken, with his neck in a brace and flash powder. When we looked it up afterward, we found he was about 50 years off, and Kodak Brownies were all the rage. By 1901, many people had electric lights and telephones, and the Wright Brothers flew only two years later. Wonder what the ones who lived into the 20th century thought of that?

[runaheap]

Looks alot like "Colonel Sanders goes to Key West".

[clw]

God, I miss Trish.

[conz]

Aye, me too...and here she's led me to this thread I had never noticed before...this is for her...

At West Point well into the 20th century, and in the Army in general, it was very popular to put on plays, and men usually played the women's roles, even in musicals. It was considered quite an honor to pull off well a woman's part in such. At West Point's famous/infamous "100th Nite" play where Cadets spoof their years at the academy, alumni would remember these scenes the rest of their careers, much to the enjoyment of officer's clubs around the world.

Isn't there a story somewhere of Custer performing in such a role back at school?

Clair