http://www.cityofsmoke.com New York History, Commentary, and Culture Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:23:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/686 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/686#comments Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:43:08 +0000 William Bryk http://www.cityofsmoke.com/?p=686 Some years ago, the Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating Belva A. Lockwood, Esq., whom the agency believed had been the first woman Presidential candidate. In 1884 and 1888, Mrs. Lockwood waged symbolic campaigns (she appeared on no ballots and received no votes) to publicize the cause of women's suffrage. The first woman admitted to the Illinois bar, Mrs. Lockwood was apparently a paragon of respectability, as worthy of postal honors as, say, Richard Nixon, the unindicted co-conspirator. The Postal Service got the essential thing wrong. Read More]]> http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/686/feed 0 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/1638 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/1638#comments Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:24:02 +0000 William Bryk http://www.cityofsmoke.com/?p=1638 At her death, the Witch of Wall Street was worth more than J. P. Morgan, and nearly all of it was in cash. Yet Hetty Green had worn the same dress for thirty years and lived in squalor. The Witch's son Ned was another matter, a six-foot, four-inch, 300-pound eccentric Read More]]> http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/1638/feed 0 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/1450 http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/1450#comments Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:30:44 +0000 Mimi Kramer-Bryk http://www.cityofsmoke.com/?p=1450 Arecent encounter with the first half-hour or so of Jane Eyre, The Musical put me in mind of the 1857 murder of Dr. Harvey Burdell. (The connection won't immediately be apparent.) A friend with a professional interest in seeing the show had asked me along, and since she'd paid for the tickets and wanted to leave, we did--well before the act break--driven out by the inexorable staccato of the leading lady's enunciation. The show had not been exceptionally or unexpectedly appalling, but it made you realize that it's possible to get anything produced on Broadway these days, provided it has a child in it. Absolutely anything. People are desperate to get their offspring out of the house, and anything with a kid in it is considered family fare. This re-emergence of the child as live attraction may be a by-product of the current baby boom. But it has its roots, I think, in the Burdell affair and its aftermath. Read More]]> http://www.cityofsmoke.com/archives/1450/feed 0