All Things Being Female: 1890s-1920s Quiz

Answer: Gibson Girl

She appeared in the 1890's in a humor magazine called "Life." Drawn by illustrator Charles Dana Gibson, she was his ideal woman with her tiny waist, lofty pompadour hair, and aloof beauty. Gibson was somewhat suprised her beauty captured the public's attention, as his drawings where she appeared were satirical comments on society.

The Ziegfield girl appeared in the 1900's, the Vamp in the 1910's, and the 'It Girl' in the 1920's.

Answer: keep them closed

In general, smiling was considered unacceptable and grinning was beyond the pale.

Answer: Theda Bara

She first captured the nation's attention in the 1915 film "A Fool There Was." She started a fad called "Vamping" (a series of flirtatous posturings and posings) that women adopted during parties. Since she presented herself on film as a sex goddess indulging her tastes for married men, some saw her as a threat to public morality (particularly preachers). Still, she continued to fill the theatres until the public tired of her around 1920.

Answer: Alice Roosevelt

She was the very attractive daughter of Theodore Roosevelt, 17 years old when he became president in 1901. She was considered a second Gibson Girl and was as spirited as her father. She drew attention wherever she went. She danced the Hula in public in Hawaii, smoked cigarettes openly, played a mean game of poker with congressmen, and once jumped into a swimming pool fully clothed pulling a congressman after her. Teddy Roosevelt once said of her "I can do one of two things, I can be President of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both."

Answer: She loaths cross-word puzzles

The quality not on Chaplin's list actually appeared in popular singer Al Jolson's. Chaplin's list appeared in "Vanity Fair" magazine. The editor took note that Chaplin's "contribution strikes a rather acid note at times, for one so versed in the poignancy of simple sorrow." Another quality Chaplin listed I didn't include but found interesting is "Her diamond bracelets never need cleaning." I'm sure there's a story behind this one.

Answer: Kiss me, my fool

Theda tended to arrive at press interviews in a white limousine with Nubian footmen. She asserted her name, Theda Bara, was an anagram of 'arab death' and stated her nationality as French-Egyptian, but she was really born of wealthy Jewish parents as Miss Theodosia Goodman from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Answer: True

Sounds incredible, but it's true. One article read "San Francisco women have now an unquestioned precedent for smoking if they feel so inclined. In Tait's Cafe, Mrs. Oelrichs and Mrs. McCreery lighted their cigarettes after dinner and puffed their smoke rings with the men as if there had not been anything to disapprove in their action." Geez, I'm surprised they weren't blindfolded and shot at dawn the next day. And that would've been their last cigarette; they wouldn't have been offered a last one before their execution that's for sure!

Answer: Aimee McPherson

Popular evangelist Sister Aimee McPherson dived into the ocean water at Ocean Park, California on May 18, 1926 and disappeared. Thought to be dead, a frenzy of public mourning followed. Then suddenly alive, she emerged June 23, 1926 from the Mexican desert near the Arizona border. So, to finish her story, she said she escaped through a window and walked 20 miles across the international border line.

But the press noted that her shoes were clean, unscuffed, and her gingham dress was fresh (gee, wasn't she wearing a bathing suit when she disappeared?).

Some believed she spent this missing time with Kenneth G. Ormiston, a married man. After all, Sister Aimee's congregation were then gossiping of her affair and Mrs. Ormiston had recently threatened to name her as co-respondent in a divorce suit. Sister Aimee kept pretty quiet in the face of everyone's questions. Eventually she ended up appearing before the grand jury on charges of perjury but the case died. And Sister Aimee, keeping the majority of her congregation, went on to create future scandals. Sounds like a performance worthy of an Oscar, I think.

Answer: She's a girl who is no better than she should be

Quite a few flappers heard themselves called this. During this time, supposedly well-bred women (and men) were starting to use slang in conversation. The older generations considered such speech vulgar. Frank H. Martins, in his "Book of Good Manners" scolded his readers about the use of all the phrases listed above. Translated they are: A person of prominence = "Big Bug", One who always stays to the last dance = "Finale Hopper", A tiresome person = "Prune". Despite Martins' etiquette contributions, the grand master of etiquette proved to be Mrs. Emily Price Post.

Her 1922 book "Etiquette-The Blue Book of Social Usage" sold out almost overnight. Her big success was attributed by author Arthur S. Schlesinger to "the need many earnest souls felt for a steadying hand in a period of bewildering flux in social conventions."

Answer: From 19th century English slang for an unruly girl

This is found to be the correct answer, though it was once speculated to have come "from her habit of walking about in unbuckled shoes." A good description of a flapper can be found in Samuel Hopkins Adam's 1923 book "Flaming Youth." He dedicated this book "To the woman of the period ... restless, seductive, greedy, discontented, craving sensation, unrestrained, a little morbid, more than a little selfish, intelligent, uneducated, sybaritic, following blind instincts and perverse fancies, slack of mind as she is trim of body, neurotic and vigorous...fit mate for the hurried, reckless and cynical man." (er, ... "sybaritic" means voluptuous, sensual). Yep.

This just may be what your Grandma or Great Grandma was like once upon a time.