The King, the Wizard, and the Palace

 

Iolani Palace  photographed January 2026 by Charles Brown

Portrait of King David by William F. Cogswell
 Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The last king and penultimate monarch of Hawaii was King David Kalākaua AKA the Merrie Monarch, During his reign (1874–1891) he endeavored to place Hawaii on the map as a modern, independent state.

To that end, the king ordered the construction of a royal residence majestic enough to receive visitors from around the globe and to entertain them in regal fashion with formal, multi-course dinners and elegant balls. That was the vision of the Iolani Palace.

The cornerstone for the palace was laid in December 1789, and it was was completed in 1882. The cost of construction exceeded $340,000 that would be over $11.5 million in 2026.

But that amount was exceeded what it cost to replace its gas lighting with electricity as per the king's orders. That amounted to over $400,000, according the docent who gave the tour of the place we had (I can't locate published sources for this).

The king ordered the system of gas lighting ripped out and replaced with electricity that lit up the palace ground for the celebration of his 50th birthday in November 1886, which was 5 years earlier than the electrification of the White House.

How did that happen?

A king of firsts 

The king set out in 1881 on a world tour that earned him the distinction of being the first reigning monarch to circumnavigate the globe. Travelling by both ship and train over 281 days, he visited key countries and state leaders in the Middle East, the Far East, Europe, and America.

In addition to introducing Hawaiian culture to the world, he sought to establish diplomatic partnerships and agreements to import people for labor, particularly from Japan. He also came to learn about the technological advances of the day. This wasn't just academic; he fully intended to implement what he saw into his new palace. For example, he had a phone installed in the palace in 1883 and he spared no expense in achieving an even more ambitious vision.

Throne Room in Iolani Palace (photo by Charles Brown) The feathered-top standards on both sides of  the thrones are the signs of royalty that accompanied the kings and queens of Hawaii called Kāhilie 

King David Kalākaua arrived in Paris in time to see the the first International Exposition of Electricity that ran August 15 through November 15, 1881 at the Palais de l'Industrie on the Champs-Élysées. He was so taken by this source of power that he made a point of meeting Thomas Edison, the Wizard of Menlo Park, during his stop in New York.


The two met at the Edison Electric Lighting Company headquarters in New York City on September 25, 1881, and the king became convinced that his dreams of a truly modern palace with electric power was possible. By 1887, the main rooms of the palace were also electrified, and he could boast of having the very latest in technology in Hawaii.

The beginning of the end? 

It certainly made a statement, though it also came at what critics of the king and monarchy in general considered too great. There were those who sought to undermine the monarchy altogether. They forced the king to agree to a constitution that greatly diminished his power. Her was succeeded by his sister, Queen Liliʻuokalan, in 1891, and she only got to rule for two years before the government was overthrown by American forces. 

A short but fascinating history

Statue of King Kamehameha I (photo by Charles Brown)

The golden age of Hawaii as associated with its monarchy only endured for 98 years, It began in 1795 when King Kamehameha I AKA King Kamehameha the Great unified the islands into a single state through conquest and surrender, thanks to not just his own strategy but the superior firepower of guns and canons he obtained from Europeans who came to the area. The kingdom often veered from the traditional father-to-son succession due to the fact that so few of the monarch had children who survived them to take over.


While you can look up information online and check out books, the best way to learn more about the history of Hawaii and its kings and queens by scheduling a tour at the Iolani Palace.*(Should you drive, be aware that the parking lot is woefully inadequate, and you will probably need to find metered parking on a nearby street.)

You also can learn about the see some of the history and see the largest collection of preserved Kāhilies in the world at the Bishop Museum.** Be sure to take the guided tour. It was worth the price of admission just for that because we gained a lot of insight that was not included in the signs. Also be sure to take a look at the wonderfully preserved feathered cloak and helmet that were presented to Captain Cook, which the guide also spoke about. (Free street parking is plentiful just outside the paid parking lot of the museum.)

* Note that the Palace, like most public attractions in Hawaii, convey a highly filtered view of the monarchs of the islands. The story you see  of a unifying king, which glosses over his personal ambition and ruthlessness in achieving power and domination over all the islands. They certainly don't talk about the needless killing after winning and that he maintained the practice of human sacrifices, his parentage. They also omit the practice of incest from the royal families. King Kamehameha II married his half-sister and King Kamehameha III expected he'd be able to marry his whole sister with whom he fathered a child, though the missionary influence prevented the marriage. They also gloss over the fact that many preferred that Queen Emma, the widow of King Kamehameha IV was a serious contender for the throne and that it was not all sweetness and peace when Kalākaua took it.

 
**The Bishop Museum contains a relic of another connection to Edison. On January 16, 1891 --just days before he died -- while he was at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, the king recorded a message on wax cylinder made by of the Edison Phonograph Company. He said: "Aloha kaua — aloha kaua. Ke ho'i nei no paha makou ma keia hope aku i Hawai'i, i Honolulu. A ilaila oe e ha'i aku ai 'oe i ka lehulehu i kau mea e lohe ai ianei," which translates as "We greet each other — we greet each other. We will very likely hereafter go to Hawaii, to Honolulu. There you will tell my people what you have heard me say here." 

The wax cylinder did make it back to Honolulu, as did the king's body. It was given to James Pratt, owner of the only recording device in the kingdom at that time. He donated it to the Bishop Museum in 1918. Unfortunately, the cylinder is not durable enough to play back his voice clearly. Restoration was attempted in 1989, but it was not successful.

Related: 
How many times did Edison fail in attempting to invent the lightbulb?

Many Happy Returns, Jane Austen

Jane Austen candles

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 -- just over half a year before the country of my own birth - -the United States was born. And it would appear that the celebration of her 250th birthday has drawn even more attention than that of a nation.

How Jane Austen's Bit of Ivory Holds Up

"Jane Austen is a constant that is ever changing, a prism in the sun."

Thus wrote Tad Mosel in "Jane Austen's Two Inches of Ivory," a talk he delivered in 1980 and wrote up four years later for the first volume of the Persuasions Occasional Papers, a publication of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA). 

The title, of course, comes from Austen's own description of her way of writing in a letter: a "little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush." Austen evoked a similar idea in depicting the thoughts of the heroine of Emma (II:9): "A mind lively and at ease, can do with seeing nothing, and can see nothing that does not answer."

Now that it's December 2025, we are marking the novelist's 250th birthday. In 1975, there was far less fanfare surrounding her earlier milestone birthday when Mosel taught a course called Jane Austen at 200, at the New School for Social Research in New York City. 

The world is a very different place 50 years later. Back in 1975, certainly, people read Jane Austen whose works were regularly included in college literature courses and adapted into frothy, romantic films many times over by that time. It is one of those that Mosel references in his article in leading up to his central insight: 

Two or three times a year I even stay up until four o’clock in the morning to see Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier in the old movie version of the same story.  But what usually emerges on the screen is similar to what is emerging for you now: it is not Jane Austen, but somebody’s idea of Jane Austen. And that can vary markedly from person to person and from time to time.

No question about it: Olivier and Garson version is very much a product of its own time. The costumes weren't anywhere near historically accurate, and even the dialog took on some tones of the 1940s. It was to be cheerful, escapist fun that even redeemed the character of Lady Catherine. 

That was pretty much all that Mosel could access in terms of Jane Austen on a screen in the days before streaming or DVDs or even video recordings of one's favorite adaption. While there were a few television adaption in the 80s, the real shift in the "idea of Jane Austen" appears to be rooted in 1995 when Colin Firth's Fitzwilliam Darcy made women (many who never read Austen before) swoon. 

 

                         Jane Austen Duffle Bag

In fact, the adaption's director's decision to have Mr. Darcy take a dip in the water became so iconic that the Jane Austen Museum featured the shirt he wore in an exhibit and some people who clearly never read the book have made themselves ridiculous in seriously accusing new adaptions that don't include that scene of "censoring" Jane Austen. 

The 1995 adaption sparked obsession with Mr. Darcy as the ultimate romantic her. An explosion of fanfiction  unconstrained by the standards Austen had to maintain when publishing as "a lady" followed. The internet made it all instantly accessible to the public even if it wasn't published as a book, though hundreds of variations have been. Absurd as some of the titles are, they still got adapted for the screen. 

Now we have what was popular fiction in its day turned highbrow by its inclusion in the canon of great literary works studies in universities popularized for the public that are not necessarily great readers but who will watch a romantic film, obsess over it, and may even order a Regency gown and bonnet and call it cosplay. That cosplay has scaled up in ways no one would have dreamed of in 1975 as obsessions of Jane Austen adaptions have led to wild deviations off of the thin Austen bass in Sanditon or even vaguely Regency fantasy adaptions like Bridgerton that allow for the fashions and the balls with a much more diverse cast of characters.

I gave this blog the title "Many Happy Return, Jane Austen" not just to allude to her 250th birthday on December 16, 2025 but to the many forms of return her writing has sparked. The prism Tad Mosel referred to has revealed new colors over the years in both big budget productions and in hundreds of fanfiction scribblers or Regency style fashion designers. There is no doubt in my mind that millions more people are aware of the author's birthday this year than in 1975. I also have no doubt that in 1975, there was very little on offer to mark a tribute to her other than the books themselves. This is far from the case today.

Full watch collection here

Related:                                                               

Jane Austen at 250

Jane Austen: Love and Money
Jane Austen at the Morgan
Love and Limerence in Jane Austen

Observations on Jane Austen's Emma
Pride, Prejudice and Persuasion: Obstacles to Happiness in Jane Austen's Novels
Three Janes, Two Governesses, and the Abolitionist Movement
The Big Bow-wow & Bit of Ivory
Jane Austen's Heroines
Jane Austen and Capability Brown

The Familiar Suitor Problem in Jane Austen's Novels

Pride and Prejudice & Sense and Sensibility Desk Organizer

"You will meet a tall, handsome stranger." That fortuneteller style promise is what many consider the epitome of romance. You meet a stranger, your eyes lock, and you take a fatal hit from Cupid's bow. Popular films and paperback novels have made that standard.

Stranger danger and fascination

In Jane Austen's novels, things work a little differently, though she does also play with the fascination people, especially romantically inclined young women, have with the attractive outsider.  If familiarity breeds contempt, than its opposite breeds fascination. As the person is not a fully known quantity like the members of the "four and twenty" families one may dine with regularly in the country, there is the introduction of a spark of intrigue in getting to learn more about them and what their lives consist of elsewhere. 

The mystery of their lives may also include a scandal or even a crime, which Catherine Moreland considers in her flights of fancy. But that hint of danger can add an extra frisson that a heroine may find attractive as we see in Marianne's response to Willoughby. Emma, on the other hand, decides to have a kind of controlled crush when Frank Churchill enters the  picture and engages in a flirtation with her to conceal the fact that he has entered into a secret engagement.

Breaking out of the friend zone

Of course, Emma ends up not marrying a stranger at all but her brother-in-law, who has been a regular in her house for years. In fact, making that transition from from the brotherly relationship one has in the friend zone to romantic interest is a challenge for both the hero and heroine of Emma, as it is for Mansfield Park. 

In the first chapter of Mansfield Park, the general rule that boys and girls who grow up in proximity to each other like brother and sister are much less likely to be attracted to each other than they would be if they meet as grownup strangers is explained by Mrs. Norris when prevailing on Sir Thomas to give a home to Fanny price: 

You are thinking of your sons—but do not you know that, of all things upon earth, that is the least likely to happen, brought up as they would be, always together like brothers and sisters? It is morally impossible. I never knew an instance of it. It is, in fact, the only sure way of providing against the connexion. Suppose her a pretty girl, and seen by Tom or Edmund for the first time seven years hence, and I dare say there would be mischief. The very idea of her having been suffered to grow up at a distance from us all in poverty and neglect, would be enough to make either of the dear, sweet-tempered boys in love with her. But breed her up with them from this time, and suppose her even to have the beauty of an angel, and she will never be more to either than a sister.

Mrs. Norris is mostly correct. Edmund does seem to regard Fanny as another sister but not as anything more than that. It takes some revelations about the moral failings of the strangers who bring down his actual sister to make him realize that the steadfast Fanny will serve him better than the attractive and sparkling Mary Crawford.

In Emma, Mr. Knightley never makes the mistake of falling for anyone other than Emma (at least as far as we see in the novel). However, it takes Emma's fear that it might happen -- when Harriet admits to being in love with him --  to jolt her into acknowledging how she really feels about Mr. Knightley (chapter 47). 

A mind like hers, once opening to suspicion, made rapid progress; she touched, she admitted, she acknowledged the whole truth. Why was it so much worse that Harriet should be in love with Mr. Knightley than with Frank Churchill? Why was the evil so dreadfully increased by Harriet’s having some hope of a return? It darted through her with the speed of an arrow that Mr. Knightley must marry no one but herself!

Emma tote bag

Here Cupid's arrow finally marks Emma but only many years after she first met Mr. Knightley. This is a love born of a spark maintained over time rather than a burst of flame that strikes all at once. And there's the rub because the pattern of their relationship has been set as brother and sister for so long. In fact, the dialog brings that up when they dance 10 chapters earlier in the book:

'Whom are you going to dance with?' asked Mr. Knightley.
She hesitated a moment, and then replied, 'With you, if you will ask me.'

'Will you?' said he, offering his hand.

'Indeed I will. You have shown that you can dance, and you know we are not really so much brother and sister as to make it at all improper.'

'Brother and sister! no, indeed.'

 

So they established that there is no fear of regarding their relationship as incestuous. But there is still the obstacle of breaking out of the friend zone, which Mr. Knightley grapples with just before he declares himself in chapter 49. Emma had just stopped Mr. Knightley from speaking because she really fears he will confess his love for Harriet. Then she realizes that he was pained by her response and lets him know she will listen:

'I stopped you ungraciously, just now, Mr. Knightley, and, I am afraid, gave you pain. But if you have any wish to speak openly to me as a friend, or to ask my opinion of any thing that you may have in contemplation -- as a friend, indeed, you may command me. I will hear whatever you like. I will tell you exactly what I think.'

'As a friend!' repeated Mr. Knightley. 'Emma, that I fear is a word -- No, I have no wish -- Stay, yes, why should I hesitate? I have gone too far already for concealment. Emma, I accept your offer, extraordinary as it may seem, I accept it, and refer myself to you as a friend. Tell me, then, have I no chance of ever succeeding?'

Watch on Totally Jane Austen

He then communicates even without words, and Emma finds herself speechless, and that leads to the most romantic line in this book, "If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more."

Yet they dream of Darcy

Yet women still tend to swoon far more over Darcy -- the outsider hero -- than they do over Mr. Knightley -- the familiar suitor.  There are also far more film and television adaptions of Pride and Prejudice than there are of Emma. That would indicate that  while Jane Austen was able to center a romantic novel around the more modern type of relationship that bring together two equals who marry their best friends, people still fall for the fairytale plot of the outsider coming in and rescuing the heroine to earn her love.

First line of Jane Austen's Novels Mug

Related

Jane Austen at 250

Observations on Jane Austen's Emma

Valuing Kindness Over Cleverness                                Jane Austen: Love and Money                              

Love and Limerence in Jane Austen
Jane Austen at the Morgan

Jane Austen and Autism

Jane Austen's Heroines

Pride, Prejudice and Persuasion: Obstacles to Happiness 

Three Janes, Two Governesses, and the Abolitionist Movement

   

The Frick Collection after its 5 year, $220 million renovation

Mistress and Maid by Johannes Vermeer c. 1667 in the Frick Collection. 

Has it really been five years since I was last at the Frick prior to my visit on June 22? I guess it must have been. We didn't return as soon as it reopened this spring but waited until the Vermeer "Love Letters" exhibit opened. I'll start with that as I catalogue the renovated museum's hits and misses.

Top Highlight: Vermeer

The special Vermeer exhibit is ranks at the top of my list for the hits of the Frick's reopening. It  brought in two Vermeer paintings to complement the Mistress and Maid shown above. One is Woman Writing a Letter with Her Maid, ca. 1670–72, from the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.

The other is The Love Letter, ca. 1669–70 from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

I urge you to get over to the Frick before the exhibit closes on August 31 because it's quite an experience seeing these three paintings together in-person. The Love Letter one reminds me of Vermeer's The Guitar Player  c 1672 and a variation of it on display in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. My favorite of these three is Woman Writing a Letter with Her Maid.*  

Access to the Second Floor

Thanks to the renovation, visitors now have access to the second floor, which showcases some art in what had been bedrooms and also houses the museum's gift shop and cafe. This is generally a hit, though I would have liked the bedrooms to retain their original furnishings or their reproductions to reflect what the rooms were like when a family lived in the mansion. There are only a few dressers with no information about them. Speaking of that ...

Information on the Exhibits

The information on the art on view -- both on the placards on the walls and through the app that replicates information to be found on the Frick's site -- is extremely uneven. You'll get more than you want to know about Jean-Honoré Fragonard's "The Progress of Love," but find out absolutely nothing about some of the clocks and scores of other pieces. It is rather frustrating for those of us who would like more information. It's a serious missed opportunity for the museum not to have improved that aspect of its exhibit while investing so much money and time in the renovation. 

Ticketing and Timing: Hits and Misses

Tickets for adults cost $30. Years ago, the Frick generously offered "pay what you wish" times on Sundays. Unfortunately, it shifted that offer to the far less convenient time of  Wednesday afternoons 1:30-5:30 PM. 

If that doesn't work for you, check your local library for membership passes that will allow entry for 2, saving you $60. If you have a card at a New York City library, inquire about  Culture Pass availability. You won't only save money but time because those membership passes allow you to enter any time of day and  skip the line of people waiting to get their timed tickets.  

Allow me my rant on timed tickets, which were  popularized during the reopening of museums after the pandemic lockdowns. The more enlightened museums like the Met** dropped that major inconvenience aa couple of years ago. It only requires timed entry -- though not additional ticket purchases -- to the special exhibits. That the Frick is still stuck in 2021 even after the 2025 reopening is a major miss, but it pales beside another one. 

Really Rare Restrooms

Who designs a renovation for a building with a legal capacity of 1350 with  just three sets of bathrooms? The architect of the Frick renovation does. 

Yes, only half a dozen people would be able to use the restrooms with just two (one for each gender, though heaven knows why when they are all single-occupancy)  on the second floor and in two basement levels. I cannot comment on what these looked like inside because I never got beyond a locked door or a extended line leading up to it. 

I'm shocked that no architect consulted on this project pointed out a standard ratio based on the projected number of visitors, especially in light of the addition of the cafe. Seriously, who does that, especially on a $220 million budget?

Filling in the Sketch

To end on a positive note about what the Frick does well, I want to comment on the Cabinet Gallery. It's one of the smallest rooms on the first floor that is filled with sketches. The highlight of that for me was seeing a sketch for one of the Frick's celebrated paintings: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres' portrait of Louise, Princesse de Broglie, Later the Comtesse d'Haussonville. 

*Notice that the love letters theme assumes literate women. I didn't think that much about that aspect until I saw the The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt special exhibit at The Jewish Museum. (You can catch it through August 10, 2025. Check your library for passes, or plan your visit for the Museums on Us Day to save the $15 per person admission.) A number of the paintings show Esther involved in writing, reflecting the unusually  high  literacy rate of the Dutch at the time. You may also notice that the tables featured in most of these paintings are covered by rugs just like the table  in Woman Writing a Letter with Her Maid. 

**Speaking of the Met, it also has a temporary exhibit worth catching this summer: Sargent and Paris. Catch that one before it closes on August 3rd. It definitely worth the trip. The Met never imposes an extra charge for its special exhibits. Residents of NY and the metro area always get to pay what they wish, and for other visitors, it's possible to get in free on the first weekend of the month through the Museums on Us program from Bank of America.  Also the Met is home to five Vermeer paintings, so it will make a complement to the three you can see in the Frick now. One of them, Young Woman with a Lute,  features the same yellow jacket. 

Related: 

Vermeer in Philadelphia

Jane Austen at 250

Jane Austen at the Morgan

Valuing kindness above cleverness: Emma's lesson

 

This blanket is one of the hundreds of themed  products available at Totally_Jane_Austen 

Facebook brought this New Yorker cartoon into my feed. I immediately thought of Jane Austen's Emma. She thought the same way the father in this cartoon does that saying something clever but devastating is an irresistible temptation, but she comes to regret the hurt she has caused. 

While the group is seated for their picnic, Frank Churchill stirs things up by declaring a demand from Miss Woodhouse: 

" 'she only demands from each of you either one thing very clever, be it prose or verse, original or repeated--or two things moderately clever--or three things very dull indeed, and she engages to laugh heartily at them all."

"Oh! very well," exclaimed Miss Bates, "then I need not be uneasy. 'Three things very dull indeed.' That will just do for me, you know. I shall be sure to say three dull things as soon as ever I open my mouth, shan't I? (looking round with the most good-humoured dependence on every body's assent)--Do not you all think I shall?"

Emma could not resist.

"Ah! ma'am, but there may be a difficulty. Pardon me--but you will be limited as to number--only three at once."

Miss Bates, deceived by the mock ceremony of her manner, did not immediately catch her meaning; but, when it burst on her, it could not anger, though a slight blush shewed that it could pain her.

"Ah!--well--to be sure. Yes, I see what she means, (turning to Mr. Knightley,) and I will try to hold my tongue. I must make myself very disagreeable, or she would not have said such a thing to an old friend."

Silver Emma quote pendant  

There is some additional dialog and a bit of narrative until Mr. Knightley is able to confront Emma alone and take her to task:

While waiting for the carriage, she found Mr. Knightley by her side. He looked around, as if to see that no one were near, and then said,

"Emma, I must once more speak to you as I have been used to do: a privilege rather endured than allowed, perhaps, but I must still use it. I cannot see you acting wrong, without a remonstrance. How could you be so unfeeling to Miss Bates? How could you be so insolent in your wit to a woman of her character, age, and situation?--Emma, I had not thought it possible."

Emma recollected, blushed, was sorry, but tried to laugh it off.

"Nay, how could I help saying what I did?--Nobody could have helped it. It was not so very bad. I dare say she did not understand me."

"I assure you she did. She felt your full meaning. She has talked of it since. I wish you could have heard how she talked of it--with what candour and generosity. I wish you could have heard her honouring your forbearance, in being able to pay her such attentions, as she was for ever receiving from yourself and your father, when her society must be so irksome."

"Oh!" cried Emma, "I know there is not a better creature in the world: but you must allow, that what is good and what is ridiculous are most unfortunately blended in her."

"They are blended," said he, "I acknowledge; and, were she prosperous, I could allow much for the occasional prevalence of the ridiculous over the good. Were she a woman of fortune, I would leave every harmless absurdity to take its chance, I would not quarrel with you for any liberties of manner. Were she your equal in situation--but, Emma, consider how far this is from being the case. She is poor; she has sunk from the comforts she was born to; and, if she live to old age, must probably sink more. Her situation should secure your compassion. It was badly done, indeed! You, whom she had known from an infant, whom she had seen grow up from a period when her notice was an honour, to have you now, in thoughtless spirits, and the pride of the moment, laugh at her, humble her--and before her niece, too--and before others, many of whom (certainly some,) would be entirely guided by your treatment of her.--This is not pleasant to you, Emma--and it is very far from pleasant to me; but I must, I will,--I will tell you truths while I can; satisfied with proving myself your friend by very faithful counsel, and trusting that you will some time or other do me greater justice than you can do now."

You can judge for yourself which adaption of the picnic at Box Hill, showed this lesson best, thanks to the compilation here:

 

With great status comes great responsibility 

The first line of Emma is not nearly as famous as the opening line of Pride and Prejudice, though it also archly conveys the essence of the story: "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her."

Emma seems to have all that is necessary for happiness. Out of those three attributes, she takes the most pride in her cleverness, taking her wealth for granted and lacking vanity for her appearance, as Mr. Knightley reveals in conversation with Mrs. Weston. 

Like a tragic hero, Emma's great strengths are also what lead to her undoing -- or rather some misjudgments and hurt feelings that the good-hearted Emma never intended. Austen's novels follow the conventions of Shakespeare's comedies rather than the tragedies, so everything works out fine in the end with the main characters properly paired off. 

Jane Austen Mugs
by Totally_Jane_Austen

However, along the way, our heroine has to admit her faults and mistakes and learn to be better, which she does. Now that I think about it, Emma's lesson is similar to Darcy's who responded to Bingley's suggestion that he ask Elizabeth to dance with "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men." Darcy came to regret that quip as much as Emma regretted what she said to Miss Bates. Like Darcy, Emma learns that kindness and consideration for the feelings of others is a greater measure of worth than attempt to manipulate others -- for their own good -- and clever remarks.  

Related:

Observations on Jane Austen's Emma                    
Jane Austen: Love and Money
Love and Limerence in Jane Austen

Jane Austen at the Morgan
Jane Austen and Autism
Jane Austen's Heroines
Pride, Prejudice and Persuasion: Obstacles to Happiness in Jane Austen's Novels
Three Janes, Two Governesses, and the Abolitionist Movement

Jane Austen at 250

 

Jane Austen at 250by Totally_Jane_Austen

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, which means that her 250th  birthday is still a full half a year away. But why wait to celebrate?

 That's the attitude of a number of laces that have are observing her birthday already in various ways. I got to see two of them in one day on a trip into Manhattan today. One was the Morgan Library & Museum exhibit, "A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250," which was just set on June 6 and will run until September 14, 2025. 

                    

Joan Hassal's illustrations of Jane Austen's novels published between 1957 and 1963: "Miss Crawford's Harp," "The saunter around Woodstone," "Ann[sic] Elliot and Captain Wentworth," "Captain Benedick runs for help," "Willoughby carries in Marianne," "Elinor meets Miss Steele in Kensington Gardens"

These illustrations are among the many items that enriched the Jane Austen collection at the Morgan thanks to the donation of an extensive collection amassed by Alberta and Henry Gershon Burke (who changed his last name from the more Jewish-sounding Berkowitz).  The exhibit also shows something the Burkes purchased but were pressured not to take out of England -- a lock of Jane Austen's hair that Alberta Burke gifted to the he Jane Austen Society in Chawton.

Alberta willed her her extensive collection to Goucher College and the Morgan. The former was given the books and correspondence, while the latter received Austen letters and manuscripts upon her death in 1975.  In 1979, Henry Burke, along with Joan Austen-Leigh and J. David Grey founded The Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA).

                           Candles and other Jane Austen at 250 merch vailable at Totally_Jane_Austen

Pride and Prejudice Off-Broadway

Extending the celebration of Jane Austen, we took in the adaptation of her most popular novel in a much-cut version played by one actor and two actresses taking on multiple roles each to heighten the comedy and showcase teh adeptness of the depictions of character. In truth, the tickets were purchased before we planned the stop at the Morgan for the morning before the matinee. If you want to catch this version in NYC, you'll have to get your tickets within the month. The play's run is limited to just 5 weeks and so ends at the end of June.

This is a fun version of the novel with clever choreography and use of accessories to enable the three people on stage to represent all the Bennets, the Gardiners, Darcy, Wickham, Charlotte Lucas, Mr. Collins, Bingley, his sister, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and Darcy's housekeeper, though it had to cut out several characters (not just the Hursts the way most productions do) and some key dialog. 

One cut particularly disappointed me: the elimination of the discussion of accomplished women. As you can see from this blog post, it's one that I consider key to the Elizabeth's character and an important life-lesson to push back when you are held to an impossible standard. 

If you want to mark the novelist's 250th birthday, there's no better way to do it than with a the Jane Austen products for sale here. I can assure you that you'll find better pricing at the Zazzle store than you would in the Morgan gift shop. I checked myself.              

                                                                                                                    
                                                                  

Related

Jane Austen: Love and Money

Jane Austen at the Morgan

Love and Limerence in Jane Austen

Observations on Jane Austen's Emma  

Jane Austen's Heroines

Pride, Prejudice and Persuasion: Obstacles to Happiness in Jane Austen's Novels

Three Janes, Two Governesses, and the Abolitionist Movement

                                   

                                                                                                       Puzzle from Totally_Jane_Austen

                  

Subverting the Cinderella Story and Assumptions About the 1950s in "The Solid Gold Cadillac"

 

The Solid Gold Cadillac is a 1956 comedy film starring Judy Holliday (pictured in the center of the photo above) as the irrepressible small stockholder, Laura Partridge. The car in the title alludes to the gift bestowed on the heroine by the other stockholders in the company for upholding their interests. The brief view of the gold Cadillac is filmed in Technicolor, though the rest of the film is in black-and-white. 

Holliday's character is somewhat similar to the one she played in her most famous role, that of Billie Dawn in the 1950 comedy Born Yesterday. In fact, there's a subtle allusion to that film in this one when she claims that the picture of the leading man in The Solid Gold Cadillac played by Paul Douglas resembles William Holden, her love in interest in the 1950 film. (There is no real physical resemblance between the two).   

In both films, the plot of marrying the love interest is secondary. The primary narrative is about the heroine's discovery of corruption and her determination to push back. It's not the traditional fairy tale in which all the princess needs to do is be discovered by the prince in order to live happily ever.  And that is something that is particularly underscored in The Solid Gold Cadillac.

LIke some other 1950s films, this one has a narrator -- voiced by George Burns in this case. He lets us know who are the bad guys and the good guys and draws parallels to the Cinderella story in describing the heroine's experiences.  

But this is not a princess who leaves behind a glass slipper for the prince to use to find her. The shoes she loses are sturdy boots. Twice in the film, Partridge finds a single boot of her own in the office she's trying to clear out. The second time, she thinks she'll find the mate in a file drawer, though as you see from the picture below, it turns out to be a boot from a different pair. 

I was wondering why so much emphasis on this sight gag until I connected it with the Cinderella narrative. It's an obvious subversion of the symbol of the fairy tale in which the drudge got to don a beautiful dress and ride in a carriage conjured by magic to  get swept off her feet by the prince who would save her from any future work.

In contrast, our heroine gets her man, her career, and a solid car rather than just a title and a carriage that turns back into a pumpkin

She's not the only woman in the film who continues working after marriage. Her secretary does, too. And the happily ever after of all the worthy characters is not just due to their marriages but to their careers, as well. This is the modern deviation from the traditional marriage plots that dominated fairy tales, plays, and  novels for a few hundred years.  Sturdy boots > glass slippers.

Related: Feminine Feet