Ann S. Epstein Writer

Learn History Through Fiction: A Coke is a Coke

After a successful career as a commercial artist in the 1950s, Andy Warhol became an avant-garde artist and a film maker at his studio, The Factory, in the 1960s. His iconic images of pop stars (Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali) and American products (Campbell’s soup, Coca Cola) brought him fame. His dictum was “A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking.” Warhol is also known for claiming, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Warhol was more entrepreneurial in the 1970s, founding Interview magazine and publishing The Philosophy of Andy Warhol. He said, “Making money is art, and working is art, and good business is the best art.” Read more about Andy Warhol in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

Warhol erased the line between commercialism and art

A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (Alternative Book Press) by Ann S. Epstein

Learn History Through Fiction: Hubble First to Use Hale’s Humongous Telescope

In June 1948, the Palomar Observatory opened in San Diego. Construction of the 200-inch mirror for the Hale Telescope, named for its inventor George Ellery Hale, had begun in 1934. Edwin Powell Hubble, who in 1929 discovered that clouds of light in the night sky were from galaxies beyond the Milky Way, was the first astronomer to use the telescope. It remained the largest in the world until 1975, when the Russians built a bigger one. Discover more San Diego history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

The Hale Telescope’s 200-inch mirror at Palomar Observatory in San Diego took 14 years to build

Astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble discovered light from galaxies beyond the Milky Way

Tazia and Gemma (Vine Leaves Press) by Ann S. Epstein

Learn History Through Fiction: Wizard of Oz Premieres in … Wisconsin?

The Wizard of Oz was previewed in Kenosha and Oconomowoc, Wisconsin 80 years ago today, on August 12, 1939. MGM wanted to test how popular the movie, which begins and ends in Kansas, would be in the Midwest, and see whether its nearly $3 million investment in Technicolor would pay off. Recalls a 91-year-old woman who saw the premier as a preteen, “It was very impressive because we had never seen a color film before.” The Hollywood premiere was on August 15 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The New York City premiere was held at Loew’s Capitol Theatre on August 17, followed by a live performance with Judy Garland and her co-stars. The film opened nationwide on August 25, 1939, its official release date. Read more about the making of The Wizard of Oz and its “big” and “little” stars in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

MGM premiered The Wizard of Oz in Wisconsin to test its popularity in the Midwest

What I’m Reading: kaddish.com by Nathan Englander

My Amazon and Goodreads review of kaddish.com (Rating 5) – Can One Shlemiel Repay the Debts of Thousands? It is said that converts and returnees are the most zealous religious practitioners. If this tenet is true, then Shuli, an erstwhile relapsed Orthodox Jew, is one such fanatic. In the novel kaddish.com, Nathan Englander poses the general question of how we repay a debt to the dead and, more specifically, whether one shlemiel can repay the debts of thousands. A shrewish sister notwithstanding, he is helped by the good people in his community: bright boychiks, wise rabbis, and an understanding wife. Englander is a brilliant and original writer, who plots his book carefully, if sometimes preposterously. Nu, just relax and go along. Even if the Orthodox rituals and Talmudic explications are murky, they are never confusing enough to obscure the book’s intent. Like Shuli’s late father, rebellious pupil, sainted wife, and presumably Hashem, him/her/itself, you want the man to succeed. I have some quibbles — Englander’s cardboard women; a testosterone-fueled scene that evades a difficult but essential cry for insight with an easy and unfulfilling orgasm — but these drawbacks are not sufficient to lower my estimation of the book. Fasten your kippot to your skull and proceed on faith. You won’t be disappointed.

Brilliant, original, and preposterous writer Nathan Englander

“Read everything … like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master.” – William Faulkner)

Learn History Through Fiction: Labor Reform After Tragic Triangle Waist Company Fire

The 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire, which killed 146 workers, most of them immigrant women, led to major labor legislation. NYC’s Tammany Hall passed 60 of 64 laws recommended by the Factory Investigating Commission, created in response to the tragedy. The International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) fought for better sweatshop conditions, including a 54-hour work week, and the American Society of Safety Engineers was founded seven months later. Read more about the fire and the U.S. labor movement 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Public outcry after the 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire led to major labor reforms

Learn History Through Fiction: Earlier Last Call in Wartime

At the beginning of WWI, under the 1914 “Defence of the Realm Act,” British pub hours were limited to 12-2:30 PM and 6:30-9:30 PM, so factory workers wouldn’t show up drunk after lunch or the next morning. These hours, widely disregarded outside London, were finally relaxed nationwide in the 1960s and 1970s. In the WWII era, pubs were gathering places for trade unions and sympathizers (albeit wary of communist influence). Many had football teams who played the regulars from other pubs at Sunday matches. Read more about old London in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

In WWI & WWII, Britain restricted pub hours to keep factory workers sober

Learn History Through Fiction: Old Mafia Lingo

The Mafia, a.k.a. the Mob, is rich in slang. Some examples: action (illicit profits); associate (someone who works for the Mafia but is not a “family member” or on the books); break (discipline someone by a demotion in rank); crumb (legitimate working man); going to the mattress (warring with a rival gang); goomah (mistress); goomba (term of affection & respect); vig or vigorish (% of a bet retained as income by the bookmaker). Read more about how the Mafia infiltrated Las Vegas with loot and lingo 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Learn History Through Fiction: Oops! Grauman Accidentally Steps in Wet Cement

Theater magnate Sid Grauman opened Grauman’s Egyptian Theater in 1922 on Hollywood Blvd. It was the site of the first Hollywood premiere, Robin Hood, with Douglas Fairbanks. In 1927, Grauman’s Chinese Theater opened farther west on Hollywood Blvd., where Cecil B. DeMille premiered King of Kings. The entrance is renowned for its elaborate pagoda, dragon, and two Ming Heaven dogs guarding the door. Jean Klossner (later dubbed Mr. Footprint) was hired to create a concrete forecourt to preserve the hand and footprints of stars. Sid Grauman got the idea when he accidentally stepped in wet cement during construction. Read more Hollywood and Los Angeles history in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

Grauman’s Theater has been a Hollywood attraction for nearly a century

Grauman’s traditional hand and footprints began as an accident

Learn History Through Fiction: Topeka Schools After Brown v. Board of Education

After the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling, Topeka encountered little resistance to elementary school desegregation. Its middle schools had been integrated since 1941. The high school had been integrated from its 1871 inception and its sports teams since 1949. A new school board was voted in which moved quickly to integrate students, soon followed by teachers and principals. Unlike the South and many cities in the North, there were no demonstrations in Topeka. Nevertheless, throughout the country today, de facto segregation is reinforced by neighborhood housing patterns and school district boundaries. Read more about race relations in Topeka 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Segregated Topeka elementary school before Brown v. Board of Education

What I’m Reading: Mama’s Last Hug by Frans de Waal

My Amazon and Goodreads review of Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves (Rating 5) – All in the Family. In Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves, primatologist Frans de Waal’s fascinating and accessible book fulfills the title’s promise. Although we generally use “emotion” and “feeling” interchangeably, he begins with a useful distinction. Emotions drive behavior and can thus be observed. Feelings, the internal states that accompany emotions, can only be inferred. Recounting the behaviors he and his colleagues have observed in our fellow primates and other species, Dr. de Waal makes a convincing case that humans are not that different animals, most notably, we are not “superior.” He has documented this claim elsewhere with regard to cognitive capacities; here he extends the comparison to affective behavior. As a developmental psychologist, I was reminded of my own field’s chronic underestimation of the capabilities of young children with regard to such attributes as empathy and morality. Dr. De Waal’s precise delineation of both the similarities and differences between apes and humans is insightful. Similarities abound in everything from laughter and grief, to fair play and revenge (even premeditated murder). One telling difference is the label “alpha male.” Originally the concept, which dates to wolf studies in the 1940s, simply meant the dominant male. However, as the term has been applied to humans, “alphas are not just winners, they beat the hell out of everyone around them.” In the animal world, the alpha male is not the biggest bully. In fact, “this male acts as the healer-in-chief, comforting others, intent on restoring harmony.” Perhaps, in observing our species today, de Waal can be forgiven for occasionally substituting cynicism for science. However, as a fiction writer, I set out to prove that even my most reprehensible characters can change. As a reader, I’m equally inclined to be generous. For optimists like me, de Waal offers hope that people can behave better by citing studies of female primates, who are the primary conciliators of their species. Whereas males physically dominate and intimidate, females stand their ground by exerting a powerful social influence. Females are peacemakers rather than warriors. Thus, de Waal says, it is past time to abandon macho theories of human evolution and embrace feminist ones. Only then we can harness the emotions that facilitate relationships and re-channel the destructive ones.