Marlene Wagman-Geller

"As far back as I can remember, it was always on my bucket list, even before the term bucket list was coined,
to be a writer. It was a natural progression to want to go from reading books to writing one."
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You Can't Beat 1903

You Can't Beat 1903
Jul 22, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

 

   From time immemorial, relationships have often been expressed through gifts. Some, like Eve’s apple and the Trojan Horse, proved unkind to those who received them, while other gifts have been odes to romance. Few women have received as wondrous a present as Cosima Wagner did when Richard composed the Siegfried Idyll for her birthday. Tsar Alexander’s Fabergé egg gained mileage with his young bride, as did Burton’s 68-carat diamond to his ladylove. Resplendent as the symphony, the egg, and the ring may be, nothing could rival a son’s tribute to his mother.

     

Dorian Gray (1880)

Dorian Gray (1880)
Jul 16, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
John Keats wrote, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” While the observation holds true in poetry, in truth a thing of beauty often holds strands of sorrow, strands of evil. Pierre-August Renoir’s canvass of Irène Cahen d’Anvers interacted with France’s direst days.

Love Life (1947)

Love Life (1947)
Jul 11, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
  Scent is a tool of seduction. Medea used an aromatic ambrosia on the dragon who guarded The Golden Fleece. When the creature succumbed to her spell, she absconded with the treasure. After a woman asked where to put her perfume, Chanel responded, “Wherever one wants to be kissed.” Marilyn Monroe’s response to what she wore to bed, “Chanel Number 5.” Tragically, interwoven with the French floral fragrance of Miss Dior Eau De Parfum is the stench of a deadly weed, one forced upon Catherine Dior.

The Salt is Sugar (2013)

The Salt is Sugar (2013)
Jul 11, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

“Two hundred women, no phones, no washing machines, no hair-dryers, it was like Lord of the Flies on estrogen.” Piper

 

     Television series centering on female friends? check; on family dynamics? check; on landing Mr. Right? check. Not until the arrival of Netflix’s dramedy, Orange is the New Black, did the small screen turn to the hell of incarcerated women.

A Band of Angels

A Band of Angels
Jul 09, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

Harriet Tubman Home (opened 2017)

180 South St. Auburn, New York, 13021

“There was one of two things I’ve got a right to, liberty or death. If I could not have one, I would have the other, for no man should take me alive.” Harriet Tubman

 

    The old Negro spiritual holds the plaintive words, “Swing low, sweet chariot/Coming for to carry me home…” For the enslaved, home referred to heaven, the end of earthly misery. The Harriet Tuman Home is a testament to dreams do not have to wait for the hereafter.

Don't Forget Me

Don't Forget Me
Jul 06, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

 

“I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint.” – Frida Kahlo

 

Museo Frida Kahlo (opened in 1958)

Londres 247, Colonia del Carmen, Coyoacán, México 

  

            In the early and mid-twentieth century, Coyoacán was Mexico City’s Montparnasse, Greenwich Village, and Haight Ashbury as artists congregated in its free-spirited enclave. And the queen of Boho, Frida Kahlo, reigned from her eclectic blue Casa Azul, (the blue a nod to the cultural tradition that it wards off evil spirits), now the Museo Frida Kahlo.

          

Don't Forget Me

Don't Forget Me
Jul 06, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

Chapter # 9:  Don’t Forget Me 

“I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint.” – Frida Kahlo

 

Museo Frida Kahlo (opened in 1958)

Londres 247, Colonia del Carmen, Coyoacán, México 

  

            In the early and mid-twentieth century, Coyoacán was Mexico City’s Montparnasse, Greenwich Village, and Haight Ashbury as artists congregated in its free-spirited enclave. And the queen of Boho, Frida Kahlo, reigned from her eclectic blue Casa Azul, (the blue a nod to the cultural tradition that it wards off evil spirits), now the Museo Frida Kahlo.

         

Phenomenal Woman (1928)

Phenomenal Woman (1928)
Jul 03, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
  People oftentimes view the past with nostalgia, highlighting the good times and letting dust settle on the bad. The second decade of the 20th century-the Roaring 20s-is remembered as a never-ending party. In contrast, under the hilarity the Ku Klux Klan attained the highest membership in its history and Jim Crow reigned in the South.

Nyet (1939)

Nyet (1939)
Jun 28, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
The words “cocktail” and “cocktail party” carry positive connotations; in contrast, the Molotov Cocktail conjures images of devastation. Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov had the dubious distinction of having a Do-It-Yourself-Bomb-the Molotov Cocktail- named after him.

Seen the Glory

Seen the Glory
Jun 27, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched-they must be felt with the heart.” Helen Keller

Ivy Green

300 N Commons St W, Tuscumbia, Alabama (opened 1954)

   It would be difficult to refrain from crying while watching The Miracle Worker. Tears flow along with the water from the pump as Helen cried out, “Wah! Wah!” Helen Keller’s birth house, Ivy Green, is testimony to prevailing over seemingly impossible odds.

Raymond's Secret (1997)

Raymond's Secret (1997)
Jun 26, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
  Queen Victoria is regarded as a right royal stick-in-the-mud, her reign synonymous with sexual prudery. However, a century later the lingerie emporium, Victoria’s Secret, named after the Empress, is a tongue-in-cheek nod to her naughty nature. 

Roe v. Roe (1973)

Roe v. Roe (1973)
Jun 24, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
Ironically, although the Thirteen Colonies were christened the United States, certain seismic tremors proved divisive. In the 19th century, the gray battled  the blue, in the in the twentieth century, there was no love lost between the hawks and the doves;  in the twenty-first century,  pussy-hats have faced off against the Trumpites. Another tear in the fabric of the Union launched a movement whose tremors yet reverberate.

There's No Place

There's No Place
Jun 23, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

"I am constantly having to make an upheaval for some reason.” – Sarah Winchester

 

Winchester Mystery House (opened in 1923)

525 S. Winchester Blvd. San Jose, California

 

            How the West was won - or lost - depending on one’s perspective was determined by who wielded the Winchester Repeating Rifle. The heiress to the company’s fortune, Sarah Winchester, had a life bookmarked by guilt and guns.

The Devil's Horn (1840)

The Devil's Horn (1840)
Jun 22, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
In the film, Some Like It Hot, Marilyn Monroe, in the role of Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, revealed that blondes prefer gentlemen who wield saxophones; in the Clinton administration, the saxophone became the First Instrument; in The Simpsons, Lisa made the saxophone attractive to girls. These scenarios would not have been possible if not for Joseph-Antoine Adolphe Sax.

Jingle, Jangle Morning (1965)

Jingle, Jangle Morning (1965)
Jun 21, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
Upon hearing the lyric, “Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man,” the knee jerk reaction for Bob Dylan fans is to follow with the words, “Play a song for me.” But what fans may not realize is that the composition sprung from the flesh-and-blood tambourine man: Bruce Langhorne.

Pentimento (1905)

Pentimento (1905)
Jun 20, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

“One sits uncomfortably on a too comfortable cushion.”

         In 1968, country singer Jeannie C. Riley sang of the hypocrisy of her hometown who pointed fingers at the widowed Mrs. Johnson although they were guilty of worse transgressions. Sixteen years before, a playwright had socked it to a more powerful body than the Harper Valley P. T. A.

You Can't Beat (1903)

You Can't Beat (1903)
Jun 19, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
  From time immemorial, relationships have often been expressed through gifts. Some, like Eve’s apple and the Trojan Horse, proved unkind to those who received them, while others  have been odes to romance. Few women have received as wondrous a present as Cosima Wagner did when Richard composed the Siegfried Idyll for her birthday. Tsar Alexander’s Fabergè egg gained mileage with his young bride, as did Burton’s 68-carat diamond to his ladylove. Resplendent as the symphony, the egg, and the ring may be, nothing could rival a son’s tribute to his mother.

The Devil's Horn (1840)

The Devil's Horn (1840)
Jun 16, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

  In the film, Some Like It Hot, Marilyn Monroe, in the role of Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, revealed that blondes prefer gentlemen who wield saxophones; in the Clinton administration, the saxophone became the First Instrument; in The Simpsons, Lisa made the saxophone attractive to girls. These scenarios would not have been possible if not for Joseph-Antoine Adolphe Sax.

Starship (1965)

Starship (1965)
Jun 16, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller
For patriots, the name “Jefferson” conjures the image of the Declaration of Independence. For rockers, the name “Jefferson,” (along with Airplane), conjures the image of The White Rabbit. The Jefferson Airplane moniker alludes to Lemon Jefferson.

It Was, It Was

It Was, It Was
Jun 15, 2023 by Marlene Wagman-Geller

Chapter # 10: It Was, It Was 

“I am happy that what was once so much pleasure for me turns out now to be a pleasure for other people.” – Alice Austen, speaking of her photography

The Alice Austen House (opened in 1985)

2 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, New York

 

            Simon and Garfunkel, folksingers from Queens, crooned in Bookends, “I have a photograph. Preserve your memories. They’re all that’s left you.” Alice Austen proved the veracity of their words. As the Klondike Gold Rush began in Alaska, Alice mined black and white nuggets in New York. The Alice Austen House has a dual distinction: it is the only American museum dedicated to a female photographer; the first designated as a LGBT Historic Site. 

            In 1866, during a baptism at St. John’s Church in Staten Island, Alice Cornell Austen christened her baby Elizabeth Alice Munn. The child preferred her middle name and rejected her last one as her father, Edward Stopford Munn, had taken off during his wife’s pregnancy. Without means of support, Alice moved into her parent’s home that was also the residence of her brother, Peter, sister, Mary, “Minn” and her brother-in-law, Oswald Müller. Alice grew up in the aptly christened Clear Comfort in the Rosebank neighborhood of Staten Island. At the time, the borough was transforming to the Newport of New York as mansions and yacht clubs dotted its shoreline. The residence dated from the seventeenth century, and her seafaring grandfather, John Hagerty Austen, had purchased it in 1844. After extensive renovation, the Victorian Gothic style house with its gingerbread trim and dormer windows held elegant furnishings and interesting curios two servants kept dusted. The third domestic was their cook. The lawn held a huge sycamore tree, and flowers carpeted the yard. Clear Comfort afforded a panoramic view of New York Harbor, and the twenty-year-old Alice witnessed the unveiling and construction of the Statue of Liberty until the landmark achieved her final height of 151 feet.

            As the only child in a household of adults, Alice was the axis upon which her family revolved. She used the expression “larky” to describe a life filled with affection, security, and love. Her most precious possession was a camera-that resembled a wood box- that Oswald, a Danish sea captain, had given her when she was ten years old. Peter, a chemistry professor at Rutgers, showed her the alchemy of developing pictures. The two men converted a second-floor closet into a darkroom for their niece. A maid assisted with the task of rinsing glass plate negatives in the outdoor pump as the nineteenth century structure had no running water. Enamored of her hobby that transformed everything into a frozen snow globe of memory, Alice made Clear Comfort, her relatives, Punch, her pug, and Chico, her Chihuahua, the objects of her photos. The siren call of the harbor was also an early muse, and time after time, she raised her lens to ships, first powered by sail, then by steam.

            A woman who dressed in the latest fashion, Alice’s activities included the new sport of tennis, gardening, sai