Word: beavering
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...beaver pelt, once the currency of a frontier, has had a treacherous history. In the 1840s the fashion for men's beaver toppers collapsed with the rise of the silk hat, a fashion change that ended the great Western fur brigades and the day of the mountain man. In the 1950s beaver has been slipping from favor in women's coats. "Ladies," says Maine trapper Jasper Haynes, "just aren't wearing beaver coats...
...mine, Jack Walsh, is both a trapper and a jeweler. When Mrs. Eisenhower wore that inauguration dress, all shimmering in pink rhinestones, Jack sold all his rhinestones. He ordered more rhinestones, and sold them too. I said to him, why couldn't we get her to wear beaver...
Promising Dream. Haynes persuaded Maine's Senator Margaret Chase Smith to ask the First Lady if she would accept a promotional beaver coat from the Maine trappers. Mamie declined, but her refusal did not quite discourage Haynes. He explained: "Last March I had a dream. I could see Mrs. Eisenhower very clearly. I heard her say, 'I have reversed my decision. I will accept the coat...
Mamie's beaver coat was merely another of the thousands of gadgets, gimcracks and articles pressed on Presidents and their wives by well-meaning U.S. groups. (Ike once got a readymade flower bed.) The chief complaint, if beaver does come back, may come from U.S. husbands who have hocked themselves for mink...
...Boylston Street arrow signs lettered "Mrs. Star" pointed up a dank, steep flight of stairs to a beaver-board door. I knocked, and waited. After a time I knocked again. I was about to leave, when the door was opened by a small, broad, barefoot lady...