Word: satin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Rough, religious Americans of the 17th Century had a handful of homemade rules of etiquette that were ambitious ("Cloath your selves with the Silk of Piety, the Satin of Sanctity, the Purple of Modesty . . .") and sometimes blunt ("Fish and visitors stink in three days"). By the 18th Century, they had learned to plagiarize the French and English rule-books, after carefully tossing out all that smacked of aristocratic cynicism...
...libretto is itself a gypsy, decked out in every tarnished bit of satin and velvet in the operetta ragbag-Romany life, dukes, marquises, matinee idols, ballet dancers, imposture, revenge-and Paree. None of this has either a true romantic glow or a sly satiric glitter. The gypsy heroine who aches to be a lady (Helena Bliss) soon has all the more eligible tenors in the cast at her feet-but returns in the end to Sandor, her rough gypsy mate. For though Sandor may lack pelf and polish, he has the sock tune in the show, that great old Victor...
...from the grandiose and spotless Rocio, Lisbon's counterpart of Times Square, the Old Town's slums have no electricity, running water or sewage. Once a day street cleaners climb up & down Castello de Sao Jorge hill, where generations of shuffling bare feet have polished the cobbles satin-smooth. An hour after the cleaners have passed, the same steep, crooked passages are foul with refuse...
...Please Shut Up!" The off-hour activities were almost as arduous as the business sessions. Bellboys rushed velvet, satin or brocade evening gowns to & from the cleaners (average tip: 10?); elevator operators coped with breathless indecision. There was a barn dance and a moonlight boat ride to Waukegan...
Some of the greats of yesterday and the day before are still going strong. Among them: buxom Mildred (Rockin' Chair) Bailey, the best "white gal" blues singer of her time; contralto Connee Boswell; satin-voiced Maxine Sullivan; and the unhappy queen of the 52nd Street honky tonks, Billie (Strange Fruit) Holiday. Most of them have been around long enough to see several debutante classes come...