Nellie Bly: Daredevil Reporter

“I have never written a word that did not come from my heart. I never shall."

Nellie Bly, The Evening-Journal; January 8, 1922

The young woman who helped launch a new kind of investigative journalism was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864. Her father’s death when she was 6 changed her life irrevocably. He left no will so all his assets were sold and the money divided amongst his fourteen children. In the blink of an eye, her family went from living in the largest house in town to having to live in straitened circumstances. Her mother remarried but the marriage was not successful. When her mother took the unusual step of filing for divorce from her second husband, Nellie testified in court about her step-father’s abuse. The experience left her determined to be self-reliant. Forced to leave school when money ran out, she moved with her mother to Pittsburgh, where they ran a boarding house.

Her journalistic juices were piqued in 1885 when she  read a newspaper column entitled “What Girls are Good For” in the Pittsburgh Dispatch which implied that girls were only good for two things: having children and keeping house. Incensed by the sexist comments, she off a fiery rebuttal. The managing editor was so impressed that he demanded to know who she really was—and offered her a job!

The newly rechristened Nellie Bly cut her teeth writing hard-hitting investigative pieces about working women who held traditionally male jobs. While not a trained journalist, Nellie was a good interviewer, able to get anyone to talk. But she soon found herself relegated to the women’s pages writing about fashion and parties. Increasingly frustrated, Nellie decided on a bold and risky move. Despite not knowing any Spanish, she headed to Mexico to work as a freelance journalist. But Nellie soon found herself in hot water when she criticized the Mexican government. Threatened with arrest, she fled the country.

In 1887 deciding that Pittsburgh was too small for her ambitions, she left this note for her editors: "I am off for New York. Look out for me." But few newspaper editors in New York took her seriously. After four months of pounding the pavement, she finally managed to talk her way into the offices of one of the biggest newspapers in the country, The New York World. Her first assignment: posing as a mental patient to expose the conditions at the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island. When Nellie asked her editor how he planned on getting her out, he told her not to worry!

She spent hours in front of the mirror practicing to convincingly play a woman suffering from mental illness. Calling herself Nellie Brown, she checked into a women’s shelter where she refused to sleep, and told anyone who spoke to her that her trunks had disappeared. Sent to Bellevue Hospital, she claimed to be from Cuba and pretended to be confused when questioned. Diagnosed as demented, she was taken by boat across to Blackwell’s Island. For ten days, Nellie experienced firsthand the filthy conditions, spoiled food, and the physical abuse suffered by the inmates. Her series of articles made her a household name at the age of 23 and led to a grand jury investigation into conditions at the asylum. New York leaders voted to increase in funds for the insane and more thorough examinations so that only the seriously ill were sent to the asylum.

But Nellie was just getting started. She proposed the ultimate story to her editor: she would journey solo around the world (just under 25,000 miles) in 72 days to beat the record Jules Verne wrote about in his famous novel and turn fiction into fact. Packing light, Nellie took only the dress she was wearing, an overcoat, underwear and a small toiletry bag. Thanks to the electric telegraph, Nellie was able to send short dispatches about her trip to The New York World with details of her progress.  She finally arrived back in New Jersey beating Phineas Fogg by more than a week, a world’s record at the time. The feat and the subsequent book made her a household name.

Bly would continue to champion the rights of laborers and women in her articles over the next few years. After her marriage to wealthy businessman forty years her senior, Nellie retired from journalism. She turned her talents to working for her husband’s company which made steel containers. For a time, she was one of the leading women industrialists in the United States, receiving multiple patents for her inventions. When the business went bankrupt, Nellie went back to her first love journalism, covering World War I and the suffrage movement.

Bly died of pneumonia at the age of 57 but her legacy as a pioneering female journalist continues, inspiring other women to pursue their own journalist ambitions.

Nellie Bly “Fun facts” and inspirational quotes

·         Childhood nickname was “Pink” because her mother dressed her in that color to stand out; it then became Nellie’s credo to stand out from the pack!

·         When most female reporters (and there were few) were paid around $15/week, Nellie was earning $200/week.

·         Met Jules Verne, author of Around the World in 80 Days during her record-breaking circumnavigation of the globe.

·         Her editor chose her pen name Nellie Bly from the title character in the popular song by Stephen Foster.

·         During her round-the-world journey, Nellie bought a pet monkey in Singapore, which she named McGinty.

·         McLouglin Brothers issued a board game that followed the day-by-day progress of her trip.

·         Bly received multiple patents for her inventions which included an oil drum and a stackable trash can.

·         First woman to file eyewitness reports from the Eastern front in WWI.

Nellie’s route around the world:

Hoboken to London to Calais to Brindisi to Port Said to Ismailia to Suez to Aden to Colombo to Penang to Singapore to Hong Kong to Yokohama to San Francisco to Jersey City (and then  by ferry to NYC and to the offices of The World)

Inspirational quotes:

 “Energy rightly applied and directed will accomplish anything.” (said to be NB’s motto/maxim)

 “If you want to do it, you can do it. The question is, do you want to do it?”

Bibliography:

• Goodman, Matthew (2013). Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World.
• Kroeger, Brooke (1994). Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist. Three Rivers Press. 
• Noyes, Deborah. Ten Days a Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original "Girl" Reporter, Nellie Bly Viking Books for Young Readers (February 23, 2016)
• 
  

Scandalous Halloween Giveaway: ETERNA AND OMEGA by Leanna Renee Hieber

Hello everyone! I know it has been a long time since I have blogged but I have an exciting giveaway that I couldn't wait to share with you. ETERNA AND OMEGA, the 2nd book in Leanna Renee Hieber's exciting new series from TOR. It seemed only fitting since Halloween is just around the corner.  If you love the novels of the Brontes and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, if Northanger Abbey, Frankenstein, and Dracula are your jam, then you will love Leanna Renee Hieber.

From the back cover:

Leanna Renee Hieber's gaslamp fantasy series continues and the action ramps up in Eterna and Omega.

In New York City, fearing the dangers of the Eterna Compound--supposedly the key to immortality--Clara Templeton buries information vital to its creation. The ghost of her clandestine lover is desperate to tell her she is wrong, but though she is a clairvoyant, she cannot hear him.

In London, Harold Spire plans to send his team of assassins, magicians, mediums, and other rogue talents to New York City, in an attempt to obtain Eterna for Her Royal Majesty, Queen Victoria. He stays behind to help Scotland Yard track down a network of body snatchers and occultists, but he'll miss his second-in-command, Rose Everhart, whose gentle exterior masks a steel spine.

Rose's skepticism about the supernatural has been shattered since she joined Spire's Omega Branch. Meeting Clara is like looking into a strange mirror: both women are orphans, each is concealing a paranormal ability, and each has a powerful and attractive guardian who has secrets of his own.

The hidden occult power that menaces both England and America continues to grow. Far from being dangerous, Eterna may hold the key to humanity's salvation.

And here is the exciting book trailer!

About Leanna:

Leanna Renee Hieber is an actress, playwright, artist and the award-winning, bestselling author of Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels for adults and teens such as the Strangely Beautiful, Eterna Files and Magic Most Foul sagas. She grew up in rural Ohio inventing ghost stories, graduating with a BFA in Theatre and a focus in the Victorian Era from Miami University. She began her theatrical career with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company and began adapting works of 19th Century literature for the stage. Her novella Dark Nest won the 2009 Prism Award for excellence in the genres of Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Her debut novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker (Strangely Beautiful series) hit Barnes & Noble's bestseller lists, won two 2010 Prism Awards (Best Fantasy, Best First Book), the 2010 Orange County Book Buyer's Best Award (Young Adult category) and other regional genre awards. The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess won the 2012 Prism Award (Best Fantasy). Books one and two are now available as STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL in a revised, author-preferred editions from Tor/Forge. DARKER STILL: A Novel of Magic Most Foul, hit the Kid's/YA INDIE NEXT LIST as a recommended title by the American Booksellers Association and a Scholastic Book Clubs "highly recommended" title. Leanna's short fiction has been featured in anthologies such as Willful Impropriety: Tales of Society and Scandal, "Too Fond"; a short story on Tor.com, "Charged" in Queen Victoria's Book of Spells and the Mammoth Book of Gaslight Romance. Her new Gaslamp Fantasy series THE ETERNA FILES, is now available from Tor/Forge. Her books have been translated into many languages and have been selected for multiple book club editions. Leanna is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. She is proud to be a co-founder of the original Lady Jane's Salon Reading Series in New York. Leanna was named the 2010 RWA NYC Chapter Author of the Year. A member of Actors Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, Leanna has been featured in film and television on shows like Boardwalk Empire. She loves nothing more than a good ghost story and a finely tailored corset, wandering graveyards and adventuring around New York City, where she also works as a ghost tour guide. Active on Twitter @leannarenee and Facebook.com/lrhieber, more information as well as free reads, author resources, links to her art and Etsy store and more can be found at leannareneehieber.com

This giveaway is only open to US residents.  Contest ends on October 30th at 12 noon.

Here are the rules:

1) Leave your name and email address in the comments section
2) If you tweet about the giveaway, and let me know, you get an extra entry.
3) If you are not a follower of the blog, and become one, you get an extra entry.
4) If you like the Scandalous Women Facebook page, you also get an extra entry.

The winner will be announced on October 31st!

The Lady in Gold: Adele Bloch-Bauer

One of the wonderful things about living in New York are the museums, big and small.  The Neue Galerie on 5th Avenue is one of my favorites, particularly because of this painting.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I

Neue Galerie, NY

This lovely lady in gold is Adele Bloch-Bauer, painted in 1907, by this gentleman, Gustav Klimt, one of the foremost painters of fin-de-siecle Vienna.

The painting was bought by Ronald Lauder for $135 million dollars in 2006 after the painting was finally released by the Austrian government to the relatives of  Adele Bloch-Bauer who fought for over 8 years to have the painting and 4 others returned to the family.  From the moment that I saw the painting in the museum, I've been curious about this beautiful woman with the rather sad eyes who was painted by one of my favorite painters.  It turns out that I'm not the only one who has long been fascinated by the subject of the painting. Lauder stated that as a young teenager of 14, he too had become fixated on the painting.

According to Anne-Marie O'Connor in her new book entitled Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, it took Klimt 3 years to paint Adele's portrait.  At the time, Adele was a 21 one year old married socialite from a well to do Jewish family. Her father was the head of one of hte largest banks in the Hapsburg Empire, as well as head of the Oriental Railway, whose Orient Express ran from Berlin to Constaninople. At the age of 17, she'd married Ferdinand Bauer, a sugar-beet baron who was 17 years older than she was.  Adele's sister Therese had married Ferdinand's brother Gustav.  After their marriages, the couples hyphenated their last names to Bloch-Bauer.

Adele was apparently not only very intelligent but also a bit bohemian compared to her more staid hubby.  She was also considered a bit of a rebel, she had wanted to attend university, or to have some sort of intellectual job.  Instead, she bowed to convention and married. Although her husband adored her, commissioning not one but two portraits of Adele from Klimt, Adele was frustrated with her life.  Unfortunately Adele and her husband were unable to have children which meant that she had failed in her primary duty.  Instead, Adele threw herself into the world of art patronage, nobbing with some of the most influential mind in Viennese society, including Schnitzler, and Freud.  One of her closest friends was Alma Mahler who came very close to having an affair with Klimt as a teenager. Adele's niece Maria describes in her in the book as being somewhat cold and impatient with children.  Adele smoked which was tres risque for the time, especially in public.

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, 1912, 

 private collection

 



There is speculation that Klimt and Adele were lovers were a brief time.  Adele was the only woman that he painted twice. No one knows for sure since Klimt left very little in the way of private letters or a diary.  He was known to be a bit of a scoundrel, Wikipedia writes that he had 16 illegitimate children.  Unlike Adele, Klimt grew up dirt poor, so poor that he didn't go to school for a year because his parents were embarassed by his shabby clothes. Initially Klimit just hoped to become an art teacher, he had no vision that he would one day be considered one of the greatest Austrian artists. Of course that happened after his death.  While he was alive, Klimt was considered a rebel, an artistic heretic.  He refused to paint pretty pictures of landscapes, or society portraits like Winterhalter or Markt.  Klimt was influenced more by the work of the Impressionists in Paris and then later by the works of Matisse & Picasso.  Shunned by the Viennese aristocracy, Klimt looked to the rich Jewish industralists as art patrons.

Klimt didn't look like a painter, he looked more like a sculptor or a wrestler.  He was tall, and built like an ox.  Typically he wore large smocks and sandals to paint, designed by his companion Emilie Floge, with nothing on underneath.  People talk about his charisma, almost an animal magnetism.  Looking at his photographs, I can definitely see how he seduced so many women.  Klimt seemed to have not only loved women, but respected them as human beings.  He understood that they had sexual desires like a man, there are several drawings in the Neue Galerie that Klimt did of women in the throes of ecstasy or pleasuring themselves.  For most of his life, he lived with his mother and his sisters.

Both Klimt and Adele died young, in their 50's.  Klimt died in 1918 just as World War I was ending, Adele died several years later of meningitis.  Their secrets died with them. 

The Lady in Gold is a fantastic read, a vivid portrait of a world that was lost with the advent of World War I, it's also the story of a family and what they endured, as well as a brief history of the Jews in Vienna.  It's a pretty quick read, and well worth it.  There is happiness and sadness, particularly the rift that developed in the family over the fight for the family's Klimt paitings.  Although the family made a great deal of money from the sale of the 5 paintings, I think it's a shame that the two portraits of Adele are seperated.  I don't know why Lauder didn't buy the 2nd painting.  It would have been wonderful if the paintings could all have gone to a museum.  Perhaps one day.

In the meantime, if you get a chance, please do visit Adele at the Neue Galerie and then head downstairs to Cafe Sabarsky for a piece of sachertorte and a cup of strong Viennese coffee with whipped cream.