May 26, 1971 (8 pages)

ME, uke ee OO oogee yl tis LOLA MONTEZ An Autobiography As Written In the Form of a Lecture The life story of the celebrated dancer and actress, who once lived in Grass Valley, and whose old home is still standing on Mill St., near the Public Library, was originally published in 1858 by Rudd and Carleton, 310 Broadway, New York, R, Craighead, printer, stereotyper and electrotyper, Carleton Building, St. 83 and 85 Centre St., New York. An engraving of Lola Mortez is in the front piece, having been done by Rogers from a photograph by Meade, The autobiography is prefaced by an extract from the American Law Journal, Horace Wyndham in his biography of Lola Montez-""Magnificent Courtesan and Convert", says “As a fount of information on the subject, the autobiography (alleged) of Lola Montez, first published in 1859, is worthless, The bulk of it was written for her by a clerical "ghost", in America, the Rev. Chauncey Burr, and merely serves up a tissue of picturesque, and easily disproved falsehoods,” sf Wyndham, however, frankly admits that, . . “one has to milk a hundred cows to get even apint of Lola Montez cream. . ." This leads one to believe that there is truth in the purported autobiography of the famous, or infamous, dancer and actress, What this truth may be is problematical, But no one can read this book without experiencing a feeling of sincerity. Her frankness and matter of fact statements fairly leap out at the reader, This, I believe, gives a real sense of honesty to her account, despite Wyndham's statement, Although Wyndham may possess definite proof to confirm his statement that the autobiography is the work of a "ghost" he did not detail at*any length the alleged falsehoods said to be contained in the account. He also seems inclined to error himself, He states that the autobiography in question was first published in 1859, Lola's story as herein printed, however, bears the publication of 1858, This is a year before the publication late mentioned by Wyndham,’ In the preface to the present account is an extract from the American Law Journal, indicating’ that any challenge ‘to the veracity of the work must be definitely proved before any certain conclusions about its truth can be accurately and completely determined. The charge that the account was "ghosted" in no way reflects against the character of the frequently maligned Lola, Ghosting books has become a recognized profession in this century. Many distinguished people since 1900 have had their life stories prepared for them by writers who are engaged in this phase of the writing trade, or profession, This is particularly true nowadays of many of the autobiographies of industrial and business leaders, as well as actors and actresses, Even presidents of the United States in recent times have been known to employ the services of "speech writers." These included Franklin D. Roosevelt and the lamented President Kennedy. Possibly the best way to gain a true estimate of the character and worth of Lola Montez is to consider the age in which she lived, She was born in 1818, This was thirty years before gold was discovered in California and a generation before Grass Valley was founded, In the year of her birth there was no col-. lege in the United States that would accept a woman as a student! Almost a quarter of a century had to elapse after Lola's birth before any American college would accept a member of the fair sex for academic education, Higher education for women was denied on the grounds that a woman's place was in the home and because it was argued that she was mentally. inferior to man, All during her lifetime of 43 years the world was in a stage of startling change. In the year she died — in 1861. — this country had gone to war over the buying, selling and owning of human beings, In the brief span of her. existence, thousands, -even millions of people were enslaved physically, as well as mentally, their minds cluttered with beliefs and aniniane that tadav wanld he recarded as bordering on the verge of lunacy, if not on the rim of insanity, Even in Lola's day there were people who still believed the earth was flat! Some of the beliefs and opinions of many people were concerned with the supernatural, People heard "voices"; saw ghosts and spirits and felt that the world was coming to an end, Others were willing to die to prove that God sanctioned chattel slavery. Still others held views about science and invention, one of them being that a man would die if he succeeded in traveling a hundred miles an hour. An eight hour day was treason, a matter that would ruin the country if it became the law of the land, Public opinion -too, in most instances held that men ahd women who engaged in acting and dancing were immoral, And a woman who smoked tobacco was regarded with contempt and held to be headed directly for some place besides Paradise, If a° womam of that time insisted that her sex be given the right to vote she was regarded as mannish, and intent on destroying the home, Often because of her insistence on political rights such a woman was branded as hussy and a social pariah, As for clothes, society held that woman's ankles should be discreetly displayed, if at all. In most instances it was held that it would be better for the fair sex to entirely conceal her ankles, since they were often held to be an object of sex appeal, As to riding a horse no real lady would ride astride, No woman should climb on the back of a horse unless the animal : was carrying a side saddle, In that ‘way none of the charms of milady would be exposed to public display, according to the mores of Lola's day, And no woman should ride on a horse on Sunday, Instead she should be at home getting herself ready for church and her children for Sunday school, And if a woman was seen to enter a saloon that was the end of her good name! It was in this welter of thoughts and deeds that Lola Montez lived, What she did to scandalize her generation would today be regarded with understanding and tolerance, even with amusement,-Certainly no person of this, generation would be likely. to regard her conduct as an affront to society, Lastly it may be added that even if Lola Montez were sinful and wicked as her critics have said, and as gossips have declared, her actions under no circumstances would be held as shocking to the cus-toms, habits and mores of our time and as are some of the acts ad activities of today’s stars of the stage, screen and television, In Lola's day sex interest was secretive; today the veil of concealment is very thin indeed, and if Lola were living she probably would be shocked too. Under the cold glaring light of the history of the 19th century Lola Montez appéars to have been a feminist, one of the few who dared to live as she thought, She firmly believed in the equality of sexes. To her there should be no "double standards" of moralitiy, All women, Lola felt, should be judged by what they were rather than by what slander, gossip and the press said they were. In a sense if women of today enjoy equality with men in politics, morals and occupations some of the credit for breaking down the opposition to such points of view must be given to Lola Montez, She was a wolf—a feminine one—crying in the wilderness of intolerance and hypocrisy for the es that humanity now grants to women in the present century. Judging from her autobiography, Lola Montez had, at least, a sense of humor worthy of note. She wrote her life's story in the third person. One reading it today cannot help but gain the impression that she regarded Lola Montez as kind of alter ego— ~ another self—having little or no relationship to her own physical, intellectual and moral person, . . ." to.speak of her (Lola) is the very next thing to speaking of myself, . ." is one of the statements contained in the opening paragraphs of the autobiography, Seemingly, she preferred to stand aside from her actual personality and character and attemp to be completely impartial and unbiased, It appears as if she was trying to give credence to the idea that what Lola Montez did was separate and distinct from what was done by Maria Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert (her legal name), Nowadays autobiographies written . terests come together By Robe \ in the third person flow from t from a spring on a mountai such life narratives were m of this her. autobiograptty yiel might have been lacking had may be that she decitied up cause of an innate sense of appear to have been a leading . Yet when a tombstone ws only the words, Mrs, Eliza C is no mention of the name her last resting place. Belatedly, if not relucta that there was a quality of ch: ing sarm praise, He writes, Montez had her faults! Full had her virtues, She was gal At the worst her heart rul a foolish thing, she never did : How many people of this never did a mean thing in a fitting epitaph to an indiv and whose life still terest that now appears will c a: The right of defising ol sacred privilege in Americ: in entering upon the hovel leading and influential journ for a lecture on Lola Monte: that I am about as well acq vidual (as the newspapers ca the task of such an undertakin It is not a pleasant duty fearless, or if you please, h serting' and maintaining my confess to a great deal of di sonally of one so nearly re Burns says "we were girls . our childhood, the joys and riper and somewhat stormy . shared with her. Therefore, her, is the very next thing to. But though friends of s to be eulogist or apologist o that she would accept Such a A woman, like a man of to face the public deeds of _ shifts to sulk and hide away Perhaps the noblest cot one's self — to set down . confront all those deeds wt and manners of society; for g Applied to womat,} of co of those who have to $ome posed upon me. That is, she which have left their Work within the rule. An inane piece of aman of merely powdering, ¢ and sleeping, has hadjno li connection, She may ave . tuary, to fill a nook 18 2 pr of furniture for a dtawing her moral and social whose more positive natur field of the world where tt the . What can a i do ta Bovina Sy Spas? 04 © OO oe 8 Hee % Vcheey ees Oe ene E

ME, uke ee OO oogee yl tis LOLA MONTEZ An Autobiography As Written In the Form of a Lecture The life story of the celebrated dancer and actress, who once lived in Grass Valley, and whose old home is still standing on Mill St., near the Public Library, was originally published in 1858 by Rudd and Carleton, 310 Broadway, New York, R, Craighead, printer, stereotyper and electrotyper, Carleton Building, St. 83 and 85 Centre St., New York. An engraving of Lola Mortez is in the front piece, having been done by Rogers from a photograph by Meade, The autobiography is prefaced by an extract from the American Law Journal, Horace Wyndham in his biography of Lola Montez-""Magnificent Courtesan and Convert", says “As a fount of information on the subject, the autobiography (alleged) of Lola Montez, first published in 1859, is worthless, The bulk of it was written for her by a clerical "ghost", in America, the Rev. Chauncey Burr, and merely serves up a tissue of picturesque, and easily disproved falsehoods,” sf Wyndham, however, frankly admits that, . . “one has to milk a hundred cows to get even apint of Lola Montez cream. . ." This leads one to believe that there is truth in the purported autobiography of the famous, or infamous, dancer and actress, What this truth may be is problematical, But no one can read this book without experiencing a feeling of sincerity. Her frankness and matter of fact statements fairly leap out at the reader, This, I believe, gives a real sense of honesty to her account, despite Wyndham's statement, Although Wyndham may possess definite proof to confirm his statement that the autobiography is the work of a "ghost" he did not detail at*any length the alleged falsehoods said to be contained in the account. He also seems inclined to error himself, He states that the autobiography in question was first published in 1859, Lola's story as herein printed, however, bears the publication of 1858, This is a year before the publication late mentioned by Wyndham,’ In the preface to the present account is an extract from the American Law Journal, indicating’ that any challenge ‘to the veracity of the work must be definitely proved before any certain conclusions about its truth can be accurately and completely determined. The charge that the account was "ghosted" in no way reflects against the character of the frequently maligned Lola, Ghosting books has become a recognized profession in this century. Many distinguished people since 1900 have had their life stories prepared for them by writers who are engaged in this phase of the writing trade, or profession, This is particularly true nowadays of many of the autobiographies of industrial and business leaders, as well as actors and actresses, Even presidents of the United States in recent times have been known to employ the services of "speech writers." These included Franklin D. Roosevelt and the lamented President Kennedy. Possibly the best way to gain a true estimate of the character and worth of Lola Montez is to consider the age in which she lived, She was born in 1818, This was thirty years before gold was discovered in California and a generation before Grass Valley was founded, In the year of her birth there was no col-. lege in the United States that would accept a woman as a student! Almost a quarter of a century had to elapse after Lola's birth before any American college would accept a member of the fair sex for academic education, Higher education for women was denied on the grounds that a woman's place was in the home and because it was argued that she was mentally. inferior to man, All during her lifetime of 43 years the world was in a stage of startling change. In the year she died — in 1861. — this country had gone to war over the buying, selling and owning of human beings, In the brief span of her. existence, thousands, -even millions of people were enslaved physically, as well as mentally, their minds cluttered with beliefs and aniniane that tadav wanld he recarded as bordering on the verge of lunacy, if not on the rim of insanity, Even in Lola's day there were people who still believed the earth was flat! Some of the beliefs and opinions of many people were concerned with the supernatural, People heard "voices"; saw ghosts and spirits and felt that the world was coming to an end, Others were willing to die to prove that God sanctioned chattel slavery. Still others held views about science and invention, one of them being that a man would die if he succeeded in traveling a hundred miles an hour. An eight hour day was treason, a matter that would ruin the country if it became the law of the land, Public opinion -too, in most instances held that men ahd women who engaged in acting and dancing were immoral, And a woman who smoked tobacco was regarded with contempt and held to be headed directly for some place besides Paradise, If a° womam of that time insisted that her sex be given the right to vote she was regarded as mannish, and intent on destroying the home, Often because of her insistence on political rights such a woman was branded as hussy and a social pariah, As for clothes, society held that woman's ankles should be discreetly displayed, if at all. In most instances it was held that it would be better for the fair sex to entirely conceal her ankles, since they were often held to be an object of sex appeal, As to riding a horse no real lady would ride astride, No woman should climb on the back of a horse unless the animal : was carrying a side saddle, In that ‘way none of the charms of milady would be exposed to public display, according to the mores of Lola's day, And no woman should ride on a horse on Sunday, Instead she should be at home getting herself ready for church and her children for Sunday school, And if a woman was seen to enter a saloon that was the end of her good name! It was in this welter of thoughts and deeds that Lola Montez lived, What she did to scandalize her generation would today be regarded with understanding and tolerance, even with amusement,-Certainly no person of this, generation would be likely. to regard her conduct as an affront to society, Lastly it may be added that even if Lola Montez were sinful and wicked as her critics have said, and as gossips have declared, her actions under no circumstances would be held as shocking to the cus-toms, habits and mores of our time and as are some of the acts ad activities of today’s stars of the stage, screen and

television, In Lola's day sex interest was secretive; today the veil of concealment is very thin indeed, and if Lola were living she probably would be shocked too. Under the cold glaring light of the history of the 19th century Lola Montez appéars to have been a feminist, one of the few who dared to live as she thought, She firmly believed in the equality of sexes. To her there should be no "double standards" of moralitiy, All women, Lola felt, should be judged by what they were rather than by what slander, gossip and the press said they were. In a sense if women of today enjoy equality with men in politics, morals and occupations some of the credit for breaking down the opposition to such points of view must be given to Lola Montez, She was a wolf—a feminine one—crying in the wilderness of intolerance and hypocrisy for the es that humanity now grants to women in the present century. Judging from her autobiography, Lola Montez had, at least, a sense of humor worthy of note. She wrote her life's story in the third person. One reading it today cannot help but gain the impression that she regarded Lola Montez as kind of alter ego— ~ another self—having little or no relationship to her own physical, intellectual and moral person, . . ." to.speak of her (Lola) is the very next thing to speaking of myself, . ." is one of the statements contained in the opening paragraphs of the autobiography, Seemingly, she preferred to stand aside from her actual personality and character and attemp to be completely impartial and unbiased, It appears as if she was trying to give credence to the idea that what Lola Montez did was separate and distinct from what was done by Maria Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert (her legal name), Nowadays autobiographies written . terests come together By Robe \ in the third person flow from t from a spring on a mountai such life narratives were m of this her. autobiograptty yiel might have been lacking had may be that she decitied up cause of an innate sense of appear to have been a leading . Yet when a tombstone ws only the words, Mrs, Eliza C is no mention of the name her last resting place. Belatedly, if not relucta that there was a quality of ch: ing sarm praise, He writes, Montez had her faults! Full had her virtues, She was gal At the worst her heart rul a foolish thing, she never did : How many people of this never did a mean thing in a fitting epitaph to an indiv and whose life still terest that now appears will c a: The right of defising ol sacred privilege in Americ: in entering upon the hovel leading and influential journ for a lecture on Lola Monte: that I am about as well acq vidual (as the newspapers ca the task of such an undertakin It is not a pleasant duty fearless, or if you please, h serting' and maintaining my confess to a great deal of di sonally of one so nearly re Burns says "we were girls . our childhood, the joys and riper and somewhat stormy . shared with her. Therefore, her, is the very next thing to. But though friends of s to be eulogist or apologist o that she would accept Such a A woman, like a man of to face the public deeds of _ shifts to sulk and hide away Perhaps the noblest cot one's self — to set down . confront all those deeds wt and manners of society; for g Applied to womat,} of co of those who have to $ome posed upon me. That is, she which have left their Work within the rule. An inane piece of aman of merely powdering, ¢ and sleeping, has hadjno li connection, She may ave . tuary, to fill a nook 18 2 pr of furniture for a dtawing her moral and social whose more positive natur field of the world where tt the . What can a i do ta Bovina Sy Spas? 04 © OO oe 8 Hee % Vcheey ees Oe ene E