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Elizabeth Fais

Tag Archives: Marilyn Monroe

Weird things I wonder about: WHY butt pockets?!!

13 Saturday Apr 2019

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Fun Facts, History, Humor

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

blue jeans, California, denim, Elizabeth Fais, Elvis Presley, Film, Gold Rush, Happy Days, Henry Winkler, History, Jacob Davis, James Dean, jeans, Levi Strauss, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Nonfiction, Rebel Without a Cause, Television, The Fonz, The Misfits

Wonder is the seed of knowledge.
—Francis Bacon

Well…if this is true…I’m in trouble, because I wonder about some pretty weird stuff sometimes.

Like WHY are butt pockets standard issue on jeans? Seriously, WHY??! You’re just going to sit on whatever is in those pockets…eventually. Nowdays that’s likely to be your smart phone! It makes no sense.

I must admit that wondering about the absurdity of this design decision is what prompted my research into the history and origin of blue jean pockets. So, maybe the knowledge-thing applies here after all. Francis Bacon didn’t say how valuable the knowledge had to be.

The Method Behind Butt Pocket Madness

To understand the reasoning behind (no pun intended) the nonsensical placement of jean pockets, we have to go back to when blue jeans—as we know them today—were first created.

Levi Strauss followed the Gold Rush to California in 1853, where he established a dry goods store. One of the items he carried was blue industrial strength cloth known as denim. A Nevada tailor, by the name of Jacob Davis, bought some of Strauss’s denim and put rivets at pocket corners and other stress points to make them stronger. Davis couldn’t afford to patent the idea on his own, and contacted Strauss with a business plan. The patent was granted to Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss & Company on May 20, 1873, and blue jeans were born.

Prior to Levi Strauss’s blue jeans, people wore overalls for messy jobs and manual labor, such as construction, farm work, and painting. These jobs were generally performed while standing, so pocket placement was intended to make it easy to carry and retrieve tools. Blue jeans were originally intended to be worn for the same type of work, and initially were called waist overalls.

Form follows function. No sitting on jobs, where you carry tools in your pockets. Blue jeans were solely used for doing tough jobs for 80 years, until the mid 1950s.

From Work-Horse Wardrobe to Fashion Forward Fame

What happened to change the fate of the work-horse blue jeans?

James Dean happened.

The blue jeans fashion craze caught fire with James Dean’s signature t-shirt, leather jacket, and blue jeans look in the movie Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Young men across the country copied it immediately.

How did the blue jean fad catch on with young women in a time of poodle skirts and pearls?

Marilyn Monroe started the feminine blue jeans trend when she wore them in the movie The Misfits. Her character joined up with a group of cowboys, and she sported the quintessential female version of James Dean’s Rebel Without a Cause outfit.

In the following decades, Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando, and Henry Winkler (as The Fonz in Happy Days) fanned the flame of the blue jeans fashion frenzy. A trend that’s still burning bright.

THAT my friends is WHY we wear jeans with pockets on our backside.

I wonder what Levi Strauss would think of us carrying a computer—with more power than the one that put the first man in space (and took up an entire floor of a building)—in one of his back jean pockets? I think he’d probably design a more functional garment for that purpose. But that’s just me.


Famous Haunts in Historic Hotels

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Ghosts, Historic, Paranormal

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Celebrity Haunts, Famous Hauntings, Frank L Baum, Ghosts, Historic Hotels, Hotel del Coronado, Jack Lemmon, Kate Morgan, Marilyn Monroe, Roosevelt Hotel, Some Like It Hot, Tony Curtis, Wizard of OZ

Beneath the glitz and glamour of some of the ritziest historic hotels, a spectral current runs deep. The Hotel Del Coronado and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel both have legendary haunts that are more famous than their living residents.

A Victorian Ghost at the Hotel Del Coronado

The Hotel Del Coronado (The Del), located in sunny Coronado, California, has been a destination spot for the rich and famous since it opened in 1888. Frank L. Baum, lived at The Del while writing The Wizard of OZ. Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon stayed at The Del during the filming of the famous screwball comedy, “Some Like it Hot“. Presidents and royalty have also frequented the luxury resort over the years. But…

The most famous resident of the Victorian resort is a ghosT:

Kate Morgan checked into the resort on November 24, 1892, and never checked out. Ghostly happenings in the room where she stayed have been reported ever since.

You can read the ghostly details in the book dedicated to this famous Victorian ghost: Beautiful Stranger: The Ghost of Kate Morgan and the Hotel del Coronado.

Kate Morgan’s suicide at the Hotel del Coronado in November 1892 generated publicity throughout the state. Little was known about her identity, so she was dubbed the “Beautiful Stranger”. It was later discovered that Kate had checked into the hotel under an assumed name, increasing her mystique. She became instantly famous. People everywhere wondered why she had traveled to the Hotel del Coronado only to kill herself. To this day, her story is famous at The Del. [image credits: Wikipedia]

Celebrity Haunts at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is the historic Spanish-style hotel located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, in Los Angeles, California. Its doors opened on May 15, 1927, and immediately became the meeting ground for the brightest stars in Hollywood. Some of whom stayed on long after their deaths.

Take Marilyn Monroe…

Marilyn Monroe regularly stayed in room 246, which overlooked the pool. A mirror which once hung in her room, is said to be haunted by her spirit. In December 1985, a maid was dusting the mirror when she saw a blonde woman standing directly behind her reflected in the glass. She turned to speak to the woman, but no one was there. When she turned back, the reflection was again behind her. [image credit: Wikipedia]

Marilyn’s Monroe’s ghost doesn’t appear to be limited to haunting the mirror that once hung in her room, however. Numerous people have reported spotting her spectral image in the Blossom Ballroom dancing or posing.

Don’t believe me? Check out the video.

Or better yet, pay a visit to the Roosevelt Hotel and meet Marilyn yourself.



have you Ever had a spectral encounter?

Do tell!

We’re dying to know.


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