The real story of the elephant?

Storyteller · The real story of the elephant?

Does anyone know the real story about the elephant that stepped on that unfortunate little boy in Edgewater a long time ago? Can someone tell the story?

Rajah the Elephant?

Edgewater, Colorado - Roger the Elephant beneath supermarketEdgewater, Colorado - Roger the Elephant beneath supermarket
Roger the elephant was a main attraction at Manhattan Beach, a turn of the century amusement park at Sloan's Lake. Whilst giving rides to local children, Roger (orig Rajah?) became alarmed at a close-by hot air balloon, he jumped in alarm and fear, threw the children, and stepped on the head of six-year-old George W. Eaton, causing instant death. Edgewater old timers report that Roger was killed and buried in the swamp that rests beneath the supermarket at 20th and Depew.

The supermarket and parking lot, now empty (on NE corner, across from Post Office) are scheduled to be converted to housing/duplexes soon. I plan to watch the construction site and will call the local press if any bones are found. [Jude Gassaway, 09/25/2002]

Glad you asked, I did a search on Google and found this story on:

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/6826

Laura K May not be true but this is one version

The Harlander · Roger the Elephant the True Story

There were many exciting things to do at Manhattan Beach, an amusement park located on the north shore of Sloans Lake. One of the most popular was where children rode on the back of a giant elephant named Roger, but in July of 1891 Roger meet his end as recounted in the following Rocky Mountain news article:

TERRORIZED ROGER THE BIG ELEPHANT AT MANHATTAN BEACH TAKES HUMAN LIFE. SIX YEAR OLD GEORGE W. EATON STAMPED OUT OF EXISTENCE. THE BRUTE WAS SCARED BY THE BALLOON WHICH WAS ABOUT TO ASCEND. PARTY OF MERRY CHILDREN WERE RIDING ON THE ANIMAL'S BROAD BACK. THE UNFORTUNATE CHILD FELL FROM THE PERCH AND WAS IMMEDIATELY TRODDEN UPON. ONE MASS OF BLOOD AND MANGLED FLESH WAS FOUND AFTER IT HAPPENED. EFFORTS MADE BY THE EXCITED ELEPHANTS KEEPER TO REACH THE LAD. HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WITNESS THE SICKENING SIGHT AND A PANIC IS CREATED.
At a little after 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon at Manhattan Beach, George W. Eaton, the 6 yr. old son of Pressley Eaton was trampled upon and instantly killed by the elephant "Roger." The animal had become frightened and broke away from the keeper throwing the boy from his back where the lad was riding with companions. The other children escaped without serious injury. The keeper, wounded and bleeding from a blow from the trunk of the frightened brute, heroically endeavoring to restrain the animal and called to the crowd to keep back and not add to the excitement of the aroused beast. The seat upon which the children sat, began to sway backward and forward like a surf tossed by angry waves. The children began to scream with terror and cry for help. The crowd shouted to the little ones to hold tight. Then one fell to the ground. The elephant towered above the prostrate form. The huge foot of the animal was above the boy's head. It descended upon the white forehead! A human life was blotted out. There are pale cheeks of women, dashed faces of men, murmurs of horror from all the crowd; but above all can be heard the agonized shrieks of one who with a mother's quick eye of love has seen that it was her boy. She would fly to his side, but is restrained by those about her.
In the meantime, by the active prodding of his keeper the beast was quieted for a moment and all the children save one slipped from his back. The animal was brought to his knees and the other child, a boy, was taken from the seat. At the first dash of the beast, the great crowd scattered as best they could to places of safety. Men rushed wildly about hardly knowing what to do, and the scene was one of wildest excitement. When it was learned that none of the little ones, save the boy Eaton, had been seriously injured, there were tears of joy and huggings and kissings, until thoughts came of the poor mother, broken hearted, who sat in the shadow of her great grief. And then the faces of all, which had a moment before been lighted up with joy, became very sober. But the terrible strain of excitement was not over. The storm of terror in the beast of the elephant had not abated. It was but a temporary lull. He began to trumpet loudly and to break away from those who held him with hooks and ropes. As the loud sounds of the animal's bellowing resounded through the grounds, little ones were caught hurriedly up in loving arms and a hurrying and scurrying for refuge was this time made more quickly than before. But the beast was held. The tragedy was over. The little fellow, George W. Eaton, was thrown to the ground, trampled upon and killed in the presence of his father, mother and younger brother, who had brought him to enjoy the sights. The animal was finally secured and the other children removed from his back more scared than hurt.
Marshal McNeil and Deputy Marshal McGuire of Highlands, picked the boy from the ground. A great pool of blood poured from his head and the brains oozed out, making a horrible sight. The lad had been killed instantly. He never knew what happened. The body was removed to the old wooden frame building on the grounds and Coroner Walley notified. John Stafford, brother of the mother Mrs. Eaton, with others induced her to go to her home, after she had recovered sufficiently from her fainting condition to be moved. Mrs. Eaton now lies at her home, 3722 Franklin Street in a critical condition. The shock to her nerves was terrible; no woman could witness a more horrible sight than that of her own child trampled to death before her eyes and she unable to avert the calamity. Her wants are being ministered to by loving hands, but grave fears are entertained for her mental condition. As well might be expected, the poor mother is crazed with grief. The father, Pressley Eaton, is a switchman in the employ of the Union Railway company. For some time he seemed unable to realize what had happened. He remained upon the ground, requested that the coroner be telephoned to and the offices for the dead property attended to. But when the strain became too great and he realized that the boy upon whom he had lavished his affections was gone from him, he burst into a storm of grief that was heartrending. "Oh," he sobbed, "I can't believe it. He was such a bright boy, our oldest. How we loved him and how we planned for his future. I don't know what to do. I can't realize what has happened. Ten thousand grounds like these couldn't pay us for his loss."
Mr. Conklin, the manager of the zoo in Central Park, who says he has known the beast Roger for fifteen years. The big animal was in his charge for five years. He has never known Roger to become alarmed before and says the elephant is of the kindest disposition.

Many old time Edgewaterites believe that Roger was buried at 20th & Depew beneath what is now the Old King Soopers building. In 1981 Mayor Bonnie Allison proclaimed the Friday of Edgewater Days as Roger Day in honor of the Little Eaton boy and Roger the Elephant and to remind all, that Edgewater is a city that loves it’s children and the innocent creatures of the world. A celebration of that august occasion was held at Lost Images Photography and hosted by John & June Moreno and the KIMN Chicken. King Soopers put up a large Roger display in the meat department and over forty Edgewater children marched in a Roger ensemble in the Edgewater Days parade.

Storyteller · Thank you for the story about Rajah

It was suggested at Council by a very interesting and obviously learned person that we needed to honor the spirit of Rajah, the elephant. I don't know how we do that but it seemed like he knew.
I hope he comes back to Council, I liked the things he was saying about working with the young people, older youth especially, and nuturing not only our athletic interests but our creative, intellectual and spiritual selves as well, by stocking, the soon to be community rooms, of the Ice Ranch with art supplies and other things.
Now, back to Rajah, poor fella. I wonder what we do for his spirit, it would be about time.
So, is Eaton street really named after the unfortunate little boy who lost his life?

The Harlander

No. And Roger the Elephant was never known by the name Rajah.

Guest

The question went unanswered.
Is Roger really buried in the KS Parking Lot?
I had heard that he broke loose and was shot and buried there.
Anyone know the true story?

The Harlander

Beyond the Rocky Mountain News report not much was published. There are oral accounts from old timers (long since dead) that once Roger was subdued he was taken to the marsh west of Sloans Lake and shot in the head, they referenced the spot where the Old King Soopers was built. I was told this story by someone that had heard the story from an old timer who heard it as a child shortly after World War I.
Roger seems to be passing from the realm of news to history to myth. It has long been a dream of my wife and I to see a statue in the form of a fountain depicting an elephant with a little boy seated on him facing West with a plaque that states;
"Edgewater, a community that treasures it's children and the innocent creatures of the World. In memory of the Little Eaton Boy and Roger the Elephant. July 1891"
Do you think we could get the Ice Ranch people help make that dream a reality?

guest

A sad story/event. Yet a much more appropriate memorial than the "mcnulty elephants" who are trying hard to make the project fail- cant wait for their next flyer on this one...

The memorial - an opportunity for healing of the past perhaps. Hope it gets past on.

Guest

Harlander,
I like the idea for a statue. It's beautiful!!!

Fond memories · Roger

Passed or past on? I would like to see it, the statue. It is a myth I was raised with and one I cherish. I was one of those forty kids.

Guest

What a sorrowful tale. A statue of the child and elephant would be a wonderful tribute to the memory of all involved. I, too, would love to see a statue in the park/fountain area of our new arena.

Guest · Idea

I wonder if the Colorado Historical Society would fund such an art-in-park project commemorating the story of Roger? It would be cool if he could be made a fountain with water spraying from his snout with a happy little boy riding on top being sprayed and laughing.

Guest

Please don't make a statue of the horrified look on the kids face before he was trampled or the elephants feet in the air before the frightning accident.

I think a statue of a wolf pack would look great.

Guest

It is unusual that it has been 117 years to the month since this traggic event happened. I too would like to see the statue. Let's make it happen.

The Harlander

Guest of 12:40pm
The statue I described in my post has nothing to do with a depiction of the tragic event but rather the spirit of the boy and elephant going into the setting Sun and the wisdom we gain from the event. We know a great deal more today about children and elephants than we did in 1891. That was the lesson we learned in 1981 and a whole generation of Edgewaterites have come to embrace and love the lesson and pass it on to their children. It is no less a tragic story than Bambi, The Lion King or Old Yeller. It is from tragedy that we learn to appreciate what we have and live each day to it's fullest.

Old Timer

I heard it was a firecracker that sent Roger into a rampage. I could go for the statue.

Packy-dermal · We got two elephants

Heck we got a much more recent elephant right here in town and it don't need no statue. It's alive and well.

That Heritage Center we got is a full-fledged white elephant, a not so rare species her in Edgewood. Let's put up a statue to that one while we are at it.

Heck let's put up statues honoring our own gullibility. How about a statue of an elephant - African or Asian no difference - and a statue on top of that of the heritage center. Heck we nearly got a herd of them pachyderms rolling now.

eww

reality · Re: Roger the Elephant the True Story

J&J · The Legend

The Legend of Roger the Elephant

The man shook off the chill of the misty morning of July 4th, 1891, with a swig from the bottle he kept in his coat pocket. The giant beast stirred and switched its trunk from side to side as the man approached.
“You remember, don’t you boy?” the man said. “Boom, boom day. You hate that, don’t you boy? Well you don’t have a choice here do ya? Am I going to have to get the hook out?”
The beast lowered its head in submission as the man threw the great steel studded leather ornament across the furrowed brow of the beast. The massive rusty chains whined as he lowered the wicker riding basket down upon the back of the submissive creature and cinched the harness in place. The shackles were released from the poor beast’s legs, revealing the raw scars of years of confinement much different from the relatively carefree days the beast had enjoyed as a youth at the Denver Zoo.
“Ya Roger! Move on boy, move on!” the man cried out, as they passed through the tall doors of the darkened barn. The early morning sun blinded the beast for an instant as he trumpeted the dawning of a new day of labor.

Little George Eaton was beside himself as he scarffed down the fried potatoes and ham that sat before him, oh, how he hated those greasy fried eggs. “You eat up all them eggs boy, hear! You don’t want to get a whoppin do ya?” George cringed not so much at the thought of the whopping, but that he might not get to ride the Great Roger the Elephant. “Leave that boy alone, Pressley, cant you see he’s excited?” Mrs. Eaton admonished her husband. “Besides, it’s the Fourth of July.”

“I’m just sayin,” Mr. Eaton replied.

“George, take your little brother upstairs and get dressed, it’s going to be a wonderful day!” Mrs. Eaton responded.

It was a glorious Saturday afternoon as the carriages pulled up in front of the entrance to the Manhattan Beach Resort. The ladies and gentlemen all dressed in their Sunday finest, the children all aglow with anticipation of the aerial illuminations the evening held. For little George Eaton it was not about the pops and booms he had heard and seen before, it was about Roger and the excitement of riding upon an exotic beast from a place far, far away. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain as his father dug his rough fingers into his ear: “Tip your hat to the ladies, son. Morning Mrs. Sanford, the boy don’t know his manners quite yet.”
“Good morning Mr. Eaton, Mrs. Eaton. He’s a fine boy and I’m sure he will make you proud,” Mrs. Sanford replied.

“I have to tend to the carriage, chickadee, I will be along shortly,” Pressley assured his wife. He slipped a slim silver dime into the hand of the waiting stable boy. As soon as his wife was out of sight, he turned to his fellows gathered nearby. “The first round’s on me boys, catch ya’ll at Maudes Place.” The “Merry Five” of the Union Railway Company headed across Sheridan Boulevard for what promised to be an afternoon of gentlemanly pleasures.

The mid-day sun beat down upon the leather headpiece, causing Roger to sweat profusely from his weary brow. He loved the sounds of the laughing children on his back; it reminded him of his days at the Zoo, when he entertained them with his acts of dancing and parading. They were his children, the only family he knew. It was then that the boy caught his eye - somehow this boy was different than all the others. He was special and Roger knew it.
“Ya Roger! Move on boy. Ride the wild beast of Asia! Come one, come all!” The man cried out.
“Mom?” little George pleaded. “Not yet son, lets take a boat ride on the lake first and have some funnel cakes. Your Father should be along shortly.”

“Here’s to my boy! He’s going to tame the wild beast of Asia,” declared Pressley Eaton. “Here, here!” cried out the saloon crowd.

The bartender looked Pressley in the eye: “I think you’ve had enough, Press, shouldn’t you be getting back?”

“Another round for the boys!” Pressley cried out, and the liquor flowed on.

Little George approached the mammoth pachyderm with wonderment. The giant eye looked down, and the massive trunk nudged him with a loving touch that he had never felt before.

“I love you Roger,” little George whispered into the creature’s expansive ear.

“Just a nickel, one small nickel for the ride of a lifetime! Are you on or off boy?” the man demanded.

“Here, here is a nickel. Is it absolutely safe?” Mrs. Eaton inquired.

“Safest animal West of the Mississippi,” the man assured. Little George climbed the tall ladder, his hands shaking from anticipation. The wicker basket was overfilled with energetic boys and girls, all waiting for a ride of a lifetime. George squeezed his way to the front, sitting precariously on the edge of the basket.

Just then, a giant explosion sounded off down by the lake, followed by another, then another.
“Easy Roger, easy!” George cried out, as the long trunk pushed on him as if to seat him back into the hand-woven basket. Suddenly, a red balloon ascended from the ground and burst right before Roger’s eye. Perhaps it sounded like the whiplash pop that he’d been trained to rise up and dance to, or maybe it was simple panic. Rogers forelegs rose off the ground as he made a great trumpeting sound.

“Pressley! Pressley! Your boy done got killed, by the elephant! You gotta get back!” a thin man cried out at the swinging doors of the saloon. “My boy?! No, not my boy!” Pressley exclaimed as he staggered onto Sheridan. A pall had fallen over the once celebrant crowd, as a grieving father ran to the side of his distressed wife and remaining son. “Why Pressley? Why?” the mourning woman sobbed.

A silence came over Pressley, as he looked over the fairgrounds. “Someone is going to pay, and pay handsomely for this,” he thought.

The sky was ablaze with the fire of the setting sun as the men led the giant beast into the bog. A shot rang out, as the barkeeps, circus folk and Methodists of the small community known as Edgewater stood in the dusty avenues. Some claim they saw an apparition that night. Others say they saw a giant beast, with a little boy on its back, headed into the setting Sun. All admit, things were never the same after that fateful Fourth of July. Ten years later, Edgewater became a city, a city that treasures its children and the innocent creatures of the world.

The above is a dramatic presentation of an historical tragedy that happened in 1891. It is based on the Victorian time and place, and in no way should diminish the event, or the integrity and grief of the Eaton family. It is now legend, and the purpose of legend transcends reality. Is it worthy of a monument? We think so. The legend is uniquely Edgewaters. We are reminded of "Ring Around the Rosey" a song born of the Black Plaque of Europe yet sung by children to this day. It is through such lessons that we learn and grow.

unswayable

Sorry, all the stories in the world will not diminish the pain felt by this family and I don't think we should contribute to it..

In years to come the Columbine tragedy will be a "legend" and I don't think that anyone would dare to put up a statue of an AK-47 in the park..

A lone elephant with his trunk in the upward position ( a symbol of good luck) would be good . But , in good taste and respect for the family and the child ,NO child should be dipicted.

Guest

Agreed...

Guest · me too

I was watching this debate develop and kind of listening to my feelings about it and I have to say, I agree. Poor Roger didn't do anything wrong, on purpose. Since the 1900's we have learned how social and family oriented elephants are and an image of Roger would be sweet - but without the little boy. The little boy died a tragic death and was memorialized by his family in some other way and that should be honored and left alone.

Guest

How about building a statue for the elephant and planting a living tree for the boy?

Guest

I would humbly disagree. The story has all the elements of a Greek tragedy. Take out the child and the story loses meaning. If we can name a park after two drowning victims and then put a concrete walkway along the very ditch that took their lives then why not an inspirational statue? Public monuments in memory of tragic events are common place and serve as a reminder of the nobler side of humanity.

Guest

We already have a park memorializing the two drowning victims, that is enough of that. In that case, the families involved had a choice.
Greek tragedy is fine but this is a place for children to play. The parents can decide to tell them the story of Roger and the little boy if they choose but they don't have to. Leave Roger in his original innocence, inviting children to come play in the park. There is a simplicity there that is also lyric and beautiful. It invites joy instead of somberness. I would prefer that.

***caryn*** · won't let me log on

Guest

OK. What about a statue of an elephant with a plaque that simply states "In memory of Roger the Elephant who entertained and delighted thousands of children"

Ride on

I just don't see what the big deal is. It's a statue of a child riding an elephant. All around the word you will see statues of children riding dolphins, seals, sea horses and regular horses. I'm sure more children have been killed riding horses than riding elephants. You still don't have to tell your children about the gory details of the tragedy but I'm sure the statue would bring joy and wonderment to any young mind.

Guest

It really sucks that Roger and George Eaton have become a point of contention.

The original point was to honor the spirit of a magnificent beast that lay rest beneath the ground at 20th and Depew. Maybe all we need is a granite/bronze marker with Roger’s name it and an engraving of an elephant.

CHEERS · To creative endeavors

This is Edgewater. What do you expect?
Perhaps we should look at it as a lively debate, instead of a bone of contention.
Hey, at least its not Mayor bashing. That was getting way too old - and just too easy.
Why don't we ask the originator of the idea (the man at the council meeting) what he had in mind, and quit trying to hog the idea.
So,
TO ROGER THE ELEPHANT!

CHEERS!!!

And to the man with the idea.
CHEERS!!!

Guest

or a simple ceremony with sage and a blessing...but ever we do, let's try to be kind to each other.

Hockey Guy

We could have a hockey team named the Edgewater Elephants and on the jersey have an elephant stomping on things.

Guest

aaaah....maybe we should stick with sage and blessings. Althought an elephant head would make a great jersey logo.

Roger Fan

Rodger never intentionally stomped on anything. He may have become anxious at the smell of blood but they removed all of the rest children from the passenger basket without incident. According to the accounts we have available the Eaton Boy fell from the basket and by happenstance was stepped upon by Roger. Hardley a case of a ramaging elephant.
Do Not Deamonize Roger to satisfy your sick sense of self gratifying pleasure in gore. That simply is not what happened. It was a traggic accident that cost two lives and Edgewater recieved the brunt end of Aureria's (read Denvers) nasty cover-up to protect Manhattan Beach.
I like the idea of an elephant's head logo for the new Edgewater Junior Hockey Leagues team called the Pacyderms!

Guest · Pacyderms?

An elephant logo? I dunno, that's a little Republican for me. I liked the elephant fountain in the park (no children on top) idea. Well, maybe after the election. It might help the Republican parties image(teehee). Hi, all you Pacyderms out there!

Just teasing

Guest

OK, how about an elephant with a jackass riding it?

Guest · nah...

too AARP...
Come on! I was only teasing!

Guest

Guest

it had better be a white elephant

Guest

In Edgewater is there any other kind of elephant? It's part of our "Heritage" if ya know what I mean.

Why??

Ok I just read on the City's web site that earlier this week at a meeting of the P&R that Roger was to be discussed. Why???
Here are my reason to not make anything to honor the elephant!

1- The incident happened in Denver not Edgewater.
2- The Eaton boy didn't live in Edgewater.
3-The Edgewater connection is .....the fact that the poor abused animal was walked across the street to Edgewater to be shot.

WHY..WHY..WHY.. continue this thin thread of a story when there are many others around our city that are more heartwarming and happy.

Sorry.. I have to say you should just let dead elephants live on the the history books and NOT resurrects him into a monument to anything. Because his part in our history book is a mear nano second and not really even a true Edgewater story.

Why?

opps
and #4 Edgewater wasn't even a city when it happened.

Let the poor thing live in the past and not in our park!

Why not?

Denver didn't just shoot the Roger, they left his body here, in a subdivision called Edgewater at the time of the event. Many children from that subdivision rode in Rogers basket and the story was passed down, not in Denver but, in Edgewater. It is now what generally is known as folklore and is interwoven into the fabric of our City. Several accounts of the story can be found in our historical record and most certainly in oral tradition. As one poster has already stated the story has passed into myth and it's central characters have become bigger than life with a universal lesson. Of course it's not quite as attractive as a bunch of polynesian dragon boats skiming across one of the most polluted bodies of water in the State.

Guest · Zen

I prefer the simple sound of splashing water, the sight of water flowing into the air and then down, surrounded by natural stone, trees, grass and the silhouettes of children playing.
I don't want any emotional buttons pushed by the legend of the dead elephant.
Roger makes me sad.
The whole story is brutal and tragic and holds no appeal for me. Let it lie. Light some sage, say a prayer, move on... Roger has returned to the elements where he belongs. Let the poor ol' guy rest in peace and keep his sad story out of the water garden and away from those of us who find joy in simplicity; splashing water, the sound of children laughing, light through the leaves. I don't want emotional baggage in the splash park. I don't want to be reminded of any one's past. I want to be in the moment when I'm there.

**caryn**

to the guest before me.
I couldn't have said it better
Thank You

RIP Roger

Devon Barclay · Roger?

I totally disagree. Roger's story is a sad one - and I've teared up over it several times. But it's a harmonizing story for this community.

Was Roger's demise tragic? Hell yes.

Has what our society done since then to advance both the concerns of elephants, and kids, great? Hell yes.

This is an accomplishment we can all be proud of. We've made record progress, and we can keep doing it. And Roger would be proud, too. He's a figure of this town, and just as mayors get their names on plaques around the place, Roger deserves a statue. We have little folklore besides dandelion wine and a boom time during prohibition. Why not celebrate one of our founding fathers - Roger? Why not let him be part of the celebration of how much better this town is now?

-Devon

Guest

“...Roger would be proud...” Please don’t project yourself onto others, it is disrespectful. Have you ever thought that Roger may feel like s--t knowing he killed a kid and would rather we all just move on and quite reminding everyone that the incident ever happened?

Why not? Listen to the posters above, they have already answered this question.

Devon Barclay · Gimme a break.

Have just a little more imagination. Myths exist for a reason. And a society without them is just a bedroom community.

Maddox

I used to have Pete the squirrel living in my backyard until he started eating my patio cushions and I killed him. I've often thought that Pete is the symbol we should worship, for Edgewater has a history of destroying those who dare to be different.

Farmer Scott · Roger: A monument?

While, I think (roger) is a great story and has a very great history and mystic (with a story that absolutely needs be continued for future generations). This (the new proposed water park) is not the place. There is at least one story I feel is bigger and when we are talking about some history: roger, is not history; it was an event of tragedy, that occured prior to Edgewater's existance. Those that feel (roger) is a story that (is the best Edgewater has to offer) I would beg of you to think out of your box and look at a woman know as Nell or to think about a tribute to our all volunteer fire department that has been in place since day one.
I seem to step on some toes...maybe you should excuse yourself for stepping in front of me, or should, I not just voice any opinion what so ever? Or do I need to look at an elephant spraying water whether or not its the correct species of elephant just so a few of our citizens can feel better about themselves?

Guest

Well said, Farmer Scott.

Thank you

Roger the reality

Roger would have been an Asian elephant since they are the only elephant to be successfully domesticated. In reality any statue whether pachyderm or firefighter would be cost prohibitive coming in at well over $100,000, probably a lot more (real artist/sculptors aren't cheap and notably very slow to produce).
Roger does have a nice presence in our community on the mural at 25th & Sheridan. The Firemen have their bell at 25th & Gray. What we really need is to name the splash park Mayors Parkway after all of the "Strong Mayors" that have served our community so selflessly over the past 107 years.

NoWay · are you on crack?

OK, I know you have to be JOKING, or looking a ways back into the history of Mayors .
cause' the recent crop of them have sure been rotten!

Guest · Who is Nell?

Who is Nell?

**caryn** · Nell??

This is our Nell
Now this is someone that I think we should embrace with open arms . Just think of all the fun things that could be planed around her life and art.
Article by Paul Gravett

NELL BRINKLEY: A NEW WOMAN IN THE EARLY 20th CENTURY

In any walk of life, one sign of making it is to become part of the language itself. Such was the popularity of the stately, coiffured beauties illustrated by Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944) that his 'Gibson girls' went into the American dictionary. Sadly, his successor, Nell Brinkley (1886-1944), has not enjoyed such lasting fame, although in her time she had an enormous influence on the appearance and aspirations of women across America and beyond. A high-school dropout and self-taught illustrator from the tiny frontier town of Edgewater, Colorado, population 311, Nell was just 21, when she broke into the New York newspaper world in 1908 with her vivacious, curly-locked beauties. Within only a few years, her new ideal of fun-loving feminity swept away the stuffy 'Gibson girls'.

All that Gibson's passive high-society mannequins would do on the beach is pose elegantly with a wistful, rather corseted gaze. In contrast, 'Brinkley girls' bounded onto surfboards, kinky hair flying, dress straps loose off their shoulders, smiling with glee. They became a national craze, serenaded in pop songs and in the Ziegfeld Follies, syndicated in Hearst's newspapers and to The Sketch in Britain, merchandised as cosmetics and curlers, and modelled by young women coast-to-coast. And yet, the 'Gibson girl' is still well-known today, whereas the 'Brinkley girl' is all but forgotten, probably because she was too independent and disturbing a sex symbol for the stay-at-home Fifties.

Miraculously, thanks to the Goddess of the Internet, a two-foot-high archive of Brinkley clippings was entrusted in 1997 to comic artist and historian Trina Robbins, who has crafted a long overdue biography, Nell Brinkley & The New Woman In The Early 20th Century. Additionally, a short appreciation by Trina and 38 pages of Nell Brinkley's comics can be found in The Comics Journal #270, August 2005
Like others, Trina had admired Nell's elaborate draughtswomanship and romantic sentimentalism, but now, thanks to this resource, she was the first to re-read closely the texts Nell wrote for her cartoons and discovered that, amongst the hearts and flowers, in much of them "she was a chronicler, a feminist, a blood-and-thunder storyteller". Nell commended the new working women - she was one herself, only able to slave daily over her drawing board, because her mother was her manager and housekeeper. She celebrated women's achievements, profiling First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and solo pilot Amelia Earhart (Nell flew in a biplane herself). In her finest hour, in a patriotic fifteen-week colour cliffhanger, her First World War heroine Golden-Eyes and her Lassie-like pooch Uncle Sam go overseas and brave No-Man's Land to rescue Bill, her heart-throb hero.

Across her seven chapters, Trina chronicles Nell's life and career, focusing in her opening chapter on 1908, the key year when the Brinkley Girl phenomenon rapidly captivated the American imagination. Almost from the start, Nell's fellow New York Evening Journal cartoonist 'Tad', alias Thomas Aloysius Dorgan, would wickedly parody her very feminine cartoons the following day on the male-dominated sports pages, and Trina juxtaposes several of these good-natured duels. She also explains how Nell's initial fame was boosted by her courtroom drawings reporting on the 'Trial of the Century' of Harry K. Thaw, her illustrated theatre reviews and profiles of society ladies. Elegance is everything in Brinkley's drawings, right down to her elongated and curled signature decorating across their foot.

In her survey 'Before Nell', Trina provides the history and context of Nell's changing times, as more opportunities gradually became available to American women in the new century and as illustration became an acceptable occupation for a number of successful women artists. Trina's choice quotations from Nell's cartoons and their accompanying breathless prose shed light on Nell's growing awareness of women's rights, commenting on the suffragette movement and the roles women were playing in the War. Throughout, Trina weaves evocative anecdotes of the period when cartoonists were celebrities mixing with movie stars and the president's wife, and even co-starring with other Hearst cartoonists in a tantalizingly 'lost' 1924 film The Great White Way. Sadly, Trina found that Nell's marriage did not end as romantically as in her fictions. Nell was shattered when she chanced on her idealized husband, twelve years her junior, in the theater with his mistress; divorcing him in 1936, she found some outlet for her disillusion through a series entitled 'What Went Wrong With Love?', but the bloom of romance had faded forever.

Nell had always refused to create comics, despite the urgings of Evening Journal editor Arthur Brisbane. Nevertheless, she would occasionally produce multi-panelled thematic pages and some narratives, that are essentially comics. One good example of these, 'The Five Senses', was selected by historian Thomas Craven to represent her in his mammoth 1943 anthology Cartoon Cavalcade. In his commentary, Craven regrets that, unlike in the prewar French magazines La Vie Parisienne and Sourire, "the charms of sex have never found their way into American cartooning". He then brings on Miss Brinkley: "The closest approach to the French acceptance of sex appeal appeared in the drawings which Nell Brinkley used to make for the New York Evening Journal. The drawings themselves were amateurish, but from the girls, the little brides and sweethearts dolled up in frilly transparent gowns, emanated a charm, an enticing jeu d'esprit whicStill, Craven's praise is faint and superficial, snobbily poo-pooing her drawing talents. It has taken Trina, after all these years, to dig deeper beneath the surface glamour and examine both Brinkley's pictures and her words. From them emerges the singular vision of a free-spirited woman, whose role in shaping 20th-century feminism and art history is now finally being recognised. Her true heiress, in Trina's view, is Dale Messick in her Brenda Starr, Reporter strip, a convincing claim, but Trina is too modest to assert herself as another in Nell's lineage, as an impassioned proponent of women cartoonists, a distinctive voice in comics herself, and almost modelling herself as a 21st century Brinkley girl with her bubbly curls and bubblier personality.

Trina acknowledges one disappointment with this biography, that the generous broadsheet scale and subtle, delicious colouring of so much of Brinkley's artwork cannot be reproduced in this standard sized, black and white paperback. Based on the bedazzling examples Trina showed in her slide lecture which I attended in September 2001 at the Ohio State University Cartoon Festival in Columbus, I can't wait to see a larger follow-up artbook to do them justice.

History buff

Worthy of a whole wall at the Heritage Center right next to Roger, the Mayors and the KKK robes.

Guest

Guest

Great story, Caryn. I had no idea Edgewater had been home to such a gutsy lady. I'm thinking some of our current Edgewater dames should take some of Nells spirit and use it to make our little town better.
Think the 'men' of this community could handle it?

Guest

Maybe the men ought to curl their hair and get bubbly too.

Guest

To each his own, sweetheart.

I like her

No, she's more deserving of that. * pictures on the wall * I can see "old fashion times" family times ,watermelon eating contests in the park, ice cream socials, cake walks and dunk tanks. how about 4 poster bed races down 24th with people dressed in period costumes. Flapper contests. Why not take a step back in time. It works in other cities.

Guest

And elephant rides!

haha

Devon Barclay · Dismally ignorant...

OK, Nell's story is one that missed me. Thank you so much for getting it out here, and I enjoyed reading it. I want to see Nell's story memorialized in this City. It's a great story. I want to see Roger's story, too. I want to know about the Civil War vets who got property in our town as a commission for their service, one of whom built the house across from mine in 1865.

Then we've got our "dirty" history - stills during prohibition, KKK members, etc. etc. etc.

We don't have to have a "pure" history to celebrate it. This place has made a real dent in the direction of this metro area, even from the old days - and we will continue to do so. We have some kickass volunteers in this place who have decided we're going to be at the forefront, and have made some changes (including the Charter) that put us at the forefront of State History. Appreciated history is also an art of continuing the legacy those folks started, and pushing the limits.

We do that SO WELL here!

The City has spent millions on a heritage center, that, to my understanding, doesn't have any of these stories included in their exhibits - Nell, Roger, whorehouses, prohibition - and that's some REAL history! As is our new Charter. People being able to check their officials for violations of the law? Even groups like CML and DOLA are wondering if this will work. It's not always been a pretty place. But it's ALWAYS been a place where history is made.

We're a weird little town that somehow avoided Denver's annexation groove in the 1920s (and thank god).

Understand, memorializing our past should only ever happen in the hope of inspiring our future. I want these stories out there.

The real story of the elephant?

Roger the Elephant the True Story

Thank you for the story about Rajah

Roger

Idea

We got two elephants

Re: Roger the Elephant the True Story

The Legend

me too

won't let me log on

To creative endeavors

Pacyderms?

nah...

Zen

Roger?

Gimme a break.

Roger: A monument?

are you on crack?

Who is Nell?

Nell??

Dismally ignorant...