Jim Kershner’s This day in history
From our archives, 100 years ago
There was no “lifestyles” section in 1910 – the word didn’t even exist – but the Spokane Daily Chronicle on this date was full of lifestyle news nuggets:
• A doctor announced that blowing bubbles was a healthy, beneficial pastime for children because it “develops the lungs and increases the chest measurement.”
• The fad of the “hobble skirt,” so tight around the ankles that women had to hobble, had just arrived in Spokane. Opinions were mixed on its appeal. One woman said, “Walking with the infantile totter, or trippingly, is … the most inevitable feature of this season’s parade of pain.”
• A marriage expert advised young women to look for a man who was “companionable” rather than “masterful.” One woman agreed, saying she once knew a man who, when his “line of talk played out, there wasn’t anything more to say.”
“We’d sit up there silent as owls,” she said.
• A relatively unknown young “comedian” was booked into the Orpheum Theater. His name was Al Jolson. Within a few years he would become the biggest name in American show business.
Also on this date
(From the Associated Press)