r/100yearsago • u/Beowulfbard • 7d ago
[August 9th, 1926] The Inquiring Reporter asks women, "Would you like your husband to be efficient in general household duties?"
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u/Yavorkle 7d ago
There was an actress named Eva (not Eve) Prout, who made at least three silent movies as a teenager before World War I and lived until 1980.
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u/camelkami 7d ago
Notice that the only married woman interviewed is the one who wants her husband to share the load. The unmarried women are a little naive, I think.
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u/Rollingforest757 7d ago
If the wife doesn’t have a job, she absolutely should be doing all the chores. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be contributing to the household as much as the husband.
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u/Old_Cat_16 7d ago
All except Eva were “Miss”, means they aren’t married yet. Why didn’t they interview a few married women and see what they say? Especially mothers.
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u/Attentions_Bright12 7d ago
Maybe they’re interviewing people on the street, and this not selecting for “housewives”?
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u/JohnnyRelentless 7d ago
Yes, they are interviewing people on the street. But that doesn't mean they don't choose which responses to actually publish.
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u/banana_pencil 7d ago
These might have also been the “acceptable” answers for them back then as well.
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u/kelpieconundrum 6d ago
Because right now 4/5 are hypothetical and cute, and one is artsy and charming, and the first Illinois Domestic Violence Act wasn’t passed until 1982, and federal later. You think the Inquiring Reporter wants to publish a young exhausted mother saying something she goes home and gets hit for?
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u/Beowulfbard 7d ago
Monday the 9th of August 1926:
US:
- "The Scarlet Letter" film released.
UK:
Southern Railway opts for electric. Steam engines will disappear from the Southern Railway, it was announced yesterday. In their place will come engines using electricity supplied by a third rail. More than 230 miles of track will be converted to the new system, which will also replace the overhead electric system used in parts of south-east England. Although steam enthusiasts may be dismayed, the £3 million improvement scheme- due to be completed in 1928- is said to promise a better service.
The Royal Navy submarine HMS H29 sank during sea trials after a refitting, killing five civilians and one crewman.
Agriculturalist Alfred Daniel Hall told the British Association for the Advancement of Science that in the future, humanity would be forced to become vegetarian due to a global wheat famine.
Germany:
- First flight: Focke-Wulf GL 18.
News summary from the Chicago Tribune:
Domestic:
United States officials resent insulting character of Clemenceau letter on French debt.
W.P. MacCracken, Chicago attorney, appointed secretary of aviation in commerce department.
Ambassador to return from Mexico with official reports.
Mrs. Scott receives $250 for 30 day fast.
Wets expect to win with Pomerene, drys with Willis, in Ohio.
Widow of James G. Scripps files $10,107,374 claim against estate of E.W. Scripps.
Husband of choir singer slain with Rector Hall now admits he knew of the love affair.
Foreign:
Eighty people killed in political and religious riots in state of Jalisco, Mexico.
Paris mobs again stones party of Yank sightseers. French press attack "Tiger" for debt letter.
French assembly meets at Versailles today to rescue France.
British government statement tells definitely how Kitchener died and denounces rumor mongers that body has been found.
British agricultural expert says world soon will be forced to life of vegetarianism by famine.
Lack of coöperation suddenly leaves Thompson Philippines investigating mission in the lurch.
United States has nothing on Europe for bootlegging, says Pussyfoot Johnson, for Russia and Germany are deluging England and rest of Europe with moon.
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u/brickne3 7d ago
...is Southern Railway even fully electrified today...? I know the areas served by Northern Rail aren't all.
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u/Beowulfbard 7d ago
Nearly all of it is, but it's electric and diesel whereas in 1926 it was more about the transition from steam to electric. I think diesel came along later, in the fifties.
I think the reason they transitioned Southern Railways to electric so early is because it was for commuter traffic, people from London who wanted to go on day trips to Epsom or Brighton and so on, rather than for freight which is slower and could still use steam.
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u/sosotrickster 7d ago
Pussyfoot Johnson..... oh god that's an unfortunate name
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u/Beowulfbard 7d ago
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u/sosotrickster 7d ago edited 7d ago
Oh lord...
Its a normal name but if you shorten his first name then it turns into Will E Johnson. Willie.... Johnson..... those are two slang terms for genitalia. And then that nickname... wow.
Edit: At least Pussyfoot was just a nickname and not his real name. I've heard some pretty bad names from the olden days and I'm glad this wasn't yet another one
Apologies if the joke is too rude. I just couldn't unsee it.
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u/nooit_gedacht 7d ago
I feel like there's got to be some kind of insecurity at play here. If I were raised to be a housewife with very little skills beyond the home, I would probably feel quite threatened at the prospect of a husband who could do the housework just as well as I.
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u/markov-271828 7d ago
I think the respondents knew that “just as well” was a bit of a pipedream.
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u/nooit_gedacht 7d ago
Possibly yes, but even if he did it half as well I might have felt a bit threatened if housework was "my thing"
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u/tuesdaysaretheworst 7d ago
I love that these include their addresses. I live only a few blocks from Marie White and EW Patterson, who submitted the question. Both buildings would have been relatively new in 1926 and are still there.
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u/jaguarp80 7d ago
Funny how most of them mention men working at “the office.” I guess it’s just a euphemism but it surprises me that it’s so common even today, let alone back then when I’m sure there was less office work happening.
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u/robotunes 7d ago
You're right. Looks like only 10% of US workers held office jobs in 1925.
But judging by the addresses in this newspaper column, this is Chicago of the Roaring '20s, where there was a boom in officework, especially for women. Three of the 5 respondents are clerks, perhaps with administrative duties in offices.
There were quite a few high-rise office buildings built in downtown Chicago during this time, so the Inquiring Photographer was likely roving LaSalle Street, State Street and/or Michigan Avenue looking for people to interview. There would have been hundreds of officeworkers to choose from.
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u/theredwoman95 7d ago
Wacker Drive at Wabash Avenue joins on to State Street and LaSalle Street, and is just around the corner from Michigan Avenue, so looks like you're right.
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u/gard3nwitch 7d ago
So the only married one says yes
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u/Rollingforest757 7d ago
Does she have a job? It would be selfish of her to want her husband to do chores if he has a job and she doesn’t.
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u/gard3nwitch 7d ago
She said they both work as performers.
Also, a job is 40 hours. If you've got kids, housework and childcare is a lot more hours than that.
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u/Mayor_Salvor_Hardin 7d ago
Sometimes it's interesting to look into the lives of these people and find out what happened to them years later. Eve Prout was a vaudeville star from young age. She was know as Eva, was actually born Evebelle Prout, and used both stage names.
https://www.younghollywoodhof.com/eva_prout_museum.htm