Gertrude Ederle - England or Drown

Katherine: This past weekend would have been the birthday of a fabulous woman and athlete - Gertrude Ederle who was the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel.

MJ:  Yes, during the 1920's extreme challenges were a true fad. Some were less serious dares like setting the record for amount of time sitting in a tree. 

Katherine:  I know from our prequel Purse-Stachio Makes a Splash that accepting a dare has unexpected consequences.

MJ:  Gertrude Ederle was 20 years old in 1926 when she waded into the sea in Cape Gris-Nez, France. She walked up the beach at Kingsdown, England 21 miles and  14 hours, 34 minutes later. Not only did she make it, she broke the existing record by 2 hours! She said her motto was England or drown! She was from New York, a butcher's daughter.

Katherine:  Before the channel swim, she was an Olympic champion swimmer, winning one gold medal and 2 bronze medals.

MJ:  Beyond her silk swimsuit, her skin was covered with grease to ward off hypothermia with all the hours in the 60 degree August water. Her record time wasn't beat until 1950 by Florence Chadwick, another American woman who swam the channel in 13 hours and 20 minutes.

Katherine:  Gertrude wore glass aviator goggles sealed with wax against the salt water. The goggles are at the Smithsonian. During our mystery Kat Out of the Bag, I patented a method for full water proofing for purses and wallets. It certainly comes in handy. Gertrude may have liked to carry one of those too.

MJ:  During Gertrude's 1920's handbags were pretty much just bags you carried in your hand with not much in them most popular were those with short straps or handles, nothing that could go over the shoulder. The bag part could be a variety of shapes though. Not much variety in color though: black, brown, tan, red tinged brown, and grey. And the most common leather was calfskin, pigskin, or the cheaper sheepskin.

Katherine:   Yes, but textured lizard, alligator, crocodile, and snakeskin started to make an appearance mid-decade. And this is when clutch bags grew in popularity. But a big breakthrough came at the end of the decade. It was none other than Coco Chanel who was inspired in design from the military messenger bag and she added long thin straps to her bag and in 1929 introduced the first shoulder bag. So Coco Chanel - practicality and style.

MJ:  She inspires my meditation for today. I love her quote - "Don't spend time beating on a wall hoping to transform it into a door."

Katherine: Evening bags were the stars of the 1920's. Beading and metalwork replaced embroidery in popularity. Here's a great example, just 7 inches tall and 4 1/2 inches across. Very delicate and fancy and flapperish. It was a purse similar to this one that Amber found in the donation box for our Purse-onality Purse and Women's History museum that started her and Michael investigating a mystery of their own, a historical mystery while I worked on the mystery of Brenda's killer. Kat Out of the Bag is truly a double mystery.

MJ:  Here's commemorating Gertrude Ederle on what would have been her birthday weekend. She died at the age of 98 in 2003. She'd had a brief, exciting time appearing in Vaudeville. She'd had poor hearing since childhood due to measles, and by the 1940's she was almost completely deaf. That's when she started teaching swimming to deaf children. Well done, Gertrude Ederle. And here's a cheer to all  training and competing women swimmers.

Katherine:  Whatever dream you pursue, go ahead and get your feet wet. Let Gertrude Ederle be part of your inspiration.