Why Aren't You Up Yet?
Sleeping in was not a Victorian thing. A respectable lady was awake at respectable hour to tend to her home and family. Oh, yes, those decadent aristocrats who stay out into the wee hours dancing at their nasty parties no doubt need to sleep deep into the midday, but, as Ella Shane’s upright and rather terrifying Aunt MaryKat would happily point out at any opportunity, “decent people keep decent hours.”
And really, while most folks didn’t express it with the asperity of Aunt MaryKat, people outside the highest upper-class circles generally followed the old advice usually attributed to Ben Franklin about early to bed and early to rise. For women, much of the “early to bed” part was sheer exhaustion. Even if you had servants (and most even minimally comfortable people had at least one), you still had to tell them what to do, and usually work alongside them to accomplish the most basic tasks. Just getting breakfast on the table could be a multi-hour production, never mind cleaning up after it. More, blacking the stove and scouring skillets was a treat compared to the dreaded laundry day. That meant every female in the house was awake before the birds, and hard at the weekly boiling, scrubbing, and ironing required to keep everyone clean and next to godliness.
No wonder women hired cooks and sent out the laundry the second they could afford to do so!
With all of that work to start the day, sleeping late was inherently suspect; you’re in bed when you should be up and doing your part. Add in the association with those questionable high society types -- not to mention the fact that the only women who were out late at night were the sort respectable females aren’t supposed to know about…and you have plenty of ladies who are very motivated to get up early and make sure everyone knows it.
Which brings us to Ella, who absolutely must sleep late on occasion. Her mentor, Madame Lentini, following the advice of many health experts of the time, insisted that she should always make sure to get a good night’s sleep (eight hours or so by Victorian standards, just like ours). But if the clock starts at two or three, after a performance, perhaps a small snack, and a relaxing medicinal sherry, you’re still well past any wakeup time that most people would consider decent – especially Aunt MaryKat.
All of that makes Ella more than a little defensive about sleeping in – pointing up one of the very few areas where our rather modern diva is a truly old-fashioned girl. So that’s why, when she comes downstairs around eleven-thirty the morning after a benefit in A FATAL FINALE, she reminds us that she is practicing discipline, not decadence. For a Lower East Side orphan made good, it’s bad enough to be doing something vaguely not respectable – but truly intolerable that anyone might think she was lacking in work ethic.
So if you wonder why on earth Ella feels the need to justify sleeping in, even though she works all night, comes straight home from her show, and tucks herself in like a good maiden lady…it’s because she can almost hear Aunt MaryKat’s sharp voice: “Well, it must be nice to be able to just lie abed!”
She’s too nice to suggest that a little extra sleep might improve Aunt MaryKat’s humor. But I’m not!
Have an idea for a Throwback Thursday post? Share it in the comments!
And really, while most folks didn’t express it with the asperity of Aunt MaryKat, people outside the highest upper-class circles generally followed the old advice usually attributed to Ben Franklin about early to bed and early to rise. For women, much of the “early to bed” part was sheer exhaustion. Even if you had servants (and most even minimally comfortable people had at least one), you still had to tell them what to do, and usually work alongside them to accomplish the most basic tasks. Just getting breakfast on the table could be a multi-hour production, never mind cleaning up after it. More, blacking the stove and scouring skillets was a treat compared to the dreaded laundry day. That meant every female in the house was awake before the birds, and hard at the weekly boiling, scrubbing, and ironing required to keep everyone clean and next to godliness.
No wonder women hired cooks and sent out the laundry the second they could afford to do so!
With all of that work to start the day, sleeping late was inherently suspect; you’re in bed when you should be up and doing your part. Add in the association with those questionable high society types -- not to mention the fact that the only women who were out late at night were the sort respectable females aren’t supposed to know about…and you have plenty of ladies who are very motivated to get up early and make sure everyone knows it.
Which brings us to Ella, who absolutely must sleep late on occasion. Her mentor, Madame Lentini, following the advice of many health experts of the time, insisted that she should always make sure to get a good night’s sleep (eight hours or so by Victorian standards, just like ours). But if the clock starts at two or three, after a performance, perhaps a small snack, and a relaxing medicinal sherry, you’re still well past any wakeup time that most people would consider decent – especially Aunt MaryKat.
All of that makes Ella more than a little defensive about sleeping in – pointing up one of the very few areas where our rather modern diva is a truly old-fashioned girl. So that’s why, when she comes downstairs around eleven-thirty the morning after a benefit in A FATAL FINALE, she reminds us that she is practicing discipline, not decadence. For a Lower East Side orphan made good, it’s bad enough to be doing something vaguely not respectable – but truly intolerable that anyone might think she was lacking in work ethic.
So if you wonder why on earth Ella feels the need to justify sleeping in, even though she works all night, comes straight home from her show, and tucks herself in like a good maiden lady…it’s because she can almost hear Aunt MaryKat’s sharp voice: “Well, it must be nice to be able to just lie abed!”
She’s too nice to suggest that a little extra sleep might improve Aunt MaryKat’s humor. But I’m not!
Have an idea for a Throwback Thursday post? Share it in the comments!
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