I'm an Australian author of contemporary and historical romances, plus history non-fiction. My books range from sexy to erotic, late 1700s to the mid 1800s, and with a dash of Australia thrown into the mix. My heroes and heroines challenge tradition and my stories often expose the seamier levels of life. I now live in a sunny part of Australia after spending many years in developing countries in the South Pacific. My greatest loves are traveling, anywhere and everywhere, meeting crazy characters, and visiting the Australian outback. I hope my books bring history alive and you have fun adventuring with my roguish heroes and feisty heroines.
1808 Gorgeous Women’s Fashion In The Times Of Jane Austen. Fashion plates from Journal des Dames et des Modes or Costume Parisien. Dresses, coats or Redingotes, Spencers in purple and red, shawls, fichu or shoulder cape, shoes, hats and headdresses, gloves, and Reticules or bags. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionWomen1805-1809
1807 Gentleman’s Half Dress, French. Green cutaway tailcoat, white vest, white frilled shirt with very high white cravat, white breeches with red fob at waist, white stockings, black shoes, black top hat and carrying a cane. Fashion Plate via Journal des Dames et des Modes, or Costume Parisien.
French fashions and Georgian and Regency Era fashions from Great Britain were copied around the world. This is the normal daily outfit for a gentleman in the early 1800s, or in the times of Jane Austen, for daily city and country life. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveFashionMen1800-1819
Regency Gentleman’s Sporting Life in the times of Jane Austen. By Robert Cruikshank via Google Books Races, bowls, sailing, fox hunting… all the sports enjoyed by people in Regency Era. From: 1826 The English Spy by Robert Cruikshank via Google Books (PD150)
The Majestic Silent Theatre in Pomona, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia was far from silent when movie goers were treated to two short movies, One Week and Haunted House, by the hilarious Buster Keaton who was famous for doing all his own stunts. The Theatre was originally built as a social hall with attached shops in 1921 and is the oldest authentic silent movie theatre in the world and the longest continuously operating movie theatre in Australia.
The hall was designed to serve several functions: to show silent movies, for vaudeville productions, and to act as a social centre for the town. Over time it served as a venue for dances, balls, concerts, and wedding functions, roller skating, boxing, and church services. Constructed of unseasoned milled hardwood, the hall was about 12 metres wide by 18 metres long, with seating for 198 people and included a sprung dance floor of ¾ inch crow’s ash timber and was raised on stumps to avoid flooding. On the left hand side was the Majestic Café, which also served as general store and the right hand side’s shop accommodated at various times a dentist, radio shop, and a mechanic. https://www.themajestictheatre.com.au
The theatre’s busiest period was during World War II, when a Tank Attack (anti-tank gun) Regiment was stationed near Pomona. The troops had priority for seats and local civilians were irate when they could not get in. Often people would watch from outside, standing in the middle of the road, which was the State’s main north to south highway. The theatre remained popular after the war, and throughout the 1940s to the 1960s films were shown on Wednesday and Friday evenings and Saturday afternoon, with a cartoon and two movies for four shillings and sixpence.
The electrical 1937 Compton organ is the only one in a Queensland theatre and comes from the Regal Cinema in South Shields, Chester England. The pipe chamber contains 1930s electrical organ switches from the Theatre Royal in Halifax. Three ranks of Christie pipes in the chamber were originally from a theatre in Dunedin, New Zealand, and were owned by a church in Sydney before they were acquired by West in 1985. Other ranks of pipes have been obtained, with the hope of eventually having 12 ranks. West did not just collect pipe organ parts – the timber organ grill that separates the organ room from the auditorium is made of Oregon pine, and comes from the Roxy Theatre in Parramatta. It took six and a half years to restore the organ and was launched on 6th July 2019. Stage drapes, furnishings and equipment were salvaged from the Regent, Wintergarden, Her Majesty’s theatres in Brisbane, and the Wintergarden in Ipswich.
Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and director best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname “The Great Stone Face”.Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton’s “extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929” when he “worked without interruption” as having made him “the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies”. In 1996, Entertainment Weekly recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director, writing that “More than Chaplin, Keaton understood movies: He knew they consisted of a four-sided frame in which resided a malleable reality off which his persona could bounce. A vaudeville child star, Keaton grew up to be a tinkerer, an athlete, a visual mathematician; his films offer belly laughs of mind-boggling physical invention and a spacey determination that nears philosophical grandeur.” In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him as the 21st-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema.
‘One Week’ is the story of a newly-wed couple given a kit house as a wedding present and Buster Keaton and his long-suffering wife try to erect the house by following numbers on the boxes, except that a rejected suitor tries to foil their attempts. ‘Haunted House’ has Keaton as a bank teller whose manager and his gang are trying to pull off a bank heist and hide in an old house that has been booby-trapped to make it appear haunted. Both these short and silent features have the audience laughing uproariously. The movies may be silent but the audience isn’t.
1770-1790 ca. Stays, or Corset, English. Pink silk damask, lined with linen, reinforced with whalebone, fingers spread over hips. via Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. collections.vam.ac.uk. https://books2read.com/SuziLoveCorsetBook15
These silk stays have a small repeat floral brocade in rose, white, and green. There are cream, leather-backed waist tabs, stitched eyelets, and pink and tan linings. These stays, or corset, are unusual because they have both front and back lacings. This means that a lady could step in and out of her stays and then tighten the front lacing herself, thereby eliminating the need for assistance from a maid or dresser.
Women of the middle and lower classes needed to be able to dress themselves as they have no one to assist in tightening their lacings when they dressed. Most upper class ladies would be able to call upon a maid to help and would therefore generally use back lacing stays.
1820 ca. Writing Box, English. Rosewood and brass inlaid writing box by William Dobson, The Strand, London. Makers label, gilded candle holders, ink wells. via antiques-atlas.com. Portable boxes for writing materials existed for many centuries but in the last decades of the 18th century socio-economic circumstances in England necessitated the wide use of a portable desk in the form of a box which could be used on a table or on one’s lap. Hence “Lap Desk”.
1802 Typical Gentlemen’s Fashions worn during the early 1800s, or Regency Era, or Jane Austen’s times. Fashion Plates via Journal des Dames et des Modes, Costume Parisien.
Regency Menswear: Typical menswear in the early 1800s included a tailcoat, a vest or waistcoat, either breeches, pants, or the newer trousers, stockings, shoes or boots, all worn with an overcoat and hat. This basic ensemble was accessorized with some form of neckcloth or cravat, gloves, a walking stick, cane or riding crop, handkerchief, fobs, a watch and perhaps a quizzing glass or eye glass.
From the finish of the 18th century until 1820, men’s fashions in European and European-influenced countries moved away from the formal wear of brocades, lace, wigs and powder to more informal and relaxed styles. Focus was on undress rather than formal dress. Typical menswear in the early 1800s included a tailcoat, a vest or waistcoat, either breeches, pants, or the newer trousers, stockings, shoes or boots, all worn with an overcoat and hat. This basic ensemble was accessorized with some form of neckcloth or cravat, gloves, walking stick, cane or riding crop, handkerchief, fobs, watch and perhaps a quizzing glass or eye glass.
Skirted coats were replaced with short-fronted, or cutaway, tailcoats worn over fitted waistcoats and plain, white linen shirts. Knee breeches were gradually replaced by tight-fitting pantaloons and later trousers, decorative shoes with buckles were replaced with a variety of boot styles, and fussy and ruffled neckwear gave way to intricately tied, white linen neck cloths. A Regency Era, or early 1800s, gentleman was outfitted in more practical fabrics, such as wool, cotton and buckskin rather than the fussy brocades and silks of the late 1700s.
1805 November Three English Ladies In Full Dress. White walking dress with high neck under a purple tunic and masculine style straw hat. Two in evening dresses, one white and one pink, fur stoles and plumed, or feathered, hats. via Vernon and Hood Poultry at The Lady’s Monthly Museum, London, U.K. These gorgeous dresses show the transition from the round dresses of the late 1700s to the Empire style dresses with the waistline high under the bust. Small trains were still worn in the early 1800s, but much more manageable than the larger and more elaborate trains of the late 1700s. Jane Austen and her friends would have worn dresses like this to their assemblies and evening events.
Definition Accessory: An accessory completes and complements an outfit. Two groups – 1. Those worn e.g. bonnets, caps and hats, boots and shoes, cravats and ties, gloves, mittens and muffs, jewelry, scarves and shawls, socks and stockings. 2. Those carried e.g. bags, fans, and parasols.
Definition Full Dress: The most formal and complete ensemble, worn for day or night events, and includes the fullest range of accessories that could be added to the outfit to make the most impressive display.
Drama and romance at the Duke Of Sherwyn’s snowbound country estate in the English countryside in December. Michael Brandon travels to introduce the woman he loves to family but is shocked when his missing brother, presumed dead for years, arrives at the country estate of the Duke Of Sherwyn where several people are stranded due to a severe snow storm. https://books2read.com/suziloveDS December Scandal, Book 3 Scandalous Siblings.
