History Warp (12/12-12/18): Movies, Motels & M Jacquin

Posted: December 12th, 2011 | Filed under: History Warp | 1 Comment »

This week’s first historical factoid presents a vexing philosophical question. It deals with sexual peccadilloes and where our ancestors held them in days of yore?

First the fact. On December 12, 1925, in the bucolic burg of San Luis Obispo, California, the first motel opened. So, dad, along with mom and the kids could drive the Packard right up to the door of their room and get a pleasant night’s sleep, before heading on in the morning.

Or, it could be dad, along with the neighbor’s wife, driving the Packard right up to the door of their room, getting a pleasant night’s whatever, before heading back home in the morning as if he’d been on a business trip and she’d been visiting her sister Shirley in L A.

Motels did help increase car travel. And were a boon to those having secret affairs.

The question: Where did they have these quickie trysts before there were no tell motels?

* * * * *

While diamonds may be a girl’s best friends, or so the DeBeers diamond monopoly would have you believe, I’ve always thought pearls were a more demure gift.

Natural pearls are a concretion of nacre formed by a mollusk. Or so my crack research staff advises. Nacre is CaCO3. (That’s supposed to be a sub 3, but I don’t know how to do that with my word processing software and don’t intend to spend a half hour figuring it out.)

Anyway, on December 14, 1656, Paris jeweler M Jacquin fashioned artificial pearls for the first time out of gypsum pellets covered with fish scales.

These are not to be confused with cultured pearls, about which there isn’t enough room to explain.

* * * * *

The books to boffo, high grossing movie phenomenon is far from new.

It predates the “Twilight” saga. Goes back even further than “Harry Potter” and “Lord of the Rings.” True. Not to mention more serious adult fare.

There are many film historians who would point to December 15, 1939 as the beginning of  such situations. “Gone With The Wind” premiered. In Atlanta, of course.

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