Charles Dickens and Umbrellas III: Household Words

Here I perfom public service for the Internet and the umbrella industry. Unlike my harkening back to Mrs. Gamp or my investigation into the use of umbrellas to bribe the electorate of Eatanswill, with this venture--providing searchable readable text from Google's scan--I do not know whether Charles Dickens wrote these words or not. I had not been previously familiar with his weekly newspaper Household Words, but apparently while he edited the paper ("conducted" according to the cover of each issue), all articles are unsigned. [While Anne Lohrli's Household words: a weekly journal 1850-1859, conducted by Charles Dickens apparently provides a key to much of the authorship, I have not had the opportunity to consult it with respect to the following.]

From Household Words, November 13, 1852:

UMBRELLAS.

Would M. Garnerin have astonished the denizens of St. Pancras, by alighting among them in a parachute liberated from a balloon, half a century ago?-—would he have had many imitators, successful and unsuccessful, at all sorta of Eagles and Rosemary Branches and Hippodromes?-—and, lastly, would Madame Poitevin, the only real, genuine Europa of modern times, have dropped down from the clouds on an evening visit to Clapham Commons?-—would all these events have occurred if umbrellas had never been invented? What should induce the aeronaut to think of such an expedient, unless he had seen how nicely and suddenly the cloth of an umbrella expands into its curved form by the sliding action of the stretchers? When M. Blauchard lowered his little dog in a parachute over Liege, in 1785, he had studied an umbrella well beforehand. Our umbrellas usually have eight ribs or meridians on their spherical surface, and, of course, eight gores of cotton, or silk, or alpaca, to connect and cover them; but M. Garnerin's umbrella-parachute had no less than thirty-two gores, and expanded to twenty-three feet in diameter--surety a sufficient shield against two showers of rain rolled into one, or two suns burning at once with double July power.

But it is with umbrellas proper, and not umbrella-parachutes, that we are here dealing. And, in touching upon umbrellas, we must perforce include parasols; for they are so nearly related by family ties, that, although in European countries the parasol is generally the lady sister of the umbrella, yet in the East they are one and indivisible. Or rather, the umbrella, in its character as a rain-guard, is very little known in the East, for no one with his wits about him thinks of stirring abroad in the rainy season.

Great is the honour of holding an umbrella, or rather parasol, over an Oriental potentate. Among the sculptures at Persepolis is a bas-relief of a king or chief, over whose head an umbrella is held by an attendant. At Takht-i-Bostau, another spot in Persia, is a bas-relief representing a chief witnessing a boar hunt, with an attendant umbrella-bearer. Dr. Layard has met with umbrellas among his bas-reliefs at Nineveh, which seem to have been very smart productions. "It" (the Nineveh sun-shade) "resembled in shape very closely those now in common use, but it is always seen open in the sculptures. It was edged with tassels, and was usually adorned at the top by a flower, or some other ornament. On the later bas-reliefs a long piece of embroidered linen or silk, falling from one side like a curtain, appears to screen the king completely from the sun. The parasol was reserved exclusively for the monarch, and is never represented as borne over any other person." The Sangsters of Nineveh, therefore, six-aud-twenty centuries ago, must have had rather a limited circle of customers. In ancient Egypt, as in ancient Assyria, these sun-shields appear to have been used; for Sir J. G. Wilkinson has copied from one of the Theban pictures a delineation of an Ethiopian princess travelling in a car, to which is attached an umbrella or sun-shade, bearing a strong resemblance to the chaise umbrella which Mr. and Mrs. Smith take out with them on their Sunday's ride to Epping Forest.

The parasol is still an appendage of ceremonials in the East. Among the numerous titles of the King of Ava is that of "lord of the twenty-four umbrellas." In Siarn, the chief officers of state use umbrellas nearly resembling those of Europe; but the king— Loubere tells us—has an umbrella three or four tiers in height; and the umbrellas which he presents to ambassadors and his favourites indicate the degree of his favour by the kind of hangings or trimmings. Among the Mahratta tribes in India, the chattrapali or "lord of the umbrella," is an officer of very high rank; and Sir John Malcolm is of opinion that the Persian, title of satrap is derived from the same word. Besides the favoured holder of the umbrella over the sacred head of the Chinese emperor, the officers of state in China have each his umbrella-holder; and in Chinese drawings it is very customary to see ladies attended by servants similarly provided with umbrellas. Ali Bey, in describing the entrance of the Emperor of Morocco into Fez, says, that by the side of the monarch rode an officer holding an umbrella over the Emperor's head. Niebuhr tells us that, when in the south of Arabia, he saw the Imaum of Sana going to mosque in great state, with, on umbrella over him.

In Europe we find the distinction between the umbrella and the parasol more marked. The French have their parapluie and their parasol; the Italians have their ombrillo and their parasole; the Germans their regenschirm and their sonnenschirm--all "rainguards" or "sun-guards." It is probable that Italywas the first European country to adopt these conveniences, originally as a sun-shade only, but afterwards as a rain-shade likewise. Horsemen sometimes carried with them umbrellas made of leather, hooped in the inside, ao as to expand to a pretty large size. Robinson Crusoe's umbrella was, as we all know, made of skins, with the hair ontowards; and Defoe probably derived his idea of it from the sun-shades used at that time in South America.

The umbrella as a sun-shade was certainly known and used in England more than two centuries ago, for it is mentioned in that capacity by Ben Jonson and by Beaumont and Fletcher; but its use as a wet weather companion commenced much later. Gay, writing his "Trivia," about 1712, speaks thus:—-

"Good housewives all the winter's rape despise,
Defended by the riding hood's disguise;
Or underneath th' umbrella's oily shed,
Safe through the wet in clinking pattens tread.
Let Persian dames th' umbrella's ribs display
To guard their beauties from the snnny ray;
Or sweating slaves support their shady load,
When Eastern monarchs show their state abroad;
Britain in winter only knows its aid,
To guard from chilling showers the walking maid."

But, alas! for Gay's theory, the "walking maid" has become more afraid of the sun's beams; not only does the well-to-do lady carry a parasol, but the damsel of low degree now looks out among "Tremendous Sacrifices," for parasols at thirteen-pence halfpenny each. And the oily shed of which Gay speaks seems to denote a kind of sou'wester material, less dainty than the neat gingham or the soft silk.

Jonas Hanway, celebrated for much more important things, has the celebrity of being the first man to use an umbrella, in England. With respect to Scotland, Creech tells us that "in 1763 there was no such thing known or once used as an
umbrella; but an eminent surgeon of Edinburgh, who had occasion to walk a good deal in the course of his business, used one about the year 1780; and in 1783 umbrellas, were much used." Glasgow seems also, from the "Statistical Account" of that city, to have become possessed of its first umbrella about the same time, much to the astonishment of the citizens. All vary well, this, for the abundant rains in the touns of Scotland; but it is difficult to admire a full-dressed kilted Highlander walking under an umbrella, a sight which Queen Victoria has more than once witnessed. Before umbrellas were used by pedestrians in England, it became customary to provide one in the halls of genteel mansions, to hold over persons when entering or leaving their carriages. In those days umbrellas were weighed by the pound, and not by the ounce, as at present.

The making of umbrellas and parasols is a very curious art, as we learn abundantly from that same Exhibition Jury which has told the world more about walking-sticks than the world ever knew before. It appears that in forty years there have been no fewer than eighty patents taken out in France alone for improvements in umbrella making. An umbrella consists, as a slight examination will show, of a large number of distinct parts, and there has been room for uutiring ingenuity in devising means of fastening these several pieces together; so that those which are to be fixed may be firm in their fixedness, and those which are to move may move smoothly and quietly. And there has been no want of change in the materials employed—-cane, for whalebone; iron, for wood; and alpaca for silk or gingham.

The putting together of nmbrella and parasol frames with cane and whalebone ribs is, it seems, chiefly done by small masters in London, who employ lads to assist them; the covering with woven material is the work of women and girls at their own humble homes; while the fixing of the handles and ferules is often done at the warehouses. There are thus no umbrella factories, properly so called; the system resembles that of the Clerkenswell watch trade, in which the component elements of a watch travel about from one small master to another, before being finally put together. The metal work, however—-the Birmingham portion—-especially since the increased use of iron in the frames, is conducted much more on the factory system; the number of persons so employed is very large, and the manufacture is an important element in Birmingham industry.

The amount of work which the putter-together performs for three farthings is scarcely credible, were it not stated as authority beyond all dispute. The workman receives stick, ribs, stretchers, and runners from the warehouse; he provides iron wire and sheet brass; his workshop is supplied at his own charge with lathes, eaves, rostf-utters, drills, paring-knives, a vice, pliers, and other tools; and he and his lads—_two to four in number—_set to work. First, the stick goes through its prescribed ordeal; it is usually of beech, and was formerly stained; it is now singed to any desired tint. There is a portable fire-place with a hole in the chimney. The stick is thrust into that hole, and is passed rapidly over the top of a flame; being dexterously twisted about the while. It comes out of a dark or light colour according to the time of its exposure to, or its distance from, the flame. The workers taper one end for receiving the ferule; they out two grooves for receiving the two springs which respectively keep the umbrella closed and open; they insert the springs in these grooves, they adjust a stopper of wire to prevent the slides from going too far, and they fix a cross wire with a staple at each end of it. Thus much for the stick; and now for the ribs. The workman and his staff of boys roughly taper the slip of whalebone which is to form a rib; they shape it, and smooth it, and varnish its tip; they drill a hole in it, to facilitate the fastening to the cover; they shape and smooth the head, lap sheet brass round it, and drill a hole through it for the bit of wire which is afterwards to form a hinge ; they similarly drill and shield it at the middle point where the stretcher is to be fastened, and they attach it to the stretcher by means of a little axis of wire. When all the eight ribs have been doctored in this way, they are separately weighed or weighted:; that is, they arc tested in respuct to strength and flexibility, in order that the eight for any one umbrella may be selected as nearly equal as possible; a necessary condition for the symmetrical set of the umbrella when open. Thus far done, the busy workers proceed to thread the ribs ; they insert a bit of wire in a drilled hole in each stretcher; they fasten the stretcher to a notch in the slides by means of this wire, and they fasten the ribs to their meeting point by other pieces of wire.

Now what, in the name of all that is cheap, does the reader imagine to be the rate of wages paid for this labour and these bits of iron wire and sheet brass? In the first place, look at the movements, the separate operations. The stick pasaes through the hand nineteen times during its fashioning and adjustment; each rib passes through the hand thirteen times in preparing, once in weighing, and four times in threading; and thus, for an umbrella, of eight ribs, there have been one hundred and sixty-three successive operations, performed by the workman and his three or four boys. For this he receives from a halfpenny to three farthings in the case of parasols, and from three farthings to one penny in the case of umbrellas, if the manufacture be of the commonest kind, and the ribs made of cane; but a whalebone-rribbed umbrella brings him about twopence half-penny. In respect to the number of operations, we may say that the Jury reporter makes it one hundred and thirty-five; but as his sum total does not quite agree with his items, we have taken the liberty to introduce a little arithmetic of our own. A workman and four boys can, notwithstanding this complexity of movements and operations, put together nearly six hundred common umbrellas in a week; but out of the six hundred pence which he may receive for this labour, his iron wire and sheet brass will have cost him eight shillings. When the next shower of rain impels us to open 'an umbrella, let us look at its skeleton, and ponder on the amount of labour rendered for a penny or twopence.

The womens' and girls' work, in covering the umbrellas and parasols, is paid for at the rate of from a penny to fourpence each, according to the quality and the amount of labour.

The iron or (so called) steel frames now made at Birmingham, are produced in enormous quantities. The stick, ribs, stretchers, and ferule, are all made of iron, and can be supplied complete so low as sevenpence each. The small compass into which an iron-frame umbrella will pack, is a great source of the favour in which it is held. France excels us in the costly and beautiful umbrellas and parasols; but we outvie all the world in the humbler kinds. Several of our large City houses are said to sell from two hundred and fifty to five hundred dozens of umbrellas and parasols weekly. The wholesale prices have now reached such a low degree of cheapness that a child's gingham parasol may be had for fourpence, a woman's for tenpence-halfpenny, a small silk parasol for the same, and a gingham umbrella for sevenpence. That the manufacture of these goods must be very large in England, is shown by the fact that the whalebone fins imported, and used principally for umbrella-ribs, amount to eight or nine thousand hundredweights annually.

The pursuit of lightness has been one of the aims of modern umbrella makers, insomuch that we are becoming lighter and lighter every generation. The umbrella of 1645 is recorded to have been a weighty affair of three pounds and a half, from which we have travelled downwards to about half a pound. One inventor has ingeniously shown how to make the ribs of hollow steel tubing, combining much strength with extraordinary lightness; and another has a contrivance for opening the umbrella by merely touching a spring near the handle; a third shows you how to draw out the stick, and use it as a walking-stick; while another enables you to fold up your umbrella and stow it away ia your great-coat pocket. The Alpaca is a favourite just now; it is covered with cloth made from the undyed wool of the South American sheep; it fades neither in the sunshine nor with the touch of salt-water, and it is strong and durable. No less than twenty-five thousand pounds' worth of Alpaca cloth was used in England for covering umbrellas in 1851. In Paris there are something like seventeen hundred persons employed in making umbrellas and parasols, producing three hundred thousand pounds' worth in a year--no trifling item int the productive industry of a great city.

If we mistake not, the newspapers described, a few years ago, a most gorgeous umbrella made in London for an Oriental potentate, with a hollow stick containing all sorts of golden and be-jewelled knick-knacks, and an external adornment of most costly character. Yet is the sevenpenny gingham umbrella a more important commercial article, after all.

Charles Dickens and Umbrellas II: Pickwick Papers

OK, we know that Mr. Dickens brought "gamp" into the English language, but let us take another approach. According to one history of the umbrella:

In Charles Dickens’ novel "The Pickwick Papers" voters in Eatonswill were bribed with expensive gifts for their wives in the form of "45 green umbrellas for seven shillings and sixpence".

However, I have striven (strived?) in vain to find this on the freely available Internet. So, today, all the references to the word "umbrella" (but not, let us say, umbrella-stand), in The Pickwick Papers:

Chapter 7: "There were, within sight, an auctioneer's and fire-agency office, a corn-factor's, a linen-draper's, a saddler's, a distiller's, a grocer's, and a shoe-shop--the last- mentioned warehouse being also appropriated to the diffusion of hats, bonnets, wearing apparel, cotton umbrellas, and useful knowledge."

Chapter 27: "A pair of old, worn, beaver gloves, a broad-brimmed hat, and a faded green umbrella, with plenty of whalebone sticking through the bottom, as if to counterbalance the want of a handle at the top, lay on a chair beside him; and, being disposed in a very tidy and careful manner, seemed to imply that the red-nosed man, whoever he was, had no intention of going away in a hurry."

Chapter 31: "They are, for the most part, low-roofed, mouldy rooms, where innumerable rolls of parchment, which have been perspiring in secret for the last century, send forth an agreeable odour, which is mingled by day with the scent of the dry-rot, and by night with the various exhalations which arise from damp cloaks, festering umbrellas, and the coarsest tallow candles."

Chapter 32: "The umbrellas in the passage had been heaped into the little corner outside the back-parlour door; the bonnet and shawl of the landlady's servant had been removed from the bannisters; there were not more than two pairs of pattens on the street-door mat; and a kitchen candle, with a very long snuff, burned cheerfully on the ledge of the staircase window." AND "Mrs. Raddle paused to listen whether the repetition of the taunt had roused her better half; and finding that it had not been successful, proceeded to descend the stairs with sobs innumerable; when there came a loud double knock at the street door; whereupon she burst into an hysterical fit of weeping, accompanied with dismal moans, which was prolonged until the knock had been repeated six times, when, in an uncontrollable burst of mental agony, she threw down all the umbrellas, and disappeared into the back parlour, closing the door after her with an awful crash."

Chapter 34: "An extra-sized umbrella was then handed in by Mr. Dodson, and a pair of pattens by Mr. Fogg, each of whom had prepared a most sympathising and melancholy face for the occasion." AND "Mrs. Sanders, whose eyes were intently fixed on the judge's face, planted herself close by, with the large umbrella, keeping her right thumb pressed on the spring with an earnest countenance, as if she were fully prepared to put it up at a moment's notice."

Chapter 42:

'Gone, my dear sir--last coat--can't help it. Lived on a pair of boots--whole fortnight. Silk umbrella--ivory handle--week-- fact--honour--ask Job--knows it.'

'Lived for three weeks upon a pair of boots, and a silk umbrella with an ivory handle!' exclaimed Mr. Pickwick, who had only heard of such things in shipwrecks or read of them in Constable's Miscellany.

Chapter 45: "'In the buzzim, young man,' replied Mr. Stiggins, placing his umbrella on his waistcoat." AND "With these words, Mr. Stiggins again cast up his eyes, and rapped his breast with his umbrella; and it is but justice to the reverend gentleman to say, that his indignation appeared very real and unfeigned indeed." AND "He tasted the contents of the glass which Sam had placed in his hand, put his umbrella on the floor, and tasted it again, passing his hand placidly across his stomach twice or thrice; he then drank the whole at a breath, and smacking his lips, held out the tumbler for more." AND "At this supposition, the Reverend Mr. Stiggins, in evident consternation, gathered up his hat and umbrella, and proposed an immediate departure, to which Mrs. Weller assented. Sam walked with them to the lodge gate, and took a dutiful leave."

Chapter 51: "In the street, umbrellas were the only things to be seen, and the clicking of pattens and splashing of rain-drops were the only sounds to be heard."

Chapter 53: "So saying, he put his umbrella under his arm, drew off his right glove, and extended the hand of reconciliation to that most indignant gentleman; who, thereupon, thrust his hands beneath his coat tails, and eyed the attorney with looks of scornful amazement."

Well, there was one green umbrella in this bumch, but no references to "Eatonswill"! So, we keep searching and we do indeed find Mr. Pickwick in Eatanswill ... and following the election with interest. But no references to shillings anywhere in the book, so at last we go for sixpence and we strike the motherload: Not umbrellas, but parasols!:

'And what are the probabilities as to the result of the contest?' inquired Mr. Pickwick.

'Why, doubtful, my dear Sir; rather doubtful as yet,' replied the little man. 'Fizkin's people have got three-and-thirty voters in the lock-up coach-house at the White Hart.'

'In the coach-house!' said Mr. Pickwick, considerably astonished by this second stroke of policy.

'They keep 'em locked up there till they want 'em,' resumed the little man. 'The effect of that is, you see, to prevent our getting at them; and even if we could, it would be of no use, for they keep them very drunk on purpose. Smart fellow Fizkin's agent--very smart fellow indeed.'

Mr. Pickwick stared, but said nothing.

'We are pretty confident, though,' said Mr. Perker, sinking his voice almost to a whisper. 'We had a little tea-party here, last night--five-and-forty women, my dear sir--and gave every one of 'em a green parasol when she went away.'

'A parasol!' said Mr. Pickwick.

'Fact, my dear Sir, fact. Five-and-forty green parasols, at seven and sixpence a-piece. All women like finery--extraordinary the effect of those parasols. Secured all their husbands, and half their brothers--beats stockings, and flannel, and all that sort of thing hollow. My idea, my dear Sir, entirely. Hail, rain, or sunshine, you can't walk half a dozen yards up the street, without encountering half a dozen green parasols.'

Here the little man indulged in a convulsion of mirth, which was only checked by the entrance of a third party.

So, there you have it, not 7 shillings and sixpence for 45 umbrellas, but 7 and six for each green parasol, and not that umbrellas were used to bribe a vote but that they were used to bribe women--who had no vote--to convince their husbands and/or brothers (only half of them) (what, no fathers!), to vote the umbrella way. Ah, but there was certainly a kernel of truth to the legend of umbrellas and the Election at Eatanswill:




The Election Parade at Eatanswill, from "The Pickwick Papers"

Giclee Print

Ludovici II,...


Buy at AllPosters.com

Charles Dickens and Umbrellas I

This blog was created to delve into the cultural underpinnings of the umbrella, but it has not held its course. Now, we steer back and, in arbitrary fashion, reorient ourselves by going after Charles Dickens.

Let us start with Mrs. Gamp. Here a Dickens character has lent her own name to the English (British) language, as an umbrella all by herself. Arising out of Martin Chuzzlewit, Mrs. Gamp (Sairey Gamp to her friends) gave nursing a black eye, but she was never without her battered black umbrella. "...Mrs Gamp's umbrella, which as something of great price and rarity, was displayed with particular ostentation,...."

The Tech Wars: Shade and Sun Power at the Same Time

The war between the rain umbrellas and sun umbrellas has gotten a big tilt toward solar with the energy harvesting Powerbrella. The developer's idea is for these to be set up at hotels, coffee shops, etc., and have then converts sunlight into electricity to charge laptops, mobile phones, iPods and other portable devices--at the same time, presumably, as they are providing shade. But, maybe, they won't electrocute you when it starts raining, too.

Read much more than you might want to know about zonarka Technologies, Inc., an innovator in development and commercialization of Power Plastic®, a material that converts light to energy, and SKYShades®, who will sell a Powerbrella to you, at the Skyshades website.

Using Microbes To Stretch the Metaphor a Bit Too Far

OK, we like protection, we like umbrellas to protect us, we like the metaphor of the "umbrella"...but this "UMBRELLA" project has gone a step too far. According to a report from the JuraForum, researchers at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena have developed the "UMBRELLA" project for remediating soils containing heavy metals with a recipe based on on the kind of contamination and the conditions on the site. So where does "UMBRELLA" come from? From: "Using MicroBes for the REgulation of heavy metaL mobiLity at ecosystem and landscape scAle" -- I guess that works better than ""Using Microbes for the Regulation of Heavy Meta Mobility at Ecosystem and Landscape Scale" (UMRHMMELS), but not by much!

North Koreans Plant Umbrellas to Protect Traffic Wardens

According to a Korean Central News Agency report picked up in bemused tone by the New York Times, the country’s leader, Kim Jong-il, has taken a personal interest in the well-being of these traffic wardens, ensuring that they are equipped with, among other things, “unique platforms under umbrellas” to shield them from the elements.

According to KCNA, the women who direct traffic were “moved by the warm affection shown for them by General Secretary Kim Jong-il, who saw to it that the platforms with umbrellas are being set up.”

KCNA adds that the new giant umbrellas of Pyongyang have been attracting a lot of attention and comment from North Koreans who, according to the news agency, “say it can be seen only in the country led by Kim Jong-il.”

Addendum: Reuters has Dear Leader opening an umbrella boom with his own umbrella holder, too!

Yikes: Leave that Umbrella Pole Alone

Sorry news today . . . a (now, former) BBC television presenter who went to the dark side of the umbrella--the pole. Supposedly one can see in this CCTV that he has actual possession of the pole, possession he denied at trial for using that pole as a weapon to hurt a teenager. So, instead of benefiting from the protection that umbrellas offer, he will be spending two years in jail, time to think and remember that the lonely umbrella pole is only satisfied when used to hold up an umbrella.

Umbrellas to Light Up the Night

Thanks to the folks at Crave, I now know about the Twilight Umbrella. Unfortunately, one can only acquire them from the brolly kingdom at Firebox UK: "Guaranteed to brighten up the rainiest of days, these hi-tech brollies utilise fibre optics, three AAA batteries and lots of LEDs to create a truly magical effect."

In Memoriam: Michael Jackson and Umbrellas

There are lots of directions to go in presenting Michael Jackson's association with brollies, but what better than the Daily Mail's discussion of a Michael Jackson shopping trip: "Despite the obvious lack of rain or sunshine in the building, Jackson occasionally dipped under the shade of the umbrella, although what he was sheltering from exactly was anyone's guess."

On the other hand, another fan has married images of Michael and umbrellas with Rihanna's own Umbrella:

Umbrellas and the Fab Four

This image was posted on a weather blog with the caption that "The Liverpool lads knew a thing or two about rain…" and linking to a You Tube video that was part of a '60s promotional video for The Beatles, with nary an umbrella in sight. So, of course, the question becomes what else can you do linking the Fab Four with umbrellas. Well, here is a start--Ringo holding an umbrella while the rest sing "Help!"

Does This Umbrella Look Like a Rifle? Closed Mall for 45 Minutes!

The fear of public shootings rose another notch as the Mall of Bluffs in Council Bluffs, Iowa closed for about 45 minutes after someone reported seeing a man with a gun. However, all was safe as authorities found their man - and his umbrella.

Of course, as readers of the Brolly Blog know, umbrellas have been used for bank robberies so maybe we should be cautious. However, there are a lot of umbrellas out there to watch out for!

If the best defense is a good offense, look to those who are carrying their Gentleman Umbrella Sword.

Matthew Swinton's Sprout Umbrella

CNETjust brought this to my attention, but it is apparently at least a couple years old. As designed by Matthew Swinton, this "brolly concept may just grow on you, literally." According to Yanko Design:

The canopy and all the hardware is enclosed in the handle. A knob on its face turns to unlock the inner mechanism. The knob slides down the umbrella, forcing the canopy arms out through the top of the shaft. The flexible plastic arms are bent as the exit the handle, pulling the canopy with it. When fully open, the knob is turned back to lock the umbrella open.

Alas, no evidence that this sprout has sprung, so don't look for this in your neighborhood brolly store.

Rainfall and Umbrella Sales: More May Mean Less

According to an article in The Globe and Mail, it is raining more in Vancouver than it used to. However, while you would think this would be great for umbrellas, it turns out that it is not the "right" kind of rain! It is raining harder, but not as frequently.

Corry Flader, one of the family owners of The Umbrella Shop, Canada's last remaining umbrella- manufacturing business, says the fact that it rains less frequently, but harder, is not good for business. "My sales have been hurt dramatically because now it rains in buckets."

Ms. Flader mourns the weeks of steady daytime drizzles that used to send her sales soaring. (Her consolation is that her sales are still going up, as people have veered away from cheap, flimsy umbrellas and toward more durable ones, as they weigh their purchases more carefully in a tough economy.)

A Reverse: Celebrity as Umbrella Holder

In an amusing reversal of the theme of umbrella holders for celebrities, a Japanese cell phone company has decided to use Brad Pitt as the umbrella holder. JustJared has more pictures for you and plenty of comments on Brad and his imaginary role as a sumo wrestler's bodyguard.

Umbrellas for Peace Coming to Santa Rosa, CA

The WillMar Center for Bereaved Children is coordinating an "Umbrellas for Peace" project in Santa Rosa, California, on April 24. According to the Sonoma Sun, "Rain or shine, some 600 volunteer artists-–bearing their own umbrella hand-painted with a personal message of peace and unity-–will be out for a 4 p.m. stroll on Sonoma Plaza."

"As a symbol of safety and strength, she explained, the umbrella is a wonderful medium to convey the hopes, dreams and wishes of each artist." Chicago artist Matt Lamb created the initial "Umbrellas for Peace" in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the project has since spread around the world. According to Lamb:

The umbrella is a metaphor for protection. It does not discriminate, and all people-regardless of race, age, gender or country--are safe under the umbrella. The top of the umbrella is the shelter and represents our hopes, dreams and aspirations. The underside of the umbrella represents concerns and fears. Lamb Umbrella’s for Peace helps children and adults express their positive emotions and heal negative experiences by painting them onto the umbrella. It teaches children peace, hope, love and creativity instead of the daily message of war and agression. It’s our goal to spread these messages into the world through art.

A Luxury Umbrella with a Philosophy

A Neiman Marcus trunk show is featuring umbrellas from Umrelli. Expensive, limited edition umrellas, this Italian line of handmade umbrellas uses art and travel as inspirations and have brass plates indicating their number. But, more important, they have a "Philosophy": "Our mission is to provide an elegant sanctum from inclement weather by utilizing the finest parts, materials, and production expertise." I guess for the money, it is good to have a philosophy to go with the rain protection, although these may be too expensive to expose to the rain, even if they are the "product of an artist who studied through the long Ticino rainy seasons and graduated with great affection for the inspiring beauty and craftsmanship belonging to Southern Switzerland and Italy."

Original "Umbrella Girl" Icon Is Sold

Dow Chemical Co. has announced that it is selling Morton Salt to German fertilizer maker K+S Aktiengesellschaft in a deal valuing the former Rohm & Haas unit at $1.675 billion.

For umbrella fans, Morton Salt is perhaps the original iconic umbrella. According to the "History of the Umbrella Girl," the image made its first appearance in 1914 and has been unchanged since its 6th incarnation in 1968 ("the current Umbrella Girl has been with us through moon launches, hip-hop and the growth of the Internet.").

So, what is "iodized" salt anyway?

The Deductible Umbrella?: Umbrellas for Charity

According to an article in the East Valley Tribune, what started as a charity umbrella auction in conjunction with a local theater's production of "Singin' in the Rain" turned into a national fundraising effort on behalf of a set of conjoined twins. "Umbrellas dotted with signatures from the likes of Hugh Jackman, Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon lined the lobby of Mesa's Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre" in advance of an auction being held at the theater and online on eBay.

Woody Allen Redux: Having Someone Else Hold an Umbrella over You

Continuing on the random Woody Allen search brings us to an interesting issue about umbrellas: having someone else protect you with an umbrella. In this instance Woody Allen is just one of 16 celebrities captured in umbrella-assisted mode. While some folks consider this aspect of celebrity as absurd--see PerezHilton giving it to Hugh Jackman ("diva") when similarly captured--it is worth exploring broader issues about this practice.

Taking an inital stab at this, in random fashion, first it is good to know that under the laws of family purity, a husband CAN "hold an open umbrella over her to protect her from the rain." What about if you aren't married? One blogger of the dating ritual writes about "the umbrella problem": "I consider sharing my umbrella as an act of proximity. Only people who are close to me can come under it with me."

Then there are the etiquette issues: Melissa Kirsch's The Bumbershoot Manifesto says that, among other things: "It is good manners to shelter unfortunate fellow pedestrian" and that "Taller people must raise their umbrellas over those of shorter people."

More to mine!

Andy Rooney: That "Unimportant" Invention--The Umbrella

So today there is no new umbrella news, so it is time to hit the archives. What better way to do so than Google random combinations. Today, for me, that was ["Woody Allen" umbrella]. Looks like I can build several days on this one. For a start, however, let me go with an Andy Rooney commentary from last summer about that minor invention.

Interestingly, in addition to his Woody Allen citing/sighting, he brings up the Queen, too: "No one is so important that they don't get wet when it rains. Everyone resorts to an umbrella: George Bush, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Woody Allen, Michael Jackson, or even the Rev. Al Sharpton gets wet when it rains."

I also appreciate his mourning about the inventor: "...it seems wrong that we don't know the name of the person who came up with the idea for the umbrella."

Mount Redoubt Eruption: The Umbrella from the Volcano

The umbrella metaphor extends in two distinct directions. First, is the "security" aspect--going to its function of sheltering users from rain or sun. Second, is the shape; this may have two aspects--the ribbed underbelly of an umbrella or the view from above. The latter is in the news as Alaska's Mount Redoubt eruption awakens public discussion of volcanoes. According to an NPR story, a "volcanic plume is essentially a column of hot gases and dust, topped with a horizontal 'umbrella.'"

While there is no example of this eruption's plume, here is a picture from the last eruption, in 1990. NPR, citing a recent article in Nature, points out that "inside that umbrella-shaped haze of gas and dust, a lightning-covered cyclone rages, spitting out waterspouts and dust devils."

More interesting is that the metaphor of an umbrella must be of more recent origin. The NPR story points out that "[v]olcano watchers described the general shape of these plumes as early as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79." and notes a reference to this bizarre phenomenon in an obscure letter by Capt. S. Tillard, published in 1812, who was navigating the seas around the Azores when a volcanic vent erupted and he refers to the column of smoke as rotating on the water "like a horizontal wheel." So, if the umbrella now a universal metaphor for a shape, did it replace some other generally accepted concept or become its own permanent thing?

For an animation of an eruption, including depiction of the umbrella region, check out the San Diego State University's College of Science website. "The column thus spreads out in the umbrella region. The bottom of umbrella region is where densities of the plume and the surrounding air are equal. Continued upward mobility towards the top of the umbrella region is controlled by momentum. The umbrella region is often asymmetric due to the effect of high atmospheric winds in the stratosphere." This raises an issue of whether this metaphor derives from the shape or from the opening up of an umbrella.

Royal Umbrellas: Queen Tours Factory with Royal Warrant

Well, this isn't an umbrella image, but rather the Royal warrant from the home page of Fulton Umbrellas--firms receive a Royal warrant from the Queen for supplying their products to Buckingham Palace. This comes up today, because the Queen is touring factories in London’s East End today (Wednesday). "Her tour with Prince Philip includes the famous Whitechapel bell foundry and the umbrella factory that holds the Royal warrant":

The next stop on the tour is Fulton Umbrellas, a family-run firm in Blackwall, which has been making umbrellas for 50 years.

They tour the warehouse, textile print-shop and umbrella assembly workshop of the company founded by Arnold Fulton in 1959.

Fulton Umbrellas doesn't tell us which umbrella the Queen uses, but they do publish a nice set of rules for taking care of an umbrella:

• Whenever possible leave the umbrella open to dry and avoid rolling when wet
  
• Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight may cause the fabric to fade
  
• Only plain water or white India Rubber should be used to clean the fabric. Detergents may remove the proofing of the cover
  
• All umbrellas may be damaged by strong gusts. Wind damage does not constitute a faulty frame. Most of our umbrellas incorporate flexible frames which allow the umbrellas to invert without damage, but we would advise not using umbrellas in very windy weather.
  
• Special care should be taken when opening our umbrellas with PVC covers. The creases should be gently unfolded before attempting to open the umbrella. The material is lightly dusted with a non-toxic powder to prevent sticking, and this should not be removed.
  
• Most walking length umbrellas, particularly those with wooden shafts, are not designed for use as walking sticks and damage may occur if they are used for this purpose.

For more pictures and story of the Queen's visit, see the East London Advertiser. Among other things, I did learn that "The company’s ‘see through’ umbrella became a trade mark for the Queen Mother who used them on Royal visits during bad weather, so the public could see her clearly."

Black Umbrellas: Anything but Basic for Milan Design Show

The final design selections have been made for Tuttobene Milan 2009 during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, and some black umbrellas are one of the features of one of the winning international designers. "Umbrellas for the Civil but Discontent Man" were designed by Bruce and Stephanie Tharp of Materious. In a preview for the design week, the designers describe their efforts:

Sigmund Freud contends that aggressiveness is a fundamental human instinct whose inhibition is a necessary obligation of social life. These umbrellas combine a symbol of gentlemanly refinement--the full-sized, black umbrella--with an element from more manly sword-bearing times. The umbrellas offer brief psychological respite from the dictates of social amiability.

These aren't the first black umbrellas for the Tharps. In 2005, they had their concept prototype "Forecast": "Using existing wi-fi technology to wirelessly pull information from the internet, Forecast's lighted umbrella handle glows more intensely with the increased chance of precipitation offering a clear and unobtrusive signal to the user."

Trendsetting: Buying Umbrellas in Seattle

Courtney Hatt, a Seattle Style Trends Examiner, writes about taking a plunge into a "new umbrella craze." She says that "the umbrella taking a step forward as a fun, creative accessory to spice up any rainy day outfit." Going shopping for some new rain gear, she draws attention to pare * umbrella--Seattle's own brick and mortar and online store with its "very trendy and original designs."

Gere Gallagher: Painting the Everyday with Umbrellas

Gere Gallagher’s Umbrella Series; acrylic on canvas, completed the Silo Gallery's vision for nurturing New Talent, Emerging and more Established visual artists. Gere has studied at the School of Visual Arts and the Art Student’s League. She has been involved in workshops led by Peter Seltzer, Hugh O’Donnell, Wolf Kahn and Eric Aho and is presently in the much respected Critique with Barbara Grossman.

So what is it about umbrellas for this artist? According to her own web gallery:

I work with the figure to create an environment. She is in everyday situations, sometimes urban, sometimes local. Protected at times by the shield of an umbrella, to think, to ponder, or to pause at being in the moment. The color and application of paint reveals the process which I hope coincides with the essence of my meaning. These are invented paintings, not intended to be portraits, but the gestures and movements are inspired by my muse.

To see more of her umbrella series, click here.

The Umbrella Goes Evil: Used in Bank Robbery

Not sure what this says about our friendly umbrella, but now we have a bank robber, dressed all in black and fully masked, using a black umbrella--what, to shield his shielded face?

According to The Virginian-Pilot: "Police are looking for a man who robbed a BB&T bank Tuesday morning on Kempsville Road.

The robber walked into the bank about 9:50 a.m. with a large, open black umbrella and showed a silver handgun to a teller, police spokesman Adam Bernstein said. After taking cash, the man ran toward Indian River Road."




Luckily, a CNET Crave article has pointed us to the solution for this--acquiring a Ninja umbrella so that one can go "jumping across thatched straw rooftops, stealing precious family heirlooms in the middle of the night, throwing pointy stars, and honoring my giant rat sensei by ridding the world of mutated rhinos and warthogs. And now I won't have to worry about getting wet in the process." Amazon.com will sell you one of these as a Samurai umbrella.

“Chhatri theek karva lo!": Get your umbrella repaired

From TheStatesman.com comes a story of what we are missing in our throwaway society--the itinerant umbrella repairman who comes out during rainy season "on his rickety old bicycle" and calls out loudly, “Chhatri theek karva lo! (Get your umbrella repaired).”:

The other day when I heard his call, I came out of my house with two defective umbrellas needing his attention, and raised my arm to stop him as he was passing by our door.

“Two ribs of this one are broken,” I said, as he dismounted and came towards me, “and the other one does not open.”

He examined both umbrellas minutely, did some quick mental arithmetic, and then said, “That will be Rs 50.” Somewhat reluctantly I gave him the signal to go ahead, for Rs 50 seemed to me a little too much for this fiddling little job. But, then, you don’t find menders of umbrellas at every street corner. They are rare seasonal birds. If you let one go past your door because of a niggling little difference between what he demands and what you are ready to pay for repairing your umbrella, it may take you days, nay, even weeks before you are lucky enough to sight another mender of umbrellas.

Doing a little searching, I found at least one image showing that the umbrella repairman wasn't unknown in the West, too, once upon a time. . . . and, maybe more recently, too. Here is one of a few stories about Gilbert Center:

Gilbert's father had been an umbrella maker who emigrated from Poland in the 1920's and opened a store on Essex Street on the Lower East Side. Gilbert had run his own store for many years after his father retired. The store had since gone out of business and, when I found him, he was doing freelance umbrella repair. A kind, considerate, gentle man in his mid 70’s, Mr. Center came to my office in Midtown and picked up my umbrella which he slid it into a special sleeve to protect it in transit. We had a chat about what I needed and he patiently answered my questions about the process he'd use to replace the fabric and some of the specialized equipment he had in his shop at home. I was surprised when he told me he had a steady stream of customers for which he was doing umbrella repair. But I guess this made sense considering he was the only person I could find who maintained umbrellas in the whole of North America. After a few e-mails updating me on the status of my repair (yes, Gilbert had also entered the digital age) Gilbert personally delivered the umbrella to me in good form. The repair was expensive but he was so pleasant to deal with that I tipped him an extra $20 (if for no other reason than to help support a dying art). My repaired umbrella was better than ever. I had Gilbert take care of a couple more umbrellas over the years. His work was always outstanding. I'm not sure how long he'll be at work maintaining hand-made, top shelf umbrellas. But I consider myself lucky to have met one of the last craftsmen from a time when things had more importance, longevity and grace.

Umbrella for Sale? Bargaining for Indian Political Party Symbols

This umbrella is the political symbol of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF). In efforts being made by actor-politician Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) to secure a symbol, the PRP, after the Indian Election Commission declined a common symbol for it despite Apex court's recommendation, PRP "withdrew its petition in Andhra Pradesh High Court as it decided to fight the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections under the "umbrella" symbol of SDF."

Thus, with an umbrella in focus, Brolly Blog had to learn what symbols are all about for Indian politics. According to IndianElections.com

According to certain criteria, set by the Election Commission regarding the length of political activity and success in elections, parties are categorised by the Commission as National or State parties, or simply declared registered-unrecognised parties. How a party is classified determines a party’s right to certain privileges, such as access to electoral rolls and provision of time for political broadcasts on the state-owned television and radio stations - All India Radio and Doordarshan - and also the important question of the allocation of the party symbol. Party symbols enable illiterate voters to identify the candidate of the party they wish to vote for. National parties are given a symbol that is for their use only, throughout the country. State parties have the sole use of a symbol in the state in which they are recognised as such Registered-unrecognised parties can choose a symbol from a selection of ‘free’ symbols.

Any, then, why an umbrella for the SDF?

Alexander McQueen Incorporating Philip Treacy's Umbrella Headwear

Women's Wear Daily waxes eloquent about Alexander McQueen's Fall 2009 Ready to Wear show: "His collections manifest the wild wanderings of his imagination and emotional state into high theater in which his sartorial wizardry always equals the fantastical visions of his psyche." For Brolly Blog, the important piece of the collection is that McQueen was finishing off looks with Philip Treacy’s spectacular hats--"lamp shade, umbrella or deli plastic bag."

According to the New York Times: "With a runway of broken mirrors surrounding a garbage heap made of props from his own past collections, Mr. McQueen created a stage to symbolize the sudden crash of luxury exuberance. The clothes he sent out were a parody of couture designs of the last century, spoofing Dior’s New Look and Givenchy’s little black Audrey Hepburn dresses, as well as their reinventions by new designers at those companies in the last decade — himself included. It was a bit of a Marie Antoinette riot, poking fun at all the queens of French fashion."

"All the models wore hats by the milliner Philip Treacy that were made of trash-can liners and aluminum cans, or recycled household objects." That includes this double-umbrella hat.

Umbrella as Metaphor: Are These Brolly Blog Appropriate?

Since starting this venture down umbrella lane, the big issue has always been what to do with the word "umbrella". As a metaphor ("umbrella organization") and my basic response is to leave it alone. However, today I have come across two graphic extensions and have decided that some metaphorical umbrellas must get their time in the sun, too.

I am not sure whether this will be a repeated theme or not, but in this case, the word "umbrella" is only a feature of headline to Laura Tutor's story in the Anniston Star--"Widening history's umbrella includes women, famous and ordinary"--and of the accompanying graphic. It is intended, I gather to reflect the growth of interest and promotion of women's history. The article, perhaps stimulated by Women's History Month, tells about the National Women's History Project and the "concerted effort to integrate the story of women into the story of the world" over the last 30 years. The closest the story gets to the umbrella metaphor is perhaps one quote from Jennifer Gross, an associate professor of history at Jacksonville State University: "We need to broaden our idea of what history is."

The second image from this weekend is interestingly enough also only the creation of the headline writer. In this case the Jason Zweig column--"Corporate-Cash Umbrellas: Too Big for This Storm?"--in the Wall Street Journal is about the near record $811 billion in cash and marketable securities that nonfinancial firms in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index have on their books. He certainly alludes to this as being safety precaution of sorts, writing at one point: "Cash is not trash, of course; the natural urge to set a little money aside for a rainy day feels urgent in a recession." However, since Zweig argues that these cash supplies are a "flood" and that shareholders deserve an explanation of why they are being kept from the benefit of the funds (in terms of increased dividends or stock repurchases), it is very unclear who is being protected by a cash umbrella.

Skoda and the Umbrella Holder: A Car for Us

Skoda has been doing this for a while, but there is new publicity as it introduces cars for various Asian markets (India, Singapore). As Cars Singapore writes about the Skoda Suberb and its interior features: "even a water resistant umbrella storage space which can be found in the inner panel of the left rear door. It also has a drainage system draws off the rainwater so that the umbrella undergoes 'self-drying'. Nice touch." Or, as BS Motoring describes it: "the Rolls-Royce Phantom feature (the umbrella that hides inside the rear door) will" impress you!

Judith Hoffberg: A Friend of Umbrellas

Even though I have only been doing this blog seriously for a month or so, it seems a shame that it is only now that I have come across someone who had been a real friend of umbrellas--Judith Hoffberg. Although she died this past January, for almost 30 years, through her work on artists' books in her print and then online journal "Umbrella," she also raised the stature of umbrellas. In her poignant last Editor's Note, she wrote:

Obsessed with umbrellas and parasols, it allowed me to create a huge collection of “umbrelliana” which has overwhelmed both my domestic and storage settings. I learned more about textiles, fashion, kitsch, marketing, performance art, multicultural innovations with the object umbrella, encountering artists who used the image to intrigue me as well as to whet my appetite. It has been an easy image to collect in paper ephemera as well as almost 200 three-dimensional umbrella objects. From a tiny Chinese lace umbrella to a 19th century silk parasol, from 333 antiquarian books to countless artifacts, the collection has grown over the past 30 years.

However, there is even a longer discussion in a mail interview with her from 1995-1996, which I republish alongside the image she chose as her final image Natalia Kohen's "Closed Umbrella":

Well, since the name of my business became Umbrella Associates in 1978, thanks to a suggestion from Joan Hugo, as we were sitting in an airport in San Jose waiting for our late plane to Los Angeles after the First Artists' Publication Fair in San Jose in 1977. I had just resigned from the position of Executive Secretary of the Art Libraries Society of North America, which I had founded, and as we were sitting, Joan, a noted librarian and my co-curator in the Artwords & Bookworks exhibition, asked what I would be doing next; I hadn't the faintest idea at the time, but she had been thinking about it, and told me she had done some research. She had discovered that there was once a periodical called Parasol edited by Ricky de Marco, but it was not extant. Then she had looked through the entire list of periodicals and could not find any other periodical called "Umbrella", and so she thought I should start a business as a consultant, called Umbrella Associates, and publish a newsletter called Umbrella, and so I did.

A strong interest in umbrellas had never occurred to me -- except for one print which I had bought in 1966 in Washington, DC which I have in my office. But since my interest in mail art had been growing at the same time I founded my business, I decided that the symbol of umbrella had potential as a logo, an indentifying icon, and perhaps a way for me to send mail art around the world with that image. After learning that my friend Kurt de Gooyer had become curator of a Museum of Photography on the University of California, Riverside campus, he was involved in a group called Art Spies, and he thought it would be a good thing to have a mail art show in his museum, and so I announced to the world that the theme of the show was "Umbrellas" and having contacted just about everyone I knew from the mail art world, I started receiving lots of mail art, actual found umbrellas, etc. With over 400 entries, I began to see the potential for a collection. As an archivist, it was easy to organize this material in notebooks, and so it began. Now I have over 60 volumes of paper ephemera about umbrellas, including handmade postcards and broadsides, advertisements, articles about umbrellas, newspaper photos, photographs both black and white and color, antique postcards and advertising ephemera, and much more.

The collection has grown largely due to my many trips around the world including Australia and New Zealand, and continental Europe. I buy postcards of Umbrellas wherever I go and some summers I came back with 250 postcards of umbrella images. Then, too, I take pictures of Umbrellas wherever I see them, including inside shots and outside shots. So if I cannot buy an item, I take a picture of it. Many artists send me things, including jewelry, clothing, paper items, postcards, etc. As a result, I have learned to live with some of the material but until this year, I have had to store the collection, except for 1984, when I showed the collection as Umbrelliana in the Bumbereshoot Festival in Seattle, Washington, which is held every year on the first weekend of September. I filled 4000 square feet of space, and there still was much material at home. Now the collection has increased a great deal more, but now I live with most of it, having decorated my new apartment with umbrellas everywhere -- in the kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, office, and everywhere else. It is a universal well known item, whether it be protection against the sun (parasol) or protection against the rain (umbrella), and so I even have taken that name on the internet.

Fashion Umbrellas: Celebrate National Umbrella Month with Celebrity Brollies

The Chicago Sun-Times shopping maven Jessica Sedgwick honors National Umbrella Month by her readers to treat themselves to a "little undercover fashion." In do so, she quotes Satoko Kobayashi, owner of pare*umbrella, one of several new companies who offer artsy, statement-making umbrellas: "Now is the time people have started to think, 'Now we need something more than a compact umbrella. Something beautiful to carry around.' "

Sedgwick goes further, in her Sun-Times shopping blog, to point us to famous movie umbrellas and where to find them. In particular, she highlights the "Singin' in the Rain/Batman Returns" black stick umbrella, the "Lost in Translation" clear umbrella, and the "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" stick umbrellas "in every color including red, pink blue and yellow."