Scandalous Book Review: Sybil Exposed by Debbie Nathan

• Title: Sybil Exposed

• Author: Debbie Nathan
• Pub. Date: October 2011
• Publisher: Free Press
• Format: Hardcover, 320pp

I remember watching the TV mini-series Sybil as a pre-teen and being riveted. The story of Sybil Dorsett, a young, shy graduate student who suffered such traumatic abuse by her mother, that her psyche shattered into 16 distinct personalities, was Must-See TV. Sally Field, who played the title role, won an Emmy Award for her work, and totally changed her career around, proving that she could handle serious drama as well as light comedy. But it was the story of Sybil and the idea of multiple personalities that really got me. I was fascinated by the idea that someone could suffer such trauma that the only way they could deal with it was by splinting into different personalities. I eagerly watched The Three Faces of Eve, based on one of the earliest known cases of multiple personality disorder. But Eve only had 3 personalities while Sybil had 16. Later on, the TV soap opera One Life to Live featured a mother and a daughter who both suffered from what has become known as Dissociative Identity Disorder. I even bought the book that the miniseries was based on to read more. The story terrified and fascinated me. I’m one those people who reads about a disease and then thinks that she has it. Not that I thought that I had DID, but I’ve often felt that I have more than one person inside of me. Little did I know that the entire story was based on a lie.

Picking up a copy of Debbie Nathan’s new book Sybil Exposed, I felt the same way that I did when I found out that Go Ask Alice wasn’t the real diary of a teenage drug addict who died tragically. I felt cheated, that book scared the crap out of me so much, that I vowed then and there that I would never do drugs. Finding out that the story was just a novel somehow cheapened it a little. But Sybil Exposed is a powerful story of how three women managed to pull the wool over not just a nation of readers but also over the whole psychiatric establishment.

What is interesting about Nathan’s book is that neither Dr. Connie Wilbur, the psychiatrist who treated Shirley Mason (Sybil) nor Shirley nor Flora Schreiber who wrote the book planned on deceiving anyone. Shirley just wanted to please the doctor who she had developed an unhealthy attachment to, Dr. Wilbur wanted the respect of the medical establishment that she felt that she had been denied during her years practicing, and Flora Schreiber was eager to move beyond writing fluff pieces for the women’s magazines. Nathan’s book Sybil Exposed examines how the whole thing went down. It’s a sad and cautionary tale about how the trust between a patient and a doctor can be abused, and how overwhelming ambition can warp one’s sense of right and wrong.

Shirley Mason was a young woman who grew up a member of the 7th day Adventist Church in a small town in Minnesota. Shirley was an only child, born when her parents were in the 40’s. Her mother, Mattie, had great difficulty carrying a pregnancy to full term so Shirley was doubly precious. . Imaginative and creative, Shirley devised various ways of hiding the stories that she wrote from her mother who was not only over protective but a bit neurotic. Shirley would cut up letters and words from magazines, like the word magnets that they sell today, and use them to create her stories. As a child, Shirley felt torn between her desire to paint and write and the teachings of her church which discouraged such activities, placing her already in conflict. She also suffered throughout her childhood from various ailments. Doctors diagnosed anemia, and after a few treatments, she would feel better but then she would go into a decline. The condition continued throughout her high school and early college years. It was in Omaha that Shirley met Dr. Connie Wilbur who was one of her first therapists.

It’s a testament to Nathan’s judicious reporting that Wilbur manages to come across as both a caring psychoanalyst as well as an ambitious monster. Wilbur had an overwhelming sense of her own importance. Her father, who was a noted chemist, had told her that she wasn’t smart enough to go to medical school, so she had to prove him wrong. She’d tried and failed to invent a cure for athlete’s foot. She became a psychiatrist at the time that there were very few women not only in medical school but in psychiatry. From the beginning, she was willing to try experimental techniques, including electro-shock therapy. For her the ends truly justified the means, although she genuinely wanted to help people.

The irony of this whole story is that after she finished her initial treatment with Dr. Wilbur, Shirley was fine for several years, until she moved to New York and started treatment with Dr. Wilbur again. Nathan concludes that Shirley was suffering from pernicious anemia, and that if she had been diagnosed properly, she probably would never have gone back into therapy with Dr. Wilbur. Another doctor who briefly treated Shirley when Dr. Wilbur was out of town, thought that Shirley was a hysteric who was highly suggestible under the influence of hypnosis.

The relationship between Doctor and patient was clearly co-dependent or countertransference. Wilbur, who was unable to have children, needed to be needed by her patients, and Shirley liked the attention that she received from Dr. Wilbur. From the beginning, Dr. Wilbur crossed professional lines which should have gotten her thrown out of the AMA if it had been known; she took Shirley on trips, gave her money, and made house calls to treat her. Later on when Shirley went back into therapy with Dr. Wilbur, she helped pay her rent, found her jobs and allowed her to rack up thousands of dollars’ worth of therapy. Why? Because at some point, Dr. Wilbur decided that Shirley suffered from multiple personality disorder, and she became determined that Shirley’s case would establish her at the forefront of American psychology. She pumped Shirley almost daily with Pentothal which Shirley quickly became addicted to, along with a whole host of other psychotropic drugs including Demerol, Benzedrine; Daprisal, Seconal, Equanil, Edrisal, Dexamyl, Thorazine, and Serpatilin, a combination of Ritalin and a tranquilizer, and Phenobarbital. Shirley was like a walking pharmacy. It’s a wonder that she could remember her name.

Nathan includes snippets of the therapy sessions (which were taped) which clearly indicated that Wilbur was leading Shirley along the path that she wanted her to go. Wilbur was relentless, increasing the dosages of Pentothal until Shirley came up with increasingly bizarre stories about her mother including lesbian orgies and repeated brutal rapes with various instruments. The more outrageous the story, the more Wilbur was happy. Shirley, to her credit, attempted to tell Dr. Wilbur at one point that she was making the whole alternate personalities/abuse stories up, but Wilbur made it clear that she would not only stop treating Shirley, but end the friendship. By this time, the only friend Shirley had was Dr. Wilbur. The involvement of Flora Schreiber, the journalist who like Dr. Wilbur, never felt that she’d gotten the recognition that she deserved completed the trio. The book’s success had a different effect on the 3 women. For Dr. Wilbur, MPD or DID was finally accepted as a genuine diagnosis, but Flora Schreiber began to resent having to share not just the money but also the spotlight with Dr. Wilbur. And poor Shirley, after spending several years after her ‘integration’ happily teaching art at a small college, the book’s publication turned her eventually into a total recluse, as soon as someone realized who she was.

If you have any doubts about psychiatry or psychoanalysis, this book will just reinforce your feelings about the profession. On the other hand, it just goes to show easy the doctor/patient relationship can be abused, if one is not careful. Nathan doesn’t indict psychiatry but she goes to show how repressed memories and DID had gotten a little out of hand over the past thirty years. Nathan gives a brief overview of how psychiatry and psychoanalysis evolved in this country, moving away from Freud’s theories, as well as the different treatment one gets if one has the money versus if one is poor. She also examines why Sybil became such a phenomenon, coming out as it did when the women’s movement was really taking off in this country. Nathan believes that MPD “became a kind of language” for women to explain their roles as wife, mother, friend, boss, employee etc. She also makes the valid point, that women historically had been the guinea pigs for any new kind of psychiatric treatment, particularly in the 19th century when so many women were diagnosed as hysterics.

Sybil Exposed is  thoroughly and meticulously researched. Nathan was able to listen to the tapes of Shirley’s sessions with Dr. Wilbur, as well as Flora Schreiber’s papers which are housed at John Jay College in New York. Unfortunately, after Dr. Wilbur’s death, a large number of her papers were destroyed. It’s amazing that this book wasn’t written before now. Even now the book is still controversial, with many people still believing that the story of Sybil couldn’t possibly have been made up, along with those who doubted the veracity of the story from the beginning. The book made me grateful that I found a therapist who was sympathetic to my needs and didn’t have a hidden agenda. I felt pity for Shirley, anger towards Dr. Wilbur, and frustration that Flora Schreiber didn't walk away when she had the chance.

Movie Review: Sophie Scholl - The Final Days

Cast

Sophia Magdalena 'Sophie' Scholl - Julia Jentsch
Hans Fritz Scholl - Fabian Hinrichs
Robert Mohr - Gerald Alexander Held
Else Gebel - Johanna Gastdorf
Dr. Roland Freisler - André Hennicke
Christoph Hermann Probst - Florian Stetter
Willi Graf - Maximilian Brückner
Alexander Schmorell - Johannes Suhm
Gisela Schertling - Lilli Jung
Magdalena Scholl - Petra Kelling
Robert Scholl - Jörg Hube
Werner Scholl - Franz Staber

Director: Marc Rothemund

Written by: Fred Breinersdorfter

Released: February 13, 2005

 
Synopsis:
 
Arrested for participating in the White Rose resistance movement, anti-Nazi activist Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch) is subjected to a highly charged interrogation by the Gestapo, testing her loyalty to her cause, her family and her convictions. Based on true events, director Marc Rothemund's absorbing Oscar-nominated drama explores maintaining human resolve in the face of intense pressure from a system determined to silence whistle-blowers.
 

My thoughts: I've been intrigued by World War II partly because my father and uncle were in the army and navy respectively during the War.  Neither of them would talk to me about their experiences, so I've become a little obsessed over the years at reading and watching films and documentaries.  Most of my reading has been focused on England and America, but recently I've become more interested in what was going on in France and Germany.  I don't remember when I first heard the name Sophie Scholl. It may have been while browsing through the Dramatist Play Service catalog and reading the description of Lillian Garrett-Groag's play The White Rose. Recently I found a copy of the 2005 German film Sophie Scholl - The Final Days in the library. Before I knew what I was doing, I had picked the copy off the shelf and walked over to check it out.

Words fail me to describe just how powerful and heartbreaking this film is. The film is directed almost like a thriller.  It takes place over 5 days ending in Sophie's death on February 22nd 1943, 4 days after her arrest. It opens with a charming scene of Sophie and her best friend Gisela singing along to an American jazz song on the radio.  The action quickly shifts to Sophie, her brother Hans, and their friends mailing out leaflets that they've printed out on a mimeograph machine (this was before Xerox machines.  We actually had one in my school when I was growing up). Soon they've run out of envelopes, so Hans comes up with a risky plan to take the remaining leaflets to the university while the students are in class. Hans is reminded that since the seige of Stalingrad, the university has been infiltrated by informers. Sophie offers to go with her brother to help out, since a women would never be suspected. What follows is a nail-biting scene as Hans and Sophie hurry to the university, trying to put down as many stacks of leaflets as they can before classes get out. With only minutes left, Sophie rushes to the top floor with the rest of the leaflets and impulsively pushes them over the edge of the balustrade. Thinking that they've made a clean getaway, Hans and Sophie are just leaving the building, when they are stopped by a janitor who saw Sophie in action.  They are arrested and taken to the Munich Stadelheim Prison.

We never see Hans interrogated, only Sophie who is interviewed by Gestapo investigator Robert Mohr. The two play a cat and mouse game as Sophie wisely admits to what is the truth, but denies being the one who dropped off the leaflets. She tells Mohr that it is part of her nature to play pranks, and that she was carrying a suitcase to pick up her laundry from her mother back home in Ulm (see college students brought their laundry home even back in the 1940's!). At first it looks like she's going to get away with it, but the investigation soon finds proof that she and Hans were involved. Mohr shows Sophie her brother's signed confession. Sophie soon admits what she has done that and that she is proud of it. It turns out that The White Rose had written and distributed 5 Anti-Nazi leaflets calling for passive resistance prior to the one they dropped at the University (Sophie was not involved in the writing of the pamphlets, just the distribution). In their second interrogation, Mohr takes more of a fatherly attitude towards Sophie. He admonishes her for breaking the law, considering that the Reich has paid for her education. 

Sophie is not buying it. She reminds him that pre-1933, people still had free speech.  She tells him about the rounding up of the mentally ill as well as the Jewish population to concentration camps where they have been exterminated.  Mohr tells her that some lives are unworthy. Despite the fact that Sophie is only 21, in many ways she is more mature than Mohr.  She is able to match him argument for argument. You can see in their scenes together that he reluctantly admires her even though he believes that she is misguided and wrong.  Mohr offers Sophie a chance to save herself by repudiating her actions and naming names. Sophie refuses to name names and takes full blame. She insists that she receive whatever punishment her brother receives.

What follows next is a kangaroo trial. They are brought before Judge Roland Freisler in the People's Court.  Even before Sophie, Hans and another member of The White Rose, Christoph Probst are brought into the courtroom, it's clear that the verdict is a foregone conclusion. Their lawyers make no attempt to defend them, and they are barely allowed to speak in their own defense.  Sophie managed to tell the People's Court. "Somebody, after all, had to make a start.  What we wrote and said is also believed by many others.  They just do not dare express themselves as we did. "All three are pronounced guilty and sentenced to death.  However they are allowed one final statement. Sophie tells the court that "where we stand today, you will stand soon."

All three prisoners are told that their execution is that day, they are not even given the normal 99 days after their conviction before execution. Sophie, a devout Lutheran, goes to her death with dignity.  She is allowed to see her brother and Christoph Probst before their executions. She remarks as she is led out to the courtyard where the guillotine awaits her that the "The sun is still shining."
 
So what is movie review about a heroine like Sophie Scholl doing on a blog called Scandalous Women. Well, Sophie's actions scandalized Nazi Germany. At one point in the film, Sophie is contemptuously referred to by one of the police officers as the weaker sex. As if she had led the men astray with her misguided beliefs. She is treated by Mohr as some sort of wayward child that he can school, teaching her the true meaning of right and wrong. The idea that Sophie had a mind of her own, that she had thought seriously and thoughtfully about her actions, and even in the face of death, didn't waver, must have been mind boggling to them. Women were supposed to be the epitome of Aryan womanhood, giving birth to good Aryan children, teaching them about the glories of the Third Reich, not working underground to dismantle it.
 
At the end of the film we are told that after Sophie's death, another pamphlet was smuggled out of Germany, where it was utilized by the Allies. In mid-1943, they dropped millions of copies over Germany.
 
I urge everyone to watch this film about how one person can make a difference just by having the courage to speak out.

LES RANGERS RETOURNENT LES HABITANTS À LEURS HABITUDES DE PERDANTS...

Michael Blunden et Petteri Nokelainen sont des petits nouveaux chez les CanaCHiens de MortYial. Ils ne comprennent pas encore très bien le style et le plan de match typique de leur équipe de CHickens. La clef du succès pour les CHieux c'est d'endormir leurs adversaires comme ils l'ont fait à Ottawa vendredi. Éviter à tout prix de provoquer l'ennemi, de faire des vagues, de susciter des émotions. Disputer des matchs plates pour se sauver avec la victoire. Blunden a fait tout le contraire samedi soir à New York. En début de rencontre, en plus de se rendre coupable d'une infraction (trop de CHieux sur la surface de jeu) en embarquant trop tôt sur la patinoire, il a sournoisement plaqué Brandon Dubinsky qui, s'amenant avec le disque le long de la bande, à la hauteur de la ligne bleue du CH, n'a pas eu le temps de l'éviter, son opposant sautant pratiquement sur lui directement à partir du banc tout près (voir vidéo ci-dessous)... Vous pensez bien que les Rangers, en l'occurrence Ryan Callahan et Michael Sauer, n'allaient pas laissé ce geste salaud impuni. Blunden s'est fait passer le K.O. par une droite dévastatrice de Callahan tandis que Nokelainen (qui a sauté sur Callahan en devenant le 3e homme dans la bagarre) allait payer de son sang son intervention illégale et lâche (deux gars sur le même joueur) en ayant maille à partir avec Sauer. En somme, Blunden a mis le feu aux poudres avec son coup de cochon. Un comportement totalement contre-indiqué quand on sait que, surtout à l'étranger, match robuste ou ponctué de bagarres = défaite du Cacanadien. Évidemment, si un joueur du CHicolore avait subi le même sort que Dubinsky face à Blunden, personne ne se serait porté à sa défense chez le torCHon. Il n'y a guère de gauchistes (des gauches oui !) parmi les CHieux : "so...so...so...solidarité", ce n'est pas leur slogan !

L'indiscipline des CHaudrons en première période, leur a valu un paquet de pénalités qui, au final, auront causé leur perte. Des Rangers plus mordants et plus opportunistes auraient pu les massacrer. Mais au lieu de les achever rapidement, les hommes de Tortorella ont laissé les Habs revenir dans le match. Les Blue Shirts manquent d'instinct du tueur. Leur gardien Lundqvist, ordinairement très fiable, ne connaît pas un début de saison à la hauteur de son talent et de ses capacités, même si son équipe se tire bien d'affaires récemment. Néanmoins, la CHiasse vient d'échapper un autre match de quatre points contre un club susceptible de lutter lui aussi pour les dernières places donnant le droit d'accéder aux séries éliminatoires. Ça s'additionne avec les deux défaites contre Toronto. Pédé Subban a trouvé encore une autre façon de faire rire de lui lorsqu'il a volontairement enneigé le cerbère des Rangers. Sa stupidité a incité l'arbitre à aller réfléchir deux minutes au cachot. Auparavant, l'ex-espoir des Habitants, le gros défenseur McDonagh, avait frotté à rebrousse-poils le nez épaté de Subban. Ce faisant, il lui donnait une leçon dans l'art de protéger son gardien (photo du haut). C'était pathétique d'entendre Pierre Houde, le descripteur télé des parties du CH au réseau bull shit (RBS), se plaindre de l'arbitrage en pleurnichant dans son micro... Même après une semaine de repos de la gang à Dumbo Martin, Houde invoquait sa sempiternelle excuse de la fatigue pour expliquer l'échec de son club chéri... Dégueulasse...

Le pire reste à venir pour la CHarogne. Le capitaine Gionta et ses amis schtroumfs vont s'enfoncer dans la médiocrité de leurs habitudes perdantes puisque la semaine prochaine ils vont jouer trois parties contre des clubs de l'Ouest. Deux de ces affrontements auront lieu en territoire hostile. L'Ouest est toujours synonyme de dégelées pour les Cannes à CHiens. En regardant un peu plus loin sur le calendrier, d'autres joutes de quatre points pointent à l'horizon. Des batailles qui pourraient déjà s'avérer cruciales pour les mauviettes de la métropauvre. Les patineurs de fantaisie du torCHon ne peuvent se permettre de perdre trop fréquemment en début de campagne. Ce n'est pas en seconde moitié de saison, quand le jeu se corse, qu'ils pourront se reprendre et accumuler des points pour éviter une élimination hâtive. Ils n'ont pas les soldats pour aller à la guerre. Chaque point perdu en octobre, en novembre et en décembre peut être extrêmement coûteux. Jouer pour ,500 ou moins durant cette période n'est pas suffisant. C'est un arrêt de mort pour les CHieux et une raison de célébrer chez les Anti-Habs !

LE CACANADIEN ROUILLÉ APRÈS AVOIR PASSÉ UNE SEMAINE SANS JOUER ?

J'ai souvent écrit que les Canailliens de Moronréal étaient pourris. Qu'ils semblaient fréquemment patiner dans le ciment. Que les joueurs de cette équipe se forçaient un match sur quatre. Qu'ils se traînaient les pieds, etc. Après avoir passé une semaine à bailler (on a vu Scary Price bailler sur la patinoire hier) en écoutant leur coach croque-mort Dumbo Martin leur montrer comment étouffer leurs futurs adversaires avec des prises du sommeil ou de l'obstruction systématique, les favoris des fefans reprennent le collier ce soir contre les Sénateurs à Ottawa. Des Sens privés de leur capitaine, Daniel Alfredsson, habituellement un "habs killer" de première classe. Le club de la capitale fédérale surprend jusqu'ici cette saison. Mais on soupçonne qu'avec la faible défensive qu'elle possède, cette équipe devrait redescendre vers la cave du classement dans les prochains mois. Cave que leur prédisaient la plupart des experts avant l'ouverture du calendrier. Tout ce que nous pouvons espérer c'est que les CHaudrons soient rouillés et qu'ils se fassent laver par les Sens ce soir. On sait que les fefans seront en grand nombre pour encourager leurs héros dans cet aréna perdu en banlieue d'Ottawa. Ça mettra un peu d'ambiance dans ce salon funéraire... Au moins, excellente perspective, les Leafs de Toronto continuent de bien jouer et d'amasser des points. Ça fait une équipe supplémentaire, avec la Caroline et les Rangers de New York, que le torCHon devra devancer au classement pour atteindre les séries de fin de saison. Ce ne sera pas une sinécure d'arriver à devancer tout ce beau monde.

Lorsque les CHieux sont longtemps sans jouer de parties, les pauvres joueurnaliCHes-culs de la métropauvre sont désoeuvrés et ne savent pas quoi écrire ou inventer. Résultat : leurs articles ou leurs commentaires = du n'importe quoi, et ça frise la folie et le délire. Par exemple, un certain Steven Ellis de AllHabs.net a remporté la palme de l'idiotie en écrivant hier que les récentes performances de Lars "Jeannot Lapin" Eller ont aidé les fefans à oublier Jaroslav Halak. "Jaroslav Qui ?" disent déjà les cons qui, il y a un an à peine braillaient comme des veaux parce que Gauthier avait échangé leur héros... Come on, give us a break ! Le but que Eller a marqué contre Boston samedi passé était son premier depuis le 8 mars 2011 (matchs éliminatoires compris) ! Avant de conclure que son acquisition en retour de Halak est tout un vol, faudrait peut-être attendre encore un peu... Un autre journalisssssssse épais a affirmé sans rire que si Pacioretty n'a pas marqué dans les deux matchs contre Boston, c'est parce qu'il avait bobo à son poignet. Pourtant au lendemain de sa prétendue blessure, il avait trouvé le fond du filet à deux reprises... Faut croire que le mal l'a frappé à retardement... Autre joke monumentale : Andrei Kostitsyn, qui ne parle qu'à son caniche, à son casier et à lui-même, serait devenu un leader ! Imaginez ! Dans mon livre à moi, un leader c'est un meneur, un gars qui guide, qui prend les devants. Il n'y a qu'en une circonstance où AK46 prend les devants : c'est pour s'éclipser rapidement lorsqu'il y a une bagarre ou une échauffourée... Autre légende urbaine entendue de la bouche de l'analyste Marc Denis du réseau des porcs : Price serait excellent pour manier la rondelle autour de son filet. Or, la moitié du temps quand il s'aventure hors de son demi-cercle, Scary fait des passes imprécises ou des passes suicides à ses coéquipiers, perd le disque ou ne sait pas quoi faire avec, commet des revirements ou a tout simplement l'air fou.

On crie aussi au génie parce que Gauthier a congédié Perry Pearn et qu'il a fait descendre Randy Ladouceur derrière le banc pour redresser la défensive boiteuse du Caca. Un vrai Jésus Christ que ce Ladouceur, il a reconstruit la défensive du CH en trois matchs comme notre Seigneur a reconstruit le temple en trois jours ! Parlant du Christ, la Presse mourialaise a aussi célébré la résurrection de Erik Cole. Un autre coup de maître de Gauthier ! Et Alléluhia ! parce qu'il a eu la bonne fortune de voir ses coéquipiers bloquer plus de lancers que lui au cours des dernières joutes, Scary "passoire" Price est de nouveau le meilleur gardien de buts au monde ! Bref, tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possible. À croire que la CHiasse ne perdra pas une partie d'ici la fin de la saison ! Laissez- nous rire ! Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! Oui il est grand temps que les CHaudrons retournent à l'ouvrage et reprennent le chemin de la défaite. Pour calmer un peu la foule et les journalistes complètement "décollés" de la réalité... Oui, à n'en pas douter, comme le soulignait jadis des écrivains célèbres, "l'imagination est la folle du logis" et "l'oisiveté est la mère de tous les vices". Pas de meilleure preuve de cela que le délire médiatique des derniers jours à MortYial. Ces scribes incestueux qui couchent avec les CHieux dans le bidonville à Tremblay sont de vrais prestidigitateurs : un coup de baguette magique, et hop ! du jour au lendemain Eller est un champion compteur; un coup de baguette magique et hop ! Price est le dieu des "goalers". À peine arrivé, Nikolainen fait déjà parler de lui comme d'un as de quatrième trio ! Comme le nez de Cyrano de Bergerac, sa renommée ne fait que s'agrandir de jour en jour. Pour l'Halloween les affreux CanaCHiens se sont déguisés en équipe gagnante. À moins que ces victoires inattendues aient été le cadeau de Noël prématuré des fefans !

* * *

Courte victoire de 2-1 des CHaudrons.

Il s'en est fallu de peu pour qu'une bande d'obscurs inconnus marginaux (Cowen, Greening, Zac Smith, Butler, Winchester, Filatov, Condra, Daugavins, Da Costa) battent les minus de Jacques Martin. La mince différence entre la victoire et la défaite aura été le cadeau d'un défenseur inexpérimenté des Sens sur le but vainqueur (revirement de Karlsson directement devant son but) ainsi qu'une couple d'arrêts des poteaux de Price... Pédé Subban s'est encore rendu coupable de deux infractions stupides qui auraient pu coûter cher. En passant, le Bobby Orr des CHieux revendique un grand total de zéro but, trois aides jusqu'ici cette saison. En faisant une projection rapide sur l'ensemble de l'année, ça donne zéro but et vingt points. Quelle merveille que ce piqué des vers ! Quel grand quart-arrière sur le jeu d'impuissance de la Flanelle détrempée ! D'un autre côté, combien de buts coûtera-t-il à sa bande de tarés à force de répéter sans cesse les mêmes erreurs en défensive ? Encore une fois, sur sa première pénalité, il a dangereusement sorti le patin pour enfarger un opposant. Bientôt il causera une blessure grave à cause de ses gestes insensés... Parlant de gestes douteux, le coup de coude de Gionta qui, il y a deux semaines, a assommé le gardien James Reimer (des Leafs) aurait dû lui mériter une suspension en vertu de la nouvelle politique de la LNH qui a pour objectif de protéger les joueurs en punissant sévèrement les coups à la tête. Le gardien numéro un des Maple Leafs n'est toujours pas revenu au jeu après cet acte prémédité du capitaine de la CHiasse.

Guest Post: Author Gillian Bagwell on Jane Lane – The Girl who Saved the English Monarchy

Scandalous Women is very pleased to welcome author Gillian Bagwell to the blog today to talk about her new book The September Queen which came out on November 1st. Happy Release week Gillian! 

While researching The Darling Strumpet, my novel about Nell Gwynn, I read Derek Wilson’s book All the King’s Women, about the numerous women important to Charles II. As all of us who know anything about Charles II are aware, he liked women. His mistresses were many and famous, whether loved by the people like Nell Gwynn or hated like Louis De Keroualle.

So I was intrigued to read his account of Jane Lane, an ordinary Staffordshire girl who played a starring role in an extraordinary part of Charles’s life – his six-week odyssey after the Battle of Worcester trying to escape to safety in France.

The Battle of Worcester took place on September 3, 1651. Charles and his ragged and outnumbered army knew that all their hopes rested on that day, and the 21-year-old king believed that the outcome for him would be “either a crown or a coffin.” Cromwell triumphed, and the bloody rout ended the Royalist cause. Once Charles had been convinced that the best he could do was survive, he fled as his supporters made a last ferocious stand, and legendarily dashed out the back door of his lodgings as the enemy entered at the front, slipping out the last unguarded city gate.

From that disastrous night until he finally sailed from Shoreham near Brighton on October 15, he was on the run, sheltered and aided by dozens of people – mostly simple country folks and very minor gentry. One of Charles’s companions during his flight from Worcester was the Earl of Derby, who had recently been sheltered at a house called Boscobel in Shropshire. He suggested that the king might hide there until he could find a way out of England.

Jane Lane, a young woman of about 25 years old, lived at Bentley Hall in Staffordshire, not far from Boscobel. She became involved in the king’s flight because she had a pass allowing her and a manservant to travel the hundred miles to visit a friend near Bristol – a major port where the king might board a ship. In a story that sounds like something out of fiction, the 21-year-old king disguised himself as Jane’s servant, and Jane rode pillion (sitting sidesaddle behind him while he rode astride) along roads traveled by cavalry patrols searching for Charles, through villages where the proclamation describing him and offering a reward for his capture was posted, and among hundreds of people who, if they recognized him, had every reason to turn him in and none – but loyalty to the outlawed monarchy – to help him.

It was an improbable scheme. Charles was six feet two inches tall and very dark complexioned, not at all common looking for an Englishman of that time. But time after time he rode right under the noses of Roundhead soldiers without being recognized. He narrowly eluded discovery and capture so many times that the whole event eventually became known as the Royal Miracle.

Jane Lane played a much more important part in great events than women usually did in those days, especially women who were not monarchs. The fugitive king had been proclaimed a traitor, and anyone who was found to have helped him would be executed for treason. What Jane did took great bravery, as she was not only risking her life but the lives and lands of her family.

I was convinced by the evidence Wilson presented that Jane and Charles became lovers when they were in each other’s company, in close physical contact, and in perilous circumstances from September 9 to September 18, 1651. Jane remained in touch with Charles until he was restored to the throne in 1660. Then she became famous, and Charles rewarded her richly, awarding her a pension of £1000 pounds a year – quite a lot of money then – as well as giving her a watch that had belonged to his father, paintings of himself, and many other personal mementoes. He also offered her brother a title and gave her family the right to add the three Lions of England to their coat of arms.

The time that Charles spent on the run was an enormously formative experience, he told the story for the rest of his life, and Jane was clearly someone who he regarded with respect and affection until his death. He When Jane returned home she married a neighbor, Sir Clement Fisher, who she had likely known before embarking on her adventures with Charles. But she had no children, and towards the end of her life she declared that her hands would be her executors, i.e., that she would spend all she had. She did more than that, and because her pension was not being paid on time, she was in debt and died with an estate worth only £10.

If Charles had been caught, he would certainly have been executed, and it is an open question whether the monarchy would have been restored as it eventually was in 1660, after the death of Oliver Cromwell. So Jane’s courage had far-reaching results and her story deserves to be remembered.

Gillian Bagwell’s novel The September Queen, the first fictional accounting of Jane Lane’s adventures with the young King Charles, was released on November 1. Please visit her website, www.gillianbagwell.com, to read more about her books and read her blog Jane Lane and the Royal Miracle www.theroyalmiracle.blogspot.com, which recounts her research adventures and the daily episodes in Charles’s escape after Worcester.

One lucky winner will receive a copy of the book THE SEPTEMBER QUEEN. Here are the rules for the giveaway. This giveaway is open solely to my American readers! The contest runs from today through Tuesday, November 8th.

1. Leave your name and email in the comments. Email is very important so that I can contact you for your address.
2. If you are not a follower and become one, you get an extra entry
3. If you tweet about the giveaway, you get an extra entry.

Good luck!

Happy Birthday Marie Antoinette!

On this day in 1755, Marie Antoinette (baptised Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna ) was born at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria.

No, this is not Marie Antoinette, this is moi, dressed as Marie Antoinette.  Two years ago, I had the privilege of reading at Lady Jane's Salon here in New York. The date fell on November 2nd which is Marie's birthday as well as mine. So I decided to dress like her and read a piece on Marie and her relationship with Axel Fersen. The dress I liberated from a theatre company that I worked for years ago.

This is the real Marie! Can't you see a resemblance? :) I had planned on writing a post on Marie Antoinette's impact on fashion, but instead I've decided just to post some photos instead. It's clear that in the more than 200 years since her death, Marie Antoinette continues to inspire designers.

These photos are from John Galliano's Spring 2010 collection.  Aren't they gorgeous, allthough it must have been a bit to wear.

Christian Louboutins! Not sure where I would wear these, but they are gorgeous. Definitely not shoes you wear out on the street, running errands. More the 'getting out of the limousine at the gala ball or Academy Awards' shoes.

Imagine trying to get through a door wearing this dress!

Book of the Month: Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War

Title:  Sleeping with the Enemy - Coco Chanel's Secret War
Author: Hal Vaughn
Pub. Date: August 2011

Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Format: Hardcover , 304pp



Overview:  “From this century, in France, three names will remain: de Gaulle, Picasso, and Chanel.” –André Malraux


Coco Chanel created the look of the modern woman and was the high priestess of couture.

She believed in simplicity, and elegance, and freed women from the tyranny of fashion. She inspired women to take off their bone corsets and cut their hair. She used ordinary jersey as couture fabric, elevated the waistline, and created bell-bottom trousers, trench coats, and turtleneck sweaters.

In the 1920s, when Chanel employed more than two thousand people in her workrooms, she had amassed a personal fortune of $15 million and went on to create an empire.

Jean Cocteau once said of Chanel that she had the head of “a little black swan.” And, added Colette, “the heart of a little black bull.”

At the start of World War II, Chanel closed down her couture house and went across the street to live at the Hôtel Ritz. Picasso, her friend, called her “one of the most sensible women in Europe.” She remained at the Ritz for the duration of the war, and after, went on to Switzerland.

For more than half a century, Chanel’s life from 1941 to 1954 has been shrouded in vagueness and rumor, mystery and myth. Neither Chanel nor her many biographers have ever told the full story of these years. Now Hal Vaughan, in this explosive narrative—part suspense thriller, part wartime portrait—fully pieces together the hidden years of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s life, from the Nazi occupation of Paris to the aftermath of World War II.

Vaughan reveals the truth of Chanel’s long-whispered collaboration with Hitler’s high-ranking officials in occupied Paris from 1940 to 1944. He writes in detail of her decades-long affair with Baron Hans Günther von Dincklage, “Spatz” (“sparrow” in English), described in most Chanel biographies as being an innocuous, English-speaking tennis player, playboy, and harmless dupe—a loyal German soldier and diplomat serving his mother country and not a member of the Nazi party.

In Vaughan’s absorbing, meticulously researched book, Dincklage is revealed to have been a Nazi master spy and German military intelligence agent who ran a spy ring in the Mediterranean and in Paris and reported directly to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, right hand to Hitler.

The book pieces together how Coco Chanel became a German intelligence operative; how and why she was enlisted in a number of spy missions; how she escaped arrest in France after the war, despite her activities being known to the Gaullist intelligence network; how she fled to Switzerland for a nine-year exile with her lover Dincklage. And how, despite the French court’s opening a case concerning Chanel’s espionage activities during the war, she was able to return to Paris at age seventy and triumphantly resurrect and reinvent herself—and rebuild what has become the iconic House of Chanel.