November 13: On This Day in World History
Caresse Crosby (born Mary Phelps Jacob) was the first recipient of a patent for the modern bra, 104 years ago!
1914: First patent for the ‘brassiere’ issued
A patent was taken out for an item of female underwear, to be known as the ‘backless brassiere’. In contrast to to the all-embracing undergarments of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the brassiere covers and supports the breasts only. Inventor Mary Phelps Jacob (better known as Caresse Crosby) constructed her prototype out of two handkerchiefs and a baby ribbon. She had been making brassieres for her friends for some years and was finally persuaded to patent her idea after many years.
An American patron of the arts, publisher and the ‘literary godmother to the Lost Generation of expatriate writers in Paris.’ She and her second husband, Harry Crosby, founded the Black Sun Press, which was instrumental in publishing some of the early works of many authors who would later become famous. Crosby’s parents William Hearn Jacob and Mary (née Phelps) Jacob, were both descended from American colonial families—her father from the Van Rensselaer family and her mother from William Phelps. In 1915, Mary (nicknamed Polly) married Richard R Peabody, another blue-blooded Bostonian whose family had arrived in New Hampshire in 1635.
They had two children, but following Richard’s service in World War I, he became a drunk who loved to watch buildings burn. She met Harry Crosby, (7 years her junior) at a picnic in 1920 while her husband was still with the army in Europe, and they had sex within two weeks. Their public relationship scandalised proper Boston society. Two years later, Richard granted her a divorce and Harry and Polly were married. They immediately left for Europe where they joined the Lost Generation of American expatriates.
They embraced a bohemian and decadent lifestyle, living off Harry’s trust fund of US$12 000 a year (or about $171 000 in today’s dollars), had an open marriage with numerous ongoing affairs, a suicide pact, frequent drug use, wild parties and long trips abroad. At her husband’s urging, Polly took the name Caresse in 1924. In 1925, they began publishing their own poetry as Éditions Narcisse in exquisitely printed, limited-edition volumes. In 1927, they rechristened the business as the Black Sun Press.
In 1929, one of her husband’s affairs culminated in his death as part of a murder-suicide or double suicide. His death was marked by scandal as the newspapers speculated wildly about whether Harry shot his lover or not. Caresse returned to Paris, where she continued to run the Black Sun Press.
With the prospect of war looming, she left Europe in 1936 and married Selbert Young, an unemployed, alcoholic actor 16 years her junior. They lived on a Virginia plantation they rehabilitated outside Washington, DC, until she divorced him. She moved to Washington, DC and began a long-term love affair with black actor-boxer Canada Lee, despite the threat of miscegenation laws. She founded Women Against War and continued, after World War II, to try to establish a Center for World Peace at Delphi, Greece. When rebuffed by Greek authorities, she purchased Castello di Rocca Sinibalda, a 15th-century castle north of Rome, which she used to support an artists’ colony. She died of pneumonia related to heart disease in Rome in 1970.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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